Danger Zone
By Divamercury
Sorry about the delay! I've been on vacation, but I'm home now, so here's an extra long chapter of Danger Zone! I was on a roll, so I just kept going until there was a good cliffhanger! Well, maybe not a really good one, but you guys will probably be groaning about it anyway, so) Just kidding! Anyway, enjoy super-long Chapter 31 and please review! Love you guys! More to come soon, and I think the next chapter will be the last, but there is a sequel in the works!
~DM
Chapter 31
I scanned the scenery around me, looking for something to try and slow down the Speakers with. Unfortunately there wasn't a very diverse selection to pick from. The Speakers were harder to see now in the dusk, but I could tell they were walking down the sidewalk, directly under the path of a series of telephone poles. I glanced upward and with delight spotted a transformer directly over their heads.
why not start things off with a bang?' I thought wickedly, and stared hard at the metal drum, picturing a spark triggering a spectacular explosion. Seconds later the spark detonated it and showered the troop briefly with hot oil and debris. I stifled a laugh at their horrified and surprised reactions.
That'll slow them down a little. Guess I'd better go warn the cavalry.'
* * *
The power snapped off inside the building without warning. Someone climbed the stairs from the lowest level. Hoping to see Sara, I turned my head and looked around. To my slight disappointment, Mac was the one that came over to where I was sitting, holding a candle.
"Back-up generators should start up in a few minutes," she said. "I think a transformer blew."
I nodded, saying nothing.
Mac plopped down next to me and looked me in the eye. "Guess Raven's tirade cut pretty deep, huh?"
I nodded.
"I don't see how you can put up with her."
"She's a good person, and an excellent warrior. But she is rash in her speech sometimes and she tends to act without thinking."
"You can say that again. But at least she's on our side. Sounds kind of like someone else I know" she mused.
"It's true that we would be at a great disadvantage if Raven was allied with our enemies."
"I agree. Well, you shouldn't be sitting up here all by yourself, Ian. Sara's concerned about you. You know how rough she's had it lately; it would be nice if you would go down and let her know that you're all right."
"Yes, she has been through a lot. The Speakers and White Bulls' combined efforts must have shaken her up considerably."
Mac looked a bit uncomfortable. "That wasn't exactly what I meant, Ian. I mean, sure, that's part of it, but what I was really talking about was when you got captured."
"That caused Sara distress?"
"Are you kidding? I almost had to tie her down to keep her here! Ask anyoneRaven, Gabe, or any of the Associates. Sara was bound and determined to jump in single-handedly to bust you out of that warehouse until we convinced her that getting herself killed wouldn't do you very much good. And" Mac trailed off, clearly not wanting to continue. I pushed anyway.
"And what?"
"WellSara was really tired and she took a nap, but that's not the point. She had a dream before we left here to find you. I don't know what it was about exactly, but she woke up screaming bloody murder and she curled up into a little ball. That's enough to convince me to go double or nothing that it had something to do with youand probably your death."
I was speechless for a moment. I had had no idea that Sara would be that concerned. If I had, I would never have surrendered myself to the enemy to begin with, if that was in fact what I did.
"Mac, if I tell you something, will you swear not to repeat it?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Meaning you can't reveal it even to Sara?"
Mac frowned but nodded again. "I'm not sure that I'd be comfortable with keeping something from Sara, but go ahead, Ian."
I took a deep breath and continued. "My capture was not an accident."
Mac's hands flew to her mouth. "What?"
"I planned on getting captured. We were making no progress finding where the White Bulls were hiding out and so someone had to make a move. Please don't tell SaraI don't know how she would respond in light of this new evidence."
Mac nodded reluctantly. "But you two need to talkbig time. We're all getting pretty sick of all this I-love-you-and-everyone-knows-it-but-I-can't-tell-you-that-because-it's-just-not-the-right-time' business. It's seriously old."
I smiled at the way she put this. "I have every intention of doing so, Mac. I wouldn't worry about it."
The back-up generators finally kicked in, having taken a surprisingly long time to initiate, and Mac stood up.
"Well, guess we'd better go back downstairs and make sure everything's going relatively smoothly. I can't really see how anything stranger could happen today."
All of a sudden the large double doors leading to the ground floor room we were in blew inward with a loud bang and Raven shot in backwards, landing on the floor between Mac and myself in a bruised and bloody heap. Mac and I exchanged horrified looks and knelt beside her to assist. And as if things could get more confusing, a large group of heavily armed men in black attire followed her inside, streaming in through the door she had just knocked open.
"Oh, as usual, dear," Mac muttered.
* * *
I floated down to the ground to intercept the Speakers after the transformer blew, planning to stop them and warn my friends inside the building. "Do you guys just never learn?" I asked the disheveled group. "We kicked your asses earlier and you just insist on coming back for more?"
No one answered me.
The name "Speakers" must have been a joke,' I thought to myself.
After staring blankly at me for several minutes, as if their brains had gone on standby, they finally decided to attack me.
Guess these guys aren't exactly the brightest crayons in the box' I thought. I sent three of them flying into the telephone pole that had housed the transformer I torched earlier and threw two of them behind me where they slammed into the crumbling brick and plaster of the building.
Five down, five...ten...fifteen to go.'
