It may look like this story is near completion, it's not over yet! There's still some things that will happen, major things. I wanted to wait in case there were more reviewers, but...oh well.
There is a second story in the works as of this posting, too. It's a surprise, but it takes place in season 1, in the "Marissa" Universe. Other than that, the next story will involve New Orleans and Mardi Gras.
To the reviewers:
KITT40146: Yeah the suspension keeps right on building...and hopefully, this chapter will tell you what happens next. grin And Kitt's love for Marissa is paternal, not otherwise (Sorry, Mary Sue spotters, you'll have to look elsewhere).
knightsky: No worries, Devon won't be in the freezer for long. This chapter ought to fill the KR fix for now. And BTW, your story is really turning out great! Don't keep us in suspense too long!
theravingloony: Welcome back from Crete! And yeah, while Marissa has learned from Kitt and the others of strength and courage, there's one thing that will eat at her in this chapter...and considering things, it's understandable, to the adults. And yeah, I'll make it up to Devon, no worries. He's not gonna get whumped or any such thing in the Mardi Gras story I'll write later on. And as far as Kitt goes...having actual emotion is pretty new (and alien) to him, but at least he admits to love now.
Onto the fanfic!
Chapter 11: …Into the Fire
Michael and Mark's teams approached one of the rooms. The two groups had taken only a small amount of injury, and no deaths (Thank goodness for small favors, the elder man thought).
The younger leader made a motion with one hand that Michael understood: on three.
He nodded and stood on Mark's left, then counted with his fingers: one, two…three!
On three, Mark kicked in the door while Michael and the others hurried in.
All the terrorists in the room looked to be Mexican…and they immediately tried to open fire.
RC saw this and quickly clubbed one in the temple with his own weapon (a real pistol), then kicked the gun out of the second one's hand while the rest of Mark's team took care of the third one.
"Rodrigo?" Michael asked.
He only replied with a nod, "Si. All of them."
"More of 'em," the operative said disgustedly into the comlink, "These three are with that secret society."
"Good heavens," Kitt exclaimed, "That makes seven."
He nodded and turned to one of the men that were still conscious and asked, "Where's the leader?"
"Somewhere," he merely said. The other one refused to answer, period.
He sighed and looked about…and saw someone familiar.
April stood up and said, "Now this I didn't expect. Bringing in gangs and kids to break us out?"
"More like the gangs and kids brought me," was the reply, "Everyone here okay?"
"Yeah, but don't worry about us. You better worry about Devon and Bonnie!"
"I already know. Sub-zero chamber. What direction?"
"They didn't say."
"Any idea where the leader is?"
"I heard he was going to the central room to make a phone call," she answered.
"Okay. Go through the north exit and then make your way to Kitt."
She nodded and said simply, "Good luck."
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The moment that the Snakes and Kate's team entered the building, they knew something was up.
Most of the areas were cleared in the southern part, although a short distance from the central room, Chris' team was battling it out with a group of terrorists, eight to be exact…and all of the enemies were armed.
Crag growled and took aim for the right shoulder of one of the terrorists…and fired.
He dropped quickly, grabbing his bleeding appendage.
The others were swiftly taken care of as the two teams disarmed, then tied up the terrorists.
"Thanks," Chris explained, "They jumped us from the east."
"Jumped? How the hell did you get jumped?"
"We were providing cover fire for Marissa's team. They had to go in early. Devon's gone from the frying pan into the deep fire."
"Which way did they go?"
"West, towards the sub-zero chambers in the northwest," Angel replied.
"Okay, Kate, take your team and go there. Help Marissa. We'll stand guard here."
She nodded and gestured towards the others before they all started running. More people searching the chambers meant that they could find him that much quicker.
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Marissa's team arrived in the northwest section…and immediately saw a trio of terrorists guarding the entrance to the freezer chambers.
Jack stated, "This is the place, all right," and charged at the one on the right, while Laura went for the one on the left.
The two immediately raised their weapons and were about to fire when Jack executed a chop to the arm, causing one to drop his weapon, then delivered a second one to the shoulder joint.
Laura wrestled the gun away from the second one, then used it to club him against the temple.
"Hutchinson, come in! There're a pack of kids and Black Dragons at the--" the third one managed to say into his walkie-talkie when Jack hit him at the base of the skull with a weapon he had confiscated from one of the terrorists.
"That'll shut him up," Laura said, "But this door's got an electronic combo lock."
Marissa had seen and heard Michael do something in situations like this. "Kitt, got a lock," she said and moved her wrist towards it.
A minute later, a set of numbers appeared on the monitor, followed by the clicking sound of a door unlocking.
