Subject: New Fic: Lies PG-13 1/3

Author: Me, Jo 

Rating: PG-13 for words not for little ears and a bit of violence...okay a lotta bit more than my other stories.

Disclaimer/Summary/AN (all wrapped into one): Katy belongs to me, my character, mine mine mine. If you want to use her or her sister, Abby or her brothers Darien, Cliff, and John email me and ask (jo-angel@pacbell.net) and we'll work something out. I don't own Sam Gerard or Cosmos Renfro or Bobby Biggs, I don't own Vin Tanner or the ATF, Mog owns ATF, those people at MGM own Vin, they're just chillin' with Katy for a while and Vin does act a little "odd" but luv makes u do the wacky. The people who do own them: if you haul my ass into court, you'll get a pocket fulla lint and old gum wrappers, if you're lucky maybe a shiny new quarter. 


Katy comes home from her new job at the ATF in Denver to Chicago to see her uncle, Sam and her annoying brother, Cliff, and finds out there's a contract out on her sister, Abby...but...Abby's dead...or is she? 

This story is a follow up to "First Steps Towards 'Me'" which is done but I can't seem to get my comp beaten into submission. You don't have to read that one first but it might be helpful if u did...it'll tell about Abby and Katy.

Lies: Half The Fun

Katy got into Sam's new car, a black Suburban, after her boyfriend, Vin Tanner. How she'd convinced him to come to Chicago with her was beyond her. She was there for two reasons. One, she'd been away for too long, and two, a man she and her partner had arrested had said there was a contract out on one of her siblings, he didn't know which. She hadn't told Sam about it. Vin was along for the ride. He was ATF too. Vin didn't want her to (a) get hurt or (b) go insane from spending quality time with a family that had a knack for doing just that. 

"How was your flight?" Sam asked. 

"Good," Katy said. "The plane didn't crash, my body parts are still intact, good." Sam chuckled.

"What about you, Tanner? Body parts still intact?" Sam asked.

"Yep."

"Good, good," Sam replied. Silence washed over them. Sam turned on the radio.

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"Your uncle isn't as bad as you made him out to be," Vin told Katy as she rushed around the hotel room setting things up, unpacking a few things, playing with gadgets. 

"My uncle is okay, but he was being specially...normal because I told him a few years ago if he scared off another one of my boyfriends I'd, uh, never mind," Katy blushed. "Cliff is the insane one, Johnny, who you've met, needs to be locked in a box and buried under five hundred feet of concrete. Darien is the only normal one, if anyone could call him normal and he's not even in the country. See, this is my actual family blood relations, Cosmos Renfro and Bobby Biggs are like family and they're insane and bent on dying young. Just hide whenever Cliff comes into view and you'll have a mild bit of fun."

"You didn't eat any sugar while we were on the plane, did you?" Vin asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She set her laptop down, grabbed a pillow from the chair and threw it at him.

"Fine, make jokes," Katy said, jokingly herself. "I warned you--" Smack! The pillow returned. "Oh you're gonna get it Tanner!"

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"Hold still or I'll strangle you with this tie," Katy growled.

"I'm holding still," Vin said defensively. "It's just dinner--"

"At a nice restaurant, with the grand evil brother so if he asks you anything you don't want to answer, or if he talks to you at all, scare him off so he doesn't talk to you anymore."

"Katy."

"My family just makes me paranoid is all, they tend not to like any of my paramours because they're over protective of the little girl who I used to be before...."

"Don't worry, this paramour isn't going anywhere," Vin shushed her. He pecked her cheek.

"Good, but hold still," Katy fiddled with the tie. "It's defective."

"Let's call Ez, he knows how to get it to look right," Vin joked.

"It'd drive him insane...oh and I would too but I was warned not to."

"Too bad."

"Okay, screw the tie," Katy flung it across the room. "If anyone complains--"

"Calm down."

"I'm calm, do I look not-calm? Don't answer that. This is annoying. I can't stand not knowing who the contract is on and who ordered the contract! As much as my family annoys me..."

