It felt amazing to see her again. Her blue eyes twinkling in the morning light, her smile curving those kissable lips. Yep, from the day they'd first made love inside a castle in France, he'd known this was the image he wanted to wake up to for the rest of his life. And somehow, after almost five years of marriage, it didn't get old.

He wanted to kiss her so badly, bask in her lily scent, in the happiness she gave him. But it wasn't that easy anymore. Jenny and Alex would burst into their bedroom, bouncing on their bed, demand that they go to the Zoo again.

"Already?" Kay asked with a laugh. "We were there last week. You already know all the monkeys by name!"

"We don't know the penguins!" Alex claimed. "We need to learn their names, too."

"Oh, dear God," Kay said with a laugh. She glanced at him, amusement and love in her eyes. "Any chance to draw someone else there?"

He grinned at her. "I'll ask the others. Might as well make them all miserable."

Yes, they had many Sunday afternoons like this, taking their kids to the Zoo or the park, letting the cousins play together while the adults watched and spent their own bonding time.

This was no longer just about Kay and the kids. He missed his brothers, his sisters-in-law with an intensity that smothered him. He'd become so accustomed with his entire family, he felt vulnerable alone. 

And yet it was Kay's blue eyes that haunted his dreams the most.

"You can do this," she whispered. "You can do anything."

"But that doesn't mean that I don't need you."

She put her hand on his cheek. "You don't need me, Kyle. You want me. There's a difference. You don't need anyone."

It was something he'd told her when they were growing up to empower her, but it had been different then. Yes, he wanted her and loved her more than he ever thought he could love anyone, but he also needed her. She pushed his darkness away, held it at bay. She was the guardian of his serum, just like he was of hers. They made it work together.

She made him happy.

God, what if she was dead? What if they were all dead?

Her image shifted, and there she was, panting underneath him, so much desire in her eyes.

"I want another baby."

They'd had no idea then. They hadn't even had the chance to make that happen. Their life had come to a screeching halt.

No. She's fine. I'm fine. I'll get out of here. I'll get back to her, to everyone.

And they'd do what needed to be done. It was just a snag in the plan, a temporary standstill... Had she found the letter and the will?

The thought startled him awake just as Snitch Gravel let out a small sound of pain. It twisted together with his dreams and Kyle found himself sitting upright, his entire body alert, his senses scanning the surroundings for danger.

No snakes around or weird bugs, no sound of other potentially dangerous animals. The fire was still crackling. Snitch Gravel sat with his back against a nearby tree, his sleeve pressed to his forearm, a knife in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asked.

Snitch Gravel jumped so badly, he nearly dropped the knife. "Shit, did I wake you?" His voice was groggy.

"No, I actually woke up on my own, but..." Kyle frowned, his eyes taking in Snitch Gravel's sleeve. There were crimson stains on it. "Did you cut yourself?"

He shrugged. "By mistake. The knife slipped."

"What were you doing with it anyway?"

"Sharpening a stick to turn it into a spear."

That would've sounded smart if there was actually any stick next to Snitch Gravel. Kyle got off the improvised cot and walked over to him. He tried to pull back, but he had nowhere to go. When Kyle grabbed his wrist and pulled his sleeve up, he made a pathetic attempt to stop him.

"What the..." Kyle frowned and turned his arm over. His forearm was filled with tiny cuts. "Are you cutting yourself?"

"Fuck off," Snitch Gravel muttered, but his tone just sounded exhausted.

Kyle ignored him and focused on the latest cut. It was deeper than the rest and blood flowed towards his wrist. Confusion battled with the sudden need to break Snitch Gravel's arm just to stop him from hurting himself. Instead, he heaved a long sigh, grabbed his backpack and started searching inside for bandages.

"Seriously, man, what is this?"

Snitch Gravel didn't answer, just looked away. Kyle found the bandages and disinfectant and got to work. Snitch Gravel winced the moment the bandage touched his open cut.

"Just leave me alone," he said. "I can do that myself."

Kyle raised his eyes. "You were dabbing at it with a dirty piece of fabric. You are officially an idiot."

"You're the idiot."

"Very scathing. Very mature. I know you have better insults than that."

"How are you feeling?" Snitch Gravel asked instead.

"Pissed at you."

"No, moron. I meant physically. I don't care about your sentimental garbage."

Kyle pondered on this as he tied the bandage around Snitch Gravel's forearm. For the past two nights, he'd slept much better, so there was an obvious improvement, especially since he hadn't woken up to Snitch Gravel's screams anymore. And that because...

"Have you been cutting yourself to stay awake?"

