A BIG thank you to crusnik O2 for letting me use her poem later on!!

WOOT! 20.000 words!!! I can't believe it took me this long to write that!!

And it's time for my sporadically stated disclaimer! YAY!! *crickets chirping* Abel Nightroad isn't mine, nor is anybody else that has been mentioned by Sunao Yoshida. (But oh, if they were…) Besides, if I owned Trinity Blood I wouldn't need a Disclaimer!

Life is hectic right now, so sadly my priorities (read: energy levels) are going to be shifted around. BY NO MEANS IS THIS A HIATUS. I will most certainly keep working on this, but I will not be updating as much. (you're thinking, 'Yeah, like she updated regularly anyway.') Anyway, I will not surrender, even if an ugly Essay rears its head, but it might take me a bit.


"Will you help me?"

"I suppose." Jac wasn't happy about any of it but he refused to let her do this alone.

Lisa started formulating a plan. Once Alexandra was out, they would need decoys. And a form of transportation. If Jac could supply those, everything else would probably come together.

Jac sighed and Lisa didn't miss the statement he was so reluctant to voice. "Listen, I know that it seems strange, risking everything for someone who I've only known for a little while." She paused, then said thoughtfully, "I suppose you could say that we are kindred spirits; I see something in her that makes me want to be a better person. That's why I absolutely cannot leave her behind."

Jac closed his eyes in surrender.

"I should probably talk with Mat and see if we could all get together to come up with some kind of strategy for this. It is going to take more than just the two of us to pull this off."

Soon, she was standing on Mat's front porch with a grumbling Jac at her side. She had said to him that he would understand why she was going so far when he saw for himself.

Unlike the last time she had visited, this time she easily walked down the pathway, up the stairs and knocked on the door. She didn't expect him to remember her—it had been almost six months—so when he opened the door wide she was somewhat surprised.

"I didn't expect you to be back so soon." He rumbled. "I was expecting at least a year or two before you would have sufficient resources to attempt anything."

"You could say I was both blessed and cursed on that front." Lisa said with a wry grin. Turning to look at Jac she said, "I'll explain what I mean in a bit."

Mat looked puzzled but let it go, then his expression shifted back to neutral and he asked, a little too calmly, "So, who is he?"

"Mat, this is Jac. Jac, Mat. Jac is my husband."

Jac looked at Mat as though sizing him up and Lisa started to get slightly nervous but didn't interfere. Therefore, she was rather surprised when Jac stuck his hand out, and Mat gladly shook the offered hand.

Mat looked over at her and asked, "Does he..." But seemed unsure of how to continue.

"Everything that I do." She said, trying to reassure him, but he was not reassured and his lips pressed together in a thin line.

"Very well. Shall we go inside?"

A few minutes later they were all seated around Mat's kitchen table and a mug of tea was pressed into their hands. "Here, drink up; it's a blend that Alexandra came up with."

Lisa tried hers and found it to be quite tasty. Cinnamon, vanilla, and something else too. It's really good!

"Now, about Alexandra. How are you going to get her out of that lab?"

Lisa's grip on her cup was white-knuckled. She hadn't told Mat where Alexandra was being kept and she didn't know what she should say to keep herself out of hot water.

Mat looked at her hands in a significant way and said, "I looked up where you work, once I knew what you looked like it was pretty easy to find out."

She took a calming breath before she answered. "I was hoping that a request from one of the leading people would get her moved to a different location where it would be easier to break her out of, or, failing that we could disrupt the transport."

Mat nodded. "A classic, and an effective one too. And if that fails? If they ignore your request?"

"I would attempt to cause enough chaos inside that there would be enough of a distraction for her to slip out."

Mat nodded in agreement. "May I ask what level she is being kept on?"

"Thirty floors under the ground floor." Lisa frowned at this new wrinkle, the only way out was one of two elevators and they were both extremely sensitive to how much weight was on them and how many people had come and gone that day. If the numbers didn't work out an alarm went off.

When Mat and Jac asked what was wrong and she had explained she was surprised to hear Mat's laugh.

"Believe me when I say that is not a problem. Is it a straight shot all the way to the top?"

Now she was curious. "Yes."

Mat grinned. "Then there won't be a problem."