"I will personally take care of the guy who took it out when we find out who, got that?" Vin gripped her shoulders. Katy nodded. 

"But I wanna help." Vin chuckled. He held out his arm to her, she took it and they left.

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"So, Vin, what's Denver like, haven't been there myself?" Cliff asked. Katy glanced at her salad, Cliff had been to Denver. She contemplated flinging lettuce at him but decided to let Vin field it.

"Cold sometimes, warm sometimes," Vin replied. He spelled 'HELP!' in dressing on his napkin then crumpled it, throwing under the table. Despite what he'd thought, Katy was right, Cliff was evil, okay, maybe not evil but he saw why he drove her insane. 

"Really..." Cliff replied.

"Cliff, how's Fay?" Katy saved Vin. Cliff turned to her. Katy threw Vin a glance that said 'Safe for now, Cowboy.'

"I wouldn't know, we broke up," Cliff replied. He seemed like he wanted to interrogate Vin some more.

"Surprise, surprise, then how's this week's girl?" Katy held Cliff's attention. "And is it another Mandy?"

"Her name is Ginger and she's fine," Cliff blushed a little.

"Ginger, very sophisticated," Katy grilled, she'd hit a nerve and smiled triumphantly at Vin who was doing his best not to laugh. Sam was trying too. "So, what does 'Ginger' do?"

"She's...um...uh... she's a neck model," Cliff muttered.

"Interesting," Katy did her faked amusement on purpose. "Neck modeling must be a real turn on, did you know the moment you saw her neck in the newspaper?"

Sam cleared his throat. "How has the ATF been?"

"Fabulous," Katy answered. "Just like the plane, all my body parts are intact."

"Great," Sam said. "Do you and Vin work together a lot?"

"Not a lot, but often enough," Katy replied. "I get my own cases but if Team Seven needs any help or something--" The wine glass in her hand exploded as a gun was fired. People started screaming, Sam and Cliff ducked under the table and Vin pulled her down too. 

"Katy, Katy, you alright?" Vin's panicked voice asked her. She nodded. He disappeared. Sam grabbed her wrist which made her look down at her hand. Glass was poking out or in or whichever of it and the pain suddenly hit her. She heard more gun fire and was reminded suddenly of Vin who wasn't there anymore. Katy reached down to her ankle and pulled the "little-pop" gun, as Buck had called it once, out with her good hand.

"Tell me you're armed," Katy said to her brother and uncle. They took out hidden glocks and Katy nodded in approval. "Where did the shots come from?"

"No clue but Tanner ran outside," Cliff said. "Katy--" She didn't wait, she was on her feet and ran out the door too. Her heel broke and she hastily pulled it off, dropping it in the restaurant without paying any heed to the ranting host. 

"Just keep it calm!" Katy called over her shoulder. She flung the door open and saw Vin jogging back to her, he shook his head as he reached her. Katy felt like crying, there was no doubt in her mind it had something to do with the contract.

"The guy ran into the alley and got into a black van--" Vin started.

"What happened to you?" Katy interrupted at the scuff marks on his clothes.

"I'm fine, just...alright, don't over react because I am fine, they tried to run me over," Vin replied. "But they didn't, come on, I need to see that hand."

"Didn't you catch the plates?" Katy persisted.

"Katy."

"Did you?"

"No, I'm didn't, I don't think it had plates." Katy groaned and passed out.

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Katy finger the light silver chain around her neck as she looked over maps. Cosmos was leaning over the shoulder of a woman at the computer and suddenly told her to stop, getting Katy's attention.

"Peaches, didn't you call me a month ago and said an arms dealer got out of Denver and was heading to the Ohio parts and wanted me to watch out for his name?" Cosmos asked. Cliff, Sam, Bobby, and Vin looked clueless. Katy was amused. She'd kept in close contact with Cosmos because he was the only one, besides Noah, who'd never treated her like a child or a defenseless little girl although he still used the childhood name he had for her, Peaches.

