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Double Trouble

by: R2

Disclaimer: The Invisible Man (2000 series) and its characters are copyrighted to the Sci-Fi channel and USA Cable Entertainment. All rights reserved.

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at an Invisible Man story. I am a huge fan of the show and love to write sci-fi, so I figured I'd give it a shot. This story takes place some time after the episode "Impetus". Any errors contained within are completely my own. I welcome any and all criticisms and comments.

**********

The Official's blue eyes were hard as he stared at the woman standing in front of his desk. She had folded her hands in front of her in a defensive posture, and was gazing back at him with a mixture of confusion and anger.

"Answer the question," he stated coldly.

"I don't think I can," the Keeper replied simply, "because I don't know what you're looking for."

The Official sighed heavily and removed his glasses so that he could rub the bridge of his nose. Behind him, Eberts looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I wasn't aware," the Official began as he replaced his glasses, "that my question was beyond your capability to understand." He folded his hands on top of his desk and gazed simply at her.

Now it was the Keeper's eyes that turned hard as she stared at the man behind the desk. She did not appreciate being insulted, especially by this boar of a man.

"Is it possible that Darien Fawkes has discovered a way to replicate the counteragent?" The Official asked her yet again. She was getting tired of hearing it and even more tired of giving him the same answer.

"No, that is not possible. How many times do I ---"

"Are you saying that there is no way," The Official interrupted, his voice harsh, "that an invisible man got into your lab, watched you formulate the counteragent and then created some for himself using the knowledge he had gained?"

The Keeper took a step forward and gestured absently with a hand, "That is improbable. Fawkes would have no idea what he was doing! It would be like a parrot repeating what its owner says."

The Official glanced over at Eberts who shrugged and folded his hands behind his back, looking for all the world like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him. "But the parrot understands enough to repeat the sounds and be understood, doesn't it?" The Official finished.

The Keeper leaned forward so that she could place her hands on top of the wooden desk, her eyes narrowed as she studied the man sitting there. "What's going on?" she asked finally, "Why now, after all this time, are you so sure Darien is capable of doing this?"

The Official leaned back in his chair, "That information is need to know."

The woman stepped back as if slapped, her eyes wide. "What?" she gasped in shock, "The whole reason I am here is because I have the necessary clearance -"

The Official shook his head, "Not this time. This goes over your head."

The Keeper's eyes narrowed again as she studied the stoic man, "What's he done?"

***

After her brief and infuriating meeting with the Official, the Keeper had headed back to her lab to catch up on the mountain of paperwork that screamed for her attention. She was busy sorting a variety of papers, slamming file doors harder than was necessary and talking to herself, when Darien waltzed in.

She glanced up as he came to stand by her, a small grin on his lean features.

"Hey Keep," he said by way of greeting, eyeing her suspiciously when he sensed her mood. "What gives?"

"What do you mean?" she practically snarled, slamming yet another file drawer and swearing under her breath as a stack of files went tumbling to the floor. Tucking a stray strand of blond hair behind an ear, she quickly got to her knees and began organizing the mess around her. Darien soon followed and attempted to help, only to have his efforts swatted away with a hiss.

"Hey! Whoa!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet and holding his hands up in an 'I surrender' pose, "What's eating you?"

The Keeper glanced up at him in annoyance, "Did the Official send you here to annoy me or is there some purpose to your visit?"

Darien stared down at her in open shock for a few moments before he found his tongue.

"Well, you certainly are cheerful today," he cracked sarcastically. "Actually," he said, "as much as I truly do enjoy annoying you, I'm here for a shot." He held out his right hand to show her the tattoo, some of which had turned a deep red.

The Keeper got to her feet and eyed the monitor with outright suspicion. She shifted the mound of files in her arms and glanced up at Darien, her face tight. "Isn't it a bit soon for your fix?" she asked.

Darien took a surprised step back and glanced around the lab, "Are we on Candid Camera?" he asked to no one in particular. "Are you trying to psyche me out?"

When the Keeper remained silent, the beginnings of anger began to emerge on his chiseled face. "You put this damn thing in my arm so you could keep track of when I needed my shots. You said that this thing," and here he jabbed his arm in her direction, "was to make sure I didn't get too much counteragent and build up a resistance to it." He stopped and frowned at her, his brown eyes ablaze. "Now you're questioning your own monitor?"

