"Government Involvement"
Chapter 02: 'Alert & Ready'
Summary: Dark Angel/Alias Crossover
Dark Angel storyline: Mid Second-season, somewhere around "Love in Vein" - Max burnt down Manticore and freed all the transgenics, including the extremely-hot-yet- playfully-annoying Alec (*sigh*). The virus is in effect, but it's really not relevant to this storyline.
Alias storyline: Mid second-season as well, after "Salvation." Although Irina Derevko probably won't play into the story that much. Sark hasn't come to work for SD-6 yet, though he may enter the storyline later ;)
Alterations.. The year is 2002 (Just pretend Dark Angel was set in that year). The pulse still happened, though the only place that was really affected was Washington: especially Seattle. Seattle is still like a third-world- country, sort of excluded from the rest of the U.S.
Enjoy the story, and DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!
If you want me to e-mail you as soon as the next chapter is up, leave your e-mail address in the review section, or e-mail it to me!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
Several hours later, after a short airplane flight and an equipment check, Sydney walked through the spinning glass doors into 'Ready & Alert,' the security-system company that held the SD-6 tape. It was nine o'clock at night, and the city of Seattle was already under the cover of darkness, which would be a great help if Dixon and Sydney needed to make a fast getaway.
She walked confidently up to the front counter, her heeled shoes clicking against the floor with every step. She wore a dark business suit, with the skirt just the right length so she could outrun any guards, if needed. But hopefully she wouldn't have to resort to that.
"May I help you miss?" An attendant at the counter asked.
"Yes, I believe you might be able to," Sydney said in a fake Brooklyn accent, playing with the short blond hair on her wig. "I have an appointment to tour the facility." She gave the man a warm smile. "See, I just moved here from the East coast, and I'm looking for a reliable security system for my new home."
The attendant nodded and typed something into the computer. "Name, please?" he asked.
"Reese. Kelly Reese," Sydney replied immediately.
The man nodded and gave her a small smile. "Yes, yes," he typed something else into the computer. "You'll want to go see Mr. Harper, the manager here. His office is on the fifth floor. Just speak to the receptionist when you get to the floor, she'll direct you to him." He paused and motioned to the wall on Sydney's left. "The elevators are right over there."
Sydney nodded, glad that he didn't ask to escort her up to the floor. "Thank you," she said quietly, then turned and headed in the direction he pointed. She nodded a "hello" to the other people waiting in line for one of the four elevators. She then concentrated on the light-up numbers above the elevators as she switched her small black purse from one hand to the other.
Sydney had to get to the third floor, that was where the videotape was being stored. If she was lucky, she would get on a crowded enough elevator where someone ELSE was going to the fifth floor. Otherwise the attendant might notice that the elevator "Ms. Kelly Reese" got on wasn't going to the designated floor and get suspicious.
At last one of the middle elavators let out a small "ding," indicating its arrival to the Lobby Floor. Sydney and three others climbed into the large contraption. Thankfully, the lady to Sydney's left pushed the "five" button. After pressing the "three," Sydney waited only a short while to arrive on her targeted floor.
Once Sydney got on the third floor, she followed a sign that said "Restrooms" down a hall. After double-checking the ladies room was empty, Sydney pulled out a small tube of lipstick that doubled as a walkie-talkie. "Dixon? I'm in." She said hurriedly.
After only a few seconds, her partner's voice cackled through the small device. "Where are you?" he asked, and she could hear him typing away on a computer, obviously acquiring the building layout so he could direct her to the video-storage room.
"The girls' restroom, third floor," she answered as she eyed the door, hoping no one would enter and cause her to end her conversation.
"Copy that," Dixon said, indicating he understood. After a couple of seconds of furious typing on his computer, he found what he wanted. "Syd, you have to go back to the receptionist area of the third floor. From there, head down the hall directly to the elevators' left. If you pass an office that says 'Trumann,' then you're on the right path."
