The Guinea Pig Incident

They left the car parked in a lot about three blocks away from the building they sought; they’d find another means of transportation after they were done. They stood across the street from the high-rise, tipping their heads back to try and see the 23rd floor of the glass and steel building. Both of them were fighting off another round of giggles. The Harding Building was just a few blocks from here and they couldn’t help but find the irony of the situation amusing, considering they’d left Bobby and the mook squad back in La Jolla at the club. Alyx had fried the van’s electrical system as they left, which should keep them occupied for a while.

*All right, shall we at least attempt to be professional about this?* Alyx asked, leaning against him. His arm came about her shoulders and drew her even closer.

*I suppose. I would like this one to go off without a hitch.* Darien’s voice was smooth and calm at the moment, still feeling mellow after the spectacular blow job Alyx had given him in the car. He’d kept from crashing, though is had been a damn near thing a couple of times, and at the end he’d been forced to pull over anyway, his concentration completely focused on the wrong thing. Wellong ong if you considered driving the more important of the two. Getting his rocks off had seemed far, far more important at the time. He had to give her credit - she’d successfully made him lose control enough to involuntarily Quicksilver. He was a lot more at ease now, his balls no longer screaming in pain, though just thinking about it made him long for a repeat. ‘After,’ he promised himself. ‘After we have the jewels.’

Alyx stretched and moved to stand before him, pressing against him she kissed him on the hollow of his throat and Quicksilvered, her lips chilling the spot before she stepped away with a laugh. She was looking forward to this. They hadn’t gone out to do a little thieving in a long time and only rarely did they use the Quicksilver when they did. Abuse of the gland was still a big time no-no and got both of them in trouble these days. Now it didn’t matter, though; now they didn’t care. They wanted what they wanted and would have it, no matter what it took.

Going to the main door, she rested her hand over the locking mechanism and began to play with it, trying to convince it to open. At the same time she was tracking down the cameras aimed at the door and preparing to distort the signal to hide their entrance. She’d already looped the signal to the door’s alarm, and it would remain that way until a diagnostic found it. She felt Darien press up against her back, his hands sliding around in front to caress her bts its in a vain attempt to distract her from the work. The series of locks finally released and, with her usual timing, she fuzzed the cameras and swung open the doors.

Darien released her as they made their way to the banks of elevators that were in the dead center of the building once they had passed through the lobby. This was one of those buildings where the entire ground floor was lobby, its sole purpose to get people to the half dozen elevators with the least amount of crowding possible. This late at night, all the elevators stood wide open, locked in place by security. The security people were most likely using the service elevators that were poorly disguised by the large decorative columns at either side of the lobby. They, however, were going to use the main elevators, just to create a distraction.

Alyx stood in the hallway and reached out with her mind, releasing the physical and electronic locks holding the elevators in place. Then she sent them on their way one by one, each with a different series of floors to stop at that could not be altered even with commands to the main computer system. The entire thing would need to be shut down to fix it. High tech was always so easy to manipulate and confuse if you knew how.

The one she had left for them she ushered him into and then set it on its way. It made two stops before 23, just so it wouldn’t look odd in comparison to the others, and then moved on after they had gotten off. They walked down the short, darkened hallway and then turned left, headed for the black matte doors at the end of the hallway. On the right hand door, in tasteful gold lettering, was the word “Brilliance,” the less-than-brilliant name for the company.

Alyx leaned against the door, feeling for the electronic security she knew would be there. Within seconds, she had everything she needed.

*Well?* Darien was getting impatient and bored. Since this bit of cat-burglary was unplanned, he didn’t have so much as his lock picks on him and, therefore, Alyx was handling all the security. The ease with which she did it was leaving him cold, the beginnings of anger and jealousy crawling forward from the back of his mind, and the fun - this was supposed to be fun, damn it - was swiftly falling away.

Alyx caught the change in his mind and stopped what she was doing. *We can always leave. Find something else to do.* She didn’t need his attitude. Though normally she would never admit it, this was something she’d wanted to do for a long time. Electronic thieving she did all the time for the Fat Man or other government agencies. Stealing physical items was typically not where she was put to use, her abilities saw to that, and it often left her bored, much as Darien was feeling now. What was the point of planning, say, an elaborate bank robbery with explosives and security countermeasures, when she could simply steal the money electronically and leave no trace whatsoever?

This… this was a real challenge, requiring her physical presence in order to complete the job, and it was nowhere near as simple for her as Darien perhaps thought it was. Not only was she affecting the building’s security in the areas where they were, she was also altering the programming for the system in the “Brilliance” offices. She had to keep the security measures from seeing them, without turning anything off akinaking any dramatic changes to the programming. This was actually one of the better security systems on the market, and it was very, very picky. She’d already set off two internal warnings in her haste to get this done.

