Author's Notes: Sorry for this being so late, but real life (read: computer problems) and school conspired to keep me away from working on it. Anyway, thanks for all of the reviews!

Chapter Eighteen
"Finally!" a weary, sweating Mike exclaimed as he, Sam and Nessa managed to shove the stone door that separated them from Danny and Mary open once more. Exhausted, all three took a moment to catch their breath before they walked slowly and quietly inside.

"Oh, my God." a horrified Sam gasped as the trio halted in their tracks and noticed the scene playing out in front of them: an unconscious Mary laying in a heap and an out of control Danny wailing away on a very bloody and almost lifeless Professor. A blank look clearly present in the younger man's angry brown eyes. Immediately, Mike rushed over and pulled Danny off after a brief struggle. The former Marine lieutenant still wanted to attack, making the bald man's job very difficult.

"Danny! Danny! DANNY!" Mike said, grabbing Danny once more after the brown-haired man escaped his clutches and hit the Professor a few more times. "Damn it, man! Stop! You're going to kill him!"

"Let me go, Mike!" an enraged Danny growled, trying to throw his friend off. "It's what the old bastard deserves!"

"Danny, please stop!" Nessa pleaded, placing herself in between Danny and the Professor. She turned her body towards Mary, who was being attended to by Sam. "You have a more important job to do right now."

Following Nessa's gaze, Danny looked over to see that an unconscious Mary was still lying where she had fallen. Panting for breath, the disconnected look slowly vanished from Danny's brown eyes and Mike could feel the man's body begin to relax. McCoy's mind questioned what in the hell he had been doing for the past few minutes? Mary had needed him and he hadn't been there for her once again. He lightly pushed Mike's restraining hands off of his arms before sprinting over and gently cradling Mary's limp body in his arms. He could suddenly feel warm, sticky blood on his left arm.

"Mary." Danny begged, shaking his best friend lightly. She rolled from side to side like a rag doll. "Mary! Come on, baby. Open your eyes!" There was still no response, causing tears to form in the corners of Danny's eyes. Could his greatest fear be coming true? Could he be losing Mary the way that his father had lost his mother?

"No!" a pleading Danny shouted, looking to the heavens as if telling some imaginary force that he wasn't going to accept that. Looking back to Mary, he gripped the red-haired woman's hand tightly in his own. His usual confident voice was clogged by emotion. "You were the one who told me that you were tough enough to make it through this. Show me that you are!"

"D…Danny?" a groaning Mary whispered as she began to move around a little bit. "Danny?"

"Thank, God." an overjoyed Danny said to himself, closing his eyes to stop the now tears of happiness. He could hear Sam nearby breath a sigh of relief. With a wide grin, he looked back down at his best friend. "Mary! You're okay."

"I told you that I was tougher than you thought." Mary smiled before she gently turned her head. Her brown eyes went wide as she got a look at the lifeless Professor. "Oh my God. Danny, did you…"

"No, he's still alive." Nessa shook her head. "Although, just barely." Smiling, she turned towards Danny. "I think that he'll think twice before messing with you again." A puzzled expression appeared on the black woman's features as she suddenly looked past McCoy. "How long has that been there?"

"Has what been where?" a curious Danny asked, turning his own head to see a wooden door on the opposite wall. Gently setting Mary back down on the floor, the former Marine lieutenant got to his feet. "What in the hell?"

"That, my friend, would be a door." Mike replied with a slight grin.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Danny replied, aiming a quick glare at Mike before returning his gaze to the door. "Wonder where that leads."

"Only one way to find out." Mike grinned, heading for the door.

"You three, stay here." Danny ordered before running after Mike.

"Fine." an annoyed Sam replied, crossing her arms across her chest. "But don't count on us to save your macho asses if something goes wrong!"

