Aw, thanks for all the feedback on what was a tough call to make last chapter. Not sure what I did to deserve all you fantastic readers. :) Okay, this chapter has been planned for ages, so I'm so glad that I finally get to post it. Hope you guys like it. Thanks for all the support, and as always, any type of feedback at all is absolutely welcome. Happy weekend, everyone!

(x)

6 Years Prior

Harvey frowned as he dialed her number again. He listened to the long, uninterrupted rings, and he breathed out a tense sigh. He'd called her five times now over the past twenty minutes. Each time it went to voicemail. Every time it did, the knot in his stomach twisted a little bit tighter.

Pick up, Maddie. C'mon. Pick up.

Just as he was about to give up and call the airport, he heard the soft click of the call being answered. His shoulders dropped in relief. "Okay, grades are in," he breathed out. "You get an F in calling me."

"Hello, Detective Bullock."

He sat bolt upright. The voice chilled him to the bone. He closed his eyes and growled out through his teeth, "You piece of shit..."

Dimitri's voice wasn't lilting or glib. He now sounded exactly like the cold-blooded killer Harvey knew him to be. "You were given warnings that you boldly ignored."

He seethed the words out, sharp and furious, "You're gonna put her on the phone with me. Now." He rasped, "And I swear if you've laid one hand on her, you sick son of a bitch, so help me-"

A thin whimper sounded, right into his ear.

Harvey stopped. His blood ran cold. In spite of that, when he spoke, he made his voice sound calm and in control. "Maddie? Maddie, talk to me. Are you hurt?"

Over the line everything went absolutely quiet. Then her blood-curdling scream shattered the silence. It wasn't fear and it wasn't rage. It was a scream of white hot pain, torn right out of her.

He shot up from his desk, knocking over his chair. "Stop! STOP! Stop whatever the fuck you're doing to her RIGHT NOW!" He suddenly hated Dimitri more than he'd ever hated anyone in his life, and it pressed out of him in a fit of fury, "Get your goddamn hands off her, and deal with -me-. Tell me what you want!"

Dimitri answered back crisply, "I want a price to be paid for the aggravation you've caused me." Harvey saw red as he heard her gasping for breath between her sharp, clipped bursts of pain. The next wailing cry she made sounded wrenched out of her. Left to its own devices, his mind filled in the rest. "And I want an example made of those who interfere with what's mine."

On the coattails that, Harvey heard someone whispering something, and then he heard a different sound. It was still her, but this one was a guttural war cry. It was followed by a loud clattering sound, someone (a man) cursing at her, and chaotic noises of struggle. She yelled at the top of her raw lungs, her words running altogether. "Harvey! Don't listen to him! He's going to-" Her next shriek was muffled by something (someone) and drowned out whatever she'd been planning to say.

"MADDIE!" Her name ripped out of him.

Dimitri's cold voice returned. "If you ever want to see her alive again, you'll go back to the stage inside the abandoned Commodore Theater at midnight. Come alone and unarmed. Or I'll put a bullet in her head before you step inside."

He didn't know what they did next to make her scream, but this time she held nothing back. It pierced the air and rang out over the line.

Panic lit up his veins. He yelled into the receiver as loud as he possibly could. He had to make her hear him. He had to. "Maddie! I'm coming for you! I'm getting you outta there! I pro-"

Dimitri ended the call before the last word got through.

(x)

Harvey's breath heaved out of him as he stood frozen in place at his desk. He raked his hands through his hair, still hearing her screams echoing on a loop in his mind. Everything around him was dulled and out of focus, like right after taking a blow to the head.

He'd heard plenty of disturbing sounds come out of people over his tenure at the GCPD, but this was different. This wasn't a stranger or another cop or even his partner. He knew too much about what it took to make someone scream like that. The black box was coming unhinged and all manner of hellish creatures were now crawling out.

His shock didn't last. It was swiftly replaced by blood-pumping rage. He was hit all at once by the multitude of ways he could crack Dimitri's skull, crush his larynx, break his ribs, put a fist through his chest. It was dark and graphic and full of sound and color. It should have scared him, but it didn't. Instead, it did the opposite. It gave him much-needed focus.

He half-heard someone say his name, and he turned to face the sound. He looked up to see Captain Sarah Essen, standing stock-still just outside her office, staring down at him. Her eyes were wide, and her face was pale. Because she'd heard him shouting and cursing like a lunatic over the phone. He lifted his eyes to take in the floor around him. Right. Just like everyone else in the precinct.

He walked toward her, not even bothering to pick up his desk chair that he'd knocked over. As he made his way up the stairs, he noticed that moving his arms and legs did something important for him that needed to happen. It woke him up.

