AN: Hey everyone! I am glad (and sad) to say that my musical is over, and
overjoyed to say that a huge project I had to do is done, so I am back to
having a life! I'm going to be focusing on my writing for a while, and
working very hard on this story, so hopefully it will only get better. I'm
attempting to put in both sides of the Alias story, the missions and the
personal aspects, so I hope I am hitting as best I can. Thanks to everyone
for the great reviews!
"This is White Rabbit (my new codename I had chosen since coming back. Mountaineer was out of date). I'm at the vault. Am I clear to open it?"
"Yeah, you're good." Weiss's voice came through the speaker in my ear.
"Where's Marshall?"
"He just left. Carrie is having the baby."
"Seriously? Good timing."
"You're telling me. I just had to marry them."
"Wait, what?" He laughed.
"Carrie wanted to be married before she had the baby."
"That's one way to do it."
"I was ordained by the Church of Mammals or something. So weird."
"Okay, well, I'm using the code to get in. How's Boy Scout doing?"
"He's in and in the process of deleting the files."
"Well then, I'll talk to you once I have the poison." I shut off my microphone and focused on the vault in front of me. It needed an eight- digit code to get in. I pulled out my line and decoder and attached it to the lock. Instantly the eight numbers came up. But I was skeptical about if it was true. "Base Camp, this is White Rabbit again. Did Marshall leave any notes on the security system?"
"Just to put in the eight numbers and use the scanner to shut down the anti-intrusion lasers."
"Okay, then I'm going radio silent again." The code was 39745347. I pressed the numbers in that order and heard a beep. The door to the vault swung open, revealing a single, green vial of liquid. I opened my pack again and pulled out the scanner. It was just like a laser pointer, but about three inches wide. I pressed the on button and let the lasers trace the outline of the vault. Once I heard a second beep, I knew that I was clear to take the vial out. Once retrieved, I put the vial into my pack and headed off for the exit. "Base Camp, mission complete. I have the poison and am heading for the entrance."
"Copy you, White Rabbit. Boy Scout should be on his way." I nodded and took off running. The hallways passed quickly and I soon found myself back where Vaughn and I had entered the building. But Vaughn wasn't there. It was possible that he was just taking his time, but that didn't seem like him.
Ten minutes later and nothing. I couldn't help but think something had gone wrong.
"Base Camp, this is White Rabbit. Where is Boy Scout?" No reply. "Base Camp? Do you read?"
"They can't hear you. I cut the feed about five minutes ago." A snide, cocky, British accent entered my ear. "And I assume you are looking for your dear Mr. Vaughn?"
"Sark. Or should I say Julian? Which do you prefer?"
"Do not mock me, Sydney, Vaughn's life may hang in the balance. You don't know what's going on back here."
"Please, don't hurt him. Just tell me what you want."
"Well, first I want you to know about the poison you have in your pack. As you have been told, it is a genetically targeted poison and you are supposed to bring it back to the CIA for analysis. You have no need. Mr. Vaughn was already able to see who the target is. That is why we had to apprehend him."
"So, what do you want?"
"An associate of mine is coming to meet you. Follow her and you will find me. We will negotiate then." I heard his voice cut off and knew he was gone. And, as he said, right then a woman, assumedly since he said it was a her, walked around the corner. She had a black mask covering here face.
"Who are you?" She didn't say a word. She just turned around and headed in the direction she had come from. I followed her, not saying another word. We went through a maze of hallways, turning left and right and left again until we reached a door. She opened it and motioned for me to walk through first. Knowing that Vaughn was in danger, I went.
"Ah, Sydney, it's been too long."
"Yes, I believe the last time we met I was holding a knife to your..."
"Let's not go there." He said sharply. I noticed the girl begin to snicker by the door. When I turned back to Sark, I saw behind him. Vaughn was tied to a chair, knocked out, with a blindfold on his eyes and a gag in his mouth.
"What do I have to do to make you let him go?"
"Give me the poison."
"Tell me who it targets and I will give it to you."
"You."
"Excuse me?"
"The poison is meant for you. This is my mansion and I set this whole thing up."
"But why? All you will achieve from this is that I know I am a target and Vaughn and I will leave."
