A Long Time Coming

Saturday 7th March 2015, 18:23 PM

Scanning the area after he had arrived, Caine knew that Lawson was not in position yet. Years of analysing the mercenary's patterns had told him exactly how Dutch liked to get ready for an assassination; he always scoped the area out before he went for the kill. It was taught to him by Sword Department, perhaps from Sokolov himself.

This, of course, gave Caine the advantage. Knowing that he had some time to prepare before the fight that was inevitably going to break out meant he could follow those same tactics. Scope the place out himself. If he knew how Dutch would go about the kill, he could do his best to counter it.

So he chose the rooftops. Using a fire escape in an alleyway nearby, he climbs the strung up ladder by getting a jump from the dumpster next to it and made his way upwards, doing his best to evade being seen by any witnesses. Upon reaching the top of the fire escape, he scanned the rooftops nearby. There were at least four sightlines around him which had easy access to Reggie's apartment.

Since none of them were that viewable from each other, Caine knew it meant that Lawson could set up at any one of them. The only way he could find the mercenary before he could strike was by patrolling each point he saw; the only problem was, that increased the chance that Dutch would see him before Caine would see him.

In Caine's pouch under his jacket were a few small cameras, about half the size of his little finger. Once upon a time, he had used similar cameras to spy on Mike and the animatronics. During his initial visit to the pizzeria, he made a point to plant these cameras around the building, including on the animatronics themselves.

The purpose had been to see what was going on inside that building and uncover the truth. Of course, back then, they were far less sophisticated, only being able to record footage which had to be accessed later. With the benefit of modern technology, he could now see what was going on through the cameras just by looking at his phone.

So, he planted the cameras nearby each one of the four points he believed Dutch would use to prepare. Choosing ventilation ducts and small crevices that would hide the cameras best. Once he was satisfied with his work, Caine activated the cameras and got the feed available on his phone, making sure that he was seeing as much as possible before he was happy with them.

Hearing the car pull into the drive nearby, Caine glanced down from the building to the street below. The dark green automobile pulled up into the parking space adjacent to the apartment before the driver stepped out. Looking him over, Caine knew him to be the intended target. He scowled when he realised that Reggie had gone out to get groceries, or at least something that was bagged up.

Had Lawson known this himself, all of this preparation would have been for nothing. All Dutch would have needed to do was take him out during transit. Knowing that luck would not be on his side as much as it had been so far, Caine double checked that everything was prepared before deciding to settle in to a decent surveillance spot.

Just across from the rooftop was another one, with easy access courtesy of a metal walkway. Though this rooftop had no sightline to the apartment itself, it was still nearby enough to get there within less than twenty seconds and it also had instant access to all four of the spots Caine had marked. Heading over to it, he looked around.

When he saw the small, covered area on the rooftop, he had a feeling he'd found exactly what he was looking for. Taking all the necessary precautions, Caine went over to it and checked it over. It was out the way enough for him to easily blend in, but it also had some cracks in the wooden frame which would allow him to see the rooftops.

Stepping inside the shed, he made a point to take a spot which allowed him not to be open for a sneak attack and settled down, resting on the floor. This was far from his first stakeout and considering the dusty floor and cobwebbed walls, he had been in far worse conditions. Now that he was in position, it was just the waiting game.

Caine looked at his phone and loaded up all the cameras, taking a view from each of them. Though he was almost certain that Dutch would indeed follow the same steps Caine had planned on him to, he knew that there was always room for doubt. In the situation where Dutch decided to forgo the preparation and went straight for the kill, Caine needed to be ready.

Knowing that he could be either minutes or hours away from the fight, he knew that he had to be ready for it. Even in his old age, Dutch Lawson was still the deadliest man on Earth. Years on the lam couldn't have taken that away. It would take every moment, every ounce of his training, to stand a chance of winning this fight.

Breathing in slowly, Caine relaxed every part of his body, as he had been trained to do. All he had to do was wait and in this rare case, Thomas knew he had nothing but time.

Saturday 7th March 2015, 23:36 PM

Merely an hour after he had settled down, the sun had vanished, replaced with the eery light of the moon. On the rooftops, it was only by his adapted eyes that Caine could see through the darkness, with little to no light sources except for the thinly lit lamps down on the street level, as well as the occasional shine through the windows of the buildings.

Around nine pm, Caine had heard a car pull up into the driveway. He had made a point to plant one of the cameras facing the apartment's entryway so that he could see what was happening there. Through that camera had been the footage of two people getting out of the car and walking to the apartment.

