I apologise for the long hiatus, but I've just completed a half of my masters, so my life he's seen constant college work :( but finally I get to write for these two amazing characters again. This chapter isn't as long as the last three, but my brain is still a bit academically mushy so it's the best I can do.

Thank you all for your patience.

Alex POV:

"Did you see the picture that Avery provided of her sister?" Owen asked as they drove on to Kristen's street.

"Yeah, she's basically a brunette version of Avery," Alex commented, watching the houses pass by her window.

"Here we are." Owen pulled over, parking the car in front of large Victorian house. For some unknown reason, a shiver skirted down Alex's spine making her shudder. Luckily, he was scouting out the house through the window, so he missed her odd reaction. There was something about the building that gave her creeps and she hadn't even stepped inside yet.

"I don't like it. It gives me the creeps," she found herself saying, without thought. She hadn't meant to voice her subconscious reaction to the building, but when she was around Owen, she discovered that more often than not she was more willing to share with him. The little tidbit of information she'd just told him about her past was proof enough of that. It was probably because he didn't try and act all 'adult' like the others, so she didn't feel the need to act grown-up all the time. If her age showed, he didn't call her out on it or think her childish. Not that she thought the others judged her for being young, nor did she consider herself young, but it did led to near constant need to prove herself, her value, her worth. She also needed to show them that she could handle the burdens and trauma that came with their job. She'd already survived hell and was now safely in purgatory. She never felt the need to worry about any of that stuff with Owen. She felt safe enough to do or say anything around him. Except maybe that one thing that would ruin their friendship.

"Yeah, me either," he agreed without turning around. "If we were in a horror movie right now, I'd turn our asses round and head back to Division." Owen grinned over at her and winked. Alex ignored the little flutter in her belly and smiled at him. "But since we're staring in a spy movie, I guess we better do as M ordered us and check the place out."

Owen stepped out the car and made his way toward the house, Alex close behind him.

Nikita POV:

"My sister is a soft soul," Avery began, her back ramrod straight and legs crossed as she surveyed the people sitting in the interrogation room with her. Nikita had taken point, but she'd brought Sean with her as well. Despite the rouse in the bar, Nikita felt that Avery and Sean had made a connection and she wanted to see if she was right.

"We share the same father, but my mother had the sense to leave him after he beat for the hundredth time. I was four. Nineteen years later, my dead-beat-dad's arrest jacket found its way to my desk and I found out I had a half sister. When I found her, she was eighteen and as high as a kite. Told me that her dad used to beat her and her mom and that her mother never left. So she ran away. She was fourteen, had been living on the streets with her boyfriend since. She'd gotten into drugs pretty early and used to act as a mule for them sometimes. Who'd ever suspect a young girl of carrying drugs? I helped her get sober. It wasn't easy, but we managed and for about two and a half years we were sisters." Avery pauses to take a deep breath. Nikita couldn't help drawing parallels between Kristen and Alex. Both girls had suffered horrible childhoods and then Division had happened.

"I came back from a twenty-four hour night shift one morning and she was gone. All of her stuff. Everything. Just gone." Avery clasped her hands together on her lap, clenching them so tightly that her knuckles turn white. "There was even a note in her handwriting. I'm sorry, it said, please don't look for me."

Alex POV:

It was easy for Owen to pick the lock on the backdoor. If was a residential neighbourhood and they couldn't afford to be seen loitering outside the front door of someone's home. Owen has already checked for an alarm system, but there was none. Both of them found that strange. Division agents were a paranoid bunch thanks to their training, so Kristen's lack of security measures was odd. There was nothing out of the ordinary about anything in the house either. It was your standard kitchen, dining room, sitting room setting with three bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom and an attic. Owen and Alex methodically searched the entire building beginning with the attic, both searching for any clues. It was empty except for a few cobwebs. Alex had them taken upstairs and Owen downstairs.

Alex found women's clothes and shoes, some make-up, perfume and everyday facial essentials in one of the bedrooms. The other two room, when she'd opened the door, were bare. No furniture or beds, just a hollow space. There was no sign of any pictures or anything that made the place personal. Nothing to hint at the person Kristen was, but at the same time Alex couldn't help but feeling like the house was haunted. Not in the conventual sense of ghosts and spirits, but haunted by the lack of the person. If that even makes any sense, she scolded herself. Here I am spooking myself out in the middle of the day, because I feel like the house is haunted by the lack of a spirit.

"Alex, come down here," Owen shouted, his voice carrying up the stairs. Turning away from the room and her spooky thoughts, she silently skipped down the stairs. She found Owen in the kitchen standing in front of what she assumed was the basement door.

"There was nothing upstairs, just some women's clothes." Owen didn't answer, but continued to stare down into the basement. "Owen, what is it?"

"There's a security keypad system on that door, as well as three bolts with padlocks. This door was also hidden behind a cupboard. I felt a weird draft so I checked it out. The door was locked too." As he was speaking, he slowly made his way down the steps, one-by-one, careful not to touch anything with his hands. Obviously he was checking for hidden traps, because whatever was hidden down there, somebody didn't want it to be found.

Nikita's POV:

"I looked. Of course I looked," Avery said distantly. "She was my sister and I'd just found her. I started to dig, checked all her old haunts and roughed up her ex-boyfriend, but nothing. There was no sign of her."

