WD Spy rule two seventy seven is entitled 'Giving back what isn't actually yours is infinitely more difficult than giving up something you actually own, isn't it?'

Previous rule two seventy six:  The key to living longer is to procrastinate thinking about troubling issues.  

Next rule two seventy eight:  Those who have something they believe in find themselves on trial more often than those who are guilty of wrongdoing.

Summary page

-Short summary-

As the team returns after their dangerous mission, Meifa returns what isn't hers while the Vestige experience gets an upgrade from 'citizen' to 'made men'.

-Long summary-

On the helicopter pad of the 'Section' government rooftop, one Karoline Mason waits with her henchmen Paola de los santos and Aurelio 'Ricky' Dalisay. As she adjusts the lace dress hidden under a petticoat which mischievously hikes up in the wind, she recalls how the phone call early in the morning from her little sister, Meifa asking she meet them there and not alert their mother. The second part had been more difficult than it sounds since Frédérique 'Freddy' Leroy had been overly protective of her daughters ever since she had finally managed to gather them in one place. She had been against Meifa going for this mission in the first place, but when Meifa (through Karoline's translation, since the former doesn't speak French), had said she may meet their father there, she had lightened up a bit. Freddy had stayed up most of the night waiting for Meifa to come home, but finally fell asleep maybe a half hour before Meifa called Karoline. Somehow though, Karol had managed to sneak out and make it to the govt' building from Lukas's house where Meifa and their mother had been staying. Her little sister hadn't been very clear on what degree of 'success' they had during the mission, but any fight you can walk away from is a successful one.

At about 6:30 am, the Sector seven Helicopter comes into view, and lands on the pad. Two men rush past Karoline and her henchmen and to the helicopter, leaving after Ricca is loaded on it. Karol gets a glimpse of Ricca and even though she rather enjoys the sight of blood on others, even she grimaces upon seeing her injuries. She reflects on the fact that she's even here to get her mind off of what she saw, finding it ironic that a mercenary/terrorist (more emphasis on the terrorist part), had been let into a Govt building on the mere virtue that her little sister works her. Of course the name badges she and her two henches wear also serve as tracking devices so they could listen in on and watch her every move, but since Karol isn't in the mood for chaos anyway she doesn't think too hard about it.

More orderlies come and provide a wheelchair for the others who other than Meifa, decline. Lukas is wearing a huge patch over his eye now, and the others while having some blackened clothes seem to be okay. Meifa slides into the wheelchair and glances in Karol's direction. Karol tries hard to bite back a smile of relief, and instead strides over to her younger sister and asks how things went. Meifa shrugs a shoulder and simply states that they went 'okay'. Karol sighs, and asks if she's going to be okay, in which Meifa shrugs again and replies all she needs is some meds and sleep. Karol nods and responds that their mother is sleeping at home, and she'll call her later to let her know Meifa is okay. Meifa nods and thanks her sister, who nods in turn and motions to her henchmen that they're leaving. Suddenly Meifa calls out to Karol and asks if she wants her 'shit back now'. Karol turns around and asks what she means, to which the younger sister asks her not to play stupid. She points at her purple eye and asks if she wants it back now.

Karol's lip quivers and she snarls that her little sister shouldn't play games this early in the morning. Meifa glares back and asks her older sister to die. The two get into a glaring contest, as Lukas and the other Sector Seven agents along with Jia walk by and ignore them. Ricky asks if they're going to stop the two especially since Meifa is injured, to which Heike replies they're too tired to really care at this point. Considering Paola and Ricky are here, they can do the stopping. Paola sighs and whispers something to Karol in Spanish that seems to placate her. She huffs and with a slight edge in her voice asks Meifa if she understands what she's saying. Meifa growls and asks Karoline to stop being a bitch and be a woman. If she wants it back, she has this window to get it 'cause after this she's keeping it. Karol turns to her and glowers for a moment before her expression softens and she nods quickly. Jax steps out the copter and asks Meifa why she'd want to do this now? They could at least rest for a few days and revisit the issue....

Meifa shakes her head and says she wants to get it over with. Since they had completed what would possibly be their greatest mission ever, this would be best time to eliminate all debts. Her sister's eye had gotten her out of all sorts of trouble, but she wants to do stuff on her own. Besides, as much as she hates to admit it she's always thought her older twin sister looks kind of cool with an eye patch. They're at a hospital now anyway, so it's convenient.

