#part 30

You continued to mumble incoherently. Though seeing that the tears had finally ceased gave a small respite. Whatever was ailing you perhaps was finally beginning to leave you.

He looked at Amina as she approached,

"Gather me a jug of fresh cool water, clean clothes.”

“Yes, is there anything se you wish to have?”

He chew the inside of his cheek, he gave a curt nod.

“Gather the Pontifex, along with the needed incense, grain and an array of lambs.”

Her eyes grew.

“Get them now. The cool water first, bring it to our chambers. We need to show Juno, that we are grateful and seek her to care, to look upon our empress and her unborn child."

"Yes, Geta." She kept her head low.

“Have the others begin to light candles, the lanterns. Several of them. With the pontifex at my side we will carry out her tribute; inform him that it is of grave importance as his emperor, husband to empress that I carry out this duty."

“As you wish.”

***********

His love, his care that he had for you made the task of bringing you the chambers easy. Once there he laid you on the bed. He undid the palla that was around your waist and loosened the stola. There had been a warm, even hot days since had been given the gift of the gods to have know you, and it was now with what had deemed to plague you that a sheen of an unhealthy sweat made these garments cling to you. It displeased him.

A sharp knock cracked through silent chambers.

“Enter.” He answered it.

Looking, he saw Amina with her head bowed. “The haste pleases me.” He gesture to the table near him. “Leave them here. And go forth and being haste to the rest of what is needed.”

“Shall I not attended to the empress?”

“Are you questioning me?”

“No, sire.”

“The go and bring haste to what else is needed then you may retrieve me.”

“As you wish.”

*******

He laid a ringed hand on the swell of your stomach. He drew close to it. Gently, he caressed it.

“Child, my child. Her child, Roman’s child. We love you.” He felt a soft flutter. “Yes, child rest. But we are here and we await your arrival with steady hearts.”

He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the gentle swell, when another soft flutter reached him. He pressed a kiss.

“I shall attend to your mother.”

Another flutter reached him. He felt as if the child let him know it was in good spirits despite what was plaguing their mother.

“Be good in health and be good to her.” He whispered before sitting up.

The cloth darkened as it began to hold the water. He twisted it in his hands, the excess water falling and filling the bowl under it.

Gently, he grazed your brow, your crimson flushed cheeks and your lips that had grown a sickly pale pink; much like a flower petal about drop from its twisted and long since dried dead stem. The sight of you such as this twisted his heart like he had just done to the cloth.

Your murmurs finally faded, yet the breathes your body pulled to it, were deep.

He did this, not pausing not ceasing till saw your lashes flutter.

“Petal. It is I Geta, my lyrical Petal?”

He placed the cloth in the bowl, the heat that had been strong was beginning to fade.

Your brow furrowed.

“Petal?” He brushed some hair from your brow.

Your lashes fluttered once again, you blinked. Your eyes were calm, no anguish darkened them.

“Hello.” He said softly.

Your hand soft and cool found his cheek.

“What is it bothers you?”

He laid the cloth in the bowl, drawing your hand firmly against his cheek. He closed his eyes. A soft bubble of a chuckle came from his belly.

“I am well, my petal. It is you that had taken an ailment.” He squeezed his eyes.

“I am sorry.”

Your soft voice, reached his ears. A calmness fell over him like a shadow from a mighty tree. His anguish over seeing you as thus began to clear.

“No apologies needed. A cloud of eclipse came over you. You are better now. That pleases me.”

He opened his eyes. Your face as fresh as a blossom. You were here once again beside him. He pressed a kiss to your palm.

*******

He left you resting in the chambers you shared. As he drew closer, a strength began to fill him. He knew what he was about to undertake. Quietly he murmured the prayers, he wished to reach Juno flowed his lips. He reached into the depths of all he felt.

Since had returned to the royal domus, the night had turned cool. Had Juno come down on a cloud, to take witness of the tribute he wished to bestow upon her. He hoped for that to be the truth of it.

The bleating of the lambs reached him, greeted him before he was before them. Many still and even grew quieter upon his arrival. Relief filled him as he saw his most trusted of the guards stood close holding lanterns high so that light in expanse before him was not from the mighty Luna who had chosen to return this night.

The air was spicy as it swirled taking a hold of the incense that glowed from the sharp flames that ignited them. Amina remained at the entrance, a Pontifex with a bowed head, knelt before him. Ushering him to where he had to step to. It was there, he gave him a bowl that held grains of vivid and fresh golden yellow grains.

“Sire, it is first we offer them a plentiful meal of these grains. For a domus, is to nurture those who live and grow in one.”

“Yes.”

He took the bowl and with gentle steps, he sprinkled and held out open palms to all the lambs that had been gathered. He was comforted that none had been snipped or snappy at the hand that he had offered them.

The man that gave him a jug, worn but filled with a soft scarlet color of a mild wine.

“Here you shall offer wine, allowing Juno to fell welcome in this domus. That you are pleased to have her among you and to protect all that is in the domus.”

Careful, he gently poured some small offerings onto the head of the lambs before he returned a filled the final portion and knelt before the relief you had made in gratitude of her when he had become emperor. It was there he knelt, not only as the emperor of Rome but as a husband that truly felt and called out for care and protection of his wife and unborn child. He finished the wine never allowing his gaze to move from her.

He then took the bowl of the vividly colored petals, going to the alter he sprinkled them. May they grace the mighty, and strong Juno he prayed.

The Pontifex then unwrapped the unmarred, soilless fabric that covered the blade that would bring the lambs to the heavens. He swallowed. It had been many a year since such a sacrifice would be split upon his hands.

