AN: Time to drop the bomb. Blame an episode of "In Plain Sight" for my absence- otherwise this chapter would have been up yesterday. It's shorter than the last, but what it lacks in number of words, it makes up for in vital information.
Ariel's soft, melodic voice wafted through the air and his nose inhaled it like it was the oxygen he needed to breathe. The steam from the shower coated the living room in a fine mist. The hormonal part of his brain begged for a peek at what lay behind that pearly white door. The rational part, however, reminded him that this wasn't for sexual pleasure. This was a duty, much like his job.
"There's no need to complicate, our time is short, this is our fate… I'm-" Biting back a grin at Ariel's scream, his hands lifted in an innocent manner.
"Whoa. Sorry if I frightened you."
"What… what are you doing here?" She tightened the purple robe around her body and stepped away from the man.
"Dick wanted me to swing by and check on you."
"I'm fine." Ariel's squeaky voice betrayed the words she spoke. "How did you get in?" He lifted a shiny metal key up that glistened from the sunlight pouring in through the bay windows.
"Spare key. With us working together and all, we figured that we needed someone to trust." Glazed eyes trailed after her and watched as she opened the front door for him.
"Well, thank you for checking on me, but as I said, I am fine." The corners of his mouth threatened to curl, but he clamped down on them and strode forward to place a delicate hand on her outstretched arm.
"Are you sure?"
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Usually, Dick refrained from using the siren, as it tended to eat at his nerves. Considering he was cursing loud enough to drown it out, though, be barely registered the wailing.
"Damn it, Kory, pick up!" He waited impatiently for her to answer, wondering what she was doing that was stopping her from doing so.
"Yes, I'm-" Both pairs of eyes darted to the cell phone lying on the kitchen counter, "That must be Richard." The second she dropped her hand from the door, he knew this was it. This was his second favorite part: the chase. Before Ariel's fingers could even touch the granite, he yanked her backwards and threw her over his shoulder. A swift kick to his package, though, and he dropped to the ground in agony.
She spun on her heel, turning for the still ringing phone. He snatched her slim ankle and dragged her down to the floor underneath him.
"Stop resisting! This is for your own good!" Digging in his pocket, he came up with the needle. While he smirked, she kicked her instructor-trained brain into overdrive and brought both of her palms onto his ears, satisfied when his smirk disappeared and was replaced with a grimace. Leaping up, the mad dash she attempted was stopped by his body crashing into hers. The dining room table creaked at the sudden weight. Straddling her between his legs, one hand held Ariel down as the other prepared the drug. "I promise you won't feel a thing… until later." In response, she spat in his face. Angrily wiping the liquid from himself, he brought the drug down just as the front door was kicked open.
"Kory! Kory, are you here? Oh, Jesus…." A familiar male voice exclaimed as he eyed the disastrous zone that used to be the living area. The coffee table was overturned, sending magazines across the carpet, and the lamp on the far side table was broken, the shade ripped in two. Back in the dining room, his actions were halted as he tried to keep Ariel from screaming. Footsteps came closer, crunching on the broken shards of the lamp's light bulb. "Kory! Are you here?" His hands clenched tighter around her bare neck. Unfortunately, there weren't many ways to keep yourself hidden atop a table, and he heard the gasp of the intruder when his time ran out. "What the- what are you doing?" The intruder paled, yanking out his gun as he pulled the trigger on his own.
Ariel cried out from underneath him as the intruder stumbled, glaring at the bullet hole in his chest, then at the man who had put it there. "You're the Felon?" He didn't answer, but kept silent and watched with a blank face as his colleague slid against the wall and coughed up droplets of blood.
Finding an opening, Ariel pulled her legs out from under his and wrapped them around his waist. She hauled him over her head and into the wall, satisfied when the audible sound of plaster cracking radiated throughout the room.
