After quick, but precise planning, we all headed out towards the airport. Me included.

I made another deal with Alexander and that if that I could participate one more time, I would voluntarily stay put under house arrest for three weeks. In my opinion, three weeks was a little too much and it would probably drive me crazy, but he wasn't budging. I had no choice but to agree and it ultimately felt like I was making a deal with the devil.

I also will be staying with Emmaline and keeping an eye on the surveillance cameras, staying far away from the action and this I agreed since in my condition, I would probably become a nuisance and get in the way.

We were keeping this as low profile as possible since we didn't want to spook Katrina and have her disappear on us.

Before we left, I had Cadence check the places that Katrina had been from when she escaped us by car until now since she could have already met Efren or dropped off the USB somewhere within the timeframe.

Emmaline and I, we quickly made our way towards the security room and since we informed them shortly beforehand that we were coming, they quickly stepped away from us to let us do our work. Screens upon screens were in front of us and from Cadence's description of what Katrina changed her appearance to, we started to search.

Alexander, Victor, Mrs. Blades and a few Phoenix agents were searching visually in the airport. Everyone altered their appearances as well to not draw attention to themselves and to not have Katrina recognize them too fast. We also had a few agents stationed near the exits of the airport in case she makes a run for it.

This was literally finding a grain of salt upon mountains of sand. Somewhat hopeless, but we had to try.

We were at least fifteen minutes in when one of the agents spoke up through the in-ear. "I think I see her. Around Gate 8."

I quickly scoured the screens for Gate 8 and when I found it, I saw someone that fit Katrina's description sitting on one of the chairs, casually looking at her phone.

"I have eyes on her, she's in Gate 8," I confirmed.

"I have visual." Mrs. Blades updated.

Katrina stopped looking at her phone and took a quick peek around, then went back on her phone.

"I think she knows." Emmaline narrowed her eyes at the screen, focusing on Katrina.

Katrina soon stood up and casually started moving until she was lost in the sea of people.

"I don't see her," I informed our team.

"I lost visual." The agent said and soon Mrs. Blades also informed us that she couldn't see Katrina anymore either.

"Wait, is that her?" Emmaline whispered so that the others didn't hear and pointed to one of the screens.

I narrowed my eyes at where she was pointing.

"Where is that?" I asked one people that worked security in the room.

"Right down our current hallway."

Katrina opened the door and entered and I didn't have time to think.

"Which way?" I double checked my handgun and patted around my body.

"When you walk out this room, turn left and keep walking. It's marked as our conference room." The security guard informed me as she stared curiously at me.

I was currently wearing a bulletproof vest with sweatpants and the long sleeve shirt I was wearing earlier.

"Does it have any exits?"

The security guard frowned for a second. "Yes. We sometimes have people coming directly in from the outside for meetings."

"Emmaline, keep an eye the screen. Let me know if she leaves." I said as I rushed out of the room hearing her protest die out as the door closed. As quickly as I could, I ran to the conference room.

When I arrived in front of the door, I waited to listen, but didn't hear anything.

"Katrina is inside a conference room near the security camera room office. It has an exit directly to the outside. Agent Simmons is currently in pursuit." Emmaline informed everyone through our in-ear and I could only imagine the amount of anger that Alexander was feeling.

Oh well, he was putting me under house arrest for three weeks anyways.

I held my hand gun in front of me with the safety off. Holding the gun in my right hand, I opened the door with my left. I saw Katrina's back facing me as she stood at the exit door at the opposite side of the room.

The desks were folded and pushed to the sides and the chairs were stacked up in the corners of the room. A large empty space separated Katrina and I.

"Katrina Rostov. Do not move," I warned.

Katrina turned around slowly and I saw her hand inching towards her handbag.

"Don't." I tightened my finger on the trigger.

She narrowed her eyes at me and stared. "You look like someone I know."

I almost couldn't control my impulse to pull the damn trigger.

Then her eyes glinted in amusement. "You look like Agent Luke Simmons. No way!" She burst out laughing as she started walking towards me. "You must be Vita Simmons then."

She quickly flicked her wrist and I immediately ducked out of gut feeling and something flew by my head. As I took a quick look, it was a small dagger.

