Author's Note: NGL, I was not expecting to make it to three chapters. Okay granted I was expecting this to be a oneshot. But I am having so much fun.

Also, sorry this update took so long. I completely forgot to post XD

So let's get going!

Previously on Ralph Dibny, PI:

Vayden started to laugh. "I am impressed," he declared, lowering his gun. "I wasn't really expecting him to show up."

Then, with one smooth movement that was too fast for Ralph to anticipate, he pulled a different gun from his belt and fired. Ralph prepared himself to rebound the bullet, hopefully to some place that would hurt Vayden and not kill him, but instead he felt a searing pain coat his skin.

He let out a scream, the pain intensifying in an instant, and fell to his knees.

Vayden laughed again, stepping up to Ralph's side. "Then again," he said. "I'm prepared for everything."

Then he reared back and brought the butt of his gun down on Ralph's head.

Everything went black.

Present time:

Ralph woke up unable to feel anything but his pounding head.

At first, he thought it was just because the headache overpowered every other sensation. But then he realized he was literally numb from his neck to the tops of his legs, all through his torso, arms and hands.

Panic bubbled up in him like a soda bottle with a mento inside. After struggling blindly against his bindings for a second, trying to bat down his terror, he managed to wrench his eyes open and take a look around.

Ralph's ankles were bound and he had a foul-smelling gag tied around his mouth, muffling his panicked pants. His arms were chained to the chair he was on by glowing blue cuffs.

Power dampeners.

Ralph tried to remember what had happened. There had been a gun, somehow he had gotten hurt... he'd been on a roof... he'd been investigating a drug cartel leader named Vayden with Sue-

Sue.

"SUE!" Ralph garbled, his voice barely comprehendible through the gag. "SUE!"

There was the sound of a deadbolt sliding back and Ralph froze. The door in front of him slowly creaked open, and none other than Vayden Marx himself stepped inside Ralph's prison.

"The sleeping prince awakes," he said with a chuckle. "You've been out for awhile, stretchy boy."

Ralph managed to work his mouth enough to get the gag down around his chin. "Where's Sue?" he demanded angrily. "What have you done with her?"

Vayden started to laugh and took a step back, waving his hand out the door so it'd be visible to anyone standing in the hallway. After a moment of hesitation, a new figure walked into the room.

Sue Dearbon.

Ralph felt his heart sink. "You were in on this," he realized, looking at Sue with betrayal and hurt scrawled all over his face. "You were in on this the whole time."

Sue shrank into herself a little. "I'm sorry, Slick," she murmured. "He had my parents. What was I supposed to do?"

Ralph didn't answer.

"Awww, don't apologize Suey, you made the right choice!" Vayden said, reaching over to pat her patronizingly on the shoulder. "Besides, without your help I never wouldn't have gotten my hands on him." His gaze turned to Ralph, suddenly piercing. "I knew that you and Sue had a bit of a... connection. Word gets around about these kinds of things. So I went to her and asked nicely that she help me to capture you. She refused. So I kidnapped her parents and forced her hand."

"I wanted to tell you," Sue said, her voice breaking a little. "Slick, I-"

"Leave," Vayden growled, slapping her suddenly across the face. Sue stumbled, taking the blow. "You've done your part. Me and my team will forget all about you and your parents if you walk out of here right now and never cross me again."

Sue swallowed hard, looking between Vayden, the door, and Ralph. Finally she spun and hurried out of the room.

"Wonderful," Vayden said. "Now that we're alone, I can continue. See, without Sue's help, I never would have known how to get under your skin. You're a hard man to hurt, Mr. Stretch, but there are a few things that will do the trick. I used my element of surprise to shoot you with a very fine needle laden with neurotoxins. Let's just say that people have felt your pain... when stepping on a puffer fish."

Ralph glowered at him. He knew he should be bubbling over with hate for Vayden but in truth he was just angry at Sue. And, honestly, at himself. How had he fallen for those big brown eyes again? How could he have let her play him like that?

Then again. If he hadn't been here right now, Sue's parents might be dead. It was an odd way to save a life, but at least he was. Still, Ralph had to wish that Sue had just told him the truth. They could have worked together to double-cross Vayden. At this very moment, Sue could be getting the incriminating evidence about him and preparing to break Ralph out.

Vayden took a step forward. "So," he said. "You ready to get started?"

For a moment, Ralph thought he had zoned out and missed something.

Then he felt the first punch.

linebreaker

'This might be the end of Ralph Dibny, PI.

