A disclaimer can be found on the fanfiction page
Warnings : PG 13 for some bad language, a bit of violence, some drugs, pulled muscles, toothaches and perilous papercuts. I've tried my best not to trivialize the serious parts but there's just a teeeeeeeny bit more humor than drama in this story.
Thanks to Mog for the ATF universe and special thanks to Judy and Linda for being such great cheerleaders. Hope you'll enjoy it.
"Vin, sit still and relax," Nathan cautioned. "This will be over in a minute if you don't move around so much."
"It's itchin'," Vin complained, tight-lipped.
JD opened the door carefully and peeked in.
"How's it going?" he almost whispered not to disturb Nathan too much while the man put the finishing touches to Vin's face.
"According to Vin, I've done nothing but torture him." Nathan turned around and smiled at the young agent. "What do you think?"
JD gave Vin's face a critical look. He was whiter than a sheet with a red, smiling mouth that unfortunately did nothing to soften the grumpy look on his face. The eyes that were rimmed with black streaks glared unhappily at Nathan and JD.
"Looks good." JD nodded and gave Nathan a sunny smile. "You just need to smile a bit, Vin. Don't want to scare the kids, do ya?"
"Where's Chris?" Vin asked accusingly, having no intention to comply with JD's suggestion.
"He's not coming in today, he'll meet us at the hospital later," Nathan answered. "He's got an appointment with the dentist. Something about removing an old wisdom tooth that's been giving him trouble."
"He should be here," Vin declared. "This is his fault."
Technically it was in reality Mary Travis that had started it by asking Chris to help out with entertaining some of the sick little kids in the hospital, but it was Chris that had agreed to volunteer the services of his whole team the next time they had a day off - without asking the team in question first.
Vin had tried to stay clear of the whole affair but he had an enormous problem with saying no when Chris asked him outright to participate as a favor to him.
It had in fact been downright impossible for him to say no and so he had said yes. That didn't mean he had to like it and an unhappy Vin was a grumpy Vin.
"I don't know why we have to do this here instead of at the hospital."
"We thought this would save time, Vin," Nathan said. "We have to be at the hospital in an hour."
Saving time was only one factor that had made them decide to put on the costumes at the office instead of waiting until they got to the hospital.
Both Nathan and Josiah had gotten into their clown outfits earlier, but then they had volunteered from the beginning to be clowns along with Buck. Getting Vin into costume however was about as easy as trying to give Cuervo a bath and it demanded a LOT of persuasion and even downright bribing.
"Why can't Buck do this?" Vin said with a suspicious tone to his voice as Nathan perfected his outfit with a rainbow-colored curly wig. JD had to bite his lip in an effort not to laugh hysterically at this sight.
"I told ya," JD said in a choked voice. "Buck hurt his knee, he's on crutches right now."
"That's very convenient, ain't it?"
"Well ... actually-" JD started but was interrupted by Buck who opened the door and carefully navigated his way into Chris's office.
"Buck should do this," Vin grumbled and shot him a look full of suffering. "He's always clowning around anyway, he doesn't even need an outfit."
"Hey!" Buck protested cheerily from the background. "I resemble that remark!"
Nathan and JD both laughed at this and even Vin couldn't help but smile some.
"So what happened to you, Buck?" Nathan asked.
"I slipped in the shower," Buck declared. "Otherwise I'd be happy to be a clown instead of you, Vin."
"What about Ezra then?"
"You are reaching, Mr Tanner," Ezra said as he entered the room and made a dramatic turn so his black silk cape billowed like a cloud around him.
"You know my role. I'm Ezra the Magnificent." He reached out and plucked the Ace of Spades from the empty air behind Vin's ear and presented it to him with a bow.
"And I'm Ezra's assistent," JD piped up as he held out a black tophat and a pair of white gloves to Ezra who promptly started to produce a wide variety of different items from the empty hat.
"The kids are gonna love this," Buck smiled while Vin just grunted an affirmative. "Aint't gonna kill'ya to clown around for the kids, Vin. I thought you liked kids. You're always talking about them down in Purgatorio."
"That's different," Vin said.
"In what way?" Buck asked.
"Because when I talk to my kids I don't need to wear an undignified, itchin', ludicrous, uncomfortable contraption like this clown suit!"
Having uttered this uncommonly long sentence and gotten some of his frustration out Vin felt a bit better until he heard Buck say, "Something's missing. Oh, I know.... Here - have a nose."
Buck transferred a red clown nose from his pocket and put in on the tip of Vin's nose. The other agents all stood back and admired their handiwork.
