Pantheon - Chapter Twenty-Two (08/27/2007)
Well, the muse put up a fight at first, but she finally gave in. So, as a result, I present to you... the next chapter.
It's still Amy/Lucy, with some Max/Dominique. ^_^
Title: Pantheon
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: R, or MA, whichever you understand better. ^_^
Comments: Obviously, this is an AU, but it'll be a bit more alternate then most, as this fic's Amy has something of a hidden past, which is in the process of shaking quite a number of worlds as it surfaces. And if you thought there was angst in my last fic... *evil chuckle*
I'm really, REALLY sorry about the delay. Forgive me? :)
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.' That belongs to the fabulously talented Angela Robinson. 'The Pretender' was created by Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle. (No idea who owns it now, as I don't think it's TNT anymore...)
Chapter Twenty-Two
"You know," Amy began as they drove to the hotel where 'Agent Kaur' was staying, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you since I first saw you on the street."
"Oh?" Kali inquired coolly as she piloted the vehicle through the busy city streets. There were a number of things that she could think of that Sekhmet- that Amy would want to ask her about, and none of them were things she overly wanted to talk about just then.
But Amy surprised her again. "What happened to your dot?"
Kali pulled into the parking lot, shut off the car, and turned to frown at Amy. "What?"
"On your forehead," Amy elaborated, tapping the spot in question on her own head. "You always had a dot there while we were at The Centre, even if it got washed off while you were on a mission."
Trust her to fixate on that, Kali thought with a vague sense of amusement. "I don't need it anymore," was all she said before getting out of the car and heading inside, Amy right behind her.
Once they were in her room, Amy continued speaking as if the conversation had never stopped. "It's funny. No one there would have pegged you as even especially caring about your heritage or past, and yet, of all of us, you were the one who held on to the most." A playful glare. "Not that you made it easy to find that out."
"Hi, Jarod," Sekhmet all but chirped as she slipped into the room where he usually ended up working on whatever simulation The Centre had him doing, Amaterasu and Kali right behind her.
He wasn't working on anything today - or, at least, nothing that couldn't be interrupted. He probably just thought it was a slow day - not every day could be jam-packed full of lengthy and draining simulations, after all - but the truth was he was actually going to be a part of an intelligence gathering drill Mr. Raines had them running.
Part of her felt bad about that. She liked Jarod, after all, and didn't feel right about lying to him, or using him in such a manner. On the other hand, this meant she'd be able to spend time with him without having to sneak around, or worry about learning new and different ways to injure, maim, or kill people.
She already knew a depressingly large amount, and yet they just kept giving her more.
"Amy? What are you doing here?" It wasn't that he was upset to see her, by any means, but... Well, she usually didn't just randomly show up during the middle of the day. And he'd never seen the other two girls with her before.
"Is it okay that we're here?" Sekhmet asked - she should try to think of herself as Amy, she knew, but Amy wouldn't have been able to lie to him... not yet, at least - a wholly convincing expression of concern on her face. "I don't want to get you in trouble. We were just getting so bored..."
"It's fine, but..." He shook his head. Clearly, he didn't want to get them in trouble. And for a second, he looked as if he could tell something wasn't quite right. Then he shook it off, asking, "Who are your friends?"
More like 'friend', she mused privately. Amaterasu gave him a little wave, seeming almost to hide behind Sekhmet. "This is Tomoko," she said, then smiled and added, "You'll have to forgive her. She's a little shy." She turned to the remaining member of the group, momentarily at a loss. Amaterasu didn't mind using her real name for the exercise - indeed, she seemed to be happy for the opportunity to pretend to be just a regular girl - but Kali... Well, she didn't actually know Kali's name, and had no idea what alias she might want to choose. And she could hardly just make something up for her. Jarod would notice right away that something was wrong.
That was why he'd been chosen for the 'little experiment' they were doing. If they could fool a Pretender who was trained to see through appearances and get inside people's heads, then - in theory - they'd be able to fool anyone.
Of course, she had no doubt that Raines was getting some kind of use out of Jarod besides that. He wasn't the sort of man to let such an opportunity go by.
"My name's Kali."
Well, THAT interrupted her musings fairly easily.
She was turned away from Jarod, so he didn't see the incredulous 'what the hell are you doing?' look that she shot Kali, who looked back, utterly unperturbed.
"Interesting name," Jarod commented.
Kali smiled faintly. "Not like it was my choice. Blame my parents' lack of creativity. I do."
Amaterasu - or perhaps she should say Tomoko - chose that moment to shyly ask Jarod what he'd been up to before they'd interrupted. As Jarod lead her over to the table where he'd been working and began explaining about the complex differential equations he'd been working on for something or other - and Tomoko was doing a splendid job of pretending not to understand more then three words out of ten - Sekhmet hissed to Kali, "Are you trying to sabotage this mission?"
Kali tensed, eyes flashing coldly. "How dare you?"
"No, how dare YOU? Are you insane? Why didn't you give him your name?"
"I did." The 'you idiot' was left unsaid, but heavily implied.
"No, your name. Like I'm Amy, she's Tomoko, and you're...?"
"Kali."
Sekhmet blinked. "Your parents actually named you Kali?" That would be one HELL of a coincidence, if it was true.
A glimmer of annoyance stole across Kali's face. "Of course not," she whispered. "But my name is Kali now."
"But what was it before?"
"Before doesn't matter."
"But you DO remember?"
"What if I do?"
"Then perhaps you should have used that, instead. Because this IS a pretend, right? As in, not real? As in, not something you should use your codename for? And if before doesn't matter, and you don't consider that your name anymore, why not use it?" Kali, to her surprise, actually seemed to be considering her words. Taking a chance, she leaned in close and whispered into Kali's ear, "You can't let them take that from you, you just can't."
Kali gave her an unreadable look when she pulled away. "Maybe you should worry more about yourself. If your attitude or sentimentality don't get you killed, your weakness will." That said, she plastered a calm, vaguely inquisitive look on her face and moved to join Amaterasu and Jarod.
Not for the first time, it occurred to Sekhmet that the bindi dot on Kali's forehead made for a highly tempting target.
"I still say you obsessed too much about our birth names," Kali told her. "They had nothing to do with what was going on there. What we'd become."
"Remembering our pasts helped us avoid completely becoming their puppets," Amy countered.
"What's in a name?"
"Knowing who you are, where you came from... That's important."
Kali sighed. "And did reconnecting with your family help you?"
