Revenge

Arthur woke with a face full of couch cushion. When he sat up, his jacket-turned-blanket fell off him, and his hand automatically went to his forehead. Gwen had left without a note.

He picked his phone up off the coffee table and saw no missed calls. Remembering he was supposed to call Morgana, Arthur pulled up her contact and saw she had phoned last night. The call had lasted five minutes, but it wasn't with him. He called her back.

"You were supposed to call last night," his sister scolded.

"I was," Arthur started, "but…"

"You were preoccupied, I know. Gwen told me. Speaking of, have you heard from her? I called her to plan our shopping trip, but she hasn't been picking up."

"Shopping trip? Didn't you just have one?" Arthur wasn't sure why he was asking when he didn't care.

"Well this time she owes me a pair of Jimmy Choos."

And he wished his upbringing didn't allow him to know what those were. "Why?"

"She lost a bet."

Now that he found interesting. "She bet on my relationship too?"

Morgana chuckled. "Everyone bet on your relationship. Could you give her a ring for me?"

"Sure."

When Arthur called Gwen, it went straight to voicemail. He texted Morgana to tell her there was no answer. It was early and she was probably sleeping in or out walking Tiny. Or her phone was dead. Or she was dead. Arthur stilled at that last thought. It was in his detective nature list all the possibilities, but with all the trouble Gwen gets in, the probability was high. Too high.

Arthur began to worry.

Gwen woke to stuffy blackness. Her head was under a sack, a wad of cloth was stuffed in her mouth, and her hands were tied behind her in the chair and her ankles together. She felt light vibrations. It was her phone in her coat pocket. She felt it again a little later. The third time it was one long vibration. It was shutting down from a dead battery.

She heard footsteps that stopped in front of her, and the sack was pulled roughly off her head. She blinked and looked up at her captor. Her eyes widened.

"Hello, Guinevere," he said with a grin. She cried out against the rag in her mouth. "It's been a while." He looked over his shoulder and nodded to the mousy man behind the table of electronic equipment.

The man picked up a phone, dialed, and put it on speaker.

"Gaius," the superintendent answered.

"Ga—is!" Gwen was muffled by the cloth.

"Ah, Superintendent Richard Gaius. May I call you Richard?" Her captor didn't give Gaius time to answer. "Is DCI Pendragon in?"

"Who is this?"

Gwen could practically see her Gaius' bushy white eyebrows knit together. "You'll find out." Her captor said cryptically. "Bring in Pendragon. I'll call back in a half hour." He signaled the mousy man to hang up and turned back to Gwen. "This is where things get interesting."

When Arthur got Gaius' call, he sped to the station and arrived with a stressful ten minutes to spare. It seemed like the entire force was standing around Gaius' office. "Has anything else happened?" he asked urgently.

Gaius frowned at the phone. "Not yet."

At the end of the last nerve-racking minute, the phone rang.

"This is DCI Arthur Pendragon," Arthur answered with authority. "Who is this?"

"Check your email," the voice on the other end said.

Arthur logged into Gaius' computer. In the background, Gaius whispered to Elena and George to trace whatever they can.

The most recent email was sent one minute ago from a randomly generated address. The subject simply read OPEN ME. Arthur opened it and the message only consisted of link that flashed CLICK HERE. The cursor hovered over it. "Is this some kind of prank?" He glanced at Elena and George; they had identical looks of frustration as their fingers raced over their keyboards.

The caller's voice came through the speaker again. "Click on the link, and you'll see who I am."

Arthur clicked it and was brought to a website with just a black background and video player in the middle. He clicked play. It buffered for the longest ten seconds of his life.

A man's face appeared. He was looking above the camera. "It's connected? Good." He said to someone and then looked straight at the camera. "Can you see me, detective?"

"I can," Arthur said steadily while he observed the man. From his appearance, he looked like an average guy with brown hair, traces of grey in his facial hair. But his eyes held a sinister twinkle.

"Let me introduce myself," the man said, showing too much teeth. "My name is Tauren, and I killed your father."

Arthur gripped the table, watching as Tauren tipped his head back and laughed. "I wish I could see your face right now." Tauren looked over the camera at whoever was on the other side. "In hindsight, maybe Skype would've been a better idea."

"What do you want?" Arthur gritted his teeth.

"Your father's not the only one who ruined my business. I'm just out getting a little revenge. You've made a new friend, I believe." Tauren moved out of the way to reveal Gwen bound and gagged to a chair.

It was Merlin's quick hand on Arthur's shoulder that stopped him from lunging into the screen. Arthur kept his focus on Gwen until Tauren reappeared behind her.

Tauren pulled out a knife and slid it up Gwen's arm and across her neck. "Have you ever watched a snuff film? How about a live one? Live shows go for so much money." He pointed the knife at the camera, at Arthur. "I'm going to take my time, just for you. I rushed with your father." Tauren brought his head close to Gwen's, nuzzling her. "Ladies like it slow don't they." She tried to recoil but was held firmly in place. His eyes flickered back to the camera. "You might as well give up tracing this feed. Any last words you want to say to Gwen, detective?"

