RPG SYF:

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Zharra smiled broadly and tipped an imaginary hat.[/i]

"After all...we'll always have Paris."

[i]She grinned winked. The women laughed at her highly fitting reference to Casablanca.

Zharra straightened and unzipped her gear. If they were going to gather information, there were better things to wear. Out of the girls in the group, she had been the only one that had remembered to grab her tote before they jumped. Bailey looked up, curiously.[/i]

"What if they come back?"

"Then they're dumber than we thought."

[i]Rae grinned and checked the magazine in one of her smaller handguns. She replaced it in the holster and watched Zharra take out various articles of clothing, most of which covered just enough/[/i]

"It's been my experience, that the less clothing you wear...the more information you aquire."[/COLOR]

[liamc2]

[size=1]Inside, Liam was thinking, [I]??well?that was unexpected??[/I], while the rest of him was infuriated.

He stood up next to the open door and tuned in his radio, bellowing, ?task, team, individual, you sodded cow!?

He slammed the door shut and pulled off his headset, glowering. So, now the only other people left in the chopper were the crew, Bradley, Ryan, Katarina, Malania, Matt and Karen.

One of the loadmasters eyed Liam and pointed to the pilot. Liam spun round and the pilot bellowed over the dull thrum; ?turn around and land??

Liam shook his head. ?Too dangerous. They can find their own way back if they?re so keen.?

?We?re turning around.? Matt grunted. ?That?s an order.?

Liam cracked his knuckles. ?Hell no.?

?I?ve given you free-

-don?t blame me because you?ve done jack sh-

Liam was suddenly aware of something coming very fast towards him. If he hadn?t let his instincts slip into ?standby? he might?ve done something about it. It was so unexpected?and the brick instant all over again?ten times worse.

Karen was standing, over Liam, looking furious, and shifted her grip on Matt?s MP-7 that she?d used to clout Liam in the crotch.

Bradley and the Russians burst out laughing, while the two loadmasters just winced and whistled.

Liam raised his head slowly, grimacing, and opened his mouth, but Karen cut him short.

?Just shut the hell up, I can?t believe you?re leaving Rae behind, and blaming Matt for your misdirected testosterone!?

The frown grew more pronounced on Liam?s face, but he still wasn?t ready to stand up yet. Everything just fell to pieces. It seemed to do it more and more often. He got the job done, completed his task, and then someone threw a spanner in the works.

No-where in the books of Counter-Terrorism was it written what to do when a hostage [I]wanted[/I] to put themselves in danger.

He grunted and stood slowly. ?There?s no way in hell that I am going to turn this around and rescue miss mood swing- ugh!?

?Don?t say it again.? Karen said darkly, feeling the weight of the MP-7 that she just clouted him across the face with. ?I refuse to sit by and be classed as an useless hostage. If you?re not going to let it happen, believe me, I?ll make it happen.?

?I am not going to be you human shield- ugh!?

Karen raised the MP-7 again, letting Liam suck back the air into his lungs.

?I don?t want you to be my human shield. I can do fine for myself, thank you very much.?

?Fine,? Liam coughed. ?Just fine. I don?t care. This chopper has been given higher orders anyway, the Commander has put it down for this to take you, yes, this is all for you, to safety.? He pulled his Kevlar helmet off to brush the hair out of his eyes. ?So don?t start touting crap about me not caring about what happens to Rae and about your preppie girl power, quite honestly, I [I]really[/I] don?t care.?

Liam caught the MP-7 and twisted it out of her hands, giving it to the quiet Matt.

?Lets get out of here. I?d rather spend my last three weeks in the SYF, knowing that my hostage was intact.?
[/size]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[color=darkred][b]OOC:[/b] Thought I?d take a whack at starting this up again, as it was sort of my spanner in the works which pulled it down in the first place. ^_^? Sorry, Liam. I figured since it was closer to the end of the year, you?d have some more free time, soon, too. So lets take a whack at this, mm? If the original players aren?t able to participate any more?we?ll cross that bridge when we come to it, lol. ^_^?

________

The abandoned Pizaro mansion had enough creature comforts to get by, although even Rae had to admit that it was somewhat spooky. There was something almost timeless about the surroundings, as if they had been perfectly preserved. The girls had been silent as they entered, their weapons loaded and ready to fire. There had been no enemy force, no protest or even a rustle of wildlife in the dense scrub.

Nonetheless, the girls were paranoid. They?d stayed on high alert for the entire time they?d been there, taking shifts when sleeping, never going out alone or leaving someone behind. Rae and Zharra had slipped away to make contacts constantly, though, and Rae?s information trickles had flooded to a river. Rae shouldn?t have to return for quite some time, now, as long as she maintained the contacts she had now. As Zharra had predicted, the men, at least, were overly receptive to them when they were wearing the clothes Zharra had provided. Generally, Rae tried to leave Bailey and Eve back at camp when they went out for information, although she was wary of being gone too long. Still, they were both juniors, both almost untried, and Rae didn?t trust the area enough to risk being foolhardy with the girls.

It wasn?t until Bailey accused her of turning into Liam that Rae stopped trying to protect them. The thought made her grin, and from then she allowed the girls to protect their backs when they were gathering.

However, their slightly prolonged stay ? it?d been almost a week now ? had made Rae nervous. She was the Jehane Baudez look-alike, and staying in the wreck of the Baudez mansion. Her nerves were so strained by the end of that week, she realised she couldn?t take anymore. She radioed for a helicopter; thanking the higher powers that Bailey and Eve had had enough sense to bring a communicator with them, as Rae certainly hadn?t.

With that organised, Rae ordered them to pack up and be ready to leave.

?Girls, I?m going to make a last sweep of the place before we leave. Check that everything is as it should be, you know.?

They looked at each other. ?We?ll come with you.?

Rae just laughed and shook her head. ?No one?s here. We won?t be attacked in here, I swear. I know this place like the back of my hand. You?ll only slow me down. Besides, we need to pack.? She shooed them and made her way along the corridor in the opposite direction. Guessing one of them would try to come after her, she immediately ran into one of the rooms with a secret passage, then slipped along that tunnel. She hadn?t been lying when she said she knew this place like the back of her hand. Her brief stay here; and her remarkable memory; were enough for her to know all the ins and outs of the Baudez mansion. When she entered into the open again, she was in the main hall. Once, it had been a huge room, with a window occupying the entire wall. She?d thought at the time that Baudez was foolhardy, as it was a weak point in the structure of the building, and she?d been correct. Now, the window was shattered, fragments of glass covering the carpeted floor and it had been completely exposed to the elements.

She continued on her way, making a thorough check on the mansion. It was only when she reached a corridor that seemed almost colder and more threatening than the others that she hesitated. She tried one of the doors, then the next and the third, realising they were all locked. She froze as she realised where she was, then, almost surreally, kept walking, her feet forcing her to continue to the place she [i]really[/i] didn?t want to go.

The only unlocked door in the entire corridor. She entered slowly, trying not to relive the first time she was here. No good.


[i]Liam deadpanned his face, but couldn?t help stop a nervous twitch when he saw a crucifix style rack he was going to be strapped to. It looked ugly, blood had stained the wood a murky brown and fingernail marks were obvious.

Rae stood with Pizaro, stockwhip and cat ?o nine tails in hand. Liam winced and was forced onto the rack, hands and feet manacled to metal hooks on it. Liam heard the swish and felt a fire race across his back. A gasp followed by a scream burst from his lips.

Pizaro walked around the rack to Liam?s face, gluttonous grin curling his moustache.

?So?Liam, how does it feel? Pain persuasive enough to tell us your secrets?? Pizaro paused for Liam?s nonexistent reply. ?No? Fine. Guard, give our patient here some of the solution.?

Liam tried to force his head round to see what was going to happen, but it was held fast by an iron brace.

?Sorry buddy,? a voice whispered to his ear. ?But this is sure going to leave a mark in the morning.?

There was a sound of a lid being screwed off a plastic bottle. Citric acid, Vinegar and dilute hydrochloric acid in a salt-based solution was poured over cotton balls, then applied to the fresh wounds on his back.

Rae, now Jenna laughed uproariously. ?Now remember girls, we want him to feel every whip, give time between each blow, else the first will dull the pain of the last.?

Liam?s fingers dug deep gouges into the wood, sweat formed over his face and he heard the swish of the second stroke, and felt the cat o? nine lay a lattice on his back. More swabs were laid on, Pizaro came around to Liam?s face, obviously enjoying toying with the mere mortal that he had now in his clutches.

He leant to Liam?s face. ?This is for every one of my men that you killed yesterday, all were noble men. You killed father?s, brothers, sons, and even daughters and sisters!? Colour was rising in Pizaro?s face. ?For that my friend, you will suffer. Your knowledge I do not need, but your suffering is amusing to me.? Pizaro stepped back and placed a hand on his daughter?s shoulder. Rae resisted the urge to shy away.

?Daughter.? Pizaro said. ?Thrash him until he is unconscious; continue the process in the morning until you have completely broken his spirit. Then, and only then, administer the sodium pentothal.?

Pizaro turned and left, one of the bodyguards trailing behind him. The other two stayed behind while Rae raised the stock whip and brought it crashing down on Liam?s back once more.

Liam slumped slightly on the wood, blood sweat and tears now merging to stain his own section of the wood to a dull, red rouge. His hair was now in sweaty dreadlocks and the back of his shirt was in bloody tatters. Sealed wounds from the day before began flowing again.

Rae ordered Liam to be taken off. A bodyguard looked at her quizzically,

?Miss, he is not yet unconscious??

The Jenna inside grinned and picked up the white plastic bottle. ?He will be.?

Liam managed to utter, ?*****?? Before Rae emptied the contents on his wounds. Liam shuddered uncontrollably and fell to the ground in pain, blacking out as his body shut down for repairs.

The two bodyguards nodded their respects to the Jenna they knew before dragging Liam back to his cell.

Rae cast the empty bottle to the ground and drew a revolver Pizaro had provided, peppering the opaque plastic with holes.[/i]


She took a deep, sudden breath, and turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The house was secure. There was nothing more to be found. It was time for them to return to base.

