Chapter 8
March 23rd 2022, flashback
Zoey waited until the only other patron left the bathroom to resume her communication "Ok how far are you at this point" she said checking the time, 5:00 AM.
"I'll get to it when I get there" a growl came from the other end
"We are getting that money" she growled "what floor are you on?" Zoey said rolling her eyes
"94"
"Then get to the secret stairs and get this over with" she said
Zoey could make out some other voices in the background, but just barely. "In a moment" the voice said before cutting communications
"Ugh" Zoey growled
Back to the Present
Nicole burst into the safe room to find Chase finishing on the safe "hey I'll be done in a- are you ok" Chase said
Nicole couldn't talk, she was hyperventilating and her vision started to blur. "Nicole… Nicole talk to us" Lola tried to say but barely anything got to her. Nicole noticed she left the door open and rushed to close it and lock it down.
Nicole tried desperately to stop breathing so heavily but couldn't so much stop her hands from shaking
"Nicole, we need you to calm down," Chase said, holding his thermos but she refused to drink. Chase raised his arm up and down over and over and gestured for her to focus on it. She started to focus, but she needed to calm down now "my grandpa fought world war two, he such a noble dude…" she mumbled her favorite song as she finally started to calm down. Slowly she started to hear the world again and breathe normally.
"Ok ok tell us what happened" Lola said clearly startled
"Zoey" Nicole got out
"Wha, she's dead?" Chase asked
"She killed Michael" Nicole said shedding a tear
Chase and Lola were speechless "What no, why would she….." Chase stuttered "No he's not dead he probably needs our help" Chase said loading his gun
"Chase I saw her shoot him" Nicole said barely getting out a full sentence
Lola stood there in shock and betrayal "Nicole… where's the detonator"
Chase's radio went off, he gestured for Nicole and Lola to be quiet "hello" he answered putting it to speaker
"Chase thank god you're alright" Zoey's voice came from radio "Nicole murdered Michael, I fought her away but I couldn't save him" she lied giving some pretty convincing sobs
"What!" Chase said "wait Nicole mentioned something earlier about previously working with Snyder" Chase said, she never said that what did he mean, Lola seemed just as confused "did she say anything during the fight"
"Yes, she told me face to face that he offered more money than we did, she's a traitor" Chase scowled, Zoey fell right in his trap
"Ok we'll keep an eye out for her" he finished off, his face fuming with anger "That Bitch" Chase said in anger. He sprinted over to the safe and he started working over time, he finally got it open "wa-la I'm amazing EVERYONE HIDE IN HERE" he said
Nicole had a realization and pulled out her phone "Logan we've gotta a problem-" she couldn't finish that thought because gunfire was cutting off what she said on the other end of the phone
"SO DO I" Logan said through the phone "the owl's here and he's engaged Snyder's men, I can't make it to the helicopter"
"Logan don't worry I'm…we're coming to help"
"Logan this is Chase"
"And Lola"
"Don't trust Zoey" they yelled into the phone
Chase shut the safe and the three of them rushed into the hangar. The place was a bloody mess, the L.A. owl tearing through security guards like a bullet proof lion. Luckily the yacht sized helicopter at the end still seemed in good shape, but the same couldn't be said for the others. The owl must've started a gas fire to total them. Snyder stood atop a destroyed copter blaster exploding projectiles "you're a talented man owl but you overlooked one thing… I've Got MONEY" he screamed as turrets popped out and started firing at him, trapping him in the corner. Serenity laughing underneath him.
Nicole finally spotted Logan, they just had to get him out and let the others deal with each other. "Logan cover your eyes" Nicole said into the phone
Logan seemed a little confused but he obliged and Nicole took out all three seizure inducing grenades Quinn gave her. She pulled the pins and threw them at the battle and quickly covered her eyes.
Even with her eyes covered she could still somewhat see the flashing lights, they must've been insanely bright to do that. All around them people were screaming in pain and toppling stuff over. "Logan now," Nicole screamed.
