-7-

As Fast as He Can

Sully drove his jeep as fast as he could. He looked back in the back seat to see Nate bleeding badly from the head and just staring blindly into the sky. His jacket he had wrapped around Nate's head was getting soaked heavily with blood. It took all of his sanity to not panic, he didn't know how much time he had before Nate could possibly...

While keeping a firm grip on the wheel with one hand, Sully reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a cellphone and quickly dialed a number. The other line only rang about twice before a man answered the phone, but with all the urgency felt, it might as well of rang a hundred times.

The man on the other line couldn't get a 'hello' out before Sully began speaking. "Evans!" he cried out in relief that he was able to get a hold of him.

"Victor?" Evans answered, puzzled by the haste in Sully's voice. "Are you okay?"

Sully looked back once more at Nate before he answered. "I am, but Nate isn't." he said grimly, turning his gaze back at the road. "He was in some sort of accident and now he's bleeding heavily from the head." he informed him, trying not to elaborate too much on the subject. If he were to tell him some freaky bat creature was he cause of this, before he knew it it could be all over the news.

"How bad is it?" Evans asked him.

Sully paused for a moment and shook his head. "It's really bad, Pierce." he said, using the man's first name now.

Pierce Evans was more than just a friend to him and Nate. He was a trained and highly skilled doctor that took care of them under the table. Doing what he and Nate did, they had to lie, cheat and steal, and if they were to get hurt in the process, they couldn't just be rushed into a hospital for their enemy of the day to come and kill them. Before Pierce, they had to take care of all the wounds they'd taken in themselves—and it wasn't pretty. At this point, Sully had known Pierce for about fifteen years, and in all that time he had healed a lot of wounds and managed to keep it hush hush. Removing bullets from each other or sewing up a wound was child's play to Nate and Sully now, but something like this? He didn't want to take any unnecessary chances.

"Can you meet me at the cabin as soon as you can?" Sully asked him.

"Of course." Evans answered right away. "On my way."

"Thanks." Sully said, flipping his phone closed and then open again to make another call. After a couple rings the other party picked up. He was thrown by who answered the phone.

"Elena?" Sully said with surprise. "U-uh can I speak to Chloe?" he asked.

"Um...sure." She said with caution. "Were you able to find Nate?"

Sully feared she would ask him such a question. He took a hard gulp before he spoke again. "No." he lied. "Now, I really need to speak to Chloe okay, sweetheart." he said in as kind a voice as he could at the moment.

"Sure." she answered. Sully could hear the disappointment in her voice. But if she were so upset over the fact that he couldn't find Nate, what would she do if she knew he was bleeding to death in the back of his jeep?

A few seconds passed before Chloe got on the line. "Victor, you rang?"

"Chloe," Sully spoke in a stern voice. "you have to do me a favor."

"Anything, go ahead." she said, her voice growing worried from the tone of Sully's.

"I found Nate, but he's hurt bad. I already called Pierce to come to the cabin and take care of him as soon as I get him there, but I don't want Elena seeing Pierce or Nate. Not until I'm sure if he's going to be okay or not." he told her.

Sully heard a slight scoff come from the other side. "What do you mean if?" she asked in horror.

"Chloe, I swear I will tell you everything that happened as soon as I get there, okay?" he assured her. He felt a twinge of guilt overcome him. "I'm sorry to put this on you."

"No, no." She corrected him. "I'll get on it. Just..." she trailed off, fighting the catch in her voice. "Just...take care of him, all right?"

"Yeah..." he said, feeling that he was failing at that task already. And with that, he flipped his phone closed.

From the back seat he heard Nate let out a pained noise and squirm a bit. Upon hearing this, he slammed on the gas even harder. It was clear this was his day to play guardian angel, and he wasn't going to give up on him-

for anything.

In the back seat, Nate continued to have to blank eyes peering into the sky. For a brief moment, unbeknownst to Sully, his eyes did a quick flicker to red and back.

Time was running out—and running out fast.

XXX

Meanwhile, Noctern was fluttering through the sky. His usual precision was now all over the place from the hole in his side. Ahead was the cave that he had used as a base. It was the perfect place to hide—dark, secluded, which seemed enough to keep out any unwanted guests. Deeper within the cave was where he did all his work, his 'throne room' if you will. Not much in means of decoration was on the walls, what with him being blind, a Picasso wouldn't do him very much good. Voice recognition computers were on either wall and a small weapon arsenal lined the walls.

