A/N… I know I'm late. Please see me at the bottom…

~oOo~

Chapter 25

EDWARD

Caius's building was quiet as we approached the front doors. I was expecting the same shit as Aro's building back in the Sound – raiders at the front desk, video surveillance, and ridiculous decadence that simply didn't belong in a world that had pretty much come to an end. It had all those things, but so far, it remained quiet.

Marcus was leading us all now. This part of the night was in his control. It was his brother and his sole mission to end this last tyrant.

We used the darkness to our advantage, along with my team's ability to blend in. We were dressed for it, so he was sending Emmett, Jasper, and me in through the front doors along with Valentine and Fowler. Those two young women would be the faces that caused the raiders at the desk to relax momentarily.

Before we left the cover of the parking garage, Marcus set up teams of his soldiers to enter various doors of the building – a loading dock in the back, a service entrance on the opposite side, and a side entrance where a coffee shop once opened both inside the lobby and out on the sidewalk.

Charlie, Rose, and Alice would stay with Marcus. They were essentially his guards. We were too close, and we weren't taking any chances on something happening to him at this point in the mission.

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Alistair's words of never stop resisting came to mind as my small team gave the rest a chance to get into position. I wondered for a brief moment what Alistair would make of Marcus and all that we'd done so far since he'd been taken from us.

As former military, I was sure that Alistair would've respected Marcus, that he would find the things he'd gone through to get here respectable and honorable. I think he'd have been as skeptical as we had been when we first met Marcus. In just the small amount of time of knowing Marcus, I didn't think we'd have to resist him in the future. He was open-minded and honest, and he treated everyone with respect and kindness. I could tell there was a part of him that tried to cling to the old ways, the old government, but it simply didn't fit in this new world now. Some parts did, but not all of them.

Valentine took Fowler's face in her hands. "Keep your eyes open and watch yourself in there."

"I'm good, babe," Fowler promised with a single nod.

Jasper raised an eyebrow my way, and I rolled my eyes. Maybe they were together, or maybe they were just good friends. I didn't care. Although, the advice was something I would've told Bella had she been there, so maybe they were a couple.

However, before my ass stepped through those lobby doors, I needed to check in at home.

Stepping away into the shadows of the alleyway across the street from Caius's building, I pulled my radio from my belt. "Dorothy to Oz," I called softly.

"Hey, Ed," Garrett called back. "Listen, I'm not the pretty thing you want to hear, but your other pretty thing needed attention."

I grinned, huffing a light laugh. "Fair enough, Garrett. We're good to go in. I just wanted to have you guys at the ready."

"Copy that, kid. We're all watching out for you here. However, the goings-on at the walls have caught the attention of the floor just below your target, which means they've warned Caius. You are no longer a secret."

Flash came over the radio, adding, "That building is now swarming with raiders. The top floor is wide awake."

Marcus stepped closer to me when he caught that bit of news. "Okay, so we'll be going in hot. Understood."

"Yes, sir," Flash replied. "We'll watch all of you as best we can."

"Thank you, Flash," Marcus said, and he glanced around at my team. "You want to continue on with the plan?"

Nodding, I turned to Jasper and Emmett. "We'll go in, but if we've no longer got the element of surprise, then this will just be…noisy."

Valentine grimaced. "If they know we're coming, then they'll be armed and ready. Full gear and waiting for a fight."

I took a deep breath and let it out. Finally, I gave a nod. "Fine. A fight it is." I looked to Valentine and Fowler. "Are any of these raiders friends of yours? Or are we just going in strong?"

"No raiders, but Caius has a few slaves up there. As far as we're concerned, they're the only innocents," Valentine replied.

"The higher up you get, the more important the assholes. They have slaves too," Fowler replied.

Shaking my head at that, I turned to Marcus. "Wait for us to clear the lobby. Then send your teams in. I guess we'll have no choice but to sweep the whole damn building." My eyes raked up the tall structure. "How many floors?"

"Seventy-three," Fowler replied.

"Oz to Dorothy," I heard over my radio, and I smiled that it was the one voice I needed before stepping into this hellscape of a building.

"There she is," I sighed, meeting Emmett's amused grin as I put the radio to my mouth. "Go ahead, Oz."

"Flash and Nolan wanted me to tell you that the majority of the raiders are on the first five floors. There are a few along the way up, but the rest are pretty much centered around the top two. They're guarding the top floor and the one below it," Bella said, and I could hear her nerves in her tone.

I glanced between Charlie and Marcus before I even considered answering her. And there was a part of me that didn't want her to watch what was coming next, but I knew she'd never step away. She'd been a fighter when we met as kids, and she was still a fighter; she just had to do it a different way now.

