20

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote, "All things must change to something new, to something strange."

Man, he didn't know the half of it.

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Another huge glob of half-melted snow fell with a wet splat on the windshield, causing Darien to start out of the light doze into which he had fallen. "Crap." He straightened and watched the snow slip its way downward until disappearing under the edge of the hood. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not really," Hobbes responded, still focused on the high wall of the estate about a block away. They had parked on the border of the land owned by Keller, just on the edge of a residential neighborhood. The road and estate were old, the neighborhood new, and the tree they'd parked under ancient with deep shadows that even the nearby streetlights could not penetrate even in the depths of winter. From where they sat, they could see the roof of the house and the security cameras mounted on the wall with inconvenient overlapping arcs. The place was lit up like a Christmas tree, making it obvious that Keller was on alert tonight.

Darien glanced at his watch, pressing the button which backlit the face. "It's almost nine, are you sure Lee's gonna make his move tonight?" It was cold in the Hummer and Hobbes refused to run the engine for fear of attracting attention to their position.

"Don't see as he has much choice after talking to us. He's gotta assume we went right to Keller as soon as he was outta sight. Us running into Keller's bully-boys is probably why the place looks like it's under siege." Bobby lowered the field glasses and turned to face Darien. "If we're onto him, he's gonna assume Lee is too."

"But the place is wired tighter than Fort Knox; ain't no way Lee and his buds are gonna be able to get in there. Shit, I'm damn sure I can't and that's with the Quicksilver." He ran a hand through his hair and tried to smother a yawn.

"What do you suggest, Fawkes?" Hobbes asked in all seriousness.

Darien threw up his hands in irritation. "I don't know, but sitting here freezing my ass off sure as hell ain't useful." He grimaced, knowing he was going into full blown bitch and moan mode, but he was tired, he ached from the pounding he'd taken earlier and he was sick of being cold. "Sorry," he mumbled and got a grunt of acknowledgement from Hobbes. "Any word from Alyx or Graywolf?"

"Silence of the Lambs, my friend, and it has me worried."

"Marvelous," Darien grumbled. "So, we can't get in, the place is too big for us to spot Lee before he jumps the fence unless we have the Dame Fortuna on our side, which I'm positive we don't, and we don't got a frickin' clue what's going on. Does that about sum things up?"

"Yep," Hobbes stated, plainly not in the mood to trade barbs with his grouchy partner at the moment.

"So what are we doing? Waiting for a sign from above?" Darien questioned just as the lights on the far side of the wall went out.

"Fawkes..."

"I didn't do it," he argued, looking just as surprised as Bobby.

Hobbes snorted. "Didn't think you did. Though your timing was impeccable." He twisted about, looking at the homes that could be seen down the street. "Everyone else still has power from the looks of it. Only Keller's place is dark." Darien turned his head to meet his partner's eyes. "You asked for a sign, kimosabe."

"Next time remind me to not ask for one, kay?" Darien didn't see any movement out there, but it was a fair bet that if Lee and his friends hadn't made their move yet they were going to now. "We just gonna sit here?"

"Nope." Hobbes set the binoculars down on the console between the seats and started the engine. He pulled the Hummer out into the empty street and drove towards the gated entrance to the estate. "Thought we'd join the party."

"Hobbes, the gate is gonna be locked tight," Darien pointed out, not liking the sudden fierceness in Bobby's posture.

"You're probably right." The Hummer increased speed. "But I wasn't planning on waiting to be buzzed in."

Darien made a grab for the seatbelt and buckled up as the driveway came into view. "You break her car and Alyx is gonna take it outta your hide. She'll make you baby-sit Rose for the next decade."

"That ain't much of threat." Hobbes smiled grimly as he gunned the motor. "'Sides, knowing the kid, this beast'll take it just fine." He whipped the Hummer about, fully intending to ram the gates, only to see them swinging open. Hobbes straightened the vehicle and flew down the long drive to the roundabout that was directly in front of the impressive home. He screeched to a stop and Darien suddenly remembered that he needed to breathe.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, feeling lightheaded for an instant. "Can we not do that again? Like ever?"

Bobby opened his door and climbed out into the chilly night air. "No promises." He waved at Darien. "Get a move on, Fawkes, I got a bad feeling about this."

