A/N: Thanks so much for all of the review! We're almost at the end of the
story and this chapter is full of a twist I think one or two of you may
have been guessing at all along. But hint: you think you know but you have
no idea! So please, read and review. I take both good and bad cuz I want
to make the last couple of chapters (I think there are two more after this
one) the best ones!
He felt something rushing through his veins and a steady prick in his right arm. "Were you awake or did I wake you?" a soft voice pierced through Vaughn's sleepy world. He felt like he had been asleep for days, months even. He knew something was wrong before he even opened his eyes. Everything was black and cold. And as he opened his eyes, he wasn't even sure if he eyes had opened, so he immediately shut them again. That's how dark it was in the room. "Ah, let me turn on the light." The soft voice faded away and feminine footsteps started, faded away, and then came closer.
His body was numb and shaking from the extreme cold his body felt. He opened up his mouth to answer the soothing voice but his trembling body wouldn't allow him. His eyes slowly opened but they were blurry and completely unable to focus. "Mr. Vaughn? Mr. Vaughn?" She had a heavy French accent and her voice seemed so tender
"I-I-I'm up." He managed to shiver, slowly opening his emerald eyes again to the bare room before him. "Syd..Syd..is that you?" He licked his lips, chapped from the severe cold.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Vaughn, I'm not Sydney." The soft voice came again. "You should eat something."
He had failed at his promise. He had let something happen to her. His eyes began to fill with fear. "Where-where is she?" His eyes slowly focused on the dark room with only one lamp light coming from the corner. He quickly assumed that she had gotten up to turn the lamp on. Two and two were slowly beginning to equal four, not three and a half.
"She's in the next room, Mr. Vaughn." He finally could put a face with the voice. He could finally make out the woman who was speaking to him, dressed in a white dress with a black heavy sweater wrapped tightly around her. Her voice shivered with the cold.
She had black curly hair that was pulled back into a simple twist. "And she's fine, for now. You should eat something. She wants you too keep your strength up." The woman sat in front of Vaughn, who was chained to a wall by heavy restraints on his arms and legs. He had blood dripping down the side of his mouth and on his exposed arm, a small indentation. It was the mark of a tranq. dart. His eyes drifted down to his right arm. There were old and fresh track marks and a collection of needles on the ground. The soft spoken woman took a spoonful of the food she held in her hands and offered it to him.
Vaughn replied coldly, "I'm not hungry.
She nodded and put the food back down. Her eyes were sorrowful and she got up to walk out.
"Wait. I have a question for you. Where am I?"
The answer obviously pained the young woman very much. "You are a capture of Ms. Sophia Delorme."
"Delorme..? That was.." He couldn't complete the sentence. "Who do you work for?" He tried to get more comfortable but it was impossible. He was bound to an aluminum chair, that was hard and uncomfortable. This had to be another Delorme. He couldn't be who he was thinking of. It couldn't be. It couldn't. Everything was blocked out of his mind except for that name, repeated over and over again.
"You can ask my boss anymore questions." She got up and left in tears. And Vaughn had no idea why.
"Wait. Your boss? I thought Sloane was the boss." Hadn't Sloane found them and captured them? Hadn't SD-6 discovered his bluebird and captured him for being part of her circle of deceit?
"Yes. Yes, but he is not the supreme boss. I shall get his boss." Her feet sounded soft against the hard wood floors. "Madame Delorme, he is awake."
"D'accord." A familiar voice replied, "Run along with you now. I need to see him, alone."
A dark shadow appeared on the corner wall and turned the corner. He watched a woman walk in. He felt his eyes get wide as she stood in front of him.
"Maman?" Vaughn gasped as the woman stepped into the light, exposing her familiar face and figure.
She stood in front of Vaughn and looked at him with a motherly stare. "You must have known this day would come. I could have prevented all of this, of course. You were so small when you born. It would have been so easy." Her accented voice hissed among Vaughn's heavy breathing. "I've waited nearly thirty years for this. Tell me... Michael... who sent you here? You must tell me."
"Or? What? I'm grounded?" He managed to spit in her face. His heart was pounding so hard in his ears that he could barely hear his own response to his mother's question.