"Thanks," Laura called out, "That's only the first lock you'll have to pick."
"If it gets Devon out of there, I'll pick them all. There is a group approaching, Rissie. It's Kate's team."
"So I see," Laura said grimly, then asked as she saw them, "What are you doing here?"
Kate simply lowered her weapon and said, "Here to find Devon."
"No time for chit-chat," Marissa stated, "Each of you split up and take a corridor. If you find him, yell."
"Will do," Laura replied as Jack said, "Good luck."
The three then split up, going down three of the corridors: Jack and Becky on the left, Marissa and Kate middle-left, Laura and Angel middle-right, while the others went down the other three as well at the far right.
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Christina nodded and whispered, "Good luck," as Janice took her team to the south end in order to back up Chris Sato's team.
We're right outside the central room, she thought, Lord, be with us.
She counted to three before she and Chuck kicked the door open.
The sight that beheld them all surprised her, but only for a second.
Without a doubt, this was where the largest concentration of hostages were being held….as well as a number of terrorists, some of them being Mexican.
One of the men raised his head and snarled then dragged one of the hostages by her hair. Just by sight, Christina knew just who it was: Bonnie Barstow.
"Brats and Black Dragons," he sneered, "You've got cajones to make it this far, I'll grant you that much. Now, if you don't want Barstow to die, drop your weapons and surrender."
At that same moment, the northern door was kicked open…and in came two more teams: Mark's and Michael's.
Chuck's face twisted into a snarl as he said, "This is their leader…a mercenary named Hutchinson. He was with the Black Snake Commandoes before….and if he thinks we're going to cower like babies, he's got another thing coming."
Michael looked downright furious, and so did Bonnie. They knew this guy, after all; the operative had used him for a cover story when Amelia Clermont had been killed!
Not again, she thought, I won't be that helpless ever again, remembering a time when she had been a hostage…but under different circumstances. She had been on her way to her sister's wedding when the plane was hijacked.
She elbowed Hutchinson in the solar plexus hard.
He winced and doubled over, letting go of her, giving Bonnie the opportunity to run, which she did.
Michael signaled Kitt and at the same instant, Christina's team charged forward. Mark's group followed suit, mowing down any of the enemy that got in their way.
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As they ran down the corridor, Marissa yelled at the top of her voice, "Father! Where are you? Answer me, please! Father!"
"I believe he's in your corridor."
Kate began pounding on the doors.
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Inside the room and leaning near the door, Devon blinked, wondering if this was how death by freezing began…hearing voices. He heard the voices of a familiar girl.
"Father! Help me find you, please!"
Rissie…?
He gathered as much energy as he could, knowing he didn't have much left inside him, and shouted, "Rissie! I'm here! Rissie!" and thumped on the door with the strength he had left.
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Marissa was about to shout again when she heard a voice, weak but loud, reply, "Rissie! I'm here! Rissie!" then heard knocking sounds coming from the third door on the left.
"Kate, I've found him! Get the others!" she ordered, said into the comlink, "Kitt! Lock, hurry!" and shoved her wrist so that he could get a good look.
As Kate began running and shouting the location, the AI began work on the lock as quickly as he could, knowing what the short commands meant. A couple second later, the voice and knocking stopped…and a half-second later, the door unlocked.
Marissa pulled on the handle as hard as she could and looked as she entered.
"Oh no! Father!"
Devon looked up very slowly, almost disbelievingly, as she knelt beside him and shook him as gently as she could….and yelped. He felt very cold.
"R…Rissie…"
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As the two teams plowed towards Hutchinson, Michael saw another man, one of the terrorists, move into position at the eastern wall and take aim. He didn't care who the guy was planning on killing; the operative wasn't going to allow it.
He quickly charged and jerked the other man's gun upwards just as the trigger was pulled.
The enemy growled and tried to wrench the weapon downwards again, to no avail. Instead, Michael jerked the pistol away and saw one of the gangs nearby before tossing it to him.
"Keep 'em away from these—" he shouted and turned back in time for the man to try a sucker punch that the operative barely avoided. He then slugged the man across the jaw. He had no idea if the man was solid or someone with a—
The man dropped to the ground.
Turns out he's a glass jaw, Michael thought, then went to join the two teams, which were now surrounding the leader.
"Give it up, Hutchinson," he said, "You've got a couple of pissed off gangs and a lot of ticked kids. You've lost."
He snarled and said, "At what cost, Knight? The sun's rising, if you didn't know. Miles is as good as dead."
"Doubt that one," Christina said stonily.
Michael charged forward at the man himself, and the groups cleared the way only long enough for him to pass.