Jax nods and pats Meifa on the shoulder before walking inside himself, followed by Tyrell who gives his props to 'shortie'. Meifa asks Karoline if she has the time to do this now, and she nods slowly, professing her desire to have her eye back as soon as possible. Paola asks why this is so important to her, considering she had been living with the one eye for such a long time, to which Karol explains how abnormal her life has been, how much tragedy she's seen. Compared to Meifa who has a real mother, adoptive parents, and Jax who would do anything for her. Having her eye back would be a restoration to some sort of normalcy to her, a normalcy she has wanted desperately since she left Australia more than five years ago. Meifa scoffs and wheels her chair away from the three, replying that normal isn't all that great. She prefers this life over weekends at home with homework anyway.

Meanwhile at a nondescript location, Daiki is busy making the preparations for Ruka to be the next cult leader. Of course since she's still only fifteen, he'd actually be doing most of the work. Needless to say however, running one of the biggest cults in the underground world would be a lot of work. Between getting the men to rally together under the boss's daughter, and ensuring their enemies wouldn't come and try to assassinate her as she sleeps would be a full time job. Despite that, Daiki still checks on his younger half sister as she rests in bed, and still worries endlessly about Mizuki. He would have to take care of matters here first before he can begin to search for her, as terrible as that sounds.

Finally he calls Ruka's group together and meets with them. After apologizing for not giving them more time to mourn the death of one of their own, he explains very succinctly that they have two choices. If Ruka is important to them, they would have to join the cult themselves if they intend to remain by her side. Of course this means that they would be an enemy to the 'light', the 'upper world', and would revoke their rights as 'citizens'. Hell, they may even end up facing off against Sector seven eventually if they manage to keep their jobs after this whole incident. If the idea of losing everything they have in the 'upper world' frightens them, then they should turn and leave now. He would explain things to Ruka once she awakened, and he would make sure they would be compensated for anything they ask for.

The team glance at one another, wondering what they should do, as Titus's fate is a great example of what happens when one decides to tangle with the underworld. Do they really want to give everything up now and join this lifestyle where death and treachery are traded like currency?

Tariq is the first to answer. He says that Ruka is more than a 'leader' to them, she is their raison d'etre. They were lost before she came and gathered them together. Not only that, but shouldering the tragedy she had grown up with she had always been there for them. If only they had known what she was suffering under....they could have helped her more....

Philipa responds in turn that Ruka is someone she strives to become, a person who puts herself before others, a quiet and dignified strength.

Karl joins in adding that Titus would have wanted them to stay with Ruka. He had been the only one among them with a criminal history, and she still accepted him. She is the kind of person one only meets once in a lifetime.

Daiki once again asks them for a decision, and he is met with an overwhelming agreement to be inducted into the Li se xing xuo, to continue serving under Ruka. Daiki nods and promises to do so once things have quieted down. He thinks to himself how his little sister has made some excellent friends....something that he wish he could have done before becoming a killer.

Back at the hospital, the two sisters lie on operating room tables staring at the ceiling. Karol comments on how lax the govt is, allowing a terrorist like her to receive services. Meifa tells her sister to shut up, as everyone knows she's more a mercinary than a terrorist. Besides that she had taken a few jobs from them before, and gone above and beyond the call of duty. Why the hell does she have to distance herself from everyone like this? She's still uncomfortable being around their mom for christssakes. Karol rolls around and hisses at Meifa that she can't help it, considering how many people had died during her missions, and the property damage, it goes without saying she'd be a little worried about what their mom would think. Meifa smirks and asks Karol if she's gonna use that excuse to avoid mom until she goes back to France? Cause if she is then she's a bigger bitch than she originally thought. Karol huffs and turns away from her sister, threatening to kill her with a rusted switchblade and then blow her corpse up with several well placed blocks of C4. Meifa sticks her tongue out and replies she would have already smacked her other eye out of her socket before she could do any of those things. The two girls sit in awkward silence for a few moments before both commenting that the doctor is taking his sweet ass time.

