A/N: Happy Wednesday!
Regina knew there were any number of emotions she was entitled to feel as she stepped out of the cool air-conditioned car onto the asphalt. Fear, confusion, anger, abject terror. But sadness on behalf of one of her captors? She had seen the look of betrayal in Emma's eyes as Neal had pointed the gun at her. The man's callousness, his disregard for her life and his blatant disconnect from the rest of his so called team. Emma deserved better than that. Emma deserved friends who didn't encourage her to rob a bank and commit countless felonies. Emma deserved a family who loved her. Emma deserved –
She was standing on the far side of the car now, hand poised over the handle. Through the blacked out windows she couldn't see the vehicle's occupants but she knew four sets of eyes were watching her. There was nothing else she could do. She opened the door.
At once, Lily slid from the seat, and wrapped her arm tightly around Regina's neck again, the barrel of her rifle jammed against Regina's ribs. The brunette barely caught a glimpse of blonde hair before the door was slammed shut and she was pushed towards the jet.
If it had been Neal or Peter, Regina might have tried to say something to her captor, to try and convince them not to go through with their clearly ludicrous plan. But Lily was an unknown entity. Neal knew he needed her and therefore wasn't going to do anything more than threaten her life. Peter had been silent when he had taken her to wait in Mr Gold's office back in the bank but Emma seemed to trust him not to hurt her. That felt like a lifetime ago, Regina realised as she walked across the tarmac to the jet. She hadn't spent long with Peter but she got the sense he was a gentle person, despite the violence he had become mixed up in. And of course she knew that whatever Emma told her to do, it would be in her best interest. Which was crazy, she recognised, but true.
Lily, however, was a stranger to her. The only thing Regina knew about the woman whose slender arm pressed harshly against her windpipe was that she'd shot someone back in the bank. She was volatile, unpredictable, dangerous and potentially deadly. So Regina just walked, placing one foot in front of the other, Lily holding her tight as they approached the base of the staircase which led up to her family's private jet.
"They're coming, Lieutenant," Officer Maloney said quietly, knowing her microphone would pick up on the words as she peered out of the open door.
"Who can you see?" came the Lieutenant's voice in her ear.
"Regina Mills and a young woman. Brown hair. Tall, maybe five nine. Skinny. Wearing a black hoodie and jeans. She's got a gun, a rifle, on Miss Mills. They're making no attempt to hide what's going on."
"Where are you right now?" Lieutenant Rogers asked.
"Just outside the cockpit," Maloney answered. "Pearce is inside."
"Good," Killian said. "Stay separate if you can. They'll want you together so they can control you. It looks like they're planning to take you two as hostages as well. Stay calm. Remember your training. They need you to fly the plane, or so they think, so they're not going to do anything to you. We'll be there in ten minutes. Fifteen at the most."
"Ok," Maloney answered. "They're climbing up the steps now. I'd better stop talking else they'll know something's up."
"Miss Mills will already know you're not her pilot," Killian reminded her. "Just try to make sure she goes along with it. We don't want to spook them if Regina is still in danger. But if you get the chance to take one of them down and Regina is somewhere safe, do it. And if you get a moment with her alone, you can tell her you're both police and that you're there to protect her."
"Understood," Maloney said. "They're almost here. God, the woman's young, Lieu. Sixteen, seventeen maybe."
Killian scribbled the information down on his notepad while his detective drove onwards, as fast as the roads would allow, their sirens and flashing lights aiding their progress. Once they got within earshot of the airfield, the sirens would be silenced but until then they needed to drive as fast as possible. They didn't have long before Neal found out that two police officers were posing as the people he needed for his escape plan to work. When that was revealed, who knew what would happen.
Emma watched through the dark glass as Regina and Lily made their way slowly up the steps towards the open door of the jet. Neal watched too, whistling again. He had lowered the gun which had been pointing at Emma as soon as Regina exited the car. Whether he had ever had any intention of going through with that threat, Emma wasn't sure but her heart had leapt in her chest when he had pointed it at her.
She was indignant more than anything else. How dare he? How dare he point a loaded pistol at her after everything she had done for him? They had been a team; on the streets and in the bank robbery. True, she now knew they weren't as close as she had thought and yes, she recognised that Neal was, for all intents and purposes, scum. Even if they did make it out of the mess they were in, she would never forgive him for what he had done to Regina and not just the marring of her beautiful face. It was the emotional trauma she would be left with just as much as the physical scars.
