Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Detective Darren Wilden wasn't expecting this.
As he drew his weapon and pointed it at Alison, he saw that the blonde wasn't alone and had hostages.
He had been kicking himself for most of the hour when Alison had slipped through his fingers back at the school dance. He had thought it would have been an easy grab; especially since the permission to bring her in had been approved. His superiors were still on the fence that his evidence against her was enough; worried that the DiLaurentis Family lawyers would tear his case apart even before the trial. Wilden had assured them that his case was solid enough to make her a suspect and at least able to search her home; hoping that something might be there. He was at least hoping for her diaries, which were full of good information and would yield many secrets that Alison had. The man knew full well that her journals were full of golden nuggets that would bury her for good; since they contained a catalogue of all of her bad deeds. They were a backup in case his case against her for Bethany became sundered; at least giving him the opportunity to get her on other charges.
It had been a busy few days for him; with building the case against the blonde as well as getting access to Radley. When the first inkling of a connection between Alison and Bethany had come up, through the victim's grandmother, Wilden had busted his butt to try and see if the teen had anything to do with it. It hadn't been easy, especially since all his access to Radley had been blocked because of sealed records. It seemed that the father of the victim was going all out to prevent the police from seeing his daughter's records; which was rather unusual since she had been murdered. When the grandmother informed him of the affair between the father and Jessica DiLaurentis, the detective understood why the father was keeping him from the records. From what he learned, Jessica was wooing Bethany and he concluded that Alison had somehow found out; thus was full of jealousy. His working theory was that Alison had lured Bethany to her backyard, murdered her, and then buried the teen under the gazebo.
That had changed after Cece Drake, who he knew as Charlotte DiLaurentis, had been put into a coma; due to an accident with her medicine. Jessica had been screaming, though silently because of her husband, for some sort of investigation into the incident. Normally, he would have just ignored the woman or done some sort of half-hearted investigation to placate Jessica; especially since he didn't think much of what had happened. Then it occurred to him that maybe Charlotte's accident had something to do with all of this; though it was more of a gut feeling than anything else. To him, it was just too coincidental that something would happen to her right when he suspected Alison of murdering Bethany; thinking that Charlotte was involved. He knew that the older sister had escaped that night when Bethany had disappeared and he believed that there was something there. While his search for answers had resulted in nothing on that front, him getting into Radley today did.
It was only because of previous experience that he had managed to track Alison to this place; though having the computer lab hack into her GPS helped. After confronting her friends and finding out the blonde had vanished from the dance, after the power was mysteriously knocked out, Wilden immediately had his officers search the school; finding that she was gone and had taken the car. They had found the vehicle not too far from where she lived and abandoned; also being able to get past the stakeout team on her place. When Alison was nowhere to be found, the detective once again went to her friends who did not have a clue on where she could have gone; seemingly upset at her for some reason. Melissa had also complained that her sister and her friend were missing Wilden was after a bigger prize; though it didn't occur to him that they might be involved. He had found out from Jenna that this was a popular hangout for the blonde and he knew the manager was sketchy enough that it was logical that she would have fled here for the time being.
Thus this was why he was here in the first place.
Truthfully, he was completely taken aback on the scene in front of him; with Alison holding Mona Vanderwaal hostage with Spencer Hastings not too far away. While he should have considered that others would take an interest in bringing down Alison, especially after the arson attack on the gazebo in the DiLaurentis backyard, it never occurred to him that Mon and Spencer would be the ones; though they had one of the biggest grudges against the blonde. He had assumed that Mona would have given up her grudge after getting out of Radley and Spencer was never known for sneaking around as well as revenge. However, looking at their attire it seemed that they were deeply involved in what was going on; maybe even his secret ally that he suspected he had for some time now. While he had gotten to his position through political means, he still had passed his detective's exam with flying colors; thus he did actually know what he was doing. As a result, he was able to detect that there was someone providing breadcrumbs in his search for evidence against Alison.
"Drop the gun," Wilden commanded Alison, pointing his own weapon at her. He was tempted to simply take the shot but that might lead to some uncomfortable questions.
