Hi guys, I want to inform you I won't update my stories as fast as I did in the past. The reason is that I lost my beloved friend Layla. She was my 13 year old Golden Retriever. She suddenly got diagnosed with arthrosis, some sort of allergy and a bacteria in her intestines. She seemed to turn out fine, but then unexpectedly her eyes did something really weird. One of her eye wouldn't open properly while the other rolled into the back of her head. The vet didn't know what was wrong with the rolling eye, but she saw a scratch on the cornea of the eye she couldn't open. Droplets should wok, but it turned out something far more worse than a scratch. All the sudden strange black substance came flooding from that eye and that's when the vet told me she most likely had a abscess in or behind her eye. And maybe that was the reason her other eye rolled back into her head. Maybe she had one behind that one as well. Operation wasn't option cz of the risk she wouldn't wake up. And even if she did,the recovering would cause her so much pain plus the abscess could return and cause her more pain.
I had to make the decision of letting her go. Her eye was hurting so much and keeping her alive with painkillers is not what I wanted for her. I'm really sad and miss her so much and writing is hard right now. I keep trying though, cz it might keep my mind occupied for a while.
I still update this story with a new chapter, but I'm not really sure when the last chapter will be updated. I wish you all understand.
16. The manhunt – Part 3
Thomas finds himself in a rundown cabin brooding in a corner over everything he has done the past week and comes to a realization.
He has lost. On so many levels.
It was stupid of him to work with the council, but his hatred for his parents for sending him away because they only wanted one child, and his hatred for Bruce for being THAT child made him doing it.
Now being all alone in the cabin thinking, Thomas starts to doubt about the council's trustworthiness. Maybe they made that story up to make him work for them. But nonetheless, it was too late. He had ruined his only chance of having a brother.
With a ring of cops and soldiers around the forest and no chance of support from the council, Thomas knows it's only a matter of time before they catch him. To make it easier for them and to make his chance on surviving bigger, Thomas decides to turn himself in.
The boy slowly rises onto his feet and makes way to the door, slowly opening it before stepping outside. It's pitch dark, but he has no other choice.
"I really wish those feds don't shoot me on sight. Bruce wouldn't approve of that, would he?" Thomas thinks to himself as he walks through the dark forest.
Meanwhile, the four ten men strike teams continued their silent advance through the forest. Each team was approaching the cabin from a different direction with the ultimate goal of surrounding Thomas upon arrival. The long walk they had ahead of them isn't an issue.
"This is Cunningham, all strike team leaders report in."
"Strike Team One here, we're advancing smoothly and no sign of the suspect," Agent Baldwin said.
Then Agent Voss reports; "This is Strike Team Two and we got nothing on the thermals except some owls in the trees and we're making steady progress towards the cabin."
"Strike Team Three here, all is well on our end," Agent Dale said.
"This is Strike Team Four, same here," Agent Hayes added.
Hearing Agent Hayes voice over the radio, Cunningham snorts; "So Agent Hayes, how are your little rascals from Gotham doing?"
Not the one to take an insult lying down, Selina quickly chimes in over the radio; "We're doing a pretty good job, that's our status, Mr. Cunningham!"
"That's agent Cunningham to you, sweetheart. And fifty bucks says you'll cut and run if the shooting starts."
Selina snorts back; "I'm already wishing that we meet again someday so I can take you up on that! Now I'm about to get back to work, and one more thing Mr. Cunningham, never ever call me sweetheart again! Cat Zero-One out."
As the radio goes silent, Cunningham stands in shock by the fact that his attempt to start an argument with Selina failed miserably. But he quickly snaps out of it by a report from a nearby agent.
"Sir, radar just detected a small plane entering the NFZ. It appears to be a Cessna-182. Razorblades One and Two are the closest birds to make the intercept."
Cunningham responds back, ordering; "Tell them to get on it!"
Before the agent can activate her headset, she sees that the two F-16s had already changed course to close in on the intruder and responds back to Cunningham; "They already are, Sir."
Lieutenant Jacob Croon, pilot of Razorblade two fly's across the night sky and then makes a sharp turn to join up with his flight lead, Major Valentine on their way to meet the Cesena.
"Boss, this guy is two miles into the NFZ, obviously he didn't get the memo on the news," Croon says over the radio.
Valentine responds back; "Well he's about to get it real soon. I want you hang back on his six while I go up and say hello."
"Roger that," Croon replied and then watched as Valentine flew ahead.
If the plane failed to comply, Croon had already decided that he would go in for a high speed gun kill. Sure he had two Sidewinder and four AMRAAM missiles at his disposal, but in his mind a little prop plane was hardly worth wasting them on. Plus he found the old-school way splashing bandits far more exciting.
The pilot of the Cesena, Larry Chase was smiling to himself as he continued on with his flight across the beautiful skies of New Hampshire.
Suddenly his moment of bliss gets interrupted by a beeping sound from his flight panel. When he looks he sees two blips on his radar. One of them was closing in on his right and the other was tailing him from a few miles back.
"Attention Cesena on heading 086, this is USAF flight lead Razorblade One from your starboard wing. You've entered restricted airspace and you have thirty seconds to withdraw or you will be engaged. I repeat, you have thirty seconds to withdraw or you will be engaged!"
