Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This chapter covers part one of the two-part season three finale. The episode had the team discovering that the regents wiped HG's memory and stored it on the Janis coin before giving her a new life as a school teacher named Emily Lake. But Sykes wants HG's knowledge, so he kidnaps Emily. Steve also reappears, seemingly working for Sykes. The first part of this chapter occurs as Pete, Myka, and Claudia are going to the regent vault to retrieve the Janis coin. I don't think Claudia would immediately believe Steve had betrayed them and I think Myka would be having her own issues with his betrayal. The second half of the chapter is a slight extension on the ending scene where the team discovers Steve dead after learning he was actually undercover for the regents. This chapter is a more angsty than usual and the next chapter will be the same way. But the chapter for the season three Christmas episode will be very lighthearted, so hopefully that will make up for it. Enjoy!

Can You Hear Heaven Cry

"I just don't get it," Claudia said as she, Pete, and Myka walked through the umbilicus. "Why would Steve help Sykes?"

"I don't know, Claude," Myka said wearily. Claudia must have asked the question ten times already.

"Well, there has to be a reason," Claudia insisted. "I know Steve. He wouldn't just turn on us like that. Maybe he got whammied."

"He didn't act whammied," Pete told her. He clicked the opener and the door to the outside swung into sunlight. "And he didn't try to signal us either."

"Then maybe he's being controlled," Claudia suggested. "The Pearl of Wisdom made Leena betray us."

"This is different," Myka said as they all stepped outside. "He Teslaed Pete and I, and he kidnapped Emily Lake. He's working for Sykes."

"I don't believe that," Claudia told her. "Maybe we're missing something. MacPherson made all of you think I had gone over to the Dark Side."

"Claudia," Myka warned. She was getting tired of this.

"Or maybe this is all some part of some sort of plan to gain Sykes' trust. Maybe-"

"Just drop it!" Myka yelled. She stopped in her tracks and turned to the younger girl. "This is not some fairyland where everyone is a good person! This is reality, Claudia! And in reality, people betray you! It doesn't matter why Steve did it! What matters is that we have a job to do! So you can either deal with it or you can go back to Leena's!"

Claudia just stared at Myka, complete shock written across her face. She swallowed hard as the shock morphed to hurt and anger. Then she turned without a word and walked toward Pete's car. She opened the door and climbed in, slamming it behind her. Suddenly everything was silent.

"Damn it," Myka muttered. Her anger seemed to have disappeared the moment the door closed. She turned away and ran a hand through her hair.

"Mykes," Pete said carefully. He sounded as if he were afraid she would explode.

"I know," Myka told him. "I shouldn't have said that."

She turned back to look at Pete. He met her gaze and then motioned his head in the direction of his car.

"You need to talk to her," he said quietly. Myka nodded. With a heavy sigh, she turned and headed over to Pete's car.

She opened the car door to see that Claudia had slid all the way across the backseat. She was leaning against the door with her arms crossed and her head resting against the window. Myka hesitated a moment before climbing into the car.

"I'm sorry, Claude," she said softly. "I didn't mean any of that."

Claudia gave no sign that she had heard. Myka didn't blame her. She knew all of Claudia's vulnerable points and she had just hit most of them.

"I'm just really frustrated," she continued. "If the Regents would just tell us what they know, maybe we could finally get ahead of this."

Once again, Claudia gave no reaction. Myka sighed and looked down at her knees.

"You're right," she said, trying again. "It doesn't make sense. I don't know why Steve would betray us. But he has and now we just have to deal with it."

Again silence reigned in the car. Myka swallowed hard. She only had one card left. It was something she had barely even admitted to herself, let alone another human being. But it was the only hope she had of possibly undoing the colossal mess she had just made.

"It feels like HG all over again," she admitted quietly. "How can I trust people when they keep betraying me?"

Something warm touched her hand. She looked up to see that Claudia was now looking at her. The younger girl had reached across the seat to take Myka's hand in her own.

"I really sorry, Claude," Myka repeated.

"I know," Claudia said quietly. "I just... It doesn't make any sense."

"I know," Myka told her. "And maybe it never will."

"It's because of the Regents," Claudia said, pulling her hand back into her own lap. There was now a hard quality to her voice that Myka rarely heard. "They burned him. They destroyed his passport and his credit. He can't even get a job now."

"I didn't know that," Myka said quietly.

"They think they're so powerful," Claudia said angrily. "They think they can just sit around pulling our strings and not have to deal with the consequences. Well, this time karma came back to bite."

Myka didn't know what to say to that. This was a side of Claudia she had never seen before. The young woman sitting beside her was angry. And dangerous. But then Claudia looked over at her and the anger seemed to fade.

"We need to go," Claudia said.

"Right," Myka agreed. She looked over at Pete, who was still standing by the umbilicus door, and gave him a thumbs-up. Pete nodded in understanding. Myka got out and moved up to the passenger seat as Pete made his way around to the driver's side.

