Upon exiting the elevator, Damon walks down the long hallway toward the suite, reading the numbers off till he reaches his destination. Standing in front of the room, he unlocks the door, pulls his gun from his shoulder holster, and walks inside with his weapon drawn.
A voice comes from the next room. "In here."
He goes into the bedroom. There is a dark figure sitting in a chair, just a silhouette. It's a corner room. The drapes on one side are closed, shadowing the man, but open on the other just enough to let in a slash of moonlight. He steps forward into it.
"Step into the light so I can see who I'm about to shoot."
"You mean who I'm about to shoot," Damon replies as he flicks the light on and finds himself face to face with Marcel.
"I'm Marcel and why do you keep showing up where you're not wanted. Are you some kind of an agent?" he asks, keeping his gun aimed at Damon.
Damon's finger is resting on the trigger, his own gun trained on Marcel. "I know you and Katherine stole something very valuable and now Esther Mikaelson wants you dead. As a matter of fact, she hired me to do the killing..."
"You gonna do this in this five-star hotel? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?"
"I don't know what you are talking about. I just came here to talk to you and Katherine, maybe grab a drink?"
"Now why would I want to do..." his words halt when Katherine bursts into the room with a bottle of champagne.
"You!? What are you doing here?" Katherine asks as she skirts around him to stand beside Marcel.
"It's like this, Katherine, Esther Mikaelson hired me to kill you. Now we can do this your way or we can do it the easy way..."
"You may end one of us but you won't end both of us. You'll be dead before you get a second shot off!" Katherine raises her own gun at him.
"Okay, time out." Damon makes a dramatic showing of him reholstering his gun.
Katherine sets her gun down while Marcel lays his across his lap for easy access.
"What exactly are you proposing?" Katherine fixes her gaze on Damon.
"Are you aware that you have a doppelganger? And she's a dead ringer for you."
"No one can look like me," Katherine chuckles as she fluffs her curls.
"If you have a laptop, look up the Gilbert Foundation. The CEO is Elena Gilbert. She could be your identical twin."
"Okay, I'll play along," she agrees and reaches for her computer.
After she types a few words, Damon watches as her eyes widen.
"How is this possible?" Katherine looks up to Damon as she slides the computer to Marcel.
"I don't know, Katherine but that's the woman I love. I don't want someone to kill her thinking it's you."
"And what do you suggest?" Katherine asks, "You kill me to get the bullseye off of her back."
"I didn't know there were two of you," he pauses when Katherine narrows her eyes at him. "I didn't know. I thought she was playing some kind of a game. After all, one of you is this smart, sexy siren who seems to enjoy the thrill of it all," Damon extends his hand at her, "and the other is a smart, kind, and sexy woman."
"Cut the crap," Marcel interrupts. "Why are you here?"
"Maybe we can work together and put Esther Mikaelson away for a long time?"
"You were hired to kill me!" Katherine spouts indignantly. "Why should we help you with..."
CRASH!
The door lock is shattered by tremendous force and three pistol-wielding men burst into the room.
"Who in the hell do you think you are!?" Katherine spews, shooting daggers at the men.
"Shut up, all of you!" one of the men scolds, waving his pistol. The thugs handcuff Damon and Marcel's hands behind their backs. The leader gestures to one of the men to bring Katherine along. The three of them are dragged roughly out of the room with gun barrels stuck in their ribs.
The door from the corridor bangs open and the thugs hustle Damon, Marcel, and Katherine down the fire escape stairs.
"Who do you work for?" Katherine tries to reason with the men.
The thug leader cuffs her across the head to shut her up. A stairwell door opens and the men rush their captives through the basement labyrinth.
"Why are you doing this?" the words die on Katherine's lips when a pistol muzzle is jammed hard behind her ear.
"Talk again, I will kill you." The leader glares at her.
The group is hustled across a loading dock to a waiting rental van with the back open.
A fourth man slides the van door shut after they're shoved in, jumps behind the wheel, and drives off.
Elena's sitting in Vincent Griffith's office, her foot bouncing nervously against the carpet as she waits for him to return after being called out by his secretary.
She can't help but think about Damon and whether or not he's safe and not lying dead somewhere. Elena doesn't give up easily on the people she cares about or the things she believes in. She's jarred out of her musings when Mr. Griffiths returns to the room. A smile graces her face when she nods at him.
"Have you heard anything?" she asks him as she returns to her chair.
"That's classified, Miss Gilbert. I know that's not what you want to hear but I have a protocol to consider. What I will tell you is that I've known Damon for a long time and he always manages to pluck himself out of the stickiest of situations," Vincent explains, leaning back in his chair, his eyes locked on hers.
Elena feels somewhat irritated causing the small vein on her forehead to fill. "You're not telling me anything," she protests as she stares at him pointedly.
"I do not know where Damon is right now and that is the truth. But trust me when I tell you the guy thinks on his feet. He always has a plan. I cannot tell you any more than that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend with the ambassador.
