Danger Zone
By Divamercury
Sorry about the delay. Haven't had a lot of time on my hands lately. Please read and review, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 24! And, I know I never say this, but I don't own any of this save Mac and Will and other random people I made up. The original characters are TNT's or Top Cow's or whoever's, and Raven belongs to Pixie-Dust. Just borrowing! Hehehejust don't want to get sued. Enough with the rambling and on with the story!
~DM
Chapter 24
Raven was out cold. Ian and Sara tried to revive her while I scanned the room and looked out through the doorway into the hall. I looked over Sara's shoulder and spotted movement behind her. Ian apparently saw it, too. We both stared in some confusion. Sara turned around when she saw our blank stares and raised an eyebrow.
"Will? What are you doing here? I thought the plan said that you and Gabe were going to be guarding the perimeter. And where'd Gabe run off to this time?" she asked as I relaxed a bit.
"He's out in the car," Will said, reaching into his pocket. It was a habit of his and I didn't pay much attention until I noticed the bloody knuckles on his other hand. I glanced down at Raven's motionless form and saw corresponding marks on her face.
"Where did those come from?" I asked suspiciously, gesturing to his hand. He stiffened, hiding his free hand behind him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked. Before I could clarify, Sara got our attention.
"Guys!" she said. I snapped away from Will and looked down at Raven, whose eyes were just barely slits.
"Raven! Are you okay?" I asked, dropping to my knees and joining Sara and Ian in that position.
* * *
"Sara" she whispered. "Behind youthings aren't as they appear. Wolf in sheep's clothingdeceiving youdon't trust him, Sara" she trailed off and tried to sit up. Ian wouldn't let her, however.
"Just stay put," he said, and she nodded reluctantly.
"Who? What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Look out," she said more forcefully. "That's the asshole that threw me into the room!"
We all whirled at the sound of a gun being cocked. Will was now holding a pistol out at arm's length, pointed at me, and he was flanked by a fresh group of White Bulls, as well as a few men in suits that I didn't recognize.
Ian did, though. "Speakers," he muttered, hatred burning in his eyes. "Tell you later," he said as I shot him a quizzical look.
"What the hell are you playing at, Will?" I asked. "Put that thing down before you hurt yourself. And where the hell is Gabriel?"
"Gabriel's in the car, like I said before. Unconscious, of course. He seemed to get the idea that he could stop me from leading my friends right to you once he found out I wasn't working with him."
Mac gasped. "Will? You've been playing us this whole time? I can't believe this—I trusted you, you bastard! Why on earth would you do this? Your father's ancestry was linked to a priest loyal to the Blade! Why give this up?"
"Raven was very correct in her assumptions earlier. You are a precocious young woman, but additionally you're very naïve. Appallingly so. Do you even perform background checks on your Associates? Because you must have overlooked my record. And blood doesn't count for as much these days as you seem to believe, Mac."
"I can't believe this," I said. "I was standing in your office, practically at your mercy, and you did nothing. You didn't kill meyou didn't even touch me. If you're so ruthless and mercenary, then why not?"
"Well, I probably should have, but I didn't know who you were exactly until you came out of my closet and I saw the Witchblade. By then it was too late to do anything but bring you to the Associates. Anyway, enough of the small talk, Wielder. You're cornered. And the fun's yet to begin."
Will turned to face the doorway and in strode Dante, followed closely by his mindless subordinates.
"Hello, William."
"Hello, Bruno."
"What's our plan of action?"
"You'll want to get rid of those two," Will said, pointing to Raven and Mac. "They're extremely dangerous. Possibly even more so than Pezzini."
Dante nodded and gestured to a few of the cops, who came after Mac. They grabbed her and restrained her, and the rest swarmed out all over the floor and pinned Raven to the floor, leaving just Ian and myself free.
"Well, party's over, Ian. Guess we'll have to be the ones left at the end to clean it up," I said. He nodded.
We stood there for a minute, then bolted up the stairs to the balcony when they opened fire on us, hearing the rapid pings of the rounds as they ricocheted harmlessly away from us. We dove to the floor of the balcony just in time to miss a wide spray of bullets.