"There. Picture perfect," Buck said and smiled. They all smiled and Vin knew when he was beaten.
"Think of it this way - at least no one will recognize you now," JD said as the group walked over to the elevators. Right at that moment a pretty secretary named Jessica walked by. Buck's continued attempts to get the less than impressed girl to go out on a date with him had been a great source of amusement for the rest of the group for the past three weeks.
"Nice outfit, Vin," Jessica said and smiled back at Vin before she disappeared around the corner.
Vin gave JD a look cold enough that the rest of them were surprised that the kid didn't get frostbite. Vin was the first one in the elevator and he moved pretty fast considering the stupid shoes they had made him wear.
"Well, " JD tried again. "At least it's for a good cause."
Vin gave him another glare.
"Ahum," JD coughed and squirmed uneasily. "I'll be quiet from now on."
Buck leaned down slightly, smiled and whispered into his ear,
"Good choice, kid. Good choice."
*******
Josiah and Nathan opted to drive ahead in Nathan's car while Buck,Vin and JD for some unfathomable reason (or at least it seemed so to Ezra) all decided to cram themselves into Ezra's precious Jaguar.
"I don't know what you're so riled up about, Vin," Buck said as he banged his crutches against the interior one extra time just to see Ezra wince.
"All good comic acts come in threes," Buck continued.
"Like who?" JD asked sceptically from the backseat as Vin kept his silence beside him.
"The Three Stooges... uhm ... well ... " Buck floundered for a second before continuing triumphantly " - the Marx brothers; Groucho, Chico and Harpo."
" -and Zeppo and Gummo. There were five of them." JD pointed out the flaw in Buck's example.
"Zeppo and Gummo?" Buck repeated incredulously and gave JD an irritated look. "Well ...you only remember three of them anyway," he tried to salvage his reasoning.
"Uhm, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy ... uhm..."
JD waited for 30 seconds before it was evident that no more examples were forthcoming.
"There's just two in those, Buck. Where did you learn to count?"
"Oh shut up!" Buck declared heatedly. JD should help him against Vin, not point out how lousy his examples were. "You come up with something then. All I'm saying is that three is a good number, a magical number. It makes sense to have three clowns, and if I hadn't hurt my knee I'd have been happy to-"
"We know," the other three occupants of the car interrupted him in perfect chorus.
"Why, oh why, did y'all have to come in my car?" Ezra wondered aloud as silence finally settled to a degree.
"I had to go with you," JD insisted. "We're an act - a team. I'm the assistant to Ezra the Magnificent, remember?"
"And I always go with JD," Buck said.
"Yeah," JD confirmed and added, "And when we were at the hospital last night he saw this pretty nurse and now he's hoping to see her again."
Buck grinned sunnily and replied, "I ain't denyin' it. She was as pretty as that new little filly that Chris just bought."
"I sincerely hope you're not going to use that line on her," Ezra said, torn between feelings of amusement and disapproval.
Vin stayed silent but when he noticed that they were all watching him he
shrugged and said,
"Well, I just had to go."
What did they want from him? Vin wondered. He certainly wasn't about to go to the hospital on his Harley or even in the Jeep while looking like this. And three clowns packed into Nathan's car was one too many. People might think they were driving around looking for a bank to rob or something. If a man was dressed as a clown he had to think about things like that.
But the next second his thoughts turned away from his temporary profession as his eyes swept over the surroundings.
"Ezra, slow down," Vin said suddenly and stared out the window.
"What?" Ezra asked but immediately complied.
"That guy over there in the red bandanna... " They all looked and easily spotted the young kid as he weaved in and out of the crowd on the sidewalk.
"I know him," Vin said as he focused all his attention on their target. "He recently moved into Purgatorio and he's a bad one. Calls himself Loner but his real name is Jaxon - with an x. Caught him trying to sell stuff to my kids. Had to warn him off."
Vin warning someone off nearly always meant they stayed warned off but this kid walked around as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"I've been looking for a connection between him and two yahoos that sells guns from out of the back of a van. Since they're mobile they're always long gone by the time the word gets to us."
"I know about them," Buck said and his eyes got cold. "I've seen the results of their trade, one kid gunning down the other with a Mac 10. I'd really like a piece of these guys."
"Then we should put a tail on this bad seed and see where we end up," Ezra declared and the other three agreed.
