A/N: Here we go, closer to the end. Enjoy.
Sarah awoke to what she thought were the sounds of a boxing gym; fists hitting a heavy bag, air escaping from a person's mouth after taking a punch, grunts and whimpers caused by pain
Sarah awoke to what she thought were the sounds of a boxing gym; fists hitting a heavy bag, air escaping from a person's mouth after taking a punch, grunts and whimpers caused by pain. She shook her head and opened her eyes to see that she was handcuffed to pipes crossing the ceiling at the far end of a large warehouse. To her left was Carina who was just waking up as well and was similarly detained. She scanned the room again and saw nothing but empty boxes and metal cabinets filling the building.
Hearing the unmistakable sound of another punch to the stomach, Sarah turned to her right and saw Casey surrounded by 3 men who were taking turns working him over. Casey was in extremely bad shape: his eyes were swollen and blood was dripping from his mouth. It looked like they were beating on him for the last hour and now he was not even conscious. The only thing that kept him up was the fact that he was handcuffed as well to the ceiling. Sarah knew was that Casey wouldn't be able to leave here under his own power.
One of the men turned to Sarah and Carina. "Glad to see your both awake Assistant Director Sarah Walker and DEA Agent Carina Anderson. Major Casey here wasn't really cooperating and I doubt he will now; maybe one of you will be of more assistance to us." Adjusting his suit and standing a bit straighter he continued, "We'd like to know the location and a way to contact the agent sent out against Fulcrum members."
Sarah looked over to the agent, "Well you have us at a disadvantage, you know our names but we don't know yours."
"Agent William Simms."
Smirking, Sarah continued "Well Billie, you know as well as we do that threat of torture doesn't work that well with us."
"True, true. But it doesn't hurt to try and ask though. How about you Miss Anderson, care to cooperate?"
Carina pursed her lips, "Let me think, nope don't think so."
Sarah asked "What makes you think we know who the agent is anyways? It's not company policy to go around sharing operation secrets over lunch."
Simms walked over to her. "But this is a special case. You three know this agent quite well actually." He paused to look over at Casey, who was slumping over.
"Well, are you going to tell us? Or is the suspense part of the torture technique?" Carina shot back.
"We want to know the location of Bryce Larkin."
"Bryce? You know he's dead right?" laughed Carina.
"Not quite Miss Anderson. He's very much alive and apparently decided to take to the offensive." Simms stepped up to Sarah, "So Miss Walker, care to tell me where your lover is?"
"Former lover and I don't know. I'm just as surprised as she is that Bryce is alive."
"Well no matter, I guess we'll just have to wait it out and lure Larkin over here as soon as he finds out we have his girlfriend and associates."
"Ex-girlfriend" shouted Sarah.
"Well when you EX-boyfriend gets here, he'll be greeted by the remaining portion of the Fulcrum command group. You see he's been targeting us basically a few at a time, no more than four. This time he'll be welcomed by no less than 23 Fulcrum agents who are ready for him."
"Let's say Bryce Larkin is still alive. What makes you think he'll come rescue us? To him and any field agent, our deaths would be for the greater good" said Sarah smugly.
"That would be true, but Larkin hasn't been playing by the field agent's handbook for the past year has he? We know that you two especially mean something to him" pointing to Sarah and Casey.
"And how do you know that?"
"Well he has managed to thwart all Fulcrum attempts to eliminate you and Major Casey so far. Why should he stop now? Seems like you guys have a guardian angel."
Sarah could not contain the look of shock on her face. She knew Bryce and he wouldn't hesitate sacrificing someone in order to complete the mission. But why was he protecting them? Was it because he thought he owed Chuck?
"So let's just hang out for a while until our mutual friend shows up."
Hours later, Simms was pacing back and forth in the warehouse. Bryce still had yet to show up and he was beginning to doubt whether he would. "Looks like your boyfriend doesn't keep his appointments" Simms said to Sarah.
"Ex-boyfriend" Sarah fumed.
"I don't see the importance."
"Well, I do."
"Wait, I remember your file now. You had a thing for that Bartowski guy. The analyst who got blown up last year. Heard it was quite the fireworks show. Not much loss there, heard he wasn't that much of an agent anyways."
Sarah felt the anger well up inside of her. "Say that again and I swear I'll tear your tongue out!" she screamed as she pulled against her handcuffs.
"Whoa there missy, I see I hit a nerve. So there is a crack in Agent Walker's supposedly impenetrable shield."
Sarah's glare threatened to burn a whole straight through Simms.
"Why the sad face Walker?" Simms walked over and grabbed her by the chin. "Has anyone told you that you're much prettier with a smile?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Swiss army knife. "Let's see if I can help you turn that frown upside down."
Sarah struggled to remove her face from the grasp of her captor. Simms brought the knife close to her face and remarked "Don't worry; I'll make sure there's some part of you that's still recognizable to Larkin."
As Simms prepared to plunge the blade into Sarah's face, a shot rang out through the building. Simms instantly fell to one knee, dropping the knife, and looked down to see that he was shot mid-thigh. Another two quick bursts and the 2 Fulcrum agents next to Casey were instantly taken out with shots to the chest.
Sarah and Carina both looked over to their left; there they saw a man dressed in tactical gear with a submachine gun butted up against his shoulder and head cocked to the right as he looked down the gun sight. They struggled to see who it was but the man was wearing a ski mask and goggle, preventing the identification of their savior.
