No forward today gang, let's just get right to the show...
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Warrick closed his eyes, preparing for his death. Something cold and hard touched Warrick's left hand as Coy brought his sword down towards his neck. Reflexively, his hand closed around the metal. It was the hilt of a sword! A rush of hope filled Warrick as he grasped the hilt. He could tell by the feel that it wasn't his sword, but at this point, he didn't care. It was a sword and it was in his hand!
Coy was on top of him, his sword was mere inches from Warrick's neck when Warrick reached up with his right hand to stop the blade. The sharp edge sliced into his hand. Warrick could feel the bones and cartilage ripping apart, but he was determined to ward off the attack.
Without another thought about his mangled hand, Warrick swung his left hand up. The newfound sword found immediate purchase in the exposed neck of his enemy. Coy gave a momentary look of extreme shock on his face before his head left his body. The now headless body collapsed onto Warrick, a heavy, dead weight.
Warrick dropped both swords and used his left hand to push the corpse off him. He drew himself up to his knees, hugging the remains of his right hand up against himself.
"Warrick!" Sara screamed, breaking free of Nick. The two CSI's clambered down the catwalk stairs towards him.
"No!" Warrick bellowed. "Stay back!" The warning got out of his mouth just in time. A strange white-blue lightning bolt streaked out of Coy's body and hit Warrick with such velocity that it sent him sprawling backward. An eerie wind blew swirling around Warrick like a whirlwind. His body was contorting at a weird angle as bolt after bolt struck him. Warrick screamed in agony as he was twisted like a pretzel by the blue bolts.
"Warrick!" Sara cried out, attempting to get to him. Once again, Nick grabbed her, holding her back as she attempted to get closer to their friend. He didn't know what was happening, but he was afraid that Sara would get hurt by this strange storm that seemed to focus only on Warrick. His first thought was to go to his friend also, but he had a strange feeling there was nothing he could do to help him.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the storm dissipated. Warrick collapsed into a lifeless heap on the ground, exhausted and spent. Seeing that the danger had passed, Nick released his hold on Sara so they both could race to Warrick's side.
"Warrick? Bro?" Nick cooed, unsure of what he had just seen. He didn't know if his friend was alive, dead or a little of both. Warrick wasn't moving but he was breathing heavily, almost as if he were about to hyperventilate. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Was Warrick's grunt as he tried to sit up. He was so weak that he couldn't until Nick took his arm and helped him to rise.
"What the hell was that?" Nick had to ask.
"That…..my friend…"Warrick held up his right hand, relieved to see that it was back in one piece. "was the Quickening."
"Quickening?" Nick repeated in shock. That was not what he had imagined when it had been mentioned before. "It looked painful."
"Hurts like hell," Warrick snickered weakly. "And leaves you weak. It leaves you at your most vulnerable."
Sara picked up the bloody sword that Warrick had dropped. She was trembling as shock overtook her body. Her mind was a jumble of the visions she had just witnessed.
"Thanks for the sword." Warrick sighed, relaxing against Nick's support. "You certainly saved my butt….or my head."
"We didn't give it to you." Nick admitted. "I brought it, but I dropped it. We were up on the catwalk….we saw you fall. He was on you. He was going to kill you and then, all of a sudden, you came up with the sword….."
"Someone put the sword in my hand." Warrick sat up as he frowned into the shadows that had supplied the weapon. He squinted, realizing that someone was there. "OH." Warrick stated as the shock registered. "You."
Nick and Sara turned to look into the mysterious shadows. They were both curious to see who had just saved Warrick's life. Neither could see anyone there. Nick was beginning to think that Warrick was hallucinating
"Watchers are not supposed to interfere." Warrick continued to speak to the shadows. "I'm guessing that handing me a sword was interference."
"I wasn't your Watcher when I handed you the sword." Archie stepped forward into the light. "I was your friend when I did that. Watcher's watch, but friends give help."
Green eyes locked with brown ones as they studied one another. Silence surrounded them until Nick could stand it no longer. "This big oaf may be too chicken-shit to say it, but I'm not. Thank you, Archie."
Archie found himself blushing with embarrassment at the Texan's drawl. "Well…..let's just keep it between us." He nodded before blending back into the murkiness of light.
"Hey Archie!" Warrick called him back. He waited until the Asian stepped back into sight before continuing. "For future reference, I'm right-handed. Next time, put the sword in my right hand."
Archie gave a relieved smile and disappeared back into the darkness.
"Nick, can you help me up? I need to find my sword." Warrick grimaced as he moved. His attention suddenly jerked to the left, his entire being focused on a far off corner. "Ah, shit."
"What?" Nick looked, but he neither saw nor heard anything.
Without answering, Warrick forced himself to his feet. He grabbed the sword out of Sara's hands. Although he was obviously weak, he placed himself between his friends and whatever danger seemed to be approaching.
"Are you missing something Brown?" A mocking, British accented voice called out. "Is this the way MacLeod taught you to treat such a fine piece of steel?" Recognizing the voice, Warrick slumped in relief as Adam stepped forward into sight. Duncan followed a step behind him. Had Nick not been there to brace him, Warrick would have hit the floor as the tension left him. Adam was casually swinging Warrick's sword as they approached.
"Someone planning on telling me what the heck just happened?" Sara demanded, having come out of her shock-induced stupor. She was startled as all eyes landed on her. She aimed all her irritation on Adam, whom she still didn't like after the fright he had given her. The men exchanged looks. No one seemed to know what to tell her.
"Since she saw the Quickening, I suggest we tell her the truth." Richie suddenly called out from the catwalk above. "Believe me, I know this from experience. This whole immortality thing is a lot easier to believe if you've seen the whole beheading thing."