"No.I will hurt your precious little girl." Her French accent managed to hiss such evil words.
It took him a moment to figure out who the little girl was. It was Sydney. It had to be Sydney. "No, maman..what's going on? What are you doing here?" He didn't understand this at all. "Maman.what's going on? You're not hear to do anything..Maman?"
She walked closer to him and he could clearly depict her floor length black skirt and wool sweater. Her skin had the familiar blue tint to it from cold. He half expected for it to start snowing from the ceiling any moment now. "You're CIA, aren't you? You really did join the agency? You're not with the state department at all. I'm willing to assume you're not a field agent. You don't look like one. Your reflexes are too, too slow. You're a handler aren't you? And this girl, she's your agent. Ha. You fell for your agent! Damn protocol, I guess. You are not your father's child. You're CIA, aren't you?"
He was in such a state of shock he couldn't will his tongue to respond.
"You're CIA." She answered for him, carefully admiring her little tool in her hand. "And you're little girlfriend too."
"What have you done to Sydney? Where is she?" He started to panic. Not for his future but what was going to happen to Sydney. "Where is she, maman?"
"Don't 'maman' me, Michael! I haven't hurt your little girlfriend too badly. I wanted to wait until you were awake to start the real fun and games." She smiled cynically and turned away from her worried son. "Bring her to me!" Her words echoed throughout the room that was like the warehouse. The walls were cement or some other heavy material and there were no windows but overhead lights that were currently off. There was another series of hard leather and metal restraints on the wall opposite and next to him. There was a door on the wall to the left of him.
"What are you going to do with her? What have you done to her?"
She looked back towards her son and clicked her tongue. "My darling. My little naïve darling. Maybe you are your father's child after all! He was so naïve and blinded by love. By the Bristow women's love. It blinds and then it kills or better yet, I make sure it kills." She smiled again as she watched this register on her son's face.
The thoughts hit him like a cement truck and engulfed him like a crashing wave. "You made sure Irinia killed Dad." His tone was soft and surprisingly steady. He needed to shut down and soon. "That's why you knew the story."
"You were always the bright one in the family, weren't you?" sarcasm oozed from her poison lips. The woman from before along with another blonde hair woman wheeled the bed in from another room with two women in toe. It squeaked and moved slowly against the wood. The wheels were obviously rusted. The gurney was brought into view with a lifeless female bound loosely to it. "She is a pretty one and it's a shame that you fell for her. I've always preferred Alice." Sydney was there, looking like Sleeping Beauty. His skin was paler than ever and her breath formed little ice clouds above her rose petal lips. Her arm had the similar track marks on it.
"Don't hurt her." His cries began but shrouded by Sophia's instructions to her three other guards or servants or whatever you want to call them.
"Get me the Bourbon." She ordered one, "Chain him to wall." Was it to another, "Get some new sheets. We're going to need them." She turned back towards Vaughn. "We're going to need them. Who do you work for?" No answer. "Tell you what -- think about it. I'll come back and ask you again." She whisked away with her female henchwomen and disappeared into the other room.
This was too much for him to bear. He had been stripped of his shirt and now he the heavy leather and metal chains made large gashes in his limbs. He blacked out every now and then. Whatever they had been pumping into his arm made him weak and dizzy and unsure. This was it. His mother was going to kill him. G-d, could things get any more freaking screwed up?
His eyes focused on the gurney in front of him. He knew it was Sydney and she was barely conscious, moaning a little bit with each shallow breath. An involuntary gasp escaped her lips. He tried to pull against it wall, to get closer to her but.. but his body was suddenly sore and couldn't move. The darkness clouded his senses and his senses were dulled with it.
Sydney's eyes fluttered quickly as she tried to focus on the figure strapped the wall near her. She had to take a gamble and guess who it was, "Vaughn.?" Her voice was groggy and raspy. All she could do was gasp for air and pray that he would answer. Things had been so horrible for her the last few.were it days now? She had been pumped full of chemicals and toxins and electrocuted to no end. Now, this woman had switched her into this new, warmer room with Vaughn in it. She could have sworn this devil woman had killed him. In her disillusioned world, she had learned that this was the one woman the Alliance was afraid of.
