Fear
The sound of gunfire caused Sydney to spring into action. She turned on her comm just in time to hear Vaughn barking in her ear that they needed back-up inside the mansion. She hollered back, saying she'd be there right away. She tugged up one of her pant legs and wrapped the page around her shin. She tore a shred of material off of her other pant leg and used it to secure the page around her leg. She would simply tell the others that she had caught her pant leg on a branch or a bush.
She scrambled to her feet, pulling the pant legs back down and praying that the page would stay in place when she had to run. She put the floorboard back in place after kicking the dirt back inside and packing it in as solid as she could.
"SYDNEY WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW!"
Sydney tore the comm link out of her ear after Vaughn's voice filled her head again and she ran out of the shed, throwing the ear piece somewhere deep in the forest behind the shed, deciding she would make up a story about losing the connection. She dropped to her knees a few yards behind the shed, digging quickly to shove the metal container down a hole. She stood up after packing the dirt in and took off towards the mansion.
She charged in the front door and spotted one of Sloane's men standing a few feet away with his back to her. Sydney leveled her rifle at the man in front of her and squeezed the trigger. For whatever reason, the gun malfunctioned and didn't fire.
She was stunned for an instant, but managed to recover, throwing her gun to the ground and tearing off the bullet-proof vest she was wearing because she knew it wouldn't provide her with much room to move.
She was going to have to fight her way out of this mess.
The man turned around just as Sydney was dropping the vest to the floor and Sydney delivered a round-house kick that succeeded in sending the gun the man was holding across the room. She leveled a kick at his head, but the man dodged and used Sydney's momentary shock to his advantage as he punched her square in the stomach.
Sydney was sent sprawling on the hard floor, the back of her head smacking against it and combining that sudden pain with the pain already in her stomach and making her feel like she would faint. Another blinding pain shot through her body, leaving Sydney gasping for air, as the object in her body had apparently been jostled by the punch and the force of her landing.
Sydney cried out, paralyzed for a moment, then finally regained her composure and tripped the man when he lunged towards her. She rolled out of the way as the man fell forward. Sydney leapt to her feet and grabbed the gun that had landed a few feet away. With a shaky hand, she squeezed the trigger twice, the first bullet slicing through the man's neck and the other penetrating the back of his head.
Breathing heavily, Sydney checked the clip of the gun and was relieved to find that she had fourteen rounds left. This particular pistol held sixteen rounds and, luckily for Sydney, she was the first person to fire the clip.
Sydney turned around and began to search various rooms, suddenly wishing she had her comm link. But she couldn't blow her cover. She decided to call for Vaughn, Will, and Sark—to see if they were nearby. She didn't care who heard her, even if it was one of Sloane's flunkies. She could fight off whoever came her way.
"VAUGHN!" Sydney heard her voice echo painfully in her ears as she climbed a set of stairs. "SARK!"
At that moment, there was gunfire coming from a floor above and Sydney felt her stomach drop to her feet. She took the stairs two at a time and ran into Vaughn when she reached the second floor.
"Syd, you're okay," Vaughn said frantically, touching Sydney's face as if he were unsure of the words he had just spoken.
Sydney backed away from him, her mind on other matters. "I'm fine, yes, but where are Sark and Will?"
"I heard gunfire. We changed our routes and Will took the top floor and I took the bottom floor, then I came down to the second because Sark needed help. I don't where they are now," Vaughn confessed. He gave Sydney a once-over and his eyes widened. "Where's your gun?"
"It malfunctioned." She held up the pistol she had taken from the man she had downed a few minutes before. "I got this from one of Sloane's guys."
Vaughn nodded and put his hands on her shoulders to turn her around towards the stairs leading up to the third floor. They ran up the stairs together, hearing more gunfire and some angry shouts. Sydney gulped, hoping that the gunfire was coming from Sark and Will's guns and not those of Sloane's guards.
They rounded a corner and came face to face with several guards. Sydney took a boot to the chest and her gun fell from her hand before she could even grasp what was happening. Vaughn leapt into action, downing two guards with kicks to the sides of their heads and punches square in their noses, then went to work on a third guard as two others approached him.