*I didn’t get to have the girl; I’m going to have the jewels, instead,* Darien snarled in response. He was still upset at not getting all he wanted out of that little party Alyx had arranged for him. There was such a sense of power, of control, having someone at your mercy like that, where you knew that the slightest thing you did, the smallest touch, however harsh or gentle, would draw a response and know it was the response you both had created and wanted. And he’d had not one, but two women under his spell.

*Shit Dare, flesh like that is easy to find. I’ll catch you another one after.* She turned the knob and swung open the double doors, entering the room, and allowing her Quicksilver to drop away with a flourish. *And then I’ll find some nice young stud for myself.* She let her own need for release, which she had somehow pushed to the back of her mind for the moment, roll across him, surprising him with its intensity.

The doors swung shut with a gentle click as Darien dropped his Quicksilver and moved to stand behind her. He was waffling between anger and excitement at the moment. Anger at her even suggesting she’d go to anyone else for sex - she was his - and excitement to be this much closer to the job at hand. He looked around them at the tastefully decorated waiting area. No hard-backed chairs here. Over-stuffed leather sofas and chairs gathered in groups conducive to small talk. There were magazines catering to those with far more money than he could hope to spend in an entire lifetime, and paintings that were not copies of masters’ works, including a Monet under thick glass and a small plaque verifying its authenticity. Greed intruded - he was sorely tempted to frost the glass and steal the painting as well.

Alyx moved up beside him, admiring the artwork for what it was and no more. *Kinda hard to fence a piece like that, I imagine.* With a sniff she turned away and headed through a tasteful door off to one side. She Quicksilvered the palms and fingertips of her hands to keep from leaving any prints, a trick she had learned after forgetting her gloves on one job. The small amount of Quicksilver residue left behind was essentially untraceable, given that most forensic specialists would be completely thrown by it and, before they would get a chance to really test it, it would degrade and vanish into thin air.

*Hmmm, good point. Rough cut stones, on the other hand….* He let that trail off as he followed her back into the offices. Towards the front were private rooms where clients would be shown merchandise and perhaps choose a bauble or two for themselves or as a gift. This was also a firm that did custom pieces, both real and copies for the film industry, as well as fakes for clients. They walked back until they found another door that led into the offices themselves. Here was where the real work was done - the designing, the cutting, the setting - but none of it interested them. Following Trinity’s memory of where the safe was, they found it with little trouble.

It was a big mother, hidden behind a wall panel. It had both a physical combination lock and an electronic one; they both had to be done correctly or the door would not open. Well, normally. Alyx could probably tear the thing off with her mind, but that lacked finesse and he had always prided himself on his finesse. So as Alyx went to work on the electronic lock, he handled the combination one.

Alyx slipped her mind into the lock and found it was actually pretty stupid for what it was protecting. From Trinity she knew that it took a special code to open it once it had been set for the night, that it had a built in timer, and, without that particular code, could not be opened before 8 a.m. So, Alyx simply told the internal clock that it was indeed 8 a.m. and then punched in the daytime code Trinity had been in possession of. With a nod to Darien, she waited for him dial the unusual eight-digit combination and watched the grin on his face when the final tumbler fell into place with a soft click. He spun the wheel and then pulled the arm, swinging the door wide.

Then he walked into heaven itself.

Alyx could feel the unadulterated joy coming off him in waves. Work at the Agency and petty thievery never elicited such a wonderful reaction from him. He truly was a thief at heart and she couldn’t help but share his pleasure. Letting him take the lead, she watched him open random boxes and examine the contents. Most were jewelry pieces in various stages of construction, blank settings, loose cut jewels, but he put them all back where he found them, his Quicksilvered fingertips leaving no trace of his presence. Yes, he knew that trick as well. Their real target was a smaller safe that sat within this larger one. It was against the back wall of this monster safe and he looked it over with a feeling of possessiveness.

While he was dialing open the smaller safe, Alyx was looking for something to put their prize in for easy transport. She found some of those traditional velvet drawstring bags lined with silk, generally used for dramatic purposes only, which would be perfect for their needs. By the time she moved back to his side, he was muttering to himself, obviously having some problems with the lock. “Dare?”

“Can’t hear the damn thing, special design,” he grumbled, trying to restrain his urge to pound on the wall in frustration.

“Mmmm, let me help. You dial, I’ll listen.” She set one hand on the back of his neck to establish a connection, allowing him to hear what she was, and focused on the safe before him, her eyes closed and head turned so that one ear was aimed at the dark gray metal.

