WOW, I can't believe how long it has taken me to update this story. This must be some kind of record—90 of this story has been done for well over a year and yet I still just decided not to post any more… Either I really don't have faith in my ability to finish a fic, or my motivation to write stories for a cancelled TV show just isn't there like I thought it was…

In any case, I am very sorry for whatever readers I may have had for this fic. Recent occurrences have motivated me to finally finish it, but I'll bet any of you out there who read it two years ago probably thought you'd never hear anything from me again.

Well, I'm still here! And here's the third chapter! I plan to update steadily until it's finished this time, I PROMISE! -Kara

Title: Visionary

By: Kara

Begun: November 22, 2004

Finished: Almost finished!

Rating: PG-13

Summary: After a businessman dies suddenly and unexpectedly, supposedly from committing suicide, not long after contacting Gabriel about taking an artifact, the case is handed to Sara. While Sara probes the victim's death, Jake and Danny suspect Gabriel's involvement in the crime. When Gabriel begins to exhibit some of the same symptoms the victim experienced before his death, Sara investigates, hoping to save her young friend's life before he meets the same end as his predecessor, but Nottingham's unsuspected offered aid causes her to wonder whether Irons is involved in the situation.

Chapter Three - Heroics

"OK, Gabriel, you're gonna have to run that by me again."

"You need—Look, are you alone?"

"I'm with Danny. We're getting information on a suspect in Torpe's case." Danny looked at her imploringly, but Sara just turned so she wasn't facing him anymore.

"You gotta lose him," Gabriel said quickly,

"I have to—what? No, Gabriel, I can't—"

"This is something you're probably gonna need the Witchblade for, assuming you ever get there, so you're gonna have to trust me on this one when I say go alone."

"Alright, alright I get it, Gabriel. I'll be there as fast as I can. Hold on a minute," Sara covered the mouthpiece with her hand and faced Danny with a cringe. "I need to borrow the car."

"What's going on, Pez? What do you need my car for?"

"It's Gabriel—he needs my help with something… right now."

"Well, can't it wait until I get the number from Father Merrick? He should be back in just a few minutes."

"Sorry, but—no, it can't wait. If I'm gonna—" Sara sighed. "I gotta go now."

"And you can't tell me why?" Danny leveled with her.

Sara wanted to blurt it all out to him, like every other time she'd wanted to blurt the truth out to her partner, but the urgency in Gabriel's voice told her now was not the time for big explanations, assuming there ever was a decent time. "No, Danny. I can't tell you."

This time Danny sighed, but he reached into his pocket nonetheless and pulled out his keys. "Fine. But I'm only doing this because I trust you completely, you know that, right?"

"Yes, yes I do, and I trust you too Danny, there's just some things… that I can't tell you yet." Sara took the keys and started for the door. "Just get the number for Reynolds, and maybe see if you can get any more information about Torpe out of Father Merrick. He seems to trust you more than he trusts me anyway. I'll come back and pick you up just as soon as I'm finished—"

"Just go." Danny waved at her.

"Thank you Danny!" Sara turned her back and ran for the vehicle, raising the phone back to her ear. "Gabriel? You there?"

"Yeah, you got me, you alone now?"

"Yes, and Gabriel, you owe me one, big time."

"I know, I know. OK, where am I going?"

"The direction of that Italian restaurant on Parker Avenue—you know where that is?"

Sara answered in the affirmative. "I'm about five minutes away. Now what am I gonna find there, Gabriel?"

"A woman—a blonde woman in her forties and a younger man. The woman's going to be mugged by the man, and he's gonna pull a knife on her. He's going to stab her in an alley and kill her unless someone stops it."

"Should I ask how you know all this anyway?"

"You could, but I don't really know myself. I just know that this is going to happen, and I'm supposed to stop it somehow. You're the first person I thought of who could help. I'll explain it all to you later, you've just got help right now."

"Alright, I'll hold you to that." Sara stepped on the gas to avoid a yellow light and turned the corner sharply. "I'm almost there, is there anything else you can tell me?"

Gabriel massaged his temple. "Um, the woman is wearing khakis and a purple blouse… the guy had on… I think blue jeans a black t-shirt. I hope that helps."

"I hope so too. I'll call you back later, okay?" Sara hung up and put the phone back into her pocket as the restaurant Gabriel had mentioned came into view. She thanked whatever God was up there that she found a parking space nearby and pulled into it, getting out quickly.

She started running along the pavement, glancing at the passersby, looking for the alley Gabriel might have been talking about, and trying to ignore the immense confusion at the promptness of his instructions. Worry about that later, Sara told herself. Right now, you've got to worry about the victim…

Sara stopped running when she reached the intersection and glanced around wildly. She was about to call Gabriel back and ask him if he could be more specific, but at that moment she saw a man with blue jeans and a black t-shirt walking down the street, looking around warily.