Arthur could see Gwen shaking. "Hold on, Guinevere. I'm coming for you," he said with confidence. The line went dead.

Tauren snickered. "Don't make promises you can't keep." His voice was distant now, coming from only the computer's speakers.

Elena came up to Arthur. "He can't hear us; it's only one way now." She looked at him sadly. "We tried everything, but we can't trace it. I'm sorry."

"What do we do now?" Merlin asked.

Trace, it clicked in Arthur's head. "Trace Guinevere's phone! I put a tracker in it some time ago." He had noticed she was wearing her coat from the night before. She had no bag with her, so he assumed her phone was in her pocket. And if they were lucky, Tauren hadn't checked for it.

"Got it," Elena said and ran back to her computer.

Arthur stared back at the monitor to see Tauren circling Gwen like a predator. Tauren didn't know that he always kept his promises.

Gwen coughed violently when Tauren pulled the gag out her mouth. "You were never one to do anything without a bit of flare, Taruen," she grunted. "You can't just kill me like a normal person?"

"You're no stranger to flare. Everyone was making bets as to where Helios ran off to, but I know Helios isn't one to pull a runner. Tell me how you killed him." Tauren gestured to the camera. "Tell them all how you killed him."

Gwen looked at the camera, then behind it at the mousey man. She remembered him. He followed Tauren around handling transactions, networking, and such. She didn't know his real name, but everyone called him Renfield. Tauren was his Dracula.

"Hey! Renfield, right? It'd be nice to know your real name before I die." Renfield's eyes flicked away from her. Gwen pushed on. "Did Tauren kidnap you too? Is that how you met? I've always wondered. Were you a lawyer or did you work in IT beforehand? Because Tauren can't work a computer to save his li—"

CRACK!

Gwen's head whipped to the side, and her cheek stung where Tauren's palm made contact. She tasted blood where she bit her lip.

Tauren held the hand that struck her. "Helios would've cut my hand off for that. Remember Leering Lester?" Gwen glared instead of answering. "He would always watch you until one day Helios gauged out one of his eyes. I think he looks better with the eye patch. Adds character." Tauren sighed nostalgically. "Helios was very protective of you, and what did he get?"

"He was a real romantic," Gwen replied with a roll of her eyes to emphasize her sarcasm. She raised brow when Tauren stared at her expectantly. "You really want me to answer that?" Her captor nodded, gesturing to the camera with his knife once more. "I wasn't there when he died, so I don't know what to tell you."

Tauren's shoulders slumped. "Bullshit."

"I came home and he was dead. End of story." It was Gwen's turn to smirk though. "I can say that I wish I killed Morgause with my bare hands, but my dog got to her first. Cenred is still alive, but good thing he's behind bars. Imagine what he'd do to you if he found out you were fucking his wife."

"Morgause isn't dead."

"Not yet. I don't know why you care, though. It's not like you either of you will be able to conduct business after all of this." Gwen noticed a twitch in Tauren's eye. "I've taken out all your big players. How does that make you feel?"

Tauren pointed his knife back at her and began to move in. "How about I show you?"

The squad cars pulled up to the now closed Crystal Club. It was where the tracker in Gwen's phone led them. They forwent sirens so Tauren and anyone helping him wouldn't be alerted. Like the raid, they'd cover the front and the secret back entrance. Without hesitation, the officers sprung into action, not giving anyone inside a chance to act first.

All the way to the abandoned club, Gaius relayed the stream to Arthur and Merlin. He told them that other than striking Gwen once, Tauren was taunting her. Knowing that he physically touched her made Arthur's blood boil.

At the station he had come up with a plan to save Gwen on the fly. There was no time to waste.

"You go through the front, I'll take the back," he said, holstering his gun.

"Alone?" Merlin frowned.

"Tauren is arrogant. He picked the club because he thinks we won't check the same place twice. He won't expect it." Merlin and the others looked doubtful. "Any noise coming from the front will cause a long enough distraction, and if he has guards that's where they'll be." They all nodded in confirmation. "Okay, let's move."

Merlin reached out, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Arthur, wait." He pulled him to the side. "You're not thinking clearly." He didn't ease up when Arthur scowled at him. "You forgot there's someone else down there with Gwen and Tauren. You can't go back there alone. I'm coming with you."

Arthur hated when Merlin was right. He was blinded with rage since Tauren's confession. "Fine."

Tauren made quick jabs at her, stopping short of her jugular each time. Gwen barely flinched. If anything, she looked annoyed after the third jab. Tauren looked back at Renfield. "It's not fun when they don't react." He turned back to her. "You must really be ready to die?" He leaned his face in closer to hers, studying her. "Yes, that's it. I'm going to draw this out."

There was commotion coming from up the stairs. Gwen glanced up at the ceiling. "Were you expecting guests?"

