Title: An Exercise in Control
Author: Carrion's Comfort
Rating: R to hard R (depending on how squeamish you get)
Category: Romance/Angst (Here be darkness)
Spoilers: All Season 1 is fair game
Disclaimer: They're not mine. It took me 24 steps to admit that. I had to do the class twice
Summary: How does your deepest wish, become your worst nightmare
Notes: If you want to feedback, feedback. Either way, this is just to get this damn idea out of my head. If you want to archive this, please ask. As this is un-betaed, I claim all responsibility for any mistakes.
*********************************
It wasn't meant to be this way.
The phrase looped constantly through his brain. He'd thought about it, dreamed about it and prayed for it, but this...this would make a mockery of every secret hope he...they...had held onto.
Meeting her eyes, he saw them filled with unshed tears, tears she wouldn't give Them the satisfaction of seeing. Despite the horror of the situation, he almost smiled at her bravado, the loop stopped for just a second -one blessed moment- and suddenly he was taken back to their first meeting. Clown-red hair, swollen jaw, streaming mascara...but her eyes -filled with fire, passion, hate-...it may not have been love at first sight, but it was definitely somewhere in that vicinity.
"Your decision Mr. Vaughn."
God, that voice. In tone, similar to her daughter's (even with the hint of Russian in it), but lacking any of the warmth. Lacking anything. It could have been a robot's voice. Laura, Irina, whomever, was Sydney's mother by genetics only. He thought he had hated her when he found out about his father, and when he had held Sydney as she cried. Hate didn't even scratch the surface of what he felt now.
The kick to Sydney's stomach, wrenched an involuntary groan from her. He jerked violently at his restraints, and gagged against the duct tape over his mouth.
"You're taking too long Mr. Vaughn." Irina's voice was polite, almost bored. "A simple nod of the head and she won't have to hurt anymore. You know you want to, and you know she wants to. Surely you aren't going to let the CIA handbook stand in the way. It didn't in Taipei." She moved to stand directly in front of him, tilting his head up so he was forced to look into her eyes. Eyes so similar to Sydney's and yet so diametrically different. "Oh, I see," she purred " it's not the CIA handbook that stands in your way, it's your own personal handbook. The one filled with all your -or should I say- your father's notions of honour." The hate shining in his eyes made her smile even wider. "You're as deluded as he was."
"Fuck you, Mom." Sydney bit out from across the room, unable to stay silent any longer "The only things you know, that you can understand, are destruction and pain."
For a moment he was certain that that was it. Irina surprised him though, laughing with genuine amusement. "Oh I understand all right Sydney. Don't forget I have been watching you for almost thirty years. I know you, inside and out. And I think it would be fair to say I know Mr. Vaughn pretty well too."
"You don't know anything about us" Sydney spat back, sickened by her mother's smug assumptions
"I know," Irina continued calmly, disregarding Sydney's impassioned statement "that Michael Vaughn loves you, and that you love him. I even have your intense -albeit premature- goodbye scene, in my nightclub, on tape. I know he would do anything for you, just as I know, you would risk you life for him." She moved from him to Sydney, kneeling down and lifting her daughter's face off the dirty floor. "It takes a lot to beat me in a fight Sydney, and I am not ashamed to say you thoroughly beat me that day. I have watched you fight, and you never fought like that before."
She was silent for a minute, and Vaughn watched as she unconsciously smoothed Sydney's hair and brushed away the dirt clinging to it. For a moment she wasn't 'Irina', The Man, the traitor, she was Sydney's mother, the one from the stories he had first heard, before KGB codes in a book re- shaped their lives. But then she stood abruptly turning her attention back to him, and she was once again Irina, The Man... his father's killer.
"I grow tired of this." Her voice could have cut diamonds. "Perhaps you need an incentive." She nodded to Sark, who eagerly came to her. "David, see if you can persuade Mr. Vaughn a little, but mind" she added sharply "just a little." Sark's smile dimmed slightly, but he nodded before predatorily moving down to where Sydney was bound and guarded.
His hands at her shoulders made Vaughn and Sydney tense in unconscious synchrony, and as it slid towards the buttons of her top, Vaughn jerked so hard against his handcuffs, his wrists bled. He didn't notice. All he could focus on was Sark's hands; first as they roughly tied a gag around her mouth, then as they wandered casually over Sydney's tense body.