Essen met him at her open doorway and asked him point blank. "Is she alive?"

"For now." Harvey shook his head and it helped bring him back around. "But as long as he's got her, it won't stay that way."

"You spoke to him? To Dimitri Codmolov himself?" Harvey face must have confirmed it. Essen focused in, "What does he want?"

"Same thing he always wants," he snarled back. "More blood. He gave me a meet-up point." He swallowed, and the next words came out softly, "She's got 'til midnight. Least that's what he wants me to think."

Essen let out a hard breath. "Harvey, look at me." He did. "I know you already know this, but it can't be said enough. You cannot trust anything this man says. And you sure as hell can't give him what he wants. Whatever he told you, he won't give her back-"

"He didn't say he'd give her back. That's off the table." He had to work up to it before he could say it. "He wants to bring me back to what I couldn't stop."

She frowned in confusion. "... The bomb site? How can...? That area's completely saturated with emergency personnel from every agency in Gotham."

Harvey said, "He's taking her to the Commodore Theater. Where the Goat left his last victim. … Where Dix fell."

A mix of disbelief and dread washed across her face. "And you're actually going to follow him in there?"

"He didn't exactly make it sound optional."

"You think he's just going to let you walk into that theater and what? Stroll away?"

"Look, I'm not totally stoked on the general vibe, but I'm outta fuckin' options," he shot back. "What do you think he's gonna do to her if I don't show? That bomb that shut down half the city wasn't this bastard's coup de gras. This is." He could still hear the screams. "You wanna imagine what kind of hell he's got planned for her, you go ahead. But it doesn't matter, because I'm not gonna sit here and let it happen."

She set her stare on him. "And just how do you think you're going to stop it? You're gonna show up alone with no weapons and just … what? Hope you can strongarm them into letting her go?"

Harvey closed his eyes. Maybe when he got there he could think of something. Eight years on the force. He ought to be able to think of something.

She lowered her voice. "Harvey, you're talking about mounting a one man assault against a mob boss and whatever army he brings with him. What you're talking about is -suicide-."

He shot her a look. "You got a better idea? Don't keep me in suspense. I'm all fuckin' ears over here."

At that moment, he heard his partner's voice echo from downstairs. He looked through the open doorway to see Johnson moving through the precinct. Harvey watched him catch the arm of an officer and ask what was going on. He muttered, "Gimme a sec, I'll be right back" to Essen before he stalked downstairs.

Johnson saw him and hurried over to meet him at their desks. His partner blinked at the overturned desk chair and lifted it back up into place. Harvey asked him, "You get Tiffany out of town?"

"Yeah, I talked to her right after you and I got off the phone last night. She's at her parents' place upstate. She just called me to let me know she got there safe."

Harvey released a pent-up breath, as that afforded him one small measure of relief.

Johnson's eyes were wide. He just kept looking at him.

He had a lot of experience giving people bad news. The best way was usually just to say it. "Dimitri Codmolov's got Maddie."

Johnson froze for a moment. "But you said she got to her plane. So what? He just…" Harvey watched Johnson take on a muted version of his own reaction. Shock hit him, right before anger took its place. "Look, they can't hurt her. That's the rule."

Harvey leveled a look at his partner.

Johnson raised his voice. "You can't hurt the hostage."

He deepened his stare.

His eyebrows went all the way up. He glanced at where the chair had been thrown back onto the floor. "Oh, Jesus…" To his partner's credit, he focused in much more quickly than Harvey would have wagered. He looked him straight in the eye. "Wherever he has her, we gotta get her outta there."

Harvey kept his words firm. "You need to listen to me. The way I see it Codmolov's not after you. Not yet. You get mixed up in this and that all changes. He'll be after you, probably Tiffany while he's at it. Maybe even your family. You've seen what kind of damage this monster can do, firsthand. He isn't afraid of putting in little extra overtime if that's what it takes to burn your world down." Hell, the living proof of that was in his face talking to him that second. He grabbed the kid's shoulder, hard, and made him look at him. "You need to back off of this and make it clear to anyone and everyone that you've cut ties with me. Completely." Harvey said, "You say whatever you need to say to make it stick. I won't hold it against you."

Johnson glared, as if it got up every hair on his back. "No. Fuck that-"

"All right, fine. I'm not asking you." Harvey lowered his tone to a dangerous pitch. "I'm telling you."

He shot back defiantly, "You're not tellin' me shit."

"Don't fuckin' argue with me." Harvey bore down into the kid's face. "This is how you stay alive. This is how you keep them alive. You got that?"

"Jesus CHRIST, it's always the same line of shit with you!" Johnson shouted back in complete frustration. "Don't get involved. Play it safe. Don't take a stand." He got right back up in Harvey's face, "How 'bout you need to take a look around and wake the fuck up?!"

