Playlist: Sia - Unstoppable

It had been a long, long few months. He had dealt with the sleep deprivation just fine, but the solitary had been a struggle. Luckily, Ines had expected it to be. He hadn't needed to work to hard to fake a break.

That had been the easy part, though. The next stage had been more difficult. Creating a complex web of lies and just enough truth that Ines would believe him. It had been like walking through a minefield of knowledge she had, and knowledge she needed. But in the end, here he was, sitting beside her as they rode in a car, headed for the network.

She wanted him there, wanted to see the realization on their face, she said.

He didn't care. Realization meant they were alive. He'd convinced her they would be crucial for a few months as he rewrote the security system.

Ines knew that taking him with her was reckless. Selfish, even. But sometimes it was worth putting the plan at risk to get back an ounce of satisfaction. She looked up out of the window as they approached the building, eyes critical. Hard to believe the world's best crime web was housed in such an impressive building. High windows, good stonework... it was a wonder no one asked any questions about it. Hiding in the middle of London, in plain sight like this.. she couldn't fathom it. She loved her abandoned military base. The solitude, the feeling of invincibility. She would always feel threatened if she lived here. Her greatest enemy could be standing right outside, and there would be too many people around them to tell.

The driver made a turn down into the underground parking lot, where there was already a multitude of black vans. They had all made the first and second and third waves into the building; Ines was only there to see it cleaned up. "How does it feel to be back home, Colonel?" She asked, smirking, as she opened the door and got out, scanning the garage.

He stepped out behind her, looking around and taking a slow breath, straightening his jacket. He was wearing a new suit, well-tailored to fit his leaner figure. Ines wanted no question of why he was there, no question that he was her right-hand man.

And he was. By his own admission, Jim was no longer the most powerful person in the world, Ines was. So he had transferred his loyalties. He wouldn't shrink from any order.

Or that was what he'd done his best to convince her of. Whether or not she believed him remained to be seen.

"I'll admit, I've missed the place," he said with a small nod. "Though in my day the security was better." He smirked.

"That's not exactly a surprise," she chuckled, looking behind them as a few more black vans rolled in, to protect them from behind. She didn't think Moriarty had anything left in him by this point, but pretending he was utterly beaten was a mistake. "I do assume the building isn't boobytrapped, or I would have been informed before," she said, walking away from the car and heading for the elevator, adjusting her blazer.

"No. It's constantly in use. Booby traps inhibit workflow," he said, following her into the elevator. "There's security, but if your people did their work then I can bypass it. You have Moriarty and Harrison, I assume?"

She glanced at the man as he said Harrison's name, keeping an eye out for any facial twitches. Her one disadvantage in this line of work was she wasn't a reader. She could study a person, but she couldn't look at them and instantly know their life story. She didn't see anything in his face to indicate he was still in love with her... but it didn't escape her notice he'd kept his ring. Perhaps out of habit, but she didn't dare trust him too much. Years from now, maybe. Not now. "Yes, we have them. They were both caught... unprepared. And indecent."

He credited his years of working for Jim that his face remained impassive. He didn't try forcing a smirk, that was too far. Despite the last few months, he wasn't a grifter. "Good. I'm glad. This whole situation would be much more difficult if one of them was missing."

"That was never a risk. They were too handicapped by your death to go anywhere," she shook her head, her voice near a sneer. "Honestly, I can't believe the propensity of sleeping with his employees. I thought he didn't care about people?"

He shrugged. "He doesn't. I never really got it either." He stepped out into the familiar hallway and took a breath, waiting for Ines to lead the way. She didn't hesitate to strut down the hallway, and he followed her, steadying himself. This was going to be rough.

She opened the door to Jim's office, and there they were, kneeling on the floor, hands on their heads, a half-dozen guns trained on them.

The two of them looked up as they came in, at differing speeds. Jim's head snapped up, a vicious wolf cornered and furious. Lorna's came up more slowly, a defeated, exhausted woman just waiting for death. They both couldn't believe what they saw.

"Sebastian?" Lorna gasped, her voice breaking halfway through, her fingers digging into her scalp.

"Moran." Was all that came out of Jim, his teeth gritted in a snarl.

He nodded to them both, meeting their gazes without emotion. He knew Jim was weighing the merits of killing him and dying in the process, but he had no way of conveying to the boss that everything was fine. He just hoped Lorna saw the ring. Her expression was gutting him, but he didn't let it show.