"You bitch!" Whirling around on the table, she narrowly missed his fist by leaping from the furniture and ducking behind one of the chairs. Seeing that his legs were making their way around the table to her, she stuck out a limb and swept him off the floor. A searing pain ruptured across the skin of her face. She choked against the tiny droplets that penetrated the sensitive coating of her throat. Rolling over to brush the droplets off, several of them sliced her fingers open and blood poured out of the tears. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with broken glass, princess?" Another sting of pain at the top of her arm. The blood on her hands looked as if she'd been finger painting a ghastly picture. The world tilted, then, and she gagged as her stomach tried to heave up breakfast. "The sensations you're feeling, sweet Ariel, are due to your increased blood flow," Another prick at her bicep, "Which is causing the drug's effects to increase ten-fold."
"My name is not Ariel, you bastard. And I am no princess."He chuckled sadly from above her, preparing another syringe.
"Yes, it is." Biting back a whimper of distress, she realized that the throbbing in her fingers had subsided, "And yes, you are." In fact, the only thing she was aware of was the ringing. Eventually, though, that faded away too.
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Dick didn't even bother turning the engine off. The second the car's parking brake was on, he was out. The stair door that usually stuck didn't matter. The woman with the three dogs on the second landing didn't matter. The only thing that did was Kory and whether or not he'd failed her. How many times did he swear to protect her? Just the night before, she'd had a terrible dream and he'd consoled her, held her tightly and swore nothing would happen.
The sight he drank in was like bleach running down his throat. Nearly everything that was visible was destroyed or damaged, overturned or strewn across the room. Moving quietly to the hallway, the blood-soaked floor of the dining room caught his attention. He was vaguely aware of the sound of thundering footsteps; barely noticed the front door open and his teammate letting out a defeated sigh.
"Oh, no."
"He got her?" A voice croaked from the corner of the dining room and Dick tore his sights away from the blood to the man.
"Soames! What the hell did you do to her?" Dick yanked the liaison to his feet and slammed his bleeding body against the wall. The young agent groaned in pain and tried to fight against the hold his colleague had on him, but it was no use. A pissed-off Dick Grayson wasn't about to let go when it came to Kory.
"Wasn't… me, jackass. I came here," He hacked roughly at the blood slowly filling up his lungs, "Once I heard about… it on the two-way… came here to… stop 'im."
"Then who was it?" Brandon wheezed in another breath to speak.
"Grimes. He's… fucking lost it, Dick. He shot me before I could do anything. He… he got Kory."
"Where did he take her?" Brandon gurgled something out, red trails marring his pale skin, and collapsed against the detective. Dick settled him on the floor and motioned for the paramedics. Dragging in a breath and trying not to choke at the thick copper scent filling the room, he steadied himself against the table and glared at the bloody finger trail that ran along the wall. It would take a blood test to prove it, but he bet those markings were Kory's. That blood was Kory's. Let's hope you don't run this one out of town. This time, Bruce was wrong. No, this time he'd managed to do much worse. This time, he'd signed her death certificate.
Rearing back, the detective shoved his curled fist into the table, splintering the dark wood. He kept his hand there until Victor came to stand by his side.
"We're interviewing everyone in the building. Maybe someone knows something."
"The Felon is Marty."
"I know, man."
"He was playing us the entire time- he set it up so we would waste our time and go after Soames. He knew Kory would be here, alone. I might as well have handed her over to him." Victor didn't respond this time, but gently reached out and removed his friend's hand from the middle of the table. "He's got Kory, Vic."
"I know." Blinking back tears of frustration- he couldn't let them fall, not now, not with all of the police and paramedics around- Dick swallowed thickly.
"He's got Kory."
AN: Song Kory was singing: "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz.
It just so happens that I forgot to add my "Princess and the Detective Playlist" songs along with each chapter, so I'll go back and replace all of them once I finish publishing this.
Chapter Ten: "Letters From the Sky" by Civil Twilight / "Love and Loss" by Two Steps From Hell