Rewrite
AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Happy Wednesday my wonderful readers! I hope you enjoy this high stakes conclusion to episode 19. Don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you guys in two weeks!
Chapter 473
Later that night Adam found himself in the morgue. He had gone there after Jessie's body had been pulled out of his car, after his car had been impounded for evidence, after he had been interrogated on what had happened. It felt like he had been talking for hours, to HPD, to the FBI, to Steve, retelling the story over and over again until it was burned into his mind and his tongue.
After all the talking he found that he couldn't be alone with his thoughts. He had wandered the building until he found his way down to the morgue where he found that Noelani had finished the autopsy. She thought that Adam was there to get the results of the autopsy, but he didn't want that. He had let her talk, too tired to explain that he didn't need to know the specifics, it all added up to the same thing.
Jessie had died. Because of him. Because he thought he could play the kind of games Wo Fat did on a regular basis. The kind of games that Rowan played. He didn't like that he had played with lives and lost, he didn't like that Rowan hadn't stopped this when he knew she probably could have.
For a long time, he sat there staring at Jessie's body underneath the white sheet. Noelani had long since left him alone. He wasn't certain how long he had been down there when Steve showed up, he just knew when he had noticed the man had appeared.
He had stared at Adam a bit as if attempting to assess how he was doing, which was clearly not well. After a moment he had said: "Rowan sent me, said you need someone who could… adequately comfort you."
He hated that Rowan had phrased it that way. Logically he understood that she meant someone better than her brothers who had been entirely useless at comforting, not that he thought they actually tried. Illogically he felt like she was saying he shouldn't need to be comforted.
He hated even more that she wasn't wrong. He could do with some comfort from someone other than Wo Fat.
But Steve hadn't said much to him, he seemed intent to let Adam stew with his feelings. Until he was ready to talk.
"I told her I'd protect her, Steve," Adam whispered, breaking the long silence that had stretched out between them.
"Alright. Jessie made a choice to steal that money. That choice got her killed. There's nothing you could've done about it."
"Could Rowan?" Adam shot back right away.
He had been wondering that all day. Since they had found the body. With Rowan knowing everything, with Rowan and all her strings, couldn't she have stopped this from happening? Couldn't she have saved Jessie life and Adam of all this guilt?
Steve winced a bit at the question. "I… uh… I don't know. I know that… sometimes… once people are on a certain path… not even her and her strings can fix it. That… that might have been the case here."
"But you don't know for sure."
Steve was frowning now. He didn't like Adam blaming his wife, and he got it but he couldn't stop himself. "Uh… well… I know there was no way she would have survived stealing from Wo Fat. I don't think even me and the favours he owes me could have stopped him once she made off with his cash. So… I mean… she was probably dead either way."
Wo Fat had said the same thing. Adam turned a dry glare up to him. "You're spending way too much time with him. You sound just like him."
For a moment Steve and Adam glared at one another. Adam gave in first.
"Any update on Noriko?"
"We have every law enforcement agency on high alert. But, no. I don't have any leads. I was hoping you could tell me more, because Rowan can't tell me what's going on with it, or about the money that went missing."
"What could I tell you?"
"What the original plan was, Wo Fat had to have told you."
Adam's eyes narrowed a bit but figured that Steve had been left even farther out than he had.
"We… he needed to get close to her. We were going to use the money to do that. Have her come and get it and surprise, Wo Fat was there."
"Sounds like he planned for a shootout," Steve murmured.
"I guess, yeah, why?"
"Because he didn't have permission from the FBI or the CIA to do that, he was told to bring her in alive," he said.
Adam looked up to Steve right away, noticing that he seemed entirely lost in thought. "What?" Adam asked. "What is it?'
"I unno this doesn't sit right. This… it's not like them to get stuck like this. Both Rowan and Wo Fat are known for contingency plans. There's no way she didn't plan for something like this happening. I don't see either of them letting Noriko get away with this."
"Where is Wo… and Con?"
"I left them with Rowan. They were conferring."
"You left the Chaos Siblings alone?" Adam asked. "Was that a wise choice?"
Steve blinked his eyes. "You know what. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if Noriko is laying low on the island, or halfway across the world, between me and them, we're going to find her."
Adam nodded. He wondered if he had come to the same conclusion. That the Chaos Siblings had wanted Steven out of the house so they could go with Plan B, or maybe it was Plan A and they had played them all from the very beginning. Who really knew the truth? All of them were so good at lying, at manipulating everything so they came out on top.
