A Baltimore Hotel, Later Tuesday Night
[Continues from here.]
Getting to the hotel had been nerve-wracking, but in some twisted way it was a relief that the skills she'd learned while living with Darcy hadn't gotten too rusty: Katchoo had flirted a spare maid's uniform out of the cleaners' delivery guy without breaking a sweat. A little more sweet-talking of the concierge had gotten her behind the front desk long enough to nab the keys to the vacant room where she was hiding out now, changed back into her own jeans and t-shirt and just hanging up the room phone after placing a couple of calls.
This was nerve-wracking in another way, too, knowing Francine and Merlin (and dammit, she felt bad that the poor kid had gotten caught up in this, but she should have known that neither of them would listen to her when she'd told them not to follow her) were just a few floors up from here. And who the hell knew what Darcy had told them by now?
As soon as her backup got here, they could come up with a game plan. Assuming Arthur didn't kill her for getting Francine and Merlin into this mess, first . . .
Gibbs
Gibbs knocked quietly on the door, keeping an eye on the hallway just to make sure no one had spotted him.
"Room service," he said dryly.
Arthur
In the household Arthur had grown up in, arrogant indifference was the norm. If you were going to have an emotion, it had better be anger: which was why the only internal debate that had been going on in his gut the entire trip here was whether to lean more towards the kind of glowering disappointment he'd used on Katina two weeks ago, or pure and unadulterated fury.
The latter, as going by the volcano-ten-seconds-from-interrupting expression that had been on his face for about half an hour now, had won by a wide margin.
Which would explain why his contribution to the whole 'rushing in to join Katina as backup' gambit was a growled, "Open up," in a register that would have made his father proud.
Katchoo
Katchoo had no wisecrack for Arthur today, which was a good thing, she decided as soon as she looked through the cracked-open door and got a look at his face.
"Get in here, both of you -- nobody followed?"
Gibbs
"We're not the one person your people are looking for," Gibbs said dryly as he entered. "But no, we weren't followed."
Arthur
Arthur's response - upon entering - was to wish he'd brought his sword out in the open so he could chuck it at something. Instead, he threw Katina a glare that was exemplary mostly in how restrained it was. "Speak."
That was a royal order.
Katchoo
One which she was not, for once, giving him attitude over.
"I don't trust Darcy," she said flatly, glancing from Arthur to Gibbs. "I doubt it'll be as simple as her turning Francine and Merlin back over to us if I agree to meet with her. Not with these people."
Gibbs
"You think, Choovanski?" Gibbs asked sarcastically. "Of course she shouldn't be trusted. That's why you're going in wired and we'll get backup."
Arthur
"We are already backup," Arthur said, shooting Gibbs a look. "No one's going in there without me." Period. "I've half a mind to storm in there myself right now."
Katchoo
"The hell you are," Katchoo jumped in. "You don't know what kind of people you're dealing with here."
Gibbs
Gibbs was about two seconds away from smacking both of these kids in the head.
"Enough," he snapped. "Two of your friends are being held hostage and I'm not in the mood for a debate."
He pointed at Katchoo. "You. You wear a wire. If by the grace of whatever you consider holy, we get those two kids free, we let them walk out. The moment there's trouble? Say the word and we'll bring in the cavalry."
Then he pointed at the British guy. "You want to go in and rescue them? We do it on my terms. My way. Right now I don't give a crap about alternate universes, magic, or robotic ninjas with machine guns. Understood?"
Arthur
Oh, grand. Someone was shouting at him.
Arthur levelled his glare at Gibbs. "I have been leading men into battle since I was twelve years old," he snarled. "I am not an ignorant child. The both of you would do well to remember that."
Please make note of the fact that nowhere in there he said 'no, I won't do it that way'.
"But I think we can all agree we'd best stop loitering."
Nevermind that they'd only been here for like a minute. He wasn't in a particularly rational mood.
Gibbs
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Let's go and we'll work this out on the way."
Katchoo
Katchoo's eyeroll was the obligatory kind, but it might be noteworthy that she withheld what could've been scathing commentary on Arthur's resume.
"Penthouse suite, in --" She checked the clock on the nightstand. "Half an hour. Wire me up. Can you keep His Highness here from charging in like a big dumb bull?"
Okay, not all commentary. She needed an outlet.
Arthur
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "You don't get to order me around," he told Gibbs, "We'll do what seems sensible at the time. Katina--"
He threw her a look. She'd always wanted to be treated like a man-- but he'd save it, for now.
Gibbs
"Yeah, Whatever," Gibbs said heading to the door. "Are we done talking now?"
Katchoo
If Arthur wanted to give her hell about this later, she'd let him, assuming they got out of it.
"Talking isn't gonna get Merlin and Francine out of Darcy's hands," she agreed, nodding briefly. God only knew what Darcy -- or the Baker twins, more to the point, might've done to them already. "Let's get moving."
***
Katchoo knew how Darcy's staff worked, and since Samantha had given her an ultimatum she knew they'd be expecting her. She took a deep breath and adjusted her "borrowed" jacket carefully to make sure the wire was hidden, then stepped out of the elevator on the penthouse floor.
She wasn't at all surprised to see Bambi waiting outside the door to the suite in her usual tank top and fatigues (with the lily tattoo visible on her arm, shit shit shit, had Francine seen that?) smirking at her as she approached.
"I don't care what goes down here tonight, Cinderella, your ass is mine," Bambi said by way of greeting.
Katchoo mustered up her best nonchalant look and drawled, "Yeah . . . get in line, butch."