"You drop it or I'll shoot her," countered a very scared Alison as her hands started to shake. The teen was regretting not shooting Mona in the first place and simply fleeing the scene; thus not having to be in this new deadly situation.
"That is not going to happen," the police detective told the teen as he mulled on what he was going to do. If he pulled the trigger then there was a chance that she would shoot Mona in return and that would make things extremely complicated for him.
Not that he had anything against Mona Vanderwaal; only having a brief contact with her when she first went to Radley. While the exact circumstances of her going wasn't generally known, though common word was that it was a mental breakdown, Wilden knew that the teen was extremely intelligent and probably had dirt on Alison. So his plan, or Jenna's for that manner, was to visit the teen and see if he could coax anything that could be used against the blonde given his hatred for her. Jenna had wanted Mona as an ally for some time and had tried to woo her in the past; though it never went anywhere. It was strange given that both teens had a legitimate grievance against Alison and it was only logical that they would work together to take her down; though Mona's contact with the blind teen was lacking at best. Unfortunately, Mona was so doped up on drugs that he couldn't get a coherent word out of the girl with her doctors then ordering no visitors until they deemed her fit for them. Jenna hadn't been happy about that but then let it go; though she did keep an eye on Mona.
"Then I guess we are at a standstill," was all that Alison said as she looked around on a possible solution. The only thing that came to her was to shoot Mona and then take off running into the darkness; hoping that Wilden would be too distracted to help the fallen teen in order to chase after her.
"Or he just shoots you and be done with it," stated Mona offhandedly which caused everyone to stare at her in surprise. By her tone, the shorter teen didn't seem to care if she was taken down in the crossfire.
"What are you doing?" hissed Spencer angrily to her girlfriend who was only a few feet away from her. She had been hoping that Alison would have lowered her gun by now given that the situation had changed; knowing that she couldn't escape now.
"Realizing the situation for what it is; Alison isn't going to escape now and better that she just die here by his hand," said the teen and that caused a look of anger by the blonde even though she had to admit that Mona was right. Even if she shot her hostage and escaped, the police would find her only after a short time or Wilden would shoot back.
"And what about yourself; is dying worth it?" the girlfriend demanded to know; angry at her friend for the first time since their friendship began. It was really off putting that Mona was willing to throw her life away like this just to make sure Alison was gone for good.
"Of course not; I want to live more than anything and with you. Wilden here can just shoot Alison before she shoots me so we don't have to waste time to kill her ourselves; thus we save time having to kill and bury her," Mona answered with a shrug; which then cause both gun holders to look at the teen surprised. Alison knew that Mon and Spencer had some nefarious scheme for her but was caught off guard in it being her murder.
"You hear that? They want to murder me and you're a cop so defend me," ordered the blonde to the older man with a slight twinge of fear in her tone of voice. She might have the gun and could keep the two at bay but only if Wilden was on her side.
"Wilden here hates you as much as we do Alison; he isn't going to come to your aid anytime soon," Spencer said to her former friend with a slight smirk of her own; though she was hiding her anxiousness given that Mona was in danger. If she could goad the older man to her side then they would have Alison once and for all.
"Not if we make a deal; he has a lot on the line given our little tryst in Cape May last year. After all, my diaries would hurt a lot of people if they got out," Alison sneered at everyone in an attempt to get the upper hand; which seemed to work since Mona and Spencer were once again caught by surprise. While A seemed to know everything, there were still secrets out there that even they were not aware of.
"We can help you; don't listen to her. Both Spencer and I can make sure that everything she has on you gets buried to never come out," Mona said to the cop as she attempted to counter Alison's attempt to sway the older man. Wilden was a wild card when it came right down to it and she couldn't risk him going over to the blonde's side in all of this; not if she and Spencer wanted to make it out alive in one piece.
"You can be a hero; my family will see to it if you help me out. We can both pin everything on these two bitches including Bethany's death. I know you always wanted to go up in the ranks and this would solidify that in a nutshell," the blonde proposed in an alluring way; almost making even Mona believe her in some way. If there was one true talent Alison had, it was to get anyone to see her point of view no matter what.
