Past Imperfect

yes. weekends are good.
unless you get one heck of a homework assignment.
and you're moving.
then, once you finish your homework, your mom is telling you to "get a move on with packing!"
i've seen enough moving boxes this week to last me for a lifetime. if i never see another one again, it would be too soon. :o_O:
 
Chapter 10



Vaughn slowly moved his hand, trying to reach the near-fatal injury. He could still smell the acrid smoke of the gun while looking at Sloan's laughing face. The pain was too real not to believe he was shot by the Beretta. Was it Beretta? Might it be his crazy consciousness that played him?

The pain was still slicing his chest not to believe he was shot just… how long ago? Was it what he'd thought? Arvin was still there, looking at him.

"Now you do understand?" He spoke lightly. "It will take you more than a while to recover, Mr. Vaughn."

The realization hit him, bringing dizziness mixed with the pain. He didn't die of a bullet to his heart. He just suffered close to dying and would actually rather be dead than alive in this situation, but he was not.

"What…" Vaughn tried to ask and he couldn't put the words together.

"Welcome to the club, Mr. Vaughn" Sloan smiled widely, and then nodded to one of his guards. "I believe he'll not do anything stupid."

"Wha’ you do to me?" Michael whispered.

"Oh, you'll know now what it feels to be immortal. But what is even more important, you'll not try to destroy the source, because the moment it is destroyed, we are both dead." He smiled. "You know, I've heard that you and Sydney have now two beautiful children. Wouldn't want them to lose their father."

"You son of a bitch" Vaughn rolled on the floor, but the pain didn't let him move far.

"So here's our deal for now." Sloan paused to make the next part sound even more important. "You are free to go. And once Sydney is out of my way, you'll tell her not to be too active, because you already know what happens if she does break that mechanism she's probably already aware of. But what is even more important, I'm keeping one of your children with me until I'm finished."

"Finished with what?"

"You really don't want to know that, Michael. It's beyond your understanding." Arvin crossed his arms on his chest, then watched Vaughn thoughtfully for a couple of moments and left the room, followed by the guards.

No one treated Vaughn, nor did they even cleanse the wound. He was left lying on the floor, bleeding. And if that was from a bullet to the heart, he'd thought he'd die soon. But, by this time, he knew he wouldn't – if he was to die, he'd done it earlier. The blood had covered the radius of about a meter around him, when Vaughn lost consciousness, again.

"What's our status?" asked Arvin now that he’d left Vaughn.

"We passed three more marks. Seems someone is right behind us, sir."

"Uh? How so?"

"Housekeeping, you know." The man grinned. "What brings the CIA agents together?"

"I see your point, thank you. And anything about Irina Derevko?"

"We've been informed that there are some changes in her behavior, not sure what exactly. Cathy doesn't report anything to anyone."

Arvin was glad. First of all, he managed to break into the CIA's system for Sydney's hidden address and wasn't even caught. Fools, he thought with disgust. They were aware of what he had access to when with APO, and yet, they didn't care enough to change the protocols.

Secondly, he also found out that the chief of Irina's ITC was being held in the CIA custody, which meant that the organization was left with no one to make complicated and speedy decisions. The organization was left for him, for Arvin Sloan, he thought with a happy smile on his face as he left the car.

But the best part was a newly found Rambaldi manuscript. It was a miracle when the community brought it to him this morning. It was hard to believe it was true as he was sure he had all of the manuscripts long before now. And yet, they tested the artifact and it was authentic. Computers were now working on the translation and Arvin would have it within the next 24 hours.

For the time being, he could concentrate on taking his revenge on Irina. No one was allowed to let him down, not even his ex-lover. While she was still out of the field, he could make sure she'd be helpless once back. He had a 24 hour window to take down the ITC.

Arvin smiled again.

That was a good part.

There was also something more of interest for him. A matter that Cathy brought up to him lately. Some holes were evident in that case about the death of researcher Helmut Folker who was a brilliant brain-washer. All Arvin wanted to do was lay his hand on the materials of the poor one, but instead, Cathy's people killed the guy.

She found a science paper detailing some experiment. Now, that was the interesting part. All the documents were encrypted, and Cathy's people failed to decode it. Right now, Arvin didn't even need that transcription.

He already knew what was there, and he would use it appropriately to reach his goals.



End of chapter 10
 
as much ewww it is, the good side is they end up finding everyone that's been kidnapped, right? i mean vaughn and syd and irina.
 
Ok, kitties, i'm really sorry i didn't update last weekends - i was mostly offline, and to be honest, i simply forgot:smiley: Oops, bad me:smiley:

Here's chapter next, and i will post them regularly since now:smiley: BTW, we have Easter tomorrow here in Ukraine!!!



Chapter 11



As the CIA reeled in shock with what was thought to be impossible, Sydney found herself crying in the director's office alone.

It had been weird to see Marshal's freaked face when he said there was something even more important at the moment than Syd's family. But even more shocking, was seeing her father enter the Rotunda...alive.

