TITLE:
AUTHOR: Denise Morgen	
EMAIL: meadora@hotmail.com
SPOILERS: NONE!!! None that the Surfer could get me on, anyway! ;-)
SUMMARY: The apprehension of a suspect goes horribly wrong...
RATING: R for language and EXTREMELY graphic violence.
CATEGORY: S, A
DISCLAIMER: Ha! I don't need one!!! I didn't use any names! What? I'm
using who's characters? Prove it, Baby!

by Denise Morgen

"Team three, go!" the voice resonated eerily within the confines of 
their headphones. "Team four, Team five, go! Teams one through five, intermittent status reports as you ascend the tower. Teams six and 
seven, are you in position?"

"Team six, in position."

"Team seven, in position." His voice echoed off the walls and bounced 
back at them from their position at the foot of the stairs as they 
awaited further orders.

"This is Team one; we have reached the top floor...Suspect sited on 
the far end of the building. Teams two, three, and four coming into 
position. Will approach on your mark..." They held their breath while
they waited for mission command to answer.

"Mark!"

The radio exploded with activity as all of the teams simultaneously
burst into action. He tossed a quick look at his partner, awaiting 
her confirmation before moving. A single terse nod and they were
off, flying up the back stairs to cut off any line of retreat. The 
radio was a howling cacophony of noise in their ears as they sped up
the stairs. Suddenly, all hell broke loose. They could hear 
explosions and screams ricocheting off the walls from the floor above 
them and mission control was screaming into their ears for a status 
report.

"Team one, Team two, do you copy? What the hell is going on in 
there?!"

They had reached the top of the stairs and positioned themselves on
either side of the door. "This is Team seven. We are in position 
outside the floor entrance on the west wing and are awaiting further 
orders." He nodded in approval at the crisp, efficient way she barked 
their current status into the receiver.

"Team seven, this is mission control; have you been able to establish 
contact with any other teams?"

"That's a negative, control. We're all by our lonesome out here." She
frowned at his flippant response, but he just grinned at her before
continuing. "What are your orders?"

"Stand by, Team seven."

"stand by..." he muttered under his breath in annoyance before
responding in a much louder voice. "Hurry the fuck up, Command! It
sounds like our people are dying in there while you decide which hand
to hold your dick with!" Now she was REALLY frowning at him.

"Team seven..." A new voice barked into their ears with a distinct 
air of command.

"Oh, shit..." he said to himself when the identity of this fresh 
voice hit him. He glanced at his partner to see her smirking at him. 
He could almost hear her gloating: Now you're gonna get it...

"Team seven, this is the Assistant Director. There will be no more
of that kind of language on this line. You will await your orders
without the sarcasm." There was sharpened steel in his tone; 
obviously he was not amused. "Do you copy that, Agent?"

"I copy, sir. Team seven, standing by."

They listened silently to the explosions and cries issuing from
behind the door in front of them. The radios crackled and hissed
broken static. Finally she spoke to break their uneasy silence:

"Of all the days to break a case for Domestic Terrorism, you just
HAD to pick today, didn't you? We couldn't get some nice, simple
little bomb threat or kidnapping, could we? Noooo, we have to get the 
insane genius with the unlimited arsenal. What's the matter partner, 
serial killers getting too tame for you?" He chuckled softly at the 
single upraised eyebrow she beamed at him.

"You know how I hate to be bored..."

"Team seven!" The A.D.'s voice flashed over the line apprehensively.

"Yes, sir?" They responded in chorus.

"We have unconfirmed reports that our people are firing at each other
in there so I don't care if it's your best friend, don't trust anyone 
who comes through that door!"

"Trust no one - good thing my best friend's out here..." he whispered 
at her with chuckle. She mouthed the words 'shut up' at him as she 
turned back to the headphones.

"Kaden hasn't left the building, so we're assuming he's still inside. 
You were briefed before you went in on the building's possible 
defenses, correct?"

"Yes sir..." she answered hesitantly.

"This is where he tells us they left something out..." her partner 
whispered at her from the other side of the door.