The Keeper gazed silently at Darien, her mind a mass of confusion. Her meeting with the Official had caught her completely off guard. She had never supposed that Fawkes could be capable of stealing the serum. She had always taken great care not to leave any relevant information lying around where curious eyes could find it. Now there was the barest hint of doubt that maybe, just maybe. Was he capable of such an act? If so, why was he coming to her now? Why didn't he just leave the Agency? Was it to cast suspicion aside for the time being, until he was sure he could formulate the correct serum? Questions would surely be raised if he suddenly stopped coming in for his shots.

She sighed and turned to put the files down, when was the last time he had been in for his injection anyway? She couldn't recall whether or not it was too soon for him to be getting one. That should have been the proof she needed that Darien wasn't doing something outside the Agency, but that damned meeting and the Official's damned questions …

Without a word, she went over to the refrigerator and pulled out the pure serum. With extreme care, and making an extra effort to keep her back to Darien, she diluted the small bit of counteragent and loaded it into a hypodermic.

She turned and gestured toward the lab chair with the needle. Darien walked quietly over and stood in front of her. "You okay?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

The Keeper nodded and had to force herself to meet his eyes, "Yes, I'm fine. I just have … things on my mind"

After a moment, Darien settled uneasily onto the chair, "Just try and put them aside until you're done poking me with that thing."

As the Keeper was withdrawing the needle from Darien's arm, the lab door slid aside and a very nervous Eberts hustled in.

"Excuse me," he began, "but the Official would like a word with Mr. Fawkes."

***

Darien shifted noisily in the chair causing it to squeak and groan as he moved his weight around. He had been in the office nearly five minutes now, and no one had uttered a single word.

To his side, Eberts had his face glued to a computer monitor, actively not looking over at him while in front of him the Official was busy flipping through what looked like black and white photographs.

Darien shifted in the chair again and cleared his throat, just in case the Official had forgotten he was even there.

The man glanced up at Darien over his glasses, his eyes icy and his face hard. "Tell me, Fawkes," he began, moving his sizeable frame until he was sitting with his hands folded on top of the photos. "Did you think we wouldn't find out about your little excursions?"

For a moment, Darien was speechless. He brought his right hand up to scratch at a non-existent itch on the side of his head before shrugging his shoulders, "Uh .. this wouldn't have anything to do with that stunt Hobbes and I pulled the other day. Would it?"

The Official's mouth drew into a hard, tight line as he impaled Darien with an icy glare.

"This has nothing to do with Hobbes and everything to do with you. So don't get cute with me, Fawkes."

Darien couldn't resist the sarcastic smile than formed on his lips, "Oh, hey, I wouldn't dream of doing that to you, man. What was I thinking? You've always extended nothing but courtesy to me."

Barely contained anger radiated from the Official as he tossed the photos to the end of the desk so Darien could see them. "Just what the Hell did you think you were doing? Did you honestly believe you could use your ability for personal gain and that I wouldn't find out?"

Darien leaned forward in the chair to grasp the black and whites, he gave the man before him a confused look, "I wish I knew what the Hell you were talking --- " he stopped in mid-sentence as his eyes fell on the pictures in his hand. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, he knew it had to be impossible, and yet he was holding the evidence.

Clutched in his hand was a grainy photo of a bank guard apparently wrestling with an unseen attacker; the man was obviously falling backward, his head cocked back as if he had just been punched. His left hand looked as if it were locked around something, something that could not be seen.

Darien looked up at the Official, his eyes wide and his face void of color, "What is this?" he whispered.

"I was hoping you could tell me that, Mr. Fawkes."

Darien looked back down at the incriminating pictures, his brain no longer accepting the information his eyes were sending. There were other photographs, but he couldn't rip his gaze away from the unlucky bank guard. "This isn't me," he said at last, "I didn't do this."

The Official frowned, "You know of another invisible man?"

Darien's head shot up at the accusation, anger glowing in his eyes, "Look, I'm telling you the truth! I didn't do this! There ... there has to be some … some other explanation!" He felt as if the floor beneath his feet were giving away and that he was going to fall down a long dark hole. This was impossible!

"Would you like to tell me what that other explanation might be?" the Official replied, a hint of sarcasm in his dry voice.

Darien shook his head in bewilderment and then a hesitant grin began to work its way onto his face, "This is a joke, right? You and the Keeper got together and decided to screw with me. That's it, right?"

The Official leaned back in his chair, causing it to squeal in protest. "Do I look like the joking type, Mr. Fawkes?"

With a shout of rage, Darien jumped out of his chair causing it to topple back and land with a loud crash! Across the room, Eberts winced but did not look up from his computer monitor.

"I'm telling you that I'm innocent!" he shouted, pounding a fist on the desk, "That's not me in this picture!"

