Pantheon - Chapter Ten
As promised, here's the next chapter.
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*
Thought you'd figured out just where this story was going? You better think again. *evil grin*
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...)
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Chapter Ten
Sneaking into The Centre itself had been child's play. For people who were supposedly paranoid about security and secrecy, they sure did take chances. Any idiot could have wandered in.
Well, any idiot that made a habit of breaking into heavily-guarded, top secret installations, anyway.
Lucy shook her head as she made her way down one of the ventillation shafts. She had considered taking a look through the houses of some of the top people - that Parker woman Amy had mentioned, for one - but she knew that what she was looking for wouldn't be there. These people didn't take that much of their work home with them.
If she tried to find out every single thing that was illegal, immoral, or reprehensible, she'd be stuck there for weeks, or even months. Besides, from what Amy had said, the D.E.B.S. were already trying that. No, what she was after was the Pantheon files - and, if there was time, anything else Pretender-related she could find. That Jarod guy had gotten her curious, and she might even discover something useful.
She hadn't told Scud, or anyone, what she was planning because, well, she wasn't sure how they would have reacted to the notion of Lucy Diamond helping the D.E.B.S. (Admittedly, she was doing it more to help Amy then anyone else clothed in plaid, but she'd still be turning over evidence to the cops.) Though if they knew the kinds of things that these Centre people got up to...
Even so, helping the 'good guys' felt a little funny.
She'd hacked into their computer with surprising ease - all the more so because Scud was the one who usually did that sort of thing, since he was better at it then she (or just about anyone else) was - in a small office that didn't look like it was used much (which suited her just fine). She hadn't expected to be able to find what she was looking for that easily - if they were that negligent regarding their security, there was no way they'd still be around after all this time - but a look through the maintenance records gave her a clue where the files might be.
It seemed that, for reasons unknown to the computer, someone had requisitioned a "pulley cart" (probably the company's nickname for those low to the ground carts that were used to transport things around whose name she herself could never remember) for a long period of time a couple of days ago, as well as a very expensive and fragile (if the warnings she read were any judge) piece of equipment to copy "DSAs", whatever those were. And, most tellingly, one specific maintenance person was requested to periodically clean a storage room on SL-10 that the computer insisted was empty and off-limits.
That was her current destination. She wondered, as she crawled through the seemingly endless ventillation duct, if any of them knew just how obvious they let it be that they were hiding something. All you had to do was know what to look for.
Then again, from what Amy had said, these people - and she used the term very loosely - didn't sound like they paid all that much attention to the little guys
Which suited her just fine. She stifled a sneeze as a dust bunny made a determined effort to get up her nose, and kept moving.
**********************************************
'Diabolique' breezed through The Centre unchallenged. It was relatively early, yet, and based on the patterns she'd observed, Parker and her team wouldn't be in for some time, yet.
Which was good, because she had no idea how she would explain why she was removing one of the sets of copied DSAs. Claiming they were for the Triumvirate might work for a time, but given how closely some of those at The Centre actually worked with them, chances were too high that someone might eventually ask what they thought of the DSA discs they'd never received.
No, she wanted to secure a set for the D.E.B.S. unnoticed, which meant getting up earlier then she liked, but such were the sacrifices that duty required.
She wondered, with some amusement, just what Max would say if she knew about this. She was the one who always woke up first, after all, and traditionally ended up waking the rest of them through whatever means necessary. And always complaining that she should not have boys upstairs, or after curfew, or what not. She'd actually looked it up some time ago, and the regs were rather vague on that point. Nevertheless, Max never seemed happy to find her in bed with a young man.
It was a pity that she was straight, really. There had been times over the years that Dominique would have liked nothing more then to show Max just why the boys were always so exhausted that they couldn't leave until the morning.
No, no, she shouldn't be thinking about this. It would just lead to the thoughts of Amy that she was trying to supress.
Still...
She rode the empty elevator down to SL-10, then made her way down the hall until she got to the unmarked storage room the Sweeper had told her about. She held her breath as she swiped her access card, but it got her in with no problem. Inside the room she found box after box of paper files, as well as some that muct have been full of DSAs.
It took her a moment to realize that the rows of boxes looked a little uneven, as if someone had been through them all and put them back with a little too much haste to get it just right.
Another moment later, and she realized that she was not alone. Peering up at her through dusty bangs from her position behind a large stack of boxes was a very familiar face, though not one she'd ever expected to see this close up, in person.
Lucy Diamond.
"What are you doing here?" they asked in unison as Dominique shut the door behind her hastily.
She couldn't help feeling a jolt of fear as she did so, but this was not exactly a conversation she wanted anyone from The Centre overhearing. And even they didn't bug their storage rooms. "I should place you under arrest," she said flatly, her usual disaffected facade covering her terror quite nicely. Only Amy had ever survived a direct confrontation with this woman, and she was a trained assassin.
"That would be a bit hard to explain to your 'bosses' out there, though, wouldn't it?" Lucy asked, looking wholly unintimidated.
"Zey would be even more displeased if they learned you had been reading their files. And you do not want to know what they do to those that displease them."
Lucy held up something that looked like a melding between a briefcase and a small suitcase, which Dominique recognized as a DSA reader. "I already do. Which is why I know you're not going to stop me from leaving with this."
Merde. How much had she already watched? For that matter, what had Amy told her that had prompted this? She was surprised to find that the idea that Amy had told a criminal about what had happened to her before her own team actually stung. Amy had hinted that something had happened between the two of them, true, but...
Taking her life into her hands, she stalked forward and got right in Lucy's face. "Leave her alone."
Diamond looked confused. "What?"
"Amy. Leave her alone. I don't know what kind of sick, twisted game you're playing with her, but I will not allow it to continue."
Her expression hardened. "I'm not playing any games." She tried to brush by and head for the door.
"She deserves better then you."
That stopped her dead in her tracks. "Don't pretend like any of you D.E.B.S. actually care about what she deserves. Or wants, even." Chocolate brown eyes narrowed. "Or is it that you think you deserve better?"
"I am not an internationally wanted criminal," Dominique pointed out. "What kind of relationship do you believe the two of you will have?"
She hated it when the D.E.B.S. started voicing her innermost worries. "That's not really any of your concern, is it?"
"Amy is my friend," the French D.E.B. said solemnly. "Zat makes it my concern."
Lucy took a deep breath. Calm, be calm... "I can appreciate your wanting to look out for her," she said slowly, "but I'm not going to hurt her." A pause. "And she doesn't want you."
Dominique smirked. "Zen why did she kiss me?" At Lucy's shocked silence, her smirk widened. "Did she not mention that?"
"She did, actually." Or she'd been trying to, anyway, Lucy realized belatedly, when she'd rushed out of her lair without stopping to listen to what Amy was saying. "But you didn't let it go with just a kiss, did you?" Because even the little that Amy had told her about Dominique made that seem... unlikely.
Dominique shrugged. "She was not objecting," she said with a little smugness. Then the world seemed to spin crazily, and she was suddenly looking up at the ceiling, her head starting to hurt from where it had slammed into the floor, as she tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
The sudden aching throb in her jaw and Lucy absently shaking the sting out of her hand provided some clues.
Lucy seemed to recover with annoying swiftness, judging by the speed with which she planted a foot on Dominique's chest to keep her in place and produced a gun from somewhere. She must have set down the DSA reader, because she suddenly had a free hand to retrieve Dominique's own gun from her pocket. "Killing me will not change anything," she managed to wheeze out. "All eet will do is prove all those who view you as evil right. Do you believe Amy will want to be with you then?"
"When did I say I was going to kill you?" Lucy asked ominously. She bent down to look Dominique in the eyes. "Now, listen to me carefully, because I am not going to say this again. I know what you're doing here, and I respect it. Hell, I'm even helping you do it. But if you don't want the D.E.B.S. to have to insert a new undercover agent, you will back. The fuck. Off. Amy is fully capable of making up her own mind without you acting like a crackwhore desperate for a fix. If you care about her as much as you claim, and this isn't just some 'Oh, hey, here's someone I've never screwed before!' kind of thing, you should respect her enough to abide by her decision, whatever that may be."