They followed Jaxon for some time from the car and Vin soon noticed that they were getting closer and closer to Purgatorio. Sometimes they were ahead of him, sometimes they were trailing behind until they crossed into the outskirts of Purgatorio where a thin buffer zone between this part and the slightly better parts of the city was located. This zone was nearly exclusively made up of some blocks of abandoned buildings and the locals called it the Labyrinth because it was so easy to get lost in there. Everyone, from the high officials to the former residents, agreed that something needed to be done but no one could decide if they should just tear the houses down and let it be or spend some more money and renovate some of them. While the higher powers tried to make a decision the less than law-abiding citizens found an excellent opportunity to make their deals there, unseen by the law who had no way of controlling everything that went on in the many backways and alleys.
The kid walked on, oblivious to the attention the four men gave him. Jaxon suddenly took a right turn and disappeared into an alley that was too narrow for the Jaguar to follow.
"We're gonna lose him in there," Buck cautioned.
"We'll have to follow him on foot," Vin said without letting Jaxon out of his sight. Buck was right, if they lost him in there it would all be over.
"I'll go and check it out," JD said with his hand already on the handle but Vin stopped him.
"No, I'll go. It's my case, my responsability."
"Vin, you can't," JD protested and Vin turned on him and said angrily, "What do you mean I can't-"
"Shoosh now, kids!" Buck interrupted their squabbling. "Quit clowning around back there!" Then he added as an afterthought, "Uh - sorry, Vin."
"JD, I don't want you out there alone," Buck continued, getting back to the subject.
"I have to go alone," JD pointed out. "You guys don't wanna hear this but you kinda stand out right now. I'm the closest one to looking normal."
And unfortunately that was true as they could all plainly see when they looked at themselves and then at each other.
Buck looked at Vin and Ezra and two things became obvious. None of them liked the idea, but they also didn't have much of a choice.
"What do you say?" Buck asked quietly and Ezra and Vin both nodded an affirmative.
"All right, kid. All right," Buck reluctantly agreed. "We'll drive around the corner and follow a parallel route. You go out and scout around some and we'll provide the back-up."
*******
JD walked down the alley, trying to act casual and careful to stay some distance away from the man he was tailing. Normally his grungy look wouldn't have stood out much but today of all days he'd tried to look his best for the kids and so he didn't quite look like he belonged in this abandoned part of the city where the criminals ruled. He just had to find a way to make his squeaky clean look work to his advantage.
Ahead of him he could see Jaxon turn the corner into a narrow abandoned street. JD hadn't seen even a glimpse of Ezra's car since he'd started to follow Jaxon and felt very alone all of a sudden but he had no choice, he had to follow.
He risked a glance around the corner and looked straight into the barrel of a gun. JD swallowed hard and looked up over the barrel into Jaxon's cold eyes.
"What do you want with me?" Jaxon asked."Why're you following me?"
"I-I-I w-want to buy a gun," JD stammered nervously as he tried to make himself appear smaller and younger than ever before. He let his eyes project that he wasn't a threat to anyone.
"What's a guy like you want with a piece?" Jaxon said as he looked with contempt at JD's clothes. He obviously thought that JD was some kind of geek and JD didn't mind as long as Jaxon never considered him for an undercover cop. He had to play the completely harmless angle just right so Jaxon wouldn't get the idea to search him and maybe find his badge...
"They're hassling me at school. I heard about you...." It wasn't a complete lie. JD had seen recent reports about someone trying to sell guns to high school kids and the description matched Jaxon's looks. Jaxon didn't seem to suspect anything. He seemed rather pleased to find that he had a reputation and JD got the impression that he wasn't overly bright.
JD cowered some more and waited for Jaxon to take the bait.
"I can get you one," Jaxon said slowly and lowered his gun. "You got cash?"
Bingo! JD had to stop himself from smiling as he answered, "I got the money."
Jaxon put away his gun at the same time as a large, white van drove into their street and stopped close to where they were standing. Oh no, the gunrunners. Now what?
Ahead of JD the street seemed to go on forever but on each side the monotony of the row of abandoned buildings was broken by small alleys at regular intervals, all leading off into the unknown. JD knew full well that there was little shelter to be found back where he had come from. Open doorways and broken windows gaped at him all along the sides of the buildings. His best bet was to try for one of these and see if he couldn't lose them in one of the houses.
Cool. Stay cool. JD told himself and swallowed hard as the two men got out of the van.
Luckily he didn't have to think up any elaborate plan because suddenly Ezra's Jag came towards them from the other direction and it stopped right near JD and Jaxon so it in effect shielded them if anything were to happen.