"Oh Syd." He groaned and had never been more relieved to hear her voice. "You're awake. I was so worried." His voice sounded sincere but wavering. Sydney didn't hear what else he said..she began to cough violently, causing the chains on her body to jingle in an ominous tone. The horrible noise sent a chill up his spine that caused his restraints to shake.
"What happened?" She was afraid to ask. Her body shifted slightly and she could rest easier against the wall. Her body ached with severe pain that grew more and more intense with each slight inhale.
Vaughn gasped for air a little before he spoke again, "We were discovered in the safe house and then we were taken here. Are you okay? They haven't hurt you, have they?" He whispered.
"Yeah." Gasp. "They've been..she's been.." A bright light was flickered on and it blinded them. Their eyes shut immediately and his body tried to brace himself. The muscles tightened all along his arms and his legs. His fight or flight reflex kicked into high gear. Sydney was too weak to do anything..instead; she let out a shudder followed by a moan of dread. "Oh G-d." It was going to happen all over again. The toxins, the shock treatments, the screaming..she wanted to cry but she didn't have enough tears left.
"Is that too bright?" A cold voice forced Vaughn to open his eyes and stare at him.
"Sophia?" He wanted to bark but it came out more like a whimper. He wanted to go back in time more than anything else in the world. She was no longer his mother. She was just as much as a bitch as Sloane was.
She ignored her son and looked straight at the object of his affection. "My dear Sydney, I am so pleased you're awake." Her voice was revolting. "And my dear son, Michael Vaughn, are you feeling well today?" He came towards them, brandishing a new torture weapon in her fists. Her beady eyes settled on Sydney and he clicked his tongue softly, "Pity. You were a wonderful best agent. I followed your work closely. Arvin praised you every time we met."
The weapon was brought up to eye level. It looked like a long metal pole with little sharp grooves in it. Silence filled as Sophia took a breath, "Well Sydney, I fear that you are already on the bed. You shall be first." She said, in a partially remorseful tone. She quickly turned the material of her black skirt made whoosh sound. "Tie her down."
One guard came towards Sydney and unlocked her wrist and legs from their tight restraints. She tried not to groan as the women grabbed her by the wrists, with visible sores and gashes on them and rebound them tighter to the sides of the bed with hard restraints. She started to shake and her eyes and her head looked at Vaughn. The tension on the sores had become unbearable and she became to slip from reality. "Daddy went to Kalamazoo. Daddy went to Kalamazoo." She began to sing up and down to a fifth. Each syllable became one note, going up to the fifth note in the scale and came down. She was shutting down, mentally.
SD-6 had taught her that when she was tortured, to go back to something that was drilled into her brain as a children and was easy to focus on. She was trying not to psyche herself out. "Daddy." she started to go over and over again but her tongue stopped moving. Her body was turning against her in such a way that she could barely fight the two women rebounding her limbs to a long table in the center of the torture room. Her brown eyes were fogged over and her face was drawn and pale.
She looked at him and tears began to fall, soaking the metal table beneath her exposed shoulders. They both had been stripped down, only wearing bare minimum clothing and exposed to the elements. He only wore a pair of boxers and she wore a badly torn tank-top and ripped boxer shorts. The tears formed a sad little pool by her shoulder and slowly, her chest was stopping..stopping moving up and down. "Vaughn." She breathed, letting more tears shed, "It's over."
"It's not over." He spoke softly to her "Don't hurt her!" Vaughn found himself saying, throwing his body weight against the chains. "Please, I'll do anything!"
"It's too late for that, Michael." Sophia showed her teeth towards him. Her feet glided her towards Sophia with the tool in her small elegant but deadly hands. Her lips curled into a smile and then starred down at Sophia. "It's too bad," she started, "you two looked so destined together lying on that safe house floor. It's a pity. She would have made a wonderful daughter-in-law."
Vaughn couldn't cry now. He was out of emotions but instead started to talk in a slow, steady tone, "Why are you doing this?" He let his eyes meet that of his mother's. This couldn't be a reality. His mother couldn't be evil. She was the loving one who comforted him and Juliet after their father's death. This couldn't be reality.
