Arvin Sloane was a man with many secrets. Theresa was just one of them. He had known about her since her mother had decided to tell him when the child was two. That was one affair he wished he could take back, though the sex had been good, and he had obtained valuable information. But Theresa…the child had been a problem from the start. Keep her secret was one thing and it was easy. Keeping her happy was another story.

"I heard some things that upset me." Theresa began, nervously twirling her ponytail, a habit that she hated.

"About what? Emily, my initiation to the alliance? My exploits have never bothered you before."

"As much as what you did to her makes me sick, it's not that."

"My dear, what a surprise. You've never displayed anything resembling a conscience before."

"That's not true."

"Denial doesn't become you."

"Listen" she hissed between clenched teeth, her dark eyes flashing "I heard about you're new buddy. We both know he's dangerous, and his word is worth nothing. Yet you decide to adopt him as you're little crony. Smooth move Dad. What's the catch?"

"No catch. Sark and I both know things about Rambaldi, possibly enough to piece together what sort of a man he really was." He let out a bitter chuckle. "I don't have to explain myself to a child. Go back to New York and tell you're mother I said hello."

"I will not leave. I've transferred schools, I live here now."

"Really now, and where do you intend to stay? I know for a fact that you're scholarship money isn't enough to cover for room and board. You're also much too impetuous to prepare arrangements such as that in advance. Once again you're stubbornness has screwed you over." He flashed her a cold smile.

"My stubbornness? You're the one that gave it to me. I do have half of you're genes."

Sloane flinched involuntarily. Unlike him, when she was angry her voice reached a crescendo. Last thing he needed was someone else to hear this little discussion.

"I have a little compromise." Sloane relaxed at this He allowed himself to lean back and he put his fingers into his customary steeple. Compromise was something he could handle. An angry daughter wasn't.

"Compromise?" Theresa perked, slightly. She knew what sort of power her father held, so she had to be careful.

"I'll arrange for you to have a place to stay, and I'm going to offer you a job in the mailroom here. It's only a little above minimum wage, but it'll cover food and rent."

"Rent where? A brothel?"

"You're humor is not appreciated. It can be arranged that you can live in a nice home, in an appropriate neighborhood. Blood of mine deserves no less than that." Theresa's eyes narrowed at the word blood used instead of daughter. She should have expected it; circumstances allowed her to be nothing more.

"I know of someone who is like a daughter to me." Theresa felt the urge to scream "she can be manipulated into taking you into her custody. If you would be so kind as to remove yourself to the room at the end of the hall, I can begin to make arrangements." He flashed another cold smile, as Theresa's stomach turned.

"Fine." She spat as she turned on her hell and left. Sloane reached down to his phone and pressed the intercom button. "Please send Agent Bristow in here."

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Sydney stood nervously in Sloane's office. He always made her uneasy. He was sitting behind his desk finishing up a phone call in Japanese, his usual charm intact, hiding the insecure man below. He laughed, which signaled the end of the conversation. He then turned his full attention to Sidney, fingers in a steeple, steely gray eyes boring into her skull.

"Sydney, how are you?" He paused for an answer, but just got her nervous smile. "You're probably wondering why I called you in here without warning" he began, cool as always. "I have just received word that one of our most valuable weapons has been released, and is heading towards the United States." He paused to let the news sink in. He loved having the power to drain the color from people's faces. Picking up his remote, he pointed it at the television screen behind him and clicked. A picture of Theresa filled the screen, one he had managed to scrounge up in time. "This is the weapon. Her name is Theresa Ward; she has been training at an exclusive Swiss boarding school since her mother died when she was twelve. She has recently graduated, and has transferred here to southern California for college. She left New York, her post-graduation home, to look after her father. He is a wealthy businessman residing here on the West Coast. The school, much like the classroom you saw in Buenos Aires, trains young children to be weapons for the government. This school, however, is more extreme than the rest. The children are trained for years to become the perfect agents and soldiers. Their knowledge and skills are invaluable. The alliance is particularly interested in Theresa. She graduated at the top of her class; her technological skills exceed even Marshall's. Now, for security reasons the alliance and I believe that Theresa should be under the watch of one of our agents. You are among one of my most trusted, which is why I called you in here."  Half of this was a lie, the other half was truth wrapped in one. Sloane hoped that Sydney wasn't able to read in-between the lines and find this out.