"Nearly there," Neal muttered as Regina and Lily reached the top of the steps. "Peter, you can go next. Then me. Emma, you can be last this time. I'm sure Regina will come back and get you, don't worry."
"And what's to stop us driving the car away and leaving you guys on the plane?" Emma asked.
Even as the words left her mouth, she realised it was a foolish question. Neal turned slowly in his seat and leered at her, waggling the loaded pistol in the air.
"Well, I don't know about you but I'm sure a delicate little flower like Regina couldn't deal with knowing her actions resulted in the death of her family's pilot, right?"
"You need the pilot, Neal," Emma reminded him. "If you kill her, you're screwed."
"Correction, I need one of the pilots. The co-pilot will do just fine. Or maybe I'll kill the co-pilot and keep … Mal was it? You know blondes are my type."
Emma pursed her lips and turned away from Neal to see where Regina had got to with her ascent. But she had disappeared. Craning her neck, green eyes locked onto the open door of the jet, waiting, praying for the brunette to re-emerge.
After the brightness of outside, it took a moment for Regina's eyes to adjust to the interior of the plane. She blinked, gaze landing at once on the tall blonde woman. She knew it was not Mal. The woman had flown the Mills family jet for years. No, this was someone else. A cop, surely.
"Good afternoon, Miss Mills," the woman said, smiling politely.
"Hi Mal," Regina nodded. "Um, this is my friend -"
But before she could even complete the charade, Lily had pushed Regina hard away from her and pointed her gun at the unknown blonde. Glancing sideways and seeing that Regina had landed awkwardly in one of the plush armchairs which served as seats on the luxurious jet, she directed her attention at the pilot. After all, Lily knew Regina wouldn't do anything that might put Emma in danger.
"Sit down. Put the seatbelt on," Lily said gruffly, waving her gun towards the seat on the far side of the cabin. "Regina, you'd better buckle up too."
In the absence of zip ties, Lily mused, she may as well make the hostages restrain themselves somewhat. The blonde woman, hands raised, backed slowly away, eyes locked on Lily's. The teenager snarled at the display of defiance and followed the pilot, pointing the gun straight at her chest. The woman reached the seat and sat down before pulling out the seat belt and buckling it across her lap. A quick look at Regina told Lily the brunette had done the same.
"Where's your girlfriend?" Lily asked.
The blonde woman stared back at her. "Who?"
Lily scoffed. "Don't play dumb with me. I know you're fucking your co-pilot. Where is she?"
Well, that was a piece of information her Commanding Officer had neglected to tell her, Maloney thought to herself. "Cockpit," she said, knowing there was nothing else for it.
Lily looked over her shoulder and then back at the two women. "Regina, anything happens and Emma will pay, understand?"
Regina nodded mutely, face paler than ever as Lily walked backwards towards the cockpit, gun still pointed towards the blonde pilot. When at last she reached the door, Lily was forced to turn around to navigate the handle. As soon as she did so, Regina turned to look at the stranger on the far side of the plane. Maloney was looking right back at her and raised a finger to her lips before pointing at her foot. Despite not knowing exactly what the woman meant, Regina understood that she needed to be quiet.
Once the door to the cockpit was open, Lily stepped through into the small space. Quick as a flash, Maloney unbuckled herself and pulled her service weapon which had been holstered against her ankle. She had expected a half-hearted pat down but it seemed the criminals had taken Regina's word that she and her fellow police officer were the family's usual pilots. Launching herself out of the chair and through the open door, Maloney pressed the barrel of her pistol to the back of the hostage taker's head just as the young woman was raising her own gun towards Pearce.
"Drop it," Maloney hissed, "or I drop you."
For a moment, Lily didn't move. Pearce stared into her cold, hard eyes and could tell the teenager was trying to decide whether it was worth it. Was her life worth it now? After the day's events, what sort of life would she have? Would this be the best way to go rather than a lifetime in prison? But eventually the weapon was slowly lowered, the desire to continue her life in some form winning the argument.
Pearce grabbed the rifle and unloaded it immediately while Maloney instructed Lily to interlace her fingers behind her head. As she did so, she spoke, seemingly to no one.
"One suspect secured, Lieutenant. Miss Mills is safe. The three other suspects are parked in the SUV outside the jet. Maybe thirty yards from the staircase up here." There was a pause and then; "are you ok, Miss?" Maloney asked over her shoulder as she handcuffed Lily.
"I … I think so," Regina nodded slowly, unbuckling her belt and cautiously approaching the cockpit.
