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aliastar: I live in Victoria, about an hour out of Melbourne.

Chapter Thirteen:
Eyes, Akin

Sydney was approaching the door at the end of the hallway when she sensed someone was behind her. Instinctively, she whipped around, but not quick enough. Something hard connected with the side of her skull and everything went black.

"Boot camp. This is team leader."

"What is your position?"

"Alpha team has surrounded the perimeter. Bravo team is wiring into the security feed now."

"Any sign of Mountaineer?"

"Negative."

The first thing that Sydney was aware of was a throbbing ache on the side of her head. The second was that she was lying on a bed in some sort of a cell, handcuffed to a metal bar. The third was that she was not alone.

"Hello Sydney." The voice sent shivers down her spine. "I missed you."

Sydney sat up slowly and stared into the cold black eyes of Arvin Sloane. Into the face of the man she'd been dreaming of killing for years.

"Nothing to say Sydney? After all this time?"

Sydney stared stonily at him. She wasn't going to give an inch.

"Now I was incredibly hurt when I learnt of you and your father's betrayal." Sloane smiled at her, making her skin crawl. "Come on Sydney. This is quite possibly the first real conversation we've had. Don't you want to participate?"

"I have nothing to say to you."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Mr Sloane." The voice came from a large, dark haired man standing outside the cell.

"Yes?" Sloane asked, turning around. As soon as Sloane's eyes were off her, Sydney struggled against the handcuffs, but it was useless. She wasn't going anywhere.

"Gallez and Shirver are with her. Do you want her brought in now, or should we wait?"

"Now is fine." Sloane replied and the man walked off. Sydney watched as Sloane turned to face her, his trademark self-satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "Now Sydney, I guess you're wondering what exactly I have in store for you."

"Not really." Sydney shot back.

Sloane chuckled softly. "Well, you should make yourself comfortable, because we have a bit of a wait ahead of us."

"What for?" Sydney asked.

"I thought you didn't care." Sloane smiled as Sydney returned his gaze with a famous Bristow death stare. "But since you asked, we're waiting for somebody," he replied vaguely, as voices were heard outside the cell. "Ah, she's here."

Sydney felt her heart quicken. He intuition was telling her exactly who 'she' was. But why would Sloane introduce the two of them? Why would he-

"Sydney." Sloane's voice was snapped away from her thoughts. "There is somebody I want you to meet."

"Boot camp this is Bravo team."

"Go ahead."

"Have hacked into security feed successfully."

"Any sign of Mountaineer?"

"Affirmative. Mountaineer and her father have been located."

"Alive?"

"Affirmative, but both are contained."

"Have you located Sloane and Sark?"

"Affirmative. Teams are preparing to infiltrate the facility."

Sydney stared at the petite dark haired woman. They didn't look alike, no. If she had seen the two of them walking down the street, she would never have guessed that they were related, let alone sisters.

But on that point there was something about her eyes. Something about them that reminded Sydney of herself…and her, no wait, their mother.

Finally Sydney spoke up. "Hi." It was all she could think to say.

The woman eyes her suspiciously. "Who are you?" She spoke softly, but forcefully, with an accent.

"My name is Sydney." Sydney replied gently. "I'm your sister."

Her eyebrows rose. "My sister? I don't have a sister."

"That's what I thought until not long ago." Sydney paused. "Can I ask your name?"

"You can call me Thalia," she replied, taking a seat on the edge of a small bench fixated to the wall. "What are we doing here?"

"That's a long story." Sydney answered, with a smile. Thalia did not return it. She had been locked up for who knows how long and desperately wanted to know why. If this woman, who was claiming to be her sister, had any insight into their situation, she had the right to know.

"Well, I don't think we're going anywhere," she said, bluntly. "So how about you enlighten me a little."

Sydney stared at her. She had now come to realize that Thalia was really her sister. The way she spoke, the way she carried herself, the confidence she exuded, even in the confines of a prison cell- there was no denying the fact that she was one of the Derevko women.

"Mr Sark!" He looked up and saw one of Sloane's security team entering the office. "We've got a problem."

"What sort of problem?" Sark asked, rising from his chair.

"An unknown source had hacked into our security camera feed. They have video access to the entire facility."

"The basement?"

"Yes."

"I want all guards on alert. Surround the facility. I do not want anybody getting in, and if they do, they are not to leave. Understand?"

The guard nodded. "Got it," he replied and then ran off.

Quickly Sark picked up the phone and pressed 1.

"Sloane."

"It's me." Sark said. "There has been a breach in security."

"I don't want them anywhere near the building."

"It's already taken care of. None of them will be returning to the home alive."

Something was wrong. That was all Vaughn could think when he entered the operations centre. He'd only been gone a little under an hour, to let Will know about the Sydney situation, but he had left behind a very different operations centre than the one in front of him now.

Spotting Weiss at his desk, Vaughn headed over. The solemn feel of the place was creeping him out.

"Weiss," he spoke softly. "What's going on?"

Weiss looked up. "Haven't you heard?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"No, I went to see Will about an hour ago. What happened?"

Weiss rubbed his eyes before continuing. "You know the team Kendall sent in after Sydney?" Vaughn nodded, feeling sick to the stomach. He knew what Weiss was about to say. "They're dead."

"All of them?"

Weiss nodded. "They barely got inside the facility before Sloane's men gunned them down."

Vaughn slumped into the chair beside Weiss's desk and the two of them looked at each other soundlessly, both of them thinking the same thing.

If Sloane and his men could wipe out an entire CIA team just like that, then what chance did Sydney have?

"Vaughn, wait!" Weiss called, and went to follow him, but Vaughn held up his hand.

"Don't," he said, as he strode off purposefully. His stomach was churning with a mixture of concern and anger, as the conversation he'd just had with Kendall replayed in his mind.

"Sir," Vaughn rushed up to Kendall. "I want to be part of the second team."

"What second team?" Kendall looked at him blankly.

"The team to go after Sark and Sloane. The team to go and extract Sydney and Jack."

"I'm not sending another team."

Vaughn felt his heart plummet. "What"

"Given the circumstances, I'm going to postpone deploying another team. Take some time to assess our options."

"But what about Sydney?" Vaughn asked, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Agent Bristow got herself into this situation," Kendall replied, his expression stony. "Now she can get herself out of it."

Vaughn had realized at that point that there was only one person he could go to for help. One person, who, like him, would have Sydney's best interests in mind.

Vaughn stopped in front of the guard and flashed his ID.

"I'm here to see the prisoner."