Snitch Gravel flinched. "What?"

"You heard me." Kyle narrowed his eyes at him. "When's the last time you actually slept? And don't try to lie to me."

Snitch Gravel closed his mouth, then looked away. "Yeah, whatever."

"Whatever?" It took all of Kyle's willpower not to thump him upside the head.

"I need you at full strength."

"And I need you capable to think. How do you think I'd be able to get the jewel without you? I can't read Aztec and whatnot! I need you."

"Well, the way it was going, we were both fucked up and exhausted. At least now you're better."

But he was much worse off. "You don't have to sacrifice yourself for me." And he couldn't believe those words had just left his mouth directed at Snitch Gravel.

"Shut up. I'm a grown-ass man and I do what I want."

Snitch Gravel sounded half-asleep which implied a level of honesty he'd probably never shown before. Kyle finished bandaging and pulled away, a myriad of feelings battling inside him.

"So you want to sacrifice yourself for me?"

"You. Need. To. Sleep."

"So do you."

"Screw me. I'm not nearly as important."

"Why not?"

"Hmm, let me see." Snitch Gravel put a finger to his chin in a mock-thinking pose that reminded Kyle very much of Tom. "Would anyone actually be sorry if I died here? No? What about you? That's right. There are probably rivers of tears being cried over you. I'm surprised we're not drowning yet."

"Um, what?"

"Face it, kid, you're a lot more important than me. You matter to people."

This was the weirdest argument he'd ever heard. "Not to you, so what do you care?"

"Not to me," Snitch Gravel mumbled, looking at this bandaged arm. "Why do you do this?"

"What exactly?"

"Take care of me."

Speaking of sentimental garbage... "Because you obviously need it." And because he was for some reason stabbing himself to stay awake and make sure Kyle got proper sleep. This entire situation was beyond weird.

"Need... You were dreaming of her, weren't you?"

Kyle didn't see the point in denying it. "Yeah. It was a good dream, but it always makes me just miss them more."

Snitch Gravel nodded. "You'll get back to them. And you'll end the Counters as well."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

He raised his eyes. They were so unfocused, Kyle doubted he could see anything.

"You know," he said, "apparently if you spend enough time not sleeping, you go insane. I think I'm getting there."

"You should sleep, then."

"Maybe I'm a better person insane."

"You're doing this to protect me. I wouldn't call your non-insane self that bad either."

Which was a weird thought. But as much as Kyle tried to go back and remember a time when Snitch Gravel had directly hurt him, he couldn't remember it. Yes, he'd beaten Sam into a coma and had Tom tortured, but when it came to him, to Kay, it had always been different.

"Maybe I'll actually manage to do something that matters before I'm dead," Snitch Gravel said, making Kyle jump.

"You need to tell us the truth for one thing."

"Oh, I will. You'll know and decide what to do with it yourselves."

This was new. "Then let me have it."

Snitch Gravel shook his head and winced. "No. It wouldn't be fair towards your brothers. I promised Sam I would tell all of you at once." He raised his eyes, fear taking over the weariness. "I'll tell you in case I'm dying or something."

"Promise?"

"Now you sound like a toddler." He scoffed. "But fine, promise."

Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Is this your way to make sure that I keep you alive?"

He shrugged. "Take it any way you like. I already know the story and it ain't pretty."

It had better not be. Because if the reason they'd been hunted for most of their lives turned out pathetic, Kyle was losing it and killing Snitch Gravel himself.

Snitch Gravel... As he watched the man before him, weak and vulnerable, it became so hard to keep using that name.

"What's your real name?" he asked.

Snitch Gravel grinned as if the question was funny. "Why? Don't like my stage name?"

"To be fair, it's a very dumb name."

"Yeah, I agree. Nicholas was never any good at picking them out."

No shit. "Wait, Von Crooken came up with it?"

"Yeah. Just like his own, much dumber name. You were right to laugh the first time you heard it."

This was something very interesting and Kyle wondered if Snitch Gravel was out of it enough to elaborate on it. No time like the present to try. "So, why did you let him pick a name for you?"

"Oh, it wasn't like that. Snitch Gravel existed long before I came along."

"Really?"

"Yep. It was a name Nicholas used to justify all his minor dealing in high school. This bigger person who ran everything from the shadows, who ordered him to bring drugs into Saint Agnes and extort people. This person who everyone feared because they couldn't see them. But hell, if they kept Nicholas Harkin and all his bullies in check, they must be formidable." Snitch Gravel let out a laugh. "He even threatened me with Snitch Gravel."

