The room was silent as the two security officers stood watching with bated breath. Simon Hughes paid them no attention as he watched the security footage of one Miss Samantha Jennings seemingly throw one of his guards into the air without touching him. The only change in his expression was the slight tilt of his mouth at the corner, almost amused by the video.

Hughes rewound the footage again, watching it from the beginning for the third time. The two security officers began to fidget but immediately stopped when the 6ft'6 giant, also known as Boris, stood behind Hughes, sent a grunt their way, sending fear into the other two men.

"Well," Hughes finally broke the silence, as he sat back in his chair and placed his tablet on his desk. His fingers began to rhythmically tap on the glass top. "This certainly makes things more interesting."

"We found their vehicle in a parking lot," Stanley, the head of security, managed to say after initially stuttering. His hands were clasped tightly being his back, the only outward sign of his fear. "But they were gone by the time we got there."

Hughes stilled for a moment, his fingers hovering over the desktop as he paused his tapping. It was only for a second, but it was enough to make Stanley audible gulp.

"How disappointing," Hughes gave a large sigh before directing his gaze to the door behind his two security officers. Suddenly two further men appeared and made their way across the room.

Stanley tried to move but they were quicker, and despite the pleas to his former colleagues, he was unceremoniously dragged from the room. The sounds of his protests, suddenly cut off when the door was slammed shut.

"Congratulations Mr Kingston," Hughes said with a short smile as he stood up and made his way to face the window behind his desk, placing his back to the other two in the room and buttoning his suit jacket as he went. The remaining security officer's eyes went wide, unsure what exactly was about to happen. "You've just been promoted to head of security. Now get out."

Kingston gave a quick nod of his head before scurrying out of the door as fast as he could. Silence fell again but was soon filled by the sound of Boris leaning forward to grab the tablet on the desk. His eyes glued to the screen as he watched the security footage himself, analysing the fighting style of the young girl and her unknown companion.

"What do you think?" Hughes asked, his head turned only slightly to the side to indicate who he was talking to.

"You should have let me take care of this from the start." Boris said in his thick accent, his tone flat and his feelings hidden. He placed the tablet back on the desk, straightening up to his full height.

"Hindsight is a beautiful thing." Hughes mused with a shrug before turning to fully face his window again. The plaza below filled with little dots of unimportant people scurrying around to do god knows what in their meaningless lives. "You're right though, she's gone from being an irritant to an actual problem now."

"Mr Hughes, you're nine o'clock is here"

The young feminine voice of his secretary broke the moment, her voice appearing from the intercom on his desk. Without looking at his bodyguard, Hughes walked over and pressed the button to respond.

"Send them in Janet" His voice lighter, hiding the cruelness from before. It remained in his eyes though as he gave his next instruction. "Find her."

Boris gave a nod in acknowledgement before making his way to the door. On his way out, he passed a wide eyed, well dressed man who gave him a wide berth as they passed each other.

"Ah Mr Stabler, thank you for meeting me today." Boris heard Hughes say as he reached for the door handle. "I never knew it could be so hard to get a meeting with the manager of a hotel."

The rest of the conversation was cut off from Boris as the door swung shut behind him.

The door to the room flung open as the pair shot through the threshold. Gareth quickly moved to the window, tugging the curtains shut while Samantha collapsed onto the end of the bed. She made to roll forward and place her head in her hands but instead she was halted by the pain in her side, a hiss escaping her as her hand came up the bruise left by the bullet.

"Okay Sam, no more lying." Gareth turned to face her, a new found authority in his voice Samantha had never heard before. Not just his voice though, his whole demeanour had changed, his back was straighter and their was a new sharpness to his eyes. "You need to tell me everything right now."

"I could say the same thing to you." Samantha shot back, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Despite how close she had felt to the American after their time together, she was suddenly realising there was a whole other side to Gareth she knew very little about.

"What are you talking about?" Gareth questioned back, somewhat trying to scramble back on the persona of a struggling actor.

"Where the hell did you learn to fight like that?" Samantha interrogated, standing up to her full height making her considerably taller than Gareth. "And don't give me some bullshit excuse about being an actor and having skills…cause that was more than some play fighting."