And stepped into the room to the sight of Francine and Merlin tied to chairs, Samantha staring at her implacably, and Darcy with her back turned.
Darcy Parker
Darcy turned around at the appropriately dramatic moment.
"Well, well. Miss Choovanski. What a long, strange trip it's been." She smiled thinly. "And about time."
Katchoo
Katchoo forced a dry, mirthless laugh -- forced, because she'd been hoping she'd never have to see that face again. It had been a pretty frikkin' stupid thing to hope, considering she did have almost a million dollars of the woman's money. And forced because the other thing that wanted to come out of her mouth was vomit at the sight of Francine and Merlin tied up like -- god, she'd seen some of the things Darcy's people had done to tied up victims like that.
"Three years, and you couldn't come up with anything more original than that?"
Darcy
"Well, I figured since I was talking to the dead.... or the soon to be." Darcy gave Katina a thin smile. And a significant glance over to Katina's two little friends. She didn't have to be more explicit, did she?
Katchoo
Katchoo really hadn't needed the elaboration, thanks. She stayed focused on Darcy, not looking past her to Merlin and Francine. Falling apart now would do everyone fuck-all good.
"Darcy, I swear I didn't take the money."
She was lying again, but what the hell else was she going to do? As long as Darcy thought she had that $850,000 she'd never leave Katchoo alone. And Darcy'd never been one to shy away from getting at someone through people they cared about; she didn't need to look at the figures tied up in the chairs to know that, but it was certainly a vivid reminder.
Francine
Not looking at Francine might be the wisest thing to do in this situation; the split lip, bruised face and ripped blouse were likely to be a little distracting. Not to mention the combined expression of hope and dread on her face.
Merlin
Which really meant it was the perfect opportunity for Merlin to wake up to the party that he'd missed.
The very first thing he saw? The state Francine was in.
"Francine?"
Francine
Francine shot Merlin a look that was half terror, and half an eerie calmness that she couldn't tell you where it came from if you put a gun to her head.
Oh, right.
She hoped like hell that it managed to convey keep quiet and don't move 'cause right now I think they'd just shoot you rather than take the time to hit you in the head again.
Arthur
Volcano-ten-seconds-from-erupting was no more; instead, the counter was down to three, or maybe even two. As their conversation had progressed, so Arthur had gotten more and more tense, his eyes set on the listening equipment and nowhere near Gibbs. Which was probably a good thing if he wound up hitting zero ahead of time.
The fact that he and Katina were going to have to have a talk was only of minor concern. "What money?"
Well, a minor concern fairly high on his list of concerns, just pushed far out of sight by a wall of ASKDJLKdjksfhjdfnvmcndsfkl. In Ye Olde Welsh.
Gibbs
"Stay focused," Gibbs growled into his headset to Arthur. "We'll deal with that later."
Arthur
His only answer was a barely-audible bristle. Even Arthur wasn't stupid enough to start speaking while they were on a manhunt.
Still, Gibbs. Watch it.
He focused.
Darcy
"Then where is it?" Darcy asked, voice going hard. "Because I certainly don't have it, Katina. And if you don't have it, who does?"
She snapped her fingers at Bambi, then pointed at Merlin without looking at him.
"Not your two little lost lambs here. And not poor, dead, Emma."
Katchoo
Ouch -- there was no holding back the flinch there.
Samantha moved silently into the line of Katchoo's peripheral vision and narrowed her eyes warningly; Katchoo didn't need to see the telltale lines of the shoulder holster under Samantha's vest to read the threat. Don't think I don't know what you've been siphoning off all this time, Weis.
If it weren't for Francine and Merlin being there, she'd have answered differently, but she'd gotten them into enough danger as it was.
"I . . . don't know," she replied, and watched Samantha's posture ease up about a hair.
Darcy
"I see." Darcy looked at Katina, and noted her line of sight, then slowly said, "So it looks like we're right back where we started from. Ain't that a pisser?"
Darcy tapped her fingers around her martini glass, then carelessly perched it in Francine's lap as she circled the room. "Here dumplin', hold this."
She swung back to look at Katina, fingers curling around the back of Francine's chair. "But you were there that night, you and Emma, weren't you?"
Francine
Francine shot the barest glance at the glass on her lap, then a glare at Darcy's back as she crossed around the chair that would've ended this right here if she had anything like a useful power. After that, even with Darcy's nail-tips tangling in her hair, every bit of her attention was on Katchoo.
Merlin
"Don't touch her," Merlin hissed, going still and angry as he looked at the injuries Francine had accumulated while he was unconscious.
Katchoo
Which only made Katchoo finally glance past Darcy to get a good look at the state they were both in and flinch again. Her shoulders slumped and she stared at the floor to avoid looking at . . . pretty much anyone in the room.
"Don't talk about Emma," she snarled.
Darcy
"There's no reason to. Miss Peters and I already had a lovely chat about her, but she is, after all, old business." Darcy's mouth crimped upward as she ignored the other byplay in the room. She gave Francine's head a condescending pat, point made, before approaching Katina.
"And I do believe you, now that I've seen your life, and your sweet friends... but you were there that night, when the money went missing." Her voice turned steely. "Surely you saw something." She reached out toward the girl, and very gently took her face in both hands. "Why do you have to make things so hard for yourself, Katina sweetheart?" She pressed her forehead to Katina's, close enough that she wouldn't be able to see anything else without moving away.
"It's over, understand? There's nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide. I have your girl. Your friends. You. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
Her voice dropped to a near-whisper. "You want to walk away free? You want to live happily ever after with your girlfriend? Then tell me. I'll let you all go. I promise." A small smile. Truth? Or lie? Did it matter?
