Learning the Hard Way (Luke, Natalie, Will)

[Alliana Porter]

Alliana had drifted into one of her nightmares again. Even in her forced sleep, she shivered with the temperature of the room. The scene of her capture played over and over inside her head. Luke's face cut like knives, straight into her heart. She didn't deserve his love after what she had kept from him. Now it all came tumbling down and she got what was finally coming to her.

It all seemed like dream, until someone shoved a metal table towards her abdomen to break her from her rest. It wasn't exactly rest anymore,, now that her head was pounding from a headache and a table was shoved into her stomach. Ally opened her eyes with a jolt, wondering what had just happened. She shifted her shoulder, only to realize her hands were cuffed behind the metal chair she was uncomfortably seated in.

"Get enough beauty rest Ms. Porter?" A voice asked from across the table. He was a large man, not in terms of fat, rather than muscle size. He seemed in his mid 50's, top of his military career, a governmental man. "Not that you seem to need it. usually terrorists are ugly, unfortunate men. Not beautiful women in their twenties." he chuckled darkly, looking her in the eyes.

Ally was silent, clenching her jaw at his words. "So Tell me, why did you do it? Run away? You knew we would catch you. Why would you run all over the heart of some young fellow, pretending to love him?" That didn't settle well. "Shut up you bastard, I DO love him. I didn't use him at all, for anything. And I ran because contrary to what you believe, I am NOT a terrorist!"

[Luke Martin]

After the raid on the house, Luke had spent the next hour or so trying to gather his thoughts, figure out what had just happened and what he believed. No matter what he thought about Ally right now, he knew that she wasn't capable of the things that they'd said she'd done, not intentionally. She had been terrible at hiding her feelings, openly blushing and acting goofy in front of him. Unless she was a brilliant actress, which he was pretty sure she wasn't, she wouldn't have lied about that. He figured that she'd probably kept something like this from him out of fear. It didn't mean it was going to make it easy to trust her, but he also wasn't going to leave her in the hands of the government either.

Luke had quickly packed and taken a shuttle from the island back to Earth. On the way he'd made a couple of calls. One to Anna who would want to know what was going on. He'd left her message, saying not to rush anywhere, but any help would be appreciated. He'd also phoned Natalie, the first person that had sprung to mind when he'd looked at his phone contacts. She'd been a good friend to him, and she knew Ally as well, and he needed help. He didn't think he could do this alone. She had said she would be on her way, and Will Blake was tagging along, he'd mentioned something about knowing some government officials who might be able to get things straightened out. He would take all the help he could get.

He was sitting at the space port, a cup of coffee on the table in front of him which he hadn't touched, his head in his hands as he waited for Natalie and Will to arrive, wondering the whole time how Ally was, whether she was okay, and whether the officers were treating her all right. He had his doubts, after all, they suspected her of being a terrorist, so that didn't work in her favour. He felt like he would know if something was really wrong.

[Natalie Blake]

It wasn't exactly like Natalie had been doing anything overly important when Luke called--her and Will had just been sprawled out on a couch in one of the resort's multiple living rooms watching a movie--but it had annoyed her. At least, at first it did, until he explained the basis of his call. Will had noticed her change in attitude and asked for an explanation, and it turned out that he knew a couple of government officials who might be able to help.

And that was how she'd ended up on a shuttle on her way to earth with Will seated next to her. Her hands, clasped nervously in her lap, were starting to get a little clammy and she quickly wiped them off on her jeans. She knew how much Alliana meant to Luke, and even if she was responsible for everything they'd claimed she'd done, it would kill Luke to lose her.

The fact that Will was coming along made things a little bit better, though. Having to explain to him that she had to leave out of the clear blue and then saying she'd be back when she got back probably wouldn't have gone over too well--as in at all. That he knew people who might be of assistance was nothing short of a miracle.

When the shuttle landed Natalie practically sprinted out onto the spaceport and began searching for Luke. He wasn't too far off, seated at a table with a cup of coffee sitting forlornly in front of him. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Will was still with her, she made her way through the crowd to Luke's table.

Once she'd reached him she claimed the seat next to him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder, smiling kindly. "Don't worry, Luke," she said soothingly but determinedly, "You'll have Ally back soon." He didn't seem overly reassured, and after a moment she let her hand drop. "So, what's our plan, exactly?"

[William Blake]

Will had been having a pretty damn good holiday, relaxing with Natalie at the resort, spending some time with the other guys too, actually making friends, it had been the best time he'd had in a long while. And yet, it had all been rudely interrupted by a phonecall from Luke saying that Alliana had been taken into custody as a terrorist? What the hell?? And, he was asking for Natalie's help. He couldn't understand why, he didn't know what she'd been able to do.

