by Captain Sammitch
The courtyard of MBL Consulting Complex, La Perdita:
Gabriela Riviera wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into. Running interference for Phil, she had been leading the MAW agents on a wild goose chase all over the building, but quickly got lost inside the maze of maintenance corridors, elevator shafts, and blocked-off stairways. Taking a blind left down a darkened tunnel, she found herself outside in a maze of bulldozers, cranes, and piles of concrete blocks and steel I-beams.
Gabi meandered through the maze slowly and with as little noise as she could. She had no idea how to do this cloak-and-dagger stuff, and Phil wasn't around to help her.
A sharp pain lanced through her leg. Gabi gasped and fell to the ground as blood started running from the bullet wound in her right calf. She gritted her teeth and tried not to scream, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the MAW agent headed toward her, lining up his next shot.
Gabi had spent the past month and a half of her life trying to find Phil. And the irony of the moment was that she was about to die because Phil couldn't find her.
BLAM!
Gabi flinched, waiting for the inevitable, but it never came. The MAW agent gasped and dropped his gun as his hands clutched at the red stain spreading across his chest. He toppled to his knees and gasped for breath.
Phil Smith strode up and kicked the dying man over. "Die slow, you piece of trash." He turned to Gabi. "How bad is it, sweetheart?"
"I... I don't think I can walk," Gabi said as she fought off the throbbing pain in her leg.
Phil snapped his fingers several times, and Charley Montoya and Leslie Kline made their way into the little clearing where Gabi lay.
Charlene gasped. "Are you all right?" she asked Gabi.
Gabi nodded. "It hurts, but I'll be okay."
"I'll stay with her," Charlene told Phil.
Phil shook his head. "I'll stay with Gabi." He turned to the others. "You guys fan out. There's two of you and most likely just Fisher out there. If you run into a MAW agent, waste him. If you find Fisher, bring him to me alive."
"Gotcha." Leslie checked the safety on her gun and turned to head back into the maze.
"Fisher's one devious bastard," Phil warned. "Be careful out there."
The bounty hunter nodded. "We've got it handled." She turned and headed off into the maze, with Charley following close behind.
Gabi smiled at Phil. "When I came over here to spend some quality time with you, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
Phil patted her shoulder gently. "It's all right, Gabi. Those two are gonna find Fisher and any of his goons that are left out there, and when they do, we're gonna show them what happens when people push an issue too far. It'll be a wonderful educational experience, don't you think?"
The courtyard:
Pingggg!
A bullet ricocheted off a steel I-beam just a few feet from Leslie, making her jump back. She ducked behind a stack of similar I-beams and turned to Charley, who was sneaking up on the other side of the stack. Leslie held up one finger, pointed off to the right, and counted off twenty-two yards on her fingers. Charley nodded and slipped between two tall rolls of sheet steel.
A hand fell on Leslie's right shoulder, and she felt the cold circle of a gun muzzle pressed against her left temple. "I wouldn't move if I were you," a low voice growled behind her.
Leslie rolled her eyes. "A bit wooden. You read too many comics."
Her left arm snapped up and around in a flash, knocking the would-be assailant's gun straight up in the air. Just as swiftly, Leslie grabbed the assailant's other arm with both hands and threw him over her shoulder headfirst into the stack of I-beams. The MAW agent let out a muffled groan and went limp.
The loud clang! of the MAW agent colliding with the pile of steel got the other shooter's attention. He leapt to his feet and took a step toward where Leslie was hiding. Charley softly landed behind him and pistol-whipped him into unconsciousness. "Two!" she called.
Phil looked at Gabi. "They took out two." He stood up slowly. "Either of them Fisher?"
"Nope," Leslie said. "These guys weren't with the bunch in the building."
"So there could be more shooters we didn't know about," Phil concluded. "I wish there were an easier way out of here."
"I can arrange that."
Phil looked up to see Fisher coming toward him with his gun drawn. "I wasn't planning on any of this going down this way, but for some reason you had to go and piss me off. But I'm a generous guy. You can put your gun down now, and come with me, and everyone goes home without a scratch."
"And if I decide I've got better things to do?"
Fisher laughed. "You may have noticed that the two agents you managed to take down out there weren't among the crowd in the building, Phil, be honest. You really have no idea how many more men I have with me, do you?" Phil didn't answer. "Now, I would really hate to see anything bad happen to any of your friends, but you won't leave me with too much of a choice if you keep trying to stall for time until more of your buddies show up."
Phil looked down. "I really don't think we should have to negotiate like this. Someone with your experience on the HRT should know better."
"That's beside the point," Fisher insisted.
"Is it?" Phil asked.
"Don't push your luck!" Fisher snapped.
BLAM!
Gabi cried out in pain as another MAW agent emerged from his hiding place, lowering his gun and laughing.
"Gabi!" Phil dove over to where Gabriela was lying on the ground. She was bleeding from another gunshot wound, this one in her lower abdomen.
Fisher scowled. "I thought I said not to hurt any of them until Smith makes up his mind." He turned to the MAW agent who had shot Gabi and leveled his gun at the agent's head. And pulled the trigger.