"We left a few things out..." He rolled his eyes in an I-told-you-so
kind of way at the A.D.'s admission. "There were certain aspects of 
Kaden's research that we didn't want to become public knowledge. 
After the gulf war, Alexander Kaden was involved in a Top Secret 
government research project to determine the affect of the chemicals
used against our soldiers on human physiology. It was Congress's hope
that Dr. Kaden and the other scientists on his team would be able to 
find a way to combat the mysterious symptoms of the 'Gulf War 
Syndrome' that so many members of our armed forces brought home. 
During his studies, Kaden found that some of the toxins our people 
were exposed to were actually complex pheromone tonics; bizarre 
twistings of human based compounds that warped the perceptions and 
reactions of those they infected. While they failed at their assigned 
task, in his research Kaden found ways of manipulating the formulas 
of these tonics to produce specific desired results. When Dr. Kaden 
left the project, there were rumors that he'd taken substantial 
amounts of private research with him, information that had never made 
it into official status reports. Several interns had been dismissed 
early on for accusing Kaden of furthering the development of the very 
toxins he was supposed to be rendering innocuous. We believe that
he has released one of these gaseous compounds into the environment
of the building. We are assuming that you two are relatively 
unaffected due to your continued correspondence, but we are unwilling
to risk the lives of any other agents. You will have to find Dr. 
Kaden and cut off the flow of the toxin to the rest of the building.
We have left Environmental Protection suits for you both at the foot 
of the stairs to allow you to avoid any further contamination. You 
will also find two M-16A2 service rifles with ten magazine each. I'm
assuming you've both done your bi-yearly qualifications?"

"Yes." they both answered with some trepidation. 

"Sir," she cut in at his suggestion of the unthinkable, "those are 
OUR people in there! Surely you can't expect us to fire upon fellow 
agents! Wouldn't tranquilizers-"

The A.D. cut her off. "Agent, I appreciate your hesitation, but the
affects of this substance render the pain centers in the brain 
dormant and increases blood flow to the point that it would take a
tranq of the equivalent necessary to down an elephant to drop one of
the infected. And I'm sure you're aware of what the affect on the 
individual would be after the toxin wears off..."

"They would be dead," she answered dully. "What are some of the other
projected side affects of this compound?"

"Increased strength and perception. An almost predatory enhancement 
of the senses; sight, touch, smell, taste, sound. All boosted to what
would be considered painful levels; assuming they still felt pain..."

"Beautiful. It's 'Night of the Living Dead' meets 'Cops'," her 
partner said sarcastically. "Are there any downsides to this little 
chemical cocktail? Any weakness that are exploitable?"

"Increased photosensitivity is the only solid weakness that has been
identified so far."

"Increased photosensitivity; so what does that mean in practical 
application? Spontaneous combustion from sunlight? They freeze like
deer in front of a flashlight? What?!" She reached across from her
side of the door and lay a calming hand on his shoulder, silently
telling him that she was scared too, but that he needed to calm down.
He flashed her a half smile in apology and she attempted a weak grin
in response. He took a deep breath and began again, more politely 
than either she or the A.D. had ever heard him. "Please be more 
specific."

"Due to their enhanced senses, exceeding bright light overloads the
neural synapses and effectively shuts down the brain. This comatose
state lasts until the toxin wears off-"

"How long does it take to wear off?" He broke in quickly.

"Approximately three to six days; depending on age, physical 
fitness, sex, and body size. Women recover faster, sometimes as 
little as two days."

"Would the intensity of the light from a couple of portable 
spotlights be great enough to knock 'em down? How bright does the 
light have to be?"

"We're not sure, but full sunlight works."

"All right, we'll give it a try. Before we move I want two of the 
most high power flash lights you can find; portable spotlights would 
be best, but we'll take what we can get."

"Understood. Give us twenty minutes to round up the additionally gear.
Is there anything else you need us to get you?"

He glanced at her quickly before answering, "A cell phone's probably 
out of the question, so paper and pencil..."

"It'll be waiting for you. Give me twenty minutes. Mission Control,
out."

He wrenched his headset off with a sigh and rubbed wearily at the
bridge of his nose.

"Paper and pencil?" She asked quietly.

He glanced up at her reluctantly. "So you can leave a message for 
your mom in case...just in case."

