-:When the Gun Fires:- A Crime Roll Play :- Open&Accepting!!

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

"I can't escape this hell
So many times I've tried
But I'm still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself..."

"....Help me believe it's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal
Somebody help me through this nightmare
I can't control myself
Somebody wake me from this nightmare
I can't escape this hell..."

"Gil’s been telling stories again, hasn’t he?"

_::_F.B.I._::_

“My file says I killed four people “accidently”, do you want to know how many I really killed?"

“My name is Evangeline McKenzie and I’m an authorized pain in your a**.”

"I just spent the night on an autopsy table; my back has seen better days"____________________________________.|.|.E.v.a.n.g.e.l.i.n.e. A.n.n. M.c.K.e.n.z.i.e.|.|.

.|.|.Eva."Hawk-eye".Kenzie.|.|.______________________________“In my head there are these voices, these people who don’t exist…they haunt me, they talk to me. And it’s not usually good.”

"I’m not getting paid enough for this s**t."
_::_Downa::Fifteen::Special::Agents_::_
“I swore to protect this city, to save it and I don’t care what it takes to do so. I will personally plow down anyone that gets in the way of me doing my job.”

"I don’t deal with emotions like a normal person"
“Inside, there is this bomb just waiting to go off. I’m afraid of what will happen when it does.”

“I’m not stable.”

X_X_X_X_X_X Team Lead.|.|.Field Agent.|.|.Crime Scene Investigator.|.|.Criminal Profiler.|.|.Sketch Artist X_X_X_X_X_X

Truthfully, Evangeline hadn’t expected Victor to not stop her. At that point, by the way he talked; she thought that he might try picking up his gun again – although she had it in her lap. She was relieved though, that he didn’t stop her. Her heart, which she hadn’t paid much attention to until that moment, was pounding oddly hard in her throat. Closing her eyes she took in a breath, the air, cold from the rain, hit her throat and almost stung. The sound of the rain hitting on the ground drowned out the sound of the voices in her head, and the pounding of her heart and the dial tone in her ear drowned out everything else – the rain included.

Opening her eyes, slowly but surely, she looked over at Victor and watched him. Her stomach felt heavy – she felt heavy – as she watched him lying there, dying. She felt utterly useless. Clenching her jaw she gritted her teeth and took in a breath, trying to wash herself of that feeling and of all feelings of dread. He wasn’t dead yet – he was as close as humanly possibly maybe – but not yet.

Victor’s gasp drew her attention before his words did; she had been staring out ahead threw the storm as she waited –impatiently – for the 9-1-1 operator to pick up her line. The young woman looked down at the injured man, eyes falling onto his face, and then his wound before finally resting on their interwoven fingers. Until he had tried squeezing her hand she hadn’t quite comprehended how weak he was becoming or how cold he was. The feeling of dread, that she had tried so hard to push back, crept up again along with more dangerous feelings which she fought to clench back. Inside, she felt part of her shift – her consciousness moving dangerously between two lines of thought and two opposing sides of war. Good and Bad. Dark and Light. Agent and not.

Anger flared at one man in particular; Mr. Gonzales. If Mr. Gonzales hadn’t held her up….damn it, if Liam had fought her about Mathua…if he had put the God forsaken gas in his car before going after Isabelle then she would not have had to have stopped into the old neighborhood. She wouldn’t have run into Mr. Gonzales who had, no doubt, tried turning her into the gang or the police to save his own hide in the long run from the moment she left his store. Damn it. Mr. Gonzales wouldn’t have purposely held her up, he wouldn’t have purposely tricked her into getting so riled up that she blew her cover – a stupid, stupid, idiotic thing to do. If she hadn’t gotten so pissed off at the man and sought to threaten him – if she had just left then, if she had just taken off….
Who knew; maybe the whole situation could have gone down differently.

Wiping her dripping wet bangs away from her face she looked at Victor, watching as he whispered hoarsely too her, desperately telling her to help him. Leaning towards him she gently tightened her grip on his weaker hand. Her lips pierced hard together until their pink surface was white and she nodded - the act barely noticeable as it was so slight. Words, which were forming in her mouth, were put on hold as the operator picked up. She half listened to Victor as she focused on the call. ‘What’s your emergency?’

‘Some one has been shot.’

‘Has anyone been badly injured?”

‘Someone has been shot, there’s a lot of blood loss.’ She told them in an irritated tone, her diction extra pronounced, before she snapped, ‘How about you be the judge?’

‘Stay on the line for medical, ma’am, don’t hang up the line.’

In the brief seconds between the first dispatcher leaving the phone and the next picking up the line Evangeline tilted her head towards Victor’s voice, cell phone pressed to her ear in apprehension of the new dispatcher, to listen to what he told her. “I’ll, I’ll do what I can.” She told him earnestly. She wanted to help - more than anything - but knowing how was beyond her grasp. “I’m not Gil, Vic; I know how to kill someone…not save them, at least...not like this. I don't know this.” As he squeezed her hand, she was stunned by his sudden strength. Her emerald eyes locked on his and she shook her head, “But I won’t leave you, I promise, no matter what.”

“Medical is on the line, Ma’am.”

“Rescue. Where are you located?”

“The cemetery by first and third.” Pausing Evangeline looked over in the general direction of the lane marker. In order to see the sign she had to narrow her eyes against the rain and was only roughly able to relay what she hoped was the aisle they were in.

“What happened? What’s wrong?”

Evangeline gritted her teeth and forced herself to close her eyes to keep calm. She focused on the sounds of the rain in order to block out the suddenly raging voices of her hallucinations. Giving the condensed version through clenched teeth she rubbed her forehead, “There was a fight, and someone got shot.”

“Someone got shot?”

“Yes.” She hissed.

“Is the person conscious?”

“Do ya want to talk to him?” The person on the other line faltered, a bit thrown off by her tone of voice.

“Is he breathing ma’am?”

“If he wasn’t, would he be conscious? Yes he is, but if I keep talking to you dim-witted, time wasting…”

“We have paramedics on the way, ma’am, I’m going to stay on the phone with you.”

“I don’t want to hear your voice in my head. I’d really enjoy the sound of sirens though.”

“They’re on their way, ma’am. They should be there momentarily. How is he breathing?”

“How is he-” She swore and rolled her eyes releasing Victors hand only long enough to drag her hand along her forehead and rub it at the same time. Once more she continued with her hardened, impatient tone. “Hard. He’s been shot. It’s kind of hard. It hurts. He’s lost a lot of blood. He’s tired.”

“Ma’am I need you to stay calm.”

“Me? This is me being calm.” Shaking her head she placed her hand back on Victor’s, slipping her fingers back into his. Her eyes looked down at him, watching as he tried looking up at the sky; she almost wondered what he was thinking. Gently, she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze – the first sense of lightness since she’d gotten a hold of someone. She listened to the other questions the dispatcher threw out and shook her head more. “I don’t really care about your stupid time wasting questions. Where the hell are the medics?”

“Any moment ma’am. They’re passing 2nd and Main, they will be there in five minutes traffic providing – quicker if they can manage it.” Eva was just about to respond with a comment when she stopped, her eyes widened and suddenly she felt icy herself. Breath stopped entering her body for a moment and she turned to look over her shoulder, eyes fluttering through the sheet of rain. Had she just heard what she had thought she did? Had Victor heard it? Glancing quickly down at him before looking over her shoulder again, she couldn’t tell if he had or not. Had she just barely heard his voice above the rain – or was that all in her head. Come out, come out, wherever you are, Eva. Her shoulders stiffened and her eyes narrowed. She looked back at Victor.