Darien grunted in approval as now, with her help, he could hear reasonably well. With a few deft turns, he had the safe open and the trays of folded paper containing the jewels revealed to his sight. Sliding one tray out, he chose a paper sleeve at random and unfolded it to see what was inside. Before his eyes were a dozen exquisite rough-cut diamonds. They were of high quality and would be virtually untraceable when fenced. He’d rarely had a chance at a high-end jewelry like this, having been far more likely to hit pawn shops with good merchandise or low-end mom and pop jewelry stores. The security had always been easier for him, working by himself, to defeat.

Taking the bag from Alyx, he began to methodically open the sleeves and pour the jewels into the cloth sack. Alyx pulled out another tray and helped. Hers happened to be filled with sapphires.

With swift efficiency, they made their way through the safe, one tray after another being emptied into the sack regardless of the type or size of the stones. They had made it through about half the trays when Alyx stiffened. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she snarled.

Darien got an amused look on his face, images of her covered in nothing but the multicolored stones, sprawled on a bed… Taking her here and now would be the ultimate in many ways; the thrill of risking capture, of hitting an erotic high to go with the adrenaline rush of a successful job, was almost enough to make him forget about the need to get out of there. Not only could building security find them, but Bobby was on their trail as well. “Tempting, but not now, I think.” He knew he was controlling the emotions better now, and for a second he wondered how near he was to Stage Five himself.

Alyx chuckled, shaking her head. “Security is on this floor, poking into everything. We need to move.” She motioned at the sack. “Hold that open.” Once he had done as she directed, she concentrated and quickly stripped the remaining trays of their paper sleeves and poured their contents with a rush into the dark velvet bag in his hands. She was done in a matter of minutes, the smaller safe stripped of its contents.

Tying off the bag, Darien slipped in into one of the inner pockets of his coat and let the Quicksilver flow. He could feel the undertone of irritation coming off Alyx, could just follow her mind enough to know that the security people were close, just about to discover that the door to the Brilliance offices was quite unlocked. He grabbed her hand, which was not yet outlined with a pale blue aura, though she quickly followed his lead with the Quicksilver. *This way.*

He led her, not back towards the main entrance of the business, but to the service elevator that had a stop actually inside the Brilliance offices. It was there to allow secure delivery of the jewels, as well as provide a private way for the more high-end clientele to come and go without being seen. They were forced to go down to leave - the building was too tall for them to climb down the outside of, or hop across to the next one over - but first they went up. They got out several floors above and then crossed the width of the building to find the opposite service elevator to head down. Alyx was easily able to warn him as to where the security was, so he avoided those floors while he muddled their escape route. He knew Alyx was still playing the security system, fuzzing cameras and sound sensors when necessary.

Eventually they exited the building through the lobby doors opposite the ones they had entered by. Darien began to stroll casually down the street, intending to drop the Quicksilver, when Alyx warned him off.

*Got the van fixed quick, Bobby did.* With a mental nudge, she directed his sight to the dark van and three obviously government cars parked down the street in a huddle. *Guess we need to alter your signal for a bit. I’m not ready to get caught yet.* She grasped his right hand and altered the signal the tracker was sending. It was tricky little bugger that was far easier to just turn on and off, but after that Chrysalis debacle she had made a point of learning the device inside and out, so that she would be able to alter it if necessary, with the approval of the Official. As they watched, Bobby came out of the van, shouting orders at the other agents who had been preparing to go hunting for the wonder twins, telling them the signal had changed. They climbed back into their vehicles and roared off into the night.

*Where did you send them?* Darien was suitably amused at the situation.

*Exactly? I’m not sure. I altered the wavelength a bit so it would reflect oddly off the nice tall buildings ‘round here.* They had continued walking while she explained, heading downhill, further into downtown, closer to the Gas Lamp district, which should still be pretty lively right about now. “Care for a drink?” she asked as the Quicksilver fell away from her, reflecting the street’s lights like glitter.

He did the same and she grinned up at him. “Drink sounds good. Someplace dark, though.” He thought for a moment, then remembered a place nearby he hadn’t been to in ages. One of those bars he’d been thinking about earlier. “I know just the place.”

“I bet you do. How are you feeling?” Alyx matched his stride, one hand entwined with his, her thumb rubbing gently along his palm.

Darien wondered why she was asking. He was great, fantastic, not a care in the world, on a high from the successful job, anticipation for the sex he knew he would be getting to celebrate it once they were sure they had shaken Bobby. Knowing he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and to hell with the consequences. He stopped and moved over to the nearest storefront where he gazed at his reflection. After a few minor adjustments to his hair, and noting that he looked damned good in the black leather, he noticed his eyes. They now matched Alyx’s perfectly. No longer blood red, they were now pure Quicksilver.