"I haven't." At Kali's sudden look, she continued, "I still don't remember who they were, where I grew up... even my original last name. I haven't found my family, yet." She was quiet for several moments while Kali opened a suitcase and removed a black box that looked vaguely like a Camden Clamshell Binder Box, then placed her hand on the biometric scanner on the top. As it popped open with a hiss of decompressing air, Amy quietly said, "I did find yours."
Kali froze.
"It's been about a month since the last time I spoke in with your parents," she continued, "but last time I checked in, they were doing fine. Well," she corrected, "as fine as two people can be after their only daughter was taken from them at such a young age."
"What did you tell them?" The question was delivered in a surprisingly even tone, but Amy knew her well enough to sense the undercurrent of anxiety there.
"That I'd known their daughter while growing up, that despite everything the bastards who'd taken us had done she remained one of the strongest people I'd ever met, and that she never forgot about them." All of which was entirely true. "I didn't give them any specifics." She paused. "If you wanted, I could tell you how to get in touch with them."
The silence in the room was almost tangible.
Finally, Kali spoke up, her gaze still locked on the open box she'd been looking into the entire time. "I can't handle that now. There's too much going on."
"Fair enough," Amy said with a nod. She could accept that for the time being. But she would bring it up again later, because out of all the children that The Centre had taken for Pantheon, one of them deserved to be reunited with their family. She could also tell that Kali wasn't quite ready just yet, though. "What do you have there, anyway?"
Shaking off whatever she'd been thinking, Kali straightened up, once again all business. "Files on who you should be expecting tomorrow, as well as the security precautions they plan on taking, where they'll be staying, and for how long."
"So, pretty much everything we need to know," Amy said, taking the thick stack of files. No wonder the NSA (well, presumably it was them) had given her something like that to transport them in. "Except, of course, for the minor detail of how we keep The Centre from noticing all this going on. There's only so much Dom will be able to do to keep them from distracted, after all, given how badly they want me and Jarod. And everything else we've done today may keep most of them busy with other things, but you know how stubborn Parker can be."
Kali smiled faintly. "Which is why Jarod is not going to be here, remember?"
Amy suddenly smirked. "Well, that and the fact that he's pretended to be one kind of government agent or another so often over the years that chances are too high that someone there would recognize him."
"Think he can handle it?"
"While I'm sure he'll hate having to be separated from his family so soon after just finding them again, staying five steps ahead of Parker and friends is something he's been doing for years. He'll be fine."
**********************************************
Dominique was slowly pulled out of a rather pleasant dream - Max featured heavily in it - by the extremely annoying sound of a phone ringing about a foot away from her head.
She awoke to the unusual sensation of being alone in her bed. She couldn't quite remember the last time that had happened - except for the rare occasion when the guy - or girl - she'd been with had slipped out early. She found she didn't quite like it, and the fact that she'd been pulled out of a dream about Max just made it worse. Yet when she'd considered finding a man to take to her bed early that evening... For the first time in longer then she could remember, the notion had actually felt wrong, so much so that she'd felt vaguely ill until she'd gotten 'home'.
More ringing. Oh, right. The damned phone.
Blinking sleepily at the clock - which told her in no uncertain terms that it was FAR too early for such nonsense - she picked up the receiver. "What eez eet?" she grumbled.
"Get dressed, Princess. We've got a lead on Jarod. Meet us at the airport," Parker's voice informed her. The line disconnected before she could say anything.
That was just as well, she supposed. Unless their lead was 'He's in LA with Amy and the D.E.B.S.', her plaid-clad teammates were probably up to something. She wished she could call in and find out what was going on, but that would be too risky.
Nothing for it but to keep an eye on Parker and her team, then.
She brewed a quick cup of (very, very black) coffee while she got dressed and cleaned up. She was going to need it if she wanted to be able to get to the airport without crashing into a telephone pole or something.
The coffee wasn't terribly good, but it did the job, and she managed to arrive there in one piece. She wasn't even the last one there - that ended up being Sydney, but even Parker didn't get upset with him for that. He was, after all, distinctly older then the rest of them, and thus needed a bit more sleep. Besides, it wasn't all that easy to get mad at Sydney.
Though if anyone could manage it, Dominique thought, it was Miss Parker.
The plane was lifting off before she asked, "Where are we going?"
Parker stifled a yawn, and Dominique felt some satisfaction that at least she wasn't the only one barely awake. "Boston. Evidently he's investigating some kind of collapse in one of their tunnels."
The other side of the country from LA. How subtle. "Wake me up when we get there," she said, resting her head against the window and closing her eyes.
She was asleep again before she heard whatever Parker's reply may have been.
**********************************************
The D.E.B.S. Academy was a study in organized chaos.
Plaid-skirted girls dashed every which way, while suited members of the FBI were only just barely more professional. Homeland Security agents lingered around, studying anyone who looked like they were somewhere they shouldn't have been.
It wasn't any kind of surprise. While the plan to take down The Centre had been formed over many years, between the many revisions that had been caused by the presence of additional pretenders and Lucy Diamond - who had taken Amy's advice and stayed away, just in case someone from one of the other agencies decided she was just too tempting a target - and the fact that everything was happening on such short notice, the conference was a fairly last-minute event.
With so many people arriving, they'd decided to hold it in the large auditorium, while refreshments would be offered in the cafeteria later on. The remaining members of Sector One were distributing the assignments Petrie had handed down. Amy would end up being on stage, she knew, as she was one of the foremost experts on The Centre there. Fortunately, she wouldn't be the only one, nor would she have to go too deeply into detail about her time there. So she was hurrying to finish briefing Raquel's team before she had to get back. "Agents from Homeland Security, the NSA, and the FBI are already here," she continued as they walked down the center aisle in the auditorium. "The people from the CIA should be arriving shortly, and once everything's secure, they'll be beaming in the various congressmen and state government officials" Which would be important, because she wanted to talk to some of them later. Not that she was going to say anything about that, though.
"The CIA isn't allowed to act within America's borders," Raquel pointed out. "I take it, then, that the scope of The Centre's operations are larger then we were previously informed?"
"Since I don't recall ever informing you of how large they were, it would seem that that has to be true," Amy said with a raised eyebrow. "I think I even see Lisa from Interpol over there," she added, gesturing vaguely off to the right.
"Wow. Miss Petrie must be taking this seriously," Raquel commented, fighting down a smile. Even her team had heard about the senior-most DEB's curious rivalry with the mysterious Lisa. She caught Kathleen craning her neck, trying to figure out which one was her.
"She is. So should you." They were almost at the front by then, where some of the NSA delegation was milling about, discussing something in low tones.
"You know we will," Monica interjected. "It's just thaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH-mmph!" Without bothering to look at her, Amy had clamped a hand firmly over Monica's mouth to shut her up. Still trying to scream, Monica stared wide-eyed at Kali, who was looking politely back at her.
