| Subject: Entropy Chapter 19 |
Author:
Becca
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Date Posted: 13:32:36 12/06/02 Fri
In reply to:
HeyBecca
's message, "Entropy" on 19:23:01 02/10/02 Sun
Entropy 19—Stuck In a Moment
“I was unconscious, half asleep. The water is warm till you discover how deep… I wasn’t jumping… for me it was a fall. It’s a long way down to nothing at all.”
--“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” Bono and the Edge
“I can’t believe the windows are blacked out,” Carly complained as she sat in the back of a limo with Lucky, Liz, Nikolas, Jax, Alison, and Natalie.
“What did you expect? We’re dealing with a psycho and celebrities. Plus, we’re in the middle of the desert,” Natalie complained. “This place is called the Cave, supposedly, and we might as well be going to one.”
“Well, someone is in a bad mood,” Jax pointed out.
She glared at the Aussie, “Are you actually looking forward to this? You can’t actually be looking to have fun.”
“No, it is just I have chosen not to make the situation worse.”
“Let’s not fight, guys. This isn’t going to be easy. We have to find Colin, get him alone, and somehow figure out what more is to all of this,” Carly said.
“I just wish I knew what we were walking in to,” Lucky said. He held his arm around Elizabeth, who was had a distant look in her eyes.
“Well, my grandmother is involved in some way, so it can’t be good,” Nikolas explained.
Carly turned to try to look out the back window of the limo. Instead, she only saw blackness. “I wonder how the others are doing.”
**
In the other limo, tensions were just as high.
“Stop looking at me,” Jason demanded, glaring at the object of his displeasure.
“You’re such a baby,” Maxie cracked, continuing to stare at him.
“I’m a baby? You’re the one staring at me.”
“Oh my god,” Steven said, reaching across the limo and grabbing Jason by his jacket. “Shut the hell up. Got it? This isn’t a game; my sister’s life is at stake. You’re WSB agent, do your job instead of running around and fu/cking things up. Do you have it in you, mob boy?”
“Get your hands off of me,” Jason hissed, shoving Steven back into his seat. Catching V’s eye, Jason knew that what Steven said had a lot of truth in it.
Zander looked across at Emily, who was sitting next to her brother. “How you doing?”
“Fine, you look a nervous wreck, though,” she pointed out.
He shook his head, leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I couldn’t get Nicole not to go. She insisted that if I was going, she was going.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. I doubt that Colin or Helena wants to kill Hollywood. Just us,” she explained with a smile. “It is probably best that she isn’t coming with you, as your date.”
“You’re not jealous, are you?” Jason asked, slightly annoyed at the thought. It was bad enough his sister was pregnant with Nikolas’s child, but he couldn’t stand the idea of her reuniting with Zander.
“No, and Zander knows that,” Emily said. “She’d be a target if she came as part of our group. That’s all I meant.”
**
The Cave did not look anything like a cave. It was a stylish mansion, marble and modern furniture everywhere. Beautiful people dressed in beautiful clothes mingled, sipped expensive champagne, ate gourmet food, and did trendy drugs.
“This is it? I thought it would be, I don’t know . . . more,” Nikolas said, looking at Lucky. “I mean, I’ve been to some grand balls. This . . . not that impressive.”
Lucky rolled his eyes, “Of course you’d think so.”
Nikolas smiled guiltily. His eyes trailed across the room, landing on Elizabeth who had drifted away and was talking to one of the waiters.
“Lucky, what is wrong with Elizabeth?”
“I don’t know,” Lucky said. “She’s been weird, off, since the other day. It’s almost like she’s been drunk for a few days straight.”
“Drunk? Drugged, maybe?” Nikolas wondered.
“Huh?” Lucky questioned. “I don’t follow. Who drugged her? And when?”
“You’re the details man, I just come up with the theories,” he noted. “But we are talking about a man connected to my grandmother. A man who is, lest you forget, the twin brother of Aiden.”
Lucky paused, absorbing what his half brother was alluding to. He grabbed his head in frustration.