"Will you?"
"If she doesn't choose me? Yes." But she also didn't see that happening, given Amy's greeting when she had surprised Lucy yesterday.
Dominique might have had something else to say, but approaching voices made her keep her mouth shut. "So, the Colorado lead was another dead end?"
Lyle. "Let me up," She hissed to Lucy. She did NOT want Lyle to see her in this position, lest he start to get... ideas.
Surprisingly, Lucy obliged - though she did keep her gun trained on her. Perhaps Amy had told her about Lyle, as well?
"Oh, we found something in Colorado, all right," Miss Parker's voice replied. "It just wasn't Jarod."
"And what does that mean?" Lyle shot back.
"It means that if you try to distract or mislead me so you can capture Jarod yourself one more time, our family tree is going to have a branch trimmed off."
"Well, believe it or not, Sis, this time I had nothing to do with it."
"That would be 'not'."
Lucy sighed. She'd really been hoping the false leads she'd planted would keep them out of town for a while longer. And was she imagining it, or were they getting closer?
"It was a nice try, though. Get me out of town while you move the files I've been looking for? What, did you or Frenchie decide I just didn't need to know anything more about this Amy?"
Damn. They were getting closer.
"No-"
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out where you'd moved them to?"
"I didn't move them."
"Well, someone did, and I just bet that you know who. And why." There was a beep as one of them swiped their card.
"I didn't ask why. That's not the best question to ask around here, sometimes. Forgive me for not expecting some kind of Spanish Inquisition, but it seemed more important that they be moved before either Amy or Jarod found out about them." The door opened, and the two walked in, stopping dead and staring at Lucy.
Lucy, for her part, simply couldn't resist. It was just too good an opportunity. "NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!" Her other gun had swung around to point at the two.
There was a dumbfounded silence as they all stared at her, Dominique managing not to snicker through sheer force of will. "What, no nice red uniform?" Parker managed to eventually ask.
"It's at the dry cleaner's."
"Ah." A brief pause. "Now, who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?"
"Just passing through." Lucy swiftly raised the gun that had been trained on Dominique and shot out the lights, shoved Dominique to the side, and dove for her precious cargo under a hail of bullets from Parker and Lyle. A flash from the painfully bright light on the camera which she'd been using to photograph some of the more incriminating papers, hastily fished out of her pocket, blinded them long enough for her to knock them down and slip out into the corridor. Even with the omni-present security cameras, she'd be long gone before anyone could even think to look for her.
"Son of a bitch!" Parker grumbled, rubbing her watering eyes. This, really, was the last thing she needed. "Who the hell was that?"
"Are you certain you wish to know?"
The now-familiar French accented voice sounded curiously tight. Parker blinked her eyes a few more times, until she could see Diabolique holding a hand over a spot on her upper left arm, blood trickling from under her hand. She also looked a little banged up, and Parker had to admit to a totally inappropriate feeling of satisfaction that the high and mighty Triumvirate wondergirl hadn't done any better then the rest of them. "Of course I do. She broke into The Centre, shot you-"
"Your concern is touching," Diabolique interrupted, eyes narrowing. "But she did not shoot me. Indeed, had she not pushed me out of ze way, I am not certain I would be standing here, having this conversation."
Parker opened her mouth to tell the girl not to get so uptight because she'd been accidently hit in that sort of situation, stopped, considered who else had been shooting, and shut it with an audible click.
Diabolique noticed, but didn't say anything. "She 'as already told you who she is. Look down."
Laying there on the floor where a DSA reader and backpack full of papers and discs had been, were several diamonds, glittering in the dim light from the hall.
**********************************************
"Lucy Diamond?!"
Mr. Parker sounded both upset and very confused, and no one could really blame him. The idea of an internationally famous master criminal and supervillain breaking into The Centre for information on a project that had ended nine years previous was definitely bizzarre. Nonetheless, it had happened, so now they had to deal with it. "I was surprised, too," Miss Parker told him honestly. "But she did all but give us her autograph."
"But what was she doing here at all?" a rough, growly, almost wheezing voice demanded. Raines. Between the growing temptation to just shoot him for everything that he'd done and the fact that he was more familiar with Triumvirate personnell then anyone else at The Centre (though Lyle was a close second, she supposed), Diabolique had been purposely avoiding him as much as she was able. She'd schooled herself not to react to him, but she had to admit that there was something disquieting about his features. With his bald head, perpetually narrowed eyes that seemed to be permenantly set on "creepy", and clear plastic tube under his nose that lead to the oxygen tank he took with him everywhere on squeeking wheels, she could see him easily giving any child nightmares, even without everything he had had done to Amy and the rest.
And that wasn't even counting his personality.
She wished Lucy hadn't taken her gun. Even if she wasn't allowed to just shoot him, she would have felt better having the option, in case things went wrong.
She sighed and crossed her arms, ignoring the twinge in her left arm under the bandage that had been hastily applied before the meeting. "There have been rumors starting to circulate lately zat one of ze D.E.B.S. faced Lucy Diamond and survived," she began. "And zat Diamond captured her, but she escaped several days later."
"And let me guess which one..." Lyle said with a sigh of his own.
Even Miss Parker winced at the glare Diabolique leveled at him. Diabolique clearly didn't believe she'd been shot - though fortunately, thanks to the unlikely assistance of Lucy Diamond, it had been more of a graze then anything else - by accident, and Parker had to wonder if there was something to that. If Lyle viewed her as trying to take over his position... Well, he'd done a lot worse to get and keep his current spot on The Centre's hierarchy. "Eet does explain 'ow she was able to do eet, non?"
Her accent seemed to intensify when she got upset, Parker had noticed. She felt a pang of sympathy for the girl, which she kept buried. This was neither the time nor the place. "Diamond must have gotten something out of her that lead her here."
"And now she's escaped with who knows what kind of information!" her father nearly roared, more at the room in general then at her.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it," Lyle assured him.
"You couldn't 'handle it' when you had her outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked," Raines said, anger coloring his tone. Not that this was anything new. Anger almost always colored his tone. Or irritation. Sometimes just an edge of warning. She'd only ever heard him speaking in anything resembling a happy tone of voice during his fake - and, thankfully, brief - "conversion" to a 'saintly bible thumper' several years ago, when he'd needed to avoid the Triumvirate's wrath.
"Well, this time I won't really be involved," Lyle began, but Parker cut him off almost immediately.
"That certainly would raise the chances of success," she said with a smirk.
"Not as much as you staying out of it will, judging by your track record," he shot back. While she simmered, he looked at their father. "I thought I'd give Weddle a call," he said, refering to a known assassination broker. "He should have someone that can handle this easily."
Diabolique didn't look terribly pleased by this idea, and Parker couldn't blame her. She'd gotten used to the idea that The Centre occasionally had dealings with criminals - she didn't overly like it, but she'd accepted it - but to bring in someone from the outside to solve one of their problems...? She didn't see it ending well.
If her father felt the same way, he didn't let it show. "Fine, do it. And make sure he sends the very best he's got, hear me? We need this taken care of quickly and quietly."
After the meeting was over, Diabolique disappeared almost immediately. No doubt she was anxious to get away from Lyle, something for which Parker could hardly blame her.
She often felt much the same urge, herself.
**********************************************
Amy blinked sleepily and stretched out, feeling and hearing quiet cracks as she she worked out the kinks. She leaned into the pillow and inhaled deeply, Lucy's wonderful scent filling her nose. Absently, she wondered where her-
Wait.
Sne sniffed again, tentatively. Yes, the bed smelled like Lucy. Which, given that she'd thrown her sheets in the laundry before they'd headed out on a mission, shouldn't be possible. She opened her eyes, closed them, counted to ten, and opened them again. Stubbornly, the scene in front of her refused to change.
