Chapter 8: Shed a tear; just for me

"Oh my God. I think I'm going to be sick." Claire said.

The whole gang had been watching and listening to what Darien was still going through. Right now, he was still awake and looking down at his chest and the blister that had almost instantly formed when Cassandra had set him ablaze. They watched as he looked up at his captivator.

"Is that the best you got?" he asked her. She smiled and started up the flame again. Claire couldn't watch anymore of the torture, so she stood up and left the room to go to an area of the lab far away from the screen. She busied herself with a lab report but she couldn't get the sound of Darien's tortured scream out of her head. She shuddered, burying her head in her hands she began to cry. She felt a soft comforting hand rest on her shoulder. She looked up at the person to whom the hand belonged and saw that it was Alex.

"Claire, are you okay?" she asked

"Yes, I'm fine." She replied, wiping her tears away.

"Do you mind if I stay here for a while? I don't think I can stand that any longer."

"Yes of course." Claire said gesturing to the chair across from her. Alex nodded and sat down. "You know when I first met Darien, I thought that he was just going to be a pain in the ass. All he did was bitch and complain." Claire smiled softly. "But you know what? He surprised me. And I figured out that I had him fixed all wrong."

Alex smiled. "I know what you mean. On one mission he was going on and on about quotes and I finally got so sick and tired of it that I told him that he was a thief and an agent not a damn philosopher and that he should start acting like it." She smiled again lost in thought. "Do you know what he said to that?" She asked softly.

"No what?" Claire said feeling a tear roll down her cheek.

"He said that no matter what life chooses for us we have the right to decide what we are going to do with our life." Alex began to cry. Claire reached over and rubbed her shoulder.

"It's okay." She said as she wiped away a tear from her own check. "It's going to be just fine."

                     ***

A while later Claire and Alex walked back to where the guys, minus Darien, were. They heard them before they saw them.

"We need to think this through first, Bobby." the Official said.

"We don't have time to think this through. We need to go right now before it's too late." Bobby growled back.

"We don't have the man power to pull off something this big." The Official said, standing up so quickly that he knocked over the chair that he had been sitting on.

"Then call some of your friends and get the power. Or I'll do it by myself." Bobby said also standing up.

"Hey boys, did we miss something?" Alex said trying to calm the situation down. The Official looked over at her.

"Tell them Eberts." He growled.

"Well, Mr. Hobbes and the Official were watching the show as it is." Eberts cleared his throat. Alex and Claire both looked over at the computer screen and saw that it was black.

"Is he passed out?" Claire asked.

"Yes he passed out around 5 minutes ago. Thank-fully." Bobby said shaking his head.

"Continue Albert." Alex said politely.

"Thank-you Ms. Monroe." Eberts said blushing softly.

"Come on Eberts. This is a government agency, not a singles bar." Bobby said.

"Yes, well, as I was saying." Eberts said looking over at Bobby. "As Robert and the Official were busy, I ran the name Cassandra through the database and this came up." he said as he passed both Claire and Alex a sheet of paper with a photo of a young woman in her late twenties, early thirties. The picture was black and white so it was impossible to tell anything other than that.

"I would like you both to meet one Cassandra Jessie Blake. Age 32. Born to Bernard and Marie Blake from France. She moved to Canada when she was 13 with her mother and lost contact with her father at the age of 14. That is also when the Chameleon's victim's began to show up, and when little Cassandra started her own little crime section."

Eberts passed out a few more papers.

"What's this?"

"Her rap sheet. Let's just say she wasn't as clean as her father." Bobby said

"As you see, at first there were only minor charges. Possession, a small argument at school that someone pressed charges against her. But then, a few years later, the real crimes began. At the age of 16, she was caught in Quebec trying to rob a bank. Then two years later while she was on parole, she stole a police car and took it joy riding with friends. When she was caught they charged her with drunk-driving, reckless endangerment, and a hit and run. She was lucky the hit and run didn't die and she was only sentenced for 5 years. Once she was out, she finished her parole and left the country not to be seen again until she hit Montana. The cops caught her in an undercover sting. She was sentenced to 6 years in prison for shooting 2 cops. Again, the victims both lived so they couldn't charge her with murder. Not even attempted murder, because she could have just clamed it to be an accident. Anyway...she was also charged with possession of drugs and illegal weapons. When she was finally released at the age of 30. She left the area and the rest is unknown 'til now. She's back and god knows how she found out about Darien." The Official finished finally. Looking at them all in turn. Everyone was quiet.

Bobby was the first to speak up. "I think that Chrysalis was in contact with her and that we should check out some of their hiding places that we know about."

"Bobby," Claire said softly. "Do you really think they are that…incompetent?"

"No, I think they're that stuck-up. They don't think that we can figure this out so what better place than something obvious?" Bobby said

Claire smiled. So did Alex. "Why Mr. Hobbes, I do believe you're right." Alex said.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go." Bobby said. The three of them moved to the door.

The Official spoke up "If you leave this room you are all out of a job."

They turned around and looked at him for a second. After glancing at each other and nodding their approval of some shared idea, they reached into their respective pockets. Throwing their badges to him, they said, "We quit then." They went out the door, leaving the Official and Eberts staring at the three badges on the floor and the sealed door.