A Viper's Poison
.:Angelgrl185:.
((I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its components))
Thanks for all the reviews of Chapter Thirteen!
Thanks to: Moon-Daisuke, lost and alone, DarkParis, tenshisailor, Miss Jessica Rabbit, silver, lit-bit-gish and rockfreak2009 for their reviews of chapter thirteen and a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed and supported me through this story!
Previously on A Viper's Poison:
"Darien!" Serena cried, shaking off the guards and running towards his fallen form. She picked his limp body up in her arms and looked at his mutilated face, the top of his head blown half off, his blue eyes staring up at her lifeless, his mouth frozen open in a silent scream. Serena felt warm trails of tears trickled down her face in a silver stream, curving down the sides of her lips and dropping onto Darien's shirt.
That's when she knew, that's when she finally realized it. A fierce shot of pain raged through her body, piercing her heart and soul when she realized he was dead. She screamed in agony as she held his body close to her broken heart. She loved him and she had realized it too late, Darien was taken from her. Rage filled her soul and hatred seized her heart and she looked up at Diamond with such coldness and anger, he was taken aback and fear crept in him.
"I am going to kill you Diamond." She said her voice thick with hatred and pain. Nothing mattered anymore, she didn't care if she died trying to fight surround by twelve men holding guns, the one thing that she realized mattered most in her life was dead.
Chapter Fourteen: Lies, Betrayal and Love
Serena glared at Diamond who was standing in front of her, sneering at her pain. She fingered a poisoned dagger, pulling it from her boot and lunged, throwing all she could into her attack. Diamond was waiting for her and stopped her by grabbing onto her left shoulder where she had been shot. Serena screamed in agony as the pain convulsed through her body as Diamond's fingernails dug into her torn flesh. Diamond forced her back to the floor, her right hand releasing the dagger which clattered steely to the ground as she tried to struggle against the pain overwhelming her at Diamond's pressure to her wound.
Diamond tossed her effortlessly to the ground like a rag doll and pulled out the gun he used to murder Darien and aimed it at Serena's hand. Serena bowed her head, accepting her death as Diamond's fingers moved towards the trigger.
"Diamond stop." A silky voice flooded the room causing Diamond to pause at the sound. He pulled back the gun and lowered it to his side as he backed away from Serena revealing an older man with pale silvery blond hair and piercing aqua eyes. A silver ring shone on his finger highlighted by a large "G" carved into the precious metal. He held himself regally, an authoritative air surrounding him as he walked up to the group, his eyes holding amusement. Serena froze when she heard the voice that had drifted into the room and slowly she looked up from her bowed position and stared into eyes identical to her own.
"Hello Serena, it's been a long time." The man said looking at the young woman.
"Father?" Serena whispered as she looked at the man who stood before her. "This cannot be, you died." She said in a small voice, confusing muddling her face.
"With great power comes great illusion." He answered in a wise voice. Raye, Lita and Seiya in turn gaped at the pair in disbelief. He turned towards them when he noticed their confusion.
"I'm Serena's father, Alexander Gracin." He said introducing himself to the group.
"Why?" Serena asked anger seeping into her voice.
"Why? To tell you the truth, I was tired. Tired of working so hard and not getting anything. No credit, no money, no power." Alexander said bitterly.
"But you owned the whole Empire." Serena protested.
"I wanted more. It was quite brilliantly actually, just sort of fell into my hands, like your Darien Shields over there." Gracin said nodding head in the direction of Darien's still body.
"Do not speak his name." Serena said harshly.
"Yes, well I sent an expedition to the moon because the government wanted some new samples for energy testing down on earth, but what we discovered they never expected. Naturally we kept it a secret, the moon crystals." Gracin explained proudly.
"I gave them into the brilliant hands of Dr. Shields who did a marvelous job discovering the amount of raw energy that they contained, but I'm sure you have heard all this before, Silver Snakes always does their homework if I remember correctly." Alexander said looking pointedly at Seiya who refused to acknowledge his glance.