"You know, Petzini, I would have pegged you as being a lot smarter than you're proving yourself to be. You leave two of your good friends to the mercy of armed men who would have no qualms in killing them and expect them to walk away? Bad assumption."
Ian and I raised ourselves up and crept closer to the railing so we could see what was going on below us. Dante was standing over Raven (who was being held face down on the cement and wasn't yet strong enough to free herself), his service revolver pointed at the back of her head. Will had rejoined the ranks, and Mac was beside herself with anger, yet she could do nothing about it.
"Do you really want to be responsible for another of your friends' deaths, Petzini? What about that Maria chick and Danny Woo? Names ring any bells?" Dante taunted.
I squeezed my eye closed and gritted my teeth. Ian could obviously see my discomfort.
"Don't listen to him, Sara; he's just trying to make you do something you'll regret later," he whispered. I nodded.
"I've heard a lot about this one. Irons'll be surprised I was the one that put you away, Colethat is, if your "friend" doesn't trouble herself with you. Give it up, Petzini, and I'll let her go. The issue isn't with her."
"Don't do it, Sara," Ian said. "Raven won't want you to."
Leave it be, Sara. Don't worry about me. You're more important,' Raven told me. Ian gave me a look that said, See?' because he had also received Raven's message.
I was sick of having my friends sacrifice themselves for me and I was about to turn myself in to Dante when suddenly rapid, bright flashes of white light filled the room. Ian covered his eyes quickly with an arm and the cops below us were blinded.
"Strobes," he said. "Can't look at them or else I'll be incapacitated. One of the security mechanisms of the Black Dragon program," he explained.
"But why would someone install strobe lights in a warehouse?" I mused.
"With Vorschlag, anything's possible," Ian shrugged, eyes still covered.
I squinted to see what was going on and the strobes stopped. The cops were clutching their eyes and Dante had dropped his gun out of Raven's range, bellowing orders to his lackeys who were completely unable to follow them.
I nudged Ian. "Coast is clear." He uncovered his eyes, glanced around to make sure everything was as normal as it could be under these circumstances and we crept closer to the stairs, preparing for our final assault.
* * *
It had been surprisingly brilliant of me to think of installing strobe lights into the White Bulls' warehouse. And of course the lights were accompanied by a series of hidden cameras. I watched our target, Sara Pezzini, and the man that she had risked everything for run down the stairs and I got my first clear view of her arm. I was astounded to see that instead of a dainty bracelet resting on her wrist, a large and formidable looking gauntlet encased her right forearm.
So this is why Kenneth wants her braceletand her. There's definitely more to all this than what Kenneth has been telling me.'
I couldn't help but gape as I watched a long sword extend from the gauntlet and Sara and the black-clad man attacked the White Bulls and my scouts with surprising skill and speed. They practically fought as one. It was as if I was watching an action movie on television, not a live feed from a building in the same city in which I lived. I smirked at the strangeness of the situation and kept my eyes fixed on the screens in front of me.
A knock on the closed door of my office shattered the silence.
"Mr. Miller?" It was my receptionist Joyce.
"Yes?" I called without looking away from the feed, and Joyce entered my office.
"There are several calls for you that are rather urgent, Mr. Miller. Kenneth Irons is on Line 1, sounding very upset, and there's a man called Garcia on Line 2 that apparently wants to hire you to do a job for him. Do you want to take the calls?"
"I'm not worried about this Garcia character, considering I have plenty of business, and as for Ironsput him on hold. If I decide to answer the call, I will," I said, glancing back to the screens where Sara Pezzini had just thrust her sword through the stomach of a White Bull, the anger and malice on her face frightening. "But tell him that he shouldn't hold his breath," I said. "That will be all, Joyce. Thank you."
Joyce nodded and left. My eyes returned to the screens and I couldn't tear them away, for not only was the incredibly beautiful Ms. Pezzini wreaking havoc on her enemies, but a friend of hers that could have been the twin sister of the black-clad man—what was his name again? Oh, right, Nottingham—captured my attention. She seemed so familiar, and yet I couldn't place her. Afraid to miss a second, I hardly blinked as I watched the carnage unfold. Ms. Pezzini was clearly not in a forgiving mood.