Feeling has returned to my body, but along with that there's a whole world of pain. If nothing more, Vayden knowns how to deliver a pretty good beating. It's impossible to tell what he's planning to do with me. The guy hasn't even removed my mask. He hasn't given me any sort of tragic backstory where I wasn't able to saved a loved one or I got him put in jail. Honestly, I don't think I even saw him before today.

Oh, today. What I wouldn't give to erase today. To be back in my office with the cold wind making the windows creak, feeling stuck inside a cage. Now I'm really stuck in a case, and no one knows where I am.

Well. Sue Dearbon knows where I am, but I highly doubt that she'll be rushing to come to my rescue.'

Ralph let his eyes fall closed with a sigh and stopped his mental-journaling. Considering he had no way to access the journal still stuffed inside his suit it was more of a way to pass the time than anything else, but it made his head hurt.

Why had he trusted her? It was a question that was circulating around his brain like a looped railroad track. Why had he trusted Sue Dearbon when all she'd done for their entire time together was trick him? Why?

Ralph heard the deadbolt open again and slowly lifted his head. Vayden had left maybe twenty minutes ago- though it was impossible to tell time with any certainty in here. For all he knew, he had passed out without realizing it and it had really been hours.

The door swung open. Instead of Vayden's hulking shadow, there was a petite, lithe silhouette framed in the hallway light.

"What're you doing here, Sue?" Ralph asked, his voice gravely. He was too dejected to even muster up any surprise that she was there.

Sue walked slowly into the room and shut the door behind her as softly as she could. "I'm break you out," she said in a low voice, kneeling down in front of him.

"What?" Ralph straightened a little. "What about your parents?"

Sue tapped her shirt, where the tiny video camera they had put on her was still miraculously present. "I think we've got enough evidence to get this guy in jail for a long time. Besides... if my parents need help I'll know who to call." She flashed him a smile, thought it seemed a little weak, and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair.

Ralph sat back, watching as she started to fiddle with the locks on his power dampening cuffs. "I'm not going to say thank you," he said sullenly. "If that's what you were looking for."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Sue told him softly. She finished with the first cuff and moved on to the one on his left wrist. "Ralph... what I did to you... I'll never forgive myself."

"Is it impossible for you to tell the truth? Ever?" Ralph asked, gazing at her. "I mean, Sue, we could have worked this out together. We could have stopped Vayden in a way that didn't include getting me beaten with in an inch of my life."

"I know, I know, I-" Sue broke off and stopped fiddling with the cuff, sitting back on her heels and pushing her hair back. "I was scared, Ralph. I was terrified. And yes, I just used your actual name. Don't get used to it."

His lips twitched against his will, and Sue twisted the bobby-pin one more time. The dampening cuff snapped open and Ralph let out a breath of relief as he could almost feel his powers flowing back into him. He lifted his arms and carefully massaged his bruised wrists, trying to coax feeling back into his hands.

"What was he going to do to me?" Ralph asked after a moment. "He didn't even take off my mask."

Sue shrugged, rising to her feet. "You're a superhero. No one cares about Ralph Dibny- no offense. But they care about the Elongated Man- and they especially care to get him out of commission. Vayden figured out that I was connected with you and that he could use me to get you captured... and then sell you off to the highest bidder. I don't even think he was going to kill you- I guess he'd just let his client do that."

Ralph let out a breath, shaking his head a little. Obviously, he didn't want to be sold and killed, but there was a certain amount of pride with knowing that he served enough of a threat to actually be captured for that purpose.

"We should get going," Sue said in a low voice, glancing over her shoulder at the door. "If someone passes by your cell it's not going to be hard to see that the deadbolt's pushed back. It wouldn't be great if we both got trapped in here."

Ralph nodded and got to his feet, but the pulse of pain that came from everywhere in his body made him dizzy. He stumbled forward and Sue caught him by the shoulders, bending a little under his weight. "He really messed you up, huh?" she said softly, reaching up and brushing some of Ralph's hair back.

He resisted the urge to lean into her touch and straightened up with some difficulty. "I'm fine. Let's go."

Half-supporting him with an arm around his waist, Sue led the way out of Ralph's cell. The hallways was blessedly deserted and they made their way to a set of stairs at the far end.

There was a shout from behind them, and Sue swore quietly and increased their pace. Ralph risked a glance back and quickly spotted one of Vayden's companions charging down the hallway towards them, thankfully too focused on running to think of lifting his gun.

Ralph gritted his teeth and tugged away from Sue. "We have to run," he said, preparing himself for a whole world of pain. "Actually... you have to run."

"What?" she said, eyes wide.

"I'll be right behind you," Ralph promised, though he had no way to know if that was true. He shot another glance down the hallway and saw the muscle much too close for comfort. "Go!"