She followed his vision ahead and saw the blonde woman Gabriel must have been referring to walking toward him from another direction. She trailed him as the man turned a corner into a less-populated alley and pushed himself against a wall. He was waiting for her, Sara realized, and she hurried her pace.

If she didn't reach them in time…

The woman checked her watch and turned the corner, in a hurry. She ran into the younger man, and he grabbed her roughly. She struggled, trying to get away. "Give me your purse, lady," he demanded, gripping her arm, tightly. He grabbed for her purse with one hand, reaching for something in his pocket with the other…

But before he could raise the knife, Sara kicked her leg up into his side and knocked him off balance. He stumbled, releasing the woman for a moment, but she was too terrified to run. He reached for the knife again and pulled it, facing Sara, the woman in between them.

"Who the fuck are you?" he demanded, scowling.

"The Tooth Fairy, who do you think?" Sara snarled. She looked at the woman. "Get out of here," she told her.

The woman paused, frightened. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Just trust me. Get the hell out of here. Call the police."

She looked around warily one more moment before running past Sara back into the open. Sara could hear her calling for the cops, and the mugger glared at her.

"That was a wrong move," he told her angrily and lunged. Sara swung her first around at the same time and watched as it transformed into the gauntlet. The metal glove connected with the mugger's head with an ominous thud and he went careening into the brick wall. He slumped to the ground, out could, and the gauntlet retracted. Sara stepped back, impressed, and kicked the knife away from his limp hand, in case he woke up. Several moments later, a pair of cops came around the corner, accompanied by the blonde woman and looked at the mugger then at Sara, impressed.

"How did you—" the woman began, but stopped. "Thanks."

"Any time. I've, uh—I've got to go now." Before the police officers could stop her to ask for her account of the incident, Sara had jogged back to the car. She turned the key in the ignition and muttered to herself, "Gabriel, you'd better have a really good explanation for this."

o-o-o-o

Sara sat at the table, head cocked slightly to the left, staring at the artifact before her on the table with intense curiosity. Behind her, leaning against the wall, Gabriel stood, arms folded.

"So you think Raleigh's Box had something to do with the vision?" She said, finally, turning the artifact carefully, as if it might explode. After Gabriel's description of how it had affected him, she didn't want to take any chances. She already had one supernatural curse.

"I'm positive it did. I don't know… why, or what I'm supposed to do now, or what affect I've had on the future… now that I've changed it, somehow… but I'm pretty sure the Box wanted me to save that woman."

"The Box wanted you to save a person's life?" Sara looked at the small thing again, trying to contain her skepticism. "How do ya figure?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Like I said… I have no idea."

"Has it done anything else… since the first time?"

"No, I haven't had any more visions. It could just be a one-time thing. I just don't understand the connection. I mean, what does this have to do with the woman who got mugged? What does it have to do with Robert Torpe, for that matter?" Gabriel paced the kitchen, rubbing his temple.

"You feeling okay?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, I've just got a headache now."

"Understandable." Sara stood up from the chair. "I can take the Box back with me if you want."

"No." Gabriel stopped her. "I haven't had a chance to finish studying it yet. It all happened pretty quickly when I opened the Box. Besides, it's safer here. If you take it back, someone else might open it, and the same thing might happen to them. I think it's better off in our hands until we figure out what this thing does."

"And what connection it has to Robert Torpe's death," Sara concluded. "Good point. Well, I've got to get going."

"You probably owe Danny a pretty big explanation," Gabriel said apologetically.

"Yeah, I—Oh shit, Danny!" Sara's eyes got wide. "I left him at the church!" She glanced at Gabriel's wall clock. "It's been like an hour! He's gonna be real pissed." She started for the door. "I've got to go. If anything more happens with the Box, call me immediately, OK?"

"You got it. I'll see what else I can figure—ugh—" Gabriel let out a strangled cry, digging the heels of his palms into his temple. Sara watched him grimace then start to collapse, but she caught him before he slid to the ground, gently guiding him into a sitting position.

Two little children—around 7 and 8—play with a ball on the front lawn of a house… A white van, sans license plates, pulls up to the curb and the door slides open. The kids look up fearfully, the ball falls to the ground unheeded.

Three men in ski masks hop out of the van and grab the kids before they can run. The children are abducted and the doors slide shut. It all happens in less than a minute. A distraught woman comes running out of the house screaming at the receding van, but her words are drowned out by the screech of the car as it disappears from sight…

"What? What is it?" Sara's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

Gabriel put his head between his legs, trying to regain his composure. "I just had another vision," he gasped finally.

Sara sighed, sitting back on her haunches. "So, not a one-time thing then, huh?"

Gabriel looked up at her. "Think we can make a pit stop on the way to the church?"

o-o-o-o

Sara looked out the window of the vehicle at the large, white paneled house. "You sure this is the place?"

"Yes," Gabriel answered her. "This is the house in my vision. I thought the woman looked familiar. Her name is Victoria Frank. She's the head lawyer in charge of—"

"The ongoing case against Rogan Fletcher—the mobster up for four accounts of first-degree murder. Yeah, I know who she is."

