Chapter Twenty-Nine: Shattering Panic
Okay so I'm just gonna say sorry about the wait on this chapter and the next one should be done pretty soon and their may be another chapter after thirty but I'm still not sure yet so we'll see by next chapter if the information stretch's that far. Maybe an epilogue that will lead into the next series for Panic.
Last Time (with Panic):
"Why are you doing this? What's the goal here because maybe I'm not seeing the big picture here, but this seems like stupid plan if you ask me!" I shout to her, to Emersyn. "Is Obadiah pulling the strings?"
She tips her head back and lets out a low laugh. "You wish. He's a puppet just like the rest of us kiddo. There's a hell of a lot going on that you're not gonna be around long enough to see. Honestly," she pauses as if in deep thought. "You should be thanking me for the trouble of ending your miserable existence before the plan comes into effect."
She stops there, lunging forward. All I can see is the quick flash of light reflecting off a sleek metal blade in her hand.
I duck and roll out of her range but am just a tad too slow and she manages to recover from my ploy before I have a chance to get back up and scurry further from the blade she's holding. Emersyn's shadow looms over me, hiding the light overhead. Fury rages behind her fake green eyes, driving the small metal dagger down at me. That's it!
Kicking my foot out, it collides with her leg. She looses her footing and topples forward as I jump out of the blades way. It clatters loudly against the tiles floor and just as she reaches for it, I knock it out of arms reach. She leaps forward, landing on top of me and uses her legs to pin my arms down by my sides as she uses her arms to keep me steady.
She pull back her right arm and makes a fist, intending to throw a punch. I don't give her the chance.
Drawing my legs up to my chest and with as much strength as I can muster at the moment, I kick both feet forward into her stomach. Emersyn falls backward and I nearly crab-walk backwards to get some distance between us. Glancing back and forth between Emersyn and the knife across the floor, I try to decide my best course of action.
Emersyn pushes herself up on her knees and does the same thing. Thinking the same thing as me...
Panic POV (Present):
I kick up off the floor and skid across the polished concrete like a Olympic Medalist Ice Skater. My foot taps the handle of the knife sending it further out of reach of both Emersyn and me. Better to keep her from getting it then using it for my self-defense. Emersyn lunges at me and I roll our of the way, she smacks the floor and slowly rises.
Blood drips down her now busted up mouth. She spits out a way of blood before wiping her sleeve across her face. Just as I get to my feet and alarm blares like a siren in the dead silence. Red lights flash wildly across the room and Emersyn looks stunned, confused, frozen in fear it seems. I'm not sure what they alarm means, but it's distracted her.
Darting forward, I kick my foot out and knock it into her stomach. She sails backward, the back of her head smacking the floor with a resounding thud. I can feel the vibrations of her fall through the floor. Before she can recover, I've made my way across the floor where the knife skidded off too. I'm searching around frantically for it when she gets back on her feet.
Suddenly the alarm goes off and the light pictures overhead shatter like a supersonic wave just washed over the area, sprinkling the floor in sharp weapons that could impale the skin with ease. She lets out a cry of absolute rage as the room is thrown into complete darkness, and I still haven't found the knife. Her footsteps crunch beneath the shattered glass.
My fingers brush over the glass covered floor as I search blindly.
Emersyn gets closer and closer with every passing second, even moment wasted searching.
Her cries of fury ring loudly in my ears as a stampede would be heard in a crowd of people who lived in the African Safari. It was something as clear as day and as known as night.
My heart pounded rapidly, jumping my my chest as if trying to suffocate me.
Nothing seems to make sense anymore.
I need to live, though.
Baby Toby is counting on me.
Where the hell is it!?
I feel the cool grip of a handle and don't hesitate.
My fingers curl around it.
Time seems to slow as she nears.
Closer, closer, and closer still...
I could practically feel her.
Her footsteps slowing slightly.
Now...!
The thought rings in my head, the only beacon of sense that is left in me.
I spin, blade in hand.
Narrowed eyes, mind blank.
Lunging the blade forward.
Red.
In the dark I see it. Feel it. Smell it.
The world seems to be spinning around like a top.
Third Person POV:
Natasha Romanoff closed the closet door behind her, locking it. She'd piled up all the HYDRA agents they'd taken out inside the base, well the one that hadn't escaped anyways. Captain America and Iron Man had met up with her along the way, now all they needed to do was find Panic and her two friends who were supposed to be in the control room.
They had just reached the door when Raven and Oliver bolted out, eyes as wide as half-dollar coins. Raven, who usually always kept her composure, looked just as rattled as Oliver who just found out about all of this.
"What happened?" Captain America asked, stepping towards Raven with an outstretched hand. She shook him off, and turned toward the hallway connecting to the one where they currently stood.
"Now is not the time. We must go retrieve Panic, Oliver and I know where she is; however, we have discovered that there are two Women in the Black Veil. One that warned and helped Panic and the other is Emersyn Pierce," Raven said, her stoic serenity falling into place.
"Two," Iron Man said, his face place lifting to reveal the face of Tony Stark. "There are two of those. Why would the other one help Panic?"
"We don't know," Oliver chimes in, deep in thought. "There has to be a reason, but whatever it is, she hasn't revealed it yer."
"Enough," Raven cuts them off. "Panic is trapped in a room with Emersyn, we must go help her."
Natasha Romanoff's kept her professional appearance. "And you're just now telling us. Let's go, she may be in trouble."
Down the hall they went, one after another until they reached the door that was a lot bigger than the monitor screen let on. Raven pointed at the door for the other to see.
"Panic is in there, the other woman sent her in there. The baby is in there as wall, no doubt Panic is protecting him," she said.
Iron Man and Captain America neared the door while the latter pushed the door from the bottom, the man in the flying suit pushed from the top. How Panic managed to open this without any help was beyond Raven and Oliver's understanding. Perhaps she was too focused of the safety of her baby brother to concern herself with the weight of the door holding her at bay.
Finally the door budged, inch by inch until finally, with all the force they had combined, launched the door back into the darkness. Light washes over the large, almost gymnasium sized room. Though she'd never admit it, Raven felt nervous, she could only feel two sources of life inside the room and she couldn't tell if it was Panic or Emersyn.
A figure sat on the floor of the room, coddling something in its arms. As the light continued its quest forward, they saw familiar red curls that looked as if they'd seen better days, falling down past the girls waste. Panic was the only one with hair that long, Emersyn copycat of Vanessa Wallace didn't have natural red hair that was as long as Panic.
As they neared, they realized that the thing she was coddling close to her chest was baby Toby who was wrapped up nice and tight in his sky blue blanket. Panic held him with the innards of her arm, he hands were colored crimson. Red with someone else's blood. Her voice trembled, that's when they realized she was singing softly to the child fast asleep.
"Hush little baby, don't say a word
Sis is gonna buy you a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird won't sing,
Sis is gonna buy you a diamond ring,
And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Sis is gonna buy you a looking glass..."
Panic was out of it, she didn't seem to register that they had arrived, all her mind could comprehend and focus on was protect the baby. Nothing else was important, it didn't matter and neither did she. Protect the baby.
