I don't know if they send out an alert if you revamp a chapter, but chapter B is there, meaning you should go back and read that one first if you haven't already discovered it.
I'm horrible at updating; so don't expect a weekly update. I'll perfect my stuff many times before I post it. I've also gone back and revamped Part One and since my English has improved since I moved to America, I edited a lot of errors.
Love to my beta, Ele whose sometimes completely wrong assumptions keep me happy because that's not even close to what I've been planning. Thank you.
Now, the show must go on…
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PART FOUR
Chapter C
-- A spy's life is always based on lies --
- Present time -
Los Angeles
Tell me what to do.
Kendell stared at the woman in front of him. Her mascara was running down her swollen cheeks, her knuckles white from clenching themselves and brown hair in disarray. She looked weak, but not nearly as unhealthy as the time she'd shown up at his doorstep, still reeling from the post-traumatic stress of the Church massacre.
,,He violated your trust. He told you he would loosen all ties with Irina. He didn't,'' he said calmly, voice unwavering.
,,When are they from? The pictures?'' she asked, looking at the one where Irina and Sark were hugging.
,,Three weeks after New Year,'' he replied. ,,I didn't tell you before…''
,,Don't explain yourself, Kendell. I have them now.'' She bent her head down and blew to the picture fall. It landed on the floor and the rest were swept down afterwards.
He smiled. ,,He refuses to meet with me face to face. I can't take him into custody and I don't know how to contact Volver. You need to help catch him.''
She didn't say anything for the longest time. Her eyes darted around the room, on everything except his face. ,,I can't.''
That hadn't been the answer he had expected. She was vengeful by nature. Her response didn't make any sense, especially since she'd just begged him to tell her what to do.
,,My Pandemonium intake levels the one before I detoxed the last time. It has doubled since… he'll know instantly. I can't do it. Don't ask me to do it,'' she said.
Kendell folded his hands on the table and leaned forward in his seat. ,,I'm not asking you, Sydney, I'm telling you.''
Her handcuffs rattled when she angrily tore into them. ,,Sydney is death. Sydney is a lie I'm telling so I can have some resemblance of peace of mind. Sydney is easy and good and righteous and everything Julia cannot be. Everything I can't be… anymore.''
,,I don't believe that.''
Suddenly, she laughed. It was a cold and humourless laugh, making goose bumps rise on his arms. ,,I'm out for revenge. I will make Gregorevich burn, until he's begging me to kill him and I will. I'll rip him open and slice his insides to pieces. But the best way to do that… is letting Sark help me rise to power.'' She looked him straight into his eyes. ,,I wont rat him out, honey, because he's mine and you can't have him.''
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Los Angeles
What would your reaction be; if someone you knew and trusted wasn't that person at all?
Would you scream?
Would you faint?
Would you stare, not understanding?
Ask yourself what Jack's reaction would be? His daughter… his only daughter… the only daughter he had… the one he loved… How would you react?
Ask yourself what Vaughn's reaction would be? The woman he loved since she strode into his office at the CIA with bozo red hair and blood running from her lips. The passionate and beautiful woman, who managed to stay sane through SD-6 and everything that came after, was letting her walls fall away around what she was hiding. And you know, he should be able to remember what happened in Norway, but he doesn't. His wife does. How would you react if your wife told you she remembered what happened the four days you lost time?
The woman he loved was not the woman he loved. Not anymore. Ask yourself how you would react?
You can feel it, can't you? Feel for Vaughn, who did nothing but love her. Feel for Jack, who did nothing but love her. Feel for Weiss, who did nothing but love her. Feel for Dixon, who did nothing but love her. Feel for Marshall, who did nothing but love her.
It's an eye-opener, isn't it?
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A/N: This little part was something I needed to do. I felt like I'd done the whole feeling the discovering of Sydney being evil in Part Two and Three and it needed to be something different. So that was it.
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Los Angeles
,,You knew?'' Vaughn asked, his low voice breaking Lauren's heart.
