Absolution

by SAWild

Directly after Season 2- Leaving Mexico City. The Bristow family have always had a complicated relationship with each other. Jack and Sydney are CIA while their wife and mother are former KGB. Everything they thought they knew about 'Laura Bristow' aka Irina Derevko turned out to be a lie...or was it? One big puzzle of mystery and intrigue. As Irina says, "Truth Takes Time."

55. Chapter 55

AN: Graphic Violence Warning! But it's not for the entire chapter, so don't skip the end if you want to skip the violence!

Music for the chapter (on repeat): And it's timed perfectly... The End, The Shadows Betray You, Rise all by Hans Zimmer from The Dark Knight Rises Soundtrack, O Fortuna - Excaliber Remix by Apotheosis, Hanging/Escape by Craig Armstrong, Tessa (Extended) by Steve Jablonsky

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FIFTY-FIVE

o

As promised, the black helicopter awaited them when they landed at the airport in India.

Vaughn had just finished putting on his black field gear and packing his bag when he suddenly remembered something. 'Sydney was naked.' It seemed inconsequential to think about such a thing at this time and he had no idea why he had. He grabbed an extra black tank top undershirt and pair of women's black cotton panties from the stacks of new issue BDU's for the Indian female soldiers and rolled them up so she'd have something to wear on the way home; stuffing the clothes into his bag and looked over to see Jack was doing the same for Irina. Their gazes met across the aisle to see what the other was doing and sadness flashing through both their eyes in having to do so.

The fearsome group of four checked in with Kendall back at Ops and waved 'goodbye' to the Indian officers below as they slowly rose into the night sky.

Jack's heart beat loudly in his ears, overpowering the sound of the chopper blades as they whizzed over the desert below. He sat perched near the open side so that he could watch the ground flash by underneath them as Weiss guided them excellently over the rough terrain. His mind was swimming with images of Irina and Sydney, words spoken, laughs shared, promises made and life yet to be lived. Logic told him that Irina had to be dead by now but his heart defied the supposed truth. He didn't feel it and if he told himself he didn't feel it, then she wasn't gone. He still had a chance to save his 'soul' once more.

God had granted them so many miracles, the last being Lena surviving Cuvee's brutality. He only prayed, that he would be granted two more.

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Irina knew all to well where she was headed when they took her through a set of steel doors on the opposite side of the prison. She'd been tortured enough within these walls to still smell her own searing flesh twenty years later. They moved her to the front center of the room against a wall and unshackled her hands just long enough to move her arms above her head, fastening them to a set of shackles in the ceiling, and her feet to two sets on the floor, one for each foot.

When the guards stepped back, one of them began cranking on a lever that lifted Irina of the ground until the restraints pulled tightly on her ankles, digging into her flesh painfully, and making Irina bite her lip to keep from crying out in pain, feeling the blood running down her arms from her wrists and dripping down her toes from her ankles. Cuvee stepped in smiled brightly, puffing on another cigarette as his gaze leered over her form once more. He nodded at the guards and they left abruptly. His smile widening as he came to stand in front of her, their eyes locking in a battle of wills.

"What are you waiting for? If you're going to do this just get it over with and do it." Irina hissed at him in a low voice, knowing full well that he planned on torturing her slowly and playing some sort of sick game with her before the fatal blow.

His only response was to laugh deeply, and grab her face painfully hard with one hand, squeezing it as he responded, "Not yet, my little Minx, not yet. Since this is our last night together, I want to make it memorable for all parties. Sydney will be joining us soon."

"Leave her out of this, Gerard." Irina couldn't quall the terror that shot through her with the thought of Sydney in danger. "This has always been about you and I…I don't care what you do with me…but leave her out of this. You're an ignorant fool if you think that Jack and the CIA will not look for her after I'm gone."

He backhanded her hard, causing the blood to poor from her lip and nose once more with a dangerous smile.

"I'm not the one who's the ignorant fool, Irina! You are." His hand reaching up to tenderly touch her cheek as if he had not been the one to just cause the damage there. "Throwing away your life for an illusion." He dropped his cigarette not bothering to stomp it out as he ripped down the top of her dress once more, kissing her bruised flesh with a smile and moving to a machine just off to the side.

"The only illusion I ever threw my life away for was the KGB." She resounded with a tone like ice; remembering the ideals on which she had first joined as a young girl being thrown back at her violently when she was ripped away from her family, her mother murdered and sentenced to treason.

Cuvee cocked a surprised eyebrow at her brash statement.

"That's right." She dared him to look anywhere but in her eyes seeing his surprise in her statement, despite knowing the ungodly pain she was about to experience, "Twenty years ago you brought me here and tortured me after I had served in blind faith for over a decade. I begged and pleaded with you that I was still loyal to my country and my agency. This time, you what? Want me to plead for my life, for that of my daughters?" Her eyes glazed over with hate and restlessness. "We both understand each other enough to know that no matter how much I plead, I am not leaving this room today." She continued her defiance.

If her life was going to be taken, it was going to be taken on her term. She would not allow him the pleasure of begging and pleading with him, or crying out in pain when he committed his acts against her body. He may have that, but he would not take her soul.

Gathering a hand full of electrodes he began systematically placing them over her chest, ribs, neck, temples, stomach and arms. The silence hung deafening between them.

"Do what you will to me. This time, you can't take away the love for my family or their love for me." She hissed in a deadly whisper, her eyes unyielding with their challenge when he stepped back, hitting the power switch and the machine hummed to life. "Jack will come, I guarantee you, he will come." She knew in her heart that he would, "And if its too late for me, he won't stop until he finds Sydney and there will be no place on Earth, that you will be able to hide and seek refuge from his wrath. He will destroy you and in the end, it will be you, Gerard, begging for your life."

"Come for you, Irina?" He laughed viscously, turning up the dial of the electrical currents. "I doubt that. You see," He stepped forward, trailing his finger down her bare chest and circling her puckered nipple in the coolness of the room the a lecherous smile. "Your precious Jack is probably sitting down about now to watch his whore of a wife getting fucked by a real man on the nice little video I sent him of yesterday. Right now, he's seeing you for the whore you really are. That will be the last image of you imprinted on his mind forever. You bent over a desk getting fucked by me."

Irina's breath sucked in sharply and her eyes went wide with the knowledge in spite of trying to keep her emotions guarded.

"You're a sick bastard." She felt like vomiting as her stomach continued to roll.

"He'll be too devastated at relearning his wife's true nature in life to worry about finding you or your bastard offspring and when he comes out of his shock, it will be too late for him to find her." Cuvee taunted her with his twisted words.

"You underestimate my husband; you've always underestimated my husband." Irina's faith in Jack rang true, "And that will be your downfall."

"No, my little Minx," He caressed her face with his fingers and stood back smiling, hand on dial, "He will be yours." And with his menacing glare he pressed the button and sent a wave of electrical current straight through Irina's body.

The pain was like a tidal wave slamming into her full-force and she clenched her teeth and screwed her eyes shut as the torrent of pain ripped through every cell in her body, making her flail mercilessly against her restraints in agony until a primal scream sprang from her body and he released the button. Her breath stolen, it took moments to remember how to inhale and breathe and when it did came in a loud gasp. He allowed just a few seconds to pass before, moving up the dial, pressing the button again, making Irina's face contort into a silent scream, as her body spasm and convulsed against the electrical assault.

"Stop!" Sydney's scream as they drug her through the doorway, seeing her mother in torture barely registered in Irina's mind with the sound of her own heart echoing in her ears. It's erratic beats drowning out all other sound. Sydney fought valiantly against the guards the best she could trying to get to her mother but was brought to her knees with a taser in her side.

Irina was powerless to stop her body's reaction and the surge of pain forced all the contents of her stomach to expel at a horrendous force, vomiting until she dry-heaved and only then did Cuvee release the button with a maniacal grin.

"We're just getting started." He smiled watching Irina gasp loudly again and her body tremble as she hung from the chains, her chest heaving in an effort to force air into her lungs.

*The End*

Weiss landed them safely at the drop point and wished them 'good luck' when they set off into the trees. The lack of any light source made it that much more dangerous and time-consuming. Hitting the edge of the clearing, Jack held his arms out to stop Vaughn and Sark from taking another step, remembering this was the spot Irina had told them the mines began.

"Stop! Don't take another step." He said quietly and both Vaughn and Sark froze in position. "This is where she said the mines began." He pulled the landmine locator out of his vest and flipped on the switch, the blue illumination lights casting an aqua glow onto his face and flooding onto theirs.'

The field before them was now a square diagram with geographical information and every tiny red dot was a mine…and there were hundreds from this spot to the sewage tunnel.

