SWD: Chapter 12

The group of seven rescuers continued to trek inside the seemingly abandoned building. Both Aiden and Wendy were leading from the front while Detective Wells stayed at the rear. Since they were the only ones with any sort of dangerous firearms, they decided to stay in these positions for now to protect the others.

Double D looked around the area, "You know, as the headquarters for a notorious mafia family, this place is unusually quiet…"

"That means they're expecting us," Zoey said before making a glare, "That gives me even more reason to give them all a good punch in the face! And if that pervert's there, I'll make sure to give HIM a swift kick in the—"

"Detective Wells, you mentioned that Lucian knows the layout of this place," Aiden started to ask, interrupting Zoey from saying the rest of her rant, "Did he happen to give you any sort of map or directions on where to go?"

Mr. Wells shook his head, "No, but he did mention that they would most likely be in the old auditorium or gymnasium. This building used to be an old activity center before the owners went bankrupt. I suspect the Martel family bought this building in secret to keep it from being torn down…"

As everyone was discussing things, Matthew could sense someone following them from behind. He turned to see that Ed had somehow snuck into the building; it looked like he was trying to keep his distance, seeing that he was not supposed to be there.

Matthew was about to call out to him before the group came to a sudden halt. There was a whiteboard in front of them along with two passageways; one path went left, and the other went right. They saw that something was written on the whiteboard with colored markers. A yellow arrow was pointing to the left, while a blue and red arrow were pointing to the right. Additionally, the blue arrow was curved to point upward past the red arrow, suggesting that the directions were pointing them to the second floor.

Wendy frowned at the sign, "It seems like they want us to split up into two groups. The colors of the arrows represent the elements they have."

Everyone looked at each other, "I don't think that's a wise decision…" Double D muttered in nervousness, "It'll most likely lead us into a trap."

"You're right, but I don't think we have that much of a choice except to play along," Miles said as he glanced over to the three police officers, "Besides, several of us know how to defend ourselves…"

Matthew caught on to what Miles was going to say, "Oh, can you not fight, Mr. Edgeworth?"

Miles shook his head, "Phoenix is the one who knows self-defense, not me," he replied with a shrug, "But I've been in these kinds of situations before. I can help with any negotiations that come up; that is, if any of them wish to do such a thing."

"Either way, I think Aiden and I will go with our sons with the rest staying with Zoey," Wendy said, "We should contact each other once we're done, along with the officers outside."

The group nodded their heads, with two groups walking down the assigned pathway. Zoey went left, while Double D and Matthew went right. Of course, Ed was still following behind Double D and Matthew, turning right once he was in the clear.

A few minutes ago, at the auditorium, we could see Rufus Martel standing on the stage with Marie, Serena, and Camilla separately tied up. Marie looked like she was trying to get out of her bonds while Camilla was shaking in fright and Serena looked to be drowsy (one of her sleeping spells was starting again, despite what was going on); they were all sitting down near each other in the center of the floor on the stage.

Rufus took out his cell phone for a moment to make a call, "Mr. Carson, have you arrived at your destination?"

"Yes, Mr. Martel. I just arrived at the right balcony above the auditorium," Mr. Carson replied on the other end, "Ms. Riviera has two of the kids tied up near each other on the left balcony. She told me she wanted to take care of some business with them personally."

"Very good, just remember not to let the recruit go overboard on the grudge she has. The same goes for the young man."

"Yes sir, I know. I'll meet with you a moment on the stage."

Rufus hung up his cell phone before looking back at the two girls behind him, narrowing his eyes at the situation, "That damn son of mine, thinking he could try and run from us again…"

Rufus began to look closer at one of the girls that was with Camilla; the area was currently dim with only a few lights here and there (to keep up the illusion that this place was supposed to be abandoned), but he noticed the features of the teen girl of the short blue hair were strikingly like his son Lucian, especially her eye color…

"Wh…" Rufus briskly walked over to the three girls, looming over them to get a closer look at Marie, "You there…"

Marie glared at the older man over her and her friends in anger, realizing that he finally got a good look at her face, "What is it, old man? You got something to say to me?!" She growled at him, trying to intimidate him to at least walk away from them.