"Hello boss. Lorna."

"You were right, this is incredibly funny," Ines laughed, patting Moran's shoulder. Lorna gave up nearly immediately, bending over, pressing her forehead to the floor, hands clenching by her head. She thought she was going to die, right here, right now, her chest hurt so badly.

Not again.

"How long, Moran?" Jim's expression was cool again, composed, but he could see the fury in his eyes.

"Long enough, Bo-... Jim." He glanced at Ines. "Sorry, boss. Old habits."

Ines shrugged, her eyes on Jim. How interesting to meet him in the flesh. To see the man who ruled the castle. What did he think of her? Did he have any idea why she'd done this? Well, they would have time to get to know each other. "Bag them. I don't feel like gloating right now, I feel like cleaning out this office and getting a place to lay my head for the night," she said, waving a hand at the mess the room was. "Keep them in separate cells 90% of the time. I'll allow them to visit each other every once in awhile just so Harrison doesn't off herself with spork. That's not lasting entertainment."

Moran watched as they were hooded and tied, taking a slow breath before turning to look at Ines. "I'd like to evaluate our security, Boss. Make sure we aren't vulnerable to counterattacks."

"Do it. Get back to me in two hours. Three, at tops," she said, turning and beginning to go through the papers scattered on Moriarty's desk.

He nodded, following the group carrying Lorna and Jim out.

He wanted to do something then. Wanted to kill the guards and pick Lorna up and crush her to him and apologize to Jim and run.

But if they were going to have any chance of taking the network back, this was his game to play. But maybe...

"Stop," he called, and the men paused, raising an eyebrow. He walked forward, then, and around, to crouch in front of Harrison, yanked up her hood. What to say... Any code would be decipherable. So instead he just grinned. "I heard you broke, when I died... I thought you'd have a little more faith. I never forgot you, see?" His tone was snide as he wiggled his ring finger.

She stared for a moment, looking a mess, her hair rumpled from the hood, face pale. She couldn't move for a long moment, unable to make herself react, act. Moran would never have kept the ring. He wouldn't have cared enough to rub it in her face. She only let the understanding, the love show on her face for a few seconds, to let him know she understood, before her expression fell back into one of grief. "Fuck you, asshole," she snapped, spitting on the ground between them. Her fingers traced the ring of her own, still living on her hand.

He laughed. "Stop acting like you care. You were onto a new pony soon enough. I heard they caught you naked. Were you sucking his cock? Or was he taking yours? You know, he has quite the submissive side, don't you, Jim?" He shoved the hood back onto Lorna's head roughly. "I bet he's hard right now, all tied up and hooded. Are you, boss? Are you randy? Need someone to rub you off?"

Jim didn't dignify that with a response, but Moran could see his knuckles were white, hands clenched in anger. He laughed, and then nodded to the soldiers. "Get them out of here."

His words stung, considering she didn't know how much of them were true. But it didn't sting enough to erase the relief in her heart. Now she just had to let Jim know. That could be a while, though, and who knew what they would have to go through while Sebastian figured a way to set them free.

He watched them go, and then headed for security. That had been a risk, but a necessary one. If Harrison had killed herself before he had a chance to rescue her... And now was the best time, with the security system likely still down, odds were the interaction wasn't even recorded. That chance would be gone within a few hours.

In the elevator, Lorna thought about trying to overpower their guards, but the risk of one of them being shot in such close quarters was too much to risk. Especially now.

They were taken to the basement. It used to be a nightmare of hers, to be locked up down there, and now it was coming true. Excellent.

Over the course of the next few hours he successfully brought the basics of the security system back online. He would need to rewrite much of the system and disable fail-safes with Jim and Lorna's bio-codes before the full thing could be back online, but for the moment it would do. He headed up to Ji- to Ines's office.

Ines had cleaned everything off the walls, and was sitting amongst a pile of papers, starting to go through it all and filing it away in her brain. She looked up at Moran's entry. "Moriarty and Harrison are in the basement, should you wish to visit them. You will have to be supervised, for the moment. It's not that I don't trust you... it's just that I don't trust you."