It seemed that Ella and Jack had arrived for the meeting. One of Reggie's windows were opened and Caine could just about hear their voices from it. That was good. As long as they were all talking, that meant Dutch hadn't pulled something unexpected and caught Caine unaware. So he remained vigilant and kept an eye on the footage, watching for any sign of movement. In spite of his preparation, he knew there was not much room for error.

So when he saw the movement on the third camera he had planted, less than half an hour towards midnight, he knew it was the moment he had been waiting for. Silently leaving his hole, Caine approached the point and saw the man on the edge of the roof, holding a pair of binoculars looking straight at the apartment.

Caine slowly went to withdraw his pistol, but he knew that Dutch had already felt his presence. Lowering the binoculars, the elder man stood up, his back still towards him. Knowing that the moment he went for his gun it would mean the fight would begin, Caine decided to take things slowly.

"So," Dutch spoke through that gravelly voice, "ya caught on to me plans, did ya?"

"Only three more targets left." Caine answered simply, waiting for his moment, "I know you. You were always going to save me for last."

"Huh. Gettin' to be predictable in me old age, I guess."

"You always were."

Looking over his shoulder, Dutch glared at him with one of those amber eyes. "Been a long time, Tommy. You're looking good."

"I can't say the same about you. Where's Mike Schmidt?"

Snorting a laugh, Dutch turned a little more. Caine could now see his face; though his hair was still the dirty blonde it always had been, there were flakes of grey that seemed to have become more common the last time they had met. Wrinkles lined the man's face, heavy and prominent.

Dutch Lawson was looking far more mortal each and every time Caine saw him.

"The night guard lad?" Dutch cracked a grin. "Haven't the foggiest."

"I know he was on your list. No one has seen him within the last twenty-four hours. In that time frame, you have killed at least five people who were also on your list. Before that, you eliminated ten more. We know all of this because we ran into your mess."

"Admired me handiwork? It was quite the feat I have to tell ya." Dutch chuckled, "You know how hard it is to kill that many people without them catching on to ya?"

"We both know you planned on us finding it." Not caring for his gloating, Caine just wanted to get one simple answer from his enemy before their fight, "That's why you left the contract there. We both know you only took that contract because it gave you a way to stab Donovan in the back."

"What can I say? The guy's an arse. Wish I'd put a bullet in him forty years ago. As for your little pet Night Guard…yeah. I caught up with him. He was in a bit of a mess, I have to tell ya."

Feeling that dread at finally knowing growing inside of him, Caine did his best to not let it show. "Is he dead?"

Almost laughing at that, Dutch grinned. "Nah, lad! Call me a romantic killer, but I like to have a narrative in there. Mikey was always gonna be the penultimate act. Felt a bit anti-climactic to kill him so early on, eh?"

Knowing that it wasn't the answer he was expecting, Caine tried to calm his nerves. "Then where is he?"

"Like I said, I haven't the foggiest. Last time I saw the crazy kid, he was walking off into the woods. Probably to go camping, I don't know. You know how these Americans are."

"I don't believe you."

Dutch raised an eyebrow. "Sad days. If it's any consolation for ya, it's not like you'll be seeing him again. How about ya make this easy; I put a bullet in your leg, kill Reggie boy, find and kill Mikey, then come back and put ya out your misery. Deal?"

"I'll do you a better one. Drop your guns, surrender, testify against Donovan, and I'll promise you a nice, comfortable cell for the rest of your life."

But Dutch only laughed. "Like that'll ever happen! We both know it's been a long time coming. Truth is, this little war without meaning was always gonna end with one of us lookin' up at the other, bleeding out. Without this, we'd just be bored."

Feeling the asphalt of the roof underneath him, Caine prepared himself for the fight. Knowing in his heart that he was as ready as he'd ever be.

"Who'd you put your money on?" Dutch smirked.

"If your answer's you," Caine answered, "then you really don't know a damn thing."

Silence remained between them for what felt like an eternity. Waiting for the other one to make the first move, to reach for their respective guns and take a shot. Waiting for the first mistake in this little game of chess.

Then Caine saw the unmistakable flash in Dutch's eyes and he knew it was check.

He reached for the gun holstered on his left hip and took it out, taking aim and firing as Dutch did the same. Gasping as the rounds hit him in the torso, Caine collapsed, seeing Lawson had suffered the same and very nearly fell off the building ledge behind him.