Unfortunately for me two more of them rushed at me and started knocking me around, giving me quite a few bruises. Although weakened considerably by all the energy I had used fighting their counterparts, I fought back and was about to throw them all to Iceland when the butt of one of their rifles struck me squarely in the temple right as I was about to launch an attack. My powers rebounded on me, sending me flying instead of them, and I crashed through the double doors that led to the ground floor of the warehouse, landing between Ian and Mac, who were the last people I saw before I blacked out.
* * *
Gabe and I were pretty shocked when the power went out. Associates scrambled around to find candles and flashlights to provide light, scurrying about in a comical fashion. If it hadn't been so odd I would have been laughing.
"You think we should check this out?" Gabe asked, voicing a thought that had crossed my mind. "I'm pretty sure that it's not storming outside."
"I haven't heard any thunder. Maybe we should look into it," I said.
"What's going on?" Jackson asked.
"We don't know. But we're going to find out," I said, and without discussing it any further, the three of us ran upstairs to the ground floor. I stopped in my tracks and Gabe and Jackson screeched to a halt so they wouldn't knock me over. A group of about fifteen men was holding Mac, Ian, and an apparently unconscious Raven at gunpoint.
"What the hell?" I asked. They turned to me but didn't take their guns off of the three in the middle of the room. They remained silent for a moment, and that was long enough for Jackson to realize what was going on.
"What are you doing here? Did you follow me?" he asked. We all looked at him. "These are my men!"
One came forward, apparently the only one that was able to talk.
"You're not in charge anymore, Mr. Miller."
"What is the meaning of this?"
"It's not any of your concern. Now which of you is the Wielder? We have orders to take you alive and kill the rest of you."
I pulled my sleeve down over the Witchblade discreetly. They must not have been as well informed on me as Jackson had been. None of us spoke, not wanting to give anything away.
"Fine, then," the leader said, crossing the room and grabbing Mac by the arm. Ian tried to stop him but he got a rifle waved in his face by one of the other Speakers and he had no choice but to stop. "If the Wielder doesn't show herself—" he pointed his pistol at Mac's temple, "—then I'll start executing people, starting with this one."
"How do you know I'm not the Wielder?" Mac said bravely.
"You very well could be. And if you are, you won't get killed if I shoot you," he said. "I know that thing protects you from bullets. Now, any of you want to keep this girl alive a little longer by telling me who the Wielder really is?"
"If she gave herself up, would you spare the girl you're about to dispatch?" I asked.
"Possibly."
"Not good enough. Let go of her and Sara Pezzini will reveal herself."
Raven groaned and started coming to. Ian made a move toward her and the guy with the pistol shot at his foot, missing the toe of his boot by an inch. "I'd stay put if I were you, Nottingham."
"Give it up, Grant. You're not going to get anywhere if you shoot that girl. If Irons finds out that you carelessly killed the Wielder, he'll have your head on a platter."
Grant, the new Speaker head honcho, considered this and pushed Mac away from him roughly, making her land next to the semi-conscious Raven. "Now which of you is it?" he asked, eyes darting from one person to the next.
I stepped forward and they trained their guns on me. Hands in the air, I said, "I'm the one you want. Leave them out of this."
"Sara!" Gabe shouted. "Don't!"
"I don't have a choice. I don't want to lose any more people I care about. I'm the Wielder, Grant."
"Prove it," Grant said.
Slowly, showing them I wasn't going for a weapon, I rolled down my sleeve to show them the Witchblade and it activated into gauntlet form. They all jumped back a little, eyes widened at the sight of the metal glove on my arm.
"That good enough for you, buddy? Your little friends seem to recognize me. Bring it on, Grant."
Gunfire erupted in the warehouse, which was nothing new, and my friends and I all dove for cover. Ian and I landed in the same area.
"ShitI don't have my gun," I said.
"Here." Ian thrust one at me.
"What all do you have in that thing, an armory?" I said, gesturing with the muzzle of my gun to the long black coat he wore.
"Not necessarily. That's in my other trench coat," he said with a grin.
"Smart ass." I popped up over a barrier and returned fire, hitting one Speaker in the chest and one in the head, killing both. Ian pegged two, also. We had to duck, though, when their counterparts laid down a spray of bullets in our direction.
Somehow over the gunfire Ian and I were able to hear Grant's shouts. "Fan out! Special team, follow me to the basement! Make sure nothing stays unburned!"
Ian and I exchanged glances. "What the hell is he talking about?" I asked.
"Sara, you're asking me like I know the answer to that question," he said.
"What, don't you?"
"Uh, that would be a most emphatic no," he said.
Mac came flying through the air toward us, encased in a bubble of her own energy that was making her bulletproof. "Guys, they're after our research! I heard Grant say that Irons wants it all destroyed! He doesn't want any evidence of the Associates' existence left behind! And there's a lot of important stuff down there!"
"Check it out! Most of the Speakers are bugging out!" Gabe shouted.
And it was true. The six Speakers that hadn't gone downstairs or hadn't been killed were running out the door. It was too late to stop the team of Speakers from descending to the lower level, but we could fight it out down there. Feeling like a colonel on the beaches of Normandy, I waved my friends to follow me down. Ian was right at my side and Jackson was helping Raven walk. Mac touched down from her flight and Gabriel was right behind her. Not knowing what was ahead of us, the six of us raced down the stairs.