She was in Lucy's bed.
She couldn't say why now, but it had seemed like such a good idea at the time, she now recalled. After telling Scud her story, she'd just felt so drained that the mere prospect of travelling back to her place seemed like FAR too much effort, and the safety and security that Lucy's bed offered had been so very enticing...
So, stupidly, she'd stayed.
Shaking herself awake, she told herself that she could curse herself out later. Right now, she had to get her things together and get back before anyone noticed her missing. She could always say she'd gotten up early and gone for a walk, she decided. Max would understand her needing some exercise and fresh air to clear her head, after the events of the previous day. Janet already knew where she'd gone.
She'd barely poked her head out the door of Lucy's bedroom when she heard some kind of commotion downstairs. Spotting a hurrying henchman nearby, she waved him over. "What's going on down there?"
He hesitated. Talking to or taking orders from a D.E.B. went against the grain for him, but during her initial stay, Lucy had made it quite clear that she was to get anything she asked for. "Delivery from Stern," he said grudgingly. "Miss Diamond was supposed to be here to accept it, and he won't hand it over otherwise."
Her mind raced. Stern. Weapons dealer. Exotic weapons dealer. Whatever it was he had, no doubt it was very, very illegal. But she was also certain that Lucy would really want the whatever. And Lucy wasn't there because she was helping her out... "I didn't know they'd ever met."
"They haven't. I don't think they've even talked on the phone."
Amy smiled. "Really?"
**********************************************
Scud ran a hand through his hair, trying to contain his mounting frustration. Stern was, after all, only following the terms that Lucy herself had established, namely that he wasn't to hand over the ludicrously powerful laser canon to anyone but her, personally. Unfortunately, his sticking so closely to their agreement meant that he'd ignored her message to push the delivery back a day, and Scud wasn't sure when she was going to be getting back. He had just taken a breath in preparation of trying to explain - again - that Lucy just wasn't available at the moment when he was interrupted.
"I thought I told you to come by tomorrow," a voice said from the stairs. A familiar voice. Just not one he expected to hear now. He'd suspected Amy had stayed the night, but what was she thinking? He turned to look...
And stopped dead, jaw dropping open in shock.
Descending the stairs was, indeed, Amy Bradshaw, though if he hadn't known that ahead of time, he'd have been hard pressed to identify her. She was dressed head to toe in black, complete with a black leather duster he hadn't seen since the last time Lucy had-
Oh, she wasn't serious. She couldn't be serious.
"Miss Diamond," Stern said with a respectful nod. He paused a moment. "I didn't think you were blonde."
By then Amy had reached Scud's side and stopped, hands on her hips. "My hair color at any given time is none of your concern," she said simply, her facial mannerisms so like Lucy's that it was eerie. "What is is that when I say 'tomorrow', I mean tomorrow."
"I understand that, Miss Diamond, but tomorrow would not have worked. And since I'm here now, and you're here now..."
Amy gave a growling sigh that sounded so familiar it sent chills up the spines of those nearby, and glared. "Fine. Put it over there and get out," she said, pointing somehow at the exact spot that Lucy had picked out for it.
Wordlessly, Stern directed in a moving crew, and the huge crate containing the laser canon was brought in and deposited on the floor. The forklift they'd borrowed was parked back in its corner. "A pleasure doing business with you, Miss Diamond," Stern said as they left. "I hope you'll keep me in mind for any additional requests in the future."
"We'll see," Amy said noncommitally. Lucy's crew held their collective breath until the truck started back up and drove away, then released it in a massive sigh of relief.
Scud looked at her, dumbfounded. "What- How did you- What was-?"
Amy laughed, finally 'breaking character'. "It's what I do, remember?" Now that she'd finally found the missing piece of the puzzle, she'd at last been able to get inside Lucy's head. "Pretending to be a master criminal is a new one for me, though," she admitted.
"Why do it, then?" He may have been confused, but not enough for it to have escaped his attention that she'd just pretty much broken the law, and helped the 'bad guys' get their hands on a very powerful weapon.
"Because I owed her. Because she would have done the same for me." She abruptly giggled. "And because it was kind of fun."
**********************************************
Amy felt a measure of relief that no one really questioned her abssence that morning. Her explanation that she'd gone out for a walk had been accepted almost without question.
Almost.
"You went out for a walk... wearing that?" Max had asked, eyebrow raised.
Amy had looked down at herself and mentally cursed. In her haste to get back, she'd forgotten to change out of her "Lucy" clothes. "I thought I'd try something different today," she'd said smoothly, twirling around to fully show it off. "What do you think?"
Max hadn't really answered, which Amy interpreted as meaning that Max had accepted what she herself viewed as a kind of lame explanation, and they'd moved on.
The only good thing - if it could be viewed as such - about the fact that their current long range mission gave them large amounts of free time was that they'd had ample opportunity to get their schoolwork done. Amy had already handed in her (somewhat revised) thesis paper, and now that finals were also over and done with... Well, they didn't have anything school-related to worry about. Except maybe the upcoming Endgame dance.
Nobody really wanted to think about that, though. Amy and Janet would have a difficult time bringing their choices for dates, and Max... Well, she just didn't talk about it. Amy thought she knew why, but she wasn't going to say. Max would just be embarrassed, whether she was right or wrong, and embarrassed Max became angry and vindictive Max far too easily.
To the surprise of everyone, Mr. Phipps had gotten them a small chocolate cake to celebrate them completing their last set of finals ever. It was divided easily into four pieces, and by unspoken consensus the fourth was covered up and placed in the fridge to be saved for Dom. Hopefully, she'd stop in for a visit (or debriefing) soon, Amy thought, because otherwise someone might decide to help themselves to it, as the cake was very good.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the phone rang. Amy absently tapped the speakerphone button. "D.E.B.S. Amy speaking."
"Eez everyone there?" Dominique sounded both hushed and hurried, as if she didn't want anyone to hear her, even though she was on a secure line.
"Dominique? What's wrong?" Max asked as she and Janet drifted over.
A heavy sigh flowed over the phone lines. Dominique proceeded to detail the events of that morning, stunning her teammates with ease.
"Lucy went there?" Amy asked at one point. Well, looked like she and Scud had been right. Lucy had done something stupid.
"Oui. Of more import, however, is the fact that Lyle has called a gentleman named Weddle and asked him to have someone take care of her. Supposedly, he will be sending his best."
"That must have cost them extra," Max mused, eyes narrowed as she took all of that in, as well as the fact that Amy looked very upset.
"We can't let this happen," Amy said firmly. "If Lucy succeeded in acquiring information about The Centre, I want to know what it is, and I think Ms. Petrie will, too. And this definitely solves the problem of how we could have gotten to much information without exposing Dominique."
"You think Lucy Diamond will just turn it over to us?" Max asked incredulously. "You don't even know why she went after it in the first place."
Amy headed for the front door. "She went after it because of me. You know I have nightmares all the time, and I told you already that she was interested in them. She must have picked up enough to start asking questions, which directed her to The Centre." All of which, strictly speaking, was completely true. "I think she knows something about having to watch your family die and being forced into a life you didn't really want, don't you?"
Max couldn't really respond to that. It was certainly a different view then she'd ever looked at Diamond with, but then, Amy was the one who could pretend and get inside people's heads, and she had been researching Diamond for a long while for her term paper, even before the kidnapping. "Even so, that doesn't mean she'll accept our help. She may not even believe us. And we'd have to find her, first."
"Then we'll have to split up and start looking." Amy paused at the door and looked back, her new outfit lending her an even more serious air then she was already projecting. "I know what The Centre does to those that find out things about them that they feel shouldn't be found out. No one deserves that." She headed out the door, and by the time Max reached it, Amy had gotten into the car and driven off.
Driven off, Max thought suddenly, as if she knew exactly where to go.