"No, you won't. I said I would let Vaughn go, but I didn't say I would let you two leave the building. My dear partner and I have some plans still." I was mad. There was still a chance that they could kill Vaughn, and me as well.
"Let Vaughn go and I will stay. I will give you the poison and do whatever else you want me to do, but let him leave."
"I told you, we have plans still to complete. And we need you both here." I had to comply. I took the vial from my pack and handed it to Sark. He quickly cut the ties that held Vaughn and he fell to the floor. I flew to Vaughn's side and lifted his head onto my lap.
"What did you do to him?"
"Mild sleeping potion. He should only be out for a bit longer." As I cradled Vaughn's head, I shot a glance at the mysterious woman. Her eyes, which were the only feature I could see, held a look of anger and betrayal.
"Who is she?"
"Ah, darling, do you think we should reveal your identity?" Her head tilted in Vaughn's direction. "He probably won't believe her anyway." But she shook her head. "Ah, I guess you are right. We'll save the surprise for later." He looked at her again, this time almost longingly, but then shook his head. "I'll be back for you later." The way her eyes glowed made me know she was anticipating his return already. I decided this was the moment to ask what I had wanted to for a while.
"Is Allison dead?" A scowl crept onto his face.
"Yes, when Will stabbed her, he cut her heart open. Not even the Rambaldi solution could save her. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it."
"Actually, her death meant nothing to him. It just made him feel empty."
"Well, then we are both at a loss. I have moved on."
"So you're sure there's no way I can get you to release Vaughn?" He nodded and motioned for me to follow, which I did. He grabbed Vaughn and slung him roughly over his shoulder. He lead me through a door in the back, down three flights of stairs, through more hallways and finally to a metal door. I walked into the room, followed by Sark and Vaughn. Sark plopped Vaughn onto the floor and then turned and left. I heard the door bolt behind me and I knew I was going to be here for a while.
The room was dark, dank, and gloomy. There were no windows or openings to the outside. The only light came from the ceiling, where dying bulbs flickered on and off. As I turned to survey more of the room, heard Vaughn begin to stir. I went to his side and laid his head back on my lap.
"No! Please, don't hurt her. No!" His forehead was burning up. "Get her somewhere safe." I figured he was talking about Lauren because she was back at home right now. He probably believed she was in danger. My head spun around and landed on one spot. There was a small water spigot on the back wall. I gently laid his head back on the ground and ran to it.
On the plane I had changed into the normal black outfit, but had put a tank top on under the long sleeve shirt. Now I found myself so glad I did. I took off the top shirt and soaked it with water from the spigot. Once it was mostly filled, I returned to Vaughn's side and began running the wet shirt over his forehead.
"Please, don't hurt her." He was still mumbling, but he was becoming cooler.
"Vaughn, wake up."
"Don't hurt Sydney." I gasped. He hadn't been talking about Lauren. Oh well, I'd handle that later.
"Vaughn, it's okay. You're safe." In a sense. His eyes opened and he sat up quickly, making our heads knock together. "Ow!" I turned away from him to hold my aching head.
"Syd?" He placed his hand on my shoulder and I turned back to him. "Oh my God, I'm sorry!"
"It's all right. Been through worse." I smiled.
"What happened? I was downloading the info and right after I radioed in, I heard Sark. I started running, but then everything went dark."
"This whole mission was a setup. This mansion belongs to Sark. He knew we'd be here. I got the poison and got to the entrance. Sark blocked the feed to Weiss and told me that if I didn't come to him, you'd die."
"Sydney, you should have left."
"I guess you don't know me that well. I would die before I did that." There was an awkward silence for a moment. I meant it though.
"You're the target of the poison." He finally said.
"I know, he told me. I guess I'll be eating only packaged food for a while."
"You can't be joking about this! Sydney, he could kill you in an instant. He could put that poison into the air and everyone would be fine, except you."
"He won't use the poison. He'll use it as a bargaining tool to get some bit of information or some artifact we own. I won't die."
"How can you be sure?"
"I can't. But I'm not afraid of death and I'm not afraid of him."
"What are you afraid of?" The silence crept back like a darkening cloud. I stood and turned away from him. "Sydney, what are you afraid of?"