"Oh jeezus," Vaughn breathed out looking at the hundreds of dots before them on the screen, and then to the blackened field before them. "How the hell did she memorize all of those locations?" He asked completely flabbergasted at Irina's mind capabilities. "And remember them twenty years later?" He asked the question Jack had asked of her once too, unbelieving that her she could possibly remember. It was only when he realized 'why' she had memorized them in the first place, that he understood 'how' she could have remembered them all those years later.

"She's a genius, an unbelievable genius with a photographic memory." Sark felt a swell of pride for Irina march into his voice.

"Yeah, but look at all of them; to memorize the exact location of each, how many steps between. How could she do that?" Vaughn was still amazed and baffled and realized he was standing before the spot in which his father lost his leg, and almost his life.

"Desperation for freedom from hell, Agent Vaughn." Jack said firmly yet quietly, turning to find the younger man's eyes, "Her life and your fathers' depended on it."

Vaughn gulped, nodding in understanding. 'And after learning of its importance, not likely something she'd ever forget…' He realized.

"Follow me. Single file line." Jack instructed and set out into the field of hidden, black death.

"You psychotic bastard-ass sonofabitch!" Sydney screamed in rage and tears at him when she was grabbed roughly and thrown onto the metal table in the center of the room, facing her mother.

Sydney's voice was slowly seeping through the electric fog in Irina's brain and she struggled stop trembling, and gasping for breath long enough to find and focus on her daughter.

Sydney kept up her fighting as they strapped her arms and legs down to the cold steel platform, thinking nothing of what was happening to her and more concerned with the form of her mother, hanging from the ceiling and stretched painfully against her restraints, blood coursing down her face once more and her body trembling uncontrollably. The bruises running large maps all over her mother's body were a sickening black from yesterday's beatings. The fact that the pain was so intense it caused Irina's body to vomit in the process, unbearable to think about.

"Hello Sydney." Cuvee turned him sights from Irina to her daughter. The guards had firmly secured her to the table and one of them was now pushing in the torture cart with the squeaky wheel.

It was that noise, that reminder of the past that finally broke through the fog and brought Irina's head up to meet her daughter's position, lying on the torture table in front of her.

"Leave her alone!" Sydney cried, still struggling against the leather straps that held her down.

"For the moment…" Cuvee smiled, replying in an all too-high voice with his evil intentions shining through, as he folded back the white linen covering his barrage of torture devices on the table. "So how is it, Sydney? Seeing your mother for what she really is now?" His smile of malevolence reaching his eyes when he reached for series of long needles, "Look around you…" He gestured with his hands to the hideous dark room, which still smelt of fried flesh, blood, urine, feces, and most recently, Irina's vomit, even after all of these years.

It wasn't hard to guess that this room had been the ultimate breaking point for many prisoners who were left to die in their own bodily fluids after the KGB extracted what they wanted.

"Your mother spent a great deal of time in this very room twenty years ago when she betrayed her country in favor of the enemy." He menacing eyes defied the smile lit across his face when he looked pointedly back at Sydney, "Her obstinate stubborn fire was unwilling to break at first…but eventually, I wore her down in this very room." His hand trailed over breasts and down to her center with a look of pure lust that made Sydney want to vomit as well. "And soon, she was 'begging' for it. I've no doubt, you'll be the same."

"I'd rather die then give myself to you!" She spat in his face, saying almost the exact words, doing almost the exact same thing Irina had done when she first came to Kashmir…doing it all, unconscious of the fact.

Cuvee only laughed and wiped the spit from his cheek shaking his head in amusement as he recognized the move and words immediately.

"I recall your mother saying the same thing and look at her now," He turned his head back to glance at Irina, bloodied, bruised and trembling chained to the ceiling and floor. "She's dying and I am still going to take her."

"You're disgusting." Sydney hissed at him, fear gripping her heart for her mother, seeing Irina struggling to remain conscious after the last torrent of electricity ripped though her body.

"Sydney," Irina gasped out, trying desperately to shake the lingering cobwebs from her head. "Don't…" She pleaded with her daughter once more, trying to steer her clear of Cuvee's traps. She would rather be tortured to death if that meant Sydney would have a few more hours for a chance at escape or rescue.

"Whatever you do to me…will not take away my love for my mother. You have nothing left to manipulate me with…nothing." Sydney acknowledged what her mother was trying to do yet again, and would not allow it anymore. She would not let her mother go down without fighting for her, no matter what she would then face in the end. "You manipulated her twenty years ago with my father because of the mission and the situation and I and I'm telling you, it won't work now with me. There are no secrets, no lies between us. I love her unconditionally as she loves me. You'll never be able to take that from either of us…ever." Her eyes had drifted to her mother's and both had unshed tears rimming on their lids. Her soft gaze turned back to granite as she looked back into Cuvee's beady eyes. "You'll never be able to sever the bond we share…if the twenty year gap didn't prove that to you, nothing will. You may break my body and my mind in the end but you will never break my heart. Just like you never really broke hers and 'that's what makes you so angry, is that 'you' failed…not my mother." Her dangerous words hit something inside Cuvee as his eyes glazed over with a murderous tone and he slid the first long needle into her neck making Sydney gasp and scream in pain.

Irina's heart was shattering first at Sydney's words and now with her daughter's pain as Cuvee began his torture upon her body, sliding needle after needle into her pressure points and then underneath her fingernails…each one eliciting an ear-piercing scream from Sydney. The excruciating pain continued for another twenty minutes before he ran out of needles and she almost passed out and then, he grabbed a bucket of ice water out of nowhere and dowsed Sydney with it, shocking her system and making her sputter with the violent reaction.

Smiling he removed the needles and pulled a flame torch from the cart and using his lit cigarette to ignite the flame with a cancerous smile as he twisted the gauge to extend the flame to the length he wanted and Sydney's eyes went wide, recognizing this from her mother's tapes.

"We're going to play another little game." He pulled the cart over closer to him and his hand held over the button that if pressed, would send another round of current through Irina. The flame torch held near the base of Sydney's foot. "I'm going to electrocute 'Mommy' until she screams and when she does, I'm going release her and torch you and when you scream, I'll give you a short reprieve and go back to shocking her until she screams and so on…" His smile widened as Sydney's eyes went wide with horror.

"She'll die if you keep shocking her!" She realized that the flames would sear her flesh but not kill her…but the electricity would eventually kill her mother.

"Then you best try very hard, Sydney, to hold in your screams as much as possible." He winked at her, placing the blame in her lap if Irina's electrocution killed her.

Irina had no time to react before another course of electricity raged through her entire body, making her convulse and wither against the restraints and bounce off the wall. Irina was trying so hard not to scream out in pain for as long as possible, her teeth clenched in spite of the flow of pain ripping through her face with the electrodes there. She held out for about thirty seconds on the verge of passing out before she couldn't stop it anymore and screamed in suffering, hating herself for her lack of control, knowing the minute the scream left her body, Sydney would be torched.

Cuvee smiled happily as his finger left the button, impressed that Irina had held out that long and turned his torch to kiss the bottom of Sydney's foot. The immediate smell of burning flesh filled the room and Irina began dry heaving once more while Sydney ripped as hard as she could against her restraints trying to hold back the scream of sheer torture. The fire exposing and burning all of her nerves and she couldn't fight it long, only fifteen seconds or so before the ragged scream left her mouth and the flame was pulled away. Irina's body started convulsing again immediately as tears ran rivers down Sydney's cheeks, begging her mother to scream before she died.

Irina hadn't been prepared for the next wave to hit and when it did, she involuntarily clamped down onto the side of her tongue and unable to pry her teeth off of it as the muscles in her jaw continued to clench with the ruthless electric current. Blood pooling in her mouth and threatening to suffocate her she finally released and held out about twenty five seconds before she screamed, blood spilling forth from her mouth with a gush and down her chin.

Cuvee moved back to torch the sole of Sydney's foot once again and the bubbled, bleeding flesh began to sizzle once more, the scream came forth much more quickly this time as the blue flame licked at the muscle and no amount of jaw clenching could hold back her bellow of pain. Irina had been prepared this time in spite of clinging to the edge of consciousness by her nails and was more determined then ever to hold out as long as possible.

The violent currents shattered through her body until it could take it no more and her head fell forwards following the flash of light into the abyss of darkness, the jumping of her body almost instantaneously ceasing with the exception of a few small involuntary jerks and Sydney's scream filled the room for her seeing Irina slump.

"You killed her!" She screamed through ragged gasps of breath. "You killed her, you fucking bastard!"

Jack breathed out heavily in relief, "We're clear." Looked over his shoulder and informed the two younger agents when they had cleared the mines and stood in front of the sewage tunnels. "It won't take us long now, another ten minutes and we should be inside."