The two gunrunners retreated until they were a little closer to the van and watched in complete silence as the doors opened and Buck and Ezra both got out of the car. Vin stayed behind as a shadowy figure in the backseat. They all sized each other up in complete silence for a few seconds to see if there was cause to start anything immediately. The gunrunners drew back a bit until they were near the van and Buck and Ezra stayed behind the open doors of the Jag, ready for whatever would happen next.
"Who are you supposed to be - Mandrake the magician?" one of men suddenly asked as he took in Ezra's formal black suit and cape. The other one nearly fell down laughing when he heard his partner say this.
Ezra and Buck looked at each other. It was obvious to the agents that their appearances had a disarming effect on the suspects. They simply didn't take the ATF agents seriously which was a very good thing if they were to avoid a shoot-out.
"It's one of those hidden camera shows," the still laughing gunrunner said. "It is, isn't it?
"No, boys," Buck said and gave them a smile that was just a bit more ferocious than humorous. "We've just come to collect the youngster here before he does something he'll regret later."
"Hey there, Uncle Buck," JD said with a straight face as he slowly walked over to the car. The three older agents took a deep breath of relief as JD was once again safely with them.
The second gunrunner walked a little closer to the Jag, bent down to look into the car and immediately spotted Vin still in the backseat. He blinked in surprise before he turned back to his companion with a wide smile on his face and stated,
"Hey - there's a clown in there. It is the candid camera."
Jaxon took a step closer to the car and peered into it. For a second Vin and the boy stared at each other before Jaxon connected all the dots and got the picture. Vin groaned in dismay as he could see recognition spreading over Jaxon's face and he knew what was coming as the boy opened his mouth and loudly exclaimed, "That guy isn't a clown! He's a cop !"
Time stretched out into eternity as Ezra and Buck both whipped up their guns and declared in chorus, "Freeze!"
"Federal agents!" Ezra added.
"You're all under arrest!" Buck declared.
The smiling gunrunners jaw fell and he gaped for a short second before he
burst into a new round of laughter, "That's a good one," he said while his
companion quickly dived into a nearby doorway. Ezra fired a warning shot
into the air but the man was already under cover.
"They're for real, you idiot!" the gunrunner shouted to his laughing companion as he pulled up a gun and fired at Buck and Ezra. Buck realized that this change in locations put him in an extremely vulnerable position and he threw himself forward and to the side into a narrow side alley. He collected his crutches, pulled himself to his feet and peeked around the corner but found that while he was now under cover the same could be said for the gunrunner. The angle made it impossible for Buck to get even a glimpse of the gunman but he could cover the rest of the street just fine.
*So much for JD saying no one would recognize me,* Vin thought as he crouched down in the backseat and carefully made his way towards the door.
The second gunrunner had decided to take cover near the van and was now starting to lay down fire while Jaxon just crouched down in a doorway and put his arms over his head in terror as the bullets started to fly.
Out of the corner of his eye Buck could see Vin take one step away from the car and then suddenly fall to the ground as if he had been pole-axed.
"Vin! Are you hit?" Buck called worriedly.
"No..." a muffled voice declared slowly from behind the cardoor. "I just tripped over these damned shoes."
Vin quickly unlaced them and kicked them off before he crawled behind the back of the car over to the other side where there was slightly better protection. There was something odd with the way he carried himself and JD studied him carefully to see what it was that was so different about him when he suddely realized that Vin was empty handed.
"Where's your gun?" he asked incredulously and if it had been at all possible
to see under all that make-up he could have sworn that Vin blushed with
embarrassment as he answered,
"I forgot to take them with me when you were all nagging me to get into costume
and dragged me off to the hospital."
"Vin-" JD gaped. "You always have your guns handy."
"Well, I don't this time!" Vin hissed back.
He could picture it in his mind clearly, the whole ATF building snickering behind his back as they heard all the details. Maybe he should just stand up and get shot right away. That would be nothing compared to the torment of having his story told as the highlight of every office party for years to come.
Vin had never felt so frustrated in his life. Could this day get any worse?
"If you'll allow me to remedy this unfortunate situation," Ezra unexpectedly came to his rescue. "I have a spare gun in my car. You can borrow that."
Ezra reached into the car, pressed a small knob under the cd-player and a hidden compartment suddenly sprung out containing a handgun placed in soft padding. If ever he was in trouble and in need of a weapon he could reach the gun with ease from the driver's seat, even if someone had him in a choke-hold. Vin looked on appreciatively, checked the clip and weighed the gun in his hand.
"Nice, very nice, Ezra," he grinned.
Ezra gave him a brief smile. "Just a little extra insurance, it pays to be prepared," he said. "I had that little surprise installed last month."
