Angel was away on a mission for Steve, he was trying to see if he could help Alison have children of her own. Steve was reading the news on his computer, he was now aware that his self appointed task was world wide and he needed the internet to keep him abreast of any trouble that may require his special talents.
Merlin had supplied him with a 26th Century computer, and had programmed it to flag any news story that contained certain key words. The computer was completely holographic; it was basically a figment of Steve's imagination projected by his implant, as was Merlin's avatar.
It was a three dimensional cube, that appeared to float in midair. Any news deemed relevant to Dr. Snip, was presented in an orderly fashion. He still liked to keep his hand in, combating the grass roots level of Crimes involving the young.
The Newspapers in Ohio, were reporting the disappearance of a young boy. He had been missing for two days, and his parents were frantic with worry. They had even been on their local TV, appealing for help from the public.
Had Steve not been so busy lately, he would have been on the case earlier. Still time as they say was on his side; making a note of the parents address he finished his tea. He dressed as usual in his long black Kevlar coat.
Excalibur was concealed in its hidden sheath, or as concealed as a four foot long sword could be. He jumped to the parent's house, ensuring he picked a time in the evening when it would be dark.
The boy's parents were Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, their son Toby had gone to school as usual and that was the last he had been seen by anyone. They lived in Ohio, in a little town called Lysander. Paul Jackson was a big black man who had his own tyre business in the town, and was a well respected member of the community.
When his doorbell rang he looked through the spy hole before opening the door. He and his wife had been plagued by reporters; since appearing on the TV. He had known that this would happen, but considered it a small price to pay if it helped get his son back.
He couldn't quite make out who was standing there; it looked like a black silhouette. He squared his shoulders and opened the door, the man standing on his porch didn't look at all like a reporter. As Paul stood looking at him, Steve handed him his calling card. It simply said "Dr. Snip."
At the start of his quest he used to use a pair of secatures, as his calling card. They were a reminder of what fate had in store, for any criminals that caught Dr. snips attention. However he realised that he would also be interacting with good people; so had some mundane cards printed for that purpose.
Paul's hand shook as he read that name; he had read of this man. In Britain he was wanted for murder, but Paul was a well informed man, and knew about the sort of people that this man was accused of killing.
'I am honoured to meet you, please come in,' he invited the tall dark man.
Steve followed Paul into his living room.
'My wife is upstairs trying to sleep, Paul explained 'she is exhausted from the constant worry.'
'I would like to help find Toby,' said Steve, ' it would be best if nobody knew I was involved. To be blunt, I may have to kill whoever has your son, and if I do you may be accused of hiring me to do it.'
Paul was shocked at the cold blooded way this man spoke of killing. However he wanted his son back at all costs, so he gave Steve all the details he required in order to track Toby. Steve thanked him and let himself out of the house. This was almost routine to Steve, he jumped back in time to the last location Toby was seen, and then just kept an eye on the boy until something happened. As usual it was a pretty simple snatch, a van pulled up beside the boy as he walked home.
A man showed him a map and asked him to point out a certain place. When the helpful boy leaned in to see the map, he was dragged inside the van and it drove away. Steve was very tempted to just stop the van, kill the driver and rescue the boy. However he decided to follow it for a while, in case there were others involved.
Steve had been discussing a certain QT effect with Merlin. When he was dealing with Jeckell the rogue War Minister, he had left one version of him on Angels sunning ledge in the Jurassic. When he had returned Jeckell was gone, or at least Steve couldn't see him.
Merlin had theorised that perhaps he was now slightly out of sync with our timeline, and so was effectively invisible and intangible. Steve's curious mind had wondered if it were possible to set the QT to throw himself slightly out of phase. Not enough to make him intangible, but just enough to make him invisible.
Melin aka The World Brain; had spent quite a few seconds on this question. This translated into years of thought for a human being. He finally came up with a modification to the QT; that had the effect of an interference field.
This wouldn't make Steve perfectly invisible, but it would make him transparent to light. Steve with the bravery of the ignorant; tried it out in front of a full length mirror. When the field was on, his body was pushed slightly out of phase with his universe.
He was only a single nanosecond removed from his main timeline, but the result was as if he was made of glass. If you knew he was there it was easy to see him. However if he stood still, and you didn't know he was there, then your eyes wouldn't see him.
Merlin had been very pleased with himself, even AI's needed praise now and then, and Steve was generous with his.
'Not quite the Invisible Man old friend but close enough I think' he said, smiling at the old wizard. Steve jumped to the top of the vans roof, and switched on the field.
By lying prone and holding on to the roof, he was carried along without being noticed by passing cars. This saved him having to make numerous small jumps to keep the van in sight. His hands were getting tired as the van continued to travel for some miles, before turning off into a dirt track heading into a stand of trees.
There was an old timber house at the end of this dirt road, and finally the van pulled up in front of it and the engine was turned off. Steve was so stiff from hanging on; that by the time he got down from the roof the kidnapper had carried Toby into the house.
Steve turned off the interference field and reappeared. He was not in a very good mood, and decided that he would just walk into the house and ask serious and painful questions of whomever he found there. To his surprise when he entered the house it appeared empty, he looked around the ground floor and climbed the stairs to the upper floor.
There was nobody about. He decided that there must be a cellar; all these creepy old houses had cellars. It seemed to be a requirement of these sort of criminals; that they lurked in cellars.
Sure enough a search of the floor showed a trapdoor, he opened it and walked down the stairs. Steve found himself in a corridor, which had six doors, three each side connecting to it.
He could hear a disturbance from the end door on his right, and walked towards it. Toby was struggling with a heavily built man, who was tying him to a chair. Steve drew Excalibur and without any drama, smashed the man over the head with the solid steel pommel. The big man grunted in shock and pain, before crashing to the ground.