Karol then turns over to her sister again and asks what their father was like. She had only met him when she was nine and he had taken her eye to 'correct a bad mistake'. Back then she looked up to him, but now not so much. She comments wryly she was such an idealistic little shit back then, if her father had missed nine years of her life and then came to take an eye just to disappear again, should she have really expected him to come back? Meifa replies that he is a major cocksucking disappointment, but she's not sure if he'd always be that way. She surmises that maybe someday he'll fix himself up and be a decent guy again though she's not sure if that's going to be during his life time...or theirs for that matter. He's like other guys in how he tries too hard to do shit that doesn't matter, and not hard enough where it counts. Karol allows a small smile and nods in agreement, adding that guys just don't get the minor details.

The doctor comes in at that moment and begins the prep work. Before putting the two under for the operation, he asks once again if this is what the two of them want. Meifa and Karol glance at one another again, and after a moment of awkward silence nod to the doctor. Meifa states this is for her crappy older sister who bitches and moans over a stupid eye. Karol then thanks her shitty little sister who should quit her own bitching and moaning over something that isn't even hers. They look at each other and grin, as the doctor administers the anesthesia. Before blacking out, the girls hold hands. Something that normal sisters take for granted; that they hadn't done once in the fifteen years they had been alive.

In the lobby Jax, Nolan, Heike and Tyrell take a breather before heading home for the morning. They had gotten news that due to the extent of Ricca's injuries, her life is in danger and she would have to be transferred to an expert. Jax had signed off on this being the only sort of guardian she has, and informed Lukas and the others of the decision before they had gone off. Tyrell comments this means without a doubt that someone will find out what actually happened and they will have to go to trial. The question now is when, and who will be there. Heike comments that this whole situation is similar to when he got burned, and muses at the very likely scenario that he might be the first spy to be burned twice. Nolan asks him where Mo went, and he responds she doesn't 'do' hospitals and had left to go heal her own way. He surmises this is with shopping and spa treatments, since that's what she normally does. Nolan expresses his distaste for her lack of apparent teamwork, to which Heike laughs and reminds him that spies don't really do 'cohesion' well. Their team is an exception, not the norm.  He can understand how Nolan could think that way since it's his first time doing this, but he should understand the reality of the situation. Nolan asks Heike why this can't be the norm, and surprisingly he doesn't have an answer. Jax in turn reveals he had intended to change things with Sector seven, though with their future in jeopardy he's not sure if he was successful or not. Heike and Nolan agree that he was successful, and Jax can only nod at them as they get up and leave.

A day or two later, Meifa awakens and despite how weak she feels, instinctively reaches over and feels for her left eye; Karol's eye. Not surprisingly, there is just a patch there now and she can feel the augmentation to her depth perception. She realizes the hand she's using was the one she was holding Karol's hand with and glances over in her direction to see she's sitting up. Despite knowing she shouldn't do so yet, Karol takes the eyepatch off and stares into the distance. Meifa asks weakly what it's like to have her eye back, to which the terrorist/mercenary replies that it's terrible. She turns in Meifa's direction and blinks both purple eyes, claiming that it's terrible because her first sight has to be her shitty little sister's ugly face. Meifa smiles weakly and asks her to consider her feelings, since she has to look at Karoline too. Karol notices her henchmen and the Sector seven operatives watching them through the glass and sighs. She asks her sister if they expect some kind of show, and Meifa shrugging a shoulder admits she doesn't know. She smiles and asks if they should give them one? Meifa grins and admits she doesn't mind, and extends her arms. Karol manages to step slowly over to her sister and give her a big hug. Somehow tears start falling from Meifa's one eye, and the eye Karoline has had the whole time, and the two are embracing, laughing and crying at the same time.

Paola begins to cry in happiness as Ricky lets a rare smile slip. Heike and Nolan give a thumbs up as Jax holds Tyrell who has begun to sob hysterically in happiness. A man taps Jax on the back and he turns to see a middle aged gentleman with small rimmed glasses standing behind him. He flashes his badge revealing he is part of the FBI, and then proclaims he is here to inform Jaxon Murray that his trial date for treason has been set for two weeks from this tate. He then asks Jax if he is satisfied with the unrest he has caused the government with his actions, and after taking one more look at Karoline and Meifa who are talking happily for the first time in...ever, allows himself a grin as he responds that he couldn't be more satisfied.