Raven

Chapter 3 - Confrontation

Counting down the seconds until the hallway we're in was swarmed by guards, I quickly formulated a plan and grabbed Harley's hand. Ignoring his start of surprise, I pulled him down the hall without a word, dropped the quills back in the pouch, and gestured for him to be quiet as I opened a door. I'd trusted him with my life a long time ago, and was hoping he was going to repay that right now.

"Trust me," I advised as we stepped into the storeroom, "it'll be easier to fight them in a close space." I was banking on the fact that there was going to be less than fifteen guards, and no Specialists among them. Papà's Specialists were his five elite, good at everything but excelling at one specific combat skill. Storm, years ago, had been his Blades Specialist. Long story short, they were very dangerous, and I was just a little worried for our current situation. I figured they would hesitate, even if only for a second, if I was the one found in the lab to have triggered the alarms.

Which reminded me ... I took my mask off, stowing it in the pouch with the quills, and lowered my hood. Harley looked surprised again, staring almost, and I let a mirthless laugh slip.

"They won't kill me if they know that it's me. Probably." With that, I turned to the door.

Almost on cue it was thrown open, and three people barged in, two holding weapons. My heart sank as I recognised two of them: Bruce, the Firearms Specialist, who had been Rhea's mentor ever since Storm was assigned to me; and Lindsey, master of hand-to-hand combat. The third I didn't recognise under the hood she wore, probably a  trainee, but she was holding a gun and was fairly small in stature. I could probably take one of them before the others took me down, and- oh shit, is that papà? I frowned at the fourth figure, standing in the doorway, and groaned as I realised that yes indeed, that was my father.

"Estella? What is the meaning of this?" And he was very angry. Great.

"Sorellona? What?" The trainee sounded panicked, and as I exhaled a slow breath of defeat I noticed that she was Rhea. Of all people, what on Earth was she doing out here? I was about to answer, when a faint groan came from behind me.

"Shit, this is some kind of family reunion." I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't burst out laughing at Harley's comment, hushed him again so he wouldn't get killed for being snarky, and turned to my father.

"Ignore him. My apologies for tripping the alarm, Papà, we were trying to stay out of the way and let the cameras catch the criminals in the act." Harley shot me a panicked look, and I was going to continue, when the lights cut out. I shut my eyes to adjust quicker, moved to the side of the store and picked up a taser that lay on the bench. I noted a gunshot nearby, soon followed by a heavy thud and I flinched back as if I'd been struck, hitting the shelf in the process. Next came an odd sliding noise and an awful crack, before another second of silence. Then the sound of someone touching down on the floor lightly, the impact of someone's leg hitting someone else hard in the chest, and a third person crumpling to the floor. I silently prayed that neither Harley or Rhea had been killed in that scuffle.

There was a moment of quiet before the dim lights switched back on, the three guards on the floor. Lindsey was bleeding, so I assumed she was the one who'd been shot. Bruce's head was turned at an odd angle but he was still breathing, from what I could see. Rhea looked the most unharmed, but she was certainly going to feel that kick to what I had assumed to be the ribs in the morning. I'm sorry bella, I lamented. Acrobolt stood by the lights, his expression dark. There was a gun in his right hand, and a bruise already blooming on his shoulder as he glanced at me, glared at where my father was near the door, and shut the light off again.

This time, I moved first. As I did I heard both of the other conscious people in the room move as well, and kept an ear out for Papà's footsteps. At one point I backed into Harley and I swore he nearly shot me out of surprise (scared me too, I nearly tasered him), but took the cap off of my weapon and listened harder. Instinct told me to move, and then to shoot before the sound even registered that Papà had jumped, and I launched the wires with very little effort on my behalf. I felt resistance on the other end and stared, shocked, as gravity brought them and the person attacked to the ground in a stunned heap.

"Acrobolt?" I asked aloud, fear welling within me. What if I'd just shot the wrong person and was now left to deal with Papà on my own? My mind spiralled into multiple scenarios, most of them far fetched and all of them bad, as the reasonable part of my mind was drowned out. The lights flickered back on and I tensed, shutting my eyes against the light and slowly opening them again. It took a moment, and I nearly dropped to my knees in relief that it was, in fact, my father that had been on the tail end of the shock (the taser having delivered it now sitting safely in the pouch with my quills). Harley stood by the door with one hand on the light switch, looking a little zoned out. "Earth to Bolts, come in Bolts." He jumped and turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow at Papà being in a heap between us.

"Sorry bout that, I was thinking. Nice job on the tasering. Takes a lot of guts to do that in general, let alone to someone you're related to." I almost asked if he was speaking from experience, then thought better of the idea and shrugged.

"Just glad you didn't kill Rhea, to be honest."

"I know you wouldn't have forgiven me nor yourself, and even though we haven't spoken in like five years I'd be at least a little upset if you hated me. And they'll be fine; your sister will, anyway. So, Raven ..." That grin was back, the one that said I know what you're thinking; and you're simultaneously very right and very far from what is. This time I returned it, and put my mask back on. I drew my hood back up, and shrugged with both of my hands before drawing a quill in each.

"How'd you like to be a Crime Lord?" The question caught me off guard, and I had to think for a moment; I was definitely prepared, and this gave me a solution to the running away issue.

"Would I be allowed?"

"Duh, yes. You were our next objective, actually, to see if you'd join us. I'll explain more if you end up coming with us," Acrobolt continued thoughtfully, scratching at his chin, "but it's really your choice." Well, there was only one thing to say to that. I weighed up the options nonetheless, but eventually turned a smile towards my old friend.

"I'm in."