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Chapter Twelve:

Breaking Point

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It was Vaughn who snapped into action first, he spun on his heel, grabbing Sydney's hand and pulling her out of the room. The two of them rushed up the steps to the bedroom as Jack ran to the door, punching in codes hurriedly that would keep the door closed.

Sydney followed Vaughn to the bedroom, her heart in her throat. Shedding the towel from around his waist, he hurriedly pulled on the dry clothes waiting for them on the bed. Throwing Sydney's clothes to her, she did the same, her senses alert for any sound from below. She didn't like leaving her father alone down there but she was not going to be of much help to him, stark naked and weaponless.

Sydney slid her gun into the holster at her side and looked up to Vaughn. He was standing at the window, peering out cautiously. Pulling her damp hair back in a hasty ponytail, she joined him.

"Do you see anything?" She whispered. Vaughn shook his head and let the curtain fall shut. He looked at her, she was tense with anticipation, fingers gripping his sleeve tightly. Holding one finger to his lips, he pried her hand away from his shirt and led her to the door. They moved silently down the steps, guns in hand, alert for danger.

The front door stood ajar, Jack was nowhere in sight. Sydney swallowed hard, glancing at Vaughn fearfully. He looked down at her, one hand finding hers as they moved quietly down the hallway. Vaughn paused before the living room, his back flat against the wall, gun steady in his hands. He glanced at Sydney and nodded slightly, the light fluttered in the hallway, shadows passing over the source. Holding her body perfectly still, Sydney quieted her mind and allowed her senses to come to attention. She could hear a faint rasp of fabric and heavy breathing. There was someone in there and they were not alone. Looking up into Vaughn's eyes, Sydney nodded in return and raised her gun. Stepping past him, she entered the room, her gun automatically trained on the two figures seated within.

Her mouth fell in shock and then closed again, jaw clenched in anger. Her grip on her gun tightened imperceptibly at the sight of the man who sat before her, his gun trained on her father's head. He smiled at her almost warmly, but his eyes were like chips of ice. Jack's head was lowered, there was blood from a fresh wound streaking his forehead. She couldn't tell whether or not he was still conscious.

"Oleg," she breathed in shock. She narrowed her eyes as he smiled at her, the same cruel smile she had seen through a blur of tears and blood during months of torture.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded. The smirk was fixed on his face as he gazed at her steadily. His eyes roamed her body and she suppressed a shudder of disgust.

"Julia," he spoke almost lovingly, she tensed at the use of her alias. "I couldn't believe them when they told me that you had defected." The smile vanished from his face and all warmth seeped from his voice. "I came to correct a mistake."

Sydney glared at him, using all of her strength to resist killing him on the spot. He was too close to Jack, using him as a human shield against her. "There is no mistake, Oleg," her voice was like ice. "How did you find me?"

He chuckled emotionlessly, "I cared deeply for you, Julia. I never wanted anything happen to you, you were my favorite. I injected a transmittor under your skin months ago, in case you were ever captured." His face twisted with barely contained rage suddenly. "I never suspected that I would need it in a case like this. You were my crowning achievement, my best work. You were the height of my career."

Sydney scowled at him, "I was nothing to you." She spit the words, venom in her tone. "I was only an experiment."

"Julia…"

Sydney stepped closer to him, rage blinding her. "Don't call me that!" She screamed at him, the hand holding the gun outstretched was shaking. "My name is Sydney Bristow, you ugly bastard! It always has been, you never broke me! I fooled you better than anyone else because you didn't want to believe the truth."

Oleg sighed and shook his head, "There were so many signs. I should have known." His hand tensed on the trigger of the gun and he smiled that cold, cruel smile again. "But that doesn't matter anymore. There are Covenant agents searching for you, they will be here soon enough. I simply had to see for myself." He appeared almost wistful for a moment as he looked at her.