With each one he knelt before it, he murmured a prayer and the carried out the act. Splashed from their essences covered his hands, his face and the fabrics that were wrapped around him.

Standing, he once again went over to Juno’s relief. There he laid the blade as his own sacrifice to her.

Walking the few steps to the Pontifex, he swallowed. “May the bits of the entrails be laid there with the blade I laid there. The bones are to be burned to ash. And those are to be sprinkled upon the entrails and the blade.

Once again the man bowed. “Yes, my sire.”

He then continued. “You may carry to the temple in which you reside, half of the good meats that can be roasted and cooked.”

The Pontifex bowed humbly. “That shows and is a great kindness to bestow upon me. Thank you, my sire.”

He nodded. He walked up to Amina. “Divide the remaining portions to the guards and those in the kitchen. As a new dawn shall be upon us soon. We shall all feast upon it.”

******

He stripped himself of the cloths splattered during the sacrifice, with the residues of the ailment that had befallen you. Nude unashamed; he handed them to the servant who stood with the guard before the entrance of the bath.

“Have them burned and brought to the alter.”

“Yes, sire.”

*******

The water felt good. He just chose to sit there. Letting his body feel the cool water. He immersed himself before once again before simply sitting there. Not wanting the feel of others he used to oils. He used strigil. He wanted to be refreshed, cleansed to whatever had wanted to plague you, and him. When he returned to you the purity of the sacrifice would be complete.

Soft clothes, silently had been placed on a bench where the strigil laid. He was relieved they all knew to not to disturb him with all that was being taken care. With the guard some steps behind, he gave him a nod of respect. Then entered the champers and slid the lock into place.

Finding, you in a peaceful sleep. He pulled a blanket aside and finally climbed in. Settling in, he was about to pull you to him when with a soft sound you did so. He had never imagined wanting anything of the sort. But you with your words that were laced with poetry and a beauty and rivaled the art of the ancients; once again he allowed himself to feel grateful for what had been blessed upon, given to him from the gods.

Thank you for reading!

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For a second, there was silence.

A beat where everything held still—where the unfinished beams of the club echoed with the sound of wind and the faint hum of construction generators. Where the world hesitated.

But the moment Oscar’s warning hit his ear, Lando knew it was already too late to leave clean.

And then—

Gunfire cracked through the air like a whip.

Chaos shattered the night.

He didn’t move a muscle—but Max did. A flicker of instinct. He reached beneath his jacket just as the first gunshot cracked like thunder, shattering a window high above them. Concrete dust rained down like snow.

Max Fewtrell was the first to move, shoving Lando sideways behind a stack of cement bags just as bullets ripped through where he’d been standing seconds before. Lando rolled, coat flying back as he drew his weapon, ears already ringing with the sudden roar of violence. He could hear yelling—Pierre barking orders in French, someone screaming from the upper levels, the grinding roar of an engine kicking to life from outside.

Max was crouched low beside him, already firing back.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, reloading with quick, trained hands. “This is a setup. Gasly sold us out.”

“No shit,” Lando snapped, voice tight. He pressed a finger to his earpiece, voice low but sharp. “Oscar—”

“I’m– I’m pinned,” Oscar replied, breathless, the sound of a sniper rifle clattering. “They knew I was up here. One on the roof, at least. Maybe two?”

The space proceeded to explode into chaos.

From the shadows behind the scaffolding, two men emerged—automatic rifles raised. Ocon opened fire, bullets chewing into the rusted metal frames just a few feet from Lando’s head. Max shoved him hard behind a steel beam, returning fire in tight, disciplined bursts.

Another shot. 

Closer this time. 

Sniper–?

No, two of them. 

Oscar was pinned.

Lando’s voice was calm in the comms. “We’re lit up. I want eyes on every goddamn angle. Now.”

Outside, Logan heard it and reacted instantly. Tires screeched as his car skid right to the construction fencing, engine still running as he jumped out with his Glock already in hand.

Pierre stood there, unmoved in the middle of it all, not flinching as bullets flew overhead. Just watching. A slow smile curling over his lips.

“I told you,” he said quietly, as Yuki ducked and slipped out of view. “Like old times, eh?”

Lando’s eyes narrowed.

“You dirty fucking bastard. You set this up!”

Pierre shrugged, the smirk never falling. “Hmm, well, not all the credit is for me.”

From the mezzanine above, another figure emerged—calm, tailored, hair brushed back like a goddamn crown prince.

Charles Leclerc.

The bastard walked like it was a catwalk, not a warzone. Confident. Inevitable. Behind him, his two brothers flanked him like twin lions, guns in hand, their eyes on Lando.

Charles’s voice rang out, cutting through the noise like a blade. “You are not stupid, Lando. You knew the drugs were not yours to touch. You thought your little poison had wings? Thought Noxium would not be noticed, would not clip into our market?”

Lando’s blood turned to ice.

The Leclercs.

This wasn’t just about territory. It was a message, a reckoning.

“Lando Norris, you made yourself a Reaper,” Charles said, tone dropping to something low and sinister. “Now I’m here to remind you who builds the coffins.”

Then, all hell broke loose.

Blood already smeared across one cheek, Logan crashed through the door like a thunderbolt, gun drawn, firing clean and fast. He shoved one of the Leclerc brothers – the younger one, Arthur– near the scaffolding before yelling, “They’ve got snipers in the east lot too. I knifed one, but there’s another crawling the perimeter!”

Another voice cut in—Carlos, gritting into his own comm, “We are three minutes out. Hold your ground.”

“They brought a whole bloody army,” Max spat, ducking behind a crumbling pillar. “What the fuck happened? What– What’d we miss?”

