***
Alyx came awake in the darkness, at first not sure where she was. She shook her head, trying to banish the last vestiges of the dream from her mind with little success. A bloody week of this now. She would really appreciate a night of actual sleep. She took one look at the remains of the bed and gave it up as a bad job. The temp in the room might have been all of 70 degrees, but her body was convinced it was much warmer. Her heart still pounded and sweat still soaked her clothes so that they clung tightly to her. If she had to have those kinds of dreams, you'd figure she'd dream about the one and only guy she'd willingly had sex with in the last five years, but no.
Throwing one of the pillows across the room in irritation, she got off the bed and wandered out to the suite's kitchen area. And there she found the very person who had been disturbing her slumber, rummaging around in the fridge. She stood in the doorway of the small galley kitchen, listening to him hum as he searched for a midnight snack.
"So you couldn't sleep either?" Alyx asked.
Startled, Darien jerked upwards, banging his head on the top of the fridge and began swearing. He stood up, rubbing the back of his head, and turned around to glare at her.
Alyx swallowed hard at the view of him in just his pajama bottoms. His workouts were obviously paying off. He was looking quite tasty. Not what she needed at the moment. She managed to squeak out, "Sorry."
"Too hot to sleep, and Hobbes is snoring," Darien groused, moving to the counter with his prize. "What's your excuse?"
She moved into the kitchen herself and opened the fridge, retrieving a bottle of water. "Dreams." She twisted off the top and drank off a good portion of the water without pausing. "Haven't slept well in a while." She ran one hand through her hair and hissed at how damp it was.
He chuckled. He'd had more than a few nights like that himself. Although he had to wonder exactly what, or perhaps who, her dreams were about. He dug out a fork after a bit of searching and began eating the pasta cold. "Want to talk about it?" he asked around a mouthful of food.
Talk about it? Just thinking about it made the room feel way too warm. Alyx shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Hmmm. So I'll have to guess, huh?" Darien teased, setting his fork down and looking at her. It was a good thing she was wearing black; the entire front of her shirt was soaked with sweat. He could see the sheen of it on her skin. Her arms, her throat, her stomach. She obviously felt comfortable enough around him, considering the little she was walking around in. The tank top only came down to her ribs, showing off exactly how muscular she was. Looking lower he had to swallow hard. Boy cut shorts hugged every curve, showing she was just as muscular below the waist as above. It wasn't often he saw her in such revealing clothes and it really made him wish she would stop pushing him away.
Alyx leaned back against the doorway and tipped her head up, her eyes closing for a moment. Then her head tipped down and she looked at him, her eyes bright. "Go for it."
His heart jumped at her words, but he managed to keep his mind on answering the question instead of the variety of tempting images that came to mind. "Well, you said 'dreams', not nightmares, so I'll assume it was nothing bad for a change," he spculated, going back to the fridge and pulling out a soda. He opened it and drank, watching her the entire time. She didn't drop her gaze, meeting his eyes without flinching. He'd never seen her quite so bold before. "Perhaps it was someone in particular you were dreaming about." He was assuming it was Garrett. He stepped up to her, forcing her to look up at him or back away. Much to his surprise she didn't move. Her hand came up and traced a line from the top of his pajama bottoms to the center of his chest.
"Perhaps," she replied, her voice quiet. This was completely nuts, but she couldn't seem to stop herself, not tonight. "Then again, perhaps not." She leaned in and kissed him on the throat. She had forgotten how wonderful he tasted and she ran her tongue across his skin. Breathing in his scent, she sighed. He didn't move, but she could feel the increase of his heart rate under her hand and under her lips as she paused over the artery in his neck. "Have you figured it out yet?"
When she stepped back slightly, her hand still on his chest, Darien just looked at her, stunned for a moment, then lifted a hand to rest on hers. She pulled her hand out from under his, sliding it back down his stomach before stepping away completely. Much to his surprise, despite her withdrawal, she was still looking him in the eye. "What game is this?" he asked, confused.
"No game, Dare. With you it's never a game," Alyx responded, watching him and wondering what he might do.
He brought his hand up to her face and kissed her. Lightly at first, then with an increasing hunger. He was tired of fighting with her over this. When she didn't push him away and instead responded by opening her mouth beneath his, he found he had to pull away, needing a moment to regain some sort of control before the gland decided to join in on the fun.