He gave a crooked grin. "I understand. God, when you said he'd lost it I didn't think he'd gone this far. I mean, this is some real Rain Man shit..." He picked up a stack of paper, starting to leaf through it. "All this and he didn't see your people working in security right under his nose."

"I don't know. I think he did see it, from what I've seen so far," she shook her head, pointing to a stack of papers which all had something circled on it. "He saw my signs. He just didn't do anything."

"Christ," he muttered under his breath, then let out a small laugh. "All the years I worked for him, as well as I knew him, I couldn't have hit his weak points more precisely as you. And you'd never met him. You... crippled him. Incredible." He pushed a hand through his hair, which was shorn short on the side but had been left with a few inches of length on the top. He wasn't a fan, but Ines was, and she controlled everything about him now.

She shrugged a little, though a self-satisfied smirk was on her face. "You're not a studier of people like me. Most people aren't. James was surprisingly easy to learn. He acted how he felt, didn't bother holding anything in. It was clear even from Belgium. His actions twitched the web around him, just like the spider he is."

He nodded just a little, genuine admiration on his face. "Well, congratulations, then, Boss. The network is yours. Security is stable, though not at it's strongest, so I'd recommend keeping a heavy guard up until I can finish converting the system. It's the best there is, so it might take me a while. Ten days, a bit more."

"Sounds good to me. Make it happen. I'll probably be holed up in here for the foreseeable future. This is just his office. What's in his penthouse?" She sighed, putting down the paper she was holding and adjusting the bun her hair was in, tucking back some stray strands of hair.

"While I knew him, he kept his work mostly contained to the office. But then again, I never saw his office like this," he said, glancing around, nodding a little. "Alright, then, am I excused?"

"Yes, you're excused," she said distractedly. "Unless something happens, I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded, gave a lazy salute, and headed out the door. He took the familiar route to his and Lorna's apartment, and keyed in. He didn't want to be there, not when she was dozens of floors below in the basement cells, but he didn't have much choice. Anything else would look strange.

The flat was a wreck, empty bottles of liquor strewn everywhere. He ignored all of that for now, heading through to their room and falling onto the bed, exhausted.

It smelled like her. He grabbed her pillow, and fell asleep.

Lorna didn't sleep well that night, curled up in the corner of the room on the floor. It was weird, thinking that Sebastian was somewhere above her. Likely in their apartment. The one she'd been living in alone for the past months, grieving his death.

He was alive.

He woke the next morning, showered and shaved. The shaving felt nice. Until yesterday he'd been sporting a scraggly, unkempt beard. He considered trying to cut off the flop of hair left on top of his head (he looked like some ridiculous metrosexual pomp) but didn't want to risk Ines's ire. Instead he dressed and headed for the elevator to the basement. He wouldn't bother Ines until later in the morning.

It was irritating, needing to ask for a piss break, but she figured it was better than being thrown in a hole and forgotten about. She didn't recognize the man who gave her her meager breakfast, and she wondered what had happened to her people. Johnson and Kelly and the others. Irene, even. Had they all been purged, or forced to become traitors? Had they run? She sighed, rubbing the circles under her eyes and trying to ignore a building headache in her head from being unable to drink.

The lift opened, and he was met by two of Ines's soldiers who walked him through the familiar halls to where Lorna and Jim were being held. He stayed away from Jim's cell, but headed for Lorna's with a cocky grin and a heart that was beating double-time. "You awake in there yet, little birdy?"

"You know I don't like being called that, fucker," she said back, her voice dry. "You bring me whiskey, by any chance?"

"Seems like you've had enough for a lifetime, judging by the state of my flat," he snorted. "It's disgusting, really. Did you have to sleep in my bed? Everything smells like you, it's rank. I'll have to put it through the wash a half dozen times before I can sleep."

I miss you.

"Do you have to lurk outside like a creep? If you're going to insult me, at least have the courtesy to do it to my face," she scoffed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall.

I want to see you...

He raised an eyebrow at the guard, then nodded to the door. The man keyed something into the keypad, blocking Moran from seeing, and then slid the door open.

There she was, sitting in the corner, looking so small in the cold expanse of the room. "What bothers you most about 'little bird'?" he asked as he leaned against the door frame. "Is it that it so aptly describes your stature? Or because it's a reminder of another man in the list of lovers who didn't give a flying fuck about you?"

