Disclaimer: same

A/N: Thanks to Total Vaughn Lover, Gils, Tine, and daisyduke947 for reviewing! The song in this chapter is called "30KFT" and is by Assemblage 23. I strongly recommend listening to the song while reading the part where I use the lyrics. The melody is just haunting and I think it really adds to the mood. That's all I have to say for now, hope everyone enjoys!

OOOOO

Will gave Vaughn and I a ride back into town, dropping us off near the building that Dixon saw my father and the others enter. He told us to be careful before speeding off back in the direction of the safe house, not wanting to risk anyone seeing him. I immediately sought out a spot in the shadows of the building, not going inside yet.

Vaughn followed silently as I led the way around the building and to an emergency ladder. Climbing up to the roof, I located a small, yellowed skylight. I could see down into the center of what I now knew was an old packing warehouse. I managed to pry one edge open, so that we could hear what was going on below.

"Is everything set up?" I saw my father enter the space that was visible from the skylight. There were a couple of men in white lab coats wandering around, running some kind of cables off the Sphere of Life and into different computers. I saw Sloane as well, seated at a nearby table with Nadia beside him. I couldn't see my mother or Sark, but knew they had to be close by.

"Yes, sir," one of the technicians replied. "We'll begin running the opening sequence soon."

"Opening sequence?" Vaughn asked me, his voice just barely a whisper. "I thought they needed the code for that."

"They might have already figured it out," I replied in the same tone, my eyes still locked on what was happening in the room below us. My father nodded to the man, who then went back to work. I saw another figure step out into the center of the room – my mother.

"I certainly hope you know what you plan to do," she stated, looking over at my father, her eyes narrowed. He returned her glare, not faltering. "Personally, I think it's madness."

"You would," my father replied, returning his attention to the technicians working on the sphere. "But, you haven't had access to the same information I have."

"After all those times that I withheld information from you, you still refuse to tell me anything," my mother said, walking up right beside my father. He glanced over at her, his expression softening just a little.

"I thought it only fair to pay you back in kind," he snapped.

"And if she refuses?" she questioned.

"That won't happen," he replied.

"How can you be certain?"

"Irina, it is… Advantageous to Phase Three that Agent Reed implemented a conditioning protocol with Michael Vaughn. Even if things don't go directly as planned, there is no way tonight will fail." I looked up at Vaughn, whose surprised expression probably mirrored my own.

"You can't protect Sydney from everything, Jack," my mother protested. "You said it yourself, you're not even certain what the message will be once the sphere is opened."

"I am protecting our daughter from unknowingly destroying herself," my father stated, his voice rising in his anger. "Nothing good can come of her independent interests in accessing the sphere and doing what she believes she must. Nothing."

"What the hell are they talking about?" Vaughn asked me quietly. I just shook my head, not replying and keeping my attention focused on the argument between my parents. It seemed to me that their positions were reversed. My mother defended me while my father wanted to use me for some higher aim.

Or had it been that way all along?

"And if she comes alone? What then?" my mother continued, following my father through the room as he walked to another bank of computers, checking something and making a couple of notes. "You can't just manipulate her."

"Of course I can," my father stated, as if it was that simple. "Did you think that all of this was simple coincidence? That his father is a Follower of Rambaldi? That she is his 'chosen one'? That they happen to be each other's only weakness? She will be here, and he will be with her. Now, I have to begin the sequence."

Before my mother could say anything more, my father brushed past her and started back into another part of the warehouse. I looked up at Vaughn, about to say something, but froze immediately.

"Pardon my intrusion, but this is a private meeting." Sark smiled at me from his position standing behind Vaughn, a gun raised at the two of us. "If you wish to observe, I'm sure my hosts would be happy to accommodate you once I announce your presence."

OOOOO

Sark led Sydney and I back down the emergency access ladder on the side of the building, keeping a close eye on both of us to make sure we didn't try to escape. He kept the gun leveled at me as we moved into the main room of the warehouse.