She slid out of his hold and moved away, heading back to her room.
Darien caught up with her, circling around to stand between her and the door. "Alyx," he growled at her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to bed," she told him, attempting to go around him.
Darien grabbed her arm and stopped her. He expected her to pull away, glare at him, yell, but she just looked at him and licked her lips.
"You are tempting, but not yet," she informed him quietly.
He was so surprised by her comment that she slipped out of his hold and walked past him. She paused and he turned his head slightly to watch her. She ran her hand across his shoulders and leaned in to kiss the center of his back. "Goodnight Darien."
He spun around, just in time to have the door close quietly in his face. He leaned his head on the door, wondering what the hell had just happened. "Crap."
***
It wasn't until Alyx was dressing early the next the morning that she discovered the pillow lying in a pitiful heap on the floor and remembered fully. She groaned. She'd thought it was just another dream, but apparently not. That would explain the half-full bottle of water on the nightstand. She had probably been far more asleep than awake. Gods, she was going to have to deal with this situation soon before it drove her completely off the deep end.
Great. Mind of a grown woman and the body of a teenager. No, wait, make that a horny teenager, and last night it had been the hormones in charge, obviously. She'd had more damn control when she'd really been 16 than she apparently did now. Of course, she'd been in college then and there hadn't been a whole lot of guys interested in dating an underage genius. Their loss. But now, apparently, her hormones - heck, her heart - had a target in mind and they weren't going to let her have any peace until she admitted it to herself.
With one last glare at herself, she grabbed her backpack and headed out into the lovely central Florida weather to do a wee bit of shopping. She returned around 10am, a few dollars lighter and with an assortment of clothing that would do any modern, hip teenager proud. Giving the suite a quick mental check, she found only Darien, still dead to the world. Bobby must have gone out. Maybe he was down at the pool trying to impress the girls again.
Going through her purchases, she sorted out what she was going to wear and packed the rest in the ratty old backpack she had bought just for that purpose. She packed the four outfits she wasn't going to wear, tossed in a couple of her own t-shirts and a selection of undergarments. She'd be leaving her good boots behind and would wear her sneakers. Looking over the few bits of jewelry she had brought with her, she traded her current earrings for the set that had the tracking device hidden in one. She'd have to make sure it worked before she headed out on this little mission. A few strokes with the make up she had bought and she was looking even younger than usual, and like a tart at that. Perfect for the role of a pretty young thing on the streets.
When she came out of the room in her new attire, she startled Darien, now conscious but not yet fully awake, as he tried to make coffee. He stared at her for a long moment; a bit surprised at her appearance. From the bandana atop her head, to the spaghetti strap shirt that didn't reach her navel, to the loose fitting jeans that sat very low on her hips, she looked just like every other teenager he'd seen lately hanging out on the street corners. He and Hobbes had dodged a collection of them yesterday after lunch. The spitting image of a rebellious adolescent.
"Alyx?" It was far more a question of his sanity than anything else.
"Who were you expecting?" she teased, moving past him and completing the coffee-making process he'd begun and then forgotten.
Right then and there he decided that, no matter how young she looked, he much preferred the adult Alyx to the teenage one. People would think she was his kid or something. "Uh, thanks," he mumbled.
"Darien, it's still me under the special effects," she said with a smile.
"Is that what last night was? Special effects?" He leaned back against the counter and stared at her.
That hurt, but Alyx did her best not to react. "If you say so." She pushed past him.
He didn't let her get away, and all it took was a hand on her shoulder to stop her in her tracks. "Talk to me."
Alyx laughed. "Talk? All of a sudden you want to talk? What, no sneers, glares, or accusations? Give me a break." She had turned around to face him while she said this, letting his hand drop back to his side. "I haven't spent all this time fighting the temptation thrown at me daily just to blow it all now for a cheap thrill."
Darien was struck by several emotions at once. Anger at her attitude, a perverse sort of pleasure that she had to fight temptation where he was concerned, dismay that she thought he had only one thing on his mind. Anger won. "Yes, talk. You know, that thing you seem to be able to do with any other male but me. You planning on sleeping with Morris as well?"
