TW: Violence.

Dame Fortuna

Chapter 23: Standoff

"Nicely done, little Tanya," Wynona cooed once the girl stepped into the woman's home office. "You followed through. I'm sure seeing dear Fortuna bleed out and slowly run out of time will only make the men at our doorstep more reckless and stupid. False hope is a wonderful thing."

Tanya remained standing frozen in the middle of the room, chauffeured by three of Wynona's thugs as she always was during the day. "I heard whispers from the soldiers. That they…found us."

"Yes, the external patrols spotted Bluewave's suicide squad coming in from far north towards our front gate, led by the great Lieutenant General Atticus himself," Wynona sighed, pouring herself a glass of vodka on her desk. "The poor man."

"And…you're not worried?"

"Why would I be worried?" the woman chuckled. "As I'd expected, they gathered as many partners with their men as they could, but they still wouldn't be able to reach the numbers of even our exterior squad. This is why I'm very fond of Laurent."

After seeing through the feed what that man was capable of doing to a woman, even hearing his name sent a shiver down Tanya's spine.

I stood by and watched countless, innocent girls like you die by my father's hand because he wouldn't dare to touch me. It's only fair that I know how it felt. To pay the same price.

Bella was right. That was exactly how she'd hopelessly tried to justify it in her head, whenever she felt the uncontrollable, guilt-ridden urge to open that basement room door earlier than she was allowed to. But in the end, no matter what kind of girl she was…She decided even the sick and twisted Bella Swan didn't deserve that. No one did.

Fate is cruel. It gave the knife to the only one in our world who has the heart and not the stomach.

God…What had she done?

"You look suspiciously glum," Wynona tutted, gesturing for her new favorite pet to sit on the lounge across from her. "I gave you what you wanted. The woman's life was the price, wasn't it?"

Tanya swallowed, managing to maintain a neutral expression. "Fine. What do you want from me?"

There was a manic glint in Wynona's eyes for a split-second before she surprisingly said, "Nothing."

"I––What?"

"I've grown quite fond of you over our long time together, Tanya," Wynona said a little more softly than usual, and actually sounding sincere. "I wasn't really sure why that is, until I heard it today. From your conversation with the girl."

Tanya narrowed her eyes.

"You never told me about your father," Wynona said pensively. "You never really explained the full reason why you hated Fortuna so much. From what you'd told me when I took you in, I just thought you were just jealous your dear husband might like her more than you. But I see it now, and pieced it together with the role you played in Victor's death––the catalyst, if you think about it, for this whole damn war. To you, it's…the greatest betrayal, to have someone who was supposed to be your most trusted protector to let you down."

Tanya clenched her jaw for a second. "So what?"

Wynona pursed her lips. "It's a part of why I never want to have children. I don't want to let them down. I want to reach for the stars and burn the world to the ground without having to think that what I may do will affect them. Hurt them. So I…pity you."

Tanya chuckled humorlessly at that. Of course. Her life was so pathetic that even the psychotic Wynona herself couldn't help but feel bad for her. It was condescending, to say the least.

She decided to change the subject with something she had been genuinely curious about for a while. "How come you never try to see her? Fortuna? She's your most treasured secured weakness, after all."

Wynona's expression became reserved, and even reluctant this time. She drank a whole gulp of vodka and wiped the droplets on her thin lips before responding. "I never step inside the kill house. Just…in case."

"In case what?"

"In case I lose my edge," she said. "I never take part in the––torture. I only give the order, the way I want them all to suffer. And I only choose to see them to make sure they're dead."

Wynona stood up slowly from her seat, smiling almost kindly down at her young companion.

"That means I will see Fortuna," she assured her. "Very soon."

Her eyes flitted down towards her laptop as she pressed a button, and Tanya watched as the woman's smile gradually disappeared.

"Hmm."

"Something wrong?" Tanya asked.

"I lost connection to the feed and surveillance cams. Perhaps the electricity burned out." She then picked up her cellphone from her dress pocket, and her frown only deepened. "I––What?"

Tanya tilted her head. "Are you okay?"

"No service. That…never happens." She turned to the standing guards. "Radio should still work. Hand it over."

One guard picked up his walkie-talkie and set it across from the woman on the table. Wynona began to turn the knob to select the correct channel she was looking for then pushed to talk. "Eagle Eyes. Update from the front lines."

"No movement, Wyn," Eagle responded to her. "Atticus set up an offensive formation several hundred meters away from the front gate. Suicide squad's only about over a hundred men. They have guns at the ready but they're not moving. They're…completely silent."