Lisa reigned in her tongue with difficulty. "I'll take your word for it. Once I get her out of the lab, I will need some way to get her out quietly. It wouldn't do to have a noisy escape when we went to all the trouble of staying out of sight inside."

"Leave that to me." Jac's voice cut into the conversation. "I think I know enough about this city to cause a fair bit of chaos on my own. It wouldn't take much to jam the trams and mess up the stoplights."

Together Mat and Lisa broke into wide grins.

"I think we're in business."

For all her eagerness the night before, Lisa was feeling the effect of the real world make itself known through the periodic jolts of terror that shot through her every time she thought about the potential repercussions. This is much harder than everybody makes it out to be. In all the stories I've read no one is this nervous. Lisa stopped and considered the fact that her stomach was rebelling. And NOBODY throws up in the middle of things. Nnngh.

She dragged herself down to Alexandra's cell and tried to compose herself, though she only partially succeeded; she still felt distinctly green.

"Hey, Lisa." Alexandra's voice was soft. "You feeling okay?"

She laughed shakily. "I'm fine and dandy. It's just nerves."

"What do you have to be nervous about?"

"Plenty. Believe me."

"Maybe you should tell me about it, I might be able to help you find a solution."

It's the solution that's making me nervous. "I don't think anything you could tell me would help very much. I might be losing my job in the near future."

There was a muffled thump as Alexandra literally stumbled in shock. "Wh-why?

Lisa decided against being witty and just said what she felt. "I'm going to keep my promise and get you out of here, and I doubt that someone won't notice that I was involved."

When the words left her lips, Alexandra stared at her as though she had never seen her before. Then her knees buckled and she sank to the floor, weeping. "I'll be free. I'll be free..."

When she heard what Lisa said, the joy was too much to bear. It choked her lungs and crushed her heart with hope. "I'll be free." She whispered. "I'll be free." She realized that she was no longer standing, but she didn't care for any lost dignity, she had already lost everything, and now she was going to get it back. She wanted to fly through the sky, kiss the stars and hug the moon, she wanted to make love to her husband and see the children that haunted her dreams; she knew there was more to life than pain and blank walls, but she had begun to forget what it was to be alive.

That was what had terrified her the most. In the depths of what she called "Dark", that was what caught her and held her there, in the depths of despair and loneliness. The fear that, eventually, she would forget what it was like to walk down a crowded street, the feel of the wind, the sun, on her skin. She couldn't stand the thought of becoming attached to this place. The thought that she would eventually fear leaving.

She would have given her life at that moment to be able to hug Lisa and crush the breath from her lungs and thank her in her own way.

Watching Alexandra, Lisa's depression lightened. How could she be in the presence of such joy and not feel a little herself?

When Alexandra stood again, her face absolutely glowed with happiness. Neither woman knew what to say at that moment, so they simply stood, observing each other.

Alexandra was the first to break the silence. "When?"

Lisa understood the monosyllabic question perfectly. "In a few weeks. I'm going to try to get you moved to another location that is less secure, or at least one that I would know more about. They don't tell you anything about what the security is like here." She grumbled to herself. "If that fails, if the location that they choose isn't one that's less secure, then we will try to disrupt the transport route. If they refuse to transport you, we will have no choice but to break you out."

Alexandra blanched and Lisa was about to ask her what was the matter, but then she saw the reflection in the permaglass. Jacob's image had appeared at some point.

She froze to stop herself from shrieking or doing something stupid like trying to explain what she was doing. She examined his face and even as a hologram he managed to convey a smug, knowing expression.

"Hello Jacob." She was proud of the fact that her voice didn't break, it only quavered a little.

"Hello Lisa." He was… studying her, like a fisherman who had just caught something he had been after for years. It was not a comfortable way to be looked at. "I'm glad you're okay. Talking to such a creature as this can be deadly."

Alexandra, who no longer had to hide, snarled, "I am not a twin!"

Jacob ignored her completely. "You remember what happened the first time you talked to her, don't you? You should know better than anyone that she is nothing more than an unusually intelligent wild animal."