Without batting an eye at the outburst, the Official glanced placidly up at the enraged Darien. "The whole reason you ended up with that experimental gland in your head, Mr. Fawkes, was because you got caught in the act." He paused to study the man in front of him, "Perhaps now that you have … certain abilities, you decided to visit your old grounds and try again."

Darien took several hesitant steps backward, running a hand through his tousled hair, "I don't believe this," he whispered, shock and amazement vying for attention on his face. "What the Hell ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

The Official leaned forward in his chair and pointed at the photos Darien was still grasping, "Once a thief, Mr. Fawkes, always a thief."

***

Outside in the cool mid-afternoon breeze, Darien sat in quiet shock on a bus stop bench, still clutching the black and white pictures. Beside him, an elderly woman held tightly to her packages, just in case the strange young man had any wise ideas.

Once a thief, Mr. Fawkes …

Darien felt as if his entire world had suddenly crumbled into a million pieces and fallen away. What he had once been completely positive about was now shrouded in doubt. Was it truly possible that he was the unseen assailant in the photos? Was it also possible that somehow the gland in his brain was now causing him to have blackouts where he did things and then didn't remember?

Always a thief …

He sighed heavily and stared down at the now crumpled picture of the bank guard. The thought that he could possibly be doing something without even being aware of it scared the Hell out of Darien. He knew what it was like to not be in control.

Once a thief …

Those first few days after his brother had been murdered, when the gland was still new and the Quicksilver madness had taken hold. Those were the most frightening days Darien could ever remember, the memories still haunted him in nightmares.

Always

He began shuffling through the remainder of the pictures, there were only three more. The first showed the inside of a jewelry store and an obviously frightened clerk holding a bag out to someone unseen, the second one again showed the inside of a bank and Darien absently wondered if it was the same one associated with the guard. In the picture, money was flying about as if tossed around by an invisible hand.

The final picture was the one that caught Darien's eye. It appeared to be the inside of a pharmacy of some sort. He could make out shelves of drugs in the grainy image, behind the counter the pharmacist seemed to be talking to someone.

Thief

Darien punched the wooden slats of the bench in anger and frustration, causing the elderly woman to jump and scoot closer to the edge. I didn't do this, he finally thought to himself, I'm not going crazy, this is someone else. He examined the pharmacy photo again, and the beginnings of a plan began to form.

* * *

The lab door slid aside and Hobbes strode confidently in, "Hey Keeper, have you seen Fawkes?" he asked matter-of-factly.

The blond woman looked up from her briefcase that she was packing before heading home for the evening. "No, I haven't seen him since this morning." She shut the briefcase and frowned slightly, "Why?"

Hobbes shrugged and glanced around the vacant lab as if believing he would find Darien there anyway, despite the Keeper's answer to the contrary. "The fat man wants me to keep an eye on our invisible friend. Seems to think Fawkes has gone a bit wonky."

The Keeper lifted her briefcase off her desk and started heading for the door, "Have you checked his place?" she asked.

Hobbes slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand, "What was I thinking?" he sneered, "Good thing I caught you, I would never have thought of that."

"Wait a minute," the Keeper said, ignoring Hobbes' intended insult, "If Darien isn't at his place and he's not here … " she trailed off and stared at the agent, absently biting her lower lip.

"Oh oh," Hobbes replied, "looks like our resident ghost has gone AWOL"

* * *

Darien stood in the shadows of an alley across the street. He had done some investigating and found the largest pharmacy store in the area and was now staking it out, waiting for his doppelganger to arrive. If this imposter was in quicksilver madness, or their variation of it, Darien knew they would come here. He would have.

He sighed and hunched his shoulders against the crisp breeze that had sprung up. During those first days, he remembered how he would have done anything to make the pain and fear go away. Arnaud's offer had been more tempting than he would ever admit aloud.

The sound of glass shattering caught his attention and he quickly glanced across the street. What he saw made his blood run cold; on the shelves packets and bottles were being tossed aside by an unseen hand, a hand that was attached to a desperate body.

Darien quicksilvered, feeling the now-familiar tickle as the substance coated his body. When his world changed to silver, he cautiously made his way across the street. He entered the pharmacy and watched as packages were being ripped open and tossed aside. He could hear the labored breathing of the other individual and could hear the heavy footsteps as the imposter made his way up and down each aisle.

"Can I help you find something?" Darien called out.

A medicine packet hovered in mid-air, "Who's there?" a harsh male voice called out, "show yourself!"

Darien laughed slightly and made his way over to where the packet was still hovering.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he replied.

