Takedown

Victor rubbed his eyes as he hung his coat on the rack next to the door, and he walked deeper into the apartment. Gerhardt lay on the couch, still wide awake. "I thought before today you didn't watch your patients," he said, this time choosing Dutch.

"I don't," Victor replied. "I just knew someone was looking for him. I didn't know it was a problem until Red expressed concern."

"Ever the gentleman. That or you like her. Or both."

"We're just friends."

"For now."

Victor leaned over the top of the sofa, a change of subject already in mind. "You said on the way over here that you could feel magic?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Do you feel any different because of it?"

"Not normally." Victor nodded slowly. "Go to bed. You look like you're about to fall over on top of me." They laughed, and Victor stood and wakled into his bedroom. Gerhardt heard him collapse onto his bed and start to snore like a chainsaw. Must have been a rough day, he thought.

OUAT

Bae, Morraine, John, Alan, and Will sat around their cooking fire, now a bunch of smoldering embers. The carcasses of several rabbits lay in the dirt around them. John sucked the marrow out of a bone and tossed it aside. "Alright, you stopped him from being an idiot," he said. "Now what?"

"We still need to figure out what to do about Gisborne," Morraine replied. "The woman who brought us here also has fears about the tunnel she opened. It was plain on her face when the earth shook."

"But she opened it anyway," Will said, "and whatever she was afraid of didn't escape."

"But it could."

"Gisborne is the more immediate problem," John said. He regarded Bae and Morraine. "Between the two of you, you have one sensitive and two weapons, though you may only need one. Between the three of us, four weapons, one of which is close range. One sensitive and six weapons between all of us, and only one Gisborne, albeit a powerful one. We can deal with anything that might be in the tunnel later."

"You're going to send us off to die?" Bae asked. His long-ago conversation with his father about the Ogre Wars suddenly popped into his head.

"I wouldn't be putting us up to this if I wasn't reasonably sure we'd make it out."

"Us?" Morraine asked. "All five of us?"

John nodded. "All five of us."

"Wait...what are you doing?" Bae asked, tilting his head away from John and creasing his brow.

"Trying to come up with a feasible plan to finish this Gisborne business once and for all."

"You do realize this could be the death of all of us, right?"

"Yes, I do, laddie. You have no idea."

"Oh, I'm sure I do. In our land we have what's called the Ogre Wars. Do you know what an ogre is? It's a monstrous beast the size of a castle that hunts by sound and smell and will, if it ever finds you, kill you. Make no mistake."

"I'm trying not to, boy."

"We're not dealing with ogres," Morraine said. "We're dealing with a powerful man, but a man nonetheless. That means there's a way to kill him."

"It's been a pretty rough fight so far," Alan said.

"It can be done," she said. "It must be done. If we don't, who else will?" The three Merry Men looked at each other. "Exactly. Next question. When do we leave?"

"Don't you want to know the rest of the plan?" John asked.

"Alright. Let's hear it."

OUAT

Gerhardt found something dancing around at the edge of his awareness and recognized it at once. He looked up at the door, eased himself off the couch, and locked it. Then he turned to his brother's bedroom. He padded down the hall and eased the door open. Victor was sound asleep, so Gerhardt walked over and locked the window. Victor groaned something that sounded to Gerhardt's ears like, "No." He knelt by the bedside and whispered, "I have to. I have to keep you safe." Victor shifted position and then stirred into a state closer to wakefulness. "Stay in here." He stood and walked out of the room to the cooking area-it couldn't properly be called a kitchen-and he grabbed a knife out of the block. He turned to go back to Victor's side when a figure in black appeared before him. He cried out and shot back.

"Gerhardt?" Victor asked sleepily. Then, more alert, "Gerhardt?"

"Stay back there," Gerhardt said in German. The figure approached him, and he held the knife between them and wondered where to start to keep proper distance. By his reckoning, another sensitive was coming. Baelfire, he thought.

Gisborne lunged for him, and he dove back into the living room. Gisborne lunged again. Gerhardt back flipped onto the top of a bookcase, crouched in the space between it and the ceiling, and studied Gisborne, who studied him in turn. He spotted Victor in the doorway and snapped in German, "I told you to stay back there."

"When there's a fight going on in my living room? Have you run mad?" Victor shot back.

"I came back wrong."

"Who is this man?"

"His name is Gisborne, and he's about to kill us."

"What?"

"Let me demonstrate," Gisborne said in English, turning to Victor. Shit, Gisborne thought. He understands German. He dove on top of Gisborne as he advanced on Victor, landing on the man's back and gaining enough purchase to allow him to plunge the knife deep into the dark knight's eye. Gisborne scratched and clawed at Gerhardt the entire time and finally managed to throw him off his back just as the door was kicked open.

He propped himself up on his elbows and stared at the five people who'd just recently stumbled back from his unexpected appearance on the step. "Baelfire," he said, "and friends."

"What's going on?" the somewhat giant-like man asked as Bae helped Gerhardt to his feet.

"He's being attacked by Gisborne," Bae said.

"Speak of the devil," the one in scarlet muttered. Gisborne appeared in the doorway, the knife still stuck in his eye. Behind him one could find Victor, staring in awe and horror.

Gerhardt's senses buzzed, and he said, "Please tell me you have a magical weapon."

"Yes," the young woman said, drawing her sword.

Bae took hold of Gerhardt's upper arm and said, "We'll guide you."

The woman stepped between them and Gisborne, who tore the knife and his own eye out and tossed them both into the bushes, held the sword level with his heart with both hands, and said, "Alright. Tell me where to start."

Before the eyes of everyone, purple mist started to gather around the blade.

OUAT

Victor, at a complete and utter loss, ran back into his room, grabbed the gun he kept in the nightstand in case he was robbed for his rent or something like that, and returned to the living room. Nothing had changed in the short space of his absence. Someone called for arrows, and he heard the soft scrape of wood on wood that signaled that three arrows nocked in their bows. He thought it best to wait for the signal to fire to add his own contribution.

OUAT

"The heart," Bae said.

"So I wait for him to fall on it?" Morraine asked.

"Essentially," Gerhardt replied. "You may help if you wish."

"Draw," John yelled. He, Will, and Alan drew back, took aim, and fanned out. "If you're going to do something, do it now," he said to Bae.

"Waiting for your order," Morraine replied, not knowing she was also speaking for Victor, standing immediately behind Gisborne with his gun cocked, ready, and aimed directly at his head.

"Well, then. On my mark. Loose."

Morraine lunged at Gisborne, plunging the sword and the magic the sensitives drew to it deep into his chest. At the same time, three arrows found their marks in his head and neck, and a bullet tore a hole in the back of his skull. Morraine kicked him back, releasing the sword, and Gisborne fell onto the grass, eyes wide open and his last breaths leaving him in strangled gasps until finally he managed a sigh and simply stopped breathing.

Bae released Gerhardt, and both were overcome with dizziness, staggering away from each other. Morraine moved to Bae, and Victor jumped off the porch and caught his brother before he fell into the street and oncoming traffic. He pulled the unconscious Gerhardt into his arms and turned to the group. "Thank you," he said. "If you need a place to stay..."

"Actually," John said quickly, "we can't stay here long. Someone will ask questions, and we had the greater part in this." Victor nodded and carried his brother back into the apartment. Morraine supported Bae as she and the Merry Men led Bae back to the forest, where they were certain they'd be safe.