"Well, that's actually good news," Marcus stated softly, his own gaze raking up the building. "We'll clear the lobby and the first five floors, and then we'll all make our way to the top."

Nodding once, I put the radio back to my mouth. "Thank you, love. Please let us know if any of that changes."

"Copy that." Before anyone could move, she added, "All of you be safe and come home to us." While I could tell she was saying that to everyone, I could hear it aimed at me and Charlie specifically.

My nose wrinkled at that, but I replied, "You have my word, Bella."

Charlie gripped my shoulder as I clipped my radio back onto my belt, whispering, "Let's do what she says." He faced us all. "This first part is in Edward's control. We'll go in on his command. Let's end this tonight in this building."

I faced my team, but Valentine piped up. "Who is she?"

Smiling, I said, "My wife. She'd be here with us, but we just had a baby."

Valentine and Fowler both did that girly, "Aww," thing, making all of us chuckle.

"Boy or girl?" Fowler asked.

"Girl…Emily."

"C'mon, Dad," Emmett teased, gripping my shoulder. "Let's go teach some assholes a lesson or two."

I grinned at the chuckles around me, but I was kind of proud of that new title, and I couldn't wait to get home to my girls. With that thought, I brought out my orca, gave it a kiss, and tucked it back into my pocket again. My group did another quick weapons check, and we started for the front doors of Caius's building.

Due to the late hour, the lobby had partial lighting. Most of the lights were above the lobby desk, where four raiders stood at attention – all armed and all at the ready.

Two of the boys were blond and blue-eyed, of average build and height. The other two looked like they worked out every damn day. And it was one of those muscle-heads who focused on Valentine and Fowler first.

His half-smile was creepy and predatory as he leaned on the counter. "Ladies, shouldn't you be at the train station? Or did you miss me?"

Fowler snorted, shaking her head in disgust. "Now I remember why I prefer women," she muttered under her breath, but the asshole heard her.

Valentine cracked a smile, but she kept stepping forward. "We heard there was some trouble at the gate, Williams. The captain sent us as backup."

"You're our backup?" Williams scoffed, glancing to his buddies behind the counter. When he focused back on the rest of us, it finally clicked that we weren't anyone he knew.

This would be fast, and this would be ugly. He started to reach for his weapon, but Jasper, Emmett, and I were faster. Four shots rang out, and four bodies hit the floor behind the desk. Fowler had taken out Williams as the fourth shot.

Emmett pulled his radio out. "Marcus, you're clear to breach your entry points."

Valentine scurried around the counter desk, fumbling around until she came up with another keycard. "Marcus's men will need thi—"

One of the blond guys on the end wasn't quite dead, and his bloody hand reached up to slap down on some sort of button. An alarm began to wail, and a rumbling started behind us as one of Marcus's teams – led by Briggs – broke through from the coffee shop at the same time Valentine shot the last guy.

Heavy metal gates started to descend over the outer windows, the front doors, and the elevator corridor just to the right of the lobby desk.

"All teams, move!" Emmett shouted into the radio.

Jasper and I ran to a large planter, pushing and dragging it to the gate that would block us from the elevators. The gate came down on it, cracking it a little, but it held.

"We gotta go," I warned them. "That thing won't hold it forever. Tell the other two teams to hurry."

Valentine and Fowler were now behind the counter, working furiously to get the alarm to shut off.

"Can you reverse it?" I asked them.

Both shook their heads, and Valentine said, "It needs a password, not just the keycard. And I'm pretty sure that password died with these assholes." She used the card in her hand to gesture to the guys on the floor.

Emmett walked to the end of the desk, saying, "Why don't you two stay here, and the first asshole I run into will give up his password. Okay?"

Both girls grinned evilly, and I shook my head, thinking they made a fantastic addition to our team. Bella would've loved them.

The loading dock team and the service entry team both called in that they'd gotten through before the gates slammed down. The six men who had come in through the coffee shop, along with Jasper, Emmett, and me, slipped under the gate that was about to crush the planter. We decided to forgo the elevators, and all of us took to the stairs.

The alarms continued to sound, and most of the lights had dimmed as some sort of emergency system. Our goal wasn't to attack the residents of this building unless provoked. We merely needed to remove the raiders from the equation.

Just before we opened the door to the second floor, my radio sounded.

"Dorothy, you have four raiders on each floor up to the fifth. All aiming at the elevator and stairwell doors," Flash stated softly.

I reached for the doorknob, giving a quick glance around at my team. They all gave nods to go ahead. I motioned for everyone to press back against the walls. When I yanked open the door, shots fired from the corridor. The back wall of the stairwell was shredded with bullets, but we waited until they'd exhausted their clips. When that pause came, we all moved as one.

