Title: Shades of Gray
Author: Carrie (CaReYbEaRy@aol.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own Alias or any of the characters.
Spoilers: Season Finale
Rating: PG, but it will probably change throughout the series
Category: Angst, Romance, little action, little everything
Distribution: Anywhere. Just let me know.
Author's Note: Thanks you all so much for your great reviews! I appreciate it so much! I hope that you like this chapter. I know that all of them have been kind of short so far, so maybe I'll start making them longer. Enjoy!
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CHAPTER 11
The next morning, Sydney floated into work; feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She had been so tense waiting for the Vaughn situation to clear up, and now that it was better, so was she.
She caught sight of her father walking on the other side of the office. She moved over to him and matched his pace. He hadn't noticed her yet, so she lightly placed her hand on his arm.
"I just wanted to say thank you." She said softly, before walking away. She'd really wanted to know what he had said to Vaughn to make him reconsider, but she knew that they couldn't talk about that at SD-6, and she knew that he probably would never tell her anyway, so she let it go, content with the way things were.
She put her things on her desk then walked into the conference room for a meeting. She sat down in her seat, and was soon joined by her father, Dixon, and Marshall. Sydney became nervous when Dixon wouldn't look at her. She'd almost forgotten their encounter before she left for Taipei. She hoped that he hadn't done anything rash, but there was no way to be sure. She had wanted to tell him so badly, so many times, but she knew that she had to talk to Vaughn before she took any action. Her thoughts were interrupted by Sloane, who came in and stood at the head of the room.
"Good morning." He said. Although his words were cheerful, his tone, and his manner were not. "We have a new mission." Sloane said, handing out folders. "As you know, Mr. Sark escaped from SD-6 surveillance and is now untraceable. Sark is a stepping stone to finding 'the man,' or Khasinou as we now know him."
Sydney inwardly grinned, knowing very well that Khasinou was not the man. It was nice knowing that the CIA was a step ahead of SD-6, for once.
"There are still many artifacts that Khasinou has that are pieces of the Rambaldi puzzle. We need these artifacts to finish this puzzle. One of these objects was stolen from the SD-6 vault by Khasinou's organization. We need these things returned to us, and we need Sark back. Sark will lead us to Khasinou; Khasinou will solve the rest of the prophecy." Sloane said. Sydney was getting tired with these facts that she already knew.
"What is the mission?" Sydney asked, not believing that she was being to blunt.
Sloane looked startled, and slightly angry, but he simply went on. "We know that the last place that Sark was seen was in Paris, but we have intel informing us that a device in one of Khasinou's labs in Taipei was destroyed last week." Sydney's heart dropped into her stomach, but she remained silent, not even risking a look at her dad. "Because of this, we have reason to think that Sark will be there, assessing the damage, maybe even Khasinou himself if this device is as important as we think it is." Sloane paused, looking around the room for effect. "This is a reconnaissance mission. Sydney, you and Dixon will go to the Taipei lab and collect information about what was there, what Khasinou was building, and if Sark is there, you will bring him back." Sloane went on to talk about their aliases and such, but all Sydney was thinking about was going back to Taipei, and possibly seeing he mother again.
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Sydney received her 'Joey's Pizza' call almost the minute she got home. She went to the warehouse with a sick feeling in her stomach. She knew from the second Sloane said "Taipei" that her counter mission would not be pleasant.
She approached the door to the warehouse, this time, without the nervousness of the last. She knew that Vaughn would be waiting for her when she entered.
Vaughn paced in small steps in the cage in the warehouse. He really didn't want Sydney to go back to Taipei, especially with this counter mission. There were so many things still up in the air from their last voyage to Taipei. Vaughn couldn't believe that Sydney's mom hadn't come after her, or at the very least, contacted her. His thoughts were interrupted by clicking heels in the distance. He turned around and found himself face to face with Sydney.
"Hi." She said, walking around him and sitting down on a crate.
"Hi." He responded, turning towards her.
"So what's my counter mission?" She asked, knowing the answer would not be one that she liked.
"The lab was almost completely destroyed by explosion of the circumference, but not completely. There are still many things that are usable. The CIA wants you to completely destroy the lab, so that nothing can be recovered." Vaughn said.
"No way. Too dangerous." Sydney said immediately.
"Not if you're careful." Vaughn responded.
"What about Dixon? He's already suspicious of me. What am I supposed to tell him?"
