"Well. Isn't this quite the reunion."
Irina hid her surprise quite well, considering the circumstances. Palm slipping into her well tailored slacks, she looked the very picture of relaxation as she surveyed the room and it's two occupants.
Sark, who had spoken as she entered, rose to his feet immediately, shorn head not detracting from his charming smile at all.
"My lady," he murmured, gathering one exquisitely manicured palm into his hands, and pressing a light kiss on her knuckles.
Irina's nod was automatic, focus instead on the other occupant, a man with a lazy, serene smile which widened upon receipt of her stare.
"Irina," he greeted, straightening up to bow his head slightly. "It's so good to see you again."
A questioning glance at Sark revealed the young man smiling, shrugging in a boyish manner that so often hid the cold hearted assassin that lurked underneath. "What can I say? I got nostalgic."
"I was under the assumption you were out of all of this," she said breezily, stepping around her stalwart young man and heading for the table.
"Especially ironic, considering I had heard the same about you." Arvin seemed especially at peace with himself, happily tittering with that secretive smile that told everyone in the room he knew exactly what she had been doing, or rather, who she had been doing.
"Quite obviously, you were mistaken." His gaze lingered on her longer than necessary.
"Hmm," he responded.
"What the devil were you two up to?" Sark said, voice tinted with curious amusement as he looked from one to another.
"I assume you haven't caught up on the latest gossip?" Sloane asked, breaking his glance at Irina to smile happily at him.
"Course not - broke out long enough to give 800 million I never knew I had to these folks (been meaning to thank you for that)," he mentioned to her, "then stopped for a couple dirty deeds and then went to kidnap you. It's been nothing but work, work, work-"
"Aren't you lucky to be so blessed," Irina drawled dryly.
"I think so," he answered with a wink. "Saw that Jack Bristow was sniffing around Simon Walker's group, though. Will have to remember to bring that up."
The smile faded from Irina's smile immediately. "I hadn't heard that."
"Yes, he has been quite the world traveler, recently," Sloane interjected quietly.
"What did he want with Simon?" Irina asked sharply.
"Nothing too horrible. Apparently your lovely daughter Sydney was playing undercover agent again, Jack was just coming along for the ride."
Irina gasped, a clear mistake when Sark stopped talking, narrowing his eyes in wonder.
Arvin broke the moment by clearing his throat.
"Perhaps you can see what is keeping our dear host?" Sloane inquired, helping himself to a glass of water from the pitcher between them. "I'm afraid I have a meeting to get to."
Concentration broken, Sark seemed to consider saying no to the order, until a barely perceptible nod from a now composed Irina had him grudgingly rising to his feet.
"Fine, fine. Blab between you two if you must. I'll come back and torture it from you later." Tapping Irina gently on the shoulder, he headed to the door, locking it firmly behind him.
"I've scanned the room," Sloane began, breaking the silence a few moments later. "Apparently our fine operative does not want to be recorded. It's clean."
"What are you doing here?" she asked flatly. "The whole underground is aware of how you got your pardon. I'm surprised they haven't killed you yet."
He merely smiled, wrapping his fingers around his glass and taking another long drink of water. "I can't deny that I'm a changed man, Irina."
"You are not even a man," she smiled back just as politely, "Arvin."
"I understand how this appears. Afterall, if I truly believed in Rambaldi, then what would I be doing here, among these illegal wrongdoers?"
"Tell me, Arvin. I'm curious. How long do you think you can keep chanting that you've changed before someone actually believes you?"
"You're being hostile for no reason, Irina. Water?"
"No thank you."
"I have no intention of outing you to Mr. Sark, or any of the others. It would cause Sydney and Jack too much pain to have their wife and mother tortured to death."
Her eyes closed automatically, blood simmering just underneath her skin. "I've asked you repeatedly not to mention those names in my presence. One day I will lose patience."
Sighing once, he only shrugged. "I know you do not believe me when I say I care for both your husband and your daughter, Irina, but in truth, it is one of the more important reasons that I am here."
"Oh please do extol upon me the virtues of your intentions," she snapped. "I'm fascinated."
"I assume you also made the connection between Sydney and Julia?" he asked quietly.
Her eyes widened, mouth parting in surprise.
