Danger Zone

By Divamercury

What you've all been waiting forMORE VIOLENCE!!!! Heheheenjoy! And this story is far from over, just in case you were worried. ;) I seem to make each of my longer than its predecessorweird. Well, anyway, please read and review!

~DM

Chapter 23

Sara's search for Dante was going nowhere; it had proved fruitless so far. There was no sign of him although I knew he was there, watching her. I made my way around the balcony, taking care of anyone who was foolish enough to get in my way. Most of the cops upstairs had high-powered rifles as opposed to ordinary service revolvers; all of these rifles were now targeting Sara.

And, naturally, Dante was one of those armed and on the stealth attack instead of facing Sara. I saw the laser sight of his rifle zoom across the room and come to rest on her unprotected back. She would be dead before she hit the ground if I did nothing. Of course, this would require a good deal of effort. Dante was on the other side of the balcony, and I would have no hope of reaching her to save her by running over there. I glanced around the room, searching for a way to get her out of this, and then I spotted something, giving me a crazy idea. A long chain hung, doubled over, from a metal loop anchored in the ceiling and reached to only a few feet above the ground.

That's so crazy it just might work,' I thought with a grin.

Moving quickly, I leapt over the waist-high railing and grabbed the chain with one hand, praying that it was secure enough to hold my weight. I swung down fast enough to dodge the bullets coming around from all sides, and I encircled Sara's waist with my free arm.

"What the hell?" Sara asked, extremely confused. Then she saw the tardy bullet bury itself in the concrete floor much like it would have buried itself in her back had I been any slower. Her eyes widened.

With Sara's added weight, we gathered momentum and were able to clear the rail directly opposite the one I had just leapt over. We landed in a crouched position, my arm still around her waist, and I systematically eliminated the shooters nearest us with a few quick shots from Sara's gun, which she had just pressed into my hand. Unfortunately Dante wasn't one of themhe must have skipped out once he saw that his shot didn't hit its target.

Once I was done and the balcony was clear, Sara and I sat side by side, leaning back against the railing, breathing heavily.

"Damn, Ian," she said. "I didn't know you were Tarzan in another life!"

"That's not one of the ones I recall," I said slyly, "but it could be in there somewhere."

Sara punched me lightly in the arm. "Very funny. You're just a regular laugh riot this afternoon. Jeez. I get stuck with the wise guy assassin. Why in the world do I put up with you?"

"Because I'mcute?"

Sara laughed. I smiled.

"Guess I can't deny that. Well, you saved my life tonight, Ian, as you have done many times before."

"As you did mine, and have before. I apologize for having to delay our conversation once more, but right now"

"Gotcha," Sara said. Both of us sprang up and she pegged a White Bull on the lower floor with a single shot to the head. When his colleagues returned fire, she grabbed me by the collar of my overcoat and yanked me down to the floor with her, avoiding the spray of bullets that lodged in the wall behind us. I blushed furiously as I landed on top of her.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, extremely embarrassed. I got off of her quickly, as though she had burned me, and offered her a hand. She accepted it and I was surprised by her lack of hesitation. She looked down to the mayhem unfolding below us.

"Shall we rejoin the fray?" I asked.

"Absolutely. It's about time we ended this."

I leapt up and grabbed the chain, sliding down to the ground floor. Sara was right on my heels, clutching the chain with her right hand, Witchblade activated, sending sparks raining down on the heads of the White Bulls. The Blade had obviously taken some form of control, because Sara's eyes flashed amber briefly and she grinned evilly.

"I'm baaack," she said, and I smiled. And if a threatening-looking woman with a gauntlet on her arm and this close to deranged wasn't scary enough, the bastards got a real surprise when the glass skylights over their heads imploded and two women suddenly fell inside, levitating on their way down.

"We just thought we'd drop in," Mac said, relishing the shocked stares she received from all around the room as she just stood in the middle of nothing. "I think we succeeded."

Raven's smile was a mile wide; she was reveling in the whole situation. "Looked like you two needed some help," she said, plummeting downward with speed that would rival that of a peregrine falcon and landing with a solid thump on the soles of her boots right beside me. "Wow, that was an adrenaline rush. Always wanted to do that. Well, anyway, nice to finally meet you boys. These odds are much fairer nowfor you. Now you won't feel as bad when we kick your asses."

"But yours aren't negligent, just dumb as hell," Mac added as she landed beside Sara. Raven nodded with a smile, remembering her earlier comments. Then all hell broke loose. Mac and Raven were knocking people over and breaking necks without even touching them and Sara and I took turns skewering Bulls with our respective swords.

"Awww, Sara, you're fighting again," Raven said.

"Raven, that's like saying, Sara, you're breathing again.' You know all I do is fight!" she shouted over the gunfire and clashing of swords.

"You just can't play nice, can you?" Raven asked.

"Damn straight!"

Raven laughed at this, and I just shook my head.

* * *

"Mac! On your left!" Raven cried, and I whirled just in time to glare at a White Bull and send him slamming into a wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Do you think it's time to call for back-up yet?" I called to Raven, busy suspending a cop in midair and letting him hang there, arms and legs whipping around uselessly.

"I'd ask them," she said, meaning Sara and Ian but not taking her eyes off her quarry, "but they're occupied at this point." She finally tired with playing with her captive and dropped him about thirty feet, giving him a little help by teaming with gravity and pulling him down. He landed with a vicious splat. I cringed, but she was unfazed. "You cover themerect a shield around them if you have to. I'm going to check the hall, make sure no more of them are headed this way. I'll be back in a minute," she said, saying "them" with hatred. I nodded and watched the Wielder and her Guardian fight as one. Each anticipated the other's moves and proved to be very efficient in getting the job done. I kept an eye out for shooters on the balcony and smacked a couple of cops around when they came to close to me.

Raven had only been gone for about ten minutes and we had killed all the cops in the room with us when she suddenly came flying backwards into the room. Raven had been pushed violently somehow, and she made a sickening thud as she hit the ground. Her face was bloody, as were her knuckles. This was no accidental push; she'd been ambushed and had fought back hard before getting slammed into the floor. Sara, Ian, and I all rushed over to her.