Chapter 33
"What!?" Pyrrha gasped, " How? I thought Marcone had him locked away!"
As far as she could remember, Marcone's people had wheeled that dirtbag into the Chicago Alliance Headquarters on a steel dolly. For Pyrrha, that would've been laughable security, but Torchwick didn't have her abilities, and certainly didn't have her skills. It confused her to imagine how the criminal scumbag had managed to escape, but that confusion was quickly overrun by anger. Pyrrha had made her stance clear, towards Torchwick, and not only had he come back, but he'd gone after Maggie too. Scraping his face off the floor sounded very appealing to her at the moment.
Murphy shook her head, "I don't know how he got out. A few minutes after we sent you to Remnant, Charity decided to go and buy you some clothes of your own. She thought it would be a good way of making you a little more comfortable since we don't know how to permanently send you home. Molly refused to let her go alone. Torchwick came bursting in with a squad of goons a few minutes after they left.."
It was beginning to seem that gestures of kindness were only ever going to be met with random acts of violence at this rate. Pyrrha let out an annoyed sigh. "Okay, but what does he want? And where were you during all this?"
"He wants you," Murphy said, as if it was obvious. "I think your little threat pissed him off. It's the only reason I can think of that's kept him from killing anyone yet. As for me… I was using the ladies room."
It always came down to bad timing.
Always.
Pyrrha took a deep breath and sat on the bed so she could think this over, while Murphy slunk over to the door and peered out into the hall. Torchwick was back, presumably had armed men with him, and had taken the Carpenters and Harry hostage. However, Molly and Charity were gone and could be back at any time.
"Murphy, how powerful is Molly as this… Winter Lady?"
The blonde woman shrugged from her position by the door. "Harry's never gone into specifics, but I think she's about Lea's level of power. She's practically immortal too, and the only thing that would really hurt her is iron."
"Iron?"
"It's like their kryptonite. Cuts through their magic and burns them bad. I've never seen a Fae get even close to Iron if they could help it."
"Kryp-to-nite?" Pyrrha asked.
"Oh, right, non-Earthling doesn't know the reference - it's not important. Iron is their greatest weakness. It can cripple or kill them even with seemingly minor injuries" Pyrrha nodded her understanding.
That would explain why Molly hadn't moved to help the others when they cleared the living room of metal objects earlier. It also illustrated just how powerful Molly was. Lea had made Harry fall into a miniature panic-attack when they had landed in her domain, and if Molly approached that level of power… Okay, they could definitely do this.
Pyrrha reached out with her Semblance briefly, trying to get a cursory feel of the house, and more importantly, get a bead on their intruders. She felt the familiar shape of half a dozen rifles, one exceptionally oversized pistol, and a long cane being tapped on the floor in an anxious tempo. Torchwick was in the living room, as was Harry. Two of his goons were at the stairway, guns pointed up, another two were with Torchwick, and the last of the six were sweeping through the lower levels of the house.
With this in mind, a plan slowly formed in Pyrrha's mind. Ordinarily, she'd try the more direct approach, but with Maggie at risk, a more circumspect strategy was required. Pyrrha glanced at Murphy again; her scars were barely showing now, and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet with pent-up energy. She didn't look a day over twenty - her Aura was working fast.
"Murphy, how's your arm?" Pyrrha asked.
Murphy looked at her with a raised brow, then let a malicious grin spread over her face.
It wasn't every day that Harry swore the slow and painful demise of a man he barely knew so quickly. Torchwick ought to be proud of himself for absolutely shattering that record. The spiteful man was seated on the couch with one leg folded over the other and his cane casually resting on his lap. One hand rested lightly on the grip, while the other firmly grasped the edge of Maggie's shirt.
To her credit, Maggie had kept a remarkably brave face during the entire attack. She was still red eyed and on the verge of tears, but she hadn't done anything reckless or broken down. If she had, Harry would have torn the entire house apart in an effort to get at Torchwick. He was able to keep his festering, seething, rage under control for now. The moment he had an opening, he'd rip Torchwick's head off.
That was why Torchwick hadn't moved since taking Maggie, and why he had two armed men in black suits with red ties positioned behind him and the Carpenters. Michael had a dozen fresh bruises on his face and a swollen eye. Little Harry did well to emulate his father, and had nearly broken an arm in the process. Alicia and Amanda tended to him while Amanda sat with her father, drilling holes into Torchwick's stupid face.
