Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 23:46:42 -0500 Reply-To: Mike Breen Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Mike Breen Subject: REVENGE AND REBIRTH I - The Dragon's Sword, Part 7 BOSTON, MASS, UNITED STATES - OCTOBER, 1995 Patrick's phone rang. Rebecca picked it up. "Hello," she said. "Rebecca, Bernard. Has Elaine been there?" "Not since last night, why?" "I just called her house... she's my student, she's a Watcher, now. I tried to call her and there's no answer." "She and Rick are probably out," Rebecca said. "Probably... except that she said because of her training she quit her job, and she and Rick would be spending most of their nights home." "They're probably fine," Rebecca said. "Probably." "Where are you now?" "At my office. If you hear anything could you call?" "Absolutely." Rebecca hung up and Patrick said, "What was that all about?" "Bernard. Elaine's become a Watcher, and Bernard's feeling over protective of her." Patrick laughed and said, "That's our Bernard." An hour later, the phone rang again, this time Patrick picked it up, saying, "Hello?" "O'Brien, I am Ramus of Rome. If you would like to see your friends alive, meet me at the old Boston Garden as soon as you can. The loading entrance will be open." The line went dead. "What is it?" Rebecca said. "Same old story. VonHoffer's minion kidnapped Elaine and Rick. Call Bernard and tell him what happened. I'll be back in a bit." He kissed Rebecca, grabbed his coat, placed his sword beneath it, and left the townhouse. Patrick parked his car beneath the Expressway and walked around towards the rear of the old Garden, near North Station. In the narrow alleyway between it and the new Fleet Center (a name which Patrick refused to use. To him it was the new Garden), he found a small emergency exit. The loading dock was obviously a trap, so he'd disarm the alarm (a technique Rebecca had taught him, after having picked it up from Amanda) and enter that way. It took him a few long minutes, and once he had to hide from a security patrol, but he succeeded and was in. The old Garden had the air of a large house after all the children had grown and moved out, or like a haunted house. There were memories, many of them. Patrick laughed at the thought that he was probably the only man to have been at both the opening and closing of the old arena. Quietly, he walked through the corridors, lit only by emergency lighting. He could feel Ramus, very faintly, off in the distance. He took out his sword and turned. Yes... that was the way. He opened the door... "What's taking him so long?" Ramus said. "Maybe he won't come," Rick said. "What makes you so sure he _will_ come?" "Shut up," Ramus said. "He'll come. He has to. He's the noble Irelander." Ramus had taken them to the side of the actual arena closest to the loading dock. He had tied them both to chairs. Rick was currently working out of his bonds, while keeping Ramus distracted. "He's probably just gonna send the police after you." "No he wont!" "Why not? You have, after all, committed a crime. What makes you so sure that he's gonna fight you?" "He _has_ to." Rick was untied now, and casually began to work on his leg bonds. Ramus walked down the isle and towards the exit. Rick quickly untied his legs. "Rick..." Elaine said. "Don't worry, sweetie. I love you." Ramus entered the arena again. "He's still not..." Rick launched himself at Ramus, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed his head repeatedly off of the concrete floor. Ramus collected his sword and ran Rick through the gut. "NO!!" Elaine said. Rick backed off, knelt, and collapsed on the floor. Ramus ran him through again, this time through the heart. At that moment, Ramus felt Patrick enter the arena. He looked across the parquet floor, temporarily returned to the Garden for the movie, and Patrick was standing there, staring up at him. He took out his katana and shrugged his coat off. "You had to do this," Patrick said. "IRELANDER!!" Ramus said as he jumped onto the parquet floor, sword raised. They locked blades immediately. "Where's VonHoffer," Patrick said. "He said _I_ could have you." "I doubt that," Patrick backed off and renewed his attack. "I doubt that very much." VonHoffer watched from one of the higher sections, out of buzz-range. He laughed. Ramus was good, no doubt about that. He had Patrick backed into a pile of movie equipment. Patrick kicked him in the gut and rolled away. He came to his feet just as Ramus was rushing towards him again. Patrick blocked his attack and took the offensive again. He thrust and parried, each attack blocked by Ramus. He _was_ good, but then again, VonHoffer had never sent a poor fighter after him. Ramus took the offensive again and backed Patrick towards the seats again. Patrick ran up several steps and jumped, catching himself on a pipe. He swung his legs and kicked Ramus in the head, disarming him. Ramus fell back to the parquet floor, and Patrick released his grip, fell back towards the seats, and gathered his sword. He ran down to the parquet floor where Ramus was recovering and kicked his sword away from him. Ramus was on his feet now, but still slightly dazed. Before Ramus had a chance to recover completely, Patrick beheaded him. Ramus' head rolled over to a pile of equipment, and his body stood still for a few seconds. Then it collapsed, and the