Hey everybody,

no I have not! forgotten this story. I'm actually consistently working on it, but I admit, I forgot to upload it, I'm sorry -.-'

I have not been aware that it had been such a long time since the last chapter. Thanks to a lovely comment on Ao3 I remembered and came back. I'm sorry you guys had to wait for such a long time, but I promise I will finish this story. There will be another update soon, probably not next week, but hopefully the week after.

Thank you for staying with me and enjoy

Chapter 22

"Lance!"

"Welcome Deunan, sure come in. What can I do for you?"

The commander's voice was filled with sarcasm. His office was packed with people, two men and three women in white lab coats plus Nike herself were standing there, all staring at her.

Lance rolled his eyes. "Just in case you haven't notice, I wasn't serious. Please leave now, this here is an important meeting."

He was not joking.

But she wasn't scared of him.

"Yeah, sure. I'm on my way. Just tell me where I can find Briareos."

Suddenly it was dead silent.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, he isn't at home anymore, so I'm guessing you gave him a room here to sleep. Tell me where it is!"

Lance stood up, red heat crawling up his neck, spreading over his cheeks.

"Knute, I'm in a meeting right now. I have no time to care about your relationship-issues. I don't care what you want to know, and I have no clue where Briareos is right now. So, leave my office and take care of your business, call him or whatever. Just go!"

The commander was raging right now; she was surprised, it was unusual for her superior to lose his temper so easily.

It wasn't really frightening her, more confusing that he was acting like this, but she just raised her hands in an apology, mumbled something under her breath and backed out of the room.

Just as she was about to close the door an elegant hand stopped her. No one else but Nike came out and looked at her with her cold, dismissive eyes.

"I will be with you in a moment", the blonde lady said to the commander, who was still inside of his office, but her hard view never left Deunan.

"What do you want, Nike", she said as unfriendly as she could. "I got no time for your smartass-slogans. I need to talk with Briareos."

"Obviously." The chief of staff wasn't even trying to be polite. "But maybe you can spare a few minutes and listen to me nonetheless."

"Just spit it out, will ya?"

For a heartbeat they simply stared at each other, blue meeting green in an icy way. But then Nike simply shook her head and sighed lightly.

"I would just like to remind you again what I already told you. Sometimes it is better to trust the people around you than to ask ignorant questions."

Deunan wasn't impressed.

"And I will tell you again that I don't care what kind of secrets Briareos has. I don't need to know every freaking detail of his life, but I won't give him up so easily. I know that something's going on and I want to make sure that he's alright."

The other woman only looked at her, her eyes widening a little bit, before she nodded.

"Now I understand", she whispered. "Deunan, please listen and I will tell you the truth."

By now Nike looked like her usual self again, the subtle notion of surprise long gone already. Her voice calm, almost emotionless.

"Thank you!" Deunan insisted.

"It was Briareos decision to keep you out of this."

Something within her broke. First Briareos decided to team her up with somebody else, then he even chose her new partner and now it seemed like he was trying to cut all the ties left between them.

"Why? Why should he? We're partners, why should he trust me so little?"

"Well, as far as I am informed this had nothing to do with trust or bounding. The way it seems he is trying to keep his distance simply to guard you." It was the strangest feeling ever to talk with Nike about her relationship. "I understand that you are upset about the current situation, but I assure you that there is nothing you can do for the moment to help Briareos, except for one thing."

"And that would be?" She didn't trust that woman at all, but at least she was giving her some hints and answers unlike Lance, who tried to avoid her at all costs after dropping the secret mission bomb.

"Don't put any more burdens on his already heavy loaded shoulders. The task he is about to pursue is of great importance and even greater risk. The only way he can function is knowing that you are safe and sound. He is willing to even endanger your relationship in order to keep any harm from you. He prefers you hating him than to worry you. It would be kind of you to respect his emotions and decisions. I am sure you're not the only one suffering right now."

Somewhat surprised she looked at Nike.

The commander of ESWAT had just told her that Briareos was indeed part of a secret mission, a mission so dangerous he couldn't tell Deunan without hazarding her. But Nike had also told her that Briareos was not in good condition, that he was worried, burdened.

"Is there anything else I can do, except doing nothing at all?"

Her voice almost broke; she never wanted to show Nike her weak side, but it was Briareos after all, her Briareos!

The other blonde tilted her head for a moment, apparently seriously deliberating over Deunan's question. Then she turned for the door.

"Maybe you could apologize. No matter the reasons, I believe you never wanted to tell him what you did."

Deunan froze. "How do you know?"

Nike gave her half a smile. "Everybody does, Deunan. And some people are wondering if you said those words in order to hurt him or because they were the simple truth. Either way it was cruel."

The door closed behind Nike, leaving a devastated Deunan behind.

