Hangs head in shame
I'm so sorry to all those readers who have waited for this update. Between writers block and school, it has been difficult, but I finally have it here. PLease forgive me. I give this offering of an update and hope my loyal readers will accept it
Chapter 12- The Mission
"Bluebird, do you copy?"
"I copy, Night-owl," Sydney answered Dixon.
"Blackbird, do you copy?"
"I copy, Night-owl."
"Are you in position?" Dixon asked.
"Yes."
"Yes."
The mission seemed to be going as planned so far. Sydney would enter the warehouse from the south while her father would monitor from the outside. What Dixon didn't know was that Jack would not be where he thought he was the entire time.
Sydney and Jack had their won frequency on which they could communicate which Dixon would not be able to hear. Hopefully this mission would lead to her acquisition of the Rhambaldi artifact.
There was just one complication. Sloane insisted to having a live feed to the mission via a small camera mounted on Sydney's vest. This would make this mission much more complicated, but hopefully the plan that she and Jack had would make it so that Sloane would not suspect them of anything once he realized that they would not be bringing the artifact back to them.
As Sydney neared the perimeter, she took in the sight of the building before her. It was a building that was most unremarkable. It didn't look any different from any of the other warehouses that littered the world. There was no security that she could see. The stayed low to the ground, moving silently as she came nearer to the large building. When she reached it, she stayed close to the wall, continued until she reached the door.
She didn't expect anything remarkable on the outside, for she knew that the true complex was within. In fact, nothing but an old rusty lock donned the outside of this door. Sometimes disguise was the best security.
She made quick work of the lock and entered the warehouse. Fishing supplies surrounded her as she made her way through the warehouse. Her mother had told her to look for a red crate, and that the entrance to the complex would be underneath. The only problem was she was told the crate was attached to an alarm, and if she did use the right code, she would be discovered, and who knows what would happen then.
She knelt down next to the blood red crate so that her eyes were level with the small, discrete number panel.
Sydney assumed the code was correct when the crate slid aside, revealing the trap door beneath it. She slid it open, ready to step into the darkness within.
But as she disappeared inside, she didn't notice a little light blinking on the panel display, signaling a silent alarm she had unknowingly tripped.
"Sydney's in trouble."
The words that Vaughn spoke were the second thing that Weiss registered as he spoke to him.
The darkness in Vaughn's eyes stared back at him, and Weiss suddenly realized that he had seen that utter blackness before. He had seen it those few months ago, when he had almost slipped into it. It was the darkness he had warned Vaughn about. It was the darkness of Death.
And it seemed to have found Vaughn despite his warnings.
The next thing Weiss knew, Vaughn was standing behind him, causing Weiss to jump back in alarm and pull out his weapon, aiming it not so steadily.
"Weiss, it's okay, calm down," Vaughn said, holding his hands up.
Weiss wasn't convinced, seeing the glistening fangs as Vaughn spoke, but as a few seconds passed, Weiss could see the blackness lessen in his friend's eyes. The color didn't go away, but the depth of the darkness did. He could now clearly tell that it was Vaughn, and not a monster, staring back at him.
With this realization, Weiss slowly lowered his firearm. He also noticed that Vaughn looked just as scared as Weiss felt. He couldn't imagine what Vaughn must be thinking about his new condition at the moment.
The two agents seemed to be at a standoff about what to do or say next.
"So," Weiss began, "Sydney?" he queried.
Vaughn swallowed, looking uncertain himself. "Just trust me on this, okay? I promise I'll explain later."
"Well, unless you can turn into a bat and fly out of here, you'll need to get passed the CIA outside this hospital."
Vaughn gave a wry smile. "That's where I'll need your help. I need you to get me out of here."
Weiss let out a sigh, and was going to argue, but he saw that Vaughn looked very anxious. He was in a hurry
I must be insane, Weiss thought.