"Let's go get us a coin," Pete said, climbing into the car.

"I still can't believe they did that to HG," Claudia said. "They just backed her up and wiped her like she's some sort of hard drive."

"They gave her a second chance at life," Myka said, trying to defend the decision.

"By taking away everything that made her HG and trapping it in Regent Purgatory?" Claudia asked skeptically. "That's not a life."

"No, it's not," Myka agreed quietly.

"When this is over," Claudia said slowly, "do you think we could get them to... put her back together?"

"I don't know," Myka said. She looked over at Pete, who shrugged sadly. He didn't care much for HG personally, but he knew how much she meant to Myka and Claudia.

"We need to get going," he said as he put the car in gear. Myka nodded.

"Hopefully we can get there before Sykes does."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Myka was never really one for vibes. They were always more Pete's thing. But when she saw her partner back away from whatever was upstairs, she knew in her gut that something was very, very wrong.

"Pete?" she called, heading over to the stairs. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Pete looked down at her with shocked eyes. He didn't even look capable of speaking. Then he seemed to make a decision.

"Nothing," he said. He started back down the stairs. "They're gone. Let's get back to the car."

"What's wrong?" Claudia asked. She wasn't buying it any more than Myka was. Pete was clearly trying to hide something. But what?

"Claudia, I said get back to the car!" Pete cried. Myka could count on one hand the number of times she had heard him that emotional. Whatever was up there, he was desperate to keep Claudia from seeing it.

Claudia's wide eyes make it clear that she could tell.

"Pete?" she asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice. "What is it?"

Pete swallowed hard. His eyes were beginning to turn red. Myka waited in pained silence for his answer. She suddenly had the worst feeling that she didn't want to know what he was about to say.

"Please get back to the car," Pete whispered. That broken pleading tone was infinitely more terrifying than the emotional one he had used only a moment before. Claudia turned to look at Myka, the worry in the younger girl's eyes clearly turning to fear. Then she pushed past Pete and bolted up the stairs as fast as she could.

"Pete?" Myka asked, stepping up to her partner. Pete couldn't even look at her. When he finally did lift his head, he looked as if he had just ended the world with his own hands.

And then Claudia screamed. It was the most broken, heart-wrenching sound Myka had ever heard from the younger girl. But what truly chilled her to the bone was that she knew that sound. It was the same sound she had made when Leo shot Sam. Suddenly she knew what was waiting upstairs. Please God, not that. Anything but that.

"Claudia!" she yelled. She had to get to Claudia. She had to get her out of that room. She ran past Pete and up the stairs. Pete just stood there, too shocked to move. "Claudia!"

Myka hit the top of the stairs and turned the corner. The first thing she saw was Claudia standing completely still staring at something. Then she saw what Claudia was looking at.

Steve. Dead.

Myka stumbled to a halt, completely frozen in shock. She had known in her gut what she was going to find, but she had hoped that maybe somehow she was wrong, maybe he wasn't dead, maybe they still had a chance. But one look at Steve's empty eyes and his head hanging limply over the back of the chair made it quite clear. He was dead. They were too late.

Claudia slowly moved forward toward the body. When she got close enough, she reached out to touch his cold hand. That was the final straw. She sank to the ground and pressed her forehead against Steve's knee. The tears that had been welling in her eyes suddenly erupted in force. Her back began to shake as heaving sobs tore their way out of her body. The sight and sound of it was unbearable. Myka knew in her gut that she needed to do something. She was the big sister. She was supposed to try to make things better. But her mind was too shocked to make her body work.

Pete came forward from behind her. There were tears on his own face as he knelt down beside Claudia. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her away from Steve into a tight hug. Claudia turned into him immediately, grabbing hold of his shirt and sobbing brokenly into his chest. And still Myka could only stare.

Suddenly all she could think of was the smile on Steve's face as they all sat around the dinner table talking and laughing. They would never see that smile again. It wasn't fair, damn it! He had been a good person. He didn't deserve this. He had just been trying to help protect the world. And Sykes had left him there like a useless piece of trash. Steve deserved so much better than that.

Myka's gaze shifted to Claudia, who was still crying in Pete's arms. It wasn't fair. She had already lost so much. It was as if the universe just couldn't seem to give her a break.

Pete looked up at Myka with tear-stained cheeks. He looked almost as broken as Claudia did. As Myka looked down at the two of them huddled on the floor, she felt another emotion rising through the tide of grief. It was anger.

In that moment, she made herself a promise. They were going to find Sykes. And they were going to make him pay. And when they finished with him, the son of a bitch was going to wish that he had never been born.

So this chapter was pretty emotional. I'm also not entirely happy with all of it, but oh well. Leave a review to let me know what you thought! And thanks again to everyone that has been reviewing. You guys rock!