Both on the floor, with Lawson just hanging onto the ledge to keep himself from falling, the two locked eyes. Knowing that his body armor had repelled the rounds he had taken, Caine could see that it was the same for Lawson. Knowing he had mere seconds to spare, Caine rolled backwards on his shoulder and darted into cover.

Just as he did so, he heard the barrage of bullets that he barely avoided. Hearing the cackle close to where he had last seen Dutch, he heard the mocking voice call to him.

"Quite the night to die, aye, lad?"

Glancing around his cover, Caine saw Lawson vault over an air conditioning unit in an attempt to flank him. Moving quickly, Caine fired several shots, being met in kind. Every time Caine went to fire, Lawson would duck, and the same would happen vice versa. They moved adjacent from one another, neither getting the advantage.

Just as they reached the end of the cover, Caine knew he needed to act first. With barely a warning, he leapt over the cover, just as Lawson went to fire, and collided right into him. As they got up, Lawson went to shoot, but Caine was able to get a hand to his wrist and redirected the shot before closing in, punching him in the stomach, and disarmed him. As Dutch's gun went spinning across the rooftop, Caine went for his own gun again, but Lawson kneed him hard and followed up with two strong punches which sent Caine to the ground.

Rolling back up to his feet, his gun no longer in his hand, Caine saw the kick meant for his head and quickly moved to evade it, grabbing the leg and bring a hard elbow to it. Then he swung his body, scooping Lawson's other leg with his own and driving him straight to the ground. Recovering quickly, Lawson made a hasty lunge and fell right into a suplex, Caine grabbing his arm and swinging him over his hip, driving Lawson to the ground hard.

Just as Dutch tried to get back up, Caine hit him with a well-aimed hook. But Lawson expected it and directed the punch just to his right and closed in on him. Punching him hard on his side, Lawson quickly changed the momentum of the fight. As Caine tried to move away, to get his own punch on, Lawson closed in again and grabbed him into a bear hug, lifting him upwards and swung him overhead.

Feeling himself be lifted off his feet, Caine saw his world spin before hitting the asphalt floor with a thud. Pushing against his own body trying to stop him from moving, Caine got up and tackled the charging Lawson, pushing the both of them straight into the wall. Pushing back, Dutch reached under him, grabbed his leg, and lifted him again, driving him this time right into the concrete ledge of the building.

Once more willing his body into getting up, Caine looked up and was barely able to register Dutch leaping into him, a crazy look in his eyes, and colliding into him. They both fell, off the ledge of the building almost one story downwards onto the roof below. Twisting his body into a roll, Caine's leg hit the roof hard and he almost yelled out in pain.

Rolling onto his side, Caine tried to spring up, but struggled to. His eyes locked on again to Dutch's, who was similarly on the ground just across from him. Flashing him a bloody grin, Lawson got up as Caine did so, the detective trying to ignore the pain as they charged at each other once more. They met with a flurry of punches, dodging and striking in an attempt to regain the advantage.

Grabbing his arm as he went to punch, Dutch spun under it and brought a hard left hook aimed for Caine's sternum. He followed up with a kick, but Caine grabbed it and reached into him, spinning him over his hip. As he did, however, Lawson reached his other leg upwards onto Caine's shoulder, gripping his leg around Caine's body, and reversed the hip toss into an arm drag.

Then, as Caine was on the floor, Dutch closed in, grabbing his switchblade from his pocket, and brought it downwards, aiming for his throat. Grabbing the handle of the switchblade, with his own two hands, slicing the side of one of them on the blade, Caine brought his leg up into Dutch's stomach, gaining some leverage, and then let go of the blade with his bloody hand and punched Lawson with a jab to the throat.

As Lawson coughed and spluttered, Caine grabbed his leg and rolled him onto the floor, but Dutch kept his grip on him and kicked his leg out from underneath him. Caine almost fell directly into the path of the blade, tip inches away from his eye, as Lawson tried to pull him closer into it. They stayed in that tug of war, Caine desperately pulling away from the knife, before the detective reached into his jacket and grabbed his secondary pistol, firing several times with an obstructed aim.

Luck was with him, as one of the rounds struck Dutch in the elbow. With a curse, Dutch's grip on the knife loosened and it toppled to the floor, but he quickly used his other hand to grab the gun as Caine tried to aim it into his chest. Lawson rolled, twisting and turning with his superior grip as Caine tried to get the angle on the gun, before he spun the detective onto the ground and grabbed the switchblade again.