Emmett was the first to shoot, wounding the first guy. I took out the second, and Briggs ended the last two on the far end of the hallway.

Emmett kicked weapons away from his target, who was a sweaty and bloody mess on the floor. A knife was out and aimed at the man's heart, with my very large, very angry friend in his face.

"I need the password to shut this shit off," he stated, pressing the tip of his knife just above the raider's protective vest. "Now, or I cut open your chest and show you your own heart. Password!"

I stepped closer, telling Valentine to be ready.

The tip of the knife started to cut fabric and then skin. Pretty soon Emmett would hit muscle and then the space between ribs.

I held the radio to the raider's mouth. "I'd give up the password, buddy. You'll last a helluva lot longer than the rest of the raiders in this damn building."

"Okay, okay!" The raider flinched in pain when Emmett didn't let up, but he started to rattle off a series of numbers, letters, and characters.

When the alarms shut off and the lights came up a little, the whole team relaxed, but I called down to Valentine. "Valentine, what's the status down there?"

"We're good. The gates are up, Marcus is in the lobby, and Fowler and I are coming up to you."

"Take the elevator to the third floor. We're going to clear the rest of these floors before heading up to the top two."

"Ten-four," she replied.

"Edward, be advised, the other two teams are using the service elevator. They'll be in position to take the raiders' level. You'll need to either blow the lock on Caius's door or find a keycard that works for that high of an entry level," Garrett explained quickly.

Valentine held up the card that Fowler had taken from the captain before she'd tossed his ass out of a fourth-story window.

"I think we're good," I answered back, jerking my chin toward the stairs.

"Edward, let Fowler and me lead on the third floor," Valentine offered. "They'll know us."

"Copy that," I said, following Jasper and Briggs up the stairs.

We waited for several seconds but braced ourselves when the ding of the elevator sounded just outside the stairwell door.

"Hold your fire!" Valentine called out.

There was no window to watch, so we had to trust the two girls to handle the situation. Their voices were low once they stepped from the elevator car, but those same voices raised just before four shots popped off quickly.

Fowler called, "Clear," before opening the door to the stairs. She smirked our way. "C'mon. Two more floors, and then we can take this shit to the top."

Emmett grinned and glanced my way. "Can we keep them?"

Jasper huffed a laugh. "They're not pets, Em. Maybe if you ask nicely, they'll come back on the train with us."

Valentine and Fowler laughed, but the former said, "Maybe. Can I bring my mom?"

I snorted, shaking my head at all of it. "Yeah, I'm sure that won't be an issue."

Those two girls did the same thing to the next floor, but Bella stopped us before we approached the fifth floor.

"You've got ten men on that floor, Edward," she stated over the radio.

We paused, glancing at one another, as I replied, "Copy that, Oz."

We'd all taken the stairs, but with that many, we'd need something else. Something to surprise them.

Turning to Emmett, I said, "You're with me. Everyone else hold this position."

Emmett and I took the stairs back down to the floor below. The elevator was still standing open from the last guy Valentine had shot. We shoved him out of the way, pressing the button for the next floor. As it lifted, I reached up to shove the hatch of the car open, pulling myself up and then Emmett. We got into a position to drop down just as the elevator came to a stop.

When the doors slid open, bullets shredded the back of that elevator car. One of the raiders called for them to hold their fire. We knew they'd send someone to check the car, so Emmett and I held on to the edge of the hatch door, using it to swing our legs as soon as two raiders approached the elevator doors.

Emmett's boots caught one in the face, and mine landed full force into the chest of the other one. Both men were launched back into the corridor, taking down another four raiders in surprise. They all landed in a heap, but Emmett and I were already firing our weapons.

The stairwell door opened, and the rest of our team poured out, taking out a few more. One raider was left down at the end of the hallway, but he simply threw down his weapon and held up his hands in surrender.

"Oh, shit! I don't want no part of this," he rambled nervously. "Take the fucking building. All these people are assholes anyways."

Jasper snorted. "Smartest one yet," he muttered under his breath, pointing to the stairs. "Go. Run. The walls are down. Just find a place to lay low."

He nodded, weaving slowly through us until he got to the stairs, and then he hauled ass.

I pulled out my radio. "Charlie, come in."

"Go ahead."

"There's a raider on his way down. Don't kill him. He surrendered."

Charlie's chuckle echoed over the radio. "Copy that."

"Our team has cleared all five of the floors. We're taking the elevator to the level just below the raider floor," I advised.

"We follow your lead, Edward," Marcus replied. "We're right behind you."