"She called you?" Cliff asked shocked. 

"Duh, Cliff, I call Cosmos a lot," Katy said. "What about it?"

"What's his name again, it sounded familiar back then and I couldn't place it," Cosmos replied. "Poleax or..."

"Pulez," Katy corrected. "Ethan Pulez. Cos, it can't be him..."

"It can't," Vin interrupted. "Chris said the ATF in Ohio were on him."

"Okay, the list shortens..." Cosmos muttered more to himself than anyone else. "Wait, Gloria." He stopped Gloria's scrolling. "Abigail Lissa Sharp?" Katy dropped the coffee cup she was holding.

"Abby? Abby has been dead for years," Katy murmured, turning a shade of white. "What about her?"

"There's a contract out on her."

"Why take a contract out on someone who's already dead?" Gloria asked. Katy was looking at Vin. 
"There's gotta be some kind of mistake," Cliff whispered.

"It's impossible," Sam added. "to kill someone twice."

"Wait," Katy said. "Sam, Cliff, they never recovered the body from the wreckage so there's a chance--"

"What the hell, Katy?!" Cliff shouted. "Abby is dead! It is impossible!" Katy sealed herself.

"It's not impossible, it's just unlikely, the contract could very well be on her or it could be another Abigail Sharp, I don't know," Katy said firmly. "And whoever it is has a contract on them so if it is her or it isn't I'm not going let the die because you were too fulla crap to care. Who's the assassin?"

"E Pluribus Unum," Vin whispered after moving to look at the screen. "Shit."

"What shit? Shit is not good," Katy said. "Shit is never good."

"This guy is insane," Vin said. "E Pluribus Unum is inscribed on the back of a quarter, he leaves a quarter at every job he does and it's always dated the year the victim was born. He's never been caught. We know he's done at least twenty jobs but the quarter is usually overlooked so he could have done so many more jobs than that."

"That's shit worthy," Katy said. "He's never been caught?"

"Never."

"What is so important that they'd put him on Abby?" Katy asked.

"I don't know, he doesn't come cheap, though," Vin replied. "He demands at least 2.5 million per job." 

"Two and a half million?" Katy's eyes widened. "So basically, I'm not going to get to work on this case because I'm...too fragile or it's dangerous or we don't want you to get hurt."

"The Feds'll want it, they've been after the guy--" Cosmos said. "But. That doesn't mean we gotta give it to them right away. And as much as Sam and Cliff are going to threaten my life, you're ATF on a case, you and Tanner so I'm not authorized to stop you and neither are they." 

"Threaten your life? I'm not going to threaten it, I'm gonna take it!" Cliff nearly yelled at Cosmos. 

"Kid, I'm your senior officer," Cosmos said. "Restrain yourself before I bust your ass." Sam chuckled, bringing confused looks to everyone's face.

"What are we waiting for, find Abby," Sam said. He strolled out and to his office where he closed the door.

"Renfro--" Cliff started.

"Agent Sharp, I will take you off this case so don't push it." Cosmos cut him off. "Tanner, Peaches, I think we should find and research all the Abigail Sharps and see what we can about them."

"Abby would be twenty-five now," Katy said. "She has hazel eyes, the only brunette out of all of us, and...that's all I remember...that's all there would be that wouldn't change."

"So we go look for the Abigails that would be twenty-five, and then we investigate and meanwhile, we see if we can find E Pluribus Unum," Vin said.

"I'll get on E Pluribus, Peaches and Tanner, find the Abbys," Cosmos said. He leaned over Gloria's shoulder again and gave her instructions.

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Lies: Is

Katy held her breath as she knocked on the last door of the last Abby on the list. No answer. Vin put his hand on her shoulder in a silent comfort. Honestly, Katy had thought this could be her, the eyes seemed to look at her in longing in the photograph that had been attached to the file. Katy wouldn't give up, she knocked again. They listened and heard footsteps approaching the door. Abby looked out through the crack in the door.