"You can stop this at any time," Irina murmured in his ear, before she delicately peeled away the duct tape from his mouth "I don't want to have to make her suffer anymore than she has to. Do you, Michael?"
"You can not do this." He rasped out "Please don't do this." When it came to Sydney, Vaughn was not too proud to beg.
"I'm afraid that is not an option. Sydney got the advantage in Taipei, and much as I am proud of her for that, I need the advantage back." The regret was real in her voice but Vaughn found no comfort in that, he knew what was coming next.
"Either you will have sex with my daughter while we film it, or we film her with David. While you get to watch. Naturally. And afterwards if Sydney still refuses to help me, a copy of the tape will reach both Sloane and Devlin. I'm sure you can connect the rest of the blood-spattered dots Michael. Could you bear having her blood on your hands? Do you think she could bear anymore blood on hers...especially yours?"
He wanted to be sick, in fact it was the main reason he didn't...couldn't answer Irina, not that there could be any 'right' answer. His mind scrambled for an out, a loophole, anything. What he finally came up with wasn't much, but he was twenty steps beyond 'grasping at straws'.
"You can't do it. If you use Sark and you send the tape to either SD-6 or the CIA, they'll know it wasn't consensual. They'll know he raped her. That you let that your daughter get raped, by that animal."
The blow to his face was unexpected and made him taste blood, but he welcomed the pain. It kept him from losing his mind.
"I have to confess I am disappointed in you Agent Vaughn." Vaughn wondered if he was punch drunk, because Irina's voice did actually sound disappointed. " Do you think we'd I'd be stupid enough to send a tape which made my daughter a bigger heroine than she already is to either the CIA or SD-6. Every contingency was thought of. If you choose not to help Sydney, if you choose to abandon Sydney to 'that animal' we have a nice little cocktail for her in a syringe which will have her higher than Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." He felt her breath singe his ear as she leaned into him, as if to tell a secret "But you know what the best part is, the whole time she'd think it was you. She'd be seeing you, imagining that it was your hands roaming all over her body, your mouth claiming hers and...do you want me to go on?"
Vaughn found himself looking straight into Irina's eyes, straight into madness.
Don't try to appeal to my 'better' side Mr. Vaughn." The robot voice was back. "Don't try to appeal to my maternal side either. We're fighting a war here. I picked my side, and Sydney picked hers in Taipei. She knows the risks."
"You're crazy. You're fucking crazy." He whispered more to himself, than to her.
"And you are out of options Michael. Yes or No?"
His eyes wildly searched the room, hoping for some reprieve or rescue. He knew none would be forthcoming. Finally he allowed himself to look at Sydney. Both her hands and legs were bound, the plastic cutting cruelly in to her creamy skin. The gag was obviously chafing the soft skin around her mouth. She had a large bruise forming on her left cheekbone and her hair was matted from the blow she had taken. Slowly his gaze met hers. He hadn't known what to expect but what he saw in her eyes floored him.
Trust.
Steady, unwavering trust.
In him.
Their connection was abruptly broken as Sark greedily began to paw at her breasts.
Her eyes snapped shut, and though she refused to flinch away from the touch, Vaughn heard her involuntary mewl of protest.
And it was settled.
"I'll do it." Vaughn heard himself whispering.
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Vaughn refused to look at Irina when he agreed -he didn't need to look at her to know she was smiling-, instead he focused on the relief and gratitude he saw in Sydney's eyes. It calmed him, steadied him, and gave him something to hold onto.
"I knew you could be reasonable Mr. Vaughn," Irina was back to purring "just as I knew all you needed was the right sort of incentive." Once again she gripped his face, but this time not to dominate- she just looked at him, searching, almost, for something only she could see. Vaughn didn't look away. Some instinct -that same instinct he had had about Sydney- told him that this was a test, one he couldn't afford to fail.
They held gazes, and it surprised everyone -except Sydney and possibly Irina herself- that it was not Vaughn who looked away first. Nodding in unspoken acknowledgement to him, she turned her attention back to Sydney but Vaughn's voice stopped her.