When she met up with the girls, she gave them a tight smile, assured them that nothing was wrong, and lead them up to the helicopter pad.

~~~~~

As soon as they returned to the base, Rae was berated by the Commander, and by Matt, for her foolishness. It was altogether probable that the other girls would be getting the same lecture, too. She accepted the criticism with a staunch expression, then took her leave to go to her computer and type up the information she?d gathered.

She?d just finished her file on one of the ringleaders of the sex-trade in the area when she became aware of a presence behind her. She turned to see Liam in the doorway. ?Back, are you?? He drawled. She could tell he was still angry with her.

?Yes, but I?ve already had a lecture from two superiors and I haven?t had a chance to wash yet, and you know how grumpy that makes me.? She bared her teeth in an imitation of a smile. ?So I wouldn?t get too close, if I were you.?

He paused and looked at her assessingly. ?Are they?all right??

?Of course they?re fine,? she snapped. ?The entire trip was just a routine information collection. It gave them some good experience in the field and gave me a chance to regain the contacts I?ve lost.?

?There was nothing [i]routine[/i] about it. It wasn?t sanctioned ??

?Because you [i]always[/i] wait for the okay before proceeding, don?t you??

?? it put you in danger ??

?All spies are in danger! That?s what spying [i]is[/i]!?

??And you put other members of your [i]team[/i] in danger, too. For what? To get some information and make sure your [i]contacts[/i] are still there??

?I?m an [i]intelligence officer[/i], Liam? she screamed at him. ?It?s what I [i]do[/i]. I go where people don?t, I make the contacts people won?t, and I?m good at my job. You?ve only ever worked with me when I was on my secondary talents, rather than intelligence. My primary job is not as a marksman; it?s an intelligence officer. I [i]gather intelligence[/i].?

?Yeah, because you were oh, so [i]intelligent[/i] jumping out of a plane with no backup and no way to get any if something went wrong!?

?Nothing went wrong!?

?No thanks to you.?

She paled and stormed over to him. For a second she thought she was going to slap him. So she was just as surprised as he was when her fist balled and she socked him right in the eye. ?Get out!? She yelled. ?Just go!?

And then her face crumpled and she stormed off, wiping away tears; though of guilt or frustration she wasn?t sure.

__________

[b]OOC:[/b] So...yeah. I hope no one minds me trying to ressurect this thing.. ^_^"[/color]

[liamc2]

It's good to be back.
~~

[SIZE=1]Two weeks, that?s all he had. Fourteen little days until he was out of the sodded SYF and well and truly out of the jurisdiction of a gormless handler. As he was growing older, Liam found the hypocritical nature of the SYF protocol glaringly painful.

As soon as Rae and the others returned, documents pertaining to her ?resignation? were shredded. Liam had already been assigned to be the team sniper. Bloody stupid. It was unethical to have him kill his own rogue sister, but to put him on the spot again to have his closest-only friend murdered at his hand?it was disgusting.

Everything was so much easier behind a scope. You were told whom you weren?t supposed to shoot, and the rest fell under the category of ?flesh pot.? Sniper, the origins of the term still amused him; an eighteenth century British word. It applied to the disciplined mindset needed to take on the difficult task of shooting a bird called a ?Snipe.?

Bloody Rae!

It seemed he had to always pick up after her, and she didn?t give a damn. When ever he had to mother her, the rest of the team always seemed to follow her lead. He felt like a chicken with a particularly homicidal brood.

Not for much longer. He?d be free soon.

He?d done solo work before, but that was a minority of what was required of him. He used to hope for a desk job, where he could get his own back and berate useless recruits.

That?s if there?d be any useless recruits. Word had it that the governments that be were shutting the program down. It was too expensive and, while highly effective, the SYF agents were alarming. Their psychosis was either horribly scarred from in field work, or having to live their lives as a secret, explaining scars and broken bones away as ?accidents on the farm.?

The psychologists and psychiatrists pulled the plug, solely on the cases of the original two guinea pigs. One deceased, one assassin showing trends of disloyalty.
Of course, this was all up in the air, anything could happen?

Liam rubbed his face. Rae had split the skin of his eyelid; she actually threw a real punch at him! A little to the left and she would have driven the cartilage of his nose right into his morass of a brain.

He wandered away, touching the blood seeping from his eye. The sooner she stopped being such a moody little girl, the better.
[/SIZE]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[color=darkred]She kept storming through the complex, ignoring the tears, until she got to the gym room and realised she really didn?t want to hit anything, after all. Instead, she just wanted to sit down and bawl; something she couldn?t remember doing in years. Her lower lip trembled, and she rushed past Bailey without even acknowledging her.

She was so sick of this. All of it. The tension, the not so normal family. The betrayals. The injuries. The soul-scars. And being accountable for every move she made just drained her soul so completely. That spontaneous information collection had been a good move. Why did no one else see that? She?d just been berated by her brother and one of her closest friends, as well as The Commander.

Rae had slammed into Callum before realising he was even there. The force with which they?d collided had sent her reeling, and he grabbed her shoulders to steady her. ?Hey, you all right??

She nodded automatically, but then paused and looked up, into his eyes and shook her head. He took over the role of a mother, bustling her along to his room, before sitting her down on his bed, grabbing a drink of water and sitting down next to her. She cried all over him, knowing that her eyes were probably red and puffy, that her face looked terrible when she cried, and that her harsh, racking sobs certainly weren?t at all dainty or lady-like. But at that moment, she seriously didn?t care. She felt overwhelmed and out of her depth, a feeling that had been increasing lately. She didn?t understand it, but she knew it had more to do with Liam than it did with her job ? which she was [i]good[/i] at. Liam was one of her friends, and he would stay that way, but at the same time...sometimes she didn?t think he realised how much slack he was given.

Callum had drawn her up so her legs were over his. She was half sitting in his lap already, so she wrapped her arms around him and snuggled closer, the sobs calming. His hand was stroking her hair, and she smiled slightly at the absolute normalcy of their position.

She drew away slowly, smiling up at him. He grinned down at her and let her go. ?Better now??

She nodded.

?Good, let?s get you into a shower, then. You smell rank.? She put her face in her palms, trying to hide an embarrassed smile, remembering that she hadn?t cleaned up before the confrontation with Liam. ?Come on, you can borrow some of my old clothes.? He shooed her into the shower and she wondered when the last time was that she?d been so cosseted. Deciding that she really didn?t care, Rae showered quickly, borrowing Callum?s shampoo and soap. Feeling infinitely more human, she pulled on a bathrobe, then answered Callum?s soft knock, taking his old and oh-so-comfortable-looking sweatpants and shirt.

Callum grinned when she stepped out, taking in her appearance; from the unbrushed hair to the bare feet and the blotchy face and puffy eyes. ?Mmm,? he said with a little grin. ?Sexy.?

She laughed at him. ?Want to go and find something to shoot, sugar?? Her tone was sassy and bright; a great contrast to the previous defeat that had been evident.

?Now how could I refuse I woman like that?? [/color]

[liamc2]

[SIZE=1]There was a key moment of the piece where the strings generated a sort of celestial high, an ethereal climax that astounded the senses and generated a sort of platonic sensual pleasure that appealed to the greater man inside. After this moment, the record finished. A hand gently moved the needle aside, lifting the record from the player. The room remained unnervingly quiet while the record was slid gently into its pocket. Slowly in the other side of the room, wreathed in blue smoke from a cigarette, a gentle applause began.

?Beautiful, just beautiful.? The voice muttered. ?The only existing copy in the world and beautiful opus??

The man who had removed the record bowed formally and exited the room quietly.

The smoke cloud increased as the man exhaled. There was a click as someone turned the air conditioning and the light on. The vent in the ceiling rumbled, sucking the smoke away.

Michael Prikrie stepped away from the switch panel and closer to the man sitting so comfortably in his cream leather chair.

?The explosion failed, as did my other attempt. The SYF are still able to actively pursue us.? Michael said.

?Why was I not informed of this earlier??

?My informant on the inside was only recently persuaded to divulge the information.?
?I see. What was your other attempt??

?The SYF survived and were sent on a mission to Colombia, to recover Karen. I organised a kidnapping of a certain General?s wife, and he was only too happy to use the entire US forces present in Colombia to organise an ?accident? under the premise of destroying a dangerous drug-lord.?

More smoke was sucked into the vent. ?Why did it fail??

?Because they were stupid and easily susceptible to death.?

?Has the General been eliminated??

Michael Prikrie shifted his stance, trying not to wrinkle his nose at the smoke. He was perfectly comfortable in the room, but the smoke irked him. He cleared his throat before replying.

?There was an accident in the tunnels, a rather unfortunate one. Out of a combined force of fifty men, SEALs included, only ten managed to survive. We know for certain that one swapped sides to join the SYF, owing to his old ties with the organisation.?

There was a sigh from the chair and the man occupying it placed his cigarette into the ashtray. He stood slowly, raising himself to his full height of about five foot two. The diminutive oriental man shuffled over to a low table, pouring himself an iced drink and one for Michael.

?This is a shame.? He muttered in his clear cut standard English Oxford accent. ?What of the other organisations??

?Key members that knew of us, or had a chance of finding out about us, have been killed and their family murdered.? Michael sipped his drink, calmly retelling his tale. ?All of their deaths were tactful and inconspicuous, none are the same and men have already been marked for committing the murders. Some complied for amounts of money, others were innocent.?

?Amounts of money? Michael, I am hoping that you haven?t been careless??

Michael smiled, his devious intelligence showing through his eyes. ?Certain killers for hire were promised cash to be wired to their account if they took the blame for the deaths. They complied and the houses of the marked men were robbed. The owners were killed in the struggle.? Michael chuckled. ?We wired half the amount first, and promised the other half in ten years.?

The oriental finished the last of his drink. ?What is so amusing??

?Unfortunately one or two accidents happened in the prisons. Half of the men are already dead, the other half have been marked to be put on death row. The last half are under the impression that it was part of the plan, and that it is a strong sedative in the needle, that we?ll help them escape.?
The other man smiled. ?And what of the money??

?All of the men had wills, but not to their knowledge. Upon their death, all of their money and assets are to be given to certain obscure relatives.? Michael set his glass down, pleased with himself. ?If anything, we have profited from this venture.?

?Excellent,? said the other, applauding quietly. ?This is why I hired you away. I want every one of the missions for the SYF, and other organisations interested in us, to be as messy as possible. Get as many Special Forces of other nations involved as you can, and make sure they all act independently. Then send in our assassins to make it as difficult as possible. Friendly fire will be our ally, and there will be such a large international incident that no-one will care about our actions.?

?Brilliant.? Michael said, smiling. ?I?ll start that right away sir.?

?Please don?t Michael, its just Shakespeare.?

?Yes Shakespeare.?

?Please place another of those records on, will you??

?As you wish.?
[/SIZE]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[color=darkred]Being human was a wonderful thing, Rae decided. For a while there, she?d felt less than that. It was probably just the strain of being on her guard for the week they?d been at Pizaro?s mansion. Most likely that was also the reason that she?d ended up bawling all over Callum. [/color]

[color=darkred]But now that she was back?no, she was content. A soft, satisfied smile graced her lips as she and Callum walked down the hall, and she relaxed, feeling absolutely languid. [/color]

[color=darkred]It was, of course, exactly then that Liam left the rec room and saw them together. She saw his eyes slide over Callum, then to her; in Callum?s clothes, her hair straggly and wet, the little smile on her face.[/color]