Lando’s eyes narrowed. His mind, even under fire, was already stringing the pieces together.

Pierre—too smooth, too cooperative. That sly grin, the way he stalled in the beginning. He hadn’t been offering a deal: he’d been buying time.

And now… now Lando understood why — Charles Leclerc.

He didn’t look rushed or angry. He looked like he’d been waiting for this – like he’d dreamed of it, like vengeance was a dinner he planned to eat slowly.

“Lando Norris,” Charles sang, casual as if greeting an old friend, a gun loose in his right hand as he searched to see where the response would sound from. There was something gleeful hidden in those dark eyes as he smiled, his accent curling like smoke. “You’ve been trespassing.”

Lando’s jaw clenched. “I didn’t touch any of your shit. I kept my hands to m’self.”

“You used to,” Charles said, walking closer to the sound of the Brit’s voice, hunting him down. “Clubs, casinos, protection—yes, those were yours. I left them to you, quite generous of me.”

Lando and Max panted under their breaths, exchanging a glance as they hear the sound of vintage Italian leather shoes echoing through the structure.

They did not come here to die today.

“But the drugs, Lando? Your precious Noxium? That’s our family’s lifeline. That was supposed to be ours. You knew that.”

A beat.

“You knew exactly what you were doing.”

And just like that, the game changed.

This wasn’t about territory. This wasn’t business. This was personal.

Pierre hadn’t betrayed Lando for profit. He’d done it for Charles. – the two of them childhood friends, tied in blood and sweat and secrets.

The entire fucking meeting had been a blood-stained invitation.

A time and place for the Reaper to bleed.

More of Lando’s men were beginning to come into view—Carlos barreling in from the back alley with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo at his heels. The air turned molten, full of dust and fire and bullet heat, as the fight exploded across the half-built club.

Lando didn’t flinch.

He stood up from behind the scaffolding, straining his stance, eyes locked on Charles across the smoke with a gun pointed directly at his face.

“You made your point,” Lando said. “Now let’s see if you can survive it.”

Carlos burst in through a side entrance, firing clean and close-quartered, and with Daniel Ricciardo coming in hot behind him. “They’re on all sides! There’s more behind the loading dock—three minimum!”

Oscar’s voice snapped through the earpiece, breathless: “I’m compromised! This idiot came for the high ground first—fucking amateurs, but I got my hands full. Someone need to cover Lando!”

Max reloaded beside him, jaw tight, knuckles bloodied. “We’ve got five minutes if we’re lucky. Less if the Leclercs brought every cousin they’ve got.”

Logan dragged a wounded shooter behind a stack of pallets and pressed Lando’s spare piece into his hand. “What’s the plan, boss?”

Lando stood, finally—face unreadable, coat streaked with dust, his hand steady on the grip of his weapon. His eyes locked with Charles’s above.

“You wanted a Reaper?” he growled, voice low and lethal. “You’re about to meet him.”

Gunfire erupted through the half-constructed club, lighting up the darkness like a battlefield. The acrid scent of gunpowder mixed with the heavy, oily stench of fresh concrete and steel, filling the air with a metallic tang. Every corner was a potential trap, every noise a chance at death. Shadows flitted across the space, their movements quick and deliberate. The chaos was alive, its pulse thumping in time with the gunfire.

Carlos crouched low behind a hole in the drywall, his hands working fast and fluid as he reloaded, exchanging one clip for another. The sharp, precise motions were second nature—no hesitation, no mistakes. Daniel, grimacing in pain, leaned against a load-bearing column to catch his breath, blood beginning to stain his shirt.. Still, his finger never left the trigger, a smug grin permanently etched into his face, like he was still having fun.

Across the battlefield, Yuki’s voice crackled over the opposing team’s comms. The orders were clipped, cold, spoken in rapid Japanese. They were well-organized, methodical—an efficient machine moving in perfect synchrony.

But Lando’s men were just as sharp.

Lando finally backed Charles into a corner, smirking as he pulled the gun from his holster. Charles was a smart enough man with enough experience to recognize that glimmer in the obsidian of Lando’s eyes.

It was the call of death.

A sign of the true Reaper.

For a split second, everything went quiet. Around them, the usual chaos felt like it slowed, or at least faded into background noise. The silence was only a moment, a breath, but it was enough to make the hairs on the back of Lando’s neck rise. It was the calm in the storm, the strange lull that only ever happens in real fights—everything paused for that single heartbeat.

Somewhere around him, he could identify the distant sounds of Logan holding the line at the loading bay, steady shots ringing out from his position. Oscar, with what was probably a broken rib, was still picking off targets from above, his shots sharp and deliberate. Daniel and Carlos surveyed in overlapping circles, ready for the next of their attackers to come from almost any direction. Max Verstappen had his hands full, the sound of each merciless blow Pierre received echoing through the surrounding structure.

Logan. Oscar. Daniel. Carlos.  Max Verstappen.

Max.

Max.

Where’s Max?

That was when Lando Norris made his only mistake. He glanced beside him to check for Max Fewtrell – just a flick of his eyes, barely noticeable at all.

But it was enough.

From where he stood, Charles Leclerc saw it instantly. It wasn’t much—a small crack, a human moment, the briefest flicker of emotion. 

But it was too late for Lando to take it back.

“Go for him,” Leclerc barked, the command bellowing even from where the Monagesque stood cornered. “The one he looked at!”

Instantly, both Lorenzo and Arthur Leclerc turned and began flanking from the left. Yuki Tsunoda circled from the right. The rest moved like a pack of wolves, closing in with a singular focus.

Lando’s stomach dropped.

“Shit– Fewtrell!”