"Because she was in love with you. Because she was CIA. Because she was in love with." She snapped hastily.
"She is in love with me."
"Not when I'm done with her she won't be." Sophia knelt over the body, examining her calves and slowly took the tool, turning it over in her hands. She pressed the tool to Sydney's legs, making a dozen perfect circles of oozing blood on her legs. She continued to roll the tool along her legs, expelling a red color over Sydney's white skin. Her leg was soon covered in blood. Sydney's eyes had clouded over even more. She was giving up. Her body was covered with gashes, bruises, and far worst than third degree burns. Her body was being destroyed and the last thing was her mind. If she just let go.
The first series of cuts were made over her feet. She began to scream in terrified pain, attempting to wriggle free but her screams only made Sophia more eager to finish the enjoyable job. Her screams were those that would haunt him in his dreams and wake him from the most peaceful sleep. This is what nightmares are made from. Sydney's other leg; the one closer to Vaughn was next. Blood began to ooze from every fiber of her being. Her body began to tremble and the screaming grew weaker. She didn't even attempt to fight against the chains anymore and all Vaughn could do was watch in horror as the guard was right there expelling large amounts of blood from his love's perfect skin.
"Don't let go, Sydney. Please, for me. For your mother, your father. For Jack, for Irinia. For..for Will, Francie. Baby, for me!" Vaughn started to plead to her but tears began to soak through his words. "Don't let go. Please, Sydney. Sydney. Don't kill her! Please! Sydney! C'mon baby, don't give up. Don't give up on me!" Vaughn screamed as he fought against the chains binding him. They grew tighter and tighter as she fought. The second guard stood off to the side of him and touched his forehead, mockingly. She smiled a revolting smile.
"She's already lost so much blood, Michael." The woman, he thought was his mother hissed in between Sydney's ear piercing screams.
Sydney's screams became louder and louder, overriding Vaughn's until hers stopped. He had never seen such a red color before. That color red wasn't found anywhere else. Shock overwhelmed him for a few moments and she fought to think clearly. "He calmed his speech a little bit. "Hey. Don't give up on me, baby. Come on. Open your eyes honey. Come on. Please. Please, open your eyes. Hey, c'mon sweetheart. Hey, we just talked each other out of dying. Don't go back on your word now. Remember baby, pills and Bourbon? A gun with a silencer? C'mon, don't give up on me. What are you we going to do with us? I think if we will it not to happen, we can take control of our destiny."
Sydney perked up for a moment and turned her head towards Vaughn, "Save my destiny." She managed to whisper. Her brown eyes had rolled back into her head and her chest was no longer moving up and down. "Please! Vaughn! Vaughn!" She sobbed and felt her blood leaving her body at a dangerous rate.
"Bourbon." Sophia tossed the bloody tool aside and it landed on the floor with a resounding clunk.
One of the evil looking women handed her the large bottle. Sophia smiled and took the bottle in her hands. "Pills and Bourbon? That's how you were going to kill yourself?"
"What does it matter to you?" Vaughn snapped.
She took a long, slow sip. "Sydney's going to hate Bourbon after this." She removed the bottle from her mouth and walked over to Vaughn. She walked straight up to Vaughn and offered him a sip. He just starred straight ahead and barely blinked. "Yes? No? Oh well. You know," She turned back to walk towards Sydney, "your father loved Bourbon. Every night, he had a glass." She sighed, as she remembered easier times, "loved the crap. Now," she reached Sydney's legs and sighed once more, "you love it too? Too bad you won't after this." and poured it over Sydney's multiple gashes. She screamed in absolute horror and pain. Sophia took another long sip and looked at the black hair woman, "Start on him!"
The black hair woman took the tool, carefully discarded tool and started to work on Vaughn's arms and legs. He barely felt the pain in his legs. It started on his feet and reached his knee. All he cared about was Sydney surviving. It didn't matter if he wasn't there to see her survive. He didn't care anymore. Sydney's chest was moving painfully slow up and down. He finally began to feel the pain in his legs reach his knees. Blood was everywhere but his seemed more tainted than hers. Her blood was perfect but it didn't matter.
It was over.