"We both know I'm not sensitive about my height," she said coldly, a warning about where exactly he was choosing to tread. "I'm sensitive about the reminder of a man who raped and impregnated me. You ought to remember, considering I was sick on your couch as a result of fixing the problem."

Too far. But he wasn't her. He wasn't a grifter, and he was bumbling through this as it was.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," he chuckled. I am. "Did I hurt your feelings?" I did. "You know, I'm going to enjoy the next few weeks. We'll be seeing an awful lot of each other." You have at least that long alive.

"Lovely. Bring me something alcoholic. I'm serious. Last time I had the D.T.s I had a seizure and a stroke I'm lucky I recovered from. If your new lady boss wants me alive, for some reason, she's going to need to wean me off it," she said dryly, though her eyes didn't hold the same dry anger.

He smirked. "I'll pass that along. I'm sure she'll be interested. You are ever so special." You have leverage. "Does her majesty want anything else?"

"Yeah. A cell with a bathroom. And she's going to give it to me. You know why?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at him. "Because if she didn't think I could eventually be converted into something vaguely usable she'd have killed me, regardless of entertainment value. I'm not important, you don't love me, and I know it."

He laughed. "All I need you for, princess Lorna, is your thumbprint and DNA. How useful you want to be beyond that is up to you. But I'll pass your message along. Ines will think it's hilarious."

"Why the fuck do you need those? There's nothing I would have access to that you wouldn't. I doubt we wrote you out of the code," she snorted, rolling her eyes a little.

He laughed, though his eyes met hers fiercely for just a moment. Don't be stupid. "Your security department wasn't falling apart as much as the rest of the network. Standard procedure after a death is to delete that person's access. And for rewriting many of the security measures, more than one approval is needed."

"As soon as you want to do that, let me know then," she sighed, shrugging. "Let me get it over with."

He laughed. "God, how did I stand living with you? You are so fucking whiny. It's a wonder I didn't beat the shit out of you until you shut up. Probably why we fucked so much. Are you done, princess, or shall I fetch you some lacy pillows, too?"

She thought about whether or not she could kick him from where she was sitting, and decided her legs were too short. "Get out, Moran. I'm tired of listening to that smug tone. Let's hate-fuck sometime, okay?"

"I think Ines might get jealous," he snorted, winking before heading out of the room. He felt nauseous and filthy. How in hell did she stand this? Christ, give him a roof and a gun any day.

She rubbed her eyes as the door closed, exhausted. It was one thing, grifting with strangers. But having to endure his sneering and attitude all over again was hard, especially since she was still adjusting to the idea of him being alive.

He didn't go back for a few days. He hated the idea of having to grift her again. He turned his attention to the security, losing himself in reworking the system he had created, in sneaking backdoors in where he could, in creating a web around himself without letting the programmers know exactly why he was asking them to do what they were doing. He was the only one with a full idea of what the system looked like, and he kept it that way.

Lorna was relieved when they started giving her the little tiny airplane bottles of liquor, of which was enough to keep her from going into withdrawal too hard and too fast. It took them a day to move her into a cell with a toilet, but she was willing to deal with that, now that she didn't think she was going to have a very unpleasant death.

She had mixed feelings about Moran's absence. On the one hand, she desperately wanted to see him. To reaffirm in her mind that he was alive, he was real, he wasn't just the voice that had been haunting her head, her flat, her empty bed. But on the other, it would mean she would have to be subject to his abuse - hopefully, only verbal. She didn't know the exact plans that Ines - whoever the woman was - had for her, and so she was a model prisoner. She didn't scream, didn't attempt to escape, just kept her head down and did what they told her to do, though, so far, they left her by and large alone. She was worried that that could change.

Ines called him up to Jim's office a few days later. He extracted himself from the security work and made his way to the stairs. It was a slower way up that he could put off as wanting to stay fit. Every little fight he could make, he made.

He knocked on the door crisply, and then stepped in. "You rang?"

"Yes, I did," she said, going through a few files on her desk. The office was much neater, but there was still progress to be made. "I've been looking over the security files. I've gathered that we don't actually need the both of them to override the procedures. Moriarty should do. There's no reason to keep Harrison around."

He blinked, but didn't falter. "If I still had security access that would be the case. But in the process of rebuilding the system there are a few key places where you need all authorized executive officers to approve. So I need Harrison."

