Activity

@sam-m @emberynus-the-dragonslayer @melodyjoy @claire-h@ anne_the_noob14 @joshuapior

Finally…! Part 4 (end of Part 3 included for a little refresher 😉) Hoping to wrap this one up soonish. We’ll see. There’s potential for a longer version someday, but probably not what I’ll be focusing on. I just want to give this a satisfying finish. The next part will probably be a flashback to let you know kind of what happened between part 3 and part 4.

***

“Look, Dirk. I signed up for this. We make the world a safer place, remember?”

Dirk raised his eyebrows. “Quoting the book back to me, huh? Maybe I should make you an instructor.”

“No thanks.” Liz grinned. “I’m not that good.”

“Hey, you didn’t do so bad,” Dirk moved around the punching bag, sizing it up. “You’re just, you know, a girl.”

He threw a punch and a satisfying snap echoed through the empty gym. “Your hand-to-hand might not be the best, but your shooting sure is. You’ve got a clear eye and a steady hand, Liz. And a calm mind, when it comes down to you against the problem. That’s the most important.”

Liz smirked. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Boss. I’ll take a rain check on the sparring. Maybe next week.”

Dirk’s fist drove into the bag. “Yep. I’ll be here.”

***

She remembered his words later, when he was there and she wasn’t, as she ducked under a flying fist and swung her high heel at the face of a black-clad assailant. She heard a curse and kicked him before he had a chance to recover. Thanks, Dirk. He always said that in order to even the odds, she had to fight dirty. There’s no time to be fair when you’re fighting for your life, especially against a fully armed tac team.

She saw her clutch underneath the table. She rammed her elbow into another man’s throat and dove for it. Pain seared through her chest as she hit the concrete floor, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe. Then she had her gun out, and twisted onto her back.

She made three straight shots, instinctive and desperate, and froze, panting, her gun trained on the last man standing.

Target acquired. 

He stared at her, and she stared back. Blood trickled over the traces of a beard, and he looked dazed. He swayed slightly, blinking slowly and shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

I probably don’t look much better. 

“Thank you.” His voice was soft, with a twinge of an accent of some kind.

“Thank you?” She softened her grip on her gun, starting to point the barrel up towards the ceiling.

He moved closer, and she stiffened, fixing her gunsights on his head. His brow furrowed and he stopped, raising his hands slightly.

“You’re hurt.”

She could hear the concern in his voice.

“So are you.”

“I can help.”

Pull the trigger, Liz! 

“Please. You have helped me. Let me help you.”

His eyes are bluer than the picture in his dossier. Like… 

“Vince…” her whisper reverberated against the concrete walls of the warehouse.

He tilted his head. “My name is Vytas, remember?”

“Vytas, right.” She started to shiver, and he came closer. Her finger tightened on the trigger. “Stop… moving!”

Vytas froze, his eyes haunted. “Liz, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should never have gotten you involved.”