She heard footsteps running toward her from Logan's direction so they all made their way to you exit "Thanks for the save" Logan's voice came from her right
Nicole was sure they were getting close to the exit-
She suddenly tripped, no someone grabbed her. She started getting pulled back "WHAAAAAAA" she screamed to get the others attention. The grenades were still going off and given how much pain people were expressing Nicole still couldn't open her eyes.
She suddenly came to a halt and had a giant weight pushing down on her chest. Nicole opened her eyes just in time to see and dodge a knife blade to the face, even that one second burned a blinding light into her brain. She also reverse blinked and saw a terrifying figure, the owl constantly trying to kill her, with his boot pushing down on her. He wasn't affected by the light. Nicole resorted to randomly swinging her hands to try and keep him from hitting her.
Suddenly the weight of his boot came off her, and she meant suddenly. Logan had kicked him off her and pulled her outside the hangar. She could finally open her eyes again, her vision a bit fuzzy but that would heal. They ran for their lives away from that mayhem.
There were footsteps following them. Nicole didn't want to look back and just wanted to run faster, but she broke and looked back; The owl was chasing after them.
"NO LEAVE US ALONE" Logan shouted shoot two bullets at him
Chase, Lola, and Nicole all joined in but Nicole gave up after she kept missing, this was just wasting ammo. The owl pulled out a throwing knife and threw it toward Lola "LOLA NO" Chase said, pushing her and saving her life, the knife went in her arm instead of her back.
There was a perfect three hallway intersection up ahead "SPLIT UP" Logan screamed. They split into Logan, Nicole, and Chase and Lola. Nicole kept running… but the owl was on her tail
"NO STAY AWAY" she screamed as she ran for her life. Apparently she was wrong about that maniac being unaffected since after he shook his head a little he was ten times faster than her. She couldn't keep up this pace and he was gaining too much ground.
He threw a knife at her, she dodged a ninth of a second early just as it grazed past her. She had to have lost ground doing so she gave it everything she got, she was starting to get blinded by the sweat in her eyes.
NO..No she did not come all this way to die here. There had to be... ELEVATOR.
She sprinted and gave it everything she had and more, come on, come on keep going. The back of her collar got tugged on but luckily his claws ripped right through and she escaped and he tripped a little. She leaped into the elevator and smashed the closed door button until she cracked it. The elevator door was closing…
"AHHHHH" Nicole screeched as claws scarred the side of her head
The L.A. Owl then grasped her throat and started crushing. Nicole had to use both hands to try and pry it off, he pushed his head through the elevator door and used his other arm to pry it open.
"Ehhh…" Nicole could barely talk, she kicked him in the face several times, that held him back and stopped him from getting his other arm through. The elevator started going down but that monster persisted. Nicole took one of her hands and started crushing the veins in his arm. Finally the elevator passed the door and the owl yanked his arm back.
Nicole collapsed onto the elevator floor, she went back and forth between coughing and heavy breathing. She felt the side of her head where the L.A. owl scratched her, only to see her hand covered in blood.
She couldn't waste time so she immediately called Logan and checked the radio "GUYS, YOU ALRIGHT"
"Nicole, good your alive" Logan said "where are you"
Nicole looked at the elevator controls and the door was about to open on floor 95. "I'll be on floor 95" she said as the door opened. The elevator started to shake so she got out of there and onto the floor, there was a terrible screech as the elevator collapsed down the hole and crashed at the bottom as the cut cables flailed around as it fell.
And now here she was trapped on the 95th floor. There was a general staircase that could bring her up to the 100th floor but the only way back up to Snyder's military base of a penthouse was through…. Floor 97 and its exotic spiders. But at this point she had a crazy man in a suit with explosive slugs, a crazy man dressed like an owl, and a crazy woman who betrayed her and her friends. Nicole was more than justified to just quit and wait out the purge in a hiding spot then escape when ready. But… she needed to finish this, Snyder needed to be stopped, she needed to make sure what he did to Jacob would never happen to anyone else. And honestly she was not about to sit there and let Zoey get all that money for herself and get away with what she did to Michael. "Meet me at the safe I'll be there" Nicole said to the others
She took the general stairs up to the 97th floor, behind this door was going to be a room full of disgusting and terrifying spiders. But she wasn't about to quit, she was doing this for Chloe, for Michael, and for herself. She kicked open the door and….. It was a giant pool of water?
