Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade, all I own is my oc's and the plot line.

By Their Saving Grace

Chapter Nine: Inside Out

x x x

Kai had never been so surprised in all his life. The woman that he had previously been afraid of was tough as nails, but just about as gentle as a summer breeze. Nothing seemed to bother her, her sense of humor was sarcastic and all-that, as the others described, and she dressed like a secret agent. Tyson liked it, and more than once, Ray had threatened to tell Hilary on him.

Angel was constantly on the go, hardly stopping to for rest, except in the latest and darkest hours of night. The day she had appeared rather surprisingly in the Tate's living room, she had won over the support of the Blade Sharks, and what he had thought was a small group was hundreds strong. She commanded them all with Tala as her right-hand man.

His team mates were a bit skeptical of the young woman's style upon their first few days, but now, things had clicked and the huge abandoned complex was amazingly luxurious and acomodating, as if it had been left waiting for them.

So far, however, with Biovolt and his grandfather, aside from a few skirmishes, nothing big had happened. Angel had made no attempts at a break in of the B.B.A. building from which the show was being run, but she had indeed been carefully planning each move. He was surprised.

And apparently he wasn't alone in his belief that women were typically not that smart.

She had shoved his fist in his mouth a few hundred times over, and he wasn't going to wait for it to happen literally. She had told him that it would be next though, and he should be careful. She wasn't one to mess around, in that respect.

"Hey, Riku, Alexander, come here," The young woman called, and the two strode confidently into her office.

Sitting behind her desk, Angel's petite form was indeed watched. She took a casual sip of the water next to her and looked up at them. She smirked. "I have a little job for you two. I need you to sneak around the B.B.A. building and see what you can see." Both nodded. "Alex, do me a favor, make sure no one knows you're there. You're the master of stealth."

"Yes Angel," he said, in a monotone. Riku smirked his cocky smirk.

"As for you, Riku, keep your head on the ground, and don't start any trouble. I'd send Tala with you if I wanted a street fight, alright?"

"Yes," he said, rather down-trodden. She laughed.

"It's not like I told you that you wouldn't fight at all, I just said to try and avoid it. If it comes to you, that's something different." In a lower tone, she added, "I have to say these things in case Tala hears. He has a knack for starting trouble, especially since that time I sent him out with Tyson." She rolled her eyes. "They were just rearing for a battle."

"Yes ma'am."

"You two have your communicators?" Two sparkling clean devices were revealed to her, and she nodded in approval.

"I want the number of guards. It's one of the final puzzle pieces."

"Yes."

"Good luck," she said, with a genuine smile. "I'll see you two later."

x x x

Riku looked over to Alexander. "Do you think there's a chance that we could get in there and get Mina out without getting caught?"

Alex gazed over the fence, using his hands to prop himself up so his head poked over the tall fence around the grounds. "Not at all. Too many guards."

"How many you see?" Riku asked curiously. "We can take more than one."

"Twenty each, if we're lucky and they don't call back up."

"If we had Angel, she'd take care of them all on her own," Riku reminded him.

Alex shrugged. "She's not as strong as everyone thinks, she's been looking sick lately."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Yeah, people get sick."

"No- I mean-" He trailed off for a moment. "Ahh, forget it. Never mind."

The duo continued on. The guards seemed oblivious since the wall was huge. Alexander piped up after a while, his attitude a bit more solemn. "Let's split up. Contact me when you get to the opposite side of the wall. If you can get their attention, perhaps I can get in and check out the surrounding area inside the wall."

Riku nodded. "You've got it, partner."

The two knocked fists and split up.

Alexander smirked once Riku was out of hearing, switching the channel on his communicator. He was satisfied, knowing that it would block communications with Riku, but allow him a few more things. Like the ability to-

"Haru, it's Alex. There's one kid surveying the place. You gonna let me in or what?"

x x x

Riku walked around the place, stopping when he found a tree easy enough to climb. He peeked over the wall and stared. It was at this exact second that he hit the communicator's buttons at the speed of light, changing the channel.

