Author's Comments: Thank you everyone for reviewing! I love hearing what you all have to say! It sounds repetitive, I know, but I figure I can sweet talk more reviews out of ya, lol! Anywayz, the exciting trilogy continues…

Chapter 9

Vaughn slowly came to consciousness with the help of his pounding headache. The light he saw threw his eyelids only made his head throb worse.

"He's coming around!" Someone shouted. Vaughn blinked open his eyes to see Weiss swimming before him. As soon as the power had failed, everyone in the nearest vicinity of the agency had been alerted. By the time Weiss had arrived, the power had been completely restored.

"You alright, buddy?" Weiss asked hovering anxiously.

"Everything except the excruciating pain in my head." Vaughn looked around quickly as the night's events came rushing back into his head. "Where is she? Where's Sydney?"

Weiss looked down at him more worried than ever. "Vaughn, Syd's dead. What are you talking about?" Syd's dead. That's exactly what the girl had said before she had knocked him out. Vaughn ignored Weiss's protests and stood up. CIA agents had swarmed the lab, testing it for everything under the sun.

"What was taken?" Vaughn asked, but already knowing.

"The watch," Weiss said scratching his head. "Out of all the items, why would they take the watch?"

"DeLime," Vaughn said the realization hitting him.

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Henry DeLime," Vaughn said. "Diane didn't find the crystal in Rome because it had been stolen by Sydney. DeLime must of hid the crystal in the Rambaldi watch. Shit, why didn't I think of this before?"

"Wow, take it easy there. You just took a mighty wallop to the head. Speaking of which? What happened?" Weiss asked realizing that he had yet to ask.

Vaughn told him about the power going out and the search, but when he got to the point of the girl, he had a hard time getting Weiss to believe it was Sydney.

"I'm telling you it was her. The hair and the eyes were different, but it was her," Vaughn insisted.

Weiss looked at Vaughn and asked the one question Vaughn didn't know the answer to. "Then why did she attack you Vaughn? Why was she even here?"

Vaughn bent his head down and put his hands into his pockets, only to look up in surprise. "What's this?" He asked removing the paper from his pocket. He opened the paper and read the words:

VIOLA USING HYMN

IRA MONA GRAVE NIGHT 39804 79801 (SAID 03436 BANANA SEE MORE NOT AGING EARN TIN) OINTMENT DECIDE ADVANCED

SOLO REAR YARD IMITATED NEMO TOW ALIGN TWEET ORANGES TRADE ANAL HAVE LIMP MAZE

SOY DEMON EASY

"What the hell does all that mean?" Weiss asked, reading the note over Vaughn's shoulder.

"I'm not really sure," Vaughn said with a furrowed brow. Stuffing the note back in his pocket.

"You should go home," Weiss said. "Get some sleep." Hopefully he will be able to recall who he really saw in the morning, Weiss thought.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll see you," Vaughn said making his way towards the door.

"You need a ride?" Weiss asked his friend.

"No, I've got my car," Vaughn said. "Thanks, I'll see you in a few hours."

Vaughn walked to his car more confused than ever. He knew it had to be Sydney. Everything looked exactly like her, but once again that question popped into his mind. Why did she attack him? And why did she steal from the CIA? Really, all that he could come up with is that she was forced to do it somehow. He pulled the note out of his pocket. He knew the handwriting was Sydney's, but what did it mean? It had to be some type of code. Sydney was trying to tell him something, but what? It looked like a completely random assortment of words.

Vaughn stumbled back a he ran into his car. He reached for his keys and put them inside the lock, and started the car. He drove the whole way home thinking of the night's events. By the halfway point to his house, he had convinced himself that Sydney was being put up to it somehow, and he was determined to help her.

CIA HEADQUARTERS (6 HOURS LATER)

"I heard about the break-in," Jack Bristow said to Kendall. Actually that was only part of what he had heard. The other half was that it had been Sydney who had broken into the CIA office and stolen the Rambaldi artifact. He really didn't think it was true, after all, he had seen his daughter's body, and there was no way she was going anywhere fast.

Kendall paused before continuing with the next part. "And you heard that the intruder was someone who looked very similar to your daughter?"

"Yes," Jack nodded. "What did you find?"

"The only thing we found is a piece of hair. Our lab guys are analyzing it now, and this," Kendall said walking Jack over to the security cameras. "There's only about five seconds of video tape that shows the intruder before she knocked out the power" Jack watched as the woman easily ran down the basement hallways as if she knew them all by heart. None of the cameras offered a very good view. She kept her face down and away from the cameras until the last two seconds when she finally looked up.

Jack stared. The likeliness was uncanny. The only thing that was different was the hair and the eyes. Otherwise, she was exactly the same.

Kendall glanced at Jack before continuing. "We even analyzed the security camera photo into the computer and came up with a match. According to the computer, it's Sydney Bristow."

"I assure you, Sir, that my daughter is dead," Jack said somewhat shaken.

"You know about the note?" Kendall asked.

"Note?" Jack asked him.

"Agent Weiss claimed that after Agent Vaughn was attacked by the intruder, he found a note in pocket. Weiss claimed that it most likely was written in some sort of code."

"Agent Kendall!" The two men turned around to see a very angry looking Vaughn approaching them. "What is the meaning of this performance assessment for Sydney Bristow?" Jack looked up abruptly at Kendall.

Kendall, looking nothing but sure of himself confronted the two men. "I'm going to be frank to the two of you. We are going to look into the lead that last night's intruder was indeed just a woman who looked very similar to Agent Bristow. We're also going to look into the fact that Sydney Bristow may be alive, and like the prophecy said, traitor to the United States of America."

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I just wanted to add that if anyone figures out the code in the note that the intruder wrote, not to say anything until Vaughn figures it out. Thanks!