Max had just ducked back into cover when he noticed the incoming attack. The men moved with precision, intent on isolating him, forcing him into a corner.

Without a second thought, Lando moved. He slid behind a piece of cover, coming up just enough to fire two quick shots— forcing Gasly’s rookie to drop to clutch at the new gaping wounds in his thigh. Lando sprinted, reaching Max just as bullets began to ping off the exposed rebar behind them.

Max coughed, wiping dust from his face. “Just for me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Lando shot back, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him closer towards Logan’s position. “Get moving. Don’t stop.”

They barely made it to safety. Barely.

But Lando wasn’t done yet. He was hit—a baton crashing into his ribs. He hadn’t seen Lorenzo closing in. The impact knocked the air from his lungs, sending him crashing back against the cold concrete floor. Pain exploded through him, but there was no time to dwell on it.

Bootsteps. One set, then another. 

They were too close.

Lando blinked through the haze of pain, looking up just as a shadow fell over him. The silhouette of a dark figure, the distinct profile of his Monagesque rival with his pistol raised.

Ready.

For a heartbeat, Lando’s world slowed. The figure took a fraction of a second too long, but it was enough.

Then, instinct took over.

With a brutal twist, Lando wrenched a utility knife from his boot and drove it into the man’s calf. There was no finesse – just raw, brutal violence. Charles screamed in agony, and consequently,  his grip on the gun faltered.

Lando knocked the weapon away with a vicious swipe, rolling to his feet, grabbing the gun as it fell. Two rounds rang out—straight into the man’s vest. Another figure lunged from the side. Lando ducked, the movement fluid, his elbow slamming into the attacker’s ribs before he shot him down, quick and efficient.

It wasn’t quiet enough.

A bullet ricocheted off the metal overhead, only narrowly missing Lando’s head. The noise echoed in his skull, ringing in his ears.

Sweat dripped down his face, mixing with the blood—his own, someone else’s. His arm shook, barely holding onto the gun, but he didn’t lower it. 

Not yet. Not until they knew.

Lando stepped back, firing two shots into the ceiling—loud, commanding.

The message was clear.

Back. The. Fuck. Off.

The remaining attackers hesitated, then one by one, they began to pull back, retreating beyond the skeleton of the unfinished building like rats scurrying for cover. Lando blinked, and Charles Leclerc was already gone.

Oscar’s voice crackled in his ear, rough and breathless. “They’re, uh– They’re clearing. We can pull back now.”

Slowly, carefully, the team began to regroup. Every move felt like a struggle. The adrenaline was still coursing through their veins, but they were all battered, bruised. 

Alive, if only just.

Even as they watched their adversaries disappear into the night, the air still crackled with the aftershocks of violence.

Carlos was the first to lower his weapon fully. His face was split open at the brow, blood crusting in a jagged line down the side of his temple. His shirt, ripped at the sleeve, clung to him like a second skin. He exhaled shakily, then staggered to one knee beside the busted crate he’d used for cover.

Oscar emerged next—limping, rifle slack in his grip, sweat-soaked curls stuck to his forehead. His mouth was a hard line, his eyes unreadable behind the dim flicker of overhead bulbs that hadn’t stopped buzzing since the first shot. He didn’t say anything. Just sat down against the nearest concrete pillar and pressed the heel of his palm into the ribs he’d likely cracked during the fight.

Logan was the last one in.

He slid in through the back corridor, bloody knuckles and bruises blooming along his arms like mottled paint. There was a cut just beneath his jaw that he hadn’t bothered to wipe. “I got two of ‘em,” he muttered, voice gravel. “Lost one. Maybe.”

No one answered.

Max sat crumpled on the ground, elbows propped on his knees. He kept his head down, hands open in front of him like he wasn’t sure what to do with them now. His shirt was half torn, the side of his face swollen and bruised. One of his fingers was bent at an odd angle, but he didn’t seem to have noticed yet.

Lando stood at the edge of it all, his black pistol still in hand, his shirt torn at the collar, his left cheekbone already beginning to turn a shade of yellow. His breathing was steady, but his pulse was loud enough to feel in his teeth. He hadn’t spoken since the last shot fired.

The silence between them was almost reverent, but it wasn’t quite relief yet.

Carlos coughed, winced, and forced himself upright. “Everyone—?”

Oscar glanced toward the far corridor. Then shook his head, once, sharply. “No one else came in after us.”  

Logan’s lips parted, but he didn’t ask the question they were all thinking. He didn’t have to.

There were five of them here.

Just five.

Lando still hadn’t moved. His eyes scanned the wreckage—the spent shells littering the ground, the smear of blood across the broken wall, the shape of his own shadow in the flickering light.

He finally turned toward the group. His expression was quiet and composed, his eyes dark. 

No one spoke for a while.

The dust settled like ash around them, and all they could hear was the distant thrum of city life bleeding back into the broken building—the sirens, the grind of tires, some fuckin’ bird chirping in the aftermath of what felt like a warzone.

Lando drew a breath, and it tasted like copper and regret.

His palm was still stained with someone’s blood. Maybe his, maybe not. Everything felt too wrecked to tell.

He turned.

Carlos was seated now, his head leaning back against the unfinished wall, his arm slung across his torso with a long-sleeve shirt acting as a makeshift bandage. His lip was split, those large brown eyes of his glassier than his boss had ever seen them. But he gave Lando a weak thumbs-up when their eyes met, and Lando didn’t have the heart not to give him a small smile back.

Carlos, who could’ve gone anywhere. NASA, Mercedes — any of the places that would’ve worshipped that brilliant mind of his. But he stayed—for his dad. He wanted to give the old man the life he’d always dreamed of, something to reward him for all he’s given up for a boy of the same name.