She was expecting more like a jungle, instead the entire floor was a giant water pool aside from the platform she was on. She found a control panel next to her and turned the lights on and the pool was full of giant spider crabs, some of them reaching 14 feet long. There was also a large sign that listed the growing price rate of crab legs and crab souvenirs "So that's how you make money with lobsters" Nicole said before looking around the room. Quinn said there was a staircase leading up to the safe room, where was it? Until she found it. There was an open doorway underwater and she could see a staircase on the other side…of those spider crabs.
Nicole groaned, as she really hated crabs. Nicole took a deep breath and leaped in the pool trying to swim only at the top to avoid the crabs. Once she got to the wall she dove down and went through the door and onto the staircase.
She followed the stairs, they felt like they went up several floors probably because they did. They led straight to a door on the ceiling, she slowly and carefully pushed it open and peaked inside, it was the floor of the safe room. The door smashed into Nicole's head
"Wha.. ah these shoes" a voice came from above, a voice she wished she didn't recognize, Zoey's voice. "There you guys are, you didn't run into Nicole did you"
"Ugh actually…" Nicole recognized Logan's voice coming from the entrance "I ran into her before the fight with the L.A. owl, I killed her myself" of course Nicole didn't like the idea but she was grateful for Logan covering for her "I hate myself for it but it was for Michael" Logan continued
"Really" Zoey said in a suspicious way "guys do you actually believe me"
"Of course" Chase's voice said "just hand me the explosive so we can finish the heist"
"I knew it you don't trust me" Zoey said "who are you gonna believe, me or her"
Zoey stepped off the ceiling door finally, Nicole pushed it open. Lola was the only one to notice her "she never mentioned working for Snyder, you gave yourself away" Lola said drawing her gun
"I had just come out of a traumatic situation and couldn't think, you can't honestly think I'd ever do that" Zoey kept defending, she still pulled her gun out just in case
Nicole slowly got out and quietly got on her feet. Lola's arm was heavily bandaged from that knife wound. Nicole was inches away from grabbing Zoey and….
"AHHHH" Nicole screamed, dodging a knife coming straight at her face.
The L.A. owl barreled down the hallways straight at them.
"LOGAN" Chase yelled as he pushed Logan to the ground before the owl could swing a knife at him
Lola pulled the pin on a seizure inducing grenade
"NOOOOOOOO" Nicole screamed too late as Lola already threw it.
The grenade went off and everyone except owl boy covered their eyes. Nicole got up and ran to where she remembered the entrance was. "NICOLE" Zoey's voice boomed as it pursued after her
Nicole opened her eyes when she was sure she was out of the safe room and Zoey was pursuing her. She shot a couple times but a shotgun doesn't have too far a range. Eventually Zoey ran out of ammo. Nicole kept running just as Zoey caught up to her and pounced on her. She held her down and tried to strangle her, Nicole tried to hold her hands back but Zoey was much physically stronger.
Zoey was then thrown off Nicole and she looked up to see Logan helping her up. Zoey got up but both Nicole and Logan pointed guns at her causing her to back off. "Ok ok you need to calm down" she said holding her hands up
Nicole noticed an elevator and knew what to do. She opened it up to an empty shaft "all your weapons" she said pointing down the shaft
Zoey nervously approached the shaft and dropped her shotgun and handgun. Nicole held out her hand for Zoey's knife and she gave it up.
A black blur rushed by and kicked Logan down the shaft
"LOGAN" Nicole screamed before stabbing the L.A. Owl in the leg with Zoey's knife
She ran knowing that wouldn't hold him for long and shed a tear, first Michael and now Logan, what was she supposed to tell Quinn.
Logan fell at what felt like a thousand miles an hour, he grabbed the elevator shaft cable and kept ahold but the inertia was sliding his palms down. He kept his mind on Quinn, Eric, and Brooke to avoid thinking about the hellish pain.