"When I realized what the energy could be used for, I began to formulate a plan. The missile is so powerful it could wipe out nearly half of the European population. With that much power in my hands, I could take over. If I launched a few of these nuclear weapons against the eastern hemisphere it would be almost utterly destroyed and the only means of resources it would have left would be the United States." Gracin explained.
"I would be the only source of energy, I control all that currents through the United States, I bought out every company secretly through the years, I am an energy monopoly and if I cut it off, this country could no longer run. Do you not understand the amount of power I have at my fingertips now? I can establish a Tyranny of the whole world! I will be the most powerful and richest man ever to live." Gracin said laughing wickedly.
"That could never work." Raye argued looking at Serena's father.
"No? I believe my dear that the revolution has already begun. As we speak my first missile is heading towards Northern Europe and many more are in production. I beg to differ, it is working." Gracin said elated.
"What do you mean if you remember correctly? What you said about the Silver Snakes." Lita asked curiously.
"Why don't you ask Seiya over there?" Gracin said nodding at their leader who refused to open his mouth.
"Since Seiya is unwilling to tell you of our past, I will just have to explain it myself." Gracin said cheerfully.
"I met Seiya when he was just a little ten year old homeless urchin. He tried to steal my wallet and gave me quite a chase, but I tracked him down. I had some important stuff in that wallet, my credentials and if they were made known to the public, then I could have been ruined, my ploy would have been exploited." Gracin began.
"Now I could have just killed him and been done with it, but I saw such potential in him that I decided to train him. I was quite the fighter when I was younger." Gracin said proudly.
"That's when I had the idea to form the Silver Snakes. I would use the organization as my cover for when I wanted certain people killed and out of my way. I gave Seiya a vast sum of money when he was fifteen and made all the arrangements that began the Silver Snakes. I left it all up to him, trusting him to follow in the ways that I instructed him, but he seemed to have deterred from it over the years. It was of little consequence to me really, I was getting busier by the minute with the construction of the missile that I couldn't really be bothered by the little assassination group that I had started. Little did I know that the tiny group I started flourished and became the number one intelligence and assassin organization in the world." Gracin said looking admirably at Seiya.
"I didn't know that Seiya had recruited my daughter. It was quite a loss for me when we found out that you had escaped from the orphanage. I was planning on getting you when you were older and bring you in the company with me. All the trauma in your life was bound to have twisted your sense of morals, but apparently you and Seiya got the best of me. When Michael reported that you had been assigned to Darien Shield's case, I was briefly excited until you didn't finish the job and turned against my Crystal Empires." Gracin said shaking his head at his daughter.
"No worries though, you are here now." Gracin said happily.
"I would never join you." Serena said coldly looking at her father in disgust.
"Really darling, don't you think you could be just a little bit nicer to your father?" Alexander said rebuking her.
"You are not my father. I have no father." Serena said bitterly.
"Shame and we look so much alike."
Serena felt her anger rising by the minute, gone was the weakness she felt over Darien's death, it was replaced with a cold rage kindling in the pit of her stomach as she stared at her so called father. The man who had her mother brutally murdered and raped, the man who left his only daughter to rot in an orphanage. She caught Raye looking at her out of the corner of her eyes and realized what was about to happen.
Instantaneously, Serena pounced on Diamond, knocking away his gun as she surprised him the same time the other three attacked the guards that had been holding them who also were caught unexpected. Seiya maneuvered his way towards Serena and grabbed her from behind, startling her, but moving her out of the way so he could face Diamond alone. Serena bowed out and ran over to Lita and Raye who were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the guards. Serena pulled out two daggers and sent them flying across the room, striking two guards who slumped to the floor. Lita grabbed two guards by their heads and smashed them together before throwing them to the floor in satisfaction. Raye jumped in the air and twisted, kicking two guards in the stomach who barreled over and fell to the ground. She immediately pulled a knife and slit both their throats while they were down. Soon there was a pile of unconscious or dead guards littering the floor and the three tired women turned their attention to their leader and former mentor.