On top of him, Dutch brought the knife down again, but Caine was able to get a grip onto it and twisted it around, headbutting Dutch off of him. As they rolled away from each other, Caine could hear something going on in the distance. Something in Reggie's apartment. Shouting and cries came from the window.

But his focus remained on Dutch as he swung the knife again. Blocking it, Caine angled it away as Dutch angled the pistol aiming for his heart away in kind. Getting a shot off, Caine barely missed his target, but Lawson quickly reached into him and tossed him over his hip again.

Lawson lunged, but Caine finally got a grip on his arm and kicked the switchblade away. Aiming quickly, Caine almost got another shot on him, missing it by inches as Dutch closed in, grabbing him on the shoulders and monkey tossing him onto the ground. As he rolled up, Caine saw the dive and couldn't avoid it. Grabbing him around his head, Dutch swung his legs to wrap around his torso and fell down into a guillotine choke.

Gagging and coughing for breath, Caine knew not to struggle to get out. He reached for his gun and aimed, but Lawson took an arm off to stop it. Then Caine rolled, loosening his grip, and twisting his body over until he escaped the clutch. Then he dived himself, wrapping his legs around Dutch and rolling him into a kneebar. He twisted and Dutch howled, before kicking Caine in the face.

Going towards the ledge, Lawson looked back at the apartment as Caine struggled to regain his breath. Seeing something, Dutch smiled. Caine looked towards it and saw someone inside. When he realised who it was, Caine felt terror inside his chest. Looking back at him, Lawson picked up Caine's sidearm that he had dropped and took aim.

Without even a thought about it, Caine leapt up, running straight into Dutch, and tackled him. Dutch could only get a quick look of shock as Caine drove them both off the building. They both hit a slope on the way down, then into a fire escape, before both landing onto a dumpster, which buckled and broke under their combined weight.

Caine rolled off of one side of the dumpster, and Lawson the other. They both laid on the concrete ground of the alleyway, staring up into the sky, struggling for breath. Rolling onto his shoulder, Caine got his two hands onto the ground and tried to stand up. He looked over to Dutch, who stared at him, grinning.

"Was it good for you, too?" He tried to laugh, his teeth a bloody mess. "You owe…ah, bloody hell…you owe me for that blade, ya know."

But Caine ignored him, and got to his feet. Hearing the sound of screeching rubber on tarmac, he looked behind him and saw the car speed off blazingly around the corner. It took him a moment to realise that it was the same car that Ella and Jack arrived in. It drove away, down the street, barely keeping onto their side of the road.

Looking back, Caine saw Lawson getting to his feet as well, but before he could make a decision, Caine heard another car speeding around the corner, following the first one. He saw that it was Reggie's car. Looking back, Caine locked eyes on Dutch once again.

The bloody mercenary just cackled, coughing out a tooth as he did, before smiling as they both thought the same thing. "Race ya."

Then Dutch hobbled the opposite way, disappearing into the shadows. Seeing his gun on the ground near the dumpster, Caine picked it up and thought about chasing him, but decided against it. He'd made Carl a promise.

Instead, he holstered the gun, and felt the adrenaline burn away. His entire body stung with pain, and he could barely move his legs to even so much as walk. Making his way around the street, he got back to the apartment. Questions raced in his head, but he felt a daze overcome him as he stumbled up the steps.

Where had they gone off to in such a hurry? Something must have happened. He could only hope that they left something behind that—

When he saw the two of them on the top of the landing, just outside the apartment door, Caine felt that dread again. Both Jack and Ella were there, looking stunned. Even more so when they saw him.

"Caine?" Ella asked, her eyes wide, "What…what are you doing here?!"

"Lawson's after Reggie." Caine spoke, leaning against the wall as he felt that pain sting him again, before stepping past them into the apartment, "There's not a lot of time. Where is he going?"

"I don't know." Ella shook her head, "They both just went out and…"

"Who?" Caine asked, but he already knew the answer, "Who did Reggie go after?"

"Mike came bursting in." Jack answered, a solemn look on his face, "Kicked the door down and had a gun on him. He attacked Reggie. Was saying…all this stuff that we're still trying to get our heads around. Demanded answers from him. Then he told us to give him the car keys, and left."

"Did he say where he was going?"

"No. I don't think so. He said…"

"He said that he was going to 'burn it all down'." Ella recalled.