Mouse, Harry's friend and colossal guard dog, had been caught off guard by Torchwicks initial attack. Flashbangs had caught everyone by surprise, and Torchwick had incorporated some sort of vicious pepper spray with at least one of them. Mouse had taken the worst of it, and Roman had delivered several meaty smacks to Mouse's flanks and head to make sure he stayed down. The Foo Dog had survived far, far worse, but the blows had stunned him long enough for Torchwick to get hostages. So for now, Mouse lay on his side in the main hall, playing dead until he saw his moment. At least, that's what Harry hoped he was doing. Tears streamed down everyone's faces, and some of them were wheezing, and Mouse lay motionless but for the slow expansion and contraction of his ribcage.
Their captor let out an irritated sigh and glanced at the watch on his free hand. "Still no Pyrrha. Tsk, tsk. If you just tell me where she is, Dresden, I'll happily let the rest of you go."
"I doubt that." Harry growled through clenched teeth. There was no way in Hell that Torchwick would let them go if he got what he wanted. This was pure revenge, against Harry and Pyrrha, and everyone knew it.
But what Torchwick didn't know was that Pyrrha wasn't even on the same plane of existence. When she did come back, she'd pop in next to Murphy. Torchwick wouldn't stand a chance against both of them together.
As if on cue, there was shouting from the top of the stairs. Harry fought, and failed, to keep the giant grin from spreading over his face at the sound. It was music to his ears, and a warning to Torchwick that an imminent ass-kicking was about to descend on him.
"Okay, I surrender." Pyrrha said from the stairs.
Wait, what!?
Torchwick smirked triumphantly at those words. A minute later, the other four men filtered in with guns focused on Pyrrha. The girl had her hands behind her head and slowly marched into the living room.
"Well well well." Torchwick laughed, "Long time no see Red. Glad you saw reason and came quietly. We wouldn't want things to get messy, now would we?"
He gave Maggie a friendly pat on the head. She whimpered and shrank into herself. Harry's face twisted into a sneer and he glared at Pyrrha. What the in the hell was she thinking!?
The red head remained standing, her face a mask as she spoke. "You have me now, Roman. Let the others go."
"That's not how this works, Ponytail." Roman replied, "You are a hostage, and hostages don't make demands."
Pyrrha frowned, and slowly lowered her arms. "Roman, why are you doing this?"
He raised a brow, "Doing what? Trying to kill you? It's just business, honey; you and Dresden have completely ruined any chance of that "
"No, not that." Pyrrha said. "Why are you working with Cinder Fall? Why work with the Grimm at all? You can't possibly have anything to gain from that."
Roman set his jaw and tightened his grip on Maggie's collar again., "I told you before, Pyrrha Nikos, I'm done with that game. This is a new life, a new start. I don't want any nosy wizards or self-righteous Huntresses getting in my way. I dealt with plenty of that back home."
"Roman, we didn't ever want a conflict with you. You were the one who ran from us when we just wanted to ask questions, and you attacked us. You were the one with an interdimensional portal between worlds, and you were the one who came back after us when we had all but forgotten you. And now here you are, making the same foolish mistake. Again"
Roman was silent, and his men looked confused. Obviously they weren't his best or brightest. If they had been, someone might have told Pyrrha to stop talking at this point, or at least done something besides point their guns menacingly at them. The five men slowly spread out into a half circle around Pyrrha and the others, occasionally glancing at Roman for confirmation on their actions.
He paid them no mind when he spoke, "You honestly expect me to believe that you weren't hunting me down after I made my escape?"
Pyrrha glanced down at Harry. He shrugged, and she looked back at Roman. "We didn't even know you were free. You didn't know what was going on, so we focused on the bigger problem. The Grimm are coming Roman. Surely you must have heard about the attacks at the UC or at Harry's apartment. You can't possibly be so self-absorbed as to believe we were still coming after you, can you? Walk away while you still can."
Torchwick seemed to consider it for a moment, then laughed, "Sweetheart, I will walk away. It's seven armed men versus two possibly trained fighters, several children, and a cripple. Something tells me that you can't take all of us." He looked her up and down as if trying to gauge her reaction. "I also don't think that-"
"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt," Harry said.
Torchwick glared at him with dagger eyes, "Be. Quiet. You insufferable smartass."
"Okay, but… didn't you used to have six men? I'm only counting four."
Still glaring, Torchwick glanced at his men, and the color visibly drained from his face. His goons looked amongst themselves, confused about the whereabouts of their now vanished comrades.
"You two," Torchwick pointed his cane at the closest men. "Keep your eyes on the prisoners. The rest, watch the hallway, and turn anything that walks through into swiss cheese."