Cuvee hadn't expected Irina to be able to hold back her screams until the point of death and turned off the flame, slowly moved towards her, death being part of the plan…but not this early in his game. Gently pushing her hair aside he cupped her cheek and forced her head up. Her eyes were closed and body completely limp, he set the torch down on the cart and felt her neck for a pulse. Finding an erratic but somewhat strong pulse he smiled.

"She's not dead, just unconscious. Remarkable creature, she is." His thumb caressed her soft skin marred by bruises on her cheek, "To be able to withstand such torture…such a shame to end her life. Such a waste." He let his hand drop and her head dropped roughly with it. Realizing he might not have a lot of time left with Irina, he began undoing his belt buckle much to Sydney's horror.

"She's not even conscious!" She screamed at him through her tears at how perverse and insanely evil this man was. Realizing her mother's unconscious state at what he was currently doing, might be a blessing.

Cuvee dropped his pants just enough, grunting as he thrust himself into her, hard and ready to go after his foreplay of torture. Sydney couldn't watch and screwed her own eyes shut as her body screamed in pain, tears coursing down her cheeks praying for mercy. She had no idea how her mother could have survived this before…survived years of this relentless torture.

The blood from Irina's mouth running down her chin and onto her chest as her head continued to hang limp and Cuvee buried his face in her hair while he grunted repeatedly bringing himself to climax quickly aided by the slight tremors still running involuntarily through Irina's body and muscles. With a final thrust, he emptied into her a few minutes later and rode it out until he was finished. He pulled out and zipped up satisfied for now. The new trickle of blood running down her inner thighs let Sydney know he'd torn her mother apart once again.

"I'm going to kill you." Sydney breathed out in a deadly quiet tone making a vow to end the life of the man who was bringing a rapid end to her mothers, stealing away their time together and her life with them.

Cuvee, lit another cigarette with a smile and puffed on it, taking in few long satisfying drags. Letting the smoking stick perch between his lips he bent over and picked up another silver bucket full of ice-cold water and threw it on Irina, attempting to rouse her.

"Come on, my little Minx." Cuvee was agitated and dropped the bucket, stalking forward and grabbing her roughly by the hair, slapping her hard again and again, angry he couldn't bring her awake.

Her long hair now wet with ice water, created loose tendrils to fall around her face and as a water droplet landed on his arm, he got an idea.

"I'm not finished with her yet. This will bring the whore back to life," He stepped back next to the machine and pressed the button, sending another surge of electricity ripping through Irina's wet body and after twenty seconds of floundering in unconsciousness.

Irina awoke with a loud gasp of breath and Cuvee released the button. Her eyes wide as she came back to the land of the living once more, trying to gauge what had happened. Her entire body was quivering uncontrollably and a fresh wave of horrid pain ripped through her groin alerting her to the fact that he'd taken her again while she was unconscious and thankful that she'd missed that.

She just hoped Sydney... 'Sydney!' Her mind suddenly came into sharp focus through the mind fog and remembered her daughter was in the room and what had happened before she couldn't remember. She must have held out Cuvee's torture until she passed out she summarized and now her eyes sought out her daughters.

"Sydney…" She gasped out in thick trembling voice. Sydney was wet, trembling uncontrollably with shock and freezing, her foot was severely burned and blistering but she was otherwise in tact.

"Mom…" Sydney cried thankful that her mother was still alive and also pained seeing that this agony was going to continue until Cuvee killed her mother.

"Take Her Majesty to my office," Cuvee nodded at his guards while he squinted his beady eyes, pausing to inhale once more as he stared at Irina, "And the bastard offspring back to her cell. I want to have some more fun with 'Mommy Dearest' before delivering the final blow."

"No!" Sydney struggled and screamed, crying at the thought of being separated from her mother now, knowing what Cuvee's intentions were going to be. 'To rape her mother again and then kill her.'

Irina's eyes welled tears and she forced herself to smile softly at Sydney as the guards drug her daughter kicking and screaming out the door, wanting the last image Sydney saw of her face to be something other then pain. 'I love you…' She mouthed with the smile of bravery and acceptance as the sacrificial kamikaze and Sydney's eyes locked onto hers until their sight was broken when she disappeared behind the steal doors.

Sydney fought the guards all the way back to her cells, sobbing and exhausted when they threw her roughly into her cell, slamming the door shut behind her and leaving her a rumpled mess on the floor. Her shivering, wet, body curling into the fetal position on the cold pavement as her cries for her mother wracked her body.

The brave smile of acceptance she'd just seen on her mothers face mixing with the memories of her face at her execution and both images were running tango in her heart and mind.

"The time has come, Irina. You shall never again, see the light of another day." Cuvee smiled, flashing his teeth at her when the guards returned to collect her. "Bring the cart up as well." He called behind him, signaling he wanted the guards to bring the torture devices up to the office with Irina.

*The Shadows Betray You*

"And we're in." Jack stepped through the vent first and into the room with the little desk that he remembered well, could still envision Irina behind the desk, taking control of the mission and her then standing before him with unshed tears and a trembling voice, forcing him to see for the first time; 'Irina Derevko' did indeed have emotions beneath her calm Teflon exterior…forcing him to see for the first time, that perhaps, she had suffered after her extraction too.

"Alright let's move an be on the look out for his guards. According to thermal imaging there were six besides Cuvee." Jack hissed his name with venom and felt his heart pound rapidly against his ribcage at the thought of being so near Irina. He felt her desperation in his soul and new that time was rapidly running out. 'I'm coming My Love, hold on.' He willed her silently as they began to creep down the hallway in the dark.

Irina was strapped back onto the desk, this time facing up as Cuvee wanted to look into her eyes when he fucked her and then watch as the life bled from her eyes when he killed her. Her arms and legs were stretched out painfully and her body continued to tremble and convulse every few seconds from the effects of the electrocution and her body going haywire with blood sugar and insulin deficit. She'd vomited twice, dry-heaved really as there was nothing left to expel, on the steps on the way up and continued to feel sharp pangs of pain in her abdomen that made her want to curl up into a tight ball.

The cart was carried up and placed next to the edge of the desk with its knives, scalpels, needles, pliers, taser and torch ready and waiting for use.

Cuvee leered appraisingly at his handy-work of inflicting pain upon Irina and slid like the snake he was in between her legs. His fingers lightly caressing up her thighs as he pushed her dress up to her hips once more.

"I think we should start with something of pleasure first, don't you think, my little Minx?" His fingers pushed under her dress and caressed between her folds, sliding his fingers around in the bloody lubricant. His other hand pawing at her exposed breasts, blackened and purple with angry bruises in the shapes of fingers and hands. His fingers plunged inside her and Irina's closed her eyes tightly, her breathing shallow and teeth clenched trying to block out what he was doing. "What's wrong, Irina? Not enough stimulation?" He laughed madly and pulled his bloody fingers out, unzipped his pants and let them drop. His cock rested and ready, standing at attention. He teased it against her center and then thrust forward, filling her completely and making her gasp in pain as her face contorted, turning her head to the side and refusing to look at him. He pulled out and thrust in again, his strong fingers groping at her body once more as he continued to slowly pull out and then pummel back into her. "Still not enough for you? Come on, Irina, you might as well enjoy it, this will be your last fuck on Earth and who better then me to send you out a satisfied woman?" His disgusting cocky ego reared its ugly head as he leaned over and grasped her nipple between his teeth, raking over it with his tongue and then pulling away. Having no effect on her body at all in its delirious state of confusion, her senses dulled, which only frustrated Cuvee.

"Go to hell!" She turned back and looked into his eyes, his cold black eyes that held nothing but lust and hate.

Cuvee's only response was to thrust harder and bite her other nipple, leaving teeth marks in her already bruised flesh.

"Jack's not coming for you." He pulled out slowly again, taking his time, knowing it was his last with her, "You're my whore now. Scream for me!" He commanded.

Irina turned her face away, refusing to give into his demands no matter the cost.

"Scream for me bitch!" He gripped her hips painfully deep with his fingers and pummeled deep inside of her, trying to elicit a reaction. "Scream for me, you fucking whore! I want to hear you scream my name!" He punched her hard in the ribs with his fist and an audible crack could be heard, making Irina inhale sharply, and tears spring to her eyes though she refused to comply. "I'll get you to scream my name!" Cuvee reached over and grabbed the taser, and jammed it into her side, shocking her until she withered beneath him and the sensation of her body quivering from the electrocution around his member arouse him even more. He kept shocking her in different places, each time relishing in the effect it was having on her, and him as he took pleasure from her pain.

"What the hell is all of this stuff?" Vaughn asked quietly, in almost a whisper when they hit the main floor of the prison, walking past mounds of crates containing weapons and ammunition.