"Well, it sure comes in handy today. Cover me," Vin said and relocated to the other side of the car to get a better angle. With two well-placed shots he managed to blow out the front tires of the van so the gunrunners couldn't escape in that.
The smiling gunrunner crawled behind the van and into the same building where his companion was holed up. He made no further attempt to join in the gunfight and Vin and Ezra concentrated on zeroing in on the remaining threat.
A crashing sound made Buck look to the side and then the smiling gunrunner came tumbling out of a nearby window and landed almost on top of Buck. Instantly Buck swept out with one of his cruthes and neatly felled the man who gave a shout of surprise and dropped his gun before he was laid out on his stomach in the alley. Buck quickly arranged his crutches so that he could pin down the suspect with one crutch positioned between the shoulderblades and the other at the lower back. The guy squirmed but when Buck put some weight on the crutches it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to break free.
"Give it up," Buck said. "I've got a gun on you and you are under arrest!" The man quieted down some but didn't look too happy about it.
"Watch it! There he goes!" Ezra called as the other gunrunner took the opportunity while they were distracted to break away and disappear down an alley. Jaxon followed immediately on his heels.
"I'll get him!" JD called and disappeared down the alley in hot pursuit of Jaxon before anyone could raise any objections.
"That kid!" Vin said and banged his hand against the side of the Jag in frustration. "That guncrazy s.o.b. will kill him! I'm going after them."
"I'm with you," Ezra declared instantly after seeing that Buck had the situation well in hand. They both sprinted off in the same direction they had seen JD go.
"Wait now! Hey! Where you all... " Buck protested as they all ran by him but his voice trailed off when he suddenly found himself alone with the remaining suspect.
"Oh, shoot!" he muttered. His companions had all scattered like smoke in the wind and left him with quite a problem. Buck couldn't balance his crutches and cuff the suspect and point the gun at him all at the same time.
He knew he couldn't stay like this forever, holding the guy pinned down with his crutches. He already felt like a bug collector trying to wrestle down the world's largest cockroach. What should he do? If he put away the gun the guy would, at best, just bolt as soon as Buck let up on the pressure on the crutches.
"Oh, what the hell," Buck said. He kept the gun in one hand, let his cruthes drop and sat down on his prisoner before the guy had a chance to react.
Buck cuffed him and watched carefully that the man could breathe all right. The guy cursed him but Buck paid him no mind as he reached for the cellphone and called for someone to come and transport his suspect away. As long as the guy had air enough to curse him Buck knew he was all right.
"&%#\'a4 you and your &%\'a4#*^&%\'a4 camera!" the suspect hissed.
"Sorry, pal, no camera present," Buck calmly replied. "But I know of a place where you can get your picture taken from all sorts of angles. They have a special kind of finger paint there too. Your day won't be a total loss."
He smiled as he heard the faint sound of approaching sirens. Good, just a few minutes more and then he could get rid of this guy and go look for JD.
"In fact I hear it's quite entertaining," Buck continued. "Wish I could be there to share it with you but I got me a stray calf I've got to rope in, so you'll have to excuse me."
"&%\'a4& you!!!!!!" The suspect spat out at Buck who just gave him a cold grin back.
"You have the right to remain silent -" Buck quoted and leaned back a little more heavily on his supect as he added, "- yep, indeed you do. And if I were you I'd start just about now!"
Huh. Criminals today... no manners whatsoever.
*******
Jaxon and JD seemed to have disappeared into a sidealley but Vin and Ezra could still clearly see the fleeing gunrunner up ahead. Vin gave Ezra a brief handsignal before splitting off into a paralell alley where he would hopefully be able to intercept the man further on.
Ezra continued the chase until he lost sight of the man for a moment when they ran into yet another alley. Those who had named this place the Labyrinth obviously knew what they were talking about.
A quick glance around told him it was empty except for two old drunks in a cardboard box. One of them sat up straight and stared at Ezra's formal black suit and white shirt. Suddenly the man gave up a shout and pointed at Ezra with the hand that was also holding a bottle in a brown bag.
"Hey!" The old drunk waved his arms and splashed some cheap wine on the arm of Ezra's suit. Ezra looked down at the stain in dismay for a second before his brain switched back into surveillance mode and he realized that the man he had been following seemed to have disappeared without even a trace.
"Hey, a penguin!" the wino said excitedly. " A real live penguin!"
Ezra looked around the alley in confusion. Penguin? What ...? The old drunk couldn't mean... him? He was quite sure that he had never been so insulted in his whole life.
"Hey, Joe," The other wino said between hiccupps. "What's that clown doing over there?"