Darien joined Hobbes a moment later and both started towards the short flight of steps that lead up to the darkened entryway. "You got a bad feeling? Then we're certainly headed for deepest shit." Together they mounted the steps, Hobbes drawing his gun, plainly liking the lack of guards even less than Darien did. Lights could be seen through the windows, but they appeared to be from flashlights as opposed to a generator powering some of the systems. With no effort, Hobbes opened the front door, cautiously poked his head into the pitch black interior, and then gave Darien the all clear.

Once inside they heard voices, unhappy voices, and followed them towards the rear of the house to a large open area that overlooked the yard in back. There was Keller, and at least six of his goons, complete with weapons and high-powered flashlights, and kneeling on the floor were four figures dressed in black. One of them was William Lee.

Hobbes took in the situation quickly and then, much to Darien's dismay, strode purposefully into the room. "You started the party without us?"

Keller's men quickly split their attention between Lee and company and the new visitors to his humble abode. "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?" Keller spat, clearly beyond pissed off at this point.

"Nah, not our style," Darien retorted, not about to let a few guns waving in his direction bother him... too much.

"Kill them all," Keller ordered with a look of unholy glee in his eyes.

That's when the lights suddenly came back on.

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Xavier couldn't remember how they had gotten onto the estate. In fact, the last thing he could clearly recall was arguing with Alyx about her plan, which he'd thought was foolish and far too risky with Angel in tow. The next thing he knew they were calmly walking across the snow covered lawn towards the covered pool and the well-lit rear of the house. He was nursing a headache of volcanic proportions, which suggested that Alyx had had a hand in his sudden forgetfulness. They arrived just in time to see four people dragged into a room, their masks ripped off to reveal three men and a woman with a definite far-eastern look about them. Keller was speaking, but Gray, standing outside in the melting snow, couldn't make out the words.

The situation had changed much like the weather had, but for good or ill Graywolf was unsure. "Sil..."

"Hmmm?" She didn't even glance back in his direction, just continued her confident forward stride, making no effort to hide herself or the girl close by her side, but he had the odd feeling that no one would notice them even if looked at directly. The entire trip back to the States she had blithely played with peoples minds as she deemed necessary and even seemed to delight in his vocal protests of said actions.

"Sil," he hissed, then reached out to grasp her shoulder, and spun her around to face him when his words had no appreciable affect on her forward motion. "Do you want to get her killed?" He knew that Angel would take no note of his words, as she'd been under Alyx's control ever since their first encounter at the school.

"Not yet," Alyx replied with a hint of a grin. Graywolf frowned deeply, about to put and end to this... this... He wasn't entirely sure what this was, but he was certain it needed to be stopped before they all got killed. "Oh, all right. The pieces are in place anyway." Her eyes flashed with an electric light and the power went out. This was swiftly followed by an uproar inside the house, which included the sounds of a scuffle before flashlights came on and the Asian foursome were once again restrained.

"Now what?" Gray grumbled, wishing he had any clue at all as to what was going on in Sil's head at the moment. But he didn't push his luck, knowing she'd just change his mind for him if he challenged her. He feared she had done so already, as he was pretty damn sure he'd begun to argue with her several times, only to suddenly forget what he was saying or be distracted by something trivial. Right now, he had little choice but to go along for the ride and try his best to protect her from herself. He was beginning to suspect that something, though he had no idea what, had gone wrong when Mike had removed that control programming back in Newport.

"Patience, shush-yahz, all will come clear." The glee in her voice did nothing to buoy up his confidence in what, to him, was a swiftly deteriorating situation. She walked forward, stopping before one of the pairs of French doors, completely unafraid of those within glancing in their direction. Gray, trying to watch everything at once, moved to stand behind the pair of women and survey the situation. He recognized Fawkes' muffled voice with more than a touch of surprise. Alyx had absolutely refused to contact them, which Gray had not liked at all, for even if he hated Fawkes with a passion, it wouldn't prevent him from getting the job done and to do that meant working together. However, his disagreement on the matter had been conveniently forgotten somewhere along the way, leading to the confrontation that now existed.

From within came the words, "Kill them all," which could in no way be a good sign, but all Alyx did was huff softly as if irritated that someone had missed their cue.

The lights snapped back on, brighter than normal based on the reactions of those inside the room. At the same moment, Alyx flung open the doors before her and, Angel in front, stepped through them.

