Thank you all so much for reviewing and putting alerts on my story and myself. It seriously makes me so happy whenever I get that email that says I have a new review or alert. So, I hope you really like this chapter because I had the best time writing it...Enjoy! I'm sorry if the spelling or grammar is not up to snuff, I really wanted to get this done before I left on my trip. Thus, this was rushed through my editing process a little more quickly than usual.

Disclaimer: I don't own nothin. ;)

6 months later

A lot had changed for Tori over the last six months. She was not the same naive, innocent girl she still portrayed on a daily basis. It had become more and more difficult to keep up the act of being Tori Vega; the happy-go-lucky girl who dreamed of being a pop star.

Over the course of the past six months Tori had evolved both physically and mentally. She could now fluently speak 7 different languages. She also knew how to handle almost any type of weapon you put in her hands, from a simple knife to an extremely complex rocket launcher. She knew 15 different ways to kill a man, using only her bare hands. Whether she wanted it to happen or not, that kind of knowledge changed everything about Tori Vega.

As she leaned her head back against the wall of the van she was riding in, Tori reflected back on what she had been through over the course of the last few months. For the remainder of the school year she had shuttled from home directly to school and then directly to training every single day. Weekends were also spent training and she was lucky if she got one day off a month to actually spend with her friends or family. Of course, people questioned where she was going all of the time and why she didn't have time to help Andre write new songs or bake cupcakes with Cat.

At first Tori would make up simple excuses. She had to go shopping with her mom or she was taking a dance class. After a few weeks of declining invitations, one by one, her friends stopped involving her in their plans. She still sat with them at lunch and hung out with them at school, but everyone could tell that Tori's mind was constantly elsewhere. Whenever Andre or Cat attempted to get her to open up to them, Tori would always make an excuse and quickly leave the scene. She hated lying to her friends but there was no other way.

It was even tougher lying to her parents. Her constant excuse was that she was studying at someone's house. This excuse, though plausible, quickly began to wear thin on Holly and David Vega, once two weeks had gone by without them eating one meal with their youngest daughter. Tori knew that it was time to come up with a long-term realistic reason for her to be away from her home so much.

Luckily, Joe and Kira had thought of an explanation that they hoped would be believable to both her friends and family. So, Tori began to tell people "the truth." She had gotten a job at a mall an hour away in order to save up money to buy her own car. Everyone wondered why she would keep something like that a secret. She had explained that it was because she hadn't wanted Trina to find out. Tori knew that her friends and parent's would believe that she didn't want her big sister constantly coming up to the department store she worked for and bugging her for discounts and such. And thus, the lie was born that Tori worked for a Macy's in Glendale, CA.

"You guys realize that my parents are going to expect me to come home with a car at the end of the summer, right?" Tori questioned Kira.

"Don't worry about it Tori. It will be taken care of." Kira would always assure her whenever the "car" subject was brought up.

For the first three months, Tori solely trained with Kira. The two got along very well and became close friends. As time went on Tori learned that Kira was 33 (even though she didn't look a day over 25), single and the youngest and only daughter in a family of three. She had been going to M.I.T., majoring in both computer science and chemical engineering, when the C.I.A. had come calling. Tori learned that Kira regretted not graduating from college and that she hoped to one day finish her degree.

Kira liked to say that her specialties were weapons and technology. She could operate any kind of weapon known to man. Additionally, she could hack into almost any computer system in the world. She had even gotten into the C.I.A.'s system on more than one occasion, when she was testing out the government's firewalls. Tori liked to think of Kira as a huge nerd in the body of a swimsuit model.

One day, in the middle of June, Tori walked into The Facility to find Joe sitting at a computer terminal, furiously typing something.

"Joe? What are you doing here and where's Kira?" Tori questioned.

"It's nice to see you too Tori." Joe teased as he finished his typing and stood up to greet her.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to say that I didn't want to see you…" Tori began.

"It's okay, I was just kidding. Kira and I are going to start alternating weeks training you. She has some other commitments and felt that I would be better able to train you in certain skills."

"Well, okay, I guess." Tori stuttered. For some strange reason, Joe made her extremely nervous. Tori quickly learned that he was much more serious than Kira and that he was a perfectionist in everything he did, including training her. Tori didn't know how many times she had to practice a Roundhouse Kick or a Scissors Choke, but she knew her body always felt like mush by the end of a day of training with Joe.