It wasn't a question to him that he would go with her, being able to squeeze some help out of some government officials there was just a helpful extra - and once again he felt glad about his Father doing something, and that was keeping dirt on his colleagues locked away in a safe which Will got the key to when his Father died. Who knew that it would come in handy someday?

He could tell Natalie was more anxious to see if Luke was okay more than anything, as he was her friend. He kept a good pace behind her as she sped to find him, luckily, it wasn't that hard. Will didn't know whether Luke had realised it, but he looked terrible, he obviously loved Alliana a lot, despite what had just gone down.

Luke barely noticed Natalie's presence until she beside him, her hand on his shoulder. He looked across at her, "hey," he managed before she spoke her words of comfort. "Thanks, and thanks for coming," he looked across at Will as he said it as well, who just gave him a curt nod, obviously not best pleased that he'd been pulled away from his holiday for this.

"The plan," he repeated, trying to remember what he'd been thinking it the last few hours on his journey in between his worried thoughts about Ally, "well, we need all the pulling power we can get, so I figured, Will, mate, if you don't mind, you could talk to whatever contacts you have, see what we have, what's going on? I want to go down to the HQ and see if I can get in to see her. I figure our passes from the Venia give us some level of clearance. After that, I don't know, I haven't exactly been able to think straight since this happened."

As much as Will would have preferred not to leave Natalie with Luke, he figured it was probably easier if he went to talk to these guys alone, he could say what he wanted without worrying about Natalie listening in. "All right," he nodded, "I'll call Natalie when I have something." He paused a moment, then walked round to Natalie's other side, giving her a quick kiss, "take care of yourself," he said with a nod, before heading off.

((I figured it was easier to merge two posts into one before I went, especially seeing as my laptop is being dodgy this morning. Also, if these guys were actually standing at an airport, it'd be such a random bunch xD))

[Alliana Porter]

"You almost sound believable there for a moment. Hard to believe you would find someone again after you broke your last ex's nose, eh?" He had read up on her files, knowing she was emotionally driven, and crippled because of it. He was testing the water. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" she spat back in her own ferocious tone. It probably wasn't smart, speaking to a government official like this, but he was digging too deep, and it hurt. She loved Luke, more every time she thought about him, and even though she had cut him deep with her secrets, her feelings for him had not shifted. She only hoped he was feeling the same.

"What makes you say you aren't a terrorist? Because last time I remember, you were creating an atomic bomb, and that really doesn't settle well with us." Ally twisted her face in confusion. "Wait, so that's what that was? Look, I wasn't told what I was doing..just....they were friends of mine, I didn't know!" she stressed, pleading her innocence.

Major Davis, her interrogator, slunk back into his chair, as he leaned over with his cold, cruel eyes. "Somehow you don't seem too convincing. Fraternizing with terrorists doesn't make you too squeaky clean." Ally's expression changed to desperation. "I swear it, I didn't know they were terrorists. Holy hell, come on, I'm not mucking around!" Davis turned his attention to the guard behind Ally and gave a short nod. The guard was right behind her, and butted the gun to her temple. She winced at his violent choice, turning her head to the side, reeling in the beginning ache. "Not a crier I suppose Ms. Porter? Listen I don't appreciate being lied to, so unless you polish up your little bull crap story, or you tell me what you were planning on doing with your atomic bomb. " He pried with a furrowed brow and growled words, gripping the table with a violent ferocity.

"I don't know, I didn't do anything! I was all the bloody wrong time, wrong place, what the hell do you want for me?" She glared back, trying to make him believe her. It wasn't working well. "God I'm not lying. I'm not a bloody damn terrorist, I don't know what they were planning, I didn't know they were terrorists. I don't know anything!" Davis gave another nod and stopped the guy before he hit her again. "take her away. She's hiding something. We will try again later with more...severe means." The guard pulled Ally up, dragging her as she fought and squirmed again. This was hell.

[Natalie Blake]

Luke didn't seem to notice their arrival at first, and admittedly that worried Natalie a little. He was usually chipper and observant, but he seemed so... empty, without Alliana there. They really needed to get her back. At Natalie's prompting Luke explained his plan, and she nodded occasionally to show she understood, but frowned a little at the same time.

It wasn't like she doubted in Will's abilities--not in the slightest--but sending him straight into the place they were possible planning to bust someone out of didn't sit too well with her. What if something happened to him? But he was nodding along to Luke's plan as well, so he clearly wasn't worried. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better or not.