“Thank you, good bye, have a nice day.” She told the dispatcher and ended the call. Talking to the person on that phone was the last thing she needed to do at that moment. “Medics are on their way, they should be here any moment. They just passed the intersection of 2nd and Main street.” She said calmly trying to act less knotted than she was sure she had just been. That voice had never been in her hallucinations before and it didn’t have the need to be there now. No. It had to be real. He had to have followed her from the store, unless someone had been keeping tabs on her. It could have been an accidental crossing, she supposed, but highly doubted it.

Instead of placing the phone beside her on the ground right away she went into her contacts first and pulled up Spikes name. Staring at it she repeated his number over and over again in her head before she erased its entire existence, as well as the text she had sent to him. Just in case. She wouldn’t risk his cover being blown as well. Shutting off her phone she then placed it to her side and looked at Victor. “Yell, Vic? People will never hear me above the rain, no matter how loud my voice it. The rain is pounding too hard….and….” She rested her free arm’s elbow on her knee and put half of her face in its hand. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure if she was worried or panic stricken more for herself at the thought of Dante being there or for other people. It had been awhile since she’d felt fear for herself, and she didn’t remember it really feeling like this – but she couldn’t be sure. Her past always seemed to be in a haze. No, she was definitely worried about Spike – if Dante knew that the rumors about her coming back were real, he would most likely believe that the rumors about Spike also returning. Inwardly, she shuddered. She was sure that the gang would have a thing or to say – and do - to the two of them, him especially. And Victor, she didn’t know what would happen if he was thrown into the mixture – if Dante found her there with him. But this was more than all of that. Rubbing her forehead she knitted her brows together in painful thought and decision. “I’ll try.” She said with a sigh and took in a deep breath, raising her head to look at him. Releasing his hand reluctantly for a moment she took out her gun to check the magazine. Full. Snapping it back into place she held it securely in her hand. ‘Just in case’ she told herself.

Leaning in with slight hesitation she pushed some water from Victor’s face with her gun hand and softly pressed her lips to his forehead. The act had been slightly hesitant and strained until it happened but it hadn’t happened by anything but her own accord. “Five minutes.” So much could happen in five minutes time, so much good or so much bad. Retracting back to her kneeling position she balanced herself in a crouch, hiding the gun behind her legs. Had it been for herself, she probably wouldn’t have done what Victor asked her to do – but she wasn’t doing it for herself. It was for Victor…whatever mixed blessing it would come out to be in the end. To her, though, it was almost funny – despite the fact she did not laugh – because as the cries for help that she promised Victor she would give passed her lips, she could barely recognize the voice as her own.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X “I know what I’m capable of doing.” X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

“I'm not the type of person you want to piss off.”

“Something happened down there in that cellar, I don’t know what, but something took part of that little innocent girl inside me that entered it and twisted her into something much, much darker.”

“She lives in a castle made of stone, no one comes and no one goes, she lives in a castle made of stone, there she can’t be hurt, there she can’t hurt, tied down in her straight jacket, there she’s more than she’s worth. Inside her thoughts consume her, memories both faded and vibrant haunt her, driven to the brink...manic inside, angelic outside…she lives in a castle made of stone.”

"...I can't escape myself
So many times I've lied
But there's still rage inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself..."

"She breathes in
She breathes out
She wakes up
and lays down
She can hardly speak
and so she screams...You're manic, manic"

[[Well, Chaotic, so much for Evangeline’s better mood. >< She seems to have changed her mind on me, periodically, throughout this post. I didn’t expect to post myself but, I did. My next task – sleep. It’s okay, Thirteen, I understand - I think we all do probably. I hope that you can get some needed rest soon! Merry Christmas smile and can't wait to see your posts later on whenever you do get a chance for them.]]

[Chaotic_Theoretician]

{{Are you back yet, Thirteen? I mean, I just can't write anything up. Victor can't do much. *laughs* I mean, if you want me to throw a one-liner or something out there...

Anyway, happy belated new year!}}

[Thirteen Broken Hearts]

{{ Really sorry to hold you up guys. Life has stuck me like a brick wall. I'm swamped with family problems, school problems and medical problems. Even worse is that I have finals this week......I wont be on very much, but I will do my best to get a post up tomorrow during my day off. I don't have time tonight.

Once again, really sorry. }}

[Chaotic_Theoretician]

{{No problem, Thirteen. I hope everything works out okay and you are fine.}}

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

((It's okay, Thirteen. Don't worry about. I understand...I hope that everything works out soon for you and clears up and that you are alright. =/ My finals are this week too, so last week was the crunch and the studying....as was this weekend...so I've been kind of out of existence myself for awhile.

I'll be crossing my fingers - and my toes- that things get better for you really soon. None of those issues are fun to have to deal with.))

[Thirteen Broken Hearts]

“I will not bow, I will not break
I will shut the world away
I will not fall, I will not fade
I will take your breath away…"

“...I fear who I am becoming
I feel that I'm loosing the struggle within
I can't no longer restrain it
My strength it is fading
I have to give in

"I may not be the party girl you were or are, Eva, but there is more to me that anyone knows about, that cannot be imagined,"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI.s.a.b.e.l.l.e||T.r.i.a.d||N.i.g.h.t.i.n.g.a.l.e

< < N.i.g.h.t > > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I stood on the edge of a bridge once, ready to jump, the only thing that stopped me was the thought that my brother died protecting me, he put his life on the line a dozen times so that I could live, and so here I am, doing exactly the same thing my brother did, but who am I protecting,"

________________________::_Hostage Negotiator_::_Linguist_::_Downa 15_::_Special Agent #4_::________________________

"I’m not afraid of guns or insane people or drugs, Liam, I’m afraid of myself, what I might do when I hit rock bottom, what I might become,"

Usually the young woman would have been ready to talk. Her mouth would have been jabbering a hundred miles a minute, never once stopping to breath or give someone else a chance to talk. Now however, her lips were pursed so tightly that her lips were turning blue. The rain was soaking through the coat already making her feel ten times heavier. How she wished she could take of the heavy coat.

Keeping her silence a little longer, Isa looked at the hacker that Rhys had sent her to. If she wasn’t so busy with the other problems she had to deal with in her life, the young woman was sure she might have asked the hacker out on a date. He was a well-built man, dark black hair with eyes that seemed to soften when he spoke.

She was glad to find that the man decided to speak up first, though what he said left her uneasy.. She was sure that it was not the rain that made her shiver as she spoke. “Yeah, I feel it,” she replied, her voice hoarse and frightened. She did not care anymore; she would show the world that she was scared because there wasn’t a single person in Manhattan that wasn’t scared at least a little bit. If they weren’t, they were dead.

Closing her eyes, Isabelle took a deep breath that shuddered through her body like ice. She could feel the cold rushing through her, but she ignored it. All she could do was push away the feeling of dread from the back of her mind and hope that she was wrong. Something bad was happening, happening very near to her.

Her eyes blinked open, but it made little difference. The rain blurred so much of her sight that the man in front of her was nothing more than a blob. Wiping her hand over her face, she was able to get a clear picture before it blurred all over again. Sighing, she gave up, looking in the direction of the blob’s face.

“Let’s start with the facts. I’m an Downa 15 agent working in Manhattan. I’ve was taken hostage and strapped with a bomb by a madman. Now that madman wants me to find a hacker known as Stanley to help me start a war between the CIA and the FBI.” she said this all in one breath too afraid that if she took a breath she would stop.

