Bella, Will, and Gavin arrived one street over from Garrett's house. It was strange, realizing that the long, bloody path that had led them here would conclude in a near-perfect suburban setting. They approached between two houses across the street, looking at the normal looking house that would soon have its carpets and floors stained with blood. Whose blood and how much, however, was still to be determined. 

The three hunters watched as Garrett's family vehicle backed out and drove away. Isabella nearly sprinted for the car, thinking he was getting away, before Will grabbed her shoulder and pointed. It was Garrett's wife and children driving away. They even saw a dog in the rear window. 

The three black sedans on the curb, however, suggested that Garrett was most certainly not alone. Had he been unable to reach his associates and panicked? Did he have a source? Was his house always like this? They couldn't know- but there was no stopping now.

The yard was immaculately trimmed, just like most of the houses in the neighborhood. The house shone with a glistening whiteness that belied the corruption within, and the red shutters seemed to hint at the violence to come. The house was two stories; power and phone lines drifted lazily in the gentle breeze, and the windows on the second floor suggested several rooms upstairs. 

The front door was wooden ; they knew from their planning that there was a back door as well that opened into the kitchen.

Gavin and Will each stood over one of Bella's shoulders.

Gavin spoke first.

"Well, let's do this shit."

Will nodded before he spoke as well.

"This is your show, Angel. We're both here to support you, but you've earned the right to determine what happens today. Just tell us what you want us to do."

Gavin coughed.

"Like, for, example, should we try to knock down the front door? Or sneak in the back?"

Will grimaced.

"And should we split up? Send one of us to cover the other entrance, in case Garrett tries to escape? Or keep the three of us together?"

After long, long deliberations, the sun was beginning to set- but a plan was decided. Bella ordered Gavin to sneak around back, while she and Will would cover the front door. After a quiet moment where Gavin encouraged Bella to take down Garrett no matter what, he ruefully left her side. Gavin ducked down, movingly quietly along the line of bushes in the neighbors yard. When he reached the corner of the house, invisible from any windows, he quickly leaped up to cut the power and phone lines in one swift motion. He had to kick off the house as he did so- and he froze as he landed in the cover of the buses- but nothing happened. His knife in one hand and his gun in the other, he started making his way toward the back yard. Bella had told him he'd have a few minutes on his own before they'd start. 

As Gavin entered the back yard, he froze. There was an agent right in front of him. However, the man was asleep in a hammock. With a grin, Gavin approached him and simultaneously covered his mouth and place the knife against his throat. 

Gavin half whispered- half growled.

"Yell and you're dead. Move- dead. Do anything other than what I tell you... and you're dead. Nod yes or shake no. Is Garrett inside?"

The agent nodded.

"How many other agents? Hold up your fingers- away from me."

The agent held up seven fingers, then eight, then seven. Gavin started to dig the knife into his throat, but the agent just closed his eyes in pain.

"Are you not sure?"

The agent nodded.

"Do you have a key?"

The agent nodded.

"Give it to me."

The agent reached into his pocket and gently removed the key.

"Toss it on the ground."

As soon as the key hit the ground, Gavin slit the man's throat- still holding his mouth shut to prevent any noise. The blood stained the arm of his suit as he leaned forward to stifle the man's last sounds. 

When he was dead, Gavin picked up the key and moved silently toward the door. Will and Bella would have been surprised to see him without a trace of his grin or good humor; the hunter was fully present as he silently slipped the key into the door. Might as well see what's going on in there. 

As he stalked into the kitchen, knife in his left hand and gun in his right, Gavin immediately threw himself to the side of the doorway. As an agent strolled in, Gavin tried to put the knife into his back and snake his arm around the man's neck, but he turned at the last moment- and the target, although down, let out a loud grunt before thumping against the floor. Cursing, Gavin moved to try to get better cover- as he could hear conversation in the next room stop.

As Gavin departed for the back of the house, Will and Isabella had a quick exchange before they decided to make their move. They gave a couple minutes to ensure that Gavin had the time to make his move before they proceeded.