When Monica finally ran out of air and tried to inhale to continue screaming, she discovered that Amy had covered her nose, too. "If I let go, will you stay quiet?" she asked neutrally, eyes flat and uninterested, as if it didn't much matter to her either way. Raquel, Kathleen, and Bethany looked on uncertainly. No one had pulled their guns only because they all knew that would be a spectacularly bad idea around so many armed people from another agency, but Kali's presence was obviously confusing them (understandably), and Amy's cold reaction wasn't helping.
Monica nodded frantically, and Amy released her. While the redhead greedily sucked in air, Raquel, giving Amy an accusatory look, demanded, "What is she doing here?"
Amy shook her head. "Petrie's idea, not mine. You'll have to ask her." That took them aback, as she knew it would.
"You know them, Kaur?" one of the NSA agents asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Who?" Bethany asked, speaking for the first time in the past few minutes.
"Agent Mausami Kaur," Kali said professionally, giving them a nod of greeting. "And no, not exactly. Which is all I'm permitted to tell you." Evidently used to that sort of thing from her, none of the other NSA agents commented on it further.
Raquel stared at her, lips pressed together into a thin, almost white line. While it was true that Kali had only attacked them because they'd gotten in the way of her achieving her objective - killing Lucy Diamond - and they were now interesting in accomplishing the same goal, she still wasn't happy about this. Monica was all but hiding behind the rest of them, Kathleen was rubbing her formerly broken arm as if feeling a phantom pain, and Bethany looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Fortunately, they'd all be scattered around the room while the meeting was going on, and afterwards they wouldn't have to deal with her unless they actually wanted to - for whatever reason THAT might be - but still... She resolved to keep an eye on the Indian assassin.
As if sensing her thoughts, Kali looked over and they locked eyes. Raquel felt a shiver of... something... go up her back and looked away.
Silently, she prayed this would all be over soon.
**********************************************
"What do you mean, 'we missed him'?"
Broots cringed a bit at the harsh tone in Parker's voice, but Diabolique spoke up before he could say anything. "I would think that after so many years of doing so, eet would not surprise you anymore."
That did absolutely nothing to improve on her mood, so Broots hurriedly spoke up before the French woman made it worse. "Apparently, he left about a week ago. I guess this is one of the last places he was before he left to go help his sister."
"One of?"
Swallowing, he said, "Well, the new foreman said that after he helped get the old one arrested, he said something about heading north."
"Well, that's nice and specific," Parker groused as she glared aimlessly at the bustling city street. Boston was a nice city, Broots decided. And it certainly held a lot of history. He made a mental note to bring Debbie up there one of these days for a little vacation. "If we came all this way for nothing..."
"I believe Monsieur Sydney can give us a clue as to where we are to go next."
Sydney? Broots frowned. Sydney may have kinda-sorta helped Jarod elude pursuit in the past, but even Jarod wouldn't just tell him what he was doing at any given moment - it would be far too easy for The Centre to overhear it, after all. So why would... Oh. Perhaps because Sydney was heading their way with a hockey stick clutched in his hand.
Parker raised an eyebrow. "Thinking of taking up a new hobby, Syd?"
Sydney permitted a small smile of amusement, as ever not taking offense from her tone. He was never scared of her, either. That was a trick, Broots knew, that he very much needed to learn. "It seems that Jarod left this for us in the foreman's office." He passed it to Diabolique.
The French woman studied it for a long moment, then frowned. "Ze Toronto Maple Leafs?"
"That is north, I guess," Broots said with a shrug, then tried - and almost succeeded - to keep from cringing at the venomous look Parker shot him.
"Let's get going, then. I have better things to do with my time then this." She shot Diabolique a look. "Got your passport?"
"Several."
Broots wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not.
**********************************************
So far so good, Amy decided. It hadn't taken quite as long as she'd expected to brief the various law enforcement agencies - she waved to an acquaintance in MI6 - about The Centre, though hammering out just which agency was doing what had taken a couple of hours all by itself, and that had already been - more or less - established ahead of time. She could understand the need to be thorough, though, and shared their desire to make sure there weren't any slip-ups, so that The Centre people would not be able to wrangle their way out of this one.
That was actually a good part of what they were going to be doing next, as the Congressmen and State government officials they'd gathered were ones that were NOT, in any way, on The Centre's payroll.
She had something she wanted to discuss with them, too, she thought, her eyes resting briefly on Kali before continuing to sweep the room. She just hoped it didn't get her fired. Or arrested. Though that last was unlikely, considering... Well, just considering.
Kali herself actually hadn't been mentioned once. When they'd been filling the audience in on what a pretender was, Jarod had been mentioned at length, and Major Charles had even been kind enough to answer a few questions. Emily, apparently still interested in the field of journalism, had been sitting in the audience, taking notes.
A LOT of notes.
Raquel, to her credit, had managed not to glare at Kali the entire time. It was obvious that she was keeping a close eye on the not-quite-NSA agent, though, and once they finally broke for lunch, Amy was only a little surprised when Raquel dropped all pretenses and made a beeline right for Kali. She didn't have time to think about it, though, as she had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to the conference room to meet with the Senators, Governors, and the like.
Hopefully, Max wouldn't kill her for this.
Raquel was only vaguely aware that Amy had left, her attention entirely focused on her quarry. "I need to speak with you for a moment," she told Kali, then headed down another hallway, away from the cafeteria. Sure, she was hungry, but she didn't want an audience for this.
She ducked into an empty classroom, completely unsurprised when a vaguely amused-looking Kali got there and shut the door behind her a few moments later. "What?"
"I don't particularly like you," Raquel began.
"I don't particularly care."
"You walk around here claiming to be an NSA agent right after viciously assaulting a number of D.E.B.S. and trying to kill someone in federal protection."
"You shouldn't have gotten in my way, then."
"But that's the thing," Raquel continued, ignoring Kali's comments. "There was an entire house full of us, and one of you. Even with your tampering with the security systems, it shouldn't have been so easy for you to do it, yet you mowed through us like it was nothing."
"Is that what this is about? You're upset because I embarrassed you?"
"No." A pause. "I need you to tell me how you did it."
"Excuse me?"
"This isn't because I felt so helpless - or useless - while you smacked my team around, or because I'm nervous just being in the same room as you. I'm not looking for some kind of apology - I know better then that. I want you to show me how to fight you."
For the first time in the conversation, Kali actually looked surprised. "You expect me to try and teach someone who has every reason to hate me how to take me down? Amy and I trained together for years, and even she only ever beat me once."