**********************************************
Amy had done some quick mental math when Dom had told her how long ago Lucy had left, and presuming that Lucy had a super-sonic aircraft at her disposal (which she was), she would have touched down no more then thirty, forty minutes ago. After being cramped up in a cockpit for so long, she would doubtlessly want to stretch her legs before heading back to her lair.
Amy parked the car on a side street, in case any of the D.E.B.S. decided to track it, and started running in the direction she was certain Lucy would be coming from. There were only a few airstrips she might have used, after all, and there was at least one spot that she might be able to intercept Lucy in no matter which of them she used.
The problem with that, she decided as she ran, was that whoever Weddle was sending could likely figure that out just as easily. It was, of course, entirely possible that whoever it was wasn't exactly close, and it would be a while before they showed up. But she knew The Centre, and there was no way they would want to wait, and give Lucy more of a chance to dissemenate the information then could be avoided. So whoever it was must have been relatively close.
Just their luck, really.
As she'd expected, she caught sight of Lucy on Thornton Ave, not far from the BUR. It wasn't really a surprise that Lucy had access to a private airstrip near there. She paused, giving herself time to catch her breath, then walked up behind Lucy and pulled onto a lesser used side street.
Another searing kiss washed away Lucy's complaints at Amy scaring her like that again. It really was a very effective way to avoid an argument, Amy decided. Not to mention very pleasant.
"Couldn't wait to see me again, huh?" Lucy teased once Amy let her go - and once her brain was working well enough again for speech. She suddenly frowned in confusion. "Is that my coat?"
"I'll explain later. Right now, we have to get you out of sight," Amy said, tugging Lucy along and looking around warily as they walked.
"Why? What's going on?"
Amy sighed. "The Centre took your little visit as well as you might expect."
"What, they sent someone after me?" Lucy wasn't too worried. The Centre might be formidible when dealing with children or law abiding citizens such as Jarod, but she'd seen their security people in action, and had NOT been impressed.
"In a manner of speaking. They called a guy named Weddle, and he's supposedly sending his best after you."
That... was a little more worrying, given what she'd heard about Weddle and his people. "But you could take whoever it is, right?"
"One on one? Yeah, probably," Amy answered, sounding distracted. "But it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to worry about your safety, too."
"Back to the lair, then?"
Another sigh. "For the time being, it's as good as anywhere.
**********************************************
Max snuck quietly down an alley. She'd lost Amy's trail several streets ago, but she knew the Perfect Score had to be somewhere nearby. Finding one person in a city the size of Los Angeles was a rather daunting prospect, but finding one - or two - very familiar faces within a relatively small area wasn't quite as bad.
She'd found the car a few blocks back, and guessed Amy must have been heading for BUR. It made a kind of sense, she supposed. Amy must have used her supposed genius intellect to figure out where Lucy would be flying into, and probably thought she would be less threatened by a single appeal from someone she already knew. Max didn't necessarily disagree, but given that Diamond had already kidnapped Amy once before - which was even more of an impressive feat now that she knew about Amy's history - well...
Amy would be getting some backup, whether she wanted it or not.
After a few inquiries to passersby, she'd found out which way Amy had gone. It was a good thing she hadn't stopped to change anywhere, Max reflected. Her current outfit made her hard to miss, especially in this weather.
Wasn't Amy hot in that coat?
Pushing the question aside for the moment - not the least because she was afraid the answer would be in some way related to some kind of endurance training The Centre had put Amy through - Max focused on finding her missing teammate. If she'd been heading towards the airport, and wanted to find somewhere that she was sure she could find someone on foot...
With a mental shrug, she headed down North Ontario in the direction of Thornton. She dashed down the street, keeping her gun out of sight, and scanned the crowd. No, no familiar blond heads. She quickly ran down to West Empire, ignoring any strange looks she may have gotten out of habit. Amy would no doubt be in a hurry, so she'd just bring Lucy down the first side street she could. Max settled in to wait, allowing her breathing to slow down to normal. She couldn't do the same with her pulse, though, adrenaline surging through her at the thought of the upcoming conflict. She didn't care how good Weddle's assassin was, they could take him.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned just in time to see a fist flying at her face with incredible speed.
Then everything went black.
**********************************************
Amy stopped dead in her tracks just before they reached the end of the street, suddenly hyper-alert senses taking everything in.
Lucy didn't get it. She hadn't seen or heard anything, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. She'd just opened her mouth to ask Amy - quietly - what was going on when Amy suddenly tackled her, knocking her to the ground behind a parked car.
Not even a second later, bullets ricocheted off of both the building behind where they'd been standing and the car that now sheltered them.
Note to self: Never question Amy's instincts.
Amy raised her gun above the top of the hood and fired off a quick volley, which brought the incoming fire to a halt. Amy didn't look happy, however, so Lucy guessed she must not have thought she hit whoever was shooting at them. They must have been clear for the moment, though, because Amy took her hand and yanked her roughly to her feet. "Come on!" Stumbling for a second, Lucy nonetheless ran after Amy, who charged across the street, ignoring the pandemonium that had resulted from the brief firefight. People got out of their way in a hurry as they charged through the abruptly stilled traffic, and past the few accidents that had resulted from people suddenly screeching to a halt without warning. "Max?"
Lucy blinked in susprise. Sure enough, there was the Sector One team leader, unconscious on the ground. Amy quickly knelt to check her pulse, then rose, evidently satisfied. "We can't leave her-" Amy abruptly broke off and swung around, training her gun on a young woman who was, in turn, aiming a gun at them.
Lucy wasn't too worried. Amy was very good, after all, and she'd gotten the drop on the other woman.
Amy froze.
O...kay, this wasn't good at all, by any means, but there was still hope, as, for whatever reason, the other woman had stopped dead, as well. She looked either Asian of Middle Eastern, but it was the 9-mil in her hands that had really caught Lucy's attention. "Sekhmet?" the woman asked, sounding stunned.
And that was very not good, though she supposed it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that The Centre had had someone who knew about Pantheon sent. Which made her surprise a bit confusing, but The Centre may not have felt that she needed to know who she might run into. Or, more likely, they hadn't expected Amy to rush to her defense.
Amy looked like she was trying to say something, but was too shocked to get it out. Finally, though, she managed a shocked, "Kali?"
Oh, fuck. For a split second, she entertained the hope that Amy was either kidding or horribly mistaken, but she knew that couldn't be true. Especially since 'Kali' had also recognized Amy. Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is your fruit... No. Umm, Hail Mary, filled with Grace... No, that's not it, either! Oh, why couldn't her parents have picked a religion with easier to remember prayers?
Multiple sirens began blaring in the distance, and Kali, after a moment's indecision, suddenly took off.
Amy... let her.
Lucy watched in concern as her girlfriend sank to her knees by Max's side, still staring vacantly off into the distance, shell-shocked. Crouching down near her, Lucy shook her shoulder. "Come on, Amy pull it together. We have to get out of here."
"W-what?" Amy blinked up at her in confusion, then shook her head, coming at least part way back to Earth. "This... this is going to require a change in strategy," she said, still sounding shaken.
"I know you said she's good," Lucy began, mentally judging how close the sirens were getting. "I get that. But you're better."
Amy snorted without amusement. "No, you don't get it. We fought a lot, over the years we knew each other. Training, sparring... what have you. I may have come close to matching her, maybe even more-or-less tied her once or twice. But I've never beaten her." She looked into Lucy's eyes, trying to fully convey the message she was attempting to get across. "Never."
Lucy stared back. Oh, hell, from the top: Hail Mary, full of grace...
________________________________________________________________________
I think this is the longest chapter yet, and without any flashbacks, even! :)
So, surprised? 8) I warned you, didn't I? ;)
And I could hardly have a picture for Amaterasu late in her life and not have one for Kali. I was looking through the Bollywood site, and when I saw this photo, I said to myself, "She's perfect!"
So, with no further ado, I give you Meghna Naidu as Kali
Next time - A flashback-heavy chapter, as more of Amy and Kali's dysfunctional relationship is revealed.
