Disclaimer: I don't own anything except an old pair of doggy slippers that my real dogs chewed up. Everything in here is someone else's except Ronnie, Maddie, Indigo, Scott, Mark, Aiden, Ellen, Chris, Eliza, Bartholomew and Kayla. And that's it…I think

WARNING: Violence and swearing ahead.

Hero

Chapter 6

The door was flung open hard, smacking into the wall with a bang. Ronnie's head snapped up painfully, her eyes, which had been closed as she dozed fitfully, flying open to her captor, who looked quite angry.

"You stupid bitch!" he snapped, stepping towards her angrily, "You stupid, filthy bitch!" Painfully, she pulled herself up with the wall as support, whimpering in pain, but meeting him bravely. "You ruined it! She shouldn't have gotten away! You should have to suffer as my father did and she as I did!"

"What did I do to your father?" Ronnie demanded, "I have never hurt someone enough to deserve this!"

"You sent him to jail!" he hissed, "You sent him to jail and made him suffer years of constant abuse only to die in some hellhole by a sharpened toothbrush!"

Ronnie shook her head, wincing in pain as she responded, "I don't know who you're talking about!"

He whipped off his mask, getting right up in her face as he demanded, "Do you know now!"

"Indigo. Indigo Carpenter." Ronnie whispered with growing horror, "Y-Y-You!"

"Yes me!" Indigo hissed, "The man whose father you killed!"

"He killed himself!" Ronnie returned angrily as his own anger flared up, "He deserved what he got!"

"You bitch!" Indigo hissed again, his fist smashing into her face and causing her head to snap back and into the wall, "Shut up! He didn't! You stupid liar!" He hit her again with each word, his fist hitting a different part of her body each time.

"He deserved it!" Ronnie screamed as the punches continued to rain down on her, "He deserved it, he deserved it, HE DESERVED IT!"

Suddenly, Indigo stopped hitting her. Ronnie sank against the wall in relief, whimpering in pain and trying to keep her chin tilted up in defiance. These efforts were forgotten moments later in favour of her first whimper of fear, instead of pain, when Indigo pulled a large pocket knife out of his pocket.

He grinned wildly and lunged forward. Ronnie screamed in pain as the large knife sank into her belly. She screamed again as he pulled the knife out and swiped it across her cheek before he plunged it again into her stomach, in the exact place as before and making the wound larger.

Ronnie slipped to the ground, clutching her bloody abdomen. Indigo spat on her and stalked contemptuously from the room, whistling loudly in deranged happiness.

As the door slammed shut behind him, Ronnie rolled painfully to her side, breathing heavily. She was now facing the camera, and she attempted a weak grin before she gritted her teeth and pressed hard to her wound, screaming with pain as she did so.

Still pressing against her wound, she used her other hand to tear at the rip in her shirt. With a sharp tug, she pulled a short length from the bottom of her shirt. Folding it into a square, she pushed it against her wound with both hands.

Breathing gently, she rolled gently onto her back. Staring at the ceiling, she gulped in air, trying to regulate her breathing. Once done, she turned her head to stare at the camera.

"Hi," she smiled weakly into the camera, blinking away her tears and sweat, "I don't know whose watching now-I hoe to God it's not Nicky-but my name's Verona Cooper. I was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I'm the only girl in a family of…"
XoXoXoXo

"Does any of this look familiar Maddie?" Nick asked gently, "Can you see the place where the bad man has mommy?"

A group of over 300 volunteers had showed up to search for Ronnie. The search area was almost 100 miles around-an especially large feat for a small girl. Everyone had split into groups and taken a section, each group going from door-to-door in search of anyone who knew anything about Ronnie.

Maddie, settled comfortably on Nick's hip with her head on his shoulder, looked around but said a sad, "No."

"Okay, baby, just keep looking." Nick said as he dropped a light kiss on her forehead before hitching her higher up on his hip as he walked up another driveway and rang another doorbell. When the door opened, her used his free hand to show the man his badge as he said wearily, "Hello, my name is Nick Stokes, I'm with the Las Vegas Police Department. I need to know if you've seen or heard anything unusual in this vicinity in the last 2 days."

"What's this about?" the big man asked gruffly, eyeing Nick with distrust.

"A woman is missing." Nick said with a sigh, "This is her daughter. They were both kidnapped 2 days ago but she managed to get her daughter out. Now, since Maddie is only 4, she can't remember things like the route she takes when she's happy, let alone when she's scared out of her mind and all alone. Now, sir, please, do you know anything, anything at all?"

"My boy mentioned something last night." The man said, doing a complete attitude 180, before turning his head and hollering, "Sam! Get down here!"

There was a thunder of footsteps and then a boy of no more than 9 appeared in the doorway, glancing questioningly at his father who answered the unspoken question with, "This is Mr. Stokes, he's with the police. They're lookin' for the missin' lady."

Sam nodded eagerly, blurting, "I saw her! There was a woman in one of the old abandoned houses!"

"What did she look like Sam?" Nick asked urgently, his hold on Maddie tightening as he tried not to hope too much-it could just be a homeless woman's hangout.

"She had brown hair the colour of shiny pennies!" Sam answered, "I thought she'd have looked real pretty if she hadn't been so beat up."

"Beat up?" Nick echoed.

"Yea," he nodded, "She had a handprint bruise on one cheek and her nose was bleeding. And I think she had a cut on her forehead."

