"Oh come on!" Topher Brink exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "What's with the guns always being pointed at me! Did Bad Guys United not get the memo? I'm a non-combatant."

The tall, slim, black clad figure's extended arm and big, scary gun did not waver, but the cowled head did cock to one side contemplatively. He looked so out of place in Thopher's lab, full as it was of tech, toys and random snack foods. "Fear," the person-- a young woman, not a man, if her voice was a good indicator-- said briskly. "You reek of it."

"That'd be the Axe body spray, thank you very much," he quipped, feeling hysterical panic trying to claw its way up through his throat. Come on, Boyd…time to save me, man-friend! Hell, I'd settle for Ballard even…He likes to play the hero…Though then that would mean I'm the damsel in distress, which, no. Just no!

"I'm sure that House security has become aware of my presence," she continued, nodding towards the glass windows. Topher looked out to see several security types creeping toward the room. How she saw them without taking her unnervingly intense blue eyes from him was a mystery, but unimportant at the moment. Then the intruder raised her non-gun arm and said, "You might want to ask them not to come in guns blazing."

A trigger switch was clasped in her gloved hand and some sort of explosive was strapped to her left arm. It looked familiar. "Is that…?"

"An EMP detonator," she snapped, then flicked the gun at his phone. "Make the call."

Topher pounced on his phone with shaking fingers. An electromagnetic pulse could wipe out every computer, wedge and electronic device in the House. It would be a disaster.

Adelle DeWitt, Director of the LA Dollhouse, picked up her phone on the first ring and Topher immediately blurted, "Don't come storming in! No matter what!" The hysteria he had been trying to suppress escaped in his voice and DeWitt spoke in a tone designed to calm his frazzled nerves. "Topher, I'm told that you have an unauthorized visitor. One who, oddly enough, did not appear on any of the security feeds until arriving in your lab."

"A visitor with a very big gun and an EMP detonator," he informed DeWitt, trailing off with a scared, frustrated little whine.

Over the phone line, he heard Adelle's sharp intake of breath and the muffled sounds of her ordering the assault team to stand down. "Put me on the speaker, if you would be so kind," she said, crisp accent tightly controlled in a way that never led to goodness and cuddly puppies.

He complied and said, "Speaker on."

The intruder hadn't moved during their exchange, didn't even glance at the phone when adelle's voice rang out.

"Penetrating my house to such an extent is impressive," she said over the line. "But what can you hope to gain. You have to know we won't let you leave with our technology or information. Make things easy on yourself and surrender now."

Topher had to hand it to DeWitt. The woman could sound cool, confident and in control in the nastiest of situations. Unfortunately, the intruder wasn't buying it.

"Which is why I brought the EMP," she replied, matching Adelle icy tone for icy tone. "Nic bluff though…No way you don't know how monumentally screwed you'd be if I set this off. Not gonna risk that. And as for the "difficulty" of infiltrating this place…well, let's just say your security seems to be a bit lax as of late."

There was more muffled conversation and Topher was fairly certain he heard Boyd's indignant voice in the background. When their little pow-wow was concluded, Adelle simply asked, "What exactly do you want?"

This is good, Topher thought. We're in the business of giving people what they want.

"Laurence Dominic."

Oh shit.

TBC

Reviews Please!!