Following the front picket fence, they turned and made for the front door, each with their weapon in their hands and ready to fire. On getting to the door, Will lowered his shoulder and spoke, "On the count of three. One...two...THREE!" He launched himself with all his might. Apparently the door wasn't built as solid as it looked because the moment he impacted it the entire thing folded off its hinges as if it was paper and his momentum carried him through into the back of an unsuspecting agent who seemed to be looking towards the back of the house. The impact of Will and half a front door drove the man into a wall and dropped him to a heap on the floor.

Still shaking off the double impacts of the door and the man, William raises his shotgun to look for further enemies. It seemed there were two more men facing the kitchen but they were already in the process of turning back.

Isabella's stomach was in knots as she and Will strode towards the door, their footfalls locked in sync, her hair blowing in the wind.  Past the toys on the lawn, the little sign that read 'The Garrett's' in the flower bed.  The neighborhood was as silent as a tomb.  Isabella shelved her worries, now was not the time to question her plan, now was time for focus and commitment.

She could NOT fail.

Will counted off and then went through the door like it wasn't there.  Her gun at the ready she could see two men facing the kitchen, preparing to turn - likely with guns at the ready - all the overthinking stopped.  Her instincts took over.  Bella Luciano was gone.  All that remained was The Dragon which Gavin referenced more times than she could count now. 

Her finger twitched and a hailstorm of death ripped past photos of children on the walls, tore through floral wallpaper and cast showers of blood all around as the men fell dead, never knowing who shot them.

Gavin made his way out front, glancing at the open basement door. Someone had definitely been down there recently. He could also hear men shouting upstairs as they seemed to be moving furniture.

He stuck his head around the corner and, seeing no enemies, quickly spoke to Bella and Will. His front was covered in the blood of the man he'd killed in the hammock.

"Bella. Should we check out the basement? Will can keep an eye on things up here... they're already barricading, but they can't call for more help. Could be someone down there. Or do we just rush the stairs now?"

He listened to the sound of moving furniture on the second floor.

Isabella snapped back into her own senses as she saw a blood-soaked Gavin appear.  For an instant her breath caught but the tone of his voice, combined with a lack of physical appearance of pain, gave her to know she had nothing to dread.  Gavin could, unsurprisingly, handle himself in the worst of situation.  In truth, seeing him now, she almost wondered why she'd been worried at all.

As he explained the basement door situation she nodded, "We don't want any surprises coming up behind us.  Let's sweep the basement.  Will, we'll be back dear.  Scream if you need back up."

Not hesitating, she made for the basement with Gavin.

The confrontation on the main floor had made the group cautious. The decision was made to clear the basement and they proceeded through the door and down the stairs, weapons drawn and at the ready. The narrow staircase was discomforting knowing that a gun at the bottom would put them all at risk. Still, if there had been a gunman waiting surely they would have shown themselves by now?

Fortunately, they arrived at the landing unmolested by any threats and were greeted by a terrible sight. The one room space seemed to have been converted to an interrogation space with single chair and a bright light hanging from the ceiling, doubtless for use in Garrett's under the table work propelling himself higher on the blood and bodies of his victims. One such man was tied to the chair with his head hung down on his chest. Bloody wounds and bruises covered his body showing the evidence of sustained beatings and torture at the hands of his tormentors and for a moment it was difficult to tell if the man yet lived. A cough and a muffled voice put to rest any confusion as the group's footfalls sounded on the concrete floor.

"I'm not helping you monsters. I'll never regret what I did for him." The figure in the chair raised his head and for a moment the swollen face looked at the mafioso in front of him in confusion. His eyes seemed to fixate on Bella for some reason and after the span of a few heartbeats he began to struggle against his ropes. "You're...you're his fiancee. You're Bella! What...what are you doing here?" It took only a moment to realize that the man in the chair was Oliver Billings, the man responsible for Elias Luciano's survival.​​​​​​

Was the boy given enough scratch to flee the country?  Elias insisted he had been. What was he doing here still?  How had Garrett gotten to him?  Or ... was this a trap? Isabella narrowed her eyes as he said her name.

Garrett had all these men here, had his family here only a few minutes ago... what were the odds that he'd been torturing a man one floor down from where his kids played?  But if it was a trap, what the fuck was the point?  Even if he knew she was coming and considering how easily they walked in, maybe he didn't know to expect her after all?