She closed her eyes. ,,Yes,'' she replied, hating her voice for shaking.
,,You bitch!'' Jack roared and rose from his chair.
She stumbled back, afraid of his temper.
,,Jack!'' Dixon said sternly. ,,Calm down. You better make this worthwhile, Lauren.''
,,My parents Christmas banquet in Norway,'' she started. She looked around at the attentive faces sitting before her. Most of them were angry, even Marshall's. ,,Sark was there. He showed up out of nowhere and told us to come with him or we were going to die. There where people after us, so we ran to the top of the building, while Sark fought off the attackers. We were trapped on the top, but suddenly she showed up… her… Julia or Sydney or whatever… and shot the man unconscious. He was no threat to her, but still he died by her hands in cold blood. And so Sark drove us through Norway until Sydney suddenly threw herself out of the car. She was sleepwalking towards a cliff. She was going to jump, but he stopped her and she drugged herself willingly. She slept through the first night at the cabin in Sark's bed. The cabin was their home or a shelter or just a place to crash, we never really figured it out. They were intimate, not just lovers or people working together. They knew each other. There was something about cooking. Sark said Francie and… Alison could cook, but not Sydney?''
,,Sound right,'' Weiss muttered.
,,The ones who attacked you,'' Dixon said. ,,Who were they?''
,,The Black Priests,'' she replied.
,,The assembly of fanatical church goers?'' Marshall butted in.
,,Yes,'' she nodded. ,,It was a test of loyalty. The Covenant was testing her through the Priests. We were the bait.''
,,What happened then?'' Vaughn asked.
,,Nothing really. She had been called away to Munich to meet with the Covenant leaders and Sark was taking necessary countermeasures. He put Michael through this project… Project Clarity, and kept me as an informant. He has only called once and that was to hear if Sydney had come back, which she hadn't at that point. And that was it. That is the only thing I know.'' Lauren looked and saw anger tainted with confusion and pain. They didn't know what to think.
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Los Angeles
,,You're being difficult on purpose, aren't you?'' Kendell said, flashing a smile at her.
She smirked in return and looked away.
He rose from his chair, gave one last nod towards her and walked out of the interrogation room. She wouldn't rat Sark out that much Kendell knew. He suited her needs too much. He needed to find an alternative way to meet with Sark.
He stared around the large room of the Joint Task Force Centre, the place he'd commanded before her. His agents stared back, uncertain of what to do. Danes was the only one who knew the significance of keeping Sydney's status a secret and was probably already taking necessary countermeasures.
Finally coming to a somewhat thought through solution, he walked towards Dixon's office. It was time to bring in new blood.
,,Kept me as an informant. He has only called once and that was to hear if Sydney had come back, which she hadn't at that point. And that was it. That is the only thing I know.'' He heard the last of Lauren's explanation and wasn't as surprised as he should have been. It would make sense to keep Lauren as an informant. He didn't know the specifics of Norway, only that it had happened and Sark had it under control. Unfortunately, she was talking now.
,,You should watch what you are saying, agent Reed,'' he said, surprising them all. ,,You will pay sometime or other.''
,,Kendell,'' Jack snarled.
,,I think it's time I tell you a little about what's going on. Sydney refuses to cooperate, so I need help somewhere else and you, my friends, are the best shot,'' he told them. ,,I have been Sydney's handler since she came to me three years ago. She's a sleeper agent for the US government. It means her goal is to bring down the people responsible for her condition…''
,,Condition?'' Weiss said.
,,Unfortunately, she has too much power inside the Covenant to want to take them down. She refuses to tell us who the leaders are. Sark isn't much better. He's driving an organisation on her name and status as the Covenant's pet assassin. It works well for them and anyone else. They've become too well adjusted to each other for me to have much to say in her decisions. I thought with Sark's betrayal, she would be furious enough to rat him out. I was obviously wrong.''
,,Obviously,'' Vaughn muttered.