Sue looked between him and Vayden's compatriot and took off running. Ralph jogged after her, trying to tap into his powers to make his legs a little longer.

But he was still weak from his recent beating and he felt his chest start to burn with the strain. Just a few feet from the stairs and freedom, he stumbled and went down. That was all it took for Vayden's man to catch up and grab him by the arms. "Gotchu," he crowed.

Sue, already at the top of the staircase, stopped moving and turned around.

"Go!" Ralph yelled at her. "Get out of here!"

Her entire body seemed to tremble with indecision. Then, at the last moment, she launched herself off the stairs and landed a kick at the man's face. He went down, knocked unconscious by the full force of her gravity.

Sue landed in a crouch. "Not again," she said to Ralph, her face pale. "I'm not going to leave you again."

He was unable to resist a smile as she slipped her arm around him again and they made their way out.

linebreaker

'So Ralph Dibny, PI, is alive. Currently covered with about a freezer's worth of ice packs and a curtain's amount of gauze, but alive.

I'm in the CCPD. Sue and I made it out of the warehouse (she's right; bad guys really do use those too much) I was trapped in and got to the precinct by way of Sue hot-wiring Vayden's car and driving us away. I got the evidence incriminating Vayden to Joe and now Sue is in questioning. I'd be worried, but if anyone can lie, it's Sue Dearbon.'

Ralph closed his notebook with a smile. He heard the sound of voices in the nearly silent, deserted precinct (it was almost 2 in the morning) and looked over to see Sue and the cop she'd been talking with coming out of their meeting room.

Ralph got stiffly to his feet, half of his icepacks sliding and one of them hitting the floor with a somewhat wet splat. "Officer," he greeted.

"Hey, Elongated Man," the officer replied. "You guys are good to go. We'll need you to come in and testify at Vayden's trial, though. There's some forms over their that you can fill out."

He walked over to his station, probably to keep drinking the coffee they'd interrupted him from, and Sue and Ralph went to do as he'd said.

"So," Ralph said in a low voice as he put in a fake number that he'd have to get Cisco to set up for him so the cops wouldn't figure out his identity. "What did you tell him?"

Sue smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Yes, I would."

"Tell me who the Flash is and I'll tell you what I said," Sue challenged, smirking wider.

Ralph considered... for like four seconds. "No deal," he huffed. "How about, 'tell me what you said because you've betrayed me like 82 times in the past two months'."

"I've betrayed you twice," Sue groaned. "Don't be dramatic."

They finished their paperwork and made their way out of the precinct to stand on the upper landing. "So..." Ralph said, a little awkwardly. "You... want to come back to my place?"

Sue raised her eyebrows.

"It's late," Ralph elaborated, too tired to be flustered by his innuendo. "Or, early, I guess. And we've had a long day. I don't have a guest bedroom but I don't mind sleeping on the couch."

"I'm good," Sue declined, glancing at her watch. "I have places to be. But I'll see you around, Slick."

She turned to walk away and Ralph felt frustration bubbling up in him. "So, that's it?" he demanded. "I look for you for months, I help you, I help you again even when you stab me in the back and get me pummeled by a drug lord... and then you just walk away? Again? With nothing more than a 'see you around'?"

Sue turned back around and grinned. "What, did you want a kiss?"

"Maybe I did," Ralph huffed, crossing his arms.

Sue laughed and walked back towards him, putting her arms carefully around his neck. "This can't work between us," she whispered, their faces so close their noses bumped together. "This whole... cat and mouse thing we've begun."

"I don't know," Ralph replied with a shrug, resting his hands lightly on her hips. "I think that we do it pretty well."

Sue let out a breath, leaning forward to gently brush their lips together. "There," she said when she'd pulled back. "Now you've had your taste."

She unwound from him and began to walk off again. "Sue!" Ralph called, stopping her one last time.

Sue turned around, looking a little exasperated. "Yes...?"

"I have a weird way with tastes," Ralph said, smiling. "They always make me want more."

"Well then," Sue grinned. "You better brush up on your detective work, Slick. Because I'm not an easy woman to find."

"I'll find you," Ralph vowed. "I'm Ralph Dibny, PI."

Author's Note: ANNNNND that's a wrap! I'm considering writing some short deleted/expanded/extra scenes from this story, like where she hot-wires the car or maybe one where he goes shopping with her instead of waiting in the parking lot. I had to cut some things so I could start each section with a journal entry.

What do you guys think? That, as I've said like 80 times, was so fun for me. Please prompt me for them! I want to write more :D