"Tell him that the lab had some sort of failsafe, so that when you took the documents, the lab terminated itself. And why is he suspicious? Did he recognize you in Denpassar?" Vaughn questioned.
"He followed me. When I broke into the SD-6 vault, he was waiting for me when I swam back." Sydney said, looking down.
Vaughn couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What did he say?"
"He asked me why I used the code name 'Freelancer' on Mount Aconcagua. I told him that I wasn't betraying my country, but he just walked away. He obviously hasn't said anything to Sloane, but I can't be sure that he won't." Sydney said softly.
"This is not good. Why didn't you tell me before?" Vaughn asked, before quickly changing his mind. "Never mind. It doesn't matter." Vaughn put his fingers to his head and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think of what to do next. "Go to Taipei as planned. The CIA needs to stay ahead of SD-6. We still don't know what the circumference is used for exactly, and we need to find out. SD-6 doesn't even know what Khasinou, or your mom, whoever, was building." Vaughn's mind was racing. "Sloane doesn't know that your mom is 'the man', so we can use that as leverage, somehow." Vaughn trailed off.
"What about Sark? SD-6 wants me to bring him back." Sydney told him.
"I know. SD-6 thinks that he'll be there, but the CIA knows that he won't. This was not his operation, but SD-6 doesn't know that. Khasinou and your mother with probably be long gone as well. This mission will be very unsuccessful for SD-6, but good for the CIA." Vaughn assured her.
"And my mom? I mean, where is she? There is so much we still don't know about this." Sydney said defeated.
"I know." Vaughn said. "She hasn't contacted you, has she?" Vaughn asked hesitantly, needing to hear her say no.
"No! I would have told you." She said, reassuring him.
Vaughn nodded, still thinking about what she should do. "When you get into the building, you need to get into the office sector and get whatever files you can on the circumference. We still have the blueprints to the building, so that will help." Sydney nodded and Vaughn continued. "If they are electronic, use this," he handed her a business card that she knew would download the files to the CIA, "and if they are on paper, find someway to hide them from Dixon. Go to the lab and use the same type of explosives that you used before to destroy the lab. This should not be too difficult if you're careful." Vaughn told her again. "There will be many workers there cleaning up and assessing the damage. Get out of the building and meet Dixon in the van, tell him that you triggered the failsafe, couldn't get the files, and the lab is going to explode." Vaughn paused, thinking about what he just told her. "I know that there are a lot of holes in this plan, but it's the best I can do right now. We still have a day until you leave, so if anything changes I'll contact you."
"What about Dixon." Sydney asked again.
"Talk to him first thing tomorrow morning in a secure place, and find out what he plans to do. If he is going to trust you, then go ahead as planned, but if you suspect that he is going to report you, we'll have to take him into custody. We can't risk that kind of exposure." Vaughn told her, the apology present in his tone.
Sydney nodded, knowing that she couldn't do anything.
"I'll see if Devlin will let me send a team to Taipei with you." Vaughn said. Sydney looked up at him. "I just think that there are too many things that could go wrong here. You may need backup, and SD-6 doesn't know this."
"Okay." Sydney said. Vaughn suspected that there was something that she wasn't telling him. He didn't want to go through this again.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah." She replied.
"You're not going to do anything else are you?" he asked.
"No, no. It's just that, like you said, there are so many things that could go wrong. I was just wondering if it's worth it." She said tentatively.
"Sydney. We're getting close to the end here. Khasinou and your mother, although we don't know much about them, do want SD-6 to fall. They have information that the CIA wants. We can use them to help us take down SD-6. If this goes well, there's not much more." Vaughn said. Sydney could hear the desperation in his voice, but she could also hear the hope. She knew that he believed what he was saying. She nodded, indicating that she understood. She stood and prepared to leave, but Vaughn's hand on her arm stopped her. She looked up and into his eyes.
"This will be okay." He said, wanting to say so much more, but knowing that he couldn't. Sydney was moved by his gesture and wanted so badly to hug him, but she knew that that would be considered "too attached" so she settled for a simple "Thank you."
"Be careful." He called after her when she walked away. She turned towards him for a moment, smiled, and then was gone. Vaughn knew that he wouldn't sleep until she returned. He couldn't believe that he had sent her on such a dangerous mission. She was strong, but he didn't know how far she would go before she snapped. He just hoped that this mission wouldn't be the one to break her.
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Okay, that's chapter 11. I hoped you liked it. Let me know if there are any factual errors, all this stuff is so hard to keep track of. I also love any comments or suggestions you have to offer. Thanks for all your support so far!
