Special thanks to Melanie (sweetsouthernbell07) for her wonderful betaing, and suggestions. As well as many thanks to all the reviewers, it was so cool to get the reviews and made me write this chapter quicker. All your questions are answered at the end. So I hope you enjoy....
Marshall finally got the thing out of his jacket, "This..." excitedly showing it to everyone, "...looks like a normal highlighter...something that you'd use to...to highlight some important date in your diary or..."
But instead, Marshall was holding up a diet energy bar, "...oops". Turning red he shoved it quickly back into his pocket and got the highlighter that he had intended to talk about, and fumbled on with his explanation.
Usually, something like this would have made Sydney smile. Marshall was one of the sweetest guys that she knew, he was this quirky genius that came up with the most amazing and sometimes crazy gadgets for her to use on missions. But now, she just wanted him to quickly give her the things she needed, so she wouldn't have to spend any more time in the presence of Sloane and Sark.
Vaughn, due to being exposed to the liquid inside the red Rambaldi ball in Taipei, had been infected with a deadly virus. Sydney had tried to get the antidote that would save him, but in her attempt she was caught by Sark, who in his usual charm, told her to deliver Sloane so that he could kill him, in exchange for the antidote.
As much as Sydney hated Sloane and wanted to take down SD-6, premeditating his murder was not a goal. There were so many issues with killing Sloane; the most obvious was how to kill him without exposing herself as a double agent. Secondly, through her father's close relationship with Sloane, he was privy to highly classified intel on the inner workings of the Alliance, hence Sloane's death would be a setback in the task of destroying SD-6 and the Alliance.
For Sydney, despite these moral and tactical problems, the choice was simple. She was willing to risk everything for Vaughn.
Love wasn't blind.
It was irrational. It was cruel. It was all she had left and time had snatched it from her.
She had trusted a snake, and was rewarded a venomous bite in heart. Whilst her world drifted into darkness, Sark had, instead of killing Sloane, made a deal with him that strengthened the columns of SD-6.
All this drifted through Sydney's mind as she left SD-6 after the meeting and made a dead drop into the Vietnam Vet's offering cup, detailing her mission for her new handler Gibbs, to come up with a counter mission.
"Hey Syd, your back early from work," greeted Francie, from the kitchen. There was a sweet aroma in the apartment, and Sydney could see Francie using a wooden spoon to protect whatever that she was cooking from Will's sneaky fingers.
"Yeah, I'm just going to clean up, then pack for my trip to Vancouver," said Sydney, as she set her keys down. "Isn't the kitchen at your restaurant bigger than this one?"
"It is, but there's a leak somewhere so it's more like a swimming pool than a kitchen," said Francie, turning away from the stove, but keeping a watchful eye on Will. "With the amount of travel you do girl, you should have enough flyer's points to travel all around the world".
"But the world is never as good as home," replied Sydney quietly, before going to her bedroom to change.
"Does Sydney seem down to you lately?" Francie asked Will after she heard the bedroom door close, "She seems distant and quiet. Has she said anything to you?"
"Um, no, she's probably just tired from work," said Will, trying to ease Francie's worry. He knew about what happened to Vaughn, and wanted to be there for Sydney, but she had emotionally shut down and asked to be left alone. He hadn't even seen her cry this time. What do you say to someone who has lost so much?
Unconvinced, Francie asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, what else could it be?" replied Will.
"Maybe it's about that guy she told me she liked from work, maybe something happened," suggested Francie.
You have no idea how right you are Francie, thought Will, but he just said "Nah, if there was something wrong she'd tell us," and left the kitchen to avoid further discussion, taking a drink for Sydney with him.
Knocking, Will entered the bedroom and handed Sydney the drink, "Thanks".
"No problems...do you need help with anything? Do you want help with the packing?" He offered.
"No, I've got it," she replied.
He knew that she'd just tell him to leave her alone, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this, "You know it's okay to let it out... go get drunk, or just smash a few things."
Sydney stopped packing her bag and looked up, and retorted, "And what good will that do?"
"I know it won't bring him back, but it'll make you feel better, you're going to go insane if you keep up like this," said Will, keeping his voice down, because Francie was still in the kitchen.
"I don't want to feel anything. I just want to concentrate on what I have do, because if I stop and think about anything, they'll win. Not thinking about it is the only way I can keep going, so please Will..." pleaded Sydney.
He didn't want to push her, or make it worst than it already was for her so he just said, "Okay, but...be careful."
It was an hour before she had to catch her flight, and there had been no word from Gibbs, her father or anyone about her counter mission. She tried to keep calm, as she waited in her car for the call. Usually she would just wait at home, but she didn't feel like putting on a happy act for her friends so she sat in her car with the window rolled down to let in the non-existent breeze.