"It won't work; there is too much going against her already not to mention the line of people who are willing to finish where we left off. You think Jenna and Shauna are going to sit idly by and watch as you as well as Alison go through with this little scheme of hers? You gain more out of helping us then helping her," Spencer pressed while making a slight glance towards her friend; hoping that they could convince the older man. She figured that Wilden had to understand that Alison's plan had too many flaws in it to succeed.
"Then we take care of them too; aren't you tired of having to listen to Jenna whine about her blindness anyways? I can be a much better friend than her and that traitor any day," Alison countered with a snap of her tone. Once A had been taken care of, she had planned along with her sister to deal with Jenna once and for all.
"Listen to her; she isn't making logical sense and is grasping at straws. You can't deal with all of her enemies without revealing your true colors; especially since we have people in our lives who would fight back against the lies Alison tells about us. Alison's days are numbered and you need to see that; especially since you don't owe her anything," Mona argued back since she couldn't be sure where Wilden's head was in all this. While she knew he hated Alison, he was also an opportunistic snake who would take any advantage he could get.
What happened next was often debated by Mon and Spencer since they weren't exactly sure why it happened in the first place. Long after things had calmed down and they could have a serious conversation about what had happened, neither teen could come up with a good possibility why the detective had did what he did; which caused things to spiral out of control. Spencer had speculated that Wilden might have been thinking about taking Alison up on her offer while Mona believed that their words was persuading the man. Either way, it was because of the older man that their lives had been nearly snuffed out; which might have resulted in Alison's final victory over the two teens. It was a good example on why only the two could trust one another for the A Game; since no one else would be able to do what must be done. Wilden could have taken down Alison easily if he had shown some courage; along with everyone else in town.
Wilden hesitated and that was evident by the slight lowering of his weapon towards Alison; which gave her the opportunity she wanted. Swinging her own weapon around, there was a loud bang in the woods as she pulled the trigger; nearly sending the teen back as the gun kicked. Two shots slammed into the cop's chest and he staggered back violently as blood sprayed out; knocking him backwards onto the dirt ground. Mona, who was closer to the weapon, had to cover her ears as the roar of the gun caused a ringing in her ear drum while Spencer was only slightly disoriented and still somewhat capable of coherence. She looked over to see what the status of the cop and saw that he was laying still on the ground; though she couldn't tell if he was breathing or not because of the darkness. It seemed that the cop had been finally taken down by her blonde nemesis and they were left at her mercy. It was surprising since she would have expected for Wilden to be smart enough to be wearing a bullet proof vest.
The teen struggled to quickly make her way towards Mona in an attempt to get the two out of here; before Alison was able to compose herself and shoot them as well. By the time she had reached her, Mona had risen to her feet and grabbed her friend's hand so that she could lead them away into the trees; before Alison did to them what she had done to Wilden. However, before they could make a move, another loud band could be heard and something slammed against the dirt only a few feet away from where they were standing. Both teens froze and turned to see that Alison had composed herself quickly and was pointing her gun towards their direction. The blonde had a look of pure evil upon her face and the sadistic smile she was giving Mona and Spencer caused the two to have a few chills in their spines. They froze where they stood; unable to contemplate on what to do. All they could do was grasp eachother's hand and hope for some sort of miracle.
Before she could take the shot though and end the two teen's life for good, there was another bang of a gun fired. All three teens were momentarily stunned and confused to what just happened; until there was movement not too far from where they were located. It appeared to be Wilden and he was holding his gun towards them with a slight puff of smoke coming the barrel of the weapon. Alison's face then contorted in pain and she looked down to see a hole in her chest with blood oozing out; making her fall to her knees. Wilden then dropped his gun and lay still; now dead from his wounds though he had a smirk upon his face; still bleeding out onto the dirt ground. Alison however could only show pure hatred as her life began slipping away and her own weapon fell from her hands. She coughed out blood and collapsed face forward though she continued to stare at the two teens in front of her; cursing them with every fiber of her soul. In fact, she was cursing everyone that came to her mind and not even considering all the people she was leaving behind. Alison's last thoughts were that she would make them all pay; before darkness and damnation took her soul forever.
With both Wilden and Alison dead in front of them; both teens stood there in the darkness as they figured out what to do now.
Please Read and Review; also a large thanks to my friend Paraddicted for the pre-read!