Sydney held her breath and looked Sloane in the eyes. This wasn't something that she had expected, what was going on here? Still, she couldn't, shouldn't refuse. Vaughn had reminded here what consequences lay in her refusing Sloane, especially when he asked personal favors. Still…"What's wrong with her being able to live with her father?"

"Her father has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, he can barley establish where he is and what he is doing, let alone look after his daughter. The alliance trusts me with this." It was hard to miss the pathetic urgency in his voice.

Sydney hesitated. This was going to be hard. How would she explain this to Francie? But the information that Theresa had could also benefit the CIA and help bring down SD-6…what the hell. "Sloane, I would be honored to do this for you." She said with forced sincerity

Sloane, the big idiot, bought it as always. "Excellent. Theresa is here in the building as we speak. I'll send her to you're desk, and you two can leave for you're home. That way she can get settled as soon as possible. I have also taken the liberty of offering Miss Ward a job here in the mailroom." Ah, behold Sloane the great Samaritan Sydney thought sarcastically.

After that little meeting, Sydney felt a little on the dazed side. She also felt like she had been taken advantage of, again. Couldn't Theresa afford her own place? It sounded like her father had deep pockets and could easily make arrangements for his own child. But Sloane's tone had been smooth, flawless, his eyes steely and gray. Dangerous combination. She knew the repercussions if she had said no. He would become suspicious, his mind would wander back to when she had been suspected of being a mole…besides, she felt bad for the kid.

"Agent Bristow?" A voice asked. Sydney turned, and found herself fact to face with a girl, younger than she was, probably late teens. She had smooth dark skin, and her dark curly hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her clothes were worn, her face tired, and she looked depressed. Sydney felt a bond with her, but she couldn't understand why.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Sloane." Theresa winced at having to call her father mister, and hoped Sydney hadn't noticed. "He said that you have a place for me to stay. He said that you were like a daughter to him, and you wouldn't mind helping me out."

"Yeah, I do actually. Have a room that is. It's kind of small, but you shouldn't be too uncomfortable. C'mon, I'm going home now…oh, you should know I have a roommate already. Her name is Francie, and she's great. I don't think she'll mind if you move in. Besides, the break in the rent is always good. You're name's Theresa, right? You can just call me Sydney."

"Yeah it's Theresa. Nice to meet you Sydney."

Theresa felt instantly at ease in Sydney's presence. She knew about her already, her mother had filled her in, but Theresa was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. Sometimes it helped having her genes.

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Sydney's footsteps echoed down the empty corridor as she walked to her and Vaughn's regular meeting place. He stood there, his familiar worried expression relaxing as he saw her enter. "Hey" He said with the attempt of a smile.

"Vaughn, Sloane has asked me to take care of a weapon for him." Sydney launched into it; she didn't feel like making any small talk

"Take care, as in destroy?" Vaughn's forehead wrinkles said it all

"Not exactly…take care like in welcome to my house and put in the guest room."

"Wait, what? Syd I'm a little confused" His forehead creased even more

"It's not a normal weapon…it's a girl. You know the training program I found in Buenos Aires? There's a boarding school like that in Switzerland. This girl just graduated from one a few months ago, and Sloane has asked me to take her in, and watch out for her. I guess it's just another one of his weird little trust exercises."

Vaughn was quiet for a second. This was very unlike anything else that Sloane had asked Sydney to do. She looked confused too. "How old is this girl? Does she have any parents?"

"Mother's dead, father's dying, he lives on the west coast, some rich business man…age, about eighteen."

"Damn… I'll talk to Devlin about this; this is seriously worth checking out."