She thought she might have seen a ghost – if he wasn't being stared by everyone in the room in stunned shock on their faces. Jack was pale as a white wall, walking slowly and uncertainly, looking around the systems room, finally finding someone to approach, Director Marcus Dixon and Sydney.

"His access code didn't pass," a guard said to Dixon, "But the computer recognized his voice code. We had to let him in."

"It's okay," Marcus said, hanging on to Sydney who was about to fall onto the floor in a faint.

"Jack Bristow?" he finally asked as Sydney gathered strength to stand by herself.

"Dad? How's that possible?" She stared at him. "We've checked the ultrasounds and everything in that rock…"

"Jack, please, in my office," Dixon crossed the room, still holding Sydney's hand in his. He immediately turned off the surveillance cameras.

During the next half hour, Jack told an incredible story, beginning with him exploding the whole underground room into millions of stones, and finishing with the view of him and Arvin still alive. That meant that Sloan was going to be a threat, again. But this thought would occupy their minds later.

"Did you know Sloan is immortal?" Jack asked knowing the answer before Dixon or Sydney had a chance to speak. "Yeah, he is the one. Rambaldi was a genius in fact. I thought I'd keep Arvin out of the world by closing the gates of the cage, but nothing like that happened. I'm not sure, why or how, I awakened to find my body still intact and alive. I could not move, nor could I make a sound. I had a terrible feeling of spending an eternity in darkness and loneliness. "

"Wasn't Sloan there?" Dixon asked.

"That's what made my mind up while laying there and thinking for several years. I figured he was there too. I could not hear him as my hearing was temporarily damaged by the explosion. The folks who released us both made sure I'd be okay. They used to say Sloan was Rambaldi's… I don't know. They'd been searching for him for quite a long time."

"Do you remember anything about them? Who they were, or where they came from or how they found you?”

"They didn't mind me leaving. In fact, they only thanked me for saving Sloan. They all spoke of old war
that was about to be over."

"So?" Both Sydney and Dixon sighed. "It is Rambaldi again?"

"I bet Sloan had something to do with that attack on your home." Dixon looked at Syd.

"Whoa… What attack?" Bristow interrupted.

"My home was attacked several hours ago, Dad. Vaughn and our daughter were kidnapped. It seems like I'm never destined to get out of the CIA.”

"Let me do the math. We have the ITC group hunting us, whom we couldn't stop; and we also have Arvin Sloan, back and immortal with an army of Rambaldi's followers on his side. Tell me I didn't miss anything?" Asked Dixon sarcastically.

"Just the fact that we now have my father alive and the ITC girl in our cell." Sydney smiled, hugging her father.

After that, both men left the office giving Sydney time to recover. She needed it desperately. Just 24 hours ago she had a normal life, being happy with her husband and children, until Isabelle found that stupid puzzle. And everything became ruined again, bringing back nightmares from the past.



End of chapter 11
 
that's okay, we forgive you for not posting! and happy easter!!! when we had easter (in the us) my dad gave me this 'bunny band' it was four choclate bunnies and they had little instruments with them like a music band. i've only eaten one..... so far..... :smiley:
 
Looks like i don't have time to pm everyone, again... Could you do it for me?:smiley:

Chapter 12



The coffee was cold and disgusting. This morning Irina woke up with a terrible feeling that she no longer was herself. She no longer was the woman she used to be these past days, and…

Vanilla. The best thing ever to save ugly coffee is vanilla…

There was a noise outside the room; she raised her head to look at who would enter her room. No one did. The nightmare was still vivid in her mind, causing her nerves to burn and her hands to shake. She was Irina Derevko, a wanted terrorist and assassin, but somehow, she didn't feel like it.

This night, she recalled, she had a …vision? She had a little baby in her arms and it was raining. The rain was so hard that no one was outside in the street. Irina was making her way through a parking zone of some kind, when a wave of water washed her away, separating her from the child. Her child, she reminded herself, putting two more doses of vanilla sugar into the cold coffee.

Then she awakened on the dirty floor, shaking from the cold. She was still wet, but there were no cars, and no water around, just four walls of stone and gates instead of the ceiling . The rain would be a bad thing, she thought.

And then, there was that woman whom she earlier believed to be her torturer, Elena. No scorpions this time, just a blanket, the umbrella, and a cup of coffee...black coffee.

"A black coffee," Irina murmured and was immediately stunned as those words made sense. A picture of countless monitors was pictured in her mind, covering the pain of a second baby whom they took from her, too. Nadia.

Nadia? A hope born in the hopeless place in a hopeless time. In the middle of nowhere. That was such a relief to have her to hug, even though that was like 20 years later.Irina never had a chance to bring the girl up by herself. Now Nadia was dead also, killed by Sloan.

Irina sighed. There was nothing she could do now, except for what she remembered this night. She had two daughters, and right now, knew of the death of one, and disappearance of the other.