And just when they thought it was over, a sudden commotion came from the door. Guns were drawn and a group of tough, well trained men started to shout orders. Vaughn shut his eyes and prayed for the end and Sydney finally started to let go.
It was over.
He felt something rushing through his veins and a steady prick in his right arm. "Were you awake or did I wake you?" a soft voice pierced through Vaughn's sleepy world. He felt like he had been asleep for days, months even. He knew something was wrong before he even opened his eyes. Everything was black and cold. And as he opened his eyes, he wasn't even sure if he eyes had opened, so he immediately shut them again. That's how dark it was in the room. "Ah, let me turn on the light." The soft voice faded away and feminine footsteps started, faded away, and then came closer.
His body was numb and shaking from the extreme cold his body felt. He opened up his mouth to answer the soothing voice but his trembling body wouldn't allow him. His eyes slowly opened but they were blurry and completely unable to focus. "Mr. Vaughn? Mr. Vaughn?" She had a heavy French accent and her voice seemed so tender
"I-I-I'm up." He managed to shiver, slowly opening his emerald eyes again to the bare room before him. "Syd..Syd..is that you?" He licked his lips, chapped from the severe cold.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Vaughn, I'm not Sydney." The soft voice came again. "You should eat something."
He had failed at his promise. He had let something happen to her. His eyes began to fill with fear. "Where-where is she?" His eyes slowly focused on the dark room with only one lamp light coming from the corner. He quickly assumed that she had gotten up to turn the lamp on. Two and two were slowly beginning to equal four, not three and a half.
"She's in the next room, Mr. Vaughn." He finally could put a face with the voice. He could finally make out the woman who was speaking to him, dressed in a white dress with a black heavy sweater wrapped tightly around her. Her voice shivered with the cold.
She had black curly hair that was pulled back into a simple twist. "And she's fine, for now. You should eat something. She wants you too keep your strength up." The woman sat in front of Vaughn, who was chained to a wall by heavy restraints on his arms and legs. He had blood dripping down the side of his mouth and on his exposed arm, a small indentation. It was the mark of a tranq. dart. His eyes drifted down to his right arm. There were old and fresh track marks and a collection of needles on the ground. The soft spoken woman took a spoonful of the food she held in her hands and offered it to him.
Vaughn replied coldly, "I'm not hungry.
She nodded and put the food back down. Her eyes were sorrowful and she got up to walk out.
"Wait. I have a question for you. Where am I?"
The answer obviously pained the young woman very much. "You are a capture of Ms. Sophia Delorme."
"Delorme..? That was.." He couldn't complete the sentence. "Who do you work for?" He tried to get more comfortable but it was impossible. He was bound to an aluminum chair, that was hard and uncomfortable. This had to be another Delorme. He couldn't be who he was thinking of. It couldn't be. It couldn't. Everything was blocked out of his mind except for that name, repeated over and over again.
"You can ask my boss anymore questions." She got up and left in tears. And Vaughn had no idea why.
"Wait. Your boss? I thought Sloane was the boss." Hadn't Sloane found them and captured them? Hadn't SD-6 discovered his bluebird and captured him for being part of her circle of deceit?
"Yes. Yes, but he is not the supreme boss. I shall get his boss." Her feet sounded soft against the hard wood floors. "Madame Delorme, he is awake."
"D'accord." A familiar voice replied, "Run along with you now. I need to see him, alone."
A dark shadow appeared on the corner wall and turned the corner. He watched a woman walk in. He felt his eyes get wide as she stood in front of him.
"Maman?" Vaughn gasped as the woman stepped into the light, exposing her familiar face and figure.
She stood in front of Vaughn and looked at him with a motherly stare. "You must have known this day would come. I could have prevented all of this, of course. You were so small when you born. It would have been so easy." Her accented voice hissed among Vaughn's heavy breathing. "I've waited nearly thirty years for this. Tell me... Michael... who sent you here? You must tell me."
"Or? What? I'm grounded?" He managed to spit in her face. His heart was pounding so hard in his ears that he could barely hear his own response to his mother's question.
"No.I will hurt your precious little girl." Her French accent managed to hiss such evil words.