"It locks from our side." Mike noticed, examining the door handle in his hand. Curious, the bald, African American man put his ear up to the thick wooden door. "I can't hear anything on the other side!" He pulled his head off of the door and looked at Danny. "Maybe it's a red herring?"

"Only one way to know." Danny replied, keeping a firm gaze on the door but glancing momentarily at Mike. "You ready, man?"

"On the count of three." Mike nodded as both he and Danny got into a stance, readying themselves to kick. "One…two…THREE!"

The combined force of Ed's two top guys in security and surveillance was enough to pop the door open slightly. The two men hesitated to hear some sort of sound from the other side before they entered.

"You guys forget your key?" the taunting voice of Delinda Deline said from the other side. Turning to each other, Danny and Mike realized that Ed's daughter probably couldn't see them, so she just assumed it was more of the Professor's men coming to check on her.

"Ah, you know me, Delinda." Danny smiled as he walked into the room, causing stunned, overjoyed looks to appear on both Deline women's faces. "I'm always losing that bad boy."

"Danny!" Jillian exclaimed, getting to her feet as Mike walked into the room. "Mike!"

"Someone call for two knights-in-shining armor?" Mike asked before being enveloped in a tight hug by Jillian. "It's great to see you, Mrs. D."

"I knew that you guys would come for us!" Delinda remarked as she hugged Danny tightly. Tears of joy streaming down her face. "I just knew it!"

"Where's Ed?" a curious Jillian asked as she took her turn to hug Danny.

"We split up." Danny reported after hugging the older, blonde woman. "There were two hallways. We took one and Ed took the other." He shook his head. "I don't know where he is right now."

"He's going to be pissed though." Mike chuckled, "I mean, not only did we take out the mastermind…"

"We?" Danny asked in disbelief.

"Okay, not only did Danny single-handedly take out the mastermind," Mike continued, shooting an annoyed look at Danny. "But we rescued you two as well."

"So, who was behind all of this?" a curious Jillian asked, looking at Danny. "I mean, the Professor said that Eddie was going to be surprised when he found out who…"

"Whoa!" a stunned Danny said, putting a hand up. "The Professor's not the organizer of all of this?"

"No." Jillian shook her head, causing Danny and Mike to exchange worried glances. "You guys didn't know that?"

"No, and neither does Mr. D." a worried Mike replied as Danny kicked a nearby column in frustration. "Old guy's prepared to fight someone that he's not going to find!"

Panting as the last of the five men fell unconsciously to the floor, Ed Deline put a hand on a nearby pillar to steady himself. The gray-haired, former CIA operative lifted his head once more rather quickly upon hearing someone else clapping, and looked around with his distinct blue eyes. He paused upon seeing a shadowed figure standing on a nearby dais. Growling, Ed readied himself for another fight, twirling the machete in his hand.

"Brava, Ed." the figure complimented, clearly disguising his voice through some means. "Your performance thus far has everything that I've come to expect from you."

"Come on out, you yellow-bellied asshole!" a firm Ed demanded, aiming his machete at the figure. "I'll make you pay for even thinking about kidnapping my family!"

"And such a beautiful family, it is." the mysterious figure replied with a slight laugh. "Which is exactly the reason that I'm the one giving the orders around here and not you, Ed." Another chuckle escaped him. "After all, you have no way of knowing their current status; what perils they may or may not be in." The disguised voice became firm. "Drop your weapon."

Although the thought of rushing forward and stabbing his mysterious foe did run through his mind, Deline chucked his machete aside like it was useless to him. However, his blue eyes remained locked upon the figure.

"Good boy." the figure complimented before throwing some sort of device to the side, where it skidded to a stop next to Ed's machete. The figure, a blonde-haired man, slightly younger than Ed, stepped forward into the light. A wide, evil looking smile on his face.

"You!" a stunned Ed said, taking a step back as he recognized the man instantly. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

"I said that I would destroy you, Ed." former Senator Bill Henderson smirked in his usual Southern drawl.

To be continued...