Wynona stood up and began to pace. "They're waiting for us to start shooting."

"I suppose so, boss. We've aggregated three out of four major squads to defend the front gate. Only the patrol's far back to keep your, er, insurances in line. Overall, it'll be easy to take Atticus down now."

Too easy. "Hold back for now. And the Cullens? Where are they?"

"Well, that's what's interesting," Eagle said slowly. "The council, even Banks, and every major player with their entourage…are here. But not the boys."

Silence.

Wynona turned to the guards in the room. Her eyes were wide, and perhaps even–– "Drive up to kill house and check on her and the guards. Make sure she stays in the basement."

As the guards left the room to heed the request, Tanya released a shaky breath, her gaze fixed on the wringing fingers on her lap. She kept her ears perked up as Wynona began to check on the internal patrol squad members with the receiver. While those she was able to reach in the east and west quadrants were able to respond and update that everything was fine so far, once she began reaching for the patrols down south, where most of the women and children were housed…

"Tenet, report," Wynona called.

Radio silence.

Wynona furrowed her brows. "Anyone in the south quadrant, report."

Still…nothing.

Tanya was about to open her mouth to ask about what was going on when they finally heard it. It was faint––Wynona's home was in the center of the family compound––but it was clear nonetheless. The sound of several assault rifles coming from the south. And the consequent faint yelling.

Less than a minute later, they heard the first explosion.

"That's…not possible," Wynona said, shaking with fear for the first time. She stepped towards the window, squinting her eyes as she tried to get a glimpse of the south quadrant. "I-I know that sound. That's not ours, and––they do not have that kind of ammunition. That's impossible."

Tanya stood up slowly. She was calm and collected as she said, "I did offer. In case you wanted any help or information from me."

Wynona's head swiveled to face her, gray orbs sharpened. She walked around the desk and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Go on, then."

"You were right," Tanya sighed, shaking her head slowly. "He's always been smarter than you. Better than you. You have to keep innocent people hostage to get anyone to follow you. He doesn't need any of that. People…eventually find themselves willing to die and suffer for him, just for his approval, and he doesn't even have to raise a finger or tell them exactly what to do. He doesn't even have to––care for them."

Wynona reached out to roughly raise Tanya's face by the jaw. "What the fuck are you saying? Did you betray me, too? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Tanya said softly. "At least, nothing compared to what Fortuna has done. What she put herself through, for the sake of those two men."

Wynona was breathing heavily now.

"She was never a hostage, Wynona," Tanya said. "I knew that from the moment you told me you captured her. Carlisle would never have put her here without a reason, and if he wasn't sure he'd be able to get her back. She's…too valuable."

The two women shook with surprise when they heard another explosion––this time, it sounded to be only a few hundred meters away from them.

Wynona picked up the walkie-talkie again and reached the patrol team. Without breaking away eye contact from the woman across from her. "Evacuate all the women and children. Bring them all to my house, especially the children."

However, the voice who responded was different. Too familiar. And hearing it for the first time in so long ran both an excited and terrified shiver down Tanya's spine.

"You're going to die today, Wynona," the deep, angelic voice said sweetly. "You've trapped yourself inside your own sick compound."

Tanya couldn't help but tear up. He was…here.

Wynona's hand shook around the receiver. "You're really going to raze down this place? With all the women and children? The innocents?"

A pause. "Honestly, I would."

Tanya widened her eyes.

"Although I don't believe my friends here from the military will let me," he sighed.

Both women held their breath. Wynona was clearly at the peak of her fear now, because she had begun to pace frantically around the small room. "That's impossible. They wouldn't––They couldn't have helped you."

"Really?" A loud explosion was heard, both through the receiver and from outside the house. "So you're saying you're not hearing that? Our tank?"

Oh, God. Tanya began to tremble. He'd really outdone himself this time.

"The soldiers have already come in from the west, east, and south, and they've already evacuated most innocents from the south settlements, and are continuing to do so as we speak," he continued, sounding slightly out of breath now as if he was walking briskly. "We're gunning down your supplies. Your men are wedged in between and have nowhere to run. This isn't just an infiltration––I've made sure this is going to be a pathetically quick massacre. The Bluewave team is only up north to shoot down those who try to run. It's over, Wynona."

Wynona pressed a shaking hand to her temple. "We can negotiate."

He chuckled softly, and despite everything that had happened, Tanya's chest ached at the familiar sound. "Oh, dear. You really have no idea who you're fucking with, do you?"