In spite of herself, Night starting laughing. “Sounds crazy, I know,” she said. Almost as soon as she started, she stopped laughing. With a sigh, she unbuttoned the coat, opened it an inch then closed it once more. She was sure that Jobson had seen at least a small piece of the bomb. It stuck out like a sore thumb even in the torrents of rain around them.

“Unfortunately, for both you and I, I’m not joking,” she finished.
Her face was set into a tight line, her forehead wrinkled with frustration as she waited for the man’s reaction. It seemed to her like forever passed, but she did not get an answer out of Stan. Instead she got an answer to the foreboding feeling that had been growing inside of her.
A shrill, frightened scream pierced the air. The sound itself was enough to make any mammal shiver even in the hottest weather. Isabelle’s ears protested at the volume, but she knew that she needed to know how close the screamer was.

Cursing silently as she turned, ignoring Stanley for the moment, Night realized the sound was coming from the graveyard. She remembered vaguely a suspicious man passing her only a few minutes before. What had he been up to? She wondered.

Running through the gate, Isa did not stop to worry about whether Stan was following. She did not stop to care that she was helpless if the attacker had a gun. She just knew she had to get to the person in danger. Strangely enough, she felt the mysterious feeling that she knew the person who was calling for help.

It wasn’t very long before she found them even though they were at the very back of the cemetery. Sadly, Isabelle wished that she hadn’t found them. If she had been somewhere else, she would never have had to see what was going on in front of her.

There was Victor, sprawled out on the ground and Eva, cradling him. No wonder she had recognized the screams. It had been Eva no doubt, one of the many that would yell at Isa if she wanted to. Running forward, Isabelle towered over the two, anger and concern lighting her eyes at the same time. Looking to Vic, she growled.

“I thought I told you to be careful,” she cried, her voice breaking as she felt tears well up behind her eyes. She couldn’t lose Vic. She wouldn’t let anyone else leave her. She didn’t want anyone else die.

"Don’t you dare even threaten to kill them, I may come off as oblivious, but these guys are my family, Eva, Liam, Vic….hell even Riggs, I would take a bullet for either one of them, that’s a lot more than I can say about punks like you,"

:_:_:_:_:_:_:_Tell Me Why I Live A Lie?_:_:_:_:_:_:_:

"A lot of people say I’m the bad cop in the equation, but I think I would say that I’m the good cop, I won’t threaten to kill you right off the bat, that’s Eva’s and Riggs job, and Vic will just threaten to take off your limbs one by one, I’m the closest you’ve got to a good cop on our team,"

“I’m not really good when it comes to handling my emotions, Riley, I can be suicidal, grouchy or even loving, but I don’t think I’d ever make a good girlfriend, you should just move on to someone else,"

“When we start killing
It's all coming down right now
From the nightmare we've created,
I want to be awakened somehow..."

“…Everything will slip way
Shattered peaces will remain
When memories fade into emptiness
Only time will tell its tale
If it all has been in vain"

{{Okie dokes. Here's Isabelle's post. Dante's is coming up next, but thats all I can manage for today. I think its enough.}}

[Thirteen Broken Hearts]

“Give me strength to face the truth
The doubt within my soul
No longer I can justify
The bloodshed in his name …"

“…So I sit in my room
And I'll cry in my bed
Thinkin about all the s**t
That made me wrong in my head."

"I’m that guy at the bar that spends too many hours muttering to himself about his problems and forcing the bartender to give him more beers even when he’s already had ten."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxD.a.n.t.e||Y.o.u.n.g

< < S.t.r.i.k.e.r > > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do you hear me little sister? I will avenge you Rina, your blood still stains their hands and they can never rinse it clean."

________________________::_Black Dragon Gang Member_::_Hitman_::________________________

"Destiny can't be changed. All roads lead to the same destination. And that is Death."

Dante could feel this heart pumping in his ears. Every minute of the past six years of his life he had waited for this moment. He had found Eva, the screaming indicating that she was in some sort of pain. She was weak, easy for him to take now. The gang would be so happy to see her again. Maybe she would even tell them where to find Spike. Then the party would really begin.

He had just stepped out into view, Eva too busy to see him just yet, when he heard the runner. Hissing, he darted back behind a tombstone. Peering over the side, he cursed. A young woman had rushed to Eva’s aide and had started to talk with her and the wounded man on the ground. Amusement flashed across Dante’s eyes as he watched the man. He looked strangely familiar, but not all that familiar. It definitely wasn’t Spike, but Dante was sure that he had seen the man before.

Surveying the scene before him, the patient gang member waited. He told himself calmly that he had waited six years for this moment, another few minutes wouldn’t hurt. Especially if it meant he would live or die. He soon came to his conclusion.

The man on the ground was mortally wounded; he was not getting up to fight anytime soon. Easy target. Eva was too busy worrying about the man and talking with the woman to care about what was going on around her. He could shoot her easily without any hesitation. The woman who had come running was the only person who posed a major problem. Her coat was very big and bulky, so he was unsure of where to shoot. Nevertheless, she didn’t seem to be paying attention to her surroundings either. All he had to do was get a good shot of her head and it was straight to revenge city.

Taking a deep breath, Dante pulled out his gun. He made sure it was loaded before peering over the tombstone again. He closed one of his eyes, aiming the gun in the right direction. He thought about the wind speed and the rain for only a moment before cocking the gun.

He felt it more than heard it. That feeling of cold that doesn’t come from rain or wind. Metal against his spine. A gun being pointed at the back of his head. A shiver went down it and he heard a voice speak behind him.

“If you shoot her, I will kill you here and now and then you’ll never get your revenge,”A somewhat calm, yet a little shaky, voice whispered behind him.
Cursing silently in his head, Dante released the gun, watching as a lightly colored hand pulled it from his grasp. Not yet daring enough to turn his head, he took a shaky breath.

“How do you know about that?” he hissed trying to keep the fear out of his tone. He had faced dozens of trials, been beaten and shot, but he never could resist being afraid when someone was pointing a gun at him.

The voice chuckled lightly behind him and the gun pulled away from the back of his neck. A groan followed and finally Dante could no longer resist himself. He turned away from the death scene in front of him to face the man behind him. The man was smiling despite the obvious pain he was in. Blood seeped through a makeshift bandage tied around the man’s arm as he watched him. Dante came to the obvious conclusion that the man had been wounded by the man Eva was cradling on the other side of the tombstone.

“I know a lot about you, Dante Young,” Rhys Damen said, his bright as twinkling as he gave the young man a fake smile. “The good thing is that you know nothing about me, as it will stay for the time being. All you need to know is that that woman right there…,” he paused, pointing in the direction of the woman in the trench coat. “…Is not to be harmed,”

Dante looked from the man back to where Eva was still sitting then back to the man. If he wasn’t allowed to kill or harm the other woman, he would never be able to get away with taking Eva. Hissing, he turned back to the man, anger lighting his eyes. He went to argue with the man, but Rhys interrupted him.

“Help me now and I will make sure that you will get your revenge on Evangeline Mackenzie and that man you call Spike. Betray me and you die.” he told Dante, his voice becoming raspier. His pointed the gun at Dante calmly, his good arm never wavering, “It’s your choice,”

Dante shook his head. What in the world had he gotten himself into now?

“I don’t want to make myself out to be a bad person, but I don’t always think I deserve to live. My family is dead, my world’s screwed up, I keep getting shot at and I’ve killed people, what would you do with your life?”