She smiled at him, a warm sad smile. "You'd better write the boys too, 
or else they'll think it's another conspiracy..." He smiled back at 
her and they stood silently searching each other's eyes, the 
stillness of their vigil broken occasionally by a mangled scream or 
sporadic weapon fire.

The minutes drug by, stretching out interminably in the tense air of 
the ladder well. He replaced his headset with a grimace and was 
rewarded by the soft rasp of her breath in his ear. "We're gonna get 
through this..." He wasn't sure if she had spoken or if it was him, 
but the sentiment rang true regardless. 

"Team seven, we're ready for you."

"We'll be right down."

*********************************************************************

Half an hour later they were back up at the top of the stairs. He
fiddled uncomfortably in the restriction of the EP mask. He knew he
should be happy that they'd gotten them the state of the art combat
version of these suits, but it was still too constricting for his 
tastes. She saw his distaste and chuckled at his dismay as she batted
away his hands and tightened the straps on his mask for him. 

"It could be worse you know," she said as she adjusted his suit. "We
could be wearing standard suits. 50 some-odd pounds of bulky 
immobility."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever," he muttered as he pulled the gloves on. 
"Have you ever considered seeing someone about that compulsive 
optimism of yours? It just can't be healthy..."

She smiled as she finished readjusting. "Ready?" she asked nervously
as she looked up into his eyes.

"Ready," he confirmed with a tender reassuring smile.

"Let's rock and roll," she said as she pulled her faceplate down and
brought her rifle up to the 'Ready' carry.

They returned to either side of the door and on the count of three he
leapt forward and kicked it open. Synchronized, they moved onto the
floor and immediately took cover behind a nearby pillar. Side by 
side, they nodded their reassurances and then each peaked around an 
opposite side of their cover.

Neither was prepared for the site that met their eyes.

What had once been an upscale business suite in the midst of  
renovation had been transformed into a war zone. Most of the windows
had been shot out and the rapidly dying light of the sun bathed the 
scene an angry, bloated red. Remains of construction supplies had 
been strewn around the room, piled in haphazard fortresses in corners 
and against walls. The entire floor had fallen eerily silent as soon 
as they had entered and the skin on the back of her neck crawled 
with the feeling of being watched.

"Any sign of Kaden?" He asked in her ear and she only barely resisted
the urge to jump in surprise.

"No," she whispered back. "No sign of anybody."

"Why does that worry me?" he asked hypothetically as he repositioned
his weapon in his shoulder. "Oh well, no time like the present." And
with that they both moved hesitantly forward from the dubious safety
of their cover.

They hadn't gone more than a couple yards when her muffled gasp of
disgust broke the relative silence. "My god-" He immediately whirled to
put himself between her and any incoming danger, but instead of a
rushing attack the only thing that met his questing glare was no 
threat to anyone; at least not anymore. At first he'd thought it was
simply a sloppy pile of paint splattered rags, but on further 
inspection the huddled mass revealed itself to be the broken remains
of a man. "Damn..." he whispered to himself as he studied the mangled
corpse. The floor and walls around 'him' were painted red with his
blood and ragged chunks of human flesh oozed down through the slimy
ichor of intestines and organs. Long bloody furrows marred the skin 
of his arms; it was obvious that whoever had killed this man had torn 
him apart with their bare hands. 

He swore softly to himself when he recognized the battered face 
underneath the gore. No wonder she'd been so affected; it was that
friend of hers from the academy. He'd hated the blond bastard on 
sight, and the fact that he'd tried to fuck them over a case 
certainly hadn't improved his opinion any. He knew that the betrayal 
had hurt her deeply and that she hadn't spoken to him since then, but
that didn't change the fact that someone she'd considered a friend
was lying in a broken heap practically at her feet.

Finally she seemed to shake off her shock and moved forward as if to
check for a pulse. He stopped her with a consoling hand on her 
shoulder.

"He's dead," he whispered sympathetically. "There's nothing you can
do for him."

She glanced from his face, down to the shredded corpse, and back. At
last she nodded in assent. "Let's go then." Fire and ice threaded
themselves with the determination in her voice.

He nodded back acceptingly and tightened the sling on his weapon as
they moved forward.