Sydney, who had gotten the wind knocked out of her, was trying to sit up and reach for her gun. She panicked when she saw a guard come up behind Vaughn as he was fending off another goon. "Vaughn, move!" she cried hoarsely, and Vaughn dove to the side as Sydney rapidly squeezed a stream of rounds into the chests of two guards.
They were safe for the moment, and Vaughn crawled towards Sydney and asked if she was all right. Sydney nodded and Vaughn got to his feet and bent down so he could gather Sydney in his arms and help her up. She stumbled forward as she stood, but Vaughn kept his arms around her until she was steady.
"Thanks," she mumbled, and breathed heavily as she tried to get her breath back.
"You too. You saved my life," Vaughn told her, brushing a few stray strands of hair away from Sydney's sweat-damp forehead.
Despite the serious nature of the situation, Sydney managed to joke, "Now where have I heard that one before?"
Vaughn grinned and kissed her forehead, then declared, "We need to find Will and Sark."
Sydney took off, Vaughn on her heels and they searched the various rooms, calling out simultaneously.
"SARK!"
"WILL!"
"Where are you?!"
Panting, they reached a room at the end of the hall, and Sydney nearly lost her balance at what she saw. "Jesus," she murmured, running over to Sark and Will and collapsing on her knees beside them.
Vaughn approached them slowly and sank to his knees besides Sydney. "Looks pretty bad."
"Yeah, no shit, Vaughn," Sydney muttered, tearing off her zippered jacket and placing it over one of the wounds. Vaughn began to take off his jacket as Sydney pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her clad in a tight black undershirt. She put the shirt she had taken off on another wound.
Vaughn tapped Sark's cheek and Sark's eyes fluttered open. Sydney felt her heart leap into her throat. Vaughn spoke. "Sark, what happened?"
"The guards" he sputtered, "the guards came and we fought themwe weren't quick enoughWill and I both got hit" He looked down and realized that his bullet-proof vest was missing. "How bad?" He trailed off as he touched his fingers to some blood on his chest. "Oh God"
Sydney was close to tears. "You're going to be fine, Sark, do you hear me? You'll be fine."
" Sark reached his hand that wasn't covered in blood to Sydney's cheek and caressed it softly. Sydney enfolded Sark's hand in hers and tried her best not to let her tears fall.
"I'm here, don't worry," she whispered. She looked at Vaughn when Sark turned away. Vaughn looked away from her as well and Sydney felt sobs clawing at her throat.
Vaughn tapped Will's cheek and Will woke up. He tried to sit up but Vaughn pushed him back down. "I think I'm good, man," Will insisted, and this time Vaughn didn't stop him when he tried to sit up. "Ow! Christ" Will rolled up the pant leg to see his shin oozing blood into a puddle already on the floor.
"I'll go call an ambulance, there's a hospital with CIA influence a few blocks down," Vaughn said and got to his feet after giving Will his jacket to wrap around the leg wound. There was a phone on the desk in the room and Vaughn picked up the receiver and dialed hurriedly. When someone on the other end answered, Vaughn quickly explained the situation.
"Will, what happened exactly?" Sydney asked, her voice meek. She still held Sark's hand in hers and she squeezed it tighter.
"Vaughn and I switched floors and Sark finished with the second floor so he came up here to give me a hand. Four or five guards charged us and Sark's vest got ripped off in the struggle. I was fortunate to only take a bullet in the leg, but—" he lowered his voice, "Sark wasn't so lucky." He looked into Sydney's eyes and saw the tears in them. He reached a hand to her face. "I'm so sorry, Syd, I tried—"
"Shh," Sydney coaxed, and reached her other hand up so she could grasp Will's hand on her cheek. She kissed his knuckles in reassurance, then looked down at Sark who was fighting to stay awake. Sydney felt her lower lip trembling as her eyes raked down his body, seeing a wound in his chest and two wounds in his legs.
Will was trying to stand. "I can walk if I can borrow someone's shoulder."
"Here, Will," Vaughn said, done with the phone and rushing to Will's side. He knelt down and threw one of Will's arms around his neck as he helped Will to his feet. Will winced, but managed to stand all the same.