"You shouldn't have crossed me Diamond." Seiya said seething as he glared at his old friend.
"You shouldn't have left me out Seiya, you shouldn't have doubted my power." Diamond laughed bitterly. Seiya lunged at him then, his fist flying towards Diamond and connecting with his face. Diamond winced as Seiya's fist cracked his lip and blood dribbled down. Diamond growled and grabbed Seiya's arm, twisting it behind him causing Seiya to gasp out in pain as his arm was wrenched in an unnatural position. He raised his foot and slammed it down against Diamond's foot, digging the heel of his boot hard into it. Diamond released his hold on Seiya's arm who reacted quickly and slammed his elbow into Diamond's face.
Diamond howled in rage and grabbed Seiya's neck squeezing hard before tossing him to the floor. Diamond kneeled against Seiya's chest and wrapped his fingers around his neck again. Seiya struggled trying to pry Diamond's fingers off his throat, but he was losing air and strength fast. Raye looked on in fear and began to run towards Seiya to help when he felt around and found Diamond's gun, raising it towards him and pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out of the gun with a bang and barreled into Diamond's chest. A look of shock and pain flooded Diamond's face as his coughed, trying to breath as blood filled his lungs and spilled out his mouth when he coughed. Seiya pulled the trigger again and shot Diamond in the head this time. Diamond pitched forward and slumped against Seiya, the life drained from his body. Seiya pushed the limp body off of him and crawled away, trying to catch his breath. Raye ran to his side and held him as he gasped in air. Lita looked around the room and spoke suddenly.
"Where is Gracin?" she asked.
"He escaped." Serena said sliding to the floor limply.
"We need to catch him, we can't let him get away, he's crazy." Lita said running towards Serena to motivate her to move.
"No let him go." Serena said looking away.
"Viper we can't do that." Lita protested.
"Python we need to stop that missile and then get out of here. We are injured and tired, we have no energy to go chasing after him. We will get him another day." Serena said staring off into the distance. Lita bowed her head in submission and reached out a hand to haul Serena to her feet.
"Another day." Serena whispered as she stared blankly out the window, the idea of her father still alive filling her thoughts. "Another day."
"This is really really bad." Mina said as they stared out the window, the missile no longer in sight.
"You're telling me." Andrew agreed. "What do we do now?" Both of them turned their blond heads and looked at Amy.
"What am I supposed to do?" she squeaked unnerved by their glares.
"I don't know, you're the genius here." Mina said throwing her hands in the air.
"We need to stop the missile." Andrew said.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious Andrew." Amy said sarcastically throwing Andrew an annoyed.
"Cobra, what about self destructing the missile while it is in flight?" Mina said suddenly causing Amy to look up.
"Of course, I can't believe I didn't think of it. If we destroy the missile while it is in space, it can't hurt anything." Amy said excitedly.
"Alright, how do we do that?" Andrew asked.
"I need my computer and I need to access the computer's mainframe again." Amy said walking back towards the computers.
"Ah Cobra, you completely erased all the files on the computer, there is nothing there for you to access." Mina reminded her.
"Oh no, you're right. There's nothing we can do now." Amy said sadly.
"The missile is now being directed by the launching device inside the launch site." One of the scientists volunteered pointing towards the glass wall.
"What are you talking about?" Amy asked curiously.
"Since the missile was activated through the emergency button, it has to go through the emergency systems which are located down there. There's a small computer mainframe there that should have all the missile information there. It is not connected to the huge mainframe, it is its own personal mainframe." The scientist explained.
"Why are you helping us?" Mina asked suspiciously.
"Because we never wanted to come here. Crystal Empires forced us, threatened our loved ones." The scientist explained, "We have no loyalty to them."