Author: Carrie (CaReYbEaRy@aol.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own Alias or any of the characters.
Spoilers: Season Finale
Rating: PG, but it will probably change throughout the series
Category: Angst, Romance, little action, little everything
Distribution: Anywhere. Just let me know.
Author's Note: Thanks you all so much for your great reviews! I appreciate it so much! I hope that you like this chapter. I know that all of them have been kind of short so far, so maybe I'll start making them longer. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER 11
The next morning, Sydney floated into work; feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She had been so tense waiting for the Vaughn situation to clear up, and now that it was better, so was she.
She caught sight of her father walking on the other side of the office. She moved over to him and matched his pace. He hadn't noticed her yet, so she lightly placed her hand on his arm.
"I just wanted to say thank you." She said softly, before walking away. She'd really wanted to know what he had said to Vaughn to make him reconsider, but she knew that they couldn't talk about that at SD-6, and she knew that he probably would never tell her anyway, so she let it go, content with the way things were.
She put her things on her desk then walked into the conference room for a meeting. She sat down in her seat, and was soon joined by her father, Dixon, and Marshall. Sydney became nervous when Dixon wouldn't look at her. She'd almost forgotten their encounter before she left for Taipei. She hoped that he hadn't done anything rash, but there was no way to be sure. She had wanted to tell him so badly, so many times, but she knew that she had to talk to Vaughn before she took any action. Her thoughts were interrupted by Sloane, who came in and stood at the head of the room.
"Good morning." He said. Although his words were cheerful, his tone, and his manner were not. "We have a new mission." Sloane said, handing out folders. "As you know, Mr. Sark escaped from SD-6 surveillance and is now untraceable. Sark is a stepping stone to finding 'the man,' or Khasinou as we now know him."
Sydney inwardly grinned, knowing very well that Khasinou was not the man. It was nice knowing that the CIA was a step ahead of SD-6, for once.
"There are still many artifacts that Khasinou has that are pieces of the Rambaldi puzzle. We need these artifacts to finish this puzzle. One of these objects was stolen from the SD-6 vault by Khasinou's organization. We need these things returned to us, and we need Sark back. Sark will lead us to Khasinou; Khasinou will solve the rest of the prophecy." Sloane said. Sydney was getting tired with these facts that she already knew.
"What is the mission?" Sydney asked, not believing that she was being to blunt.
Sloane looked startled, and slightly angry, but he simply went on. "We know that the last place that Sark was seen was in Paris, but we have intel informing us that a device in one of Khasinou's labs in Taipei was destroyed last week." Sydney's heart dropped into her stomach, but she remained silent, not even risking a look at her dad. "Because of this, we have reason to think that Sark will be there, assessing the damage, maybe even Khasinou himself if this device is as important as we think it is." Sloane paused, looking around the room for effect. "This is a reconnaissance mission. Sydney, you and Dixon will go to the Taipei lab and collect information about what was there, what Khasinou was building, and if Sark is there, you will bring him back." Sloane went on to talk about their aliases and such, but all Sydney was thinking about was going back to Taipei, and possibly seeing he mother again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney received her 'Joey's Pizza' call almost the minute she got home. She went to the warehouse with a sick feeling in her stomach. She knew from the second Sloane said "Taipei" that her counter mission would not be pleasant.
She approached the door to the warehouse, this time, without the nervousness of the last. She knew that Vaughn would be waiting for her when she entered.
Vaughn paced in small steps in the cage in the warehouse. He really didn't want Sydney to go back to Taipei, especially with this counter mission. There were so many things still up in the air from their last voyage to Taipei. Vaughn couldn't believe that Sydney's mom hadn't come after her, or at the very least, contacted her. His thoughts were interrupted by clicking heels in the distance. He turned around and found himself face to face with Sydney.
"Hi." She said, walking around him and sitting down on a crate.
"Hi." He responded, turning towards her.
"So what's my counter mission?" She asked, knowing the answer would not be one that she liked.
"The lab was almost completely destroyed by explosion of the circumference, but not completely. There are still many things that are usable. The CIA wants you to completely destroy the lab, so that nothing can be recovered." Vaughn said.
"No way. Too dangerous." Sydney said immediately.
"Not if you're careful." Vaughn responded.
"What about Dixon? He's already suspicious of me. What am I supposed to tell him?"
"Tell him that the lab had some sort of failsafe, so that when you took the documents, the lab terminated itself. And why is he suspicious? Did he recognize you in Denpassar?" Vaughn questioned.