Sydney nodded, although Dixon couldn't see it. "Okay." she said, signifying for him to continue with the instructions.
"Go down that hall and take a right. That hallway will lead you past a couple of cameras, so be careful. Then the hallway will branch to the left, straight, and to the right. Keep going straight, until you reach a set of double doors. Those doors will lead you down one last hall, which will end at the Videotape Storage Room," Dixon finished.
Sydney took a deep breath, memorizing the instructions. "Got it," she confirmed after a short pause.
As soon as she said this, a woman entered the restroom. Sydney, who was standing in front of the mirror, quickly turned the walkie-talkie off and pretended to be putting on lipstick. The lady walked into a stall, and Sydney took this as her chance to exit.
After leaving the restroom, Sydney walked down the hall. She tried not to draw any attention to herself, in case anyone should question why she was there.
She followed Dixon's instructions, easily making it past the receptionist, who was busy talking on the phone. Syd smiled to herself when she saw the door that read "Trumann" on the front. After ducking past the security cameras, and carefully abiding by what Dixon told her, Syd found herself looking at a set of double-doors.
She walked through them, and ran down the short hall, suddenly not-so-happy about the fact that she decided to wear heels. The hall was empty, except for one door marked "Storage." She smiled 'This is it,' she thought.
Sydney quickly saw the keypad next to the door. She didn't, however, see the guard that was hidden in the shadows, next to the door.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, stepping forward with a large gun aimed directly at Sydney. Sydney jumped, startled by the man.
She quickly recovered from her surprise, and held up her hands in an innocent fashion. "Just checking out the building," she said sweetly, a grin decorating her pretty face.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Sydney shot her leg out, kicking the gun out of the guard's hand. Another kick knocked him in the chest, shooting him back against the wall. He tried to fight back, but failed as Sydney blocked his punches, returning a few of her own. One punch to the face later, and the security guard slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Sydney stepped back and opened her purse. Finding the makeup compact, she opened it and attached the small device to the keypad. As the electronic un-scrambler worked, she glanced over her shoulder several times, making sure no one had heard the commotion and come to investigate.
Soon the keypad beeped, indicating the correct code had been entered. Sydney rushed through the doors as they slid open, and quickly pressed the button to close them again.
Sydney sighed with relief as she checked out the room. There were no guards in site, just endless videotapes, neatly stacked on shelves against the wall.
Lucky for her, all the shelves were labeled to incredible detail, and it didn't take long of Sydney skimming the shelves for her to find the tape she was looking for.
She grinned as she held it in her hand. 'This was easy,' Syd thought to herself. 'A little TOO easy.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Careful to stay in the shadows, Max quietly climbed the fire-escape of a ten-story building. The building she was climbing was an apartment complex, right next door to 'Ready & Alert,' the company she was breaking into for Logan.
'Ready & Alert' had been an easy building to find: it was the only modern and new-looking building in the neighborhood, surrounded by run-down apartments, houses, and other random buildings.
Because 'Ready & Alert' was so state-of-the-art (at least for Seattle it was), it wasn't equipped with external fire-escapes. Meaning that Max had to climb the ones of the building next to it to reach the rooftop.
After only a few seconds, Max found herself at the top of the apartment complex. Now was the hard part: 'Alert & Ready' was an eleven-story building, across the alley from the complex she was now standing on. Max was going to have to jump from one building to the next, with a good 20 feet inbetween.
'No sweat,' Max told herself inwardly. She took a few steps backwards, got a good running start, and leaped from the apartment complex to the security building.
She landed easily and silently. "That wasn't so bad,"' Max grinned to herself. She crept across the rooftop until she found what she was looking for: a door leading to the inside.
Trying the door, she quickly discovered it was locked. 'Of course,' Max thought with an eye-roll before she easily kicked the steel door open, nearly knocking it off it's hinges.
Max ran inside the building, shutting the door behind her as quietly as possible to makeup for the noise she had already called. Luckily, it appeared as though no one had heard her make her entrance.