It took him a moment to figure out who the little girl was. It was Sydney. It had to be Sydney. "No, maman..what's going on? What are you doing here?" He didn't understand this at all. "Maman.what's going on? You're not hear to do anything..Maman?"
She walked closer to him and he could clearly depict her floor length black skirt and wool sweater. Her skin had the familiar blue tint to it from cold. He half expected for it to start snowing from the ceiling any moment now. "You're CIA, aren't you? You really did join the agency? You're not with the state department at all. I'm willing to assume you're not a field agent. You don't look like one. Your reflexes are too, too slow. You're a handler aren't you? And this girl, she's your agent. Ha. You fell for your agent! Damn protocol, I guess. You are not your father's child. You're CIA, aren't you?"
He was in such a state of shock he couldn't will his tongue to respond.
"You're CIA." She answered for him, carefully admiring her little tool in her hand. "And you're little girlfriend too."
"What have you done to Sydney? Where is she?" He started to panic. Not for his future but what was going to happen to Sydney. "Where is she, maman?"
"Don't 'maman' me, Michael! I haven't hurt your little girlfriend too badly. I wanted to wait until you were awake to start the real fun and games." She smiled cynically and turned away from her worried son. "Bring her to me!" Her words echoed throughout the room that was like the warehouse. The walls were cement or some other heavy material and there were no windows but overhead lights that were currently off. There was another series of hard leather and metal restraints on the wall opposite and next to him. There was a door on the wall to the left of him.
"What are you going to do with her? What have you done to her?"
She looked back towards her son and clicked her tongue. "My darling. My little naïve darling. Maybe you are your father's child after all! He was so naïve and blinded by love. By the Bristow women's love. It blinds and then it kills or better yet, I make sure it kills." She smiled again as she watched this register on her son's face.
The thoughts hit him like a cement truck and engulfed him like a crashing wave. "You made sure Irinia killed Dad." His tone was soft and surprisingly steady. He needed to shut down and soon. "That's why you knew the story."
"You were always the bright one in the family, weren't you?" sarcasm oozed from her poison lips. The woman from before along with another blonde hair woman wheeled the bed in from another room with two women in toe. It squeaked and moved slowly against the wood. The wheels were obviously rusted. The gurney was brought into view with a lifeless female bound loosely to it. "She is a pretty one and it's a shame that you fell for her. I've always preferred Alice." Sydney was there, looking like Sleeping Beauty. His skin was paler than ever and her breath formed little ice clouds above her rose petal lips. Her arm had the similar track marks on it.
"Don't hurt her." His cries began but shrouded by Sophia's instructions to her three other guards or servants or whatever you want to call them.
"Get me the Bourbon." She ordered one, "Chain him to wall." Was it to another, "Get some new sheets. We're going to need them." She turned back towards Vaughn. "We're going to need them. Who do you work for?" No answer. "Tell you what -- think about it. I'll come back and ask you again." She whisked away with her female henchwomen and disappeared into the other room.
This was too much for him to bear. He had been stripped of his shirt and now he the heavy leather and metal chains made large gashes in his limbs. He blacked out every now and then. Whatever they had been pumping into his arm made him weak and dizzy and unsure. This was it. His mother was going to kill him. G-d, could things get any more freaking screwed up?
His eyes focused on the gurney in front of him. He knew it was Sydney and she was barely conscious, moaning a little bit with each shallow breath. An involuntary gasp escaped her lips. He tried to pull against it wall, to get closer to her but.. but his body was suddenly sore and couldn't move. The darkness clouded his senses and his senses were dulled with it.
Sydney's eyes fluttered quickly as she tried to focus on the figure strapped the wall near her. She had to take a gamble and guess who it was, "Vaughn.?" Her voice was groggy and raspy. All she could do was gasp for air and pray that he would answer. Things had been so horrible for her the last few.were it days now? She had been pumped full of chemicals and toxins and electrocuted to no end. Now, this woman had switched her into this new, warmer room with Vaughn in it. She could have sworn this devil woman had killed him. In her disillusioned world, she had learned that this was the one woman the Alliance was afraid of.