They stood toe to toe. Harvey would be goddamned if he was backing down. "Now, you listen to me-"

Johnson shoved him, lightning fast and with such force that Harvey nearly tripped and fell over. "No, you listen to me. This fuckin' psycho tried to kill us. You, me, and that entire school. Right after that, he killed kids. Not other criminals. Kids." His eyes widened. "Nothing is beneath this son of a bitch. He's not gonna stop. And if you think this is gonna end with you and Maddie, you're as fuckin' crazy as he is. After he's done with you, all he's gonna do is pick up and start right back over again. He's evil. He's just straight up fuckin' evil." Johnson's voice was low and focused and empty of anything but force. "Somebody needs to put a stop to this asshole. You want it to be you, that's fine. But I am not gonna let you do it alone."

Standing there, Harvey stared him down.

Johnson stood right up in his personal space, not budging an inch.

Harvey's face relaxed a measure and he shook his head at him. "...You know something, kid? You're not nearly as dumb as you look."

He offered a shrug. "Thank God, right?"

He started working up to saying something, when Johnson hit him on shoulder. "C'mon. Get your act together." His partner started back up to Essen's office, where she still stood in the doorway. "She's all lookin' at us and shit."

Harvey's mouth worked, and blinking rapidly, he followed after his partner. He and Essen got Johnson up to speed on the situation. It wasn't easy giving the details, but his partner needed to know the full gravity of what they were about to undertake.

He had to admit. After the kid gave him the pep-talk, Harvey found he had more energy in his voice. "We know where he's gonna be and we know he'll have her with him," he said. "But the biggest problem we've got is that I can't walk in there with you or anyone else." He added, "Or anything that'll actually keep me and her alive."

Essen said, "I'm raising the alarm."

Harvey's eyebrows went up.

She sent him a look. "I just need some time, and I'll get an answer."

He looked away. She needed time. Problem was they didn't have much of it, or more accurately, Madeline didn't have much of it.

She admitted, "And all I can promise you is that. An answer. For all I know, it won't be the answer we want. But if I can get you an edge in any way, I will."

Harvey swallowed back as he locked eyes with her. Something came over him just then. He thought about grabbing her, just pulling her in and … He decided against it. He did rest a hand on her back and whispered, "Thank you, Sarah."

She shared a glance with him and squeezed his shoulder.

Johnson had been staring off in thought and he looked back at them. "If he's gonna kill her. What's with the wait?" He asked, "Why all the build up? How do we know he hasn't already…" He caught the look on Harvey's face and said, "No offense, Harv… I don't mean to... "

"No, you're right," he said in a hard voice. "For all I know-"

Essen cut him off. "You need to stop thinking like cops and start thinking like Dimitri Codmolov."

Harvey nodded. If anybody knew what wound this nutjob's clock, it was him. He took a moment to think, and then he said, "This guy doesn't have a code. But once he decides to take someone out, the more gruesome and the more shocking the better. This is an absolute power play from soup to nuts." His stomach dropped and he tried to ignore it. "Whatever he's got planned next in the works, it ain't gonna be as quiet as us coming across her in some alley, like with Lyle."

Essen nodded her agreement. "You said he wanted an example, and with the arena he's chosen, he wants a public example. He wants an audience, literally, for whatever he's planning to do."

Harvey's mind went to work on the details, and it delivered a sudden wallop to his nervous system. It made something deep inside him twist. Everything was in a thick fog save for one clear idea he had in mind. "He's waiting… because he wants me to see it." Dimitri wanted to bring him back to the scene of one of his greatest failures and … "He wants to kill her in front of me."

They all fell quiet at the words he spoke. Then Johnson nudged him lightly in the shoulder, jolting him. "If that's … If we're sure about this… then that means we have time, right? Not a lot but some."

He said, "Yeah, but time for what? I told you what that homicidal maniac said. I look left when I should be lookin' right and he'll end it before we can get to her. I can't take a gamble, not where her life is concerned." Taking chances suddenly seemed like a very bad idea. Worse than that, a deadly idea.

His partner said, "Look, Harv. It's like you always say. If you wanna find out where somebody's gonna go, you gotta find out where they've been. We know where he's gonna be at midnight. But we gotta find out where he is -now- in the meantime." He let out a long sigh. "Dimitri doesn't have her hunkered down in some dingy cell or underground lair. He doesn't hide. He keeps everything above ground. Where anyone can see." He said, "That means that at all times someone out there knows something. If they tell us… we might be able to stop this thing, before he gets her where he wants."

Harvey shook his head. "Nobody, listen to me, nobody in this city is gonna talk to us. Not after all the carnage Dimitri left in his wake twenty-four hours ago."