Max crept down a few halls, easily avoiding a handful of security guards. Finally she reached a set of stairs. Knowing that taking the elevator would cause a lot of suspicion (a girl dressed in all-black leather with biker gloves was going to be noticed in an elevator full of business executives, Max decided the stairs would be a better route.
Less than a minutes later, Max arrived to the third floor. She knew the video was stored somewhere on this floor, she just didn't know exactly where. But she DID have a plan to find out where exactly it was located.
Max walked up to the receptionists desk, and was greeted with a fake smile by the secretary. According to the nameplate on the desk, her name was Kathy Brown. "Kathy?" Max asked urgently.
"Yes?" the lady questioned, attempting to be sincere, though her bitterness still showed through.
Max quickly scanned the woman's desk. She saw a post-it next to the phone that read 'Call Brad about our date tonight.' Max smiled inwardly.
"There's someone down in the lobby looking for you," she said. "He said his name was Brad." Max saw the lady's face light up.
"Really?" Kathy asked hopefully. "Did he say what he wanted?"
Max shook her head. "No, but he did say it was urgent and that you should come down right away," a sly grin then decorated Max's face. "He was holding flowers. If I were you, I'd see what he wants."
Kathy's face was beaming now. "All right," she said and before Max knew it, Kathy had abandoned her desk and dashed to the elevators.
After the receptionist disappeared into the elevator cart, Max jumped the desk and began typing on the computer. After only a few moments, she figured out where the storage room was.
Max dashed down the halls, eager to get the tape and get out of there. She easily avoided the security camera's she saw. After rushing through a set of double doors, Max found herself looking at an unconscious guard and an electronic keypad.
"Great." Max said. Either someone had already broken in, or the guard had for some reason passed out. She knew that she'd have to break through the doors, which would alert them that there was intruder, but she had no other choice.
Max stood in a fighting stance, prepped herself, then shot her foot out at the door..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney had the videotape in her hand, and was about to exit through the electronic doors. She reached to push the button that would open the doors, but instead jumped back in surprise as a foot came flying through the door.
Sydney just stared as a dark-haired girl dived through the hole she had created and rolled expertly to her feet. The girl was dressed in all black, and was obviously a couple years younger that Sydney.
"Who are you?" she asked the girl tentatively, mentally preparing herself for a fight, if that was needed.
The girl smirked. "You can call me Max," she answered with fake innocence. Before Sydney knew what was happening, the girl snatched the tape from her hands and looked at it. She then looked up and locked eyes with Sydney.
"This is exactly what I'm looking for," Max said in an amused tone. "Thanks for the help." She then turned and began walking out the way she had come in.
"I don't think so," Sydney said, grabbing Max's arm. She wasn't about to let this girl walk away with what she had worked to get.
Max gave Sydney an amused look. "You think YOU'RE gonna stop me?" she asked, obviously annoyed. "I suggest you save yourself: security guards are going to be in here in a few minutes, and I don't plan on getting caught."
Sydney, however, made no move to let go of the younger girl's arm. "Look, little girl, you may think you're tough and all, but to save time, why don't you just hand the tape over?"
Max pulled her arm out of Sydney's grasp and just smirked. "Bite me," she said simply. She turned and started to walk away again, tape in hand.
Sydney had had enough. She kicked her leg out in a round-house, knocking the tape from Max's hand. Max spun around, only to have her stomach meet with Sydney's leg.
Max doubled over in surprise, and Sydney took this as an opportunity to punch the girl in the side.
Max had had enough. The kick and punch had barely phased her, but this girl was just pissing her off. She looked up at Sydney. The smirk on Max's face had disappeared, and was replaced with an angry glare.
"Wanna play rough, huh?" was all Max said before she kicked Sydney in the stomach, sending her forcefully flying into a shelf. Max picked up the videotape she had came to get and gave Sydney one last look. "Good luck getting out of here," she said before bolting out the room.