"Maybe… but you'll have to do it without me."
"What?"
"I'm done, Steve," Adam said. Meaning it with every fiber of his being. "I'm out."
Steve just nodded at him. "That's fine."
It was anything but fine, he could tell, but Steve wasn't going to argue. He thought, maybe, after that he'd leave, but he didn't. He moved a little closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. It was everything he needed at that moment, he pressed into the touch grateful that it was Steve who had shown up instead.
H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O
The money was gone.
Technically it was missing but she refused to call it that. Money didn't just up and disappear out of a locked trunk from a moving fucking vehicle. As far as she could see there was no way for it to be done. She had lost her leverage too.
Adam hadn't gone to Rowan like she thought he would, turned out Adam felt comfortable enough to go straight to Wo Fat himself. Then she lost contact with both teams she had put on Adam's family, something she had noticed once she had let Adam go. There was no way for Adam to have activated any kind of assistance in either place, and the same, she had thought, for Wo Fat. So how had her teams been dealt with?
There was no going back to Adam for more money now. Wo Fat was aware of her now, and probably out of money. But he had no idea that he'd know that she lost his money, so he'd still be after her for it.
She had to get off this island as soon as possible.
She had returned to the secondary safe house she had. A house not as opulent as the one she had confronted Adam in, in a less secluded area. There were neighbours, of course, but not close enough to really spy on her. Still, she'd be able to see it if anyone came at her and she was definitely worried about what Wo Fat knew.
The way the underworld spoke about him and his siblings was terrifying. Rumours about how he was always three steps ahead, how he had information that no one else should know, that he'd show up at the most inopportune times. She had thought it to be just that, unfounded rumours, but Wo Fat knew more then she wanted him to, because Adam had known more than she wanted him to.
The plan now, get rid of McNeal who had betrayed her and then vanish. Figure out a different way to fund her disappearing act and to live on. She was trying to think of what she'd do next, what would be best, but when she walked into the room she had designated as her office space she found that she wasn't alone.
The large bay windows that made up the two outer walls had been painted black. The inner walls had been covered in plastic, just as the floor had been. The same scare tactic that she had used on Adam.
But no on intimidating was in there with her. It was simply Rowan Peirce sitting on a wooden chair. She sat there smiling at her, a glittering sort of smile that Noriko didn't trust, because it was the same kind of smile she had seen on Wo Fat's face one too many times when she was younger.
She shut the door behind her with a deft click, trapping Rowan in there with her.
"Hello Noriko, it's so nice to finally meet you. Hope you don't mind that I did some redecorating in here."
"Interesting choice. What can I help you with Miss. Pierce?"
Rowan's eyes narrowed at Noriko like she didn't like to be called her own name, but that went away after a moment.
"You wanted to talk to me, of course." Except she didn't. Noriko didn't want the little psycho anywhere near her. "Or well… you told Adam to talk to me… about your money."
Ah, so Adam had went to Rowan after all. He must have gone to Wo Fat after he had spoken to Rowan, maybe Rowan had to tell Wo Fat was going on for Adam. She wondered if she knew that the money had been delivered and gone missing, or did she think that they hadn't managed to get the cash.
"And what about my money did you want to discuss?"
"I wanted to be sure that you knew that the money was never yours. And now I need you to know that any more attempts to come at me, my friends or my family will no longer be tolerated."
Noriko wasn't going to play this game with Rowan. She didn't know what this was, what Rowan thought she was going to get away with, but she wasn't going to underestimate the Chaos Siblings the way everyone else did. She had learned from everyone else's mistakes.
"Well, thank you for this, Miss. Pierce, you have handed me the final piece of the puzzle."
"Oh?"
"Yes," she said smugly. "I know for a fact that there isn't a single thing Wo Fat won't do or pay to make sure his favourite little sister is safe. With you here, safely in my possession, the money won't be that far behind."
And it wasn't just Wo Fat she'd have over a barrel. She'd have the infamous Sin Nombre at her beck and call. And it was the great Steven McGarrett of Five-0's baby Rowan carried, that was double the ammo to threaten him with. She'd be untouchable by so many people so long as she had Rowan in her possession.
Noriko knew that Rowan would be the real challenge though. Keeping her still, safe and contained was the problem everyone had. She would just have to do better than the predecessors to the cause.
"Ah… yes…" Rowan said carefully. "It does very much seem that way, doesn't it. Do you plan to call him now?"
