Title: If Only Once More
Arthur: Secret Agent Girl
Genre: Drama/Angst
Rating: PG – PG-13
'Ship: S/V (because there just ain't anything else!)
Spoilers: Up to and including 2.14 Double Agent
Summary: Little something for the CM April Challenge.
Disclaimer: Riiight… I own ALIAS… Don't I wish. I own jack. As is NOTHING (still working on getting a job).
A/N: Not a HUGE writer of Angst but my muse in on a roll lately and when I looked at the credentials for this month's challenge, this came out. Would totally love some feedback (pretty purple button on the bottom) and am a touch on the nervous side as far as letting this one in the challenge. But, I digress. Also, if you like it, I have a few ideas as to how to keep it going. Let me know if you want more. Here we go.
The steel pinched her skin, turning it a deep red. She wanted to cry out in agony but refused to give them the satisfaction of knowing that they could break her. She pushed against her restraints, hoping to force the bottom rungs of the chair out. It had worked before, but then again she had been lucky last time. She blinked as he walked towards her, a sinister grin playing off his face in an almost cliché fashion. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what was to come.
"You know, this would have been over a long time ago if you had just given us what we wanted." He leered at her, leaning in close.
She could smell his vile breath as he spoke and her stomach churned with each word. "What can I say? I've never been very good at following the rules."
He stopped for a moment, leaning away from her, amused and shocked by her sudden display of courage, though he didn't know why. She had always been an agent full of 'spunk'. "I'm going to ask you this once more. Tell us where it is."
"Go to hell."
His posture straightened immediately. "Yes, well, I'm sure that's an inevitable future." He paused for a moment, leaning over to pick up a syringe on the table sitting across from her. "However, not a future that I plan on fulfilling anytime soon." He leaned closer to her again and injected the needle into the side of her slim neck. "We'll give that time to kick in, shall we? Sodium pentothal always takes a few moments to work." He turned towards the door as her eyes began to droop with exhaustion. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon to finish our little … chat." He sneered before closing the iron door behind him.
She watched him leave the room, the sound of the door closing echoing off the walls. She stared at the door, willing for it to open again; for a pair of soft green eyes to be on the other side.
When she woke again, he had returned, this time he was accompanied by another. This one younger, though not void of the same malevolent aura that surrounded the first.
"So, now that you've had time to adjust to our lovely drug here, do you care to share where they are keeping it?"
"Go to hell." She repeated vehemently.
"Sydney, Sydney, Sydney. Are you aware of the side effects of sodium pentothal? One in every five people becomes paralyzed for the rest of their lives." Sloane leered at her.
Sydney's eyes blinked closed and her mind raced backwards. A memory of ninth grade science class filtered through her mind. A room full of hot and sticky stale air, students barely able to keep their eyes opens as they listened to their teacher, an older man with a monotone voice, drone on about one thing or another. A few coming out of their stupor long enough to take down a name or a date, only to fall back into it a moment later. No student really pays full attention as he begins to explain the law of motion. The words all blur together as he drones on, and Sydney's mind begins to sift back into the present. The only thing sticking out in her mind is Newton's Third Law; for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction. For telling Danny the truth he was killed. For not telling Dixon long ago, four agents lost their lives. For wanting to destroy SD-6, she lost a partner and friend. For falling for her handler, she as alone for a year. For destroying SD-6, Sloane and Sark were free. For believing she was safe, she was sitting here now.
She was pulled back to the present, completely, by the bright lights shown on her face as Sloane leaned back in to her, Sark standing peacefully in the background. "We know that the CIA holds what we want and we know they moved it out of Los Angeles. So, where did they move it? I will only ask you this one last time before I allow Mr. Sark to take over the interrogations." He turned to look at Sark who gave a small smile in return.
Her eyes blinked shut again as her fatigue began to catch up with her once more.
She was running. Her breath came out in gasps as she pushed herself further down the streets. She could hear the music from the club in the distance, though she didn't know whether it was in only her mind. She could hear the voice shouting in her ear, begging to know if she was ok.
"Sydney! Sydney! Sydney! Syd, if you can hear me, please, talk to me. Sydney!"
She kept running, sweat dripping over her forehead. She knew she should answer him, quell his fears that she hadn't made it out after the gun fire had broken out. She ducked into the closest alley. It was dark and dank and there was a stench that gave off the impression that this alley had seen a lot of death, perhaps more that Sydney had herself.
She leaned up against the wall, bracing herself as she tried to slow her breathing. She reached up to her ear and flipped the comm. link so that she could respond to the person at the other end. "Vaughn?"
"Syd? Oh, thank God. Are you ok? Where are you? What happened?" His questions were rushed and pushed together but his voice couldn't hide the pure joy he felt at finally hearing her voice.
"I'm not sure where I am. But I'm ok. I think I ran about half a mile from the club. I can still hear it, a little bit." She takes a breath, turning her back to the opening of the alley way.
"What happened?"
"Sark. He came in, saw me and opened fire. They must have known I was there."
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm going to need an extraction in …" She never finished her sentence as she felt a prick in the back of her neck. She had been so involved in listening to Vaughn's calming voice, reveling in knowing she was ok; she hadn't even heard the man creep up behind her. "Vaughn?" She cried meekly as her body began to tumble towards the ground. "I love…"
When she woke she was strapped to a chair, Sloane peering down at her.
She blinked her eyes back open and glanced at her captor. "I will never tell you anything." She sneered as he leaned closer to hear her whispered words. She leaned back and took the opportunity of having his face that close, to spit in it. "Rot in hell."
Sloane backed away from her and removed a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the saliva off his face. "Yes, well. I gave you all the chances in the world Sydney. You could have been apart of all of this. You could have been apart of everything I have planned. I'll be sorry to see you leave." He ran his hand through her hair before he turned on his heel and walked towards the door. "Mr. Sark, she's all yours." He spoke before leaving.
Sark walked closer to Sydney and smiled as he picked up a lighter and a bottle of hair spray from the table. "You know, I always thought we'd work together. It's a pity to have to see it all end like this." He smiled as he flipped open and lit the lighter before turning and spraying the hair spray across the flame, creating a mass blaze.
As he walked slowly towards her, an evil glint in his cold blue eyes, Sydney could only think of the soft pair of green she wished she could see, if only one more time.
A/N: That's my entry!! Let me know what you think and whether or not you would like more. Also look for the next chapter of What Was Once Perfection to be up soon. Seriously, the muse…not shutting up. OOO! Anyone wanna name my muse?!
Merci,
- SAG