She lunged towards me and grabbed for my gun. Katrina aimed a fist at my torso, right under the protection of the bulletproof vest and pain radiated through me. She reached out and managed to knock my gun out of my hands. Immediately, I yanked her outstretched arm with my hands and hooked my leg around hers, then slammed her to the floor. However, that was a bad idea since my gun was within her reach. I quickly kicked my gun and her bag far away from both of us. Her contents leaked out of her bag as it skidded across to the side of the room. While I dodged a kick that she aimed towards me, she got back up to a standing position.

"Not bad, Vita. Can't say the same about your fashion sense." Katrina smirked back at me as she held her body in a fighting stance.

I stared back at her impassively, ignoring her comments. "You know, you should stop pinning after men that aren't available."

She looked confused for a second and I used that moment to quickly kick the back of her knees. Rapidly wrapping Katrina's head in a chokehold, I held on as hard as I could. My body wasn't going to last much longer.

Katrina tripped and we both fell, me first and her on top of me.

The immediate shock of pain that hit me made me gasp and loosen my hold on Katrina. She flipped around and sat on my stomach to pin me down. I gritted my teeth and lifted my hips upwards so that she became unbalanced. As she tipped forwards, I used the momentum to throw her off of me while connecting my fist against her throat. I grabbed the closest thing that scattered out of her bag, which turned out to be a pen. I uncapped it while getting onto my knees and held it under Katrina's chin, pointing the sharp end upwards while she laid on the floor, half lifting herself off the ground by her elbows.

The door suddenly burst open. "Don't you dare move, Katrina." I heard Emmaline's voice.

Katrina looked towards the door and so did I, only to see Emmaline with a fierce expression on her face and a gun in hand pointed towards us.

Katrina paused for a second then burst out laughing. "Can you even fire it, sweet Emmaline?" She taunted and Emmaline walked forwards until she was at point-blank.

"Of course." Emmaline narrowed her eyes with conviction.

More people rushed in and I saw Mrs. Blades with Alexander and Victor from the corner of my eyes.

I mentally sighed in relief as I got up and stepped away from Katrina. My legs wobbled and Alexander quickly came towards me to hold my shoulders from behind me, keeping me steady.

Mrs. Blades quickly went to Katrina and put her in cuffs and forced her to stand up. Katrina glared daggers into me as all of this happened.

I took out my in-ear and stepped towards Katrina. "One second." I told Mrs. Blades as I grabbed Katrina's shoulder and tilted my lips towards her ear.

"You must have seduced your way through many men, Katrina. But you never had a chance with him and you never will," I whispered closely to her ear. "He's mine."

I took a step backwards towards Alexander with a smug smile on my face, then covered it with my left hand.

Katrina's eyes strayed to the glinting ring on my finger and she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

I was being petty and I knew it, but I just couldn't resist.

"You good, Simmons?" Victor asked and I nodded.

"Your leg though." He winced as he looked down and I looked at where he was looking only to see red blooming from where I was recently stitched up.

"I'm fine. I'll see you guys later." I waved him away and was about to start walking towards the door when the adrenaline decided to leave my body.

I stood frozen as my body immediately weakened. As everyone quickly escorted Katrina out, Alexander picked me up without asking.

"Four weeks," he said to me gruffly as he started walking towards the door.

"We already agreed on three." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Three. Or else, I'm running away," I threatened weakly.

Alexander's dark greys met my icy blues and I stiffened, then smiled sweetly at him. He paused, then sighed.

The topic did not come up for the rest of the ride back to Phoenix.

*

I am officially out of the action now. For four weeks. I was unable to defeat the devil's negotiation skills.

It is currently day one and already driving me crazy. Alexander did promise me that I won't need to stay in the hospital for much longer and that I could go home soon to recuperate, which I appreciated.

Mrs. Blades gave up on scolding me, she simply sighed and told me to rest well.

I was about to pull my hair out from the annoyance at being stuck here when Alexander entered. Immediately, I turned my head towards him and waited for him talk, but he slowly walked towards my bed.

Alexander's slow pace grated on my nerves and I was tapping my fingers furiously in impatience.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat down on the chair next to my hospital bed.