Finally her beeper went off, so she drove to the empty warehouse that she and Vaughn had used for their meetings. She had dreaded this meeting with Gibbs all day, but it had been unnecessary, because he wasn't there.
There was nobody there, she slid the wire gate open and found a small jewelry box, a mobile phone and MP3 player. There was no note, she assumed that there would be instructions recorded on the MP3 player, and so Sydney shoved all of it into her brief case and speeded to the airport.
Slowly catching her breath, Sydney flopped into the window seat. She had had to sprint into the terminal as the last boarding call was made for her flight. There had better be good reason for making her risking her life on the freeway and run in these damn shoes!
Reluctantly taking out the MP3 player, she put on the earphones and pressed play.
Gibbs' voice came through clearly "The earrings are transmitters so switch it on when you're ready to talk to us..."
'Nahhh!? What I'm I going to do? Switch it on and swallow it so everyone at base-op, especially Kendall, can hear how he makes my stomach turn?' She thought, as Gibbs' voice continued to give its instructions.
"...the hourglass program works much like the name suggests, once flipped the time will run down like a ticking bomb. Only this time, there are no blue-white wires to cut to freeze the time at 2 seconds, leaving everyone cheering with relief. Only continuous flipping with stop all the sand from reaching the bottom. But the program is designed to be flipped once and any tampering will break the hourglass, bringing about the same end result as leaving it alone." Gibbs' voice paused for a breath.
"Marshall has already told you that the program works, in non-technical sense, by stopping the internal clock and set it back to 0, bypassing the changes done in anticipation of 2000. The reason that this program is potentially disastrous is that it could wipe out all computer networks, telecommunication systems and even satellites, and we don't know how it's spread or activated to create counter-measures. Now wh..." there was background noise and Gibbs' voice stopped.
Sydney heard the recording stopped, but then it restarted and his voice started again, "um...once you get the pass the security system and retrieve the disc, remove the backing of the mobile phone, there should be a disc in there already, place your disc in the empty slot and press the call button. The disc will be duplicated, once the information is copied, take out the original, and press the end call button, this will corrupt the disc that you'll be giving SD-6. Also, I checked what Marshall had said and yes make sure that don't break the laser grid circuit or the disc will be destroyed and the information on it will be transfer to NovaTech's other facilities. That's it. Just delete this message and bring the MP3 player back." And the message ended.
Removing the earphones, Sydney deleted the recording and stared out the plane's window, lost in thought, for the rest of the flight.
Appropriate for the Canadian weather, Sydney wore a cream coat over a red turtle-neck and dark pants, and white gloves over her hands. She didn't wear a wig this time, but had twisted her hair into a bundle clipping it neatly behind her head. She also had on thin white brimmed glasses and carried a small white handbag to complete the business look. "Dixon, how are we doing?" Sydney said under her breath, as she waited for the lift.
"I've just hacked into their surveillance system, and looped the feed" answered Dixon from a van parked outside. "Okay, I can see you from the cameras in the lift, but it's empty from their view".
Christopher Nolin's office, if you call it that, reflected his wealth as well as his bad taste. He had a 180-degree view of the city; the floor was covered in fluffy thick white carpet, various large pieces of artwork huge on the white walls. In the centre was his semi-circular desk and two large bright red leather chairs.
Putting on a fake smile Sydney entered through the glass doors, and had difficulty keeping her balance as her pointy heels sunk into the soft carpet. "Rachelle Whitman, thank you for agreeing to see me."
"Oh, not at all," He replied, getting up from his desk, his eyes traveled down her body, and extended his hand.
Widening her smile she stepped forward and shook his hand, grateful that she had gloves on, so she wouldn't have to decontaminate her hands later.
"We've been hearing wonderful things about the technology that your company is developing, and our clients are very excited about investing," she said, and carefully took out a business card, "Here's my card, in case I forget to give it to you later".
Taking the card, he smiled and attempted to put it in his suit pocket but missed and collapsed on the floor.
Sydney quickly picking up the card from the floor and replaced it into the cardholder that Marshall had made, "Dixon, I'm making a latex copy of his thumb print, get ready to give me the security code".
Turning Nolin's slumped body over, Sydney searched his pocket for the security pass, "the pass number is 325-640-147."
As Dixon retrieved the corresponding code for the security pass, Sydney quickly but cautiously made her way down to the vault.
"Sydney, the code is 1-L-9-1-S, and you're clear for the corner,"
"Thanks Dixon, I'm going radio silent,"
"Copy that."
Turning on the earrings, "this is Mountaineer to Bootcamp."