"I'll go for now but you can trust me when I tell you this isn't the end of this conversation. Have a good day, Mr. Griffith," Elena says and departs his office.
The rental van pulls up to a private hanger. The van doors open and the hostages are brought out. Damon sees a long black limo pulling up behind the van. The driver, an enormous man, hurries to open the passenger door. A slender pair of ankles emerge, followed by the rest of Rebekah Mikaelson, looking devastatingly beautiful but now quite sinister.
"Hello Martin," Rebekah greets Damon with a wry smile.
"I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you again."
"You know her?" Katherine asks Damon.
Rebekah signals with her eyes and the men march her prisoners inside the hangar.
"Who's your little friend?" Rebekah runs her nail along the angle of Damon's chin.
"You know very who I am!" Katherine glares at the blonde.
"I most certainly do, Miss Pierce, and my face will be the last thing you see. Unfortunately, my mother won't let me kill you...yet," Rebekah states, nodding at the men.
They push the three of them into seats and strap them in.
"Would you like something before take-off?" Rebekah smirks deviously her eyes fixing on Damon's as one of her men whips out a pneumatic injector and zaps him on the shoulder.
"You biii-" Damon slides into unconsciousness as the plane engines begin to scream.
A small freighter is tied up to a half-crumbling pier. Next to the pier is a dilapidated corrugated-metal warehouse building, two stories high. There are floodlights on the dock but beyond the black night are the ghostly shapes of trees and shrubbery.
There is a lot of activity. Three trucks are parked by the warehouse, as well as some other vehicles. About thirty men are busy doing various activities. Many of them are carrying AK-74M assault rifles.
The plane lands. The sliding door is opened and the others pull the groggy trio out of the aircraft. Damon, Marcel, and Katherine are now shrouded with hoods.
Niklaus walks up to them and pulls the hoods off.
Damon takes in their surroundings and looks back into Klaus's eyes. Lethal energy flows between them.
Rebekah leads the entourage into the warehouse. Klaus grabs Katherine, jerking her roughly forward. He whips out a knife and inserts the point under her jaw, forcing her head back and drawing blood.
"Do you know why you have been brought here?"
Katherine sighs, "Is this how you treat all of your guests?"
Klaus chuckles. "Only you, my dear."
"Release her and I'll cooperate," Damon steps forward.
"Always chivalrous, Mr. de Porres," Klaus smirks as he lowers the knife from her jaw. He turns away from her like she ceases to exist and yells at his men.
"Why would you do that?" Katherine asks perplexed as her eyes dart from Damon to Marcel.
"What can I say? I'm a saint."
Katherine looks at him for a long time. She moves closer, letting it sink in. Then she hauls off and slugs him right in the jaw so hard it almost knocks him down.
"You bastard! You lying son of a bitch! This is all a game to you!"
Rebekah looks at the three of them and laughs, directing it at Katherine. "So the spider pulled one over on you?"
Katherine shoots her a venomous look. "Someday, Rebekah..."
"I don't think you're in any position to make threats!" The blonde nods at her men who nudge them, guns raised and pressing against their skulls into a filthy, crumbling cinderblock building.
A few bare light bulbs have bugs zipping around them. There's no glass in the windows. Damon, Katherine, and Marcel are shoved inside. Rebekah follows them into the bleak room. Her guards shackle them to steel chairs with handcuffs.
A man enters the room carrying a small suitcase. He opens the suitcase giving Damon a good view of the contents: medical instruments, needle probes, drills, and Dremel tools with saw blades.
Rebekah taunts with a wicked smile on her face. "This is Atticus. He's going to ask Martin a few questions. See, we're not even sure who he works for. Atticus is absolutely first-class, but on the other hand, we have Martin here, who has managed to lie convincingly about his identity for years now. So it will be interesting to see how long he can resist."
Atticus holds up a syringe and with a smirk on his face, injects Damon in the arm.
"Not very sanitary," Damon replies, looking bored.
"I'll return when this has taken effect. Then we'll talk," Atticus posits, confident in his methods.
"I'm looking forward to it," Damon calls after Atticus as he walks away.
Rebekah kneels down in front of Damon, stroking his leg.
"Why are you doing this?" Marcel asks as he watches the blonde.
Rebekah rises and moves to Marcel. Pressing her lush lips against his ear, she teases, "You're cute...but to answer your question; the only important thing is to live well. And... living well takes money."
"You're damaged goods," Damon interrupts, his words are beginning to sound slurred as the drug takes effect.
"So rude, Martin. Don't you remember us?" Rebekah mocks.
"There is no us. There's never been an us, you psychotic bitch."
"Sure. Say that now." Rebekah puts her arms around him and kisses him passionately. She breaks, looking at Katherine who's trembling with rage to savor the effect.
"Thanks for everything, Martin. It was good while it lasted," She laughs and turns to Marcel. "Monsieur, it was not to be. Au revoir," she adds over her shoulder as she walks out of the decrepit building.
