Please review! Warning! This chapter is very graphic in violence.
Hannibal sprinted out of the elevator and towards the small hallway where he knew the ice machine was. The fire alarm was still blaring, and he knew it was only a matter of minutes before more FBI agents started swarming the building with four agents dead in the hallway unresponsive. When he reached the hallway, he could hear something solid hitting the janitor's door. "Clarice!"
"Hannibal!" It was her. "The door is locked. I can't get out."
"Hold on!" Hannibal called out to her before seeing the ice machine was on wheels. He got behind it and rolled it parallel with the door, lining it up with the doorknob. Shoving his shoulder into the side of it, he used all his weight and rammed the ice box into the doorknob, breaking it off. He backed away from the door. "Jump against the door with all your body weight."
A moment later, the door flung open and Clarice stumbled out, Hannibal quickly grabbing her. "Hannibal, Will is here."
Hannibal took her hand into his, pulling her with him towards the elevators. "I know. He just left with Bella."
"He what?!" Clarice ripped her hand from Hannibal and pounded on the down arrow to call for the elevator. "Where did he go? He wants to torture Bella. He wants to rape her, to kill her."
"I know that, but he's not doing it to hurt her. He wants to hurt me." Hannibal stated. He cupped her face in his hands. "I put a tracker on her bandage, in my tie pin. They're still on the move, but he passed by your place. We need to go and grab our things. Once we end this, we can't stick around. We'll need to leave as soon as we get Bella and Will is taken care of."
Clarice nodded before pecking his lips. When she pulled back, she froze seeing the blood on his hands. "Don't tell me that's Bella's blood."
Hannibal sighed as the elevator doors opened, and he pulled Clarice in with him. "It is hers, but she's okay. Will shot her leg. I got the bullet out and dressed the wound. No permanent damage other than a scar once it heals." He stabbed his fingers into the button for the garage. "I promise you that she was okay when I put her in the van. She was as sarcastic as ever."
Clarice sucked in a deep breath, shaking her head. "I can't lose her, Hannibal."
"We're not going to." Hannibal reassured her before hugging her against his chest. He kissed her head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo that never seemed to leave her auburn hair even in their most precarious situations. "We'll get her back, and we'll start our lives together. As a family."
Bella pulled out the tack from the tie and slipped it inside her mouth when Will had his eyes on the road ahead of him. Whatever road it was had lots of potholes and bumps that made her jostle around. It was beginning to make her nauseous.
"Hey!" Will shouted at her. She looked back at him to see him open a small slot in the cage material. He held two items in his hand - a pair of handcuffs and something she'd only ever seen in pictures in old scientific journal articles. "Put these on. You've already caused enough trouble."
The two items fell onto the mattress beside her and she grimaced as she reached for them. "You do realize that you're going to die, right? Kinship or no kinship. Whatever friendship you had with my father is void now that you're coming after us."
"He tried to kill me long ago. It wouldn't be the first time." Will stated before yanking the slot closed. "The men that killed your grandparents, your aunt, should've killed your father while they had him. He shouldn't be allowed to walk this Earth, and he's dealt this fate to you."
Bella frowned as she rested the cuffs in her lap to focus on the other item. "I'm looking to run away, not become a serial cannibal killer. I may have his DNA, but I'm not my father. I'm not really my mother either. Just because you carry DNA from someone doesn't mean that you are going to end up just like them."
Will watched as she put the second item on, pulling off the road. "No, but we can't chance it with your DNA."
Clarice rushed into her room, grabbing her duffle bag from the closet and stuffing a few clothes and items from Hannibal inside. She emptied out her safe, dumping the contents into her bag as well, before going to the box of John's things. Pushing everything aside but the gun, she pulled the weapon out and loaded it as Hannibal walked in with a full bag of Bella's things. She held the gun out to him. "Take it."
Hannibal set Bella's bag down next to Clarice's on the bed, taking the gun from her and reloading the gun to get a handle on it. "I think I got everything of Bella's. The hawk, the tapes, the walkman, the jewelry box, and the envelope addressed to Joe. There's enough clothes for a week. Is there anything else?"
"Did your guy get Bella's new birth certificate done?" Clarice asked before picking up her own gun and loading it.
"Yes, he has our new identities as well." Hannibal stated, slipping the gun into his belt. "He's made three for each of us. They should get us to Argentina without problem." He zipped up Clarice's bag as a set of headlights lit up her bedroom. "That must be him. He gets antsy around guns, so don't flash it."