The Spaniard had definitely made Lando proud today.

Logan was also crouched nearby, his jacket torn, his knuckles split. His shoulders were tense, but his eyes kept darting, sharp and alert. He’d never let himself rest before the job was done. Lando remembers the kid he met years ago, straight outta Florida, all sunburn and bright eyes and nerves. The kind of kid who wanted to be someone. Lando had seen himself in that hunger. When Lando looked at him, Logan looked at him with a bright smile, eager to show how unaffected he was.

With their complementary shiners, Lando could see a bit of himself in Logan tonight too.

Oscar was still perched on the stairwell, holding his ribs. It seemed he preferred the higher vantage point, even now. There was blood on his shirt, darker closer to the part near the hem that covered his hip. Lando couldn’t tell how deep the wound was, but Oscar hadn’t let go of his rifle. He’d never even blinked when the chaos had hit. In fact, he was the reason they weren’t all dead.

Oscar was the reason Lando got the warning at all.

Then there was Max Fewtrell, slumped against the doorway as he pressed a cold cloth to the side of his head. He’d nearly been hit. No, he was hit—grazed across the temple, just enough to make Lando’s heart stop when he had seen the blood.

Fewtrell had always been different. It would be untrue to say he was just the same as the others. Even Lando knew, deep down, that he was different – not just a soldier, not just a friend. He was the only one who could get under Lando’s skin in a way that felt familial. He was the only one who could call him out on his shit and still get a small smile after. And today, Lando had almost lost him. 

All because of one second – one look. 

One look had almost cost Lando the only man he considered his brother.

He dragged a hand down his face, smearing dust into the blood on his skin, and counted again.

Carlos. Logan. Oscar. Fewtrell. Verstappen.

His gaze swept the room again.

Wait.

Where’s—

Where the fuck is Daniel?

He turned around, his eyes scanning the place again—back over the entryway, the busted scaffolding, the stairwell. He pushed himself to remember. 

Where had Daniel been when the shooting started? He was right behind Lando, wasn’t he? Left side?

“Anyone seen Ricciardo?” Lando asked.

No one answers. Max looked up, blinking. Logan shifted uncomfortably. Carlos doesn’t move at all. Oscar just swore under his breath.

And that’s when it really hit Lando.

He didn’t see it coming. He missed the trap. He was smarter than that, for fuck’s sake – he’d known there would be one. But he let himself get cocky, and now someone who mattered —someone who trusted him— might be gone. Because they’d gone for his soft spot, and once again, he didn’t even realize it was exposed.

He stares at the cracked floor for a second. The sharp sting in his lungs returns, but it wasn’t from the smoke.

It was guilt.

“Keep eyes out,” he mutters, and then louder, firmer, “Find him.”

They’d only just begun to search—Logan darting toward a side hallway, Oscar cautiously peering around a corner, Carlos gritting his teeth as he pushed himself upright—when a figure emerged from behind an unfinished stairwell.

“Daniel?” Max’s voice cut through first, rough and tight with disbelief.

The others turned, and there he was.

The Aussie was dragging one foot behind the other, his shoulders hunched, his arms limp at his sides. His shirt was torn, stained dark with blood and soot. Cuts lined his jaw and temple. His face was pale, slack with exhaustion. But he was there. Alive. Moving—if just barely.

“Daniel, where were you, mate?” Fewtrell was already beginning to approach closer, concern overtaking the limp in his own step. “We were all—”

“I don’t know how it happened,” Daniel mumbled, the words tumbling out slurred and slow. His eyes were wide and glassy, not really seeing them.

“What?” Logan called, squinting toward him through the dark and the dust that had yet to settle. “Daniel—what are you talking about?”

“I didn’t know how to get it out,” Daniel said again, voice starting to hitch. His breathing was shallow now, labored. “I tried… heh, I tried—but, em,—”

Lando stepped forward, cutting through the rest of the voices. He moved fast, closing the distance and bracing Daniel by both shoulders, steadying him before he could collapse. His grip was firm, but his touch betrayed a flicker of fear—trying to keep Daniel upright, keep him here.

“Daniel,” he said, locking eyes with him. “What the fuck are you talking ‘bout, mate?”

Daniel wavered again. His knees buckled slightly, and Lando instinctively pulled him closer, adjusting his stance to hold him better.

And that’s when he saw it.

The hilt of a kris dagger protruded from between Daniel’s shoulder blades, dark metal glinting beneath the soot and blood. It was carved—elegant, almost ceremonial. A sickle curve, buried deep enough to split ribs and tear through anything in its path.

Lando froze, his breath caught hard in his lungs. The others hadn’t seen it yet, the wound still hidden from view. But he had.

Daniel was starting to sag forward now, strength draining from his limbs as his blood soaked through Lando’s hands. His eyes lost focus. His breaths came in short, wet gasps.

“Oh my god…” Lando whispered, arms tightening around him, desperate to keep him from slipping any further. “Daniel…”

Daniel blinked, as if trying to stay awake. His jaw trembled. “I didn’t know how to tell you, mate,” he whispered, broken and shaking. “Didn’t wanna ruin your win…”

Lando’s head dropped, throat closing up around the swell of panic. He shook his head, once, fiercely.

This didn’t feel like a win.

They didn’t go home.

There was nowhere to go. Not until they knew, at least.

So they dragged Daniel back to one of their safehouses, a cramped, peeling basement below a now-closed tailor’s. By the time they set him down, Oscar was already yelling for gauze and towels, trying to stop the bleeding that wouldn’t comply with his will. Carlos had the med kit ripped open before Oscar could even finish asking, and Max Verstappen pulled his navy hoodie off, balling it up and handing it over with a trembling hand that no one commented on like it was the only thing that might help.