“I’m feeling just great, sweets.” He drew her close and kissed her, lifting her and holding her in place with his hands cupping her firm ass, so that her entire body was pressed against his. Her arousal surged to the forefront; she was still craving release from their interrupted activities at Lethe. When he bit her on the neck, she groaned aloud, her need finding a voice. When her hands began to unbutton his shirt, though, he set her back down and admonished her, “Not yet.”

She grabbed one of his hands and set it on her breast, which he began to tease, the nipple already erect and easily felt even through the suede. “My turn,” she proclaimed, her voice husky.

“I said ‘not yet’,” he repeated even as his hand continued to caress her, her body shivering lightly at his touch.

“Don’t want to wait,” she got out, barely audible, her need stealing her voice.

Darien grabbed her with his free hand and pulled her roughly to him. “And since when do you give the orders around here?” He was not going to let her boss him around, not this time. He’d put up with enough of that shit back in New Mexico; this time she didn’t have the threat of withdrawal to hold over him. No damaged body to have to deal with, no debilitating headaches, just him with that extra strength his Quicksilver-flooded system gained, making him easily a match for her physically.

“Orders?” Her voice had turned seductive, alluring, and got his attention. “That would depend on the order.” Instead of trying to free herself, she melted into him, her hands gliding over his body, hitting all those places that she knew would arouse him even further. When a sigh of pure pleasure escaped from him, his hold relaxing and becoming a caress, she knew she had him. Leaning against him, she backed him up until he was against the glass window of the building he’d been checking himself in moments before. “What is it you want?” she purred, her lips against his chest.

Somehow, without his realizing it, she’d gotten his shirt half unbuttoned and slid her hands inside, fingers finding one flat nipple and pinching it, eliciting a gasp from him. He pulled her hands away. “Soon, sugar. Let’s get a drink first.” He buttoned the shirt, watching her. She was very nearly vibrating in place, not wanting - perhaps not able - to contain her desire any longer. Deciding to give her a sample of what would be coming, he slid a hand between her legs, feeling the heat she was giving off, and pressed upwards. He rubbed gently, creating what must have been a delightful friction based on her low moan and the sudden lack of support from her legs.

Wrapping his other arm about her back, he held her as he continued to manipulate her. “Is this what you’re wanting? Hmmm?” His teeth came down on her earlobe, hard enough for her to suck in a breath that she released as a series of panting breaths.

“Ah… yess…. Dare. D…Don’t stop.” Alyx was lost in the sensations, her need so desperate that even this far-too-clothed groping was more than enough to get her off - if he would allow her to, that is. She could feel that he was just teasing her, planned on bringing her as close as he’d been with Trinity and then stopping, making her wait for release. Yet she couldn’t stop herself, was lost in the pleasure running through her and unable to do anything more than beg for him to continue.

He pulled them deeper into the shadows as a group of twenty-somethings came around the corner, laughing and headed up the street towards them. Quicksilvering the two of them, he stopped what he was doing and kissed her, swallowing her groan of dismay with his mouth. Once the group had passed them and gone around the next corner, heading to their car based on their loud and slightly drunken conversation, he set her down. “Soon, lovely one, soon.”

“Err, damn it,” she snarled in total frustration as the Quicksilver dropped away from them. “It had better be, or I’m going to jump the first cute guy I find.”

Darien laughed, enjoying her frustration. “Come on, I’ll buy you a drink. We’ll look at our pretty little baubles and then… then you might get what you’re after.” He watched her close her eyes and release a long shuddering breath, her entire body quaking with it. Reaching out, he caressed her face, getting a good dose of how she was feeling in the process. “Shit, Alyx.” She was so high strung it was like touching a live wire. He knew he was far more in control, far more steaand and leaned down to press his forehead against hers. *Easy love. Calm down.*

His steady, cool, almost completely uncaring presence washed across her, easing the stress on her system, helping her regain some sort of control. She sighed, bringing her hands up to hold his. *Trying to. Something…* She shuddered in his hold, confusion swirling through her mind for a long moment before she was able to regain some sort of focus. With his help, she was able to settle herself and look about at the world with the eyes of a predator once again. *Play. Still want to play.*

“Mmm, yeah. Me too. Bar. Alcohol. Yes?” Taking her hands, he backed down the hill, drawing her with him. Slowly at first - she still seemed a bit off, and not just because he’d gotten her so horny she had no idea what to do about it, but almost as if something else was affecting her. Could the toxin, maybe, be causing some other reaction in her? He shook off those thoughts as unimportant. Right now, he just wanted a drink.