Okay, okay. Since the one-shot left everyone baffled and people wanted things to be explained, here's chapter 2. Sorry, not everything gets explained here...but roll with it yeah? :)
Thank you to Distractedmoose for the Beta. Please pray for her soul, she has to deal with my word vomit ;)
Resistance is futile; Helena realizes and sinks to her knees. There are too many of them; including, she's willing to bet, a handful of snipers peering down at her through their scopes. She raises her hands up in the air and winces slightly as the gravel cuts into her still healing right knee. She brings her hand down to shield her eyes against the glaring headlights but a hoarse cry warns her to keep her hands behind her head and she does as she is told.
A sharp jab from the butt of a gun almost makes her lose her balance, but immediately deft hands are there picking her up by the shoulder and roughly pulling her to her feet. Her trench coat is pulled off of her and she stands there exposed to the cold night air.
"Easy," she hears a male voice bark through the cacophony of triumphantly excited law enforcement officials and a distant horn of a streamliner.
Handcuffs in place, the uniform in front of her conducts an uncomfortably thorough search to divest her of her weapons. Her jaw quivers lightly and cuffed hands close into a tight fist. Before she can act, the offender is pulled away by his collar, replaced by a lanky man with close-cropped hair and a crinkle around his pale blue eyes.
"Ms Wells," he says, not quite as a greeting but more a forceful assertion of facts, primarily for his benefit, "It would be wise and in your best interests to co-operate," he continues as he turns her around to check if the cuffs will hold. "Any more weapons to declare?"
She likes this young man. He's direct, and yet he remembers that she is still a human being as he takes her upper arm and guides her to his waiting car.
"My boots," she says softly.
He stops to bend down.
"The other one," she guides him.
He pulls out a Swiss army knife and tosses it to a nearby officer. He looks back at her and she simply nods her head.
"I don't need much."
A wry smile appears on his face before he opens the door for her. "Let's get you somewhere warm," he finishes, shutting the door.
Steven Jinks isn't impressed by very much. For one, he's pretty good at what he does. And two, he works with some of the smartest people in the world, and only sometimes does their above average intelligence pique him. He's seen people with twisted morals and more twisted brains, and even their baffling logic fails to impress him at the best of times.
But watching Helena Wells through the one-way mirror, Steve is impressed by how composed the woman appears. It's not a show, he can tell. There's no fidgeting, no roaming eyes, not even a blatant stare at her captors and interrogators. No, Helena Wells is calmly sitting back in her chair, legs crossed, and hands neatly upon her knees; her eyes have been focused on a single spot on the table for the past hour that they have kept her in confinement and since they've removed her blindfold.
He's slightly startled when a heavy hand lands on his shoulder.
"Great work out there Jinksy," Pete's grinning at him.
"You too," he compliments back easily, it's a part of the workplace banter. "It was after all on your instincts that we decided to leave the airport and hit the bay area instead."
"Don't call them instincts, man!" Pete's boyish face lights up with a smile, puffing his chest out, placing his hands on his hips. "It's my superpower!"
Steve nods his head sagely.
"Pete-Man," Pete announces in a dramatic voice, "Pete-Man with his vibes!"
Steve snorts with laughter.
"Now Jinksy boy, let's go get ourselves some answers," Pete says, still in his stage voice. He hands Steve a folder. "And then…" Pete continues as he walks to the door, "It's time to par-tay! Choose your ice-cream flavours now."
Steve has a sneaking suspicion that it won't be that easy, but he says nothing as he follows Pete into the interrogation room.
Peter Lattimer is frustrated, and that is saying a lot. His upbeat persona is perhaps rivalled only by Santa himself. Not to mention that it's a rare temperament for someone in his profession.
Two hours in, and Pete is past exasperated and teetering dangerously on the edge of murderous. Not so much with the lack of answers, but with the general disposition of woman herself. She hardly seems to acknowledge their presence in the room and Pete has started huffing through his sweat drenched shirt. He presses a button for the AC and lowers the temperature of the room further. From the corner of his eye he sees Wells shifting in her seat as an almost invisible shiver runs up her spine. The poker face has not fallen completely, but Pete derives a small pleasure from noting that she's uncomfortable. He glances at Steve, who is at ease in his chair, quietly observing their suspect.
"We can do this all day," Pete says, sitting down and leaning forward to the point of invasion, a classic act of intimidation.
Helena looks at him and speaks for the first time since they've brought her in. "Or you could just let me talk to Myka, it will save us all time and energy, and undoubtedly my peace of mind from having to converse with you."
Pete hates the cool confidence in the woman's voice and is almost ready to give her a piece of his mind, but Steve interrupts, pushing back from the table and standing up, already heading towards the door.
"How did she know I was involved?" Myka asks indignantly, arms crossed, on the defensive.
Claudia answers, "Ahh, maybe because she's only the smartest rogue agent we've ever caught."
"Smart? That didn't stop her from being caught. Besides, the Kosans have no idea who I was. They still think their dear Nanny got deported out of the country"
"We spent a year working our asses off to get a whiff of this woman . And that's not even counting all the years that other agencies have spent searching for her before we got involved." Claudia cannot hide the awe that seeps into voice.