"No… we'll let him sweat a bit. Maybe I can introduce you to a few techniques I have… they might teach you the proper respect."
At that Rowan's smile widened, the gesture far more sinister than it should have been. "Oh? Is that so?" she asked. "I see, I seem to have gotten myself into one hell of a pickle, haven't I? Little old me, here… all by myself, all alone, not armed, very pregnant. Not a smart move of mine."
It took some maneuvering but Rowan got herself up and out of the chair she was in. A hand to her belly as if to pull some of the weight off and away from her.
"That's so unlike me… coming here without any plan at all. It must be the pregnancy brain," she said, she moved towards Noriko and she backed away. She knew better than to let a woman like Rowan Peirce touch her.
Rowan hmmed to herself for a moment. "I'm sure I had a plan… if only I could remember…"
Even Noriko could tell she was being facetious, yet she didn't bother acknowledging her. She even let Rowan walk towards the only door, both of them knew that Rowan would escape as heavily pregnant as she was. Norkio wouldn't even have to run her down.
"Have you spoken to Agent McNeal today?" she asked suddenly. "I suppose you must have seeing as you sent him to pick Adam up. Have you spoken to him since then?"
"That is none of your concern."
"Are you going to have him killed?" Rowan asked a strange smile on her face. Noriko's eyes narrowed at her, wondering what she was getting at. "You have figured out that part, right? His betrayal, I mean."
Noriko was under the impression that her DNA had been planted and that was how the authorities and Wo Fat had learned about her. She also figured that it was McNeal, the only one who could, as she hadn't killed Hideki, he had. He must have wanted out from under her.
"How do you know that?" she asked carefully.
"Oh I know a lot of things I'm not supposed to know," Rowan said with a wave of her hand. "I've know about you… and him for that matter… for a long time."
The smile on her face is purely acidic, pins and needles trickle up and down her spine. Noriko suddenly didn't want Rowan to be anywhere near her.
"Back to McNeal… did he tell you about me?" Rowan asked. "How annoying I was?"
"I don't need Agent McNeal to tell me how annoying you are."
That was truth this time. The underworld was filled with stories about Rowan being obnoxiously unafraid, of foiling plans, of appearing when she wasn't supposed to and causing general chaos.
However, Rowan seemed pleased by Noriko's answer. She smiled again, that pretty little smirk of hers. Was that the smile that won her the heart of the most righteous of cop on Hawaii and the heart of what used to be one of the most dangerous men in the world? Or was that the smile that started the year of chaos that left so many organizations in tatters?
"Did he tell you about the magic tricks?" she asked. Noriko's eyebrows furrowed only but a second but it was enough to widen that smirk. "Did you want to see one?"
Noriko had heard all about how good Rowan was at just showing up. At just appearing where she wasn't supposed to be. She got past security measures, video cameras, every kind of lock the FBI installed in that building. If she wanted in, she got in. Simple as that.
Rowan carefully opened the door. "What do you see?" she asked.
Noriko rolled her eyes. "It's a hallway."
"Are you sure? Do you want to double check?"
"No, I know it's a hallway," she snapped. It was the only way to escape this place, she was waiting to see if Rowan would try to run. She'd shoot her if she did. She wouldn't hit anywhere that would kill her but it would cause a lot of pain. It would probably knock that smirk right off her stupid smug face.
"Okay," Rowan said almost dubiously and then she shut the door. "You ready?"
Noriko nodded with a rather sarcastic roll of her eyes, though she wasn't sure she was. She didn't like how calm Rowan was, she didn't like how she hadn't seemed to grasp how much danger she was in. She didn't like that Rowan clearly felt like she was still in control of the situation, that things weren't out of hand, that she still had the upper hand when she shouldn't.
But what could Rowan really do? She had said it herself, she was alone, unarmed, and heavily pregnant.
Static hissed through the silence between them. The hairs on her arm raised up in apprehension.
Rowan opened the door again.
This time she could tell that it wasn't the hallway. It was a room. Green paint, white trim and ceiling. Floors was a white plush carpet.
Wo Fat came through the door first. Calmly approaching her, his eyes dark but appraising. He was in a grey suit, though he had shed the jacket. He was in the grey slacks, the under-arm holsters tan against a black button up shirt that had been loosened a few buttons at the neck. A gun in his hand, the only thing stopping her from reaching for her own was knowing that he was a quicker draw.