Noctern staggered a bit to one of the weapon-lined walls. Without having to feel around for the weapon he needed, he grabbed a dagger off a rack, like he could see perfectly in his mind where it was.

Then, in one swift motion he jabbed the dagger in his side, digging for the bullet that had be lodged there. He let out a loud wail from the sensation, his body surprisingly still and cooperative.

"Fucking idiots!" he screamed as he ripped the bullet from his body. Once the pain subsided, so did his fury. From his pocket, he pulled a syringe. Inside was a bright green substance. Noctern immediately jabbed it into his neck and injected the fluid. As he felt the cooling sensation overtake his body, his wound closed and was instantly healed.

Once the syringe was emptied, he threw it to the ground and it crunched next to his boot. He paused and took one deep breath to compose himself. "You can interfere all you want, Mr. Sullivan..." he said to himself. "But you can't prevent the inevitable. It may take time, but rest assured..." he trailed off into a loud burst of maniacal laughter. "You're precious boy is my pawn!"

XXX

Once Sully pulled up to the cabin, he saw Vergil and Cutter waiting for him there. They knew that Sully wasn't in his youngest of years and wouldn't be able to carry Nate inside without hurting himself. As soon as the jeep approached the two men ran to it.

Vergil let out a choked gasp when he laid eyes on his brother, whose eyes were now fully closed. "Holy shit." he cursed. "What the hell happened to him, Sully!?" he yelled, immediately feeling guilt for snapping at him—he knew he wasn't responsible for the shape Nate was in right now, in fact, Sully was the reason he was still breathing.

"I'll tell you all about it later." Sully answered, exiting the car. As he went to lift Nate Cutter stopped him.

"It's okay, we got him, mate." Cutter assured him. He slowly lifted Nate's body forward and pulled him gently from the car. Vergil got on one side and Cutter on the other, arms around Nate's shoulders and leading him inside.

"Where's Elena?" Sully asked quickly.

"Chloe asked her to join her for a walk," Vergil answered. "doubt they'll be gone too long." Vergil answered Sully's next question before he could even ask it. "Pierce is already inside. He arrived right after Chloe and Elena left."

Sully ran to open the door for Vergil and Cutter. The two men drug Nate into the back room of a cabin. Inside was a small amount of medical equipment and a hospital bed. Pierce had made a room like this for them when the group told him they were going to be in Russia for a while and that Chloe was going to most likely go into labor before their trek was through.

Inside, Pierce was already sterile and ready to do any means of surgery he thought he would have to. When it came to injuries like this, especially one to the skull, time was not an accessory they had. One minute could mean the difference of life and death in most cases.

"Good Lord..." Pierce muttered to himself. He knew in that instant that Sully wasn't exaggerating when he told him Nate's status over the phone.

Cutter and Vergil placed Nate on the bed as softly as they could. Cutter brought his legs onto the bed as Vergil ever so gently lay his head down. Pierce came to the bed with an IV drip pulling beside him. He dabbed Nate's arm with alcohol and then inserted and taped down the needle.

Vergil looked to Pierce with pleading eyes. "Please...please save him."

Sully felt a wave of pity flood over him for Vergil. Nate was the closest thing to family that either one of them had and if Vergil was feeling a tenth of what he was, well, he wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

"Come on, kid." Sully said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Pierce will patch him up. Let's let him get to work." he said, not sure if he was trying to soothe himself or Vergil.

Unable to speak another word, Vergil just nodded and did as he was told. Once the two were out of the room, Cutter walked up to the doctor.

Cutter shoved his hands in his pockets, and asked the question he wanted to ask last in the world for the answer he was so frightened to hear the answer to. "Okay, they're out of the room, so you can be honest with me—what's the chances of his survival?"

Pierce looked to him with eyes that said, 'Are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?'

"Please." Cutter responded with a sigh, by his pause he already knew the answer wasn't a good one. Even though Pierce was wearing a surgical mask and only his eyes were showing, he could read his face.

Pierce looked down at Nate and to his wound, then back to Cutter.

"I'd say about a 15% shot."