Weiss put his gun away and started thinking quickly. "Well, can you turn, well, that off?" he asked, making it clear to what he was referring to. Vaughn shook his head.
"Okee dokey." Weiss reached behind him to his bag and pulled an old black baseball cap with a White Sox insignia on the front and handed it to Vaughn.
"Just so you know, that hat is ten years old, and if you ruin it, I'll kick your ass."
Vaughn smiled, which looked rather scary, though he didn't mean it to, and put the cap on, pulling the bill low over his face. The shadow cast would have to be enough to try and hide his face for now.
They exited the room and made their way through the hospital corridors. No one really gave them a second glance, for Vaughn was still dressed in the sweat pants and shirt, and they walked quickly so they looked like they knew where they were going.
The only trouble came when they walked outside into the cool night air. Now they had to get passed the two fellow agents who checked out everyone coming into and leaving the hospital.
Weiss showed his ID to them, but the guards were unfortunately paying attention, and stopped them.
"Agent Vaughn?" one of them asked, whose name was Agent Havez.
"Yeah." he confirmed, keeping his head down, but trying not to look conspicious.
"Agent Vaughn's been checked out, so we were just leaving," Weiss lied.
"Sorry sir," the other one, Agent Mitchell, said, "but we've had strict orders not to let Agent Vaughn leave this hospital."
This caught Vaughn and Weiss's attention.
"Who?" vaughn asked.
"Director Kendell."
The two already nervous agents got even more concerned. Why would Kendell order that? Unless...
Unless he knew something about Vaughn.
The realization came to both of them at the same time. This definitely wasn't good.
"You'll have to come back inside with us, Agent Vaughn," Havez stated.
Vaughn looked like he was ready to bolt. Luckily, so far the lack of light and the hat kept his face from full view, but Agent Mitchell made the mistake of forcibly putting his hand on his shoulder and trying to pull him back inside.
In one swift movement Vaughn tore his arm from Mitchell's grip and pushed him away, causing the agent to land hard on the pavement, knocking him unconscious, but this action caused the cap to fall off, exposing Vaughn's face.
"Jesus Christ," Havez whispered as he got a good look at Vaughn, and Weiss tensed up waiting for something to happen. Vaughn was in a fighting stance, his teeth bared in warning, but Weiss could see he was still in control, so it was Havez, not Vaughn who made the next move.
Havez pulled out his gun and aimed it at Vaughn. He held the gun pointed at him with a shaking hand. "What the hell are you," he squeaked.
Weiss was ready to intervene somehow but Havez acted first and pulled the trigger. Luckily, between his shaking hand and Vaughn's new reflexes, the bullet narrowly missed his head.
Weiss couldn't even follow as Vaughn flew forward and sent Havez flying into the side of the building, collapsing in a limp heap.
"Damn it, Vaughn," Weiss said, running over to the unconscious agent and felt for a pulse. He was alive, but from the way he was breathing, it sounded like he had a few cracked ribs and perhaps a broken arm.
They both knew they had to get out of there. Now. The gunshot and the noise would have certainly alerted someone inside. And it was a hospital, so they would take care of the two unconscious agents.
They ran to the car and jumped inside, burning rubber as they took off. Vaughn sat in the passenger seat with his head buried in his hands.
"You all right, man?"
"No." Vaughn answered simply. "This is like some kind of nightmare, no, it is a nightmare, and it's one that I can't wake up from. I have no idea what's going on, or what's happening to me. I nearly killed that Agent back there, and I thought I was barely pushing him. This is definitely going to take some getting used to."
Vaughn raised is head, "The only thing I do know is that I have to get to Sydney. Right. Now."
"How do you know that?" Weiss asked.
"Good question." Vaughn answered.
"Well, how do I know where to go?"
"I'll tell you. Just step on it, every second counts."
Besides the periodical directions from Vaughn, the only sounds heard on the trip was the high pitched noised of the wind as the car sped through the night, towards Sydney.
Again, please R&R :-)