"Boys, play nice." Alyx waved a hand dismissively at the men who swung their weapons about to focus at her. "Oh, please. Something original would have been appreciated." All six men jerked to attention, their arms shifting to hold the guns at military parade rest. They seemed to be all too aware of their plight, eyes rolling wildly, and muscles twitching as they tried to fight the hold she had upon them. Alyx took no notice of their struggles, or so it appeared to Graywolf, their motions nothing more than those of some small insects entangled with in a web of a much larger spider.

"Kid, watch out," Hobbes warned, his near instant shout far too slow for her current ramped up reactions, and needless as she had already taken control of the situation to her satisfaction.

"Morris? What are you doing here? And why is my daughter with you?" Keller asked, staring at the unexpected visitors in surprise.

Xavier noticed the odd look exchanged between Fawkes and Hobbes, and, combined with the warning shouted seconds before, suggested that they saw Alyx as she truly was and not as a phantom copy of Stephen Morris. Though the fact that Keller knew Morris was a twist that Graywolf hadn't expected.

Alyx laughed, full-throated, her hair waving behind her like a banner as she shook her head, but when she spoke her words were deadly, as if the spider had decided which of the miniscule insects trapped within the sticky lines it would feast upon first. "Try again."

A shudder ran through Keller's body, like a leaf ruffled by sunrise breeze. He blinked several times, as if in disbelief of what he saw before him. "You. How did you find her?"

Alyx shrugged. "The trail was clear enough, all that money funneled through a dozen accounts and then to your," She coughed delicately, "wife in England." She cocked her head to the side, plainly gauging the man's reactions. "Where some of that money originated is rather... interesting. Wouldn't you say?"

"Kid," Hobbes warned. "Now's not the time."

"Bobby-boy, this is the perfect time. All the pawns are in place and the king is in check." She swung back to Keller. "Or should I say check-mate?"

Keller, much to Graywolf's surprise, reached for a weapon he'd apparently stuffed into the back of his slacks. He swung it about and fired it at Alyx, clearly not even pausing to consider the fact that his daughter, who was easily as tall as the older woman, stood before his target.

The bullet began to slow in mid-air before it traveled more than a yard from the muzzle, but it didn't stop. Just continued it's slow motion movement across the room until finally pausing less than a foot away from Angel's right eye. "Tsk-tsk. You should really hit the range more often. You might have killed her. Or was she who you were aiming for?" The bullet dropped to the tiled floor with a metallic clink.

Keller fired three more times, the bullets not slowing one whit until impacting some invisible barrier a yard in front of the pair of women.

"Harrison, for god's sake, stop it," Lee cried out from where he still knelt on the floor. Fawkes and Hobbes had moved over to the quartet, Hobbes' Colt out and at the ready should the need to protect them should become necessary.

Alyx's right hand twitched ever so slightly and Keller's gun was yanked away to spin across the floor where it finally came to rest before Lee, the muzzle pointing in Keller's direction. "Yes, Harrison, stop it. Or is it another case of if you can't have her, no one can'?"

"Is that what all this was about?" Lee questioned, his voice rising. "Because she chose me?"

"Of course it was you fool," Keller spat, full of righteous anger. "Angela was supposed to be mine."

Lee seemed to be stunned by this revelation and unable to form a response, but a soft child-like voice filled the gap.

"Daddy?"

Keller's response was quick and full of saccharine sweetness, "It's all right honey. Daddy will take care of everything."

Alyx snorted then shifted slightly to speak directly into the girl's ear, but everyone else could hear the words with ease. "Do you really believe he's your father, Angel?" She straightened and turned to gaze directly upon Harrison Keller, or so Graywolf assumed from his position still directly behind her. "Him? With that blonde hair and blue eyes? Well... the eyes maybe, I suppose, but we all know you got those from your mother. Who, by the way, is not the woman we left behind in London." She tipped her head slightly to the right. "A'course you're not Connor's father either, are you? How much did you have to pay her to take on the role? To play your wife and be the mother to some stranger's child? Did you pay her to get pregnant? Certainly makes it look as if you have a happy marriage, though anyone with even a basic ability at math could figure out that there is no way you could have fathered Connor. And that with being generous for the possible conception date."