Tauren swore, untied Gwen, but kept her hands bound behind her. Gwen stumbled as she was dragged. She made it difficult on purpose to slow him down. She had only one heel on which helped exaggerate her stumble. To add to it, Gwen stomped her lone heel clad foot down on Tauren's foot.

The pain shooting up his leg made Tauren loose his grip on Gwen, but he quickly seized her when she tried to move away.

There was a thud next to the video set up. "Please don't hurt me," Renfield cried from the floor. "He made me do it!"

Gwen saw the familiar mop of black hair just above the table. "What the hell?" she heard Tauren mutter.

Merlin's head popped up from behind the table when he finished cuffing Renfield. "Oh, hi."

Click

Gwen and Tauren turned their heads at the same time to see Arthur blocking the exit, gun pointed at them. Gwen knew she wasn't the target, but she was being used as a human shield. She was pulled back with Tauren as he stepped back to gain distance.

Arthur took a gentle step forward. "I don't know where you think you're going. You're surrounded."

"I planned to meet you face to face, Detective Pendragon, but not like this," said Tauren. "Surely you're not going to shoot though her to get to me."

Gwen watched nervously as Arthur lowered his weapon. That's when Tauren brought his knife to her neck. She held her breathe.

On instinct, Arthur swiftly raised his gun again.

"We should play a game," Tauren smiled. "The higher you point your gun, the deeper the knife goes into Gwen's pretty throat."

Gwen was afraid to exhale with the blade's edge pressed against her. Her eyes began to water from taking short, tight breaths.

"The same goes for your partner," Tauren tilted his head towards Merlin who had his gun pointed also.

"Lower your gun," Arthur said to Merlin as he put down his own.

Merlin hesitantly did as he was told. Skillfully, Renfiled dislocated his thumb and slipped a boney hand out of the cuffs. He grabbed Merlin's gun and pointed it at him. "Just say the word, boss," he said with an excited twitch.

Tauren was grinning from ear to ear now. "First your father, then your partner, and it's all her fault," he jostled Gwen and smiled down at her. She clenched her eyes shut. "You've created a one bloody domino effect." The way Tauren peeked from around Gwen's head to sneer at Arthur made him look like a snake. "What do you think your father would say knowing that you're fraternizing with the woman responsible for his death? He's probably rolling around in his—"

BANG!

As Tauren fell back, the knife grazed Gwen's neck. She made a move to touch the wound, but her hands were still bound. The instant reaction to move her bound hands made her loose her balance, and she fell hard on her knees. There was a second thud behind her, followed by a scuffle at her side. All the commotion around her sounded muted from the gunshot. She was in a daze.

A figure knelt next to her. She felt a tug at her hands and then they were free. Someone was saying her name, her full name. Only Arthur called her Guinevere, she realized. One of his hands supported her neck gently while the other ghosted over the cut. It stung, she vaguely thought. Arthur was asking if she was okay. She didn't answer, couldn't answer, and just looked to her side where the scuffle was occurring.

Merlin was subduing a sobbing Renfield again. "No, no, no, no, noooo," he cried.

Confused, Gwen looked at where Tauren fell. A pool of blood was enlarging under his head. It was caused by a bullet right between the eyes. She glanced back at Renfield. He was rambling now, trying to convince Merlin he had no intention of killing him. Him being Merlin, not Tauren. She finally looked at Arthur with clarity for the first time since the shot was fired.

"Nice shot," she said to him, amazed and exhausted.

"I never miss." Arthur's tone was serious, but he gave her a small, personal smile. He let go of her, much to Gwen's dismay, to take a walky-talky out of his pocket. "All clear," he said into it. Back to business.

The basement door opened and Leon entered, followed by Gwaine and Percival and several other officers.

Leon glanced at Tauren's body. "There are a few injured guards, but none of ours. An ambulance is on the way," He saw Gwen's disheveled appearance and the wound on her neck. "I'll radio for another."

Percival hoisted Renfield up with one arm and led him out. Gwaine pointed back and forth between Merlin and the broken man. "You two look exactly the same weight. It must've been like two skeletons fighting each other."

"Careful. He's a squirrely one," Merlin warned, then jabbed Gwaine with his elbow.

Gwaine winced, and let out a choked laugh. "Just proved my point, mate."

In her attempt to get out as quickly as possible, Gwen lost her balance again. Arthur caught her before she toppled over.

"It might be easier if you take off your shoe," Arthur suggested lightheartedly. Being the gentlemen he was, he couldn't just let her hobble out with one shoe.

Gwen bit back a pout and kicked off her one heel. She looped her arms around one of Arthur's and leaned on him. "Get me out of here."

A/N: Let's just going to pretend I didn't leave you guys with a 5 month long cliffhanger. I have no excuses. I'm just lazy. I hope this chapter was worth it? Sorry if the last bit went quick. I cut out a part to put in the next chapter (the final chapter!). Stay tuned! (it won't take 5 months I promise)

And as always THANKS FOR READING AND REVIEWING!