"This was the stronghold for the People's Revolutionary Front. It's what's left of their weapons stash, I presume." Sark peered around the box and followed Jack through the narrow aisle the crates created and into the dark.

When they hit the other side, they were standing on the base floor of the main block of prison cells; the massive hole in the ceiling letting the moonlight cascade in and illuminate the haunting rows and floors of cells. At the far end of the wide aisle, illuminated by a single moonbeam was the cross on which Irina was 'resurrected Russian' again after Cuvee beat their son to death inside of her and Jack felt his heart skip a beat, his breath catch in his throat. They all paused in moment of quiet horror filled reflection before moving slowly down the aisle, cautiously looking around as they maneuvered around the ceiling rubble.

"I can't believe I'm standing here." Vaughn whispered quietly, looking up and around at the cells in front of him and above. Seeing first hand the images from Irina's films and the ghosts that haunted the cells he could still see banging against their bars, as Irina was drug down the aisle they were walking down now. His skin suddenly shivered and the hair on the back of his neck stood up at he glanced up to the area his father's cell was in from what he remembered from the tape.

Jack could hardly breathe as they crept forward in the shadows, guided by the moonlight, being in this place for the first time after knowing what really happened to Irina here and realizing she had spent two torturous years in this hell.

"The cells they should be in are up in front." Jack guided them forward, whispering and hoping and praying they were still in the cells shown to them on thermal imaging before they'd left. "Shhh…listen, do you hear that?" He suddenly stopped them, looking forward and then up at a soft sound coming from above. Someone was crying.

"Sydney!" Vaughn gasped loudly, trying to be quiet even as his eyebrows shot up in recognition of the voice and cry. Their feet suddenly started moving much faster and swiftly and softly ascended the steps to the second level of cells. Making their way towards the cell they heard the crying coming from.

Shining their flashlights in every cell they passed looking for them in the dark corners. Jack sucked in a sharp breath when his light skimmed over the cell with the open door and saw the bloody mattress on the ground, his heart about to explode hoping he wasn't too late.

"Sydney!" He called out softly, moving forward and flashed his light around the next cell in a hurried fashion and almost missed her lithe form curled into a ball on the mattress in the corner just opposite the other cell.

The naked skin of her back the only reflecting the light. She didn't seem to hear them through her soft sobs, her body trembling and moved called out again, bending down. "Sydney…"

This time she heard him and flashed her eyes open to see the light casting her shadow on the wall and launched herself upright, turning towards them.

"Dad!" She cried and reached frantically through the bars to him and then Vaughn, "Vaughn!"

"Sweetheart, are you ok?" Jack immediately started scanning her body seeing the multitude of injuries and bruises, cuts and abrasions covered her face, neck, back, arms, chest and stomach as she sat before them on her knees. Her long hair was soaking wet and she was obviously shivering. Her foot was a bloody mangled mess that still smelt of burnt flesh and the rage inside Jack bubbled over at realizing what Cuvee had done.

"Mom," She sobbed, clinging to them frantically through the bars, a hand fisted into each of their vests. "Dad, Mom!" She started crying hysterically, "He raped her again and again, even when she was unconscious…he was torturing her. Dad, he's killing her right now! You have to stop him!" She started hyperventilating in panic. "Go! She's dying!"

Jack's breath turned ragged with his own panic hearing his daughters' words and frantically flew to her cell door, pulling against it hard.

"Where's the key, Sydney?" He was trying to get her to focus, knowing he needed to get her out and get to Irina immediately, torn between the two but knowing he had to get Sydney out first.

Sark moved to his side, inspecting the lock trying to figure out if he could open it and swallowed hard seeing Sydney's tortured appearance and hearing about Irina.

"The guards have the keys. They're with Cuvee…and Mom…in his office." She sobbed in shock, clinging to Vaughn with both hands now as he knelt beside her, holding her through the bars. "Just go get Mom! Come back for me! Daddy, she's dying!" She pleaded with him. Jack was never more torn. He knew he couldn't just leave Sydney and risk losing her again, too.

"These bars are all iron. I can't blast them." Sark shook his head sadly, looking up to Jack, "Shhh!" He said suddenly, his blue eyes going wide as they heard the sound of a single pair of heavy footsteps on the floor below and heading towards the metal stairs. Jack pulled Sark into the shadows, and Vaughn reluctantly too.

"We're not leaving you." Vaughn mouthed to Sydney before joining Jack and Sark, as they waited for the man to show himself. The heavy bang of drudging boots ascended the stairs and the guilt ridden guard made his way down the walkway carrying a piece of bread, banana and cup of water.

Jack recognized the betrayer immediately and his anger won out as he stalked forward out of the shadows, gun raised directly at the man's head. The guilty man only had a moment of recognition at seeing Jack's face and then the gun before a bullet was lodged silently between his eyes and his body fell straight backwards.

"Go get 'the bastard." Cuvee commanded through his grunts, thrusting into her as he shocked Irina again and she cried, screaming silently in pain as he continued his torture. "It's time for her to see her mother's demise."

The lust driven guards obeyed and left the room reluctantly though amused as the shared disgusting sexual barbs on the way down the stairs and towards the cells.

"Shit!" Jack yelled softly, searching the dead man's body and not finding the keys. "He doesn't have them!"

"Dad…Lena," Sydney's brain suddenly found its bearings and she started crying hysterically again, "She's dead…he made Mom choose and he killed her anyway-"

"Sydney, no! We found her!" Vaughn quickly jumped in, holding the side of her face with one hand through the cell bars with a hopeful smile, seeing the shock register on Sydney's face.

"She's alive? You found her?" Her eyes were frantically searching the three of theirs. "She's ok?"

"Yes, we found her. She's in the hospital in Moscow, she's going to be ok." Jack didn't know that for certain, only believed it to be true in his heart and wasn't about to tell his daughter any differently in their current situation. "I promised her I would bring back her mother and sister and that's what we're here doing." He closed his hand over hers on the cell bar with a soft, determined smile with a sense of urgency closing in. "We'll tell you all about that later, right now we need to get you out of here and find your mother!" Jack tried to keep his panic under control, knowing in his heart that Irina was clinging to life somewhere near. "We've got to find the guard with the keys!"

*Rise*

Suddenly as if on cue, the metal doors on the opposite wall opened and three guards came lumbering forward, laughing and one making revolting gestures, by thrusting his hips in the air, causing Jack's mouth to go dry and he couldn't swallow knowing in the pit of his stomach what they were laughing about. Without thinking in his state of rage fired from the second story walkway, directly at the revolting man's groin, causing it to blast open in a spray of instantaneous red before he fell to his knees, curling into ball howling in pain before the cross.

The blast alerted the other two stunned guards to their presence and they immediately started firing at them. The bullets were spraying of the metal bars and blasting the cement walls. Jack fired a rapid succession of shots as did Sark and Vaughn tried to keep Sydney shielded with his body the best he could in the corner.

Jack killed one fleeing guard with a single shot to the back of his head, blasting open his skull and dropping him face forward. Sark took out the knees of the other and then both arms, effectively rendering him useless as he and Jack made their way quickly down the stairs. The man who Jack had shot in the groin for making the revolting thrusting motion, was trying to slither away from them with eyes wide in terror as his pants, waste and arms were covered in his blood.

Jack's eyes locked onto his as the man scooted back with Jack stalking in front of him and when his back hit the base of the cross and could go no further, Jack fired another single shot to the man's forehead and he slumped back, dead against the looming cross.

Sark's man was groaning in agony, cursing wildly in Russian as the blonde-haired man stood over him, looking at him a moment before firing into his head as well. He squatted down and retrieved the set of skeleton keys from the man's belt, standing quickly and catching Jack's gaze.

"Go save Irina. I'll get Sydney out."

Jack stood momentarily dumbfounded and then nodded, grasping Sark's shoulder, "Thank you." He whispered trusting the young man with his daughter's freedom, realizing that everyone else also knew, that Irina was dying and needed to be found immediately.

Sydney was out of immediate danger with Vaughn and Julian to protect her, he needed to get to his wife. Plunging through the steel doors with his gun in hand, he crept into the darkness…standing at the base of the metal staircase Irina had told him about.

A light coming from under the door in the room above. 'His office…' Jack's mind reeled as he began quickly and quietly making his way up the long metal steps and hearing the sound of a buzzer and then a heart stopping scream of his name.

"Jack!" Irina finally screamed out, with tears coursing down her cheeks, unable to take taser-inflicted torture anymore. Her head lulled to the side as the tears fell onto the cold metal, looking to the door, and screamed again as Cuvee held out another long zap to her already electrified body, a boning knife, pressed against her throat biting into her skin. "Jaaaaaaack!"