She never knew that so many people had heard about it. Of course, everybody knew that they were fighting. After all she had been screaming at Briareos in public, but she never thought that people would know the details, would know her exact words.

She bit her lip. How could she ever repair the damage she had done?

Heavy steps led her down the stairs to the changing rooms. She wasn't in the mood for fighting, not in the mood for other people. Maybe she should do some paperwork, something useful, something to distract her mind, but she knew it wouldn't help.

But on her way down she met Charles, who looked like he was just searching for her.

"Oh hey, Deunan, thank God I found you." The older man said, confirming her thoughts, and hurried quickly towards her.

"Hey Charles. What's the matter?" She asked, not really looking for some conversation.

"Here." He handed her a piece of paper. "I know it's a little bit sudden, but I guess it would be a great opportunity for Wataru and you."

She regarded the sheet in her hands. It was her current work schedule, but reorganized as it seemed, for she was having a mission the upcoming day.

"What? But tomorrow's my free day." She complained and looked up.

"Yes, I know. But it's an easy level mission, only in need of two operatives, not taking too much time. I thought it would be great practice for Wataru and might even help your partnership a little bit."

Biting the inside of her cheek she read the outlines of the mission printed below her new schedule. Charles was right; he was very skillful when it came to choosing the right teams for a mission. This one seemed to be without any bigger risks, but because they were the only active agents, every small flaw would be easily visible. It was actually a good choice.

She sighed deeply. "Okay, fine with me. What about the details?"

The older man smiled. "Oh, I gave Lance all the info early this morning, he wanted to do the briefing himself, to assure your puppy understands it all. I already sent that boy upstairs. He and Lance should be waiting for you."

"But what about his meeting?"

"What meeting?"

He didn't know. Charles had no idea that upstairs was a meeting Deunan had just busted a few seconds ago. So something was definitely going on. There was nothing in this building Charles - master of schedules, strategies, and staff - wasn't aware of, so if Lance didn't even tell him, it had to be something from all the way upstairs, and her gut told Deunan, that it had to do something with Briareos.

"Oh, forget it. Thank you and see you later." She turned around on her heels and went back.

Maybe she could use Wataru to get some information out of that secret meeting. But as she came upstairs her temporary partner was nowhere to be seen. Wary she reached for the door of Lance office – aware that another interruption would probably lead to Lance having a stroke - but then she could hear Nike.

"No, not at all. I only told her what she needed to hear in order to tame her curiosity. I am certain Deunan won't be much of a problem from now on. Briareos decided who to inform and who not, therefore I did what needed to be done."

Her hand stopped just a breath away from the doorknob.

Lance started to talk. "I'm trying my best to keep her away from him, just as he wanted, but she's stubborn and cautious. I will try to occupy her with some field work, but I'm not sure how long this will work out."

A dark man's voice entered the conversation. "We are almost done; the simulations so far were all successful. We only need a few more days for Briareos to be prepared."

"Good," Lance said in his usual cold tone, "the less he is here the less risk we have of Deunan meeting him. I promised him to make sure that…"

Breathing harshly, she ran down the stairs, not able to listen to that crap one second longer. It had been a set-up. Nike had wanted to lure her in, every word she had said had been nothing more than lies!

Something was up, but nobody told her, no, Briareos had decided that nobody should tell her!

She needed to find him!

She rushed outside to the parking lot, almost running over Wataru.

"Good Morning Deu.. What's wrong? We have a meeting with Lance."

"Fuck off!" She hissed and jumped on her motorbike. She would find Briareos on her own and ask him directly. No more Lance, who tried to avoid her, no more Nike, who was obviously lying to her. She wanted to know the plain truth from Briareos herself and if she had to peel out his damn computer brain of this stupid Hecatonchires' body!

They marched in silence. In less than a mile they had to split up.

For days they had been traveling through the dessert, acting like refugees, always being careful of not being suspicious.

Although some moments had been quite dangerous, nothing had actually happened; nobody had stopped them or watched them closer than normal. Only once, two days ago, soldiers had talked to them. One of them had been curious about Deunan, but a sudden uproar in the village had taken their full attention.

Briareos and Deunan had taken that moment to continue their journey.

Briareos still didn't know what that salesman, who had shown them the way to the refugee camp, had told Deunan; she tried her best to keep it a secret, grinning at him whenever he asked but never saying a single word.

After hours of pleading and begging he had given in and accepted that he would never know all her secrets.

There was nothing to talk about, both of them knew exactly what to do and both of them weren't found of sweet farewells.

What could she tell him?

How she loved him? How she wanted him to return safely?

He knew that she loved him, and he was the best there was, of course he would return safely.

What could he tell her?

That he would miss her? That she had to be careful?

She knew that she was his life and she knew how to do her job.