Clarice's eyes widened as Hannibal grabbed their bags and headed downstairs. She quickly followed him. "You invited him here. What if he called the FBI to rat you out?"
Hannibal smiled, setting their bags by the front door. "The FBI wants him more than they want me. He likes the cyber crimes I believe you call them." He opened the door and stepped aside as their guest walked in with a bag of his own. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Cordell."
"You freed me from Mason. I'm happy to free the two of you." Cordell smiled politely before pulling out his file of paperwork. "Alright, here are your passports, three for each of you. Driver's licenses are inside each passport. Here are the train tickets down to Florida. It leaves at two. Don't miss it." He handed the thick envelope to Clarice before pulling out another file. "Alright, down to the paperwork. I have all of Bella's information on here. Just a few details I want to go over. What did you want her last name to be?"
"Starling-Lecter." Clarice said without a beat. "That's what she wanted."
Cordell wrote out the name and turned it to them. "Hannibal, I'll have you sign. Clarice, how did you want to sign?"
Clarice frowned. "What do you mean?"
Cordell pulled out another certificate. "Hannibal also mentioned a marriage between the two of you. If you want to stay Clarice Starling, we'll leave it at that. Otherwise, we can change it to Lecter or Starling-Lecter."
"Starling-Lecter." Clarice said after a moment before smirking at Hannibal. "Surprise marriage?"
"You mentioned it would be nice. He's going to file it with the wedding date being the night we first touched, back in Memphis. That is if you still think it would be nice." Hannibal shrugged with his own grin. "I thought the same."
Clarice smiled. "How fitting. Looks like you're making me an honest woman after all."
Cordell laid out the other certificate. "Then, I will change your name in the system as well when I get all of this filed. Just sign above your names. Clarice Starling-Lecter." As they were signing, he glanced around the townhouse. "This is a nice place. It's a shame you can't take all this stuff with you."
Clarice handed him the completed marriage certificate. "I've never been a person who clings to material things. Everything that matters to me is in those bags or part of my family." She signed her name on Bella's new birth certificate, verifying all the information on it was correct from the original. "I gotta say. I never thought I would be this happy to see you, Cordell."
"Your husband said the same thing when he first tracked me down." Cordell smirked before Clarice handed him the birth certificate. He slipped the paperwork back into his bag and zipped it up. "I will get that witness signature and file this in seventy-two hours. Is that enough time for you to get out?"
Hannibal stuffed their new credentials into Bella's bag. "We should be off American soil by this time tomorrow." He shook Cordell's hand. "Say hello to Barney for us when you get his signature. Whatever items of mine he has left are about to become a lot more valuable."
"Stop the truck. That's gotta be it. It's the only place around with the lights on." Clarice stated looking down at the tracker Hannibal had. He turned off the truck in the middle of the old metal and freight yard by the docks. One of the large pole sheds was lit up, the doors wide open, and the blue van parked just inside. They were just outside the gate, far enough away to keep their arrival unnoticed. "We need to be careful. His plan might be to kill Bella as soon as he sees us."
Hannibal cocked his gun after pulling it out of his belt. "I'll let you lead, Special Agent Starling."
Clarice hopped out of the truck, leaving the door open to remain quiet. "It's Special Agent Starling-Lecter now." She smirked up at him before both their attentions were captured by a cry coming out of the pole shed. Her chest immediately clenched and a weight settled uneasily in the pit of her stomach. It was Bella. "Hannibal?"
"Go. I'm behind you." Hannibal hurried around the truck to her before they both took off towards the pole shed.
"Mother fucker!" Bella sobbed as she felt the scalpel pierce her back again. She grabbed onto the edge of the surgical table, the pulse monitor on her finger clinking against the metal. She felt her blood dripping down her side, pooling below her stomach. Even when Will removed the surgical tool, her skin still stung. But, he didn't leave her alone for long. Another swipe of his scalpel sent a cry ripping out of her throat before he could peel away the portion of skin he had carved. Part of it was still attached, creating a wing of skin laying over her left arm and leaving her muscles exposed.
Will smiled at his work, walking around and leaning over to meet her eyes. "There, one wing done for the angel you will be."
Bella's entire body was tense, trying to focus on anything but the pain. "Can you take the mask off? I can't breathe in it."