Jack heard her screaming for him and charged up the stairs at full speed, bursting through the door his eyes immediately falling to the scene before him and then to Irina's haunted, terrified eyes, glistening with tears and upon seeing him, she actually smiled, in spite of her chained down position, with Cuvee violating her body and torturing her.

"Jack…" She breathed out in a relieved whisper and the tiny movement from Cuvee in the corner of his eye flicked his line of sight to the tyrant ravaging his wife.

"Well hello, Jack." Cuvee's surprise now turned into a guttural gloat at his current position inside Irina, her naked body sprawled before him chained down while he held a knife to her throat and a taser to her body. "I always wondered what your expression would be seeing me fuck your precious whore. She's got a fantastic tight cunt, doesn't she?" He goaded Jack seeing they were at a stalemate with Jack's gun drawn on him, but his knife to Irina's throat. "I was just about to finish her off; you're just in time for the 'climatic' ending of this show."

"Get away from my wife." Jack's tone was deadly as his white fury took over, seeing Irina's beaten, bloodied body, trembling and convulsing on top of the cold metal table with this mongers body invading hers.

Cuvee pulled out slowly and then with a wicked gleam thrust hard back into Irina, exploding inside her with his orgasm and, hitting her simultaneously with the taser making her wince and scream in pain; Jack fired instantly into Cuvee's left shoulder, forcing him to vault backwards and drop the knife. The force causing him to stumble backwards a few feet and pull out of Irina, his blood covered cock still hard and dripping with his semen.

Jack's rage induced state led him to fire again, taking out Cuvee's right knee and dropping him to the ground, and sending the taser skidding across the floor.

"Keys!" Jack commanded coming to stand between Cuvee and Irina, gun leveled at Cuvee's head.

"Pants pocket." Cuvee hissed in obvious pain though his maniacal smile remained.

"Throw them to me. Now." Jack ordered, unnerved the man was still smiling and wanted to blow the smile right off his face this second…but that rob Irina her chance at him.

"All this trouble for a dirty Russian whore, Jack? Certainly you could have found a nice American girl to satisfy your needs by now…maybe many to get you off?" Cuvee winked at Jack, "Though I don't blame you for trying to stake claim to our Royal Russian Whore's fabulous cunt. It is rather amazing, even if its been tainted by a pathetic American."

Jack fired just beside Cuvee's head, clipping his ear and imbedding the bullet into the wall behind him having had enough of Cuvee's ranting against Irina.

"Give me…the keys!" His eyes spoke of the homicidal tendencies invading his mind at the moment.

Irina fought to pay attention as her mind became increasingly foggier and confusion over what exactly was going on kept drifting in and out of her mind. Her heart pounded rapidly and erratically beneath the walls of her trembling chest and breath remained shallow.

Cuvee felt his ear and the missing chunk and reached into his pants pocket, still slung down by his ankles from where he'd dropped them. He threw them across the floor at Jack, coming to a sliding halt just in front of his black boot.

Jack squatted down to retrieve the keys with gun still trained on Cuvee who sat smugly against the wall, in his jacket, shirt and tie, pants down to his ankles as his bloodied cock deflated against his leg. Rapidly, Jack turned and grasped at the shackle biting into Irina's right ankle, wiggling the key and releasing it, and then the left before standing and looking her over quickly, seeing the obvious mass-devastation Cuvee had left this time in his wake...she was barely alive.

Her eyes held a look he'd never seen and his worry and concern flooded forward and as he struggled to release her wrist with one hand on his gun, trained on Cuvee and the other trying to open the lock. Finally, it flew open exposing her bloody, mangled wrist with bone showing and he felt his stomach pitch and roll with the sight, something he was not used. She was shaking hard, and her wet hair kissed the skin of his hand when she rolled with much effort onto her side to help him as he released her last wrist. He moved quickly to her side and helped her stand, and she fell into his chest before gaining some balance, his arm going protectively around her shoulders until she was steady.

"Sydney?" She gasped in barely above a breath, worried about her daughter.

"She's safe, Irina. We found her." He reassured her knowing exactly what she was concerned about and saw new tears flood her eyes with relief.

With out-of-control shaking hands, her eyes closing momentarily as Jack pulled her into his side, kissing her head gently, with relief. He reached into his bag and retrieved the tank top and panties, helping Irina into both as her body shivered uncontrollably and grimaced in pain from her broken ribs.

"Well, isn't that sweet." Cuvee mocked them with his glare, "The fool taking care of his whore."

Irina's eyes snapped open wide and turned her own maniacal glare to Cuvee, her hand reaching behind her onto the desk to grasp the knife he had lost.

"My turn." She hissed in thick Russian with a trembling voice and a homicidal tone as she twirled the knife in her fingers. She was desperately trying to stay conscious when everything in her body was trying to shutdown.

"My thoughts exactly, My Love. It is your turn." Jack's glacial stare continued as he moved towards Cuvee, grabbing him roughly by his injured arm and pulling him roughly to his feet, gun pointed on him as he threw him against the desk and forced him onto it, back flat against the metal Irina had just been chained to. Jack shackled his arms down as Cuvee had done to his wife.

"Now what, my little Minx, are you going to play the sexual games you love with me now?" Cuvee was suicidal at this point, hoping to provoke enough rage inside of her she'd lose her patience and end his life quickly.

Irina fought through her haze to find her focus and trailed the side of the length of the blade up his member as pure fury took over. She severed it slowly as he screamed in agony and then stuffed it into this mouth. She said nothing in deadly silence simply staring at him in the eye as she hovered above him crying in agony. She was calm. Deadly calm. Her vision was fading in and out of blackness as she clung to life, determined to take him with her if she was going to die, too.

Sark and Vaughn had just freed Sydney from the cell; Vaughn helping to dress her and was carrying her down the last few steps when gunshots rang out and they dove for cover behind Sark. Coming from behind the massive crate, the last two guards came charging forward, blasting them with AK-47 rounds.

"Sonofabitch! Where'd they come from?" Vaughn screamed over the gunfire as they took shelter and waited for their moment to fire. "We need extraction immediately!" He yelled into his Com, alerting Weiss to get there ASAP. "Jack, we've got trouble we've got to go!" Just as he finished his alert and began returning fire with Sark, realizing he wasn't going to live, the crazy Russian bastard who they'd hit several times pulled the pin from a grenade and let it drop where he kneeled a few feet from the ammunition crates.

*O Fortuna –Excalibur*

With lightening fast reflexes, Sark's eyes went wide and lunged for Sydney, covering her with his body as Vaughn turned toward them both and dove for shelter as well when the explosion rocked the prison and caved in part of the remaining roof, sending a fireball blasting towards them. It stopped just short of eating them alive and thousands of rounds of ammunition started going off and blasting. Grenade after grenade inside the crates exploded.

Sydney looked up dazed to see Sark shielding her body and when he rolled off of her and Vaughn scooped her up, she felt the sweltering heat of the explosions as they dodged bullets running across the aisle through the doors as the prison turned into a raging inferno.

Sark closing the metal doors behind them in an attempt to buy time as they ran for the front of the compound and extraction point.

"Jack!" Sark shouted into his Com watching the fireball spit flames through the bottom of the doors as he looked back. "Get out now! We've got Sydney."

Realizing with the blasts going on around them, they didn't have much time, Irina reached into the drawer and pulled out Cuvee's bottle of vodka that he'd always enjoyed after raping her. She dumped the contents of the bottle over Cuvee. Irina flicked his lighter igniting the flame and loomed dangerously over Cuvee's head.

"I told you, one day, you would beg for me to kill you." Stepping back she dropped the lighter onto his chest and Cuvee's alcohol soaked body watching as his skin ignited immediately; his body wiggling and withering as his screaming moans filled the room feeling his body burning. "Are you begging me to kill you yet?" Irina loomed close to his face and the flames, staring right at Cuvee and then waited for a moment, seeing him nodding furiously in agony, she nodded to Jack who put a bullet in Cuvee's head, ending his existence and sending him straight to hell. His corpse igniting in a ball of fire.

Grabbing Irina's hand, they ran for the door feeling the massive heat wave the moment they stepped out onto the metal stairs from the raging inferno downstairs.

"We've got to move!" Jack gripped her hand and pulled her quickly down the stairs, seeing the fire about to break through the bottom door below. Irina was following on blind adrenaline, letting him lead as she couldn't think clearly at all anymore.

"Shit!" Jack screamed when he realized their 'Exit' was blocked.

"The roof…" Irina pointed to another set of stairs across the small room and Jack's eyes flashed to follow, seeing her running on pure adrenaline and nothing else, about to drop, he pulled hard on her arm and they flew up the stairs together, hand in hand.