"Not now, Vaughn."
"Syd."
"You know what I'm afraid of. You have no need to ask."
"Say it." I heard the words echoing in my head. Words I had said to him long ago. 'I'm not afraid of a lot. But I'm afraid of losing you.' When Vaughn had been investigated for researching my mother's actions, we had had a long talk before going back to the Joint Task force. It was then that I had expressed my one of only a few things that scared me. He made it worse by saying 'If you never see me again, it was fun.' It had angered me because, at that moment, I was the most scared I had ever been. When I had come back and found out that he was married, my worst fear had come true. And he knew it.
"We've gone over this, Vaughn." I walked to the spigot and cupped some water in my hands. As I rinsed it over my face, I tried to figure out a way that I wouldn't have to talk to Vaughn for a long time. Like until we got home. I shook my head and turned back towards where Vaughn was sitting. But he wasn't sitting anymore. He was standing right behind me. So close that as I turned, there was very little room between us. "Vaughn, no."
"I meant what I said."
"I know. But we...you can't."
"Syd, things are going wrong between me and Lauren. It was only a matter of time."
"Things weren't going wrong until I came back. If I were still with the Covenant, you'd still be happy."
"I was tormented when you were gone. Knowing that I had been the last person with you before you died. That if I had stayed with you that night, things would have been different."
"You can't change the past."
"But I can change my future."
"Vaug..." He didn't let me finish. Instantly his arm was around my back and he was kissing me. I told myself to fight it, but my heart wouldn't let me. What was it about jail cells that did this to us? Suddenly, my arms were around his neck and I was kissing him back. 'Sydney, what are you doing?' My thoughts were screaming at me. But, for one of the first times, I wasn't going to listen to them. When we finally pulled apart, I noticed that tears had started to run down my face. "Vaughn, I..."
"Shhh, Syd. Everything's gonna be all right." Funny thing is, I believed him.
AN: Okay, to all you saying "Wait, that shouldn't be happening! That's wrong!" Etc... Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Just go with me for a while and I think you'll like it. :-D Oh, and just a side note, that part about the fear thing with Syd and her saying the fear thing to Vaughn, I made that up for the story. I felt it added a real strong emotional moment for Syd and Vaughn. Please review and comment on the story. I should have the next chapter up in less than a week, but we'll see what happens.
"This is White Rabbit (my new codename I had chosen since coming back. Mountaineer was out of date). I'm at the vault. Am I clear to open it?"
"Yeah, you're good." Weiss's voice came through the speaker in my ear.
"Where's Marshall?"
"He just left. Carrie is having the baby."
"Seriously? Good timing."
"You're telling me. I just had to marry them."
"Wait, what?" He laughed.
"Carrie wanted to be married before she had the baby."
"That's one way to do it."
"I was ordained by the Church of Mammals or something. So weird."
"Okay, well, I'm using the code to get in. How's Boy Scout doing?"
"He's in and in the process of deleting the files."
"Well then, I'll talk to you once I have the poison." I shut off my microphone and focused on the vault in front of me. It needed an eight- digit code to get in. I pulled out my line and decoder and attached it to the lock. Instantly the eight numbers came up. But I was skeptical about if it was true. "Base Camp, this is White Rabbit again. Did Marshall leave any notes on the security system?"
"Just to put in the eight numbers and use the scanner to shut down the anti-intrusion lasers."
"Okay, then I'm going radio silent again." The code was 39745347. I pressed the numbers in that order and heard a beep. The door to the vault swung open, revealing a single, green vial of liquid. I opened my pack again and pulled out the scanner. It was just like a laser pointer, but about three inches wide. I pressed the on button and let the lasers trace the outline of the vault. Once I heard a second beep, I knew that I was clear to take the vial out. Once retrieved, I put the vial into my pack and headed off for the exit. "Base Camp, mission complete. I have the poison and am heading for the entrance."
"Copy you, White Rabbit. Boy Scout should be on his way." I nodded and took off running. The hallways passed quickly and I soon found myself back where Vaughn and I had entered the building. But Vaughn wasn't there. It was possible that he was just taking his time, but that didn't seem like him.
Ten minutes later and nothing. I couldn't help but think something had gone wrong.