"...no, no idea. They'll be surprised and that's what we're going for."

"Your dedication will be rewarded. My grandchildren will be astonished. She is, as you say-"

"Yes. She grows weaker by the day."

"On both sides."

The boy stared in shock between the boy who was on their side, who stood inside the walls of their enemy's stronghold, as if he was one of them, talking to a man via their communicators that could only be Voltaire. He switched channels again, going to channel nine.

"Hey, this is Riku. Angel, you there?"

There was silence for a second.

"Trouble already?"

Riku sighed. "If you call Alexander talking to Voltaire trouble, then yes."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Her voice was troubled, and it sounded just a bit tired. "He- he's standing inside the wall, laughing with some guards, and a second ago, he was talking to Voltaire. I caught the end of their conversation with my communicator."

"Alright." There was a pause before a sigh. "When you meet up with him, let him tell you what he saw, and DO NOT act like you saw anything. I'll deal with him later. Let him think he's won. Trust me, he won't. Now go do your job."

"Gotcha." He paused, thinking of the nicest way to say it. "Ang, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He'll be sorry, but some things in this game can't be forgiven."

x x x

Angel closed her eyes and sent Tala out of her office. He had come to check on how Alex and Riku's little 'mission' had gone. She knew he was bound to figure her out sooner rather than later, but at the current time, she had no idea how much Voltaire knew. Judging by the conversation relayed to her via Riku, Voltaire was aware. Which meant it was going to be used against her. She knew her 'time' was almost up. And she knew damn well that she'd fight it for all she was worth.

By the time she was done calming herself down, she took a few deep breaths and thought of what to do. Her eyes were tired, and she knew things were starting to go downhill with her health. She was falling apart on the inside, rather than the outside. She heard a static on the radio, followed by Alexander's voice. "Angel, we're back."

She smirked. She would have fun with him.

The corridor seemed endlessly long and it seemed like it took her forever to find him. Riku passed her by giving her a curious look, to which she glared, not bothering with words. She closed her eyes halfway down the hall, once she passed him, focusing hard on what she was probably going to do. The lack of focus could be the death of her, and death was currently the anti-objective.

"Angel?"

She recognized his voice in the next room. Collecting herself again, she straightened up and began to saunter into the room. "Hey, Alexander," she said passively. "How'd the mission go?"

He smiled. "Good. I have an idea of how many guards there are," He stated calmly.

With a nod, she spoke. "I have a few ideas myself. However, the use of spies, though it has crossed my mind, is not something I'd enjoy doing."

"I don't blame you," He said cooly. If she didn't kill him for what he had done, she'd have to remember to commend him for his courage when up against someone as scary as she knew she could be.

"You know, I heard that Riku's been having communication with Voltaire. Tala told me-"

"Really?" His incredulous face and wild eyes gave it away. His mouth was wide, but there was a trace of a victorious smile, and his eyes were wild enough to validate his actions.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now Alexander, why would you ever bear such emotion before me? You know I can read people's faces."

He stared.

"Did you not think that Riku changes the stations on the communicators? It's common knowledge that we have to check all the channels on the communicators."

"Wait, you caught him?"

She smirked. "Baby, weren't you listening?" Her nose scrunched up and her eyes hardened severly. "I caught you."

Apparently the boy's first line of defense was a swift kick to her the side.

xxxxxxxxxx

Tala and Tyson walked calmly down the corridor. Sure, they weren't friends like Tala and Kai or Tyson and Kai were, however, they were close enough to provide company for the other. And also close enough to share the few fragments Kai would reveal about his sister, who was practically Tala's girlfriend and Tyson's sister, thanks to his near brotherhood with his captain.

"...check all the channels on the communicators."

The redhead's blue eyes flickered in curiousity. Tyson shrugged in response to his silent question of what was going on, and the two stood outside the door to the typically unused room, which was dimly lit and had walls of iron and steel.

"Wait, you caught him?"