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*
Thought you'd figured out just where this story was going? You better think again. *evil grin*
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 Ten
Sneaking into The Centre itself had been child's play. For people who were supposedly paranoid about security and secrecy, they sure did take chances. Any idiot could have wandered in.
Well, any idiot that made a habit of breaking into heavily-guarded, top secret installations, anyway.
Lucy shook her head as she made her way down one of the ventillation shafts. She had considered taking a look through the houses of some of the top people - that Parker woman Amy had mentioned, for one - but she knew that what she was looking for wouldn't be there. These people didn't take that much of their work home with them.
If she tried to find out every single thing that was illegal, immoral, or reprehensible, she'd be stuck there for weeks, or even months. Besides, from what Amy had said, the D.E.B.S. were already trying that. No, what she was after was the Pantheon files - and, if there was time, anything else Pretender-related she could find. That Jarod guy had gotten her curious, and she might even discover something useful.
She hadn't told Scud, or anyone, what she was planning because, well, she wasn't sure how they would have reacted to the notion of Lucy Diamond helping the D.E.B.S. (Admittedly, she was doing it more to help Amy then anyone else clothed in plaid, but she'd still be turning over evidence to the cops.) Though if they knew the kinds of things that these Centre people got up to...
Even so, helping the 'good guys' felt a little funny.
She'd hacked into their computer with surprising ease - all the more so because Scud was the one who usually did that sort of thing, since he was better at it then she (or just about anyone else) was - in a small office that didn't look like it was used much (which suited her just fine). She hadn't expected to be able to find what she was looking for that easily - if they were that negligent regarding their security, there was no way they'd still be around after all this time - but a look through the maintenance records gave her a clue where the files might be.
It seemed that, for reasons unknown to the computer, someone had requisitioned a "pulley cart" (probably the company's nickname for those low to the ground carts that were used to transport things around whose name she herself could never remember) for a long period of time a couple of days ago, as well as a very expensive and fragile (if the warnings she read were any judge) piece of equipment to copy "DSAs", whatever those were. And, most tellingly, one specific maintenance person was requested to periodically clean a storage room on SL-10 that the computer insisted was empty and off-limits.
That was her current destination. She wondered, as she crawled through the seemingly endless ventillation duct, if any of them knew just how obvious they let it be that they were hiding something. All you had to do was know what to look for.
Then again, from what Amy had said, these people - and she used the term very loosely - didn't sound like they paid all that much attention to the little guys
Which suited her just fine. She stifled a sneeze as a dust bunny made a determined effort to get up her nose, and kept moving.
**********************************************
'Diabolique' breezed through The Centre unchallenged. It was relatively early, yet, and based on the patterns she'd observed, Parker and her team wouldn't be in for some time, yet.
Which was good, because she had no idea how she would explain why she was removing one of the sets of copied DSAs. Claiming they were for the Triumvirate might work for a time, but given how closely some of those at The Centre actually worked with them, chances were too high that someone might eventually ask what they thought of the DSA discs they'd never received.
No, she wanted to secure a set for the D.E.B.S. unnoticed, which meant getting up earlier then she liked, but such were the sacrifices that duty required.
She wondered, with some amusement, just what Max would say if she knew about this. She was the one who always woke up first, after all, and traditionally ended up waking the rest of them through whatever means necessary. And always complaining that she should not have boys upstairs, or after curfew, or what not. She'd actually looked it up some time ago, and the regs were rather vague on that point. Nevertheless, Max never seemed happy to find her in bed with a young man.
It was a pity that she was straight, really. There had been times over the years that Dominique would have liked nothing more then to show Max just why the boys were always so exhausted that they couldn't leave until the morning.
No, no, she shouldn't be thinking about this. It would just lead to the thoughts of Amy that she was trying to supress.
Still...
She rode the empty elevator down to SL-10, then made her way down the hall until she got to the unmarked storage room the Sweeper had told her about. She held her breath as she swiped her access card, but it got her in with no problem. Inside the room she found box after box of paper files, as well as some that muct have been full of DSAs.
It took her a moment to realize that the rows of boxes looked a little uneven, as if someone had been through them all and put them back with a little too much haste to get it just right.
Another moment later, and she realized that she was not alone. Peering up at her through dusty bangs from her position behind a large stack of boxes was a very familiar face, though not one she'd ever expected to see this close up, in person.
Lucy Diamond.
"What are you doing here?" they asked in unison as Dominique shut the door behind her hastily.
She couldn't help feeling a jolt of fear as she did so, but this was not exactly a conversation she wanted anyone from The Centre overhearing. And even they didn't bug their storage rooms. "I should place you under arrest," she said flatly, her usual disaffected facade covering her terror quite nicely. Only Amy had ever survived a direct confrontation with this woman, and she was a trained assassin.
"That would be a bit hard to explain to your 'bosses' out there, though, wouldn't it?" Lucy asked, looking wholly unintimidated.
"Zey would be even more displeased if they learned you had been reading their files. And you do not want to know what they do to those that displease them."
Lucy held up something that looked like a melding between a briefcase and a small suitcase, which Dominique recognized as a DSA reader. "I already do. Which is why I know you're not going to stop me from leaving with this."
Merde. How much had she already watched? For that matter, what had Amy told her that had prompted this? She was surprised to find that the idea that Amy had told a criminal about what had happened to her before her own team actually stung. Amy had hinted that something had happened between the two of them, true, but...
Taking her life into her hands, she stalked forward and got right in Lucy's face. "Leave her alone."
Diamond looked confused. "What?"
"Amy. Leave her alone. I don't know what kind of sick, twisted game you're playing with her, but I will not allow it to continue."
Her expression hardened. "I'm not playing any games." She tried to brush by and head for the door.
"She deserves better then you."
That stopped her dead in her tracks. "Don't pretend like any of you D.E.B.S. actually care about what she deserves. Or wants, even." Chocolate brown eyes narrowed. "Or is it that you think you deserve better?"
"I am not an internationally wanted criminal," Dominique pointed out. "What kind of relationship do you believe the two of you will have?"
She hated it when the D.E.B.S. started voicing her innermost worries. "That's not really any of your concern, is it?"
"Amy is my friend," the French D.E.B. said solemnly. "Zat makes it my concern."
Lucy took a deep breath. Calm, be calm... "I can appreciate your wanting to look out for her," she said slowly, "but I'm not going to hurt her." A pause. "And she doesn't want you."
Dominique smirked. "Zen why did she kiss me?" At Lucy's shocked silence, her smirk widened. "Did she not mention that?"
"She did, actually." Or she'd been trying to, anyway, Lucy realized belatedly, when she'd rushed out of her lair without stopping to listen to what Amy was saying. "But you didn't let it go with just a kiss, did you?" Because even the little that Amy had told her about Dominique made that seem... unlikely.
Dominique shrugged. "She was not objecting," she said with a little smugness. Then the world seemed to spin crazily, and she was suddenly looking up at the ceiling, her head starting to hurt from where it had slammed into the floor, as she tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
The sudden aching throb in her jaw and Lucy absently shaking the sting out of her hand provided some clues.
Lucy seemed to recover with annoying swiftness, judging by the speed with which she planted a foot on Dominique's chest to keep her in place and produced a gun from somewhere. She must have set down the DSA reader, because she suddenly had a free hand to retrieve Dominique's own gun from her pocket. "Killing me will not change anything," she managed to wheeze out. "All eet will do is prove all those who view you as evil right. Do you believe Amy will want to be with you then?"
"When did I say I was going to kill you?" Lucy asked ominously. She bent down to look Dominique in the eyes. "Now, listen to me carefully, because I am not going to say this again. I know what you're doing here, and I respect it. Hell, I'm even helping you do it. But if you don't want the D.E.B.S. to have to insert a new undercover agent, you will back. The fuck. Off. Amy is fully capable of making up her own mind without you acting like a crackwhore desperate for a fix. If you care about her as much as you claim, and this isn't just some 'Oh, hey, here's someone I've never screwed before!' kind of thing, you should respect her enough to abide by her decision, whatever that may be."