"I don't want anything," came the "greeting".

"Abigail? Abigail Sharp?" Katy asked questionably.

"Who are you?"

"ATF agents Tanner and Sharp, we have reason to believe your life is in danger," Vin cut in.

"Sharp?" Abby frowned.

"It's a long story but could we ask you a few questions?" Katy practically begged. Vin looked from Abby to Katy, noting how much they looked a like despite the different eye and hair colors.

"What kind of questions? Is this a joke? Did my friends pay you to do this?" Abby stilted the crank.

"Abby, this isn't a joke, we've never met your friends, in all seriousness, someone may want you dead," Katy said, near the breaking point. 

"Leave me alone." The door slammed. Katy crumpled and let tears fall.

"It was her," Katy whispered. "God, her eyes, I remember how her eyes..."

"Katy, we gotta report to Renfro to find out our next move, are you sure it was her?" Vin asked, leading her away from the porch on the small house on the country road. The house was twenty miles from Chicago, twenty miles.

"It was her, I...Abby...she...it was her, I could tell the minute a saw her," Katy replied. "It was Abby."

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Abby watched them drive of through the curtained window. Katy. Missed you, sister, when you left.

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"It was her Cliff, I'm sure of it," Katy tried to convince her reluctant brother. "If you'd seen her..."

"It wasn't her Katy, Abby died, she died, a long time ago," Cliff said. 

"Why can't you believe it?" Katy asked softly. 

"Because I can't, I just don't want to raise my hopes and have them crushed," Cliff replied even softer. "It's been eighteen years, Katy. If by some chance it is Abby, she'd never be the little girl we remember. She'd never remember. It's not like we can go tramping back into her life and bring her into ours after all that's happened."

"Why?"

"I can't, maybe you can," Cliff said. "But what would you be giving up by doing it? She's certainly not moving to Denver and if she is Abby I know you, you'd stay with her. You would. Then you'd be here again, saying to Vin that it'll be another two weeks then another month and then three months, four five, six, a year? Katy, find Unum, get rid of him, move on. If you don't, you throw away your life. She looks like Abby, sure, I'll give you that, but if it is, I don't like it. How could she be gone for eighteen years and then show up out of the blue? It's too weird."

"Cliff, all I wanted was Abby for years and years, I'll be damned if you're going to act like a fuck and keep her from me!" Katy exploded. She turned to go.

"Katy--" Cliff tried to stop her. She didn't hear.

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Katy let herself into the hotel room hoping to relax a little only to find herself staring down the silencer on a gun. "Sharp, you're gonna shut up and listen to me and you're not gonna make a 
fuss over it," the guy holding it whispered. "It's Pulez. I know you and your little friends are after my hide but I didn't do nona the things that they says I did. E Pluribus Unum did. Unum is why I high tailed it here to find yous, I'm here ta warn you, Unum is gonna kill ya."

"Why warn me? Turning traitor?" Katy hissed.

"Figured we could cut a deal, I give ya everythin' ya want on Unum, if I get caught ya put in a good word for me so I don't get such a harsh punishment," Pulez said. "When ya think about, I ain't askin' for that much, justa good word's all."

"Yeah sure, Pulez," Katy growled. "I'm not buying."

"Think on it Copper, I'll find ya again," Pulez waltzed out the front door. Katy stood from where he'd put only to have handcuffs pull at her wrist.

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"Katy, I used to treat you all the time and you never pulled your stitches like this before," Dr. Benson was telling Katy as he restitched her hand.

"I know Doc but it wasn't my fault, I'm a big girl now and life just got in the way," Katy replied absently.

"Well, don't pop these or I'll have Sam take you off what you're working on," Benson threatened.

"That's not gonna do any good, Doc, I'm not a Marshal, I'm ATF and Sam can't take me off this," Katy said. 

"All I'm saying is you need to be care what you do to your hand or else," Benson said. "You can go." Katy grabbed her jacket and went out to the waiting room where Vin was trying to look occupied with a magazine. He wasn't doing a good job.