"Base Camp, this is White Rabbit. Where is Boy Scout?" No reply. "Base Camp? Do you read?"
"They can't hear you. I cut the feed about five minutes ago." A snide, cocky, British accent entered my ear. "And I assume you are looking for your dear Mr. Vaughn?"
"Sark. Or should I say Julian? Which do you prefer?"
"Do not mock me, Sydney, Vaughn's life may hang in the balance. You don't know what's going on back here."
"Please, don't hurt him. Just tell me what you want."
"Well, first I want you to know about the poison you have in your pack. As you have been told, it is a genetically targeted poison and you are supposed to bring it back to the CIA for analysis. You have no need. Mr. Vaughn was already able to see who the target is. That is why we had to apprehend him."
"So, what do you want?"
"An associate of mine is coming to meet you. Follow her and you will find me. We will negotiate then." I heard his voice cut off and knew he was gone. And, as he said, right then a woman, assumedly since he said it was a her, walked around the corner. She had a black mask covering here face.
"Who are you?" She didn't say a word. She just turned around and headed in the direction she had come from. I followed her, not saying another word. We went through a maze of hallways, turning left and right and left again until we reached a door. She opened it and motioned for me to walk through first. Knowing that Vaughn was in danger, I went.
"Ah, Sydney, it's been too long."
"Yes, I believe the last time we met I was holding a knife to your..."
"Let's not go there." He said sharply. I noticed the girl begin to snicker by the door. When I turned back to Sark, I saw behind him. Vaughn was tied to a chair, knocked out, with a blindfold on his eyes and a gag in his mouth.
"What do I have to do to make you let him go?"
"Give me the poison."
"Tell me who it targets and I will give it to you."
"You."
"Excuse me?"
"The poison is meant for you. This is my mansion and I set this whole thing up."
"But why? All you will achieve from this is that I know I am a target and Vaughn and I will leave."
"No, you won't. I said I would let Vaughn go, but I didn't say I would let you two leave the building. My dear partner and I have some plans still." I was mad. There was still a chance that they could kill Vaughn, and me as well.
"Let Vaughn go and I will stay. I will give you the poison and do whatever else you want me to do, but let him leave."
"I told you, we have plans still to complete. And we need you both here." I had to comply. I took the vial from my pack and handed it to Sark. He quickly cut the ties that held Vaughn and he fell to the floor. I flew to Vaughn's side and lifted his head onto my lap.
"What did you do to him?"
"Mild sleeping potion. He should only be out for a bit longer." As I cradled Vaughn's head, I shot a glance at the mysterious woman. Her eyes, which were the only feature I could see, held a look of anger and betrayal.
"Who is she?"
"Ah, darling, do you think we should reveal your identity?" Her head tilted in Vaughn's direction. "He probably won't believe her anyway." But she shook her head. "Ah, I guess you are right. We'll save the surprise for later." He looked at her again, this time almost longingly, but then shook his head. "I'll be back for you later." The way her eyes glowed made me know she was anticipating his return already. I decided this was the moment to ask what I had wanted to for a while.
"Is Allison dead?" A scowl crept onto his face.
"Yes, when Will stabbed her, he cut her heart open. Not even the Rambaldi solution could save her. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it."
"Actually, her death meant nothing to him. It just made him feel empty."
"Well, then we are both at a loss. I have moved on."
"So you're sure there's no way I can get you to release Vaughn?" He nodded and motioned for me to follow, which I did. He grabbed Vaughn and slung him roughly over his shoulder. He lead me through a door in the back, down three flights of stairs, through more hallways and finally to a metal door. I walked into the room, followed by Sark and Vaughn. Sark plopped Vaughn onto the floor and then turned and left. I heard the door bolt behind me and I knew I was going to be here for a while.
The room was dark, dank, and gloomy. There were no windows or openings to the outside. The only light came from the ceiling, where dying bulbs flickered on and off. As I turned to survey more of the room, heard Vaughn begin to stir. I went to his side and laid his head back on my lap.
"No! Please, don't hurt her. No!" His forehead was burning up. "Get her somewhere safe." I figured he was talking about Lauren because she was back at home right now. He probably believed she was in danger. My head spun around and landed on one spot. There was a small water spigot on the back wall. I gently laid his head back on the ground and ran to it.