[color=darkred]He went pale, and the smile slipped off her expression. Then he just turned and walked away. [/color]

[color=darkred]There was a beat, and then Rae kept walking. When they got to the shooting range, she looked at Callum and tilted her head. ?I bet I have a better aim than you.? [/color]

[color=darkred]He smirked at her. ?You think so, eh?? When she nodded he picked up a 9mm Desert Eagle and loaded it. ?You?re on.? [/color]

[color=darkred]Thirty minutes later and they?d exhausted the ammunition supply, declaring that it was even. [/color]

[color=darkred]She and Callum parted, making no plans (who knew when the next mission would be?), and Rae made her way to the rec room. Inside were Liam and Bradley, sitting on the bench and drinking the ever-present soda. She stopped dead, hesitated, then claimed a drink from the fridge and sat at the table.[/color]

[color=darkred]They were silent for a minute, and she wondered if they?d been talking about her. With a deliberately lazy smile, she greeted them. ?How are you both?? [/color]

[color=darkred]They nodded, almost in unison. She wondered when they?d gotten so buddy-buddy, then realized that they?d had time in the last week. ?Looks like Rae got her sympathy sex,? Liam remarked in an off-hand tone that was almost a joke.[/color]

[color=darkred]Angry but determined not to show it, she sent him a deliberately sweet smile. ?Yeah, and it was [i]good[/i].? He was silent for a moment and she felt triumphant. Not letting him get the chance to reply, she turned to Bradley. ?Speaking of which, had a chance to catch up with Zharra yet??[/color]

[color=darkred]When he gave a slow smile of acknowledgement, she grinned. With a quick check of her watch, she stood up. [/color]

[color=darkred]?I?ve got a meeting with the Commander and then a training session after that. I?ll see you bozos later.? With a wink and a chuckle, she left. [/color]

[color=darkred]She might be angry, but damned if she?d show it.
[/color]

[The Unholy Newt]

[size=1][color=darkblue]Bradley downed the rest of his soda and looked over at Liam. He still looked to be stewing in his anger at Rae.

'Look man, you've got to leanr to let it go. She been your best friend for God knows how long.' He told him. Liam grunted.

'I don't need lectures from you about how to handle my anger. I've dealt with anger my whole life, I know how to.' Liam replied acidly. Bradley shrugged and stood up.

'Fine. If that's the way you want to be, I'll let you sit here and sulk like a child.' Bradley turned ad walked off down the hall to find Zharra. He went into their room. He could hear the shower going. He decided to sneak in and surprise her. He walked into the bathroom and he heard her voice singing softly. He stood and listened for a while, bemused. He then popped his head in.

'Writing a hit are we?' He asked. Zharra jumped three feet in the air, causing some . . . interesting things to move. Zharra then stood there, wet and fuming.

'Don't sneak up on me like that.' She said through gritted teeth.

'I missed you too.' He replied. He then shot her a dazzling grin that only the coldest of hearts could not forgive. She shook her head and then smiled. He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace. He kissed her wonderful smelling hair. And then he kissed her gently, savouring it.

'I missed you, truly.' She breathed. He picked her up in his broad arms and carried her into the room and laid her gently down on the bed. He lay beside her and she stroked his hair while looking deep into his startlingly blue eyes.

'I love you . . . more than I could possibly say.' He told her. She smiled and kissed him. She pulled his head close and whispered in his ear.

'And I you.'

----------------------------------------------------

An hour or so later they both set out of their room to find something to do. They decided to find Rae rather than Liam as he was probably still simmering in his own juices.

They found Rae in the gym, she waved them over.

'You might want to have a bit of a workout . . . or have you already taken care of that?' Rae asked slyly. Bradley winked.

'The Commander will brief us later on our next task, but for the moment have a play around on some of the equipment, or have spar.' She told them.

'Sounds good, I haven't practiced in a while. How bout a bit of a tussle hey Rae?' Bradley asked.[/size][/color]

[liamc2]

[SIZE=1]
There was a change in the atmosphere of the room as Liam slowly and carefully rose in his seat. It seemed as though Rae had finally grown up in a way that he hadn?t anticipated. She was one of the most mature individuals and friends he had come across, but she had never been seen in his eyes as one of those types. Obviously the blood of her enemies couldn?t feed her internal coping mechanisms any more.

More than anything Liam felt as though he was losing another friend. Rae may feel as though nothing had changed in their relationship, but it had. A creature of habit, Liam relied heavily on the steady routine of his inner circle. It was the one way that he remained sane. Twice before it had been knocked. When he lost his parents and the SYF adopted him, and when he had to murder his sister. Rae had taken Jess?s place in his sanity gyroscope, and now she was no longer there. It wasn?t a pleasant feeling to know that this time he had lost a battle that he could not possibly retrieve.

No book mentioned how to ethically retrieve a reluctant hostage without causing them emotional harm

It was how he thought. His life had become entwined with a rigid set of rules that had become his own personal code of conduct; it was how he reacted to moments in his life. The SYF had given him everything, his personality, his ethics and his ability to live.

And Lord how he hated it.

He could continue reflecting on his own sorry mess, or he could talk to Rae, but she was due for a debriefing soon, and Matt had stalked into the room looking for her. He glared at Liam, causing a derisive snort in response, before he huffed out of the room.

He could always talk to Bailey; she seemed to have kept to herself since the got back. In fact, he hadn?t seen her at all. It was probably time for a visit or something.

Liam wandered into the dormitory, easily slipping back into his comfortable swagger, as he got closer to her door. He stopped and knocked heavily on the door, only to find it swinging open at the first thump of his heavy hand.

?Bailey?? He called, stepping carefully into the room with his eyes closed, he could hear running water. ?Bailey?? He called out again, this time louder. ?Hello? I?m wandering through your room. Bailey!?

The water was louder, and Liam could feel the heat washing over his face. He shouted this time, worry cracking his voice. The bathroom door was ajar as he pushed it open. She lay on the floor, still fully dressed, with her clothes soaked and clinging to her body. Liam muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he knelt and checked her pulse. It was shallow, as was her breathing. From the amount of water in her bathroom and room, she?d been here for a while.

Bailey had her eyes firmly closed as he rolled her over onto her back, lifting her up gently to face him. Her head lolled back sickeningly.

?Come on..? He muttered, checking her pulse again. ?Don?t tell me you?ve done something stupid??

Bailey was alive, if anything it seemed she was sleeping. Liam checked for any external injuries and found none, apart from the bruises on her knees and arms as she hit the floor. It seemed as though her head must have just switched itself off.

The base doctor gave her a full physical and noted nothing out of the ordinary externally, except for the small bite at the base of her neck. A blood test revealed that there was a high neuro-toxin level in her blood, but her body was coping in dealing with it. It seemed the bite was several weeks old, and owing to the sedative effect of the saliva of the offending insect, Bailey wouldn?t have noticed a thing.
He looked at Liam and shrugged, ?she should wake up when she?s ready. We?ll put her up in the hospital room on base, we?ve got enough anti-venoms there that there should be something that can help speed up the process.?

?When will she wake up??

?When she?s ready.?

?God damn it.?[/SIZE]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=DarkOrchid][i]Rae was about to respond when she heard a sickening crack of bones and tendons. She turned and saw Zharra, twisting her head from side to side and freely rotating her arms back and forth until that pop/crack noise was heard. She raised both hands and dropped down into a basic fighting stance, only to have Zharra leap forward, right leg cocked back, left held close to her body.

A flying side kick connected solidly with Rae's forearms and was deflected. Zharra's momentum carried her up and over Rae's head, and behind her. She landed in a crouch and swooped around. Then she grinned and looked up at Rae, who was still feeling the aftershock's of Zharra's knife blade [that'd be her curved foot].[/i]

"I thought Bradley asked for the tussle...."

"Sure he did, but you can't expect a spar to go as planned. Can you?"

[i]Zharra tilted her head up at Rae and grinned happily, raising up into a neutural stance. Bradley turned and watched both of them, appearing to sink into a referee status. Rae and her faced off properly this time, both in their stances.[/i]

"I sincerely hope you forgive me for that surprise attack Rae."

"No harm done. Yet."

[i]The two flashed hellish smiles at one another, then Bradley gave the word, and it was on.[/i][/COLOR]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[size=1][font=Verdana]Actually, it was on for barely a second or two, before Rae stepped back and gave a little grin. ?I don?t actually have time to spar right now.? It was true. Rae had just stopped in the training room to calm down before her debriefing, and chances were, she was already late. She?d been just about to turn Bradley down when Zharra had attacked, and, though she?d relish the chance to beat a rookie any day, she did not have time.[/font][/size]
[size=1][/size]

[size=1][font=Verdana]Zharra looked mightily put out, so Rae laughed and patted her on the back, stepping off the slightly padded sparring mats. ?Sorry, but Matt?ll have my arse if I?m any later than I already am.? And, with a grin and a wave, she left.

---

[size=1][font=Verdana]The commander?s office was rarely the place for a meeting. It was high security, totally off limits unless, like Rae, you had been sent for. [/font][/size]
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[size=1][font=Verdana]She nodded. She?d heard of such organisations, of course; they were the elite, and no one in SYF had yet been involved with them. [/font][/size]
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[/size][/font]

[font=Times New Roman][font=Verdana][size=1]OOC: Just to let you guys know, the fact that no one from the SYF had been involved with these agencies is important. ^.~ [/size][/font][/font]

[liamc2]

[Size=1]Liam wandered aimlessly through the complex, amusing himself with the empty thoughts of shattered recollection. No one had seemed to have given him any orders as yet. He had changed clothes, but that was about it. He had been home almost a week before he had realised that he was still in uniform. It was the first time that he had been left looking stupid because he was so used to accepting such simple orders. He was practically programmed to accept everything, and now he was being given nothing, he had to function by himself. It was all very good and well during a mission, when he had a cause, but when he was unstable, he would most probably starve to death unless he noticed others eating. His own hunger was non-existent, it had gone unheeded so many times, that it simply did not return. He was just an automaton with optional extras.

The leaders were avoiding him, Bradley was in an older woman?s pants, Bailey was near death, the Russians were off doing Russian things presumably, and Rae was basically ticking him off.

Also he had wandered in a complete circle. He could hear someone coming down the tunnel at a speed, and Rae burst past him without even stopping. Liam stopped, watched her continue to run, sized up the shot, and tossed a can at the back of her head. It would have worked nicely if the corridors were just a bit longer. She was going somewhere in a hurry, but he honestly didn?t care. He was in such a state that he had removed his side arms and put them away, to avoid doing something stupid.

The significance of the situation would have phenomenal, if he just gave a damn.

?Liam!?

He turned at the shout, surprised that Eve was directly speaking to him, with a raised voice. He still didn?t believe that the girl was hard enough to raise her voice above a whisper, and this new evidence wouldn?t convince him otherwise. Something about her body language just screamed ?fragile,? and her lack of social interaction around him was niggling at his pride.

?Yes?? He replied, deferring from his usual casual cry of ?What!?

Eve looked directly in his eyes, a steeled expression with her jaw slightly clenched. She obviously wasn?t speaking with him on her own behalf. From the looks of things, she didn?t want to be in a mile radius of him.

?You are required to be debriefed. The Commander has mentioned that there are extenuating circumstances that require your attention.? She calmly delivered her statement, magnificently forcing her voice to not betray any signs of faltering.