"Who took my money, Katina?"
Katchoo
Katchoo should've noticed Bambi, who must not have taken threats to her boss too favorably, moving toward the figures tied up in the chairs.
Damn Darcy and her creepy hypnotic behavior. And her hands on Katchoo's face.
Maybe there was a way she could get out of this, though. Wasn't like she'd been the only one in this room who'd made off with some of Darcy's money, after all, Samantha.
She was pulling back and turning her head to shoot a pointed glance at Samantha -- and saw Bambi looming over Merlin and Francine with one gigantic fist coming up, and the familiar 'OH HAI I CRUSH YOU NOW' grin on her face.
Oh, that wasn't good.
Merlin
"I warned you," Merlin said in a low voice. "Not to touch her."
If it had been about a month earlier, there would have at least been a warning of eyes flashing that sent Bambi into the wall with more force than strictly necessary.
Bambi Baker
Bambi had a highly skewed view of 'more force than strictly necessary,' but being as she hadn't been inclined to listen to orders from people who weren't her boss, yes, the amount of force with which she went crashing into the wall was enough to make even a hulking six-foot-plus mass of scary bleached-blonde see the figurative cartoon birds for a few minutes.
It was also enough to knock her gun loose of its holster and make it discharge on its own. Sorry about that bullet, people on the floor below.
Whatever Samantha was sputtering about not taking any money in the background wasn't exactly intelligible over the noise, and probably of less concern than the gunfire to anyone who might be listening in, except for the part where she was pulling her gun on Darcy.
That would be a concern.
Gibbs
And from atop a building across the street, Gibbs had been witnessing the entire thing go down via a nice scope attached to his sniper rifle.
Seeing and hearing gunshots, Gibbs took aim and began to fire at the most dangerous target in his field of vision.
"Now!" he shouted as he pulled the trigger. "Get in there!"
Arthur
Didn't have to tell Arthur that twice.
Or once, at this point.
He was already halfway on the move when Gibbs' order came through, reflexes kicking in. Other things getting kicked in would have been the door, as Arthur yanked the borrowed gun out of his pocket - for once, grateful for Hannibal, of all people, and his shooting demonstrations - and levelled it squarely on those gathered within.
"Cease this," he snarled. It was a matter of seconds.
Samantha, Katchoo, and Bambi
The most dangerous thing in Gibbs's field of vision would have been Samantha, who'd dropped her implacable-butler facade and had her gun drawn on Darcy, screaming something about being treated like shit and how Darcy wasn't God. Her tirade was cut short by Gibbs's shot blowing out the back of her skull, and the shot she'd fired went wide into the wall.
Katchoo missed out on the messy sight, spinning toward the door at the sound of Arthur's voice.
She didn't see Bambi starting to rise from the floor, still dazed from the impact of getting thrown into a damn wall by Merlin and all the more enraged because of it, much less realize that Bambi -- orders from the crown prince of Camelot be damned -- had retrieved her gun from the floor.
Francine
Francine saw it, though, and realized finally why the face behind the gun, the one shared with the woman who'd grabbed them at the causeway, was so familiar. Aside from the family resemblance that everyone has to be as obtuse as Francine not to pick up.
And she knew exactly where that barrel was going to point. "KATCHOO!"
Bambi
"CINDERELLA!" Bambi bellowed a split second later, firing off one shot as she rose to one knee.
Katchoo
Bambi was a damn good shot, and really, later Katchoo would be grateful that she was still disoriented enough to throw her aim off.
Later, since right now the sharp, hot pain of a bullet tearing through her side was the only thing she was aware of before crumpling to the floor near Francine and Merlin's feet.
Arthur
Arthur's reaction had been immediate at that loud shout. Unfortunately, immediately wasn't fast enough--
He turned, aiming the gun at Bambi, and she had only his relative inexperience with the weapon to thank for the fact that his aim wound up fixed on her shoulder, and without another thought he pulled the trigger.
He was barely ready for the recoil.
Shame. He'd been going for the kill.
Gibbs
Everyone was moving and he didn't have a clear shot in the room anymore.
Without missing a beat, Gibbs had his rifle over his shoulder and was running down the steps from his location to join them. "Coming in. Keep everyone covered until I get there."
Francine
"Katchoo!" Francine was struggling with the ropes around her, the ones Merlin had loosened before, but not enough to free her, and managing to sob and hyperventilate at the same time.
Merlin
Struggling against the ropes himself, Merlin glared at them as his magic untied them both as fast as he could.
He was there, putting his hand on the wound to slow the blood loss as soon as he was free.
Darcy
Katchoo's pointed look had done its work and Darcy had been yelling at Samantha -- "I can introduce you to God, Samantha!" -- when all hell exploded at once:
bullet through the window
Samantha slumping
blond quarterback slamming through the door--
"Who the hell are you?" The last person in her line of sight became her target, so she started for the quarterback, hands clenched, ready to pound him in the face if he was a cop or not.
Merlin
Looking up, Merlin didn't bother with lifting a hand to throw her against the wall with enough force to rattle furniture.
And then went back to what was more important here. "Katchoo, hold on."
Katchoo
Something in all that noise sounded like her name, but hell if Katchoo could open her eyes, or tell who was talking. "Francine? 's cold."
Francine
Oh yeah, that would be Francine holding every bit of Katchoo that Merlin didn't have his hand pressed over, thank you, blood soaking unnoticed into her shirt except how could she not notice when there was so much of it. "Chewie! Stay with me. You don't get to leave. You promised."
