Title: Into the Deep
Author: Jennifer Campbell
Fandom: Alias
Spoilers: General season 2
Pairings: Sydney/Danny, Sydney/Vaughn
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: The show Alias and its characters
belong to people with a lot more money than I have.
Please don't sue.
Notes: Thank you to Neptune, my wonderful beta.
##
"I have the second box."
"Good. I really didn't want to have to kill your daughter."
"How is she?"
"Scared, but unharmed."
"And Agent Vaughn?"
"Heavily sedated. Should I release them?"
"Not yet."
"That was the plan. As soon as Bristow delivered the box, they were to be let go."
"The plan has changed. I'll be there in a few hours, and I want you to hold them until then."
"You're not thinking of bringing her with us, are you?"
"She has talent. With some training, Sydney could be of great use."
"Only if she trusts you. Even you must admit that having her kidnapped does not inspire a trusting relationship."
"She doesn't know I'm involved in that."
"And the CIA agent? Would we bring him as well?"
"He would only get in the way. Divide Sydney's loyalties. He's of no use to us."
"So how do you plan to pull this off?"
"Patience, Sark. You will know soon enough. In the meantime, I have another call to make and a plane to catch."
#
Jack was halfway to the airport when his cell phone rang. He intended to leave immediately for France and search for his daughter. What he didn't expect was for Irina to fulfill her promise to contact him with Sydney's location. As the phone beeped on the passenger-side seat, though, he dared to hope.
He picked it up, continuing to drive with his free hand.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hello, Jack."
He breathed out in relief. "Where is Sydney?"
"In an old office building just south of Paris. I'm going to give you a phone number. When you reach Paris, call the number and you will receive exact directions."
"Give them to me now."
"We play this my way."
"You have what you wanted. You have the box," he said angrily, "now tell me where she is."
"You're going to have to trust me."
"I've made that mistake before."
"I don't have time for this, Jack. Now listen carefully."
#
Sydney woke with an awful headache. She hadn't slept well, huddled cold under her blanket on the hard cot, listening to water drip through the wall at her back. She had come awake several times to the same empty room, staring at the same empty cot across from her own. Vaughn had not returned, and she spent hours wishing the two of them had left things differently at the hotel. In one moment of weakness, she had allowed their relationship to become damaged and uncertain. If she never saw him again, if their captors killed him ...
No, she refused to think about that. He would come back to her. He had to.
Even if they did make it through this alive, what could they possibly say to each other now? He had brought her close to betraying her marriage vows. She had put him in mortal danger. Yet all she could think about was finding him and getting them out of here. The alternative was unthinkable. She couldn't bear the thought of going on without him.
When she could stare at the cot no longer, she closed her eyes, but sleep came unwillingly. When she did manage to doze off, she dreamed of Vaughn in a white room, tied to a chair under bright lights, bruised and bloody. Sometimes he was surrounded by faceless men, and sometimes it was only one man -- the one who had brought them here. He made slow cuts as Vaughn yelled, and Sydney woke up trembling.
After the latest awakening, she found her head pounding and her mouth dry and chalky. Her glass was empty, so she could only curl up and will her mouth to water on its own. She felt helpless, lying here as an uncertain end crept ever closer. Perhaps they would kill her, perhaps set her free. Maybe they had already killed Vaughn. The not knowing was torturous.
She drifted off again and in her dream, found herself back in the white room, but this time the blond man was not there. It was only her and Vaughn. He sat before her, strapped to the chair, his eyes sad as he watched her come closer. She looked down to find a knife in her hand, and slowly she used it to cut a bloody line across his chest.
"I only wanted to protect you," he said. "But you brought me here. You killed me."
She cut again, and he screamed.
"Wake up! Sydney, wake up!"
Someone was shaking her shoulders, and she struggled to open her eyes.
"Vaughn?" she asked blearily.
"No."
As she came more awake, she looked at the man sitting beside her on the cot, but it took several seconds before her sleepy mind recognized him. The blond man, her captor. He had woken her up.
