A/N: Put the finishing touches on this chapter while nursing a sore throat. Got my cup of tea with extra sugar, so bring on the reviews!
Our heroes are now face to face with the big villain. But he is not what he seems.
"Where is he?" Jade asked, looking around.
Cat replied, "He said he went to get some coffee." She then checked her phone. "That was about forty-five minutes ago."
Jade smirked.
"The man is a genius. Sikowitz knew to make himself scarce."
The brunette swayed to the side, noticing Cat's monitor.
"You find anything?"
"Well, I've been putting a virtual pin wherever someone was reported to be found by the cops. Obviously anyone left injured who came up on their radar was a possible target of Tori's. It's a little sloppy but it appears from this point," Cat showed with her finger on the screen. "This was the first one at least the first reported. Then she made her way downtown with the exception of a couple of detours."
"Right," Jade nodded. "She's not out for blood against them. She wants information."
"This was the most recent," Cat mentioned. "This convenience mart. The owner was grilled about a frequent customer. Told the police that the anonymous woman was working for a bail bondsman to help collect a debt."
Jade shook her head at Tori's ruse.
"That's my girl," she thought. "I'm still gonna kill her."
"Anything else?"
Cat sighed and sat down.
"No, the trail goes cold from there. Nothing now until someone makes a move."
"Damn," Jade hits the table. "What if the cops find her first? They could be doing what we're doing and might be further along..."
"Hey!"
She looked down at her friend.
"I didn't say we were giving up. So let's keep trying."
Tori struggled with her restraints but they weren't budging. She would need a knife or enough outside strength to rip apart this plastic. Tori was wrapped to a wooden chair with the kind of thick plastic wrapping that warehouses use for pallets when they ship them. A few revolutions around her was plenty to make a bond that can't be broken from her. Simple, but effective.
Her mask laid in her lap, her identity already had been revealed.
"I'm out of rope," the man explained. "But sometimes you've got to improvise."
It drove her crazy that she could hear him and not see him. Tori was used to being the whisper in the shadows, not the one being menaced
"You're him, aren't you?" Tori asked. "Show yourself!"
"As you wish."
He slowly came into the light, still wearing that ridiculous mask.
"If you're trying to scare me with that stupid thing, it isn't working."
The man chuckled, "I didn't do it for your benefit. I think we share a pension for remaining anonymous. But you're right, since its only the two of us..." He removed his disguise. "...let's not stand on ceremony, as they say."
Tori found nothing remarkable about the man behind the mask. He would just be another face in the crowd. She estimated he was probably late thirties, early forties. Clean shaven, no sign of tattoos from where she sat; the mask seemed almost superfluous. So why wear it?
"I mean, what difference does it make?" he said. "Nobody knows what we look like..."
Thomas didn't know if it was the lighting or what but something in her face made him stop in his tracks.
"That face..." he mused. "I know you, don't I?"
That got Tori's back up. She had never seen this man before in her life; that of which she is certain. Tori didn't have a photographic memory per se but felt she came damn close. Came in handy when roaming the streets as a hired gun.
"Sorry," Tori replied. "Don't have much time for friends. Not these days. You might have mistaken me for someone else."
Thomas just stared at her, keeping how much this was eating away at him all inside. He kept a cool front.
"So, you were the one that was looking for me" he said. "Why?"
Tori didn't answer.
The last thing she wanted to do was implicate Jade in any way. This wasn't her fight.
"What difference does it make?"
He nodded as he fished into his coat pocket.
Tori's heart sank when he pulled out her phone.
Thomas opened it up and immediately went to the recent calls.
"My, my, my," he grinned. "And who is Jade? Well, goodness gracious; that wouldn't be...Jade West by any chance?"
The half-Latina wished with all her heart that she could get free from this damn plastic and choke the life out of this man. Just him saying her name sent Tori into a frenzy.
"Looks like its been hours since you last talked and just look at all these missed calls."
He starred her down and didn't blink.
"Jade...must be worried sick."
"You so much as touch a hair on her head and you're a dead man."
Thomas refused to give Tori's threat any kind of weight.
"Relax, I don't want to kill you. Nor do I want to harm your special friend. I just thought that...she would like to know where you are."