Joe would say that his specialties were hand-to-hand combat, camouflage and medical skills. Tori finally understood why the man made her nervous when she learned that he had been a member of one of the world's most elite military units, the Navy Seals. Before joining the military, he had been a pre-med student at Yale on a full-ride rowing scholarship. A serious shoulder injury had caused him to lose his scholarship during his Junior year. His family couldn't afford to put him through school, so Joe joined the military, hoping they would pay for him to finish college one day. After being with the Seals for five years, Joe was asked to come in and interview to become an agent with the F.B.I. He was 36 years old, married, with a five and a half year old son and a three year old daughter.

Joe is the one that taught Tori how to kill a man using nothing but her hands. One day, she asked him how many people he had killed.

"You don't want to know." Joe somberly replied.

Over time, Tori realized that she was lucky that the majority of her shirts were made of flowy, loose materials. Within a month of training with Joe, Tori had gained some major muscle all over her body. It didn't really change her figure but she knew if her friends ever saw her newly acquired six-pack, they would flip out. In six months time, Tori became stronger, faster and more confidant in her abilities than she ever would have thought possible.

True to their word, Joe and Kira took care of her car problem. On the last official day of summer, Tori came to The Facility to find Joe and Kira with big smiles on their faces. They took her to the back of the huge area and raised one of the motorized doors. Outside was a sky blue Volkswagen Beetle with a big red bow on the hood. Tori screamed joyfully as she ran outside to take a closer look at her new wheels.

"Omigosh, omigosh…I cannot believe you guys did this! Thank you so much! I just love it! Tori exclaimed so rapidly that Joe and Kira could hardly understand what she was saying.

"This is in appreciation for how hard you have worked all summer. And, to keep up your cover story, of course. It's not really from us, it's from S.T.A.R.S. Joe stated stoically.

Tori ran up to her two trainers and threw her arms around them, pulling them in for a giant group hug. Kira gladly returned Tori's hug. Even Joe had a smile on his face as he too returned the hug of the girl he originally didn't think would make it through the first weekend. How wrong he had been!

"We're here." Kira declared, snapping Tori out of her reverie. They had pulled up next to a random coffee shop in the middle of Los Angeles. Tori furrowed her brow as she wondered what was planned for her field test. She never expected for it to begin at a coffee shop. She suddenly recalled the second most important rule of espionage, "Expect the Unexpected."

Joe turned around from the driver's seat to face Tori. "This is it kid, your final exam." Joe said seriously. "This is your make it or break it moment." At those words, Tori felt her nerves kick into high gear and she began tapping her foot impatiently on the van floor.

"And what exactly am I supposed to do for this final exam?" Tori asked, zipping up her black leather jacket and double knotting her black combat boots. Her hair was slicked back into a low ponytail and she had on black, tight-fitting jeans and a black turtleneck underneath her jacket. Tori had once questioned Kira about the over usage of black by people in the espionage field. Kira's response was that it may be cliché but if you are conducting a mission at night black tends to be the best camouflage.

Joe cleared his throat before continuing. "Inside that coffee shop is a possible threat to our government's security. This morning, the Department of Defense was hacked into and certain information that is critical to our government's safety was stolen." Joe explained.

Kira continued, "It is believed that whoever stole this information plans to sell it to the highest bidder. We received intelligence this morning confirming that an exchange will go down sometime tonight. We just aren't sure where or when this meeting will take place."

"Your mission is to intercept that exchange and retrieve the case, using whatever force necessary." Joe finished as Kira handed Tori a small black case that had been sitting on her lap for the duration of the ride.

"Inside this case is everything you will need to complete your mission. When you complete your mission, you will become a full-fledged member of S.T.A.R.S. Failure is not an option." Kira pronounced sternly while looking at Tori.

"I understand. I won't let you down." Tori replied as she grabbed the case, nodded at Joe and Kira and stepped out of the van. She immediately ran to the back of the coffee shop, quickly finding a nearby dumpster to hide behind. She opened the case to find an unloaded gun, a clip and an earpiece. She quickly stuffed the little gadget into her left ear and pushed down on it to see if it was working.

"Testing, testing…this is agent Tori Vega, awaiting response."

"Agent Vega, we read you loud and clear." Kira's voice answered through the ear piece. "Now hold until we give you further instructions."