When he heard those words, Caine knew that it could only be one place he was going. "He's going to Fazbear's Frights."

"Why?" Ella shook her head, and Caine could see that they were both still in shock, "What the hell is going on in that place?"

"There's something evil in there. Something we've been looking for. I should've figured it out sooner. But he doesn't know that Lawson is after him, too. If he gets there before we do, then it doesn't matter what Mike does. He won't be alive much longer."

Though Ella looked like she wanted to press him more, she stopped herself nodding, "Okay. Okay. What should we do?"

Taking his phone out and thankful that it hadn't broke during the fight, Caine passed it to her. He realised at that point that he'd lost his hat at some point during it. "Phone Carl. Tell him to meet us here. We need to assume that Lawson is on foot, but he's got a head start. He needs to meet us here and get us to Fazbear Frights. Quickly. We don't have a lot of time."

As she took the phone and stepped away to do so, Jack went to follow. But Caine pointed to him. "Not you. I need to talk to you."

Jack seemed perturbed by that, but just nodded politely. "What's this about, detective?"

Making sure that Ella wasn't in earshot, Caine stepped closer and lowered his voice. "I know who you are."

Silent at first, Jack took a moment to respond. "Okay. And just who am I, then?"

"Suddenly a very important asset in this case."

"How did you figure that out?"

"This isn't my first rodeo. I could tell you had secrets the first time I met you. You did a good job keeping those secrets, though."

Nodding, Jack looked away for a moment. "Is this going to be a problem?"

"Did Mike know?"

"Why do you think he recruited me? Great minds think alike, and all that."

"But have the two of you talked?"

"I told him whatever I could. I assure you, detective, it isn't much more than you know."

As Caine stared at him, he could tell he was being told the truth. At least, the truth as much as the teller believed. "Once this is over, I need to know. Right from the beginning."

"Detective Caine, I promise you that once this is all over, I will tell you everything, down to the smallest detail, over and over until you are absolutely satisfied. But until then, please…" Closing his eyes, Jack winced, "Save my friend first. He's a good man."

"I will." Caine promised.

"If it will do anything in the meantime, I didn't go into it expecting what happened. I was just some dumb kid activist picking fights. I didn't expect just how bad Fazbear Entertainment were. I took the job, and I wanted to prove something. That their animatronics weren't as safe as they said they were."

"I know." Seeing that Ella was still talking to Carl, Caine could only hope that they would be there soon, "What happened there wasn't your fault."

But Jack seemed to disagree. "They caught me tampering with them. I barely got out alive that night. I think they thought I was someone else. But afterwards, Fazbear Entertainment just gave me my pink slip, and that was that. I didn't realise just what I had done until a couple days later."

Understanding, Caine pressed on. "What happened to Jeremy Fitzgerald was something else. They thought he was the killer. The Purple Man. Whatever you did, whatever you tampered with, it wasn't what caused them to attack him. What did you do, afterwards?"

Looking subdued, Jack seemed so very tired all of a sudden. "I fled. Went underground. I kicked the hornet's nest. Pissed off the wrong people. This is the longest identity I've had for the last thirty years."

Finally done with her conversation on the phone, Ella turned to walk back over to them.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe." Caine said in a hushed voice, before turning to her. "Are they on their way?"

"Yep. They said something about AESIR being here within the next hour. Do you know what any of that means?"

"Aye." Caine sighed, "It means all Hell is about to break loose. Let's just hope it's not too late."

Two chapters left to go. It only gets worse from here.

Fantom Knight: I know what you mean about the minigames. They were a necessary evil, unfortunately, and I can assure you that they weren't exactly the most fun to write, either.

TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3: If you're feeling bad for Reggie now, trust me; it's going to massively suck for him in multiple ways next chapter. Not just considering Dutch is aiming to gun him down. Twenty years ago, Caine likely would not have lasted more than a couple minutes against Dutch, but he certainly held his own here, even if it was by the skin of his teeth. Mike still has a lot of work to do, most of it being something he hasn't quite figured out yet. Now he'd heading right back into the frying pan, he might not have a lot of time to work it out. With Springtrap, my focus there was showing how he's very much an unwilling prisoner, trapped in a prison of his own making. But old habits die hard, and he's no less the murderious monster he was before. With Lawson now following both Mike and Reggie back to Fazbear Frights, and Caine with the others not far behind, it's all about to come to a head.