After the introduction, Fi and Jesse looked at Michael; he saw them with an expression of fear in his eyes. Only then they understood some of the situation, Michael was indeed a hostage and someone able to scare him did deserve to be feared.
The burnt spy didn't want that monster to hurt his friends so he tried to negotiate with her:
-"I did as you told me Delilah, Maldonado is dead now let me go"- He said as calm as possible.
-"I know, you were a good boy, but part of the deal included getting rid of the body. Once you help me with that you'll be free to join your friends"- She said sweetly
Michael prayed to whatever was out there that Fiona didn't try anything stupid or Delilah might try to repeat that ritual of the blood eagle on her as well. He saw his girlfriend with panic when she readied her weapon, but when the little monster gave her a warning glance the former IRA thought better of it.
-"It would be faster if we help"- Jesse feigned friendliness, if they couldn't get Michael out of this mess at least he could go with him as a backup in case Delilah chose to break her promise.
-"That is so sweet from you, but we can handle it. Don't worry as I said I'll bring him home early and I even took the time to talk to his mom so she wouldn't worry. As a matter of fact a good friend of mine is with her right now."- To make her point she took her cell phone and dialed, a female voice answered and Delilah spoke –"Hello Mrs. Westen, how are you? I'm Jimmy's friend and right now I'm with your son would you like to say Hi to him?"- She handed Michael the phone.
-"Hi ma, are you all right?"- He did his best not to sound worried, on the other side of the line his mother answered cheerful
-"Of course I'm fine; I'm here with my new neighbor Jimmy. He is a very skilled handyman he even fixed my porch! I didn't know he was your friend as well. Oh wait he wants to speak to you"- She handed the phone to Delilah's accomplice- "Hello Michael how are you? You didn't say your mom was so adorable! Anyway I'm fixing some of the problems on the house right now so I'll stay for a while. Once you're done I'll stop bothering this little lady with my chatter and we'll meet for drinks, I gotta help her out, god forbid some bad wiring threw sparks and her whole house burn down. See ya!"- And with that he hung up. Michael got the point, if he behaved his mother wouldn't even know something was wrong but if he didn't Jimmy would burn the house with Madeleine in it. He had to play along with the sociopath; his friends would go right to his mom's house and keep her safe.
-"Point taken, I'll go with you"- Michael feigned calmness and helped the psycho load Maldonado's corpse into her car. His friends rushed over Madeleine's, once that bitch didn't have her as a pawn against him they would all charge to attack her. Before leaving Fiona kissed Michael hard in front of Delilah, as a way to let her know he was only hers, but that kiss also gave her the opportunity to put a tracker on him.
Sam, Jesse and Fiona barely had time to leave the building before it exploded, the sociopath never left any evidence behind.
The road to Delilah's house was quiet and tense, the former spy asked her with trepidation, fearing the response
-"Will you keep your word?"-
-"Yes Michael I will, I might be many things but my daddy always taught me to be honest with my friends"- It was a little pathetic but Michael was the closest thing she had to a friend, Jimmy was a good sidekick but given the opportunity he would kill her, she dared to think he was even colder than her.
When they arrived to her house both of them noticed something was wrong, the dogs weren't there. She called to them filled with concern; he noticed the three dead creatures on her front door. Her screaming dreaded to burst his eardrums, in a moment of rage she took him by his collar and lifted him above her pinning him to the wall. Michael knew better otherwise he could have believe she was a supernatural creature given the strength her little frame had to offer.
-"Did you or your friends have anything to do with this?"- The anger in her eyes was the scariest thing Michael ever saw. He told her the truth, that he had nothing to do with this and that his friends wouldn't do anything like it, hurting animals was not their style.
-"Hello Delilah, long time no see"- A man said from inside her house, he was surrounded by several henchmen. –"Boss?"- She answered in disbelief –"You did this?"- Anyone crazy enough to piss her off was worthy of reverence, apparently even monsters like her had bosses to respond to.