"Just a minute." The authority made Irina turn around sharply "I said I'd do it, and I will... but nothing is going to happen unless you agree to the conditions I have."
"I don't think you are in a position to demand anything, Mr. Vaughn." Sark taunted from his corner.
"Shut up David." Irina commanded, without bothering to look at him "When I want your input, I'll ask for it...Continue Mr. Vaughn."
"First of all, you have to untie Sydney...fully. Nothing is going to happen if either of us is bound in any way." Irina only inclined her head in assent to his request, still Vaughn felt as if he has passed yet another one of her tests. "Second, when this happens," he paused, before continuing in a steely tone, "none of you are in here."
"But of course." Her smooth acceptance was obviously a shock to her henchmen, but she didn't let the rumblings of her cohorts distract her. "The point of this exercise Michael, was not about giving us a 'free show'...despite what some may have assumed," Sark, who was on the verge of saying something, took a hasty step back " at the risk of repeating myself, this is about control. Nothing else." Vaughn wasn't so sure it was 'just about control', but he was hardly in a position to argue " As I'm sure you've both realized," Irina continued, seemingly unaware of Vaughn's scrutiny " we've had cameras installed in here for months. We will be in another warehouse...monitoring the situation."
It was better than he had hoped for but Vaughn was still unsure. "And after? What happens to us after?" There seemed little point in asking, but he had to know.
"After, is up to you. You'll be free to leave, and later at some point both of you will be contacted."
"Do I have your word on that?"
This time he took everyone off-guard, Irina included.
"My word?!" Though amused, the words were laced with bitterness.
"Yes. Your word." Vaughn's steadily replied.
"Yes. You do." The words lacked her usual nuances of scorn or boredom. "I'm glad I was right about you Michael." she said softly -a minute later-, a curious half-smile softening her face. A moment of recognition passed between them, before Irina looked at Sark and the other men in the room. "It's time. David, see to it everything is ready."
The men filed out obediently, all obviously knowing what they had to do. The scuffing sound of their dying footsteps was the only sound in the warehouse for a while, as Irina, Vaughn and Sydney all remained in their places, watching each other.
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End Part 1 of 2
Author: Carrion's Comfort
Rating: R to hard R (depending on how squeamish you get)
Category: Romance/Angst (Here be darkness)
Spoilers: All Season 1 is fair game
Disclaimer: They're not mine. It took me 24 steps to admit that. I had to do the class twice
Summary: How does your deepest wish, become your worst nightmare
Notes: If you want to feedback, feedback. Either way, this is just to get this damn idea out of my head. If you want to archive this, please ask. As this is un-betaed, I claim all responsibility for any mistakes.
*********************************
It wasn't meant to be this way.
The phrase looped constantly through his brain. He'd thought about it, dreamed about it and prayed for it, but this...this would make a mockery of every secret hope he...they...had held onto.
Meeting her eyes, he saw them filled with unshed tears, tears she wouldn't give Them the satisfaction of seeing. Despite the horror of the situation, he almost smiled at her bravado, the loop stopped for just a second -one blessed moment- and suddenly he was taken back to their first meeting. Clown-red hair, swollen jaw, streaming mascara...but her eyes -filled with fire, passion, hate-...it may not have been love at first sight, but it was definitely somewhere in that vicinity.
"Your decision Mr. Vaughn."
God, that voice. In tone, similar to her daughter's (even with the hint of Russian in it), but lacking any of the warmth. Lacking anything. It could have been a robot's voice. Laura, Irina, whomever, was Sydney's mother by genetics only. He thought he had hated her when he found out about his father, and when he had held Sydney as she cried. Hate didn't even scratch the surface of what he felt now.
The kick to Sydney's stomach, wrenched an involuntary groan from her. He jerked violently at his restraints, and gagged against the duct tape over his mouth.
"You're taking too long Mr. Vaughn." Irina's voice was polite, almost bored. "A simple nod of the head and she won't have to hurt anymore. You know you want to, and you know she wants to. Surely you aren't going to let the CIA handbook stand in the way. It didn't in Taipei." She moved to stand directly in front of him, tilting his head up so he was forced to look into her eyes. Eyes so similar to Sydney's and yet so diametrically different. "Oh, I see," she purred " it's not the CIA handbook that stands in your way, it's your own personal handbook. The one filled with all your -or should I say- your father's notions of honour." The hate shining in his eyes made her smile even wider. "You're as deluded as he was."
