Cut and Run 1 - Cut and Run

leads, then good for you."
    Ty glanced over at Zane and smirked, restraining himself from commenting. Zane was hard-pressed not to sneer back at him.
    "On the periphery, and more importantly to your own assignment, you will be concentrating not on the serial murders, but on the deaths of Special Agents Reilly and Sanchez."
    "Because you suspect an inside job?” Zane inquired quietly.
    "Precisely. We believe if we can uncover how the killer got to them, we'll have him."
    "And our parameters for operating?” Ty asked eagerly as he sat forward, closer to the speakerphone.
    "Don't kill each other,” Burns ordered with a smile in his voice. “Any future questions, you come directly to me. George is to be left out of the loop on the off chance he needs to deny knowledge of your operations,” he added.
    Ty and Zane both looked up at McCarty. The man did not look pleased, but it was obvious that he'd already had words with Burns regarding the plan.
    "That will be all, gentlemen. Good luck,” Burns told them. “George, give my love to your girls,” he added before the line went dead.
    McCarty looked at the two agents sitting across from him and snorted. “Anything else?” he asked them with a raised eyebrow.
    "No, sir,” Zane answered with a shake of his head.
    McCarty merely nodded. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the mayor.” He grunted unhappily and swept out of the office, leaving Morrison and Henninger behind.
    Ty sat twirling his pen idly, unmoving as he looked at the two younger men in amusement. “How'd you get stuck with this shit?” he asked them finally.
    "We're just errand boys, sir,” Henninger answered in a low voice, a hint of amusement in his dark eyes as he looked at Ty.
    Ty grinned crookedly and nodded. “So are we,” he responded wryly. Henninger fought hard not to smile.
    Zane glanced at the two agents and back to Ty. “Any miraculous sparks of insight, Grady?” he asked.
    "Yeah,” Ty answered as he stood and removed his suit jacket. He yanked off his tie and threw it onto the table. “I need to find me a Batgirl,” he drawled thoughtfully.
    "I'm sure the bat signal's upstairs,” Zane answered absently as he paged through the folder, checking to see if there were materials he wanted to request. Morrison and Henninger exchanged dubious looks.
    "You have way too many of these comments stored up,” Ty told Zane disapprovingly. He turned to Morrison and Henninger and gave them a sweeping gesture of his hand. “Take us to the Bat Cave!” he ordered with a straight face.
    Morrison's jaw dropped as he stared at Ty, obviously thinking he was insane. His partner looked at him and rolled his eyes. “C'mon, Mark,” he muttered. “He's still yanking your chain.” The two younger agents led the way out, muttering to each other.
    "You know it's more likely they're taking us to Wayne Manor,” Zane said as they followed along, both to make his point and to get a jab in at Ty while he could. “Hide in plain sight and spare no expense account.” Sad, but true. It was a good thing they weren't supposed to be completely undercover, or they'd already be spoiled.
    "That doesn't even make any sense. Shut it, Sidekick,” Ty muttered to him.
    Zane allowed himself a small smile before he remembered how much he actively disliked this man.
    "You two want breakfast before the hotel?” Morrison asked. He seemed to be the talker of the matched set.
    "The Bat Cave isn't the hotel,” Ty protested in annoyance with a few snaps of his fingers. “Get on board the metaphor, kiddies."
    "Where the hell is the Bat Cave, then?” Henninger asked with a long-suffering sigh.
    "The lab, man. Take us down to the lab,” Ty ordered in exasperation.
    Zane glanced over the Hardy Boys, struck again by how young they seemed. Surely, they'd seen some version of Batman. This was making him feel old.
    "Well, how the hell are we supposed to know that? You old guys saw all that original crap. The new stuff's a lot better, and the Bat Cave is not a lab,” Morrison blustered.
    Zane blinked. Old guys? He glanced to Ty, wondering what sort of fireworks that little comment would set off.
    "Do I look like I saw the original anything, SpongeBob?” Ty asked with a smirk and a point to his own chest. “What are you doing reading comics anyway? When I was your age I was in the Gulf, man,” he continued.
    "The Gulf of what?” Morrison responded, a blank look in his eyes.
    "The Persian Gulf,” Zane answered