Title: Mosemotsane (it means "the second born of identical twins")

Author: Ashni (nicole@lafetra.com)

Rating: PG (it could probably be G, though)

Summary: Sydney goes to Pennsylvania to retrieve a second piece of Rambaldi's journal. K-Directorate is waiting there, however, and they take her prisoner.

This is my first fanfic ever, so be nice. :-) I wrote it all last night/this morning (New Year's and all), and all through today, but I'll just post the first few parts right now and do the rest later. Also, as with probably anyone reading this, I'm extremely ignorant of CIA protocol....anyway. Don't expect any realistic stuff here. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own any "Alias" characters, which, while it admittedly makes me sad, is probably a good thing because I don't want to screw it up. :-) So no lawsuits or anything. Hehehe!

* * *

Sydney woke up instantly, feeling her limbs scream in protest as she twisted her head to look at her surroundings. Stark white walls stood guard around her stiff bed, and when she tried to move, she discovered that she was chained securely in place.

She moaned in pain and turned on her side as far as her chains would allow, trying to remember how she had gotten to this place. The single door stared at her menacingly, holding no answers. To her frustration, the last thing that she remembered was getting off the plane--

The screech of the door gave her little warning before someone came into the room. "I see you are awake." Ana Espinosa stood before her, dangling a key from her fingertips. Sydney felt a raging urge to slap the smug look off her nemesis' face, and suddenly the memories all came flooding back. . .

- Flashback -

//New intel suggests that Rambaldi may not have hidden all of his journal on Mount Aconcagua. Some papers were hidden in Brazil; they are now in the possession of a man named Olim Idlabmar in Pennsylvania. I'm being sent to hopefully retrieve the journal and kill Idlabmar. Sloane doesn't want to risk him leaking information to K-Directorate. So, what's my counter-mission?//

The phonecall for Joey's Pizza came a scant half-hour later. "We still have your photos from the original part of the journal," Vaughn told her, "So, here's what we'll do. Ask Marshall for a camera to take pictures of Idlabmar's part of the journal--tell him that even if Idlabmar backs out on his deal, you can bring back the pictures. Bring us the journal, give SD-6 a mixed collection of old and new pictures and concoct a story about why you couldn't get the journal. A CIA team will take care of Idlabmar later."

Marshall had complied without question and Sydney boarded a plane bound for Pennsylvania soon after. When the plane landed, she had taken her single suitcase and gone immediately to the park where you would meet Idlabmar.

A man was waiting on a bench when she arrived. Dark glasses and heavy facial hair effectively obscured his features. Sydney watched the trees out of the corner of her eye, on her guard for any suspicious activity.

"Miss Bristow?" The man stood up and offered his hand. Sydney took it, her heart pounding nervously. "Mr. Idlabmar," she replied. She forced a smile on her face and tried to relax.

A rustle from behind her warned her to drop into a fighting stance, but Idlabmar--or the man posing as Idlabmar--had her hand in a firm grip. She twisted around just as a blow to her head sent her reeling, stars covering her vision. Hands caught her as she fell. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was the ( 0 ) tattooed on her attacker's hand.

- End Flashback -

Ana said something in Russian, but Sydney couldn't think past the memories that flooded her mind, much less translate a foreign language. "What?" she asked faintly, eyes locked on Ana's hand. Ana smirked.

"I said, would you like me to unchain you?" Ana repeated in English. She held the key up tauntingly. "Or would you rather I come back another time?"

Sydney glared at her. "Do I actually have a choice? I don't recall you asking if you could bash me over the head." She met Ana's gaze calmly and saw the other woman's face darken in response.

"Why they keep you alive, I don't know," she growled. She gestured at the door and men with guns filed into the room as she roughly began to unlock Sydney's shackles. "But I suppose you'll fetch a price. Sold like a slave. Not usually done here in America, is it?" She smiled with false sweetness at Sydney, who kept her face carefully neutral. She would show nothing to Ana. In her heart, though, she clung to Ana's words: "here in America." She had more of a chance here than in Russia. She sighed inwardly. What fool was she, to trust Ana's chance words? But it was all she had to go on.

One of the men must have noticed a trace of thoughtfulness in her manner, because he snapped something at Ana that Sydney didn't catch. Ana's face immediately turned stony and she abruptly stopped talking. She undid the last coil of chain with a rough snap and turned on her heel to leave the room. The other men prodded Sydney to follow her. Rubbing her wrists gingerly, Sydney obeyed.

Despite her rising fear, she kept track of the corridors they took her through, building a map in her head. She had a sneaking suspicion that her guards were taking a much more convoluted route than was necessary, but if they were even letting her follow them without a blindfold, they likely weren't planning to keep her here for very long. *Or they're planning to kill me,* she thought.

But that made no sense. If they wanted to kill her, they could've had a sniper pick her off in the park, or shot her when she was unconscious. That they had kept her alive thus far meant--what, exactly? Sydney didn't know.

* * *

Agent Weiss held out the paper to Vaughn, looking unhappier by the second. "It's a message from K-Directorate," he pressed, repeating what he had said a minute before. "Sent to SD-6. Mr. Bristow brought it to us." He waited, eyeing the paper askance. "Aren't you even going to look at it? She's *your* agent."

Vaughn stared at his desk, twirling a pen with his fingers. "She's not *my* anything," he said softly. As Weiss' eyes widened, he looked up and took the message. He scanned it, but the words seemed to swim on the page. He could hardly think. K-Directorate had managed to get to Pennsylvania undetected, and now Sydney was in their hands. He struggled to keep from thinking about Ana, what Ana would do to her.

Weiss swallowed heavily. "If they want to ransom her to SD-6, they are going to keep her alive," he said, in answer to Vaughn's unvoiced thought. He tried to smile reassuringly.

Vaughn smiled back weakly, but his eyes remained clouded. "I know. Thank you for bringing this to me, Eric." He lay the paper on his desk and looked down at his hands. "If we act, we reveal her to SD-6." Weiss nodded slowly and Vaughn's brows knit.

"Her life is more important than her status as a double agent at SD-6," Vaughn continued, still looking at his hands. Weiss stayed silent, wondering if Vaughn even remembered his presence. "But does Sydney think so?"