"Extract us off the roof!" Jack yelled over the roar of the fire and explosions into his Com.

Weiss heard the plea as Vaughn, carrying Sydney, and Sark came charging toward the helicopter, watching the building exploding behind them.

Feeling the fire blast the doors open just before they pushed through the doors and hit the roof, Jack and Irina broke into full sprints racing towards the edge as the roof began collapsing beneath them and fall into the inferno below. The helicopter appeared just over the ledge in front of them with Sydney sitting on the floor screaming at them both to run faster seeing the building caving in behind her parents.

They hit the ledge at the same time and launched themselves over and into the helicopter, landing with rapid thuds against the deck as Weiss started pulling up and away from the burning building. A massive explosion decimated the building and sent a large heat burst rocking towards them, blasting the helicopter off to the side and they all watched in horror as Sydney flew backwards out the side door, eyes wide, arms flailing as she fell towards the fire ravaged inferno.

Irina didn't think just reacted and grabbed the black snag line and jumped out immediately after her as Jack, Vaughn, and Sark screamed watching them both freefall in disbelief. Irina narrowed her body and reached her arm out as far as she could.

Sydney tried grabbing and finally, gripped her mother's shredded wrist and the snag line wrapped around Irina's other arm, pulled tight and caught their fall.

*Hanging/Escape*

"She got her!" Vaughn almost fell over and fainted with relief.

"Move, move, move, move!" Jack gasped with white knuckles peering over edge of the helicopter down to his wife and daughter swinging over the flames below. "Irina can't hold her for long! Get us away from these minefields!" His heart had stopped beating the second he saw Irina flying out the door after Sydney, whom he hadn't seen fall but realized that was what was happening after.

The intense, excruciating pain ripping through Irina's side from her broken ribs and holding hers' and Sydney's weight, dangling by one arm wrapped in ropes while her daughter's iron grip dug into her exposed bone in her wrist. She swallowed the pain, hoping she could hold onto her long enough to get them to safety as they flew over the desert, coming closer and closer to the ground until Irina let go of the rope, unable to hold on any longer and they both fell the remaining 15 feet to the sand, rolling over each other as they hit, ending with Sydney on top of Irina, her arms wrapped around her daughter.

"Are you ok?" Irina gasped immediately despite the pain of having Sydney lying on her broken ribs.

"Yeah..." Sydney was in shock first by falling and then seeing her mother come flying out after her in a span of seconds but all in slow motion. "Your heart still sounds like a washing machine." She said absently with her head laying fully on Irina's chest, ear to her skin. The last time she lay like this over her mother, she was six years old when the 'bad man' came to the door.

Irina breathed out relieved as a small smile crossed her lips, and she ran her hand over Sydney's head, thankful she was safe... she closed her eyes as she heard the chopper setting down near by and the tears finally fell.

"You were right, Mom. Lena's alive. Dad found her." Sydney spoke into Irina's skin as her mother held her tightly to her body, despite the pain it was causing her, she wanted Sydney close. Sydney immediately felt and heard the sharp intake of breath from her mother, relief flooding her immediately.

"Thank you, God." She sobbed, "I love you, Sweetheart…" Irina cried as she struggled to keep her eyes open now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

Jack, Vaughn and Sark ran towards them with wild abandon, seeing Irina holding Sydney to her chest. Jack helped to pick Sydney up and held her tightly before letting Vaughn scoop her up and carry her back to helicopter. Sark helping Irina to stand with Jack; Irina kissing his cheek quickly when she saw Julian's face giving him a small smile before her knees went weak and she fell into Jack's arms.

"I want to see my baby, Jack." She whispered into his ear in a heartbreaking voice and he swooped her up and carried her to the chopper and they flew quickly back to the base.

They were in the air on the jet back to Moscow less then twenty minutes later, having called ahead having it ready and waiting. Irina sat curled up against the window, wrapped in a blanket as Jack went to work finding her insulin and testing kit while Vaughn worked to clean and bandage Sydney's wounds the best he could until they got to the hospital, and Sark worked quietly on Irina's; Weiss getting them both something to eat and drink.

Irina closed her eyes, her head lay propped against the back of the seat and the window and blanket. She was fighting to stay awake but losing the battle, having struggled for days to stay alive and now, 'Sydney was safe...'

Jack had just come to squat next to her and Sark when her head went limp against the window and arm in Sark's hand.

"Irina!" Jack called out immediately, gently shaking her shoulder and terrified to see the blue ring around her mouth again, though her cheeks were flushed. "Irina!" This time she wasn't just blacking out, she was unconscious. He moved her over quickly to lie down in the row of seats and felt for her pulse.

It was there but weak. His panic took over and he flew into action ripping open her black testing pouch and holding her cool fingers in his hand as he pricked the end, squeezing blood onto the strip with Sark's help, his own eyes showing his terror.

They all waited for the beep.

"My God…" Jack's eyes instantly filled with tears and scared the hell out of everyone.

"Dad, what is it? I know it has to be bad, he hasn't hardly given her anything." Sydney trembled in Vaughn's arms, even in a blanket as tears raced down her cheeks.

"It's over 850." He blinked hard, willing himself to focus, wondering if he was really seeing what he was seeing.

"What's it supposed to be?" Weiss asked just as terrified, having no idea really what someone's blood sugar should be.

"She's usually around 70 to 80…" Jack answered barely above a whisper, blinking back tears and Sydney dropped to her knees and crawled the remaining distance to perch at the end where her mother's head was; crying as she ran her hand softly over Irina's forehead, smoothing the hair back. "Irina, wake up…" He shook her softly again without response. "Call the hospital and-."

"Have a Medivac helicopter waiting when we land." Weiss finished for Jack, knowing what needed to be done and flew to the front of the plane.

"Mom, don't you dare! We made it through all that, I won't let you leave me now!" Sydney buried her face into Irina's still damp hair, "Lena needs you Mom. I need you, please, please hang on just a little bit longer!"

Jack pulled a bottle of insulin out and drew a syringe full, never having administered this kind of amount to her before and terrified of the results if he did or didn't give it to her. Slowly he slid the needle into her abdomen in this emergency situation. Jack held her hand in his, kissing her fingers.

"Please, Irina, don't you leave us now."

"Mom...Mom!" Sydney started shouting at her, shaking Irina's shoulder, "Dad, she's stopped breathing!" She cried seeing her mother's chest had stopped moving and the blue ring returning around her mouth. "She's not breathing!" She screamed again in panic.

Jack immediately felt Irina's neck for a pulse and found none. "I can't find a pulse." His heart was thundering in his chest and moving quickly, "Get the Defibrillator in the galley!" He shouted at Weiss who was closest and rapidly pulled Irina's body onto the floor between the seats. "Come on, Irina!" He called to her starting chest compressions and breathing for her. Sydney crying beside him in disbelief.

*Tessa (Extended Version Remix)*

Irina once again watched her body below her and felt the rush. She spun in the darkness and saw the light and smiled knowing exactly where she was this time. Walking towards it and then running when she heard the ocean waves, she was surprised when it wasn't the brilliant sun shining down upon her as it was before, after her Execution, showing her the way but the most gorgeous full moon so bright on the horizon. A million stars lit the sky and blasts of color hovered above. The sand was brilliant white and sparkling and warm and she dropped down to her knees, feeling relief from all the pain and exhaustion and lay back in the sand staring up at the amazing sky above. Tears were streaking down her face into her hair and she closed her eyes listening to the waves. Her girls were alive and that was all that mattered.

Weiss ran back to them as fast as possible, sliding to his knees beside Irina's head and unzipping the bag with breakneck speed. He tossed the oxygen resuscitator bag to Julian who immediately took over bagging Irina as Jack continued chest compressions. Eric rapidly clicked on the machine and Vaughn helped quickly apply the gel. "It's charging!" He held them out pushing past Sydney, to get better situated. "Get her shirt out of the way!" He commanded with determination and Jack stopped compressions just long enough to tear Irina's tank-top down the middle, ripping it away exposing her chest for the first time to the rest of them.

"Dear God," Vaughn gasped in horror to see the horrendous map of purple and black carnage that Cuvee had left behind on her breasts and ribs from his abuse.

"Charged!" Julian yelled at them when the lights indicated it was ready.

"Clear!" Weiss yelled back and Jack and Julian pulled their hands away before Eric sent the first bolt of electricity through Irina making her body jump.

"Please Mom!" Sydney sobbed beside them, "Please!"

Irina felt the incoming tide tickling her toes and smiled through her tears.

"Hello My Darling," A familiar voice called to her immediate left and when Irina turned her head to the side, her mother was laying right beside her, smiling back at her radiantly.

