This is my first Intelligence fan fic and I really hope you like how it starts out. I watched the entire first season in couple of days and was so sad to find out that the show might not be renewed. Let's hope for the opposite. I would love to read all of your opinions.
I do not own Intelligence.
The title is inspired by Passenger's new song - Heart's on Fire
Gabriel Vaughn stopped dead in his tracks when he entered the room that housed Cybercom's internal pool. The agency had one of the biggest pool he had ever seen and he still couldn't wrap his mind around why a bunch of hackers would need an Olympic-sized pool at their disposal. And the worst thing? He and only a couple of other field agents actually used the facility. Which is why he was so startled when he heard the sound of splashes echoing in the big room. During his daily swim, he was usually all alone. Gabriel Vaughn really didn't like changes, even if it was something as small as another person swimming lengths at the same time as him. He entered the room slowly and squatted to see who was swimming. In his corridor.
It was a dark-haired woman, her long legs working hard to help her swim as fast as she could. Her arms were the source of all that splashing noise as she was rowing to the opposite end of the pool. Every three rows her head would pop above water for just a second to breathe in a lungful of air and then she would look down towards the bottom. She was a good swimmer, the agent concluded, swimming by the book, as if she had done that her entire life. There were no rash movements, her speed was completely constant and Gabriel didn't even notice walking besides the swimming figure, eager to know which the girl that could probably outswim him was. Not that he would let her, whoever she is, beat him even in an imaginary, probably-never-going-to-happen situation. Although he had to admit that the way her body flowed in the water, her rhythmic movements were very graceful.
'Holy crap!' Gabriel swore, when the water surface was ruptured and the dark-haired woman emerged form underwater. It was none other than his partner – Special Agent Riley Neal.
'What the…' Riley was smoothing out her wet hair away from her face when she noticed Gabriel's standing figure. 'Have you decided to give me a heart attack for my birthday this year?'
She was breathing heavily, part because of exhaustion, part because she didn't expect Gabriel here. She lifted her body on the ladder and quickly got out of the pool, hugging herself with a warm towel.
'Never saw you as a swimming type of girl' her partner said with a smirk across his face.
'You haven't seen nothing yet' she teased as she removed the towel from her body and started drying her hair. 'What are you gaping at?'
That was when Gabriel actually realized he was staring. Oh, but he was just so distracted by how the little water droplets clung to her smooth skin and how the afternoon light that was coming through the window was making her long legs shimmer like they were covered in tiny little diamonds. She was wearing a dark one-piece swimming suit with the agency's logo embroidered right where heart would be. Wet as it was, it stuck to all the right places, outlining the curve of her bust and her toned flat stomach. Not that he was looking there anyways. He cleared his throat, once he had been caught and moved his gaze up to her face, but not before he took in the image of her. Interestingly, he didn't feel guilty – Riley Neal was a beautiful woman and Gabriel Vaughn was an appreciator of these women.
'Okay, how is it that I come here every day for a swim and I never see you here?' he asked, moving just a step closer to his partner.
'I don't usually swim.' Riley stated matter-of-factly and then turned to face her partner. 'I usually jog. Every morning. Usually.'
Gabriel grinned as he realized where she was going. This morning he had broken into her loft so early the sun still hadn't shown up on the skyline and woke her up with his best, and by best, please understand his most terrible, off-key interpretation of ABBA's Mamma Mia. The only thing Riley did was to throw at him the pillow she was resting her head on, which was quite disappointing to Gabriel, as he had expected some great Big Bang type of outburst out of her. She mumbled something not so politely and turned on her other side, completely ignoring him. He wanted to avenge all his early mornings when he had to wake up early because his protector was a morning person and was feeling the most productive in the early hours.
Riley's reaction didn't stop him from what he had in mind. He had a whole repertoire prepared and was going to serenade to his friend until she was out of things to throw at him. After three more verses from different ABBA songs next to Vaughn's feet were lying a couple more pillows and even Riley's blanked. She then gave in to his torture and got up, making him coffee and skipping her daily jog because she couldn't just leave Gabriel alone at her place. When she was asked why, she answered that he was afraid he might go through her underwear drawer, given his flirtatious and slightly disgusting nature. So she had to just sit herself down on the couch next to him,both their legs stretched out on top of the coffee table, watching the morning news until they were called out to duty.
'I could've forgave you about your very rude behavior today, Riley, but you swam in my corridor.' All Gabriel Vaughn got from his snarky remark was her cold stare and a punch to his chest. It was Riley's turn to laugh as she watched how her partner landed on the still water surface and cursed loudly, a stupid clueless expression replacing his previous smug grin. Luckily he was close to the pool ladder and his embarrassment lasted a bit shorter than the dark-haired girl had intended. As he got out of the pool, clothes soaking wet, he just looked at Riley with his lips pursed into a tight line and removed his wet shirt, throwing it somewhere behind him. As he was taking off the heavy with water piece of clothing, he caught the gaze of his partner, sliding her gaze up and down his muscular upper body. That made him wink at her. When he finished unclothing he was left with nothing on but a pair of swimming trunks.
'Tell you what, Riley.' He started climbing down carefully the ladder and into the water as he kept his eyes on her face. 'Whoever reaches the other end of the pool wins.'
He knew very good that Riley Neal was a competitive soul, maybe even more than him and that she would never walk out on a challenge. Especially if he was on the other end of it. She raised one perfectly eyebrow and made a step towards the edge of the pool, bending above Gabriel.
'Not a chance.' She said, but that was her mistake. Gabriel jumped up and clutched her thin waist, collapsing her next to him.