"I thought you might. Anyway, I remember seeing some of the case on TV the other day and I thought the woman in my vision looked familiar. Now that we're here, I'm sure this is the place." Gabriel and Sara looked out the window and saw two kids—a girl and a boy—playing on the front lawn. "That must be them," Gabriel said in awe.

"Well, then it should be happening soon, right?" Even as she said it, a white van turned the corner and barreled past where they were parked several houses down from the Frank residence. "Jesus, Gabriel, do you think your visions could allow us a little more time?" Sara got out of the car and pulled her gun, Gabriel following in hot pursuit.

"Kids! Hey, you kids! Get out of there!" She waved her arms frantically at the kids, who looked up at her curiously. "Go inside! GO!"

When the van stopped at the curb, both the kids took flight, running up the long lawn to their house. The three men in the van wasted no time chasing after them, but when they saw Sara, they stopped.

"Freeze! NYPD—you're under arrest!"

None of the men moved.

"I said you're under arrest! Put your hands in the air."

One of the men raised his hands in the air tentatively, but while Sara was distracted, another reached for a handgun at his side. Before she knew what was happening, she was being shot at. The Witchblade expertly blocked the first three bullets, but when a second would-be-kidnapper pulled a gun, she knew she was outnumbered. She jumped behind the nearest vehicle, pushing a shocked Gabriel along with her.

"Get down!" She screamed at him.

"What the hell is going on! There weren't any guns in the vision." Gabriel leaned against the trunk of the car heavily.

"Well your powers that be must have conveniently left that part out, didn't they?" Sara looked over the car quickly to check the status. "Shit. One of them's going after the kids in the house. Gabriel, if you get to the car, do you think you can radio for backup?"

"I—I think I can try to figure out how to do that." Gabriel shrugged wildly.

"You're gonna have to. Alright, go when I say so, OK? I'm gonna put down some cover for you."

"Okay."

Taking a deep breath, Sara launched from behind the car and started firing with one hand, blocking bullets with the other. "Go!" she shouted to Gabriel, who instantly ducked from behind the car and made a mad dash for Danny's vehicle.

Sara continued firing, and one of her bullets found a mark, striking a gunman in the gut. The other ducked behind a van. Sara checked on Gabriel quickly, seeing that he'd quickly gotten a hang of the radio. If she could hold out long enough for the police to arrive, they'd be okay, but she was quickly running out of bullets.

"Who are you!" The kidnapper behind the van shouted, exasperated.

"I'm getting that a lot today. I'm starting to think I should pass out business cards or something," Sara shouted back.

"How are you blocking our bullets like that?"

"It's a secret," Sara rolled her eyes and winced as another few rounds pinged off the side of the car she was hiding behind.

"You're not gonna stop all of us!"

"I've already stopped one of you!"

Another round of bullets hailed her way, but this time from the direction of the house. Sara shifted her position behind the van when she saw the third kidnapper running from the house… with the little girl in his arms.

"Damn it!" she cursed, thinking quickly. Unable to come up with anything better, she shot out the front tires of the kidnappers' van. She heard the one behind it curse loudly and return fire. Peeking over the roof of the car, Sara saw Victoria Frank herself emerging from the house, screaming at the kidnappers. Using the distraction to her advantage, Sara launched from behind the car and around to the other side, but not before she felt a stinging sensation in her left arm. Ignoring the explosion of pain, Sara appeared behind the first kidnapper, easily disarming him and incapacitating him with a kick to the head. The second kidnapper was inside the van, attempting to shoot at the mother, who had ducked behind her porch.

Finally relinquishing control of the situation, the remaining kidnapper closed the van door and pushed the kid into the back seat, climbing into the driver's seat himself—only to be stunned by Sara's crushing blow as the Witchblade transformed into gauntlet-form and smashed through the driver's side window. She raised her gun to his temple. "Drop your weapon," she demanded, "And get out of the car."

The kidnapper did as he was told, just as the sirens in the distance got louder and several cop cars appeared on the street. The cops took over for Sara and Gabriel rushed up to meet them as the little girl in the van had a tearful reunion with her equally distraught mother.

"Sara, you're bleeding!" Gabriel said, concerned, when he saw the blood running down Sara's arm, below the shoulder.

Sara glanced at the injury, wincing. "Yeah, looks like it." She sighed. "Nothing too serious, though I'd better get this checked out."

"Come on, the ambulance is over there."

Victoria Frank intercepted them before they got to the ambulance, giving both Gabriel and Sara a hug. "Thank you, thank you so much for what you've done. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here to—Oh God, thank you."

"You're welcome Mrs. Frank," Sara told her, sitting down to be checked out by a paramedic. She looked at Gabriel critically. "I hope this is your last excursion for the day, kid."

Gabriel ran an errant hand through his hair. "Me too."

TBC…