"Hello, Irina.” She heard the male voice moments before the man himself entered. She turned to face him and was caught off guard for a brief moment. It was Arvin Sloan standing in front of her, seeing her alive and looking as if at a child. "How are you?"

"Fine," She smiled, covering her face with an unemotional mask. "You are…?"

"Oh, I'm bad with introductions. My name is Arvin Sloan. We've met once before, in Cathy's apartment. You remember?" He looked concerned, but Irina was sure he didn't suspect her.

"Hardly. What are you doing here? Cathy's been away for some time."

"I know. Actually, I phoned her some time ago, and she told me to take you to her." He smiled again, even wider than the previously.

"What for? I'm not to leave the house." Irina crossed her arms over her chest, wondering if Sloan had something on his mind.

Suddenly, he was aiming a big gun directly at Irina's head, standing a few meters away. She wouldn't say if it was an automatic reaction of her own, or if she was just out of her mind, but the next moment she kicked him hard, throwing the weapon onto the floor and slamming the man's head to the table.

Sloan fought back, blocking her hands with his, and hitting her with a taser that struck her body with electricity. Irina fell to the floor, the lack of being able to work out causing her suffer even more than Arvin expected.

That was bad, she thought, before Arvin hit her with electricity again, making sure she'd not get up soon. She screamed.

"Seems like you fooled us all, Irina," he snarled. "Or maybe it's just a miracle I prayed for for so long. Now, get up, and don't do anything stupid. You're not in good shape, my dear. We have a journey to take." He helped her to her feet.

They left the room, Irina stumbling in front with the gun pointed at her spine. When they reached the car and she sat in the passenger sear and Irina asked, "What is it you want from me, Arvin?"

"Ohhh…" he smiled, feeling satisfied. "What I want is much more than what I'm about to get. Still, there is something you have and it’s what I want."

She studied him for quite a long time before speaking again. "I was out of the business for several years. I don't own anything."

"Your people do. Your army of pets caused us so many troubles these years, they used to consider themselves on duty even when you were out of your mind." He shook his head in disbelief.

"My… pets?"

"Oh, sure, don't pretend they're still invisible. I'm not the CIA to be as blind as not to notice when the ITC's moves through the area." He started the engine, speeding out of the yard. "Originally, I had a different plan, but since a miracle happened and you became yourself again, we're going to plan B. You'll contact them, and tell to them to transfer the artifact they found in Africa to the location I name."

"What makes you think I will?" Irina asked in a low voice, considering the possibility to hit his head or to break his neck right now. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure she was strong enough. She tensed her hands wishing to try , but without any sort of workout during the past years, she thought, she had became weak…

"In that case, I'll cut one finger after another off your granddaughter's hands in front of you."

…But not as weak as he thinks. With that, Irina jerked her elbow into the car’s window, smashing it into pieces. She grabbed one piece of sharp glass and struck it into Sloan's chest. He screamed with surprise as all the moves took about a second. The car went off the road, but Sloan remained seated putting on the brake. He looked directly at Irina.

She stared back, opening the door and getting out of the car, when Arvin fired the gun.

"Can you imagine I am still alive even after so disappointing attack? In fact," he waved his gun, motioning her to get back into the car. "In fact, while you were fighting over the Horizon for power, I gained it all."

After a short pause, he added:

"I'm immortal, Irina. Play on my side, and you'll become one too."



End of chapter 12
 
I really really hate Sloane :angry: And now he's immortal!
I wonder what if someone (Sydney or Irina or both) incinerate him can he resurrect again? 👅

So Irina is having all her memory back or is she just pretending all the time? :thinking:
 
Hey he's immortal...that means he can walk thru fire, atomic bombs and everything else you might think of...it's a done deal.
In Alias the only thing keeping him down and out of everyone's hair is the rock now perched on his body. He's stuck there until someone digs into the tomb and shoves the rock off.
Boodah!!!

:cool:
 
Hey he's immortal...that means he can walk thru fire, atomic bombs and everything else you might think of...it's a done deal.
In Alias the only thing keeping him down and out of everyone's hair is the rock now perched on his body. He's stuck there until someone digs into the tomb and shoves the rock off.
Boodah!!!

:cool:

o well. :mellow:
 
I can hardly imagine living after being nuclear bombed, lol, being millions of peices... Ehhh... Gotta go write smth more, i suppose...
To be honest, i don't like Arvin Sloan, but as for me, he's the only totally badass, that can be worth crating a war against:smiley: *Rambaldi is not considered here!*
 
yeah. so basically, unless we get a force stronger than rambaldi, this war is going to be pretty one-sided. (thinks for a minute) can't think of anything
 
Then, you'll have to wait until chapter 30, or at least until my beta gts back from a vacation:smiley: You see, Rambaldi ain't in fact the worst thing ever:smiley:
 
probaly the number 1 dumb question of the day, but what's a beta? a lot of ppl say that now, i noticed. and i just thought of something else: when you move up to different ranks over on the side, do you get more squares under your rank? like i said, just thought of it.
 
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