Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs and the plot, so you can off your rabid lawyers.

Chapter Five: Face your Fears

As Madison opened the front door and stepped into the front foyer, she was all but tackled into a massive bear hug by her teared up mother. "Where were you?" she sobbed out. "I'm fine mom, nothing happened." she assured her mother. It seemed so alien to be hugging her mother like this, normally they fought constantly. Dave's words came floating across her mind right then 'I know it doesn't seem ilke it, but your mother does love you..' she smiled as she relized this was true. "I'm home now mom.." she whisperd as she hugged her mom back, something she hadn't doen since the fifth grade.

In a massive office, a man sat behind a solid oak desk, staring at the paper in front of him. His son was dead? How? This was impossible. Now who would secure his legacy as the crimelord of Briarwood? Whoever did this was going to pay, along with their entire family. Picking up his phone he dialed a number. "Yes, I need your best fighters and investigators. ASAP. No, I don't care how much this will cost, I assure you I can pay it. No, that is all. Oh, and make sure that they come ready for a war." the man said as he hung up the phone. He had a pretty good idea who had killed his son, and knew better than anyone how dangerous he was when angered. "Dave, I WILL kill you this time..you can count on that.." he said as he stared across the city from his awesome view. Juan Gincarlo had never been so furious in all his life.

Vida was in the crime lab, analysing the semen sample she had found. It wasn't the new bouncer, that was for sure. Luckily for her Xander had all his employees take a DNA test during the hiring process, or she would have squat for a case right now. She sighed as she drew another blank on yet another one of the cities sex offenders. Sure, Briarwood looked peaceful and all, but that was only one side of the spectrum. The crime in this city was insane, as were most of the denizens of the criminal population. "Still searching, captain?" a voice said. It was the cheif. "Yes sir. Still nothing. It wasn't the guy everyone says did it." she said as she massaged her temples. "Keep at it, Captian." he said as he left. Vida was struck by a sudden thought. What if it wasn't some one with a previous offense? With renewed vigor, she typed in a new list of search criteria, and stared at the result. This changed everything. The rapist was Pual, who was already dead. Now the only question was, who killed him?

There was a knock on the front door of the Bly residence. Xander opened the door yawning, not expecting to see the most powerful man in the city standing there. "Mr. Gincarlo, what a pleasure. What can I do for you?" he asked smoothly, while shaking on the inside. This wasn't good. "I want to know where Dave is." he said coldly. "I don't know, he hasn't shown up for work for the past few days." Xander confessed. Gincarlo snorted in disbelief. "You keep records on where he lives, don't you?" he sapt. Xander nodded and motioned for he and his body guard to come in.

As he rooted around in the files, Gincarlo nodded to his gurad, who snuck up behind Xander and hit him across the back of the neck with a police baton. Xander fell into a crumpled heep without a sound. Gincarlo grabbed the files and left, leaving his gurad to finish Xander off. As he was about to deal the finishing blow, an arrow whizzed throuigh the air and buried itself in the guard's chest, killing him instantly. Chip came down the stairs, looking furious. Nick came back in, panting, carrying the files. As the pair helped Xander to his feet, Nick noticed that there were two files missing: Dave's and Madison's. "Xander what all is in these files?" Chip asked as he stowed his crossbow. "Everything.." he whispered. "Bring me the phone. I have to let them know.." he said through the pain in his neck.

At Rocca manor, Madison and her mother were having a talk. About what, you ask? Anything. Everything that they had missed in each other's lives up to this point. Their conversation was cut short by the phone ringing. Madison answered it, and her smile quickly turned to a look of sheer terror. She slammed the reciever down and ran back into the den. "Mom, where do you keep dad's old guns?" she asked frantically. "What? Why?" her mom asked, fearing the worst. "There are men coming here to kill us." she said as she began to tear the place apart looking. Her mom laid a hand on her shoulder, and handed her a .32 caliber pistol and about five clips of ammo. "Mom..?" she asked hesitantly as her mom pulled out a tactical twelve guage. "If thy're going to kill us, we're taking them with us.." her mom said as the doors burst open. Madison opened fire, taking down a guy as soon as he entered. Madison's mom fired, and took donw two more. As the two women fought for their lives, Gincarlo loaded his weapon outside, and prepared to fire. It was an M203 grenade luancher. The men standing outside with him covered their ears as he aimed, and fired, destroying almost everything in the room. "Now we go to kill him.." he said silkily.

Inside, Madison groaned and pushed some debris off of her. To her horror and disgust, the "debris" was a human torso. No arms, no legs, just the head and the chest. Then she saw a sight that made her want to cry until judgement day. There, on the floor, with a chunk of wood through her heart, was her mother. She was dead. The phone, which had miraculously surivied, rang. Picking it up, she heard the sound of maniacal laughter before the line wnet dead. She pulled out the pistol her mom had gave her, and shot it. With that, she limped out of the room, mostly because of the shrapnel in her left leg.