Once Michael reached him, Hutchinson quickly drew a knife and tried to slash across the other man's chest.
The kids tried to join in the battle, but Michael replied, "Stay back! He's mine."
"You heard him," Crag snapped.
The groups formed a ring around the two immediately.
The two were oblivious to this. Hutchinson immediately tried to jab at the midsection, which Michael noticed. He turned, then grabbed the mercenary's wrist, putting pressure at just the spot, as he learned how to do when he was training.
As the knife fell to the floor, Michael then went in and punched the enemy in the jaw.
Though slightly dazed, the man kept his ground and tried to plow into Michael.
He merely sidestepped to the left, letting the man's own forward motion work against him. Once the man had stumbled to a stop, Michael executed a kick, aimed for the back of the knees.
Hutchinson growled as he dropped into a crouch. While he snarled, he slowly moved a hand to the back of his pants and pulled something loose.
RC was about to call that out when Michael immediately kicked out, aiming for the chest. The blow connected and he landed flat on the group hard, the black handgun spinning away from him.
The operative then grabbed Hutchinson in a chokehold.
"Michael!" RC did yell, "We need this monkey alive!"
"He's mine, RC. He had Devon badly harmed."
"You want the one that did it, try Marco Chavez, not me," he rasped, "But you'll never save Miles now."
"If he dies, so do you," he growled, applying pressure.
"You really wanna be as bad as this waste product?" Mark asked.
The operative didn't reply as the color in the terrorist's face changed to blue and his eyes bulged.
A beep went off, coming from Michael's comlink, followed by sound, "Michael, there is a transmission from the other comlink."
The room went silent. A second later, a girl's voice came across, sounding scared.
"Michael…? Michael?"
"Marissa?"
Hutchinson's face was one of shock as he heard the name.
"Michael, we found father. He's…he's…father's…"
"Devon's what? Answer me!"
There was a pause before another voice came across. "Michael, this is Laura Mariz. We found Devon, but he's not in good shape. As the door opened and she went in, he lost consciousness. He slipped into hypothermia. We need help. You hear me? We need your help to get him out of here!"
Michael let go of Hutchinson, who was racked by a seizure as he gasped, trying to get air back into him.
"You're damned lucky she called, or you'd be dead," he snapped, then said, "I'm on my way, Laura. Tell me where exactly you are."
"I will, Michael," Kitt's voice returned and gave specific instructions, then added, "The police will be here soon, and the paramedics have equipment with them for hypothermia patients."
Michael took off, the ring breaking up and clearing the way. He trusted the others to take care of the rest of business.
As he arrived, he saw three teams going in and out of the only chamber that was wide open, removing their coats as they did.
Michael went in as well and saw that a tall woman was kneeling beside Devon, removing a long, green coat from her shoulders and wrapping it around him and over all the other coats, then picked him up carefully.
"Where'd you come from?" he asked.
"I got loose with one of the other hostage groups and found out these kids were heading there. I followed and found they needed help," she replied, her voice regal, warm and at perfect tone level at the same time, "Now help me get him in the corridor. And talk to him!"
He nodded and said, "Devon, ya gotta hang on. Don't give up now; we've got you out of there. We'll get you somewhere you can heal at soon."
The woman nodded, adding, "Listen to Michael, Devon, and don't leave us. You've still got a lot to do on this world here."
Michael looked at her and nodded…then noticed something familiar about her.
The woman had shiny, crimson hair that went down to her back and jade-green eyes.
"Have we met before?" he asked.
"Not now, Michael, Devon needs you. Same goes to you, little girl. Let's get him out to the front."
Marissa nodded and moved to her father's right side, talking quietly.
Lord, Michael thought, I hope we're not too late!
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Michael looked on as some of the paramedics hooked up Devon to emergency life support and loaded him onto one of the ambulances. They had removed all the clothing the kids and woman put around him and returned the articles to their owners.
Marissa looked down, sniffling.
"I couldn't…when I saw him like that…I just froze. I didn't know…" she said quietly.
Michael looked down at her and said, "It's okay…you and the kids got him out of that thing. If you hadn't…he'd be dead by now."
"He could still die! Michael, I heard the paramedics talking. They said 'it don't look good for this guy'."
The crimson-haired woman beside him glowered and said, "Don't mind the idiots of this world, little one. That man is a fighter. I should know."
"My words exactly, lady," Michael replied, "But…I get the feeling we've met before."
The woman quietly laughed and said, "So…it is you. I have something to take care of. We'll meet up at the hospital, Michael."
"Hey, how do you know my name?" he turned to ask her.
The only thing in place of the strange woman was the green coat that she had wrapped around Devon.