:_:_:_:_:_:_:_Tell me who I am, because I’m not really sure who I'm supposed to be anymore!_:_:_:_:_:_:_:

"I don’t have a problem coping with loss, if I lose a target, I get a new one, if I lose a weapon, I get a new one, if I lose a beer, I get a new one. No problem."

"I would give up the world just for the chance to tell her I’m sorry."

“I'd give you my heart,
And let you just hold it.
I'd give you my soul,
But I already sold it…."

“…The field of my dreams
Deceived all I have seen
Forgive me for what I have been "

{{Here's Dante....lol. Time to study...}

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

"I can't escape this hell
So many times I've tried
But I'm still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself..."

"....Help me believe it's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal
Somebody help me through this nightmare
I can't control myself
Somebody wake me from this nightmare
I can't escape this hell..."

"Gil’s been telling stories again, hasn’t he?"

_::_F.B.I._::_

“My file says I killed four people “accidently”, do you want to know how many I really killed?"

“My name is Evangeline McKenzie and I’m an authorized pain in your a**.”

"I just spent the night on an autopsy table; my back has seen better days"____________________________________.|.|.E.v.a.n.g.e.l.i.n.e. A.n.n. M.c.K.e.n.z.i.e.|.|.

.|.|.Eva."Hawk-eye".Kenzie.|.|.______________________________“In my head there are these voices, these people who don’t exist…they haunt me, they talk to me. And it’s not usually good.”

"I’m not getting paid enough for this s**t."
_::_Downa::Fifteen::Special::Agents_::_
“I swore to protect this city, to save it and I don’t care what it takes to do so. I will personally plow down anyone that gets in the way of me doing my job.”

"I don’t deal with emotions like a normal person"
“Inside, there is this bomb just waiting to go off. I’m afraid of what will happen when it does.”

“I’m not stable.”

X_X_X_X_X_X Team Lead.|.|.Field Agent.|.|.Crime Scene Investigator.|.|.Criminal Profiler.|.|.Sketch Artist X_X_X_X_X_X

Stopping her cries for help Evangeline closed her eyes and turned her head back down to Victor. The rain was too dense for anyone to see them from a wide distance, she guessed, and unless they were able to follow her screams. Even then, though, they’d have to hear the screams first. “No one is going to hear, Vic, someone would have to be within a mile radius – if that even – to hear it…and how many people would be standing within a mile of here outside, in the pouring rain?” Pushing aside her dripping bangs with the rounded mass of her wrist, as she had to bend it to keep the gun in her hand from her face, she tried to be a bit more optimistic. “Besides, the emergency vehicles are on their way.” She wouldn’t admit the reservations she had with that statement either. Although the medics were only five minutes, probably less now, from the cemetery, a lot of things could still go wrong. What would be five minutes in the country could end up being twenty in the city, she knew that. Absently she went her lips, although they were already wet with rain, and tried to ignore that thought. It wasn’t quite rush hour yet; there was still a chance that the vehicles wouldn’t run into traffic. “You’re going to be okay.”

For a second, she thought to call Gil – he had to know something. However, as her hand – which still held the gun – reached towards her cell phone she paused. She stared down at the black device surrounded by mud, and blood, and became suddenly internally thoughtful. Her mind drifted back to the voice she had heard moments ago, it had been Dante’s voice she was sure of it. The Dragon’s personal hit-man. There was no doubt in her mind that he had been sent out to find Spike, and her…what would happen if he found her there with anyone else she was not entirely sure. Once more she pierced her lips and made a quick, reluctant decision. She released the gun from her hand and allowed it to fall at her feet, splattering her gray dress pants with brown. Within an instant she had picked up her phone and pressed the green button, waiting for the screen to light up.

Evangeline almost didn’t hear Isabelle running over the rain until she had stopped by them to speak. She had been so distracted by her thoughts of calling Gil, by being focused on Victor, that she had barely registered the running steps. In an instant though, she had let go of the phone and picked up the gun, though she did not aim it. “Oh,” She uttered, catching sight of Isabelle’s slowing form, and replacing the gun in her hand with the phone once more. A strange calm had washed over her, as it always did in intense situations, but in that calm she could feel a danger. She could feel her shift inside, the voices wanting to break through but unable to do so through the rain. As long as her mind was focused on the now, on the positive possibilities, she was alright. Still, her fingers shook lightly through fear and anger as she went through her contacts list for Gil, having completely forgotten his speed dial number in the heat of the moment. “I told him that too,” Evangeline said, her eyes flickering up from her phone as she pressed it to her ear to look at Isabelle before swooping quickly to Victor’s, where they stayed. Her tone had been covered in its unemotional shell it liked to wear and dipped in displeasure, the corners of her mouth even twitched downward for a second, whether out of worry or displeasure it was hard to discern to the naked eye, but it was worry. Despite her irritated tone, which was truly more because of the medics than because of Victor, her next actions were softer. Her eyes softened from there hardened emotion and she unwound her fingers from Victors long enough to tenderly rub water from his forehead again. Softly she added, “I also told him not to do anything stupid,” with a slight, barely noticeable lilt in her voice. Her eyes, though, showed that she understood why he did what he did.

Once more she took Victor’s hand in her own, linking their fingers together just as she had done before. The phone at her ear continued to ring and she chewed her cheek, pleading internally that Gil would answer. Her green eyes rose back up to Night, narrowing a bit to see through wet lashes, “The medics are on their way, the last I heard they were passing 2nd and Main; the junction where that candy store, Rolo’s, is. According to them, they should be here shortly.” Glancing down to the hand holding her cell phone she winced, “I got tired of their questions…I’m trying to reach Gil now but reception is-”

“Evangeline?”

“Gil!”

“It’s a pleasure to hear your voice as well…Where is everyone anyhow? I know that Raymond is in town but, I have yet to seen him. Liam has yet to return to the station – I don’t even want to begin to comprehend where Riggs probably is. What about Isabelle? Didn’t she come by the crime scene earlier?…why isn’t she back now? And you, I thought you were going gallivanting after something-er-other with Victor? What happened to that? And where is my car?”

“I’ll explain that later, Fish, I promise.” She looked down at Victor, “Where are you, Gil?”

On the other end she could hear something hit a metal table, the man seemed to shift the phone around like he was taking off gloves. She guessed that he must have been working on a body when she called. “The station, of course, why? Do you need me to get in between Raymond and Bolton? I can, you know, it wouldn’t be the first time that I wedged myself between the two of them to keep them under control…teenage boys they are…I swear….”

“No, no, Gil, I don’t. Riggs has that job.” She rubbed her forehead on her shoulder and gritted her teeth. In her head she tried to do the math, figuring out if he was closer than the medics. She wished that she had paid better attention in high school…she also remembered that she had left Liam with the older man’s car. “Listen, can you get one of the uniforms to bring you over to the cemetery? ASAP. The back way, Gil, not along the main streets, they need to go old school through the alleys. I’ve called emergency, but I don’t trust them, they’re on the main roads…if there is one back up….”

“They won’t like it. But I can put my fist through them if it would help. What is going on?”

“It’s Vic…” The line on the other end went dead.