McNeal came next, not of his own will. He practically flew through the doorway like he had been thrown, hitting the floor with a terrible crack. He must have just come back from the office. Suit jacket was gone, tie loosened around his neck, blood could be seen flecking the blue of his shirt, probably falling from his face. He groaned but didn't make a move to get up.
Sin Nombre came in last. Bunny mask on his face, a chair in one hand, dragging behind him, brass knuckles decorating the other hand. He didn't look armed outside of the brass knuckles but she knew enough about the man to know that looks were deceiving when it came to him and his weapons.
Rowan shut the door, the static died and when she opened it up again there was the hallway. She shut the door one final time with a happy: "Ta Da!" as Noriko just stared at her.
The implication here was clear. Rowan had opened a door to somewhere else, McNeal's apartment clearly, and Wo Fat, Sin Nombre and McNeal had travelled through it.
Rowan moved… waddled really… coming to stand between the two men she called her brothers. That smile still wide, still pointy, those eyes an ice blue that sent shivers down Noriko's spine.
"You know… I came out of Colombia with a new name," she said. "La Bruja."
Yes, everyone knew that, but what did that have to do with anything?
"It means the witch," Rowan said softly. "You should have asked how I got that name."
Yeah, because being an actual fucking witch, with actual fucking powers, was something everyone knew about. Obviously, this wasn't something that people talked about, it wasn't common knowledge. Did they think Norkio would have fucked with them if she knew Rowan Pierce had fucking magic portal powers?!
"Hello Noriko, you've grown well," Wo Fat said. "You've had a very productive day. I take it you've established that the money is missing?"
She had. Yes. The money she had stolen after killing Adam's CI had gone missing out the very truck she had put it in. she turned to Rowan and found the woman waving patronizingly at her. Now knowing her abilities she had a feeling she knew exactly what happened to the money.
"You took the money back."
"Yes, I did," Rowan said. "I told you, it was never yours, or Wo's for that matter. It was mine and while I don't mind normally helping out family members of friends… I don't really like you, nor do I feel like giving you a loan. Of course, you could have asked us nicely. But you didn't want to, so why would I indulge you now?"
Noriko frowned at all of them. At McNeal who had probably betrayed her, groaning at her feet. At the two men who seemed entirely blasé about the situation. And maybe they had the right to be, they very clearly had the upper hand on her.
"Don't you worry. The money is back in the vault where it belongs," Wo Fat said to her, a condescending smile on his face.
Noriko almost swore at him. There was no point in poking the bear now that it was in front of her though. But at least she knew how they had gotten the money. Rowan and her powers had gotten the duffle bags out of the car, and probably could have done it at any point while she was driving away with it.
He clapped his hands at her, a smile similar to the one Rowan had been wearing stretching across his thing lips. "Now are you going to cooperate or make this difficult?"
The question honestly shocked her. "You expect me to cooperate with you killing me?"
Wo Fat looked around, looked to her, to McNeal and then after a moment said: "Well… yes."
The man was fucking delusional.
"You started this, Noriko. I didn't give a rat's ass about you. But then you came to my island, you tried to run me out, you went after your half-brother, which was stupid by the way, poor Adam had no idea what was going on and largely didn't deserve the beating he got, and now you're threatening my family and my sister, and honestly, that's unacceptable. I could have forgiven half of what you did but you've gone too far now and I'll have to deal with you. You understand?"
Noriko sneered at him but otherwise made no other comment.
"You can't kill me… the FBI…" came out of McNeal who had managed to prop himself up at Wo Fat's feet. The look the man turned to him was the kind of look one would give gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe.
"Did you read my file?" Wo Fat asked him interrupting anything else McNeal could say. "Did you know what I did for the MSS?"
"What… no…"
"Well… I started with the Red Guard. Do you know what that is?" he asked. But he didn't wait for him to answer. "That was our… assassin guard essentially. That's where I got trained, where I earned my bars so to speak. Then there was a hostile change over in leadership and we got… uh… we were made obsolete. But I was good at my job so they kept me around. They kept me around… mostly as a fixer. They sent me in to… fix things. To put things back into order."
"So?"
"Well… when I took this position, I told the director that they could consider me for other jobs… jobs more… suited to my skill set, to my old job if you will. For you though… well… we didn't have enough proof."