Kendell fought the urge to roll his eyes. ,,I'm asking you to find him. With Sydney unable to warn him; it's the time to strike.'' He paused, looking at each of the people in turn. ,,Please,'' he added.
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Los Angeles
Dixon's orders had been simple. They were to use the conference room with maximum security to handle Sydney's case. Meanwhile, he would be telling the rest of his agent; Sydney had been accused of leaking Intel to her 'brainwashers', but those accusations were invalid and the SD-6 team would do anything in their power to cleanse her name. She would be placed in the cell with Simon Walker, first; because they had nowhere else to put her and second; Marshall was monitoring the cell by himself.
Vaughn insisted to help Tim Danes bring her in to the cell, though he still didn't really know why? Did he want to see for herself the frightening coldness in her eyes, he and others had only vaguely seen on the computer screen, the coldness that was legendary? Playful detachment. It was the way she was described, Julia Thorne. He shuddered.
She sat hunched in the chair, the handcuff keeping her from sitting in many other ways. She looked up when the two men entered and her left eyebrow rose, which made her look extremely curious. But Vaughn could see the coldness behind the curiousness. It reminded him too much of Sark for his liking.
,,What's Kendell doing with me?'' she asked, as Danes closed a new set of handcuffs over her wrists and opened the one on the chair.
,,You're being held in Walker's cell until further notice,'' Danes replied, rising her up.
,,Somehow I don't believe that particular order came from Dixon,'' she commented casually.
,,No, it was Kendell's idea,'' Vaughn said, speaking up for the first time. He was supposed to take her arm, with Danes on the other side, and escort her towards the glass cells, but he couldn't get himself to touch her. If Lauren's words were true… which they seemed to be… well, he didn't know how to react. Still somehow the shock of her betrayal seemed old, like it was some ancient feeling he'd experienced before. Like skiing, for example. If you learned how to do it when you were ten, you will still be able to remember the feeling of what to do twenty years later, like it was part of some forgotten memory. Later you will wonder how you kept them straight and didn't get your legs mingled into each other, but skiing is something you just remember, but don't.
,,At least I'll have Si to keep me company,'' she told the two men in a matter-of-fact voice.
Vaughn frowned, finally acknowledging they'd all been played. Sydney had stood right in front of Walker and Walker had said nothing. Maybe she really had so much power as Kendell said? ,,So you do know him?'' he said.
,,Of course,'' she answered. ,,He was my partner.''
He sighed and finally took a good hold on her arm.
,,When we come into the rotunda, you hold your head high and keep your eyes warm,'' Danes ordered her. ,,You are Sydney Bristow.''
,,I used to be,'' she muttered, but did as she was told.
People stared; Vaughn could feel their eyes on them. He could feel their questions; his own was still unanswered. But what could he do? Sydney wasn't talking. None of Kendell's men were talking. Jack was probably going even more insane than him.
He was standing, both hands clasped on his back, in front of the cage doors, waiting for his daughter. He looked grim and miserable, but still determined.
,,You need to help me,'' she said, her voice strong. She asked her father for help, because that was what Sydney did. It was expected of her.
Jack didn't answer; only lead the two men and prisoner in between them towards the glass cell, where Simon Walker would be.
As expected, Walker had heard them coming and had risen from his seat on the cot. He looked on with a slight frown when she came into his view. Her features had slipped back into the cold detachment and had lost all the warmth Sydney was so well known for.
,,Walk away from the door, Walker,'' Jack ordered sharply. The door into the cell was opened automatically and Sydney was pushed inside. She stumbled slightly, not catching her bearings quickly enough. A side affect of the drug, Pandemonium, Vaughn supposed.
Her hands were freed without a word and the cell was closed off. Walker stared at her. She looked at Jack, watching him like a scientist, trying to decipher his face.
,,You should have come to me,'' he said silently, his nostrils flaring with anger.
,,But I didn't,'' she replied, fixing him with a cruel smile, and turned around, away from her own damn father. Oh, the nerve. Sydney Bristow… no, Julia Thorne had just turned away from her own flesh and blood, the one person who would die for her no matter what.
