Disclaimer: Not mine, yadda yadda yadda.

Author's Note: Sorry for the pause between fixing chapters; I got really busy, had five essays to write (for three classes…amazing). So I'm back to hopefully finish this soon. Also, I have changed the ending.

Revelation

Sabyne had the television on, but she wasn't really watching it. She was thinking more about everything that had happened in the past few days, from the hotel door being destroyed (and costing her a fortune) to Artemus thinking she'd betrayed him…She was altogether surprised that she heard the knock on the door, but even more surprising was the young girl who stood nervously outside. Sabyne let her in and stood studying her suspiciously.

"Well, girl, what do you want?" she finally asked.

The girl (Hawkins, hadn't Artemus called her?) looked taken aback by Sabyne's rudeness, but attempted an air of confidence. "I believe you."

Sabyne raised an eyebrow. It was her nature to want to trust the girl, but experience had led her to believe there was reason to be suspicious. "Why?"

Hawk shrugged. "Woman's intuition, I suppose. I don't know how to explain it, but I know you'd never betray Artemus."

Sabyne gave her a crooked smile. "So it's two against the world, is it?"

Hawk grinned, but the grin faded quickly. "He really upset you."

Sabyne forced herself to look hardened, to put some extra spite in her eyes, though she wanted desperately to cry. "I don't follow your meaning."

"Artemus," Hawk said nervously. "You really care about him, and his trust means everything to you. But now you've lost it, not through your own fault, and you don't know what to do with yourself."

Sabyne laughed out loud. "Perceptive. You're right, of course."

They sat in silence for a little while, the television the only noise in the room, before Hawk spoke again. "Do you have any idea who that man was?"

Sabyne shrugged. "I have many enemies. He didn't remind me of anybody particular, but he could be an agent working for any number of people."

Hawk glanced at the elder woman. "Would you…I mean, Artemus hasn't been very good about giving us information about you…"

Sabyne considered for a moment. "I didn't think he would. It's kind of a long story…"

"I have time," Hawk said, moving to sit down on the bed.

Sabyne closed her eyes and thought back to her days at Mission Omega Matrix, then nodded slowly. "I was three years old when I came to Mission Omega Matrix. My mother and brother had died, and my father was incapable of caring for me, so he left me to fend for myself. I would have died if not for Henry, the Director at that time. I know training has become more personalized at M.O.M. now, but back then, there were five different classes with ten students in each class.

"Eventually we would be split into a single group of the top ten of our class, where we'd receive our final training. By pure unlucky chance, my group of ten consisted of complete strangers, and I was singled out as the loner immediately. It gave me more free time, I suppose, and Henry was always willing to spend time with me.

"My second to last class consisted of myself, Artemus, Sphinx, Maggie Rose, Mark Altina, Arlene Derang, and Kelly Terrin. Five of us would go on to complete our training, two would leave Mission Omega Matrix forever."

"And you were one of those two?" Hawk asked.

Sabyne shook her head. "Hardly. I had been the top of my classes as far as studies went; the only thing I was really lacking in was physical expertise. Everybody was sure Artemus and Sphinx would be the ones to leave the program. They'd been best friends for a long time, but they were practical jokers and weren't very smart, they're grades were always suffering and they were always falling asleep during classes." She grimaced. "Artemus and Sphinx didn't like me much, because I wasn't half as popular as either of them. Then Artemus and I were chosen to go on a mission with a senior agent, and things got a bit…well, messy."

Hawk grinned. "What happened?"

"The senior agent knew Artemus and I didn't get along well, that was the entire point of our mission, I found out later. So we fought and argued the entire time, we couldn't pull ourselves together to accomplish our mission, and the height of the experience was when we got into a fist fight. I broke his nose, he broke my wrist. So as punishment we had to go on the rest of our missions for that year together. Eventually we stopped fighting and started learning to work together. He took a bullet for me closer to the end of the year, and I think that was the deciding factor that made us close friends."

Hawk smiled. "That's a sweet story. But I'm guessing it doesn't end there?"

Sabyne snorted. "If it did, I'd still be at Mission Omega Matrix. Somehow, by the end of that year, both Artemus and Sphinx brought their grades up and managed to pass, whereas Kelly Terrin had a nervous breakdown and left, and Arlene failed her final examination. And that least year was amazing. We were junior agents, and we were sent on our first official missions, working without a senior agent. We were allowed to pick our partners, and Artemus surprised everybody by insisting that he wanted to work with me. He said he did his best work when he and I were together.

"I wasn't the most socially intelligent girl out there, so it took me a little while to figure out what exactly he'd meant by that comment. Actually, I think it was the first time the girls swarmed me, demanding to know what I'd done to get his attention, that it hit me. Of course, we started dating- or as close to dating as you can get at Mission Omega Matrix. Studying together, a quick hug in the halls, sitting next to each other at lunch…"

Hawk bit her lip. "That's why Artemus was so upset when he thought you'd betrayed Mission Omega Matrix."

Sabyne nodded. "That's exactly why." She glanced at the clock on her table. "It's late. You'd better be getting back…you don't want Artemus to get angry with you."

Hawk paused at the doorway. "I'm sorry this happened. I swear, I'll try to clear your name somehow."

Sabyne looked stunned as the door slammed shut, then she chuckled. "I forgot how it is to be young and idealistic." She turned back to the TV and shook her head.