Arthur
...
That had gone by fast.
"Gibbs. The room is secured, Katina's wounded." Arthur's eyes were drawn to her, while his gun trained squarely on Bambi and Darcy. Best to keep an eye on them, even if they were incapacitated.
"Merlin, can you do something?!"
Magic, or otherwise, Merlin was the physician's dogsbody in here. And maybe that was futile, or a ridiculous thing to say and Merlin was already trying, but the last thing they needed was a wizard in shock.
"Take your sleeve. We need a tourniquet."
Gibbs
And strangely enough, Gibbs had somehow managed to arrive just as Arthur was talking. Yes, he was that fast.
"What we need is an ambulance," he said pulling out his cell phone. "Katina's not the only one wounded. And with that amount of gunfire the police are probably on their way."
Merlin
"She's bleeding too much," Merlin said, sparing a glance back at Arthur and then Gibbs. "I'm trying--"
Katchoo
The blood loss was making her beyond lightheaded, but Katchoo managed to crack one eye open and got a glimpse of Merlin and Francine, with the vague awareness of other people nearby.
"I really screwed up, didn't I?" she asked faintly.
Francine
There were other people in the room? "Honey, no. This is not your fault." Just in case Katchoo needed more blood on her, Francine pressed her sore mouth to Katchoo's face. "It's not. It never was."
Katchoo
Oh, she could argue that it was, if not for the not-so-minor problem of her liver being blown all to hell.
"Francie." Katchoo took a ragged breath and moved one hand as if she meant to reach up and touch Francine's face, but a little twitch was as far as she got. "The money --"
Francine
Francine reached for that hand and pressed it to her cheek herself. "It doesn't matter. Don't try to talk, just hang on, okay? We're gonna fix this. Just--" Other people, right. She raised her head. "Do something. Please!"
And then it was back to what other people and Katchoo's raspy breath and Francine losing hers whispering I love you, I love you, I love you until she couldn't hear anything else.
Merlin
Merlin placed both hands over the wound, trying very hard to remember any of those oh so useful spells from his book that wasn't here.
"Gebétee." He pushed down, biting his lip on concentration. "Gebétee gebétee gebétee."
Katchoo
It was all blood and voices and everything was running together, and she didn't even feel Francine's cheek under her fingers or the pressure Merlin was putting over the bullet wound, and it really was cold.
Cold and kind of numb and she was half afraid of some cheesy light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel scenario, which would have been funny if not for the --
-- warmth? Warmth starting to seep back into her limbs, as the blood flow from the wound started to slow to a trickle and then stop?
Katchoo tried to crack her eyes open and didn't really succeed, but she coughed. "Fra . . .?"
Francine
You'll have to forgive hysterical Francine for being hysterical; it took a second for "Chewiechewiechewienononono..." to turn into "....Chewie? KATCHOO?"
Gibbs
It wasn't often that Gibbs was caught flatfooted but when a girl who for all rights should be dead or on her way to a hospital is healed in front of his eyes? Yeah. He's going to need to take a moment.
Luckily that moment was only two seconds as the sound of police sirens was heard in the distance.
"You kids need to get out of here," he said snapping out of the mental fog and tossed a pair of handcuffs at Arthur. "I'll handle the police. Cuff Parker and take your friends down the back exit. The less time you spend here the better."
Gibbs wasn't waiting for a reply or a comment. He was already heading to the door and pulling out his badge, thinking of some kind of cockamamie story he'd need to explain all this.
Arthur
Arthur would have had half - or whole - a mind to argue, or maybe snarl, or some other representation of his anger at being pushed around, but his eyes had travelled past Katina onto Francine and then finally back at Merlin-- where, yes, they stayed-- and for once, he simply nodded.
He handled Darcy Parker with all the grace of a security man more than used to slapping people dispassionately into chains, shoving her at the floor and then cuffing her to a radiator.
"Right."
He turned.
"Francine," he hissed, "Katina-- Merlin." Don't ask about the extra emphasis. "Snap out of it and get moving." His eyes flicked for the door. "Now. We'll sort it out later."
Merlin
Merlin blinked down at what he'd done there, gaping a bit like a fish. "Yes. Um." He was staring at Arthur now, thank you.
Katchoo
Katchoo would be staring at Merlin if she had the focus to spare, but while her internal organs were somehow -- how the hell? -- no longer torn to shreds and she was starting to regain feeling, the shock hadn't worn off yet and she couldn't really focus on anything or anyone further away than Francine.
She did manage a quiet but genuine "Thanks" that would have to do for the time being. You know, until she could actually manage sentences again.
"Oughta go . . . 'fore it gets real messy here."
Should she really be trying to get to her feet right now? She was trying anyway.
Francine
"I've got you," Francine said, her arm around Katchoo as she pulled them both up. Like she was letting go anytime in the next hundred years. "Thank you," she added, reaching one hand out to Merlin's arm as they made their way out of the room, both to steady herself and just to touch him. "Oh God, thank you."
[OOC: And "I Dream of You," the FH edition, is done, OMG! Preplayed with much love and thanks for the efforts of the fantastic thatsamilkshake, bigdamndestiny, bitch_prince, and famous_gut, with blondecanary as Darcy Parker. Adapted (very heavily in places!) from Strangers in Paradise Volume 2, Issues 7-9 ("I Talk to the Wind," "Do You Remember Yesterdays?" and "A Good Night's Sleep," hush, let me have my dorkitude). Extra coding tweaks by thatsamilkshake. NFI/NFB, OOC is happy-shiny-yay.]
