GH Fic: Chaos Theory - Chapter 24/?
Title: Chaos Theory
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 24 - Sacrifices
As soon as their doors were closed, Patrick turned the ignition and pulled away, the tires squealing against the pavement. They had just reached the edge of the apartment complex's parking area when Sam made a noise.
"Two men just got back into one of the cars...Oh, damn! They're coming after us!"
"Patrick," Robin said, keeping her eyes on the other car and her hands on the gun, "You're going to have to lose them in the traffic. Once we're far enough away we can dump the car, but we have to get these computers back to our rooms." She caught Bobby's eye. "They're our last chance to find out anything about whatever Sean knew."
"Not a prob--"
Whatever Patrick was about to say was cut off when he swung the car into the next lane as the first bullet hit the back windshield.
Lulu screamed and Robin, Sam, and Bobby sucked down. Twisting her head around and up, Robin looked and saw the spider web cracks along the upper part of the windshield.
"The bullet didn't get through," she breathed.
"The next one might," Sam replied.
"They're playing for keeps now," Bobby murmured, catching Robin's eye. "It doesn't look like they care if you get hurt being brought in."
"How do we know for sure they're after Robin?" Patrick asked, glancing into the rearview mirror. "They might not know who set off that alarm."
A loud ping echoed off the left side of the car.
"They know," Bobby replied. He braced her hands against the front seat as Patrick took a hard right turn onto a less congested street. "Hey! Warn us when you're going to do that!"
"Sorry." Patrick gritted his teeth and gripped the steering wheel. "I'm just trying not to get us shot!" He switched lanes and saw the DVX car turn onto the road in the rearview. "Dammit! Guys, I need some directions here. There's a main road about two blocks from here, and I might be able to lose them in traffic, but are those guys going to keep shooting even if we're surrounded by civilians?"
"Civilians?" Bobby scoffed, holding his gun tightly.
"Civilians, innocent people, whatever! Are they going to shoot at anyone who's not us to get to us?"
Another bullet struck the windshield and ricocheted off, leaving the spidery cracks deeper.
"I don't think they'll care either way," Sam insisted, staring at the fractured glass.
"One more shot and the windshield is going to shatter completely," Robin worried.
"Patrick, keep taking the side roads, and use as many of them as you can. We need to make this as difficult for them as possible." He frowned grimly at Robin. "We can't let them get you."
Robin's eyes widened at Bobby's tone. "Wait, what about finding your parents?"
Bobby shook his head. "That was always secondary and you know it. Finding out what happened to my parents was always just another piece of the puzzle about why Faison wants you." His blue eyes glittered dangerously. "I'm not mad at you, Robin. I'd have never found out as much as I did without your help, and you'll never know how glad I was to finally meet you." Crouched on the floor of the car, Bobby opened the chamber of his gun, nodding when he saw that it was full. He pulled himself back onto the seat and slapped his hand against the side window release. "Don't worry. I plan on taking out my frustrations on the right people!"
With a furious cry, Bobby leaned out of the window, aimed the gun at the car behind them, and fired a perfect shot.
The DVX agents' car swerved at the sudden attack, and Bobby ducked back into the car before they could get their bearings and fire again. He pressed back against the car seat, his breath coming in shallow gasps and a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He knew Robin was saying something to him, just like he knew that Lulu had reached around and was attempting to hold his hand in the comfort of her own, but Bobby couldn't respond to them. All he could do was feel the car as Patrick sped up in an effort to put more distance between them and the now-even more pissed off agents.
Bobby tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry and the stickiness made him gag. Oh God, he thought frantically, I just shot a gun at someone.
The rage of the earlier moment left as reality settled over him. He had shot a gun, something he had never done except at a firing range when his dad had made him. A memory assaulted him then, as powerful and as vivid as when it had actually happened. In that moment, Bobby missed his father more fiercely than he had since realizing that Sean had gone missing.