The packet dropped to the floor and several plastic bottles lying on the floor were kicked aside as the invisible imposter took several steps back. "That's not possible," the voice cracked, "you can't be real!"

"That's what I was saying about you, but seeing as how we're both here … "

The only sound to be heard was the harsh breathing of the other man, Darien began making his way slowly forward being careful not to disturb any of the mess on the floor. He didn't want to give his position away.

"I figure we only have about five minutes before the police arrive."

Several medicine bottles tumbled from a nearby shelf as the doppelganger jumped back, surprised at Darien's closeness. "I wasn't told there was another one," the man gasped, "They told me I was the only one."

Darien could hear the edges of madness in the man's voice, his tone bordering on panic. He walked around the side of the shelf where he assumed the man was located, "It hurts a lot, doesn't it?"

The man whimpered, "You know about the Frenzy?"

Darien laughed again, "Is that what you call it? Yes," he answered the man's question, "I know about it."

He felt the icy touch of the other man as the imposter lunged at him. "How do I stop it?" the other roared. It was a fearful sound, more animal than human. "I must know how!"

Darien took a surprised step back, stumbling on a medicine bottle. Outside, he heard the screeching of tires as a car came to a hurried stop outside the pharmacy. In front of him, the man continued to rant and scream, pulling items off the shelves at random and throwing them across the aisles.

"Fawkes?"

Darien looked up in surprise at Hobbes' voice.

"Hey Fawkes, stop foolin' around!"

The other man had stopped his ranting so now it was quiet inside the pharmacy. Darien started to make his way silently over to where Hobbes and now the Keeper were standing just inside the shattered glass door. He noticed that his partner had a gun drawn.

"Fawkes?" Hobbes called again, "We know you're here, man, so just, you know, appear already"

With a light tinkling sound, Darien shed his quicksilver cover and gazed triumphantly at the duo. Hobbes immediately brought his gun up and aimed it squarely at Darien.

"No funny moves, smart guy."

Darien raised his hands slowly, "I found him you guys."

"Found who?" Claire asked, skepticism coating her voice.

"The other invisible man"

Hobbes and the Keeper exchanged glances before the agent gestured with his gun.

"Let's go, Fawkes, you're goin' a bit wacko my friend."

Darien shook his head, "You have to believe me!" he said, desperation in his voice. "There is another man in here, he made this mess, I was just talking to him! He's another experiment and he's in the grip of quicksilver madness, or the Frenzy as he calls it."

"Darien, stop it!" the Keeper shouted, "You're not making this any better for yourself. Just come quietly"

"I'm not crazy!" Darien shouted back, "I'm trying to prove my innocence and you people won't let me! How could I make this stuff up?"

Hobbes pulled the hammer back on the gun, his eyes steely, "Don't make me use this, Fawkes."

Darien took a step back, "I thought I could trust you, Hobbes, but you're just as bad as the others. You think I did this?"

Hobbes shrugged and took a step forward, "Anything's possible with you and that thing in your head," he said simply.

Darien's face became like a statue, hard and cold. "I'll prove it to you," he whispered. He began to quicksilver when Hobbes pulled the trigger.

A small dart flew through the air and impaled itself in the middle of Darien's chest. Fawkes gasped and looked down at the tiny intruder, half of his body now invisible. He looked over at Hobbes who had once more put the gun back by his side. Darien's eyes were accusing as he dropped heavily to his knees. As he slumped to the floor, the rest of the quicksilver came off in a shower of delicate sound.

***

Darien awoke with a start. He bolted up from the reclining chair and looked around in a state of confusion. As his vision cleared, he saw the Keeper standing calmly next to him. With a grunt, he slumped back down. "Where's Hobbes?" he asked.

"Checking in with the Official. Look, I've run some tests," she said, "and all of your neurotransmitters check out normally."

"I could've told you that," Darien retorted, "but it seems you have a trust issue."

"Darien," she sighed, turning her back and walking over to her desk, "when you start rambling on about another invisible man ---"

"I wasn't rambling!" he snapped, "There is another invisible man, the bad news is he's gone off the deep end and is looking for help."

The Keeper sat on the edge of her desk and folded her arms in front of her, "It's talk like that that will get you put away," she said. "Another you is impossible! The secret of how to create invisibility died when your brother did"

Darien shook his head and ran his hands down his face, he felt like he had aged a hundred years. "Arnaud managed to steal some of it," he mumbled between his fingers, "what if someone managed to-"

"Oh will you listen to yourself?" the Keeper exclaimed suddenly, pushing off of her desk, "Do you realize how outlandish you sound?"