When he came around to give her a kiss, she returned it as ardently yet briefly as she could. "You too," she replied, biting her lip uncertainly as she watched him disappear into the swarming sea of people. He'll be all right, there's nothing to worry about. You're just overreacting because they've already got Ally in custody, she tried futilely to reassure herself. All it did was make her worry about Alliana again.

The thought of Alliana reminded Natalie that Luke was right next to her, and she turned back to face him. "So... I guess now we just wait, huh?" Waiting. Ugh. If that didn't drive her mad with anxiety, nothing would. She started tapping her fingers rhythmically against her thigh, but the soft tapping got on her nerves within seconds. She really needed to get a grip if she was expected to see this through--which she definitely was.

Taking a deep breath Natalie closed her eyes, trying to soothe her thoughts by blocking out the outside world for a little while. It didn't help much, so instead she decided to try and start up a conversation with Luke. Talking had the potential to distract her. "How're you holding up?" she asked cautiously, not entirely sure how Luke would respond; assuming he'd even heard her.

[Luke Martin]

Luke watched Will depart, registering on some level the kiss that Will and Natalie shared. He hadn't particularly realised that they were an item. It would probably come back to him again later when he had less on his mind, or needed something to talk about. He zoned out again, just nodding as Natalie spoke, her voice barely registered above a mumble to his ears. He couldn't believe he was this lost about this - he'd just found that Alliana had been lying to him for over a month and all he could think about was whether she was okay. He was nuts.

Luke heard Natalie's voice again and turned his head to see her looking at him expectantly, concern in her eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, dragging his hands over his face, the concern wasn't all for him, that he was still able to tell, "not very well apparently," he said in response to her question before showing her a weak smile. "I'd be better if I knew what was actually going on, or if I could just talk to Ally about everything - the SWAT team that busted in didn't exactly give her much chance to explain." He paused, taking a breath. He didn't want to sit and do nothing.

"Let's walk," he suggested, getting up, waiting for Natalie to join him before he set off at an average pace - not too quick, not too slow. Luke scratched the back of his neck, looking across at her, "so, you and Will, huh?" he said, letting his arm fall back against his side, "I wasn't interrupting anything big between the two of you by phoning, was I?" That sort of made it sound like he was asking if they were doing it. "I mean, I didn't pull you away from a week of just the two of you or something?" He pulled a face, usually he was better at this, but his head wasn't in the right place. "Sorry," he said again, out of habit.

[Alliana Porter]

Alliana was in fact a crier, but that bubble was a hard one to burst. It was easier when she was alone, so when she was tossed, more like thrown into the cold concrete room, she did the only plausible thing. She cried. she curled herself up close, huddling into a corner and she wept, wept for her choices, wept for the situation and wept for Luke. Ally wanted him more than ever, just to hold her and tell her she was alright, she was safe. But he wasn't and that's what made it worse.

"So she does cry." Davis chuckled to himself as he leaned into the back of the swivel chair, looking up at the monitoring screens. He enjoyed watching her break down like a small child, he knew she was vulnerable. "You know it's the unexpected ones you have to look out for." he smirked again, turning to one of his recruits.

His learning intern, however did not see it that way. "If I may sir, she just seems scared and lonely. Perhaps she's not as guilty as you think. Perhaps she was at the wrong place, wrong time. She may have not been sure what she was getting herself into. People do dumb things when they are young. Wouldn't you have to consider all the options, sir?" he asked with true fervency.

However, Major Davis had no weak spot for this situation."No, I do not want to consider the options. Terrorists. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. just because you 'think' she seems innocent is bull, pure bull shit. You let them out, they attack again.

The young intern could now care less if he was fired. he knew justice had to be served. "And you would expect a young girl, torn out of her lovers arms, naked as the day, to strike again? Sir she's been working for the last month on Venia, the UGAP vessel AGAINST terrorists. As far as her records go, she disappeared onto the ship, has had no suspicious or violent behaviour and is showing to be hero in scientific research. Does that sound like a terrorist to you."

Major Davis did Not like being talked down to, even by such a lowly shoulder. "Dismissed soldier, and don't bother returning. You are fired!"

Ally snuggled up into the corner, huddling as close as she could to herself, her tears now staining her face. She had never been so scared in her life, so broken. Never had she felt so alone in the world.

[Natalie Blake]

Luke apologized, running a hand down his face, and Natalie shook her head, more to herself really than to brush off his words. Not that he needed to apologize, all the same. He seemed to be trying to come back round and focus, but it clearly wasn't working too well.