Folding the phone up in her hand she looked back between Isabelle who was standing, clearly distraught, and Victor, laying helplessly beside her, and stared out towards the direction of the road. Her ears strained, trying to hear sirens in the distance, and her eyes strained to catch a glimpse of blinking lights. She didn’t know who would arrive first, or if either would arrive in time, but she wouldn’t have a fate lie solely in the hands of the medics. She had watched the news enough growing up in Manhattan to know how many times people died because emergency vehicles could not make it through heavy traffic. Although it was not rush hour, the roads were still quite busy and visibility left driving too dangerous for emergency vehicles to be weaving through consistently. By calling Gil there was another avenue to go down, should something not go right with the medics, there was another chance. What was needed right now was chances. Everything needed to end up alright in the end. If something went wrong, she didn’t know what the team would do. She thought of Night, and all Night had been through, if something happened to Victor…she didn’t know what would happen to her. She didn’t even know if Liam could be her band-aid then, or save her like he had before. Everything around the situation was so, unpredictable.

There was only one thing that she was sure of, and it was that everything had to end up alright. Although she could not predict her teammates reaction (though she still had a vague idea of Isabelle’s reaction), she knew hers. She didn’t want to be around herself if something went wrong; she knew what would happen if something went wrong, what she would end up doing. Someone would end up paying a costly price, she just didn’t know who.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X “I know what I’m capable of doing.” X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

“I'm not the type of person you want to piss off.”

“Something happened down there in that cellar, I don’t know what, but something took part of that little innocent girl inside me that entered it and twisted her into something much, much darker.”

“She lives in a castle made of stone, no one comes and no one goes, she lives in a castle made of stone, there she can’t be hurt, there she can’t hurt, tied down in her straight jacket, there she’s more than she’s worth. Inside her thoughts consume her, memories both faded and vibrant haunt her, driven to the brink...manic inside, angelic outside…she lives in a castle made of stone.”

"...I can't escape myself
So many times I've lied
But there's still rage inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself..."

"She breathes in
She breathes out
She wakes up
and lays down
She can hardly speak
and so she screams...You're manic, manic"

{{Oh. Wow. So, apparently all I needed to finally get inspiration for this post was to listen to Thousand Foot Krutch. I wish I had known that earlier!)

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

"I admire you agents, Eva, I'd never have the guts to do what you do. You know, I never told anyone but Raymond this but, when I was a young boy I dropped out of martial arts because some kid half my size made me cry."

"I love this table"__________________________________________G.i.l.//G.e.n.d.r.i.n

<<Fishy>>________________________________________________"You say tomato... I say cause of death..."

“I miss my equipment, using the P.D.’s is like using a borrowed tooth brush. It does the job, but never quite feels the same.”

Federal + Bureau + Of + Investigation: M-e-d-i-c-a-l = E-x-a-m-i-n-e-r

"Have you ever thought about getting a puppy, Victor? They're wonderful company...they'll keep you up all night if you aren't careful but they're just like dead people - perfect listners."

“It’s Vic…”

Pulling off his other latex glove, the medical examiner placed the phone he had been holding back onto the receiver. It was one of the old types of phones that no one ever used anymore. Teens nowadays thought that those prototypes were stuck in the ice age but, to men like him, who were considered as old as the ice age, it was a very good device. He enjoyed some of the simpler forms of technology, which was proving a good thing as the police department was very adamant about not allowing him to use their technology without heavy interrogation first. To avoid that, he used what lower technology – basics if you would – that he could for as long as he could.

As he pulled his surgical robe from his arms he looked over his shoulder at the body on his table. “I’ll have continue our session later,” pushing the patient back into the cooled compartment he had once been stored in, Gil added, “we’ll have a good long discussion about what’s going on, I am sure.” He intended on finding out what was going on, and how Victor had gotten himself into whatever predicament he had gotten himself into. What could that be anyhow? The older man frowned to himself, an act of deep thought, and his forehead wrinkled. Evangeline sounded worried to him, but yet her voice had been calm, like she was forcing herself to stay “afloat”. He had heard that tone of voice once before, what felt like ages ago, just before she lost it, and knew that no good could ever come of it. Giving one last glance at the body, he spoke aloud to the emptied room. “Why do I have the horrible feeling this all leads back to the same place it always does,” shutting the compartment’s door he bent to adjust the lock, “Damen.”

Gil had never had any experience with field work or case files in the way Downa Fifteen had, but he had picked up a keen eye for observation in all of his years of work. From the time the FBI team had arrived in Manhattan everything seemed to lead back to Damen, and if in the rare occasion it didn’t, it surely led to one of the other countless criminals the team had already encountered. Manhattan was the witch’s pot of disaster, the section of the country where all of those that avoided the law tended to gravitate towards. Or, that was how he was beginning to perceive it anyway. He had seen his share of destruction in all of his lengthy years, and he had seen it spread from state-to-state and coast-to-coast, but Manhattan seemed to be at the heart of the worst. Perhaps he was too close to the situations and agents, or maybe old age was making him narrow minded and cynical. Both could happen.

He packed a bag, filling it to the brim with his medical supplies, pulled on his coat and shut out the lights. Behind him, the autopsy room’s doors locked automatically, barely giving him time to swipe his umbrella from the coat rack when he forgot to grab it the first time. Holding it firmly in his hands he took the elevator up to the main floor and began the hunt for a relatively decent cop that was willing to help one of the FBI’s agents out. They looked at him with the same look of contempt they gave all of the other agents, but it never irked him like it did the others – or a select few anyway. After having very little luck, the brave older man cleared his and approached an officer who was leaving to go grab a cup of coffee. “Excuse me,” Gil called, waving his umbrella in the air, “I hate to be a bother, but I have a favor to ask of you.” Without waiting for arguments or protests (or even giving him a chance to run away), the medical examiner showed the officer the address Eva had given him and was shoving the man out the door. He was sure to make sure that he took the back roads, just like Eva had suggested, though the cop was a bit confused by the suggestion at first.

“Liam’s car.” Gil breathed, nearly jumping from the car before the officer even had the time to stop and put it in park.

“Sir!” The officer called after him, but Gil waved him off.

The older man took one look at the car and became deeply unsettled, if Eva had found Liam and they were together, they would have taken both cars. Somehow there had been a trade off, or an involuntary swamp. “Watch that car.” Gil ordered and popped up his umbrella, heading for the cemetery, “I have business to attend to.” It took him a good several minutes of walking with a flashlight to find them in the far corner of the cemetery amidst all the rain, but he did. When he finally found them, all of his petty questions vanished, “Good God in heaven,” He breathed, letting his bag drop to the muddied ground without a second thought, “what on Earth happened here?”

Pocketing her cell phone Eva looked up at him; she looked like hell, drenched in cold rain and covered in mud and Victor's blood. The look in her eyes as she rose them to meet his confirmed the unstable state of her mind he had suspected, but it was her words that confirmed his previous assumptions about what had taken place there. “Damen.”

“Might’ve known he was stirring up trouble. He's been too quiet.” The elder man, knowing how bad the situation was without even having to examine Victor, tried to keep a calm façade, rolling up his sleeves and picking up his bag again. Nonchalantly, slinging it over his shoulder he looked around, noting that Liam was nowhere to be seen, but that Eva also didn’t seem as bothered by it as she would have been, even given the current situation. Perhaps she had found him after all. Accepting the latter as a temporary answer, Gil looked over at Night and placed a hand on his shoulder, relieved to see her. “Glad to see you, sweetheart. Have you talked to Liam? If not, I’d give him a call if I were you, the last time I heard from him he was awfully worried about you.” He gave her good shoulder a gentle squeeze and handed her his umbrella as he passed her on his way to Victor. “Now, my boy, let me have a look at you.”