"It's a damn shame, Bobby, but this is still necessary." Sean had said once, on a late afternoon when he had taken Bobby to a Bureau-operated shooting gallery. "It's my world that's caused you to need to know how to do this, and I'll never be able to tell you how sorry I am for that."
"But if you're the reason I need to learn how to shoot at all," said Bobby, then thirteen years old and fully immersed in teenage rebellion against his parents, "Then why don't you just leave the Bureau? Let the bad guys be someone else's problem. Someone else who doesn't have a family to worry about."
Sean had sighed and looked at the target paper that hung before them. It was in the vague shape of a man, with concentric circles around the upper body, growing smaller as the circles enclosed around the image's heart. There were six bullet holes that pierced the paper, and they were all inside the smallest circle. By all accounts, it was a perfect shot.
"If I thought it would make you any safer, Bobby," Sean finally said, "I'd leave in a heartbeat." He sighed. "But it wouldn't matter. Even if I wanted to leave the WSB, it wouldn't make my enemies go away, and it wouldn't make them any less likely to use you or your mother to come after me."
Bobby had frowned and looked at the target sheet. "So why do this at all? Why join up with the Bureau in the first place?"
"Because I had to," Sean replied simply. "Because all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Good men stand up, Bobby, even when it hurts."
"Even if it kills them?" Bobby had grumbled sarcastically, reaching forward to take a corner of the target sheet in his hand. He had studied the bullet holes with a mix of distaste and interest. "So you're teaching me this because you think I'm a good man and will have to stand up someday? Or because you think that it's just a necessary evil to combat all the other evil you brought down on me?"
Sean had hissed and leaned forward, slapping his hand against the metal frame of the gallery. "Dammit, boy! Will you just listen to me for once? I am sorry. I am sorrier than you will ever know, both for the things that I've done and the things that will happen in the future because of me. But I wouldn't change a thing, and do you know why?" Bobby had shaken his head, shocked to see his normally jovial father slip so suddenly into a growling tone of command. "I wouldn't change it because sometimes, if we work very hard and pour our blood, sweat, and tears into doing the right thing, then very rarely, we see the world become a better place. Every so often, good things happen to good people, and the bad guys don't always win. And that," he had said, more softly this time, "That better world is worth dying for,"
Bobby hadn't said anything. He had merely turned back towards the firing range and looked again at the target sheet. Six bullets inside the smallest circle, a perfect shot. Bobby wondered how it was possible to kill someone to save the world. He wondered if he would someday be the kind of man who could perform evil to stop evil. He saw the weight of the years that his father carried. And for the first time, Bobby wondered if growing up to be like his father would really be the worst thing in the world.
Bobby looked at his perfectly shot target sheet and wondered if he would grow up to be a good man.
He was snapped out of his daze by the jerking of the car as another bullet hit the side. Bobby looked over and saw Robin leaning out her window and shooting the car behind them. He gasped; Sean had always said that Robin Scorpio, even as a child, could never abide violence.
"Bobby, I could use some help!" Robin ducked back into the car as another bullet skimmed along the side.
"Dammit, Robin!" Patrick shouted from the front. "Are you completely insane?!"
"Define 'completely,'" Robin quipped, although Bobby saw that her face was paler than usual.
"Do you have any idea what will happen if you get shot?" Patrick growled in reply.
Robin's lip curled. "Gee, Patrick, no. I have no idea why putting myself in front of bullets would be a bad thing."
Patrick looked briefly into the rearview mirror and changed lanes, pulling in front of another car on the road. "I swear, if we get through this, I'm going to kill you myself!"
"I hope no one gets hurt." Lulu looked out the window at the few other cars on the side road that Patrick was using as he tried to escape the DVX agents. Bobby had seen his father come home from enough mission debriefings and immediately pour two fingers of whiskey to know that it would be in vain to hope that innocent bystanders didn't get hurt in the DVX's quest for power.
"Give Sam the gun, Robin," Patrick said firmly.