"Will you?"
"If she doesn't choose me? Yes." But she also didn't see that happening, given Amy's greeting when she had surprised Lucy yesterday.
Dominique might have had something else to say, but approaching voices made her keep her mouth shut. "So, the Colorado lead was another dead end?"
Lyle. "Let me up," She hissed to Lucy. She did NOT want Lyle to see her in this position, lest he start to get... ideas.
Surprisingly, Lucy obliged - though she did keep her gun trained on her. Perhaps Amy had told her about Lyle, as well?
"Oh, we found something in Colorado, all right," Miss Parker's voice replied. "It just wasn't Jarod."
"And what does that mean?" Lyle shot back.
"It means that if you try to distract or mislead me so you can capture Jarod yourself one more time, our family tree is going to have a branch trimmed off."
"Well, believe it or not, Sis, this time I had nothing to do with it."
"That would be 'not'."
Lucy sighed. She'd really been hoping the false leads she'd planted would keep them out of town for a while longer. And was she imagining it, or were they getting closer?
"It was a nice try, though. Get me out of town while you move the files I've been looking for? What, did you or Frenchie decide I just didn't need to know anything more about this Amy?"
Damn. They were getting closer.
"No-"
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out where you'd moved them to?"
"I didn't move them."
"Well, someone did, and I just bet that you know who. And why." There was a beep as one of them swiped their card.
"I didn't ask why. That's not the best question to ask around here, sometimes. Forgive me for not expecting some kind of Spanish Inquisition, but it seemed more important that they be moved before either Amy or Jarod found out about them." The door opened, and the two walked in, stopping dead and staring at Lucy.
Lucy, for her part, simply couldn't resist. It was just too good an opportunity. "NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!" Her other gun had swung around to point at the two.
There was a dumbfounded silence as they all stared at her, Dominique managing not to snicker through sheer force of will. "What, no nice red uniform?" Parker managed to eventually ask.
"It's at the dry cleaner's."
"Ah." A brief pause. "Now, who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?"
"Just passing through." Lucy swiftly raised the gun that had been trained on Dominique and shot out the lights, shoved Dominique to the side, and dove for her precious cargo under a hail of bullets from Parker and Lyle. A flash from the painfully bright light on the camera which she'd been using to photograph some of the more incriminating papers, hastily fished out of her pocket, blinded them long enough for her to knock them down and slip out into the corridor. Even with the omni-present security cameras, she'd be long gone before anyone could even think to look for her.
"Son of a bitch!" Parker grumbled, rubbing her watering eyes. This, really, was the last thing she needed. "Who the hell was that?"
"Are you certain you wish to know?"
The now-familiar French accented voice sounded curiously tight. Parker blinked her eyes a few more times, until she could see Diabolique holding a hand over a spot on her upper left arm, blood trickling from under her hand. She also looked a little banged up, and Parker had to admit to a totally inappropriate feeling of satisfaction that the high and mighty Triumvirate wondergirl hadn't done any better then the rest of them. "Of course I do. She broke into The Centre, shot you-"
"Your concern is touching," Diabolique interrupted, eyes narrowing. "But she did not shoot me. Indeed, had she not pushed me out of ze way, I am not certain I would be standing here, having this conversation."
Parker opened her mouth to tell the girl not to get so uptight because she'd been accidently hit in that sort of situation, stopped, considered who else had been shooting, and shut it with an audible click.
Diabolique noticed, but didn't say anything. "She 'as already told you who she is. Look down."
Laying there on the floor where a DSA reader and backpack full of papers and discs had been, were several diamonds, glittering in the dim light from the hall.
**********************************************
"Lucy Diamond?!"
Mr. Parker sounded both upset and very confused, and no one could really blame him. The idea of an internationally famous master criminal and supervillain breaking into The Centre for information on a project that had ended nine years previous was definitely bizzarre. Nonetheless, it had happened, so now they had to deal with it. "I was surprised, too," Miss Parker told him honestly. "But she did all but give us her autograph."
"But what was she doing here at all?" a rough, growly, almost wheezing voice demanded. Raines. Between the growing temptation to just shoot him for everything that he'd done and the fact that he was more familiar with Triumvirate personnell then anyone else at The Centre (though Lyle was a close second, she supposed), Diabolique had been purposely avoiding him as much as she was able. She'd schooled herself not to react to him, but she had to admit that there was something disquieting about his features. With his bald head, perpetually narrowed eyes that seemed to be permenantly set on "creepy", and clear plastic tube under his nose that lead to the oxygen tank he took with him everywhere on squeeking wheels, she could see him easily giving any child nightmares, even without everything he had had done to Amy and the rest.
And that wasn't even counting his personality.
She wished Lucy hadn't taken her gun. Even if she wasn't allowed to just shoot him, she would have felt better having the option, in case things went wrong.
She sighed and crossed her arms, ignoring the twinge in her left arm under the bandage that had been hastily applied before the meeting. "There have been rumors starting to circulate lately zat one of ze D.E.B.S. faced Lucy Diamond and survived," she began. "And zat Diamond captured her, but she escaped several days later."
"And let me guess which one..." Lyle said with a sigh of his own.
Even Miss Parker winced at the glare Diabolique leveled at him. Diabolique clearly didn't believe she'd been shot - though fortunately, thanks to the unlikely assistance of Lucy Diamond, it had been more of a graze then anything else - by accident, and Parker had to wonder if there was something to that. If Lyle viewed her as trying to take over his position... Well, he'd done a lot worse to get and keep his current spot on The Centre's hierarchy. "Eet does explain 'ow she was able to do eet, non?"
Her accent seemed to intensify when she got upset, Parker had noticed. She felt a pang of sympathy for the girl, which she kept buried. This was neither the time nor the place. "Diamond must have gotten something out of her that lead her here."
"And now she's escaped with who knows what kind of information!" her father nearly roared, more at the room in general then at her.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it," Lyle assured him.
"You couldn't 'handle it' when you had her outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked," Raines said, anger coloring his tone. Not that this was anything new. Anger almost always colored his tone. Or irritation. Sometimes just an edge of warning. She'd only ever heard him speaking in anything resembling a happy tone of voice during his fake - and, thankfully, brief - "conversion" to a 'saintly bible thumper' several years ago, when he'd needed to avoid the Triumvirate's wrath.
"Well, this time I won't really be involved," Lyle began, but Parker cut him off almost immediately.
"That certainly would raise the chances of success," she said with a smirk.
"Not as much as you staying out of it will, judging by your track record," he shot back. While she simmered, he looked at their father. "I thought I'd give Weddle a call," he said, refering to a known assassination broker. "He should have someone that can handle this easily."
Diabolique didn't look terribly pleased by this idea, and Parker couldn't blame her. She'd gotten used to the idea that The Centre occasionally had dealings with criminals - she didn't overly like it, but she'd accepted it - but to bring in someone from the outside to solve one of their problems...? She didn't see it ending well.
If her father felt the same way, he didn't let it show. "Fine, do it. And make sure he sends the very best he's got, hear me? We need this taken care of quickly and quietly."
After the meeting was over, Diabolique disappeared almost immediately. No doubt she was anxious to get away from Lyle, something for which Parker could hardly blame her.
She often felt much the same urge, herself.
**********************************************
Amy blinked sleepily and stretched out, feeling and hearing quiet cracks as she she worked out the kinks. She leaned into the pillow and inhaled deeply, Lucy's wonderful scent filling her nose. Absently, she wondered where her-
Wait.
Sne sniffed again, tentatively. Yes, the bed smelled like Lucy. Which, given that she'd thrown her sheets in the laundry before they'd headed out on a mission, shouldn't be possible. She opened her eyes, closed them, counted to ten, and opened them again. Stubbornly, the scene in front of her refused to change.