“The Emergency crew is on their way, but in this rain and with all of the traffic, the odds of them getting here in time were…” Eva, who had gone back to staring down at Victor’s face, was panicking again. Her eyes flickered up to the medical examiners and he saw fear burn behind them, buried beneath countless other emotions. There was the slightest, almost unperceptable tinge of desperation in her voice. “I had no other choice, I had to call you.”

Trying to calm her in the only way he could in this situation the man nodded, but spoke nothing. There was nothing he could say. Instead, as he knelt beside Victor, Gil separated their interwoven fingers. He could feel Evangeline’s resistance as he did so, but he shook his head at it. Calmly, looking her right in the eye, he spoke to her, “I need to work on him, and you need to call Raymond.” She went to protest, but Gil shook his head again. Swallowing thickly and giving the CIA agent one last meaningful look, Evangeline did as she was ordered and walked over by Night. Mildly alone with Victor, Gil sighed. “My dear boy, you are the last person on Earth I would have wished this scenario on.” Pulling his instruments from his bag and setting to work, he added softly, “I may not be an agent of the field, but remind me, should I ever cross paths with Rhys Damen, to give him a well earned lick.”

He hadn’t been working long before he heard the sirens; Eva hadn’t even finished dialing the Director’s cell phone number yet. Whereas her fingers stopped what they were doing, his never did. Gil let Eva tell Night that she would be right back, ordering her to stay and keep the old man company while he tried to help Victor, as she ran to meet the paramedics. Glancing over his shoulder, the older man looked at Isabelle briefly studying the mixture of anger and concern that was lighting her eyes. “Isabelle,” He spoke to her as softly as he could over the rain and still be heard, never once stopping his job, “I will take good care of him. Don’t you worry.” But even he knew there was plenty of reason to worry. He knew it as the stretchers came and they careful moved Victor from one position to another. He knew it when they moved him off into the ambulance.

“Isabelle, Evangeline.” Gil motioned to the two of them and then spoke without looking to see if they were listening or even near him. Although he was addressing them, he was too busy gathering his tools and focusing on climbing into that ambulance. “I am going to the hospital; I am going to ride in the ambulance with them, I won’t let him be alone like that. Victor is partially my patient now,” He glanced quickly at both of them, “I will do my best to take care of him.” Gently he plucked his umbrella from Isabelle and gave her a grandfatherly kiss on the cheek, “As for the two of you, I want you to call the Director and Riggs – and Liam for goodness sake – so that they are up to date on everything. And for the love of the Higher Power that be, please, no one else get themselves into anymore trouble today. Alright? This is more than an old man’s heart can take.” He then turned to Eva, resting a cupped hand under her chin and peering knowingly into her eyes. In his gaze he held no judgment, only silent understanding. “Call the Director and then go home and change before you go anywhere else or do anything drastic. I will call you if anything happens you need to be aware of.” Liking that idea he continued with it, even as he did his best to jog off to the ambulance, half hobbling along the way, “Take Isabelle with you, it will keep you both from doing anything drastic!”

The trip to the hospital was the longest trip he had ever taken, and nothing he ever wished to do again.

"Are you asking me if I think he suffered before he died, Raymond? Yes, I know he did and greatly at that, there is no doubt about that."

"Your powers of deduction are remarkable, detective."

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

"I can't escape this hell
So many times I've tried
But I'm still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself..."

"....Help me believe it's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal
Somebody help me through this nightmare
I can't control myself
Somebody wake me from this nightmare
I can't escape this hell..."

"Gil’s been telling stories again, hasn’t he?"

_::_F.B.I._::_

“My file says I killed four people “accidently”, do you want to know how many I really killed?"

“My name is Evangeline McKenzie and I’m an authorized pain in your a**.”

"I just spent the night on an autopsy table; my back has seen better days"____________________________________.|.|.E.v.a.n.g.e.l.i.n.e. A.n.n. M.c.K.e.n.z.i.e.|.|.

.|.|.Eva."Hawk-eye".Kenzie.|.|.______________________________“In my head there are these voices, these people who don’t exist…they haunt me, they talk to me. And it’s not usually good.”

"I’m not getting paid enough for this s**t."
_::_Downa::Fifteen::Special::Agents_::_
“I swore to protect this city, to save it and I don’t care what it takes to do so. I will personally plow down anyone that gets in the way of me doing my job.”

"I don’t deal with emotions like a normal person"
“Inside, there is this bomb just waiting to go off. I’m afraid of what will happen when it does.”

“I’m not stable.”

X_X_X_X_X_X Team Lead.|.|.Field Agent.|.|.Crime Scene Investigator.|.|.Criminal Profiler.|.|.Sketch Artist X_X_X_X_X_X

There was a moment, just after Gil had separated Evangeline’s hand from Victor’s, when she could no longer feel the touch of his skin, that she thought the examiner had ripped her heart from her chest. She felt like someone had taken an open jab to her chest and knocked the wind out of her. An aching, familiar nausea bubbled up the back of her throat and the only thing that kept it down was the silent memory that came to mind. She didn’t think of the whole scene, which she was thankful for, because she thought that if she had thought of it, on top of the current situation, she might have broken down right there. However, what she did remember was the words that Gil had whispered ever so softly to her after Kevin had been killed. He had walked over to her and taken her hand in his, giving it the reassuring squeeze that she needed, “I will take good care of him, Eva, I promise you.” Now, breathlessly, trying not to find tears in her eyes, she looked at Victor and then to Gil. There was an eerie sense of calm that was settling in her stomach, a sensation that never meant anything good at all, but there was also a gnawing, endless pain. Most of all, there was fear. "Take good care of him, Gil.” She whispered, barely audible, and rose to go over to Isabelle. She barely noticed the glance the medical examiner sent her.

She noticed she was numb when she walked, not just to all outside influences, but partially to all emotions on the inside. Her emotions were eating her inside, tearing her apart, but at the same time, numbing her to everything. In an attempt to regain herself she took in a deep breath as she walked to Isabelle, running a shaking hand over her hair and pulling it off of her back. She hated feeing wet, it brought back nasty memories. As she raked her fingers along her back, pulling her hair over so that it gathered over one shoulder, she paused. Cautiously she ran her fingers over the flames that curled over her shoulder beneath her white, now mostly see-through shirt. If Dante was out there now, she guessed he had no question if she was whom he suspected her to be, the dragon tattoo curling up her back and caressing her left shoulder spoke for itself. That thought brought chills driving like torpedoes down her spine. No matter if the gang found her, she wouldn’t lead them to Spike. She would rather die first.

“You okay?” She sincerely asked Isabelle as she walked up beside her, the few feet she had crossed feeling like miles. For the first time since entering the cemetery she was staring, analyzing another person other than Victor. Evangeline's jaw was set, her eyebrows knitted together as she fought past her toxic emotions to truly see her teammate. “Everything’s going to be okay.” She told Isabelle, though she wasn’t sure who she was truly trying to convince. “Vic’s stubborn.” Even as she spoke, she felt a sharp twang go off in her heart, the sensation making her wince. Taking in a deep breath she pushed aside that sensation, none too kindly at that, and pulled her cell phone out again. Her eyes glanced at the jacket Isabelle was wearing. “I’ve dug up an expert for your problem. When this is all through, we’ll go see him.” She didn’t really give a damn if Damen was listening anymore, so long as Isabelle didn’t blow up.