"No!" Robin shouted, twisting her head to watch the agents' car speed up and edge closer behind them. "I'm a better shot than Sam is, and you have no right to tell me what to do!"
"The hell I don't!" Patrick shouted back, twisting the wheel and making a hard left. "Shit!"
Bobby, Robin, Lulu, and Sam watched as large, hollow-barreled weapon was leveled out of the front passenger side of the can behind them. "What the hell...?" Lulu trailed off.
"That's a grenade launcher," Robin swallowed.
"Patrick!" Bobby waved his hand frantically. "Bank to the right! Now!"
Patrick gripped the wheel and twisted it right, speeding up and veering onto the other side of the road just before something whizzed by the left side of their car and exploded as it hit a tree that had lined the side of the street.
"Are they kidding?" Sam gaped as they sped by the now-smoldering tree. "They're using grenades?"
"That could have hit someone," Lulu murmured, her wide eyes catching Bobby's.
"That could have hit us!" Patrick frowned. "Someone's gotta be calling the cops by now," he insisted. "So those guys will be stopped soon, right?"
Robin sighed. "Patrick, do you honestly think the DVX is afraid of Scotland Yard? The local police won't be able to do anything, even if they're called out. The FBI, INTERPOL, they're all virtually powerless against them. Even the WSB hasn't been able to stop these guys, and they're the only people in the world who can."
"Then what the hell are we doing here?" Patrick retorted.
"Standing up," Bobby said softly.
Robin looked at him questioningly. "What, Bobby?"
More determined, Bobby leaned around Sam and said again, "We're standing up. We're doing this because we're the only ones who can."
"Right," Patrick snorted, casting his eyes into the side mirror to watch the other car. "Because a couple of kids, doctors, and a mob moll--"
"Hey!" Sam cried indignantly.
"--Are going to be able to do what the most highly trained intelligence agents in the world can't."
Bobby shook his head furiously, grasping onto the door handle as Patrick sped up and swerved around another car, placing a bit more distance between them and the DVX. "Oh, like hell'll we be able to stop them. But the only way the bad guys win is when good people do nothing."
I get it now, Dad, Bobby thought, I understand what you meant. Bobby chuckled to himself; it had only taken him a few years to get there.
"They're going to shoot again!" Sam said. "What if we just threw one of our grenades at them? They're non-lethal, aren't they?"
Robin shook her head, then gripped the headrest of the front seat as Patrick made a sharp, tight turn onto another street. The car jolted before it finished the turn.
"They hit us!" Patrick banged his hand against the wheel. "We've got to get away from them now."
Patrick was right, Bobby knew. He knew they needed to do something that would buy them enough time to escape, something that would incapacitate the DVX car long enough for Patrick to drive them away, back to central London and to someplace they could ditch the car. Bobby thought back to the computers they had stolen from Williams' apartment, and to the decryption software that was running on his and Lulu's computers back at the bed and breakfast. He knew that the answers to what the DVX was planning for the chemical -- and, by extension, what Faison wanted with Robin -- were contained somewhere in the data they had. The only way to end everything was to make sure he or Lulu could go through everything on the computer files.
"Hey, Patrick," Bobby began. "What's the best place to hit a car so that it runs off the road? Like, where should we aim so that no matter how good the driver is, he wouldn't be able to right the car?"
Patrick's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious. You think you can shoot that specific a target from a moving vehicle?"
Bobby nodded. "Yeah, I do."
Robin looked sadly at Bobby. "You do this, and there's a very good chance that they could get hurt. If that car goes off the road at these speeds..." She didn't need to finish the thought.
"I know," Bobby replied. "You and I both know that good people can do bad things for good reasons. Faison wants you, Robin, for something to do with the outbreak. And whatever the outbreak was supposed to do, the DVX can't be allowed to make it happen."
"Here they come!" Sam warned.
Seeing the other car pull around the corner, Bobby leaned forward and glared at Patrick. "Where do I aim?"