Rufus continued to glare at the teen girl before turning away, "Feh, must be the trick of the lights," he grumbled.

Marie heard a few sniffles nearby, only to see Camilla starting to tear up, "I'm s-sorry. If I didn't try t-to run away in my father's car, none of this would've—"

"Camilla, it's gonna be okay!" Serena interjected before making a small yawn, "None of this is your fault."

"Yeah, if anyone's at fault here, it's this dumb old geezer," Marie taunted, "Thinking he's so powerful because he's the head of some mafia," she looked up at the man with a smirk, "If anything, he's a coward who thinks taking hostages is a good idea!"

"W-Why you—!" Rufus growled to Marie, restraining himself from picking her up from where she was sitting, "You certainly have a mouth of you, young lady. I suggest you stay quiet…"

Marie began to laugh, "Or else what? You don't have the balls to actually harm us!"

That was when Marie felt Rufus pick her up with her shirt collar in anger.

"M-Marie!" Serena gasped as Camilla yelped in fright.

Rufus lifted Marie close to his face, only to see her glare at him with intense hatred, but no fear, "Do you want to press your luck with that, young lady?"

Marie began to laugh at his face again, "Sure! Just hold on a second."

That's when the binds around Marie's wrists began to come off, catching the man off guard, "Wha—?!"

Rufus was kicked in the chest by Marie, knocking him to the floor in a stunned state.

"Whoa! Way to go, Marie!" Serena cheered, "It's no wonder why Matthew loves you so much; you kick so much ass!"

Marie widened her eyes for a split second from Serena's comment before shaking it aside. She ran over to Camilla first, taking out a pocketknife she had hidden until now; secretly using it the whole time on herself for this chance to escape.

"Camilla, I want you to do us a big favor," Marie started to say as she used her pocketknife to cut the young girl's binds, "I want you to run as fast as you can out of here! No one can catch you if you do that!"

Camilla gasped at Marie's statement as the ropes fell off her wrist, "B-But…"

The group could see Rufus starting to get back up, growling even more in anger.

"I'm sure there are already police officers outside, so please get to them for help! Please!" Marie continued to say.

"We'll be fine, promise!" Serena cheered, "Now go, Camilla! GO!"

Camilla looked at Marie and Serena in sadness before nodding her head and quickly dashing off the stage, away from the auditorium. She used her wind powers to make it so no one could catch her, even if they tried.

Marie felt Rufus grab her wrist in anger, "You little bitch!" He yelled to her, "How dare you try and ruin my plans! You clearly don't know who you're dealing with!"

"You're right, I don't know. And I also don't care!" Marie replied with a taunting smirk.

Rufus glared at the girl once more, "Your attitude reminds me of someone I know, and it's getting rather irritating!"

"Oh, do you mean your only son?"

Both Rufus and Serena widened their eyes at Marie's statement, "What…?!"

Rufus looked at Marie's eyes once more; it finally clicked in his head, "W-Who the hell are you?!"

"About time you asked that! God, you're slow," Marie laughed, "My dad came to visit me today; didn't even know he was alive until today."

Rufus stood there in complete shock, "I-I thought my bastard of a son was gay!"

"Oh wow, so not only are you an awful control freak, but you're a homophobe too?" Marie asked, "That's nice to know, it gives the best excuse to kick your ass again once I get the chance! Oh, and he's bi, not gay! Don't you know anything about your own son?"

"BE QUIET!" Roared Rufus as he threw Marie to the ground, making her yelp in surprise, "And STAY quiet!"

Serena gasped, "Marie!"

Marie groaned a little, dazed from her sudden slam to the floor.

Rufus glared at the girl he threw down, huffing a little from the act, 'So, the girl's name is Marie… She looks like she's about fifteen. When the hell did Lucian even HAVE her?'

"… Bah, I shouldn't care about what Lucian's done in his past," Rufus said as he picked up Marie by her wrist and turned to Serena, "As long as I have you two here, they'll come running; now more than ever!"