Getting to the hotel had been nerve-wracking, but in some twisted way it was a relief that the skills she'd learned while living with Darcy hadn't gotten too rusty: Katchoo had flirted a spare maid's uniform out of the cleaners' delivery guy without breaking a sweat. A little more sweet-talking of the concierge had gotten her behind the front desk long enough to nab the keys to the vacant room where she was hiding out now, changed back into her own jeans and t-shirt and just hanging up the room phone after placing a couple of calls.
This was nerve-wracking in another way, too, knowing Francine and Merlin (and dammit, she felt bad that the poor kid had gotten caught up in this, but she should have known that neither of them would listen to her when she'd told them not to follow her) were just a few floors up from here. And who the hell knew what Darcy had told them by now?
As soon as her backup got here, they could come up with a game plan. Assuming Arthur didn't kill her for getting Francine and Merlin into this mess, first . . .
Gibbs
Gibbs knocked quietly on the door, keeping an eye on the hallway just to make sure no one had spotted him.
"Room service," he said dryly.
Arthur
In the household Arthur had grown up in, arrogant indifference was the norm. If you were going to have an emotion, it had better be anger: which was why the only internal debate that had been going on in his gut the entire trip here was whether to lean more towards the kind of glowering disappointment he'd used on Katina two weeks ago, or pure and unadulterated fury.
The latter, as going by the volcano-ten-seconds-from-interrupting expression that had been on his face for about half an hour now, had won by a wide margin.
Which would explain why his contribution to the whole 'rushing in to join Katina as backup' gambit was a growled, "Open up," in a register that would have made his father proud.
Katchoo
Katchoo had no wisecrack for Arthur today, which was a good thing, she decided as soon as she looked through the cracked-open door and got a look at his face.
"Get in here, both of you -- nobody followed?"
Gibbs
"We're not the one person your people are looking for," Gibbs said dryly as he entered. "But no, we weren't followed."
Arthur
Arthur's response - upon entering - was to wish he'd brought his sword out in the open so he could chuck it at something. Instead, he threw Katina a glare that was exemplary mostly in how restrained it was. "Speak."
That was a royal order.
Katchoo
One which she was not, for once, giving him attitude over.
"I don't trust Darcy," she said flatly, glancing from Arthur to Gibbs. "I doubt it'll be as simple as her turning Francine and Merlin back over to us if I agree to meet with her. Not with these people."
Gibbs
"You think, Choovanski?" Gibbs asked sarcastically. "Of course she shouldn't be trusted. That's why you're going in wired and we'll get backup."
Arthur
"We are already backup," Arthur said, shooting Gibbs a look. "No one's going in there without me." Period. "I've half a mind to storm in there myself right now."
Katchoo
"The hell you are," Katchoo jumped in. "You don't know what kind of people you're dealing with here."
Gibbs
Gibbs was about two seconds away from smacking both of these kids in the head.
"Enough," he snapped. "Two of your friends are being held hostage and I'm not in the mood for a debate."
He pointed at Katchoo. "You. You wear a wire. If by the grace of whatever you consider holy, we get those two kids free, we let them walk out. The moment there's trouble? Say the word and we'll bring in the cavalry."
Then he pointed at the British guy. "You want to go in and rescue them? We do it on my terms. My way. Right now I don't give a crap about alternate universes, magic, or robotic ninjas with machine guns. Understood?"
Arthur
Oh, grand. Someone was shouting at him.
Arthur levelled his glare at Gibbs. "I have been leading men into battle since I was twelve years old," he snarled. "I am not an ignorant child. The both of you would do well to remember that."
Please make note of the fact that nowhere in there he said 'no, I won't do it that way'.
"But I think we can all agree we'd best stop loitering."
Nevermind that they'd only been here for like a minute. He wasn't in a particularly rational mood.
Gibbs
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Let's go and we'll work this out on the way."
Katchoo
Katchoo's eyeroll was the obligatory kind, but it might be noteworthy that she withheld what could've been scathing commentary on Arthur's resume.
"Penthouse suite, in --" She checked the clock on the nightstand. "Half an hour. Wire me up. Can you keep His Highness here from charging in like a big dumb bull?"
Okay, not all commentary. She needed an outlet.
Arthur
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "You don't get to order me around," he told Gibbs, "We'll do what seems sensible at the time. Katina--"
He threw her a look. She'd always wanted to be treated like a man-- but he'd save it, for now.
Gibbs
"Yeah, Whatever," Gibbs said heading to the door. "Are we done talking now?"
Katchoo
If Arthur wanted to give her hell about this later, she'd let him, assuming they got out of it.
"Talking isn't gonna get Merlin and Francine out of Darcy's hands," she agreed, nodding briefly. God only knew what Darcy -- or the Baker twins, more to the point, might've done to them already. "Let's get moving."
***
Katchoo knew how Darcy's staff worked, and since Samantha had given her an ultimatum she knew they'd be expecting her. She took a deep breath and adjusted her "borrowed" jacket carefully to make sure the wire was hidden, then stepped out of the elevator on the penthouse floor.
She wasn't at all surprised to see Bambi waiting outside the door to the suite in her usual tank top and fatigues (with the lily tattoo visible on her arm, shit shit shit, had Francine seen that?) smirking at her as she approached.
"I don't care what goes down here tonight, Cinderella, your ass is mine," Bambi said by way of greeting.
Katchoo mustered up her best nonchalant look and drawled, "Yeah . . . get in line, butch."