The moment they had to part ways all they exchanged was a simple glance. She smirked in her beautiful way and he winked back.

From now on they would be on their own.

He was calm, this was nothing unusual for him, he had done this all his life, his mind was at peace and nothing would disturb it, not until he succeeded.

But there was something he wasn't used to. He trusted Deunan, he knew she was the best next to him. He believed in her; she was more than capable of doing what she was supposed to do.

There was no doubt within him, not one single spark.

But there was something else. Despite everything he knew, despite everything he was, he couldn't hinder to be worried. It was not enough to affect him, he was able to control his emotions easily, he simply noted it.

It was surprising. He never wanted to feel that way. When he had been young, he had tried to avoid building up relationships because they could be weakening, because they could hurt.

And he had been right, after Gilliam's death he had been worried about Carl, who had been devastated, who had changed for the worse, he had been worried about Deunan, nothing more than a crying child, suffering from her loss. After Nathaniel had decided to stay in Europe, he had never been able to stop worrying about that idiot, not even after Jackson had come back.

Those worries had weakened him, had occupied his thoughts as soon as he had allowed it.

And it could hurt, he knew that pain, would never forget it. It was still there, the moment he let himself feel it. If he closed his eyes, he could still remember every little detail, those emotions had never left him.

He was not stupid; he was aware that sooner or later he would feel it again.

Carl was in no good condition, it was possible that he would die soon and, well, Briareos and Deunan were in the middle of a suicide mission, so yes, he was prepared.

He knew that even if they were doing everything right, he could lose her.

But still, this didn't frighten him, not right now, because emotions had no space in business, only in private.

By now he couldn't see her any longer. If she were to be attacked right now, he probably wouldn't even notice, not before she would miss their deadline.

They had no possibility to contact each other. This way nobody could find a connection between them. Both had a small detector, which could send exactly two signals to their base, not more. This new technology looked like an average bracelet, easily to hide under clothes and untraceable. Deunan knew the name of it and all its fancy features, but Briareos had never cared for that stuff.

He walked on until it became dark and continued until the sun rose again.

This mission was kind of made for him. It reminded him of his first years working for the LAPD, he had spent days and days wandering through the wilderness of the United States, hunting down criminals and even worse. The most difficult part about it had been to actually keep his prey alive, it would have been much easier to simply take them out.

During those missions Carl had wanted him to prove that he was worthy of working for him, but also that Briareos was no thread to Carl's superiors, that they could control him.

It had been difficult for him to accept that he wasn't in charge, that Carl wasn't in charge, but he had accepted it, although he had disliked it quite much.

This mission was almost easier for him, because this time only his own rules counted, he was the one in charge, the one making the decisions. That was so much easier.

As the sun left the horizon he finally arrived. He could see it in the far distant, the camp, where the Russians stored all their supplies temporarily before sending them inside the depths of Africa.

His job was easy.

Destruction.

By the end of this day nothing of this camp would remain but ruins. By the end of this day all stationed soldiers and whoever else was in there would be dead.

This task seemed impossible at first glance. This camp was no ordinary village with a few hundreds of soldiers. It was huge, big enough to be a small city. If the US Military would attack it, they would suffer unpredictable losses, maybe not even succeeding.

But that was the reason why Carl had wanted him, the reason why he had taken Briareos with him to the United States, because he could do it. He could do the unimaginable and he wasn't even worried.

It was dangerous, yes, maybe even insane, but he was no ordinary human being. He had been born in war, had been raised by it.

Once he had been an assassin, long time ago, almost twenty years ago.

With a dry smile he noticed three jeeps driving towards him, swirling up sand and dust.

Within less than a minute they had surrounded him, and he could see several weapons pointing at him. He lifted both arms and listened to one soldier talking to him in Russian through the speakers.

Although he understood every single word he didn't react, the speaker switched to English, afterwards Spanish, which actually kind of impressed him.

But he still stood there motionless. He could hear them discussing what to do with him, before three of them got out of their vehicles and cornered him.

He didn't move, while they searched him. They found those weapons they were supposed to find and after another short discussion about whether to kill or to capture they arrested him.

It was almost a little bit unsatisfying that they were making it this easy for him. At least they could have tried to kill him, but they would try soon enough, so he followed them to their jeep and stepped in, wondering if he should spare one of those nice cars, after all Carl once had owned one just like the one he was about to enter.

"Hey, you wanted to see me?"

He stepped into Lance office, the older man looked through his window, an unusual sight, normally he was bend over his desk, reading files.

"Yes, Briareos, please come in."

The commander turned around, he looked tired and even the friendly smile couldn't enlighten his face very much.

"Haven't seen you for some days. You look better, how are you feeling?"

Lance words surprised him, his superior was no fan of small talk, he liked to get to the point quickly.