"Come on Tanner, we gotta get back to work," Katy nudged him.

"Actually, work is here," Vin replied. "Renfro called and said that they found a man that looked like Pulez murdered behind a bar two blocks from the hotel and they brought the body here to a Doctor Holders who used to do...well, you know and we should check it out."

"Pulez was murdered?" Katy asked, shocked. "Two blocks from the hotel?"

"Yep."

"C'mon, cowboy," Katy started off for the elevator.

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"Oh my God," Katy gasped at seeing the corpse. She covered her mouth with her hand. The man's eyes were gone and in their places were quarters, wedged in the sockets. What made it worse was the blood. It caked around the edges in little black clumps and ran down the rest of the man's face and neck.

"Are you alright?" Dr. Holders asked her. Katy nodded although she felt incredibly sick. "It's very...peculiar. He died of head trauma but I have reason to believe it wasn't completely from...uh, having his eyes replaced with quarters. I think he was hit from behind with something large but until I get the autopsy done."

"Can you remove the quarters?" Vin asked out of the blue.

"Remove them...I...I intend to but not at the moment..." Holders stammered. What's their relevance?"

"I want to check the dates," Vin replied. Holders paled. For a doctor he seemed uncomfortable about this, he did this on a regular basis...

"Doctor Holders, didn't the Marshals tell you about the 'relevance' of the quarters?" Katy asked, suddenly suspicious.

"No, they didn't mention it--"

"Which Marshal did you speak with?"

"Marshal...uh...Marshal..." Holders started to edge away.

"Marshal Newman maybe?" Katy grilled, ready to go for her gun. Holders backed into the table of instruments.

"Yes, Marshal Newman, I believe--"

"Marshal Newman died five years ago, oh, crash and burn, check and mate!" Katy yelled. She lunged forward and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and forcefully shoved him and the instruments into the wall. Vin had his gun out and was hovering over her shoulder. "Who the hell are you, asshole?"

"Sharp, I'll press charges--" Vin pressed his gun to the man's temple.

"Talk, pard," Vin growled.

"Who hired you!?" Katy snapped. "Who!?"

"E Pluribus Unum, darling, who else?" Holders said. He snaked his hand out and tried to stab Katy with a scalpel but she let go and stepped back, tripping herself and Vin. Holders ran but Vin fired after him, he fell to the floor. Katy untangled herself from Vin and they started over to Holders who was crawling to the door, still. Katy kicked his ribs and he screamed in pain. Vin grabbed her to stop any farther attack.

"Thought you'd play me, didn't you, Doc?" Katy growled. Holders grabbed the handle of the closet for support. The handle turned and the door opened to another corpse.

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"Peaches, the fake Holders died in surgery, the corpse in the closet was the real Holders," Cosmos told Katy as Benson restitched her hand, again. 

"Holders?" Benson cut in. "Matthew Holders is dead?" 

"You knew Holders?" Katy asked.

"Like the back of my hand, knew everything about the man, not the friendliest man that ever lived but dead?" Benson replied. 

"Dr. Benson, I'm gonna have to have you answer a few questions as to why Holders would be a target, it could be a coincidence but I want to cover everything," Cosmos told the good doctor.

"As soon as I'm done with her hand, I've been this girl's doctor for years and years and I'm not going to let a nurse touch her," Benson smiled a forced smile, forced because of the news.

"Alright."

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Abby ran screaming into the Marshal's headquarters. "Help!" she screamed. "Someone tried to kill me! I need to see Marshal Sharp!" People came running and poking heads out of offices.

"Calm down ma'am, what happened? Are you hurt?" a woman asked her. Abby pretended to sob in the women's arms.

"A man, he grabbed he and he had a knife!" Abby shrieked. She held up her bloody hands and sobbed. "I need to see agent Sharp, I know Agent Sharp!"

"It's alright, ma'am, Luvfert, go get Cliff, just a minute, we're getting Agent Sharp," the woman said. "Why don't you sit down here. Are you hurt?"