"Wonderful, let's go." Mina said turning towards Amy. The three ran out of the room leaving the scientists to flee the building as the trio located the entrance to the missile launch room. They barged through the unlocked and abandoned room. Amy led them to the launch pad and the single computer standing to the side. She immediately connected her computer to it and hacked into the system.
"The missile is over the Atlantic ocean right now." Amy reported as she studied the missiles' GPS tracking device.
"Over the Atlantic as in directly or over as in space?" Andrew said looking at Amy for clarification.
"Over as in space over." Amy replied still clicking away.
"Right." Andrew said before falling silent. He and Mina watched nervously as Amy muttered to herself and stared hard at the computer screen. They watched her fingers fly rapidly across the keyboard; the only sound the clicking of the keys and random beeps.
"Ah here it is!" Amy shouted gleefully. She entered a few short codes and slammed the enter button. "Missile obliviated." She said proudly. Mina clapped her hands and Andrew grinned relieved.
"Copperhead and Cobra, this is Python." Lita's voice broke in through their celebration.
"Copperhead here, go ahead Python." Mina answered.
"Package has been found, but unfortunately killed. Rendezvous at the designated entrance and set the self destruct button." Lita said relaying Serena's commands
"Will do Python." Mina assured her as they closed the connection.
"Cobra, would you like to do the honors?" Mina asked.
"Absolutely." Amy replied as she went back to her computer and issued the self-destruct commands. Immediately the facility was flooded with flashing red lights and blaring beeps as a computerized voice appeared over the intercom announcing the self-destruction of the building.
"I propose we get out of here." Andrew said.
"Good idea." Mina agreed. The threesome ran out of the missile launch room and headed back towards where they had first entered the building.
"I hope Serena is doing ok." Mina whispered concerned for the welfare of her best friend.
"She'll be fine. Serena is the best." Andrew assured her.
"I hope you're right."
"Let's go Serena." Lita said hauling her to her feet and placing Serena's arms around her shoulders in order to support the weakened woman. Raye also helped Seiya to his feet and walked with him over to Lita and Serena.
"We better get out of here." Seiya advised as the red lights flashed above their heads.
"Do you remember how to get back?" Lita asked.
"I do, I'll lead." Raye volunteered as she walked out of the room, Seiya following closely behind as Lita moved slower since she was supporting Serena. Guards and employees rushed around them, but ignored the group in their haste to get out of the building.
Serena followed the group holding her arm and shrugging off Lita's help, she could manage on her own. She thought back to what happened in the office, Darien's death, and her father's appearance. It was a shock, something Serena had never expected to happen, but that was her life. She laughed bitterly to herself as she trudged along, the irony of it all, to realize her love for Darien right when she lost him. She shook her head, trying to erase all thoughts of him. She had to concentrate on completing the mission; it wasn't over until everyone was returned to the Den safely. She was the leader for goodness sake and she had been acting like a selfish brat, letting her emotions get the best of her at a time like that. As she scolded herself, a particular pair of guards caught her attention, more so, the familiar black head that was traveling between them.
"Darien?" she whispered stopping all of a sudden, causing Lita to turn around. "Darien?" she said again, stepping a bit closer. Lita shook her head sadly and went to retrieve her grief stricken leader.
"Darien is dead Serena, you saw him die right before your eyes." Lita said calmly tugging on Serena's arm to get her moving. Serena shook her head.
"No, I saw him, he's alive." Serena protested.
"Serena there is no way that Darien can be alive. He got his brains blown out for goodness sakes!" Lita said exasperated. Raye walked over to them and placed her hand on Serena's arm.
"I loved him to Serena, and I want him back as much as you do, but Darien's dead Serena, you have to accept that." Raye said solemnly.
"No, I saw him, he isn't dead." Serena insisted, looking frantically down the hallway, glimpsing the group as they walked through a doorway.