?It?s about bloody time.? Liam replied. ?Thankyou.? He added, as an after thought.

As he passed, he casually placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, and continued walking. At his touch, he could feel her skin move, as though desperately trying to avoid his poison touch. He continued walking until out of her sight, and then rubbed his hand, thumbing the shallow cut where a knife blade had been quickly drawn and retracted at the same time.

If Eve hadn?t controlled herself, he would be missing the bottom half of his hand.


The blood oozed slowly out of the shallow cut, and Liam dabbed gingerly at it while the Commander eyed him beadily. He said nothing and merely leant forward on his seat, placing his hands carefully on the table.

?Liam.? He said strongly, ?I have ordered you here for your account of Bailey?s condition.?

Liam finished playing with his wound and carefully and deliberately enunciated each word that came out of his mouth. He had been in situations enough like this to know when there was a microphone listening. He finished his tale and sucked the back of his hand.

Why was it that the smallest cuts always hurt the most?

?Intriguing,? muttered the Commander. ?Almost as intriguing as the apparent disappearance of Katarina and Malania. The appeared to have simply vanished, and Russia has simply denied any knowledge of this and has refused to give any explanation for their actions. We can only assume that they have deserted and are happily residing elsewhere.?

Liam stopped sucking. ?As happy as you can be with elite Skorpian soldiers tracking every move??

The Commander cleared his throat. ?Enough of that.? He stated simply.

Liam clued enough to realise that it was quite possible that the so-called ?Russians? were quite happily listening to their conversation in the other room.

?We have a simple side assignment for you.? The Commander continued. ?We are requesting that you keep a closer eye on Agent Rae. In light of her recent?insubordination? it is of upmost importance that you monitor her behaviour.?

?Ah-huh.?

The Commander raised an eyebrow, but did not let on any indication that the order was a façade to allow Rae easier access to him.

Liam finished sucking his hand. ?Well sorry for the insubordination, but Rae is being a hormonal bitch right now, and I?d rather be as far away as possible. She only broke away because she did not appreciate my position in command.?

The Commander?s expression did not alter. ?What is it you request then?? He asked.

?Simply that Rae and I be separated.?

?Denied.?

?Damn you?re a mean old bastard.?

The Commander showed a grim smile.

?How else did you expect me to get this job??
[/Size]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Linette eyed the teen sitting in the chair in front of her desk. Rae?s black hair was only slightly out of place, but her eyes were troubled and she was tapping the armrest of the chair. A bad sign for someone who knew how and had been trained specifically to be able to eradicate any telling body language.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]?You?re out of control.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]The statement snapped Rae out of her thoughts. ?I am not,? she said indignantly.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Linette simply raised an eyebrow. ?Tell me. If we brought, say, [i]Ryan[/i], into this room, how would he react upon seeing you?? Rae fell silent; Ryan was specifically trained in Body Language. He?d know in an instant that her emotions were spiraling; not yet out of control, but certainly far more wild than anyone was used to. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She sighed. ?Perhaps a little.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Need I ask why??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae didn?t bother to reply to that statement. Instead, she changed the subject. ?Bailey?s in a coma. She was bitten by an insect. Her body?s dealing with it, slowly, but she?ll be out of action for a while. And when she wakes up, we aren?t sure how well she?ll be, either.? Rae shrugged slightly. ?She?s my roommate.? Rae shrugged. ?I should have known. Almost nothing on this last mission went right.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]"Tell me about that.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]With a little smirk at the utter cliché of that statement, Rae acquiesced and started to talk about it. ?It started off all right, although our guide was scared shitless of Liam, which wasn?t helpful. Then, when we were supposed to be in clear ground and had stopped for a break we were attacked by mercenaries.? Rae paused, deciding to leave out the bit about Jenna. After all, Linette might be her counsellor, but she wasn?t cleared to know about specifics of past missions. ?Let?s just say that a mission came back to bite me,? said Rae. ?Hard.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Really?? Linette asked with some interest.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Yeah,? Rae shrugged. ?It was a bad mission. Very personal. Family betrayals and all that. The only reason I got through it was because of Liam, you know?? Unconsciously, Rae felt a twinge at the satisfaction on Linette?s face. She didn?t like Linette passing judgment on Liam as she did so often. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?And how has working with Liam been going??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She was hesitant to reply. ?Okay.? She didn?t particularly want to talk about it. Rae checked her watch quickly, then stood up and exclaimed, ?I have to go! I?ve got an appointment!? She bounded out of the room quickly, then stopped outside the door. There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She?d just realized that Liam had, in fact, known her longer that her current family. For that matter, so had Ryan. But it was Liam she?d treated badly.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Her pride wouldn?t let her apologise, but?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She smiled. After all, she was currently a babysitter by profession. Surely she could find [i]something [/i]to tempt him out of his anger with her.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]And apart from that, Linette was right. She [i]had[/i] been out of control; or dangerously close, as least. Obviously, Liam had picked that up.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]From now on, she?d remain in control, no matter what the situation.[/size][/font]

[liamc2]

[size=1]Liam left the office with a keen impression that there was some serious double speak happening, but was unable to interpret it. He didn?t want to entrench himself back into all of the intrigue and plotting that the SYF thrived on. It was like high school popularity, except that people lost lives, instead of friends.

Liam felt a pang of embarrassment as the cliché ate away as his internal monologue?s integrity.

To amuse himself, he flicked out the telescopic baton that the Commander had supplied him. There was a cost, however. He had to hand over all of his fire-arms, bar one Eagle. If he had refused, they would have stripped him of all his weapons anyway, and left him with nothing.

The baton was Sipo?s latest in the Steel Whip range, and was a marvel of compact technology. It was an easily concealable twelve centimetres, and with a flick of a wrist, extended to 40cm. Plenty of blunt metal to break some bones.

Liam collapsed the whip and put it back in his sleeve. Despite himself, he was really enjoying the new gadget.

Inside his head, the little voice was gleefully crying, ?whip goes in, whip goes out.?

Had Liam been paying attention, he would have noticed two men walking past him very quickly, one carrying a Samsonite case of the same dimensions that his MS1 originally came in. He might have also noticed the ?Metal Storm? insignias on both the men?s VIP passes.

Liam wasn?t one for detail when he had a new toy.

Owing to the rabbit warren of corridors, Liam had succeeded in losing himself for a full fifteen minutes before the sounds of an active spar attracted his attention. He wandered into the room to find Zharra and Bradley locked together in intimate conflict, causing Liam to cough politely.

Bradley released Zharra from a headlock, and she stopped elbowing him in the stomach. They both turned to face him, and smiled widely. Bradley gave a slight nod, and leapt towards Liam like a nimble gorilla.

Liam sidestepped and the Sipo appeared in his hand. Bradley was moving to quickly to react, and Liam brought the whip around, cracking him right in his side. Bradley swore loudly as one of his ribs broke and he tumbled to the ground.

Liam grinned. ?Nice huh??

Bradley muttered a string of profanities and rolled around on the floor, clutching his side. It felt as though someone had hit him with an iron bar, and had then shot the bruise with a rubber bullet up close.

Zharra tackled Liam and sat on his back, pressing his face to the floor.

?Say goodnight?? she said angrily, lifting his head by his hair.

Just as she was about to smash his face and break his nose, Rae came bounding into the room, shouting excitedly.

?Guys! You won?t believe this! I was just commissioned a- what are you doing??

Zharra grinned at her. ?Breaking his nose. He did break Bradley?s ribs, after all.? She nodded at the still moaning Bradley.

?I wouldn?t.? Rae stated simply.

Zharra noticed the tone and stood up, pausing to kick Liam in the side, before helping Bradley up. Liam gasped and stood up shakily.

?What?? He muttered. ?I was just giving him a?detailed explanation of my new toy..' Liam then realised what Rae had in her hot little hands. 'What the hell are you doing with my MS1??

Rae feigned innocence and looked at the weapon she held. There were hints of barely contained delight as she took in the steel insignia and the matt steel barrel finish. Her thumb [I]just[/I] reached the thumbprint scanner.

?Yours?? She said with mock surprise. ?I?m sorry, but I do believe it?s mine now. And I?ll prove it.?

Rae activated the scanner and squeezed hard on the trigger, five holes appeared in the wall before the first shot was heard. Rae went on to empty both clips into the wall within five seconds. The gun whined as it cooled down, and Rae whistled as the eyed the massive hole in the concrete wall.

?Damn!? She said in surprise. ?No wonder you?re so high when you use this, the rush is huge!?

Liam could have been knocked over with a feather. He was lost for words. The MS1 was no longer his, it had become communal, a [I]girl[/I] had used it. Rae must have deliberately done this to get back at him. Of all the things to do?

Suddenly the Sipo lost its lustre.

Rae grinned and said, ?what? Oh by the way, Matt said the wedding is planned for next month, isn?t that exciting??

Liam flicked out the whip and whirled on the spot, jumping slightly as he put his full weight behind the force of the blow, and brought it down on the metal press bench. It collapsed, screeching magnificently.

Rae raised an eyebrow at Liam, ?what?s the matter with you??

?You are such a cow Rae.?
[/size]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[size=1][font=Verdana][size=2][font=Verdana][size=1]Rae looked flabbergasted. The sheer arrogancy of his statement, his disgusted expression, it was as though he was six and someone had knocked over his milk.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[size=2][font=Verdana][size=1]'Hey, just because I'm getting some.' Rae replied, smirking as Liam looked shocked and tried to remain angry.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[size=2][font=Verdana][size=1]'You have no idea, do you?' Liam shook his head in disbelief. 'The years I put into earning that weapon, the time I spent helping to modify it to peak performance, hell, I even made the harness!' He pointed angrily at the Gore-Tex esque velcro harness she wore. 'Both the harness and MP10 double ammunition design where my ideas! They were adopted across the board and...and...' [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"And now, it's mine, too." [/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]Liam just shook his head. 'You don't understand, why do I bother? Just get out of my way.'[/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]He pushed past her and stormed out. Rae called out to him just before he slammed the door. "Have fun with your whip, Liam." She turned her attention to the MS1 and stood there for a minute, admiring it. Bradley was still grimacing with pain, and Zharra helped him out, obviously intent on getting him to the hospital wing. [/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]She stood for a few seconds more before remembering that she was babysitting Liam. With a groan of frustration, knowing he'd have left by now, she jogged to her rooms and put the MS1 away and pulled out a small, hand-held device.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae knew she'd have to follow Liam, but she really didn't feel like doing so alone. Surely Eve or Ryan would be loitering around somewhere. Luck was with her; both Ryan and Eve were loitering around...outside her door. [/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]They gave her a little grin. "We heard you and Liam had a fight, wanted to come see the fireworks." Ryan said with the tone of someone who was almost used to these disputes.[/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae narrowed her eyes. "Who'd you hear that from?"[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"Zharra was bellowing it out. Those with bets have gone wild," smirked Eve.[/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]She glared at them both. "What are you doing now?"[/size][/font]