"What about you, boss?" one asked.
He grinned and hefted Maggie by her collar like she was weightless, and walked in front of the television on the far side of the room. "I'm going to keep our insurance over by the wall, as far away from our captives as possible."
His men, though obviously concerned, did as they were told
With a flick of his wrist, the tip of his cane popped open and he pressed it against Maggie's head. "I don't like firing at this close of range, but I'd survive it. The rest of you, not so much, save for Ponytail."
Harry ground his teeth together and seethed with barely contained rage. Torchwick was getting desperate, and Harry was about one wrong word away from unleashing magical hell on the man. Until, that is, he felt something familiar. A faint magical energy in the air, not fae magic, but mortal magic. It was a complex weaving, that suggested whoever created it wouldn't make it detectable unless they were sending a message.
In this case, the message was clear: Help is coming.
His rage slowly cooled to a dull ember, waiting for the right sparks to light it once again. It was after Harry took one slow, deep breath, that the air behind Torchwick shimmered and the sound of a shotgun cocking filled the room. Torchwick went still as stone, his eyes wide and his arm trembling.
"Let the girl go." a man's voice ordered, deep and tinged with a British accent.
The invisibility veil faded away, revealing a tall handsome man with dark golden hair and sharp gray-blue eyes that were filled with a predator's intellect. He had a swimmer's build, and wore a heavy, wet, raincoat over an obvious kevlar vest. Also, he held a small shotgun in his hands, with the barrel pressed against the back of Roman's skull.
Jared Kincaid, the Hellhound.
Harry was baffled, what was he doing here!? Kincaid was a well known mercenary in the supernatural world, thorough, pragmatic, and incredibly expensive. He was the bodyguard to the most powerful mortal on the planet and Harry had personally seen the man destroy half a dozen Denarians in less than a handful of minutes. Kincaid had also killed Harry, once upon a time, but that was okay; Harry had asked him to do it.
His presence here though, unannounced, meant one thing to Harry. It was at that point, he stopped fighting the grin on his face and said, "Oh Torchwick, you are so fucked!"
Roman's mouth twisted into a sneer, "One shotgun pointed at my head, is that really the best you can do?"
There was a sound of yelling, and a quick burst of rifle fire that quickly went dead. Everyone looked at the threshold to see Murphy standing over two unconscious guards, casually pointing one of their rifles at the last of Roman's mooks.
"Boys, take a hike." she ordered. "The adults are going to have a nice long chat."
They didn't even pause. The last of Roman's men dropped their weapons and ran for the hills, leaving him alone. Harry and Pyrrha slowly rose from the floor, never taking their eyes off of the man, who was as pale as the white coat he wore.
"Alicia, take your family into the kitchen," Harry said, without looking. "We're going to take out the trash."
She didn't argue with him, and the Carpenter kids helped their father to his feet and into the next room. As they left, Mouse stumbled into the room, huffing and snuffing before running face first into the nearest wall. He… was still under the effects of the mace. Didn't matter, they could handle Torchwick fine, now.
"Let the girl go," Kincaid ordered again. "I've seen Dresden let loose, you don't want to be on the receiving end of it. Truth be told, that could go for Murphy too."
After a moment of weighing his… limited options, Roman came to the conclusion that, yes, this was not a situation he could win. Slowly, he dropped his cane by his feet and released Maggie's collar, then raised both hands above his head. Maggie took off like a rocket for Harry, who caught her in his arms and held her close.
"It's okay sweetheart, I've got you." he cooed, brushing a hand through her hair. Maggie started crying into his shoulder and the fire came back.
"Now, on your knees." Kincaid ordered.
Roman sighed, "Sir, at the very least, you need to buy me dinner!"
His foot blurred, kicking his cane into the air for Roman to grab. He whirled, aiming to bring the cane down on Kincaid's skull. The shotgun roared fire, sending a solid slug into Roman's chest. His aura flared, and he was pushed back by the force of the impact, but the cane continued its descent.
After sitting on the sidelines, Pyrrha finally sprang into action. With but a thought, her Semblance wrapped tight around his cane and she pulled, hard. The cane would've flown right into her hand, but there was a six foot man in its way. As a result, Torchwick went careening across the living room like a cannon, toward Murphy. She dove to the side right as Torchwick hit the side of the doorway.
Wood splintered and cracked, and his Aura flared brighter, crackling under the strain. He tumbled into the hall, and his cane rolled out of his hand toward the door. Pyrrha rushed out with the others to lay down the law on Torchwick, but stopped when she saw who else was in the hallway.