energy began to leak out. VonHoffer saw O'Brien behead Ramus and chuckled. He began to make his way down to the parquet floor. Everything was going according to plan. O'Brien had fallen into the mechanics of the plan like a good little cog. The Quickening arched over all the equipment. It shattered cameras, lighting, the scoreboard, the two plexiglass backboards. It seeped into Patrick's being, Ramus' memories merging with all the others. Patrick was thrown down to his knees. Elaine watched, fascinated. And she managed to chuckle, realizing that despite everything else that had happened tonight, she was doing her job. When it was over, Patrick lay on the floor, exhausted, too exhausted to get up when he felt the third Immortal nearby. "Very good, Irelander." "I... knew you'd show up... VonHoffer," Patrick said, weakly. Why don't you... take my head and be done with it..?" "Because that wouldn't be satisfying." Patrick rose to his knees. VonHoffer said, "I would take your friend and leave here, now. Don't think you'll be hiding _this_ body, _or_ the mortal's. If you don't leave _now_, I _will_ take your head and kill the other mortal." There was nothing Patrick could do. He collected his coat and sword and walked away from VonHoffer towards Elaine. He untied her and said, "Are you OK?" "No," she said as the tears finally came. "Shh... It's OK to cry." "Why? Why did he have to kill him?" "Because... there are those of us who feel we're superior to mortals. That we can do with you as we wish. And then there's those of us, like myself, Rebecca, and Joe, who envy you." "_Envy_ us?" "Uh huh. Life is always new to you. Each day brings _something_ new. And... you can have children, grow old, and _live_ without having to kill." "And which kind are in the majority?" "Our kind," Patrick said, adding a silent "I hope." Then he said, "Come on, let's go. We can claim Rick's body and bury him tomorrow." "Ok." "What the hell happened here?" Detective Frank D'Gornio said as he entered the arena the next day. The call had come in early, after the film crew had opened the Garden up for another day of filming. "What a mess." A uniform said, "There's another body up in that section, and there's blood on the sword." Detective D'Gornio took a sip of coffee and headed towards the second body. He put his coffee down, put on some latex gloves, and turned the body over. "My God," he said. "Do you know him?" the medical examiner said. "He came into the squad room back in January with his girlfriend. They claimed they had witnessed a beheading on the Common." He looked down onto the parquet floor, where the headless corpse lay three feet away from the head. "Shit," he said. Then he turned to the ME and said, "I want to know if our friend over there killed this guy, or if it was someone else. It'll help if we know if we're dealing with one or two killers." Later that morning, as D'Gornio was still searching the Garden for _some_ clue, the ME called in. "Yeah?" D'Gornio said. "I've got the blood type on the sword. Our nameless friend did Marriman." "Thanks." Then he turned towards a uniform and said, "All this film equipment and not one God damned shot of the deed?" "Nope. It wasn't running." "I know, I know. What about the surveillance cameras?" "Burned out. Some kind of electrical discharge destroyed all the cameras, the scoreboard, some lights, and the backboards for good measure. Whatever was on those videotapes is gone." "Terrific. Ok, I should probably to talk to the victim's wife." "Mrs. Marriman?" "Yes?" Elaine said. "I'm Detective D'Gornio from Homicide. We met back in January." "Yes, Detective." "I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your husband..." "I know. I saw it." "You _did_?" "Yes, a man ran him through with a sword." D'Gornio showed Elaine a drawing of Ramus and said, "Is this him?" "Yes." "And did you see what happened next?" "No he... knocked me unconscious. When I came to, I was untied and he was dead. If you'll forgive me, Detective, I'm just not in the mood for talking right now." "I'm sorry, Mrs. Marriman. Could you possibly answer a few questions in a day or so?" "Yes, of course." Patrick sat in his study, silent. VonHoffer was obviously trying to destroy his life yet again, and this time he was bringing the police in. Patrick had a sinking feeling in his gut. He'd already had enough of VonHoffer this time out. He vowed silently that the current plot would be VonHoffer's last against him. One way or the other, it would be over soon. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to fall into VonHoffer's plan. He sighed. No one close to him would be safe from now on, not until one of them was dead. Patrick turned the radio on, and a news announcer was saying, "Still no word on the identity of the headless corpse in the Boston Garden, found by film crews early this morning along with another corpse. Police have identified the second body as Richard Marriman of Brookline, and have confirmed that the unidentified victim had killed him with a sword, found on the scene. If you have information which could lead to the apprehension of the second perpetrator, or the identity of the victim, please contact Area A Homicide." Patrick turned the radio off. <<>> <<<"Revenge and Rebirth" will continue>>> <<>> (c) 1995 Mabnesswords =========================================================================