He started to call Jade's cell and held it to his ear.
Jade's phone rang across from her computer.
She practically fell out of her chair when she saw Tori's name on the ID.
"It's her!" Jade exclaimed.
"Seriously?" Cat's eyes widened.
The brunette slid the green button to answer.
"Tori?"
Silence.
"Tori? Tori?!"
"Not...quite," came an unexpected male voice.
Jade stood up, almost spilling her coffee.
"Who are you? Why do you have Tori's phone?"
"Because she's right here," he explained. "Oh, Tori...say hi to your friend..."
"WHATEVER HE SAY'S DON'T..."
Jade covered her mouth when she heard Tori's voice for the first time today. She couldn't stand not being able to see how she is; Jade missed her so much and was so scared for her.
"You have to understand why I tied her up," he quipped. "Girl's kind of a free spirit as they call it."
She could feel her blood boiling.
"Listen you little asshole, no matter where you..."
"Jesus!" he interrupted. "You two were made for each other! I was thinking of a small trade."
Jade could feel the start of the worst migraine in her life.
"What?" she growled.
"I'm going to text you the address of our location. You come here...alone...unarmed; no cops. Just you and Project Ghost."
She looked down at the device in question. Ever since she knew of its existence its been nothing but trouble. Jade would happily get rid of it if it meant having her Tori back. But she dreaded the thought of what he might do with such a powerful machine. This diabolical man who has apparently been pulling strings from the beginning would be unstoppable.
"Are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here" Jade answered.
"That's very good," he chuckled. "Now do we have an arrangement?"
"Yes."
"Okay, and remember you come alone. If I see so much as a siren or anything that smells like a fed, deal's off."
Jade was so stressed right now, she felt like she was going to explode.
"Fine."
"Good. You have one hour from the moment I text you."
The line went dead after that.
Jade stared at the phone in her hands. It was everything she had feared. They didn't intercept Tori in time and now she was being toyed with by Mr. Hand.
She turned and saw Cat standing near her, arms folded.
"So what do we do?" she asked.
"Only thing there is to do," Jade replied. "I have to play his game."
Cat looked sternly at her friend. "You can't do that! You can't hand over this..."
"I said I'd play his game," Jade interrupted. "But I didn't saw I wouldn't cheat."
Tori sat in the chair, not that she had much choice. The man who went by Mr. Hand had retreated elsewhere without a word. She was left alone with her thoughts, which was its own torture.
All she could think about was how worried Jade must be right now. And of course being overly-concerned will impair her judgment. Jade is fiercely intelligent but when she is out through emotional agony... He threatened and she took the bait.
"Come on, Jade...don't let him win."
She would rather die than have Jade get hurt on her account.
After what felt like an eternity stewing in her own anxieties; the man returned.
Mr. Hand, now with his mask back on, was holding some kind of case. It was large and seemed heavy by the way he was lifting it.
"What's that?" Tori asked sternly.
"Oh nothing that matters to you," he coyly replied. "You should consider yourself very lucky."
The half-Latina tilted her head.
"How can you possibly say that?"
"You have people in your life willing to put you first. Just having one...means everything in the world. It's a shame more people don't realize that's what truly matters."
His tone of voice was devoid of that arrogance from earlier. He didn't say anything after that; just stood there looking out one of the many busted windows. The sun had set on the city and this derelict section was plunged into darkness. It very well could have been a church from the Middle Ages.
"Getting dark," he finally mentioned.
Kicking over one of the old pews, it practically was reduced to splinters from hitting the floor. Mr. Hand lit a match and threw it onto the pile of dry, rotten wood. It took care of the light problem and also gave the vicinity some much-needed warmth. Tori was grateful for that at least.
But Tori now had a new thing to worry about because that burning ember will spread to the rest of this church in little time. And she doubted her host will assist in her escaping. First, she wished Jade would stay away and now Tori had to hope she is making haste.
The sound of a car pulling up and the brief flash of headlights alerted the pair inside.
"She's here."
"She's here," he said.
Mr. Hand picked up his case, turned back to Tori and pointed.
"Don't go anywhere."
He opened the door and stepped outside.