Johnson argued back, "That doesn't mean jack shit. I've seen you in action. You got the right motivation? And you're real good at makin' shady mother fuckers talk."

After a moment of indecision, he looked back at him. "Okay, let's just say I manage to do that. Then let's say afterwards, they want to get word back to Dimitri. What then?"

His jaw stiffened. "Then we'll do whatever we have to do to make it so they can't."

Harvey almost reeled back. The kid was getting dark and ruthless on him. His black box wasn't the only one suddenly cracked open.

Johnson said, "I mean, I'm not talking about leaving bodies in our path, but …"

Harvey nodded his understanding. But anything else would be fair game.

Essen took in a deep breath, causing both Harvey and Johnson to turn around and look at her. She said, "On that note, there may still be one way ... " She reached into the drawer of her desk and pulled out a small, metal key on a keyring. "For me to help you."

Past the block of interrogation rooms, Harvey and Johnson threw open a door at the very back of the precinct. They both stared upon rack after rack and shelf after shelf of shotguns, grenades, smoke bombs, machine guns, and assault rifles.

Johnson nodded. "Hell yes. Now -that's- what I'm talkin' about." He set to work carting over two large black totes and a metal case under his arm. Every weapon he brought over thunked heavily onto the floor.

Any other time, Harvey would have given his left arm for a free backstage pass to the artillery closet as well as every single weapon in the GCPD whammy drawer. … But this was different. Every gun he picked up. Every weapon he chose, all he could think about were all the ways they could potentially pose a threat to Madeline.

His and Johnson's partnership had its rough patches, and more often than not they just weren't on the same wavelength. But ever since Johnson stood his ground back at their desks, they'd begun moving and thinking together, sharing one brain.

Johnson looked over at him as he loaded ammunition into a rifle. "Hey, listen, Harv. Maddie's a whole helluva lot tougher than she looks."

"Yeah," Harvey said. "Yeah, I know that." What he didn't tell him that her brand of tough didn't hold a candle to the hellfire that sadistic killers like Dimitri brought to the table. He also didn't remind Johnson that physically, she was just about as dangerous as a bunny in a pet shop window.

But then, a wholly different thought struck him. Though he didn't want to, he thought back to the chilling phone call. … Right there in the middle of it, she hadn't sounded scared or weak …She'd sounded…just as stubborn as always. Even more than that, angry. She'd sounded like she wasn't taking shit from anybody, not even the evil bastards holding her down and hurting her. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed she'd done whatever it took to communicate. She wanted him to know in no uncertain terms that Dimitri planned to kill her, no matter what he did. And Harvey knew that had not been a part of Dimitri's neatly planned schedule.

Harvey started thinking about what that move might have cost her and physically shook the thought away. Instead, he focused on an equally true and more important matter. The fact that Dimitri hadn't broken her. He lifted up a heavy shotgun. Not yet.

Johnson was still on his first thought tangent, "That and she's smart."

He nodded his absolute agreement.

His partner looked around at the situation they were in and added, "Way smarter than us jackoffs."

"Yeah, but uh …" Harvey cleared his throat. "Let's just keep that last part between us. You know, for now."

"Oh yeah, she already knows that, but she can't ever know we know that," he immediately agreed. "I mean, we gotta live with her after this. She'd never let us hear the end of that shit."

They brought every weapon they could reasonably carry between them out to their car in the parking lot. As Johnson loaded up the trunk with their veritable arsenal, Harvey walked back up to his Captain. They both cast his partner an eye as they stood side by side.

Harvey started off dryly, like he was telling the beginning of a joke, "So… what's the only thing better than mounting a one-man assault against a mob boss and whatever army he's got with him?"

She smirked at him. Then she fixed her gaze back on Johnson. "The kid doesn't back down."

Harvey crossed his arms and squinted into the afternoon sun, feeling gratitude well up deep inside him. "In that last fist fight, he must have gotten hit in the head harder than we thought. We'll get him a CAT scan as soon as we get back."

Essen lent him a tired smile. "I'll call you, no matter what the answer." As Harvey hurried towards the squad car, she said, "Be careful. Both of you."

He called back over his shoulder, "You, too."

Harvey climbed into the car and breathed out a long, heavy sigh. With a single phone call Dimitri had ripped his and Maddie's world to shreds. But that wasn't all he'd done. He'd also flicked on all Harvey's lights, flipped all his switches, and turned on every turbine. In that way, the man had no idea the dangerous door he'd opened.

In the midst of everything, he had a clear thought. That and he has no idea who he's dealing with.

Harvey revved the engine, and he and Johnson headed straight for the only place they'd actually ever seen Dimitri Codmolov.