Disclaimer: same

A/N: Thanks to Total Vaughn Lover for reviewing chapter 24!!

Missing
EPISODE 4.07

I didn't hear from Weiss until the next morning.

Honestly, that concerned me. After everything with Vaughn – the way he acted at the warehouse the night before, what Weiss said about him murdering Olivia Reed like that – I wasn't sure what was going on anymore.

Will and I left the warehouse shortly after our argument, and I told Weiss to keep an eye on Vaughn. I wanted to talk to Doctor Barnett at the Rotunda, to try and find some way to sort all of this out. The problem was, I couldn't go back there without being arrested. So, hearing from Weiss the next morning relieved some of that worry.

"Hey," I said when I answered my cell phone.

"Good morning to you, too," Weiss replied sarcastically, sounding exhausted. "How are you guys doing?"

"All right," I replied with a sigh. "You?"

"Tired," Weiss stated. "But, I'm sure you already figured that one out." I smiled, nodding but not saying anything.

"What about Vaughn?" Weiss didn't reply right away, which immediately made me worry. "Weiss? Is he there?"

"No," he replied. "I tried to talk to him last night. He got totally pissed and stormed off, I have no idea where. I've looked everywhere for him, but there's no sign. Anywhere."

"We've got to find him before something else goes wrong."

Before either of us could say more, I heard Will calling to me. I went back into the main room of the motel room the two of us shared – I was standing near the door to talk to Weiss. He turned the television on when I left the room, and I could see a picture of a house, mostly burnt and collapsed, firefighters roaming all over.

"What? What's going on?" Weiss asked, thrown off by my sudden silence. I didn't reply, listening to the television.

"The report came in around four AM this morning that this residence was apparently the victim of arson," the anchorwoman said. "Police found empty containers of gasoline in the living room, and while it doesn't appear to be a robbery at this time, the belongings not consumed by the fire were left in a state of disarray."

The picture zoomed out, showing the names of the streets where the house was located. I nearly dropped the phone, my breath freezing in my chest. Will looked over at me, eyes widening with surprise when he saw the expression on my face.

"What?" he asked.

"That house…" I trailed off. I knew that house. I never set foot inside, but I drove past it several times in the last year.

"Sydney, what the hell is going on?" Weiss questioned.

"Weiss, meet us at Vaughn's," I stated, hanging up the phone. Will looked over at me, confused.

"Is something wrong?" Will asked again. I looked over at him.

"That's Vaughn's house."

OOOOO

It took Will and me less than fifteen minutes to get to Vaughn's house. Police and firemen wandered around all over the place. The fire finally went out, but there was practically nothing left of the house. The fire gutted the place, all of the walls black and crumbling. Even the lawn burnt in the blaze. The fire shattered all of the windows, and broken glass covered everything.

Weiss pulled up a moment later. He took one look at the house and his face fell. The three of us were slightly down the street from the place, not wanting to attract too much attention, just in case.

"What the hell?" Weiss asked, looking over at what very little was left of the house. "What happened?"

"The news said it was arson. Gasoline everywhere," Will replied. Weiss shook his head, sighing deeply.

"Was anyone inside?" he questioned.

"They don't know," Will answered. He glanced over at me, but I didn't say anything.

I leaned against the front of Will's van, eyes locked on the remains of the house. And, for some reason, I didn't need to ask any of the firemen running back and forth what happened here. I already knew.

Vaughn left Weiss at the warehouse. He was angry with both of us after everything. So, he came here, hoping to stay away from us and from the NSC. And, for whatever reason, he set the place on fire.

Was this what it felt like for him? Driving back to my house and seeing that it was on fire? Just waiting, frozen outside even though there was a good chance I was still inside…?

Thinking that he watched me die?

"Syd?" I glanced over, startled when I heard Will's voice. "Are you okay?" I nodded a little, unable to say anything, and looked back at the remains of the house.

"Can I help you?" All three of us looked over at the two policemen that approached, looking at us curiously. The three of us, in our old thrift store clothing, looking like we hadn't slept in weeks, probably made quite a picture.

"One of my friends lives here," Weiss stated, thinking quickly. "We heard about it on the news. His name is Michael Vaughn." One of the officers nodded, and the other returned to the commotion, obviously leaving the explaining to his partner.

"There weren't any signs of forced entry," the man stated. "Was your friend having some kind of a fight with a spouse or friend, or having trouble with anyone in particular? Anyone that would have access to the house?"

"No," Weiss replied, shaking his head a little.

"Was there anyone inside when this happened?" I questioned, suddenly finding my voice and looking up at the officer. He sighed, silent for a long moment. He couldn't keep eye contact – I recognized that as a bad sign.

"We don't know yet," he answered. "Whoever set the place on fire tore it apart first. We're having some trouble getting through some of the debris and back to the bedroom. We do have a report from a neighbor that someone came home and the house caught on fire. She never saw anyone leave."

I raised a hand to my face, trying to breathe and hide the fact that tears were only seconds away from streaming down my cheeks. Will put a hand on my shoulder, trying to be comforting.

"Thanks," Weiss said quietly.