"He followed me. When I broke into the SD-6 vault, he was waiting for me when I swam back." Sydney said, looking down.
Vaughn couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What did he say?"
"He asked me why I used the code name 'Freelancer' on Mount Aconcagua. I told him that I wasn't betraying my country, but he just walked away. He obviously hasn't said anything to Sloane, but I can't be sure that he won't." Sydney said softly.
"This is not good. Why didn't you tell me before?" Vaughn asked, before quickly changing his mind. "Never mind. It doesn't matter." Vaughn put his fingers to his head and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think of what to do next. "Go to Taipei as planned. The CIA needs to stay ahead of SD-6. We still don't know what the circumference is used for exactly, and we need to find out. SD-6 doesn't even know what Khasinou, or your mom, whoever, was building." Vaughn's mind was racing. "Sloane doesn't know that your mom is 'the man', so we can use that as leverage, somehow." Vaughn trailed off.
"What about Sark? SD-6 wants me to bring him back." Sydney told him.
"I know. SD-6 thinks that he'll be there, but the CIA knows that he won't. This was not his operation, but SD-6 doesn't know that. Khasinou and your mother with probably be long gone as well. This mission will be very unsuccessful for SD-6, but good for the CIA." Vaughn assured her.
"And my mom? I mean, where is she? There is so much we still don't know about this." Sydney said defeated.
"I know." Vaughn said. "She hasn't contacted you, has she?" Vaughn asked hesitantly, needing to hear her say no.
"No! I would have told you." She said, reassuring him.
Vaughn nodded, still thinking about what she should do. "When you get into the building, you need to get into the office sector and get whatever files you can on the circumference. We still have the blueprints to the building, so that will help." Sydney nodded and Vaughn continued. "If they are electronic, use this," he handed her a business card that she knew would download the files to the CIA, "and if they are on paper, find someway to hide them from Dixon. Go to the lab and use the same type of explosives that you used before to destroy the lab. This should not be too difficult if you're careful." Vaughn told her again. "There will be many workers there cleaning up and assessing the damage. Get out of the building and meet Dixon in the van, tell him that you triggered the failsafe, couldn't get the files, and the lab is going to explode." Vaughn paused, thinking about what he just told her. "I know that there are a lot of holes in this plan, but it's the best I can do right now. We still have a day until you leave, so if anything changes I'll contact you."
"What about Dixon." Sydney asked again.
"Talk to him first thing tomorrow morning in a secure place, and find out what he plans to do. If he is going to trust you, then go ahead as planned, but if you suspect that he is going to report you, we'll have to take him into custody. We can't risk that kind of exposure." Vaughn told her, the apology present in his tone.
Sydney nodded, knowing that she couldn't do anything.
"I'll see if Devlin will let me send a team to Taipei with you." Vaughn said. Sydney looked up at him. "I just think that there are too many things that could go wrong here. You may need backup, and SD-6 doesn't know this."
"Okay." Sydney said. Vaughn suspected that there was something that she wasn't telling him. He didn't want to go through this again.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah." She replied.
"You're not going to do anything else are you?" he asked.
"No, no. It's just that, like you said, there are so many things that could go wrong. I was just wondering if it's worth it." She said tentatively.
"Sydney. We're getting close to the end here. Khasinou and your mother, although we don't know much about them, do want SD-6 to fall. They have information that the CIA wants. We can use them to help us take down SD-6. If this goes well, there's not much more." Vaughn said. Sydney could hear the desperation in his voice, but she could also hear the hope. She knew that he believed what he was saying. She nodded, indicating that she understood. She stood and prepared to leave, but Vaughn's hand on her arm stopped her. She looked up and into his eyes.
"This will be okay." He said, wanting to say so much more, but knowing that he couldn't. Sydney was moved by his gesture and wanted so badly to hug him, but she knew that that would be considered "too attached" so she settled for a simple "Thank you."
"Be careful." He called after her when she walked away. She turned towards him for a moment, smiled, and then was gone. Vaughn knew that he wouldn't sleep until she returned. He couldn't believe that he had sent her on such a dangerous mission. She was strong, but he didn't know how far she would go before she snapped. He just hoped that this mission wouldn't be the one to break her.
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Okay, that's chapter 11. I hoped you liked it. Let me know if there are any factual errors, all this stuff is so hard to keep track of. I also love any comments or suggestions you have to offer. Thanks for all your support so far!