17
"If they die," a soft voice murmured as a blade suddenly pressed against his throat, "you die."
"Took ya bloody long enough," Poni called.
"But I wasn't caught," Archangel replied from where he'd snuck up on the Merovingian. "So... we are at a stalemate, no?" the Merovingian smirked, still haughty. "Not really," Archangel said. "I am not afraid to die… are you?" "But are you afraid of your friends dying?" he replied. "Indeed... 'ow is it you know I am even ze real Merovingian?"
"Epona-san, call Salvo-san."
"I got it!" Pyre replied, dialling on her phone already. Red would have smirked under normal circumstances. "Ain't technology wonderful?" Pyre called to Archangel, "What do you want?"
"Find out if he's the real Merovingian."
Pyre conversed for a few moments. The Merovingian didn't lose his composure. Neither did Archangel. "Inconclusive! " Pyre called. "He has something scrambling the feed in here." "Nice trick," the Japanese man murmured.
"Is it my trick?"
"If you are not the real Merovingian, he must have a live audio or visual feed in here."
"Does he?" The Merovingian (?) smirked.
"Jus' cut 'is throat, Jap!" Red yelled.
"If you cut ze Merovingian's throat, ze château will cease to be."
"An' if you ain't th' real one, it won't matter, will it!?"
"True," he replied calmly. Red swore. "Stalemate. A fuckin' stalemate!" "As I said," the Merovingian replied.
Archangel shrugged. "So what do you propose, then?"
"Perhaps we could all put down our weapons and talk like civilized people?" the program offered snidely.
"Forcin' soulless vampires t' beat th' shit out o' yer prisoners ain't civilised!" Red yelled. "Poitin-san!" Archangel snapped. "Urusai!" Red subsided, startled to see the younger man actually lose his temper.
Poni called out then, "He's the real one. A fake'd never reveal a fake existed." "Very perceptive of you," said a new voice. Archangel uncharacteristically turned red at the sound of that voice.
"Great. More Eurotrash." Pyre mumbled. "Pyre… Poni an' I are European," Red pointed out. "But it takes something special to be Eurotrash." Pyre replied. Persephone's mocking gaze was directed at Red. "So, the knight has come to save his damsel in distress… how romantic."
"So he's real then?" Poni called.
Persephone's smile was malicious. "Of course. My husband would not be stupid enough to make a copy of himself… what if the copy decided to take over?"
"Persephone...," the Merovingian grumbled.
"Yes?" she asked sweetly. Too sweetly.
"Why do you do zese sings to me?"
"Why?" she asked, a dangerous tone coming to her voice. "You dare ask why?" She had approached the program and the boy holding him hostage and was toying with Archangel's hair absently; his face now resembled a stoplight, so red was he blushing.
"I believe I am entitled to an explanation."
"And I believe that you already know why."
Red leaned down and whispered to Poni, "Looks like someone's been cheatin'." Poni smirked. "Angel, care to reinforce our point with th' Merovingian?" The boy swallowed, trying to put Persephone from his mind, but pressed the blade harder against the Frenchman's neck. "Sekhmet and Schwarz. Now, if you please."
"If you insist," the Frenchman growled, pulling out the key to the door.
Schwarz had regained a semblance of consciousness, but he was in pain and weak as a kitten now. Sekhmet took care of him as best she could, but she didn't know very much about human biology.
Suddenly, the door began to creak open, very slowly and quietly. The blond man tried to get to his feet, but groaned and lay still. Sekhmet eyed the door, fearing that Cain and Abel or the Twins were coming in. "Do not fear, I am not an enemy." Seraph slid through the crack in the door.
She stared at him for a moment. "Seraph!" she cried, throwing her arms around his waist and starting to sob into his jacket. Schwarz managed to somehow drag himself upright, his eyes not leaving the Asian man. "Ein… Engel…?"
"I fear I arrive too late..." His eyes were on Schwarz. The German shrugged. "At least it was me an' not her."
"Can you walk?"
"My legs aren't broken."
He pushed Sekhmet away gently, and then stepped forward and held out a hand. Schwarz hated accepting assistance, but he knew that here was not a good place for machismo. He accepted the hand as Sekhmet stepped away from the two men.