"But what if she'd died, like you? James would need a back door," Ines argued, giving him a strange look. "He couldn't be locked out of the system forever."

"He wasn't trying to rewrite the entire system. The alternate workaround is possible, but lengthy. It doesn't inhibit normal operations, but it requires a six-month delay for any major changes. The way Jim figured, if we were suddenly all dead it was probably a time to lock down security anyway." He kept his expression calm.

Ines pursed her lips, considering for a moment, her finger tapping on the desk. "Normally I would be prepared to wait the six months. But these aren't normal circumstances. I suppose I'm forced to keep her. Or I could just keep her hand around..."

He shook his head. "Jim had a vested interest in remaining alive. All of the scans require a pulse reading from the appendage, and the iris scan requires pupil reaction."

"Christ. He really thought of everything, there, didn't he," she muttered bitterly. "Alright. Fine. Leave them be, for the moment."

He nodded a little. "He was the best. But when the system is turned over, it will be your best. Those same fail-safes will keep you breathing in nasty situations."

"Yes, well, that's all well and good I suppose," she sighed, waving her hand dismissively. "But it doesn't help me in the here and now."

He left without responding, taking a slow breath of relief and settling his nerves by force. Then he headed back toward security. He had work to do making everything he'd just said true.

The next day, Ines took a break from her work, and visited her prisoners. She watched on the CCTV station in the basement for a few minutes, and then paged Moran, heading for Harrison's cell, picking up an armed guard on the way. She opened up the cell, smiling, and Lorna winced a little away from the brighter lights in the hall. "Harrison. Hello. You've made my life rather difficult, you should know. I'm not very pleased by that," she said, leaning against the door frame. "You should know that he really did love you, you know, at first. Converting him was a real challenge. But, well, now he's only lying to you just to hurt you. Isn't that loyal of him?"

Moran knew something was going to go horribly wrong the moment he was summoned down to the basement. He spent the elevator ride preparing himself for whatever might come, wishing he had the comforting weight of his gun at his chest.

He stepped out into the hallway and was met by two guards, who escorted him to Harrison's cell. He heard Ines before he saw her, and took a breath.

"You called, boss?" he asked, paying no attention to Lorna.

Ines smirked, turning to Moran a little. "I did indeed. You made good time. Moran, why don't you tell our captive how fucking long you held out before we hardened up that heart of yours again?"

His jaw tensed slightly, and he straightened. "Two months, twenty-six days," he said quietly, eyes on Ines only, responding to an order, nothing more.

Lorna was also tense, eyes hard on Ines to keep them from tearing up. He had fought back for almost three months before coming up with whatever his current plan was? What had they done to him in the meantime? He was thinner than he had been...

Ines turned to face Moran more, reaching out to lightly grab the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. "Give me a kiss, Colonel," she smirked.

You need to make her buy it.

He gave a laugh, glancing at Harrison with a look full of playful challenge, trying to pretend he was just teasing her and hoping Ines would read it as mockery. He turned back to his employer, leaning in to snog her enthusiastically, hands snaking around her waist.

Lorna dug her fingers into her thighs, anger and a little jealousy brewing in her stomach. They kissed for far too long, Ines obviously not doing it just for show after a moment, her hand twisted up in Moran's signature crimson shirt. When she backed off, her cheeks were a little darker than usual. "I suppose now I understand why James takes to having sex with his employees. They know what they're doing," she chuckled, letting him go and giving a dramatic wink to Lorna. "I mourn your loss. Now I have important things to do, so enjoy your time rotting in here."

Moran groaned slightly as she pulled away, smiling. "If you ever want to try his methods, I'm volunteering," he said with a smirk, eyeing the woman up and down, expression hungry. And as much as he hated to admit it, it wasn't too hard to fake. He was hungry. It had been ages since he'd done anything, and his body was reacting without his say so.

"I guess I could always make an exception. I'm tense from leaning over paperwork all day... I'll call you tonight, Colonel," she hummed, giving him a lingering look, then she turned away. "Alright. I have to get going. Toodles."

He smiled after her, then turned to look at Lorna, risking an apologetic glance, just a flicker. Then he gave her a sneer. "Sorry, love. You just got boring." He turned and left.

She buried her face in her hands after the door shut, taking a deep breath.

I'm sorry, Sebastian. This isn't your life.