Keller twitched, but did no more than that, which made no sense to Gray. Had he been in a similar position he probably would have tried to shut Alyx up by any means. Yet, the man just stood there, his jaw clenched in rage and eyes trying to burn a hole through Alyx's head. "Tsidi...."

She ignored his quiet attempt to garner her attention, the fingers of one hand running lightly through the girl's hair. "William Lee Mercherson, however, is the right age, has the right racial mix and is looking for something quite precious to him." Alyx curved a hand about the girl's throat when Keller surged forward a single step, but no more than that as she tugged on one of her "threads" and held him firmly in place. The spider not yet done playing with her meal. "You can get up now, Mr. Lee, they won't harm you."

Lee glanced to his compatriots and as one they got to their feet. "Thank you," he said.

Alyx laughed brightly. "I wouldn't do that just yet," she advised.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Keller yelled, plainly infuriated at her interference in whatever little game he had going on. "You can't just walk in here and... and take over my home."

"I'd say you're wrong about that," Darien pointed out in a dry as dust tone.

"Kid, we can handle it from here," Hobbes added, his voice painfully controlled, almost as if he suspected something was wrong.

"But we haven't gotten to the good part yet," she whined, her voice grating. "Don't you want to know just why dear old Harrison went through all this trouble?" She turned to Lee. "Why your best friend deceived you?" Then back to Keller. "Why he so carefully planned every single moment of his life since your high school prom?"

"Shut up you... you bitch."

Gray had no idea what she did, but suspected it was painful as Keller paled and swallowed with obvious difficulty even as he remained defiant.

"Alyx," Darien said warningly, his voice dropping an octave. "Let him talk if he wants."

"Yes," Lee agreed, clearly wanting the information just to satisfy his own needs. "Tell me why you did this. Why you destroyed everything I held dear."

Alyx must have been playing with Keller's mind, pulling knobs and pushing buttons, bringing to the forefront every piece of information that she wanted to be heard, for the response burst from him like a dam collapsing under the onslaught of heavy rains. "Why? You really are a fool. It was all for Angela. She was mine. Heart, mind, and soul." Keller moved, pacing forward jerkily. "And she picked you." The personal insult was plain in his voice. "She was meant for better than the likes of you. For me. I just had to show her. And you made it so easy for me."

"We were friends, Harris. How could you do that?" Lee questioned; the pain in his voice easy to hear.

"Friends? No, we were competitors. The two best in Angela's eyes, but somehow you blinded her. So, I started planning. I took my time... but then she was pregnant. The child that should have been mine - ours - and I knew I couldn't wait any longer." He was smiling in glee now, so caught up in his words that he was practically blind to everything about him, including the child he had claimed as his daughter. "It was so easy to bribe the doctors once I realized that Angela was still loyal to you. I had to make her see the truth, you know? Wanted to be the one to save her so that she'd realize it was me she loved and not you."

"What did you do?" Lee hissed.

"What I had to," Keller shouted. "But the doctor I'd paid off screwed it up and... and..."

"You killed her." Lee's voice was icy cold.

"No! I loved her. I would have taken care of everything, been everything she needed or wanted for the rest of her life. She'd never have to lift a finger again." Keller's face had flushed with the words. "You could never offer her that, could never give her what she really needed. You were never worthy of her."

"That's not love," Lee stated somberly. "That's possession."

Possession. The word echoed hollowly in Xavier's mind for tiny piece of eternity. Possession. Wanting what he couldn't have and deciding to take it anyway, by any means. To chase away any and all others until the object of the... the obsession had no choice but to turn to him. To see with only a thick pair of blinders; his needs, his wants and to hell with anything or anyone else. Oh, for the love of ma'ii, was this what he had become? Was he nothing more than a slightly more sane version of Harrison Keller, who loved (his perverted version of that emotion anyway) so much that he'd be willing to kill what he cared most for in order to never lose it? Would he... could he hold a gun up to Alyx's head and pull the trigger just to keep her from marrying Fawkes?

With what was surely a visible shudder, he knew the answer was no. Knew that he could never take things that far. Knew, finally, that Shari had made the right choice. It was her life after all, and not his. To control, to judge, or to possess. And neither was Alyx's. He looked down at the woman, her hand still curled about the throat of Angel, her fiancé a mere 10 feet away who was watching the scene before them play out like something from a bad B horror film. Her choice. Her life.