A young woman, perhaps a year younger than Pyrrha, had stopped Roman's cane with her foot. She was about the average height for a teenager, with short blonde hair that framed her soft features nicely. Her grey eyes were focused on Roman intently, but her face was a mask otherwise.
"Ivy?" Harry emerged behind them all, still holding Maggie. Obviously, he knew this 'Ivy'.
She smiled fondly at him in turn, and said, "Hello, Harry. Sorry to drop by unannounced, though it seems to have worked in your favor this time, I believe."
"You could say that." he agreed.
Pyrrha looked between them then back at Roman, laying motionless on the ground. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we can't just leave him unattended." she said.
"On it," Murphy walked over to Roman…
The man's eyes flew open and he shot to his feet, charging full speed at Ivy. Pyrrha started after him, reaching out with her Semblance for her weapons. The effort was not necessary in the slightest.
Ivy seemed to have anticipated Roman's tactic, and almost casually sidestepped his tackle. Roman scooped his cane off the floor as he ran, and twisted on his heel, skidding across the carpet. He brought his cane level with the others, aimed down the sights, and never had a chance to fire.
Ivy grabbed Roman's arm with one hand and delivered three quick strikes along his wrist, elbow, and shoulder with her index and middle finger. The limb went numb and he lost his grip on his cane, and it clattered to the floor. Ivy released his arm and Roman stumbled back, looking at the useless limb in shock. Pyrrha found herself glued to the floor, dumbstruck by what she saw.
"Why you little!" Roman grabbed at Ivy with his good arm, only to be met with the same results, leaving him with two useless limbs. She skirted around behind him, and fired a strike at the inside of his knee. Roman yelled in pain and almost fell face first on the floor.
"Mr. Torchwick," Ivy said, striding back in front of him. "A word of advice. Don't attack my friend or his family. Ever."
The air shimmered around Ivy for a moment, magical energy pouring into her. She pressed her hands together and took a deep breath, and then struck Torchwick along the sternum with her open palm. There was a hollow 'whoosh!' followed by an explosion of hot air. Roman was launched out the open door of the Carpenter household and into the van parked in front of the house.
The vehicle tipped back on two wheels, and slowly came crashing back down onto all four. Roman's head rolled forward limply. His Aura sparked and crackled, shattered either from the impact or Ivy's blow, it was hard to tell. His eyes flickered open and he saw Pyrrha and Murphy come sprinting towards him.
He kicked his good leg against the vans panel and shouted, "Drive you idiot, drive!"
The van roared to life and its tires squealed against the asphalt. Pyrrha cursed and sprinted out into the street as the vehicle took off. She flung her Semblance forward and grabbed hold of the car, but only managed to tear the rear doors off and sent them careening down the street. Roman vanished from view a moment later, and the neighborhood was quiet once more.
"Damn it," Murphy cursed, running up next to Pyrrha, "He got away. Again!"
Pyrrha tore her eyes from the street and sighed, "I doubt he'll be back after that."
"If he is, I'm killing him." her short friend growled. "Threaten us all you want, but go after the kids? He's a dead man if I ever see him again."
"Wait in line." Pyrrha replied.
They returned inside to find Harry kneeling next to Maggie resting a hand on her back, while she had her arms wrapped around Mouse's neck. The giant dog was licking her cheek and making little whimpering noises, as if he were ashamed of how he'd been so easily disposed of. His nose was crusted over with mace and snot and his eyes struggled to stay open, but his tail was wagging and he seemed relatively unfazed by Torchwicks beating.
Ivy and Kincaid waited off to the side, the latter looking more interested in his gun than the tender family moment before them. After a minute with Maggie, Harry looked up at Ivy and said, "Why are you here Ivy? I haven't heard from you in three years, at least."
The blonde girl took a deep breath, and pointed at Pyrrha, "Her. I'm here because of her."
A/N: I bet none of you saw that coming eh? Admittedly, this was a chapter that went through five different iterations before I settled on this. Ivy and Kincaid were always going to show up, but I debated on how Pyrrha was going to handle the situation. The original plan was much worse. Long story short, Pyrrha was going to be caught after a shower and beat Torchwick to a pulp in nothing but a towel. I realized how ridiculous that was and decided that having her try something a bit more diplomatic would work better. Then have Ivy make him her bitch.
Anyway, I'll probably do a little rewriting in the future, otherwise, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you thought in the reviews and make sure to leave critique. Ciao!