Welcome to the second-to-last chapter of No Other Way, enjoy (and from my calculations I would say chapter 10 is going to be mega long and action packed).
Chapter 9: Elena Derevko
Irina leapt to the side and rolled behind a pile of metal crates as Anna pulled the trigger on her pistol. When the firing ceased Irina peered over the pile, Anna was not there. She looked to the left quickly and a bullet whizzed past her right hear, so close she could feel the heat in the air caused from friction. She ducked as more bullets came, hitting the crates. Irina came up again and fired at the front end of a huge truck, that's where the bullets had come from. It of course was not her intention to hit Anna, yet. She ceased firing, indicating that she may be out of ammunition which was not the case, she had only exhausted half of her magazine.
Like she was planning Anna poked around the corner of the truck and didn't have time to react when she saw Irina because the trigger on Irina's pistol was already pulled, she had been aiming for Anna's right hand in which she held the gun, and the result was bitter sweet. Her bullet instead hit Anna's gun which flew out of her hands and landed in pieces, useless. Anna shook her hand hard as a piece of shrapnel had hit it. Then she turned and ran, Irina abandoned cover, chasing after her. She came around the corner of the truck as was hit by a fire extinguisher, right in the gut. Anna had pulled it from a compartment in the truck. Irina's gun flew from her hands and slid under a pile of boxes. Irina fell to the ground.
Anna smiled wickedly, dropped the extinguisher and bent down, wrapping her hands around Irina's neck and squeezing. Irina gasped for air but could get none. She wildly flailed her legs but to no avail. She was desperate to breath, she had to do something… taking her right hand she grabbed Anna's useless gun and smacked it into her temple. Anna released her grip and fell down, holding her hear, blood was pouring out of a relatively small cut. Irina grabbed a plastic wire, used for tying objects inside of boxes, from inside the open door of the truck, she wrapped it around Anna's hands and tightened it, and Anna winced. Irina pulled a knife from a hidden sheath on her upper right arm, she pressed it to Anna's back and pulled her up.
"Damn it, I will kill her!" Anna shouted.
"You don't have to worry about that." Irina said. "We'll take care of her."
"I can help you, you must let me go after her."
"Yes, you can help us, but we have different thoughts as to how. Come."
XxX
Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia, and Dixon met in some hall within the facility, Sydney immediately wrapped her arms around Dixon and thanked him.
"It's okay Syd." Dixon said. Sydney pulled away.
"But you were exposed to a lethal amount of radiation."
"Luckily I slipped on a hazard suit, Marshall slowing down the count helped." Dixon smiled. So did everyone else. Vaughn shook his hand.
"Thanks,"
"Now you owe me." Dixon said jokingly.
"Hullo Sydney." Said Anna's voice behind her, Sydney spun fast to See Irina leading Anna to them.
"Mom…" Sydney said seeing the red line around Irina's neck.
"I'm fine Sydney." Irina replied, she was clearly steaming with anger at the moment. She kicked Anna in her rear end.
"Sit," She commanded, Anna sat on the floor, hands tied behind her back and leaned against the wall. Irina looked at them all.
"Elena escaped with the coil."
"Elena…" Nadia said. "I can't believe it, she was my caretaker, she betrayed me."
"Betrayed you?" Said Anna rolling the R in betrayed icily. "Look at how she left me."
"Quiet." Irina snapped backhanding Anna.
"What do we do now?" Nadia asked.
"I don't know," Sydney said. "Let's ask Anna."
"Anna?" Irina asked. Anna looked up at her. "Where is my sister going?"
"Sovogda, Russia. She plans to activate the Rambaldi device there, Covenant agents have infected the water supply—"
"We know." Irina said.
"Covenant?!" Vaughn said confused. "We took them down."
"That is what Elena wanted you to think, your division in the CIA was too stupid to see that. And Sydney…"
"What?" Sydney snapped, thinking about what Lauren had said last year, just before she died: "The difference between us is that I know who I'm working for."
"Your father is alive."
