Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Hello, everyone! Sorry that I've been gone for a whileI seem to be doing that more often latelyoh, well. Sorry. Hopefully more will come soon! Read, enjoy, and review!

~DM ;)

Chapter 21

I got in the car with Will, Mac, Gabe, and Raven, and we led the 5-car caravan to Cummings Avenue. We stopped about half a block from the suspected building and they all looked at me.

"Are you sure about this?" Will asked me sternly. "There are always multiple ways of going about a situation."

"I don't think I've ever been more sure about anything in my life. I've been running long enough; it's time to take the fight to those bastards, and that's what I'm going to do. They deserve their comeuppance for messing with my friends and screwing up my life. So, if I come out immediately, we were wrong or they bailed on us. If not, follow the two-minute rule."

I got out of the car before any of them could say something else to try and deter me from my objective. I jogged casually down the sidewalk, trying to seem normal even though there weren't many people milling around in that part of town. Careful not to alert anyone to my presence when I reached the building, I tried to get a good view of how much—or how little—security was in effect in the building. I slipped over to the window just enough to peer inside. A group of about 15 White Bulls were surrounding the room Ian was in. From what I could tell by his profile he seemed to be in relatively good shape, buthe was chained to a chair—just like in my dream.

God, please don't let this happen like it did in my dream. I just hope that I can take down all of these Bulls by myself,' I thought. Time for the direct approach.'

I ran around to the front of the building and slammed my palms into the thick wood of the huge front doors. They flew inward and slammed into the walls, making a slam that would rival the intensity of thunder.

"Hello, boys. Did you miss me?" I asked, looking at the shocked faces of my former colleagues. The Witchblade activated on my arm as shock turned to vicious tenacity and I had to dodge a few bullets as I tried to make my way through to the room Ian was in. "I guess not," I said, changing course. I began my mission with the help of the Witchblade, knocking out several as they approached me with quick hits to the jaw and skull.

Another shot at me at close range as I approached the exit but I deflected all his bullets. He, a cop I recognized as Mike Lane, threw aside his spent weapon in disgust and nearly tripped over something on the floor. As he picked it up I could identify it. Ian's sword was clenched in his hand. I extended the sword of the Witchblade, inciting shock from Lane, and smiled evilly. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" He struck at me in anger with his own blade but his routine was quite predictable.

"Parry, parry, thrustgood! You're learning! Lunge, oh my, a variation!" I said as I blocked each of his attacks.

Lane scowled and lunged again. The Witchblade was doing all the work, predicting his moves well ahead of time. "I don't want to kill you, Lane, and I won't if you stop this idiocy right now."

"Dante was right about you. You are a bitch, Pezzini! I didn't want to believe him, but it's obvious now that he knew what he was talking about."

"Wrong answer," I said, and actually fought back on my own, knocking Ian's sword from his hand and stabbing him in the gut. His eyes widened, and I yanked the sword from his flesh after a few seconds, withdrawing the bloodstained blade back into the gauntlet.

"Sorry, Mike. Hope I don't catch you on the flip side; it'd be too warm for me down there. Give my regards to Dante when he joins you." I picked up Ian's sword, sheathed it, and moved on.

* * *

"It's been two minutes. Time for the cavalry to move in," Gabe announced as he glanced at his digital watch.

"Thank you, Father Time," Raven replied. Gabe shrugged sheepishly.

"We should never have agreed to this plan of Sara's," I said. "I just hope she's okay."

"Relax, Mac. Sara's a big girl. She'll be fine. Now we'd better go," Raven said.

"Have you two laid aside your differences?" Will asked sternly.

Raven and I exchanged looks. "For the time being," I said.

"We'll keep an eye out here and then join you inside. Make sure no reinforcements of theirs show up without you guys knowing about it, you know."

"Okay, that's fine. Come on, Mac. I think I know a moreclandestine way into the building," Raven said, and we got out of the car. Taking a similar approach to the one Sara chose, we jogged slowly down the sidewalk.

Once we reached the warehouse, Raven led me to its fire escape. "Ian has good ideas," she said with a smile, thinking about his typical building-entrance tactics. "This leads to the roof, and there are some skylights up there as well. I checked it out. I thought it might be nice if wedropped in on our friends the White Bulls?"

"Sounds like loads of fun. Lead the way." We scurried up the fire escape, hoping we weren't too late to help Sara and Ian.

* * *

I made my way through the winding corridors of the warehouse, trying to tune into whatever the Witchblade was trying to tell me so I could determine where it sensed Ian. At this point it was the best and most reliable tool I could use to find him. The halls were deserted, conveying to me that all the guards were concentrated in the front room and wherever the hell Ian happened to be chained up.

Well, finally a piece of luck: no constant shooting. I should have jumped in through that damn window,' I thought as I ran through the halls, the Witchblade still a gauntlet on my arm. Would have saved me a lot of timebut it might have gotten me shot as soon as I came inthat wouldn't have been a plus. Oh, well, can't do anything about it at this point. Now, come on, you: tell me where he is.'