Chapter II
"God Damn it." Olivia Dunham slammed her black combat helmet onto the desktop, "God damn it."
Charlie Francis frowned with worry, "Don't go beating yourself up yet, Liv. We haven't cleared the building yet, they could still be here…" But Olivia was shaking her head, pulling the tie from her hair to let it fall loose over her armored shoulders.
"If we haven't got them by now, they're gone," she said bitterly, dropping her combat shotgun next to her helmet and flopping into the office chair with a sigh, "We weren't fast enough, Charlie. We never are."
"With all due respect, I wouldn't say that this was such an unexpected move, on the parts of the Bishops," Charlie replied, rubbing an eye tiredly, "I mean, think about it- Walter Bishop is sent to the asylum by his former lab mate, who then proceeds to make millions off research he stole. It was only a matter of time before they got around to revenge."
"You don't know Walter," Olivia said, "He's not like that. I don't think he even cared about Belle's good fortune."
Charlie was silent for a few moments, gathering the courage to ask, "What about Peter Bishop?"
Olivia looked up at him sharply, before calming herself, "Yeah, I guess you're right. He had the connections, the access to the information… provided generously by the US government…" her fuming was suddenly interrupted by the chiming of her cell phone, "Dunham," she growled.
Several floors below, Astrid Farnsworth was kneeling to examine the hastily-rigged jack, hanging from a mass of tangled wires, "Olivia, it's Astrid. It's the same as the other times- physical intrusion, then firewall hacking like only yours truly can do… the firewalls aren't remotely repairable. Then the information was downloaded into an external drive… judging by the trace components, I'd say it's been tweaked to a bigger capacity-"
"Enough of your technical hacker crap," Olivia growled, "Is it gone?"
Astrid nodded to herself, rising to place a hand on her hip, "The database has been wiped clean. The system is dead."
Olivia sighed, "Alright. Get back up here, there's nothing else you can do. I'll tell Broyals-"
"Agent Dunham," came a soft, quiet voice, and she looked up to see the form of Nina Sharpe in the doorway, "Still chasing your disobedient wards? I hope they haven't done anything drastic to my organization, or I may have to take it up with your superiors."
"Get up here, Astrid," Olivia said, and snapped the phone shut. She rose, "Peter and Walter Bishop have yet to be apprehended, and when they are, I assure you, your system will be restored."
Sharpe shook her head, laughing softly, "You're still think of them as rational individuals, agent Dunham. You keep forgetting that we are dealing with two criminals, now."
"Peter and Walter may be our opposition, Miss Sharpe, but they are far from stupid," Olivia replied evenly, "Astrid says there is evidence that your information has been loaded onto something, before being deleted. I have no doubt that they saved your information."
"Oh, I have no doubt they did," Sharpe agreed, "I assume it would fetch quite a price, in the underground. They are thieves and traitors, agent Dunham."
"Dunham," Philip Broyals interrupted before Olivia could reply, "This matter no longer concerns you. I want you to take Charlie and Astrid back to headquarters and monitor the situation," he glanced at Sharpe darkly, "Leave the… cooperate puppeteering to me."
"Watch yourself, Broyals," Sharpe murmured with a dark smile, "Let's not forget that it was you that set these maniacs loose, with the aid of Federal secrets, I might add. Massive Dynamic is now a victim of your top-secret whims."
xXx
It had only been three months since Peter and Walter had disappeared. One morning, Olivia had gone to their hotel room, only to find they had checked out the previous night. Only a few days after that, a leading pharmaceutical company had been stricken with the crippling loss of their database. Forensics had only proven the unthinkable- Peter and Walter Bishop were at fault. Company after company had been stripped of their datum, and each time, the Bishops had been placed at the scene. It wasn't long before other concerned corporations began to question the origin of these attacks, and Broyals had pulled some strings, landing the investigation in his own hands. It was now up to them to hunt their own.
Olivia felt numb. The sudden betrayal of Peter seemed to shake her composure completely, the situation painfully echoing the loss of John…
It felt as if the knife had been twisted.
The car ride back to headquarters had been silent, until Astrid finally asked, "…did you see them?"
Olivia, her lips a hard line of distaste, nodded.
"So you're sure it was them? How do you know?"
"It was them Astrid. They wore black, and I knew Peter's eyes… and I aimed for his chest."
Astrid looked unhappy, as she looked over at her, the lights of the passing street lights flashing from her dark irises, "…and Walter?" she asked quietly.
"He was singing."
Astrid gave a small, melancholy laugh, and Olivia spared her a small, remorseful smile. Astrid sobered, "We'll catch them Olivia. I don't know why they're doing this, but… when we catch them, we'll find out. They couldn't have-"
"Couldn't have what? Couldn't have gone out for themselves, abandoned all sense of obligation and reason?" Olivia snorted bitterly, "I know what they're doing, Astrid. The Pattern is of no importance, anymore. They don't care that people are dying, and…"she bit the inside of her cheek, "It's just greed, Astrid. Nothing more. There's no chivalrous motive involved."
"And when were you the one to stop questioning people?" Astrid retorted, "I don't know about you, but I'm not giving up on them. There has to be a reason- and, good or bad, I'm going to find out what it is."
Olivia was painfully reminded of her determination to investigate her partners' death. She said nothing, knowing that any attempts to avert Astrid's attempts would be futile. There was silence in the car.
"I miss them, too," Olivia said at last.
xXx