Sydney's voice came through to CIA base op, where Kendall, Jack Bristow, and Gibbs were all gathered to monitor the mission. Both Kendall and Jack stood behind a seated Gibbs. Kendall had his 'for all occasions' face, with his arms folded in front of him. Jack stood there stiffly and frequently glanced at Gibbs, ready to cast him aside if Sydney got into trouble. And Gibbs was seated in front of the computer monitoring NovaTech's security system and blueprints, trying to ignore the breathing bulls behind him.
"Go ahead Mountaineer," answered Gibbs.
Hearing a voice that wasn't Vaughn's coming through, struck Sydney like a bullet. Her heart clamped up and refused to beat, as she realized that Vaughn was never going to be there to comfort her, tell her non-humorous jokes or just tell her to come back safely.
"Sydney?" her father's voice broke through her thoughts.
Recovering, Sydney answered weakly, "I'm entering the vault"
Taking off her gloves, Sydney slotted the security pass in and entered 1-L-9-1-S, the light turned green and a small hatch opened revealing the finger print pad. Taking out the cardholder, she pressed her thumb onto the latex and lifted out the fake fingerprint, then placed it on the pad.
The system accepted and the vault door slid open. Inside it was brightly lit on all 5 sides, with the disc held in a glass encasing in the centre of the vault. But Sydney, through the glasses she wore, could see that sensor lasers crisscrossed the room.
Knowing that she had less than 4 minutes before the sleaze ball woke up; she took off all her clothes, revealing a tight black body suit underneath, with a hood, which she pulled over her head.
Holding her breath, Sydney lifting her foot carefully avoiding the first laser beam and stepped inside.
Everyone at base ops was told, unceremoniously by Jack, to shut up, as the three men waited with battered breath, not making any noise that might distract Sydney, as she painstakingly maneuvered her body through the laser maze.
It felt like the temperature had just spiked a few degrees higher, as Gibbs wiped his hands on his pants several times to dry them, and continued to listen closely.
Sydney was also feeling the heat, and the bodysuit wasn't making it any easier. When she finally reached the glass there little more than a minute for her to get the disc and get out undetected. Working quickly, she used Marshall's pink highlighter and drew a circle on the glass. The ink burned into the glass, slowly eating it away. Sydney placed the lid back onto the highlighter, but missed! The miss caused the tip of the highlighter to touch her skin.
A sheering pain went up her hand, causing Sydney to drop the lid. Panic engulfed her, as she tried desperately to catch it, but it was too late. She watched in slow motion as the lid hit the floor with a clank and bounce across the red laser beam.
Sydney flung her hands over her ears, as the siren shrilled deafeningly; and saw that a gas had been pumped into the glass encasing and the disc was dissolving rapidly.
"What the hell happened?!" Jack yelled at Gibbs, as they all heard the siren go off.
"She triggered the alarm..." Came Gibbs' response as he frantically typed on the keyboard.
"Well, do something!" thundered Jack, wanting to snap Gibbs' neck for his uselessness.
"I can't! The alarm for the vault is independent from the main security system. I can't shut it down from here!" Gibbs hastily replied, with his full concentration on the computer screen and his fingers racing across the keyboard.
"Can you get her out?" asked Kendall, uncrossing his arms and moved closer to the screen.
Ignoring the question, Gibbs continued to type and said into the headpiece, "Bristow, get out of there, it's a compressed vacuum vault, you have to get out of there now! And tell Dixon that you've got the disc..."
But there was no answer...
"Sydney?"
Silence...
"Sydney, did you copy that?"
TBC...........................as soon as I finish my damn essays and assignments. ArGH!
A/N. hope you liked it, and it wasn't too mopey or melodramatic... she just lost Vaughn...but I don't enjoy writing sad Sydney cause it means I feel crappy as well.
Who's this Vaughn that everyone's talking about? lol. Okay, it seems that there are a lot of S/V shippers here (what gave me that idea?.....I feel like I'll be stoned if I didn't write more about Vaughn). So here's my answer:
S/Sark?........doesn't fit with the story right at this point, and haven't seen S3, so don't really know what his motivations are.S/Will?.........friendship seems to fit better than romance, it keeps the story interesting.S/Gibbs?.........it's too early to tell, they both have issues so..... S/V?..........love wouldn't be so sweet if there's no pain to compare it to.
time will tell.
I don't know what ship this story will be. This is my first fic so I'm trying to set things up, and discover the characters as I go along. I also want to keep the readers (if they keep reading) guessing. I haven't decided on whether Vaughn is really dead or not, but this is fiction afterall - anything can happen.
So if there's enough persuasion wink wink, then I'll see what I can do....and for now Vaughn will appear in flashbacks or mentioned in the storyline.
Last thing - there's a hidden "code" within the above story so brownie points if you can find it. If this idea works out then there'll be better ones to find next time.
Thank you for reading, and please review.