Lando followed in silence, pale and smeared with blood all over. Even after he yanked that godforsaken blade from where it had embedded itself deep into the flesh of Daniel’s back, his hands never quite stopped shaking.

And Daniel? 

Daniel was still cracking jokes, sense of humor still just as intact as the day Lando had found the only mechanic on Monte Carlo who was open at 3 AM. The Brit had searched every nook and cranny of this city in hopes of finding someone, anyone, who could save his precious car – that first McLaren he’d ever bought with his own money.

Daniel always did know how to fix the unfixable.

“'S not that bad, right?” he slurs, eyes fluttering open. “I mean— m'still prettier than Max,” he quips with a bad wink in the direction where he has to assume his old friend is.

Someone laughed — maybe Verstappen. Maybe it was a choked sob.

It was hard to tell, really.

Oscar worked fast, just as he always did. But even he hesitated, just for a second, when he peeled Max’s hoodie back so he could get a better look at the wound again. It wasn‘t just deep—it was designed to stay. The kris’s path was cruel and clever, curved to tear what couldn’t be stitched.

Still, no one said it, because saying it would make it real.

Carlos hovered nearby, quietly wringing a rag in a bowl of water that had long since turned red. Max knelt by Daniel’s head, talking to him softly in English when the familiar Dutch didn’t stick. Logan paced the length of the dimly lit room like a caged dog. Oscar wouldn’t stop moving, fidgeting with his makeshift tools, his sleeves, anything he could reasonably reach.

Lando didn’t have the heart to tell the kid off.

Instead, Lando just sat there, his hands coated in Daniel’s blood, his jaw clenched so tight it clicked.

Every so often, Daniel would stir – breath hitching, jokes fading.

Then one hour became two. Two then became four. When Max stroked his curls away from his forehead where they were matted with sweat, he could feel his friend’s skin grow colder. The silences began to stretch longer.

But still—at least he was breathing.

That was the spark – that was what kept them from falling apart.

“He’s strong,” Max blurted out, the sincerity of his words making him sound younger, more innocent. “He’s– He’s fucking strong, alright? He’ll pull through.”

“His color’s holding,” Carlos added, cautiously optimistic. “This is good, yes?”

Oscar didn’t say anything. He’d seen too much to lie.

Lando refused to blink. In all the hours they spend there, he refused to sleep, refused to even think of a version of this scenario where Daniel didn’t wake up and make fun of them all for being so damn dramatic.

From his seat by the head of the table turned makeshift bed, Lando just kept whispering, “You’re fine. You’re fine, Danny. We’re gonna get through this. You’re gonna be okay.”

But everyone else knew what a wound like that meant, what a life like this meant for each of them. They all knew what Lando couldn't say.

It was only a matter of time.

They all knew what business they were in.

No one got into this line of work thinking they’d make it to fifty with a pension and a neat little garden. Nobody had gotten here by accident. Not a single one of them could claim ignorance. They were in the kind of game where exits came in body bags, and grief was a cost you factored into the ledgers. They were gamblers, all of them—risking limb and life on a daily basis, trading safety for control, comfort for power.

But Daniel was different. 

He always had been, really.

He knew the darkness, saw it clearer than most, in fact. But still—somehow—he stayed good, better, kinder. He always laughed harder, held on longer. Daniel Ricciardo carried hope like a flare he refused to drop, even when the wind howled and the rain came in sideways.

He was, despite everything, the best of them.

That made it worse. Because none of them were surprised that he’d gone down for them, only sickened by how easily it could’ve been anyone else. That it was him hurt in their place.

The truth was that, despite everything, none of them ever imagined it’d be Danny.

Not Danny Ric, with his crooked grin and dumb jokes and the kind of laughter that made you forget how goddamn dark it always was. Not Daniel, who remembered birthdays and brought back stupid souvenirs and called them all mate like it meant something.

He wasn’t soft—God, no. He was ruthless when he had to be. Everyone knew that Ricciardo could flip a man with a wrench and a grin and walk away whistling.

But still, he was hopeful. The great tragedy of Daniel Ricciardo was that he was the most hopeful of them all. He was the brightest, the one who cracked the darkest rooms open with his smile and made them forget, if only for a moment, that they were criminals. He knew the worst of them and still chose to be the best of them. He was the one who, even after watching what this world had done to people, still somehow believed they were worth saving.

So when he took the blade to the back—a fucking kris, curved and cruel and ancient like some sick ceremonial final blow—something shifted. Something broke, not just in his body, but in all of them.

He was light, in a world of shadows, and now, the light was flickering.

The way they moved—the urgency, the silence, the glances they exchanged—it was in the air like blood in the water.

Oscar got up to do the bandaging again. His hands were steady, but his jaw ticked with restraint. Max kept shifting on his feet like he wanted to hit something. Carlos leaned in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, eyes glassy but dry. Logan sat on the steps with his head bowed, silent.

Lando went to kneel by Daniel, stripped of the usual iron-clad armor he wears around his boys. There was no sharp grin, no cocky tilt of the chin – just open pain in his eyes as he watched one of his oldest friends fade in front of him.

Daniel’s hand was clammy in his. His lips parted, then closed again like he was trying to say something and forgetting what.

Lando leaned in. “Still with me?”

Daniel smiled, just barely. “Yeah, boss.”

It gutted him, that smile. 

That fucking smile.

Blood loss. Organ damage. Shock. Oscar had said the words without flinching, clinical and grim. But Lando saw the way his hands shook when he stepped back. The way Logan had to steady him without making it obvious.