Patrick tried to speed up, but knew that he couldn't take that kind of car much faster on those kinds of roads without seriously risking all their lives. He knew that the only way to get away now was to somehow stop the other car completely. "Aim for the right front tire," he finally said. "It's underneath the driver's seat, and if it goes, then he'll lose control of the car. At this speed, not even the best driver in the world could counter for something like that."
Bobby nodded grimly and picked up the gun again. "Try to hold the car as steady as possible," he said, and then leaned out the window.
A bullet flew past Bobby's right ear and he nearly fell out of the window in surprise.
"Bobby!" he heard Robin cry from within the car.
Bobby ducked back in the window slightly as the car swerved around another corner, but he righted himself as quickly as possible. One perfect shot and he could take out the front right tire and cause the driver to lose control. At their current speed, the car would spin and most likely flip over; even though the DVX agents would probably be able to get out of the car uninjured and have another vehicle sent to them within minutes, it would give Patrick enough time to lose them in the London streets. Bobby twisted up so that his torso was pressed alongside the upper body of the car and used it to brace his arms. He saw someone lean out the back of the other car and take aim. Hands shaking with adrenaline, Bobby wasted no more time and fired, praying that the bullet hit its target.
The next thing he heard was a loud pop, followed by a sense of white-hot fire tearing down his right arm.
The car jerked as Bobby slumped over, his waist catching on the window. He groaned in pain as the movement wrenched his arm, and just barely managed to throw the gun back inside. He heard someone cry his name and felt tiny arms pulling him back inside as the car picked up speed.
"Oh my God!" Lulu screamed, seeing him in Sam's grasp. "Bobby!"
Robin ducked back into the car. "Drive faster, Patrick!" she ordered. Bobby opened his eyes as she leaned over him. "Hey, don't try to move," Robin said quietly, though she was unable to suppress the shake in her voice. "I just need to check you over."
"Hurts," Bobby murmured, before whimpering slightly as Robin pressed around the area of his shoulder. He forced his eyes open again and looked down. "Oh. Tha's...lot of blood..."
Bobby was vaguely aware as Robin snapped on a pair of latex gloves and probed more deeply around the wound. He couldn't hold back a pained howl, but even that seemed to take too much energy. He tried to keep his eyes open, but things were getting fuzzy and dark around the edges. Why was it so dark?
"Bobby? Bobby!" Robin leaned down and shouted into his ear. Bobby's head lolled to the side as the car sped over a bump. "Patrick, be careful!" Robin shouted. "This bullet's only a few millimeters from his right coronary artery."
"That sounds bad," Lulu said frantically, slipping between the two front seats to move closer to Bobby. "That's bad, isn't it?"
"Lulu, we've got two of the world's best doctors right here in the car with us." Sam tried to sound calm, but she knew she was failing. She shot Robin a glance, and the doctor only shook her head slightly and continued holding down her jacket over Bobby's wound. "I'm sure..." Sam trailed off but was determined to try again. "I'm sure that between Robin and Patrick, Bobby'll be fine."
"Sam, I need you to take the gun and cover us," Robin replied, avoiding the issue. "If Bobby's shot wasn't enough to permanently run the car off the road, then they'll be after us again."
Sam quickly grabbed the abandoned gun -- she ignored the pit in her stomach as she wiped the Bobby's blood off the handle -- and carefully shifted Bobby's body more firmly into Robin's lap. Cautiously, Sam stuck her head out the window, ready to fire the gun if they were still being followed. "I don't see anybody right now!" she called back into the car.
"We have to get him to a hospital." Patrick had already turned the car towards a more accessible road. "We've got to get him somewhere safe, and then we've got to ditch the car."
"No h'sp't'l..." Bobby tried to answer, but moving his lips was just too hard. "...n't...s'f..." Making sound was too hard. Thinking was starting to be too...
Lulu gasped and grabbed Bobby's good arm. "Bobby?" she asked desperately. "Bobby! Oh, God," she whimpered, tears spilling down her cheeks, "He's not breathing. Oh God, Robin, he's not breathing!"
