MASK: Legacy Saga 3: The Fallen

Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Sorry to be "away" so long loyal fans, but as the title of a country song goes, "Life Happens". But we continue to chip away at the next installment, and with Lisa's expert help/cattle prod (hehe), we'll hopefully have it up to date soon. In the meantime, here's another cryptic chapter to hold you over. Thanks for sticking with us!

And this chapter's special thanks goes out to anonymous reviewer OMG for nearly scaring Lisa and I to death with their review. We thought they had borrowed Dagger's Torch Mask for a barbecue, but they were just encouraging us to write more. So thanks OMG, and everyone else, for reading and reviewing!

"Pick up the phone Roxy," Scott muttered after hearing the dial tone for the 20th time today. After another attempt to reach his sister had failed miserably, he hung up the phone in frustration. Scott had tried every conceivable way to get a hold of her for the last 4 hours but nothing was working. Her home phone was busy, she wasn't answering her cell phone, she wasn't online, and he even tried to communicate to her via MASK watch even if it was against protocol to use it for personal reasons. "This isn't like her," He paced about the room sweating with worry, "something could of happened." It was more then just Annie's threat that made him rethinking heading over to Roxanne apartment. He had to wait until his medication wore off, before he attempted to get behind the wheel. The drugs he had taken early made him sleepy, but after hearing his sister's message sleep was the last thing on his mind. "Screw it…I'm heading over there I can't wait any longer."

Half-hour later Scott pulled up his red corvette, next to his sister's black jaguar. After putting the car in parked, he coved his hand over his eyes trying to ease his aching head. He couldn't remember the last time he ever experience motion sickness. Scott took several deep breaths and forced himself to get out of the car and up to her apartment with some composure.

The moment he reached her apartment on the 5th floor, he knocked on her door. Scott originally thought he'd have to knock a few times to motivate his sister to the answer the door, but he never expected the door to fly open just by the touch of his hand. It wasn't like her to leave the door unlock. The door had at lease four bolted locks on it, because she didn't feel safe in own home. "Roxanne?" He calmly called out, as he stepped into her apartment, "Roxanne it's Scott…you here?" He glanced around not noticing anything out of the ordinary and proceeded further into the room. The kitchen was undisturbed, except for the fact the phone was off the hook. He picked up the phone and put it back on the receiver, while his eye shifted to the answering machine that had 13 unanswered messages. "Roxanne…I'm here…you can come out if your hiding," He pressed on further into her living room and halted once he felt his shoes crunch shattered glass.

The room was a mess, as thought some force of nature swept through the room knocking over everything in sight. Furniture was knocked over and shattered glass was scattered everywhere. His heart raced faster, as he tried to make some sense of this. Oh god…did somebody kidnap her. Before he could look further in, he felt something purring and rubbing up against his leg, "Anaya what happened here?" Scott asked as he picked up the black cat almost expecting the animal to reply back. With one stoke of the cats fur, he could feel something moist. He pulled back his hand and noticed it was stained red. At first he thought the cat was injured. The cat hissed, as Scott attempted to look her over, and jumped out of his hands. He chased the cat into the bathroom and halted at the door. Nothing could of prepared him for this. His entire face turned white and his stomach turned at the sight. Roxanne………no

Annie continued staring unblinkingly at the television monitor in front of her and absently reached over for the coffee mug she'd been sipping out of for the past few hours, waiting until the sound of it being refilled stopped before she brought it to her lips and muttered, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Jess replied from somewhere beside her. "Found anything?"

"Not yet."

"No luck here, either." Their conversation paused for a few minutes as Jess silently watched Annie stare intensely at the security tapes playing on the TV. "You really scare me sometimes, Annie. Any normal person would have given up looking at those tapes by now…and you're still searching for the needle in the haystack."

"There's something here, Jess," Annie replied without moving her eyes in the slightest. "There is no possible way that whoever did this could just disappear without a trace, and that needle is going to point me in the right direction as soon as I find it…"

Her voice trailed off as something flickered on the monitor. Annie's fingers clicked suddenly to freeze the frame as she leaned in for a closer look. She then rewound the tape and replayed the scene again, and rewound and replayed once more to double check before breaking into a wide grin and tapping the monitor.

"There!" She exclaimed, rewinding the tape yet again and replaying the scene in slow motion. "Right there!"

Out of morbid curiosity, Jess watched with Annie as the tape ran in slow motion in front of them. The view was of the front gate of the Kennedy mansion and as the camera recorded, the front gate slowly opened outward, pushing a large tree branch on the ground out of the way in the process. As the gate slowly closed, there was the barest flicker of movement as an unseen force snapped the tree branch right in the middle. Annie clicked once more and the motion stopped.

"Did you see that?" Annie asked Jess as she stood up to fetch Matt and Inaya.

"No…and now you're really starting to scare me…"

Jess backed away from her friend and fellow MASK agent at the same time that Matt and Inaya returned to check in on progress. Annie motioned the two leaders over to the security monitor as she emphasized, "I think I found something."

Matt nodded unquestioningly and stepped over beside Annie. Trusting the MASK leader's instincts, Inaya followed and waited as Annie played the small section of the tape in slow motion one more time and cautioned them, "Keep your eye on the tree branch in front of the main gate."

As the tape played through, Inaya couldn't help but roll her eyes as she said in an evidently irritated tone, "The gate pushed the branch out of the way. That doesn't help me find my murderer."