"No you don't get to do that Sam." Gareth's voice was harsh, as his hands came to rest on his hips in a demanding posture. "This isn't some little game anymore, this is a matter of national security. You need to tell me everything from the start and then we need to go to the authorities."

"The authorities Hughes has probably already infected with that gas. My dad warned me, we can't trust anyone," Samantha argued, her hand waving off in the direction of said authorities."Wait a minute, 'national security' where the hell did this come from?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Again he was scrambling to hide the change in his demeanour but Samantha was having none of it.

"Oh really? Why are you lying to me?"

"You really want to go there?" Gareth raised his eyebrows at her, giving her an incredulous look. His hands suddenly began animated as they became an outlet for his frustration as they accompanied his rant. "Because you have no leg to stand on Sam, why didn't you tell me it was you being shot at in London? And for someone having a go at me about unknown fighting skills, you seemed to do pretty well yourself against those men…oh and how could I forget you being bullet proof?!"

"Stop avoiding my question," Samantha hissed, refusing to back down as she stared Gareth straight in the eye. A tension she had never felt with him before, covered the room.

"Because you never do that," Gareth gave a nasty laugh as he finally turned away from her.

This was not in the mission brief

"What wasn't in the mission brief?" Samantha asked, taking a step in the direction he had turned to, forcing him to look back at her.

"What?" Gareth's face though was one of confusion, his anger momentarily forgotten by her question.

"You just said about your mission brief," Samantha's voice lost some of its venom as she suddenly became unsure of herself by Gareth's response.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did I heard-," a pit opened up in the bottom of her stomach, freezing her to her core when she realised what she had done, what it had meant. "No, no, no, you were safe, I'm not suppose to hear you."

Samantha began to back away from him, her hands coming to up to clutch either side of her head as her panic began to rise. The dingy walls with their faded rose patterned wallpaper, seemed to be closing in on her. The air felt suffocating as her breathing started to increase.

"Hear me? Sam what are you on about?" Gareth took a step towards her, concern evident in his voice and features.

"Your thoughts were safe," Samantha muttered taking a step back and keeping her distance from him. "I'm not suppose to hear them"

"Thoughts?" Gareth repeated, a confused expression on his face before realisation seemed to set in. "Sam, are you telling me you can hear my thoughts?"

"Of course I can hear your thoughts Gareth!" Samantha exploded, almost shouting and no doubt disturbing the neighbouring rooms. Her words came out fast and harsh in her panic. "I can hear everyone's god damn thoughts. How do you think I knew that room at Hughes International was empty? Or in the cafe, always knowing what people's conversations were about?"

"You're lying," Gareth scoffed.

"Believe whatever you want," Samantha told him before almost mumbling again to herself but loud enough Gareth could hear her. "But I've never been able to hear yours before, only with physical contact. You were suppose to be safe."

"Sam"

Coulson needs to hear this

Samantha gave an audible gasp, her eyes going wide as she looked at Gareth with a newfound hatred. It caused him to pause in his movement towards, so taken aback by the sudden rage in her eyes.

"How the hell do you know who Coulson is?" Samantha whispered, but he heard her. He would be able to her a pin drop with the silence which engulfed the space.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Again he tried to play dumb but Samantha could now see past his lies.

"The man from the airport, you just thought about him…." She pointed an accusatory finger towards him.

"You're wrong-"

Samantha shot forward, grabbing Gareth's arm, not really sure why initially but it came clear as soon as she made contact. Images of Coulson filled her head, phone calls and meetings in person as well as notes and files being written, her name and pictures plastered across the pages, all from Gareth's POV.

Almost as if she had been stung, as quickly as she grabbed him, she let go, flinging his arm as far away from her as possible. It was as if he could tell what she had seen and neither one knew what to say as they stared at each other.

"You're one of them," Samantha finally spat at her, pure loathing in her voice.

"Sam, I can explained-" Clearly realising he could pretend no more, Gareth began to plead with her as Samantha turned from him and started to grab her items from the room. He made to grab her arm but sensing him, she swiftly moved her arm out of the way and swung back round to face him.

