It's short… oh well. I just wanted to get something up before finals. Oh, and I forgot the disclaimers… I don't own any of the Taken characters (duh!) but I do own my original characters and this particular story.

Legacy: chapter 4

"Do you know what I love about this game?" Mary asked casually as she jumped her knight over one of the remaining pawns to take Keith's rook, "it's all about planning, thinking ahead."

"You seem to be good at thinking ahead." Keith said in reply, watching the pile of black pieces on Mary's side claim yet another unfortunate victim from his ranks.

"I've had a lot of practice at it," Mary smiled, "it's your move."

Keith leaned in close and studied the layout of his few remaining pieces. Very few. "You never told me what happened."

"What happened?" Mary looked at him questioningly.

"At the zoo…" Keith said flatly

"Oh," Mary leaned back, crossing her arms, "I didn't? Or are you trying to distract me?"

"No, no you didn't." Keith reached for a bishop, changed his mind.

"Well, what is there to tell? She used one of her little tricks on me."

Keith frowned, "Mary, we need to trust each other if we're going to work together. Can you at least tell me what it was like?"

"I will," Mary glanced down at the board, "if you hurry up and move!"

Keith reached down without taking his eyes off of Mary, slid a pawn forward. "There, I moved."

Mary laughed, quickly moved to kill that pawn too.

"You did that on purpose!" Keith grinned as Mary dropped the pawn on her pile.

"Yeah… I did." Mary glanced over at the window and the city lights outside. This part of town could only look good at night, she thought. The view from the third story of their abandoned-high-rise-apartment-building turned operational headquarters was spectacularly grotesque during daytime hours.

"So… tell me. What did she do?"

Mary listlessly turned her head back to Keith, it was clear that she had to tell him something. But what?

"It was like…" she started and was already searching for a way to explain something that never really happened, "you know when you get a sinus headache?"

"Yeah."

"Well… it was like that--but more intense. And I could feel it moving around--inside my--head." Mary grimaced, as if recalling the pseudo-memory brought back the pain.

"Wow," Keith tried to look genuinely sympathetic, but it was hard to keep from laughing, he already knew she was faking the whole thing. "But you said it was her, in your head."

"It was, I could tell."

"Uh huh," Keith reached down and slid another piece, it seemed that Mary, in her attempt to conceal her true plans, was falling into more then one of his traps.

"Can we discuss something else… I don't like to think about this."

"Sure." Keith crossed a leg over his lap and leaned back, "after this incident, I think we need to call in that Special Forces unit."

Mary stared at him for a moment, dazed. If the army, or airforce, or what ever the hell they were got involved again, there was no way she would be able to help Allie. "Are—are you sure? They're just gonna take the project from us."

"You think?" Keith asked innocently.

"No, I know! You forget that I've done this before."

"Ah... yes, I had forgotten. Thank you for reminding me Miss Crawford." Keith said mockingly.

Mary glared at him for a while, then: "you ask for my help… But when I offer advice, you make jokes…"

"Oh Mary, you just make it so easy." Keith laughed; Mary didn't find it the least bit amusing. "Seriously though, we're not the FBI…"

"So?"

"So… the NSA's jurisdiction over rules the military, I could have a whole division here and lock down this city. The only thing the little generals could do is exactly what I say or be court marshaled."

"I think you give yourself too much credit." Mary said incredulously, jumped her knight over again, and yet again bringing herself closer to Keith's trap, at least the one in the game.

"Maybe so, but we need to act. This surveillance has gone on long enough."

Mary grinned, "Five days is 'long enough'?"

"Yes! We have all the evidence we need. Its not like we don't know who she is."

"I think we should wait."

"For what?" Keith questioned skeptically, being careful not to let his knowledge of her intentions slip out.

"Maybe she'll do something while we're watching her." Mary shrugged, "what makes you think that if she, for some reason, lets us catch her, that she will tell us a damn thing?"

Keith leaned forward over the board, "I never said she had to talk, we just need her body, or more specifically, the brain." He reached down and gently placed the tip of his index finger on his queen, "did I tell you what I love about this game?"

"N—no…" Mary swallowed hard as the full impact of his statement hit home.

He began slowly sliding his queen across the board, "it's all about making your opponent believe you're doing one thing, while in reality your doing something else." He stopped the queen two spaces from Mary's king, which was cornered in a ring of her own pieces, leaned back with a proud look on his face, said:

"checkmate."