"Fuck you, Mom." Sydney bit out from across the room, unable to stay silent any longer "The only things you know, that you can understand, are destruction and pain."
For a moment he was certain that that was it. Irina surprised him though, laughing with genuine amusement. "Oh I understand all right Sydney. Don't forget I have been watching you for almost thirty years. I know you, inside and out. And I think it would be fair to say I know Mr. Vaughn pretty well too."
"You don't know anything about us" Sydney spat back, sickened by her mother's smug assumptions
"I know," Irina continued calmly, disregarding Sydney's impassioned statement "that Michael Vaughn loves you, and that you love him. I even have your intense -albeit premature- goodbye scene, in my nightclub, on tape. I know he would do anything for you, just as I know, you would risk you life for him." She moved from him to Sydney, kneeling down and lifting her daughter's face off the dirty floor. "It takes a lot to beat me in a fight Sydney, and I am not ashamed to say you thoroughly beat me that day. I have watched you fight, and you never fought like that before."
She was silent for a minute, and Vaughn watched as she unconsciously smoothed Sydney's hair and brushed away the dirt clinging to it. For a moment she wasn't 'Irina', The Man, the traitor, she was Sydney's mother, the one from the stories he had first heard, before KGB codes in a book re- shaped their lives. But then she stood abruptly turning her attention back to him, and she was once again Irina, The Man... his father's killer.
"I grow tired of this." Her voice could have cut diamonds. "Perhaps you need an incentive." She nodded to Sark, who eagerly came to her. "David, see if you can persuade Mr. Vaughn a little, but mind" she added sharply "just a little." Sark's smile dimmed slightly, but he nodded before predatorily moving down to where Sydney was bound and guarded.
His hands at her shoulders made Vaughn and Sydney tense in unconscious synchrony, and as it slid towards the buttons of her top, Vaughn jerked so hard against his handcuffs, his wrists bled. He didn't notice. All he could focus on was Sark's hands; first as they roughly tied a gag around her mouth, then as they wandered casually over Sydney's tense body.
"You can stop this at any time," Irina murmured in his ear, before she delicately peeled away the duct tape from his mouth "I don't want to have to make her suffer anymore than she has to. Do you, Michael?"
"You can not do this." He rasped out "Please don't do this." When it came to Sydney, Vaughn was not too proud to beg.
"I'm afraid that is not an option. Sydney got the advantage in Taipei, and much as I am proud of her for that, I need the advantage back." The regret was real in her voice but Vaughn found no comfort in that, he knew what was coming next.
"Either you will have sex with my daughter while we film it, or we film her with David. While you get to watch. Naturally. And afterwards if Sydney still refuses to help me, a copy of the tape will reach both Sloane and Devlin. I'm sure you can connect the rest of the blood-spattered dots Michael. Could you bear having her blood on your hands? Do you think she could bear anymore blood on hers...especially yours?"
He wanted to be sick, in fact it was the main reason he didn't...couldn't answer Irina, not that there could be any 'right' answer. His mind scrambled for an out, a loophole, anything. What he finally came up with wasn't much, but he was twenty steps beyond 'grasping at straws'.
"You can't do it. If you use Sark and you send the tape to either SD-6 or the CIA, they'll know it wasn't consensual. They'll know he raped her. That you let that your daughter get raped, by that animal."
The blow to his face was unexpected and made him taste blood, but he welcomed the pain. It kept him from losing his mind.
"I have to confess I am disappointed in you Agent Vaughn." Vaughn wondered if he was punch drunk, because Irina's voice did actually sound disappointed. " Do you think we'd I'd be stupid enough to send a tape which made my daughter a bigger heroine than she already is to either the CIA or SD-6. Every contingency was thought of. If you choose not to help Sydney, if you choose to abandon Sydney to 'that animal' we have a nice little cocktail for her in a syringe which will have her higher than Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." He felt her breath singe his ear as she leaned into him, as if to tell a secret "But you know what the best part is, the whole time she'd think it was you. She'd be seeing you, imagining that it was your hands roaming all over her body, your mouth claiming hers and...do you want me to go on?"