"Yes, I'm doing much better, luckily. After all we only have few days left." He laughed almost nervously.

But it was true, he was feeling good. For the first time, since he had become a Hecatonchires his body functions had grown past the 90%. Even during his best days, he had never been able to reach that. He felt amazing, his body was light, his system worked with an abnormal speed and although all his facilities worked non-stop, he wasn't feeling tired at all. Never before had his computer brain worked that flawless together with his actual mind, he was almost scared what the missing ten percent could give him.

"But you look horrible, Lance. What's wrong with you and why am I here? That Professor Wang went crazy when I left."

The other one tried to laugh it off but sighed too deeply.

"It's nothing. Only Nike wandering through this door every few hours, acting like your mission is the only thing I should worry about all the time. She interrupts my other meetings and even came during my shooting session in order to talk about something. She's annoying as hell."

Briareos understood that very well. Nike was Chief of staff and had a lot of responsibilities, but he had noticed as well that she spent a lot of time in his company, talking to him about more or less important stuff, making sure that this mission would succeed.

"Yesterday she even visited me at home and stayed for dinner to organize a meeting this morning." The cyborg couldn't hinder but laugh about it. "This isn't funny, Briareos. I mean I'm still concerned about this mission, but please get started. Nike ruins my privacy. My wife almost believes that we're having an affair. Please, all I want is to go back to my daily work and I need you back here, without all that drama."

Briareos still laughed, but suddenly shut up as a call came in.

"Can't be", he whispered. "She's just calling me, Lance."

"Oh God!" The commander turned around again. "Pick up, Briareos; she might behead us if you don't. I won't run away."

He did as he was told.

"Nike, what can I do for you?"

"Briareos, where are you?" Her voice was cold and scolding.

"At work, Lance called me over."

"What? We have only a few days left, and you are…"

"Nike, I'm not your property. My next simulation is in three hours and we just took the last blood sample. I can do whatever I want in my free time."

There was no answer.

He knew that Nike was not used to people speaking up to her. Her position gave her power, her character assured the rest. Deunan was one of few exceptions, who always said what she meant, disregarding Nike's status. Maybe she felt slightly insulted by him interrupting her, but Briareos was no kid in need of a babysitter.

"After I'm done here, I'll come back to the lab and you can tell me what's up, okay?" Still no reaction. "Good. See you later."

He hung up. Lance stared at him with huge eyes.

"Wow, those fights with Deunan have changed you. Talking up to Nike like that…"

Briareos shook his head.

"You're not the only one who wants to get this done. She acts like I'm a three-year-old toddler not even able to take the elevator on my own."

"Well most of them can't handle your weight, right?"

"Shut up, Lance. What do you want?"

He liked Lance and he preferred his presence over Nikes by far, but that didn't mean he had too much time to spare. Time was rare nowadays.

"Actually, I just wanted to check on you. Those guys in white don't like when I come to the lab just to talk with you and they always keep an eye on you. It's damn annoying."

"Oh please, you know I won't fall for that and I know that you hate wasting time. You wouldn't call me over just for some small talk."

The commander grinned and massaged his neck.

"You're really too smart, Briareos." The older man sighed and turned away from him. "I'm actually not even sure if I should tell you, but you can be a pain in the ass if you…"

"What happened with Deunan?" When Lance started talking like this it was always about him and Deunan. "Did she do anything stupid?"

He wasn't worried. Lance would make a different face, if he had to be afraid and they were in Olympus, nothing really dangerous could happen to Deunan here what she couldn't handle.

"Of course she did." The older one said. "I did as you asked and told Charles to appoint more missions for her and Wataru to keep her busy."

Briareos folded his arms.

"She was probably not too happy, right?"

"Yeah, that's the problem. I don't know. She didn't show up for the briefing and when I called her, well I'm not going to repeat her words, but she clearly tried to kill me through the phone."

"I'm sorry for her behavior, but we both know that it was to be expected. She's moody because of our breakup, of course it would show somehow." Briareos' words were rational, his emotions fully controlled, not altering his judgment, but it still bothered him, he would never stop worrying about her. "So, what do you expect from me? You don't seriously believe that I can talk some sense into her, she won't listen to me at the moment."

Lance nodded.

"I know, I know. I just wanted to ask you if you are totally sure that you don't want to let her in. It would make so many things easier if she just knew what was going on and I'm really tired of dealing with your drama."

He didn't answer for a second but sighed.

"Lance, you know my opinion and I won't change my decision. I'm sorry you have to put up with this, but I already explained you my reasons."

The other one folded his arms.

"Why am I'm not even disappointment?" He rolled his eyes but showed half a smile. "You sure expect a lot from me. Not even talking about that poor Wataru, who has to keep up with her."