"You're telling me?" Myka asks, arching one eyebrow in an elegant arc, "I had to play a hooker. A hooker! To reel her in. And oh, I only had to sleep with her." The vein along Myka's throat throbs violently and Claudia holds up her hands in surrender. Myka sighs and slouches against the wiz-kid's desk.
The brief moment, filled only with the staccato beats of Claudia's fingers striking the keyboard, is broken when the wiz-kid looks up at Myka and grins, "So you're telling me that you didn't find her even slightly attractive then."
Myka hits her shoulder lightly. However, before she can retort her boss walks in, followed by Pete and Steve. Pete's annoyance is written clearly across his face and Steve just looks tired.
"Why are you still standing here?" Arthur Nielson's eyebrows are more furrowed than usual. "Get in there and get me answers."
"Maybe we could let Dr. Cho have a go at her?" Myka asks hopefully.
"We already know she's damaged goods." Artie answers, ruffling through the sheaf of papers at Claudia's work station.
Myka winces.
"All I want is her intel on Valda," Artie says, turning to look at her, "Any more questions?"
Myka shrugs, feigning nonchalance.
Steve looks at her sympathetically. "Don't let her get under your skin".
Pete too squeezes her shoulder gently before letting her go with a smile. "We'll be right here if things spin out of control."
Myka takes a deep breath and picks up the manila folder from the desk behind her. Slipping on her coat, Myka wonders briefly if her problem is with facing Helena or facing her with the rest of the team listening in.
The third time the door opens; Helena looks up to see Myka enter. She beholds Myka as what is in fact her true self – no dark red lipstick, unruly curls tied back into a strict ponytail, very little make-up and her outfit a far cry from the little black dress she last saw her in, just a fleeting week back. She strides purposefully into the room and sits down opposite to her, opening her folder and clicking her pen.
"Ms Wells are you aware of the location of Benedict Valda's landing site for tonight?" Myka dives straight into business, barely glancing at Helena.
"You gave me your real name." Those are Helena's first words to her.
If Myka is surprised by the question, she doesn't let it show. She answers easily, "It wasn't a routine undercover job. It's difficult to remember aliases… when…"
"In the throes of passion?" Helena supplies, her face betraying no emotion.
Myka almost blushes before subtly clearing her throat and continuing to speak. "So you knew of Valda's plans?"
"I deduced his plans," Helena interjected sharply. "What did you do with the money?"
The question is clearly meant to upset Myka but she shrugs it off. "From the information we passed onto you?" Myka is determined to not give Helena satisfaction of a response.
"Most of the information you fed me was useless, but you already know that." Helena brings her body forward, resting her elbows on the table.
Myka's eyes fall briefly to the cuffs before meeting Helena's darkening pupils.
"Are you getting ideas, darling?" Helena asks with a throaty laughter. "If only you had prolonged our rendezvous, I would have given you the pleasure of tying me up. This is a much too elaborate a measure for seeing me in handcuffs."
"So you have other sources? And you'll give us a list of their names," Myka continues without skipping a beat.
"I'll do no such thing."
Helena's cold tone stills Myka's hand and she taps lightly against the blank sheet of paper.
"You have nothing to offer me in exchange," Helena continues. "You need me to get to Valda. I don't need you."
By 'you' Helena means The Company, but for a brief second the words cut through Myka and her head jerks up. An involuntary, "Helena," escapes her lips.
For the first time she sees anger reflected on Helena's face, but the moment passes and Helena slumps back into her chair. "I should have known better," she looks away from Myka.
Myka is tempted to cross to the other side, literally and figuratively. But her sense of duty prevents her. "Helena… I… It was a job. I had a job to do." Myka has no idea why she's explaining herself or even what she's explaining. She doesn't care that there are others listening in, and that Artie would probably blow a gasket and Pete's incessant questioning would never end.
"Tell Irene she's playing it wrong," Helena's professional tone cuts off her ramble. "She doesn't know how to suck up to those fools in parliament" Helena waits for Myka to indicate her understanding. "Go through the information you collected from Kosan's house again, he knows how to contact Valda."
Myka realizes suddenly that the tables have turned but is given no time to ponder how.
Helena is talking urgently now, giving her instructions, "Tell Irene Frederic to meet me. Tell her I will not waste her time. Get Arthur to track the name "Diamond". Cross check it with potential appearances on Kosan's accounts. I don't know what you did with the material you collected from his house… but that's fine, I'll talk to Irene." With that Helena resumes her silent stand and stares at Myka for a lengthy second before shaking her head lightly.
"Are you going sit here all day?" she asks, a slight smile playing on her lips.
Myka hurriedly rises, collecting the papers and folders and clutching them tightly to her chest. The woman in front of her had just called Irene Frederic by her full name, Myka's rational mind tells her she should just do as she's asked. She nods her head and turns to leave.
"And Myka," Helena's voice gives her pause. "Ask Arthur to set up proper sleeping arrangements. I'll have Agents Jinks guarding me. Unless you want to make yourself available that is."
There was no humour in Helena's tone and Myka gulps visibly. "Anything else?" asks Myka from the doorway, keeping any flippant remarks in check. Who did this woman think she was?
Helena seems to ponder the question and Myka almost closes the door, tired of the woman's antics, when Helena opens her mouth, "I'll take my Earl Grey now".
And that's it folks! Thank you for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. maybe even get ideas where I want to take this.
Love- G3 :)