Chapter Four: Tranquilize

I've got this feeling that they're gonna break down the door

I've got this feeling that they're gonna come back for more

See i was thinking that i lost my mind

But it's been getting to me all this time

And it don't stop dragging me down.

(The Killers ft. Lou Reed - Tranquilize)

Sasha eyed the newcomer with suspicious anticipation. He was of medium height, but easily taller than her if she was barefoot. Chestnut hair framed his face in straight, unruly lines and his suit was obviously expensive yet worn with casual ease. He wore no tie and slouched as he left his ship and walked across the grass towards the gardens surrounding the house. She knew his type well. Businessman from one of the inner sphere blocks. Wealthy, but not self made wealth. The suits he wore cost more than the average yearly income of a small family and he wore them like they meant nothing at all to him. If he'd been born to a poor family and worked his way up, he wouldn't have that certain self-confident, casual attitude that only the children of rich families had. The kind of "I can wear these clothes anyway i like and still look attractive to girls 'cause i'm so rich they won't care what i look like" kind of attitude that this stranger was wearing in every expression his face made. Oh yes. She knew his type. They thought their chequebook could lift any barrier, open any door - or any girl's legs of course. She despised Golddiggers. It was just so tacky to go after a man for his money.

As he stepped through the archway of roses, he smiled dazzlingly at her. I wonder whether he's going to ask me to address him by a nickname as well? Ask me to address him as just 'Justin' instead of by his surname, or whatever his name is.

He looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on her admittedly quite revealing dress "Hello, you must be the commander's secretary." He grinned charmingly.

What a stupid little conceited... Sasha stemmed the flow of insults which occured within her mind. He had concluded, simply from what she was wearing that she was a lowly secretary. Oh of course she couldn't be someone high up, because its well known that guardians don't wear ANYTHING but their uniforms. What planet was he from? Did it not occur to him that nobody wears their work clothes in their free time? She simmered quietly inside, but placed a bright smile on her face, knowing she had to appear welcoming if he was someone important. Oslo was already suspicious of her since Maria's breakout. He hadn't said anything and she'd acted totally innocently, since that was all she could do. Heck, she wasn't even supposed to know that Maria had been there.

"No, I'm not his secretary, but can i help you?" She kept her tone sugary sweet and helpful as hell, despising him. She didn't know why, but there was just something about him which made her edgy. Probably just how obnoxious and stuck up he was. Not that he'd been particularly stuck up yet, but she was sure that he would be if she got to know him.

"Erm, yeah if you don't mind. I just need to know the way to his office-"

"Oh okay. You have an appointment i presume?"

"Not...exactly, no." The man smirked and stuck his hands in his pockets.

Sasha cheered inwardly. The idiot had arrived without an appointment. The commander was going to go absolutely nuts on the guy. Serves him right for being so arrogant as to think that he could just turn up uninvited and expect Oslo to make time for him. Oh, she was looking forward to this. Silly little rich kid, thinking that just because she wore flattering dresses that she wasn't a serious person, that she couldn't be high up in the chain of command. Oh, this was going to be priceless...

They reached the room joining onto Oslo's Office, where he dealt with the paperwork and held scheduled meetings. When he wasn't in the command centre, he was always here. Even in his free time, probably. The man never relaxed. Still, that was his problem, not hers. She didn't know how he spent his freetime and she didn't care to find out, especially since she found out about him lying about Maria being safe. When she found out about that, he lost the last scrap of sympathy she had ever felt for him. It didn't quite make sense though, him getting Maria to try and blow up Ningxia when he'd been quite content to leave the block alone for months. Why was Maria even caught in the first place? Or rather, how?

"Wait here please, I'll see if Oslo is ready to see you Mr...?"

"Cameron Vitagliano." He winked "But a pretty thing like you can call me Cam. Here's my card, call it and i'll take you out to dinner sometime, give you the night of your life" He smirked suggestively at her, the laviscious look in his eyes finally making her determined to take him down a peg or ten.

She took the small piece of flimsy card, giggled and blushed, puking inside at his bullshit but needing to keep up the appearance of being a silly little secretary girl. It would make things all the more satisfying when he found out who she was. She stopped at the door, throwing an utterly fake interested glance at 'Cam' before replying.

"Well Cam, that's a nice name, but i must insist you refer to me by my title, since this is business, not pleasure." She reprimanded lightly, winking and hoping he'd take the bait. Naturally, he did.

"And what might that title be?" He stepped closer, so she was almost pressed against the door to Oslo's office. She grinned with such ferocious friendliness he was taken aback.