Joe turned, spotted Vin come running from the other direction and almost jumped up and down with excitement as he said, "Hey, a clown! A real live clown!"
"Did you see where he went?" Vin called as he came to a halt. Ezra just shook his head as he tried to catch his breath.
"No, he was ahead of me and then he was suddenly gone. He must have gone into one of these derelict buildings."
"Okay. We'd better stay together from now on, Ezra."
"Right."
After the two ATF agents had disappeared into the nearest building Joe turned once again to his friend.
"Didn't I tell you this was a good corner? I think that if we just wait here then the rest of the circus'll come by too."
They drank to that and waited in silence for the rest of the show to begin.
*******
Buck scratched his head and tried to decide if he should go left or right when the alley he had been following suddenly split into two new ones. A patrol car was already searching for traces of his lost companions but that was about all the manpower that could be spared in this area for the time being so Buck had decided that he couldn't just sit still and wait for them to come up with a lead on where JD had disappeared to. The kid could be in trouble out there without him. Judging by experience he probably was in trouble. When he would get ahold of JD again he'd set him down and have a little talk about running off like that and leaving his partner behind.
Every time the kid did something like this Buck swore he got a dozen new
grey hairs.
He stopped his silent reasoning for a second, counted the number of times
that JD had been in trouble and ran his hand self-consciously through his
hair. That kid owed him plenty and Buck would tell him that when he found
him.
Once he knew he was okay.
*******
Vin and Ezra slowly made their way through the building since they had decided to search through each floor successively. They had just moved into a large stoorage room of some kind filled with debris and unmentionable refuse. Ezra carefully navigated his way around a doorway leading to an empty room and looked over to see Vin mirror his actions on the other side of the room. Suddenly his foot encountered something and he looked down.
"Oh no," he said with apprehension.
Vin turned around slightly and gave him a questioning look.
"What?" he asked quietly.
"I just stepped in - " Ezra looked down at his shoe in disgust. " -something."
Vin didn't even bother to hide his wide grin and Ezra looked at him in definite annoyance.
"These shoes cost me $300!" he said defensively and got even more annoyed when Vin just gave him an even wider grin.
"That's the danger in havin' expensive clothes." Vin said as he went back to searching for their fugitive. "Me, I couldn't care less if something happened to this suit."
"Yes, well." Ezra said and quickly glanced into another empty room. "I wouldn't want anyone to step in the same thing I just did. So if I were you I'd look out, especially since you are at this moment sans footwear, my friend."
"Why Ezra," Vin laughed softly. "Didn't know you cared..."
And at that precise moment everything went wrong because one minute Vin was there and then there came a crashing sound and when Ezra looked over in alarm all he could see was a cloud of dust rising from behind a pile of rubble.
Ezra could feel his heart hammering away in his chest in panic as he rushed over towards the spot where Vin had stood just seconds before. There was a gaping hole in the floor and the dim light made it seem as if it stretched to the center of the earth itself.
"Vin! Vin are you all right?" Ezra called down into the darkness with rising terror in his heart. "Vin?"
The only sound that answered him was the howl of the wind as it swept through the abandoned building. No creature stirred and no human voice answered him.
There was just silence.
*******
JD focused all of his attention on the kid in front of him and was no longer aware of his surroundings. He was almost close enough to make a grab for Jaxon's jacket when the boy suddenly turned the corner and came up against a wire fence. Quick as lightning he started to make his way up the high fence and his desperation gave him the strength to pull himself up towards the top by way of his hands while he was struggling to find a foothold that would give him leverage enough to get over the fence to the other side.
JD grabbed on to one of Jaxon's legs and tried to wrestle him back down to the ground. Jaxon struggled violently against JD's grip and a bunch of papers fell out of his pocket and surrounded them for a minute in a whirl of white as the wind caught the papers before it let them slowly sail towards the ground.
For a minute it seemed as if JD's weight would do the trick and make Jaxon fall but a desperate kick hit JD in the stomach and he couldn't hold on. Lost in pain he landed hard on his back on the street with his breath knocked out of him. For a moment he lay there with his eyes closed as he struggled painfully to draw breath. Underlying the sound of his own ragged breathing and the pulse pounding in his head he could faintly hear footsteps that were fading quickly as Jaxon got further and further away. JD raised his head briefly and confirmed with his eyes what he already knew in his gut.
He was alone. The alley was empty.
He had failed.
*******
"Vin?" the tentative question echoed mockingly back at him from the hole in the basement floor. Ezra swallowed hard.