"Oh Syd." He groaned and had never been more relieved to hear her voice. "You're awake. I was so worried." His voice sounded sincere but wavering. Sydney didn't hear what else he said..she began to cough violently, causing the chains on her body to jingle in an ominous tone. The horrible noise sent a chill up his spine that caused his restraints to shake.
"What happened?" She was afraid to ask. Her body shifted slightly and she could rest easier against the wall. Her body ached with severe pain that grew more and more intense with each slight inhale.
Vaughn gasped for air a little before he spoke again, "We were discovered in the safe house and then we were taken here. Are you okay? They haven't hurt you, have they?" He whispered.
"Yeah." Gasp. "They've been..she's been.." A bright light was flickered on and it blinded them. Their eyes shut immediately and his body tried to brace himself. The muscles tightened all along his arms and his legs. His fight or flight reflex kicked into high gear. Sydney was too weak to do anything..instead; she let out a shudder followed by a moan of dread. "Oh G-d." It was going to happen all over again. The toxins, the shock treatments, the screaming..she wanted to cry but she didn't have enough tears left.
"Is that too bright?" A cold voice forced Vaughn to open his eyes and stare at him.
"Sophia?" He wanted to bark but it came out more like a whimper. He wanted to go back in time more than anything else in the world. She was no longer his mother. She was just as much as a bitch as Sloane was.
She ignored her son and looked straight at the object of his affection. "My dear Sydney, I am so pleased you're awake." Her voice was revolting. "And my dear son, Michael Vaughn, are you feeling well today?" He came towards them, brandishing a new torture weapon in her fists. Her beady eyes settled on Sydney and he clicked his tongue softly, "Pity. You were a wonderful best agent. I followed your work closely. Arvin praised you every time we met."
The weapon was brought up to eye level. It looked like a long metal pole with little sharp grooves in it. Silence filled as Sophia took a breath, "Well Sydney, I fear that you are already on the bed. You shall be first." She said, in a partially remorseful tone. She quickly turned the material of her black skirt made whoosh sound. "Tie her down."
One guard came towards Sydney and unlocked her wrist and legs from their tight restraints. She tried not to groan as the women grabbed her by the wrists, with visible sores and gashes on them and rebound them tighter to the sides of the bed with hard restraints. She started to shake and her eyes and her head looked at Vaughn. The tension on the sores had become unbearable and she became to slip from reality. "Daddy went to Kalamazoo. Daddy went to Kalamazoo." She began to sing up and down to a fifth. Each syllable became one note, going up to the fifth note in the scale and came down. She was shutting down, mentally.
SD-6 had taught her that when she was tortured, to go back to something that was drilled into her brain as a children and was easy to focus on. She was trying not to psyche herself out. "Daddy." she started to go over and over again but her tongue stopped moving. Her body was turning against her in such a way that she could barely fight the two women rebounding her limbs to a long table in the center of the torture room. Her brown eyes were fogged over and her face was drawn and pale.
She looked at him and tears began to fall, soaking the metal table beneath her exposed shoulders. They both had been stripped down, only wearing bare minimum clothing and exposed to the elements. He only wore a pair of boxers and she wore a badly torn tank-top and ripped boxer shorts. The tears formed a sad little pool by her shoulder and slowly, her chest was stopping..stopping moving up and down. "Vaughn." She breathed, letting more tears shed, "It's over."
"It's not over." He spoke softly to her "Don't hurt her!" Vaughn found himself saying, throwing his body weight against the chains. "Please, I'll do anything!"
"It's too late for that, Michael." Sophia showed her teeth towards him. Her feet glided her towards Sophia with the tool in her small elegant but deadly hands. Her lips curled into a smile and then starred down at Sophia. "It's too bad," she started, "you two looked so destined together lying on that safe house floor. It's a pity. She would have made a wonderful daughter-in-law."
Vaughn couldn't cry now. He was out of emotions but instead started to talk in a slow, steady tone, "Why are you doing this?" He let his eyes meet that of his mother's. This couldn't be a reality. His mother couldn't be evil. She was the loving one who comforted him and Juliet after their father's death. This couldn't be reality.
"Because she was in love with you. Because she was CIA. Because she was in love with." She snapped hastily.
"She is in love with me."