By admitting that to himself, an odd and before unnoticed tightness within his mind eased and he knew, no matter what happened after today, he would do what he could to make amends, to show her that he would support her in whatever decisions she would make for as long as she would allow him. It made him wish he'd listened to his Uncle Zach all those years ago when lectured about his folly with Shari. He had so much to make up for.

"God damn it, kid, stop it!" Hobbes' shout brought the world back into a sharp focus for Graywolf and he discovered that Alyx had used her powers to lift Keller about three feet into the air, struggling against the unseen web he now knew he was trapped within.

"Sil?" Xavier questioned, confused by the sudden situation change of the last few seconds. "You don't want to do this."

She rounded on him, her hold still on the girl who, for the most part, seemed unaware of what was going on about her. "What I want is none of your goddamned business," she sneered. "I don't plan on getting my hands dirty with this... insect." Her words reflecting Gray's own thoughts of a spider with a fly. "It would be much more appropriate for his own men to kill him. Don't you think?"

The sound of guns being brought to bear was surprisingly loud, and the creak of triggers being squeezed, like fingernails being drawn slowly across a chalkboard.

It was Darien's overly calm voice that broke the stillness, Gray's own having been stolen away by the cold, calculating viciousness of hers. "So, Alyx, you plan on taking a vacation in Cabo after this?"

The words seemed to reverberate through the room for an incredibly long instant, and then Alyx slowly turned to look at Darien. "Cabo? What?" She violently shuddered, releasing Xavier from the hold he hadn't even known he'd been trapped within. She staggered back several steps, shaking her head violently, as if trying to toss something from her by force. Gray gently grabbed Angel and steered her over to where Fawkes and Hobbes stood with Lee and his friends. Lee didn't hesitate and wrapped an arm about the girl's shoulders as she returned to a confused awareness.

"What is happening?" Gray asked of Hobbes sotto voce.

"Trouble," Hobbes responded, a deep frown upon his features. He brought his gun up to bear on Alyx, and at that moment Gray did not have the will to stop him, somehow knowing that, whatever was happening, Hobbes had a much better grasp of the situation than himself.

"Alyx, let them go," Darien ordered, his voice harsh as he cautiously strode towards her.

"I... I... Would you just shut up?" she shouted suddenly, and it was obvious to Gray it was not aimed at any of them.

"Graywolf, call Cavanaugh and get someone over here ASAP. This could still blow up in our faces." Hobbes was wavering between Alyx and Keller's gunmen about the room. They, at least, still appeared to be caught up in whatever Alyx had done to them.

Gray did as requested; the conversation short, swift and with the assurance that the needed backup was on the way.

"I believe we can assist," Lee offered, and at Hobbes' nod, his friends quickly disarmed those that had taken them captive, Keller's handgun remaining untouched on the floor, and shifting the balance of power to their side of the scales.

Darien made it to Alyx, who was talking gibberish at herself, her body looking like it was being pulled in multiple directions at once, and set a hand on her shoulder. She froze in place, her eyes flashing that intense electric white light for an instant, then her legs folded and Darien held on, keeping her upright. "Darien?" The single word was laden with massive amounts of confusion to Graywolf's ears.

"Yeah, baby, it's me. Think you can put Keller down?" The request was said in a slightly amused-sounding tone of voice that Gray was certain was forced. Which made him wonder exactly when he'd become such an expert on Darien Fawkes in the last few days.

She didn't respond directly, but Keller was indeed lowered to the floor, only dropping the last foot or so, perhaps some remnant of that previous mood still wanting to inflict some measure of pain on the man. Keller simply lay there, his lungs heaving as he was able to finally take in a full breath, but it was obvious he'd been broken, that he remembered exactly what he'd said and knew the consequences of the truth, even just this small part of it, being revealed.

"Alyx..."

"Take me home," she pleaded, her head tipped down and body limp in his hold. Darien glanced back at where Gray and Hobbes stood, the elder agent's weapon lowering as the perceived threat fled.

Xavier said, "Go, we'll handle this."

Fawkes didn't even bother to respond. Just lifted her into his arms and carried her towards the front of the house and out of sight.

"What the hell just happened?" Graywolf asked once they had left the room, certain it was of the utmost importance, perhaps even more so than his personal revelation.

"The worst thing possible," Hobbes responded, as the sound of wailing sirens drew near. "She lost control."