She was in Lucy's bed.
She couldn't say why now, but it had seemed like such a good idea at the time, she now recalled. After telling Scud her story, she'd just felt so drained that the mere prospect of travelling back to her place seemed like FAR too much effort, and the safety and security that Lucy's bed offered had been so very enticing...
So, stupidly, she'd stayed.
Shaking herself awake, she told herself that she could curse herself out later. Right now, she had to get her things together and get back before anyone noticed her missing. She could always say she'd gotten up early and gone for a walk, she decided. Max would understand her needing some exercise and fresh air to clear her head, after the events of the previous day. Janet already knew where she'd gone.
She'd barely poked her head out the door of Lucy's bedroom when she heard some kind of commotion downstairs. Spotting a hurrying henchman nearby, she waved him over. "What's going on down there?"
He hesitated. Talking to or taking orders from a D.E.B. went against the grain for him, but during her initial stay, Lucy had made it quite clear that she was to get anything she asked for. "Delivery from Stern," he said grudgingly. "Miss Diamond was supposed to be here to accept it, and he won't hand it over otherwise."
Her mind raced. Stern. Weapons dealer. Exotic weapons dealer. Whatever it was he had, no doubt it was very, very illegal. But she was also certain that Lucy would really want the whatever. And Lucy wasn't there because she was helping her out... "I didn't know they'd ever met."
"They haven't. I don't think they've even talked on the phone."
Amy smiled. "Really?"
**********************************************
Scud ran a hand through his hair, trying to contain his mounting frustration. Stern was, after all, only following the terms that Lucy herself had established, namely that he wasn't to hand over the ludicrously powerful laser canon to anyone but her, personally. Unfortunately, his sticking so closely to their agreement meant that he'd ignored her message to push the delivery back a day, and Scud wasn't sure when she was going to be getting back. He had just taken a breath in preparation of trying to explain - again - that Lucy just wasn't available at the moment when he was interrupted.
"I thought I told you to come by tomorrow," a voice said from the stairs. A familiar voice. Just not one he expected to hear now. He'd suspected Amy had stayed the night, but what was she thinking? He turned to look...
And stopped dead, jaw dropping open in shock.
Descending the stairs was, indeed, Amy Bradshaw, though if he hadn't known that ahead of time, he'd have been hard pressed to identify her. She was dressed head to toe in black, complete with a black leather duster he hadn't seen since the last time Lucy had-
Oh, she wasn't serious. She couldn't be serious.
"Miss Diamond," Stern said with a respectful nod. He paused a moment. "I didn't think you were blonde."
By then Amy had reached Scud's side and stopped, hands on her hips. "My hair color at any given time is none of your concern," she said simply, her facial mannerisms so like Lucy's that it was eerie. "What is is that when I say 'tomorrow', I mean tomorrow."
"I understand that, Miss Diamond, but tomorrow would not have worked. And since I'm here now, and you're here now..."
Amy gave a growling sigh that sounded so familiar it sent chills up the spines of those nearby, and glared. "Fine. Put it over there and get out," she said, pointing somehow at the exact spot that Lucy had picked out for it.
Wordlessly, Stern directed in a moving crew, and the huge crate containing the laser canon was brought in and deposited on the floor. The forklift they'd borrowed was parked back in its corner. "A pleasure doing business with you, Miss Diamond," Stern said as they left. "I hope you'll keep me in mind for any additional requests in the future."
"We'll see," Amy said noncommitally. Lucy's crew held their collective breath until the truck started back up and drove away, then released it in a massive sigh of relief.
Scud looked at her, dumbfounded. "What- How did you- What was-?"
Amy laughed, finally 'breaking character'. "It's what I do, remember?" Now that she'd finally found the missing piece of the puzzle, she'd at last been able to get inside Lucy's head. "Pretending to be a master criminal is a new one for me, though," she admitted.
"Why do it, then?" He may have been confused, but not enough for it to have escaped his attention that she'd just pretty much broken the law, and helped the 'bad guys' get their hands on a very powerful weapon.
"Because I owed her. Because she would have done the same for me." She abruptly giggled. "And because it was kind of fun."
**********************************************
Amy felt a measure of relief that no one really questioned her abssence that morning. Her explanation that she'd gone out for a walk had been accepted almost without question.
Almost.
"You went out for a walk... wearing that?" Max had asked, eyebrow raised.
Amy had looked down at herself and mentally cursed. In her haste to get back, she'd forgotten to change out of her "Lucy" clothes. "I thought I'd try something different today," she'd said smoothly, twirling around to fully show it off. "What do you think?"
Max hadn't really answered, which Amy interpreted as meaning that Max had accepted what she herself viewed as a kind of lame explanation, and they'd moved on.
The only good thing - if it could be viewed as such - about the fact that their current long range mission gave them large amounts of free time was that they'd had ample opportunity to get their schoolwork done. Amy had already handed in her (somewhat revised) thesis paper, and now that finals were also over and done with... Well, they didn't have anything school-related to worry about. Except maybe the upcoming Endgame dance.
Nobody really wanted to think about that, though. Amy and Janet would have a difficult time bringing their choices for dates, and Max... Well, she just didn't talk about it. Amy thought she knew why, but she wasn't going to say. Max would just be embarrassed, whether she was right or wrong, and embarrassed Max became angry and vindictive Max far too easily.
To the surprise of everyone, Mr. Phipps had gotten them a small chocolate cake to celebrate them completing their last set of finals ever. It was divided easily into four pieces, and by unspoken consensus the fourth was covered up and placed in the fridge to be saved for Dom. Hopefully, she'd stop in for a visit (or debriefing) soon, Amy thought, because otherwise someone might decide to help themselves to it, as the cake was very good.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the phone rang. Amy absently tapped the speakerphone button. "D.E.B.S. Amy speaking."
"Eez everyone there?" Dominique sounded both hushed and hurried, as if she didn't want anyone to hear her, even though she was on a secure line.
"Dominique? What's wrong?" Max asked as she and Janet drifted over.
A heavy sigh flowed over the phone lines. Dominique proceeded to detail the events of that morning, stunning her teammates with ease.
"Lucy went there?" Amy asked at one point. Well, looked like she and Scud had been right. Lucy had done something stupid.
"Oui. Of more import, however, is the fact that Lyle has called a gentleman named Weddle and asked him to have someone take care of her. Supposedly, he will be sending his best."
"That must have cost them extra," Max mused, eyes narrowed as she took all of that in, as well as the fact that Amy looked very upset.
"We can't let this happen," Amy said firmly. "If Lucy succeeded in acquiring information about The Centre, I want to know what it is, and I think Ms. Petrie will, too. And this definitely solves the problem of how we could have gotten to much information without exposing Dominique."
"You think Lucy Diamond will just turn it over to us?" Max asked incredulously. "You don't even know why she went after it in the first place."
Amy headed for the front door. "She went after it because of me. You know I have nightmares all the time, and I told you already that she was interested in them. She must have picked up enough to start asking questions, which directed her to The Centre." All of which, strictly speaking, was completely true. "I think she knows something about having to watch your family die and being forced into a life you didn't really want, don't you?"
Max couldn't really respond to that. It was certainly a different view then she'd ever looked at Diamond with, but then, Amy was the one who could pretend and get inside people's heads, and she had been researching Diamond for a long while for her term paper, even before the kidnapping. "Even so, that doesn't mean she'll accept our help. She may not even believe us. And we'd have to find her, first."
"Then we'll have to split up and start looking." Amy paused at the door and looked back, her new outfit lending her an even more serious air then she was already projecting. "I know what The Centre does to those that find out things about them that they feel shouldn't be found out. No one deserves that." She headed out the door, and by the time Max reached it, Amy had gotten into the car and driven off.
Driven off, Max thought suddenly, as if she knew exactly where to go.