,,What's going on?'' Walker asked.
,,Shut up, Si,'' she said, staring fixedly at the cot.
He frowned at her for a second before he shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the cot again. ,,Missed you too, Jules.''
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Krakow, Poland
Dr Gregorevich stared down at his beautiful creation, a nineteen-year-old girl. She was the daughter of a world famous terrorist from Al-Qaeda from the middle-east country Syria. The father had brought her to him himself and paid handsomely for her to be put together. Who was he, Dr Gregorevich - maker of Julia Thorne, the unbreakable – to object? The girl had proven easy to break, but forming her had seemed near impossible after six months. Nothing seemed to stick in her mind. She had woken up every morning with a clean slate. She would open her eyes, because it was a natural reaction, and just lie in the bed.
The father had pure lust in his eyes when they swept over the shell of his beautiful daughter. Gregorevich had learned not to react on the bizarreness of his clients. It would only get him killed and death was not part of his plan at the moment.
,,I call her Sacra,'' he told his wealthy client.
The terrorist nodded approvingly. ,,You did an excellent job, Doctor,'' he said in Arabic. ,,Fifteen million dollars will be transferred to an account of your choosing.''
,,I will send my men in. You must excuse me for my rashness, but I am afraid I have another appointment,'' Gregorevich, who had never spoken Arabic well, replied in a heavily accented English.
,,Of course. Do not let me hold you back.''
After exchanging the customary farewell, the white-haired Doctor made his way out of the warehouse where the meeting had been held. He was a little sorry to see Sacra go; she had been a good and silent companion, who happened to be a perfectly good shooter. It was sad to see such talent go to waste in the hands of the old-fashioned customs of her country, but he always delivered and he would not stop now, just because he had found a perfect bodyguard.
Today, however, he did not sit alone in the car. He nodded to Kar Volver, who stared at him coolly in return. Volver had the protection of Mr Sark and Julia, meaning he could behave however he saw fit. He apparently held no respect for the man who had brought him and Julia together in the first place.
,,Mr Volver,'' Gregorevich greeted.
,,Doctor,'' Volver replied in return.
,,This visit is… to say the least, very surprising,'' Gregorevich said smoothly. ,,I had the impression you were avoiding Krakow and its beautiful culture.'' (Your bosses are avoiding me.)
,,With Miss Thorne's disappearance, the work load have doubled,'' the security guard said. (Bad excuse)
Everything was a riddle they both understood. It was a constant contest no one would ever win, because so were the ways of the sin side of the 'war'. If anyone dared to say anything clear and completely trustful, they were teased and ridiculed. They had the government agent for truthful and reliable agents.
,,Yes, of course,'' Gregorevich nodded in understanding, but inwardly contemplating what on Earth Volver would do in his presence again, especially after what happened to his baby sister.
,,Mr Sark is worried, and I must say even I am worried, that Miss Thorne's mental health is bordering schizophrenia. We have a few signs pointing clearly she has been growing steadily worse over the course of time she has been gone,'' Volver told and the Doctor narrowed his eyes. ,,I am coming to you for help without Mr Sark's knowledge and I sincerely hope you will not betray me.''
,,She is schizophrenic?''
Volver nodded.
She was literally falling apart, Gregorevich analysed. Her personality, Julia Thorne, a fake but well built character, was crumbling: leaving her as a half-person who had no idea what was going with her or whose memories were flooding around in her mind. That was extraordinarily bad. If he lost her to the CIA, if she began leaking Intel to her old employer; he was doomed. The Covenant would not tolerate her returning to Sydney Bristow's life.
,,Has she been under a lot of emotional distress lately, Mr Volver?'' he asked, furrowing his eyes.
,,Why?''
,,Emotional distress could bring forth depressed memories of similar hurt. If she has been hurt before, it leaves a ghost of an imprint and her body and mind would be able to identify the pain. It could make her change between her old personality and new personality, thereby making her seem schizophrenic.''