Sydney groaned as she hit the shelf. That girl had a mean kick! Syd knew she had to get out of there, and fast: to both not be caught, AND to get that tape back. Ignoring the pain surging through her body, Sydney jumped to her feet and followed the girl out the door.
Sydney could hear distant alarms ringing, and she knew that a security team was on their way. As Sydney ran down the halls, back the way she had came, she saw Max was only a few feet ahead of her. She pulled out her walkie- talkie and clicked it on as she ran. "Dixon, we have a problem: a girl got the tape from me, and a security team is on its way up!" she said into the radio, still following the girl down the halls.
Sydney expected the girl to keep running until the elevator. Instead, much to Sydney's surprise, the girl stopped dead in her tracks when she came to an elevator.
"What are you doing?" Sydney asked as Max punched out the window frame.
"Getting out of here," was the answer she received. Max then proceeded to jump out the window. Sydney gasped, knowing the girl would hurt herself. They were, after all, three stories up in the air. Sydney looked out the window, just in time to see the girl land safely on her feet, the tape still in her hand.
Sydney heard the security team approaching, and knew she had to get out of there. She ran down a series of halls, trying to avoid the guards.
"I think someone's down here!" a voice yelled. Panicking, Sydney threw herself into the nearest office. She slammed the door shut just as three guards headed down that way.
Luckily, the room was empty. Sydney leaned against the door and waited for the men to leave.
"No one's here," one voice said. "Come on, let's check down another hall." Sydney finally opened the door as she heard them jog away.
She bolted down a few more halls, and eventually found herself back where she had started from: by the elevators. After making sure the security guards were nowhere in site, Sydney climbed aboard an elevator and rode it down to the lobby.
As she exited the building, she radioed for Dixon to meet her in the front of the building. As soon as Sydney jumped in the van, they sped away from the building.
Sydney clicked on the larger radio that they used to communicate with SD-6 headquarters. "Mission failed," she said into the radio in a defeated tone. "An unknown enemy got the tape."
Summary: Dark Angel/Alias Crossover
Dark Angel storyline: Mid Second-season, somewhere around "Love in Vein" - Max burnt down Manticore and freed all the transgenics, including the extremely-hot-yet- playfully-annoying Alec (*sigh*). The virus is in effect, but it's really not relevant to this storyline.
Alias storyline: Mid second-season as well, after "Salvation." Although Irina Derevko probably won't play into the story that much. Sark hasn't come to work for SD-6 yet, though he may enter the storyline later ;)
Alterations.. The year is 2002 (Just pretend Dark Angel was set in that year). The pulse still happened, though the only place that was really affected was Washington: especially Seattle. Seattle is still like a third-world- country, sort of excluded from the rest of the U.S.
Enjoy the story, and DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!
If you want me to e-mail you as soon as the next chapter is up, leave your e-mail address in the review section, or e-mail it to me!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
Several hours later, after a short airplane flight and an equipment check, Sydney walked through the spinning glass doors into 'Ready & Alert,' the security-system company that held the SD-6 tape. It was nine o'clock at night, and the city of Seattle was already under the cover of darkness, which would be a great help if Dixon and Sydney needed to make a fast getaway.
She walked confidently up to the front counter, her heeled shoes clicking against the floor with every step. She wore a dark business suit, with the skirt just the right length so she could outrun any guards, if needed. But hopefully she wouldn't have to resort to that.
"May I help you miss?" An attendant at the counter asked.
"Yes, I believe you might be able to," Sydney said in a fake Brooklyn accent, playing with the short blond hair on her wig. "I have an appointment to tour the facility." She gave the man a warm smile. "See, I just moved here from the East coast, and I'm looking for a reliable security system for my new home."
The attendant nodded and typed something into the computer. "Name, please?" he asked.
"Reese. Kelly Reese," Sydney replied immediately.