Tori had learned that this is how missions worked. Normally, there were two field agents and one person who served as backup/technical support. This person was in charge of the technology would be in a stationary position, usually using numerous computers to track the field agents and their respective targets. These agents were called "controls" and would have access to all kinds of information that a field agent couldn't see or hear. Thus, the field agents had to rely on their "Big Brother's," as Joe liked to mockingly call them, to lead them through the ins and outs of missions.

Suddenly, Kira's voice came through the earpiece. "Vega, your target is on the move. He turned south out of the coffee shop and is on foot."

"I will now begin pursuit of suspect." Tori replied, as she threw the case in the dumpster, loaded the gun and stowed it in her jacket pocket. She swiftly started making her way around the building, looking for her mark. Tori subtly pushed down on her earpiece to ask for more specific information.

"I need target's appearance, stat!" Tori whispered as she tried to keep a casual pace, while quickly scanning the throngs of people around her. It was a Saturday night, so people were out and about and the streets were crowded with people going to dinner or out on the town.

"Suspect is male, average build, 6 feet, dark hair, wearing a gray peacoat, dark colored slacks and a black beanie."

Tori quickly spotted the man about a block ahead of her and she silently began to follow him. She continued to stay one to two blocks behind him at all times, far enough so he wouldn't suspect anyone was following him. After walking for a few minutes down the crowded sidewalks of downtown LA, Tori observed her target get into a green Ford Taurus that was parked on the street, outside of an Italian restaurant.

"Shit!" Tori whispered before pressing on her earpiece. "Target is not on foot anymore! Agent requests backup in order to pursue." Tori quickly uttered, not taking her eyes off the green car that was slowly driving away from her position.

"Negative, Agent Vega. Backup is five minutes out. You must find other mode of transport." Kira stoically stated to a wide-eyed Tori. As Tori was frantically looking around, unsure of what to do she heard Kira speak again.

"Tori, you can do this! Remember your training, you know what to do." Kira said, sensing Tori's apprehension.

Keeping the car in her peripheral vision, Tori looked around for any mode of transportation she could find. Finally seeing a motorcycle parked in an alleyway next to the restaurant, Tori made a speedy decision and ran over to the bike. As she ripped off the engine cover and looked for the correct wires to hotwire the motorcycle she internally apologized to the owner of the bike. The engine suddenly roared to life and so Tori quickly climbed aboard. Afraid that she might have already lost her target, she pulled into the oncoming traffic, praying that she would not be hit by a car. Luck was with her as she swerved to miss the cars going through the intersection.

Once she had had been safely absorbed into the traffic, she began hurriedly scanned nearby cars. She started to panic as she didn't see any trace of the green Ford. Suddenly, Tori spotted a quick flash of green as she saw the car turning left at a traffic light a half mile ahead of her. She gunned the engine and sped through the gridlocked traffic, thanking her lucky stars that she had found the motorcycle. Tori knew that it would take her too long to wait patiently in line for the left turn signal and she could already see the Taurus speeding away down the street.

"Oh god, please don't let me die." Tori yelled as she suddenly swerved the bike left, down an alleyway that she hoped would end somewhere in the vicinity of her target. She had narrowly avoided getting hit by three oncoming lanes of traffic and in her wake she left cars honking and people throwing her a certain finger. Tori finally came to the end of the alleyway and upon further examination, discovered that the Taurus was only a few blocks ahead of her. With a sigh of relief, Tori looked both ways before safely pulling into traffic and proceeding to stealthily pursue her target.

As Tori followed the man at a safe distance, she could see he was leading her to the outskirts of the city. The wind whipping by her made contacting Kira and Joe impossible. The further away from the city they got, the further away Tori was forced to stay from the green Ford. She didn't want to give the man any reason to suspect he was being followed, so by the time he finally slowed down and pulled into a remote shipping yard, Tori was over two miles behind him.

When she saw the car turn into the shipping yard, Tori quickly pulled over to the side of the road. Untwisting the wires she had used to start the motorcycle, the engine quickly cut off as Tori hopped off the bike and began to jog towards her destination. She stayed on the side of the road, in the overgrown grass, to better disguise herself. The only sounds were of her boots hitting the grass as she slowly approached the enclosed area. Quickly scaling the chain link fence meant to keep out any trespassers, Tori quietly dropped to the ground and ran for cover to a nearby shipping container. She took her gun out of her pocket as she scanned her surroundings while contacting Kira and Joe.

"This is agent Vega. I am at an old shipping yard, an hour northwest of my prior location. I will send you the coordinates immediately." Tori stated as she quickly pulled out her pearphone to find her exact location.