"I heard screaming," she said.
"That was you." He put a glass in her hands. "Drink this."
She peered at it, distrustful of his intentions.
"It's water. You're thirsty. Drink."
She took a cautious sip, then confident that it was indeed water, she started to gulp it down greedily.
"Slow down, or you'll throw it up," he said.
She did as he asked, but eyed him suspiciously. "What are you playing at?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"You're the soul of courtesy now. Last time, you threatened me with Vaughn's life."
"Would you have eaten otherwise?"
"No."
"Despite what you think, Ms. Hecht, I am not your enemy."
"You shot me and Agent Vaughn. You kidnapped us, and you chained me to the wall."
"I was under orders. It's nothing personal."
"That's so reassuring," she said sarcastically.
He stood and looked down on her with an amused smile. "You're not afraid of me, are you? I like that, it shows strength. In a way, you remind me of me. I think we would get along quite nicely."
"You and I are nothing alike."
He smiled at her again in that irritating way that made her fists clench, then turned to leave. He opened the door, letting in a flood of bright light that made Sydney squint.
Before he could vanish through the door, leaving her alone again with only her tormented thoughts, Sydney yelled out, "What have you done with Vaughn?"
She didn't expect an answer. She expected him to walk away and leave her to agonize over the fate of her friend. Instead, he turned slowly in the doorway and regarded her. He looked regretful, but surely that must be a trick of her mind. This man would show no real compassion for her.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Hecht," he said, "but you will not see him again."
"What? What do you mean?" she asked, but the door shut and he was gone. "No, come back! What do you mean? Is he dead? Tell me!"
The man did not return, and Sydney screamed out her frustration. He couldn't just leave her like this! She had to know! She pried at the chains around her ankles, tugged at where they latched to the wall. She pulled and scratched and yelled, beyond reason as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"You're wrong! He's not dead!" she yelled at the door. "You hear me?"
Still the man did not return, but she did not give up her tirade for a long time.
#
The next time Sydney woke, it was to a pounding at the door. Once, twice something thudded against it, echoing through the room. The light bulb shook and swung on its cord above her. She couldn't guess what was happening, but she feared it meant danger.
After the third booming impact, Sydney started to look for a weapon, anything she could use to defend herself against whoever came through, but all she had was her empty water glass. She hit it against the floor and the rim shattered, creating a jagged edge. It wasn't much, but holding it made her feel more prepared.
The fourth time was loudest. Sydney jumped as the door crashed inward, rocking off its hinges and filling the room with blinding light. Something big fell through onto the floor. She could make out the shape of a person, face first on the concrete. He wasn't moving.
Sydney's heart pounded, and she grasped her makeshift weapon in both hands. Someone was about to come through, and she could only hope for a friend. Vaughn, or her father. But it could just as likely be someone come to kill her.
A slim figure appeared in the doorway, a black silhouette against the light, and stepped over the unmoving body, boot heels tapping on the floor. The figure leaned over the unconscious man and took something from him. It jangled in hand as the person approached, and still the light blinded Sydney from seeing who it was. She blinked furiously.
"Sydney. Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"
She froze. She knew that voice.
"Mom?"
"You sound surprised." Irina knelt by her cot and grabbed her ankle. Sydney couldn't help but flinch. "Hold still so I can get these off you."
The chain fell away from one leg and Irina threw it aside. Sydney set down her jagged glass as her mother used the guard's keys to unlock the chain on her other leg. Free of the constraints, she swung her feet around the side of the cot and to the floor.
"Mom, what are you doing here?"
"I'm rescuing you. Take this." She handed over a gun and drew another from a holster at her hip. "Do you know how to use it?"
"I never have before," Sydney said as she almost dropped it. She hadn't expected it to be so heavy.
Still, it felt familiar, holding the weapon. It fit her hand perfectly. She slid the clip out, found it fully loaded and snapped it back into place before she even realized what she was doing. How had she known to do that? Irina gave her a strange look but said nothing as she took Sydney's hand and led her toward the door.