Kyle blinked, trying to wrap his mind around this new information,  the irony of it all. He'd never dreamed that Snitch Gravel had walked into a role already set up for him. It just made it even more strange as to why that had happened.

"How did you come to fill that role, then?"

Snitch Gravel faltered, as though unsure if that was something he should answer. His exhaustion seemed to get the better of him because he just shrugged. "He tried to bully me and I beat the snot out of him at some point. I think I already mentioned that my father taught me a lot."

Kyle couldn't hold back a snort of laughter as he pictured Snitch Gravel driving his fist into Von Crooken's face. The story also triggered something else in the back of his mind, but before he could identify it, Snitch Gravel continued.

"After that, he wanted me to join. Claimed that Snitch Gravel was so impressed with me. I refused to join a man I couldn't see. Nicholas claimed we'd be equals. I still refused. Then there were some... Drug-related incidents in school. Someone I cared for nearly ODed." His voice cracked and his eyes got lost in the distance, as if he could see it unfolding.

"Millie?" Kyle whispered.

It took Snitch Gravel a few seconds, but he shook his head. "Not Millie. She smoked pot with me once, but she didn't touch the hard stuff. Not sure I would've cared so much about her at that point anyway. No. But it made me realize I could stop it, or at least push it away. So I demanded to see this Snitch Gravel person and talk to him about it. I dangled a better solution in front of his nose."

"A better solution?"

"Yeah. I wasn't equipped to stop the dealings. Nichloas was untouchable because of his parents and the school was never going to accept that he was behind it. So I did the next best thing and pointed out there were better places to deal and better customers. I drew up a business plan for them."

Kyle had no idea if to laugh or punch the guy in the face. "You're kidding."

"I'm not. It worked. They stopped dealing in the school. And after a while, Nicholas came to me asking for more. That's when I held my ground and refused to help unless they took me to Snitch Gravel directly. But you see, this time, it was different. We were already talking money, not just school influence. And Nicholas might have been sleeping on a pile of gold, but his grunts were not. They liked money and they wanted more of it.

"So he admitted defeat. Confessed there was no supreme leader above them. No Snitch Gravel."

"But there was," Kyle said. "It was you."

Snitch Gravel nodded. "You're smart, kid. Yes, it was me. I had the chance to control everything and I took it, even if at the time it was just to take most of the evil out of that school."

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

Snitch Gravel squinted at him. "I'm not you, Kyle. I liked the power. I liked what I was able to do, to control. And I didn't trust the police, not after they were incapable to provide a reasonable answer for my father's death. Not when they refused to acknowledge it was anything more than an accident."

He had a point. Kyle had overlooked the obvious that Snitch Gravel was not a decent guy to begin with. But the moment his last words were out, what he'd picked up on earlier caught shape and came to the forefront.

The training Snitch Gravel had received as a child, the unsolved death of his father... It reminded Kyle of his own training, of how Max had done his best to prepare him for some evil that would be, without knowing exactly how deep it went. But maybe Snitch Gravel's father had actually known.

"Was your father in the Agency?"

Snitch Gravel's eyes widened as he took Kyle in. "You really are smart. Yes, he was. And I followed in his footsteps, not knowing what I was getting myself into."

"What made you leave? You said it yourself. They prepared you, they trusted you more than they ever trusted us."

"I'm not sure this is not a part of the story which I should share with everyone."

Kyle didn't care at that point. "Did you know about the satellite?"

Snitch Gravel closed his eyes and for a second Kyle wondered if he'd fallen asleep just like that.

"No," he finally said, his eyes still closed. "But I did find some papers underlining their direction. You see, the purpose of the Counters was to win the Cold War. But once the USSR went down, so did their founding. They were under radar anyway, an agency no one would admit was endorsed by the US. When there was no need for them anymore, they were simply thrown out."

Kyle frowned. "Wait, didn't they go under the UN?"

Snitch Gravel let out a short laugh. "That was the story they fed me as well. Pick up the pieces, they said. Make sure world peace was preserved. Bullshit. All they've been doing is working for who threw more money at them."

A boulder sank in Kyle's stomach at the news. It had been a while since he'd thought about the Agency as the good guys, but he'd always thought it was corruption at its finest. Not that they were not under the direct control of some higher ups at the Pentagon or the CIA or somewhere.

"What are you saying?"

Snitch Gravel fixed him with an intense gaze, more alert than before. "They're mercenaries, Kyle. They work for whoever pays them most. But they're government mercenaries, which makes it even worse."

The air seemed to become scarce as Kyle made the connections. It was the missing piece of what Jimmy had given them after almost getting murdered in space.

