postscript

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Claire sat down at the table, Alyx had clearly been there for a while, her laptop open, files spread across the tabletop, a half-filled cup of coffee being ignored in favor of hand-written notes in a lab journal. Even upside down Claire could tell Alyx was working on a chemical formula.

"We are having lunch, yes?"

Alyx lifted her head, another pen tucked behind her left ear, much to Claire's amusement. "What? Yes, of course. My treat."

Claire slipped out of her jacket and set beside her on the cushion. "A working lunch I take it."

Alyx nodded. "Yeah. I didn't want to discuss this at the office. Too many ears." She set the pen down, picked up and sipped the coffee, then grimaced. "Cold coffee, ick."

Claire laughed softly. "What are you working on?"

"A problem," Alyx muttered. "This is going to sounds nuts, but I will swear to you it's true. On the day his father was killed Darien went Quicksilvermad without having a full overdose of toxin in his system."

"That… That shouldn't be possible."

Alyx's lips quirked. "Least you didn't say it couldn't be possible."

"Where you and Darien are concerned I've learned to never say anything is impossible." Claire pondered the situation for a few moments, ideas of how rattling around in her head, but she wanted to hear Alyx's information first. "What did you see?"

Alyx closed her eyes, tipping her head to the side. "Doe was standing over Mason, having just delivered the kill shot. Darien charged him, knocked him to the ground. The pistol and cell phone fall to the ground. Darien jumps atop him, Doe face up. Darien wraps his hands about his throat, but not choking, just using his neck to pound the back of Doe's head into the ground." She opened her eyes to meet Claire's. "I tried to pull Darien off Doe, but he had a full mad on. Hell, he has bruises on his back from how hard I was hitting him, but I had to shock him to get him off. When he turned his head…" Alyx rubbed her eyes, and Claire could not help but notice she looked exhausted. "Claire, his eyes were full red, Stage Four based on the little I got from him. But after, his eyes were back to normal."

Claire didn't doubt Alyx's word, but perhaps she simply had misunderstood what she'd seen. "Alyx, he was only at six segments when I examined him later that day. Affected by the toxin, yes, that I can believe, but not with full red eyes."

"I know. I saw it and I have trouble believing it." Alyx tapped the notebook. "I've been working the problem and I can resolve half of it. Given his control over the Quicksilver, and knowing that the toxin is separate it is possible he could gain control over it as well."

Claire nodding, not disagreeing with her assessment. Even Kevin had remarked on his brother's unexpected skill with the Quicksilver. "But he does not produce the Counteragent, so even if he could produce the toxin he could not flush it from his system."

"And that's where I got stuck as well," Alyx admitted. "But presuming he can produce the toxin…"

"He might very well have figured out a way to counter it naturally given he's been exposed to the Counteragent for so long." Claire could not dismiss her concerns out of hand. "This could be a problem."

"No shit," Alyx muttered. "Could… could the toxin inhibitor have changed the gland? Changed him?"

Claire could hear the worry in Alyx's voice, her concern for Darien real. "Why wait so long to talk to me about it?" It had been over a week since Mason Fawkes had been killed on a dead end road at the foot of a dam.

"I wanted to see if it were possible first." She waved at the computer.

"I'm guessing by your tone that it is." It would take an amazing amount of control over the gland, but Darien had broken all the rules Kevin had thought existed when it came to the Quicksilver gland. Most of what Darien could do ran on that fine edge of possible and implausible. He amazed her every single day. "We'll need to go through everything. Every illness, every chemical, every drug that had even the faintest chance of affecting his system." She reached out and set her hand over one of Alyx's. "We'll figure this out."

Alyx ran a hand through her hair. "I know we will." She sighed heavily. "We can't tell him. Not until we know something… anything. He doesn't even realize it happened."

"Agreed. I will make up some reason for the tests I'll need to run. Maybe testing for a new toxin inhibitor."

"Or removal of the toxin gene. That would let you get away with a biopsy sample," Alyx suggested, making it clear she'd been thinking about this for more than just a few hours.

Claire nodded. "We may need your lab to run some of the tests."

"You'll have all the access you need. There will be credentials waiting for you when you arrive," Alyx told her. "I should warn you I do have ulterior motives in this."

"Aside from helping Darien?" Claire knew Alyx always had a plan,and always took the long-range view of things. And she knew Claire had an interest in the QSX Project and potential current applications. Opening up her lab would be the perfect tease. The Agency simply did not have the budget to purchase the equipment Claire really needed to do her research properly.

Alyx just smiled.

Claire shook her head and laughed. "All right, let's order lunch and get to work."

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finis