"Mama," Irina gasped in instant tears, sitting up and tackling Anya with a crushing hug and endless tears. "Mama!" She repeated feeling her embrace.

"Oh my Sweet Girl, have I missed you." Anya cried smiling over Irina's shoulder and pulled back to palm her cheeks.

"I've missed you, so much." Irina cried reaching for her again and holding tight, sobbing in her mother's arms.

"You can't stay here, Irina." Anya held her more tightly and pulled back to cup her face and thumb away her tears with a smile. "You must go back."

"I'm so tired, Mama." Irina shook her head sobbing. "I just can't do it anymore."

"She's dehydrated!" Jack resumed chest compressions waiting for the unit to charge again and Julian resumed breathing. "Get an IV started in her immediately!" He ordered Vaughn nearest to the bag of emergency supplies. "Come on, Irina!" He called out to her angrily and desperate and determined not to lose her now. Not now. "Come on, My Love!"

"Charged!" Weiss called out again and everyone backed up, "Clear!" He shouted and tried again.

"I know, Sweetheart. You have been so strong for so long." Anya pulled her upright in the sand, still holding onto her not wanting to let go. "But you still have so much more to do." She smiled, "Your family needs you. Russia needs you. The world needs you, Irina, in more ways than you can possibly imagine. Your destiny is far from over." She laughed softly with her own tears falling, "Oh, Sweetheart, if you only knew." Her dark eyes held fast to Irina's with a new surge of tears and pride. "And Lena's!" She shook her head in awe, "Your baby girl will change the world, Irina, she has an extraordinary destiny just like you...but she needs you now to guide her. She needs you. They all do."

"Clear!" Weiss shocked her body again.

"Come on, My Love!" Jack shouted and it tore across the night sky above Irina and Anya echoing through time and space.

"Mama," Irina cried holding her mother's hands against her own face and shaking her head once again feeling torn.

"Irina, everything in your life has led you to this moment in time with purpose." Anya held her eyes intensely, "You have gained all the strength from that which you've had to overcome...and you will be even stronger after coming through this as well."

"I am tired of being strong." Irina inhaled her cry, feeling she could finally break down in her mother's arms and let go of the heavy burdens she has carried. "I don't know if I can do it anymore."

"I know, Sweetheart." She pulled Irina to her in another hug with another round of tears at hearing her daughters exhaustion and pain and then pulled back to look at her again, "But you can and you will and the world will be better for it. You are The Chosen One, Irina. This is your destiny and it is so much more than what that man wrote about in his journals." She smiled thumbing away her daughters tears, "I know you're tired. I know. It is a heavy burden you must carry...but you can do it, Irina. You can. You were born for this." She smiled radiantly. "You, My Little Love, are extraordinary. From your very birth until this moment now, you have always been a miracle." She leaned in and kissed Irina's forehead causing another surge of tears to poor from Irina's eyes at the loving contact she had missed so much for most of her life.

"Please Mom!" Sydney's voice echoed overhead in a cry and tore at Irina.

"You have so much joy ahead of you, Irina." Anya smiled still holding Irina's face, "So much joy. Your future is not without sorrow, but the joy..." She shook her head with a raging smile, "You will be blessed with so much love and happiness, My Little Love. I promise you. It will all be worth it. You'll never be alone again."

"Come on, Irina! Please!" Jack's voice cried above causing another surge of tears to flow from Irina's eyes hearing his desperateness.

"You and Ekaterina were the greatest joys of my life, Irina." Anya held her eyes intensely with a smile, blinking back tears and thumbing her cheeks gently. "You made me truly feel alive and whole again. You both gave my life purpose and meaning."

"I'm so sorry about-" Irina cried shaking her head trying to apologize for what happened to her mother.

"Shh!" Anya pressed her fingers gently to Irina's lips with a smile shaking her head, "You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing. I am so proud of you, Irina. So proud. I meant what I said before." She cried with a smile, "I understand your love for you family and I forgive you. I love you forever and always." Irina cried harder hearing her mother repeat her final words to her in the film of her execution holding onto her now.

"Mom, please! Please! I need you!" Sydney's cries tore across the sky, "Lena needs you!"

"Go, Sweetheart." Anya smiled nodding back towards the darkness, "Go... go live the life you're meant to be living. You have so much left to do, My Little Love. You deserve to be happy. Go!"

"Mama..." Irina cried hating to say goodbye and Anya lunged the short distance for her, holding tightly.

"I love you to the moon and back, more than the stars in the Heavens and grains of sand on earth..." She spoke quietly into Irina's ear just as she always had to her as a child.

"Forever and always." Irina sobbed with a smile.

"Forever and always." Anya pulled back with a matching smile and a nod. "I'm always with you."

"I love you, Mama." Irina cried again.

"I love you, Irina." Anya kissed her and hugged her once more. "Now go! Hurry! They're all waiting for you." She smiled and took a step back.

Irina started walking back towards the darkness again and waved to her mother with a cry as Anya waved back.

"Clear!" Weiss tried again, a fine sheen of sweat on all their brows from their efforts. They all gasped when the monitor beside them registered the first heartbeat and then the next and the next.

"Oh thank God," Jack cried folding himself over her and kissing her face repeatedly in relief while everyone else cried around them feeling the same. Vaughn held Sydney while she cried and Julian lunged for Weiss, holding him tightly in thanks for his efforts to save Irina and the both crying in relief they had all managed to bring her back working together."

"You have to keep bagging her." Jack cried wiping at his tears noticing Irina still wasn't breathing on her own and held her hand gently. "Hang on, My Love. Please hang on." He leaned forward kissing her head once more while Julian resumed bagging her and Vaughn continued to squeeze fluids into her via the IV.

When the plane descended into Moscow, Jack had Irina cradled in his arm, wrapped in blankets with Julian holding her IV beside him. Vaughn carrying Sydney followed him out to meet the waiting ambulance.

Irina was Critical, so she would be rushed immediately to the hospital in the air ambulance and Sydney would go by ground.

A gurney was wheeled out of the waiting helicopter and met Jack as Julian helped him put Irina down, the doctor who met them was more then surprised to see them again as he had been the one to take Lena. He looked from Jack down the unconscious woman and gasped.

"The Empress…" His eyes went wide realizing that he was Life-Flighting the Tsar of Imperial Russia to the hospital, her life hanging in the balance, and he'd been tasked to keep her alive until then.

"She crashed on the way here and was down for twenty-five minutes before we got her heart started again." Jack relayed to him the facts as quickly as possible, "Her glucose is over 800."

The doctor nodded with wide eyes, "I'm sorry, sir-" He began.

"I know. I can't go with her." Jack finished for him over the loud hum of the helicopter blades, holding Irina's hand in his own and then dropping a quick kiss to her lips and within seconds she was loaded. The helicopter lifting into the air, as Sydney was loaded and they took off for the hospital, sirens blaring loudly.

"They're bringing her in now!" Vladimir burst through the NICU door and informed Katya, having only learned only moments ago they'd landed. Katya jumped for the rocking chair she had occupied and she looked quickly to Sophia who had followed the Russian President in.

"Don't worry, Mama. I'll stay with her." Sophia smiled softly, nodding, seeing her distraught mother and then looking to the comatose baby in the incubator.

"Thank you." Katya breezed by her, kissing her head quickly and dropped in line quickly behind Vladimir, Mikhail and Bella as they headed for the emergency room. "What kind of condition is she in?" Katya asked nervously as they all rode the elevator down together, looking at Putin. "And what about Sydney?"

"I don't know. They didn't say anything about their conditions, only that Irina was arriving by air, and Sydney by land." He said quiet as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Walking briskly down the hall the heard the incoming helicopter and they watched as it landed just outside the doors. Katya grasped Vladimir's hand tightly as Mikhail did of Bella, all waiting on bated breath, as Irina was unloaded from the ambulance.

"My God…" Katya's eyes instantly flooding with tears, she sobbed when she saw her sister beneath the deep bruises and wrapped in the white sheets as a flight nurse continued to squeeze an air bag over Irina's mouth, giving her oxygen. "Rina!" She called out stepping forward quickly trying to get to her sister but was held back by Vladimir as the doctors and nurses flew into action surrounding Irina. "I don't understand! What's going on? What's happening to her?" She demanded through her panic and tears, looking around at the doctors for answers when Irina disappeared behind the heavy doors and she could only watch through the tiny windows as they began working on Irina.

"The Empress went into Cardiac Arrest on the flight here and has now slipped into a coma." The flight doctor informed them, softly, his part in helping Irina, over now as he passed on her care to the hospital physicians. "I'm sorry, that's all I can tell you right now. The doctors will be able to inform you better when they've stabilized her."