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[font=Verdana][size=1]Silence.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"Want to come with me? I need to track Liam..." they looked at each other with knowing smiles, and Rae huffed and explained. "Commander's orders." [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]And, as she stormed off, the tracking device in her hand, she heard Ryan mutter to Eve, "But the Commander bet on Liam, didn't he?"[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]She checked her moniter. She'd been given this at the same time she'd been given the MS1. The tracking device had been implanted on Liam's new weapon. When she saw the direction she'd taken, she knew exactly where he was heading; his old flat.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]When she got there, however, she was sure she must be mistaken. It was no longer a block of flats, it was...[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"Noodle Hut?" [/size][/font]
[/size][/size][/size][/font][/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=MediumTurquoise][i]Zharra cooly shoved aside all aids, LPNs, and nurses attempting to get at Bradley. Instead, she laid him out on the nearest available and free hospital bed. Once there she opened the cupboard and took out a roll of bandages. Then she removed his shirt and ran a hand down his chest. He squirmed slightly when she found the broken rib. She noted it with one eye, then placed her fingers over it and began wrapping carefully.

He winced as she tightened them up, then closed them expertly. He sat up and focused on breathing slowly. She handed him a painkiller and a glass of water.[/i]

"Drink up."

"What is it with Liam?"

"He's ......derranged. He's juvenille. I keep forgetting how much older I am compared to the rest of the team."

"What did Rae say?"

"She's too unfocused to say much of consequence besides telling me to not kill Liam. Believe me, I would've broken his nose, his nutsack, and his neck."

[i]She clawed her fingers and relished the sound of cracking knuckles. He watched her face change from peaceful to anger. A flicker of rage, and then she was back to being calm again. He blinked. She was like that. Zharra happy, Zharra mad. Just like that.[/i][/COLOR]

[liamc2]

[size="1"]Liam waved his hand at something on the menu that seemed to be edible. At least it didn’t have baby squid in it. He was sitting comfortably on a futuristic bar stool at the stainless steel counter. The room was practically packed, which was surprising for Liam, he never thought noodles could be that popular.

His order came in a small cardboard box, bright red and with a smiling toothless old man on the front in traditional costume. This lurid display did nothing for the contents, but it was a nice touch and a welcome change to the golden arches.

He snapped the chopsticks and expertly fed them into his mouth. For the year or so he had lived in Singapore, he had mastered the microwave and the egg noodles.

‘Ich kannte es! Sie sind das von der Fotographie!’ An excited girl grinned at him as Liam turned slowly around on his stool.

I knew it! You are the one from the photograph!

‘Nein sprechen die deutsche, uh…uhm..du sprechen English?’ Liam lied expertly.

The girl looked confused and sat in the empty stool next to him, saying, ‘what? But the photo blurb said you were a student from Austria…’

Liam was honestly puzzled. ‘Photograph…?’

The girl grinned, bouncing up and down in her chair, somehow glad in his ignorance. She reached over the counter and rifled through the newspapers and magazines that the Noodle Hut had provided for their customers. Liam couldn’t help but notice that the vast majority depicted photos of him and his team.

‘Here we go!’ She said excitedly. ‘It’s an old issue, but it’s the only one in English. See here?’ She pointed at the blurb underneath the photograph. ‘It says you’re students from Austria. But it’s obvious to me now that it’s a typo. Australia, right? I thought ’

Liam was puzzled, if anything his accent hinted Spanish, but he ignored it. She may have just been very clever and drawn the conclusion herself, very quickly.

‘Yeah…’ He said slowly. ‘We just drove past and everything went nuts..’

‘I know!’ She bubbled again. ‘I read it in the paper. I’m a student myself, I’m half German and half English. My parents sent me here to complete my business degree.’ She smiled again and put out her hand. ‘I’m Natasha, by the way.’

Liam smiled back, ‘pleasure to meet you Natasha.’

Inside his head, the SYF agent calculated while scrutinising her appearance. She wore a tight fitting V-neck shirt, complete with bikini top, typical of the other European students that wandered the streets of Singapore. To complete the look she had a sarong tied around her waist and a pair of leather sandals. The agent inside was suspicious, but then again, he always was.

‘So tell me,’ Natasha continued, shifting herself forward on her seat, ‘what was running through your head when you got out of that van?’

Liam took a drink of water and looked her up and down, ‘do you really want to know?’

Natasha grinned and folded her hands in her lap. ‘Of course!’

Liam sighed. ‘I was honestly terrified. I could smell the smoke and thought the van was going to explode, I thought we had run someone over, I thought the van had exploded. I didn’t know what was going on.’

Natasha just watched him, nodding silently, indicating for him to go on.

‘I looked around and saw…well…saw the carnage. I thought of the people that had been in there…I could see some of the people that had been in there…’ Honest pain and frustration broke his voice and caused him to put his head in his hands. He remained silent with his eyes closed, ignoring the feelings that seemed to just spill out from between the gaps.
Natasha leant forward and placed a hand on his back, looking worried.

‘Liam? Liam, are you going to be okay?’

Liam didn’t reply, he just sat still, quietly quashing his fear.

Natasha stood and embraced him from behind, whispering hush into his ears while he leant on the counter.

‘It’s going to be okay. It’s over now…’ She hugged him tighter and smiled to herself, resting her head on him.

Liam was another world away by then, but gratitude flooded through him, so comforted was he by this show of love and support. He breathed deeply, exhaling through his nose, slowly regaining his control.
[/size]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae, Ryan and Eve had found a convenient coffee shop across the road from the "Noodle Hut". They'd ordered three coffees, hers an Affogato. Rae had a sweet tooth a mile long -- although she, at least, was not addicted to tooth-rotting fizzy drinks. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Thankful that the car she'd used had the stuff she needed, Rae and Ryan set to work setting up the laser. The laser was a complex communications set up that detected the vibrations. The system was operated by transmitting an IR beam to the window of the target room -- in this case, Noodle Hut. The window pane would vibrate slightly according to the sounds waves caused by speech. Then, it was sent back (according to the law of optics), and recorded. When the laser had first been used, there had been problems with the bulkiness of the receiver and the transmitter; they'd been too detectable. Then, too, was the problem of many people speaking in the one room.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]However, since then, the technology had been advance; the transmitter and the receiver were now built into cameras, and a filter had been included, in order to target the correct conversation.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]All of which combined to make Rae's life easy.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]The waiter returned with their coffee, glancing at the laser dubiously. Eve had gotten out another camera, and was starting to take snaps of Liam in the restaurant across the street. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Thinking quickly, Rae smiled at the waiter. "One of the patrons in there is a minor Swiss film star. He'd been rumoured to have gone to Spain for an extended vacation, and these pictures are going to bag us a fortune for the scoop.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"We're journalists," she added unnecessarily, flashing him a 'press pass'. The waiter nodded and set down the coffees on the table. Rae thanked him again then dismissed him from her mind. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]They'd been set up in time to see the girl -- they hadn't registered their name, yet -- hug Liam. Or, more like, clasp Liam to her heaving bosom. Rae looked at the scene as if Liam had suddenly gone demented. Then she turned to the others. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"Was I the only one really [i]not[/i] expecting that?" [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Eyes wide, they shook their heads. Rae glowered and turned up the volume on the speakers, allowing them to hear the conversation as well as record it. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Liam straightened up and looked at the girl. They saw his mouth moving, but there was a lag. Rae rolled her eyes in annoyance and waited... "Sorry, Natasha. It's been a really hard time." Natasha replied with words of comfort, and Rae glared.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]She was assessing the girl quickly, looking from the cute face to the well-taken-care-of hair, to the halter neck and sarong. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Eve and Ryan watched Rae with a little amusement, and then Eve cut in. She'd seen the judgement in Rae's face, and decided she had to do something to try to sway Rae's opinion, especially if Liam saw the girl again.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]"Well," Eve interjected, groping for something nice about the girl. She couldn't compliment her appearance, since it seemed to annoy Rae, and the comfort that Natasha had been quick to give Liam was probably only bringing her lower in Rae's mind. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Still, she tried. "She seems very nice."[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"Yeah, a little [i]too[/i] nice, if you ask me," replied Rae, taking a picture of the two. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"She dresses well. Look at that sarong. It's gorgeous." [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"You're right, we shouldn't forget to pay attention to what she's wearing." Rae took a picture of the sarong, then of the shoes and the shirt. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Eve stared incredulously for a second, and then said with a bit of desperation, "Well, Natasha is a very nice name!" [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]"Yeah," agreed Rae, "because Skanky McSkankpants would have been too obvious, wouldn't it?" [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]She took out the money to pay for the coffee and slammed it down, then stalked to the bathroom.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Ryan and Eve stared at each other for a moment and then smiled. "I think I might change my bet," said Eve with a snigger.[/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae walked back from the bathroom a lot more sedately than when she entered it. She sat down and sent a tight smile at the other two, sipping her Affogato, and started to engage them in conversation, letting the technology do its work. [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]The waiter returned, looking nervous. "I'm not sure you should be doing this. We don't need to have a legal battle on our hands. I don't want anything illegal going on." [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae rolled her eyes but turned to the waiter with a smile. "Nothing we're doing here is illegal. They are in a public place; if they didn't want to be recorded, they wouldn't be. If it were private, it would be illegal to perform surveillance in colour -- all our pictures would have to be black and white. However, they aren't [i]in[/i] private. This star knows that he should be careful in public, and he isn't." [/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1][/size][/font]
[font=Verdana][size=1]She took a sip of her drink. "Now, may I please have another Affogato?" She asked with an implacable smile. [/size][/font]

[liamc2]

[size="1"]Liam sighed and sat up again. It had occurred to him that his behaviour, while appropriate for his condition, it was not normal for a busy Noodle Hut. He looked up and sat back in his chair, slightly surprised to find Natasha still holding him, with her hands placed delicately on his stomach. Not quite sure what to do, he took another drink and half-heartedly attacked his noodles again.

?You?ve been through a lot.? She said, placing her hands on his back. ?You know, the surprising thing is, you?re so much more normal than I expected. I mean, you look at those people in the photos, and you can never believe that the ?just did what they thought was right.? For some reason, I can believe that coming from you.?

Liam said nothing. The agent inside was comforted with the thought that she believed him to be normal; but he was still perturbed by her forwardness.