On the plane I had changed into the normal black outfit, but had put a tank top on under the long sleeve shirt. Now I found myself so glad I did. I took off the top shirt and soaked it with water from the spigot. Once it was mostly filled, I returned to Vaughn's side and began running the wet shirt over his forehead.
"Please, don't hurt her." He was still mumbling, but he was becoming cooler.
"Vaughn, wake up."
"Don't hurt Sydney." I gasped. He hadn't been talking about Lauren. Oh well, I'd handle that later.
"Vaughn, it's okay. You're safe." In a sense. His eyes opened and he sat up quickly, making our heads knock together. "Ow!" I turned away from him to hold my aching head.
"Syd?" He placed his hand on my shoulder and I turned back to him. "Oh my God, I'm sorry!"
"It's all right. Been through worse." I smiled.
"What happened? I was downloading the info and right after I radioed in, I heard Sark. I started running, but then everything went dark."
"This whole mission was a setup. This mansion belongs to Sark. He knew we'd be here. I got the poison and got to the entrance. Sark blocked the feed to Weiss and told me that if I didn't come to him, you'd die."
"Sydney, you should have left."
"I guess you don't know me that well. I would die before I did that." There was an awkward silence for a moment. I meant it though.
"You're the target of the poison." He finally said.
"I know, he told me. I guess I'll be eating only packaged food for a while."
"You can't be joking about this! Sydney, he could kill you in an instant. He could put that poison into the air and everyone would be fine, except you."
"He won't use the poison. He'll use it as a bargaining tool to get some bit of information or some artifact we own. I won't die."
"How can you be sure?"
"I can't. But I'm not afraid of death and I'm not afraid of him."
"What are you afraid of?" The silence crept back like a darkening cloud. I stood and turned away from him. "Sydney, what are you afraid of?"
"Not now, Vaughn."
"Syd."
"You know what I'm afraid of. You have no need to ask."
"Say it." I heard the words echoing in my head. Words I had said to him long ago. 'I'm not afraid of a lot. But I'm afraid of losing you.' When Vaughn had been investigated for researching my mother's actions, we had had a long talk before going back to the Joint Task force. It was then that I had expressed my one of only a few things that scared me. He made it worse by saying 'If you never see me again, it was fun.' It had angered me because, at that moment, I was the most scared I had ever been. When I had come back and found out that he was married, my worst fear had come true. And he knew it.
"We've gone over this, Vaughn." I walked to the spigot and cupped some water in my hands. As I rinsed it over my face, I tried to figure out a way that I wouldn't have to talk to Vaughn for a long time. Like until we got home. I shook my head and turned back towards where Vaughn was sitting. But he wasn't sitting anymore. He was standing right behind me. So close that as I turned, there was very little room between us. "Vaughn, no."
"I meant what I said."
"I know. But we...you can't."
"Syd, things are going wrong between me and Lauren. It was only a matter of time."
"Things weren't going wrong until I came back. If I were still with the Covenant, you'd still be happy."
"I was tormented when you were gone. Knowing that I had been the last person with you before you died. That if I had stayed with you that night, things would have been different."
"You can't change the past."
"But I can change my future."
"Vaug..." He didn't let me finish. Instantly his arm was around my back and he was kissing me. I told myself to fight it, but my heart wouldn't let me. What was it about jail cells that did this to us? Suddenly, my arms were around his neck and I was kissing him back. 'Sydney, what are you doing?' My thoughts were screaming at me. But, for one of the first times, I wasn't going to listen to them. When we finally pulled apart, I noticed that tears had started to run down my face. "Vaughn, I..."
"Shhh, Syd. Everything's gonna be all right." Funny thing is, I believed him.
AN: Okay, to all you saying "Wait, that shouldn't be happening! That's wrong!" Etc... Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Just go with me for a while and I think you'll like it. :-D Oh, and just a side note, that part about the fear thing with Syd and her saying the fear thing to Vaughn, I made that up for the story. I felt it added a real strong emotional moment for Syd and Vaughn. Please review and comment on the story. I should have the next chapter up in less than a week, but we'll see what happens.