Sure enough, there was Jade standing beside her personal car. She was dressed in a long black coat with a messenger bag draped over her shoulder.
"Come closer," he ordered.
"Where is Tori first."
"Inside," he replied. "But we should hurry with this transaction. There's a little fire some reckless human being started."
Jade's face fell as she looked around the man to better see the church. There was an orange glow coming from within; he wasn't bluffing.
"This wasn't part of the deal, you bastard!"
Mr. Hand shrugged his shoulders.
"Forgive me but I needed to stress how much I'm on a time frame here. Now where is the device?"
Jade narrowed her eyes as she wordlessly slammed down the bag and unfurled the flap. Seconds later, she produced the little black box.
"Here," she said as she approached him.
"That's far enough!" he insisted, holding up his hand. He started walking toward her. "Here is what we are going to do..."
"What?"
Mr. Hand pointed to a couple of yards from the door he came from.
"You're going to stand right there. Then I'm going to turn the device on and point it to you. If you really didn't double-cross me, you will be teleported into the church where you can save your precious friend. And when you two emerge, I will be long gone. You will not see or hear from me ever again."
Jade looked back at the building which she was sure was getting engulfed in flames by the second.
"Just do it already," she snarled as she handed the device over and walked to where he indicated.
He fired up the machine and pointed it to Jade who was directly between it and the church walls. In a flash of light, she was completely gone.
After witnessing a successful demonstration, he laughed to himself and quickly made way to Jade's car. He opened the driver's side door and backseat door. He carefully placed the big case and significantly smaller invention in side and shut the door. Then he sat down and touched the steering wheel. What happened next he never would have expected in a thousand years. A dark matter jumped from the dashboard onto his face and torso. The shock sent him tumbling out of the vehicle. Before he knew it, he was becoming engulfed by the nanobots. No amount of rolling on the ground or struggling would make the countless hordes relent.
Inside the church, Tori was awestruck by the magical manifestation of Jade.
"Holy shit! But how..."
"No time," said the pale woman, a little woozy from that short trip. "We gotta get you out of here."
"Jade, I'm..."
Without letting her finish, Jade's lips struck Tori's.
"We'll discuss this later," she told the tan woman.
"Right," she nodded in agreement.
Jade took from her pockets a knife that unfolded. In seconds, she managed to cut through the plastic and Tori was free.
A collapsing beam fell less than a foot from where the chair sat, startling the hell out of them. Tori looked up and saw that the flames had indeed reached the ceiling. Jade saw them too.
"This whole place is going down!"
Jade didn't allow Tori to heed her instructions on her own and grabbed her wrist tightly and led the way outside the church. Good thing, too because moments after exiting through the door, the entire ceiling had caved in. Having been restricted tightly to a chair, the blood flow in Tori's legs were weak so she quickly faltered to her knees. Jade huddled near her as they coughed up what little smoke was in their lungs.
"Where is he?" Tori asked.
Jade knew who she meant. This wasn't her playing the pronoun game. His true identity remained a mystery and she understood if Tori refused to dignify his alter ego in any way.
"He's taken care of," Jade assured.
But upon looking up, she saw what she expected begin to bulge until the her mechanical cocoon broke in a blaze of black bits.
"Impossible," she said.
When the dust settled, Mr. Hand stood up once more. He then jettisoned tiny bracelets from both wrists, leaving them on the ground. Jade then realized what had happened. Those must have been some kind of charges for small plastic explosives Mr. Hand carried on his person. He quite literally had something up his sleeves. And since he detonated them on the inside, where they were the most vulnerable, the nanobots were banished by the sheer force of the blast.
He soon locked eyes with the woman who tried to deceive him. Mr. Hand's gaze did not break even as he reached down to his ankle for a concealed handgun.
"I tried to be reasonable but you still crossed me! Big mistake."
The shot echoed for a mile but the muffled sound of the impact and Jade's whimper were silent by comparison.
"JADE! NO!" cried Tori, holding the fallen woman.
The gunman looked east when he first heard the sirens. Somebody must have seen the fire and called 911. Now he knew he had to leave. Since the car was still on, he simply closed the door and drove away.
"Jade? JADE! ... oh Jade..."