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 24 - Sacrifices
As soon as their doors were closed, Patrick turned the ignition and pulled away, the tires squealing against the pavement. They had just reached the edge of the apartment complex's parking area when Sam made a noise.
"Two men just got back into one of the cars...Oh, damn! They're coming after us!"
"Patrick," Robin said, keeping her eyes on the other car and her hands on the gun, "You're going to have to lose them in the traffic. Once we're far enough away we can dump the car, but we have to get these computers back to our rooms." She caught Bobby's eye. "They're our last chance to find out anything about whatever Sean knew."
"Not a prob--"
Whatever Patrick was about to say was cut off when he swung the car into the next lane as the first bullet hit the back windshield.
Lulu screamed and Robin, Sam, and Bobby sucked down. Twisting her head around and up, Robin looked and saw the spider web cracks along the upper part of the windshield.
"The bullet didn't get through," she breathed.
"The next one might," Sam replied.
"They're playing for keeps now," Bobby murmured, catching Robin's eye. "It doesn't look like they care if you get hurt being brought in."
"How do we know for sure they're after Robin?" Patrick asked, glancing into the rearview mirror. "They might not know who set off that alarm."
A loud ping echoed off the left side of the car.
"They know," Bobby replied. He braced her hands against the front seat as Patrick took a hard right turn onto a less congested street. "Hey! Warn us when you're going to do that!"
"Sorry." Patrick gritted his teeth and gripped the steering wheel. "I'm just trying not to get us shot!" He switched lanes and saw the DVX car turn onto the road in the rearview. "Dammit! Guys, I need some directions here. There's a main road about two blocks from here, and I might be able to lose them in traffic, but are those guys going to keep shooting even if we're surrounded by civilians?"
"Civilians?" Bobby scoffed, holding his gun tightly.
"Civilians, innocent people, whatever! Are they going to shoot at anyone who's not us to get to us?"
Another bullet struck the windshield and ricocheted off, leaving the spidery cracks deeper.
"I don't think they'll care either way," Sam insisted, staring at the fractured glass.
"One more shot and the windshield is going to shatter completely," Robin worried.
"Patrick, keep taking the side roads, and use as many of them as you can. We need to make this as difficult for them as possible." He frowned grimly at Robin. "We can't let them get you."
Robin's eyes widened at Bobby's tone. "Wait, what about finding your parents?"
Bobby shook his head. "That was always secondary and you know it. Finding out what happened to my parents was always just another piece of the puzzle about why Faison wants you." His blue eyes glittered dangerously. "I'm not mad at you, Robin. I'd have never found out as much as I did without your help, and you'll never know how glad I was to finally meet you." Crouched on the floor of the car, Bobby opened the chamber of his gun, nodding when he saw that it was full. He pulled himself back onto the seat and slapped his hand against the side window release. "Don't worry. I plan on taking out my frustrations on the right people!"
With a furious cry, Bobby leaned out of the window, aimed the gun at the car behind them, and fired a perfect shot.
The DVX agents' car swerved at the sudden attack, and Bobby ducked back into the car before they could get their bearings and fire again. He pressed back against the car seat, his breath coming in shallow gasps and a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He knew Robin was saying something to him, just like he knew that Lulu had reached around and was attempting to hold his hand in the comfort of her own, but Bobby couldn't respond to them. All he could do was feel the car as Patrick sped up in an effort to put more distance between them and the now-even more pissed off agents.
Bobby tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry and the stickiness made him gag. Oh God, he thought frantically, I just shot a gun at someone.
The rage of the earlier moment left as reality settled over him. He had shot a gun, something he had never done except at a firing range when his dad had made him. A memory assaulted him then, as powerful and as vivid as when it had actually happened. In that moment, Bobby missed his father more fiercely than he had since realizing that Sean had gone missing.