"All this time, it was fake, you've been spying on me." Samantha accused, Gareth opening his mouth to deny it before closing it and his shoulders deflating in defeat. Samantha could feel a harshness at the back of her throat, a telltale sign she was about to cry. She took a shuddery breath to control herself before continuing. "At the airport, it was set up. You never came to Washington to help, it was to feed back to SHIELD this entire time."

"It started that way but Sam, it's not like that anymore," Gareth's eyes were soft as he tried to convey something else to her, willing her to stop what she was doing and listen to him.

"Bullshit," Samantha hissed back as she grabbed the last of her things and flung her rug sack onto her shoulders and moved towards the door.

She was halted almost immediately though by Gareth stepping into her path.

"Sam I can't let you leave with that hard drive, SHIELD needs it." Gareth said, a sympathy look to his eyes but she could see the way his body tensed.

"And what if I don't give it to you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Out of the corner of her vision she could see Gareth's hands tighten into fists and she couldn't help the mocking smile which crossed her lips. "I can't believe I ever thought you were my friend."

"Hand it over Sam," Gareth demanded.

"Go screw yourself."

Gareth made to step towards her, but with no conscious thought of her own, her head flung backwards slightly, and with it Gareth was shot backwards into the air. He collided with the far wall, his head giving a resounding smack as it landed on the floor.

Samantha's eyes went wide, fear over hurting him. She made a move towards him but then she saw his eyes open as he looked at her from the floor. Unspoken apologies and betrayal were conveyed until Samantha broke the moment, and made a hurried exit out the door, knowing Gareth could not follow her in the state he was in.

As she ran, her hand come up to wipe the few tears which had fallen.

She was truly alone.

Samantha sat on a bench at the back of the room, it allowed her the privacy to gather her thoughts. The sound from the non-stop video reels and interactive displays seemed to provide her the whitewash noise she needed to gather her thoughts.

She didn't really know how she had ended up back here, hidden amongst the exhibit for Frykte at the Smithsonian but there was something about it that gave her a calming effect. As if just by being there she could breathe that little bit easier.

It was crazy she knew, that an exhibit about some mythical object seemed to be the only source of relief in her life. Dr Angelo was going to have a field day when she heard all about this when she returned to England. Not to mention the weird dreams, but considering she had uncovered a plot to brainwash the world's most powerful leaders and a secret spy agency had been stalking her for months, being comforted by a spear seemed to be the least of her worries.

Families and tourist continued to mingle around her and no one seemed to pay her mind. Even when she came forward to place her head in her hands in an almost visual way to illustrate how defeated she felt. Her muscles ached after the fighting, again how she had managed to pull that off was other thing to add to the 'worry about later' pile. As the adrenaline wore off, she could feel the almost pulsing to the deep bruise in her side. Maybe she should actually think about the bullet proof thing a little sooner?

Samantha became aware of his presence only when he sat down. Initially she thought whoever it was, needed to learn about personal space, but when her head lifted out of her hands, her body stilled by the site of who exactly had sat next to her.

"Miss Jennings. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you."

Simon Hughes sent her a smug smirk. His back was ramrod straight, perched only slightly on the bench, as if the idea of being sat where many others had disgusted him. He wore an impeccable dark grey suit with a bright white pocket handkerchief. His blonde hair was slicked back, with not a single strand out of place. His eyes hovered over her for a second before roaming the room, sharp and calculating.

Samantha took only a moment to compose herself as she sat straighter and responded.

"I'm afraid I can't say the same."

"Careful there, you nearly hurt my feelings." Hughes said, a teasing tilt to his words. "You know when I first heard about you, you were but a mere flicker on the edge of my consciousness. But after your performance at my building, you my dear have taken a headline act."

Samantha felt her jaw clench tight and her nails dig into her palms, trying not to let Hughes know his effect on her. She tried her best to look nonchalant around the room but by the amused smirk which continued to plastered on his lips, she knew she was doing a poor job of it.

"Have you seen the footage yet?" Hughes enquired, a genuine curiosity to his voice. "It is rather fascinating, how did you make one of my men fly into the air like that?" He left it a moment for her respond but when it was obvious she was not going to, he gave a sigh of disappointment. "Not much of a talker, are you? Well then let's cut the foreplay."