"We have visitors," he stated. Jack and Irina looked over at the two of us. I caught the barest hint of a smile on Jack's face as he looked over at Irina – kind of an 'I told you so' grin.

"Right on time," he stated. "Sark, if you would see to it that they are both quite comfortable, we'll get started shortly." Sark nodded.

"This way, please," Sark said to Sydney and I. We went with him into a side room where all the windows were blacked out and there wasn't any furniture. There was, however, a tall, burly guard dressed in black tactical gear in the corner of the room with a tranquilizer gun in hand. "Miss Bristow, I'm afraid this is where you'll have to wait."

Sydney turned to Sark in an attempt to protest, but was abruptly cut off when the guard stepped up beside her and shot the tranquilizer into her neck, catching her unconscious form as she fell backwards. Out of instinct, I moved to help her, only to be stopped by Sark's grip on my arm.

"Mister Vaughn, I assure you that your chances of you both surviving this night are quite slim. If you please," Sark stated, gun still aimed at me. I shot one fleeting glance back at Sydney, and reluctantly went with Sark out of the room and into an identical one beside it.

Before I could ask any questions about what we were doing here or what Jack and Irina needed from Sydney and I, Sark shoved me into the room and cracked his gun across the back of my head. Pain shot through my skull as I stumbled forward and fell onto the floor of the small room. I barely heard Sark close the steel door behind me through the thick haze of pain in my skull, my vision dark for several minutes.

Finally, I pushed myself into a sitting position, slightly dizzy from the force of the blow to the back of my skull. I glanced at the wall I knew was between Sydney and I, wondering how to escape from this room and make sure she was all right. I also wanted to know why the hell Jack needed both of us. From the sound of his conversation with Irina, it sounded like he was going to try to use me to get the code from Sydney.

I just had to pray that, because I found the trigger for the conditioning Lauren used on me, it wouldn't be as effective as it once was. If Jack tried something, I hoped it wouldn't work.

Suddenly, something else occurred to me. When Sydney and I listened to Jack's argument with Irina, he mentioned something about my father. At first, I didn't think much of it. However, I suddenly realized that, speaking of my father, Jack said he is a Follower of Rambaldi. Not was. If Irina Derevko killed him some twenty years ago, why would Jack speak of him in the present tense?

For a moment, I tried to convince myself that I heard wrong. He couldn't have possibly said something that crazy – I knew what happened.

Or did I?

When I found the Project Prodigy folder in the basement of the Rotunda, I saw the contact list that Jack Bristow put there. Sydney hadn't seen that list, even though she glanced through all of the pages of the document. Was it possible that the list was added to the folder after Sydney discovered it?

Could that list be current?

I didn't have the chance to wonder about it more as the door opened again, both Sark and the other man from the room beside mine stepped inside. The other guard stepped over beside me, grabbing the back of my shirt and hauling me rather effortlessly to my feet. I fought back the urge to start throwing punches at both of them and take off running, knowing that I would probably be shot and drug back to this room if I did try to fight back. The guard pushed me out into the larger room, keeping me completely disoriented as he pushed me facedown onto one of the computer tables.

I started to try and get up, wanting to get another look around the room and try to plot some sort of an escape route, when I felt the cool steel of a gun at the back of my neck, effectively pinning me to the table. I could look up just enough to see Sark circle around to the other side of the table and stand beside Sydney, holding a gun on her to keep her from moving.

"Now, we can proceed with this in one of two ways." Jack's voice filled the room from somewhere behind me, and it took me a second to realize that he held the gun to the back of my neck. "One, you give us the code so we know the last part of the opening sequence. You and Nadia open the sphere together, we retrieve the message, and we go from there."

"Or else what?" Sydney snapped. I could see the fury burning in her brown eyes as she glared at her father, briefly glancing down at me in concern before returning her gaze to him.

"Or, I ask Mister Sark to start with the least vital areas of the body," Jack replied, hinting at something but not clearly voicing his threat. Sark smirked as he heard this, looking over at me. Jack was threatening to torture me unless Sydney gave them the code for the sphere.