Chase knows that they weren't guys to fool around with and quickly got on his radio, replying back full of fear; "Razorblade One, this is Cesena flight A-307. I'm withdrawing, sorry for the intrusion." Then he makes a left turn and speeds away as fast as he can.
"Lead, you really got him running," Croon commented.
"It's not over yet, maintain a lock on him until he's out of the zone!"
"Roger!"
Croon and Valentine keep an eye on the plane for a few more minutes and once it was a mile outside the NFZ, they broke off from their patrol sectors.
Agent Croon suddenly says; "I wonder how things are going for the feds on the ground."
"Considering that the forest hasn't turned into a freaking fireball, I'd say they do pretty well Razorblade Two," Valentine replied.
Down below them in the forest, the strike teams continue their advance.
"How much further?" Bruce suddenly asked.
"Easy Bruce, we're almost there," George replied back.
Then another voice comes over the radio; "All teams, this is Agent Baldwin. Hold your positions, the target is heading towards my group and we're setting up to make the grab."
Selina can't help but grins at the news and activates her radio ad then cries with glee; "Cat Zero-One to Baldwin, let us know when you have the brat!"
"Roger Cat, Baldwin out!"
Not aware of the danger he's getting himself into, Thomas continues running through the forest wishing he would reach the feds quicker so he could turn himself in. Just as he is about to run past a tree, he feels himself getting tripped by something and he ends up hitting the ground with a painful thud.
At that moment, the agents emerge from their hiding places with their guns drawn and shouting things like FBI, or Freeze and don't move.
Baldwin then grabs his arms and pulls them behind his back before cuffing them and saying; "Good evening Thomas, you're under arrest." The boy grunts at the tightness of the cuffs as Baldwin raised him roughly to his feet.
"Alright, you guys caught me fair and square, but before you lock me away, please let me speak to my brother."
Baldwin simply shrugs at him and then activates his radio. "All teams, this is Baldwin. The suspect is in custody. I repeat, the suspect is in custody!"
"Agent Hayes here, roger that. We're coming to your position now."
"Copy, be advised that Thomas wishes to speak to Bruce before we haul him off."
Cat chimes in over the radio; "Cat Zero-One again! Make sure he doesn't slip away!"
"Oh he's not going anywhere," Baldwin replied before looking back at Thomas who had a look of dread on his face when he heard the girl's voice over Baldwin's radio.
"She followed me here too?" Thomas thought to himself.
Minutes later, the other strike teams arrive at Baldwin's position and held their M4s trained on Thomas as they take their new positions.
Then Bruce makes way through one group of feds with agent Hayes and Selina right beside him with their guns pointed at Thomas who looks broken and defeated. George peels off to the left for a better firing position.
As Bruce is taking in the stern feeling in the atmosphere around him, Selina proceeds to lay out the terms.
"Alright punk, we'll let you have your chat with Bruce, but know this. You are surrounded by forty federal agents plus me and George and lots of guns. Though you have to worry about me more than them because as a cat, I have a knack for lighting fast reflexes."
Thomas sees a little green light shining on her gun and asks with a scared look; "Why are you shining a flashlight at me?"
"It's not a flashlight dummy, it's a laser sight." Then she grins; "Pretty neat huh?" The turning her face straight again; And do take note that I'm aiming it squarely at your chest."
Bruce walks up to Thomas with his goggles raised and looks him blankly in the eye.
Thomas goes on to apologize to Bruce for all of the bad things he has done, but Bruce is still angry over the fact that he tried to kill him and Alfred and Selina who he considered as family.
Once Thomas is done, Bruce replies in a calm but cold tone; "You stopped being my family the moment you decided to conspire against me. But we will talk again someday, on the opposite sides of a Supermax prison cells. Agent Baldwin, you and your men can take him away now."
Baldwin gives a nod to two of his men and they begin to take him away, but George tells them to hold on for a second. Then he walks up to Thomas and butts him in the face with the stock of his rifle and says; "That's for trying to kill my stepsister!"
"Ok, now we can take him away?" Baldwin asked with a slight irritated voice.
Bruce replies; "Yes," and then all the other feds except those on Hayes's team walk off with the prisoner and Baldwin can be heard telling Thomas how much of a headache he gave him at the Gotham Field Office.
"We should search the cabin he was hiding in," Bruce then says; "He may have left some clues to the council."
Hayes replies; "Highly unlikely, but let's do it."
Hayes team proceed to the cabin and find it completely empty and in a very crummy shape.
"Wow, this place looks like it hasn't been used in years," George commented as he scopes his eyes around the small cabin and then follows Hayes, Bruce and Selina back out the door.
Once they are outside they hear multiple roaring sounds overhead. As they look up they spot the four F-16s flying over at high speed.
"With the suspect now in custody, it's fair to say those guys are heading home," George said.
Bruce shrugs; "Or maybe they wanted to say hi to me on the way out. After all, I am Bruce…"
Selina cuts him off with; "Don't you even go there, B!"
"But I…" Bruce stutters and then notices Selina's glare and the fact that she's still armed; "Oh never mind."
Hayes wraps her arm around him and says; "Let's just enjoy the fact that we won, Bruce."
And with that said, Hayes team walk into the same direction as Baldwin went with their prisoner.
Let me know what you think of this chapter. Little side-note, the author who helps me with this story (swiftbolt99) is having his own story you really should read. It's called Journey to the silent world and it's a BatCat story. He's also planning on doing a sequel to this story after this one is completed.