"I'm not asking you to teach me how to beat you," Raquel interrupted. "I know that'll never happen. I'm asking you to teach me how to fight you." And there was a difference there, if only in her head.
Kali studied her, and she had to fight not to start squirming. "I'm not a teacher. Why not ask Amy?"
"Because she'd hold back! Don't misunderstand me, I have no desire to be smacked around. I have to be in top shape for when we take down The Centre, after all. But that's exactly why I need you to do this. I'm supposed to be my team's leader, but if I can't even inconvenience someone who's tearing through them right in front of me, my combat skills obviously aren't good enough. And since we may well end up working together, I suspect you'll want someone at least moderately competent there with you. So, whether either of us like it or not, it has to be you that teaches me."
She fell silent, and Kali stared at her, unblinking, for long enough to make her nervous. Actually, she'd gotten nervous again about three seconds into it, so it really went on for almost a minute after long enough to make her nervous. Finally, she spoke up. "All right." It sounded like what she was saying went against her better judgment, but it was an agreement. "I know you have a training room two floors up from here. Meet me there in five hours. The conference should be over by then." Without another word, she turned and left the classroom.
Raquel finally allowed her legs to fold, dropping into one of the chairs, crossing her arms over the desk and laying her head down on them. She moaned quietly. If just having a civil conversation with the woman was that bad, how was she supposed to get through an entire lesson, especially one where she'd basically given the ruthless killing machine permission to do whatever she wanted to her?
This, she decided, was going to be a loooooooooong day.
**********************************************
"You did not actually expect to find 'im 'ere, did you?" Diabolique asked the visibly frustrated Parker. "You knew zat he 'ad been 'ere before he went to Seattle, after all."
"Yes," Parker ground out. The hell of it was that Frenchie was absolutely right. She had known that the whole time. "But was it really too much to hope for that there'd be some kind of clue here?"
"Obviously, he left in quite a hurry," Sydney said as they examined the small apartment Jarod had been staying in. It was in disarray, drawers showing evidence that he'd been rushing when he'd packed up to leave. And yet, there was something almost... staged, about it. He decided to keep quiet about his suspicions, however, until he knew more.
"Obviously." Had there been any more acid in that word, the apartment's floor would have a large hole developing in it. "Broots, call in the Sweepers. Have them pack all this up and ship it back to The Centre. Maybe Cousin Itt can do something with it."
"You are assuming, of course, zat ze Tower will not want 'im to try and discover zomething about whoever attacked Hale International?" Diabolique asked, a raised eyebrow the only emotion visible on her China Doll face.
The young French woman was something of a curiosity to him. The file he'd read, while being rather incomplete, had hinted at a cold and calculating monster behind that pretty face. Yet, the more time she spent with them, the more it became clear that, while very good at keeping her emotions repressed, she did feel them. At times, she seemed like she'd rather be anywhere else, and most of the staff at The Centre was terrified of her, but having spent so much time amongst monsters, he had learned how to recognize them, and she just did not give off any of the signs, even though she was trying to.
The surprise wasn't that she wanted to be considered a heartless monster, of course, as, given her young age and current status, it may well have been the only way she could keep the sharks at bay. No, the surprise was that, given even what little her file had revealed about her, she'd somehow kept her humanity at all.
He wouldn't call her on it. That she'd somehow kept her soul this long was an impressive feat, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten about that," Parker assured her, interrupting his musings. "But once he gives us some kind of clue on that, they'll want us to keep trying to find Jarod, believe me."
**********************************************
"I can't believe you did that."
Amy walked out of the conference room, a confused mass of emotions. Giddy excitement seemed to be at the top of the heap for the moment, though. Max, at her side, was shaking her head in incredulity. "Oh, it can't be that much of a surprise," Amy countered, not quite ready to let herself start smiling... yet.
"Are you kidding me? You just... just..."
"Just what?" Janet asked as she intercepted them in the hall. She hated being left out of meetings, but at least this time it had only been because she'd been needed elsewhere. Max had only gotten to be there because she was the senior-most team leader at the academy.
Max opened her mouth as if to answer, paused for several seconds, then shut it again, shaking her head. "It's a long story. Amy can tell you about it later. I need to go discuss something with the DGSE people." Sparing Amy one last odd look, she walked off down the hall.
Before Janet could say anything, Amy spoke up. "When Max said later, she wasn't kidding. I really can't say a word about it until the whole thing is finalized, not even to the people that it directly affects. But as soon as I can say anything about it, you'll be one of the first people I tell, I promise."
Well, it wasn't like Janet wanted to encourage her to disobey orders and divulge evidently classified material. And that did at least sound fair. "All right. I just..."
"-Hate being excluded, I know."
Of course she knew. "It's not like you're singling me out, I know that."
"Of course not. Now, we should probably get going, too. There's still plenty to be done to make sure this conference closes as smoothly as it opened."
**********************************************
"Long day?"
Having followed her from downstairs - where Lucy had nearly jumped out of her skin when Amy suddenly materialized less then a foot in front of her face - she watched with some amusement as the blonde threw herself face down onto her lover's bed with a strangled "ARRGH!" sound. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Be glad you weren't there," Amy's muffled voice told her. "Be very, very glad. It just kept going on and on and on... So many questions, so much discussion, and arguing about who was doing what, what needed to be done, why it needed to be done, how to do it... Frankly, I never expected-" She bit off what she'd been about to say - it was still too early to talk about it, after all - and instead went with something more-or-less equally true. Turning over, she looked up at Lucy and said, "I never thought getting everyone to accept Kali's presence would be the easier part."
Lucy chuckled and sat down next to her as Amy absently kicked off her shoes to land with quiet thumps on the carpet. "At least it's over now, right?"
"Right. And it did need to be done. I just hate having to delay things. I mean, I know it takes time to do something this big the right way, and I want to get it done correctly, but... Well, I've been waiting for this for about a decade, now. I know I should be able to wait a little while longer, but..."
"But you want it done now," Lucy finished, tugging up on Amy's shirt so that she could trail her fingers over her girlfriend's stomach. Amy smiled reflexively. "I get that. But maybe I can... distract you, for a while?" She swung her leg over to straddle Amy's waist, then leaned down to give her a sensuous kiss.
"Well," Amy gasped out when they eventually broke for air. "If you put it that way..."
Yeah, this was way, WAAAAYYYY overdue. I really am sorry. The muse will be aptly chastised, I assure you. And as my little way of making it up to you, well... *grins* I may have a little surprise for you, later on.
Next time - Amy and Kali infiltrate a Centre-owned vault in search of information and evidence, but find something unexpected; Janet finally gets to see the Lair; and Lucy pays another visit to The Centre.
