AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you are recognizing dialogue in Chapters 13 and 14 from the episode, Invictus, you are correct.
Diana stood off to one side in the Museum of Natural History, watching the school groups with their teachers and the old ladies examining the giant skeletal statues of the lizards that had once ruled the earth. She saw a single man in a trench coat walking among the groups and the displays. He obviously wasn't there for the culture. He was looking for someone, and it turned out, she was looking for him.
She saw Joe, but he didn't see her and she had to cross a large lobby with a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the middle of it. She glanced around again.
It was hard, being out in the field like this. Usually, she gathered her evidence and brought it back to her loft, let it simmer in her mind until the answer came. This was unusual circumstances, to say the least. In the last twenty-four hours, she had gotten no sleep, had been terrorized and kidnapped, returned, sent on what seemed to be a fool's errand, was being chased again and was now trying to find the guy who had kidnapped her. She wasn't on top of her game.
She didn't see anyone who looked unusual or out-of-place, but it was a big lobby and there were side rooms and chambers of smaller exhibits off of it where anyone could casually wait. She took a deep breath. She had to take a leap of faith. She left her safe corner and began to cross the lobby.
What happened next, was a blur. She was about half-way across and about to call to Joe when a tall, older man in a black coat approached her. He grabbed her with his left hand, the reached under that arm with his right and pulled his gun out. He pressed it into her back without its being seen.
"Come along with me; we don't want a scene."
Diana's nerves were stretched so thin that it didn't take much adrenaline for her to attempt a struggle. "Let me go," she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Now, now, lady," the man began before he tripped over a mop that had been shoved under his feet. His stumble caused him to lose his grip and Diana tried to twist away. The noise caused Joe to look up and see Diana. He hurried over.
"What's a matter, lady? This guy buggin' ya?" The cabbie from the Tunnels approached and intervened his belly between Diana and the man.
"Yeah, you okay, ma'am?" the mop-wielder asked. He was the thin, moustached man with the broom.
"No, she's fine. She needs to come with me." The gunman tried to regain control of the situation.
"Hey, Bennett!" Joe called as two security guards approached the scene that was precariously close to the dinosaur statue.
"What's going on?" one of the guards asked.
The cabbie said, "This guy's botherin' the nice lady."
"No," the gunman said, desperately trying to replace his gun.
"Yeah, he was. And he's got a gun." Diana added. The security guards noticed this and went to either side of the man, each grabbing an arm. One of them plucked the gun out of his hand.
Joe flashed his badge. "I'm Joe Maxwell, with the DA's office. Can you call the police and hold this man until they show up?"
"Certainly, sir." The guards took the gunman away.
"You okay?" Joe asked Diana.
"Yeah," she said and then turned to her two unlikely protectors. "Thanks," she mouthed.
"Who are you guys, anyway?" Joe asked.
"Us?" the cabbie asked.
"We just love dinosaurs," the thin man said as they both faded into the crowd.
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Vincent lay on the floor of the cage. The film continued to play over him, but he had become somewhat immune to it. After trying to escape the cage and being burned and thrown back by the electricity in the bars again and again, he finally stayed down on the floor. He was thinking. He didn't regret coming to Catherine's aid. In the situations he had been in, it was kill or be killed. He regretted having to kill, but he couldn't regret helping his love.
He raised a hand up and studied it. He extended his fingers, examining the claws. Then he closed his fist. He looked up at the wall and watched the images flashing on it. He had slashed at the guards, causing massive trauma and bleeding. That is usually what he did, he struck out instinctively in fear or anger. He looked again at his fist. He raised his other hand and struck it with his fist. He did it again, harder. And again.
Suddenly, the images and sounds that had so tormented him stopped. In their place were flashing pictures of the baby. He was kicking his legs randomly and cooing. He looked directly at the camera, as if he knew his father was watching him.
"See?" came the silky voice out of the darkness. "I can be merciful."
Vincent dropped his hands, instantly wary. He remained lying on the floor. Gabriel was staring in at him, holding a set of keys. "Better?" he smirked. He handed the keys to the doctor. "We need more blood."
The doctor took the keys and they rattled in his hand. Suddenly, he dropped them. "Lucas, the doctor needs help."
One of the guards took the keys and opened the cage for the doctor. He stepped inside. Vincent remained lying on the floor. The doctor set down his bag and began to ready Vincent's arm for a blood draw.
Gabriel looked up at the images of the baby on the walls. "If you hadn't come to me, Julian might have died. I owe you a life." Gabriel moved to the side of the cage nearest the door, still looking up at the baby cooing. "Look at him, Vincent." Vincent turned his head away in disgust, resigned to whatever this madman was going to do next. Undeterred, Gabriel continued. "Isn't he beautiful? Catherine saw he was beautiful too." He looked down at Vincent on the floor and just as the doctor placed the syringe in his vein, he said, "I let her hold him, just as long as I could." Vincent looked up at the doctor's sweaty head and then at Gabriel, knowing he was lying. Catherine hadn't even been allowed to touch the baby, let alone hold him. "I'm sorry about Catherine. She must have been a very special person." Vincent turned away, refusing to reveal his emotions to either of them. Gabriel turned off the film of the baby and an eerie silence filled the dungeon. "Of course, it was the doctor who killed her."