“Damn, he’s going after her,” Lucky said as he looked around the main ballroom. Panic hit him when he could spot her. “Shit. Nikolas, do you see Elizabeth?”
He shook his head, “No.”
“Christ, where’d she go?” Lucky said through a clenched jaw.
**
“V, slow down, come on,” Jason called out as he followed V through the party. “We need to talk.”
“No, we need to work,” V said, clearly shifting back into WSB agent mode.
“That’s what we need to talk about,” he said.
V looked up at her partner. Anger was etched into her face as she looked at him. She always knew it was a risk working with Jason, but she never dreamed it would be a decision she’d regret. Until now.
“That is not a wise idea, Jason. Because if we talk about work I’ll just be reminded how little you’ve done. And I’ll remember that it is your need to be a hero and worshiped that has gotten us into this situation. And if I remember all that I’ll get distracted and not be able to do my job. Do you follow?”
“You’re mad,” Jason observed. “I know I’ve totally blown everything and I’ll probably get fired, but I want you to know that I’m sorry. I never meant to put you or your career at risk. I respect you, V, more than I’ve ever respected anyone. I—I wish I could be more like you.”
V looked up into Jason’s eyes and felt herself start to give in.
“Listen, we get out of this alive first, then we talk about your job and our partnership. Got it?”
Jason held out his hand and managed a smile, “I think I can handle that.”
“Good,” she took his hand, smiling too.
**
Colin drifted through the room, expertly avoiding his guests of honor. He stopped at the bar, motioning for the bartender to come to him.
“Hello, I need you to do me a favor,” he said. “Do you see the woman across the room, in the violet dress?” The bartender looked, finding the woman, Elizabeth. “She’ll come to the bar and order a drink soon. When she does, place this in the drink.”
The bartender tentatively took the vile from Colin’s hand. “Sir, would be I overstepping my bounds if I asked what this will do to her? Cause if it kills her, I don’t want that on my head.”
“It is overstepping,” Colin said coldly. Quickly his face turned bright and be patted the bartender on the back, “But don’t worry, I’m in a good mood tonight, so I won’t hold it against you. The drug in the vile, it won’t kill her.”
“The entire vile?” Colin nodded. “May I ask sir, why such a good mood?”
Colin’s gaze moved from Elizabeth to other members of his intended targets, “Because I’m going to have so much fun tonight.”
**
Jax strolled through the main ballroom, mingling with the guests. He was bored out of his mind. Long ago had he decided that these sorts of parties were nothing but expensive waists of time with no real point. The only reason he ever went to these sorts of shindigs was because of Carly. She made everything fun and exciting. Even when they were first becoming friends, she had a way of making him relax and be comfortable in any situation.
Unfortunately, since the second they got to the party his date took off to keep tabs on Natalie. Jax knew that Jason coming back into Carly’s life, even if it were only temporary, would put a strain on their relationship. He had no idea, though, that the strain would come from Jason marrying Natalie. That, he had to admit, came out of left field. And, it could be said, that there wasn’t so much a strain on the relationship as much as it was a lack of quality time.
Jax sighed and grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the tray’s the waiters were toting around. He was going to fix that quality time problem once they got out of this mess. Yep, Jax decided, he’d kidnap Carly himself it meant being alone with her.
Lost in his thoughts, Jax wandered out of the ballroom and found himself in a silent hallway.
“Bloody ‘ell,” he muttered, downing the champagne as he stared in wonder at the length of the darkened hallway.
“Impressive, huh?”
Jax spun around to find Kristina smiling at him.
“Oh my gosh . . . what are you doing here?”
Kristina looked at him questioningly.
“Scratch that, I know why you are here—but why? Why are you involved in this?” Jax asked, desperate to know where it all went wrong with Kristina. “What would Alexis say?”
“Do I care? She lost interest in me a long time ago. But Helena didn’t. Helena helped me get a job and a life outside of Port Charles. Helena has been more of a family to me than Alexis ever tried to be,” Kristina explained seriously.
Jax was stunned.