"J-j-just my cheek, j-just my cheek," Abby stammered.

"Jenkins, get a first aid kit," she ordered. A young man dashed off and returned with the kit just as Cliff came flying down the stairs, followed by Luvfert.

"What is it--" Cliff started to ask but stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Abby. "What's she doing here?"

"She came in screaming and said she knew you, sir," Luvfert answered looking a bit confused. "Who is she?"

"Get a hold of Sam or Katy and ask them," Cliff replied. He grabbed the first aid kit from Jenkins.

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Lies: Getting There

"Mr. Sharp, I'm tired of these questions, I came here for help, I told you everything I knew, and now I just want to go home," Abby cried. She slammed her fist against the mirror-glass in the 
interrogation room. Cliff looked from his uncle to his sister, neither of them seemed to notice anything but the girl in the room. Cliff didn't understand them, Abby was dead. 

"We should let her go," Cliff broke the silence. Katy looked ready to rip his head off.

"Someone tried to kill to her, is that not sinking through your thick skull?" Katy retorted, she didn't take her eyes off the girl.

"Hey, knock it off," Sam interrupted. 

"We can't keep her here, this isn't an actual case. It hasn't been run by our bosses and if we want to keep her here, we'll need to give an explanation and we're already walking on thin ice here," Vin added.

"I like this kid," Sam tapped Vin on the shoulder causing Vin to smile in a small flush of embarrassment. "We can have Biggs follow her."

"Uh, no, no, no, no, no," Cosmos said waltzing in. "Bobby is gone on vacation."

"What? He never talked to me about this," Sam stood up straight from where he was leaning.

"Yes he did, Old Timer, he told you, invited to the wedding of a friend of a friend's daughter," Cosmos said, irritated that Sam would forget about Bobby.

"Hello?" Katy said. "What about Abby?"

"We put a guard on her," Sam said. He held up his hand to keep everyone quiet. "Cliff, we are to treat her as any other girl who's had a trauma that endangers her life come about her so shut your face. Katy, Cliff, and Tanner, escort her back to her house and keep a watch up there. I'd send just two of you but I can't send Katy and Cliff because you two will end up killing each other and I want Cliff and Katy to go. Tanner, don't let them kill each other or I'll destroy you." Vin nodded, amused.

"Yes sir," Vin continued to smile. Katy glared at her boyfriend and her uncle. Oh my God, why did I bring Vin with me?

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"I'm driving," Katy said. "Me. Drive. Me."

"Give me the keys, Katy," Cliff growled. 

"Over my dead body, I'm driving!"

"Katy!" Cliff lunged at her and she tried to side step but tripped. Oops. Vin picked the keys up. 

"Get in the back with Abby, Cliff," Vin said. "Katy get in the passenger side. I'M driving and you either get in, sit down, and shut up or go pout to your uncle that Tanner is a meanie-poo." Cliff muttered something about taking sides and got in the back.

"'Meanie-poo'?" Katy said. She smirked and got in the car.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Abby left them standing in the living room while she went to her bedroom and changed her filthy clothes. Vin sort of leaned off to one side, Cliff sat with his arms crossed across his chest, and Katy looked around. She picked up a framed picture...then promptly drooped it.

"Cliff, Vin--" she knelt down to pick up the pieces of glass scattered across the floor.

"Great, destroy her personal possessions, smooth, real smo--" Cliff started as went over.

"Shut up Cliff, this is a picture of us, Darien, John, you, me," Katy cut him off, holding the photo out to him. "It's the photo and the frame that was stolen when I was seventeen, it has my initials on it."

"What the...?" Cliff stared at the frame. Then a gunshot interrupted them, it also knocked the frame from his hand. Abby stood, wearing all black and smiling, pointing the gun at them.

"I thought it'd be nice to have a picture of my family," Abby said. "Mr. Tanner, firearms down, please. Same with the two of you, brother, sister."