And stepped into the room to the sight of Francine and Merlin tied to chairs, Samantha staring at her implacably, and Darcy with her back turned.
Darcy Parker
Darcy turned around at the appropriately dramatic moment.
"Well, well. Miss Choovanski. What a long, strange trip it's been." She smiled thinly. "And about time."
Katchoo
Katchoo forced a dry, mirthless laugh -- forced, because she'd been hoping she'd never have to see that face again. It had been a pretty frikkin' stupid thing to hope, considering she did have almost a million dollars of the woman's money. And forced because the other thing that wanted to come out of her mouth was vomit at the sight of Francine and Merlin tied up like -- god, she'd seen some of the things Darcy's people had done to tied up victims like that.
"Three years, and you couldn't come up with anything more original than that?"
Darcy
"Well, I figured since I was talking to the dead.... or the soon to be." Darcy gave Katina a thin smile. And a significant glance over to Katina's two little friends. She didn't have to be more explicit, did she?
Katchoo
Katchoo really hadn't needed the elaboration, thanks. She stayed focused on Darcy, not looking past her to Merlin and Francine. Falling apart now would do everyone fuck-all good.
"Darcy, I swear I didn't take the money."
She was lying again, but what the hell else was she going to do? As long as Darcy thought she had that $850,000 she'd never leave Katchoo alone. And Darcy'd never been one to shy away from getting at someone through people they cared about; she didn't need to look at the figures tied up in the chairs to know that, but it was certainly a vivid reminder.
Francine
Not looking at Francine might be the wisest thing to do in this situation; the split lip, bruised face and ripped blouse were likely to be a little distracting. Not to mention the combined expression of hope and dread on her face.
Merlin
Which really meant it was the perfect opportunity for Merlin to wake up to the party that he'd missed.
The very first thing he saw? The state Francine was in.
"Francine?"
Francine
Francine shot Merlin a look that was half terror, and half an eerie calmness that she couldn't tell you where it came from if you put a gun to her head.
Oh, right.
She hoped like hell that it managed to convey keep quiet and don't move 'cause right now I think they'd just shoot you rather than take the time to hit you in the head again.
Arthur
Volcano-ten-seconds-from-erupting was no more; instead, the counter was down to three, or maybe even two. As their conversation had progressed, so Arthur had gotten more and more tense, his eyes set on the listening equipment and nowhere near Gibbs. Which was probably a good thing if he wound up hitting zero ahead of time.
The fact that he and Katina were going to have to have a talk was only of minor concern. "What money?"
Well, a minor concern fairly high on his list of concerns, just pushed far out of sight by a wall of ASKDJLKdjksfhjdfnvmcndsfkl. In Ye Olde Welsh.
Gibbs
"Stay focused," Gibbs growled into his headset to Arthur. "We'll deal with that later."
Arthur
His only answer was a barely-audible bristle. Even Arthur wasn't stupid enough to start speaking while they were on a manhunt.
Still, Gibbs. Watch it.
He focused.
Darcy
"Then where is it?" Darcy asked, voice going hard. "Because I certainly don't have it, Katina. And if you don't have it, who does?"
She snapped her fingers at Bambi, then pointed at Merlin without looking at him.
"Not your two little lost lambs here. And not poor, dead, Emma."
Katchoo
Ouch -- there was no holding back the flinch there.
Samantha moved silently into the line of Katchoo's peripheral vision and narrowed her eyes warningly; Katchoo didn't need to see the telltale lines of the shoulder holster under Samantha's vest to read the threat. Don't think I don't know what you've been siphoning off all this time, Weis.
If it weren't for Francine and Merlin being there, she'd have answered differently, but she'd gotten them into enough danger as it was.
"I . . . don't know," she replied, and watched Samantha's posture ease up about a hair.
Darcy
"I see." Darcy looked at Katina, and noted her line of sight, then slowly said, "So it looks like we're right back where we started from. Ain't that a pisser?"
Darcy tapped her fingers around her martini glass, then carelessly perched it in Francine's lap as she circled the room. "Here dumplin', hold this."
She swung back to look at Katina, fingers curling around the back of Francine's chair. "But you were there that night, you and Emma, weren't you?"
Francine
Francine shot the barest glance at the glass on her lap, then a glare at Darcy's back as she crossed around the chair that would've ended this right here if she had anything like a useful power. After that, even with Darcy's nail-tips tangling in her hair, every bit of her attention was on Katchoo.
Merlin
"Don't touch her," Merlin hissed, going still and angry as he looked at the injuries Francine had accumulated while he was unconscious.
Katchoo
Which only made Katchoo finally glance past Darcy to get a good look at the state they were both in and flinch again. Her shoulders slumped and she stared at the floor to avoid looking at . . . pretty much anyone in the room.
"Don't talk about Emma," she snarled.
Darcy
"There's no reason to. Miss Peters and I already had a lovely chat about her, but she is, after all, old business." Darcy's mouth crimped upward as she ignored the other byplay in the room. She gave Francine's head a condescending pat, point made, before approaching Katina.
"And I do believe you, now that I've seen your life, and your sweet friends... but you were there that night, when the money went missing." Her voice turned steely. "Surely you saw something." She reached out toward the girl, and very gently took her face in both hands. "Why do you have to make things so hard for yourself, Katina sweetheart?" She pressed her forehead to Katina's, close enough that she wouldn't be able to see anything else without moving away.
"It's over, understand? There's nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide. I have your girl. Your friends. You. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
Her voice dropped to a near-whisper. "You want to walk away free? You want to live happily ever after with your girlfriend? Then tell me. I'll let you all go. I promise." A small smile. Truth? Or lie? Did it matter?