At the police station, Vida was about to crack the case, when the alarm went off. "What happened?" she yelled when she saw the news. Her house was on fire. Her mom was dead. Madison was nowhere to be found. "I'm going to investigate." she yelled over her shoulder at the cheif, befor e he had a chance to object. Arriving on the scene, she immediatly saw it wasn't an accident. Lying on the ground was the weapon used to do the deed: an M203 grenade luancher.

Out at Dave's house, they had gotten the same phone call, and were preparing for war. They had gone as far as setting up a few claymore mines. Anthony sat in the small tower on the roof with his long range weapons at his side, with Justin sitting next to him, manning the .50 calibur machine gun. Jason had left with the guests and Trini, after Ian claiming "this wasn't their fight". The said shaolin was perched in a tree watching the road. Derak was far back, in charge of the explosive batteries and the distribution of ammo. Dave stood in the middle of the road, as if daring some one to attack his home. Hearing a twig snap, Ian let out a bird-like whistle, alerting the others. Anthony peered throung his scope, and fired. The people out in the woods never knew what hit them as the Big 5 utterly destroyed them before they even invaded the perimitter.

Dave looked at all the bodies lying on the ground. "Come on, we gotta bury em." He said with a sigh. Ashlee emerged from the same area the thugs had been in, without a scratch on her. "I really wish you guys would learn to be more subtle." she said as they began to dig. "Why? You never are." Dave grunted as he heaved a body into a grave. They might've been their enemies, but that didn't mean they didn't desreve a proper burial. Dave stopped suddenly. "She's in danger.." he whispered to himself. "Ian, come with me, the rest of you, go join the others." he ordered. They didn't have to ask why, mostly because they already knew why he was doing this.

Meanwhile, back in Briarwood, Vida was racing to find her sister before whoever destroyed the mansion did. As she pulled into the parking lot of a convient store, she saw some one had another guy pinned against the wall. She was about to interfere when she heard part of the conversation. "Where? Where did he take her?" ione growled. The one pinned against the wall screamed in pain as he was slammed against the wall. "W-wolf plaza.." he managed to choke out weakly. The guy dropped him and threw a small pellet on the ground, which exploded into a huge cloud of smoke.

Ian stared at Dave. "Did you have to use a smoke pellet?" he asked as they leaped from building to building, thanking their stars that they had had intense Ninja training. Dave made a very digusting noise and ignored Ian, focusing on the energy around him. He had learned the hard way that you had to have absolute focus on your chakra, or you'd get hurt really bad. Ian didn't seem to have that problem. All his friends were better than him at something, and that was what drove him to be better.

Vida couldn't belive it; the two bouncers Xander had hired, were both pyschics of massive mental power. Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, mind reading, you name it, they could do it. What really sparked her intrest was that they both had ninja training from a young age, which explained their mastery of the martial arts. So that was how they were able to do some of the stuff they did.

Gincarlo sat behind his desk again, except this time his chair was turned toward the window. There was a flash of lightning in the distance, accompanied by a crash of thunder. Then, the rain began to fall like it was shot out of an M16A2 rifle, pounding on the windows with abandon. During another flash of lightning, he could've sworn he saw tow figures actually sticking to the sides of buildings before leaping to another. He stiffened. They were on their way here. Spinning his chaor around, he assembled the gurads on every floor. This time, he would be ready. This time, he would win. This time...Dave would die.

The pair stopped on the roof across from Gincarlo's building. "So, how do you wanna go in?" Ian asked. Dave closed his eyes and used his pyschic power of energy scan. "There." he said, pointing to a window that led to a cubicle filled room. "Why there?" Ian asked. "Because, the walls will give us some cover untilwe can get the guards out of the way. Besides, I always wanted to do this." he finished with a feral grin. Ian returned it. It was time for them tio show why they were called the most extreme men in freestyle sports entertainment. And those guards were gonna gets a front row seat, with a free ass kicking, on the house.

Up in Gincarlo's office, Madison was brought in, her left leg bleeding profusely. With a wave of his hand, Gincarlo used one of his own pyschic powers and healed it. "What?" she said as he slapped her across the face. "So your the whore that killed my son, eh?" he sneered as he punched her in the stomach, then kicked the side of her face, sneding her sprawling across the floor. "Get up. It's much more fun if you fight back.." he hissed like Paul had before he raped her. Madison got up and luanched herself into an impressive display of acrobatics, landing weak but quick hits on Gincarlo every five seconds. With one swift side kick, he knocked her out of the air and into a bookshelf, destroying it and scattering books everywhere. "Is that the best you can do?" he scoffed as he ducked a roundhouse kick, and countered with a low kick to the back of her kneecap, forcing her to a knee, and giving him the oppurtuinity to follow up.

Dave took a deep breath, and took a running leap off of the building, crashing through the window. The guards immediatly turned their weapons on him and fired as Ian soared throguh the hole in a soaring back kick, landing right in the thick of the gunfire. With amazing speed and agility he and Dave executed devastating tag team moves, destroying the environment around them. After five minutes of it, they were done. "That was too easy, aye?" Dave said as he kicked one to make sure he stayed down this time. "Nah, you're just in the zone." Ian replied as they opened the office door, only to have Madison come flying out. Dave jumped and caught her, and set her down. Turning toward the office, he spotted Gincarlo. "You son of a bitch..fighting girls now are we? What, has your skill deteriorated so muuch that you won't face me alone?" he spat as Ian looked at her wounds.