He'd made his way down from the room to find that Vin had fallen through two flights of stairs down what seemed to be some sort of old shaft. The only thing that made Ezra believe that Vin might still be alive was the fact that something had ripped up a hole in the thick concrete at the bottom of the shaft and therefore Vin's broken body was not on display here but lost somewhere down in the compact dark. As long as he didn't see it he could fool himself that Vin might have landed on something softer than concrete. Ezra looked over the edge of the hole in the basement floor and realized that he hadn't a clue what to do next.
He had rapidly come to the conclusion that it had to be the ancient sewers down there that ran for miles underneath the city in a haphazard fashion. The old sewer system was severely underdimensioned and no longer in use but there were still storm drains and manholes leading down into it all over the city. Ideally he would have had a rope and a flashlight with him so he could make his way down directly into the hole but since he had neither he didn't want to chance it. If he tried jumping down into the hole there was always a risk that he might injure himself before he got a chance to alert the others and what if Vin was lying down there in the dark and Ezra just happened to step all over him...? No, that would never do. He just had to find the right spot to access the sewers and then try to find a way over to where Vin had to be.
Sneezing his way through a couple of dusty basements in nearby buildings he finally came across a rusted door that opened with a squeak to reveal a ladder attached to the wall. The only place it could possibly lead to was down into the sewers. Ezra climbed down and landed in front of a second door that he had to wrestle with for a few minutes before he managed to get it open.
Swirls of dust floated towards him and the eerie stillness of the long forgotten tunnels enveloped him the second he stepped into the sewers. He shivered in the raw air.
It really was dark down here.
Ezra had to wait for his eyes to get accustomed to the darkness and tried to get his bearings by picturing the layout of the buildings and streets above him. Finally he decided on a direction. Ezra set off into one of the tunnels and tried not to think on what might be lurking under the surface of the water around his feet. Bad enough that he could barely walk a few steps without bumping into the wall with his shoulder as he slipped on something slimy on the floor.
"Vin!" Ezra called and wished with all his heart for an answer this time. Far ahead of him he could see a pale jagged oval in the ceiling of the tunnel that told him he was on the right track. The faintest of lights trickled down from the building above and revealed a man-sized shape partially covered by debris that consisted of cardboard, bricks and bits of concrete.
"Vin?" Ezra asked in trepidation. It came out a bit more loudly than expected in the silent air.
Vin looked dead. Oh Lord, Vin looked dead. But just as panic was about to grab Ezra's heart and squeeze it hard, Vin suddenly raised his head slightly and said in his soft drawl,
"I'm fine.Quit hollerin'"
"Thank God." Ezra let out a deep breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding.
"Didn't figure you for a prayin' man." Vin said in a weak voice as he let his head drop back down to rest on a piece of cardboard.
"There are occasions." Ezra said as he moved the final feet that separated him from Vin. He leaned down over Vin who was stretched out across one of the low heaps of rubble that blocked the tunnel. He was laying at such an angle that his head was slightly lower than his feet and barely an inch above the surface of the shallow water that covered the tunnel floor. Vin's left leg was completely covered with rubble and larger pieces of heavy concrete.
"Nice to know you care so much for me." Vin said as Ezra checked him out for any broken bones.
"I don't." Ezra said nonchalantly. "I was just thankful that I had been spared the task of telling Mr Larabee of your unfortunate demise. That means that he'll have no excuse now not to reimburse my suit and my shoes. They will certainly be ruined after this little adventure."
"You're all heart, Ezra." Vin said dryly.
"Well, I have a reputation to uphold."
"Not to mention a wardrobe." Vin muttered.
"That too." Ezra conceded with a short laugh. " I think you'd better lie still, your spine could be injured. Or you could have a concussion. Or maybe internal bleedings."
"I know the drill, " Vin interrupted him. " I should by now, Nathan's had me go through it enough times. All I need is to get out of here. I've already checked my injuries ten times over since you took your own sweet time getting down here."
"Oh, really? Then tell me how many fingers am I holding up?"
Ezra knew it was a futile question since could barely see his own hand in the dark, let alone his fingers and Vin couldn't help but snort.
"Yeah, like I could see that in this faint light. Look Ezra - it's just bruises, cuts and bumps. Nothing much."
"I thought all you cats with seven lives could see in the dark." Ezra countered with before continuing. " And I'd rather see for myself, thank you, since I'm rather attached to my hide and the others would have it if they found out that I let you walk around with internal injuries and your head split open."
