Fuck me, this is a long ass chapter! For good reason only since it's the second before the last chapter! Woot woot! Enjoy.
Warnings: violence, lots of it, lots of violence.
Disclaimer in chapter 1
You already know, it's Unbeta 33333333
Christmas Wish
Chapter 21
More than One
"So now we have two people to look out for?" Lester asked, running a hand through his hair, "We have to worry about another powerful Unmentionable and this mystery woman!"
"Yes that is what I'm saying," Ivan said, the snow and wind outside howling, "And a blizzard, if our people can find Vladimir, they can stop the blizzard. They're working on it right now."
"But if they catch him, they'll stop the blizzard," Carlos crossed his arms with a rare sigh, "And this woman could slip away, with Brittany."
"Maybe not," Lester looked out the window, "Five feet of snow is on the ground, they'll have to dig through that, face subzero temperatures and an angry Unmentionable, I think they're going to lay low, until Vladimir is found or he finds them."
"We should follow the storm," Stephanie said, suddenly, looking at the screen that held a radar of the storm, "Call me crazy but…wouldn't this person be in the center of the storm?"
The men walked over to the Stephanie and the screen to look at the storm. Lester sat down and clicked a few buttons to rewind the time track of the storm. It moved like a regular storm, at first but then, a day out, it began to moved oddly, like it had no intended path and then it stopped moving.
"When was this?" Lester muttered, looking at the screen, "This is only a few hours old."
"He's there," Ivan said poking at the storm, in the middle of it, "Where is that?"
"That's-" Carlos leaned forward to look at the map, "There's a castle there, abandoned, whatever is in this castle, has his interest."
"It must be Brittany, he must have found the person who has her!" Stephanie said, looking at the men, "We have to get there!"
"We?" Carlos looked over to his wife, "It's too dangerous out there for you, for anyone, actually."
"You can't expect me to stay here, Carlos, not when Brittany-"
"I don't expect you to do anything but, Babe, this isn't a normal bad guy, this is-"
"All we have to do is to get Dr. Ivan to-"
"Heidi's gone."
All heads turned to Diesel, who stood by the entrance to the office, looking pale. Ivan walked over to the boy and asked, "Thaddeus, what do you mean she's gone."
"She was, standing here, looking at the screen, breathing heavy, sucking her thumb," Diesel looked at his father, with tears in his eyes, "She was-was breathing so heavy that I thought she would faint but then she disappeared and, I don't know where she went! She disappeared right in front of me too!"
"She went to the castle," Ivan said softly, turning to look at the group, "She's-we have to go get her."
"Your damn right we have to get her!" Lester said, standing, grabbing his coat, "She went right to the people that are looking for her and she doesn't have a coat, she's just a little girl!"
"We can't do this alone, I'll call our team," Ivan said, getting his phone out, "This is too dangerous for regular humans."
"Call your team, hopefully they can get here soon," Carlos said, before turning to Stephanie, "Babe, I can't lose you, please, stay here, with Diesel."
Stephanie sighed and said, "Alright, Diesel and I will stay here, hurry up and get Heidi back."
"We will," Carlos said, softly, kissing the woman deeply, "I love you, Babe."
"I love you too, Carlos," Stephanie said, as Carlos, Lester and Ivan left the office, "It's okay, Diesel, they'll get her back, she'll be home soon."
"Well, if they can't get, I'll get her," Diesel looked determined, "I can get to the castle too! If they can't get to the castle, I'll get there myself."
"Hopefully that won't be the case…."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Brittany let out a series of wet coughs, leaning against the stone wall, wrapping her arms around her knees, her breath hung in the air and the thin blanket she had been given did little to keep her warm. After that mind episode, the woman holding her hostage had been enraged. Several days of torture and mind digging left Brittany's mind raw and her head in constant pain. It didn't help that the temperature was lowering and it was getting colder and the storm was now threatening to bury the place they were in.
In her weak state, Brittany felt herself getting sick, too ill to fight off the woman's mental attacks. She shivered and curled up tighter against herself, laying on the stone floor. She had been removed from the bedroom she woke up and found herself in tiny room in a basement. The combined cold, awful food and torture wrecked her body. She could feel the fever in her body and all she wanted to do was fall asleep and sleep for a long time.
"Oh, doctor, good doctor," The woman walked into the tiny room, looking over to Brittany who continued to cough, "You don't sound good, that cough sound very wet, fluid buildup in the lungs?"
