A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Keep it up!

"What's going on?" Frank demanded of Dr. Fox.

"We did not want to have to involve you in this." the middle-aged man replied gravely. "But when you stumbled in on your own we had to change our plans."

"Darn right." Frank agreed darkly. He shot a wary look at Vanessa. He knew she was normally perfectly able to hold her own in a fight, but she had just been kidnapped and drugged. Who knew what condition she was in at the moment?

Seeing his look, Vanessa gave him a tight smile and drew herself up a little straighter.

"Such melodrama." Dr. Fox chided. "You know that the Foxes are not murderers. We certainly aren't planning to have you killed."

"And we appreciate it. We really do." Vanessa broke in sarcastically.

With that, the taller of the two musclemen seized her by the arm and held her tightly. "Quiet." he ordered. Vanessa stared at him defiantly but said nothing.

"You're hurting her." Dr. Fox admonished. "There will be no need for that." The tall man reluctantly relinquished his grip on Vanessa's arm, and Dr. Fox continued, "However, my daughter and I do need to ensure that the two of you are kept out of the way until we can make our escape. After that, you will be freed and we can all pretend this didn't happen."

"But what about the Mirage?" Frank asked.

Dr. Fox grinned. "The Mirage? Why don't you tell me?"

Frank gritted his teeth. "He doesn't exist, does he?"

"The very definition of mirage: something which only appears to exist... The name itself should have told you everything." Dr. Fox replied sagely.

"Well, aren't we clever?" Vanessa spat. The tall thug grabbed her by the arm again, but she shook him off.

Frank was beating himself up for not seeing it earlier. "You found Vanessa by accident and realized we'd come looking for her. You faked the whole Mirage kidnapping to throw us off your trail. You set this all up to keep us occupied while you, Fiona, and Charity pulled off that art theft!"

"That's right." Dr. Fox confirmed. "And, if you'll excuse me, I have important things to do." He turned to leave, offering a few parting words to his henchmen. "Remember, I want them incapacitated, not beaten."

The two men nodded. As soon as Dr. Fox was gone, the shorter one said, "Get the boy first." The tall man produced a coil of strong rope and approached Frank, who tensed himself for action. Vanessa inched towards the door.

"I'd stop there if I was you, sweetheart." The short man warned. From his pants pocket he pulled a small pistol and leveled it at her.

Frank groaned inwardly. Now they were outnumbered.

The tall thug turned back to Vanessa. "Trying to run?" he growled.

"I'm still thinking about it." Vanessa snapped back.

The tall man glowered at the infuriating blonde for a moment before a slow grin spread across his face, baring his crooked teeth. "Hey, I know what the boss said, but what do you say we rough 'em up a bit anyway?"

"Hey kid! Wha-"

Smack!

Wait for it...

Footsteps. A second man. "Hey, what's going on!"

Smack!

"Uggh!"

Joe shook out his fist and listened quietly for any more of the Mirage's henchmen. He couldn't believe he had gotten rid of Fiona's only "manpower" with only two punches. There was definitely something going on here, and he didn't like it...

As it turned out, the locked door was not the door to the exhibition room, but to the surveillance headquarters. Dozens of computer monitors played footage from the museum's security cameras. Fiona glanced around. "Good. There's no one here." Working quickly, she entered codes into several monitors.

"What are you doing?" Nancy hissed.

Fiona explained that she was feeding the cameras a loop. Every monitor in the security office would show an empty room.

"I thought that only worked in movies." Nancy commented.

"You'd better hope it works in real life, too, or we're going to get busted."

Nancy took that as her cue to shut up.

The short goon considered quickly. "Hey, it ain't like we're ever gonna see Fox again anyhow..."

The tall thug took this as his cue, cocking his fist to swing at Frank, who ducked the punch and buried his own fist in the man's stomach.

"Hey!" The short one called. "There'll be none of that now!" He gestured with the pistol, keeping it pointed at Vanessa. "Remember who has the gun. We wouldn't want your girlfriend here to get hurt."

Frank backed away from his attacker. Did they expect him to stand still and just take the beating? The tall man took another swipe at him, which he blocked. He could hold his own without attacking if he needed to, but only for so long. Blow after blow rained down on him, but only a few did any real damage.

Vanessa winced as Frank took a hard punch to the stomach. Involuntarily backing up, she bumped into a nightstand. Her hand brushed the desk phone. Quickly looking up at the short man, she saw that he was watching Frank, although the gun was still aimed at her. Behind her back, she detached the phone receiver from its cord without looking down. Recognizing her one chance, she winged the receiver at the short man's face with all her might and simultaneously leapt aside.

The short man fired. The bullet splintered the table Vanessa had been standing by just a few seconds ago. Frank took this opportunity to knock the tall man out with a single karate chop to the neck. The short man dropped the gun to mop the blood from his clearly-broken nose. "Stop!" he shouted thickly, blood spraying from his mouth.

"I don't think so." Vanessa said, scooping up the gun. Frank came up behind the bleeding henchman and knocked him out painlessly. Looking for a place to dispose of the gun, Vanessa dropped it into the toilet. Coming back into the bedroom, she found Frank checking the pulses of their unconscious attackers. "Are they okay?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Frank assured her. "Just a few bruises."

"And a bloody lip." Vanessa added, handing him a tissue. "You don't want to go meet Nancy looking like that." she teased.

"Nancy!" Frank gasped. He'd nearly forgotten. He grabbed Vanessa by the wrist and dragged her out of the hotel room. "She doesn't know that it's a trap!"

A/N: It's a bit longer than usual. I hope you liked it... please leave a review and let me know!