Vin did seem coherent and pretty much his usual self but since they all knew how the man could clam up when he was injured Ezra ran his hand over Vin's head to check for gaping wounds anyway. Vin had a large bump on his forehead but otherwise seemed okay. Ezra got quite a shock when Vin's whole scalp fell off his head and into Ezra's hands before he realized a split second later that it had to be the clown wig and not Vin's real hair.
Ezra removed Vin's red clown nose and made a move as if to throw it away but Vin quickly said,
"Save that - I want it as a reminder to never agree to be a stand-in clown again." and Ezra put it in his pocket without a word of objction.
"What do you mean 'cat with seven lives'?" Vin said to distract himself as Ezra carefully prodded and poked at his many bruises.
"I think you must have used up at least two lives out of the magical nine in that fall. Well, grant you I'm not a physician but we've all had experience of seeing the aftermath of you having been mauled by the lesser elements of this fair country and I can't see that you have any broken bones or bleeding wounds. Are you certain you're all right?"
"I'm sure." Vin assured him. " My head's not scrambled and I can feel my arms and legs and fingers and toes all right. I can even move some but my left leg hurts like hell and it's trapped under that big block of concrete. Tried to shift it on my own but I can't at this angle. You have to help me with that."
"I will. But first you have to tell me.... " Ezra's voice trailed off and Vin had to prompt him with a soft-spoken,
"What?"
"I thought you were dead." Ezra said bluntly. " That fall... How...?" He trailed off again.
"I was stupid, there was some cardboard over the hole and I never saw it. I stepped right on it and just fell. Landed on some boxes on the next level. They folded under me and followed me down and cushioned my fall. Told you - just some cuts and bruises."
Ezra was silent for a long time before asking,
"Ever considered a career in gambling? A man as lucky as you would win a
fortune in Vegas."
There was a note of nostalgia and longing in his voice that made Vin laugh again.
"Ezra, don't make me laugh," he groaned as all the bruises along his back protested the movement.
"Don't move." Ezra said in alarm and was not at all mollified by Vin's statement a second later that he was fine. Instead he quickly set to the task of freeing Vin from the concrete slabs that had effectively trapped his leg. They were heavy, Ezra could barely make one of them move at all but he persisted and it slowly shifted with a grinding noise.
Suddenly Vin gave a short cry of pain and Ezra immediately halted his action. It didn't take him long to realize that the change in positions had made the other concrete slab shift as well and press harder onto Vin's injured leg. He carefully made sure that the slab sank back to it's original position without causing further damage.
"Sorry." Ezra muttered in defeat. What else could possibly go wrong today? If only he had a lever of some kind.... that way he could ensure that the concrete wouldn't crush Vin's leg as it shifted.
A flash of lightning suddenly exploded across the heavens above. Ezra couldn't see it but he could hear the thunder rolling and knew they were in trouble. The rain came down, drenched the city streets and flowed down into the drains and further on to surge around the two agents.
"I just had to ask!" Ezra muttered angrily to no one in particular.
"Ezra," Vin warned him. "The storm drains."
"I know."
"This place could be flooded soon. You should get out of here."
"That is not an option." Ezra said as calmly as he could.
He had come to an agreement with himself long ago. The seven was the group that would redeem him. He wasn't so cynical that he didn't at least acknowledge the opportunity to change the patterns of his life when he had been offered this job.
It had turned out so much better than he had expected. He didn't dare to say anything because he was afraid he would screw up like he always had before and it would turn out to be just a mirage - he didn't dare to say it but in his thoughts they had become his friends. How could he ever think of facing the rest of the group again if he left Vin to drown down here? He just couldn't.
"Ezra-"
"I said - that is not an option." Ezra searched around in the dark until his hand caught hold of a long and sturdy piece of wood.
"Fine. " Vin said quietly when he saw that Ezra was not to be swayed. "I still say you should go and just leave me here."
"So noted," Ezra said as he bent down and positioned the piece of wood underneath one of the concrete blocks.
"While I do admire your display of bravery-" he told Vin as he put his weight on it. "- I think it is misplaced this time. No need to worry. Just give me a moment and I'll have you free faster than you can say-"
Crack!!!! The sound of destruction sounded through the tunnel as a faint echo of the thunder above.
Ezra looked down in disbelief at the piece of wood that had just broken off in his hand.
"Now can I worry?" Vin asked with an edge of tension in his voice.
Ezra could find nothing to say to that and so he was silent. The rain kept pounding on the street above and the water was starting to rise much faster now. When the storm drains would start to overflow they would fill these narrow tunnels in no time. It was already starting to happen. If they thought they had been in trouble before it was nothing compared to the trouble they were in now.
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