"My boys still have her. The girl. They'll kill her."

Silence, for a few long seconds. Eventually, he asked, "Which girl?"

Tanya's breath hitched in her throat.

"Doesn't matter," he continued, his voice suddenly low and dangerous now. "You should be more worried about your own life, Wynona. Right now, you're going to want to wish I find you first, and not my boy."

Wynona swallowed just as the line was cut. Her eyes flashed towards the blonde across from her as she swiftly pulled out a pistol from the drawer of her desk. Tanya didn't even flinch when the woman poked it on her belly.

"Don't do anything stupid and follow me," Wynona growled.

The guard at the gate immediately jumped at the sound of gunshots and explosions coming from far south and east of the compound. "Fuck," he swore, as dread rushed down his spine from hearing the voices of screaming from far away.

He had to follow protocol. Their most valuable card was the girl.

He made his way through the barbed fence and kept his rifle aimed towards the kill house. There should also be men in there already with her, guarding the basement door entrance. Once he stepped inside, however…

"What the hell––" he cried, seeing the pile of four bodies on the ground, all with frenzied slashes on their necks.

The basement door was also wide open.

Before he could fully process the danger, he heard the gunshot. And felt the consequent pain on the left side of his chest. He stumbled to his knees, clutching the bullet wound, and just before his vision fully blurred, he was able to catch the sight of her.

Fortuna had been waiting for him. As soon as she'd noticed the red blinking of the camera had ceased, she knew she had no time to waste. She'd managed to get out of her bonds in the basement using the same knife Tanya had used to stab her, and was now sitting on the floor with her back leaning against a pillar. There was a small pool of her own blood beneath her. Despite her only limply holding a rifle she'd stolen from a guard, she'd managed to hit his chest dead-center.

Her eyes were glazed and unfeeling as she watched the man crumple and die quickly before her.

She leaned her head back on the pillar, closing her eyes momentarily. Killing these ones took a lot out of her, as she'd expected. She was bleeding out faster than she wanted to.

Fuck. She could already feel her mind fading away.

"I'm a survivor," she whispered, as she opened her eyes and forced herself to stay awake. "I'm a survivor."

Bella groaned and reached down to her tattered dress, then used all the energy she had left to rip up a long, thick piece. She used the fabric as a makeshift bandage, swearing loudly as she tightened it around her belly.

She just needed to wait and protect herself a little while longer. Trust in him to find her.

She cocked her gun, and pointed it towards the doorway again.

Edward remained ominously silent as he recklessly drove the armored car through the chaotic streets of the compound.

There were a couple of fresh, young soldiers in the car with him––a medic and a trooper forced to be on his side, actually, as assigned by his father. The main task given to them by their temporary commander was to serve as his son's body shields. However, it was Carlisle's second command that actually made them look at the younger Cullen with fear and bewilderment.

Don't get in his way. Don't help him and most of all, don't stop him. If you must, only shoot to protect him from strays who try to take him down.

Both soldiers took a sharp intake of breath when Edward stepped on the gas and promptly ran over a group of eight of Wynona's guards who tried to shoot at the car. The bodies were knocked into the windshield and collapsed with several cracks onto the pavement behind them as they passed.

Edward Cullen didn't even blink at the sight of blood and guts on the glass. His dead eyes remained focused at the road ahead of them.

He eventually found the destination he was looking for, which was pinged earlier that day. It was the signal he had been crossing his fingers for, after finally seeing the confused, two-faced fucking traitor in the same room as Bella on the feed. The warehouse looked to be rundown and empty from the outside.

Edward parked the armored car haphazardly on the grass and wordlessly stepped out of the car. While the man wasn't dressed with a vest, he was very armed. He had the customized Colt revolver at the back of his pants, a long commando knife at the front side of his belt, and of course, his favorite Tommy sub strapped across his chest.

The soldiers gulped. They had seen him use it with ease earlier, when they were moving in south of the compound. During the confidential briefing a day ago, they were given the impression that the man wasn't much of a cold-blooded violent shooter unlike his infamous father. They were proven wrong that day. The man was a scarily accurate and ruthless gunman.

Edward remained silent as he expertly pointed the gun in front of him. The soldiers did the same as they moved into the warehouse.

His sage green eyes scrutinized the pile of dead bodies on the ground, and later the ominous pool of blood by the pillar. But no sign of Bella. His heart began to race until––

"Put the gun down or she dies."