"I agree," Annie argued calmly but intensely, "but the fact that something ELSE snapped the branch in two might."

Annie was just about to point out to Inaya what she was referring to when Matt's cell phone began to ring loudly. He was hesitant to answer the phone during an investigation, but once he recognized the number he knew what was more important. The three agents watched Matt, as he moved away from them to take a private call.

I wonder who that is? Annie curiously wondered what could tear Matt away from her major breakthrough.

"You were saying Annie?" Inaya impatiently asked.

She broke off her blank stare and froze the surveillance video at the point where the stick snapped. "If you noticed the stick was snapped by an unforeseen force just moments before the gate was closed."

"But are you forgetting a car drove over it before the gate closed behind it…maybe it was a delayed reaction."

"Yes, but the stick was still intact when it happened. Something with extreme speed and force made it's way towards that gate purposely trying to get in just as the gate was closing. What I'm suggesting is somebody else has cloaking technology at their fingers. They got in and out unnoticed the moment that gate opened."

"Hmmm…"Inaya rested her hand on her chin thinking, "It is a good possibility VENOM did steal plans for Chameleon almost 10 years go. Although your father managed to retrieve those plans…" Annie allowed herself a proud smirk at Brad's accomplishment, but continued to listen soberly to Inaya. "…there is a possibility they made copies. It's odd thought that this is the first time this technology has been used against us."

Is it? Anne couldn't help wondering, almost missing Inaya's compliment in the process. "Good work Annie…I'll have my boys look further into it…and possible do a thermal analysis."

Matt walked to the other end of the room and blocked out the discussion going on between Annie and Inaya, "Scott what is it?"

"Dad…I…I'm…I'm at Roxy's." Scott managed to stutter out, in between the deep breaths he was taking to calm his nerves.

"What's wrong? You sound like you've seen a ghost," Matt observed after hearing his son stutter for the first time.

"There's oh…god," Scott was trying hard to maintain his composure, "blood…blood everywhere."

"What!" Matt heart pounded faster with fear of the unknown, yet he sounded more like a concern MASK leader then a father over the phone, "What happened over there…is she ok? Tell me your sister ok."

"I can't find her dad…I can't find her body anywhere."

"This is Roxy were talking about…she has to be somewhere," He attempted to reassure him.

"The door been broke in and the place is trashed, she must have been in some sort of struggle." He swallowed over the phone as thought he was going to be sick, "There's so much blood…puddles of it…her floors and sheets are stained in it."

He didn't know how to reply, it was almost like he didn't want to believe it to be true, "Scott I want you to go outside and get some fresh air…calm your nerves a bit and call Buddy. He'll know what to do."

"I should have been here sooner…she asked for help…but now she's gone…dad… she's really gone."

"Listen to me...I'm not giving up hope and neither are you. If anybody to blame for this I am."

"Dad she called…"

"I should of never thought thing would be ok, if I'd given her time to cool off…now your wasting time. The sooner Buddy gets there with a team, the sooner we'll find her. I'm taking the first flight back. I'm not losing her again…I swore to that a long time ago."

"Alright dad," Scott replied as thought he was taking order, "I'll do that right now."

Matt shut the phone off, without realizing the cell phone slipped through his fingers and fell to the floor. The echo of the phone was the only sound heard in the room, and it grabbed the attention of the other three agents. He didn't bother to picking it up; in fact he just stood there staring at the wall searching for the answers he couldn't find in front of him. He felt a sudden urge to fall to knees and breakdown, as the words his son gave him erupted into visual images of his daughter slaughtered to death. But he didn't fall instead his hand reached out and grab the wall for support. He wouldn't let that hope die. Nothing was going to stop him from protecting his family.

Everybody in the room knew something wasn't right. A man who was tough as a nail on the outside was crumbling right before their eyes. "What's wrong Matt?" Inaya asked.

Matt looked very pale in the face and ready to faint from exhaustion. It was almost as thought some delayed reaction kicked in that he could no longer control, "I need to go back home. Roxanne...been…" He paused for a moment debating if he would even say the word he feared most. "Roxanne missing."

Annie crossed her arms and wasn't impressed by Matt's show of compassion for his troubled daughter. Isn't that old news? That isn't a reason to be that upset.

"Her apartment been broken into…and…Scott said there blood…everywhere."

Jess put her hand over her mouth shocked, "No…it can't be her blood."

"Jess right," Annie dropped the old rivalry look and also grew concern, "It can't be hers. She probably just beat the crap out of somebody."

"I can only hope, but the way Scott put it…I'm deeply worried that I might be too late."

"Get going Matt, "Inaya put a hand on his shoulder, "Your daughter needs you more then I do. I'll keep you posted, and I pray hope these two incidents are not related."

"I'm coming too," Jess starting packing her equipment, "I'm going to find her. I'm not going to stand by in my best friend's hour of need."

"She may not be a friend," Annie added, "But she's part of my team. It's my responsibility to make sure my teammates are accounted for. What ever happen to her Matt , I'll help you find her."

Matt nodded and manage a weak smile, "Alright…. lets go find Roxanne. I'm sorry Inaya."

"No don't be…your daughter is more important…keep me informed. I'll give you what resources I can." With out any further delays the three MASK agents left Kennedy manor and headed for home.