Katya's knees went weak and she sat heavily in the chair outside the emergency room doors, tears cascading down her cheeks, realizing they had found Irina and Sydney, but possibly not in time now that her sister's life was hanging in the balance yet again. "What about Sydney? My niece." Her eyes suddenly looked up to his, asking about her niece.

"She should be arriving by ambulance any minute." He gave her a weak smile, "Her injuries are Serious but non-life-threatening." He tried to reassure them.

"Thank God." Mikhail sighed in relief and then quickly explained to Bella who was still learning Russian, what was going on.

"What in the hell?" Jack's eyes narrowed as they pulled into the Emergency Entrance of the hospital and found crowds of Russians gathered in the streets, bundled tightly and holding small candles that illuminated the night.

A mass of paparazzi had all huddled together with cameras waiting. He didn't have time to contemplate the 'whys' as he jumped out of the moving vehicle before it was even fully stopped and raced toward the ambulance unloading Sydney; Vaughn by her side. They burst into the doors and found the small group already teary-eyed and gathered waiting in the newly renovated, state-of-the-art hospital, thanks to Irina and her funneling of mafia money back into Russia.

"Sydney! Thank God!" Bella rushed forth and gave her future daughter-in-law a slight hug, not to hurt her, and kiss, her eyes pooling tears of relief as they wheeled Sydney into an examination room. "How are you?" She ran rampant with concern questioning Sydney in French.

"I'm fine…really. Nothing that won't heal with time." She tried to reassure her future mother-in-law as Katya quickly inspected her niece as well, seeing the horrid bandage soaked in blood and ooze on Sydney's foot, the multitude of bruises coursing her body and face.

"Oh Sydney…" Katya kisses her head and then cheeks with a soft smile, tears running over her cheeks.

"Where's Mom? What's happening with her?" Sydney grasped Katya's hand and asked quickly, seeing her father outside her room talking with a doctor with deep concern on his face.

"She's gone into a coma." Katya gulped, trying to swallow the dryness in her throat as more tears pooled. "They're trying to stabilize her." She spoke softly and carefully brushed the tears on Sydney's cheek. "I'll go see what's going on." She kissed her cheek again before stepping out of the room with Bella as the doctors began working on Sydney.

Bella stopping to hug and kiss her son, with a happy, relieved smile on her face. Vaughn returned the smile to his mother and went to sit on the stool beside Sydney's bedside.

"Jack!" Katya rushed to his side just as the doctor was leaving to go back to Irina. Mikhail, Bella, Vladimir, Weiss and Sark all were listening intently. "What is happening? What did he say about Rina?"

"She is in Ketoacidosis." Jack said softly, watching through the small windows as the nurses and doctors worked rapidly around Irina.

"Well, what the hell is that?" Katya's eyebrows narrowed with angry, frustrated tears.

"Increased blood acids." Jack turned his attention back to the group, meeting Katya's eyes. "He said that when the body becomes so starved for energy, it takes emergency measures and starts breaking down her fat and muscle and forms acids in the blood called ketones. She has too many ketones in her bloodstream." He paused briefly to look back at Irina through the window then turned back to Katya and the group, "Her blood glucose is over 800 now…it's supposed to be around 70."

"Oh God," Katya's sharp intake of breath made Jack swallow hard, both knowing that this was extremely serious.

"That's why she's fallen into a coma." He gulped again, trying to force his tears from forming at the prospect of losing Irina once again.

"How do they fix it?! How do they pull her out of this?" Katya asked the questions everyone else wanted the answers too as well. What everyone was really thinking was, 'How do 'we' fix it? How do 'we' make her better?'

"Replenishing her lost fluids and insulin through IV lines. She needs the potassium and sodium. The doctor said that as the insulin is administered, her body will start using blood sugar for energy, which will decrease the need for ketones as fuel." Jack briefly remembered having read about this condition when Irina was first faced with the prospect of being insulin dependent for life after the Execution. The doctor had given them pamphlets to read then. Now they were faced with the hard realities of it. "Gradually Irina's blood ketone levels will decrease, and her blood sugar level should return to normal over a period of hours to days. They are going to closely monitor her blood glucose and fluid levels. As things even out, she should come out of the coma. Her heart is so weakened now." He shook his head thinking about their efforts to bring her back again, "She's had so much trauma to it in the last year," He failed to blink back a tear that escaped, "They just don't know yet about what this all means for her moving forward. Right now, they are just trying to get her Stable before they can even start attending to her other wounds and injuries."

Katya sighed in relief at hearing there was at least hope that Irina would recover from this too. Though her relief was short lived realizing her sister was still in grave danger and suffering a multitude of other injuries.

"Sydney's going nuts with worry over Irina." Vaughn emerged from Sydney's room moments later with an exhausted appearance. "I have to tell her something. Can someone please tell me what's going on with Irina so I can tell her?"

"I'll tell her." Jack sighed softly, "How's Lena and who's with her?" He didn't want his baby girl left alone and quickly scanned the faces, noticing that Sophia was missing. "Sophia?"

"Yes. Sophia is with her. She's still in an induced coma. The doctors don't want to pull her out yet, she's still too weak." Katya felt a fresh waves of tears coming but offered a slight smile trying to give Jack 'some' good news in the face of all this tragedy, "But she's getting stronger everyday and her vitals have been holding stable…she's a fighter. All of Russia…the world has been praying for her."

"What?" Jack's eyes went wide with surprise and then it clicked, the somber looking Russians in the streets outside in their quiet candle lit vigil.

"Just after you left, video footage of Irina's motorcycle heroics, were released on news networks around the world caught on many tourist's home videos. The future Russian Tsar chasing down and capturing an Al-Quada terrorist is big news. So of course, everyone wanted to talk to Rina about it, and she was nowhere to be found. Then the news that Lena had been hospitalized and her injuries started to spread and we realized we had to tell them the truth. How else could we possibly explain the baby's severe injuries and Rina's absence from her side?" Katya had rattled out quickly, and then paused with a heavy sigh, drained physically and mentally. "So we told them, that Rina, Sydney and Lena, had all been kidnapped and we'd found Lena badly injured and that a Rescue Team had been sent to find Irina and Sydney. Shortly after the news was released, the people started showing up with their candle lit vigils outside the hospital, praying for Lena and for Irina and Sydney's return."

"They are holding candle lit vigils all over Russia tonight. All over the world really, from what we've seen on the news, people are praying and lighting candles for them outside every Russian Embassy." Mikhail smiled softly at how the world was coming together in their thoughts and prayers for Irina and her daughters, the entire Imperial family.

"I'm going to wait to until Irina is stabilized and we know more before I give the public an update that both she and Sydney were found and of their condition." Vladimir added softly, knowing that it needed to be done. Irina's new role in society made her health a very public concern.

So far the Russian people, the world, were being very respectful about the privacy of the matter, satisfied with the updates they were receiving from the Russian President.

Jack nodded softly in agreement and turned slowly towards his daughter's room a few feet away.

"Dad, what's going on? With Mom and with Lena? Where are they?" Sydney asked panicked as three nurses and two doctors continuously worked to clean her wounds, stitch up the ones that needed it, and the doctors worked diligently on her foot. She was suffering from dehydration and exhaustion and hooked up to an IV to replenish some of her own lost fluids.

"Sydney," Jack held onto her hand, noticing that she was still trembling uncontrollably, "They are still working on your mother. She has too many ketones, acids, in her blood which made her go into a coma… but they are working right now to reverse it. She's going to be ok." He tried to give her a hopeful smile, wanting to believe with all his heart that it was the truth he would not lose Irina. "Your mother is a fighter, we both know this and your little sister is, too."

"Where is Lena? Mom needs her right now, we need to put her on Mom's chest again, and make her wake-up like last time!" Sydney was still crying and talking rapidly overcome with worry for her mother.

"Lena's upstairs in the NICU. She's still in an induced coma but Katya said she's getting stronger everyday." He gave her a small smile, and wiped her fallen tears carefully; his heart breaking with Sydney's plea. "But we can't take her out of her incubator yet, Sydney. I wish we could. I think she is exactly what your mother needs right now, too."

"I want to see Lena right now." Sydney said resolutely, determined to see her little sister she thought dead just hours ago.

"And you will but not right now, Sweetheart. You need to rest awhile first and then I promise, I'll take you up there myself, ok?" Jack could see her stubborn streak flaring behind her eyes.

"Dad, I want to see her now. You don't understand…We thought he killed her!" Sydney started sobbing remembering the images of Cuvee's brutality against her baby sister. "He cut her fingers off..." She could barely breathe sobbing and recalling the horror she still couldn't believe was real.