"You're safe now. I'm Officer Maloney and this is Officer Pearce. Half of NYPD is on their way here for you, young lady. I'm just speaking with Lieutenant Jones who's been leading the efforts. He'll be here in about ten minutes. Stay here with us and let them deal with the others in the car and then you'll be reunited with your family."
"No!" Regina cried out.
Frowning, Maloney walked out of the cockpit, leaving Pearce to follow with Lily whom she took to the back of the plane, as far from Regina as possible.
"No?" Maloney repeated. "Well, you're a teenager. All teenagers hate their families, right?"
"No, I love my family," Regina insisted, a little affronted. "I mean the people in the car. I … my friend is in there."
"Another hostage?" Maloney asked. "We were never told about a second hostage. Lieu," she said a little louder as if wanting to make sure she had the man's attention, "how many hostages were there?"
"No," Regina said, speaking over Killian's answer of 'one' which was delivered to Maloney through her ear piece. "I mean, she's not exactly a hostage. She's one of the group."
"You knew one of the hostage takers? But I thought you weren't the target?"
"I wasn't and I didn't know her before a couple of hours ago," Regina said, face suddenly reddening.
Maloney narrowed her eyes. "I'm confused. Lieu, can you shed any light on this?"
Although Regina couldn't hear the man's negative answer she knew what he would have said. No one knew about Emma. What was there to know? Regina couldn't even explain it to herself let alone a police officer. She'd been taken hostage by a beautiful, kind, intriguing young woman with whom she shared some indescribable connection and now she wanted to save Emma's life. Yeah, like the cops were going to understand that.
"If I don't go back out there," Regina said slowly, "people are going to get hurt. They'll know something's wrong and they'll hurt her."
"Who's her?" Maloney asked.
"Emma," came a chuckle from the back of the plane.
Maloney peered past Regina who had turned to glare at Lily who was sat at the back of the jet, a snarl on her face.
"Who's Emma?" Maloney asked.
"She's one of the team, I guess, but she's been really nice to me. She's been looking after me, protecting me," Regina insisted.
"One of the people who took you hostage was … nice?" Maloney asked.
"I know it sounds crazy," Regina sighed, "and maybe it is but if I don't go out there, Neal is going to kill her. I know she's done some bad things today but I can't let her get hurt or … or shot." She couldn't even bring herself to say killed. "Please, they don't know anything is wrong, right? What if I just go back out and we continue with their plan? I'm supposed to escort them in, one at a time. We do that and then when Emma's safe, the cops can move in. Please, Officer Maloney. Please let me do this."
"I can't let a civilian walk out of a safe location into the line of fire," Maloney said. "That's not exactly how our job works. We're supposed to keep you safe not put you in danger."
"What about civilians who go undercover?"
Maloney chuckled. "You watch cop shows, I see." The number of people she came into contact with every day who thought they knew what her job entailed astounded her. She supposed she had the Law & Order franchise and countless other police procedurals to thank for that.
"My mother loves them," Regina nodded. "Please, let me go 'undercover'. I'll pretend Lily took you and fake Ursula hostage no problem and then you can take whoever comes onto the jet next hostage too. Neal's mental but Peter and Emma would be no problem, I promise."
Maloney paused and nodded her head. Regina's face lit up with excitement before she realised that the woman was listening to words spoken into her ear piece by the unknown Lieutenant who had been leading the charge to rescue her and the other hostages.
"I'm sorry," Maloney said eventually. "It's not going to happen. These guys have already killed someone and -"
"What?" Regina gasped. "Who?"
"I don't know," Maloney admitted. "All I know is that there was a casualty at the bank."
Regina hung her head. Was that the man whom she'd seen lying on the ground? Or perhaps Neal had killed Mr Gold after all, just not with his gun?
A howl of pain behind them made both Regina and Maloney whip around. Pearce was sat on the ground cradling her knee which evidently Lily had just kicked. That act of violence, however, had apparently been the start and end of the woman's plan as she was just sat there scowling, hands cuffed behind her back. Evidently the news that she was going to be charged with murder had made her want to kick something and Pearce's knee was unfortunately the nearest target.
Maloney darted forwards and dragged Pearce out of the way. Regina watched for a second before making her decision. She backed away to the open door of the jet, took one last look at the two police officers and Lily before turning and stepping out onto the top of the stairs which led to the asphalt, to the car, to Emma.
A/N: The next chapter will be the big showdown, I promise, and then the cliff hangers will ease up.