"Lieutenant Commander Sasha Amba Argent. Second in command to the man on the other side of this door. The man who, when he finds out that a stuck up little pretty boy like you has presumed that he can turn up uninvited and unwanted, is going to practically explode at you. The man who has so much power that if he wasn't a bald control freak women would be throwing themselves at him. The man who will probably use his seijin powers to slice you into nice little chunks which we can post home to your posh daddy. Saying that, despite him being completely insane and loathsome, I would rather spend the rest of time with him as a sex slave instead of spending a single hour at the nicest place on earth with you and the shrivelled little thing you call a manhood."

The commander's chief secretary who had been sitting in the room at her desk pretending to not be eavesdropping, snorted with laughter and hastily covered it with a very fake coughing fit. Cam had turned to glare at the pretty carribean lady and Sasha took this as her chance to slip through the door into Oslo's office, unable to stop a smug smile from filling her face. That'll teach him.

Oslo had been sitting at his desk for hours, wading through paperwork when Sasha burst into the office and clicked the door shut behind her. One look at her face told him that something interesting had occured; she looked like the cat who got the cream.

"So, out with it." He flung down the memo he'd been reading, silently grateful that she'd rescued him from the boredom of all this work that had stacked up. There was a lot to clear up about the destruction of the monolith, reports from around Skyland about rebel activity, water shortages. Then there was political news, trade unions all clamoring for his attention, random people begging for his help. He hated this part of his job, however necessary it was. He wanted to always be up on the bridge, directing his ship and the fleet, but it seems that when you're trying to rule the world, there's always a thousand things that need your immediate attention. Always.

She frowned and placed one hand on her hip, the perfect picture of innocence. "Whatever do you mean sir?" He knew that she was probably just playing with him, but decided to humour her for once. He really must be tired if he was going along with her antics.

"You look like you've won the lottery. Now come on, out with it, what have you done that was so amusing?"

She laughed lightly "Nothing that amusing, just put someone in his place. There's a young man waiting outside the door. He doesn't have an appointment. Plus he tried to seduce me because he thought i was a secretary and thereby easy." She rolled her eyes. "Men."

Oslo nodded in agreement, since it seemed like the right thing to do, even though he was minorly bemused by her actions. He would never understand the female mind. Clearly, she realised this because she sighed and attempted to explain. Settling himself in for an explanation that would probably make no sense to him, he picked up his long cold mug of coffee.

"Well, its like this. If he'd known i was in the position i'm in, he probably wouldn't have come onto me so strong. Because lots of people assume that a woman who is far up in the chain of command is a much more serious person than someone lower down, like a secretary." Oslo's face didn't move as he processed what she was saying.

"So, in a nutshell you're saying that you insulted a man because he tried to seduce you due to the fact he assumed you were a secretary and also assumed that secretaries are silly women who would be taken in by a smooth talking man such as himself?" He sighed. It sounded reasonable really, but she took his sigh as disapproving.

"Yeah and i know that he thinks secretaries are all silly minded women who'll fall into his lap because he assumed from the fact that i'm dressed like this that i'm a secretary and not a Guardian. As if i would want to sleep with that...Manwhore." Oslo raised an eyebrow, things starting to slot into place for him. Funny really, considering this was what most people would term a 'heart to heart' or worse still, a 'girly chat'. How odorous. His second in command had come to him to talk about womanly issues. He shuddered inwardly. What next, her asking his opinion on the man she was pursuing? God please no...Diwan never did this to him, she never confused him with girl talk. Damn Sasha and her confusing nature. After a long pause, he decided to speak again, wishing she could talk to someone else about this.

"Sasha, is the issue the fact that he doesn't take Secretaries seriously, or that he didn't take you seriously because of how you are dressed?" She looked surprised at that and floundered.

"Well I- guess it might be that too... I just didn't like how he made a judgement that i must be an idiot from what i'm wearing. I mean..." She looked at him beseechingly "I don't look like i'm a bit well...loose, do I?"

Now it was his turn to flounder (again), not knowing what women liked to hear about themselves. He settled to tell her the truth as he saw it as clearly as possible.

"I think that you look very alluring and its easy for an imbecile like the man stood outside to not look past that and see that you are a very intelligent, beautiful woman who doesn't dress appealingly to draw attention but because she finds those clothes comfortable to wear." He finished, finally looking into her eyes and flinching at the soft looking smile she was giving him.

"Do you really think-"

"Now to business, what is the man's name?" He changed the subject before she could ask him any more awkword, soul revealing questions about himself or how he thought about her. He didn't want to think about how he was secretly satisfied that this man had failed to charm her into bed. Very satisifed.