With a tilt of his head, Samantha followed his gaze to the far side of the room, and her heart leapt into her throat.

"Dad!" Samantha cried out, earning a few odd looks from nearby visitors.

She didn't care though, as there across the room from her was her dad. Her eyes raced over his body looking for any obvious injuries but there were none. She was about to jump up and run towards him when she suddenly became aware of the looming presence over her father's shoulder. The man was built like a house, and with a hand firmly planted on her dad's shoulder, it was obvious he was not a helpful tour guide.

"Yes, surprise I've had him the whole time…but I think you suspected that." Hughes brushed an imaginary piece of lilt from the front of his jacket before turning his gaze back to Samantha. His smile widened when she saw her face drawn in confusion. Samantha had been expecting some reaction form her father, even a relieved smile to see her. But instead she was met with only a blank stare, as if he didn't even recognise his own daughter amongst the crowd. "If you're wondering why he's just sitting there, it's because I told him too…..why yes Miss Jennings, your father has been under my control this entire time."

A horrible feeling blossomed in her stomach, as if she was falling from a height and had no sign of when the floor would come. Her palms became sweating and for a moment Samantha thought she was going to vomit right there with the nausea which overwhelmed her.

Hughes's eyes widened in amusement, clearly enjoying the torture he was putting her through and so he continued his fun.

"We knew exactly where the USB was, we even had a go at trying to crack it but I'm afraid even my best computer nerds couldn't." Hughes continued, a rather impressed tone creeping into his words. "It was rather ingenious the way you programmed the device. You know, if you weren't such a thorn in my side, I would be offering you a job Miss Jennings."

"I already have one," Samantha managed to spit out through clenched teeth once she finally managed to regain a sliver of composure.

"Ah yes, that dreadful little cafe, dear old Keith thinks you're a bit above that, quite disappointed in you actually," Hughes gave a small laugh, revealing in his torment of her. "Amazing what truth spills out when they can't lie."

"If you needed me to unlock the USB why send me the message to allow me to escape in London?" Samantha asked, trying to take advantage of how much Hughes clearly loved the sound of his own voice.

"Oh that wasn't me," Hughes gave her a look of derision as if he couldn't believe she thought he was stupid enough to do such a thing. "I guess your dad is a bit more street smart than I gave him credit for. He was able to find a loop hole in my wording enough to break out and give you the warning. It meant we had to put the USB back for you to find…but alas even my security messed that up so here I am, getting my hands dirty."

"Why not destroy the USB when you had it?"

"Turns out Keith managed to take some research data from our files and put onto his, and I need it back." His eyes flicked to where the USB lay at the base of neck, Samantha did her best not to raise her hand to cover it.

"Well you can't have it," Samantha told him, somehow managing to keep her voice steady despite how much danger she knew she was in. "Besides I've already shared it with the relevant authorities."

Hughes studied her for a moment, a condescending smile slowly stretching on to lips as his whole face faced her.

"What a shame," he sighed, "I would have thought you would have been a better liar."

Samantha's eyes shot to the floor, not watching as he reached behind him for someone to place an open laptop into his waiting hands. He shoved the laptop towards her, all hints of a smile gone from his face. "Open the files and give them back to me."

"No."

"Well this is awkward," Hughes mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not giving the files back," Samantha stated, holding her head high and refusing to let her fear show.

"I suppose I could always use my gas on you, but somehow I don't think it would work," he mused before the smug smirk returned, a knowing in his eyes for the ace up his sleeve."But then again, I don't need to."

Hughes's attention then turned to the far side of the room, where her father was stood with the tank of man behind him. From where she was sat, she could make out the small movement of the other man's hand, pointing towards her father's back. It didn't take a genius to work out what was in his hand.

"Dad," Samantha gasped before some logic came back to her. "No, you're not going to kill him here, not in broad daylight."

"You're right,….no he's going to kill himself." Samantha's whole body went rigid as she watched with abject horror as the man handed his weapon over to her father, which he took willingly. "But not before taking out half of this room. The decorated metropolitan police officer, will go down as a terrorist killing innocent tourists and children before taking his own life…what a way to be remembered."