"The Covenant is behind her disappearance," Arvin added. "I intend to find out why. Perhaps we can help each other unravel this mystery."
The proposition was a tempting one, but there was nothing in Irina that told her she could accept the offer.
"People like you and I are never to be trusted, Sloane," she finally spoke, quiet and resigned. "We have no loyalties, we have no morals, and we incapable of change. That is why, we both finds ourselves here," her palm gave an elegant motion to the room. "We simply age. We do not change."
"You don't believe that," he responded almost immediately. "You know as well as I, that love for a child has the capacity to turn a hunter like the mighty lioness, into a figure as meek as a kitten."
The room was silent, too quiet for her own tastes. Irina's inner turmoil ached for release, and had she not been deep in the heart of The Covenant headquarters, Sloane would have drawn his last breath after that smug sentence.
With a final smile, she rubbed fingers through her hair, an expression of bored distraction.
"Kittens still have claws," she reminded him. "And for the last time, Sydney is not your daughter. She is mine. Mine and Jack's, and we are the only parents she needs. Please do not delude yourself into believing your 'affection' for her can cause her anything but pain."
He considered that. "Perhaps you're right," he finally conceded. "However, I do believe that should the NSC and the CIA become aware of her legendary career as Julia, she'll need all the help she can get. Jack Bristow cannot do it all alone. She will be the death of us, that child. She is our weakness." At her expression, his smile widened knowingly. "But I get the impression you understand that a little too well."
He let that sink in, as the door opened, and Sark returned, the Covenant leader behind him.
--
"Tell me, how difficult do you believe it would be to steal such a diamond?"
"Oh, it is impossible. Our security is impeccable," the head of security had responded, seconds before he received a knife hand chop to the back of the neck, crumpling forward in a heap.
Irina jumped back slightly, narrowly avoiding the guard's head crashing on top of her high-heeled shoes.
The ankle length evening gown hampered her walking ability slightly, and Irina Derevko found herself thanking Versace for being thoughtful enough to include the slit that rose to midthigh. Not only did the flash of leg prove crucial in persuading the guard to let her in to see the all famed diamond, but it also gave her quite a bit of leverage when it came to maneuvering across the room, rolling, stretching, and crawling underneath the red beams to get to her target.
While she could not fault the Covenant for wanting to get their hands on a diamond the size of her fist, Irina did not understand exactly why they seemed to think it was her duty to get it, when Sark was just as capable, if not slightly more insane.
Balancing into a handstand, Irina felt the sweat beading on her lip, narrowly losing her stance when static in her ear erupted into voices.
"Bodies coming your way, Irina."
"I'm almost there."
"Well then, be bloody careful," Sark reprimanded. "I'd like to go at least a day without shooting off my gun."
She couldn't help the smirk that floated on her face as she immediately dropped into a roll, twisting into a cartwheel and finally landing on her feet, breathing in deeply.
"Yes, you would."
"Well, yes I would. If you hear of any trouble don't hesitate to ring for me."
She had less than five minutes to continue through the rest of the red lasers.
It became significantly less, however, when a thump on the floor behind her caught her attention.
Two guards now lay slumped together, and standing beside them, a contraption in her hand that must have had something to do with all the bars suddenly disappearing, was a young woman who could have been a younger version of herself, outfitted in a blonde wig, and a slinky red dress, not unlike the one she was currently wearing.
"Well," she managed. "That works too."
"Mom?"
It had been more than three years since she had laid eyes on her child. Jack had not been able to keep in touch, and Irina, not wanting to risk the danger, did not press the issue.
But she had ached, physically ached, to see her husband and daughter.
Wishes, it seemed, came with a bout of irony. She never wanted their first meeting since her daughter's disappearance to begin like this.
It was Sydney.
An overwhelming flood of warmth and hysteria surged into Irina's chest. Torn between standing her ground and rushing to enclose her daughter in her arms, the colder, rational Irina told her exactly what Sydney was seeing.
"Hello Sydney," she responded.
"Please tell me you're not here to steal that diamond," Sydney said raggedly.
Irina was well familiar with denial. "If it will upset you, I will not tell you."
"But you're here to take it..."
More than anything, Irina wanted to explain, hand her child the diamond and embrace her, tell her how much she missed her.