"Too bad he's telling the truth," another voice suddenly interjected.

The Keeper uttered a startled scream as a second man suddenly appeared across the lab. Darien sat up in the chair and studied the new figure; the man was about the same height as himself, but that was where the similarity ended. The strange man was sporting several days growth on his face, his hair was an unruly mess and his clothes were rumpled and dirty. It was his eyes, however, that made chills run up and down Darien's spine. They were empty, void of all emotion and cold as the vacuum of space. They had turned a familiar blood red, but all traces of humanity were gone.

Darien's eyes wandered down to the .45 the man was pointing at them. He had no doubt that he would use it.

"Wh-what?" the Keeper stammered, backing away slowly, "Who? How?"

The man smiled coldly, "We all have our secrets, don't we," he said, his voice grating. He glanced quickly around the room, his eyes darting wildly from point to point. "I need some help, and you're gonna give it to me"

"What makes you think I can help you?" the Keeper asked boldly, although Darien could hear a trace of fear in her voice.

Fury exploded on the man's face and he charged at the woman, grabbing her roughly around her neck and slamming her up against a wall. She gasped as her head impacted the solid surface and her hands clawed wildly at the iron grip around her throat.

"Don't toy with me," he hissed, his face close to the Keeper's, "on the ride back here I heard you tell that other guy something about a 'counteragent' to help that Darien guy." He tightened his grip and the Keeper choked, her source of oxygen suddenly cut off.

"I want some of the counteragent stuff, and I want it NOW!" he screamed.

The enraged man suddenly stumbled to the side as an unseen object slammed into him. The gun went skitting across the floor and the Keeper sank heavily to the floor, gasping and holding her throat.

The man's head snapped back again and again and Darien landed punch after punch. A small trickle of blood began to run from the man's mouth as Fawkes landed yet another well-aimed punch. Without warning, the imposter began to fade from view.

"I don't think so," Darien's disembodied voice replied. He lunged at the man and held on for dear life, shedding his own invisibility so the Keeper would know where they were. "Quick!" he hollered, "get something to knock this guy out!"

The Keeper got quickly to her feet and Darien lost sight of her as his invisible menace slammed him into a wall. His head spun from the force of the impact and Darien had to summon all his willpower in order to maintain his grip around the crazed man's neck. Fawkes shifted his weight so that he was now standing behind adversary, giving him a better foothold.

"Hey Keep!" he shouted as he felt the man's icy fingers clawing at his arms, "Any time now!"

In front of them, the Keeper appeared holding the .45. Her eyes hard as she lifted the weapon and took careful aim. Darien stared at her in horror as the unseen man began to beat and kick at him.

"What are you doing?" Darien shouted. "Are you crazy?"

"That's your department," the woman replied, and she pulled the trigger.

***

Hobbes, Darien and the Keeper were gathered in the Official's office as he and Eberts went through some paperwork.

"You could have shot me," Darien whispered over at the Keeper.

"But I didn't," she replied evenly.

"But you could have"

She glared over at Fawkes, "But I didn't!"

Hobbes jumped in before things got out of control, "So, uh, anyone gonna explain just what the Hell happened here?"

The Official looked up at the trio that had convened in front of his desk. After a long sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "The D.O.D. had been working on the concept of invisibility for quite some time." He glanced up at Darien, "Your brother and his breakthrough put us in the lead." He paused and fingered the photos on his desk, "It seems that our old friend Justin was doing more than helping you with Gloria during his ten years with us."

The Keeper's eyes opened in shock, words escaping her.

The Official continued, "Justin worked out a deal with the D.O.D., telling them everything he knew about what you were involved in."

She turned away and began to pace around the room, muttering quietly to herself.

"Unfortunately, his information had gaping holes in it," he went on. "The schmucks over at the Department of Defense didn't know about the quicksilver madness, and so when their boy began to exhibit the symptoms, they were at a loss. They told him it was all in his mind." He gestured at the trio, "You saw the end result."

Darien shook his head and stared at the Official then over at Hobbes and the Keeper, "I told you there was another man, that it wasn't me."

"So what happens now?" Hobbes interjected, "The D.O.D. gonna fess up? Take the wrap?"

The Official actually laughed a little as he handed Eberts the photos, "Hell no," he replied, "they're going to cover it up and deny all knowledge. Company policy."

"What about us, the Agency?" Darien asked, "What are we going to do to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again?"

The Official smiled, it was a slow, cynical grin that creeped across his meaty face. "That, Mr. Fawkes, is need to know."