Carlos sat with his elbows on his knees, silent. Max leaned against the wall, arms crossed too tight, jaw locked. Even he looked like something in him was unraveling, thread by careful thread.

None of them were crying, but there was rawness in the air. This was part of the life. But that didn’t mean they had to like it.

Lando cleared his throat. “We’re gonna get them for this. Tsunoda’s gonna pay. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Yeah?” Daniel murmured, barely audible. “You better.”

“I will,” Lando promised. “Don’t you worry, yeah? They’re already dead.”

Daniel exhaled through his nose, the ghost of a laugh. “Tell Leclerc I said… ‘fuck you.’ In French.”

Carlos smiled, just a little. “Pretty sure he speaks English too, mate.”

They all chuckled, but just a bit – if only because Daniel would’ve wanted them to, even now.

Max Verstappen stepped closer and crouched down beside him. “You remember the job in Monza?” he asks.

“God…” Daniel sighed. “The bar fight?”

“You did start it.”

“Yeah,” Daniel breathed. “But I ended it too.”

Lando grinned despite the ache in his chest. “Damn right you did.”

More stories followed after that, each of them giving a piece of their memory, something bright, something bold, something that felt like it’d live on in the stars even after tonight. Each anecdote was an attempt at trading grief for something warmer, at holding on with words when their hands couldn’t seem to do enough.

It was Lando who took charge, just as it always has been. So they each spoke to him now — not over Daniel, but to him. Around him, as though he were already halfway out the door.

He was still breathing, but it was slower now. Softer, like even his body knew it was time to rest.

Daniel coughed again—wet, weak, red trailing from the corner of his mouth—and Lando stood.

He moved like he wasn’t thinking anymore. The muscles of his body moved purely on instinct, some muscle memory he developed over the year, the rhythm that helped him embody his role.

The Boss. The one who made the calls when no one else could.

He crouched by Daniel’s side, his own hand firm on the older man’s shoulder. Lando’s thumb brushed over his knuckles, his voice steady as a dying star.

“Daniel,” he said softly. “Stay with us.”

Daniel’s eyes fluttered open. “M’trying.”

“I know.” Lando swallowed, glancing briefly at the others, then back. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but he looked paler than he did a moment ago, almost sickly. “You did good. You hear me? You did everything right.”

Daniel gave the ghost of a smile. “Always do.”

Max huffed. “Liar.”

Carlos looked up. “Worst liar I ever met.”

Daniel laughed. It shook his whole chest and sent him into another coughing fit. Logan was there instantly, cloth in hand, wiping at the corner of his mouth.

Daniel blinked slowly. “We… Did we win?”

Lando nodded once. “We’re alive. You did that.”

Silence fell again. Then Daniel sighed, a long, low exhale like he’d finally finished something. His eyes slid closed again, lips parted. Still breathing, but lighter now, quieter.

“Is this it?” Logan asked quietly, not to anyone in particular.

But they all looked to Lando, because that’s what they did. That’s what Daniel had always done, too. They trusted Lando to lead.

Perhaps that was Daniel’s fatal mistake.

Instead of looking back at them, Lando stood slowly, his gaze on Daniel and his face unreadable. A long moment passed, Lando taking a deep breath before he spoke.

“Let him rest.”

They knew what that meant. None of them argued. None of them begged or made some desperate play for hope. 

Instead, they took turns stepping forward. Each of them said their piece in quiet tones, fragments of affection, of memories. Carlos pressed a kiss to his forehead. Max Fewtrell squeezed his uninsured shoulder in a gesture that he could only hope conveyed everything he could barely bring himself to say — a lifetime of gratitude and camaraderie and unspent love in a single gesture.

Oscar took off his watch and set it beside him—the same way Daniel had done once, years ago, after Oscar’s first mission went sideways. Max just sat down beside him and said, “Thanks for being better than us, Daniel.”

Logan lingered the longest. The young boy held his hand, told him a joke that made absolutely no sense, laughed for both of them, then walked out without a word.

In the end, it was Lando that remained.

Lando stayed until the others were gone, until it was just him and Daniel and the silence that pressed against the windows like night fog.

He crouched down again, brushed back a curl from Daniel’s sweat-matted hair.

“I’ll take care of them,” he told him. Even though he wore a smile, his voice was raw now, lower. “I swear to God, I’ll take care of all of them.”

A pause. Then—

“I’ll miss you, mate.”

He waited.

No reply came — just the smallest, shakiest breath.

“Alright, mate. It’s okay now.”

Daniel’s eyelids fluttered, the last spark of awareness lingering. Lando raised his hand, pressing it to his forehead gently.

“Sleep.”

And so, Daniel did. As he complied with his boss’s command one final time, he finally sank into a long, long sleep, and the room, once full of ghosts and grit and blood and noise, fell silent.

Lando stood, let out one long, shaking breath and walked out the door.

Behind him, Daniel Ricciardo lay still at last.

He didn’t remember the turns he took to get there.

The streets blurred past in streaks of black and neon, headlights beaming through the fog, buildings bleeding into one another like a watercolor left in the rain. The ringing in his ears hadn’t yet stopped since the ambush, low and echoey. Blood clung to what remained of his button-down in thick patches, sticky where it soaked through the torn fabric at his ribs. His knuckles were raw, the skin rough and dark, and the gash at his eyebrow had reopened, leaking warmth down the side of his face.

But still, somehow, he made it.

His hand shook as he raised it to knock. He missed the first time, fingers grazing the metal plate: 307. He tried again, firmer this time. The wood felt solid under his palm. He leaned on it, barely upright.