"It's a damn shame, Bobby, but this is still necessary." Sean had said once, on a late afternoon when he had taken Bobby to a Bureau-operated shooting gallery. "It's my world that's caused you to need to know how to do this, and I'll never be able to tell you how sorry I am for that."
"But if you're the reason I need to learn how to shoot at all," said Bobby, then thirteen years old and fully immersed in teenage rebellion against his parents, "Then why don't you just leave the Bureau? Let the bad guys be someone else's problem. Someone else who doesn't have a family to worry about."
Sean had sighed and looked at the target paper that hung before them. It was in the vague shape of a man, with concentric circles around the upper body, growing smaller as the circles enclosed around the image's heart. There were six bullet holes that pierced the paper, and they were all inside the smallest circle. By all accounts, it was a perfect shot.
"If I thought it would make you any safer, Bobby," Sean finally said, "I'd leave in a heartbeat." He sighed. "But it wouldn't matter. Even if I wanted to leave the WSB, it wouldn't make my enemies go away, and it wouldn't make them any less likely to use you or your mother to come after me."
Bobby had frowned and looked at the target sheet. "So why do this at all? Why join up with the Bureau in the first place?"
"Because I had to," Sean replied simply. "Because all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Good men stand up, Bobby, even when it hurts."
"Even if it kills them?" Bobby had grumbled sarcastically, reaching forward to take a corner of the target sheet in his hand. He had studied the bullet holes with a mix of distaste and interest. "So you're teaching me this because you think I'm a good man and will have to stand up someday? Or because you think that it's just a necessary evil to combat all the other evil you brought down on me?"
Sean had hissed and leaned forward, slapping his hand against the metal frame of the gallery. "Dammit, boy! Will you just listen to me for once? I am sorry. I am sorrier than you will ever know, both for the things that I've done and the things that will happen in the future because of me. But I wouldn't change a thing, and do you know why?" Bobby had shaken his head, shocked to see his normally jovial father slip so suddenly into a growling tone of command. "I wouldn't change it because sometimes, if we work very hard and pour our blood, sweat, and tears into doing the right thing, then very rarely, we see the world become a better place. Every so often, good things happen to good people, and the bad guys don't always win. And that," he had said, more softly this time, "That better world is worth dying for,"
Bobby hadn't said anything. He had merely turned back towards the firing range and looked again at the target sheet. Six bullets inside the smallest circle, a perfect shot. Bobby wondered how it was possible to kill someone to save the world. He wondered if he would someday be the kind of man who could perform evil to stop evil. He saw the weight of the years that his father carried. And for the first time, Bobby wondered if growing up to be like his father would really be the worst thing in the world.
Bobby looked at his perfectly shot target sheet and wondered if he would grow up to be a good man.
He was snapped out of his daze by the jerking of the car as another bullet hit the side. Bobby looked over and saw Robin leaning out her window and shooting the car behind them. He gasped; Sean had always said that Robin Scorpio, even as a child, could never abide violence.
"Bobby, I could use some help!" Robin ducked back into the car as another bullet skimmed along the side.
"Dammit, Robin!" Patrick shouted from the front. "Are you completely insane?!"
"Define 'completely,'" Robin quipped, although Bobby saw that her face was paler than usual.
"Do you have any idea what will happen if you get shot?" Patrick growled in reply.
Robin's lip curled. "Gee, Patrick, no. I have no idea why putting myself in front of bullets would be a bad thing."
Patrick looked briefly into the rearview mirror and changed lanes, pulling in front of another car on the road. "I swear, if we get through this, I'm going to kill you myself!"
"I hope no one gets hurt." Lulu looked out the window at the few other cars on the side road that Patrick was using as he tried to escape the DVX agents. Bobby had seen his father come home from enough mission debriefings and immediately pour two fingers of whiskey to know that it would be in vain to hope that innocent bystanders didn't get hurt in the DVX's quest for power.
"Give Sam the gun, Robin," Patrick said firmly.
"No!" Robin shouted, twisting her head to watch the agents' car speed up and edge closer behind them. "I'm a better shot than Sam is, and you have no right to tell me what to do!"