She walked over to Brittany and placed a hand on her forehead, "You're burning up, hmm, that's not good, but, after I deal with a few things, I'll take care of you, sweetie."
Brittany, too weak to speak, only laid on the floor, looking at the woman, with glassy eyes. The woman sighed and then said, "An angry buyer, making his way to me, apparently he's on the hunt for his weapon, and I have a person knows where it is."
"A..person…who-" Brittany whispered, who stopped talking when the woman covered her mouth with a hand, "Shh, sweetie, no more talking, you're too weak."
The woman sighed and said, rubbing her arms, "It is cold in here, perhaps-" she turned when a group of men came into the room, "What?"
"We have a problem, they're here," One man said, causing the woman to huff, "Not Vladimir, ma'am, the weapon."
"What in the hell are you doing in here talking to me then?! Go get it!" The woman snapped, while the men faltered and looked nervous.
"There's a problem…" Brittany slowly sat up to listen to the men, her eyes widening as she listened to the men.
"Damn, stun it!" The woman snapped, "Go get the guns and stun it, but don't kill it! I have to deal with this wounded bitch, I'm not dealing with a wounded weapon!"
The woman sighed as the men rushed off. She turned to Brittany and said, "You hear that, 20 men, dead by that little arsenal, I made a powerful weapon."
"Mad, you're mad…" Brittany whimpered, as the woman laughed and walked out the tiny room, leaving the door opened.
"I'll let some warm air in, don't want you dying on me now." The woman looked at Brittany who didn't move, "Don't pass out on me."
Brittany watched the woman leave and then slowly sat up. She had to get to Heidi. She let out a groan and stood up on weak legs and began to limp out the cell. It was colder in the halls than the cell. She wrapped her blanket around herself, face determined before limping down the hall.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
The men keeping watch had been surprised when they spotted a little girl, walking through the raging snow storm, walking on top of the piled snow with ease, as though she weighed nothing. dressed in only a pair of pants, socks and a long sleeve shirt. She was holding tight to a stuffed snake, sucking her thumb. It had set them all on edge, as she walked closer to them, with big amber eyes that were getting bigger the closer she got to them.
What was a kid doing in this area anyways, and why didn't she look like she was cold , it was well below freezing, and the ice and snow that blew in the air made it worse. One of the men left his position and made his way over to the girl, who stopped a short distance from the front yard of the castle they were stationed in.
He dug a path through the snow and once he was close to the girl shouted, "What in the hell are-" was all he managed before something lifted him in the air and sent him flying in the air, soaring over to the woods, where he landed with soft 'thump' in the snow, dead. The girl calmly walked by the path and up to the castle, where the men were scrambling to get guns and other weapons. This girl wasn't just any girl, this was the weapon they were looking for! By the time they managed to get their guns, the men were flying in the with a jerk of the girl's head, blooding raining down on the pristine snow as limbs were torn off by who knows what. Screams of pain filled the air but the girl ignored it, going to the castle entrance and entering it.
'Kill them all, kill them all!' that voice in her head screamed and raged as she walked down the hallway of the castle, 'they're nothing, they're all nothing!'
She couldn't see anything but she could hear them, the men shouting something and the loud noises from their weapons. She hated big noises! She jerked her head and the walls caved in on the men, the ceiling came down as well and with the weight of the snow crushed the men easily.
"Perfect, you are just perfect!" The girl slowly lifted her head and looked up at the woman standing before her, a feral smile on her face and her hair whipping in the wind, "I knew it, the perfect weapon, when you snap, you snap!"
The girl didn't flinch when the woman walked over the pile that had buried the men and their big noises and crouched down in front of her. She patted the girl's cheeks and cooed, "I was afraid that your transformation was going to be a bust, living with normal people, thinking that you weren't a weapon, that you could be human. Well you fooled me wrong, didn't you, killed all my men, bought down my ceiling. Vladimir is going to be happy about this."
The woman looked at the stuffed snake in the girl's hand and ripped it from her saying, "You won't need that, come on, I can sense Vladimir, he's close."
The woman grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her out into the cold. The woman so lost in her own world that she didn't see the person shuffling in the hallway, nor did she see them pick up the stuffed snake.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"What in the hell?!" Stephanie lifted her head up at that exclamation and the sound loud thuds, "Did you put up the barrier already, I was told to wait!"
"I didn't put up the barrier!" Stephanie walked out the room to see a group of people getting up from the floor, along with Ivan Carlos and Lester. Stephanie stepped out the office and asked, "I thought you guys were going to get Heidi!"