“Don’t you get it? Helena is…is…evil. She’s ruined so many lives. And, from what I can tell, her little buddy Colin isn’t too far behind,” Jax told her.
Kristina flinched for a moment. She was a bit conflicted, but Colin had explained that in order for the greater good, a little blood had to be spilled. She had to follow through with the plan.
“Jax? Jax?” Carly’s voice cut through the din of the party noise, quickly followed by the woman herself. “There you . . .” she stopped upon seeing Kristina. “You.”
“Listen, do you two want my help or not?”
“Help?” Jax asked skeptically. “Weren’t you just telling me the virtues of Helena?”
“Hey, I’m not stupid, I know that Colin and Helena are doing isn’t right. Now do you want me to take you to Sarah and Dillon or not?”
Jax looked at Carly, who he could tell was a tad bit skeptical of Kristina. “Dillon? Dillon who?”
“Quartermaine.”
“Ned’s brother?” Jax questioned.
“Take us to them,” Carly demanded. She moved to Jax’s side, giving him a comforting squeeze on his arm.
“Follow me,” Kristina said.
They weren’t two feet down the hallway when Lucky and Nikolas came running behind them.
“Hey, I thought I saw you come this way,” Lucky called out. “Have either of you seen--.”
“She’s taking us to Sarah, Lucky,” Carly said when Lucky noticed Kristina.
“Yeah right,” Lucky grumbled. He didn’t believe it in a second. But, by the looks on everyone else’s face, they did—or they had much better poker faces than he thought.
“We have to go now, before Colin finds out,” Kristina told them impatiently.
Lucky and Nikolas hung behind for a moment.
“I should really look for Elizabeth,” Lucky whispered.
“She’ll be fine,” Nikolas assured his half-brother. “Sly’s out there, Zander’s out there, they’ll watch out for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s with one of them now.”
Lucky thought it over for a moment before relenting. “I just feel like this is a trap.”
**
Emily and Alison were talking to a group of assorted celebrities when the blonde spotted Colin across the room. She nudged Emily in the side before taking off in his direction.
“Excuse us,” Emily said quickly as she followed Alison. “What are you doing? We shouldn’t go after him alone.”
“Well, do you see ANYONE else? Come on, we can take that guy—he doesn’t look so tough,” Alison muttered. “I don’t need a man to protect me.”
“I don’t need a man to protect me either,” Emily said. “But I don’t want to face Colin unarmed and alone.”
“Colin?” Steven asked, having overheard the girls talking as they walked by him. They stopped and turned back. “Where’s the bastard who has my sister?”
“Towards the back, Alison spotted him,” Emily explained. “She thinks we should go after him.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Gia said. Even if she didn’t want to, the fact that Emily was resistant made her want to go in, guns a blazing’.
The group headed towards Colin. It wasn’t until they came face to face with him that it occurred to Emily they should have come up with a plan instead of ambushing him. He was ready for them.
In a flash, Colin had his arm around Emily and a pistol pressed against her back.
“Hello, my valued guests,” Colin whispered, stepping into the shadows, the other three following. “Unless you want the expectant mother shot in the back, you’ll begin to walk forward. Don’t look back, don’t cause a scene, and don’t try to play hero.”
“I don’t think he’s joking,” Emily said, getting the others to follow Colin’s orders. He took them out of the ballroom to the end of a long, dark hallway. Two guards seemingly appeared out of nowhere and took over from there.
“I’d love to stay and chat, but I have a date with Elizabeth,” Colin said with a wink for Steven.
“You bastard—leave my sisters alone!” he yelled while being shoved into a room by one of the guards.
“Good day, kids!”
**
“This is a GREAT Margarita,” Elizabeth told the bartender, smiling at him. “You have a real talent.”
She sipped her drink and searched the party for Lucky. For the first time in days she felt like herself, comfortable, like she had emerged from a long sleep.
“Where is he?” she asked herself, wandering away from the bar, towards the back of ballroom. She stopped when a hand touched her shoulder. “I’ve been looking all over . . .”
Colin smiled at her softly, causing the breath in Elizabeth’s body to escape all at once.
