A/N I may post more...this is meant to be a kind of epilogue to Consequence. Like Scars was to Fallout, but different- probably longer, and with more points of view. Also an interlude between Consequence and the next story (hopefully the finale of this series...). This is basically what the characters have to deal with as a result of Consequence. Probably mostly a series of vignettes loosely connected.


Tasha stepped into the jail cell, her heels clicking on the cement. She imagined her suit as armor, her face as an impassive mask, shutting down all emotion.

This is business, she told herself. Nothing more.

The man sat in the solitary cell on the bench along the wall. His hands were cuffed, and a chain led from his wrists to the manacles on his ankles. He was secure; she had nothing to fear from him. Still, her heart thudded hard against her chest.

His eyes followed her as she walked in. Cold eyes, like the eyes of a snake. The urge built up in her to strangle him; he was poisonous, like a viper.

But she needed information. And she needed to divorce herself from emotion to get it.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

She took a deep breath.

"Gray," she said. "You wouldn't mind telling us your real name? Even the NSA is unaware of your actual identity."

Gray smirked. "I'd like to keep it that way."

"There are more important things to learn anyway. Like who your employer is. If you give me Will's identity, we may be able to cut you a deal."

"'Cut me a deal'. Do you even hear yourself, Agent?"

I'm not going to let him bait me, she thought.

"We'll shorten your sentence. Make sure your cell is comfortable. Give you what you want to eat.

"If you cooperate. If you don't- you'll disappear so far into an enemy combatant detention center you'll never see daylight again." She cringed at her cliché, but language was a mask as well. It put a distance between her and the source of emotion.

"Do what you want. I'll never betray my employer."

"Keep telling yourself that. But I doubt whatever your level of expertise, you can withstand an extended period of scrutiny from the Agency."

"Interrogation, you mean? You government agents with your kid gloves and your code of ethics don't know what interrogation means. Waterboarding? Ha! I could dream up much more imaginative tortures in my sleep."

Like you did with Jason, she thought. Red flashed across her vision.

"You couldn't stand up under a few minutes of the treatment you've given to—others."

"Try me."

"I just might." She stepped forward, trembling all over. She longed to give him a taste of the pain he'd given Jason. He was too smug, unrepentant. He needed to be shown who was in control.

She drew a pistol from her belt. Aimed it at him.

All he did was stare back at her, that smirk on his face.

Anger slashed through her, and she slammed the pistol across his temple.

He fell back against the wall. Blood poured from his head, staining the bandage where Jason's bullet had burned. Bright red blood dripped onto his shirt collar.

She shook. The rush of satisfaction withered to regret.

I let anger control me, she thought. I abandoned protocol. Me.

Gray pushed himself up with his elbow on the bench. His eyes burned into hers. Then they cooled.

"It's him, isn't it? You're more than just a friend. I should've known. I might've kidnapped you instead."

All she could think was that she'd compromised herself. She'd thought she could go in, detached, do her job, like the seasoned agent she was. Instead—

"You probably should have," she said. "But now you're going to rot in jail for a very long time. And this—" she pointed her gun at his temple—"will be the least of your worries." With that parting shot, she turned on her heel, and headed out the door.

I need this case, she thought, as she walked down the hallway, but because of that, I have to dismiss myself from it. I'll never be able to conduct his interrogation objectively. When we take him to HQ, I'll have to let someone else take over….When I look at that man, all I can think of is what he did to Jason.

Gray will always be first and foremost the one who almost took Jason from me.

But when she thought of the blood on Gray's temple, she realized it was almost worth getting dismissed over. A small payment for what he'd done. She stepped out of the police station, into the sunlight.