"Thanks, man," he said, half-gasping, half-mumbling.
"No problem, big guy," Vaughn said, his voice a bit strained. He was about to tell Sydney to stand as well so the paramedics would have an easy path to Sark but decided against it. He sensed some sort of bond between them, but couldn't quite lay a finger on what it was. Either way, he knew she wasn't going to do what he said, so he wasn't even going to try.
"Syd, are you all right?" Will croaked before coughing and trying to clear his throat.
Sydney looked up at him, her cheeks stained with tears and her eyes bloodshot. "I'm fine." She looked back at Sark and took a deep breath. Another blinding pain shot through her entire body and Sydney felt like she was being burned alive. She gasped and one of her hands flew to her chest in an attempt to make the burning sensation go away.
Will noticed each of Sydney's actions and reactions and said softly, "Syd, you're not—"
"I'm *fine*, Will!" Sydney snapped, then realized that she was unleashing her anger and frustration on the wrong person. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm fine, though, don't worry about me, okay?"
Will nodded and wobbled a bit on his feet. Vaughn caught him and they stood together, waiting patiently for the ambulance. Sydney looked up at Vaughn and Will.
"Did you guys get Sloane?"
Will and Vaughn both shook their heads at the same time and Sydney felt a fist closing around her heart. Sark and Will had been hurt for nothing and Sark might not even survive. She suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She wondered whether or not she could have gotten to Will and Sark before Sloane's men did if she had kept her comm link or if she hadn't taken the extra time to conceal the page and bury the cylinder.
Anger mixed with the guilt and she found herself wanting to strangle her mother. If her mother hadn't told her to get the page herself and keep it from the CIA, none of this ever would have happened. She would have gotten the page and sprinted into the mansion and she would have had time to help everyone fight off Sloane's guards.
If Sark died, Sydney wasn't sure she would be able to handle it because she knew it was all her fault for listening to her mother. When she got back to Los Angeles, she would definitely give her mother an earful and see if she had anything less than vague to tell her.
Sydney looked back down at Sark and tightened her grip on his hand again to try and help him stay awake. Sark looked up at her, the sparkle absent from his sapphire gems and Sydney swallowed a round of sobs in her throat. She leaned down and pressed her forehead to his, then kissed his eyelids, his nose, his cheeks, and finally his lips. She was certain that Vaughn was at least jealous of what she was doing, but she didn't care—this could quite possibly the last time she saw Sark alive and she wasn't going to resist showing affection towards him just because Vaughn was in the room.
Sark's thumb brushed Sydney's cheek and he whispered, "If I don't make it, I just want you to know that—"
"Don't say it," Sydney told him. "Don't—"
"I love you."
Sydney resisted the sobs that were clogging her throat for a minute or two as she tried to stay strong, but she felt herself steadily succumbing to them and began crying openly, her entire body shaking. "Y-y-you're going to m-make it," she said through her tears, leaning down and pressing her forehead to his again.
" Sark said softly.
"Sark, don't you dare give up on me now," Sydney whispered.
At that moment, footsteps were coming up the stairs and making their way down the hall into the room where Sydney, Vaughn, Will, and Sark were all residing. The next few minutes were a blur as Sydney was pulled back by the paramedics and Sark was hoisted onto a stretcher as Sydney barked at them to be careful. Will was put on a stretcher as well and Vaughn lifted Sydney to her feet and crushed her to his chest when she started to sob again. He knew she was afraid to leave, because leaving meant that she had to go the hospital and sit in a waiting room inhaling the distinctive hospital smell while waiting for an update on the condition of Sark.
Slowly, Vaughn began to walk Sydney out of the room, but it was difficult because Sydney was stubbornly trying to keep her feet planted firmly on the floor. Finally, Vaughn slid his arm under Sydney's legs and picked her up. To his relief, she didn't protest, only wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder as he carried her out of the room and began the long trek down the stairs and out of the mansion towards the ambulance.
A/N: :\ *hug for you guys*
On a side note, did you guys appreciate Ballsy!Vaughn? I mean, if JJ wrote him like I did in this chapter, I might actually be tempted to like the guy—"*tempted*." ;P