"Oh Cameron something. The second name sounded like a disease, or maybe a type of pasta. Vitagli-something." Oslo choked on the mouthful of coffee he had just sipped up.

"Vitagliano? Cameron Vitagliano? Senior or Junior?" Sasha frowned at his reaction while he hastily mopped up the coffee on his papers and swore when he noticed that he'd got lots on his shirt. He moved swiftly across the room to a cupboard she hadn't noticed before.

"Junior, i guess, since he was around my age he could hardly be considered senior. Who is he?"

"The son of one of our major benefactors" Oslo groaned as he remembered their conversation. Putting his hand over his eyes, he asked in a very soft voice.

"What exactly did you say to him, Sasha?"

"Urmmmm...not that much. I mean, i said that his yknow..." She coughed awkwardly, gesturing vaguely. Funny how she hadn't felt embarassed with Cameron, but with Oslo she couldn't bring up the subject without wanting to die of embarassment "Was shrivelled. Oh and that I'd rather be a sex slave for ever than be with him willingly for an hour." Oslo snorted. Thank god he didn't ask me who i said i'd be a sex slave for, that would have been- Oh my god what a weirdo, he keeps spare shirts in his cupboard? In here? Why?

"I bet he loved that" He sneered as he reached into the cupboard and drew out a shirt, tugging off his ruined one as he continued talking to her. "So, how did he take it?"

Sasha's eyes took in her shirtless superior for a second which making him feel distinctly uncomfortable, before she replied.

"I don't know, I came in here before he could say anything. Sir...am i fired?" He smirked and shook his head, tugging his new uniform on but growling slightly when his damp fingers slid off the buttons. He looked around for something to wipe the drops of coffee onto so that he could fasten the damn fiddly things when Sasha stepped forward.

"I'll do it. But, you said he was a benefactor, what do you mean?" Oslo swallowed as she did up his collar buttons, her fingers scraping the bottom of his chin.

"I'll tell you later, right now i have to repair the damage you've done and hope you don't lose the sphere billions. When he comes in, see yourself out. You won't be necessary." He turned away as soon as she'd finished the last button, seating himself at his desk. "That'll be all Sasha. Enjoy the rest of your free time today."

She scowled and left the room, jerking her head at Cam, who was sitting in a chair with a satisfied look on his face. Smug git. Okay, so maybe he didn't need an appointment to see Oslo. Still doesn't change the fact that he's a moron.

"You'd better go in." He smiled at her, grabbing her arm as she passed him.

"You know...the offer still stands Sasha. Call me and i'll make it worth your while." He slimed away confidently and entered the office. Sasha's hand impacted with the door before he could close it behind him.

"I've just insulted you completely, are you seriously still trying to get me to go on a date with you? You are everything i hate in a man-" He swooped in and kissed her lips, grabbing her waist until she jerked away roughly and swatted his arm.

"And you are everything i love in a woman sasha. I love it when they play hard to get."

"I am not playing at anything Mr Vitagliano, I'm simply not interested in a lowlife like yourself. Now why don't you and the commander have a nice conversation where he attempts to butter you up so that your daddy's company gives him lots of money."

With that, she grabbed the door handle and slammed the door in his face, already regretting insulting him again. But only a little bit. Okay, she didn't regret it at all, even if Oslo was going to kill her for ruining one of his business contacts. Still. She was sure they could cope without Cameron Vitagliano. The secretary stood up and rushed over.

"Thank you SO much." The woman crushed her in a surprising, yet pleasant hug. "That little twerp comes in every few months, he thinks the sun shines out of his arse and that he's god's gift to women." She stuck out her hand, smiling. "I'm Kiya by the way, we haven't met yet have we?"

"Well, we've met, but i've never had the chance to chat..."

"We've got time now though don't we?" The woman grinned hopefully. Sasha smiled back at the friendly, petite woman with crazy hair, touched at her kindness. Everyone else she'd met so far here had been stiff, boring guardians and loads of technicians.

"Yes," She agreed, "I suppose we have. But first, DID YOU KNOW the commander has a six pack?"

Kiya gaped "No frickin' way! The guy's thin as anything!"

"Way! He changed tops while i was in there-"

"Oooooeeeeer, stripping with the commander were you?" Kiya snorted, trying not to laugh at the image

Sasha nodded in mock seriousness "Oh hell yeah, cos he's definitely a sexy devil of a thing..."

"Hey; I know I would!" Kiya winked, shaking with repressed laughter.