He mentioned the Alliana again, and she acknowledged his wish to at least speak with her and figure out what was going on by flashing him a small, sad smile. "You'll get your chance to talk with her, Luke," she promised, silently praying that she was right at the same time. Alliana had to be okay. If she wasn't... well, Natalie didn't want to think about that.

"Yeah, walking sounds good," she consented, getting to her feet after him. Together they wandered through the bustling crowd, quiet for a moment. Natalie wasn't sure what she could say to Luke, because she didn't know for sure what he was thinking and she didn't want to say the wrong thing. As it turned out, she didn't have to break the silence, because Luke offered a simple conversation starter.

Blushing, more out of pleasure than actual embarrassment, Natalie nodded. "Yup, me and Will," she repeated in confirmation, grinning a little. He stammered through a quick amendment after his next question, and then threw in another apology after pulling a face at himself.

"Relax, Luke," she chided, not entirely sure herself if she was accepting his apology or trying to get him to calm down and focus on their objective. She decided she'd run with the former. "It's not a big deal. We weren't alone or anything, exactly. We were on shoreleave, and Oliver, Annabelle and Kiri were there as well. I don't know if Will's too thrilled about having to leave the resort, but you asked for my help and I promised I would do my best." That sounded like a solid enough reassurance to her.

It was a few minutes before Natalie managed to speak again, and when she did it was without thinking. "So who do you believe? The government or Ally?" She just about slapped herself at the sheer stupidity of her question. He'd already more or less answered this. He wanted to speak with Alliana and hear the whole story from her before he decided anything. But then again, the question remained, who did he want to believe? He wanted to believe that Alliana wasn't a terrorist, didn't he? Of course he did.

[Luke Martin]

Luke had been able to gather earlier that Will hadn't exactly been too happy to be pulled away from his relaxing vacation, but then, Luke hadn't particularly enjoyed it either, and it had been Will's decision to come with Natalie. He was glad to hear that they had gone away with another group though. And she looked happy, he could see it in her eyes. Will made her happy, well, that was a surprise. A welcome one really. "Well, that's good," he said with a nod, meaning it. "Hopefully you'll get to finish your holiday when this is all over." That really relied on Will and what favours he could swing.

He raised his eyebrows at her question, not expecting it to come out of her mouth. She had been careful up until she let that question slip. Luke rammed his hands in his pockets, trying to think of an answer. "Errr," he said, his brain stalling, "I don't know. I mean, the government, they should know what they're doing right? But, I suppose they've been wrong before. And... I don't really understand why Ally would lie to me like that... but then, if she lied in the first place, does that mean I should just believe she's guilty?" He thought that pretty much explained how conflicted a place his mind was right now. He needed to talk to Ally.

They walked in silence for a while, Luke playing with loose threads on the insides of his pockets, not quite sure what to talk about. He didn't like waiting, not when something like this was going on, but he was going to have to put up with it. He was about to open his mouth and say something when Natalie's phone went off. He hoped it was Will and that he'd sorted something.

[William Blake]

Will was walking along the sidewalk after his meeting, pulling his cell out of his pocket. He scrolled through the contact list to Natalie's number (he hadn't memorised it yet) and pressed dial. "Hey," he said when she answered, "just got done talking to one of my father's old colleagues. You should be able to get straight in to see Alliana. Someone's going to move her to another facility, a better one." He didn't know how much of an explanation she was going to want about what he had actually done. "I'll meet you at the UGAP HQ, where they're keeping Ally, and I'll explain more there. Okay?"

[Alliana Porter]

Major Davis was enjoying his cigar, when the door creaked open and another young man entered, fearful in his presence. "Uh...Major Davis..Sir." he saluted with a stutter. "Permission to give new orders." Davis gave a nod, and the solider pulled an envelope out from under his arm, opening it slowly to read. "Order no. #5690 Sir. Prisoner No.#56768319, convicted of terrorism against the states and UGAP to be moved to a new facility by order of the corporal office. Permission sir?"

Davis drummed his fingertips together and gritted his teeth against his cigar. "Why do we need to move her?" he growled, taking his cigar and tapping it, so that the ashes fell on the soldier's newly shined shoes.

"Uh sir, it's a direct corporal order. It came from the head UGAP Office. It didn't say why, just that she needed to be." The young fellow, gulped nervously in Davis' presence. Major Davais was a powerful and terrifying man, and just about everyone knew it.

"She stays, order or not. If they want her, they can come get her. A piece of paper with a statement doesn't mean crap to me. Do you understand solider? She STAYS. Dismissed. And cleanup your shoes, you're a disgrace." davis gave a small, short laugh and brought his cigar back to his lips to puff out a cloud of smoke on Ally's monitor screen. "I know you're hiding something...there's just gotta be something in that pretty little head of yours."