The paramedics came before she could finish dialing Riggs’ cell phone number. Whatever thought she had once had of contacting the Director had ended at the sight of the ambulance. “I’ll be right back.” Evangeline told Night, pocketing her cell phone again, “You stay here with Gil, in case he needs anything…or in case he needs to talk to someone.” She eyed Night again, “Or in case you do.” With that and one final, rushed glance at the scene around her she dashed to the paramedics and led them back to where Gil was. She wasn’t entirely sure that they would let Gil ride in the ambulance until she actually saw it happen, but he had never questioned it. He was all matter-of-fact and calm about the whole situation; perhaps it was years of training and experience that did it…she was in awe. Antsy, she rolled her eyes when he mentioned calling Riggs, the Director and Liam. She would have done it anyway, and would rather that he was in the ambulance with Victor, overseeing everything that the paramedics did to him, than lecturing them. By the sneaking glance the older man sent her just before he plucked his umbrella from Isabelle’s hands, she guessed he knew how she felt.

And then there was that stare. As he cupped his hand under her chin and forced her to gaze into his eyes, she knew that he recognized the unsettled sensations she was feeling as much as she did. He knew what they could mean. His fingers were gentle on her chin, but had a slight tug to them, a soft reminder to keep herself in check or else something else might happen that day. But she could already feel herself slipping, her normal consciousness distancing itself from her daily life so that she felt like she was watching someone else’s minutes play out. She could feel the shift in her head, the voices roaring in her ears, and the uncontrollable shaking of her hands. Still, he held her gaze, letting her know he understood – warning her to be careful – and then dropped it all and ran, finally, to Victor.

Alone with Night, Evangeline dragged her hands over her face to regain composure, trying to drag herself back to normalcy. She tried not to think about how wet she was – or how damp she would be – because if she did, anxiety would kick in to the point where it would be intolerable. Wetting her lips she tried to think of something to say to Isabelle, anything at all, but her head was spinning. She tried not to think of Mr. Gonzales and how he probably ratted her out to the gang and that was how Dante had found her, because if she did anger welled inside her so badly she dug her nails into her clenched fist until she bled. Anger like that, moments like this…they terrified her. At the same time she tried not to think about Damen, who had not only wired Isabelle but had sent Liam on a wild goose chase she had been temporarily apart of. And then he had shot Victor. If she hadn’t been on the chase, if she had gotten there earlier….

Evangeline angrily kicked up a chunk of muddied grass with her barefoot and walked over to the patch of ground where Victor had once been lying, in order to gather both her gun and Victor’s. Running her fingers along Victor’s gun, her mouth went dry, remembering how the barrel had been to his temple when she had shown up. Softly she shuddered and then placed the gun in the small of her back, where she normally would have kept a spare anyway. “I’m going to call the Director,” She informed Isabelle as she took out her cell phone, “he’s probably going to want to go to the hospital. I’m going to as well.” She hesitated, trying to regain control of her sanity, “I just..I have to stop at the apartments…to change clothes…anything.” Wincing she rubbed her temples, “If you want, I can bring you to either him or to the hospital on the way unless you have other pressing plans. I will be meeting you back at the hospital if you want to go there; I just need to get out of these.” The way she urgently said ‘need’ gave way to the power struggle going on inside of her. Gritting her teeth she clenched her jaw, determined to win in a fight for her sanity, “And I will bring you that expert too.” Her eyes flashed softly as she thought of Isabelle with the bomb around her, “We’re getting that off of you.”

Without another word she flipped open her cell phone and dialed Riggs’ number, she heard the line pick up, but wasn’t entirely sure if she was talking to an answering machine or directly to her partner. Honestly, she didn’t really care. Shaking with too many emotions she pressed the phone to her ear, keeping her voice level and spewed everything out as quickly as she could, “First, I’ve got Night with me for the time being, so you might want to pass that along to the Director. Riggs, you might as well get him anyway. He’s going to be beyond pissed. Something’s happened, and it’s bad.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose, giving her time to take in a steadying breath before she continued. “Victor’s been shot at close range, he’s in really bad shape. Gil’s with him, they’re on the way to the hospital.” At those words she felt her throat close as a knot welled inside. Biting her lip, she pushed it away. “Just get the Director down there if he demands it, alright? And you know he will. I’ll – we’ll - be down there soon. I’ve just…” She hesitated and then recovered, knowing full well that if she wasn't careful, Riggs would pick up on the same tone in her voice Gil had. “I’ve got to get out of these clothes…grab some things...”

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X “I know what I’m capable of doing.” X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

“I'm not the type of person you want to piss off.”

“Something happened down there in that cellar, I don’t know what, but something took part of that little innocent girl inside me that entered it and twisted her into something much, much darker.”

“She lives in a castle made of stone, no one comes and no one goes, she lives in a castle made of stone, there she can’t be hurt, there she can’t hurt, tied down in her straight jacket, there she’s more than she’s worth. Inside her thoughts consume her, memories both faded and vibrant haunt her, driven to the brink...manic inside, angelic outside…she lives in a castle made of stone.”

"...I can't escape myself
So many times I've lied
But there's still rage inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself..."

"She breathes in
She breathes out
She wakes up
and lays down
She can hardly speak
and so she screams...You're manic, manic"

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

{{ eek I had a horrible case of insomnia...and Gil and Eva wouldn't get out of my head either! So, finally, I decided to do what I never, ever got around to....doing their posts. biggrin

Oh...insomnia...I guess you aren't so bad after all. rolleyes }}

[SparklingBloodRedRoses]

"Whoa, hey, kid. Okay, hold up. No one's going to come near you, okay? We just want you to come out here and talk with us - tell us what you want so that no one gets hurt. There's only one question I want you to think of while you hold that gun to her head; it's the only important one. Can you forgive yourself? Can you live with yourself if you pull that trigger on her?

________________________________L.i.a.m // J.o.s.e.p.h. [[S.i.n.c.l.a.i.r.]]

{{Lee}}___________________________________________

"These agents, they're my best friends, my family, if you're going to blow them up; you damn well better be prepared to do the same to me."

"Federal Bureau of Investigation// Hostage Rescue (HRT)// Behavioral Assessment (BAU)// Downa 15//
Special Agent # 3"

"In my field, you've got to play into the guy's fantasy, believe it yourself, even if you don't, even if you know it isn't possible. He needs to believe you believe it; it's the only way to get into his mind."

“Eva!” Liam yelled after her, again, in one last attempt to call her back, but it was no use, she was long gone. Rolling his eyes to the heavens he sighed; leave it to Eva to put him in this predicament. He rolled Gil’s keys around in his palm, trying to remember the last time he had driven a stick shift. It hadn’t been since he had moved to the city to become a cop…and that had been years. “s**t, Eva.” Liam hissed, angered by her distracted waves and her equally distracted advice ‘give it a moment, it’ll come to you’. He closed his eyes and shook his head. No, it wouldn’t. He’d probably wreck Gil’s car and have to pay for a new one; he’d like it partially come out of Eva’s pay check, just for leaving him high and dry without any explanation. She’d kill him for that, though, and he knew that.

Where the hell was she going, anyhow? And why was she in such a hurry?

“Well then,” He said to Mathua, letting out a withheld breath, “looks like we’re back at square one.” Buying time he rearranged his clothing so that his Kevlar vest was resting ontop of his t-shirt, tucked safely under his jacket. He wished that he could use one of those miracle vests to save Isabelle from the bomb she had wrapped around her. More than that, he wished she was there. Thoughtfully he rubbed his forehead, reflecting back on when Evangeline left; it had been awhile since he had seen her so worked up. What on earth was going on with the rest of the team that she hadn’t told him? Why had she so desperately needed his car to get somewhere? He knew that Evangeline had a thing for fast cars, mainly because of her street racing days, but he doubted that would cause her to switch cars or have such urgency in her tone. An icy cold washed through Liam, chilling him to the bone, making him have to clench his teeth so that they didn’t chatter. His stomach knotted and for a moment he felt sick. If whatever was wrong had anything to do with Isabelle, she would have told him, wouldn’t she?