?Liam, are you okay?? Natasha sounded worried. ?You just haven?t said anything, that?s all??

Liam blinked and sat up slightly again. ?Sorry, I just got lost in thought. How about I shut up for a change and let you do the talking??

Natasha laughed. ?I never know what to say when it comes to myself. I?m doing business at the international university here, and that?s about it. I live just up the street in that new apartment building, along with a room mate, who always seems to be going out at all hours with different guys every other week.? Natasha smiled. ?Honestly, I don?t think she?ll ever find the right guy.?

Liam chuckled. ?I honestly couldn?t be bothered with that nonsense right now. Y?see there was this one girl that I was really interested in, we were close friends, which is always a good start, but I think we were too close. Now we?re fighting and I actually came down here to clear my head.?

?Oh? What were you fighting about??

?She thinks I?m too selfish. She?s angry with me because of my family and what they?ve given me. I came here just under three years ago to study business information technology, a three-year course that would have me earning six figures, but I haven?t made any progress at all. I just don?t apply myself. She does the same course and has now got herself a guaranteed placement, which I?m really proud of her for?but she just used it to slap me in the face.? Liam sighed. ?Honestly, just because I?m not as certain with my life as she is??

?What have you been doing if you?re not applying yourself??

Liam grinned mirthlessly. ?Nothing. Just frittering away my life, not to mention my uncle?s time and money. He keeps asking me to do this and that, and I barely scrape through. I graduate in less than two weeks, and I?ll barely get the degree to do anything.? Liam cleared his throat, coughing slightly before continuing, ?-and she?s got a whole future ahead of her. I?ll be lucky if anything I?ve done in my life is recognised, let alone what I?ve done in my course.?

Natasha nodded mutely, it was something she?d heard a lot from other students before they graduated. Early-life crises, the works.

?No wonder you feel rejected. Was she in the van too??

?Yeah. She took it harder than I did. I tend to keep things inside, wake up the next morning and everything is all right, y?know??

Natasha frowned. ?That?s not good, you shouldn?t do that. You need to talk about things.?

Liam chuckled again. ?Hell, I used to, but she?s too busy now. Honestly, I reckon she?s the only friend I?ve got. I lost my mother, my father and my sister, all I have left is a rather stuffy uncle. She used to be close, but she?s beyond my reach now. I feel as though I?ve got nothing left to live for when I graduate..?

Natasha was shocked, and her short sharp breath indicated it to Liam.

?You lost your parents and your sister? And you where there when those buildings collapsed? And you don?t know what to do? What the hell is so important for her that she can?t accommodate for you??

Liam laughed bitterly. ?She wouldn?t compensate for me even if I became a paraplegic.?

?That?s awful.?

'I'm just sick of being hard and sarcastic right back at her. I can't keep it up any more, it just hurts too much. I can't keep on brushing my feelings aside. But she just doesn't give a damn right now, and I guess I just don't care.'

Natasha, finding nothing else appropriate to say, began to slowly rub up and down his back. She took her hands away when she felt the mess of scar tissue.

?Mein Lord! Was die Hölle!? Natasha touched his back again, slowly feeling the unnatural crenulations and hard tissue. ?What happened here?? She exclaimed.

Liam didn?t look up. ?Just lift the shirt.?

Natasha did so and swore loudly in German, causing a few inquisitive heads to turn.

?But?but?how did this happen??

?Most of it was when I was about fourteen, it was a car accident. I lost both my parents. The rest of it was when I lost my sister. You could say that my family isn?t lucky when it comes to vehicular transport.?

?You poor thing!? Natasha muttered, lowering his shirt. ?What kind of cold hearted bitch would treat you like this??

Liam laughed. ?I?m sure she wouldn?t appreciate you saying that. I?m sure it?s all my fault. It always is. I mean this time it?s obvious it is.? Liam shook his head. ?Hell, it?s always obvious it?s my fault.?

Natasha sat down, gazing in awe at Liam, who still had not looked up from his noodles. Liam just seemed to be in another world, so Natasha did nothing but put a gentle hand on his arm and attempt to finish her meal while waiting for him to come around again.

Liam snapped out of it a couple minutes later and checked his watch.

?I?d better be going.? He said. ?Thanks for, well, everything. I know I?m not much of a conversationalist, but you get that with me. Socially inept and all that.?

Natasha smiled up at him. ?It was a pleasure. I don?t suppose you?d like to do this again sometime???

Liam was confused. ?Sure, I guess. It seems I end up doing all the talking though??

?No, it?s okay. You need to vent, and I enjoy listening to your voice.?

?Oh okay then.? Liam smiled weakly, not quite sure what to do next.

Natasha grinned. ?You don?t get asked out much, do you??

?No, not really.?

?Okay then, where?s your phone? I?ll give you my number.? Liam handed it to her after selecting ?add new entry.? ?-excellent. There you go. I?ll just call my phone and save your number to save you typing it out for me?? Natasha did so and pulled her own phone out to make the changes. ?There we go! You can have this back and I?ll see you around.? She smiled again. ?Don?t forget to give me a call sometime, okay??

Liam put his phone away, ?of course, I?d love to.?

Natasha smiled and stood up, grabbing her purse and remainder of her meal. She smiled and him and gave him a peck on the cheek before saying goodbye and walking out of the restaurant.

?Well?? Liam said to himself. ?That was?interesting.? Dark realisation kicked in. ?Rae is going to have a cow if she ever finds out about this, I just know it. Damnit. It?s fine for her to have gratuitous sex, but it?s not okay for me to have a girl as an acquaintance...? He sighed and picked up his drink, exiting through the other door of the restaurant. ?Yessiree, she is going to kill me??
[/size]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Verdana][size=1]The group watched Natasha and Liam part ways. Eve and Rae looked at each other, then started to smile slightly. They both knew exactly what they were going to do. "Ryan, you follow Liam. Eve and I are going to check out Natasha and see if she's as honest as she seems."

Ryan nodded and set off after Liam. Rae was secure in the knowledge that Ryan wouldn't get caught; she'd worked with him before and had never had a problem.

Rae grinned at Eve and the two set off behind Natasha. They didn't have far to go; apparently, Natasha lived in the new block of apartments. The building had gone up just over six months ago, and it provided affordable but relatively-luxurious apartments; certainly within the means of a well-off Uni student.

They checked the plaque by the doors and Rae took out a notepad and wrote the information down, along with Natasha's name. In the meantime, Eve had marked their position, using Natasha's heat signature as a reference point. The marker would be picked up by a satellite and, from that, Rae and Eve could use satellite imaging such as infrared to track Natasha to her apartment and see which one she stopped at.

Later, the girls would get the building plans to find out exactly which apartment number Natasha lived in.

From there, Rae could pursue Natasha through her paper trails. She'd make some enquiries. There were two options; One, Rae would find a paper trail, which would probably mean that Natasha was either careless or innocent. And, two, Rae [i]wouldn't[/i] find a trail or anything to follow, which would mean that Natasha wasn't who she said she was.

Either way, Rae'd know soon who Liam was dealing with. While Eve waited quietly, Rae took a peppermint out of her pocket. She'd been big on gum for a long time. Unfortunately, though, Singapore required a license to eat gum -- and the SYF didn't want her to have something that identifiable on her. So she'd taken up peppermints.

Rae offered one to Eve, who took it with a smile.

"C'mon, lets go find out what she's hiding."

[center]_____________________________________________[/center]

Rae and Eve returned to the Headquarters to see Ryan loitering outside. When he saw them, he nodded once then turned to go inside. Rae bit her lip. She really didn't want to see Liam at the moment. In fact, she wanted to avoid him completely.

With a purse of her lips, Rae walked quickly to a room which she knew had a private computer. She booted it up and logged in quickly, then activated the satellite surveillance.

She smiled as soon as the little dot that was Natasha appeared.

Methodically, she started doing all the standard checks; using the lasered conversation, she checked Natasha's vocal records, and used the digital photographs to check her face structure to see if there had been any plastic surgery that might have been used to conceal the face of a criminal.

Nothing. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]In fact, in the shallow records of Natasha?s life, it was all perfectly normal. No parking fines, no speeding tickets. She didn?t have a car and she was attending exactly the course she said she had. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She had a fear of heights and was slightly claustrophobic; no cause stated. She had a roommate that was a serial dater, and her last boyfriend was a while ago. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae frowned. Surely no one could be that normal? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]With a decisive smile, she sent an e-mail off to one of her contacts. When they replied, Rae would have the entire history of Natasha. If she had scraped her knee growing up, Rae would know what date, what time, and how bad the injury was.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She did, after all, pride herself on her thoroughness. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]The reply arrived not long later, and Rae decided she?d be very generous to this contact next time she saw them. She saved the document to her computer then opened it up. A list of dates and facts and physical appearance and idiosyncrasies littered the page. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Everything was broken up by year, and pages and pages covered family history. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae scanned it quickly, not completely interested at this point, simply looking for anomalies. She?d done this enough to know what to look for. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]There was only one; a blank spot in her history, when Natasha was younger. Rae frowned and pursed her lips, then opened up a window and started searching old news reports around the time of the blank spot. All that came up was information about a train wreck, so massive it killed hundreds. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Nothing on Natasha, however. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Regardless, she saved the web address, thinking perhaps it had something to do with her, and then closed down the file and locked it. Wouldn?t do for certain people to stumble across her snooping, after all.
[/size][/font]

[liamc2]

[size="1"]To put it mildly, Liam was pleasantly surprised at the recent turn of events and would have been quite happy to spend the rest of the day in quiet contemplation. That was putting it mildly. The real Liam was currently charged and thriving on a natural high that had been catalysed by being accepted by a normal human being.

He was still happy to spend the rest of the day in solitary contemplation, but to only avoid Rae. She always knew when Liam was happy and managed to weasel it out of him when she could. In her current mood she'd only be too happy to quash his bliss.

He walked through the facade of the youth hostel, brushing through the cue of real backpackers by waving his 'Freedom!' hostel room card and making his way to the door at the back. He slid the card through the electronic lock and opened the door, stepping into the secret headquarters of the SYF. None of the backpackers in the room batted an eyelid. It was obvious to them that there were several doors, all leading to different dormitories. What they didn't know was that one was constantly full, suspiciously full.

But, after all, Singapore was a bustling metropolis and backpackers were filing through so often that the rest of the dormitories were full.

All of this aside, Liam had entered the SYF section and had managed to weave his way to his dorm room. He leapt gracefully onto his bed, but was surprised to find Zharra already comfortably lying on it. There was a bizarre aerial ballet as Liam attempted to stop his mid-air flight.

He managed to kick the ground with his foot and succeeded in head-butting the end of the mattress. It hurt, but it hurt a lot less than what Zharra would have done to him otherwise.

'I'm staying here,' Zharra said simply, not even looking up from her magazine. 'After what you did to Bradley, I have to keep a closer eye on my patient, and it's only logical that I take your place.'

Liam didn't question her. The last thing he wanted on his mind was a mental image of 'closer...'