Edward's expression remained collected as he turned around to face the man who had been hiding behind a wall at the other side of the warehouse. His jaw clenched and his chest bubbled with almost uncontrollable rage as he regarded Laurent, holding his Bella's seemingly lifeless body by the waist with a pistol to her head.

Of course.

He blinked once slowly, his sub still pointing towards the man as he stepped forward a few steps.

"At least, I think she's still alive, she was passed out when I found her," Laurent drawled, leaning his ear against the girl's face. "Yep. Still breathing."

"Let her go," Edward said as calmly as he could.

"I know who you are," Laurent said, his lips curving up to a smile. "Did you like the little show we put on for you? I hope you did, your girl put a lot of effort into it."

Edward released a steady breath. "Let her go."

"Then put the gun down."

Edward's eyes twitched painfully, before he reluctantly removed the strap of his gun and let it clatter to the ground. He turned to the guards. "Put it down."

"Wynona was right, men always heel for their women," Laurent chuckled, his hand holding the pistol on Bella's head slightly relaxing. As he moved to point it towards Edward, he began to say, "You know, she––"

Bang.

"I––Fuck!" Laurent choked, his pistol falling unceremoniously to the ground. It took him another second to process the pain from his hand, as the dead shot had managed to blow off his palm, that he had to let go of Bella to cradle his wound.

Said dead shot knew he only had milliseconds, and as soon as he'd noticed Laurent's hand move away from the girl, he'd swiftly pulled out Bella's revolver from behind him to shoot. This, he supposed, was an advantage of having this shared…hobby with his father, as he spent more than a decade of practice with the craft at the range. Carlisle had even taught him this particular trick himself.

And Edward definitely wasn't pulling back now. He shot two more bullets, this time on each of the man's knees.

"Jesus fucking––"

"Bring her to the car," he said coolly to his companions. "Make damn sure she lives."

Edward finally let the pure rage and bloodlust in his chest take over and his self-control cease as he confidently strode forwards, now pulling out the commando knife from his belt. Without another moment's hesitation, he kicked away Laurent's pistol, hunched over him, and began to pull down the man's pants.

The soldiers promptly grimaced and looked away from the scene as they carried Dame Fortuna's lightly but steadily breathing figure out of the warehouse. Even when they settled into the car to focus on reviving and stitching the girl up in the backseat––she only softly groaned in the process––they could still hear the agonized, blood-curdling screaming from the open warehouse doors.

Bella awoke much later with familiar fingers gently playing with the locks of hair at the side of her heavily bruised and cut face. When she opened her eyes, they immediately brimmed with tears at the sight of him, finally, gazing down at her as he held her head on his lap in a moving car.

"I'm––sorry" were the first words she decided to sob.

His sage green eyes were soft, but his lips were in a quivering frown. "For what?"

"Everything," she sighed, closing her eyes again. She must be in an insane amount of drugs, because she could barely feel the pain in her belly. She also felt very close to falling asleep again. "For…lying. For making you go through––for seeing that."

Edward was silent for a few seconds. "Why did you go through with it, then?"

"Because it was the only way. For us to win their favor. To gain more men. For you to…live."

He swallowed, his finger tracing her cheekbone now. "Bella, I'd let the whole world burn for you. Even myself."

"So would I. And I've proven that."

"God…" He sighed, closing his eyes tightly for a second. "I'm so sorry, baby."

Bella looked up at him sadly. "I hope…that you still see me…That I haven't––"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Bella," Edward immediately cut off, a flash of fury in his green irises now. "Shut the––Don't you even say it. That chapter is done, you hear me? I hunted them all down myself and they're all fucking dead. And I made sure they passed as painfully and horrifically as possible."

She furrowed her brows, finally taking in the delicious sight––the smell––of his shirt, chin, and his hands still covered in blood. There was a strange tingling in her chest as it fully registered in her slow brain. She was slightly breathless as she said: "You––killed them all?"

Fire remained in his eyes as he said again, "The whole world, Bella. I'll burn it for you."

A gentle, satisfied smile formed on her lips at that. Before she could fully pass out from the drugs, she had to ask, "Where are we going?"

"The hospital."

Then a sense of dread rushed down her spine. "But––Where's Carlisle?"

His jaw clenched. "I don't know. Battle's almost done, but there's no sign of him or Wynona. I haven't heard from him yet. But they're all looking for him."

Edward widened his eyes when Bella suddenly sat up, grabbing him by his shoulders.

"Edward," she said frenziedly, her eyes suddenly sharp and distressed. "You have to find him. I…don't think he's planning on making it out of here alive."