"It was the Miss. Pierces that did it for us," Rowan said. "No matter how many times we told you, you always called me by my working name… by the name the underworld knows me as. That was the first sign…"
"The interest in the CI, your interest in Adam despite getting a lot of evidence that he wasn't involved at all. All very compelling points. Not enough proof to confirm you the mole, but uh… then the money trail came in. Should have been more careful with your money," Wo Fat said.
Beside her McNeal gulped, he had gone this ashen pale colour. He looked like he might be sick.
"Sent in the proof and got the go ahead to clean up the problem on both ends," Wo Fat said. "The original plan was to let Noriko here know that you fucked her over, that little DNA slip she was curious about. Let her clean you up for me, but you two managed to get me in one of the worst moods I've ever been in, and now I don't want to go with the original plan, or the FBI approved one where I arrest you both and bring you in."
"Wait… wait…" McNeal started but Wo Fat shook his head. He snapped his fingers and Sin Nombre took the chair and dropped it behind them. Two chairs for two people to be tied to.
Wo Fat said nothing, the gun raised, leveled it with McNeal's head and then pulled the trigger. Noriko jumped, but Rowan shrieked.
"Wo!" she cried. "You were supposed to wait…"
Sin Nombre moved right away, as Rowan clasped a hand to her mouth like she was going to throw up.
"For fucksake Wo," he hissed. "No, don't throw up here, hold it in Ro."
It took her a minute but eventually she composed herself, but it helped that Sin Nombre had turned her away from the scene of a blood spattered, McNeal, and the brains that had scattered across the floor.
"It's not like you liked him Rowan," Wo Fat said with a huff and his sister shot him a glare over her shoulder.
"I'm going home, come here," she snapped. And like the dutiful dog he was, he crossed to her in a heartbeat. She got up on her tippy toes, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him down to press a kiss to his cheek. "You two have fun, okay?"
She then moved to Sin Nombre, she swiped the plastic mask to the side a bit to press a kiss to his cheek. Noriko caught a bit of a glimpse of olive skin, of a crooked smile and a strong jaw. Still the man pushed her away like she was a child ducking his mother's love and the mask slid back into place.
Noriko took that of distraction to reach for the gun she had hidden behind her back and fire. The shots might have landed if they hadn't impacted with something in front of the three of them. An almost translucent wall seemed to be in front of them, tinged an orange colour, it let out an array of sparks as the bullets hit, she could see ripples running through it as it absorbed the pressure.
The bullets fell dead to the floor, stopped in their tracks by the shield.
All three of them stared at her, an unimpressed glare on their faces. Rowan rolled her eyes first.
"Honestly I don't know why she bothered," she said with a sigh. "You guys let me know when I need to bring you back, okay?"
"Will do," Wo Fat said, as Sin Nombre moved for something behind his back, which turned out to be a pistol similar to Wo's put with a cammo pattern on it that seemed somewhat familiar though she couldn't place where she had seen it before.
The static erupted in the room again, the hairs on her arms raised and when Rowan opened the door again she was looking at a kitchen. Tiled floors, wooden counter tops and a kitchen island.
When she shut the door she was alone with Wo Fat and Sin Nombre, both of them staring at her, guns in their hands, her own gun shaking in her own grip. She knew she could try again, without Rowan there the shield would no doubt not be there, but she also knew that she couldn't outside both Sin Nombre and Wo Fat.
"Now… what was that you were saying about me? Washed-up? Has-been? Old man?" Wo Fat asked, making quick work of rolling his sleeves up.
"Downright disrespectful if you ask me," Sin Nombre said beside him.
"Might be time to teach her some of that old-world respect I'm known so well for, hmm?"
And with that they moved forward. Noriko raised the gun, figuring she could at least attempt to shoot them off, but both were quicker.
Sin Nombre hit the ground, somersaulted and when he was right side up again, he was in firing position. The shot he fired got her in the stomach, Wo Fat's initial shot got her shoulder. She landed on the plastic, pain radiating.
"She get you?" she heard Sin Nombre ask.
"Nicked my arm, but I'm good," Wo Fat said. Well at least she had got one of them. "Nothing my fiancée can't sew up."
She felt them when they came to stand above her. Felt the gun clattered from her hands as a foot collided with her hand leaving her fingers tingling with the contact.
"So much for showing her that old-world respect, huh?" Sin Nombre said, sounding almost disappointed.
"She's not dead yet," came from Wo Fat.
His heel came down on the bullet wound in her abdomen. Black danced around the edges of her vision, stars erupted in front of her eyes and a scream tore out of her throat. The torture had begun and all she could hope for was that death would come quicker for her