Liam mentally cursed and picked up his meagre belongings, packing them quickly into his overnight bag. He snatched up his laptop and sidearm case and quickly left the room.

It was only when the door had slammed behind him that Liam had the presence of mind to yell, 'where the hell am I supposed to stay?'

Zharra didn't reply, but Liam was sure she'd be muttering, 'lalalala...not listening.....'

He scouted out the rest of the rooms to find that they had all been locked, which had most probably been Zharra's doing. He didn't have the technology or the inclination to bother picking the locks, so he simply dumped his stuff back in the breakroom.

'Okay. Locked out here, no-one is on duty that has the security clearance to open a can of beans, let alone a door. I can't shoot the door down, unless I don't want to be able to close it...' Liam massaged his eyes. 'Rae is going to have a field day with this. Probably my come-uppance or something.'

To add yet another surprise to his list, Liam's phone began to ring. He was about to yell at someone to 'shut their stupid phone off,' when he realised his pocket was vibrating.

He pulled out the phone and saw 'Natasha' displayed on his screen.

Suddenly his opportunities became all the more clear.[/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=MediumTurquoise][i]Zharra went back to her magazine, quite frankly not carring what Liam thought. And she smiled and shifted and felt the master key to every single door clink gently against the ring on her necklace chain. He wouldn't figure out that the janitor had been beaten up and his keys taken, by her. And that she had planted one other master key on the mantle over the fireplace. Which she was reposing in front of. If he was too dense to look closely, that was his problem.

Bradley was in the kitchen, the only door that wasn't locked, besides the bathroom, and standing rather stiffly. His ribs had mostly healed, but Zharra refused to let him off the hook for one minute. She was famous for being mean to her patients, but this really took the carrot cake.

He shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing. She had wrapped his ribs, even though they were mended. Still. Breathing wasn't that comfortable. And she had him on medication too.[/i]

"When do I take more pills?"

"Later. Not now."

"But......I want pills..."

"Dream on. And rave on. You won't get me to budge."

"So when will Liam figure it out?"

"Knowing him never."

[i]Zharra flicked her magazine open again, crossed her legs delicately, and applied herself to the lated National Geographic article about sea snakes.[/i][/COLOR]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae finished with the files and went to look for Liam, ready to confront him, although ostensibly it was about his ?unsigned absence?. SYF members weren?t allowed to leave headquarters without permission. With a slight stalk to her normal walk, she decided she?d try his rooms first. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae turned the door knob and pushed the door open with a loud [i]bang[/i]. Bradley ? lying on his own bed ? groaned loudly, then whimpered at the pain that exhalation had caused. Zharra was lying on Liam?s bed, idly flipping through a magazine. Rae raised her eyebrows. ?Seen Liam??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Zharra smirked. ?Seen him, kicked him out. If he wasn?t in the hallway, he isn?t around here.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She frowned. ?Why not??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Bradley let out a wheeze that may have been interpreted as a laugh. Zharra reached over to Bradley and stroked his hair. ?I locked him out. He can?t get into any of the rooms. So if you didn?t see him in the corridor, he isn?t here.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae gave a little malicious smile, and Zharra grinned back. Rae turned to leave, then turned back. ?You might want to open the doors with that master key you have. We?ll need to be in and out pretty quickly quite soon, if my information is correctly.? She stalked out. ?And it always is!? She called back to Zharra. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Pursing her lips, Rae thought for a second. It was possible that Ryan had continued following Liam, after Liam returned to the building. She hadn?t really expected it ? truthfully, she hadn?t really expected Liam to leave again quite so soon ? but if Ryan had, she?d be so grateful. She had a suspicion she knew where he was going, but..if she were wrong, it could spell trouble.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She dialled Ryan?s number. He picked up within two rings. ??Lo?? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Hey, it?s me. Do you know where Liam is??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Yeah, I saw him leave and figured you?d want me to follow him.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Cool,? said Rae, pleased it had all worked so easily. ?Give me your location.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Ryan hesitated. ?Rae?? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Already angry, but now impatient as well, Rae shifted the phone from one ear to the other in an effort to give herself time to calm down. ?Ryan, Liam has always been my responsibility. After four years, I think I can handle it, don?t you? Now, [i]report your location[/i], and return to Headquarters. That?s an [i]order[/i].? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He sighed. ?He?s at the new apartment block down the street from Noodle Hut. I..think he?s gone to see Natasha. I didn?t get which apartment he?s in, but I figure you?ll know.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Thanks,? Rae said, regretting her impatience. ?Now get back to headquarters. I think we might need to start packing soon, if you know what I mean??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Yeah, I get you. Where are we going this time??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?You?ll have to ask Matt. I have no clue.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Ryan paused. ?Wait, the Raellyra Stanton doesn?t know something?? His voice was teasing, and Rae responded to it with a laugh.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Shush. I?ve been busy lately.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]They ended the call quickly after that, the balance once again restored. Rae thought for a second, then decided to take a taxi to Natasha?s place. With a smile, she called her favourite taxi company; The London Cab Company. Their vehicles were like the London cabs, and they were very spacious, and, more importantly, air-conditioned. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]The cab picked her up quickly and in no time at all she was outside Natasha?s apartment building, paying the driver and feeling awkwardly like a stalker. She shrugged the feeling off. After all, she was just doing what she?d been doing for years. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She made her way to Natasha?s apartment, with pursed lips, she wondered how best to go about this. Certainly, she [i]would[/i] seem like a stalker if she just showed up asking for Liam, but perhaps...[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae could hear two female voices about two and a half metres to the left of the doorway. She knew for a fact that they were in another room; she?d memorised the house plans. Unable to hear Liam?s voice, she concluded he must be somewhere separately, and, with a little smirk, Rae took out her hand lock-picks. Some agents felt that hand picks were too old-fashioned, but Rae had long-ago decided that they were small, versatile, and so much more easily concealed than newer technology, like the lock pick guns. She took out her tension wrench, sliding it into the lock and applying pressure to the plug. Then, with a smile, she started to work on the lock. [i]Click[/i]. That was the first pin.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1][i]Click[/i]. She was glad this was just a basic deadlock. Her concentration was far too shot for her to do anything harder.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1][i]Click[/i]. If anyone came and saw her doing this she?d be in so much trouble.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1][i]Click[/i]. There?d only be about two pins left, now.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1][i]Click[/i]. She was so glad these clicks were so soft they were almost silent. Although no doubt Liam ? trained to here these things ? would have picked it up if he were in the room. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1][i]Cli[/i]?Liam opened the door, an annoyed expression on his face. Rae glared at him and stood up slowly. He glared back. ?You know, in civilian life, people knock.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He gestured her inside, just as Natasha walked back into the room. ?Liam, we?ve only got the ingredients for Nachos, is that...? she paused and trailed off, looking from Liam to Rae. ?...all right?? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Liam sighed as if preparing for the worst, running his hand over his hair. ?Natasha, this is Rae. Rae, Natasha.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Natasha pointed at her slowly, as if her mind was ticking over. ?You were another bomb survivor...? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae nodded. Within a second, Natasha must have realised exactly who Liam had been referring to when he spoke about his friend, for she let out an ?Oh,? that carried a wealth of meaning. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Liam hadn?t stopped glaring at her, and Natasha sort of faded, quietly leaving to go back to the kitchen. ?What are you doing here??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Rob was at Noodle Hut with his girlfriend and he couldn?t believe how easy you were! You know how I feel about this, and you go to noodle bars to get picked up by loose women so they can coddle you? You?re such a baby!? ?Rob? was the codename for the laser. It had been named that after an incident where an agent by the name of Rob had used it to spy on his girlfriend to see if she thought he was good in bed. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]The agent had been dismissed for misuse of privileges, but the name lived on. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Somehow, Natasha came violently back into the picture. ?How the hell would you know, Rae? From what I?ve heard, you?re a cold, unfeeling bitch when it comes to all of this. You have no sympathy, none at all. Liam?s been through so much. Why, first his parents and then his sister...And you don?t even care! Why don?t you support him, instead of insulting him?? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Oh,? said Rae sarcastically, looking with loathing at the two people in front of her. ?Poor Liam. Why, I wouldn?t have [i]any clue[/i] what it?s like to lose your parents and siblings, now, would I?? Rae broke off, furious. She would [i]not[/i] go any further into her own, [i]private [/i]emotions. Just because Liam was acting like a whiny little bitch didn?t mean she had to. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Well,? said Natasha, ?I?m glad you see what your actions have done,? Rae looked at her, startled. Obviously, Natasha hadn?t picked up the sarcasm in her tone. Although, since she didn?t really know Rae or her situation, that was probably understandable. ?Liam is staying here tonight.? Natasha turned to Liam; ?I?ll just go and sort out where you?ll be sleeping.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She left the room. Rae turned to Liam. ?You need to return to the hostel. We leave for a new...destination very soon.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?I?ve only got 13 days left, why do they want me??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae flicked a glance of scorn at him. ?Quite honestly, Liam, I?m not too sure. Before you make a rash decision, however, I suggest you consider this;? She bit out, enunciating herself very clearly. ?Natasha is doing very well in her courses at the moment. It would be a shame if [i]your [/i]presence caused her to fail.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She sent another withering look of hate at him, then turned and walked out. [/size][/font]

[liamc2]

[size=1]?Natasha, I?I?m sorry.? Liam said flatly. ?I should never have brought you into this.?

Natasha?s eyes sparked as she glared at the open door that Rae had stormed out of so suddenly.

?Liam,? she said softly, almost pleadingly as she tugged lightly at his shirt and looked up at him. ?She can do what she wants with my business course. Honestly, I don?t care. My extra-curricular courses are more important to me. Just don?t go.? She sighed. ?You only just got here, but you?re leaving already.?

Liam?s expression didn?t change.

Natasha looked away and stepped back. ?Just?just go. It?s important to you.?

The roommate wasn?t so happy to be left out of the conversation.

?We folded out the stupid couch and for nothing!? She muttered in a heavy German accent, with her arms folded across her chest.

[center]~~~[/center]

'You're so bloody special, aren't you?' Rae's voice was a harsh whisper, but it threatened to trill into a scream. 'Honestly, everyone else just stands up and praises, they protect you, Liam who can do no wrong!' Rae looked away, flicking her hair wildly. 'Damn it! You've been coddled so much you don't even consider that others have been hurt too!'