“Oh my God, it can’t be,” she gasped, reaching out to touch him. “Aiden?”
“Yes, love, and I have so much to tell you,” Colin said with mock sincerity. “I need your help.”
**
Across the ballroom Sly had been making small talk with varied guests and celebrities.
“I much prefer his earlier work,” Sly muttered to a group of actors that included George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts. Completely bored with their conversation, Sly’s concentration drifted as he scanned the room. Everyone seemed to disappear, which made Sly feel a bit self-conscious. Did they come up with a plan of attack and skip him?
“So, I hear you were up for a pretty big role with--.”
“Sorry, Matt,” Sly began, his eyes having locked on Elizabeth talking to Colin. “But I just saw someone I have to talk to.” He began to walk away but stopped and looked back at the three movie stars. “A word of warning, leave this party now. And tell everyone you know to leave. Our host is a psycho, when everything goes down you won’t want to be around.”
Julia looked at the other two, “Talk about a drama queen.”
Sly tried to weave his way through the crowd of party goers but found his path blocked at every turn. He watched Elizabeth and Colin the entire time, his gut churning with fear. Where’s Lucky, he panicked, where is everyone else? How did he manage to be the only guy left to play hero? This wasn’t his game; he didn’t have the script or the director to tell him how to do this. He didn’t live through the Cassadine/Spencer war; he was a normal guy who was a pretty decent actor. But he wasn’t a hero.
“Elizabeth!” Sly called out when Colin began to lead her away from the party. Blocked by a group of people, Sly was trapped. “Elizabeth!” he yelled desperately, but the pulsating dance techno music practically drowned out his voice.
“Sh/it,” he cursed. Elizabeth and Colin disappeared down a corridor.
Standing in the middle of the oblivious crowd, Sly began to panic. Anyone who would know what to do was missing, gone, like they vanished. Sly grabbed his sandy hair in anger.
“What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do?” he repeated, his hands shaking when he brought them back down to his side. “I have to find them…I have to find Elizabeth…I have to find Lucky.”
“Sly.”
The actor spun around nervously finding Jason staring at him sternly.
“Jason, thank god,” Sly muttered impulsively hugging the former hitman. Realizing what he did, Sly backed off and muttered, “Dude, sorry.”
“What’s wrong?” a slightly freaked out Jason asked.
“Everyone’s missing and Colin just took Elizabeth.”
“What?” Jason asked. “How could you let that happen?”
Sly gritted his teeth. “I didn’t let that happen. I tried to stop it. But, amazingly, celebrities are rude pricks who will not get out of your way.”
“Where did he take her?” Jason asked calmly, hoping it would rub off on the now jittery Sly.
Sly pointed to the spot where he saw Colin and Elizabeth disappear. “Over there.”
“Come on, let’s go,” Jason said as he charged forward, nearly knocking people over in his haste.
“Shouldn’t we have, you know, a plan?” Sly asked as he kept up with Jason, stride for stride. “You know, so we don’t get Elizabeth—or ourselves—killed?”
“Do you want to waste time making a plan or do you want to find Elizabeth?” Jason asked.
“Fine,” Sly groaned as they entered the dark corridor.
“Now what?” Jason muttered as he looked down the hallway.
“Forward HO,” Sly said sarcastically as he began down the hallway.
Jason hesitated, he really wished he had his gun with him. “You sure this where they went?”
“Yeah,” he called out, striding down the hallway.
At the end of the hallway was a door, Jason and Sly stared at it before Sly nervously pushed it open. It led to another corridor type area. The door slammed shut behind them.
“Boy, should have seen that coming,” Sly said with a smirk as he and Jason stared at two more doors. The steel doors faced each other, causing the men to get a slight case of whiplash as they looked back and forth at them.
“You take that one,” Jason said pointing to his left. “And I’ll take this one.”
“Not a good idea. Strength in numbers, Borgy,” Sly retorted.
Jason paused, “What did you call me?”
“That’s not important,” Sly smiled. “We shouldn’t split up. It’ll only get us . . . well, probably killed or worse.”
