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Glimpse.....Expressions of Fondness

She lay in the bed, unconscious.  He couldn't go see her, she was at Eagle's Nest.  He'd learned of her condition through back channels.  How he learned almost everything about her day to day life.  Something had gone wrong on the teams last mission, and she would be in the hospital for days, probably weeks recovering.

He sat down at his desk, and his assistant walked in.  "You have.."

"Cancel everything.  I'm not taking calls, meetings, anything.  I'm unreachable unless it's Sylvia Avery-Vaugh or has to do with her.  Is that clear?"

She nods.  She'd met the woman, and the effect her rare appearances had on him were dramatic.  "I'll re-task everything I can.  Everything that requires you directly will be postponed or canceled."

Now he nods.  She leaves his office and makes the necessary calls.  Slowly he rotates his chair towards the window.  It was snowing, it would be Christmas soon.  She'd probably miss the holiday with her family.  One of the few times she got to relax and be with them.  Sylvia had made a point of sharing the last two New Years with him.  She might not be out of the hospital before then.  Someone was going to have to be troubled for this.

***

Finding out what costumed psycho was behind the mission that had caused Sylvia to be hospitalized wasn't hard.  finding out who that psycho was when he wasn't dressed like a reject from a clown college had proven to be more of a chore.  Rasputin, the Russian Monster-Man.

Logan wasn't someone that had to shave daily, but as he rubbed his chin he realized he had whiskers.  Mrs. Armhurst came into his office.  "You need to shave, I've laid out a suit.  She's been moved to a public hospital in Phoenix so that her friends and family can visit with her."

"What's her condition?"

"Stable.  The leg fracture is still healing and she'll be in a cast another couple of weeks for that and her arm."

"Send flowers.  Write something nice on the card."  He hadn't stopped reading.  Multi-tasking was one of those things that he did constantly, and it annoyed other people.  He stopped to look up at her when she set the yellow bottle of lighter fluid on the desk.

"The plane is waiting at the airport.  Sleep on the plane.  I'll have a florist meet you in the lobby."  She flips her lighter open, then closed.

She'd do it too, while I was still reading.  Which is why you haven't fired her yet.  "Have these packed into my brief case, I'll take them."

"I'll pack your black laptop as well.  There is some data on it from David McBride.  He said he'd email you when he reached Tibet."

Logan was stripping his cloths off on the way to his bathroom.  "You know I love you, right?"  he says as the door closes.

"Yes."  she calls after him, then as she gathers the assorted documents she says softly, "But not as much as you love her.  Perhaps I should add that to your Blackberry's calendar."

***

The official story was that she was involved in a plane crash.  Broken leg, arm, assorted other injuries that were less obvious.  She was sitting up, and watching Wheel of Fortune when he walked in.  Logan glanced at the TV, "Drive-In Theater."  he said, with only the D showing.

Her face brightened, and his flickered into a smile.  He held out the flowers, "Mrs. Armhurts ordered flowers for me."  he said.  They had always been honest with each other, and now it was just reflex.  He sets the flowers down and sits on the bed, taking her hand in his.  Her fingers stick out of the cast, and he holds them gently.  "I'm sorry you missed Christmas with the family."

"Me too."  she said, and he could hear the fatigue in her voice.  "There's always next year."  If I live that long.

He didn't read minds, but he knew her well enough to know that was what she said to herself.  "This is true.  Maybe we can swap New Years for Memorial Day this year."

She squeezes his hand gently.  "Really?"  she seems shocked, but recovers, "That sounds great.  It really does."  Her other hand brushes his hair back from his face.  "You haven't been sleeping."  From other people it might have been a question, but from her it was keen observation.

"Project.  Been burning the midnight oil.  It's coming together though, probably be done with before Spring."

"Good.  In time for us to take that long weekend."

He nods, "I hate hospitals.  I'm glad I got to come see you though.  Your folks managed to make it yet?"

"Plane arrives tonight.  Ginny will be here day after tomorrow, as soon as they finish shooting the season finale."

"I watched an episode of that show on my way to Hong Kong last year.  She's really very good with comedy."

Sylvia nods, "She's angry that her best work is comedy.  It offends her dramatic personality."

The pair share a laugh.  A nurse walks in, "I'm sorry sir, visiting hours are over."

Sylvia looks around Logan, "Thank you.  You can go now."  she says to the nurse, who turns and leaves without a word.

"Remind me to take you to Barons when we get you out of here.  Exclusive little restraunt in Monterey.  Never can get a table there."

"Deal."  she says with a smile.  "Dave called to tell me to get well.  He mentioned you were sending him to China."

"Tibet.  Something for this project."

"I'm glad you two have made peace."

Logan shrugs.  "Our orbits kept intersecting.  I'm glad to count him among my friends again."

"Me too."  She scoots over in the bed, patting the mattress.  "You look like you're ready for a nap."