"Show me," Nick commanded, eyes burning with hope, love and determination, "Show me the house."

XoXoXoXo

"My dad remarried when I was 16-only two years after my 'rents got divorced." Ronnie told the camera, trying to talk herself awake, "Kayla-that's dad's second wife-is only like 8 years older than me. I don't really know why she's with dad-they aren't exactly compatible or in love."

Silence fell as she racked her brain for something else to say, blurting suddenly, "I'm going to get a cat if I get out of this. Maddie has always wanted one, but I didn't think she was old enough. I still don't think she is, but life's too damn short.

She paused, before adding, "He'll be grey and black like a raccoon so we can name him Meeko. That's the name of the raccoon in Pocahontas, in case you didn't know. Maddie likes to watch the movie just to see Meeko."

She stopped, sighing softly as she gazed at the ceiling. She'd paled from the blood loss, and her face was smeared in blood from her earlier bloody nose and the knife swipe. Her pale pallor made the many bruises stand out starkly, the blue, black and purple colours a big contrast to her ghostly skin. But the worst wound was the stab wound.

Despite the pressure Ronnie had been applying to it for the past 20 minutes, the bleeding hadn't stopped. Her 'bandage' was soaked through and had even caked her fingers and palms with blood. The loss of blood was also making Ronnie weak and sleepy, but she knew she had to stay awake and not succumb to the pull of slumber because then her hold would slacken and the wound would bleed worse.

Instead, she turned her head back to the camera, licking her dry lips before, her voice became hoarse with emotions, she said, "I need-I need whoever's on the other side of the camera to do me a favour." She paused as she began coughing painfully. Once done, she continued, "I need you to tell my family goodbye from me and to tell them that I love them all, despite all the crap from our past. Tell Scott to always be himself and not weaken because of my leaving. Tell my other brothers that I love them a lot and that I'm sorry that we weren't closer. Tell mom she's the best mom in town, and dad that I love him, I really do and that I didn't mean what I said.

"Someone will have to take care of Maddie," Ronnie said with a choked voice, "And I'd like it to be Nick-if he'll take her. Chris, I'm sorry, but I don't think you should have custody over Maddie-you were never meant to have children, love, and I'm handing over full custody of Madigan Cooper-Matthews to Nicholas Stokes if I don't make it. If Nick doesn't want to or is incapable of taking care of Maddie, I'd like Scott to take care of her."

She stared again at the ceiling before she said softly, "I don't want to be buried. I'd like to be cremated-but I don't want to sit on anyone's mantle. Instead, I'd like to be spread somewhere- maybe the Falls or a cliff, somewhere in Canada. And I don't want to be in a fancy dress-I want to be in my favourite jeans and tee-Nicky, you know the one. And someone has to tell lots of stories at my funeral-Scottie, I'll leave that one to you."

She fell silent again, trying desperately to fight off both tears and unconsciousness.

Finally she began again, "I had a dog when I was a kid. He was white with black patches. His name was MooMoo…"
XoXoXoXo

"That's it!" Maddie shrieked excitedly, pointing at the same building that Sam had seen the woman in, "That's where the bad man has mommy!"

Nick's eyes flashed with hope and happiness as he flipped open his cell, saying quickly, "Dispatch, this is CSI Stokes, we've found the house. 31 Hallover Lane. I repeat, 31 Hallover Lane." He flipped it shut again before letting Maddie slide gently to the ground. Kneeling in front if her, he said, "Maddie, I need you to stay here with Sam and his daddy, okay? I'm going to go get mommy, but the bad man is dangerous and you can't come in with me. Can you stay here and be a good girl for me?"

Maddie nodded, sticking her thumb in her mouth as she stared at the house fear fully. Nick drew the child into his arms gently, kissing the crown of her head reassuringly. Standing, he pushed her gently to Sam and his father before turning to the building.

He wasn't going to wait for back-up, or even the rest of his group. Archie had called him more than 30 minutes ago to say that Ronnie had been stabbed and she was losing a lot of blood. He wasn't going to let her die.

Drawing his gun, he went forward, walking into the house of the only man he'd ever wanted to kill.
XoXoXoXo

Ronnie turned he head at the sound of footsteps. She tensed, but she didn't sit up-she just couldn't anymore. But, when Indigo walked into the room, she still met his gaze as defiantly as ever.

"Not dead yet?" Indigo hissed aloud, pulling a gun out and pointing it at her, snickering, "Why don't we fix that?"

"I have one question first," Ronnie requested softly, not bothering to even attempt to move or turn her eyes away, "What makes you think your father is the victim? He beat, raped and killed so many women for no reason at all. And he tried to do that to me too-but instead I got away and saved dozens of other girls form the same fate. So then what makes him the victim?"

"He wasn't well," indigo said, "He should have gone to a hospital, not a jail!"

"He was sick alright," Ronnie hissed, her defiance returning, "Sick and twisted. What kind of man has to force a woman to have sex with him? Like father, like son, I guess!"

"You bitch-"

"Oh save it!" Ronnie snapped, her pale cheeks flushing unnaturally, "You're the bitch! You're the one who couldn't even make a life for himself but had to follow in his no-good father's footsteps!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Indigo shrieked, bringing up all the good memories of her life that she could remember. A gentle smile crossed her features despite the pain and her inevitable fate.

And then a gunshot rang through the room.
XoXoXoXo