"The hell I don't!" Patrick shouted back, twisting the wheel and making a hard left. "Shit!"
Bobby, Robin, Lulu, and Sam watched as large, hollow-barreled weapon was leveled out of the front passenger side of the can behind them. "What the hell...?" Lulu trailed off.
"That's a grenade launcher," Robin swallowed.
"Patrick!" Bobby waved his hand frantically. "Bank to the right! Now!"
Patrick gripped the wheel and twisted it right, speeding up and veering onto the other side of the road just before something whizzed by the left side of their car and exploded as it hit a tree that had lined the side of the street.
"Are they kidding?" Sam gaped as they sped by the now-smoldering tree. "They're using grenades?"
"That could have hit someone," Lulu murmured, her wide eyes catching Bobby's.
"That could have hit us!" Patrick frowned. "Someone's gotta be calling the cops by now," he insisted. "So those guys will be stopped soon, right?"
Robin sighed. "Patrick, do you honestly think the DVX is afraid of Scotland Yard? The local police won't be able to do anything, even if they're called out. The FBI, INTERPOL, they're all virtually powerless against them. Even the WSB hasn't been able to stop these guys, and they're the only people in the world who can."
"Then what the hell are we doing here?" Patrick retorted.
"Standing up," Bobby said softly.
Robin looked at him questioningly. "What, Bobby?"
More determined, Bobby leaned around Sam and said again, "We're standing up. We're doing this because we're the only ones who can."
"Right," Patrick snorted, casting his eyes into the side mirror to watch the other car. "Because a couple of kids, doctors, and a mob moll--"
"Hey!" Sam cried indignantly.
"--Are going to be able to do what the most highly trained intelligence agents in the world can't."
Bobby shook his head furiously, grasping onto the door handle as Patrick sped up and swerved around another car, placing a bit more distance between them and the DVX. "Oh, like hell'll we be able to stop them. But the only way the bad guys win is when good people do nothing."
I get it now, Dad, Bobby thought, I understand what you meant. Bobby chuckled to himself; it had only taken him a few years to get there.
"They're going to shoot again!" Sam said. "What if we just threw one of our grenades at them? They're non-lethal, aren't they?"
Robin shook her head, then gripped the headrest of the front seat as Patrick made a sharp, tight turn onto another street. The car jolted before it finished the turn.
"They hit us!" Patrick banged his hand against the wheel. "We've got to get away from them now."
Patrick was right, Bobby knew. He knew they needed to do something that would buy them enough time to escape, something that would incapacitate the DVX car long enough for Patrick to drive them away, back to central London and to someplace they could ditch the car. Bobby thought back to the computers they had stolen from Williams' apartment, and to the decryption software that was running on his and Lulu's computers back at the bed and breakfast. He knew that the answers to what the DVX was planning for the chemical -- and, by extension, what Faison wanted with Robin -- were contained somewhere in the data they had. The only way to end everything was to make sure he or Lulu could go through everything on the computer files.
"Hey, Patrick," Bobby began. "What's the best place to hit a car so that it runs off the road? Like, where should we aim so that no matter how good the driver is, he wouldn't be able to right the car?"
Patrick's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious. You think you can shoot that specific a target from a moving vehicle?"
Bobby nodded. "Yeah, I do."
Robin looked sadly at Bobby. "You do this, and there's a very good chance that they could get hurt. If that car goes off the road at these speeds..." She didn't need to finish the thought.
"I know," Bobby replied. "You and I both know that good people can do bad things for good reasons. Faison wants you, Robin, for something to do with the outbreak. And whatever the outbreak was supposed to do, the DVX can't be allowed to make it happen."
"Here they come!" Sam warned.
Seeing the other car pull around the corner, Bobby leaned forward and glared at Patrick. "Where do I aim?"