"Abby..." Katy whispered.

"Shut up Katy," Abby fired a shot near her head. "Really, I thought you were smarter than this, to walk right into my clutches...I guess I got all the brains in the Sharp gene pool. Though I have to say, I paid the price, I didn't get much of the Sharp luck, or maybe it was just stored up because I'm going to be the only surviving Sharp and Gerard... And no one will suspect me."

"Why?" Katy asked. "We're trying to protect you from E Pluribus--"

"Sister dearest, I am E Pluribus Unum, this is all just a game, a big game," Abby snarled.

"A sick game," Vin added.

"Shut up Tanner or I'll plug you right now," Abby threatened. "Or maybe I'll plug Katy first so you have to watch."

"How could you be E Pluribus Unum?" Cliff asked, rudely to say the least. "E Pluribus Unum is a 'world famous' assassin, you're just a skinny little rat that had to trick your victims into playing because you couldn't just kill them--"

Bang.

Abby shot Cliff in the stomach, he stumbled back and Katy and Vin knelt next to him. Katy touched the blood soaking through his shirt. Vin pulled the bandana he'd clumsily tied on that morning off and applied pressure to the wound.

"I could have you bastard! I shot the glass! I killed Pulez, I killed Holders! I killed you, son of a bitch!" Abby shrieked madly. "Don't touch that gun Tanner or she's gonna end up like him! Get up, Tanner! Get up, Katy! Get up!"

"Go to hell, Abby," Katy hissed. She pulled the small pop gun and fried, hitting the gun in Abby's hand. Abby cursed--then started to laugh.

"Kill me," Abby laughed. "Kill me, pull the trigger. Don't got the guts? Kill me, bitch."

"I'd rather arrest you," Katy said. "You don't deserve the easy way out."

"See, this is why you're stupid," Abby smiled, she laughed again. "You think I work alone? Shoulda killed me. Think about it. How did I grow up on my own?" A shot knocked the gun from 
Katy's hand. A man walked in from the hallway behind Abby, Dr. Benson. Another man walked in, Luvfert. "Hey boys, great timing."

"You..." Cliff murmured. 

"So sister, whatcha think?" Abby asked venomously. 

"I think you're insane, and I think I should have killed you," Katy replied. Abby's shock gave her an advantage. "I should have."

"You didn't! That's the difference between us, I will and you won't," Abby hissed. She walked carefully over to a table and pulled a large barrel out from underneath it. It was marked flammable. "Boys, cuff Mr. Tanner and Mr. Sharp. Try anything, dear sister, and I won't hesitate to finish them both off." Benson cuffed Cliff's hands and Luvfert cuffed Vin, only Vin was cuffed to the table and they pulled Cliff up to his feet.

"What the hell? Where are you taking him?" Katy growled.

"Oh I have to have someone to torture and you won't work because you're too dangerous, sis, you'd get away one way or another and kill me, sooner or later," Abby replied in a low voice. "I would take Mr. Tanner but his friends would have a hot passion for my death if he was tortured, this just a simple casualty and therefore, they may want me dead but not with that...passion."

"Wrong there, Unum," Vin snarled. "They'll still have that passion for your death."

Abby shrugged. "Oh well, I can't leave you alive, can I? No, of course not, for one I've waited too long and secondly, you'd catch me. I can't be caught, no one will ever catch the great E Pluribus Unum. Well, sis, nice seeing you again, it was fun."

"Sure, tons of fun, I've never had this much in my life," Katy glared at Abby through silted eyes.

"A pity really," Abby ignored her. She continued in a hazy tone. "We could have been the best team together, sister assassins...oh and with your safe cracking skills...we could have had the world, maybe even more..."

"I don't want the world at that cost," Katy whispered.