It's still Amy/Lucy, with some Max/Dominique. ^_^
Title: Pantheon
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: R, or MA, whichever you understand better. ^_^
Comments: Obviously, this is an AU, but it'll be a bit more alternate then most, as this fic's Amy has something of a hidden past, which is in the process of shaking quite a number of worlds as it surfaces. And if you thought there was angst in my last fic... *evil chuckle*
I'm really, REALLY sorry about the delay. Forgive me? :)
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.' That belongs to the fabulously talented Angela Robinson. 'The Pretender' was created by Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle. (No idea who owns it now, as I don't think it's TNT anymore...)
Chapter Twenty-Two
"You know," Amy began as they drove to the hotel where 'Agent Kaur' was staying, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you since I first saw you on the street."
"Oh?" Kali inquired coolly as she piloted the vehicle through the busy city streets. There were a number of things that she could think of that Sekhmet- that Amy would want to ask her about, and none of them were things she overly wanted to talk about just then.
But Amy surprised her again. "What happened to your dot?"
Kali pulled into the parking lot, shut off the car, and turned to frown at Amy. "What?"
"On your forehead," Amy elaborated, tapping the spot in question on her own head. "You always had a dot there while we were at The Centre, even if it got washed off while you were on a mission."
Trust her to fixate on that, Kali thought with a vague sense of amusement. "I don't need it anymore," was all she said before getting out of the car and heading inside, Amy right behind her.
Once they were in her room, Amy continued speaking as if the conversation had never stopped. "It's funny. No one there would have pegged you as even especially caring about your heritage or past, and yet, of all of us, you were the one who held on to the most." A playful glare. "Not that you made it easy to find that out."
"Hi, Jarod," Sekhmet all but chirped as she slipped into the room where he usually ended up working on whatever simulation The Centre had him doing, Amaterasu and Kali right behind her.
He wasn't working on anything today - or, at least, nothing that couldn't be interrupted. He probably just thought it was a slow day - not every day could be jam-packed full of lengthy and draining simulations, after all - but the truth was he was actually going to be a part of an intelligence gathering drill Mr. Raines had them running.
Part of her felt bad about that. She liked Jarod, after all, and didn't feel right about lying to him, or using him in such a manner. On the other hand, this meant she'd be able to spend time with him without having to sneak around, or worry about learning new and different ways to injure, maim, or kill people.
She already knew a depressingly large amount, and yet they just kept giving her more.
"Amy? What are you doing here?" It wasn't that he was upset to see her, by any means, but... Well, she usually didn't just randomly show up during the middle of the day. And he'd never seen the other two girls with her before.
"Is it okay that we're here?" Sekhmet asked - she should try to think of herself as Amy, she knew, but Amy wouldn't have been able to lie to him... not yet, at least - a wholly convincing expression of concern on her face. "I don't want to get you in trouble. We were just getting so bored..."
"It's fine, but..." He shook his head. Clearly, he didn't want to get them in trouble. And for a second, he looked as if he could tell something wasn't quite right. Then he shook it off, asking, "Who are your friends?"
More like 'friend', she mused privately. Amaterasu gave him a little wave, seeming almost to hide behind Sekhmet. "This is Tomoko," she said, then smiled and added, "You'll have to forgive her. She's a little shy." She turned to the remaining member of the group, momentarily at a loss. Amaterasu didn't mind using her real name for the exercise - indeed, she seemed to be happy for the opportunity to pretend to be just a regular girl - but Kali... Well, she didn't actually know Kali's name, and had no idea what alias she might want to choose. And she could hardly just make something up for her. Jarod would notice right away that something was wrong.
That was why he'd been chosen for the 'little experiment' they were doing. If they could fool a Pretender who was trained to see through appearances and get inside people's heads, then - in theory - they'd be able to fool anyone.
Of course, she had no doubt that Raines was getting some kind of use out of Jarod besides that. He wasn't the sort of man to let such an opportunity go by.
"My name's Kali."
Well, THAT interrupted her musings fairly easily.
She was turned away from Jarod, so he didn't see the incredulous 'what the hell are you doing?' look that she shot Kali, who looked back, utterly unperturbed.
"Interesting name," Jarod commented.
Kali smiled faintly. "Not like it was my choice. Blame my parents' lack of creativity. I do."
Amaterasu - or perhaps she should say Tomoko - chose that moment to shyly ask Jarod what he'd been up to before they'd interrupted. As Jarod lead her over to the table where he'd been working and began explaining about the complex differential equations he'd been working on for something or other - and Tomoko was doing a splendid job of pretending not to understand more then three words out of ten - Sekhmet hissed to Kali, "Are you trying to sabotage this mission?"
Kali tensed, eyes flashing coldly. "How dare you?"
"No, how dare YOU? Are you insane? Why didn't you give him your name?"
"I did." The 'you idiot' was left unsaid, but heavily implied.
"No, your name. Like I'm Amy, she's Tomoko, and you're...?"
"Kali."
Sekhmet blinked. "Your parents actually named you Kali?" That would be one HELL of a coincidence, if it was true.
A glimmer of annoyance stole across Kali's face. "Of course not," she whispered. "But my name is Kali now."
"But what was it before?"
"Before doesn't matter."
"But you DO remember?"
"What if I do?"
"Then perhaps you should have used that, instead. Because this IS a pretend, right? As in, not real? As in, not something you should use your codename for? And if before doesn't matter, and you don't consider that your name anymore, why not use it?" Kali, to her surprise, actually seemed to be considering her words. Taking a chance, she leaned in close and whispered into Kali's ear, "You can't let them take that from you, you just can't."
Kali gave her an unreadable look when she pulled away. "Maybe you should worry more about yourself. If your attitude or sentimentality don't get you killed, your weakness will." That said, she plastered a calm, vaguely inquisitive look on her face and moved to join Amaterasu and Jarod.
Not for the first time, it occurred to Sekhmet that the bindi dot on Kali's forehead made for a highly tempting target.
"I still say you obsessed too much about our birth names," Kali told her. "They had nothing to do with what was going on there. What we'd become."
"Remembering our pasts helped us avoid completely becoming their puppets," Amy countered.
"What's in a name?"
"Knowing who you are, where you came from... That's important."
Kali sighed. "And did reconnecting with your family help you?"
"I haven't." At Kali's sudden look, she continued, "I still don't remember who they were, where I grew up... even my original last name. I haven't found my family, yet." She was quiet for several moments while Kali opened a suitcase and removed a black box that looked vaguely like a Camden Clamshell Binder Box, then placed her hand on the biometric scanner on the top. As it popped open with a hiss of decompressing air, Amy quietly said, "I did find yours."
