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"How can I trust you to do what you are saying?" Ivania finally asked after staying silent for a couple of minutes.

"How could you not? I was very open with you from the start but I think the principal reason for you to trust me is easy. You are still alive right now which is more than you should be and honestly, more than you deserve. I even took the trouble to bring you here despite the many security issues than you pose for me and the rest of my team. I'm giving you a chance to turn your life around Ivania."

"What if I choose to refuse your offer?" She asked after she processed what he said.

"Simple, I will take my phone, called the director of Homeland Security and tell him we have The Lark in custody. I don't think it will take them more than ten minutes before taking you from my hand and sedating you. You will wake up in Guantanamo Bay where they are going to tell you to cooperate or your child will be left in front of the worst orphanage in Syria or something like that. I told you I will not kill you but I don't really care for you that much to be honest. I'm giving you a chance in the name of someone who saved my life, it's up to you if you are going to take it or not."

"And you would be willing to sit back and watch while your savior's child is being tortured to get me to talk!?" She shouted, appalled.

"Of course not, I will intervene but you will have no way of knowing how and when or even if I can. Not knowing will eventually break you and at that point you will not be of use anymore and you will be disposed of. Ultimately what happens to you and Marc will happen to Nicholas as well, growing up without his parents around. I'm sure you don't want him to endure what you did in your childhood." Nathaniel adds the last phrase with a neutral tone.

Hearing that, Ivania could not keep from shuddering at the thought. She still vividly remembers how her life came crashing down that day. At the time she was only eleven, her parents were investigating ruin in the Sialk province when they were attacked by a gang that did not appreciate that a foreigner and his traitorous wife came to the region to desecrate their land. She had witnessed first hand her parents getting chopped down before being taken by them. What followed for her was five years of hell where she was regularly abused, physically and sexually by the top members and the leader of the gang.

Despite being in a situation that would have broken everyone, she never did on the inside and inside the gang she found a way to become strong, a way for that to never happen again. Using their resources, she learned how to fight, how to steal, how to shoot and how to move quietly in the shadow. That's how one morning when she was weeks away from turning sixteen years old, a horrific sight greeted the city of Kashan. In a decrepit building in the slum of the city, forty two bodies were found dead.

Upon entering the building, the police were baffled by what they saw inside. It was not the amount of people who died but how they did that shocked them. None died the same way. Some had gun wounds, others were cut down using a long knife and others saw signs of strangulation or breaking necks but they all had one sign in common. To the basic grunt to the leader of the gang, they all had the same sign carved in their skin. A bird was on their forehead, a lark to be exact. The police never found the group or the person involved in the killing but never noticed that one body was not among the other members of that gang, the one belonging to a certain young girl.

That day, Ivania vanished but a legend was born, The Lark was born. The exact same woman was now sitting in front of Nathaniel, her eyes unfocused seemingly lost in some painful memories.

"Do you even have the authority to offer a deal like that?" She finally asked.

"I wouldn't be offering it if I didn't." He answers curtly.

"Before I'll accept, I'm going to need something from you."

"I'm listening." Nathaniel answered in a neutral voice.

"Because of my… let's just say occupation, there are a lot of people who are not really happy with me and are tracking me down as we speak. I'm going to need help in order to disappear, I already have a good plan in place but I could use some of your ressources."

"I have some thoughts about that subject but before I share them, I need information about your mission here. What was your mission for the Saudi's exactly?"

"It was pretty straightforward. Infiltrate the company to snoop around and in the case I find no intel on the people who enter the country using the company jet, I need to lure one or more members of your family into an abandoned building where a team of 'investigators' is ready to interrogate them." She said.

"Where and how many people exactly?" A plan starting to form in his mind.

"A standard interrogating team, five people at most but extremely well trained and the drop off is in a dockyard fifteen miles away from here."

"Alright, this is what we are going to do." Nathaniel starts to say before explaining his plan to her.

"When did you come up with this?" She asked once he was done, looking at him with renewed respect in her eyes.

"Since the moment I learned that you and Marc had a son." He answers before putting the gun he took from her earlier on the desk, the handle facing her. "So, what do you think about it, Ivania? One last mission before retiring?" He asked, giving her a smile.

"You would really trust me with a gun by your side?" She asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

"You are a pragmatic woman Ivania and right now I'm more useful to you alive than dead. I will trust that about you at least. Not mentioning the fact that I'm also the only one who wants to help you on this planet."

"I'll do it but I'm warning you, I will not wait for you so you better keep up with me or you will be left behind." She finally said, taking her gun back.

Laughing, Nathaniel nodded his head before a beeping sound coming from his computer made him turn his head to his screen. Looking at it, his expression turned grave the more he looked at the information displayed by the screen. Getting to his feet, Nathaniel shouts out loud.

"LINA!"

The door of his office opened almost immediately, Scott seemingly taking upon himself to guard him in case of danger, his gun aimed right at Ivania. Waving to the ground in Scott's direction, Nathaniel made it clear that there was no immediate danger. Running, Lina appears on the door frame.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Call everyone and if they don't pick up, track them down and bring them here ASAP." Nathaniel said before turning back to Scott. "This is happening."

Understanding immediately what Nathaniel was talking about, the face of Scott turned as solemn as his own a few moments ago.