"Were, missy," A man, with a southern accent said, sitting up and rubbing his head, "Barrier's up, no one is going in or out of it. Must be Vladimir doin'."
"How did he get his hands on that kind of technology?" Another person hissed, while another pulled out a phone, "That's top secret shit!"
"Stolen, apparently, a year ago."
"Really?!"
"Then we go there by vehicle," Carlos said, looking at the bickering people, "We're running out of time."
"Sorry, Stephanie, these are some agents from our group," Ivan said, running his hands through his hair, frustrated. "Vladimir stole some classified equipment, we're pretty much stuck going the normal way."
"But, in this weather it could take you hours to get there, we don't have hours!"
"We don't have a choice," Lester looked at the group, "We have a snow plow, we'll make a path for the cars."
"Well let's go and try this plan." One person said.
"Stephanie!" Stephanie turned and saw Diesel by the entrance to the door, waving for her to come over, "C'mere!"
"Diesel, what's-" She let out a grunt as Diesel dragged her coat over and gave it to her, "What are you doing?"
"We're gonna go save Heidi and Dr. Brittany," Diesel said his small face set, "We have to hurry!"
"You were snooping," Stephanie said, as Diesel pulled his coat on, "You heard them, no one is getting past this barrier."
"Deda told me bout these things," Diesel said, stuffing his hat on his head, "He said that these barriers can have cracks and holes, not big enough for grown ups, but big enough for me, and you're not an Unmentio-Unmon-you're not one of us, so maybe you can pass through with me!"
"Diesel, this is dangerous," Stephanie whispered, but if the men were going to take hours to get to Heidi and Brittany, "Shoot, fine, let's go, I can't lose another child."
Diesel grabbed Stephanie's hand and said, "Kay, now, big boy onward!"
Traveling instantly made a person not used to it dizzy. Stephanie let out a gasp as a blast of cold air and snow made the dizziness worse. She fell to her knees and looked around. They were no longer in Rangeman but in the woods, close to a castle and shit, it was freezing out here.
"Stephanie! There, the castle!" Diesel pulled at Stephanie's arm, "Come on, it's there! Come on!"
"Hold on," Stephanie hissed, standing in the snow and looking, she could see the castle, it didn't so abandoned now, "Alright, let's go."
They trudged through the deep snow, Stephanie clearing a path for Diesel as they did. They had made it only several feet from the castle when Stephanie suddenly grabbed Diesel and covered his eyes, carrying him, "Don't ask questions, just-just don't."
She carried him past a bloody scene, limbs were scattered everywhere, blood frozen in the snow. Who could do such a thing? Stephanie thought as she stumbled into the castle. Who could kill like this? She closed the castle door and said, "Okay, time to look for Heidi, let's go find her!"
"There she is," Diesel said, pointing to a big window that looked into a courtyard, where Heidi stood beside a red haired woman, looking across to a man that stood in the middle of it, "Who's that man?"
Stephanie muttered a curse. The man was tall, with silver eyes and pure white hair, dressed in a grey suit. It was like the cold didn't affect him and he seemed angry, if his tight lips and narrow eyes were to go by, "Come on, Diesel, let's go!"
They raced through the castle, looking for a way in. They didn't find a door, but luckily they found a caved in wall that led out into the courtyard. They climbed over the fallen wall and then made their way into the courtyard.
"Heidi!" Stephanie shouted, "Heidi, we're here!"
"Yeah, we're here to save you!" Diesel shouted, as the woman and man turned to look at them, "Heidi?!"
"Heidi, they named it?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow, "How cute…"
"She's not going to answer to you two," The woman said, looking over to Stephanie and Diesel, with a bright smile, "Do you see how she looks? She's complete, she's a true weapon now."
The woman turned Heidi around and Stephanie felt her heart break at the sight of Heidi. She looked so different. Her eyes were dead, empty, and her face slack. She was sucking on her thumb, looking at nothing. The woman sighed and said, "Perfect, isn't she? She's finally, what I say, snapped. Something snapped in her, she's not Heidi now, she's just a weapon now.
Vladimir walked over to the woman and Heidi and grabbed the child's shoulder, saying, in a soft voice, "Yes, I was told that were safety mechanics in this girl's mind, to prevent her from rebelling. Tied to me," the man said, looking over to the woman, "Sadly, for you, madam, your time is up, get rid of her."
