Running
Disclaimer:
I do not own Alias; ABC, Bad Robot Productions and JJ Abrams do, and I give
full acknowledgement of that (good work guys). I do not own and am not affiliated
in any way, with the brands mentioned in this piece (such as Ford, BWM or Colt),
more than likely I've used them because they're known, or because they're very
nice bits of kit that I hope to have one day. Finally, I'm a student, don't
sue me, I've got nothing worth taking.
Authors note:
Hope you liked the last bit, because this is when emotions and feelings start flowing for the trio. Well, at least for this part.
From here on out, I'm going to try and pick up the pace of the story a little, but I've had to rewrite this and the next three chapters because of Point-of-View problems (Never try writing from more than one point of view at a time - trust me, it gets confusing, especially with something complex)
Loads of thanks to Gabs, who's been reviewing each chapter almost as quickly as it gets put up - you've been a great help :)
Time frame:
None - Just generally set after Sydney becomes a double agent.
Sydney Bristow was running - running faster and harder than she'd done before, as the adrenaline coursed through her veins pushing her harder and harder, making her muscles burn with each motion, her memory guiding her to the exit.
She stumbled, sliding along the floor with sheer momentum.
When she finally opened her eyes, she realised just how dark it was. She'd dropped her flashlight while she was running, and now, there she lay, with tears welling up behind her eyes, vision blurry, in a darkened place.
Moving, she had to keep moving - if not for her sake then for her friends.
Getting up, she tried to pull herself together, trying hard to work out where exactly she was.
Looking around, she could see a bit of light off to the left, and began to jog towards it, turning into a full paced run when she realised where it was coming from - the lift.
Sprinting through the scanning room, Sydney almost threw herself into the elevator, slamming hard against the back wall, rewarded by a loud ping as the doors closed and the lift went up.
Using the rail on the side of the wall, she managed to haul herself up, still not completely realising that a once broken lift, was now fully operational.
After a 30 second ride, the doors pinged open again, and Sydney almost stormed out of the lift, running on sheer grit determination as she walked hard and fast to the recovery point, where she'd meet up with Vaughn and Weiss.
On her way up, she'd decided that she needed to get out of here as fast as possible. Get back to someplace safe.
She didn't want to try to think up any plans in her current state, because she knew that she didn't completely trust herself at that point - one little mistake could cost her a friend, or worse.
Leaving the safety of SD-9's offices, Sydney immediately headed towards where she knew Weiss and Vaughn were waiting to pick her up.
Still in a half jog - half run, Sydney could clearly see their car parked a few metres down the road, despite the heavy rain.
Luckily for her, as she ran towards the car, she was met by the bright white of the reverse lights, as Vaughn backed the car towards her.
The car stopped just as she reached for the handle, clambering in. Before either man could say anything she just said in a single monotonous voice, drive. Hesitating for a second, Vaughn pulled the car onto the road, and drove off.
As usual, the first minute was the most awkward - both men wanting to ask questions, but Sydney didn't want to answer, so they left it be.
With the cars windscreen wipers going, Sydney was able to focus on something and pull herself back into the real world.
"They were waiting for me" She got confused looks from both her associates. "They knew I was coming, and they were waiting for me"
"How?" Weiss asked, before Vaughn could "I mean, we didn't say anything to anyone - no one apart from us knew we were coming"
Sydney just let everything go, and exploded for a second at Eric. "Yeah, but they KNEW that I was coming, they KNEW everything" she yelled, arms flying furiously about in the confined space of the car.
Eric went quiet.
"Syd" Vaughn said, in his usual relaxed tone "calm down, calm down."
She took a deep breath, facing the window, just watching the world go by.
"Now, relax, and tell us what happened", before she could answer, he stopped her again "Don't worry, you're alright, now what happened?"
Slowly, she began to describe to them what had happened, remembering each and every motion up until she saw the computer, at which point all she could say was that for the first time in a very long time - she truly felt fear touch her, and it scared her.
Vaughn's heart went out to her, and he wanted just to stop and comfort her. His head, however, told him otherwise, and this time, his head won. He stayed focused on the road and on the job - compassion could come later.
Looking over, he could see that she was sobbing, but trying hard to hold it back. For some reason, he knew that something else was wrong. "Syd? What's wrong?"
She began openly sobbing into her hands
"Syd? What's wrong? What is it?"
Vaughn turned to look at Eric, who just shrugged, and put his hands on Sydney's shoulder trying to calm her down, but all she could get out was "They knew… they knew"
From his seat behind Sydney, Weiss gave a questioning glance at Vaughn, who could only shrug in response, but the message was clear.