"DARIEN!" Serena screamed as loudly as she could. She threw off Lita and Raye's arms forcefully and broke into a dead sprint, ignoring the pain blazing in her shoulder at the movement.
"Serena come back, this place is about to self destruct!" Seiya yelled after her.
"Darien!" Serena yelled again, ignoring her friends' rationality. She ran through the doorway and saw the guards struggling with the man they had been escorting.
"Serena!" the familiar warm voiced flooded her ears as she ran towards him. He broke free from the guards grip and ran towards her shouting her name.
Serena ran at him as fast as she could, her hair completely fallen out of her bun and trailing behind her in a silvery haze of silk. Her aqua eyes were bright and hopeful as she ran, afraid that his image would fade from her sight and that it was all just a cruel joke. He met her in the middle and she stopped suddenly, afraid to touch him, afraid he would vanish like a phantom of smoke.
"Is it you?" she asked cautiously peering at him.
"It's me Serena." He said smiling. Serena looked at him, looked at his dark blue eyes, his raven black hair and his lean build. Then she looked into his soul and smiled. She jumped into his embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as his own encircled her tiny frame. They sank to the floor, just relishing each other's touch, caressing, feeling. Serena felt warm droplets of tears collecting at the corner of her eyes causing them to shine only this time, it was out of joy. Darien held her tightly, refusing to let her go, stroking her soft hair with the palm of his hand as he placed light feathery kisses on the top of her head.
Serena pulled away from him slightly and just looked at him, drinking in his appearance before pulling him towards her in a soul-crushing kiss. All the frustration, all the pain, all the joy and all the love that she felt she poured into that kiss, her soft lips brushing against his firm ones as she pulled his head towards her, threading her fingers in his hair. Darien responded immediately with an equal amount of passion, lighting her on fire everywhere he touched her. That's how Raye, Lita and Seiya found them. The threesome stared in astonishment to see Darien alive and well, caught up in an embrace with Serena. They broke apart when they realized a new presence.
"You're alive." Serena whispered, tracing Darien's face with her fingertips.
"I am." He replied softly, kissing her fingers.
"How?" she asked still in disbelief.
"I'll tell you later, right now we need to get out of here before the whole place blows up." Darien said standing up, pulling Serena with him.
"Darien." Raye said before running straight into his arms, holding him tightly.
"Shush, it's ok Raye." Darien soothed her, brushing her hair with his hands.
"Come on we need to leave now." Seiya said pulling Raye from Darien's grasp and heading down the hallway back in the direction they had first came from.
They ran continuously through the facility eventually joining up with Amy, Mina and Andrew who were equally surprised and happy to see Darien alive and well. They ducked out the door and ran across the desert as far as they could until they heard a great explosion and an barrage of flames lit up the sky as the research facility blew up, pieces of burning hot metal raining down from the sky. They turned and watched the display when they were far enough away, sinking into the sand exhausted.
"Tell me what happened Darien." Serena demanded when they settled in the sand. Darien nodded and began his story.
One Hour Earlier
Darien struggle against Diamond's grasp as he watched the women fighting the men in front of him and protested when one of the guards grabbed a woman roughly and threw her across the room, a silver bracelet sliding across the floor landing at Diamond's feet as the woman was revealed to be his sister. Diamond in turn started thoughtfully at the bracelet at his feet and retrieved it and placed it in his pocket.
"Well well well, if it isn't the wonder women." Diamond sneered as he flicked a knife to Darien's neck, causing him to still. Darien in turn stared at Raye in confusion.
"Diamond what are you doing?" Lita asked horrified when she saw Diamond.
"Only what is necessary." He responded. He stepped back through the archway of the now opened door and walked back in the room, pulling Darien in with him.
"Seize them and bring them to me." Diamond ordered a group of men who came out of the door and grabbed each of the girls and Seiya. They struggled and it took three men each to hold them down and they stripped them of their bracelets. The door closed behind them cutting off Darien's view of the women.