"The satellite," he whispered. It was a weapon. But it didn't belong to anyone yet.

"They've found a way to weaponize the jewels, didn't they?" Snitch Gravel asked. "And it's Jimmy who found out which is why they fucked him up."

Kyle wasn't even paying attention fully anymore. Everything was starting to tie in. Yes, they needed the jewels for their laser of whatever after which they'd most likely auction it to who would pay most for total military control. But would they give away the contraption or just sell the use of every death ray?

"Kyle?"

He snapped out of it. It was so odd to hear Snitch Gravel using his name so naturally, with concern in his voice.

"We need to get the jewel. Then we need to destroy it and get out of here."

Snitch Gravel gave a curt nod. "You have a plan against them, don't you?"

"Yes. And we don't have that much time, we..." He had no idea what to do, how to solve this. The slight panic overcoming him didn't help. The others needed him to put the plan in motion. They all needed each other and he could not longer afford to linger here. "You need to sleep."

Snitch Gravel just raised his eyebrows. "Why the sudden concern for my well-being?"

"We need the jewel. I need you to get it. And then... You must have knowledge on the Agency. We know you have someone on the inside."

"Yes, I do."

"Will you help us bring them down?"

The question had Snitch Gravel straightening his stance, a calculating expression filling his face. "Are you offering to join me?"

"I'm offering a temporary alliance to end a common enemy." Plus he wasn't actually offering much since it was just him. They'd all have to talk and vote on it, but Kyle honestly didn't see any other way.

"It's more complicated than that."

"Why?"

"It stays my little problem."

"Don't you trust me?" The question was out before he could help it and it wasn't fair since he had no idea of he trusted Snitch Gravel in return. Though he had to admit to himself that he did. At least with this.

There were a few moments of silence. "I don't think this is about trust."

"It is. But the point is moot. You won't even tell me your name."

He rolled his eyes. "This again?"

Yes, that. Because Kyle needed a distraction and not to go crazy over the Agency. He just needed to focus on one step at a time.

"I bet your name is something lame, like Bob or John, or Spencer."

"Spencer?" Snitch Gravel asked with a laugh. "Not even close."

"Then what am I supposed to call you?"

He shrugged. "Call me whatever you like."

"Okay, Bob."

"Maybe not Bob."

The actually shared a laugh over that and Kyle wondered if he'd lost his mind, too. But the fact that they were all in this together, against the Agency made his defenses drop more than anything had. It could be crazy or a coping mechanism, but he decided to roll with it. A man who stabbed himself to make sure he'd rest couldn't be all that bad. So he'd give Bob a break.

"Okay, time for you to sleep."

"That's the thing." Snitch Gravel shifted. "The pressure of having to sleep is what makes it so hard to do it in the first place. That and the fear of nightmares."

He'd lived through that. He'd also heard it before from Kay, especially after they came back from Japan. What helped them both sleep was staying awake for a while and go over their happy memories. Happy stories also worked well for when his kids had bad dreams. This couldn't be much different.

"Did I ever tell you the story of how Kay and I met?" he asked.

Snitch Gravel raised his eyebrows. "What? And what makes you think I'd care?"

"Get in the cot."

"Excuse me?"

"Just humor me. Lie down and listen. I promise it's funny."

This seemed to catch Snitch Gravel's interest because he moved with difficulty, but finally lay down to rest. "It had better be funny," he grumbled.

"Her ex threw himself down a flight of stairs on a moped he couldn't ride and almost killed himself. I caught him and stopped him from running out into the street and Kay called me a jerk for it."

"Huh. Why didn't you let him end himself? Also that's not exactly funny."

"No, the funny part is that she thought I was an ex-con for like a month? Then she blurted out that she had no way of knowing which jail I was in."

Snitch Gravel chuckled. "Okay, that is kind of funny."

"Let me walk you through it. It gets even more hilarious."

As Kyle launched into the story of how he and Kay got to know each other, of how he didn't even know her name for the longest time, Snitch Gravel closed his eyes. In a little over ten minutes, he was asleep, a mild smile on his face.

🧭🧭🧭

There is so much new information in this chapter, and for the first time, you get a bit of real background history on the Agency.

Also, how many of you were surprised by the fact that Snitch Gravel existed... well, before Snitch Gravel, lol?

You also get to see the real potential danger of the Agency (unless Kyle and Snitch Gravel are wrong).

You also get more bonding, because unfortunately for Kyle's mental health, he and Snitch Gravel really need each other at this point. Let's see how well that turns out.

Vote and comment for support and I hope you're finding all these answers interesting.