Lisa fixed him with a flat stare that should have reduced him to ash, hologram or not. "That is such an asinine statement that I cannot decide whether to tell you to fuck off or find your sorry ass and kick it into your childhood so you can try harder to get yourself killed."

Jacob's expression was hurt, but it looked as hammy as anything that Jay or Mick had ever pulled. "You wound me. I was only concerned for your well being."

"Shut up. You could care less what happens to me or anyone else on this fucking project. All you want is information. What happens to us is of no concern to you. Both you and I know perfectly well what would happen to me if she got out."

He eyed her shrewdly. "Exactly how much do you know about me?"

"I know that you are a lot like me. You have decided that the reason that you were born is to find out as much about the world as you can. Nothing is more exciting than a discovery. You prefer to work alone, and you like to have power, especially power over other people, but you only let yourself really use your strength when no one knows how strong you really are or who you really are. The sum of your life is: Knowledge is Power."

For a second, his face became an emotionless mask, and then he covered it with a sarcastic smile. "I see that you have read me quite well over the last few weeks. If you know me so well you should know what I want."

She had him! "You want to know what Alexandra is, correct?" He nodded. "I propose we make a deal. You help us free her, and I will tell you what you want to know."

Jacob was sure that Lisa could not tell him what he wanted to know. He was reasonably sure that he already knew what she was going to tell him. On the other hand… If he could arrange things so that the woman was indebted to him… He chuckled. Maybe he could get the information he wanted after all.

Jacob stood unmoving for several moments. When he spoke, the change in his posture and the way he spoke told said he had managed to outsmart them and put himself in control, all in the same second. "All right. As long as you let me speak with… Alexandra, was it? I want to ask her a few things once she has been released."

"If Lisa is present at the time, I agree." Alexandra was tired of being ignored. "However, if she is not in the same room at the time, physically present and fully functional, you shall not hear a word out of me." She could have been requesting that it be dark in her bedroom for all the emotion in her expression or voice, except for her eyes which glinted like frost covered diamonds.

There was barely a second's pause before Jacob inclined his head.

Lisa shot Alexandra a warning glance, and Alexandra pulled one shoulder up into a small shrug. Lisa sighed; she wanted to turn the tables back on Jacob, but there wasn't really much else they could do. Jacob had them cornered.

Even so, that didn't mean that they were entirely powerless. Alexandra spoke. "Since we have decided upon your, payment, it is only courteous that you return the favor by informing us of what services you shall provide and how your assistance will be lent to us. After all, it would set a bad precedent if you were to accept such a large boon and then help us but little." She suspected that "Jacob" was much older than he appeared, and perhaps it was a Freudian slip, but she spoke in an archaic form of English rather than the modern one.

She expected some kind of reaction, but there was nothing, not even a sparkle of amusement or muddy confusion. The former would have emphasized his age; the latter, his youth. Except there was no reaction at all. He was better at controlling his features and emotions than some of the oldest and most experienced diplomats she had met in her lifetime. He could teach the art of non-responsiveness to a quadriplegic. His level of control hinted that he might be half her age, an accomplishment worthy of a medal.

His face broke into a frown then, somewhat disconcerting once she knew how easy it was for him to mask his reactions. It would be very difficult to tell if anything he was showing was genuine or not. Suddenly he spoke. "I will not promise anything, but I will take into consideration whatever you request."

That promise did them about as much good as a paper bag during free fall. He could deny them everything they asked of him without making a lie of anything he said.

"Remember that it is worth for worth. Our arrangement is only valid if I escape. If, for example, I were to be recaptured, it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to answer anything."

Jacob's lips curved up in a small mocking smile. "I will be sure to keep that in mind."

"Be sure that you do."

Lisa felt a vague sense of unease, coupled with a tingling thrill that shot through her like the electricity of adrenaline.

Something big just happened, and the world is going to shift on its foundations because of it.

***End Chapter 12***

Oi! People, just because you have this story on alert doesn't mean you shouldn't review! (you know who you are) (not you rowergal) Reviews are life!!(Constructive criticism welcome, if this chapter was so bad you wanted to puke/so boring you can't believe you didn't fall asleep… I want to know! I can't fix it if I don't know something's wrong. All this silence makes me think this story's not even worth writing, and heaven knows there are other things that I could spend my energy on.)