"Who took my money, Katina?"
Katchoo
Katchoo should've noticed Bambi, who must not have taken threats to her boss too favorably, moving toward the figures tied up in the chairs.
Damn Darcy and her creepy hypnotic behavior. And her hands on Katchoo's face.
Maybe there was a way she could get out of this, though. Wasn't like she'd been the only one in this room who'd made off with some of Darcy's money, after all, Samantha.
She was pulling back and turning her head to shoot a pointed glance at Samantha -- and saw Bambi looming over Merlin and Francine with one gigantic fist coming up, and the familiar 'OH HAI I CRUSH YOU NOW' grin on her face.
Oh, that wasn't good.
Merlin
"I warned you," Merlin said in a low voice. "Not to touch her."
If it had been about a month earlier, there would have at least been a warning of eyes flashing that sent Bambi into the wall with more force than strictly necessary.
Bambi Baker
Bambi had a highly skewed view of 'more force than strictly necessary,' but being as she hadn't been inclined to listen to orders from people who weren't her boss, yes, the amount of force with which she went crashing into the wall was enough to make even a hulking six-foot-plus mass of scary bleached-blonde see the figurative cartoon birds for a few minutes.
It was also enough to knock her gun loose of its holster and make it discharge on its own. Sorry about that bullet, people on the floor below.
Whatever Samantha was sputtering about not taking any money in the background wasn't exactly intelligible over the noise, and probably of less concern than the gunfire to anyone who might be listening in, except for the part where she was pulling her gun on Darcy.
That would be a concern.
Gibbs
And from atop a building across the street, Gibbs had been witnessing the entire thing go down via a nice scope attached to his sniper rifle.
Seeing and hearing gunshots, Gibbs took aim and began to fire at the most dangerous target in his field of vision.
"Now!" he shouted as he pulled the trigger. "Get in there!"
Arthur
Didn't have to tell Arthur that twice.
Or once, at this point.
He was already halfway on the move when Gibbs' order came through, reflexes kicking in. Other things getting kicked in would have been the door, as Arthur yanked the borrowed gun out of his pocket - for once, grateful for Hannibal, of all people, and his shooting demonstrations - and levelled it squarely on those gathered within.
"Cease this," he snarled. It was a matter of seconds.
Samantha, Katchoo, and Bambi
The most dangerous thing in Gibbs's field of vision would have been Samantha, who'd dropped her implacable-butler facade and had her gun drawn on Darcy, screaming something about being treated like shit and how Darcy wasn't God. Her tirade was cut short by Gibbs's shot blowing out the back of her skull, and the shot she'd fired went wide into the wall.
Katchoo missed out on the messy sight, spinning toward the door at the sound of Arthur's voice.
She didn't see Bambi starting to rise from the floor, still dazed from the impact of getting thrown into a damn wall by Merlin and all the more enraged because of it, much less realize that Bambi -- orders from the crown prince of Camelot be damned -- had retrieved her gun from the floor.
Francine
Francine saw it, though, and realized finally why the face behind the gun, the one shared with the woman who'd grabbed them at the causeway, was so familiar. Aside from the family resemblance that everyone has to be as obtuse as Francine not to pick up.
And she knew exactly where that barrel was going to point. "KATCHOO!"
Bambi
"CINDERELLA!" Bambi bellowed a split second later, firing off one shot as she rose to one knee.
Katchoo
Bambi was a damn good shot, and really, later Katchoo would be grateful that she was still disoriented enough to throw her aim off.
Later, since right now the sharp, hot pain of a bullet tearing through her side was the only thing she was aware of before crumpling to the floor near Francine and Merlin's feet.
Arthur
Arthur's reaction had been immediate at that loud shout. Unfortunately, immediately wasn't fast enough--
He turned, aiming the gun at Bambi, and she had only his relative inexperience with the weapon to thank for the fact that his aim wound up fixed on her shoulder, and without another thought he pulled the trigger.
He was barely ready for the recoil.
Shame. He'd been going for the kill.
Gibbs
Everyone was moving and he didn't have a clear shot in the room anymore.
Without missing a beat, Gibbs had his rifle over his shoulder and was running down the steps from his location to join them. "Coming in. Keep everyone covered until I get there."
Francine
"Katchoo!" Francine was struggling with the ropes around her, the ones Merlin had loosened before, but not enough to free her, and managing to sob and hyperventilate at the same time.
Merlin
Struggling against the ropes himself, Merlin glared at them as his magic untied them both as fast as he could.
He was there, putting his hand on the wound to slow the blood loss as soon as he was free.
Darcy
Katchoo's pointed look had done its work and Darcy had been yelling at Samantha -- "I can introduce you to God, Samantha!" -- when all hell exploded at once:
bullet through the window
Samantha slumping
blond quarterback slamming through the door--
"Who the hell are you?" The last person in her line of sight became her target, so she started for the quarterback, hands clenched, ready to pound him in the face if he was a cop or not.
Merlin
Looking up, Merlin didn't bother with lifting a hand to throw her against the wall with enough force to rattle furniture.
And then went back to what was more important here. "Katchoo, hold on."
Katchoo
Something in all that noise sounded like her name, but hell if Katchoo could open her eyes, or tell who was talking. "Francine? 's cold."
Francine
Oh yeah, that would be Francine holding every bit of Katchoo that Merlin didn't have his hand pressed over, thank you, blood soaking unnoticed into her shirt except how could she not notice when there was so much of it. "Chewie! Stay with me. You don't get to leave. You promised."