Kali froze.
"It's been about a month since the last time I spoke in with your parents," she continued, "but last time I checked in, they were doing fine. Well," she corrected, "as fine as two people can be after their only daughter was taken from them at such a young age."
"What did you tell them?" The question was delivered in a surprisingly even tone, but Amy knew her well enough to sense the undercurrent of anxiety there.
"That I'd known their daughter while growing up, that despite everything the bastards who'd taken us had done she remained one of the strongest people I'd ever met, and that she never forgot about them." All of which was entirely true. "I didn't give them any specifics." She paused. "If you wanted, I could tell you how to get in touch with them."
The silence in the room was almost tangible.
Finally, Kali spoke up, her gaze still locked on the open box she'd been looking into the entire time. "I can't handle that now. There's too much going on."
"Fair enough," Amy said with a nod. She could accept that for the time being. But she would bring it up again later, because out of all the children that The Centre had taken for Pantheon, one of them deserved to be reunited with their family. She could also tell that Kali wasn't quite ready just yet, though. "What do you have there, anyway?"
Shaking off whatever she'd been thinking, Kali straightened up, once again all business. "Files on who you should be expecting tomorrow, as well as the security precautions they plan on taking, where they'll be staying, and for how long."
"So, pretty much everything we need to know," Amy said, taking the thick stack of files. No wonder the NSA (well, presumably it was them) had given her something like that to transport them in. "Except, of course, for the minor detail of how we keep The Centre from noticing all this going on. There's only so much Dom will be able to do to keep them from distracted, after all, given how badly they want me and Jarod. And everything else we've done today may keep most of them busy with other things, but you know how stubborn Parker can be."
Kali smiled faintly. "Which is why Jarod is not going to be here, remember?"
Amy suddenly smirked. "Well, that and the fact that he's pretended to be one kind of government agent or another so often over the years that chances are too high that someone there would recognize him."
"Think he can handle it?"
"While I'm sure he'll hate having to be separated from his family so soon after just finding them again, staying five steps ahead of Parker and friends is something he's been doing for years. He'll be fine."
**********************************************
Dominique was slowly pulled out of a rather pleasant dream - Max featured heavily in it - by the extremely annoying sound of a phone ringing about a foot away from her head.
She awoke to the unusual sensation of being alone in her bed. She couldn't quite remember the last time that had happened - except for the rare occasion when the guy - or girl - she'd been with had slipped out early. She found she didn't quite like it, and the fact that she'd been pulled out of a dream about Max just made it worse. Yet when she'd considered finding a man to take to her bed early that evening... For the first time in longer then she could remember, the notion had actually felt wrong, so much so that she'd felt vaguely ill until she'd gotten 'home'.
More ringing. Oh, right. The damned phone.
Blinking sleepily at the clock - which told her in no uncertain terms that it was FAR too early for such nonsense - she picked up the receiver. "What eez eet?" she grumbled.
"Get dressed, Princess. We've got a lead on Jarod. Meet us at the airport," Parker's voice informed her. The line disconnected before she could say anything.
That was just as well, she supposed. Unless their lead was 'He's in LA with Amy and the D.E.B.S.', her plaid-clad teammates were probably up to something. She wished she could call in and find out what was going on, but that would be too risky.
Nothing for it but to keep an eye on Parker and her team, then.
She brewed a quick cup of (very, very black) coffee while she got dressed and cleaned up. She was going to need it if she wanted to be able to get to the airport without crashing into a telephone pole or something.
The coffee wasn't terribly good, but it did the job, and she managed to arrive there in one piece. She wasn't even the last one there - that ended up being Sydney, but even Parker didn't get upset with him for that. He was, after all, distinctly older then the rest of them, and thus needed a bit more sleep. Besides, it wasn't all that easy to get mad at Sydney.
Though if anyone could manage it, Dominique thought, it was Miss Parker.
The plane was lifting off before she asked, "Where are we going?"
Parker stifled a yawn, and Dominique felt some satisfaction that at least she wasn't the only one barely awake. "Boston. Evidently he's investigating some kind of collapse in one of their tunnels."
The other side of the country from LA. How subtle. "Wake me up when we get there," she said, resting her head against the window and closing her eyes.
She was asleep again before she heard whatever Parker's reply may have been.
**********************************************
The D.E.B.S. Academy was a study in organized chaos.
Plaid-skirted girls dashed every which way, while suited members of the FBI were only just barely more professional. Homeland Security agents lingered around, studying anyone who looked like they were somewhere they shouldn't have been.
It wasn't any kind of surprise. While the plan to take down The Centre had been formed over many years, between the many revisions that had been caused by the presence of additional pretenders and Lucy Diamond - who had taken Amy's advice and stayed away, just in case someone from one of the other agencies decided she was just too tempting a target - and the fact that everything was happening on such short notice, the conference was a fairly last-minute event.
With so many people arriving, they'd decided to hold it in the large auditorium, while refreshments would be offered in the cafeteria later on. The remaining members of Sector One were distributing the assignments Petrie had handed down. Amy would end up being on stage, she knew, as she was one of the foremost experts on The Centre there. Fortunately, she wouldn't be the only one, nor would she have to go too deeply into detail about her time there. So she was hurrying to finish briefing Raquel's team before she had to get back. "Agents from Homeland Security, the NSA, and the FBI are already here," she continued as they walked down the center aisle in the auditorium. "The people from the CIA should be arriving shortly, and once everything's secure, they'll be beaming in the various congressmen and state government officials" Which would be important, because she wanted to talk to some of them later. Not that she was going to say anything about that, though.
"The CIA isn't allowed to act within America's borders," Raquel pointed out. "I take it, then, that the scope of The Centre's operations are larger then we were previously informed?"
"Since I don't recall ever informing you of how large they were, it would seem that that has to be true," Amy said with a raised eyebrow. "I think I even see Lisa from Interpol over there," she added, gesturing vaguely off to the right.
"Wow. Miss Petrie must be taking this seriously," Raquel commented, fighting down a smile. Even her team had heard about the senior-most DEB's curious rivalry with the mysterious Lisa. She caught Kathleen craning her neck, trying to figure out which one was her.
"She is. So should you." They were almost at the front by then, where some of the NSA delegation was milling about, discussing something in low tones.
"You know we will," Monica interjected. "It's just thaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH-mmph!" Without bothering to look at her, Amy had clamped a hand firmly over Monica's mouth to shut her up. Still trying to scream, Monica stared wide-eyed at Kali, who was looking politely back at her.