The now full syringe dropped to the ground and broke, spilling Vincent's blood on the floor. The doctor turned and stared at Gabriel in fear. Vincent snarled, low in his throat. "What was it you used?" Gabriel asked. "Morphine? Well, at least the end was painless." Vincent sat up, staring at this doctor, this pawn, who had forgone his oath to "first do no harm" and had nearly killed his love. He stood and growled again.
The doctor stood and backed into a corner of the cage. "No, no. It wasn't me."
"That's not very convincing, doctor."
Vincent took a step towards him. The doctor turned and tried to open the door of the cage, but found it locked. "Please." He clung to the bars for a moment and then screamed, "You told me to kill her! You told me!" He lunged towards Gabriel, stopped by the bars. "You made me do it!" He turned back to Vincent. "I didn't want to do it. I swear to you." He was panting and shaking and sweating even more.
"A life for a life," Gabriel said quietly from the shadows. "His life is yours."
Vincent looked at Gabriel, understanding dawning. The doctor sunk to his knees and extended a hand towards Vincent. "Please. Please have mercy," he cried.
"Catherine begged for mercy, too."
Despite himself, Vincent growled again, louder. The doctor sank to the floor, sobbing.
"Go on. Do it," Gabriel egged him on. "Do it for her. Do it. Kill him!" Vincent growled again, louder. Then Gabriel's face caught the corner of his eye. He saw his glee, his excited anticipation of what was about to come and Vincent stopped.
"No."
Gabriel's face fell. He looked outraged, shocked that one such as Vincent, who claimed to love Catherine, would not revenge himself on her killer. He was genuinely appalled. Vincent turned and walked to the opposite corner as the doctor and leaned against the wall. He took a deep, calming breath and looked at the floor. The doctor continued to cry.
Disgusted, Gabriel tossed the keys to one of the guards. "Get him out of there!"
The door opened and the doctor slowly rose to his feet and stumbled out of the cage. He leaned back against the outside of it and wiped his face and head with his handkerchief.
"Vincent!" Gabriel called. As Vincent looked up, Gabriel gestured to one of the guards who fired at the doctor. He groaned, then slid to the floor, dead.
"I always pay my debts!"
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Joe and Diana walked among the dinosaurs, talking quietly.
"Elliot thought it was an imported floor tile, marble, very old and rare. He knows a guy who deals with imported flooring who was gonna check it out."
"I've faxed copies of what you sent me all over the city." Joe's pager went off. "It's the office."
They moved over to a bank of payphones and Joe dialed. Diana looked around nervously as he made his phone call.
"All right, I got it. Thanks, a lot, Burch. Listen, we're gonna move fast on this. You're already on this guy's bad list so you'd better disappear for a while. Okay. I'll let her know. Uh-huh. G'bye."
Joe hung up the phone and put another quarter in and dialed again. "Hi, it's Maxwell. Give me Greg Hughs." While he was waiting he said to Diana, "Burch came through. The tiles are Italian-made, turn of the century. They cost a fortune. Burch's guy gave us a list of addresses." He handed the list to her and she began to look through it. "Burch is getting out of town, now." She looked up surprised, then nodded slowly. He returned to the phone call. "Hey, Greg, we got the list narrowed down. We are going to need to move fast. Get the commissioner on the horn and meet me at my office in ten minutes. Yeah, she's here. She's looking at it now. I'll have a solid when I get back. Yep. Bye." Joe hung up the phone and turned to Diana.
"Montauk. Staten Island. Westchester. The rest are all Manhattan." She flipped the list and rubbed her head.
"Yeah. So?"
She looked up at him. "The chopper flew over water. Montauk Point is too far. It has to be Staten Island."
"Okay, let's go," Joe tried to lead her out of the museum. She stopped him.
"Joe, this guy is going to have an army waiting for you. It is going to take you hours to get organized and by that time, he's gonna know you're coming." She handed the list back to Joe and began to walk away from him.
"What are you going to do?"
Diana stopped and looked at him, her fatigue vanishing. Things didn't seem quite as hopeless anymore. "Whatever I can."
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Vincent paced his cage in a circle, unconsciously stepping over the puddle of blood that had drained from the doctor's dead body, slumped against one of the barred walls of the cage. He felt stronger, felt his lungs taking in more oxygen, his heart beating faster and more efficiently. He opened and shut his hands. Something was happening. There was unrest in the house and the baby could feel it. Vincent could feel it in his son. Something was happening and he had to be ready.