“Killed is the worst,” Jason stated simply.
Sly shook his head; “You have no idea, man. It gets much worse.”
“If you say so,” Jason shrugged. “Then we’ll open this one.”
Jason walked to the door he originally told Sly to open. He held his ear to the door, listening quietly.
“I hear voices,” Jason whispered. “Here’s the plan, I’ll push the door open and wait for whoever is in there to come out. Then we’ll jump them.”
“That’s a capital plan,” Sly said rolling his eyes. “Just for the record, I think it could end badly.”
“Just shut up,” Jason hissed. He and Sly stood on opposite sides of the door, with Jason grabbing the handle and pushing it open before quickly tucking himself to the side.
Within a second, two guards charged out of the room, guns cocked. Jason and Sly jumped them from behind. Sly easily pinned his guard against the wall and grabbed the gun. Jason, on the other hand, engaged in a fistfight with the other guard.
Watching in disgust, Sly pistol-whipped his guard before going to help Jason. He held his gun in the back of the guard and shook his head at Jason.
“You know, Jason, a little finesse can get you a long way,” Sly informed him. “Sometimes the fist,” Sly held up his free hand, balled into a fist, “isn’t the easiest way to do things.”
“Are we going to get philosophical?” Jason asked as he took the other guard’s gun. “Knock him out and let’s go.”
Sly did just that and they continued through the door, which led to another hallway.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Sly complained. At the end of the hallway was a steel door. “Shit.”
“What?” Jason asked.
“We can’t get in there, it’s got a thing,” he muttered, motioning to the plate that required a hand print to open the door.
“No problem,” Jason rose his gun and aimed it at the panel.
“Wait!” Sly yelled, jumping in front of Jason. “Again, with the extreme violence. Why don’t you go get one of the guards we knocked out? We’ll use his hand to get in.”
“Oh,” Jason clenched his jaw and ran down the hallway. He returned with, dragging one of the guards behind him. “Will he do?”
Sly once again rolled his eyes as he grabbed the hand of the unconscious guard and placed it against the ID plate. The steel doors slid open and Sly dropped the guard to the ground.
“Now, wasn’t that easy?”
“My gun is easier.”
“But it wouldn’t have worked.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, yes I--.”
“Uh, hello, are you two idiots here to save us?” Lucky asked, cutting Sly off.
Jason stepped around Lucky into the room. “Carly?”
“Hi, Jase,” she waved.
“Is Elizabeth with you?” Sly questioned, taking note of Jax and Nikolas also in the room.
“No, is she with you two?”
“Colin has her,” Sly informed his cousin.
“Let’s go,” Lucky said as he ran out of the room, Sly right behind him. As the two men exited the room, the door slid shut.
“Wait, Lucky, hold up,” Sly said as he knelt down aside the unconscious guard. “The door shut, we have to get the others out.”
“It won’t work,” Lucky said knowingly. “This place is wired, Colin has cameras everywhere. That guard’s print won’t get the door to open again.”
The regular lights suddenly shut off, replaced by a light blue glare of emergency lights. “We’re in lock down,” Lucky noticed the gun in Sly’s hand. “Does Jason have a gun?”
Sly nodded, “Yeah.”
“Then they’ll be fine. We have to find Colin and Elizabeth. Hopefully everyone else can still get out of here,” Lucky said as he and Sly walked away from the room towards the doors Sly and Jason came through.
“Lucky, I’m sorry,” Sly whispered. “I tried to get to her but . . .”
“I should have been with her,” Lucky said as he glanced back at Sly. “Was he forcing her to go with him?”
“That’s the thing, it looked like she was happy to see him, she went willingly,” Sly explained as he and Lucky turned a corner.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” Lucky asserted as they came to another corner. “I’m not losing this time.”
“Always a Spencer. So confident, so brave . . .”
Lucky and Sly stopped dead as they came face to face with the one person they weren’t counting on.
Helena stood before them regally, a dangerous smile spread across her face. “So utterly stupid.”
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