Bella ignored the boy and put her focus on making sure no one was in the room with them except for the unfortunate bastard tied to a chair.  Once that was done, she'd make sure he was well and truly tied up.  She wasn't ready to commit to killing someone who had freed Elias, but she couldn't risk trusting him at this moment.  Not yet.

Gavin kept his hand tightly on his gun; he wasn't pointing at the man in the chair- yet. But he wasn't far off from doing so either. He looked at the tied up man with suspicion.

"What...what are you doing? How did you get past them?"

When Bella checks the knots and makes to pull them tighter the young man struggles against his bindings and a look of utter terror passes across his face realizing that she hadn't moved to help him.

"Please...please let me go. I don't want to die. I just want to go home and get away from these monsters."

He sounded as if he were near to tears and his worn and beaten frame trembled, unsure if this would be a moment of hope or of finality.

Isabella came down to Oliver's level, "I need you silent."  She commanded.

"Right now I owe you so deeply you can't even comprehend... but, I'm perfectly okay with remembering it took you six months to find your fucking conscience if you cross me.  You got me?  Silence."

Oliver looked like he was going to say something, but Gavin cut him off.

"I'd just shut up, if I were you. I've heard that tone before..."

Oliver remained silent.

She nodded at the young Agent's silence.  "You might have a future yet.  We'll be back."  She said and turned on her heels, heading back towards the stairs, not wanting to leave William alone for longer than was needed.

The trembling in the man's shoulders grew and tears streaked down Oliver's face. His face was a mask of despair and hopelessness and when his voice cracked out it was laced with a bitterness only borne on the voice of someone with nothing left to lose.

"You're nothing like Elias said. He said you were a kind hearted person. That you wanted better than the scum out on the streets. I'm sorry I took so long to turn away from everything in my life that mattered to help him, but if this is what I did that for then I made a mistake and so did he."

The moment he began to speak, she was somewhere else.  With someone else.

Bella walked over to the young Agent and put down her gun. Then she put her hands around the young Agent's throat and began squeezing.  She stared into his eyes, making sure not to let him look away as she spoke in a low growl, "You're right." She said.  "You made a terrible mistake loving me... I'm not the princess you thought ... I'm a dirty fucking whore, and a heartbreaker, I'm a thief and fucking murderer... I'm a horrible person, and you were too fucking stupid to see it!."

The young agent began to turn a violet shade as she squeezed his windpipe mercilessly, just as she'd seen her father do to a man less than a year ago.  She watched as his gaze became more empty.

"But I never lied about who I am."  The Agent passed out.  Then incredibly, with every last bit of self-control, she had remaining, Isabella let go of his throat and backed away from him.  Her whole body trembling so hard that it could be seen across the room.  She watched the Agent take a breath reflexively.  His unconscious form resting peacefully, red marks around his throat where her hands had been. Elias' words still echoing in her ears.

Gavin quietly moved to Bella and rested a hand on her shoulder. After a moment, they went upstairs, where Gavin spoke furtively to Will and Bella.

"Oh. Right. There was another guy outside. The blood guy. He confirmed Garrett was upstairs."

His gaze flicked to Bella for a moment.

"He also gave me a key and told me there were seven or eight more of them... well the four down here means there's three or four upstairs, plus Garrett. Let me..."

The stairs leading up to the second floor were silent as a grave now. Three or four men had had time to fortify their position- thankfully, Bella's decision to cut the phone wires prevented them from calling for reinforcements. Otherwise, things could have gotten ugly. Gavin snuck a quick peek upstairs before returning to the other two.

"They've got some sort of barricade set up on the stairs. Bookshelf, maybe."

He paused.

"If we try to stay down here and snipe them, they can wait us out. Maybe they can't personally call for reinforcements, but someone in the neighborhood definitely called the cops and our clock is ticking. I think we've got to charge them. I say two of us provide cover fire for one person who tries to take them out."

Gavin paused again, thinking.

"I could do it. Run up, jump the barricade, and then take them down. Or Will... well, maybe not so much jumping, but you could try to smash through it."

He glanced at Bella.

"Whoever doesn't charge up will help you provide covering fire. What do you think we should do?"