Patrick tried to speed up, but knew that he couldn't take that kind of car much faster on those kinds of roads without seriously risking all their lives. He knew that the only way to get away now was to somehow stop the other car completely. "Aim for the right front tire," he finally said. "It's underneath the driver's seat, and if it goes, then he'll lose control of the car. At this speed, not even the best driver in the world could counter for something like that."
Bobby nodded grimly and picked up the gun again. "Try to hold the car as steady as possible," he said, and then leaned out the window.
A bullet flew past Bobby's right ear and he nearly fell out of the window in surprise.
"Bobby!" he heard Robin cry from within the car.
Bobby ducked back in the window slightly as the car swerved around another corner, but he righted himself as quickly as possible. One perfect shot and he could take out the front right tire and cause the driver to lose control. At their current speed, the car would spin and most likely flip over; even though the DVX agents would probably be able to get out of the car uninjured and have another vehicle sent to them within minutes, it would give Patrick enough time to lose them in the London streets. Bobby twisted up so that his torso was pressed alongside the upper body of the car and used it to brace his arms. He saw someone lean out the back of the other car and take aim. Hands shaking with adrenaline, Bobby wasted no more time and fired, praying that the bullet hit its target.
The next thing he heard was a loud pop, followed by a sense of white-hot fire tearing down his right arm.
The car jerked as Bobby slumped over, his waist catching on the window. He groaned in pain as the movement wrenched his arm, and just barely managed to throw the gun back inside. He heard someone cry his name and felt tiny arms pulling him back inside as the car picked up speed.
"Oh my God!" Lulu screamed, seeing him in Sam's grasp. "Bobby!"
Robin ducked back into the car. "Drive faster, Patrick!" she ordered. Bobby opened his eyes as she leaned over him. "Hey, don't try to move," Robin said quietly, though she was unable to suppress the shake in her voice. "I just need to check you over."
"Hurts," Bobby murmured, before whimpering slightly as Robin pressed around the area of his shoulder. He forced his eyes open again and looked down. "Oh. Tha's...lot of blood..."
Bobby was vaguely aware as Robin snapped on a pair of latex gloves and probed more deeply around the wound. He couldn't hold back a pained howl, but even that seemed to take too much energy. He tried to keep his eyes open, but things were getting fuzzy and dark around the edges. Why was it so dark?
"Bobby? Bobby!" Robin leaned down and shouted into his ear. Bobby's head lolled to the side as the car sped over a bump. "Patrick, be careful!" Robin shouted. "This bullet's only a few millimeters from his right coronary artery."
"That sounds bad," Lulu said frantically, slipping between the two front seats to move closer to Bobby. "That's bad, isn't it?"
"Lulu, we've got two of the world's best doctors right here in the car with us." Sam tried to sound calm, but she knew she was failing. She shot Robin a glance, and the doctor only shook her head slightly and continued holding down her jacket over Bobby's wound. "I'm sure..." Sam trailed off but was determined to try again. "I'm sure that between Robin and Patrick, Bobby'll be fine."
"Sam, I need you to take the gun and cover us," Robin replied, avoiding the issue. "If Bobby's shot wasn't enough to permanently run the car off the road, then they'll be after us again."
Sam quickly grabbed the abandoned gun -- she ignored the pit in her stomach as she wiped the Bobby's blood off the handle -- and carefully shifted Bobby's body more firmly into Robin's lap. Cautiously, Sam stuck her head out the window, ready to fire the gun if they were still being followed. "I don't see anybody right now!" she called back into the car.
"We have to get him to a hospital." Patrick had already turned the car towards a more accessible road. "We've got to get him somewhere safe, and then we've got to ditch the car."
"No h'sp't'l..." Bobby tried to answer, but moving his lips was just too hard. "...n't...s'f..." Making sound was too hard. Thinking was starting to be too...
Lulu gasped and grabbed Bobby's good arm. "Bobby?" she asked desperately. "Bobby! Oh, God," she whimpered, tears spilling down her cheeks, "He's not breathing. Oh God, Robin, he's not breathing!"