Gabi screamed again as the MAW agent's head disappeared behind a cloud of red.
Fisher turned to Phil. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"You bastard," Phil growled. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right now."
"Because every second you worry about me," Fisher said, "is one less second you can spare her." He motioned to Gabi, who was clutching at her stomach in agony. "You can kill me or you can save her. You can take a life or maybe save one. But I'm pretty sure you can't do both."
Fisher turned and headed off through the maze.
"Let him go!" Phil shouted to Leslie and Charley. "We have to help Gabi!"
Leslie ran up and took a look at Gabi. "Let's see how bad the wound is."
Charley pulled out her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. As she was on the phone with the dispatcher, Leslie lifted Gabi's top gently and examined the wound. Her eyes widened, then she squeezed them shut tightly.
"What is it?" Phil asked.
Leslie turned slowly and looked at him. "Transverse exit wound. The bullet must have bounced off the pavement and back through her before it exited." She looked at Gabi, whose pretty olive complexion was growing pale at an alarming rate. "She's got serious liver damage, her spleen has been ruptured, and one of her lungs was punctured."
Charley repeated that into her cell phone. "What should we do?" she asked Leslie.
"You have some kind of wacky healing power?" Leslie asked the other metahumans. They didn't answer. Leslie looked down. "Then I'm not sure there's anything we can do."
After the longest six minutes of Phil's life, the hospital helicopter touched down next to the building. Phil guided the paramedics through the maze of construction equipment and helped them get Gabi onto a stretcher. He followed them back to the chopper, but the pilot shook his head when Phil tried to get on board.
"No room," the pilot insisted.
Phil looked at him blankly. "There's plenty of room in here!"
The pilot shook his head.
"But she could be dying!," Phil insisted.
"Do you plan on doing anything for her?"
Phil glared at him. "Look, I helped save half your patients when the hurricane hit, and we helped transport a lot of your equipment, so don't go shoving me around like I'm nobody of consequence. The woman I love is hurt very badly, and I'm going to the hospital with her." Phil realized he still had his MP5 on him. "I do know how to fly one of these," he said menacingly, gesturing toward his weapon.
The pilot threw up his hands. "Get in," he said begrudgingly.
Phil jumped in as the helicopter took off, leaving Leslie and Charley behind to deal with the incapacitated MAW agents.
As the helicopter cleared the tops of the skyscrapers and headed out over the water on its return track, Gabi mumbled something through her oxygen mask. Phil knelt down next to her and stroked her hair. "It's okay now, Gabi. Everything's gonna be okay."
Gabriela smiled at him. "You're a really bad liar, you know that?" She sighed. "I heard what Leslie said. I know what's going on." She looked at the paramedics. "Unless these guys are on par with the surgical staff at NYU or Johns Hopkins, I really don't think we have that much time left to talk."
"The OR is prepped," the copilot told the pilot after talking on the radio. He turned to Phil. "We've got our best surgical team standing by."
Phil smiled at Gabi. "See? They're waiting for us. Everything's gonna be fine."
"Liar," Gabi breathed. She kissed the hand Phil rested on her cheek. "You always had way too big of a heart to pull off the tough-guy act with me."
Phil didn't know what to say. He turned to the copilot. "How far out are we?" Phil asked.
"Three minutes," the copilot replied.
"Phil," Gabi said, "I'm dying. I think we both know that. But I want you to know that this isn't your fault." Phil started to look away, but Gabi put her hand under his chin and forced him to look at her. "You hear me? This isn't anyone's fault." Gabi smiled. "I don't care what happens now. I'm with you."
Phil tried to keep his voice steady but failed. "But... Gabi-"
"Listen to me," Gabi said. "I don't want you to spend the rest of your life moping about how you could have done something or some nonsense like that. This isn't the movies or the comics or anything like that. You're a real person, and you're an amazing person at that. So don't be afraid to cry for me -- but don't let that get in the way of life." Gabi coughed as her one working lung struggled to provide her with oxygen. "I want you to go and see Leslie, and I want you to be with her. She's the one for you, Phil."
Phil couldn't keep his voice from breaking. "Gabi, no..."
Gabi nodded. "Yeah." She looked out the window as the helicopter started to descend toward the hospital rooftop. Gabi turned to Phil and smiled. "I love you, Phil. I thought I'd lost you. But then, out of nowhere, there you were. Remember?"
Phil nodded as a tear made its way down his cheek. "I thought I'd lost you too."
"Taking her in to land," the pilot announced.
Gabi touched Phil's face. "You never lost me, Phil. I was always right there with you -- just like you were always right there with me." The helicopter bucked a little as its rotor wash bounced off the hospital roof. "And," Gabi breathed, "I'll always be right there with you."
"I love you, Gabi," Phil managed to sob.
"I love you too," Gabi said softly as she caressed Phil's face.
The chopper's landing gear settled onto the rooftop.
Gabi shivered. "It's... it's really cold--"
The hand touching Phil's face fell onto Gabi's lap as she exhaled deeply and was still.