Isabella's head wasn't in the game like it had been.  Everything was still red, she was having a hard time focusing.  Gavin detailed out the situation and she nodded, understanding his words, but not sure of the best course.  She just kept thinking of that shade of violet, the feel of his breath stopping under her thumbs, and Elias... they were here, risking their lives for him and at this moment she couldn't decide why.

She couldn't think why she'd spent so many sleepless nights, cried so many tears, and even thought of dying.  She'd been blaming Garrett for all of this, the head of the snake, but there were so many moving parts here.  So many people who were at the heart of her anger and suffering and now she'd brought the two most precious people in the whole damn world, into the bowels of hell with her, risking their lives & for what exactly?

She looked at Will's face covered in sweat & Gavin's covered in blood.  Isabella raised her voice loud enough to be heard upstairs.   "I GOT NO BEEF WITH NOBODY AGENTS WHO JUST FOLLOWED ORDERS... BUT..."

"YOU'VE SEEN HIS OPERATION.  YOU KNOW THE CRIMINAL SHIT HE'S DOING... HE HAS SOMETHING ON YOU & HE WILL EVENTUALLY USE IT!"

"THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO BE SMART.  STAND WITH GARRETT, AND DIE FOR KNOWING TOO MUCH!  BUT THE MAN WHO PUTS A BULLET IN GARRETT'S HEAD GETS $1,000,000 BOUNTY FROM ME AND A PLANE TICKET TO THE COUNTRY OF YOUR CHOICE, JUST FOR SAVING ME THE TROUBLE OF COMING UP THOSE STAIRS!"

There were three men guarding the stairs. They seemed older than the agents on the first floor, but still at the peak of their physical prowess. These were veteran, experienced agents- and they'd responded accordingly. The bookshelf was immediately tipped over and pushed to the top of the stairs, and it was soon joined by a dressed. They had the high ground, they had cover in a defensible position, and they had time. If they could stall 'til the cops got there, they'd need to answer some difficult questions... but that'd be easier than dealing with some sort of elite criminal hitsquad that had torn through the men on the first floor.

They were tense, waiting with guns drawn, as their boss frantically tried calling for backup- only to find that the phone lines had been cut. Instead, they waited for the inevitable attack. Then they heard the offer.

One million dollars and a plane ticket to anywhere?

The house was a quiet as a grave. Upstairs, she heard one man's quiet voice say "Guys, maybe we should think about-"

It was follow by two quick gunshots.

"Gentlemen," Isabella whispered. "You're both better than I deserve by half." she held up a hand to forestall disagreements.

"We're going up these stairs and just in case we don't all come down... despite everything, this has been the best month of my entire life." She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "For that, I thank you sincerely."

She drew a breath and nodded to herself. It felt like she was deciding their fate, deciding which one she wanted more than the other by who she threw into harm's way. She wanted to be ill, tears pooled in her eyes as she turned and looked at Gavin and forced a smile and grimly ordered, "Get me up those stairs. I'll cover you."

Gavin took a deep breath and peeked up the stairs- a little bolder this time- and jerked his head back as he was greeted by a hail of gunfire. Nodding to himself, he smirked.

"I can do this..."

There was shouting upstairs- and the sound of footsteps. Gavin took another deep breath. He looked Bella for a while, like there was something he wanted to say, and he even glanced at Will before looking up the stairs again.

"... just watch where you're aiming, huh Moose?"

With a final wink at Bella, he grinned- then nodded.

As Will and Bella raised their guns, he moved. 

He stayed low as he turned the corner; the roar of gunfire on both sides was almost an audible wall for him to fight through. His entire focus was taking each step as quickly as possible- and staying low. If he stood up, it was a suicide mission. By getting underneath the angle of the barricade, he forced the agents to stretch their arms out and down if they wanted to hit him- and expose themselves to Will and Bella. 

Gavin built up speed as he ran, hearing the covering fire cease behind him as he reached the top of the stairs. He saw one man stick his head over the edge of the bookshelf and Gavin, still running at full speed, shot him in the forehead. Still accelerating, Gavin leaped and planted a foot on the edge of the bookshelf, launching himself into the air toward the second agent. The two men fired at the same time as Gavin crash landed into him- and then there was only silence from the second floor.