"We'll let you know when we know something for sure," the officer stated. Weiss gave him a cell phone number that he could use to contact him, and then the officer walked away.

"Come on, we should go," Will said all of a sudden. I looked up, seeing a couple of black sedans pull up right at the curb. Three men got out of the first one, all dressed in black suits.

NSC.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here," Weiss agreed.

OOOOO

I opened my eyes, and all I could see was a bright white light. I tried to move away from it, but as I started to move, I started coughing. My chest exploded with pain, and the more I coughed, the worse it got. The light dimmed suddenly, and I felt someone beside me.

After a moment, I was finally able to catch my breath. Someone put a hand on my shoulder, surprising me. I jerked away, falling to the floor and realizing I woke up on a couch.

"Calm down, son, I'm not gonna hurt you." Blinking several times to clear my head, I looked up and saw Thomas Brill, leaning against the back of the couch and smiling down at me in amusement.

"Where am I?" I asked, my voice hoarse and dry from all the smoke I inhaled. Smoke…

The house. My house.

"My place in Virginia," Brill replied. He stood, walking around the couch and to the small kitchen table in the next room. He picked up a bottle of water, handing it off to me. I took a long drink, thankful for the cool relief on my already raw throat. "That was a right stupid thing you did – setting your own house on fire."

"That wasn't… I mean…" I shook my head, pressing tiredly on my eyes.

"Don't try and make sense of it. It'll only make your head hurt worse," Brill stated. He handed me a couple of Advil, which I swallowed gratefully. "You should be glad I was in the area."

"What happened?" I questioned. "How did I get here?"

"After seeing you in the park, I was keeping an eye on you. Making sure you didn't do anything stupid," Brill said with a laugh. He pulled a chair over from the kitchen table and sat down. "Guess it paid off, didn't it?"

I didn't reply.

My house burned down. I… My eyes wandered off to the side of the room. What happened? Why didn't I remember what happened? I had a box of matches… A can of gasoline… My eyes widened as I realized what I did.

"I set the place on fire," I stated, looking over at Brill. He nodded a little, sighing deeply.

"Yeah. You did," he replied.

"But… Why?" He shrugged.

I thought for a minute. I remembered the gasoline can… I got it out of the garage; I had a box of matches from the drawer in the kitchen. I didn't remember getting into the drawer… The house caught fire, smoke filled the rooms… I got into the bedroom, and I collapsed. Someone laughed at me…

Lauren!

That was it. I went back to the house, I was looking for somewhere safe to stay, somewhere away from Weiss and Sydney and the NSC. And then… Lauren was there. She handed me the matches, she told me to burn the place down. She stood right next to me, laughing. She said something about…

"The Inferno Protocol," I stated, looking up at Brill. "When I was at my house, she… It was something about the Inferno Protocol." He didn't say anything. "Do you know anything about that?"

"This is going to be hard to hear," Brill stated. He looked at me for a long moment. "But, I can't see waiting any longer. I'll explain."

OOOOO

By the time Will and I got back to the motel we were using as a safe base of operations, NSC agents crawled all over. They found some way to follow us there. None of them saw the van as we passed right by the place, thankfully, continuing on until we came to an abandoned factory in the bad part of town, under the highway. Will pulled the car over, killing the engine and swearing loudly, smacking the steering wheel in his anger.

"We're screwed," he stated, looking over at me. I nodded a little. He sighed, softening immediately. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't have left last night – that was a dumb thing to do."

"I can't believe this is happening," I stated after several minutes. Will nodded, agreeing. "You're not even supposed to be in Los Angeles, my father works with the enemy, and the NSC wants to arrest me. And Vaughn…" I didn't finish.

"Yeah," Will stated. "Okay. We need a plan. A good plan, we need… Something."

"I know." There was another pause. I took a deep breath, focusing on something I might be able to solve. "We're not going to get anywhere by trying to cooperate with the agency – we already know that. Because of the NSC, and the fact that not even Dixon will listen to me after yesterday. Contacting Katya Derevko is the last thing I want to do, but she and the others might be able to give us some answers. At least point us in the right direction. Maybe if I contact my father, we can get the NSC to back off."

"Right," Will replied with a little nod. There was a long pause, and then he looked over at me seriously. "Syd, if you wanna talk-"

"I can't," I interrupted, shaking my head. "There's so much going on…" I paused, and then looked over at him. "The agency trains agents to compartmentalize information. Until we can get the NSC to stop chasing us and get back to the Rotunda, find out what happened… We don't know anything for sure. And, I have to focus on something I can actually figure out. At least for now."

"Okay," Will replied, understanding. "So, should we try to and talk to your father?"

"I think so," I said. I ran one hand back through my hair, yawning tiredly. "I wish I knew what to do. What we could say to him to make him listen. If there's even a way to do that."

"We can't talk the NSC down without getting to him. So, let's start there."

I nodded in agreement. I went for my phone, but before I could try and contact Katya, Weiss called.

"What's going on?" I questioned.

"I just talked to the police," he said, sounding out of breath.

"What did they say?" I asked, looking over at Will. He rose his eyebrows in question, but didn't say anything.

"They finished searching the house. No one was inside when the place burned down," Weiss stated. "He's alive."