Nikita felt sympathy for the other women will up despite her having almost killed her friends. Avery was just trying to find her sister and if she had been in her shoes she would have done the same. "How did Division get on your radar?" Nikita finally asked, pulling Avery out of her thoughts. She'd been staring off into the distance, her eyes full of painful memories.

"A few months ago, Kris just shows up at my door." Avery savagely twists her hands together again, guilt shining from her eyes. "She told me a story. A story about escaping from some underground facility called Division. I thought...I thought she was making it all up. Just an excuse she cooked up for falling off the wagon. It had been four years with no word and she just shows up expecting me to buy into a secret assassins den. That she was kidnapped and forced to... "

Alex's POV:

"Thanks Birkhoff," Alex said, hanging up the phone. He'd helped them override the security system and Owen was busy using a bolt cutter to cut through the padlocks. "What do you think is in there?" Alex asked, curiosity colouring her voice. She stood behind Owen, watching the muscles in his neck and shoulders work. She resisted the urge to reach out and stroke his neck with her fingers.

"Don"t know," he responded, unaware of her internal musings. "But I think we should draw our guns just in case." Alex pulled her gun out if its holster and held it by her side. Owen cut the last padlock and pulled his own weapon out. "I'll take point, you wait here and cover our escape if needed." Alex nodded and held up three fingers.

3...

2...

1...

Owen twisted the door knob, the door swinging slowly inwards. An odd smell, like rotting meat wafted toward them as air escaped the room. The only light was from the kitchen, so Owen switched on his torch casting it around the room, but it appeared the room was to large for the beam of light to make anything distinct out. Alex was covering his back, one eye on the door at the top the stairs and the other on Owen. She couldn't see past his back, but he stepped forward into the room. Suddenly, she was blinded by garish bright light. Alex blinked in surprise, her eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness. "What the fuck?" Owen's horrified words filled her ears and Alex raced into the room almost dropping her gun at the sight that greeted her. A gasp of horror escaped her lips "Oh God!"

Nikita's POV:

"She said, that this Percy guy told her that her that she was to keep a man named Sebastian happy, no matter what. If she didn't cooperate he would kill me. If she tried to run, he would kill me." Now Nikita understood the guilt she saw in Avery's eyes. She blamed herself for Kristen's predicament when really she should be blaming Percy. Even from beyond the grave, the tyrant was reeking havoc on people's lives. "She didn't really talk about what she had to do, but I got the impression that it wasn't pleasant. The thing is for the longest time I didn't believe her and then she disappeared again."

Tears sprang to Avery's eyes, sliding down her cheeks. Still, she remained still and composed. "Hindsight is wonderfully horrible thing. Now that I look back it was obvious she was suffering from PTSD. She'd wake in the middle of the night screaming. She didn't want to leave the apartment, didn't want to be touched. What did I do about it?" Avery swipes gently at her tears. "I continued to believe that it was all excuses."

Alex POV:

The girl was only partially dressed, her body strapped to a wooden X. Her skin was bleached of colour except where she been bruised and cut, her throat an ugly, grinning slash. Alex's hands and feet went numb, her eyes involuntarily seeking out more details. The far wall was covered in various torturous sex implements and there was an open cage in the left hand corner.

Then Owen was there, his arms surrounding her, practically dragging her back up the kitchen and slamming the door closed behind them. Alex throat felt constricted, her heart trying to pound it's way out of her chest. She couldn't draw breath into her lungs, her mind refusing to process what she'd just seen. "Alex breathe," Owen took her face in his hands and made her look at him. "Alex, sweetheart, I need you to breathe for me." Alex made herself focus on Owen, only Owen. She found herself doing as he asked, compelled by a need to make the worry and concern that shone from his eyes disappear. "In. Out. Yeah, that's it." She reached up, wrapping her hands around his wrists and held on. His thumbs caressed her cheeks, wiping at the tears she hadn't even know we're falling.

"That poor girl, Owen." Alex gasped out, memories of her time as a slave threatening to overwhelm her. She'd seen many girls killed or worse, but never subjected to the torture chamber that was set up in that basement. Whatever vile creature had killed that girl deserved to be strung up by his intestines and left to rot. Owen doesn't bother telling her that its going to be okay. Instead pulls her into his body, his arms encasing her in a steel grip, like he's never going to let her go. Alex only became aware of how cold she had become, when Owen's heat started seeping into her. She clutched his jacket in her hands, her head buried against his neck.

"I have to call Nikita and Michael." Alex held him tighter, afraid that he was going to let go. She'd be strong when the others showed up, but right now she needed to be comforted. She couldn't open her mouth to ask for it, but Owen seemed to know what she needed none the less. He pulled his cellphone out of his coat pocket and made the call all the while holding Alex close to him. She only tuned into the end of his conversation, to busy battling off her own demons.

"It wasn't Kristen, but the girl looked an awful lot like her," Owen was saying. He moved the hand not holding his phone into Alex's hair, tangling it between his fingers. She got the impression he was making sure she couldn't pull away from him while he was distracted. "Wait! Did you say Sebastian?" Owen sharp tone had Alex looking up at him. His jaw was clenched, his eyes hard and his hand had fisted in her hair. "Yeah, I've heard of him. The sick bastard is supposed to be dead."