He finally stopped, his hands were dark red to the point of purple and covered in blisters and calluses but he was gonna get out of this. He climbed and he kept climbing. He wasn't out of this yet.
Nicole ran as fast as she could, if the owl wasn't on her tail then Zoey was. Nicole ran past one of those gaps in the wall, she stuck her hand across and snapped, no sound. Only now she could use the control panel!
Nicole jumped into action "no time to do this gently" she said as she smashed the panel open. She didn't have the tweezers and razor blade from earlier so she needed to use her fingernails. She found it connected to slot H and used her pinky nail to try and open the slot, but even that wasn't small enough, she used her radio antenna instead. She turned and saw Zoey racing toward her "Come on, come on" Nicole urged as she heard the zapping noise.
Zoey rushed over and crashed into a glass wall that closed across the gap. She could even hear Zoey on the other side now. Zoey got up and shot at Nicole only for the bullet to ricochet off and slice a piece of her hair off, she shot Nicole a hateful look. Nicole held up both hands and flipped her off. That treacherous not friend deserved it.
"You can leave if you want, I'm taking the money" Zoey said. Nicole shook her head, sorry Zoey but you're not much more trustworthy than Snyder now. Zoey tried smashing against the glass but all she did was damage her shoulder. Nicole would've walked away right there, but then….
The L.A. Owl came around the corner on Zoey's side, he walked carefully and calmly. Nicole's lip quivered as she tried to stand her ground. Just let it happen Nicole, just let it happen…. She stabbed you in the back. She deserves this… it's not your problem it's just. "LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU" Nicole screamed causing Zoey to turn and prepare
The L.A. owl approached and grabbed her shoulder. His mask just as terrifying as when Nicole first saw him. Yet Zoey somehow didn't have the slightest ounce of fear displayed on her.
She reached up and pulled his mask up slightly and kissed him.
Nicole's world froze in confusion but also realization. Zoey broke the kiss and fake texted on her phone just so Nicole would see.
The L.A. Owl took his mask off to reveal a ruggedly handsome blonde guy "we haven't formally met yet I'm James Garret, Zoey's boyfriend" he said before taking Zoey around his shoulder "I actually knew your husband, he put up a pretty good fight" he said as Nicole hit the glass in rage
Zoey sighed and turned around with James and walked away. Nicole finally broke out of shock "WHY!" Nicole screamed, causing them to pause "you owe me that much".
Zoey's hands shook as she turned to face her "go fuck yourself Bristow" she heartlessly said before continuing on.
Nicole scowled before she ran away from glass and into the penthouse.
"Jeez how'd they wreck this thing this badly" Stacy to the elevator repairman said he tried to investigate. He looked down and saw something coming up. "Hey" he said realizing it was a guy climbing up "hey"
"Logan" Stacy recognized "help him" she said as she and the repairman helped him inside the penthouse. Logan was so sweaty and tired, and his hands were blistered. Stacy got him a large Powerade "drink"
Logan accepted the drink and gulped it down in seconds "Ugh" he got out "I need to get to the hangar" he said once he could talk again, Stacy left to get help.
Logan pulled out his phone and called everyone, he couldn't reach Nicole but he got to Chase and Lola "Guys are you ok"
"We're fine. Lola's injured pretty bad your gonna have to get us in the safe"
"I'm breathing, I gotta get to the copter and get us out of here" Logan said, he honestly didn't even care about the money anymore at this point. But if Lola was injured then that was their only way out of here. He tried to get to Nicole again but couldn't reach her. He checked the time, 4:30 AM, the Purge would be over soon and they had to hurry.
Meanwhile Stacy ran to get help. Snyder and Serenity were in the hangar with the last sixty guards. Everyone was rubbing their eyes in pain "David, Logan Reese is in the main lobby he needs help, I know you can at bare minimum help on of your partners who has a family, please"
"Perfect" Snyder said as he clapped his hands "He can watch his family die with us" Snyder said as missile turrets popped out of the hangar ceiling and aimed straight at the Reese penthouse.