When Monica finally ran out of air and tried to inhale to continue screaming, she discovered that Amy had covered her nose, too. "If I let go, will you stay quiet?" she asked neutrally, eyes flat and uninterested, as if it didn't much matter to her either way. Raquel, Kathleen, and Bethany looked on uncertainly. No one had pulled their guns only because they all knew that would be a spectacularly bad idea around so many armed people from another agency, but Kali's presence was obviously confusing them (understandably), and Amy's cold reaction wasn't helping.
Monica nodded frantically, and Amy released her. While the redhead greedily sucked in air, Raquel, giving Amy an accusatory look, demanded, "What is she doing here?"
Amy shook her head. "Petrie's idea, not mine. You'll have to ask her." That took them aback, as she knew it would.
"You know them, Kaur?" one of the NSA agents asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Who?" Bethany asked, speaking for the first time in the past few minutes.
"Agent Mausami Kaur," Kali said professionally, giving them a nod of greeting. "And no, not exactly. Which is all I'm permitted to tell you." Evidently used to that sort of thing from her, none of the other NSA agents commented on it further.
Raquel stared at her, lips pressed together into a thin, almost white line. While it was true that Kali had only attacked them because they'd gotten in the way of her achieving her objective - killing Lucy Diamond - and they were now interesting in accomplishing the same goal, she still wasn't happy about this. Monica was all but hiding behind the rest of them, Kathleen was rubbing her formerly broken arm as if feeling a phantom pain, and Bethany looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Fortunately, they'd all be scattered around the room while the meeting was going on, and afterwards they wouldn't have to deal with her unless they actually wanted to - for whatever reason THAT might be - but still... She resolved to keep an eye on the Indian assassin.
As if sensing her thoughts, Kali looked over and they locked eyes. Raquel felt a shiver of... something... go up her back and looked away.
Silently, she prayed this would all be over soon.
**********************************************
"What do you mean, 'we missed him'?"
Broots cringed a bit at the harsh tone in Parker's voice, but Diabolique spoke up before he could say anything. "I would think that after so many years of doing so, eet would not surprise you anymore."
That did absolutely nothing to improve on her mood, so Broots hurriedly spoke up before the French woman made it worse. "Apparently, he left about a week ago. I guess this is one of the last places he was before he left to go help his sister."
"One of?"
Swallowing, he said, "Well, the new foreman said that after he helped get the old one arrested, he said something about heading north."
"Well, that's nice and specific," Parker groused as she glared aimlessly at the bustling city street. Boston was a nice city, Broots decided. And it certainly held a lot of history. He made a mental note to bring Debbie up there one of these days for a little vacation. "If we came all this way for nothing..."
"I believe Monsieur Sydney can give us a clue as to where we are to go next."
Sydney? Broots frowned. Sydney may have kinda-sorta helped Jarod elude pursuit in the past, but even Jarod wouldn't just tell him what he was doing at any given moment - it would be far too easy for The Centre to overhear it, after all. So why would... Oh. Perhaps because Sydney was heading their way with a hockey stick clutched in his hand.
Parker raised an eyebrow. "Thinking of taking up a new hobby, Syd?"
Sydney permitted a small smile of amusement, as ever not taking offense from her tone. He was never scared of her, either. That was a trick, Broots knew, that he very much needed to learn. "It seems that Jarod left this for us in the foreman's office." He passed it to Diabolique.
The French woman studied it for a long moment, then frowned. "Ze Toronto Maple Leafs?"
"That is north, I guess," Broots said with a shrug, then tried - and almost succeeded - to keep from cringing at the venomous look Parker shot him.
"Let's get going, then. I have better things to do with my time then this." She shot Diabolique a look. "Got your passport?"
"Several."
Broots wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not.
**********************************************
So far so good, Amy decided. It hadn't taken quite as long as she'd expected to brief the various law enforcement agencies - she waved to an acquaintance in MI6 - about The Centre, though hammering out just which agency was doing what had taken a couple of hours all by itself, and that had already been - more or less - established ahead of time. She could understand the need to be thorough, though, and shared their desire to make sure there weren't any slip-ups, so that The Centre people would not be able to wrangle their way out of this one.
That was actually a good part of what they were going to be doing next, as the Congressmen and State government officials they'd gathered were ones that were NOT, in any way, on The Centre's payroll.
She had something she wanted to discuss with them, too, she thought, her eyes resting briefly on Kali before continuing to sweep the room. She just hoped it didn't get her fired. Or arrested. Though that last was unlikely, considering... Well, just considering.
Kali herself actually hadn't been mentioned once. When they'd been filling the audience in on what a pretender was, Jarod had been mentioned at length, and Major Charles had even been kind enough to answer a few questions. Emily, apparently still interested in the field of journalism, had been sitting in the audience, taking notes.
A LOT of notes.
Raquel, to her credit, had managed not to glare at Kali the entire time. It was obvious that she was keeping a close eye on the not-quite-NSA agent, though, and once they finally broke for lunch, Amy was only a little surprised when Raquel dropped all pretenses and made a beeline right for Kali. She didn't have time to think about it, though, as she had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to the conference room to meet with the Senators, Governors, and the like.
Hopefully, Max wouldn't kill her for this.
Raquel was only vaguely aware that Amy had left, her attention entirely focused on her quarry. "I need to speak with you for a moment," she told Kali, then headed down another hallway, away from the cafeteria. Sure, she was hungry, but she didn't want an audience for this.
She ducked into an empty classroom, completely unsurprised when a vaguely amused-looking Kali got there and shut the door behind her a few moments later. "What?"
"I don't particularly like you," Raquel began.
"I don't particularly care."
"You walk around here claiming to be an NSA agent right after viciously assaulting a number of D.E.B.S. and trying to kill someone in federal protection."
"You shouldn't have gotten in my way, then."
"But that's the thing," Raquel continued, ignoring Kali's comments. "There was an entire house full of us, and one of you. Even with your tampering with the security systems, it shouldn't have been so easy for you to do it, yet you mowed through us like it was nothing."
"Is that what this is about? You're upset because I embarrassed you?"
"No." A pause. "I need you to tell me how you did it."
"Excuse me?"
"This isn't because I felt so helpless - or useless - while you smacked my team around, or because I'm nervous just being in the same room as you. I'm not looking for some kind of apology - I know better then that. I want you to show me how to fight you."
For the first time in the conversation, Kali actually looked surprised. "You expect me to try and teach someone who has every reason to hate me how to take me down? Amy and I trained together for years, and even she only ever beat me once."