The elevator took its sweet time getting to the seventy-first floor. The doors pinged, and the hallway was empty. We took the stairs up to the next floor, where Pearson was waiting patiently. Several of his men lined the stairs, but Emmett and I slid by them to talk to him.

"This level is crawling with raiders," Pearson whispered. "It's essentially barracks for this building. I'd hurl grenades in there, but we need to actually stay in this building for the next floor, so burning it up would be stupid."

"We could smoke 'em out," Briggs suggested softly.

"Yeah, that was my thought too," Pearson agreed and then looked to me. "My team can handle this level." As he spoke, he attached a silencer on the end of his rifle, and several of his men followed suit.

Briggs collected three smoke canisters, setting them down by the door. He then took two men down to the floor below to follow what Emmett and I had done earlier.

On his radio, Pearson quietly said, "Beta Team, we're a go for seventy-two in sixty. Go silent."

"Copy that, Alpha Team."

Pearson snatched up the smoke canisters. He motioned for all of us to get down as he reached for the doorknob. In a swift and what looked like a fairly practiced move, he pulled the pin on the first canister, yanking open the door and tossing it into the hallway. He did the same to the next canister but held on to the last one before silently signaling his small team.

They slipped out of the stairwell quietly, and Emmett and I stayed low, weapons ready just in case anyone were to get by Pearson's men. The hallway was now filled with smoke, and the men pulled masks on over their faces. Whatever raiders were on this floor had to have been asleep, or at least in their rooms, because there was no resistance for the first few moments as Pearson led Briggs and a few other men down that smoky hallway.

Each man faced a different door, kicking them in all at the same time. Several dull thumps met our ears, but it was the muzzle flashes we saw that gave us a better idea as to where Pearson and his men were. There were a few cries of pain or surprise, but they started to dwindle the longer time went on.

"That's cold, dude, but smart," Emmett muttered to me. "I mean, I get it. We have to reduce the threat to Marcus no matter what. Which makes me wonder how many we've got sittin' above us."

"No shit," I said, pulling out my radio. "Dorothy to Oz."

"Go ahead, Oz," Flash answered.

"Have we got eyes on the last floor?"

"Yeah, you've got raiders posted outside Caius's front door, but you've also got several posted throughout his home," he replied quickly.

"Edward, you have to be careful. He's got a room full of what look like slaves," Bella added. "Just off the side of the kitchen."

I glanced to Emmett. "It's Aro all over again," I muttered, and he nodded, wearing a grim expression as I put the radio back to my mouth. "And Caius? Exactly what room is his ass in?"

It was Nolan who answered this time. "Some sort of room off the living room. I'd say a closet, but I'm thinking he's built himself a safe room."

"Pussy," Emmett mumbled, rolling his eyes at that.

"Thank you, Oz," I said as Pearson emerged out of the smoke.

"Clear," he said breathlessly. "There weren't many, so you either removed the majority on your way up here, or above us is crawling with them."

"A little of both, actually," I told him, standing up when he approached with his men, and I told him what Oz could see on their end.

He nodded, taking a deep breath and coughing from the smoke that was still hanging around.

He wiped his brow with his sleeve, saying, "Okay, so the service stairs are sealed up top. That team will be blowing it as soon as we give word." He pointed to Briggs. "Get back in that elevator. We're taking this top floor. I don't care how many men he's got between us and him. Marcus, however, wants Caius alive. He'll answer for his crimes, apparently."

I shook my head, because I wasn't quite sure Caius wasn't the type of narcissist who could be taken alive. Aro was bad, but this guy was a different level of asshole. He seemed to think himself a king, with the walls, the hangings, the slaves. He liked his power, and he liked inflicting pain and suffering. Aro had been a spoiled thing, but Caius was going to be dangerous because I'd be willing to bet he had steps planned should someone come for him.

And as we ascended the steps to his place, I wondered just how feral he'd become once he realized his own brother was coming to take him down.

Before we reached the top floor door, I checked for my little rubber orca as I pulled my radio out. "Everyone, at the ready. We're about to breach the top floor."

"Copy that, Edward," Marcus stated.

However, the voice I needed most was next. Bella's sweet yet nervous tone stated, "We're ready when you are, Edward."

~oOo~

A/N… Important… I need to put updates on hold for a few weeks. I'm in the middle packing and moving, so writing is just not happening. I'm not abandoning the story, but I need to get moved and settled. At max, I need a month, but it'll most likely be less than that. I do apologize for the wait, but I'll drive myself crazy trying to do all the damn things, and then the writing would be shit. So please give me some time.

Okay, so until next time… Mooches, Deb ;)