Arthur
...
That had gone by fast.
"Gibbs. The room is secured, Katina's wounded." Arthur's eyes were drawn to her, while his gun trained squarely on Bambi and Darcy. Best to keep an eye on them, even if they were incapacitated.
"Merlin, can you do something?!"
Magic, or otherwise, Merlin was the physician's dogsbody in here. And maybe that was futile, or a ridiculous thing to say and Merlin was already trying, but the last thing they needed was a wizard in shock.
"Take your sleeve. We need a tourniquet."
Gibbs
And strangely enough, Gibbs had somehow managed to arrive just as Arthur was talking. Yes, he was that fast.
"What we need is an ambulance," he said pulling out his cell phone. "Katina's not the only one wounded. And with that amount of gunfire the police are probably on their way."
Merlin
"She's bleeding too much," Merlin said, sparing a glance back at Arthur and then Gibbs. "I'm trying--"
Katchoo
The blood loss was making her beyond lightheaded, but Katchoo managed to crack one eye open and got a glimpse of Merlin and Francine, with the vague awareness of other people nearby.
"I really screwed up, didn't I?" she asked faintly.
Francine
There were other people in the room? "Honey, no. This is not your fault." Just in case Katchoo needed more blood on her, Francine pressed her sore mouth to Katchoo's face. "It's not. It never was."
Katchoo
Oh, she could argue that it was, if not for the not-so-minor problem of her liver being blown all to hell.
"Francie." Katchoo took a ragged breath and moved one hand as if she meant to reach up and touch Francine's face, but a little twitch was as far as she got. "The money --"
Francine
Francine reached for that hand and pressed it to her cheek herself. "It doesn't matter. Don't try to talk, just hang on, okay? We're gonna fix this. Just--" Other people, right. She raised her head. "Do something. Please!"
And then it was back to what other people and Katchoo's raspy breath and Francine losing hers whispering I love you, I love you, I love you until she couldn't hear anything else.
Merlin
Merlin placed both hands over the wound, trying very hard to remember any of those oh so useful spells from his book that wasn't here.
"Gebétee." He pushed down, biting his lip on concentration. "Gebétee gebétee gebétee."
Katchoo
It was all blood and voices and everything was running together, and she didn't even feel Francine's cheek under her fingers or the pressure Merlin was putting over the bullet wound, and it really was cold.
Cold and kind of numb and she was half afraid of some cheesy light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel scenario, which would have been funny if not for the --
-- warmth? Warmth starting to seep back into her limbs, as the blood flow from the wound started to slow to a trickle and then stop?
Katchoo tried to crack her eyes open and didn't really succeed, but she coughed. "Fra . . .?"
Francine
You'll have to forgive hysterical Francine for being hysterical; it took a second for "Chewiechewiechewienononono..." to turn into "....Chewie? KATCHOO?"
Gibbs
It wasn't often that Gibbs was caught flatfooted but when a girl who for all rights should be dead or on her way to a hospital is healed in front of his eyes? Yeah. He's going to need to take a moment.
Luckily that moment was only two seconds as the sound of police sirens was heard in the distance.
"You kids need to get out of here," he said snapping out of the mental fog and tossed a pair of handcuffs at Arthur. "I'll handle the police. Cuff Parker and take your friends down the back exit. The less time you spend here the better."
Gibbs wasn't waiting for a reply or a comment. He was already heading to the door and pulling out his badge, thinking of some kind of cockamamie story he'd need to explain all this.
Arthur
Arthur would have had half - or whole - a mind to argue, or maybe snarl, or some other representation of his anger at being pushed around, but his eyes had travelled past Katina onto Francine and then finally back at Merlin-- where, yes, they stayed-- and for once, he simply nodded.
He handled Darcy Parker with all the grace of a security man more than used to slapping people dispassionately into chains, shoving her at the floor and then cuffing her to a radiator.
"Right."
He turned.
"Francine," he hissed, "Katina-- Merlin." Don't ask about the extra emphasis. "Snap out of it and get moving." His eyes flicked for the door. "Now. We'll sort it out later."
Merlin
Merlin blinked down at what he'd done there, gaping a bit like a fish. "Yes. Um." He was staring at Arthur now, thank you.
Katchoo
Katchoo would be staring at Merlin if she had the focus to spare, but while her internal organs were somehow -- how the hell? -- no longer torn to shreds and she was starting to regain feeling, the shock hadn't worn off yet and she couldn't really focus on anything or anyone further away than Francine.
She did manage a quiet but genuine "Thanks" that would have to do for the time being. You know, until she could actually manage sentences again.
"Oughta go . . . 'fore it gets real messy here."
Should she really be trying to get to her feet right now? She was trying anyway.
Francine
"I've got you," Francine said, her arm around Katchoo as she pulled them both up. Like she was letting go anytime in the next hundred years. "Thank you," she added, reaching one hand out to Merlin's arm as they made their way out of the room, both to steady herself and just to touch him. "Oh God, thank you."
[OOC: And "I Dream of You," the FH edition, is done, OMG! Preplayed with much love and thanks for the efforts of the fantastic thatsamilkshake, bigdamndestiny, bitch_prince, and famous_gut, with blondecanary as Darcy Parker. Adapted (very heavily in places!) from Strangers in Paradise Volume 2, Issues 7-9 ("I Talk to the Wind," "Do You Remember Yesterdays?" and "A Good Night's Sleep," hush, let me have my dorkitude). Extra coding tweaks by thatsamilkshake. NFI/NFB, OOC is happy-shiny-yay.]