The woman turned to Vladimir just as Heidi jerked her head and Stephanie barely had time to cover Diesel's eyes as the woman's head spun around and snapped with a loud crack. Stephanie let out a cry and she stepped back. She looked at the man, who looked back at her, cocking his head, his hand tightening on Heidi's shoulder.
"I see you were the ones to take care of my weapon, it looks healthy and clean, I shall thank you by leaving you both alive," Vladimir said, tipping his head, "I shall be taking my leave with my-"
"You're not leaving with that child!" A weak, but loud voice said, causing everyone to look at the source of the voice. Brittany stood in the hole in the wall, wrapped in a thin blanket, "Let go of Heidi!"
"Brittany," Stephanie covered her mouth with her, "Gods," the woman looked as though she had gone through the grinder. She was shivering, covered in wounds and bruises and naked. She stumbled into the courtyard, her eyes glassy but determined.
"Ah, you're the other Unmentionable the woman spoke of, I thought she was lying, but she spoke the truth," the man walked over to Brittany, who swayed and shivered violently, "She kept you in poor condition, but with care, you could be of use to me."
"You're not taking Heidi or Dr. Brittany!" Diesel snapped, his eyes stilled covered by Stephanie, "Let them both go!"
Diesel squirmed out of Stephanie grip and ran at Vladimir. Vladimir laughed and opened his hands to let Diesel hit. The man had been expecting a lit hit. He was surprised when the boy hit him and sent him flying into the snow.
"A strong boy you are," The man laughed, sitting up in the snow and turning to Diesel who stood there, his little face set, "But I have no need for you, I would let the weapon off you, but I want to do this myself."
Diesel let out a yelp as the man grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up in the air and slowly squeezing. Stephanie let out a cry and ran over to the man, shouting, "Let him go!" hitting on his arm, tugging at it to stop the man from choking Diesel to death.
"Heidi," Brittany stumbled over to the quiet girl, who was watching the scene with glazed eyes, "Heidi, you have to stop him, I know you can do it, I know you can fight his control."
She turned the girl away from the scene and whimpered, shaking her gently, "It's okay, you can fight him, you're so strong, Heidi, I believe in you, let me help you."
Brittany rested her feverish forehead on Heidi's and with what little energy she had she jumped into the girl's mind. She found Heidi huddled in a corner of her mind, covering her ears from the yelling that was occurring, crying and screaming for them to stop. Brittany winced and walked over to the girl, "Heidi, it's okay, I'm right here," She fell down and grabbed the girl, pulling her into her embrace, ""It's okay, don't listen to the voice, listen to my voice."
Brittany rocked the crying child, saying, "You can fight it, Heidi, Diesel misses you, Ivan does, Stephanie and Carlos love and miss you, Lester needs you, he gave you Mister Hiss, remember, Mr. Hiss."
Heidi slowly stopped crying and looked up, "Dr. Brittany?"
"Ignore the voices, Heidi," Brittany said, looking down at the girl, "Wake up, please…wake up," Heidi let out a grunt as she fell out of Brittany's lap. She looked up at Brittany who fell forward.
"Dr. Brittany!" Heidi shooked him, her eyes wide, "Dr. Brittany!"
Brittany let out a weak moan, whispering, "It's okay, I'll be right….here….." going still.
Heidi's eyes began to blink quickly and then she let out a gasp, looking around. She was in a strange place, where was she? She looked over and gasped, seeing Diesel being held by a man, his face was purple and he looked like he was in pain. Her friend was in pain.
Heidi narrowed her eyes and with a jerk of her head the man's arm holding Diesel snapped, causing him to cry out in pain and drop Diesel. Stephanie grabbed the boy and slapped his face gently. The boy coughed and cried, burying his face in Stephanie's chest, while Heidi walked over to the man, her eyes narrowed.
"Bad!" She shouted, and with another jerk of her head the man was being tossed around hitting the walls, tree anything, "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!"
"Heidi!" Heidi kept jerking her head to and fro, "Heidi!" the man's body kept hitting hard stone, "Heidi," she could hear bones snapping, "HEIDI!"
Heidi blinked and turned, seeing Stephanie standing by her, holding Diesel in her arms, "Heidi, it's okay, you can stop, the bad man can't hurt anyone, anymore."
"Dr. Brittany," Heidi whispered, as Stephanie walked over to Brittany's prone form, "Dr. Brittany…"
Stephanie crouched down and pressed her fingers to Brittany's neck, "A-alive," Stephanie let out a sighed, looking over to Heidi, who ran over to them, "She's alive, Heidi!"
Heidi hugged Stephanie and then whispered, "Happy you're here," she gave Stephanie an Eskimo kiss.