"Warrick?" Sara turned to her friend, hoping she could get a clear answer from him.
Warrick looked around at his fellow Immortals and shrugged before agreeing. "Knowing Sara, it would be easier to tell the truth then to try to come up with a lie."
"Besides, if she knows about this, then I don't have to be dead anymore." Greg called out, coming up behind Sara. Sara spun around, unable to believe her ears. Shocked, she reached out and touched Greg. His flesh was warm and solid. He felt real. Still, she doubted what she saw; she turned back to the other men who were watching her with interest.
The fact that no one else was surprised to see the apparition of Greg Sanders appear irritated Sara. Doubling her ire was the fact that they all seemed concerned about her reaction. "What? Stop staring at me! Do you honestly think I'm going to faint or something?"
"She'll be fine guys." Nick grinned. Being the kind of guy he was, Nick saw her anger for what it really was. Sara was using anger as a way of masking the hurt and confusion she felt. "She's good at keeping secrets."
Richie jumped down to the ground level with ease. Sara frowned; normally someone would break a leg jumping that far. Richie simply shook his left leg a little bit and gave her his most charming smile. Sara quirked her mouth, the closest she could get to a smile at the time being. She looked back to Warrick, hoping for some sort of explanation. He seemed to be the ringleader of this mess, so he should be the one to unravel the puzzle.
"Yeah, she kept the secret of my hideout for a long time. She can keep this one too." Warrick nodded before turning to Sara. "I promise, I'll explain it all to the best of my ability after a bit. Right now, we need to focus on a little clean up."
"Clean up?" Nick looked around. The place didn't look much different than it had when they came in. "Why?"
"You think Grissom will accept a headless body without question? We can't just leave it here if we all want to keep our jobs. Remember, it's our job to find out who did the crime."
"We can't hide it, too big a chance that it'll be found later on." Nick countered looking over at the body. Bodies never stayed hidden. They always seemed to turn up, no matter where they were.
"Besides, Grissom would never be happy with this case unsolved." Greg added, looking sick at the thought. "It's going to be rough enough getting him to forgive us for running out on him during all this."
"Explosions are always good." Adam suggested. "Burns the evidence. You guys all have the same story about what happened, they find ashes of the culprit and case is closed."
"And just how do we do that?" Warrick scoffed, but he looked intrigued by the idea. If they could at least burn the body and the fight area, it might slow Grissom down.
"There's bound to be something flammable around here. Factories are always good for explosive substances." Adam surmised, looking around. "Let's just find it and with a shot from the rifle, we make it go boom."
"Well, I guess we better get to finding something." Duncan agreed but paused. "This is your court Warrick. Do you have a better plan?"
"No, just so long as it satisfies Gil Grissom." Warrick explained with a shrug. He didn't have much hope for it working, but he was willing to try. "It's difficult to put one over on him."
"Yeah, we met him. We couldn't even get him to believe MacLeod had ever killed a man." Adam smirked as he received a deadly glare from Duncan.
"You'll have to share that story with the rest of the class later." Nick sniggered, enjoying the look on Duncan's face. He was looking forward to hearing that Grissom had proven Duncan was not so perfect after all. Although he had grown to trust the man, he had an odd tendency to dislike him. In any other person he would say the cause was jealousy, but not him. There was no reason for him to be jealous of this man's friendship with Warrick. Nick knew that he and Warrick were tight. They were so tight, the considered themselves brothers. No, it couldn't be jealousy.
"Yeah, let's focus on getting this mess cleaned up, before Grissom finds some way to locate us." Warrick nodded, growing worried. The other Immortals wandered off in search of explosives, leaving Warrick with his co-workers.
"Now that I'm not dead anymore, I'd like to go check on Catherine." Greg agreed, leaving the group to help the search.
"Where is Cath?" Warrick called after him, looking concerned.
"Joe took her and the boy to the hospital." Richie answered from the far end of the room. "Greg told him to call your Grissom."
"That wasn't too smart, Greg." Nick frowned. "He and Brass will have Joe rotting in a jail cell by now."
"It was that or have Catherine at the hospital by herself. I couldn't go; I was dead, if you don't remember." Greg defended himself.
"Let's just get this place blown up, and then we will worry about Joe, Cath and Grissom." Warrick cut in.
"Aha!" Adam cried out, having found exactly what he was looking for. Several tanks that wore marked flammable were lined up along one wall. Thumping on the tanks, he could hear that one was still halfway full. "I found it."
"Nick, get Sara out of here." Warrick barked, frowning as something caught his eye. He hurried over to his friend, glaring at a spot on Nick's shirt that was sticking out from under his vest. He fingered the material, growing angrier. "Damn it Nick! You're bleeding!"
"It's just my cut. It started bleeding again." Nick shrugged, having forgotten all about it in the excitement. Now that Warrick reminded him of it, it began to ache again.
"Cut? Shit, Nick, that was more than a cut!" Warrick snarled, his protectiveness flaring once again. Nick grinned back, understanding it a little more than he used to. "Sara, get him out of here and get him to the hospital before he lets himself bleed to death!"
"Aye-aye, Captain!" Nick gave a mock salute before allowing Sara to drag him away. He didn't protest too much, for she seemed to enjoy being in control once again. As they left, he could hear Warrick rambling on about cuts and bleeding. It made him smile. It was good to have the old Warrick back.
A/N: You didn't really think I would kill Warrick, did you? If so, You really don't know me. I would never really kill my main guy... One more chapter left. Now that the bad guy is dead the team needs to deal with Grissom and have a little closure.
Off Topic: Anyone watch the 4400? I'm seriously messing around with the idea of a 4400/CSI crossover. If I do, I'll need a 4400 fan as a beta...