"Update, now." I ignored him and he simply smiled softly.

Alexander held my both hands in his to stop me from tapping. "We moved Cadence and Nolan to a safe house. We have a female agent staying with them for now."

"And Katrina?"

"In interrogation. But she doesn't have the USB."

The blood in my veins froze. "No..." It came out as a soft whisper in defeat.

"Katrina dropped it off somewhere and Efren must have picked it up. She said that she erased everything except the last three lines, which she knew were locations to weapons facilities."

"And do you believe her?"

Alexander's eyes dulled. "I cannot say for sure. We've contacted everyone and are in the process of evacuating the military base. For the weapons facilities, we've provided extra guards and security. Since CIA acknowledged that this was this fault, they have also provided extra personnel for guarding the facilities and the manhunt for Efren."

I stared upwards at the white ceiling trying to take in all the information.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Mrs. Blades rushed into the room. "Your father's awake."

*

I couldn't bring myself to enter my father's hospital room as I saw my mother inside with her shoulders scrunched. When her body trembled, I knew she was crying. I simply sat on the bench outside the room with Alexander sitting next to me.

His phone was continuously vibrating, but I knew he was ignoring it for my sake.

"You can go, Red," I told him softly while looking at the floor.

"Angel..." He started as I lifted my eyes to meet his.

"It's okay." I leaned towards him to plant my lips softly against his. "Go."

The worried look didn't leave his face, but he understood that I needed to talk to my parents alone first.

His grey eyes gazed at me tenderly as he pressed a kiss on my temple and pulled me into his arms. "I love you, Angel."

"I love you too, Red," I answered quietly as I squeezed him back and burrowed my face into his shoulder, wrapping myself in his scent, then let go.

Alexander looked at me one last time to make sure I was okay, then he picked up his buzzing phone and rushed out.

Sighing to myself, I simply waited outside the room. I couldn't summon the courage to enter and face my father, nor could I leave without seeing how he was doing. At this point it felt like it was much easier to face off with Efren then face my father.

I stood up to take another peek through the window and it was by chance that I met my father's blue eyes, the exact shade as my own. Then, my father must have said something to my mother because she also turned around to look at me. She tried to put up a smile, but it wavered as she motioned me to come in.

I didn't know why, but my hands were trembling as I opened the door and entered slowly.

"Hi dad." I lifted my head up hesitantly as I walked closer to him and mom, trying my best not to limp.

My mom scooted back so that I could grab my father's hand as I stood next to his hospital bed. Most of his body was covered so his face was the only thing I could see. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, lip was split, and some parts of his face were purple and swollen.

"My beautiful daughter." My father's regularly smooth voice was raspy and he tried lifting his lips into a small smile, but he wasn't able to.

I quickly blinked back my tears watching him struggle at the simplest of actions and gave him my brightest grin. "How are you feeling, dad?"

He gave my hand a tight squeeze. "I'm doing better."

I nodded and I couldn't help it as a tear rolled down my face. Before I could wipe it away, both my parents noticed and my mom cupped my cheek tenderly while wiping away my tear with her thumb. I looked into her eyes and saw that her eyes were glassy.

"Vita, I know about my legs," my father started as he squeezed my hand again. "It's alright. Maybe it's a good thing. I've been wanting to retire for a while now."

I looked into eyes that matched my own. They held sincerity, pain and regret. No matter what my father just said, him losing his legs would devastate him. He was only putting up a strong facade for me so that I wouldn't worry.

"Dad..." My bottom lip trembled as I felt like a new onset of tears would start. "I'm sorry." This came out in the smallest of whispers, but I knew they both heard me.

My father tugged my hand fiercely. "No. I know you helped in finding us. You did a good job. Your mother and I are still alive, Vita. Besides, there could be a chance that I can walk again. Don't give up on your old man."

I nodded, looking downwards as I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes.

My mother stood up and wrapped me in her warm embrace then placed a hand on top of mine and my father's.

"Okay," I replied back weakly.

Efren Carter, I will drag you into prison or drop you off in hell myself if it's the last thing I do.

****

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InvincibleBunny