"Sydney" Weiss asked "What did they know?"
When she didn't respond immediately, Weiss had to change his tactics a little. Placing a firm hand on her right shoulder, he squeezed gently at first, trying to get her mind to focus on what he was asking her. "Sydney, look at me" he demanded "What do they know?"
She spun round with lightning speed, and faced him, face in a scowl, but eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying. "Us Eric" she said, pointing to everyone in the car "they knew about us, they knew we were here, they knew what we were going to do and when, they knew about you and Vaughn, they even knew I was a double agent"
Vaughn almost choked as he heard the words come from her mouth, nearly bringing the car to a quick stop. Turning to look at his partner with eyes wide with fear, he couldn't believe that whoever was out there, knew more about them than they had originally realised.
Both CIA agents were in a mix of shock and fear, but eventually Vaughn's mind began to race, as he thought up what to do next.
Sydney spoke next, with tremendous clarity and unwavering in determination. "We've got to get out of here, now"
Her words bought both CIA agents back to earth with a nearly visible thud. "What about our gear?"
"Leave it, we've just got to get out of here fast - get back to somewhere safe" She was totally determined with what to do, and this time, Vaughn didn't question her. He simply turned around and looked at Weiss, who was, by then typing furiously on his laptop.
"Weiss" he said, quickly changing lanes, and heading towards the Airport.
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it" was the hasty reply. He reached over and grabbed a black duffel bag, and handed it to Sydney. "There are emergency passports in the bag, as well as a few other items."
Sydney opened it, and removed a small envelope with 3 US passports inside. Opening them up, she realised that the passports were exact copies of their own - they would not be travelling incognito on this trip.
Putting them back in the bag, she removed two more black bags; one containing wallets with cash in, and one containing a small Beretta M9 pistol.
Taking out one off the wallets, and her passport from the bags, she replaced the rest of the items and threw them onto the empty seat, almost hitting Weiss in the head.
Looking through her newly acquired personal items, she realised that there was one thing missing. "Tickets… what about tickets?"
"Almost… done" Weiss said, voice straining with concentration.
Sydney looked over at Vaughn, who's usually slightly tanned complexion had gone, and was now replaced by a near ashen colour.
"Got 'em - three tickets in the names Bristow, Vaughn and Weiss, on a direct route to LAX, leaving in 45 minutes." He finally looked up, and let out a sigh of relief. "We've got just 30 minutes to get to the airport"
Vaughn looked at the clock in the dashboard, and floored the accelerator - they would be cutting this mighty fine if they were going to make the flight.
"Travelling together, or separately?" Sydney asked, worried about Security section.
"As a group, I couldn't get anything else"
"Security section will be suspicious."
"I know, but that's the best I can give you at the moment." He snarled in an over-aggressive yet defensive response "Do you really want to wait for another plane?"
Sydney didn't reply. She just turned away, angry at Weiss, but furious at herself.
She'd never gotten into anything as bad as this before, never truly been defeated, and never failed an objective, but this time everything was out of her control.
She finally began to realise what running scared meant - she was no longer running on either adrenaline or the will to survive.
She was running from fear itself.
If caught, Sydney had no idea what would happen, and no idea what had happened to Dixon and the others.
Dropping her head in her hands, she passed out.
Somewhere in London
They hadn't left the office since they saw Sydney Bristow and her CIA friends bolt from the scene like frightened gazelle.
As they sat, watching the feed from a Predator UAV tracking their car, Commander Huntingdon smiled at the predictability of their actions - first heading back towards York to a supposedly 'safe' place, only to realise that they needed to get out sooner, heading directly towards the Airport.
Turning to face his comrade, the elderly gentleman spoke softly as he took a sip of coffee. "I see they acted as we predicted"
"Yes, booking those seats on the flight and then cancelling them at the last minute was a very smart move" Huntingdon said smugly. "How is the recovery operation coming?"
"Fine, Hotel has moved in on the safe house, and I've ordered them to send them back whatever they find - make it seem like the CIA picked it up and sent it over"
"Psych-Op?" Huntingdon asked confidently
"Yes, fear is the greatest weapon we have, and when used effectively, it can be more debilitating than every single nuclear weapon in the world" the elderly man said, matter-of-factly.
Commander Huntingdon smiled, taking another bite out of his apple. They had a few of those themselves.
Moments passed, as both men silently formulated the next part of the plan, and finally Commander Huntingdon spoke up. "What's the next phase?"
"You don't beat about the bush, do you commander?" The elderly man said with a grin.