A/N: Hello, all fellow RavenXNero fans out there. Sorry for taking so long to update, I really have no excuse, except for the fact I suffer from extreme laziness. So, we have an update for you. Hopefully you like it, after all the waiting you've done.

-ScottishLaura and Ravenswrath.

Three guards walked in, and after clumsily walking over Nero's injured arm, stepping all over Raven, and "tripping" over Darkdoom, they eventually roughly pulled the three of them to their feet, and dragged them to the passenger area. Johnston was standing there, smiling, and when one guard shoved Raven to the floor, he rushed forwards, and helped her up.

"You there," He gestured to the guard that had pushed Raven to the floor. "Why so violent to the lovely lady?" The guard didn't respond, and Johnston tried to help Raven to her feet. She shook his hand away from hers, and pushed herself up. She stood, and walked unsteadily back over to Nero and Darkdoom. She began to lose her balance when she stopped moving, and she began to fall backwards. Nero caught her, and then as Nero staggered under the sudden weight change, Darkdoom reached forward, supported Nero, and then took Raven's weight off him. The three of them stood, Nero had his arm over Raven's shoulder, Raven was leaning on him, and Darkdoom was standing there, looking awkward. Johnston ordered the guards towards them, and they pulled Nero's arms back hard behind him, ignoring his cries of pain as they tightened handcuffs behind his back. Raven took an abrupt step backwards as she began to lose her balance, and she leant against the wall. One guard grinned and walked towards Raven, handcuffs ready in his hands. When Raven stood up again, the guard grabbed her hands and put the cuffs on. He tightened them, and then decided to keep tightening them tighter and tighter until the skin surrounding Ravens wrists were a lot paler then normal. The guard pushed her to the floor again, and this time, Raven couldn't even get back to her feet. A guard knelt down next to Raven, and she felt something being pressed into her skull. She knew immediately that it was a gun, and she closed her eyes. A zapping noise came from the gun, and Raven fell limp, unconscious on the floor of the plane. Nero narrowed his eyes at Johnston.

"Makes her easier to deal with," he said, carelessly. A guard came and clumsily picked Raven up, slinging her over his shoulder. Another one came behind Nero, shoving him to his knees, aiming a similar gun to the one that had knocked Raven out at Nero's back. The guard fired, and Nero collapsed to the floor. The same treatment was given to Darkdoom. Johnston laughed. Evilly. The guards picked the three unconscious people up, taking them off the Shroud. The guards loaded the three of them in the back of a truck, and then climbed into the passenger cabin. Inside the back of the truck, Nero woke up. He blearily crawled over to Raven, and put an arm over her shoulder. He pulled her up to a sitting position where she slowly began to wake up. She looked around briefly, and then spoke.

"Far out, what happened?" Nero smiled.

"Johnston decided we were easier to deal with when we had a sleeper in our backs." Raven smiled.
"Is he OK?" She gestured to Darkdoom, who was lying spread-eagled on the floor.

"He's fine. He just got shot too." Raven nodded, and slowly slid down slightly, so her head was looking to the roof of the truck.

"Any other time, I would have been able to escape. But now." She sighed, Nero shifted over to comfort her.
"Natalya, any other time we wouldn't be in this situation. There was nothing you could do. It's my fault." Raven frowned.

"I'm supposed to protect you, though." Silence fell.

The middle of nowhere. They were in the middle of nowhere. This wasn't an uncommon concept for secret layers, but this kind of middle of nowhere was the worst kind. There was nothing but sand and sun, no water in sight. No buildings or even a lone cactus.

Raven thought back to the Dreadnought, and Jason Drake's secret base in Nevada. That had been in the middle of the desert too, but at least they had known that Las Vegas was out there somewhere. Here they knew nothing. They could be in Africa, with no civilization for hundreds of miles. This was not a comforting thought.

Guards had come to retrieve them, and they were now being shoved down the ramp onto the sandy desert floor. None of the three were in very great shape, Nero's arm hung limp at his side, Raven could barely stand, and Darkdoom was already dehydrated. The world swam before his eyes, and sweat was streaming down his bald head. The guards laughed when they saw this. "Can't take the heat Darkdoom?" the guard nearest him asked. "I would have expected better from the head of the G.L.O.V.E. ruling council. Then again," the guard pushed Darkdoom ever so slightly, and he fell to his knees panting, "we always knew you were weak." All of the guards erupted into hysterics as Darkdoom tried to get up, but couldn't. Nero and Raven watched this, powerless to do anything.