Vaughn found himself looking straight into Irina's eyes, straight into madness.
Don't try to appeal to my 'better' side Mr. Vaughn." The robot voice was back. "Don't try to appeal to my maternal side either. We're fighting a war here. I picked my side, and Sydney picked hers in Taipei. She knows the risks."
"You're crazy. You're fucking crazy." He whispered more to himself, than to her.
"And you are out of options Michael. Yes or No?"
His eyes wildly searched the room, hoping for some reprieve or rescue. He knew none would be forthcoming. Finally he allowed himself to look at Sydney. Both her hands and legs were bound, the plastic cutting cruelly in to her creamy skin. The gag was obviously chafing the soft skin around her mouth. She had a large bruise forming on her left cheekbone and her hair was matted from the blow she had taken. Slowly his gaze met hers. He hadn't known what to expect but what he saw in her eyes floored him.
Trust.
Steady, unwavering trust.
In him.
Their connection was abruptly broken as Sark greedily began to paw at her breasts.
Her eyes snapped shut, and though she refused to flinch away from the touch, Vaughn heard her involuntary mewl of protest.
And it was settled.
"I'll do it." Vaughn heard himself whispering.
**************************************
Vaughn refused to look at Irina when he agreed -he didn't need to look at her to know she was smiling-, instead he focused on the relief and gratitude he saw in Sydney's eyes. It calmed him, steadied him, and gave him something to hold onto.
"I knew you could be reasonable Mr. Vaughn," Irina was back to purring "just as I knew all you needed was the right sort of incentive." Once again she gripped his face, but this time not to dominate- she just looked at him, searching, almost, for something only she could see. Vaughn didn't look away. Some instinct -that same instinct he had had about Sydney- told him that this was a test, one he couldn't afford to fail.
They held gazes, and it surprised everyone -except Sydney and possibly Irina herself- that it was not Vaughn who looked away first. Nodding in unspoken acknowledgement to him, she turned her attention back to Sydney but Vaughn's voice stopped her.
"Just a minute." The authority made Irina turn around sharply "I said I'd do it, and I will... but nothing is going to happen unless you agree to the conditions I have."
"I don't think you are in a position to demand anything, Mr. Vaughn." Sark taunted from his corner.
"Shut up David." Irina commanded, without bothering to look at him "When I want your input, I'll ask for it...Continue Mr. Vaughn."
"First of all, you have to untie Sydney...fully. Nothing is going to happen if either of us is bound in any way." Irina only inclined her head in assent to his request, still Vaughn felt as if he has passed yet another one of her tests. "Second, when this happens," he paused, before continuing in a steely tone, "none of you are in here."
"But of course." Her smooth acceptance was obviously a shock to her henchmen, but she didn't let the rumblings of her cohorts distract her. "The point of this exercise Michael, was not about giving us a 'free show'...despite what some may have assumed," Sark, who was on the verge of saying something, took a hasty step back " at the risk of repeating myself, this is about control. Nothing else." Vaughn wasn't so sure it was 'just about control', but he was hardly in a position to argue " As I'm sure you've both realized," Irina continued, seemingly unaware of Vaughn's scrutiny " we've had cameras installed in here for months. We will be in another warehouse...monitoring the situation."
It was better than he had hoped for but Vaughn was still unsure. "And after? What happens to us after?" There seemed little point in asking, but he had to know.
"After, is up to you. You'll be free to leave, and later at some point both of you will be contacted."
"Do I have your word on that?"
This time he took everyone off-guard, Irina included.
"My word?!" Though amused, the words were laced with bitterness.
"Yes. Your word." Vaughn's steadily replied.
"Yes. You do." The words lacked her usual nuances of scorn or boredom. "I'm glad I was right about you Michael." she said softly -a minute later-, a curious half-smile softening her face. A moment of recognition passed between them, before Irina looked at Sark and the other men in the room. "It's time. David, see to it everything is ready."
The men filed out obediently, all obviously knowing what they had to do. The scuffing sound of their dying footsteps was the only sound in the warehouse for a while, as Irina, Vaughn and Sydney all remained in their places, watching each other.
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End Part 1 of 2