Liam said nothing and just glared back at her. He could tell when she hadn?t finished a rant. Wisely, or perhaps unwisely, he had followed her out of the flat to finish the conversation. He scratched the back of his head and folded his arms, looking down at the angry agent.

'I lost my parents too, I lost a sibling too, I lost my childhood too! So has everyone else in the SYF! Just grow up and take some counselling! Get a freaking life already instead of putting a lovey-dovey band-aid on this one.' Rae accentuated her point by waving a hand at Natasha's door.

'Rae, I was there when you lost your brother, I was there Rae, I was there.' Liam's voice was quiet, paced. He was trying desperately to hold his anger, but he couldn't hold it all. He muttered, just at an audible level, 'where were you for me?'

Rae blinked, shocked by his statement, his sheer arrogance in her eyes. 'You shut me out! You blocked me at every turn! Don't blame me, blame yourself!'

'Rae, not every turn. Just once. Just once, I blocked you once and all you did was call me a whiny little bitch.' Liam forced a little smile. 'And you gave up. You should know by now that people need their own time. You should know me Rae, but you never asked, you never even cared.'

Rae laughed, high and loud. 'There we go! There it is! It's all about you, you bastard! Suddenly it's my fault that you're too arrogant to let me help, Mr 'I was the first in SYF.' We've all got scars!'

Liam raised his hand, the hand. 'Some are deeper than others, Rae.'

'You bastard!' Rae screamed. 'How dare you bring that back!'

Liam caught her fist with his other hand, and snatched her chop with his original.

'If I was one of Pizaro's guards,' he yelled, 'you'd be dead!'

Rae laughed bitterly, ?oh I see. So now you care.? She shrugged him off and reset her windswept appearance. Rae?s voice rose again to a fever pitch as she screamed, ?you never care, Liam, ever! You don?t know anything. You might have been there in my life, but did you ever care enough to go any deeper??

Liam was surprised at her attack, and Rae took bitter comfort from his expression.

?I thought so.? She said with a heart-breaking triumph. Her voice quavered as she spoke now, soft and low. ?Did you even know about my parents? Did you know they were agents? Did you even think about me and my situation long enough to wonder why my brother was my guardian??

Liam took the higher ground, not daring to speak his defence lest the first statement from his lips became, ?well duh.?

Rae shoved Liam, ignoring the fact that he didn?t lose his ground.

?Of course not!? She screeched, throwing her hands up in the air. ?You?re too busy being ?The Mighty Liam? to care about [I]me[/I]!?

Liam was stunned, he had been challenged to a duel of wits and had found himself mercilessly disarmed and feeling as though he had none to begin with.

?I do care, okay?? He barked back, his voice hoarse.

Rae smirked. ?Sure you do,? she spat nastily, ?you care right up there at face value.? She raised her hand up to be level with his face, whacking her palm against his face to truly get her point across.

?So now it?s about you?? Liam said, looking away slightly, hiding his hurt. ?I?ll keep that in mind,? he muttered.

?So you should you, you selfish prick!? Rae sneered, jabbing Liam?s chest. ?It?s about bloody time you got off your perch and realised we all have scars!?

She raised her arms, shoving her wrists in his face, showing the rows of white scars that stood out starkly. ?We all have our own scars to bare, Liam.? She said mockingly.?

Liam didn?t dare to mention that she had hammered that point before; instead his mind procured an old ace. He slowly began to roll up his sleeve, deliberately taking his time, savouring the look of horror on Rae?s face.

?Yes Rae.? He said. ?Scars. We both have them, and oddly enough we can call them [I]family[/I] scars.? He finished rolling the sleeve, showing to her the jagged white scar there.

?Now isn?t that nice?? He said, smiling. ?I can say I know your family, I know you family quite well, quite well [I]indeed[/I].?

Rae growled her contempt, looking fierce. She moved quickly, too quickly for an angry Liam to notice. In a split second she had her gun drawn and levelled at his stomach, held sideways in a typical 'gangster' style. If she pulled the trigger she could catch the casing easily and leave.

Liam didn't look down.

'Rae.' He said. 'I wouldn't do it to you, but somehow I knew you'd do it to me.'
Rae didn't move. Liam deftly took the gun to the side and bodily charged her to the elevator. He easily lifted her up and held her high while she struggled pathetically.

The doors opened and he threw her inside, along with her gun.

Rae?s backside hit the floor so hard that she bounced painfully before her back hit the wall. She gasped as the air shuddered out from her lungs. Liam towered over her in the elevator door, deliberately not showing the courtesy of kneeling at her level. Rae quickly regained her fury and glared contemptuously at him, hiding her surprise at how easily he had moved her.

'I'm coming Rae, I'm bloody well coming so be happy.' Liam shouted, holding the doors open and leaning down into her face. 'This vendetta of yours has opened my eyes, Rae. I lost my social life when I turned twelve, it's sobering to know I'll never have one when I'm twenty.'

The doors closed and Liam waited until the elevator was four floors down before he screamed his frustration and punched a hole into the plasterboard wall, and proceeded to kick out the rest. Down in the elevator, Rae screamed and slid down to the floor, yelling obscenities at the ceiling as she descended.

Liam finished and walked slowly back to Natasha's apartment. The door was slightly ajar from when he and Rae prematurely stormed out. Natasha was inside with her roommate, both of whom looked as though they hadn't heard a thing.

'I'm leaving. I've got to go back. Rae said my uncle needs me back, he wants me to move in and finish my course...I'm sorry.' He sighed and picked up his stuff.

'I'll see you, okay?'

Natasha smiled weakly and gave him a hug. 'Back into the lioness's den?' She asked.

Liam gave a small smile. 'Probably. I'll give you a call.' He turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Natasha looked at her roommate, who raised her eyebrows. They both sat on the foldout bed and she let her roommate give her a hug and smiled slightly.

The roommate muttered various assurances before remarking in German, 'where the hell did all the while powder on him come from?'

[/size]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae leant against the wall of the elevator, not bothering to get up. Her throat hurt from the screaming she'd done, and her eyes felt like they were burning. She almost regretted the fact that she hadn't pulled the trigger. Almost. Rae closed her eyes as the elevator continued it's long path downwards, the 'soothing' elevator music a surreal contrast to the scene a few minutes ago.

Her butt ached something fierce, and she knew she'd have a bruise there in the morning. Her back was fine, although there might be a bruise where she'd hit the handrail in the elevator, and she'd been winded slightly when she landed. The worst part was the throbbing in her head, though. She felt like she'd been bludgeoned in the head with a baseball bat. She must have hit it when Liam had thrown her. She should probably check it out and see how bad the bump would be.

She really couldn't summon the energy. She was spent, emotionally and physically. She was aching all over and was too lethargic to even move.

The elevator concluded it's downward path, the little [i]ding [/i]it's only warning, the doors sliding open silently to reveal two Singaporean businessmen, looking shocked at the sight of a ragged twenty year old sitting in an elevator. Rae swallowed and stood up shakily, smiling at the two men as she left.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]God, her head hurt. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Rae tucked her hair behind her ears and walked out of the building. The taxi had gone, but she could hail another quickly enough. There was a taxi-rank waiting shelter just down the road. Her legs stiff and her butt aching, Rae hobbled over there, grimacing. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She sat down and rested her head on her palm. What had happened in there? She and Liam had been close since they?d met. They?d never fought like that before. They?d had disagreements, obviously, but that fight had threatened to tear them apart. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Could she really survive in the SYF without Liam there?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She didn?t really want to think about that, at all. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Someone sat down beside her, and vaguely Rae wondered where her ability to detect people?s presences had gone. She turned her head to acknowledge the person, ignoring the sharp pain when she did so. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She wasn?t really surprised when the person turned out to be Liam. He was starting straight ahead, not even acknowledging her. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She tried to think of something to say. Since when had it been so hard to talk to him? This was [i]Liam[/i], for goodness sakes. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?There?ll be a taxi here soon.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He nodded slightly. He didn?t look angry, as such. Just a bit..hurt. Frustrated, too, probably. And just like that, her anger melted. Rae turned her head to look at him properly, and this time couldn?t suppress the wince of pain. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He looked at her sharply, eyes running over her face. ?You okay?? The hint of guilt in his tone made her want to reassure him, but if she lied, he?d know it. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]She smiled slightly. ?Yeah. I just hit my head. I?ve had worse.? She had. She?d been beaten and shot and knifed and everything, and she was complaining over a bump on the head?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Liam nodded slightly, then, as if trying to hold onto his own anger, but unable to suppress his guilt said, ?You want me to look at that, I suppose?? Without waiting for her reply, he scooted closer and gently pushed her head forward. She stiffened slightly as he found the bump, wincing as he checked it over for any breaks in the skin. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]After a couple of minutes, he sat back. ?It?s fine. You?ll want to get some ice on that when we get back, though.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Silence lapsed over them as they sat and waited for the taxi to arrive. It stretched and made Rae more and more uncomfortable until finally; ?I?m sorry, Liam.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He looked at her, startled. Rae wondered if she?d ever said that to him before. He shook his head. ?Don?t worry about it. It was probably my fault anyway.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?No, Liam, it was mine. It?s just.. sometimes stuff gets to me. I know that you care, but there are things you don?t know about me yet, but the information is out there and I just don?t understand why you haven?t bothered to find out.? She looked up at him sadly. ?I?m glad you respect my privacy and all, but sometimes I feel like it?s not respect, it?s indifference.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?And you keep bottling everything up inside. When I try to reach out, I feel like I?m hitting a brick wall.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?Lately I?ve been feeling like I?m not really [i]allowed[/i] to be emotional, and I can?t stand that, and I just...I?ve been losing it lately, Liam. And I?ve been taking that out on you. And I?m sorry.? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Liam looked at her for a second, then let out a little laugh and shook his head. ?You think you?re the only one? I?ve never been allowed to grieve about anything. I?ve been doing this since I was twelve, Rae. Twelve. Sometimes I wonder what I would have been like if I wasn?t an agent.? He paused and then laughed again, almost bitterly. ?And I can?t imagine it. I?ve never had a social life. When other kids were going out, I was taking down Korean gangsters. My fourteenth birthday, Jess and I were in the middle of a war zone, sent to assassinate a dictator leader in a small, war torn country.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?To most of the world, I don?t exist, Rae. To my childhood friends, I disappeared when I turned twelve, and my family did with me. How am I supposed to live a normal life like that? Am I supposed to meet up with those same friends and, when they ask where my sister is, tell them that I killed her because my friend?s brother was a traitor and he told me to??[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He looked at her, tormented, as if he honestly wanted an answer. Rae?s eyes teared up. ?I guess we?re both screwed up, hey?? [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]He snorted and nodded. With a sudden impulse, Rae reached over to him, and, for the first time in her life, she hugged him. After a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]They withdrew, looking awkward, but happier. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?...Taxi?s here.?[/size][/font]