Hello if you're there pick up the phone
I'm calling from thirty thousand feet above you
The captain's just informed us that our plane is going down
So I'm calling for one last time to say I love you

"What?" Sydney asked, looking surprised.

"Obviously, you won't give us the code for the sphere unless you feel you have more to gain by doing so than by withholding that information," Jack replied. "Torturing you will not do us any good. Brainwashing you is out of the question, as your mother attempted that and it failed as well. Even your weakness for empathic suffering may not coax the information out of you, so I've come to a very simple situation. Hand us the code, and spare Vaughn."

"You won't do it," Sydney challenged, though I could hear the doubt in her voice. "You're not that kind of person."

"I think you'll find that, this close to the end of a thirty-year pursuit, nothing is beyond my ability," Jack snapped. "Would you like to test this? See if I'm bluffing? I'm sure Mister Sark wouldn't mind, after the beating he received in CIA custody recently."

I'm not certain how much time I may have left so I'll be brief
And I'm sorry if this message only amplifies your grief
But I couldn't bear the burden never having said goodbye
And the pain you feel I promise you will go away with time

Sydney didn't reply. Her eyes ticked from her father, to Sark, down to me and then back up at Jack. I could tell she tried to figure out whether or not this was a bluff. I tried to move my head slightly in hopes of catching her glance, and felt Jack press the barrel of the gun even harder against the back of my neck.

"We are on a time frame, Sydney. If you don't mind," Jack stated.

"If I give you the code, you let Vaughn walk out of here," Sydney tried.

"Don't do it, Syd, don't give them anything," I said suddenly, trying once again to get away from Jack Bristow's grip. This time, however, I was successful, but only for a moment. I managed to stand and take half a step away from him before he quickly hit me in the side of the head, pain once again shooting through my skull as he slammed me back down onto the desk and loaded a round into the chamber of the gun.

"Don't!" Sydney cried out. I heard a slight commotion, but couldn't see anything the way Jack held me against the table, and everything fell silent again a moment later.

I'm sorry I won't be there to see our children grow
Please tell them that I love them more than they will ever know
Tell my family and friends how much I love them all as well
I'm sure that we will meet again but only time will tell

"I won't ask again," Jack stated. "And I'll give you thirty seconds to make up your mind. If you decide against giving us the code, we'll try again in a couple of hours."

"He's bluffing, you know that!" I tried again, not wanting Sydney to give him the code for the sphere. I could find a way to escape, I just needed some time. I would kill Sark with my bare hands if I had to…

I interrupted my own train of thought. This was exactly what Jack wanted – he wanted that unfeeling side of me to come out. The conditioning. He wanted that active. He needed something from that side of me, I realized. I froze, focusing on listening to the debate going on above me for the time being.

I'm sorry most of all I won't be there when you grow old
To be there by your side and keep you warm when you are cold
Forgive me but I think my time is drawing to a close
So I've one last thing to tell you now before I have to go

"I do this and we go from there?" Sydney clarified.

"Yes," Jack answered. "Once we have the message, we will all determine the appropriate course of action." I tried to protest, but felt Jack's grip tighten once again and noted I was beginning to lose feeling in one arm from the strong hold of his fingers. "Have you made up your mind?"

"0312… 47," Sydney finally allowed. "That's the code. The real code." Jack immediately stepped back, letting me stand up once more. I immediately looked over at Sydney, seeing tears in her eyes, which remained locked on me.

"Thank you," Jack stated. He looked over at Sark. "We have two hours. Put them somewhere secure, for now."

"Of course, sir," Sark replied. "Would you like me to keep them separate?"

"No need. We have what we want," Jack stated. He looked over at Sydney, who just looked down at the floor, defeated, before Sark ushered both of us back into the small holding rooms.

OOOOO

A/N: Just as a note, I didn't leave out the rest of the lyrics. The song ends there, leaving us to assume that the plane has crashed. Thought I'd throw that in so no one was left wondering what happened to the rest of the song! Please keep reviewing and tell me what you think of this chapter!