"Oh, i HAVE daahling!" Sasha licked her lips dramatically and the women collapsed into giggles, already liking each other's company.

Cameron crossed the room to the seat before Oslo's desk, collapsing into it and whistling appreciatively

"Quite the little spitfire you've got there. Hope you don't mind me pursuing one of your staff. I mean, looking at her i don't know how you resist-"

"What my staff do in their own time is of no concern to me. Ms Argent can see whomsoever she pleases. However, given the sentiments she just displayed, i doubt it will ever be you."

Cameron waved his hand airily. "Women can never resist me. You'll see Ozzie, she'll come around."

Bristling at the informal nickname, Oslo didn't dignify the child before him with an answer. Because that was what he was; a child. He was Sasha's age, but his mannerisms were that of a spoilt brat. Sasha had most definitely been right in her instant dislike of the man. If only she knew how right she was. It was so hard to be polite to this man, knowing the terrible things he'd done.

"Now, i didn't just come here to flirt with your second in command." Cam stood, strolling over to the window and opening it to let in the breeze, without asking if he could, of course. "I came to discuss the future of my company."

"Your company? Is your father no longer CEO then?"

"My father is dead and good riddance to him." The blunt statement didn't surprise Oslo in the least. Beneath the childish, flirty front Cameron put forth there was a deep pit of malevolence. Something he'd inherited from his father; Cameron Vitagliano Senior was a ruthless man who didn't care about showing it. His young son was as ruthless as his father had been, but slightly more cunning. Less of a brute, more like a snake.

"Coincidentally, I have come about a matter concerning Sasha. I don't know if you were aware of it, but my father funded the research project she was involved in as a child. Now, when that compound he kept those freaks in was comprimised and they escaped, my mother convinced him to let them go. She was always so sentimental, couldn't understand why we were doing tests on 'innocent children' as she put it. He agreed, mainly because there was no way he could capture them anyway, now that they realised what they could do."

Cameron sat back down in the chair, leaning forwards over the desk. "I want you to find them all. We discussed this years ago after my mother's death, when you caught Sasha. Of course, you weren't commander then but you must have seen the paperwork regarding the agreement. So long as she worked for us, her family would not be pursued. After all, who cared about a few oddities when we had captured the most powerful of them? When we could use her to do our work."

Oslo laced his fingers. Their work? More like their dirty work. The agreement had worked though. Sasha had willingly helped the sphere with all of the missions given to her, unaware that the real people deciding her fate were the Vitagliano family and the damn Utopia council. He cleared his throat, knowing that the stupid man would want more. They always wanted more.

"I'm aware of all this, as you said. I have even changed things in recent months at your request - We stopped water delivery to all the block's Maria and Sasha's family where known to steal from. When she was so dehydrated she couldn't use her powers, we drew Maria in, made her work for us on that job you wanted done. Due to your shoddy planning, she was kidnapped by the rebels, sided with them and we havent seen any of them since. The sphere has done everything you asked and more. What do you want Now?"

Oslo felt angry, ashamed of how he had been obliged to do as this man and his father had wanted. He had betrayed Sasha. Not that he had known her then, but looking into her eyes now while remembering what he'd done was slightly painful for him, a man who supposedly never regretted anything. It irritated him that she could make him feel guilty, so he had decided not to tell Vitagliano about Maria being captured the night before. Then miraculously escaping sometime this morning. He was in no doubt that Sasha had helped her, how else would she have escaped? But Sasha was treating him so normally, so did she still not know that he had betrayed her? Surely, if she had helped Maria out, she would have left with her sister too? He'd hoped that she would have left with Maria. It would solve the problem of his vulnerability around her. If she was no longer around, he could remain emotionally detatched, stay cold and logical as he had been for years, ever since Mila betrayed him. If you don't feel then you don't hurt. That's what he'd always told himself. Why was he wrong now?

Cameron Vitagliano, CEO of the company which had tortured Sasha as a child, stood and smiled with perfectly shaped white teeth.

"I want one simple thing; find them, bring them here. Hold them here. I'm starting the project up again. Sasha won't be a part this time, she's too valuable as a sphere agent. But her sister is useful now that her powers have presented themselves. We'll use the sister instead of Sasha and find out what makes them tick. We'll produce new weapons, new treatments for illness. My father was right, who cares if a few genetic oddities suffer for the greater good?"

"Not possible. Sasha will not work for us if her family is captured. Oh, and actually, that's three things you listed." Oslo smirked at Cam's scowl. "Just trying to help you learn to count. After all, being CEO of a big company will mean a lot of new duties. Counting tends to come in handy during life."