XxX
"Jack Bristow is being held in Sovogda, Russia." Sloane announced over the APO briefing room table. "According to Anna Espinosa this is also where Elena Derevko plans to enact her endgame."
Director Chase seemed half pleased with this news and half ticked, Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia, Irina, Dixon, and Marshall were just listening intently.
"Do we know where Agent Bristow is being held, or where in Sovogda Elena Derevko is?" Chase asked.
"No, it is likely Elena will be keeping Jack close by in case she needs any assistance in activating the Mueller device. I'm having a plane prepped for flight to Russia, your task is to find Elena and…"
Sloane's train of vision went up, everyone watched as a distressed looking Weiss ran into the room.
"Turn on the news, now!"
Marshall quickly grabbed the silver remote for all of the LCD screens on the wall, fumbled with it for a second, and then turned it to its TV mode, several different news stations sprang up on the screens. Sydney turned her attention to the American one.
"Russian SVR will not confirm on what the giant red object hovering over the city of Sovogda is, they will also not disclose what is going on in the city at this time. Unconfirmed reports suggest all civilians are rioting and displaying acts of severe violence and aggression. The SVR has released one shot of this phenomenon to the press but refuse to give anymore." The young female anchor reported, the TV flashed from a picture of her to a shot most likely taken from a digital video camera of a massive red sphere suspended in the air above Sovodga, it ended quickly. "The Russians have confirmed that they will launch an air strike on this massive object—"
"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Marshall cried. "That would be very, like mega bad."
"How so?" Chase asked.
"Well you see if the device isn't shut down properly it will release all its water which would be bad because it is the contaminated stuff that Mr. Sloane dumped in the… well you know that. You know when you were taught about the, um water cycle in maybe forth, fifth grade? Remember how your teacher, mine was Mr. Henderson he was kind of old and boring… and fat, but anyway you know how water turns into gas and goes into the atmosphere where it condenses and forms clouds. Yeah well that would be what would happen if the device released its water then, Elena could just go set up Mueller devices everyone and anyone who was infection by the water would just go insane because where it rained the contaminated water would be infected."
"She's counting on the air strike…" Irina said. "This is her endgame. We need to get to Sovogda."
"I'll have a plane fueled and ready for Sovogda within the hour, Sydney, Irina, Nadia, Dixon, Vaughn, you'll air drop into the city and find Elena. If what Anna Espinosa said is true Jack will be there, since he is familiar with the Rambaldi manuscript Elena needed he will know how to shut down the device properly, will that be a problem Marshall?"
"Huh, oh no the water will be harmless but you'd probably die anyway because it would just come crashing down on… this isn't helping is it?"
"Get prepped now, Director Chase, Weiss, Marshall see if you can make contact with the Russians and get them to call off the air strike. Good luck to all of you."
XxX
The Airspace over Sovogda
Sydney and Vaughn sat away from the main group in the back of a cargo airplane, they were clad in black suits, parachutes strapped to their backs. The red light shining on them gave them an eerie glow. They were going to jump soon.
"Sydney," Vaughn finally said.
"Yeah?"
"I… I had this all planned out, I was going to ask you on the beach… but I don't know what we're getting ourselves into,"
"Oh my god, Vaughn." Sydney choked out as Vaughn reached into his pocket.
"Sydney, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, trying to make you as happy as you make me."
Irina's dark brown observant eyes flicked in their direction, Nadia and Dixon were in a small conversation, she quirked her eyebrows and half smiled when Vaughn pulled a small black case from his pocket.
"Sydney Bristow," Vaughn said, Irina could read his lips. "Will you marry me?"
Irina watched as Sydney wrapped herself around Vaughn, they just sat there like that for a few long moments before Sydney pulled away and said with tears in her eyes.
"Ask me on the beach."
Just then an alarm flared, it was time to jump. Irina put her helmet on, they were about to drop into Sovogda, she had to concentrate fully on the task at hand.
Of course I had to have Vaughn propose, I'm sort of trying to make this fit in to season five, sort of.