Stephanie let out a sob, "I'm happy to be here too," she looked over to Heidi, "Come on, let's-let's get Brittany inside."
Together, after getting Diesel calm, the three managed to get Brittany inside. Stephanie started a fire in the room they were in and went hunting for blankets. She had wrapped up the children and Brittany with blanket when she heard a loud commotion from outside the room. Stephanie told the kids to hide and then got up, grabbing a fire poker and going to the door, watching as the door handle rattled almost violently.
The door opened and the strange Unmentionables came tumbling in, shouting but they stopped quickly when they saw Stephanie standing there. Stephanie lowered the poker and said, giving them a finger wave, "Hey, you guys are a few minutes late."
"Yeah, I guess we are, who turned Vladimir into mince meat?"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Pneumonia, severe internal injuries by trauma, early onset hyperthermia," Dr. Ivan ticked off, holding Diesel to his chest as he rocked the boy, "Dr. Brittany is lucky to be alive right now, she was a few inches from death's door."
"Yes," Carlos said, looking over to Stephanie, who leaned against him, "Babe, you and Diesel made us all grow grey hairs, I couldn't believe you and Diesel ran off like that!"
"I'm glad we did, Heidi and Brittany were this close to being taken!" Stephanie said, glaring at Carlos, "Those people were psychotic."
They were in the waiting room of the ICU, camped there honestly, after the Unmentionables came in, they whisked Brittany away quickly and then got Stephanie and Diesel back, promising to deal with the bodies of the woman and Vladimir. IT was a relief to leave but they weren't finish with their tasks.
They took Heidi with them as well. That had been three days ago.
Stephanie sighed and looked over to Carlos, who rested his head against hers. They were hopeful that soon, very soon Heidi would be back with them. The Unmentionables spoke about running tests, evaluating her and several other things to make sure she was wasn't a danger to society.
"Guys!" Lester rushed into the waiting room, with a smile on his face, "She woke up, she's alert, and complaining about the needle in her arm, her fever is still high and they want to keep her in ICU longer but, she's on the road to recovery."
"Thank goodness," Ivan sighed, smiling at Lester, "Thanks for the good news, Lester."
"Any word on Heidi yet?" Lester walked over to the group and sat down, "It's been three days, she should be here with us."
"I was hoping to hear from them earlier, but…" Ivan sighed, "They'll bring her to us if they think she's safe and if she isn't safe…she, she'll be fine."
Ivan looked out the window and got up suddenly, "I'm going to take this one home, it's Christmas Eve, and he's going to be mad if he misses the presents in the morning, I'll be back tomorrow, Merry Christmas," he smiled at them and then left with a poof.
Lester leaned back and sighed, "I want our kid back," he rested his head in his hands, "I can't believe how…empty things are without Heidi."
"Yeah," Carlos agreed, "I thought, after Ricky, I couldn't feel this way again," he wrapped his arm around Stephanie, "But, that little girl she-she makes me feel better again."
"I want her back, when she comes back, I'm never letting her go again, she's going to have to deal with a clingy Stephanie," Stephanie said, looking at the clock, "Oh-look, it's midnight, Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Babe."
"Merry Christmas, Steph."
"Mewwy Christmas!" All heads turned to see an Unmentionable standing in the doorway of the ICU, holding the hand of Heidi, who was smiling and holding tight to Mr. Hiss, dressed in a holiday themed dress, "I back!"
The Unmentionable yelped and jumped out the way as Heidi was enveloped by the Stephanie, Carlos and Lester, "We've questioned and investigated Unmentionable Heidi and deemed her safe for living in society. In fact, we think that Dr. Ivan and Brittany, Unmentionable themselves, will be a good guardian for them, unlike regular custody, we encourage village rearing. If you all are interested in the guardianship of Unmentionable Heidi please, have the doctors contact us, we'll be more than happy to make it happen."
The Unmentionable smiled and then left the group. Carlos looked over to Stephanie and then turned to Heidi, who was giving Lester Eskimo kisses, "Well, Bella, what do think about having more than one parent?"
"I think there are several people who want to be your parents," Stephanie said, watching as Lester as he nodded his head, "So, Heidi, do you want a bunch of parents?"
"Yes," Heidi smiled shyly, burying her face in Lester's neck, "I want lots of parents."
"Good, I think that would be a great Christmas present for us all," Lester said, kissing Heidi's forehead.
TBC…..
Off to the trash heap! See you guys on the other side.