"We have to find Vaughn," Sydney said.
Irina shook her head. "No time. I've rigged explosives, to stop anyone from pursuing us. The building will blow in less than ten minutes."
"So we'll be quick."
"He might not even be in the building."
"But what if he is?" Sydney jerked back from her mother's grip. "I'm not leaving without Vaughn. He's my friend, and I won't let him die."
Irina grasped her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "We do not have time. We must get out now, or we will die. Do you understand?"
Sydney nodded slowly, her heart breaking at the thought of losing Vaughn, but her mother was right. They couldn't gamble their lives on the slim chance of finding him in time.
Irina pulled the unconscious guard into the room then peeked around the door frame, her finger on the trigger of her gun. She stayed there for several seconds before nodding to Sydney, and the two of them crept into the hallway.
This was the first Sydney had seen of the building outside her small room. It looked like an office setup with blandly painted walls and beige carpet. Plain wooden doors lined both sides of the hall. About 50 feet away was an elevator, but Irina took them the other way.
They moved quickly. Sydney followed Irina's lead in sliding along with her back to the wall -- so no one could get behind them, she assumed. The gun felt heavy in her hands, and her ankles ached where she had been chained, but she tried to ignore the pain.
As they reached an adjoining hallway, Irina looked around the corner before going on. They turned left, past more doors. Some of these had windows in them, revealing what looked like science labs inside. There were more cots like the one Sydney had slept on, and white counters littered with bottles of liquids, but she couldn't linger to examine more closely. They had to keep moving.
At the far end of the hallway was a door with an exit sign overhead. Sydney wanted to run for it but she restrained herself.
Ahead of her, Irina stopped and jumped back a step, and Sydney almost bumped into her back. She pointed at the door beside them and gestured downward. Sydney understood. Someone was in there, and they had to stay beneath the window to avoid being seen. Irina went first and Sydney ducked low to follow, but she couldn't help but straighten up a little to peek inside. What she saw made her gasp. It was Vaughn!
He was lying on a cot, still unconscious, his shirt draped over a chair beside him. His arm was bandaged from the cut he had suffered in the alley behind the restaurant only days before, but it felt like a hundred years ago. All around him were examining tables, counters and glass cabinets full of bottles and boxes. He appeared to be alone in the room.
She tried the door knob but found it locked, so she banged her fist against the small window. Maybe the sound would wake him up.
"Sydney!" her mother whispered. "Come on!"
"It's Vaughn," she said. "The door's locked."
"We must go."
"Not without him."
They glared at each other, Irina looking more desperate and pleading than Sydney had ever seen, but this time, Sydney would not back down. She didn't care that her mother could probably knock her out and drag her from the building. Vaughn was in this mess because of her, and she would get him out of it.
Finally, Irina looked down and nodded. "All right, Sydney. We'll do it your way, just --"
A loud popping noise made Sydney duck instinctively. A second one followed as Irina yanked her toward the floor, and something sped over their heads. Two men stood down the hallway the way they had come from, guns in hand. Irina fired back, and the men dodged around a corner. She pointed her next shot at the door knob beside them. Sydney tensed as sparks flew.
"Get Vaughn and yourself out of here!" her mother yelled.
"What about you?"
The men fired again, and Sydney pressed herself against the wall as her mother shot back.
"I'll lead those men away from you. Just get out quickly!"
Before Sydney could answer, Irina took off down the corridor toward the men. Sydney threw her weight against the door, and it fell open. She ran inside.
"Vaughn! Wake up!" she yelled.
He didn't respond, and she thought for the first time, what if he weren't asleep, but dead? Her hand trembled as she felt at his neck, then relaxed when she found his pulse, slow but strong. She grabbed his shoulders and shook.
"Vaughn!"
He turned his head and mumbled something she couldn't understand. Damn it! Trying to wake him this way would take too long, and if her mother had told the truth about those explosives, they had about five minutes. She couldn't carry him. She had to find another way.
