Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.

~ bells and candles ~

The warehouse.

The ringing of his cell phone woke Chance from deep slumber. He opened his eyes, only to close them again almost immediately.

Oh boy, the sunlight was bright this morning…

The beginnings of what felt like a major headache sent him back into the sheets, but his phone wouldn't stop ringing. He groped around and thankfully found it right on the nightstand. At least no need to get up.

He couldn't remember placing it there, though. On the other hand, he couldn't remember much about last night anyway. He had had a couple of drinks with Winston and Guerrero, that much he knew. But enough drinks to be this hung over? Frowning, Chance answered his phone.

"Morning, dude."

Chance grunted in reply.

"Just wanted to warn you: Ilsa has cancelled all her appointments for today and according to the GPS signal of her limo she's on the way to the office. Looks like she's decided you've recuperated enough for the talk."

"The talk?" Groaning, Chance rubbed his forehead, wondering if they still had a bag of saline solution stashed somewhere.

"You used Ilsa's black emergency credit card to buy off the Old Man, remember? A million bucks for what was supposedly your archenemy…"

Damn, Guerrero was right. But the pissed-off version of her voice on this particular morning? Grating its way through his headache-clouded mind?

No way. Time to do what every hard boiled ex-assassin would do in his situation.

Turn tail and run.

Chance switched off his phone, rolled out of bed and put on the first clothes he came across on the floor. Dizzy, his vision swimming, he made his way to the back of the warehouse. Ilsa would surely use the main elevator and he wasn't going to risk running into her in the lobby. He would take the freight elevator and pay Guerrero a visit. He'd surely have a spare saline solution bag. Judging from his friend's voice and his early morning activities of hacking Ilsa's smartphone, he had probably had one for breakfast.

The faint signal of the main elevator arriving on the office's floor told Chance he had made the right decision. Quickly he disappeared into the freight elevator and pressed the down button. Ten seconds later he was well on his way to a peaceful morning with a cup of coffee and an IV bag in one of Guerrero's hideouts.

Then the elevator stopped. Gave a slight jolt. Stopped again.

Chance cursed and pushed the down button vehemently. Nothing.

The up button, however, worked.

Predictably, Ilsa was waiting on the other side as the doors slid open.

"Mr. Chance. Good to see you. I was wondering if we could have a little chat…" She hesitated, taking in his rather crumpled appearance. "Are you okay? You look horrible." She stepped into the elevator, reaching out for him, seemingly to assist him.

At the very last second, Chance noticed something metallic gleaming in her hands.

Now, hung over or not, his instincts were still working. A bit slower than usual, maybe, but still way too fast for Ilsa. He had her handcuffed in the blink of an eye. "Oh come on, seriously?"

"You're hurting me!" She made a pained grimace and pulled at the cuffs.

Causing her pain was definitely the last thing he wanted. Maybe the cuffs were too tight. There was always a bobby pin attached somewhere to his clothes. He had it out in no time and unlocked the first cuff… only to receive a shove from Ilsa that temporarily unbalanced him. She darted forward, pushed him to the ground, grabbed his wrist and closed the only just unlocked cuff around it.

Great, now they were chained together.

As said above, hurting her was definitely the last thing he wanted and thus he reacted a lot more restrainedly and carefully than if someone else, Guerrero for example, had attacked him.

"Ilsa, what the hell are you doing?" He flipped her over and pinned her to the floor. In the struggle he had lost the bobby pin. Fantastic, now he had to drag her to the main part of the office to get another one. Hopefully Ames or Winston weren't in yet.

"Making sure you don't run off!", Ilsa grunted. "We need to talk." She arched upwards and tried to kick him.

To prevent her from hurting herself, Chance had to give her more room which she immediately took advantage of. She brought up a knee and rolled over. To make sure she didn't break anything, Chance had to roll with her. Together they bowled out of the elevator.

"Ilsa! Stop it!"

But she had only just gotten started.

Chance was just about to pin her again when he once more saw something gleam in her hands.

"A second pair of handcuffs? Are you kidding me?"

In reply, Ilsa lunged at him, he caught her in his arms, they got up, stumbled, lost balance, crashed to the floor, rolled over… and somewhere in the process Ilsa managed to get one cuff of the second pair of handcuffs around Chance's free wrist and the other one around her left foot. They were completely entangled.

Suddenly there was movement in the shadows. Guerrero and Winston came out of the dark corner where they had been hiding.

"Hey dude", Guerrero greeted Chance.

"What the hell…?"

"We need to talk to you about certain incidents of late, namely you going off on your own with a certain Baptiste of all people, to rescue a certain old boss, of all people…" Winston smirked at him.

"Didn't want to sedate you again and neither of us was too keen on a broken nose." Guerrero bent down to take a look at the snarled up limbs and chains. "Congrats, boss. You've pulled it off."

"Told you so", Ilsa answered, voice muffled because she was lying face down, twisted in an awkward angle.

Winston unlocked the cuffs that were holding Ilsa in place and helped her to her feet. "Don't worry, we've got an IV bag ready that'll drive the bad headache away in no time at all. Nothing to distract you from having to listen to us."

At this very moment, the main elevator signaled.

"Hellooo? Someone here? I really don't want to bother, but…"

Winston slapped his forehead, Guerrero turned his eyes heavenward and Ilsa groaned.

Chance, however, rolled on his back and started laughing.

"You're welcome, Harry…"