"As if you would stand a chance, Dragon." he sneered. Dave growled and charged. The two began throwing punches and kicks at the same time, speed and angle, making thier fists and feet collide with small thuds. Dave used a spinning back kick to knock Gincarlo out the window, and followed, the two battling as they fell. Madison tried to sit up, only to have Ian push her back down. "Don't worry, they'll be back." he promised. Then he noticed she was clutching a pistol, shaking violently. He smiled grimly. He hoped for Gincarlo's sake that Dave killed him, because if he didn't, Madison probably would.

As the two fell, they both flew away from each other and kicked off of a building, crossing in midair, and landing on oppisite roof tops. It was as if they were re-enacting the climactic fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith from The Matrix: Revolutions. Dave stared across the gap at his long time arch-enemy, with a look of such hatred that the devil himself would've been scared. Gincarlo returned the look, and they both leaped at each other again.

Inside the building, Ian watched in fascination. He had never seen his bro fight like this. By now he would be falling and have to break off his assualt. "How are they doing that?" Madison asked. "Ninjitsu." Ian responded, watching intently. This was one hell of a figth, and would make an awesome memory sphere when they got home. Dave and Gincarlo both came crashing through another window, still fighting. Madison saw a flash of metal in Gincarlo's hand, and the next thing they knew, Dave had a knife sticking out of his chest. Gincarlo laughed, and prepared to kill him. There was a crash of thunder, followed by another sound: a gunshot. Gincarlo looked down at his torso, to see blood flowing over his shirt like a rose in full bloom. He then looked at Madison with a look of shock, and stumbled backwards, then fell out the window.

The doors to the elevator slid open, and the S.W.A.T team flooded in, led by Vida. "Madison, are you okay?" she yelled when she saw her sister. Madison nodded, then pointed at Dave, who was slumped against the wall, coughing blood. "Get me a med unit up here, stat!" Vida yelled into her radio. "Captain, we found the owner of the building." an officer said over her radio. "Where is he?" she asked. "Laying in a crater at the bottom, dead." the voice said. Vida looked at the three people who were in the office. "Madison, I want the truth. Who killed him." she said slowly. "I did." they heard Dave's ragged voice say. "Then you're under arrest." she said. "He's lying, I did!" Madison burst out. Vida stared at her. "And I stabbed Paul!" she yelled. "Madison, settle down. You don't know what you're saying." Vida said, in an attempt to diffuse the situation. She looked at the S.W.A.T. team. "Go secure the rest of the building, I'll handle here." she said.

When she turned around, she saw only Madison sitting there. "Where did they go, Madsion?" she said. "They left." she said as she cried silently. "I know you really killed them, okay? There's a reason he tried to convince me otherwise: prison changes people. Take a look at yourself now, then look back at who youm were before this whole thing started. An ordeal like this is nothing compared to what prison will do to you. You understand?" she asked as she helped her up. Madison nodded, and looked out the window. Vida looked too, and there were was a flash of black colored light. Madison pulled out a light blue stone, and held it up, making it flash as well. "Madison, what was that?" Vida whispered. "That was how they say good bye." she said softly as she limped toward the elevator, not knowing what the future held. But she did know this: she was ready for it.

Years later, Madison would stop to think about that time in her life, when she had danced. It seemed so long ago, and now she was a top director in Hollywood, and pychologist. There was a knock on her door. "Come in." she said without looking up. "Miss Rocca, there's someone here to see you." her secratary said. "Who is it?" she asked. "A man named Ian." the secratary said, looking bewildered. Madsion's head snapped up. "Send him in." she said shakily. Ian walked in, with a look of anguish on his face. "Dave is dead." he said as soon as the door closed. Madison dropped her pen. "When?" she asked, barely restarining herself from crying like a baby. "This morning, in a car accident. Him and Trini were driving, and they got hit by a drunk driver." he said as he shook uncontrolably. "The irony. Dave could take a fatl weapon blow, yet he couldn't survive a drunk driver. Trini escaped unscathed." he said as he laghed/cried. "The funeral is tommorow." he said as he stood. Madsion put her head in her hands.

The next day, a small group stood around the casket as it was lowered into the ground as Justin played a funeral dierge on his bagpipes. As he stopped, Ian stepped forward to give his speech. "Dave was a proud person, who never backed down from anything. He was..a good friend, and a great ally. He will be missed..." Ian said as he broke down and starte to cry. He nodded to Anthony, who raised a rifle to their air, and fired. As the group left, Trini pulled Madison aside. "He wanted me to tell you that he loved you, Madison. That's why we were coming here." Trini said as tears trialed down her cheeks. Madison felt something brushing against he leg. It was Xanta. "He wants to go with you." Trini said quietly. Madison nodded. As the group walked away from the cemetary, a shining white being rose from the grave. It was Dave. He smiled. "Live free, and die well, my love." he whispered to Madison's retreating form as he rose to the skies.

And so it ends...

REVIEW!