Alyx went pale at not only the words but at the cold viciousness with which they were uttered. "No. I can safely say I'm not planning on sleeping with anyone in the near future."
Bobby entered the suite on those words and looked at his two partners. It was quite obvious that things were swiftly falling apart between them. If they continued like this there would be no way they'd be able to work together anymore, and he was finally getting used to juggling the two of them, finally getting them to use their abilities to their best advantage, finally paired with partners he not only trusted, but liked. Stepping between them he admonished, "Kiddies, play nice."
Alyx looked at him and said in a very cold, controlled voice, "Send him home or I'll call the Official and have it done myself."
This was not going well at all.
"Go right ahead, call him. We'll see how far that will get you," Darien challenged, sounding nearly as cold as her.
If these two didn't sort out their problems soon, one of them, most likely Bobby Hobbes, was going to get hurt. "Enough, both of you. Bickering like a couple of children."
"Tell him to stop acting like one!" Alyx shouted, pointing at Darien.
"Me? Look at little miss I'm better..." Darien began.
"ENOUGH!" Bobby roared, spinning to face Darien. "The two of you had better work out your problems now, because we have a job to do and I won't let whatever is going on between you to interfere."
"Don't worry, Bobby, the nothing that is going on between us won't interfere." Alyx was at the door of the suite and, as they watched, she opened it and stalked out, slamming it behind her. It looked far more impressive than it sounds; she never actually touched the door.
Bobby turned back to Darien, poking him several times in the chest to punctuate his words. "Are you completely insane?"
Darien shoved him away and walked out into the middle of the room. "Not yet, give me a few days." He sat down on the sofa and tipped his head up to look at the ceiling.
"You haven't let up on the kid in weeks. I don't care why, but stop it." Bobby walked over and stood in front of Darien. "If she calls the Official, it'll be my ass, not yours, since I'm the senior partner."
"Hobbes..."
"Fawkes, leave her alone or I will send you home and you can explain everything to the Fat Man. You got me?" Bobby snapped at him.
"Yeah, I got it." Darien got up from the sofa and walked out of the suite as well.
He wandered around for a while until he found Alyx. She was in one of the lounge areas overlooking the pool, sitting with her chin resting on her hand and staring out at the people, or so it appeared.
Without turning she spoke up, "If you're just going to snap at me some more, you can go."
"I wasn't planning on it," he grumbled. "But I suppose I can, if you're in the mood for it."
She just continued to stare out the window. "Why are you so mad at me?"
"Why? Maybe it's because one minute I can't get near you and the next you're all over me," Darien answered, sitting in a nearby chair.
Alyx closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her hands. "I'm sorry, last night was an accident. I was, for all intents and purposes, sleepwalking." Darien looked as if he was about to make a comment but she forestalled him with a raised hand. "I'm not making an excuse. I'm trying to explain. A lot has happened to me recently and I'm still trying to sort some things out. Most of it has nothing to do with you." She turned to look at him and she managed a small smile. "Can you be patient, please?"
"Why should I be? Why should I put up with this any longer?" he asked, his face showing no emotion.
"You don't have to, Darien, and I won't ask you to." Alyx got up from the chair and began to walk away.
"Gonna run away again?" he questioned quietly.
"Have to," she replied. She was not yet ready to face him, hadn't yet made a decision. At least not one she was ready to admit to.
He got up and went after her, blocking her path much as he had the night before. "Do you have any idea what this is doing to me?" he whispered to her.
"Yes. I'm doing it to myself as well." When she moved again, he let her go, not trying to stop her this time.
***
"Bobby, is the damn thing working or not?" Alyx asked getting impatient.
"Yeah kid, it's working, finally. Near as I can tell your little talent is interfering with the signal," Bobby commented, making a few more adjustments with the equipment.
She whapped him on the arm. "Why didn't you say so?"
She did something and within seconds the signal went from intermittent to clear and perfect. "I can probably boost the signal a bit if you want."
"Nah, not yet anyway," Bobby responded, smiling at her. "Be careful, kid."
"Me, Bobby?" Alyx queried, sounding innocent.
The side door of the van slid open, letting in the afternoon heat. Agent Morris was outside. "We ready yet?"