"You have no idea how much pleasure breaking you gave me. You always had such spirit, Sydney but I knew that slowly, that spirit would begin to crumble. Your moans of pain, the way your flesh opened so easily beneath my knife. The way you cried out in the worst moments of pain for your lost lover who never saved you, they gave me a pleasure I have not known in years. I would listen to you speak to him in the darkness, when you thought I could not hear. Such tender words for a man who never bothered to come looking for you. If only he had heard the way you moaned like a whore when our men took their turns with you." He smiled with genuine pleasure at the memory and Sydney froze. The dark memories of her torture that she had kept locked inside a box in her mind threatened to escape, to overcome her. She knew that was exactly what he wanted. "You called his name often then as well but he never saved you from the violation. You would struggle against the chains at first but inevitably, you gave up fighting them. Cole was especially pleased to find you were no longer resisting when he took his turn, I think I may have received a raise from just that experience. Often I had to wonder who took more pleasure in your torture, myself or Cole." He looked from her to Jack and his eyes narrowed. Sydney could not move, could barely breathe, could barely even hear the words he was speaking. She found herself transported back into the moment when she'd woken in her cell, blood staining her thighs. She had hidden it all from herself but now it was surging back to the surface.

"I should have realized that the only way to keep your old life away was by killing it. There is no better place to start, I believe, than with your father. After him, perhaps I should find the man you called out for so often during your isolation and torture?" His smile grew wider, even more wicked. "What was his name? Vaughn, I believe it was?" She was suddenly painfully aware of Vaughn's presence in the hall behind her. He was waiting for a sign from her to enter the room, she could not dare to give it now. Silently, she urged him to run, but knew that he would do no such thing. Oleg's smile mocked her as her eyes fell on her father in despair. His finger was poised on the trigger and very slowly, he began to pull.

Sydney leapt into action, jumping the remaining distance between him, screaming with rage. Time slowed for a brief second as he pulled the trigger, the sound of the gun deafened her. She recoiled from the noise and a raw scream escaped her throat. In the split second of time that it took Oleg to pull the trigger, Jack whirled suddenly out of his grip, knocking the gun aside as the bullet shot free from the chamber, narrowly skimming his skin. Jack cried out as the impact knocked him down.

From behind her, Vaughn darted into the room, pushing her back with his free hand. His gun was secured in his holster, but the look of wild rage in his eyes scared even her. He launched himself onto Oleg, punching the older man hard in the face. He was screaming at him, Sydney could barely discern the words but she had a feeling she knew what was being said. Time snapped back into place and Sydney shook a wave of dizziness off. She looked around the room with clear eyes, her father was slumped on the floor, one hand held to his bleeding head. His eyes were fixed on her, questioning. She shook her head at him and turned to Vaughn.

Vaughn was straddling Oleg, his face contorted in grief and rage. He had heard every word that Oleg had said, seen the scars marking her skin. The guilt and anger had finally overwhelmed him, he was still striking the now unconscious Oleg with balled fists. His knuckles gleamed with wet blood, it was smeared on his face.

"Bastard! I'll make you pay for what you've done to her! Why did it have to be her? You sick perverted bastard!" His words were streaming together in a virtually nonsensical stream of rage. Sydney crossed the room slowly, touching Vaughn's shoulder with a loving hand. He stilled under her palms and his fists dropped to his side. Rolling off of Oleg, he pulled himself into a ball beside the bloody man. He was shaking violently, his eyes still fixed on the man beside him. Sydney wrapped her arms around him, kneeling beside him to hug him from behind. A broken sob escaped his throat and he turned, wrapping his arms around her, blood staining her clothes. She rocked him gently, tears slipping out from beneath closed lids. She wanted to block out what he had said, wanted to take it from Vaughn's memory but she could not.

"It's okay," she murmured softly against his skin and his trembling ceased. Regaining his composure, he looked up at her, the rage gone from his eyes, replaced instead by grief.

"I'm so sorry, I couldn't save you from him," he whispered. Sydney shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"It's not your fault," she whispered in response. "It's over now. I'm okay."