Simms had quickly run for cover and was shouting "Larkin's here. Take him out now!"
But before they could fire off a shot the lights within the building all shut off, leaving everyone in virtual darkness.
Simms laughed, "Nice try. But just like you we came prepared." He pulled out his night vision goggles and quickly put them on. "You're not the only one who can see in the dark Larkin."
The unknown rescuer rushed up to both Sarah and Carina and said "Close your eyes now!"
Sarah struggled to identify the voice but couldn't recognize the voice; either he was naturally changing it or had some artificial help.
As she closed her eyes, she heard what sounded like a metal pin dropping and the sound of a metal canister hitting the floor a few seconds later. Grenade? In here?
A few seconds later she saw an intense white light flash come through her eyelids followed by an intense loud blast. Sarah heard screaming coming from the Fulcrum agents and realized that they had witnessed the intensity of the white flash through their night vision goggles. If these grenades temporarily blind people normally, its effectiveness multiplies against people using light enhancing night vision goggles.
The man unlocked Carina and then Sarah from their handcuffs before turning towards Casey who was still out of commission. Just as he got Casey down, bullets started whizzing passed them. The agents were still clearly affected by the grenade but their shots were still close to their intended targets.
The rescuer dragged Casey to where Sarah and Carina were hiding behind a metal cabinet and tossed him over to the two ladies, just in time to take out two attackers who rushed around the corner to ambush them.
As bullets continued to bounce off the metal container, the rescuer handed both women handguns which were strapped to his back. "Take Casey and go out the southwest exit, I've sealed off all other egresses. I parked a blacked out Mazda sedan behind the next building. Take it and drive south towards San Diego. I'll get in contact with you then" the man said. He quickly stood up and let out some quick bursts from his weapon, hitting a couple of the attackers. "Go, now!"
Shock then anger appeared on Sarah's face. "There's no way we're leaving you here, Bryce. The numbers are overwhelming, you have no chance. Let us help."
The rescuer squatted back down after unleashing some more rounds from his weapon and turned his head towards Sarah. "I did not come all this way and sacrifice so much just to have you guys die now. I have things under control, TRUST ME."
Sarah looked into his goggles and relented, "Fine, just watch your back."
"It's what I'm good at." He quickly fired off several rounds.
"Where will you be?"
"I need to clean things up here and make sure no one leaves the building alive. I'll catch up to you soon."
Sarah nodded and said "Good luck." Turning towards Carina, she asked,"Can you help with Casey?"
Carina nodded as well. Turning to their savior, Carina whispered "Thanks, Bryce." The man looked at her for a moment and then turned towards the attackers.
They each aided in moving Casey; Sarah was under his right arm and Carina under the left. They quickly made their way from shelter to shelter, taking out random Fulcrum agents who unluckily got in their way. As they stood at the exit, Sarah let Carina take Casey outside and turned around to see what was happening.
Sarah turned and saw him standing behind one of the pillars supporting the second floor of the warehouse. Judging from the amount of dust and debris flying around him, she knew most of the attackers were focused on eliminating him. Get out of there Bryce, hurry.
The lone gunman saw that Sarah, Carina, and Casey were safely outside of the building and knew that he needed to make his exit. He quickly stepped out into the line of fire and proceeded to empty his clip towards the attackers in front of him, hoping to force them back behind their shelters.
Just as he proceeded to reload his weapon, Simms popped out of his hiding place behind the rescuer and in front of Sarah. He took two shots which hit the man square in the back, forcing him to stumble forward away from the safety of the pillar and into incoming fire. Sarah watched in horror as five more shots caught the man in the chest before he could hide, tossing him onto his back on the floor. She took her weapon and shot at Simms, catching him in the shoulder and the neck. Sarah could see the look of surprise on his face as he turned and fell to the ground.
Sarah looked up to see what happened and held her breath as she saw him lay motionless on the floor. But just as quickly, he pulled out two semi-automatic pistols from the holsters on his chest and proceeded to fire at some agents who came out of hiding to check on him. Sarah turned around and followed Carina, satisfied that he would make it out on his own. Bulletproof vest, I should've known that you would've come prepared.
Standing up quickly, he ran towards the southwest exit and locked the door behind him. Shouting at Sarah and Carina, "Go now!"
As they ran towards the next building, they quickly discovered the parked car and gingerly placed the still knocked out Casey into the back seat.
Sarah put the car into gear and sped off in the direction of the main street.
Seeing that they were safely away, the rescuer pulled out a transmitter and flipped up the switch to arm the devices he placed earlier. He quickly depressed the little red button and instantly a series of explosions rocked the surrounding area. Carina turned and looked out her window in time to see the second floor of the warehouse they were just in collapse onto the first, totally leveling the building.
Pulling out his cell phone, the rescuer pressed a number on his speed dial and said "It's done, you can send in the cleaners."
"Yes, sir. I believe that was most of the command group of Fulcrum. They should be easier to handle now."
"Casey is a little worse for wear, but all three are fine."
"He's good as well, I picked him up yesterday."
"Thank you sir. Good day."
He closed the cell phone and walked over to his motorcycle hidden behind the trash bin. Now comes the hard part.