"Yuppers." She tossed the backpack on one shoulder and climbed out of the van. "Three days or confirmation that the boat has left, right?"
"Yes. Good luck," Stephen said to her.
"I make my own," Alyx replied. "Be good, Bobby."
Darien sat silent in the driver's seat of the van, refusing to look at her, refusing to say goodbye, refusing to watch her leave. They hadn't spoken, had avoided each other entirely, since parting in the lounge earlier.
Alyx walked around the back of the van, out of sight of everyone, and Quicksilvered. She walked the couple blocks to the bus station and waited about twenty minutes for a bus arriving from northern Florida. With a little creative timing, she let the Quicksilver flake away and merged with the crowd, making it look like she had arrived on this bus. She blended in with the crowd, at least as much as a teen alone can, and then headed out into the city looking to hook up with the local runaway groups. The 10 years she'd spent living here had fortunately left her with a good idea of where to look.
She dodged the afternoon thunderstorms under I-4, which had been turned into a giant parking area in the middle of downtown. She'd forgotten exactly how violent the storms could be and learned she was very, very sensitive to them. She always knew when, and to a degree where, a strike would occur. She managed not to get soaked or lightning-struck and learned she was not alone in hiding under the highway. For the time being, though, she kept her distance.
By the time evening rolled around she found herself in Church Street working the crowd. It didn't take long to identify a few others in the same situation she was pretending to face, but she continued to make a point of avoiding them. She also made a point not to attract the attention of the police who were all over the place. She'd have to be off the streets by midnight, since as far as she knew there was still a curfew in effect for the downtown area. Around 10pm she got something to eat from one of the restaurants and made sure it was to go. She knew better than to draw attention to herself from the store owners. She only had a little cash on her so this would be her last meal for a while.
A little after 1am found her over by Lake Eola, a few blocks away from Church Street. She filled her water bottle at one of the water fountains and pretended to ignore the group of about six that was trying to surreptitiously follow her. When they made themselves known just a few minutes later, she went immediately on the defensive. She went at the first guy who approached her with a standard karate move, making sure to fumble it a bit. This way they would know she could protect herself, but that she was not an expert at it.
"Easy kid," the ringleader soothed after she had landed that one guy on his ass. "We don't want to hurt you."
"Yeah, right. What do ah look like to y'all, a fool?" she snapped back at them, remembering to add the deep drawl to her words. She then began to back away.
With a subtle hand signal, he got his group to surround her. "It's obvious you're new here. We just want to offer a place to crash for the night. Maybe some food if you're hungry."
Alyx probed his mind gently and learned that he was a scout for the slavers and she, she was going to be a bonus for him. He'd already met his quota, but knew she would be an exceptional find for his boss. She knew that he would take her by force if he couldn't persuade her so Alyx decided that she would allow herself to be persuaded.
"Why?" she questioned, sounding suspicious.
"My boss likes to help kids in trouble, that's all," he replied, stepping closer to her. "I'm Evan. C'mon, if you don't like the place you can leave in the morning."
Alyx relaxed slightly. "Ah can leave if ah want to?"
"My word," he assured her, holding out a hand. "What's your name?"
"Hope," Alyx answered.
"Well, Hope, tonight you are lucky as well." Evan and his group escorted her out of the park. After a bit of a walk, they entered the office of a small warehouse. The other kids split away, heading to other sections of the building, while Evan took Alyx into an office where three men were talking. None of them looked very friendly or very happy to have Evan coming in this late.
"Evan, what now? I thought we had settled up..." The man behind the desk stopped when he caught sight of Alyx. He got up from behind the desk and came to stand in front of her. She did her best to look both brave and terrified at the same time. "Well, what have we here?" He looked Alyx over carefully, even going so far as to remove the bandana she wore to hide her hair. The two other men in the room made a few quiet comments about her looks. "Good job, Evan. She'll be worth the time to ship."
Alyx backed away from the man who she now knew from a gentle probe of his mind to be the first mate on the slaver ship. Still, she couldn't just let them have her easily. "What are y'all talking about?" She looked from Evan to the slaver and back again.
"Sorry, Hope. Guess you should've stayed home," Evan said, backing towards one of the walls. The other two men in the room spread out to surround her. One grabbed her by the arm from behind and she reacted by putting an elbow into his stomach followed by a fist to his face. She pulled both punches; she wasn't actually trying to get away. He let go of her and grabbed his now bleeding nose, but wasn't hurt all that badly.