"That will not be necessary agent Vega. We already have your position and are in pursuit. We should be at your location within 15 minutes."

"Understood." Tori replied as slid along the side of the container, looking for any sign of the man she was pursuing. She could faintly hear the sound of voices coming from what seemed to be the center of the yard. Tori silently made her way towards the voices, trying to make out what they were saying.

"My boss is going to be very pleased with your work." A deep male voice declared.

"And I am very pleased with the money your boss is giving me." A slightly higher and extremely raspy male voice countered.

"Please let them give up easily, please let them give up easily." Tori silently chanted. The thought of having to shot and/or kill someone made her sick to her stomach. She prayed that she wouldn't be put in that type of situation anytime in the near future, if ever. So lost was Tori in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the rock she was about to trip over. Before she could stop herself, Tori banged into one of the large, metal containers.

"Oh shit, you were followed!" The deep voice yelled as Tori could hear two sets of footsteps running in different directions.

"Awwwwww man!" Tori cried as she righted herself. She sprinted around the container only to see the dust left from the two men's footsteps.

"Agent Vega here…target knows he is being pursued….Kira, what do I do?" Tori asked, her tone exhibiting the urgency of her situation.

"Remember Vega, your priority is the case. Whoever has it, follow him!" Kira's worried voice replied.

One set of footprints looked like it belonged to a rather large man whom Tori guessed was the man with the deep voice. That meant that the other set must belong to her original target. She didn't think she had heard anything to indicate that the information had already been exchanged, so Tori followed her hunch and took off after her original target.

The footprints weaved in and out amongst the shipping containers. Tori could hear the sound of footsteps up ahead and she knew she was closing in on her target. Suddenly, Tori heard the sound of feet scrapping against metal. She deduced that the man must have climbed on top of a shipping container and was now traveling on top of them. The loud banging of the man's shoes on the metal made it easy to follow him. However, while the man had a straight shot to his destination, Tori had to weave her way through the intricate maze that the shipping containers created. She finally got a visual on her target when she saw him running across the containers, getting closer to his intended goal with each step. She saw that he still carried the silver case and realized that if she didn't do something quickly, he would be gone.

Tori quickly aimed her gun and fired at the man. His back was to her but she heard him yelp at the sound of the bullet hitting metal a few inches away from his right foot. Her plan worked as he took off in a different direction than his originally intended. Tori continued to weave her way out of the maze and she finally made it to her target's original destination. Running over to his car, she pulled the handle only to discover that the car was unlocked. Upon further examination, she saw that the keys were left on the dashboard.

"Seriously!" Tori yelled aloud, chuckling slightly at the man's obvious stupidity.

She quickly got in and started the car, placing her gun on the seat next to her. Knowing what she had to do, Tori took a deep breath as she put on her seat belt. Putting the car in drive, she stomped on the gas pedal as hard as she could as she aimed for her target. He was trying so hard to evade his potential captor that he didn't even notice when his car pealed out and took off in his direction. Tori instinctively closed her eyes as she felt the car impact the shipping containers, causing it and the ones around it to overturn.

"Ahhhhhh!" Tori yelled as she felt the hot steam from the airbag deploying hit her face. She hurriedly unbuckled her seat belt and shoved open the car door, thankful that all she had were a few minor cuts and bruises. As she rushed around the shipping containers she saw the man slightly ahead of her, limping along due to what Tori guessed was a sprained ankle. Tori raised her gun and pointed it at the back of the man's head.

"Okay buddy, enough's enough, hands in the air! In case you can't tell, I have a gun pointed at the back of your head and I will use it if necessary!" Tori demanded as she walked towards her target. The man slowly dropped the case and put his hands on top of his head.

"Now turn around, slowly." Tori stated as she came within a few feet of the mysterious man.

As the man turned to face her, Tori's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock. She was staring down the barrel of her gun at a very familiar face.

"Beck!"

DUN, DUN, DUN! Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger but I am evil like that (cue evil laughter sound). Were you surprise at finding out the identity of Tori's target? Did I do a good job of keeping you guessing? For those of you who guessed this was Beck before the final reveal, great job! Now we need to find out what is going on with Beck! So sorry to do this but like I said in my last chapter, I am going to be out of town until April 2. I am hoping to get at least one chapter written while I am gone, so hopefully I will have something for you shortly after I return. Until then, speculate and review!