Vaughn nodded and she was struck by how childlike he appeared suddenly, so innocent and afraid. The illusion quickly vanished as his eyes cleared once more and he stood, determination and courage in his posture once more. She took his hand, disregarding the blood that was drying on his skin and kissed his cheek softly.

"Are you alright, Jack?" Vaughn asked as he looked over to the older Bristow. Jack nodded, already back on his feet.

"Yeah, it just grazed me. I'll be fine. That could have been a lot worse."

"Lucky for us, Oleg is not an agent of the Covenant, merely one of their tools." Sydney's face was troubled as she glanced down at the man on the floor. She could barely recognize him now, his face was bloody and disfigured from Vaughn's beating. She thought that she could see a bone protruding from the broken flesh and swallowed a wave of nausea.

"He came here on his own to see me," she cursed under her breath suddenly. "I should have assumed that he would have planted a tracking device on me." She looked up at Vaughn. "We have to remove it before we go any further. It will do us no good to throw Lauren off by removing your chip and then have the rest of the Covenant swarming in on us because of mine."

Vaughn studied her eyes carefully for a long moment, he knew what she was asking him to do but he did not like it. He nodded wordlessly and turned away, Sydney watched him leave the room silently, listening to his footsteps on the stairs. She turned to look at her father before following him.

"Have you contacted mom?"

Jack nodded, gathering his thoughts. "Yes, we have arranged to meet tomorrow evening in Dublin. Everything is ready, we just need to leave as soon as possible." Jack's eyes hardened as he glanced down at Oleg. "Sydney, we must be extremely cautious from now on. Vaughn and I have both been far too sloppy in our relief to have you back with us. I should have thought to check for transmittors on the both of you before we even left the harbor. Now you have an agent tailing you and we don't know whom Oleg may have informed about your whereabouts. We can afford no more mistakes."

Sydney nodded in agreement, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. "You're right. We must take more precautions." She shook her head, "But I've seen how the Covenant works. They are disorganized and sloppy but when it comes to me, they've shown more strength than I ever thought them capable of. They're desperate to get me back."

"We won't let that happen," Jack assured her, he placed one hand on her shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. Sydney looked up at him smiled, clasping his hand with her own. Her smile vanished as she glanced down at Oleg, her face twisting in disgust.

"If he wakes up, let me know. I have a few questions for him." With that said, she squeezed her father's hand one more time and left the room.

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Vaughn stared at his reflection in the mirror, he had washed the blood from his hands and face but he could still feel it staining his skin. The warm slick taint of it, the bitterly sweet smell that clogged his nostrils. He had lost control downstairs and he knew it, but hearing what that bastard had said to her had been too much for him. Knowing that the man who had been responsible for those scars on her flesh was standing less than five feet away from him, mocking her. He had been blinded with rage.

He looked up as Sydney entered the bathroom, she smiled at him gently and he could not help but smile back. No matter how many shadows plagued his soul or darkened his thoughts, she was the flame that kept everything alight.

She placed one hand gently on his back as she crossed over to stand next to him. Her hand moved in small circles, a comforting motion that eased his tense muscles instantly. He dropped his head and looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I lost control down there," he whispered. "I'm sorry."

She was shaking her head before the words had even left his mouth. "Don't apologize, he deserved everything you did to him and more." She locked the memories back into the box where they belonged. Concentrating on the task at hand, she held up a small scalpel and handed it to him. "We don't have time for unecessary guilt or regret, Vaughn. We need to leave and fast."

He took the knife from her, hesitantly, uncertainty was evident in his eyes. She shook her head, dispelling the questions that sprung to his lips. He swallowed his fear and asked instead, "Where do you think it might be?"

Sydney's eyes darkened and she removed her shirt, grasping Vaughn's hand she traced his fingers across her chest to the scar that marred the skin of her breast. His fingers slid smoothly over the flesh, pausing as he felt a small lump just above her nipple. He swallowed hard, the hatred for the man who had done this to her resurging strongly. He did not regret a single thing he had done to him.