Tyson whispered, "Caught who?" in Tala's direction. Now Tala shrugged and both leaned toward the door.

"...you listening?" There was a slight pause in which both mouthed 'Angel' to the other. "I caught you."

Silence, with the exception of the sounds of a fight were heard, but Tala stopped Tyson, ensuring the blunette that Angel could take care of things herself, though he had no idea what was going on.

Meanwhile, inside the room, no one spoke. Angel, however much she knew she'd bear a large bruise, for a long period of time, struck back before hitting the floor, moving quicker than both she- and Alexander- had anticipated. With a quick roundhouse kick she was surprised to complete, she got him to the floor.

He smirked maliciously above her, and that only pissed her off.

"So," she said casually, well aware that one of her previous and unmentioned punches had broken his nose as it was bleeding and there was the beginnings of a black eye forming on both of his own, "What does he know?"

"You think I'll-" Angel kicked him swiftly in the side.

"Yes," She responded, to his 'oof,' "I think you will."

He licked the blood off his lips. "He knows about you," He said darkly. "And so do I."

"Yes, but that has never stopped me before, now has it."

"You're running out of time, Angel. Before you know it, we'll get sick of this and kill all of our captives. Then what will you do?" He paused. "Or will you be d-"

She kicked him again, a few times over.

"Oh," He said, realizing he had hit a weak spot. "You know it, don't you? You know that you're d-"

She kicked him again so fiercely that he actually hit the wall.

At this point, he used the wall to prop himself up, and slam himself down on top of her, smiling sadistically. "What do you weigh, ninety pounds?" He whispered this so quietly in her ear that she thought it was a tendril of thought for a second, before trying to get his weight off of her own. It was no use, as she knew that she was pretty weak.

Outside the room, Tala looked desperately concerned. Tyson had pretty much figured that they'd have the element of surprise. "We have to go in there," Tyson told him. "God only knows what's going on."

Tala nodded unsurely. "But it's her-"

"I don't really think that it's a good idea to let them fight until someone dies," Tyson interrupted.

"When did you get so smart?"

"Dunno. It's a rare occurrance." He flashed a charming smile at Tala like he was one of the blunette's fans, before Tala punched him in the arm as a warning to stop being to cocky.

Tala held the door, looking to Tyson and mouthing 'one, two...'

Tyson waited for no 'three' to be mouthed as they shoved the door open hazzardously. It slammed against the wall and then back on it's hinges as if it was a pendelum. There before them was a sloppy and slightly frightening sight. Alexander was on top of angel, holding down her wrists with his hands and her feet with his own, smirking over her like a vicious bastard.

Meanwhile, Alexander looked to angel. "I bet they don't know," He said cruelly.

She allowed no fear to cross her face though it was running through her mind. Instead she laughed. "I bet it doesn't really matter because by the looks of it, you couldn't handle a two-on-one against two world champs."

"Really?"

Before Angel could respond, Tala had knocked Alexander off of her, going to fight whilst she wiped his blood off of her. She also noted the scratch on her back that was bleeding profusely. She cursed the bastard in Russian and used one of the beams reaching from the floor to the ceiling to pull herself up. She felt weak, but that would have to wait. Instead of wrapping her arms around the beam, she leaned back against it, gritting her teeth at the pain from the wound on her back.

Tala and Tyson easily overcame the younger boy, who was quickly knocked out and thrown outside, as this room was currently on the first floor. Tyson immediately used the communicators to inform Kai and the others that Alexander was a spy and that he was not to be trusted. It was after this that they looked to Angel for some answers.

Tala was first. "What happened?"

"I thought you were good at fighting," Tyson said, curiously.

Angel closed her eyes and tried to stand without leaning on the beam, before Tyson reached out to catch her. He grabbed her around the waist, and she winced, clearly.

"He kicked you, didn't he?" Tyson asked.

She nodded. "Got my back good too."

"We heard just about everything."

She sighed. "And what did you get from it?" She asked, her head now leaning on Tyson's shoulder.