"I can't trust your mouth. This mask worked for your father when he was in the hospital. It will work for you in your final hours." Will stated before running his hand over the unharmed half of her back. It kept lowering until his hand was grabbing between her thighs, still covered by her ruined jeans. "I will make you my creation, not Hannibal's. I will make you mine before you die. It's the only way for you to have a chance."
Bella clenched the tie tack in her palm. "A chance for what? If you kill me, I have nothing."
Will picked up a fish hook from the small tray of surgical tools. "A chance at a happy afterlife."
Clarice watched Will stand over Bella in the glass cage he had built. There were holes along the bottom and top, much like the glass that had once contained Hannibal in the psychiatric hospital, and a camera stood outside the front of the cage. The red light indicating it was recording Will's actions against Bella. There was a single door closest to her and Hannibal. It had no door handle though. Attached to Will's belt was a controller of some sort with a green and red button, and she concluded it had to be to open and shut the door.
"We need to distract him." Hannibal whispered. "Get him away from Bella."
"We can't shoot the cage. If it's pure glass, it could shatter down and injury Bella internally." Clarice stated. When Will reached for his scalpel again, she picked up a wrench on a barrel next to her and chucked it towards the camera. It didn't hit it, but it accomplished what she wanted it to.
Will stopped just shy of piercing Bella's skin again, tossing the scalpel down next to her arm before moving towards the front of the cage. He grinned seeing the wrench on the ground. "It looks like Mommy and Daddy are here for you after all, Bella. They thought they could surprise us, huh? Alright, Doctor, show yourself."
Clarice motioned for Hannibal to make a move towards the door while she moved around the barrels. As Will looked around wildly for them, she lifted her gun and pointed it at him before showing herself, only a few feet from the camera. "You're done, Will. It's over."
"Nice try, Starling." Will smirked, walking like a man who just won the lottery. "Bulletproof glass. You're not getting in. But, I can give you a show." He took a step back towards Bella, but kept his eyes on Clarice. "Don't you love my newest creation. I'm not done, but I think she's coming along just fine."
Bella didn't waste the opportunity. Shoving the back off the tie tack, she thrust the prick into the cuffs and struggled to pop them open. The use of her back muscles sent a stabbing pain down her spine. With Will's back to her, she grabbed the scalpel before reaching out and pressing the green button on the controller. The pressure and sound of the door caused him to turn, and she didn't waste a second swinging the instrument and slicing his stomach.
Clarice and Hannibal ran forward when Will dropped against the glass wall, using it to stay on his feet. Clarice kept her gun pointed at Will while Hannibal moved over to Bella, switching the scalpel in her hand with the gun. "Bella, list off the days of the week for me."
"I'm fine. Just get the fucking mask off." Bella ignored his request. She knew he was checking her lucidness, but she would welcome passing out at this point. The pain coursing through her body was nearly unbearable.
Hannibal quickly cut the straps away, careful not to cut Bella and kept her hair away from her exposed muscles. Slowly removing the mask, he was relieved to see that Will hadn't decided to carve her face as a rude surprise. He caressed her cheek and turned her head to lay her cheek on to cold metal. "Relax for me. I'll take care of you in a moment." He pulled the cuffs off of the table where Bella left them and turned to Will.
Clarice jutted her gun towards Will. "Turn around. Don't you dare fucking try anything." Hannibal walked up behind Will and cuffed his hands. "Check his pockets. I'll take that remote."
Once Hannibal secured the cuffs, he removed the remote from Will's belt and tossed away everything from his pockets. Feeling around his waist, he smiled when Will grimaced against his hand on the slice Bella had made. His gun was tucked into his pants there. Lifting Will's shirt, he pulled out the gun and placed it in Bella's other hand. He forced Will to sit down before forcing him forward. With the scalpel in hand, Hannibal made a small but deep incision in his lower back.
The resistance in his legs instantly retracted.
"If you cannot feel your legs, it is because I just severed that part of your spinal cord. I can't be rude, mind you. For carving up my daughter, I must return the favor." Hannibal stated before handing the scalpel to Clarice. "I need to retrieve my medical bag from the truck. I have anesthetic there, and Bella needs to be stitched back up as soon as possible. It will help with her recovery."
"Please hurry." Bella breathed, listening to the beep of her own heart on the monitor beside her. She heard Hannibal sprint out of the cage and out of the pole shed. "Mommy? Can we go away now?"