"Whatever you say, it's never going to happen any ways so no use," Abby regained herself. "Be a good girl and cuff yourself next to Mr. Tanner and stay." Katy complied as Abby leveled the gun at Vin. Abby pulled the lid off the barrel and tipped it over, spilling the contents across the hard wood floor, over the rugs. All the while, Katy glared at her sister, no, not her sister, her sister was dead, the person in front of her was a hallow shell that had been born out of Abby's ashes. No, it wasn't her sister, not anymore, not Abby. Abby lit a match, a long match and laid it on the floor, un-burning end in the puddle. "When the match burns down, you're dead, 
sis. Bye bye." 

Abby and company left. Katy pulled at her handcuffs and only succeeded in hurting her wrist. She watched the match which was burning quickly, too quickly.

"Vin, we have to get out of this," Katy looked to Vin. Her jaw dropped. He was just undoing his hand cuffs.

"Ez was right, hair pins really do do the trick," he said. He got up and stepped on the match then hurried back and unlocked hers.

"He taught you how to pick a lock! God damn it, Vin, you're spending too much time with the man, let's go."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Okay, Tanner, this time I will drive," Katy slid across the hood of the car as Abby's car pulled away. Katy flung the door open and pulled the gun from under the seat, firing a few shots and was joined by Vin's shots. He actually hit a tire. Katy jumped inside and so did Vin. She started the engine and pulled it out, hitting the mail box in the process. Katy turned on the siren.

"We've got five minutes before they make it to the city and if they turn off somewhere who knows," Vin told her unnecessarily, Katy knew Chicago better than she knew him. 

"Well, you hit a tire," Katy replied.

"Yeah, I did."

"So hit another one, stupid.

Vin didn't argue. He stuck his head out the window and then aimed the gun at the car in front of them. He fired twice before he hit the other tire and was rewarded with the tire exploding and the car running off of the road. Katy slammed the SUV into the passenger side, blocking Benson and Luvfert's escape. But not Abby's. Abby opened the door and ran. Katy followed but she seemed to disappear off into the extremely tall grass. A sudden roar of a car engine got Katy's attention. She turned just in time to see it come at her and hit her. She rolled across the front and fell to the ground unconscious.

The car stopped. Abby darted over and opened the door. She hesitated for a moment but got in and the car sped off.

****************************

Lies-Epilogue

Katy walked into Team Seven's office for the first time in two weeks. Her arm was in a sling from when she'd been broad sided while trying to catch Abby. At least the purplish bruise that had covered half her face wasn't so...purple anymore and she wasn't having quite so many problems with her bad knee. She sighed and walked towards Chris Larabee's office. She tapped lightly on the half-closed door. A muffled come in. Katy pushed the door open.

"Hey, Chris," she greeted him.

"Sharp what in the hell are you doing at work?" Chris asked when he looked up from his computer which he'd been trying to beat into submission.

"Nice to see you too," Katy joked.

"Vin said you were supposed to stay rested for three weeks, got one more to go, sweetheart," Chris grinned. At least she was laughing.

"I recover quick, in the Sharp gene pool," Katy smiled and sat down across from him. "Having trouble with the stinky machine?"

"Yep."

"Throw it out the window because I'm too hazy to fix it," Katy chuckled.

"If you're hazy you'd better get home," Nathan said from the door. Katy looked over her shoulder to see the rest of Team Seven in the door, Vin included with the still-healing gash on his forehead and the worried look.

"I am fine physically, or I will as long as I've got the pain killers and until my knee clears up," Katy said. "The only thing wrong is me emotionally. Sometimes I think it's cruel to have emotions, they hurt, more than anything."

"If you don't have emotions, 'Peaches', life isn't worth living," Josiah said. "Time will heal."

"So now you all are going to call me Peaches?" Katy asked with a smile. "Thanks for putting up with me while I'm dealing. Ya'll deserve a present but since I wrecked my uncle's car I can't afford a present so as soon as the car is paid off, I'll buy you all a beer. If I get drunk enough ya might just hear a bit about Abby."

"Until then, Mz. Sharp, why don't you allow me to buy you a beer, or as you prefer, a margarita," Ezra flashed his gold tooth and Team Seven took Katy for a margarita.

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