Samantha for a moment had no words, her eyes sweeping over all the innocent people in the room and knowing she had no choice. Hughes had outplayed her and he knew it.

"You're despicable," Samantha finally managed to hiss when she regained some of her senses but it was barely above a whisper.

"No, I'm better, at everything." Hughes told her, the seriousness in his features demonstrated his belief in those words. "Don't worry Samantha, you can't always be the smartest person in the room."

For a moment the pair stared at each other, a growing buzzing at the edge of her fingertips, calling out for something as her anger grew. It was halted though by the laptop being shoved into her hands, obvious Hughes was now done with waiting.

Samantha stared at the screen, wanting for a moment to run, grab her dad and run somewhere they couldn't be found. But she knew that couldn't happen and there was no way she would lose her dad. She had already lost her mother, she wasn't sure if she could survive loosing him too. Even if it meant a madman getting control of the world.

With a sigh, she reached up and unclasped the USB from her necklace and worked quickly with her programming to unlock its contents on the laptop. Once satisfied with her work, foreign hands appeared to take the laptop and USB from her possession.

Feeling a new set of her eyes on her, Samantha looked up and was surprised to find Professor Larson staring at her intently, a wariness to her features as her eyes moved to look at her company. The two only shared eye contact for a moment, before Samantha's attention was drawn back to Hughes.

"You made the right choice," Hughes made to stand but Samantha became more focused on the far side of the room. Her eyes swept across the crowd to see her father standing also, being led out of the exhibit away from her.

"Wait, where are you taking my dad?" Samantha too stood up, suddenly becoming aware of two new men flanking her from behind, having appeared from within the crowd.

"Oh don't worry, you're coming too." Hughes shot her a smile over his shoulder.

Samantha could feel the tingling in her fingertips again, a need to reach out for something as her anger began to swell. Hughes could see the change in her stance, the tension in her shoulders.

"Ah ah ahhh, we'll be having none of that," Hughes wagged a finger at her, giving her look of superiority. "Unless you want dear old daddy to start shooting?"

It was if an elastic band had snapped and Samantha lunged.

The room around her went silent, the crowd halted in shock as it stared at her and Hughes. For in her hands was Frykte, it's sharp blade inches away from Hughes's throat.

Samantha's eyes widened a fraction, not even sure how the weapon had suddenly appeared in her grip. The buzzing replaced by a comforting grasp on the well worn leather, the runes giving off an electric blue, as if the spear was alive with energy.

"Oh Miss Jennings, you get more and more interesting by the minute," Hughes couldn't help the grin which spread over his features as this random woman from London, seemed to be the most interesting thing to have happened to him in years. If only she wasn't trying to stop him, the fun they could have.

His laughed snapped her out of her shock, causing her to step forward and place the blade directly on to his throat. It seemed to stop his laughter momentarily.

"Ma'am, put the weapon down!"

Suddenly she remembered where she was, the barking voice of a guard snapping the bubble she and Hughes had created around themselves.

Samantha's eyes flicked up to see multiple members of the Smithsonian security team flanking her, guns drawn. Very few patrons remained as they had clearly been ushered out at the first sign of violence.

"Put the weapon down or we will shoot!"

Hughes raised his eyebrows at her, daring her to make her move. She wanted to indulge her anger, for a moment let it slip and let the spear dig just that bit deeper into his skin, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction, knowing he would only love the fact he had managed to get under her skin so.

With one final deep breath, she stepped back from Hughes, placing Frykte on the ground as she did so.

Guards rushed forward, some pulling her to the floor as she was ruffly placed in handcuffs, while other escorting Hughes from the room, the genius playing the afraid victim to a tea.

Samantha didn't resist as she was dragged back up and out to the waiting police cars, her head bent low to avoid the stares from the public, the persistent buzzing in the back of head almost deafening her with how loud it had suddenly become.

The last thing she saw as the car pulled away, was a worried looking Professor Larson, animatedly talking to someone on the phone.

Hello

Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter, very hectic 7 days in a row at work. Apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Some always manage to slip through the net.

I hope you enjoyed it and don't worry next chapter is already ready and good to go!

Until next time!

Vex