All of this waiting and questioning was killing him.

“I’m tired of standing around,” Liam decided calmly, closing his fingers around the keys. He rounded towards the man, replacing his gun in its holder. “We’re getting out of here, and I’m finding Isabelle. You can come with me for all I care, pretend you’re playing Rhys’ game if it suits you, but my partner is out there with a bomb strapped to her. I’ve spent all morning and afternoon looking for her; if I have to wait another moment I might burst.” Meeting Mathua’s eyes, he added, “If you want my help, you have to help me take care of Isabelle.” His jaw flexed and he narrowed his eyes at the large doors ahead of him, remembering a look that had come across Mathua’s face several times while they had talked. He was familiar with that look; he had seen it on Evangeline’s face several of times, it was like they were seeing ghosts. “If you want to help Isabelle…it you want to help get the voices from your head you’re going to have to help me.”

While he walked over to the large warehouse doors, he continued with his thoughts, “Evangeline’s hotheaded, but relatively harmless,” Pausing he decided to rework the words he had just spoken, knowing full well that he wasn’t even sure he believed them himself. He had seen the frightened that had flickered across Mathua’s eyes when Eva had entered, and he didn’t blame the man for having it, “relatively being the main focus that is. I wouldn’t go around pissing her off if I were you. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill you – or even Damen for that matter – if she was given the chance. So long as you’re with me, you’ll be alright. I cannot promise what my other friends will do, though. So, again, I’d stick close to me.” He hadn’t the heart to remind the man before him that he was one of the calmer agents in the group, next to Isabelle.

Liam’s face scrunched in concentration and he huffed as he pushed against the large sliding doors. He had underestimated the weight of them at first, causing him to slip a bit on the wet concrete. Putting his own weight into the act this time, he managed to push them open. Dusting his hands off onto his jeans he took his cell phone from its holder on his belt and called over his shoulder to the other man, “Are you coming or not?” Liam still wasn’t entirely sure whether or not he could completely trust Mathua, but at this moment he had no other choice, the man hadn’t moved to kill him or Evangeline and was trying to help him find Isabelle. And he had to find Isabelle; he needed to find her. Once more he tried to shove aside all thoughts of what could be happening to Isabelle as he stepped out onto the ware house parking lot. He could clearly see Gil’s car parked next to where his once was. Defeated he sighed. He was not looking forward to driving that car.

Liam opened his cell phone and leaned against the hood of the car, his mind racing despite the meditative breathing exercises he was making use of. He first dialed Riggs’ number, pressing his speed dial number and holding it down. Much to his surprise the line didn’t pick up. Leave it to him, Liam thought with a sigh, leave it to Riggs not to pick up his phone. Hanging up he dialed the next number without much thought; the Director’s.

“LIAM!” He didn’t even have time to say a word before the Director jumped to greet him, showering him with questions, “Where on earth have you been? Are you alright? Have you seen Isabelle?”

“It’s a very long story,” Liam admitted, rubbing his neck, “I’ll have to tell you it all later, when we’re all back together. I’m alright, no need to worry. I didn’t think I would be for a few minutes there, I was sure Evangeline was going to wring my neck.”

“I’m shocked she didn’t.”

“If Mathua wasn’t there, she might have.” There was silence on the other end of the phone, one that made Liam shift his weight anxiously, “Director?”

Calmly, though obviously through a tightened jaw the Director spoke, “Mathua?”

“Why, yes sir.” The agent shifted uncomfortably again.

“What are you doing with him he – you said that Eva knew you were with him?” Liam could imagine the Director of the FBI raising his eyebrows, “And she left you with him? Alone? I don’t believe it.”

“She was a bit preoccupied, sir. To be honest, she left in quite a rush. Is everything alright there?” Fighting back a swelling lump in his throat, he added “Is everyone okay?”

“Honestly, Sinclair? No. Nothing is alright. I still haven’t heard any word about Isabelle, I am being babysat with Director Bolton because someone wants to kill us, you’re mingling with a man who wants you dead and Victor has gone rouge.” The Director sighed, “You haven’t heard any word, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.” Painfully his heart ached, “No word on Isabelle?”

“Not a one, Liam,” The elder man told him softly, his voice gentle, “if I had, I would have called you immediately and left a message.”

Liam took in a deep breath and dragged his foot along the wet concrete, scuffing up the bottom of his dress shoes. Even though his logic had told him that the Director would have called him, there had been a part of him – a rather large, illogical and irrational part – that had been hoping otherwise. “I’m worried about her, sir.”

“You’re not alone, Liam, believe me.”

“I’m going to go find her.”

“No, I don’t want any more of my agents going rouge on me, not right now. Why don’t you gather yourself and come back to Victor’s? If you want to go after her, come pick up the bomb expert we have here. Alright? He’ll help you.”

“Bomb expert?”

“It’s a friend of Eva’s, an agent of Bolton’s.”

There was nothing more that Liam’s irrational side wanted than to jump in his car and go after Isabelle, but he knew that his odds of disarming the bomb alone were slim. It had been years since he had, had anything to do with bombs. If he were to touch it, a million things could go wrong, and the last thing he wanted to do was to jeopardize her health. And if he screwed up trying to disarm the bomb himself, he could blow them both up along with whoever else was in the vicinity. There was no other option; the Director was right, as usual. “Alright, Director, I’ll be on my way.”

“Are you bringing Mathua with you?”

“Well sir, I-”

“Just don’t let me near him if you do,” the Director warned, “I’ll wring his neck if I’m in arm’s length.”

The agent chuckled, “Yes sir.” Pausing, he took in a breath, “You said that Victor had gone rouge…”

“What do I mean by that?” The Director’s voice turned to steel as he turned the question around on the young man, “I mean, he’s left everything behind, he’s practically said goodbye. He’s up to something, and not something that’s going to end well.”

“Director, Evangeline left here in quite a fury…she took my car and everything.”

“Your car?”

“Among some not-so-choice-words she told me that she needed one that was faster than Gil’s.” Pushing himself off from the car, Liam rounded to the driver’s side and put the keys into the ignition. “Do you think that she went after Victor?”

“After today, Liam, nothing would surprise me.” The older man sighed, and Liam could hear exhaustion in his voice. “Get here as soon as you can, Liam. I will let you know if I get any word on Isabelle.”

The Director didn’t have to ask him that twice, if going to Victor’s meant getting a bomb expert to Isabelle, he would do it in a heartbeat. Hanging up and dropping the mobile phone in a cup holder, he started the car and spent some adequate time getting used to the feel of a stick again while he wanted for Mathua. He lifted his foot between the gas, clutch and break, just playing to get the feel again. If he crashed Gil’s car, he was going to blame Eva – there was no second thought about that either. And if she chose to kill him? Well, he’d buy new locks to put on his apartment door.

"You know I'd give my life for you, Isabelle. No questions asked, no regrets."

"I'm just a normal guy, who grew up a normal kid in a normal neighborhood, raised by a normal mom and his two normal siblings. An accident put my life in perspective, showed me what I wanted to do. Now I have a gun in my hand, a kevlar vest on my chest and a badge in my pocket saying that I have sworn to protect you; even if it takes my life."