She wrenched open one of the cabinets and scanned the bottle labels, finding nothing that sounded familiar. She didn't dare use any of it. Danny had told her too many stories of people rushed to the emergency room who had overdosed on unknown chemicals. But surely the doctors there must use something to jolt awake their failing patients. Something strong enough to wake Vaughn now.
Oh, of course! Danny had spoken many times of using Adrenalin on his patients. With some luck, she might find some here. She certainly hoped so because it was their only chance. She rummaged through another cabinet, and Vaughn moaned again.
"Come on, Vaughn," she muttered. "Wake up."
"Syd?"
She spun around, hoping for a miracle, but his eyes remained closed and his body limp on the table. He was only talking in his sleep.
"Damn it," she muttered and yanked open a drawer beneath the counter. Several small glass bottles rolled about and clanked into each other, one with the word Adrenalin in big bold letters across the label. "Oh, thank God. Now where's a syringe?"
She found one in the next drawer over and filled it halfway, her best guess at how much would be needed for a full-grown man. She held it steady in both hands, poised over Vaughn's heart, then took a deep breath and plunged it in.
He yelled and bolted upright, the needle sticking straight out from his chest, and stared at her with wide, uncomprehending eyes. She yanked out the syringe, threw his shirt at him and grabbed his hand to pull him toward the door.
"Syd? What?" he asked, his voice panicky. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'll explain later. The building is about to explode. We have to run."
She pointed her gun around the door frame before peeking out, relieved to see the two men were gone. She hoped Irina had made it out OK, but they had no time to look for her. Behind her, Vaughn was pulling on his shirt and rubbing at his chest.
They ran down the hallway and through the door marked exit, then down three flights of stairs before finding a door that led outside. The night was cold, and Sydney's breath puffed out in clouds as they raced across a wide lawn and into the trees.
Suddenly a roar exploded behind them like nothing she had ever heard before. The ground shook and threw her down, with Vaughn tumbling beside her. She covered her ears and shut her eyes against the flash of light. Something slammed down next to her, and then it was over and she dared to look.
The building -- or what was left of it -- was in flames, making the grounds as bright as day. Chunks of debris lay scattered all around. A hunk on concrete as big as her head was only inches from where she had fallen. Smoke rose from the building like a thick, black curtain, accompanied by a stench that made her stomach churn.
Vaughn stood and helped her to her feet, and they both stared at the devastation.
"My God," he said. "How many people were in there?"
"I don't know," she answered, then sucked in her breath. Irina! Had she made it out, or was she in there when the explosives went off? Sydney was not going to let her mother die now, not when she had just found her.
She had run only a few steps toward the wreckage before Vaughn caught her shoulder and spun her around.
"What are you doing?"
"My mother might be in there!"
He shook his head. "If she was, going back won't do any good. Just look at it. No one could have survived that."
"I won't lose her again, Vaughn."
"It's too late, Sydney. I'm sorry."
He pulled her into his arms and held her there, close against his chest, as they watched the building burn. Sydney held in her tears. If this was her mother's pyre, at least she had ended her life doing something good. She had saved her daughter, and Sydney swore she would never forget.
"We have to get out of here," Vaughn said, then looked around. "Where are we anyway?"
"I don't know."
"And what happened back there? You say your mother was in there?"
She nodded. "You and I were being held captive. She set the explosives and then came to free me. I saw you, and she ran off after two men with guns while I tried to get you out."
"You shot me with something. Adrenalin?"
"It was the only thing I could think of."
"It hurt like hell," he said, and grinned. "But it was an excellent idea. We'll make an agent of you yet."
She grinned back. "Sydney Hecht, super spy."
"It has a nice ring to it."
"So what do we do now?"
Vaughn scanned the area and pointed back through the trees. "It looks like there's a road there. We can follow it. With this big a fire, there's bound to be emergency personnel arriving soon. They can help us."
She nodded numbly, and they started walking. After three steps, she passed out.
##