"I'm not asking you to teach me how to beat you," Raquel interrupted. "I know that'll never happen. I'm asking you to teach me how to fight you." And there was a difference there, if only in her head.
Kali studied her, and she had to fight not to start squirming. "I'm not a teacher. Why not ask Amy?"
"Because she'd hold back! Don't misunderstand me, I have no desire to be smacked around. I have to be in top shape for when we take down The Centre, after all. But that's exactly why I need you to do this. I'm supposed to be my team's leader, but if I can't even inconvenience someone who's tearing through them right in front of me, my combat skills obviously aren't good enough. And since we may well end up working together, I suspect you'll want someone at least moderately competent there with you. So, whether either of us like it or not, it has to be you that teaches me."
She fell silent, and Kali stared at her, unblinking, for long enough to make her nervous. Actually, she'd gotten nervous again about three seconds into it, so it really went on for almost a minute after long enough to make her nervous. Finally, she spoke up. "All right." It sounded like what she was saying went against her better judgment, but it was an agreement. "I know you have a training room two floors up from here. Meet me there in five hours. The conference should be over by then." Without another word, she turned and left the classroom.
Raquel finally allowed her legs to fold, dropping into one of the chairs, crossing her arms over the desk and laying her head down on them. She moaned quietly. If just having a civil conversation with the woman was that bad, how was she supposed to get through an entire lesson, especially one where she'd basically given the ruthless killing machine permission to do whatever she wanted to her?
This, she decided, was going to be a loooooooooong day.
**********************************************
"You did not actually expect to find 'im 'ere, did you?" Diabolique asked the visibly frustrated Parker. "You knew zat he 'ad been 'ere before he went to Seattle, after all."
"Yes," Parker ground out. The hell of it was that Frenchie was absolutely right. She had known that the whole time. "But was it really too much to hope for that there'd be some kind of clue here?"
"Obviously, he left in quite a hurry," Sydney said as they examined the small apartment Jarod had been staying in. It was in disarray, drawers showing evidence that he'd been rushing when he'd packed up to leave. And yet, there was something almost... staged, about it. He decided to keep quiet about his suspicions, however, until he knew more.
"Obviously." Had there been any more acid in that word, the apartment's floor would have a large hole developing in it. "Broots, call in the Sweepers. Have them pack all this up and ship it back to The Centre. Maybe Cousin Itt can do something with it."
"You are assuming, of course, zat ze Tower will not want 'im to try and discover zomething about whoever attacked Hale International?" Diabolique asked, a raised eyebrow the only emotion visible on her China Doll face.
The young French woman was something of a curiosity to him. The file he'd read, while being rather incomplete, had hinted at a cold and calculating monster behind that pretty face. Yet, the more time she spent with them, the more it became clear that, while very good at keeping her emotions repressed, she did feel them. At times, she seemed like she'd rather be anywhere else, and most of the staff at The Centre was terrified of her, but having spent so much time amongst monsters, he had learned how to recognize them, and she just did not give off any of the signs, even though she was trying to.
The surprise wasn't that she wanted to be considered a heartless monster, of course, as, given her young age and current status, it may well have been the only way she could keep the sharks at bay. No, the surprise was that, given even what little her file had revealed about her, she'd somehow kept her humanity at all.
He wouldn't call her on it. That she'd somehow kept her soul this long was an impressive feat, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten about that," Parker assured her, interrupting his musings. "But once he gives us some kind of clue on that, they'll want us to keep trying to find Jarod, believe me."
**********************************************
"I can't believe you did that."
Amy walked out of the conference room, a confused mass of emotions. Giddy excitement seemed to be at the top of the heap for the moment, though. Max, at her side, was shaking her head in incredulity. "Oh, it can't be that much of a surprise," Amy countered, not quite ready to let herself start smiling... yet.
"Are you kidding me? You just... just..."
"Just what?" Janet asked as she intercepted them in the hall. She hated being left out of meetings, but at least this time it had only been because she'd been needed elsewhere. Max had only gotten to be there because she was the senior-most team leader at the academy.
Max opened her mouth as if to answer, paused for several seconds, then shut it again, shaking her head. "It's a long story. Amy can tell you about it later. I need to go discuss something with the DGSE people." Sparing Amy one last odd look, she walked off down the hall.
Before Janet could say anything, Amy spoke up. "When Max said later, she wasn't kidding. I really can't say a word about it until the whole thing is finalized, not even to the people that it directly affects. But as soon as I can say anything about it, you'll be one of the first people I tell, I promise."
Well, it wasn't like Janet wanted to encourage her to disobey orders and divulge evidently classified material. And that did at least sound fair. "All right. I just..."
"-Hate being excluded, I know."
Of course she knew. "It's not like you're singling me out, I know that."
"Of course not. Now, we should probably get going, too. There's still plenty to be done to make sure this conference closes as smoothly as it opened."
**********************************************
"Long day?"
Having followed her from downstairs - where Lucy had nearly jumped out of her skin when Amy suddenly materialized less then a foot in front of her face - she watched with some amusement as the blonde threw herself face down onto her lover's bed with a strangled "ARRGH!" sound. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Be glad you weren't there," Amy's muffled voice told her. "Be very, very glad. It just kept going on and on and on... So many questions, so much discussion, and arguing about who was doing what, what needed to be done, why it needed to be done, how to do it... Frankly, I never expected-" She bit off what she'd been about to say - it was still too early to talk about it, after all - and instead went with something more-or-less equally true. Turning over, she looked up at Lucy and said, "I never thought getting everyone to accept Kali's presence would be the easier part."
Lucy chuckled and sat down next to her as Amy absently kicked off her shoes to land with quiet thumps on the carpet. "At least it's over now, right?"
"Right. And it did need to be done. I just hate having to delay things. I mean, I know it takes time to do something this big the right way, and I want to get it done correctly, but... Well, I've been waiting for this for about a decade, now. I know I should be able to wait a little while longer, but..."
"But you want it done now," Lucy finished, tugging up on Amy's shirt so that she could trail her fingers over her girlfriend's stomach. Amy smiled reflexively. "I get that. But maybe I can... distract you, for a while?" She swung her leg over to straddle Amy's waist, then leaned down to give her a sensuous kiss.
"Well," Amy gasped out when they eventually broke for air. "If you put it that way..."
Yeah, this was way, WAAAAYYYY overdue. I really am sorry. The muse will be aptly chastised, I assure you. And as my little way of making it up to you, well... *grins* I may have a little surprise for you, later on.
Next time - Amy and Kali infiltrate a Centre-owned vault in search of information and evidence, but find something unexpected; Janet finally gets to see the Lair; and Lucy pays another visit to The Centre.