Cameron shrugged, already leaving "At least I have a life, hmmm? I don't spend my time cooped up trying to capture a twelve year old girl because i think she and I are part of a fairy tale. It's sick man, really twisted...Do you want to marry her or something? I'd say get yourself a woman, but that's not going to happen now is it? As for Sasha, i guess you've got to find a way to keep it secret from her. Ciao Ozzie. Think about my demand. You know you've got to do it, so no trying to wriggle out of it like last time, hmm?" Cam winked cheerily. "I'd hate to have to tell the council to stop funding you. After all, we're the ones who founded the Sphere. Without us, you wouldn't be here, would you?"

With that, he left, dodging the coffee mug Oslo had sent flying at his head telepathically. The mug smashed against the wall instead, falling into a crumpled heap of thousands of pieces of china.

Sasha sat slumped against the wall of the building, tears running down her face. Beside her, Kiya babbled away in sympathy and shocked anger. The words registered dimly in her head, not quite penetrating her brain. But she was grateful for the woman's thoughtfullness, trying to comfort her. Most people would have just left her to her misery, so someone trying to comfort her was a rather foreign idea. Except last night...how could she forget Oslo coming into her bedroom, trying to comfort her. He'd been so awkward, but, for want of a better word, he'd been sweet. She knew that he hated personal contact with people, yet he'd tried to be there for her. He'd stayed when she'd asked him too, even though he knew how much she hated him.

"God..."she whispered, remembering what she'd just heard. How wrong she'd been about Oslo. They'd done it at Kiya's request. She wanted to see Sasha's powers, so Sasha had grasped the woman's hand and walked through the door invisibly into the office. What she'd seen and heard there had shocked her and confused Kiya, who now knew about Sasha's past at the compound, albeit only in part. The bit that had killed Sasha though, is what happened afterwards.

As Cameron was leaving, Sasha had dragged Kiya back out into the other room, shoving her into her seat.

"Act innocent!" She had hissed, earning a wide eyed nod from the woman, who busied herself with the computer on her desk. Sasha turned, arms folded as the door opened and Cam came out of Oslo's office. She'd walked with him down out of the house, acting naturally and appearing to grudgingly agree to meet up with him sometime. He had smirked and she'd seen in his sick mind that he'd always believed that she'd come around to the idea of going on a date with him. He'd been certain that he was too irresistible.

After he'd disappeared into his ship and left the Olympus, she finally allowed herself to sink down to the ground outside the house, reliving everything that had happened to her at the compound because of that man and his fathers' warped idea of the greater good. Kiya had found her there and listened as she'd sobbed out her story, explained it to this woman she'd only know for five minutes, told her things that she hadn't even told Maria. Kiya had listened, not interrupting until Sasha had finished her tale and then tried to distract her gently, left her mainly to her own thoughts.

Sasha smiled now, turning to her newfound friend, resolving to speak to Oslo soon. To apologise somehow about how she'd thought he'd betrayed her deal with the sphere. To help him fight off this...council. She'd never used her full ghost powers for the sphere, never taken their direct orders. They had no idea who they were dealing with when they threatenened her family and her friend. If Oslo could be called a friend...

"So. Kiya... How do you feel about helping me bring this bastard to justice and find out what the hell is going on?" Kiya laughed softly

"I thought you'd never ask. Lets do this!...Erm, you have a plan, right?"

A/N Sasha got a small case of potty mouth during this chapter, but please don't be offended by it. Trust me, things are going to get a lot more offensive than what she says and insinuates in this chapter. We obviously met a pretty major character in this chapter who will continue to appear in all his slimy perviness. The chapter is unfortunately very dialogue heavy and long, but it was necessary. But yay for Kiya right? What an Angel, aww :) she's going to stick around awhile too, because i thought Sasha was deficient in female friends, plus not everyone who works for the sphere is a baddie, are they?

Glad to hear you like the song Stratocumulus, I was hoping against all hope that noone would be like "Your music taste sucks!" because i would feel obligated to insult them back :)

Anyways, here is the next chapter. Its pretty unedited, i just finished this off and yes, i know this is my second chapter in one day. If anyone's wondering, its due to the fact i just finished writing out how the plot is going to go, so i want to rush through the boring bits and get to the good parts. Unfortunately, Word has died on my computer (Cam killed it - further proof of his evilness) so i've been having to use wordpad, which has no spellchecker. Any mistakes i've made, i really do apologise for, they're my own mistakes made by typing this up in only one hour because i just drank lots of redbull. Healthy, i know...RnR