As he clenched his fists again, his claws bit into his palms. He paused and looked at his hands again. He had always thought of himself as two beings – a man and a beast. He had allowed the beast to come out when Catherine or those he loved needed protection. He had preferred to think that it was his human side that loved Catherine, but lying on the floor of the cage, with those images washing over him, he had realized that he wasn't two people, two personalities. He had separated his feelings from his thoughts. When he was frightened or angry or passionate, he stopped thinking and just did what felt right. Afterwards, he allowed himself to think over his actions and he had often felt shame and guilt. What if he could keep his thoughts in order while the feelings were washing over him? He could "tame the beast" and merge the two sides of himself.
He shook his head and resumed his pacing. There was time enough to think of all of this later. Now, he must be ready. Something was going to happen.
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Around the corner from the museum, the helper's taxicab picked up Diana. Father was sitting in the car, dressed in a carefully preserved but hopelessly outdated suit and fedora. Across his lap, he held several hand-drawn maps. Crammed into the corner next to him was a small figure dressed in a skirt and an over-sized hooded sweatshirt. The figure's head was pressed into the back of the hood and only the eyes, covered in sunglasses were showing.
Diana put her hand in her pocket and fingered Catherine's gun. "Who's this?" she asked, nervously.
The figure answered, "It's me." Diana recognized Catherine's voice and got in the cab. The cabbie turned off his light and melted into the traffic. "What are you doing here? I thought we decided it was too dangerous for you to come Above."
"If you think I'm going to sit quietly Below while strangers help my love and find my child, you've got another think coming," Catherine whispered fiercely. "Vincent has saved me countless times. I'm going to help."
"As you can imagine, arguments were futile," Father said. "Do you have the address?"
Diana chuckled. This lady was a lot like her. No wonder Joe was half in love with her. Diana was beginning to admire her more and more. "Yeah, it is on Staten Island. Can we get him out?"
The taxicab meandered the streets of downtown New York as the three looked over the maps.
"What about sewer lines?" Diana asked.
Father drew a line with his thumb. "You could follow the old Kastan line. It leads you right to... Oh, no it doesn't. It does not go right through!"
Catherine leaned over. "What is that?"
"Yeah, it goes right over the wall," Diana added.
"That is just an old steam conduit. It is inactive now, but it is merely a pipe!"
"Would I fit?" Catherine asked.
"Would I?" Diana echoed.
"Barely." Father shook his head. "And even if you did, how would Vincent?"
"Here, Father," Catherine pointed. "What about this? We could go through here." She pointed to the steam pipe. "If we could open this on the other side of the wall," she pointed again. "He could get out there and then get back to the main tunnels via the Kastan line."
"It might work," he mused.
"It has to," Diana said.
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Gabriel watched Vincent pacing from his study on the monitors. One of his underlings entered the room. "He's growing stronger," Gabriel commented idly.
"Maxwell's organizing a raid," the underling said. "We must evacuate, the sooner the better."
Gabriel gestured to the man, impatiently. "You handle the boat."
"I've ordered a helicopter. And your Lear jet is standing by for you at Kennedy." The underling left Gabriel's side and leaned over the top of the monitors.
"Look at him," Gabriel pointed. "Those bars are tungsten steel." The underling moved from in front of Gabriel to his other side. "Order another generator, in case of emergencies, if the current should fail."
"Just kill him, and let's go before the police come."
"I'm not worried about police."
"Forgive me, sir, but which of you is the captive here?"
Gabriel watched as Vincent continued to pace and look up at the cameras. "In ancient days," he began quietly. "Men ate the hearts of fallen heroes, hoping that their power and strength would pass into them. On cold battlefields, the steam would rise from their open chests. The heart would smoke in your hand, hard with blood, still beating. Almost as if," he turned and discovered he was alone. "Pope?" Then Gabriel reluctantly rose and turned off the monitors on his desk and slowly left the room.
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Joe stood over a map of Gabriel's compound with several police chiefs and special operations commanders. "I want units here, here and here. Seal every road that goes near the place. And keep the civilians back. We could heavy resistance."
One man in a grey tweed jacket said, "The city engineer says there's a helipad out back."
Joe looked up at the man behind him. "Then I want choppers." The man nodded and stepped away. "Nobody gets out, got it?"
Joe looked around at the men assembled. "Okay, that's it. We hit them as soon as it gets dark."
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The cab pulled into an alley and all the passengers emerged. Father and the cabbie approached a man-hole cover and lifted it up. "You'll go straight for a mile, then turn east. That's right." Father sighed looking at these women. He love Catherine like a daughter and was beginning to admire this tough red-head, who was risking everything to help Vincent and his son. "The pipes will likely be corroded, so take care you don't get rust in your eyes."
The cabbie handed Diana down the ladder and she disappeared. Father caught Catherine by the arm. "Remember, Catherine, once you get back here, continue down the main Kastan line for three miles. It will meet up with the main tunnels. There will be pipes there so you can send a message."
"I know Father." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I'll bring them home." She lowered herself into the hole and Father and the cabbie replaced the cover.
"Godspeed, my dear."