"Not when I'm done with her she won't be." Sophia knelt over the body, examining her calves and slowly took the tool, turning it over in her hands. She pressed the tool to Sydney's legs, making a dozen perfect circles of oozing blood on her legs. She continued to roll the tool along her legs, expelling a red color over Sydney's white skin. Her leg was soon covered in blood. Sydney's eyes had clouded over even more. She was giving up. Her body was covered with gashes, bruises, and far worst than third degree burns. Her body was being destroyed and the last thing was her mind. If she just let go.
The first series of cuts were made over her feet. She began to scream in terrified pain, attempting to wriggle free but her screams only made Sophia more eager to finish the enjoyable job. Her screams were those that would haunt him in his dreams and wake him from the most peaceful sleep. This is what nightmares are made from. Sydney's other leg; the one closer to Vaughn was next. Blood began to ooze from every fiber of her being. Her body began to tremble and the screaming grew weaker. She didn't even attempt to fight against the chains anymore and all Vaughn could do was watch in horror as the guard was right there expelling large amounts of blood from his love's perfect skin.
"Don't let go, Sydney. Please, for me. For your mother, your father. For Jack, for Irinia. For..for Will, Francie. Baby, for me!" Vaughn started to plead to her but tears began to soak through his words. "Don't let go. Please, Sydney. Sydney. Don't kill her! Please! Sydney! C'mon baby, don't give up. Don't give up on me!" Vaughn screamed as he fought against the chains binding him. They grew tighter and tighter as she fought. The second guard stood off to the side of him and touched his forehead, mockingly. She smiled a revolting smile.
"She's already lost so much blood, Michael." The woman, he thought was his mother hissed in between Sydney's ear piercing screams.
Sydney's screams became louder and louder, overriding Vaughn's until hers stopped. He had never seen such a red color before. That color red wasn't found anywhere else. Shock overwhelmed him for a few moments and she fought to think clearly. "He calmed his speech a little bit. "Hey. Don't give up on me, baby. Come on. Open your eyes honey. Come on. Please. Please, open your eyes. Hey, c'mon sweetheart. Hey, we just talked each other out of dying. Don't go back on your word now. Remember baby, pills and Bourbon? A gun with a silencer? C'mon, don't give up on me. What are you we going to do with us? I think if we will it not to happen, we can take control of our destiny."
Sydney perked up for a moment and turned her head towards Vaughn, "Save my destiny." She managed to whisper. Her brown eyes had rolled back into her head and her chest was no longer moving up and down. "Please! Vaughn! Vaughn!" She sobbed and felt her blood leaving her body at a dangerous rate.
"Bourbon." Sophia tossed the bloody tool aside and it landed on the floor with a resounding clunk.
One of the evil looking women handed her the large bottle. Sophia smiled and took the bottle in her hands. "Pills and Bourbon? That's how you were going to kill yourself?"
"What does it matter to you?" Vaughn snapped.
She took a long, slow sip. "Sydney's going to hate Bourbon after this." She removed the bottle from her mouth and walked over to Vaughn. She walked straight up to Vaughn and offered him a sip. He just starred straight ahead and barely blinked. "Yes? No? Oh well. You know," She turned back to walk towards Sydney, "your father loved Bourbon. Every night, he had a glass." She sighed, as she remembered easier times, "loved the crap. Now," she reached Sydney's legs and sighed once more, "you love it too? Too bad you won't after this." and poured it over Sydney's multiple gashes. She screamed in absolute horror and pain. Sophia took another long sip and looked at the black hair woman, "Start on him!"
The black hair woman took the tool, carefully discarded tool and started to work on Vaughn's arms and legs. He barely felt the pain in his legs. It started on his feet and reached his knee. All he cared about was Sydney surviving. It didn't matter if he wasn't there to see her survive. He didn't care anymore. Sydney's chest was moving painfully slow up and down. He finally began to feel the pain in his legs reach his knees. Blood was everywhere but his seemed more tainted than hers. Her blood was perfect but it didn't matter.
It was over.
And just when they thought it was over, a sudden commotion came from the door. Guns were drawn and a group of tough, well trained men started to shout orders. Vaughn shut his eyes and prayed for the end and Sydney finally started to let go.
It was over.