"She's more than she seems, good. Hurry up, and don't damage her." The first mate ordered, sounding slightly impressed.
The one with the bloody nose grabbed her again, this time securing both arms behind her back. Alyx squirmed and fought, but not quite hard enough to escape. It took a cloth covered in chloroform to get her under control. When she was sleeping peacefully on the floor the first mate said. "Get her cleaned up and ready for shipment. I know just the buyer for her. And make sure not to damage her. She's going to be worth a bundle."
***
Alyx woke up feeling nauseous and tried to stand, only to smack her head on the top of the box she was in. "What the...?" she muttered when the world stopped spinning. Closing her eyes, she concentrated. She was on a truck, in a box that wasn't more than three feet on a side. A little on the small size, even for her. She was wearing clothes that were not hers- a jumpsuit of some sort. She checked her earlobes, then swore. The earrings were gone; she was on her own now.
She tested the different sections of the box and found the side that opened. One good shove with her mind and the top of the box flew off, leaving her able to stand. She was betting she wasn't supposed to be awake yet and there was no way she couldn't at least put in a token, though failing, effort to escape. It just wouldn't look right.
She dozed while waiting for the truck to reach its destination and came fully awake when it did. As soon as the door opened she made a break for it. She didn't have much of a chance; there were seven men waiting for her. They were as gentle as they could be, given that she was fighting like a hell-cat to get away.
"Just get the collar on her," a voice barked. While three men held her another put something around her neck. As soon as it had clicked shut they let her go and backed away. She stood there shaking for a moment and then took off running. She didn't make it far. The collar around her neck came to life, pouring electricity into her system. Her first instinct was to control the energy, shunt it aside, shut the collar down. She couldn't. All she did was make it worse. Everything she tried to do just increased the energy coming out of the collar.
Somehow she managed not to Quicksilver. That would be bad. Giving up on the collar, she instead tried to blow out the control mechanism being held by the man who had spoken. That didn't work either, once again increasing the pain being transmitted to her. With a screech of both anger and pain she went to her knees, pulling at the collar. She could no longer control her own powers. The pain continued to increase until she passed out. Only then did the feedback loop she'd created shut down.
The Captain looked down at her as she lay on the ground. "Interesting," he said. "Get her inside. I want to start training her immediately."
***
"I don't like this, Hobbes. She hasn't moved in 12 hours," Darien said to his partner. They were sitting in the borrowed surveillance van, down the street from the warehouse where the tracker signal was coming from.
"Neither do I, but they're sitting on their thumbs again," Hobbes grouched, rechecking the equipment.
"I'm going to check it out." Darien opened the door to the van and stepped out into the summer heat.
"Fawkes, wait," Hobbes shouted, following him out the door.
"What, Hobbes?" Darien was still not in the best of moods. He and Bobby had argued about Alyx several times since dropping her off, which was why they were in a separate vehicle from the others.
"Put on the headset at least," Bobby suggested, holding out the instrument to his partner.
Darien sighed and leaned against the side of the van. "Sorry, Bobby."
It took a couple of minutes to get Darien wired and make sure it worked. After a quick check of the area, Darien strolled down the block to the warehouse. Going around the side of the building, he quicksilvered and made his way to the doors. Checking inside he saw nothing: no people, no furniture, no security. He swiftly and easily picked the lock, letting the coating flake off his hands to work the picks and then making them once he was inside. "I'm in, Hobbes. Which way?" He was looking down a hallway with several doors off it, all of which were closed.
"Straight ahead from your location," Hobbes replied, sitting in the van looking at the two tracking signals on the screen before him.
"You're the boss." Darien checked in the rooms as he walked down the hallway. Only one room had anything inside: a desk, a file cabinet, and a garbage can. The rest of the place was bare. Darien got to the door at the end of the hall and opened it. "I'm in the warehouse area now. There's nothing here."
Bobby whacked the monitor on the side but the image didn't change. "Straight ahead about twenty feet."