Sydney took a deep shaky breath and started to play with her hands. "Yeah. I've just told Francie that Theresa's my cousin, and her parents have died in a fire. Since Theresa doesn't feel like being alone, she has moved in with me. Sound good?"

"Pretty good actually." Vaughn, hands shoved in his pocket, tried to keep his eyes to her face and his mind on his work. Little did he know that Sydney was doing the same. He ran his hand through his already messed up hair. "Um, look this isn't going to be an easy adjustment…for you or Theresa. I'd like to meet her though, make sure she doesn't have any ulterior motives."

"Sure, I've got to go though."

"Yeah me too. I'll call you after I talk to Devlin."

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 Later that night Sydney sat alone in the living room, reading. Her mind was racing too fast to let her sleep, and she was trying to calm it. She looked up at the sound of footsteps. Theresa stood there, headphones around her neck, CD player in her left hand. "Look, Syd, let's cut the crap. I know what Sloane fed you at SD-6, and just to let you know, only half of it is true. Not even half exactly…but it's the closet thing to the truth that bastard has ever told."

Sydney looked at her, a coy smile at her lips. Looked like her and Theresa would get along fine, no question. "Why don't you just sit down and tell me the truth?"

"Will do." Theresa plopped down in an armchair "My mother's not dead, just unavailable. From what I've heard, you can understand that. My father's not terminal, he's just an idiot. You know him pretty well; I'll give you a hint. He feeds you bullshit on a daily basis…" Theresa paused while she let it sink in. While she was here, she was going to find at least one person to confide in. "A, uh, friend of mine tipped me off to some of Daddy dearest's plans, so I came out to check it out. Dad was right about me being a 'weapon' and I did graduate at the top of my class."

"Sloane's you're father? How, what?"

"Long story. I'd rather talk to Vaughn about it."

"Vaughn? How the hell…"

"I have my sources; let's just leave it at that."

Sydney arched her eyebrows in distrust. "Sources?" Theresa could see why some people were scared of her in that moment. 

 "Fine. I've met you're mother."

"How?"

"At the secret bad guys convention a few years back. It was take you're daughter to world domination day." Theresa was awarded with the Bristow look of death. 

"Seriously."

"You're mother hired my mother to do some work right before she turned herself in. We got to talking. I told her how I was planning to follow up on Dad after graduation, and she filled me in on some of the details."

"You're mother…"

"Is a story for a different day. Look, I plan to go to Devlin, and tell him what I've just told you…I figure I can help bring down SD-6 in my own way."

"You do know how dangerous this is, right? I mean Sloane wouldn't even blink if he had to kill you, he's tried to have me killed before, and he considers me a daughter."

"I know, doesn't bother me." Theresa shrugged indifferently. "Just by being his daughter I'm in a ton of danger, so this doesn't bother as much as it would bother an ordinary person."

"Why are you doing this to your own father though? It makes no sense."

"He's done a lot of bad things to a lot of nice people, to put it bluntly. He enrolled me in that boarding school, because he wanted to use my talents for his own purposes. I've been manipulated to be his perfect tech agent as long as I can remember. He's also left SD-6 for me to run after he dies, and I can't handle that. I don't want to be in control of a corporation that's hell bent on bringing down the country. I know I can just end it when I take charge, but that's too risky. I have to remember to watch myself around the alliance. It's easier to make it look like Dad slipped up, and the CIA caught on to what he was doing." She drew her knees up to her chest and exhaled loudly. "He's evil, he doesn't think about anyone but himself, I hate him. I know it's horrible to hate your own father, but nothing good can come from him. I can't stand living in a world where people like him can exist."

Sydney was quiet for a second. "I feel the same way." She said softly.

"Look what he's done to you Syd. The man says that you are like a daughter to him, but then he goes and kills you're fiancée."

"Which is why I'm working to bring him down."

"And another reason why I've decided it's time to start."

*Any good? R/R please! More action to happen in the next few chapters, and some s/v eventually…*