-"I am quite disappointed with you Delilah, first you refuse to take your assignment and then you kill one of our most trusted clients. I'm afraid I must terminate your contract"- The tall middle aged, Asian said sadly. –"As for you mister Westen I have instructions for my men to drive you home, I strongly suggest you forget what transpired in here or your bosses will be upset"-
-"I don't have any bosses"- Michael said defiantly
-"Yes you do, and they are much more powerful than you think. Your car awaits"- One of the henchmen grabbed him by the arm and threw him inside a car. This man knew who the people that burnt him were but, if he was even meaner than Delilah he stood little chance to get any answers from him. Nonetheless he had stumbled over a lead to who they might be.
Surprisingly he felt sorry for Delilah, finally she met someone who could stop her. When her pets were killed he saw behind her rage the fact that her boss had killed the only living creatures that cared for her, she was a lonely person and she would die alone as well. Part of him felt identified with that feeling, he knew what it was to be alone and face death on a regular basis. Who knows if it wasn't for Fiona, his family and friends he might have turned into a monster like her.
Seeing her house on the distance he fought the urge to knock out the driver in front of him and help her out, he could get some answers about the people that burnt him but then he realized he must have a case of a Stockholm's syndrome and let the henchman drive him home.
Two psychos down, along with several gangsters and a few henchmen. Should be a good day but it didn't feel like it.
Jimmy was gone by the time his friends arrived to Madeleine's home, an hour later Michael was back at the loft tired and in a bad mood.
One week later…..
-"Is that why you always fight? I can't believe you are jealous of a psychopath, a dead one at that!"- Madeleine asked Fiona while serving her a glass of ice tea, the Irish woman needed a girl talk and Michael's mom was the only one she could trust about it.
-"You've seen how sad he is about her death. He's trying to find out who killed her because he says it's a big lead to find the people who burned him but I know better"- Fiona fumed.
-"If he weren't scarred for being a hostage of the female version of Jason then I'll think he's a sociopath as well. Fiona I will say this once because it's too obvious to repeat, Michael loves you and if he could get rid of his feelings he would have done it a long time ago and his life would be a whole lot easier, empty but easier."- Madeleine lit up a cigarette, his son didn't like it when she smoked in his loft but the smell might clear up before he arrives.
Thirty minutes later Michael arrived with a not so small package in his hands, someone sent him a gift by mail. Inside there was a pink CD and a human head. Michael knew who it belonged, Delilah's boss.
Fearing the contents inside the CD he told his mom to go home, when he played it in his computer both Michael and Fiona felt chills running down their spines. It was a recording of a severely wounded man crying tied up to a chair. Michael told Fiona who he was, her eyes widened when Delilah's voice was heard, she was behind the camera.
-"So Mr. Sato this is a message for a good friend of mine, remember Mr. Westen? Now before you go to the other side I want you to tell the camera all you know about your organization, I think he might be interested in that"-
-"I will not say anything until you set me free"- The victim said in a barely audible whisper.
-"Aww I'm so sorry boss but that offer expired when you killed my babies. The only price on the table is a faster death instead of a very slow and painful one. Either you give me what I want or I get to have my fun with you, so for me is a win-win and for you a lose-lose."- She said sweetly feigning sympathy.
The helpless man sobbed and cried even harder when he realized she was telling the truth, he chose to speak in the hope of ending his misery
-"I belong to a private organization; there are a handful of those over the planet. We all recruit persons with special skills such as combat training, management in technology, political connections etcetera and we make them work for us, whether they want to or not. That gives us the power to do basically anything we want or to be more accurate what our client wants.
For the right price we can tilt the world in the direction our client's desire: from fixing an election or throwing a rebellion against the opposing government of their choice to get nuclear weapons. Anything, anything we want, and the only ones that stop us from ruling the world are the other organizations like ours that fight us for control, the one where Westen is employed likes to work with government agents and has people inside every official organization."- Out of breath he cried and shuddered as he said his last words –"That is all I know"-
Delilah sighed and said in sympathy –"You've done well Mr. Sato, goodnight"- She finally appeared on the screen as she positioned herself behind her victim, the blade in her hands cut his throat like butter and didn't stop until the head was severed from his body.
The line between assets and friends gets blurry in Michael's life, the line between friends and enemies wasn't so clear either. Therefore he had no clue of whether he had a powerful ally or the worse enemy he could stumble upon.