A/N: Hello again :D I now present you with the next update in this little tale. Thanks goes out to my beta Uroboros75 for reading, editing and having a great reserve of patience ;) Also, thanks to my readers for sticking with this fic.

Chapter Nine: Incentive

"You're telling me that not only is there an undercover agent from the Other Side on the loose with a stolen vehicle and possible firearms, but that it's the Agent Dunham from the Other Side?" Broyles said with an extreme amount of exasperation.

"Unfortunately, yes," Peter answered.

Walter let out a frustrated growl. "That deceiving serpentine woman! To think that she had the audacity to weasel herself into our lives. If we'd let her stay much longer she would have coiled her plans around our throats and suffocated us...like a boa constrictor." He paused. "A real 'Bolivia'," he then said.

Peter folded his hands together and rested his forehead on them. There was a weight in his posture and only he knew why; it wasn't what he'd done that burdened him, but what he knew that he'd have to do.

"I need to go back," he said solemnly. "I have to cross back over."

Walter's face filled with shock, every contour billowing slightly with anger. "No, absolutely not."

"Walter..." Peter said.

"No, it's out of the question! Crossing over is far too dangerous." He then lowered his voice slightly, his eyes twinkling with a silent plea. "Walternate is doing this to get you back over there so he can put you in that machine."

"Walter," Peter protested, "I'm from the Other Side. It will be easier for me than anyone else to navigate through there since I won't have a double to worry about."

Walter shook his head slightly. "No. It's still too dangerous. Crossing over could damage the universes further. There has to be another way."He stood from his seat next to Peter and started walking towards the door of the lab, but Peter's reserve of patience had run dry and he stood to protest again.

"Walter, you crossed over once to save someone you loved."

He saw his father stop, but he didn't turn.

"Let me do the same," Peter finished.

Walter turned then, a wry Cheshire grin sprawled over his face. "You know, Peter, it's about time that the two of you got together.

"Peter rolled his eyes slightly. "Walter..."

They both paused as the door to the lab opened. Broyles and Astrid came in.

"Peter," Astrid said, "I just called Olivia's sister and she hasn't seen her."

"Does Rachel know?" Astrid shook her head, her expression hopeful but her eyes sad and dark like a broken vase.

"Hopefully she'll never have to," Peter said with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes, fatigue after him again.

"Peter," Broyles said, "I just got a call from Nina Sharp. She said that 'Olivia' came to Massive Dynamic about an hour ago requesting files on Cortexiphan."

Peter felt his eyebrows scrunch together. "Cortexiphan? Why would she be after that? Couldn't Walternate have just synthesized some on the other side?"

"Perhaps the compounds required to produce Cortexiphan are not present on the other side due to the Blight," Walter chimed in. "But even then, for the other Olivia to have it now would be highly dangerous."

"And why is that?" Broyles asked.

"Belly and I designed Cortexiphan specifically for children, since we hypothesized that a child's abilities are close to limitless. Bolivia's abilities have been limited because of her experiences with her environment and the consequential limiting of her imagination."

"Maybe she's not after it for herself," Peter said.

The attention shifted to him, one arm crossed and supporting the elbow of his other hand as he spoke. "Maybe she's after it because Walternate knows that Olivia has Cortexiphan in her body."

A long pause filled the room, bending around the contours of Walter's equipment and swirling around Peter's throat like vines. He swallowed thickly.

"Peter," Broyles said, "I'm assigning you an escort until we capture the alternate Olivia. I've just put up an alert on her license plate and I've already got two teams searching for her."

"Good. Where are they?" asked Peter. "I'll go and give them a hand."

"No," Broyles answered sternly. "You're going to Massive Dynamic with Walter and Astrid to talk to Nina Sharp."

"Look, Broyles," Peter said. "I've spent the last few weeks with her. I know how she acts and thinks. I'd be a better help out there than I would be at Massive Dynamic!" His last sentence was tinted with rage, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Walter frown.

"Be that as it may, Peter, she also knows you. She's spent the last few weeks with you, and right now that concerns me a lot more."

Broyles turned and left the lab as Peter sat back on a chair, his entire body burning and aching from something that he couldn't quite describe. His throat was tight as his shoulders hunched over the rest of his body and his hands curved over his face, his eyes squeezed shut.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, gentle and soothing as it smoothed circles on his back. "Don't worry, son," Walter whispered. "We'll get her back."

Please leave a review on your way out, I'd love to hear from you guys! Let me know what you think :D