,,I don't understand, her old and new personality?''
,,Julia is the biological daughter of Irina Derevko, otherwise known as the Man,'' Gregorevich told him, deciding to do whatever it took to keep his precious life-line alive and brainwashed.
,,But that is Bristow…'' Volver argued.
,,Julia Thorne and Sydney Bristow are the same person. I created Julia for the Covenant and she has not been disappointing. Bristow was, however, extremely strong-minded and she needs continually new… improvements to keep her blissfully unaware of her old life,'' the doctor said. ,,There is a man who I often use to set people straight with. He was only a guard four years ago when Julia went through Project Novus (New) and he completed her combat training before you where introduced to her. I think discipline is the only cure for her now.''
,,How do I get to him?''
,,His contact protocol is rather easy…''
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Marseilles
It all made sense now. Volver had not seen Dr. Gregorevich revelation coming. He didn't even think it was possible to actually brainwash someone into being another person completely. Alter some aspects of one's personality, sure, but not completely new personas with quirks and habits as Miss Thorne had. He wondered if Mr Sark also had been one of the dear Doctor's patients or if he just was as enigmatic as everyone thought him to be?
Kar Volver was a smart intelligent man who had lived his whole life in the shadows of those he served. They would pay handsomely for his special skills, but everything had changed when the Doctor, through the Covenant, had employed him and he had met the beautiful woman Julia Thorne. He had never known exactly what the good doctor's speciality was, but assumed it was some kind of torture created to form agents into perfect killer machines, machines like Miss Thorne and Mr Sark. He instantly shifted his loyalty from the Covenant to them, because he saw their potential and knew they could be so much. Their intelligence, quick wit, different areas of expertise and similar look on life made them the perfect partners, completing each other not even married couples, who had been married for fifty years, managed to do. It had taken a long time to connect the dots and learn they were working behind the Covenant's back and alongside a man, Kendell, who had been working for the Central Intelligence Agency for almost twenty-five years. Whatever they had planned, Volver did not question them. They had been right on so many occasions that he had stopped questioning their decisions.
He stopped the silver BMW in the garage, cutting off the engine beside Kayla's red Mini Cooper and looked around, loving the feeling of being home. Château de Burleigh had been in his family's possession since the Aristocrats were driven out with the France because of the revolution. It was his home, his and Kayla's and it hopefully would continue to be so for many years. He was not unlike Miss Thorne and Mr Sark in every way, his anarchistic view of the world would never change, but his love for material possessions had gotten him in trouble many times. He did not know how they did it, living with nothing they could claim their own, nothing, but maybe the cabin in Norway, which he would spend hours deleting all evidence off afterwards.
But that was not the issue at the moment. Finding Miss Thorne was critical to their operation and, yes, her health. Maybe Mr Sark acted like he did not care for her, but Volver's life would suddenly become a wee bit more boring without them there to keep him busy.
He found his employer in his sister's bed, looking severely underdressed for someone who was taking refugee in her brother's home. Volver shrugged at Mr Sark's antics, knowing without a doubt he was already awake and hyperaware of every little thing.
,,It's me,'' he said quietly. ,,Where's Kayla?''
,,I have absolutely no idea.'' Mr Sark replied, gruffly turning onto his back and staring at Volver with his surprisingly blue and intelligent eyes.
,,I've gone to the Covenant for help. They are infiltrating the Black Priests, the Scandinavian cell in particular. If she is there, they will find her.''
Mr Sark said nothing; Volver had not expected him to. It was a wise move; one the assassin should have come up with. He knew when he had been outsmarted, though, and never took credit for Volver's intelligent and often life-saving decisions, something Volver found extremely well. It meant he was being trusted completely and his loyalty was considered to be unquestionable, which he of course was.
,,I have an early meeting,'' Mr Sark said after a moment of silence. ,,Go to sleep, Mr Volver.''
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One more chapter of part4. so long my readers. read and review