"What is that?" Marcus asks, looking at Damon curiously.
"Probably Sodium Pentathol?"
"That stuff really works?" Marcel shares a look with Katherine.
"It's called 'truth serum'," Damon replies as he tries to shake himself out of the stupor.
"Is it working?" Katherine asks, sharing a look with Marcel. "Are we going to die?"
"They'll either torture us to death, shoot us in the head, or burn us alive..." the words die on Damon's lips when Atticus returns.
Atticus lifts Damon's head and sees that he is pretty shitfaced. "Is there anything you would like to get off of your chest before we start?"
"Sure, I'll play along. I'm going to kill you."
Atticus shakes his head as he calmly chooses an instrument. "How exactly are you going to do that?"
"Well," Damon starts, "If I had time I'd be more creative but as it is, I'll settle for stabbing you in the heart."
Atticus approaches Damon with a long steel needle probe. "And what makes you think you can do all that?"
"Because I picked the lock on these handcuffs..." Damon holds them up to show Atticus. In the blink of an eye, he explodes out of the chair, grabs a stake, and drives it into his would-be torturer's chest. He confiscates his gun and quickly releases Marcel and Katherine and cautiously proceeds to the door.
Emerging from the building, they creep through the shadows.
"Go, go, go, go," Damon says as they sprint around the corner to lose themselves in the darkness.
Two men burst out of the old building and open fire with AK-74M's just as they reach a cluster of trees. The trunks explode with bullet hits as they run through the darkness. As Rebekah's henchmen move through the trees, Damon lunges from the shadows and grabs one from behind. He wrests his rifle away and swings it at the other, knocking his AK down. The first terrorist draws a knife and slashes at him, but Marcel grabs his knife arm and swings the blade into his partner.
"Thanks, man." Damon nods at Marcel. "We need to get back to Moscow. I don't suppose either of you knows how to fly a chopper?"
"I do. Let's get out of here." Marcel kisses Katherine and with a nod to Damon, they stealthily make their way to the edge of the compound to the helicopter.
It takes them a little over two hours to find their way back to Moscow. Marcel lands the helicopter in a small clearing not far from the outskirts of the city. From there, they manage to hitch a ride into Moscow where they're dropped off at a small off-the-beaten-path pub to have a drink.
Once they're seated at a small corner table, Damon throws back a good-sized mouthful. Seeing no reason to play any more games, he from Katherine to Marcel.
"So are you with me or against me? If it's the negative, I'll have to kill you, Katherine, probably you too, Marcel." Damon states matter-of-factly as he cradles his glass between his palms.
"What exactly is your plan?" Marcel asks as he lights up a cigarette.
Damon signals the barmaid for a refill. "I know what you stole from Langley. It would be easy just to turn it into my contact at the American embassy but then Esther Mikaelson and Greta Sienna walk free. And we'll spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders, just waiting for one of them to strike."
"And what do we get for helping you? We are counting on a big payday!" Katherine states as she takes Marcel's cigarette and takes a puff before handing it back to him.
"Your lives for one thing. Esther and Greta are much bigger fish than you two. I'm sure they'd be more than interested in making a deal."
"I guess he has a point," Marcel mentions, nodding at the barmaid when she brings them a fresh round of drinks.
"I can't do this without you. We need the flash drive to lure them out. I'm not quite sure yet how we're going to do this without them crying entrapment."
"If we do this and the case is thrown out, we still spend the rest of our lives on the run," Katherine points out.
"I'm working on it. Trust me," Damon smirks as he takes another mouthful.
Katherine scowls at him and throws back what's left in her glass. "We'll be in touch. Let's go, Marcel."
"Here's a number." Damon hands a piece of paper to Marcel. "Call me with a burner phone when you're ready to deal."
"You'll be hearing from us," Marcel confirms as he pockets the piece of paper. With his palm against Katherine's lower back, he leads her out of the pub.
Damon stays long enough to finish his drink before leaving himself.
He flags a taxi and once he's inside, he tells the driver his destination as he leans back against the seat and stares blankly into the darkness.
Thank you all so, so much.
Chapter title: 'Trouble' by Lindsey Buckingham.
I'm sorry for the absence of DE, it is necessary for the plot. They will return in 16. I took a little inspiration from 'True Lies' for this chapter. All credit to its screenwriters. Damon's been around a while, learned a few things...he wasn't always an assassin.
If you're looking for something to read, nareelovesbooks, nera'sdelenaworld are just starting out. Eva- siberia21- has 'Christmas Carol'. Internal Light has 'A Royal Pain'. Linax24 has 'Never Really Over'. JustiniaKorax has 'Under My Skin' and 'The Things She Felt While He Was Gone'.
Our dear friend Florencia7 has so many incredible stories for not only DE but also POTC.
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Jurassic Park Dominion is great. I've seen it twice now. Maverick is great, too. Also saw it twice.