He doesn't argue, and lays next to her, he'd ignored Mrs. Armhurst's instructions to sleep on the plane choosing instead to read the information Dave had sent him.  "You know how obsessed I can be about some things."

"I know."  she says, and the pair drift off to sleep.

***

"It's ready.  This is a great day for us Logan.  A day that future generations will look back on and call the dawn of a new era."

"We haven't tested it yet Gregor.  We wont know for sure until we've found an appropriate test subject and subjected them to the treatment."

Gregor smiles.  "I'm sure your friends will be able to find us a suitable subject.  Someone that we can control."

"I'm told we should have someone for the test in a week or so."

"So long?"

"We need someone that wont be missed, but that we could successfully subvert to our goals.  These things take time Gregor."  Logan says, patting his associate on the shoulder.  "I need to go.  I have meetings in the morning.  Unlike you I have a public identity that has to be maintained."

Gregor smiles, "Sleep well friend."  and he watches Logan leave.  "Sleep well."  Gregor begins the procedure.  "A week, I think not.  This process will make my transformations permanent.  I will be Rasputin from this day forward."

He steps into the chamber, and the serum is vaporized, filling the air.  He breaths the vapors in deeply, the green gas stinging slightly as it enters his lungs.  He feels the transformation come upon him, and welcomes it with a howl.  The howl dies hoarsely in his throat, and he collapses.  The feeling of the transformation is there, that surge just before it overtakes him and makes him into the unstoppable monster Rasputin.  But it doesn't finish.  He goes to open the chamber, intent on checking the settings but it wont open.

"Gregor.  What are you doing?"  Logan asks, pulling a chair up to sit down.

"Logan.  The formula, it's...it's a failure."

"No."  Logan says, "It's not.  It's just not going to do what you want."

"What?"  Gregor's temper flares, and he can feel the monster in him rise up.  But nothing.  His flesh remains that of the scientist, instead of becoming the monster.

"As Rasputin you're immune to psionic influence.  And because of that someone I know was at a disadvantage.  You broke her arm and leg, and made her miss Christmas with her family."

Gregor is confused.  "What?  But, the plan.  The serum.  We were going to sell it to the highest bidder, we were going to make billions.  You are a businessman Logan, that was strictly business what happened with those heroes."

"I knew the formula worked.  I stole it off the laptop of a chemistry teacher from my high school.  He was experimenting on the cheer leaders, he'd given them all the mutagen.  But, more importantly he'd created a regulatory agent, it prevented the serum from acting too quickly and harming the subject.  That's what you just inhaled.  A high concentration of the regulatory element.  That's why you can't transform."

People come into the room and begin to wipe everything down.  Removing any trace of Logan Darklighter from the room.  "But Logan, you can not stop me.  I am immortal.  I am kept alive by a secret."

"Tibet."  Logan says, "A friend paid that monestary a visit."  One of the men cleaning up sets a candle down on the table next to Logan.  It's flame flickers and waves gently to the man in the chamber, as if in greeting.  "I once promised her that I would severely inconvenience anyone that deprived me of her company.  And she had promised me that she would do as much.

Gregor's eyes widen.  His fists pound the walls of the chamber.  "Logan, no.  You must not!"

Logan sets a bell jar over the candle, and the man next to him wipes it clean of his fingerprints.  The flame begins to choke and sputter.  It consumes the air in the jar, and Gregor realizes he too is in a sealed glass jar.  "NO!  Logan no!"

"Shhh.  Don't speak.  It uses air."  Logan says, watching the man begin to gasp for breath.  Then the candle goes out.  Gregor slumps to the ground, and finally passes out.  "In three minutes open the air vents, pump in the sedative gas and then notify the authorities.  They're going to be thrilled to have finally found him."

"And you sir?"

"I'm having dinner in Monterey tonight with a friend."  Logan says as he walks from the room.

***

"He wont survive a year in prison, let alone twenty."  The men at the table are sharing a drink after a long but successful negotiation.  "He already got attacked by some other inmate.  Broke his arm and leg, a few ribs too I read."

"Oh, I'm certain he'll survive.  Rumor has it he's immortal."  Logan says, taking a sip of brandy.

"Please.  Immortal?"  one of the other men says, "Is that really possible?"

Logan shrugs.  "Not sure.  But I'll let you know if I ever find out."

***

"As per your instructions the candle you gave me is in the vault.  And lit, as per your instructions."  Mrs. Armhurst says, shifting papers from his desk that he has signed for her.

"Good.  Make sure it's checked daily by security.  If it goes out, I want it lit again immediately."  Logan says as he adjusts his tie in the mirror.

"I take it that it wont just melt away?"

"Not sure.  The Tibetan Monks didn't explain it very well.  As long as it's lit though, Gregor is immortal.  Still fragile, but he can't die.  I'd hate for him to die."

Mrs. Armhurst nods and leaves the office.  Remind me never to really make you angry.