"Hobbes, it's a dumpster," Darien observed, the dismay evident in his voice. Opening the lid, he found, not his worst fear, but close. The ratty backpack she'd taken with her was in the dumpster and, after a quick check, he found her earrings inside. "Hobbes, it's just her stuff. Alyx isn't here." Holding the earrings in his hand, he had a horrible thought come to his mind. "Bobby, call Farrell and find out if the boat is still docked."
"Crap Fawkes, it had better be," Bobby hissed. "Don't touch anything else in there, just in case."
Several minutes went by while Darien waited impatiently for an answer.
"We're coming in partner," Hobbes whispered in his ear. "Don't be hiding."
Darien smiled and dropped the Quicksilver. Granted, the CIA, or at least parts thereof, already knew about his talent, but he really didn't need every individual agent knowing what he could do. They arrived within moments. "A forensic team is on the way to go over this place. The boat left just after dawn this morning. We've been sitting here all day on a snipe hunt," Bobby bitched to his partner. "Apparently they didn't think it was important to let us know the boat had left."
Darien pulled off the headset and let it dangle down his back, then continued to pour the earrings from hand to hand. "Now what? They've got six hours on us, at least."
"Now we get on a cutter and hope we can find the damn ship before they get too far out," Agent Morris told them. "I've arranged for a helicopter to get us out to the coast. Your stuff at the hotel will be delivered to the boat before we leave." He surveyed the warehouse, running his hands through his hair until it was a complete mess. "I hate screw-ups."
"Screw-up? You call this a screw-up?" Darien seethed, getting into the younger man's face.
"Yes. Her job was to get picked up by them. She has succeeded in that." Morris reminded, not backing down in the least. "We just weren't able to track her as far as planned,"
"There's another complication," Lieutenant Farrell reported as he walked into the room closing a cell phone.
"What now?" Hobbes snapped at him.
"Amanda has decided to grow up." Farrell saw the blank looks on the faces of the two Agency men. "Amanda is now a full-fledged hurricane, and she has decided to ignore the weathermen around here."
"What about it?" Darien asked, not finding much to interest him in a rainstorm at sea. He was far more used to dealing with earthquakes than hurricanes.
"Unless these slavers are real lucky, they are going to run right into it," Farrell explained, "with your partner on board."
"I knew this was a bad idea," Bobby lamented, throwing up his hands in irritation. "Any more good news?"
"We have reports of a girl matching her description being taken on their ship, alive," Farrell supplied.
"Great, now all we have to do is hope they avoid the storm, reach their destination, and don't kill her along the way," Darien grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
Bobby watched his partner carefully. "Fawkes, let's get back out to the van. Morris can handle things in here."
As Morris watched, Hobbes urged Darien out of the building and back down the street to the van. He shoved Darien in ahead of him once the door was open, then grabbed his partner's right wrist. The monitor tattoo had three segments left. "Were you going to mention this?" Bobby wondered.
"I hadn't noticed," Darien said truthfully.
"You always rub the back of your neck when the headaches start, Fawkes." Bobby opened a cooler that was under some equipment. "Start the engine, would you? It's an oven in here."
Darien did so, while behind him Bobby prepared a shot of counteragent for his partner. He went over the Keeper's instructions in his mind as he prepared it, making sure it was exactly as she had said before getting Darien's attention. "All right, Fawkes, give me that arm of yours."
Darien turned in the seat and was rather surprised to see Bobby wielding one of those damn horse needles he so hated. "And what do you think you're gonna to do with that?"
"Stick it in your arm, what else?" Bobby snarked, not looking forward to this any more than Darien was. "Don't argue. With the kid gone, I'm it."
With a sigh Darien held out his arm and tried not to flinch when the needle inexpertly broke his skin. "Jeeze, Hobbes. You trying to hurt me?"
"Sorry, Fawkes. The Keep has had the kid working on this. I'm the emergency back up," Bobby informed his partner as he removed the syringe. He put it back in its storage container until it could be disposed of.
"The Keep, Claire, has been training Alyx to do this?" Darien asked.
"For a few weeks now, why?" Hobbes replied as he turned off and put away the gear they weren't going to need any more today.
"Oh, no reason." Darien adjusted the air conditioning, trying to convince the van to cool below hothouse temperature. "We have to get her back, Bobby."
"We will, my friend. We will."