'You don't have a choice partner.'
'Okay, okay, I'll bite. What's the prize?' Gabriel turned to her, surprised that she actually agreed.
'The loser pays for the take-out tonight. Winner chooses what we watch.' Riley and Gabriel hung out every other evening, drinking beer and watching stupid TV shows, which caused them to argue and shout at each other because, on purpose or completely accidentally, they always seemed to like completely different characters. The only time they didn't bicker about something stupid was when they would watch some documentary on Animal Planet. Then instead of bickering, Riley would be flinching at the sight of a captured rabbit, while Gabriel would laugh at her for being a former Secret Service agent and still flinching and turning away when the leopard reached the gazelle.
'Deal.' They shook their wet hands, counted to three and threw themselves in the chilly pool water. Gabriel of course had the advantage because of his bigger size, his enormous palms and longer and stronger legs. He had swum lengths after lengths and he was already tasting the victory. He slowed his pace just a little bit, having caught sight of Riley's body moving in the water just behind him. But that was his mistake.
Riley had dived a bit deeper and Gabriel was surprised to her small frame actually be at least two feet underneath his. She then swiftly shifted her body to the right and turned her face to him, sending him a mocking underwater air kiss, if such a thing even existed. His dark-haired partner disappeared in front of him in a cloud of thousands of small bubbles left as she rowed before him.
He soon reached the tiled wall, but was a moment too late as Riley was already waiting for him on the finish line. Her face was red, her chest was going up and down as she was catching her breath. She splashed some water at his face and chuckled.
'I guess we're watching CSI tonight then.' She knew he hated the show, because it was a bit too unreal to him. Talk about irony, she had responded to him, reminding him he had a chip, embedded in his brain, giving him the ability to do close to unimaginable things.
'No, anything else but that,' he grunted, but the bet was a bet and she had won fair and square. In response to her earlier splash, he cupped his palms and threw the water in them directly in her face. She shrieked surprised but was fast to return the attack. Soon they were wrestling, pushing each other underwater and laughing their butts off. That was until a suited man came in the room and looked them with slight annoyance.
'Lillian's been searching for you two.' His eyes widened a bit when the Suit noticed how Gabriel's hand were on Riley's waist, pulling her closer to him. Everybody knew they were playful like that – harmlessly bickering and flirting with one another, but some agent wondered if they would ever sleep together. There was even an ongoing bet, initiated by Nelson Cassidy, but Riley and Gabriel were oblivious to it. 'Please keep it civil,' the agent complained and left, stopping at the door and informing them once again that Lillian was growing impatient.
Gabriel sighed, slightly disappointed that they had to stop with whatever they were doing.
'I promise you, next time I'll go easy on you' Riley chuckled as she made her way to the showers in the girl's dressing room.
Lillian Strand was standing on the little platform in the main room, tapping her undoubtedly expensive heel with impatience as Gabriel walked into the room. She shot him a dirty look and he instinctively looked at his wristwatch. He was half an hour late and she was apparently in a bad mood. He searched the small crowd, trying to find his partner, but apparently she still hadn't arrived.
Just as he was thinking of her, the heavy glass door opened and Riley flew in, cheeks red – she obviously had ran from the pool to the control room so as to not Strand's anger upon her. She smiled a half smile and made a couple of larger steps, taking her place right next to Gabriel. Lillian looked down on them as a mother who was about to scold her kids for breaking her favourite vase. It was weird how Gabriel had always accepted his boss a motherly figure, even though she was merely a decade older than him.
The ginger-haired woman in front of him pressed a button a small remote control and on the large screen behind her appeared the mug shot of a man with a strong square jaw and cold brown eyes. Gabriel's chip started working the moment he laid an eye on the photo and after digging just a little bit, he found everything he could on him – form his name and age to how much gas he last purchased from a gas station nearby.
'You're looking at Anatoly Ivanich'.
Gabriel already knew that.
'He's been involved in at least a dozen of terrorist attacks over the years in the former Soviet republics – a blown up train in Bulgaria, an explosion with at least twenty casualties in Romania. Ever since he landed on American soil two weeks ago we've tracking him and we have sources telling us that he will try and sell the blueprints of dangerous military technology to whoever pays the most.'
The team looked at each other in confusion and they all asked silently the same exact question. The bravest one of all to ask in was Riley.
'And all due respect, but what does it have to do with us?' Lillian pursed her lips, as if the answer wasn't totally obvious.
'The CIA has requested that you and Gabriel be part of it. This means that Cybercom will be involved in it. They want Clockwork to identify his buyers and apprehend them. And without making too much of a noise. You'll be in contact with an undercover agent. From what I've heard she's really good; she'll contact you first. You leave for New York tonight, so I suggest you spend the rest of the day packing for at least a week.'
Riley scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her body. She wasn't happy with the fact that she would be spending her next night in a plane, when just this morning her sleep was rudely interrupted by her protectee. Gabriel smiled guiltily.
'Excuse me, Lillian. What's the name of the agent, who'll be assisting us on this case?' asked Gabriel, a little ball of nerves settling in his throat as he connected the dots. Russians, New York, a she, indercover. That could only be one agent and the chip-implanted man prayed he wasn't right with his assumptions.
'Her undercover alias is Alyona Andreevna.' Gabriel knuckles became white as he gathered his hands into fists, the chip already given him the real name of the agent. 'Her real name, however, is Nora Skyler'
He gulped and noticed with the corner of his eye as Riley's eyes slightly widened in worry as she saw his frustrated face.