The man nodded and gave her a small smile. "Yes, yes," he typed something else into the computer. "You'll want to go see Mr. Harper, the manager here. His office is on the fifth floor. Just speak to the receptionist when you get to the floor, she'll direct you to him." He paused and motioned to the wall on Sydney's left. "The elevators are right over there."
Sydney nodded, glad that he didn't ask to escort her up to the floor. "Thank you," she said quietly, then turned and headed in the direction he pointed. She nodded a "hello" to the other people waiting in line for one of the four elevators. She then concentrated on the light-up numbers above the elevators as she switched her small black purse from one hand to the other.
Sydney had to get to the third floor, that was where the videotape was being stored. If she was lucky, she would get on a crowded enough elevator where someone ELSE was going to the fifth floor. Otherwise the attendant might notice that the elevator "Ms. Kelly Reese" got on wasn't going to the designated floor and get suspicious.
At last one of the middle elavators let out a small "ding," indicating its arrival to the Lobby Floor. Sydney and three others climbed into the large contraption. Thankfully, the lady to Sydney's left pushed the "five" button. After pressing the "three," Sydney waited only a short while to arrive on her targeted floor.
Once Sydney got on the third floor, she followed a sign that said "Restrooms" down a hall. After double-checking the ladies room was empty, Sydney pulled out a small tube of lipstick that doubled as a walkie-talkie. "Dixon? I'm in." She said hurriedly.
After only a few seconds, her partner's voice cackled through the small device. "Where are you?" he asked, and she could hear him typing away on a computer, obviously acquiring the building layout so he could direct her to the video-storage room.
"The girls' restroom, third floor," she answered as she eyed the door, hoping no one would enter and cause her to end her conversation.
"Copy that," Dixon said, indicating he understood. After a couple of seconds of furious typing on his computer, he found what he wanted. "Syd, you have to go back to the receptionist area of the third floor. From there, head down the hall directly to the elevators' left. If you pass an office that says 'Trumann,' then you're on the right path."
Sydney nodded, although Dixon couldn't see it. "Okay." she said, signifying for him to continue with the instructions.
"Go down that hall and take a right. That hallway will lead you past a couple of cameras, so be careful. Then the hallway will branch to the left, straight, and to the right. Keep going straight, until you reach a set of double doors. Those doors will lead you down one last hall, which will end at the Videotape Storage Room," Dixon finished.
Sydney took a deep breath, memorizing the instructions. "Got it," she confirmed after a short pause.
As soon as she said this, a woman entered the restroom. Sydney, who was standing in front of the mirror, quickly turned the walkie-talkie off and pretended to be putting on lipstick. The lady walked into a stall, and Sydney took this as her chance to exit.
After leaving the restroom, Sydney walked down the hall. She tried not to draw any attention to herself, in case anyone should question why she was there.
She followed Dixon's instructions, easily making it past the receptionist, who was busy talking on the phone. Syd smiled to herself when she saw the door that read "Trumann" on the front. After ducking past the security cameras, and carefully abiding by what Dixon told her, Syd found herself looking at a set of double-doors.
She walked through them, and ran down the short hall, suddenly not-so-happy about the fact that she decided to wear heels. The hall was empty, except for one door marked "Storage." She smiled 'This is it,' she thought.
Sydney quickly saw the keypad next to the door. She didn't, however, see the guard that was hidden in the shadows, next to the door.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, stepping forward with a large gun aimed directly at Sydney. Sydney jumped, startled by the man.
She quickly recovered from her surprise, and held up her hands in an innocent fashion. "Just checking out the building," she said sweetly, a grin decorating her pretty face.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Sydney shot her leg out, kicking the gun out of the guard's hand. Another kick knocked him in the chest, shooting him back against the wall. He tried to fight back, but failed as Sydney blocked his punches, returning a few of her own. One punch to the face later, and the security guard slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Sydney stepped back and opened her purse. Finding the makeup compact, she opened it and attached the small device to the keypad. As the electronic un-scrambler worked, she glanced over her shoulder several times, making sure no one had heard the commotion and come to investigate.