**********************************************
Amy had done some quick mental math when Dom had told her how long ago Lucy had left, and presuming that Lucy had a super-sonic aircraft at her disposal (which she was), she would have touched down no more then thirty, forty minutes ago. After being cramped up in a cockpit for so long, she would doubtlessly want to stretch her legs before heading back to her lair.
Amy parked the car on a side street, in case any of the D.E.B.S. decided to track it, and started running in the direction she was certain Lucy would be coming from. There were only a few airstrips she might have used, after all, and there was at least one spot that she might be able to intercept Lucy in no matter which of them she used.
The problem with that, she decided as she ran, was that whoever Weddle was sending could likely figure that out just as easily. It was, of course, entirely possible that whoever it was wasn't exactly close, and it would be a while before they showed up. But she knew The Centre, and there was no way they would want to wait, and give Lucy more of a chance to dissemenate the information then could be avoided. So whoever it was must have been relatively close.
Just their luck, really.
As she'd expected, she caught sight of Lucy on Thornton Ave, not far from the BUR. It wasn't really a surprise that Lucy had access to a private airstrip near there. She paused, giving herself time to catch her breath, then walked up behind Lucy and pulled onto a lesser used side street.
Another searing kiss washed away Lucy's complaints at Amy scaring her like that again. It really was a very effective way to avoid an argument, Amy decided. Not to mention very pleasant.
"Couldn't wait to see me again, huh?" Lucy teased once Amy let her go - and once her brain was working well enough again for speech. She suddenly frowned in confusion. "Is that my coat?"
"I'll explain later. Right now, we have to get you out of sight," Amy said, tugging Lucy along and looking around warily as they walked.
"Why? What's going on?"
Amy sighed. "The Centre took your little visit as well as you might expect."
"What, they sent someone after me?" Lucy wasn't too worried. The Centre might be formidible when dealing with children or law abiding citizens such as Jarod, but she'd seen their security people in action, and had NOT been impressed.
"In a manner of speaking. They called a guy named Weddle, and he's supposedly sending his best after you."
That... was a little more worrying, given what she'd heard about Weddle and his people. "But you could take whoever it is, right?"
"One on one? Yeah, probably," Amy answered, sounding distracted. "But it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to worry about your safety, too."
"Back to the lair, then?"
Another sigh. "For the time being, it's as good as anywhere.
**********************************************
Max snuck quietly down an alley. She'd lost Amy's trail several streets ago, but she knew the Perfect Score had to be somewhere nearby. Finding one person in a city the size of Los Angeles was a rather daunting prospect, but finding one - or two - very familiar faces within a relatively small area wasn't quite as bad.
She'd found the car a few blocks back, and guessed Amy must have been heading for BUR. It made a kind of sense, she supposed. Amy must have used her supposed genius intellect to figure out where Lucy would be flying into, and probably thought she would be less threatened by a single appeal from someone she already knew. Max didn't necessarily disagree, but given that Diamond had already kidnapped Amy once before - which was even more of an impressive feat now that she knew about Amy's history - well...
Amy would be getting some backup, whether she wanted it or not.
After a few inquiries to passersby, she'd found out which way Amy had gone. It was a good thing she hadn't stopped to change anywhere, Max reflected. Her current outfit made her hard to miss, especially in this weather.
Wasn't Amy hot in that coat?
Pushing the question aside for the moment - not the least because she was afraid the answer would be in some way related to some kind of endurance training The Centre had put Amy through - Max focused on finding her missing teammate. If she'd been heading towards the airport, and wanted to find somewhere that she was sure she could find someone on foot...
With a mental shrug, she headed down North Ontario in the direction of Thornton. She dashed down the street, keeping her gun out of sight, and scanned the crowd. No, no familiar blond heads. She quickly ran down to West Empire, ignoring any strange looks she may have gotten out of habit. Amy would no doubt be in a hurry, so she'd just bring Lucy down the first side street she could. Max settled in to wait, allowing her breathing to slow down to normal. She couldn't do the same with her pulse, though, adrenaline surging through her at the thought of the upcoming conflict. She didn't care how good Weddle's assassin was, they could take him.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned just in time to see a fist flying at her face with incredible speed.
Then everything went black.
**********************************************
Amy stopped dead in her tracks just before they reached the end of the street, suddenly hyper-alert senses taking everything in.
Lucy didn't get it. She hadn't seen or heard anything, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. She'd just opened her mouth to ask Amy - quietly - what was going on when Amy suddenly tackled her, knocking her to the ground behind a parked car.
Not even a second later, bullets ricocheted off of both the building behind where they'd been standing and the car that now sheltered them.
Note to self: Never question Amy's instincts.
Amy raised her gun above the top of the hood and fired off a quick volley, which brought the incoming fire to a halt. Amy didn't look happy, however, so Lucy guessed she must not have thought she hit whoever was shooting at them. They must have been clear for the moment, though, because Amy took her hand and yanked her roughly to her feet. "Come on!" Stumbling for a second, Lucy nonetheless ran after Amy, who charged across the street, ignoring the pandemonium that had resulted from the brief firefight. People got out of their way in a hurry as they charged through the abruptly stilled traffic, and past the few accidents that had resulted from people suddenly screeching to a halt without warning. "Max?"
Lucy blinked in susprise. Sure enough, there was the Sector One team leader, unconscious on the ground. Amy quickly knelt to check her pulse, then rose, evidently satisfied. "We can't leave her-" Amy abruptly broke off and swung around, training her gun on a young woman who was, in turn, aiming a gun at them.
Lucy wasn't too worried. Amy was very good, after all, and she'd gotten the drop on the other woman.
Amy froze.
O...kay, this wasn't good at all, by any means, but there was still hope, as, for whatever reason, the other woman had stopped dead, as well. She looked either Asian of Middle Eastern, but it was the 9-mil in her hands that had really caught Lucy's attention. "Sekhmet?" the woman asked, sounding stunned.
And that was very not good, though she supposed it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that The Centre had had someone who knew about Pantheon sent. Which made her surprise a bit confusing, but The Centre may not have felt that she needed to know who she might run into. Or, more likely, they hadn't expected Amy to rush to her defense.
Amy looked like she was trying to say something, but was too shocked to get it out. Finally, though, she managed a shocked, "Kali?"
Oh, fuck. For a split second, she entertained the hope that Amy was either kidding or horribly mistaken, but she knew that couldn't be true. Especially since 'Kali' had also recognized Amy. Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is your fruit... No. Umm, Hail Mary, filled with Grace... No, that's not it, either! Oh, why couldn't her parents have picked a religion with easier to remember prayers?
Multiple sirens began blaring in the distance, and Kali, after a moment's indecision, suddenly took off.
Amy... let her.
Lucy watched in concern as her girlfriend sank to her knees by Max's side, still staring vacantly off into the distance, shell-shocked. Crouching down near her, Lucy shook her shoulder. "Come on, Amy pull it together. We have to get out of here."
"W-what?" Amy blinked up at her in confusion, then shook her head, coming at least part way back to Earth. "This... this is going to require a change in strategy," she said, still sounding shaken.
"I know you said she's good," Lucy began, mentally judging how close the sirens were getting. "I get that. But you're better."
Amy snorted without amusement. "No, you don't get it. We fought a lot, over the years we knew each other. Training, sparring... what have you. I may have come close to matching her, maybe even more-or-less tied her once or twice. But I've never beaten her." She looked into Lucy's eyes, trying to fully convey the message she was attempting to get across. "Never."
Lucy stared back. Oh, hell, from the top: Hail Mary, full of grace...
________________________________________________________________________
I think this is the longest chapter yet, and without any flashbacks, even! :)
So, surprised? 8) I warned you, didn't I? ;)
And I could hardly have a picture for Amaterasu late in her life and not have one for Kali. I was looking through the Bollywood site, and when I saw this photo, I said to myself, "She's perfect!"
So, with no further ado, I give you Meghna Naidu as Kali
Next time - A flashback-heavy chapter, as more of Amy and Kali's dysfunctional relationship is revealed.