Clarice wheeled the surgical table away from Will before crouching down beside her, stroking her hair. "Our bags are packed. We are leaving right after this." She glanced back at Will before Bella opened her eyes, making Clarice smile. "Hey baby. Looks like you really are your father's little bird now."
"Don't make me laugh." Bella groaned through a smile. "It fucking hurts. It's only one wing anyway."
"That's one more than you're supposed to have." Clarice rolled her eyes. She brushed a strand of hair out of Bella's face, tapping her nose with her index finger. "I have some good news for you. Your father and I met with a. . .an acquaintance of ours earlier. If anyone ever asks, you're Bellona Darion Starling-Lecter. We just signed your new birth certificate." She smiled seeing Bella tear up, a grin plastering her face. "You won't go another Christmas without your father."
Bella wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Really?"
Clarice nodded, helping wipe away the tears. "Yep. Unfortunately, you're going to have to deal with some newlyweds for a while."
Bella's eyes widened, her jaw dropping. "You got married! Without me?"
"We signed papers. We'll celebrate when we get to where we're going." Clarice chuckled before Hannibal ran back in. She could see the pain on his face. He was trying to distract himself from his guilt by attending to her much needed medical assistance. "Our daughter is upset that she didn't get to attend our wedding, Hannibal."
Bella turned her head to the other side to look up at Hannibal. "Yeah, what gives? You got to be there for my ballet."
Hannibal shook his head, a smile forming on his lips even as he tried to hide it. He started measuring out the anesthetic. "I didn't get to be there for your birth."
"That shouldn't have even happened." Will gritted out from his place on the floor. "If you hadn't turned, you could've prevented all of this."
"If I hadn't turned. . ." Clarice froze, her grip on Bella's arm tightening protectively. She slowly turned to Will, standing up with the scalpel in her hand. "You stabbed me when I was pregnant."
Will smirked with a nod. "It wasn't hard to figure out you were having his child." He leaned back heavily against the glass cage wall, panting slightly. "I was in town, aiding with the search for Dr. Lecter when you went missing. After you were found and Hannibal got away, I knew he would most likely try to contact you. I sat in my car outside your house that night, just watching. I never saw the doctor, but I learned of your pregnancy a few months later. It was too big of a coincidence." He grunted as he tried to move himself using his arms. "I came up and tracked you for a month. I thought the job was done when I stabbed you."
Clarice set her gun down, tightening her grip on the scalpel. "But, it wasn't."
"No, I found out last spring. Paul Krendler called me about my time with Dr. Lecter as some part of his therapy." Will stated. "He told me his son was going on a date with Starling's daughter. I knew my job wasn't done."
"So, you became the Beer Can Killer and waited until Hannibal showed up to help." Clarice concluded, stepping closer to him. "Hannibal, how long is it going to take you to stitch up Bella?"
Hannibal injected the drugs into Bella's back, gently prodding it to flow through her bloodstream quicker. "A while. Enough time for whatever you want to do. I just need to find my needle." He grabbed his needle and thread and poked his daughter's back along the cut flesh. "Can you feel that?"
Bella shook her head, not even feeling pressure when Hannibal lifted the flap of her skin back over onto her back. "No. . .I don't. There's a needle in my back pocket."
"Okay, now you are going to lose consciousness soon. That's what's supposed to happen. I've given you enough to wake up in an hour." Hannibal explained. He glanced up at Clarice and nodded. "We're okay here. Do your worst. Just keep him alive enough for me."
Clarice placed her hand on top of Will's head. "You wanted to kill me the same way Hannibal tried to kill you. Well, I don't intend on killing you. I'm only interested in your pain. One of my husband's patients comes to mind. I may not have any angel dust on me, and I certainly don't trust you enough to give you your own knife. So, I'll make do with what I have." She saw the worry fill Will's eyes. "You know which patient I'm talking about, don't you?"
Forcing Will's body forward, she moved behind him and took his jaw into her hand. "You don't ever threaten a mother, Will. You'll never win." She lowered the scalpel to his mouth, hooking it into the left side of his mouth and yanking back. His whole cheek sliced open, flapping down over his jaw as blood coated his teeth. He howled and tried to pull away from Clarice, but she kept her hold on him and repeated the process on the other cheek. His blood dripped down into her hands, onto his shirt and lap. She wiped it off on his shoulder to prevent her hand from slipping and cutting itself on the blade.