Soon the keypad beeped, indicating the correct code had been entered. Sydney rushed through the doors as they slid open, and quickly pressed the button to close them again.
Sydney sighed with relief as she checked out the room. There were no guards in site, just endless videotapes, neatly stacked on shelves against the wall.
Lucky for her, all the shelves were labeled to incredible detail, and it didn't take long of Sydney skimming the shelves for her to find the tape she was looking for.
She grinned as she held it in her hand. 'This was easy,' Syd thought to herself. 'A little TOO easy.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Careful to stay in the shadows, Max quietly climbed the fire-escape of a ten-story building. The building she was climbing was an apartment complex, right next door to 'Ready & Alert,' the company she was breaking into for Logan.
'Ready & Alert' had been an easy building to find: it was the only modern and new-looking building in the neighborhood, surrounded by run-down apartments, houses, and other random buildings.
Because 'Ready & Alert' was so state-of-the-art (at least for Seattle it was), it wasn't equipped with external fire-escapes. Meaning that Max had to climb the ones of the building next to it to reach the rooftop.
After only a few seconds, Max found herself at the top of the apartment complex. Now was the hard part: 'Alert & Ready' was an eleven-story building, across the alley from the complex she was now standing on. Max was going to have to jump from one building to the next, with a good 20 feet inbetween.
'No sweat,' Max told herself inwardly. She took a few steps backwards, got a good running start, and leaped from the apartment complex to the security building.
She landed easily and silently. "That wasn't so bad,"' Max grinned to herself. She crept across the rooftop until she found what she was looking for: a door leading to the inside.
Trying the door, she quickly discovered it was locked. 'Of course,' Max thought with an eye-roll before she easily kicked the steel door open, nearly knocking it off it's hinges.
Max ran inside the building, shutting the door behind her as quietly as possible to makeup for the noise she had already called. Luckily, it appeared as though no one had heard her make her entrance.
Max crept down a few halls, easily avoiding a handful of security guards. Finally she reached a set of stairs. Knowing that taking the elevator would cause a lot of suspicion (a girl dressed in all-black leather with biker gloves was going to be noticed in an elevator full of business executives, Max decided the stairs would be a better route.
Less than a minutes later, Max arrived to the third floor. She knew the video was stored somewhere on this floor, she just didn't know exactly where. But she DID have a plan to find out where exactly it was located.
Max walked up to the receptionists desk, and was greeted with a fake smile by the secretary. According to the nameplate on the desk, her name was Kathy Brown. "Kathy?" Max asked urgently.
"Yes?" the lady questioned, attempting to be sincere, though her bitterness still showed through.
Max quickly scanned the woman's desk. She saw a post-it next to the phone that read 'Call Brad about our date tonight.' Max smiled inwardly.
"There's someone down in the lobby looking for you," she said. "He said his name was Brad." Max saw the lady's face light up.
"Really?" Kathy asked hopefully. "Did he say what he wanted?"
Max shook her head. "No, but he did say it was urgent and that you should come down right away," a sly grin then decorated Max's face. "He was holding flowers. If I were you, I'd see what he wants."
Kathy's face was beaming now. "All right," she said and before Max knew it, Kathy had abandoned her desk and dashed to the elevators.
After the receptionist disappeared into the elevator cart, Max jumped the desk and began typing on the computer. After only a few moments, she figured out where the storage room was.
Max dashed down the halls, eager to get the tape and get out of there. She easily avoided the security camera's she saw. After rushing through a set of double doors, Max found herself looking at an unconscious guard and an electronic keypad.
"Great." Max said. Either someone had already broken in, or the guard had for some reason passed out. She knew that she'd have to break through the doors, which would alert them that there was intruder, but she had no other choice.
Max stood in a fighting stance, prepped herself, then shot her foot out at the door..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sydney had the videotape in her hand, and was about to exit through the electronic doors. She reached to push the button that would open the doors, but instead jumped back in surprise as a foot came flying through the door.