"Now… we must leave as quickly and quietly as we can." He supported Schwarz and started to walk into the hallway, quickly looking both ways to make sure it was empty. Sekhmet followed silently, her ears flat against her skull and her tail simply hanging in dejection. Marcus…
***
"Here we are... I trust you are 'appy now?" the Merovingian grumbled, hand on door handle. "I won't be happy until I have Schwarz back," Red snarled. "Well, 'ere she... ah, merde," the Merovingian said forlornly. And then he began to laugh.
Archangel, being shorter than the Frenchman as well as behind him, couldn't see. 6'6 Red, on the other hand, could. "… fuck."
"'Ow ironic it is... jus' when they are to be saved... your friends manage to escape."
"Frenchie, shut it," Red growled. Archangel rolled his eyes and looked to his captain. "Epona-san?"
"They're probably in the château... couldn't've gotten that far."
"I have a hunch about this… do you mind if I check it out?"
"Be my guest... so long as he'll be unmolested...." Poni shot a look at the Merovingian. Archangel allowed himself a wry smile. "I trust you'll see to it that I remain unharmed, Epona-san."
"It'll be my sacred duty." She did a fake bow.
"Arigatou, Epona-san." Archangel surrendered the Merovingian to his captain's custody, not being stupid enough to let Red handle it, and set off in search of the missing prisoners.
***
Seraph looked around a little. "I am not sure of the way out of here." "Me either," Sekhmet replied nervously, keeping an eye out for the Twins, Cain, and/or Abel. Schwarz just groaned, having fallen slightly beyond the point where coherent speech was possible.
Seraph turned back. "Sekhmet... would you mind helping?" She obediently came forward to help Seraph with the burden of the half-conscious German, sliding under one of Schwarz's arms so that most of his weight was resting on her.
"Going somewhere?"
Schwarz raised his head, fear rising into his blue eyes and rousing him with a flood of adrenaline. "C-cain…," he whispered. "You're forgetting someone," came the matching voice, from ahead of them. "Oh, Scheiße," the German muttered, trying to take his own weight on himself and failing miserably, nearly dragging Sekhmet down to the floor.
They both pulled out their pistols. "I'd ask you to come quietly," began Cain, "but what fun would that be?" Abel grinned at Schwarz. "It's gonna be fun taking you down… I owe you for that kick, you know." The German smirked. "You brought it on yourself, werewolf." "Just like you brought this on yourself." The werewolves lowered their guns at Schwarz. Seraph's hands went to the back of his waistband.
"Don't move, firewall; this time, we call the shots." Cain yelled.
"I do not think so," put in a new voice from above everyone else.
Both the werewolves twirled to see the source. Unfortunately for them, they had turned around, not looked up. Abel went down with a startled yelp as Archangel dropped from the ceiling and dropped him with a hard kick to the skull.
Cain whirled, firing a shot in transit for the rebel. The human was already moving, however, in the air and suddenly too close for Cain to avoid the sharp kick to the jaw he delivered. Sekhmet's eyes were wide. "It's like he's flying…"
Schwarz nodded, wincing at the pull of sore muscles. "That's the -- ow -- way he fights. He calls it," a muffled groan, "tenshi no sento. I have no idea what it means, though."
"It means, 'combat of the angels'," Seraph replied. The other two looked at him curiously as Archangel finished with Cain. "Archangel... why are you back in the Matrix?" Seraph asked. The Japanese lad shrugged. "Poitin-san found out that the Merovingian had Schwarz-san. Epona-san wouldn't let him go alone or trade himself for her, so we all came."
"And where are they all now?" Seraph stood, offering a shoulder to Schwarz again. Sekhmet helped the blond transfer to the stronger program. "Back at the cell… Epona-san is making sure we remain unharmed."
Then let us waste no time," Seraph replied, helping Schwarz down the hallway. Archangel and Sekhmet brought up the rear, looking at the teenager curiously. "What of Marcus?" Seraph asked as they walked. Sekhmet stopped, fighting more tears. Archangel sighed. "The Merovingian… reprogrammed him. Then he beta-tested him on Schwarz-san."
"I see..." Seraph considered this for a moment before continuing the walk. Archangel gently pushed Sekhmet along, keeping an eye out for vengeful werewolves or sadistic ghosts.