"Johnston is going to rot in hell." Nero growled.

"Let me be the one to send him there," Raven replied, equally furious. It was at this moment that they both realized their captor was mysteriously absent. "He got off the plane," Raven muttered, but the statement came out sounding more like a question.

"He walked out ahead of us. I'm sure of it." Nero frowned, although neither of them was sure, really.

"Perhaps he crawled under a rock and died." An evil little grin appeared on Raven's face.

"I'm afraid my dear that there are no rocks to crawl under," Nero sighed, but he smiled too. He, like Darkdoom, was beginning to become dehydrated, as he felt more than a little dizzy. He would never say this out loud, especially to Natalya, but he was almost certain that they had reached the end. The unmistakable sound of a gun firing only further proved the theory. Raven, on the other hand, was standing a little straighter, craning her neck in order to see over the head of the guard in front of her. When she turned back to Nero, a Cheshire Cat smile was spread across her face.

"Those aren't Johnston's men."

Nero stood on his toes. Sure enough, two men were running across the desert, firing bullets at the guards with incredible accuracy. The one standing in front of Raven and Nero dropped to the ground, blood flowing out of his chest. Some of the guards managed to get their guns out of their holsters, and one or two managed to fire a bullet, but they all missed. In the space of no more than two minutes, eleven guards were dead on the desert floor. The two men, on the other hand, were completely unharmed.

"Such poor excuses for guards," the first man to reach them sighed, kicking the guard that had been standing in front of Raven and Nero. The man had shoulder length black hair that covered one eye, and snakebites. His partner caught up to him, slightly more winded. He had curly blond hair and big blue eyes. If not for the jagged scar that ran horizontally across his forehead, Nero would never guess that he was a professional assassin, if he hadn't seen him shoot a gun.

The man walked over to Raven, Nero and Darkdoom.
"Are you OK?" He checked the three of them quickly for major injuries. He was checking Nero's arm when Nero cried out in pain.
"Are you OK?" Nero just nodded. The guy called his friend over.
"Joe, come and check out this guys arm," The guys friend ran over, and sat Nero down, carefully.

"Put your arm in the air, gently." Nero slowly raised his arm.
"Can you move your fingers?" Nero tried. He shook his head.
"No."
"Can you move your elbow?" Nero tried. He was able to bend it to a 45 degree angle before the pain kicked in.
"To about there." The friend nodded.
"OK. Can you tell me what happened?" Nero frowned.
"There was a fight, and a baton got swung at me, so I reflexively stuck my arm out." The friend nodded.
"OK. Put your arm down now." Nero followed, and he was soon clutching his arm to his side again.
"Right. Now I'm going to put a splint on, just for the time being, and a bandage, and I need you to promise me that you won't move it." Nero nodded. He let the man gently take his arm, and do what he said he was. Meanwhile, Raven and Darkdoom were both sitting down, about to pass out. The assassin offered the pair some water, and after Darkdoom had drunken some, he was looking better. Raven on the other hand was still getting worse; she had lost a lot of blood throughout the past day.

The man with the snakebites frowned, walking over to Raven. He knelt down beside her, perhaps a bit closer than was necessary, and began to check her over.

"I don't like this," he sighed. "She needs a transfusion. "Looks like we're going to have to take her to a hospital."

"No!" Nero exclaimed. Both men turned to look at him, clearly puzzled. "There aren't any hospitals anywhere near here," he added quickly. The two men might have just saved their lives, but that didn't mean they needed to know the real reason Raven couldn't be taken to a hospital. She would have no records, not even a birth certificate, and it wouldn't be long before the doctors started asking questions. These kinds of things could be faked, but there was no time for that now.

"He's right Jake," Joe sighed. "There's nothing here."

"Perhaps someone would like to tell us where "here" is?" Darkdoom asked. He was ignored.

"What's our supply of blood like?" Jake asked Joe, who was clearly the medical expert.

"We have a bit of each type in the freezer," Joe said slowly. "Problem is, we don't know what her blood type is. And I don't have the equipment to perform a blood test."

"I know my own blood type," Raven's croaked. Darkdoom turned to look at her, a worried look on his face.

"The sooner she gets that blood the better."

"Agreed. We'll fly the Shroud back to the base," Joe took charge. "Jake, carry her in." Jake easily scooped Raven off the desert floor, a pleased smile on his face. Nero glowered at him, but didn't say a word.