Artemus stumbled as Voltaire shoved him into what appeared to be a jail cell somewhere in Loveless' new hideout. Behind him the cell door clanged shut and he turned around in time to see some sort of glass door slide shut as well. Outside the cell, Dr. Loveless rocked on his heels and looked extremely pleased.

"So, have you any guesses as to what the mystery vials contained?" Loveless grinned and rubbed his hands together.

Artie saw Loveless' mouth moving but the sound came from the upper corner of the cell and he glanced in that direction as he answered. "No, but you are going to tell me aren't you Doctor?"

Loveless giggled. "No. I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own. By tomorrow you should begin to feel it working in you. I do hope you like your room. I modeled it after my favorite jail cell and added a few extra features such as the extra security," Loveless gestured to the glass outside of the bars, "and the device that allows us to chat despite the glass between us," Loveless pointed to the upper corner of Gordon's cell.

"Very creative," Artemus muttered and folded his arms across his chest.

"I'll be back to check on you a little later. Mr. West should be arriving anytime now and I must be ready to greet him. Tata!" With that, Loveless exited with Antoinette.

Artemus looked around his spartanly furnished cell. There was another cell next to his, currently with no occupant but Artemus was sure that was going to change once his partner showed up. He checked the metal bars and then decided to give the glass wall right behind the bars a kick. The glass didn't break so he kicked harder but nothing happened. There was the usual lock at the front of the bars. There was also a small slot at the bottom of the front cell bars for a plate to be shoved through and a small rectangular portion of the glass door that lifted up to allow access to the plate slot of the cell bars. The glass wall was only between the bars of the front of the cells and the rest of the room but the two cells were only separated by the bars. Artie reached into his inside jacket pockets and found that they were empty. Likewise his vest pocket and the inside of his hat were empty also. Not like he needed to check to know that he was divested of everything, for Loveless knew him too well by now. With nothing else left to do but think, he sat down on the little cot next to the bars separating his cell from what was probably going to be his partner's cell and plopped his hat down next to him.

What did Loveless inject into him? Outright poison? Some kind of drug to drive him insane or to try to control him? Whatever it was, it was supposed to take effect within 24 hours and the only thing he could do about it was to wait to find out.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Dr. Loveless stepped down from the porch of the abandoned house turned laboratory and waited impatiently for the carriage to stop then he motioned his two hired "assistants" forward. The driver got down and opened the door to the coach. Lina cautiously put a dainty foot out and took the driver's offered hand down.

"Did you bring him here as I have asked?"

Lina smoothed her dress and stepped aside, "yes, Doctor. He is unconscious thanks to that ring that you gave me."

Loveless giggled and rubbed his hands together, "excellent Lina! You may go inside and freshen up. Sampson, Willie," Loveless gestured toward the carriage. "Put Mr. West in his cell."

Without a word, the two thugs hauled West's unconscious body out of the carriage and into the house.

Artemus looked up when he heard the door to the lab open and quickly jumped up at the sight. Two heavies were carrying his unconscious partner and dumped Jim on the floor in the cell next to his.

"Jim? Jim, come on buddy, wake up," Artie tried calling to his partner and kicking the bars between their cells to try to rouse his partner who was beyond his reach.

Loveless walked over to the cells, "do calm down Mr. Gordon. I assure you there is nothing wrong with Mr. West."

Artemus angrily faced Loveless, "what did you do to him?!"

"Oh I did nothing to Mr. West, at least not yet," Loveless smiled and held back a laugh.

Before he could continue hounding Loveless, a muffled groan caught Artie's ear.

James slowly sat up on the hard ground and took a breath then he carefully rose and stood. "Loveless. All you had to do was to send me an invitation if you wanted me to visit you that bad."

Loveless shrugged, "well, you are here now. Does it really matter how you got here? Now you two may catch up with each other and I will leave Sampson here to keep you both company," Loveless giggled as he left the basement-lab.

After Loveless left Jim gestured at the glass outside the bars of his cell and Artie's. "Well, this is new."

"Yeah, not quite sure what the purpose is," Artemus shrugged.

"Have any idea what he wants this time," Jim asked as he examined their surroundings.

Artemus sat down on his pathetic cot, "He hasn't started bragging yet. He did inject something into me though."

Jim grabbed the bars between their cells, "what?! What did he inject into you?"

Artemus sighed, "I don't know Jim. He wanted to play a guessing game. Apparently I'm supposed to be his guinea pig for something."

"Well, how do you feel? What do you think it could be that he injected you," Jim held off voicing his more morbid thoughts, forbidding himself to even go there.

"It's too early to tell yet, Jim. Right now I suggest trying to come up with a plan on how to get out of here," Artemus stretched out on the miserable cot with his hands folded behind his head and his feet propped up on the edge of the cot.

"Yeah. We'll have to watch for an opportunity," West said as he eyed Sampson by the door.