But Sark was listening to every word.
"Irina? What the hell is going on down there?" he rattled in her ear, and Irina took another step back.
The movement broke Sydney out of her frozen state. "Mom, I'm not going to let you take that diamond."
"Finders keepers."
Sydney's hand rose to her ear, speaking urgently, quickly, "Weiss, we have a problem, I need back up, now!"
Immediately, Irina sprinted, moving across the now clear floor, ducking into a roll and coming up with her gun, shattering the glass with the resounding crash.
"Mom, no!"
She wrapped a palm around the diamond, turning back to discover her daughter only ten feet away, hands up as Irina pointed the gun directly at her chest.
"I'm sorry, darling," she whispered, shaking her head apologetically.
"MOM!"
The gun shot, and Sydney flinched away, but the shot hit its mark. The security glass directly behind Sydney shattered, and before Sydney could recover from not being hit, Irina was through the window and out of the room.
"Dammit," she managed, "Dammit, DAMMIT."
She had memorized the evacuation plans weeks before. Turning the corner, she had no trouble finding the last door and slipping into the deserted alley.
"Irina!"
"I'm in the alley," she whispered into the mirophone. "PICK ME UP."
"On my way."
"FREEZE!"
Turning toward the voice was a fatal mistake. It spooked him, and as she jerked back to the agent, he squeezed the trigger automatically.
She twisted, shifting as soon as she saw the spark fly from the gun.
"WEISS NO!" Sydney burst through the same door she had emerged from, eyes wide as she ran.
The bullet slit Irina in the arm, causing her to cry out as she fell back.
Somehow managing to stay on her feet, even as the blood dripped from her wound, she held tightly to the diamond, gun cocked right at Agent Weiss's forehead.
"Mom?!"
"I'm allright, Sydney," she said quietly, wincing slightly as she moved. "You both must leave. You do not understand what is happening here."
Bitterness infected her daughter's voice as she remarked drolly, "Right, because the truth takes time?"
A small, rueful smile floated on Irina's face as she shrugged. "Well, yes, actually. That and I have reinforcements racing to meet me here. I would rather they not kill you."
"Mom, you can't be working for them," Sydney whispered, ignoring her partner, who to his credit, had opted to stay out of the mother-daughter squabble after his instinctive shooting. "Not after what Dad-"
"The truth takes time, Sydney, I hope to explain it to you soon enough." Lowering the gun, she glanced at her wound, found the blood dripping making her slightly light headed. Without a word, she glanced from the agent, still holding his weapon in her direction, to her daughter, staring at her with a bewildered, desperate expression.
Car wheels screeched, and suddenly Irina had no choice.
The diamond floated into the air, a wobbly throw thanks to her wounded limb, but Sydney caught it easily.
"I beg of you," Irina managed. "Please Sydney, go. It is not time yet."
Sydney's face was blank, considering her moves, trying desperately to decide whether or not she should trust her own mother.
The van turned the corner, accelerating.
The sight made her decision for her. "Weiss, let's go."
"Sydney-"
"We got what we came for, NOW!" Pulling at her partner, the pair broke into a run, leaving her behind in the dank alley.
Irina dropped the gun, finally allowing herself to breathe, sinking to her knees as she wrapped her palm around her bloody bicep, wincing at the pain.
Beside her, a dark van screeched to a halt, doors opening with a metallic rasp to reveal a blonde haired man.
"What happened? Bloody hell, what happened?" Kneeling beside her, Sark curled an arm around her waist, blue eyes bright with worry as he gingerly touched the ragged hole on her arm.
"What do you think happened?" she said wearily. "Like mother, like daughter."
"Like hell," he ground, shaking his head. "She'll pay for that. Did you get the diamond, at least?"
"She took that too."
"F*ck. Come on then, we'll get it back." Pulling her to her feet, he retrieved her gun, securing it on his belt, and pulling her into the van. "You should have let me go in there," he said, slapping at the driver's shoulder to get him moving. "I could have helped you."
She lay still, eyes closing while Sark tied a rag around her arm, suddenly filled with thoughts of a daughter standing in an alley, helpless, alone, and betrayed.
"No," she whispered. "I don't think anyone could have helped me."
--