"What's going on? We don't know, although, Alexander seemed to know something we didn't."

"Voltaire knows something you don't," She said quietly. "But I'll tell you." She broke out of Tyson's grasp and turned her back to them, pulling up the back of her shirt. It was already ripped where the newest scratch was, but beneath it, was another, recent mark that had yet to heal.

"That was from weeks ago-" Tala stopped himself right there.

Tyson looked clueless, but Tala immediately pulled her into his arms for a hug. That surprised Tyson even more. When Tala let go, she looked at Tyson, tears shimmering in her eyes. "I was in remission for the better part of four years." He nodded then looked at her with shock, linking remission with cancer.

"We'll let you get che-"

"No." She paused to gather herself for a moment. "I didn't tell anyone because if I did, they'd send me off to go get that. We have bigger things to deal with. I have medicines, they're prolonging it as much as possible."

"You aren't-"

"I swore on my life that I would never use morphine, and I never will."

Tala nodded, and looked at her. "I suppose that since you survived for almost two years in the abbey that you can live through it now-"

"WHAT?" Tyson's eyes were huge. "You mean to tell me that you- and you knew?"

Angel smiled sweetly. "Tyson, he didn't know until he found me a few years back. I was in the beginnings of remission then, and he found out. Now you know, and you can't tell. Kai would kill himself if he knew."

"Mina never-"

"Of course she never had cancer," Tala finished for him. "Angel said-"

"I said," she interrupted, "That she should be given the chance to live. If died among my friends, I'd be happy. If she had a chance to live, I'd be happier. We made the switch and that was that. How we got away with it, I still have no idea."

Tala nodded and got up underneath her arm, to help her walk. She smirked as he thought about it for a moment and then picked her up. "How much weight did you lose?"

"I weigh around ninety-five," she clarified for him.

"Kilograms?" Tyson asked.

She laughed. "Pounds, dipshit."

"God, Angel," he said quietly. "This is bad."

"I've been living like this for a while."

"That time you were sick-"

"Yeah. Fun wasn't it? Spencer gave me my meds, but I made him throw out the morphine. Alexander must've found it in the garbage or something. I knew Voltaire knew about me, because Boris knew."

"That's why he thought you were dead," Tyson pieced together. She nodded.

"That's why. And it's only a matter of time, I'm sure, until they use it against you," Tala said, getting her onto his back.

She closed her eyes as her ride began back to her quarters. "Tala," she said quietly, "I need you to do something for me."

xxxxxxxxxx

She noted Tyson's unease, and Tala's solemnity. She was grateful for their support and their silence. But then again, who wished to speak of what she had asked.

"You sure about this?" Tyson asked, frightful.

"Yeah," She responded tilting her head over her shoulder. "It won't stop bleeding, but this should work. I've done it before."

Tala stared at her, point blank. "That's how no one found out. You did this."

She nodded "Tala, you've got to just do it, okay. Don't worry about me, I'm used to it."

Tyson looked at her, about to re-ask his previous question. She smiled at him, as a bit of reassurance, her lips plump and dark against her pale face.

"Do you want to lay down or stand?" Tala asked, examining the knife that he had layed in hot ashes before them.

She looked at Tala before becoming silent. "Stand." Tyson cringed, and Angel extended a hand to him. "Tyson, could I ask a favor?"

He nodded and came toward her. She grabbed his hands, and held them. "What-"

"Just tell me if I'm squeezing too tight."

xxxxxxxxxx

Author's notes: Holy crap! I finally finished that chapter. I'm getting close to the climax, and then after that, you'll be shocked and astonished and all that jazz, but then I'll end up bringing it all full circle. Perhaps even a sequel, but who knows. Anyway, if you didn't know that Angel has cancer, you do now.

And as for that last part, I don't know if you know what she asked Tala to do, but if you want to know(I tried to make it obvious), drop me a line and I'll inform you.

So, review, and I'll try to update as soon as possible.

x3 Distant Storm