Diamond pushed Darien roughly away from his when they had entered the room and walked over to one of the guards.
"Put this on." He ordered handing it to the guard. The guard nervously placed on the bracelet. Diamond fiddled with the bracelet and successfully brought up a hologram of Darien.
"What are you doing?" Darien asked as he watched an identical image of himself appear before him.
"Crystal Empires cannot afford to lose you, we need you to finish our other prototypes but in order for that to happen, they need to think you are dead." Diamond explained.
"Take him to the holding room and watch him there. I'll be there in a few minutes and then we will leave." Diamond instructed two of the guards as they grabbed onto Darien's arms and dragged him away. Diamond turned toward the guard who was disguised as Darien.
"Do not utter a word or I will kill you." Diamond threatened him. The guard nodded meekly and allowed Diamond to grab him securely.
Present Time"You mean that wasn't you?" Raye said.
"Of course it wasn't me or I'd be dead." Darien replied looking at his sister.
"Diamond always was a brilliant man." Seiya said looking back towards the ruins of the facility.
"I cannot believe he used our own devices against us." Mina said shaking her head in awe.
"Like I said, brilliant." Seiya remarked.
"What did you do after that?" Serena inquired.
"Well they took me to this small room and just stood there watching me, waiting for Diamond to come back, but then the self destruction button was activated and they decided to head out, dragging them with me. That's when you saw me Serena." Darien said affectionately ruffling her hair causing Serena to smile in return.
"I still can't believe it." Amy said.
"Yeah, we thought you were dead man." Andrew added.
They were interrupted by the whirling of a helicopter flying above them, silver with the Crystal Empire's logo etched on the side. Serena's gazed followed the helicopter until it had embraced the horizon.
"There goes Alexander Gracin." Lita said dejectedly.
"Don't worry Lita, we'll get him." Serena said.
"Gracin? As in your father?" Mina said incredulously.
"Yep." Serena replied.
"How?" Amy asked.
"Long story." Serena answered. "But for right now, I just want to go home."
"Home, that sounds like a good idea. I am going to bed and not getting up for long time." Andrew said stretching his sore limbs.
"Can I join you?" Mina asked cattily causing Andrew's brown eyes to widen.
"You don't need to ask." He grinned pulling her into his lap and kissed her soundly. Lita rolled her eyes at the ridiculous pair and watched as Serena and Darien got up and walked a few yards away.
"Darien I wanted to apologize for how I treated you." Serena began as she looked out across the expanse of the desert.
"Serena you don't need to apologize for anything." Darien protested.
"No, I realized something today Darien, I thought I had lost you." Serena said turning to face him, looking into his deep blue eyes. "I thought you had died Darien and the thought of you being taken away from me killed me Darien, killed me. I have never felt this way before in my life Darien and its scares me, but what scares me more is the thought of losing you and I never want to go through that again. Darien, I love you, that's what I realized today and I've been denying ever since I met you and I don't want to deny it anymore." Serena said passionately.
"Serena, you will never lose me, never do you understand?" Darien said fiercely as he looked intensely into her eyes. "I love you to much to ever leave you. No one is going to take me away from you again."
"You love me?" Serena said softly.
"Serena I love you so much it hurts." Darien exclaimed as he pulled her into his arms. They stayed like that, just holding each other, seeking comfort, reveling in their love. Darien brought his head close to hers and captured her lips in a searing kiss. The couple was oblivious to the roaring sound of the hummer stopping near them and Yaten's excited shouts. They were only aware of each other and their love and that was all that mattered, they were finally one.
THE END
That is the final chapter of A Viper's Poison, I'll probably do an epilogue, possible. I hope you liked it and weren't disappointed, I feel the ending didn't do the story justice, and I didn't develop the romance as much as I would have liked, I might rewrite that. Please review! I had an awesome time writing this story and I hoped you all liked reading it! Thank you for being so faithful and for all your praise and criticism! Until next time!!
.:Angelgrl185:.