Sydney closed her eyes and Vaughn took a deep breath, steadying his trembling hands. She inhaled sharply as the blade bit into her exposed flesh and Vaughn swallowed hard at the blood that welled up from the cut. Pushing gently on her breast, he squeezed the chip out of her flesh and threw it into the sink with disgust. He removed a band-aid from the first aid kit on the counter and applied it tenderly to the cut. Leaning down, he kissed her breast gently where the wound was and looked up at her. She was staring down at him with wide eyes, glazed with unshed tears. He kissed her lips softly and held her close to him, seeking to soothe the pain that had risen once more in her heart.

"I love you," he whispered against her skin. She did not respond with words, only hugged him tighter to her. A sigh whispered across his skin and she pulled back slightly.

"We have to leave," she told him. He nodded, stroking her face gently before bending down to retrieve her shirt from the bathroom floor. The silence echoed off the empty walls as he watched her. His mind was filled with torturous images of her chained to a table, men raping her over and over again as she cried out for him. It was too much to bear. As if sensing his thoughts, Sydney touched his face gently and shook her head. There were no more words needed between them as she took his hand and led him out of the bathroom.

They found Jack kneeling on the floor beside Oleg, one hand gripping his wrist. The bag containing the propechy and his computer lay beside him. Oleg was still, no breath escaping his lungs. Sydney looked to her father curiously as Jack shook his head.

"He's dead," he muttered as he stood away from the body. Sydney stared at her tormentor coldly before shaking her head.

"Good," her words were cold and she pressed closer to Vaughn for warmth. "He was only wasting air anyway." Turning her eyes from the dead man on the floor, she looked to her father who was watching her closely. Picking the bag up from the floor, she slung it over her shoulder. "It's time to go."

The two men exchanged silent glances, before following her from the house.

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Lauren arrived at the safehouse as dawn was breaking over the horizon. The morning light left her feeling cold and vulnerable to the elements, she hated the feeling.

She entered the house quietly, finding the door ajar as she did so. Her footsteps echoed in the silence of the house, narrowing her eyes she cursed under her breath. No one was here, they had slipped her grasp once more.

She froze as she passed the living room, her eyes drifting back to what she had seen out of the corner of her eye. A body lay on the floor in a pool of blood, features virtually unrecognizable as she drew closer. With a frown, she knelt beside the body and searched his pockets for any form of identification.

In his wallet, she found a photograph of Sydney Bristow. Her hair was blonde and her expression cold, she was in her guise of Julia Thorne in the photo and Lauren felt her heart sink. It was Oleg, a man who had been her mentor when she had joined the Covenant. He had taught her some of the highest form of torture and brainwashing, lessons that had proved invaluable in her service to the Covenant. Now he was dead, another victim to Sydney Bristow.

She felt her heart harden, she remembered how much Oleg had loved Julia, a fact that she had resented the other woman for strongly. It had been Lauren who had informed Oleg of Sydney's defection, she had taken a certain pleasure in informing him that the woman who had replaced her in his affections was a traitor to their organization. Now he was dead.

She stood, the wallet slipping from numb fingers. She turned her gaze to the photograph that fluttered to the ground, it landed in the pool of blood, crimson liquid seeping over the beautiful face of Sydney Bristow.

"Now it's personal for both of us, Sydney Bristow," she addressed the woman in the photo coldly. Swallowing hard, she turned and strode from the room.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she contemplated her options. The tracker which Sydney had removed from Vaughn lay on the table before her, mocking her thoughts. She had run out of options, she had failed thus far but there was still a chance that she could find him.

With a heavy sigh, she picked up the phone and dialed the number for Cole. At the sound of the click, she spoke before he even had a chance to question her.

"I need to know where I can find Irina Derevko."

On the other end, Cole smiled in grim satisfaction.

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