[Natalie Blake]

"And you yours," Natalie replied to Luke's comment about finishing vacations. If Alliana proved to be innocent and they managed to get her out of there, hopefully her and Luke would be able to move past this bump. They were good together, and everyone knew it. Hell, a blind-man would be able to tell, just by the amount of emotion between them.

She was quiet as she listened to him try to put his thoughts into words. It was obvious he was struggling with who to believe, and she nodded when he'd finished. "You need to talk with her," she summed up when he fell into silence. They walked quietly side by side, neither of them seeming to know what to say.

Natalie glanced up to see Luke opening his mouth like he was about to say something when her phone suddenly went off. Her hand moved faster than she thought it could, whipping it out to see if it was Will calling her. She huffed a sigh of relief when she saw his name flashing on the little screen and flipped it open.

"Hey," she greeted, glad to hear his voice. He explained that he'd just finished talking with his contact, and that he'd arranged it so that Alliana would be moved to the UGAP headquarters, where she'd have a better chance of staying safe long enough for them to get in to see her. After hastily repeating what he'd said to Luke, she pulled her phone back around to answer him.

"All right, we'll be there as soon as we can," she promised before hanging up and slipping her phone back into her pocket. She then offered Luke a weak but hopeful smile. This was it. "Come on, if we hurry we can probably make it there in maybe fifteen, twenty minutes tops."

[William Blake]

Luke was just as relieved when he heard that it was Will, and that he'd managed to swing a deal so that they'd be able to see Ally. Finally, he could talk to her, see she was okay, and get some answers. His heart was pounding in his chest now as he nodded to Natalie. "Let's go," he agreed, wanting to get there as fast as possible, there wasn't a moment to waste as far as he concerned.

When they reached the building - it was hard to miss, one of the tallest in the city - he pushed straight inside, holding the door open for Natalie. A quick chat with the receptionist and they were directed to the elevator where they were to go up to another department on the 21st floor. As the doors pinged open, a loud, angry voice filled his ears and he looked over to see Will arguing with someone. It didn't sound good.

"Look, I told you," Will said, his voice raised, "Gianni assured me that this order would be passed on, that Miss Porter would be moved to another facility and that we would be granted access to her."
"We received the order, sir, only..."
"Only what? There is no only anything. Your superior should have moved her by now."
"I've been told to disregard the order." The man was practically shaking in his boots.
"Disregard the order? Who does he think he is? Let me talk to your superior."
The man looked at him with wide eyes.
"Now!"
As the man went off to find his superior, Will sighed, scratching his forehead before turning to see Natalie and Luke both standing there. "Oh, hey," he said, softening immediately, but still clearly irritated. "You heard all that, right?" Will was sure Natalie had seen him shout at someone before, hopefully it wouldn't put him to bad of a light, he was trying to sort this out after all.

[Alliana Porter]

Bad suddenly turned to worse. Davis had endured just enough of this and was ready to take matters into his own hands. Popping his knuckles, he nodded to the fellow in the chair next to him monitoring the screens. "Get her in the interrogation room in five. I wanna try again." the man next to him gave a short nod and paged someone in the containment unit.

Not five minutes later exactly, Ally was cuffed and chained into a metal chair in front of a metal table. Davis walked in as if he was God and set himself comfortably down into the chair across from her. "Alliana Porter...I think we're on first name basis now. I hear your lover calls you Ally, your friends, your crewmates. Tell me....I think we've played nice long enough. You joined because you're out to get us, just like the rest of you sick bastards. We've seen your record, you're a bloody genius. You know your science shit. You joined the Venia to get an edge in, a spy. You're still working, and you're gonna contact your damn contact wherever. You're gonna blow up whatever the hell you can!

Ally was speechless, jaw dropped and her grey eyes widened in sudden fear. "Hell no. It's not like that. I've already told you! I didn't know they were terrorists. I didn't know what I was doing!' he interjected before she even had a chance to finish.

"You knew EXACTLY what you were doing. Don't pull this shit on he Porter!" He had endured just about enough and erupted from the chair, pinning her in a throat hold against the closest wall. "I'm not fucking around Porter. Who are your contacts!"

Ally squirmed for breath under his tightening grip. She managed a small squeak, fighting off his wrists but fell short under his strength. The tears were now rapid and her face was obvious of her terror. "I don't know! God, I don't have contacts. I'm telling the bloody truth. i swear, holy God I swear..please...please...."

Davis loosed his grip and she slid into a heap onto the floor. "We'll see Porter...we'll see."