She pressed her hand to his forehead, forcing him back so she could have a clear sightline to his mouth and jaw, making the scalpel work along his gums and teeth and hitting bone a few times. With every swipe of her blade, more blood poured and pieces of his flesh dropped onto the dusty concrete. When she was through, when his teeth and gums had no protection left, she let him go, taking the eye patch with her.
His removal of his eye hadn't removed the tear duct. Tears flowed from both sides, and she was sure the salt from them were adding to the pain she had left him with. It was nothing compared to the psychological pain he left her in after the stabbing, having to deal with someone trying to kill her baby and leaving her without the choice to have more. His pain wouldn't last nearly as long.
As she walked back to the surgical table, she could see that Hannibal was almost done stitching Bella back up. He was working quickly, but his stitches looked better than the ones Bella had put in earlier that day on her head. Will groaned and sobbed on the floor beside them, but he wasn't important in that moment. "Is she going to be okay?"
"Luckily, Will only cut her flesh. With it still fresh, the stitches should help it heal nicely. Obviously, it will scar, but she will be fully functional. At most, she may have some nerve damage in the skin." Hannibal stated before finishing up the last stitch and grabbing an alcohol wipe. "She's going to be just fine."
Clarice let out a sigh of relief. "Good." Once he wiped down the stitches, he grabbed the bandages. She reached out and gently touched his arm. "Let me. Go do what you need to do."
Hannibal met her eyes for one moment before his body tensed, filling with rage. He placed the bandages on the table next to Bella and motioned to the door. "Let's roll her out of here. I am curious to use the fish hooks Will has hung." He spoke, gesturing to the two hooks hanging down from a beam in the pole shed. They dangled down through two holes in the cage, resting on the floor at the moment.
Once Hannibal helped Clarice roll out the table with Bella and his medical bag, he stepped back inside and used the remote to close the door. The buttons weren't just to close and open the door though. As the door closed, the hooks pulled up off the floor and stopped halfway up the cage, leaving whatever hung there to be nearly five feet off the floor. It wasn't a cage after all. It was a display case.
"Will, you surprise me." Hannibal grinned before opening the door again and letting the hooks lower down to the floor. He walked over to Will and grabbed him from behind. "I must say. I am rather impressed with what you've built here. Now, I can't let you use this for my daughter. She's my daughter after all. I intend to spend the rest of my life with her and my new wife, but I won't let your creation go to waste."
Will fought him as best he could, his blood flying in different directions. "No, Doctor. Please!"
Hannibal gazed down into Will's eyes. "You intended to rape my daughter tonight. If she said no, if she pleaded with you to stop, would you have?" He smiled down at him when he didn't answer. Pulling out his harpy, Hannibal cut off Will's shirt. "You left my daughter bare, so I will do the same to you. I will mark you as you have marked her and finish what I started long ago."
He yanked the useless material off of Will's frame before picking up the fish hooks. "Nice quality line too. Looks like something to catch a shark with." Pressing his thumbs inward, he let the hooks sink into the muscles behind Will's shoulders. He pulled at the lines to test their strength and the give in Will's skin. Satisfied, he pressed his harpy into Will's shoulder blade and began cutting over to the spine and down, carving back out once he hit the lumbar section. The skin flapped out much like Bella's had, and he stuck it onto the hook to keep it as wing-like as possible.
And with one final act, the first strike against Will. He walked around to Will's front, seeing the old scar from where he had nearly disemboweled him and the new laceration Bella had created, slightly deeper than a flesh wound. His had been a desperate act to prevent his capture. "Like you, I'm looking to finish the job tonight. Ta, ta, William."
One slice of the harpy and his stomach slit like a flower opening in a nature film. His intestines started spilling out and pooling blood beneath him. Slipping his old mask over Will's face for a little surprise to whoever discovered him, Hannibal stood and walked out of the display case before pushing the red button to close the door. Will was raised up, hands still cuffed, and dripped the last remains of his life onto the cement floor below.
He didn't look back as he walked over to Clarice, seeing her finish up with Bella. "We need to get her dressed before we leave. Her jeans are missing a pant leg, and I don't know where Will put her shirt."
"I've packed clothes for her. She should be awake in time for our next stop." Hannibal reassured her. "I believe I have a promise to fulfill before we leave."
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