Sydney just stared as a dark-haired girl dived through the hole she had created and rolled expertly to her feet. The girl was dressed in all black, and was obviously a couple years younger that Sydney.
"Who are you?" she asked the girl tentatively, mentally preparing herself for a fight, if that was needed.
The girl smirked. "You can call me Max," she answered with fake innocence. Before Sydney knew what was happening, the girl snatched the tape from her hands and looked at it. She then looked up and locked eyes with Sydney.
"This is exactly what I'm looking for," Max said in an amused tone. "Thanks for the help." She then turned and began walking out the way she had come in.
"I don't think so," Sydney said, grabbing Max's arm. She wasn't about to let this girl walk away with what she had worked to get.
Max gave Sydney an amused look. "You think YOU'RE gonna stop me?" she asked, obviously annoyed. "I suggest you save yourself: security guards are going to be in here in a few minutes, and I don't plan on getting caught."
Sydney, however, made no move to let go of the younger girl's arm. "Look, little girl, you may think you're tough and all, but to save time, why don't you just hand the tape over?"
Max pulled her arm out of Sydney's grasp and just smirked. "Bite me," she said simply. She turned and started to walk away again, tape in hand.
Sydney had had enough. She kicked her leg out in a round-house, knocking the tape from Max's hand. Max spun around, only to have her stomach meet with Sydney's leg.
Max doubled over in surprise, and Sydney took this as an opportunity to punch the girl in the side.
Max had had enough. The kick and punch had barely phased her, but this girl was just pissing her off. She looked up at Sydney. The smirk on Max's face had disappeared, and was replaced with an angry glare.
"Wanna play rough, huh?" was all Max said before she kicked Sydney in the stomach, sending her forcefully flying into a shelf. Max picked up the videotape she had came to get and gave Sydney one last look. "Good luck getting out of here," she said before bolting out the room.
Sydney groaned as she hit the shelf. That girl had a mean kick! Syd knew she had to get out of there, and fast: to both not be caught, AND to get that tape back. Ignoring the pain surging through her body, Sydney jumped to her feet and followed the girl out the door.
Sydney could hear distant alarms ringing, and she knew that a security team was on their way. As Sydney ran down the halls, back the way she had came, she saw Max was only a few feet ahead of her. She pulled out her walkie- talkie and clicked it on as she ran. "Dixon, we have a problem: a girl got the tape from me, and a security team is on its way up!" she said into the radio, still following the girl down the halls.
Sydney expected the girl to keep running until the elevator. Instead, much to Sydney's surprise, the girl stopped dead in her tracks when she came to an elevator.
"What are you doing?" Sydney asked as Max punched out the window frame.
"Getting out of here," was the answer she received. Max then proceeded to jump out the window. Sydney gasped, knowing the girl would hurt herself. They were, after all, three stories up in the air. Sydney looked out the window, just in time to see the girl land safely on her feet, the tape still in her hand.
Sydney heard the security team approaching, and knew she had to get out of there. She ran down a series of halls, trying to avoid the guards.
"I think someone's down here!" a voice yelled. Panicking, Sydney threw herself into the nearest office. She slammed the door shut just as three guards headed down that way.
Luckily, the room was empty. Sydney leaned against the door and waited for the men to leave.
"No one's here," one voice said. "Come on, let's check down another hall." Sydney finally opened the door as she heard them jog away.
She bolted down a few more halls, and eventually found herself back where she had started from: by the elevators. After making sure the security guards were nowhere in site, Sydney climbed aboard an elevator and rode it down to the lobby.
As she exited the building, she radioed for Dixon to meet her in the front of the building. As soon as Sydney jumped in the van, they sped away from the building.
Sydney clicked on the larger radio that they used to communicate with SD-6 headquarters. "Mission failed," she said into the radio in a defeated tone. "An unknown enemy got the tape."