Meanwhile, high above on the center balcony of the auditorium, we could see Viper standing near where Jennifer and Felix were tied up; both her captives sat in some of the theater chairs there. Viper was looking up things on the cell phone she had, not paying attention to her two hostages.

"… Psst, hey!"

Jennifer turned to Felix, who was trying to keep his voice down, "Do you want to help me with something really quick?"

Jennifer looked at Felix in confusion, "W-What is it?"

"I just noticed that my binds are pretty loose around my wrists," Felix said, "Whoever did the binds didn't do a very good job."

"O-Oh… really?"

Felix nodded his head before making a sad frown, "Anyway, once I get these binds off me, I'm gonna try and make a run for it, so I can call for help. I want you to make her trip if she tries to go after me. Can you help me with that?"

Jennifer widened her eyes.

"I-I know it sounds selfish just to let me escape without you like this, but… b-but I will come back for you! I'm not going to leave you here!"

"I know you will."

Felix widened his eyes, "Y-You're not gonna get mad at me?"

"No, because I trust you," Jennifer replied with a smile, "You're such a nice guy, just like Eddward. A-And I'll be alright! Just please stay safe, o-okay?"

Felix nervously nodded his head, "Okay, I'll give you the signal once it's untied…"

Thirty seconds passed by before Felix whispered to Jennifer again, "Okay, it's done! I'm going to run!"

Jennifer nodded her head. As soon as he said he would, Felix sat up from where he was sitting, his hands now freed from the binds that were on them. Viper looked up from her phone to see him start to run away, "Wh – HEY YOU!"

Felix began to run to the exit of the balcony as fast as he could. Viper was about to run after him until she faceplanted into the floor along with her whole body; Jennifer had stuck out her legs to make Viper trip, preventing her from chasing after Felix. Jennifer chuckled internally at the sight of Viper falling on her face.

Viper made a loud growl in frustration as she turned to Jennifer, glaring daggers at her, "Is this a fucking joke to you?!"

Jennifer remained silent but shook her head 'no' instead.

Viper got back to her feet, going over to Jennifer to grab her by her shirt collar. Viper had a pissed-off look on her face, while Jennifer's face was blank, not even showing that she was scared.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're autistic. You can't look at anyone in the face or eyes like a coward!" Viper said before smirking, "I bet you can't even express or think about a lot of things correctly. Such a worthless kid!"

Jennifer's face was still blank, but the insults Viper was saying still hurt her, even though she knew those insults were not true. Double D helped her realize that she was not a useless or worthless girl; just being around people that she cared about also made them happy. That alone gave her a purpose.

"Heh, whatever," Viper grumbled as she let go of Jennifer, flopping her butt back down in the same chair as before, "Once that puddin' hat kid comes to rescue you again, you both won't be feeling anything anymore…!"

Meanwhile, inside the gymnasium, we could see Evan shoving Phoenix (who now had his hands tied in front of him) to the middle of the basketball court with Eddy slung over his brother's shoulder. Eddy had not woken up from taking the shot earlier; most of his left forearm was now bandaged thanks to Phoenix, to try and cover up any sign that he took the serum from the room they were in.

"Geez, when the hell's this Pipsqueak gonna wake up?" Evan grumbled as he dropped Eddy off his shoulder in a rough manner, "Didn't think that dumb rag would knock him out for this long."

Phoenix did not speak a word, deciding it was best not to talk to the man who was holding them captive. He had a feeling if they did try to say anything, Evan would force them to stay quiet. As they were standing there, Phoenix realized something; it was another reason that Eddy took the shot. Evan did not realize that Eddy had woken up after he left the room, leading Evan to believe that his brother was still knocked out the whole time; even to the point that he did not even tie up his brother's wrists. This is exactly what Eddy wanted him to do, so he could strike Evan once he woke up.

'I certainly hope his plan pays off!'

Author's Note (January 8th, 2025): I'm so tired. I need sleep...

... Yep. That's it. XD