When the door opened, she stood in the frame like a ghost from a better life—oversized hoodie, messy bun, the kind of comfort he didn’t deserve. Her eyes went wide. She didn’t move.

His name—the wrong one, but right enough for now—fell from her lips in a cracked, breathless whisper.

“Oh my god! Liam—!”

He swayed, shoulder bumping the frame. That was all it took to snap her into motion.

“Here– Come in. Just, come in—”

She reached for him instinctively, one arm around his back, the other catching his wrist. He let her guide him inside, his weight leaning heavy on her as she pulled the door shut behind them. The lock clicked into place, and for the first time all night, something inside him uncoiled a little.

She was already scanning him with wide, panicked eyes. “What the hell happened to you?”

Her fingers ghosted over the edge of his shirt, where the blood was streaked all across his side. “Are you—oh my god, are you shot?”

“No.” His voice was wrecked, low and frayed. “Not really. Just… tired.”

She didn’t believe him. He could see it in the pinch of her brow. But she nodded, just once, and steered him toward the couch. He sank into it like a man unspooling, body slumping under the weight of pain and adrenaline finally running out.

She crouched beside him, her eyes rapidly tracing every scrape, every bruise, every place he flinched when her touch came too close. Her hands hovered, unsure—his temple? His ribs? The blood at his collarbone? Where was she supposed to start–

He caught her wrist gently.

“This was the closest place, and I…”

“And you...?” she asked softly, worry swirling in those eyes he hadn’t seen in so long.

He swallowed, his voice shaky for a different reason entirely when he looked up to answer her.

“I didn’t know where else to go.”

--

Robotnik drummed his fingers against the metal table, his eyes zeroed in on the old commander. Walters was moving as if his joints were rusted. As soon as he slid into the chair across from Robotnik, his body sagged.

"How are they treating you, Ivo?" Walters asked, laying his hands on the table as well. It looked as if it was the only thing grounding him in reality.

"Like a criminal!" Robotnik hissed. "Why don't I just tell them this was all your idea?"

Walters flinched harshly.

Robotnik glared. Usually berating the old man would help soothe his irritation, but not when the man already appeared paper thin. Whatever he had been up to had made him look ten years older.

"None of this was supposed to happen," Walters sighed. "You weren't supposed to attack White out right."

"He kidnapped Stone and Rockwell!" Robotnik barked. "What was I supposed to do!? Wait for you to get off your lazy ass and beg for them to be returned!?"

"You weren't supposed to end up in a cell like--!"

Walters cut himself off. He looked away, scowling at the wall as his hands clenched tightly.

"Like who?" Robotnik narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't matter," Walters shook his head, bitterness and guilt settling in the wrinkles of his face. "I've been negotiating for your release."

"How's that going?" Robotnik sneered.

"They have a lot of stipulations."

"I refuse."

"Ivo, please!"

"Absolutely not!" Robotnik hissed, anger rising up in his throat, ready to tear Walters to shreds. "I've played by their rules this whole time and it's gotten me nowhere!"

"Not doing what they say will only end with you staying locked up!"

"Not for much longer."

Walters eyes saddened.

"Please, son," Walters voice was thin. "I can't have you becoming a fugitive."

"Why do you care? Why go to these lengths for me?"

"Because I care about you," Walters stressed. "And because this isn't about just you anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"You have a pack now, Ivo. Who will protect them if you go on the run?"

"I would hardly call Stone and Rockwell my pack."

"What about the Hybrids who helped save them? And all those you saved at the facility? I'm sure little Ivo would love to meet his hero some day."

"She actually named the kid after me," Robotnik grumbled. His hands were still cuffed to the table, or else he would be facepalming at the news. "How do you even know about that?"

"Carol," Walters smiled gently. "She must have taken over a hundred pictures of the little guy."

"Then she can help look after them."

"That's not how it works, Ivo," Walters brief smile disappeared as he implored Robotnik. "You have presented yourself as their leader, as their head Alpha. They're all part of your pack now."

"I never asked for this."

"I know," Walters met his eyes evenly. "But I couldn't be prouder of you, son."

Robotnik swallowed.

Walters sincerity was too much for him. Glancing away, Robotnik began to ponder. If he did escape and leave GUN, what would happen to all of the Hybrids?

He could easily steal Stone away, but what about Rockwell? She relied on GUN to help her family. And now that he had released all those Hybrids from the facility, what would happen to them and their children?

There was no way for Robotnik to turn away from GUN and keep all of them safe at the same time.

But, would it be so bad to leave them behind?

He and Stone could run away to anywhere in the world. No longer would Stone have to go to monthly trainings and be disciplined so harshly he came back battered and bruised. Instead, Robotnik could lavish Stone with all the attention he wanted.

While the two of them were living their lives to the fullest, what about Rockwell?

Would she be forced into heat and impregnated? Robotnik thought back to when she showed up in his lab. He didn't doubt she would stab herself again, or something even more extreme, to avoid such a fate.

Little Ivo...

His rescue had meant so much to someone that they had named their child after him. Could he really repay them by abandoning them to GUN once more?

"What kind of deal?" Robotnik ground out.

"You would be doing the same job, but GUN would expect even more from you. More weapons, more inventions."

"With a lot more restrictions," Robotnik scoffed.

"You will be watched very closely," Walters admitted quietly. "They will keep a close eye on everything you produce. Every step you take will be monitored."

"A gilded cage instead of this dump."

"Yes."

"What about my agents?"

"They will be allowed to keep working for you."

Robotnik wasn't expecting that.

"How did you manage that?" Robotnik narrowed his eyes.

"They're the only things tying you to GUN," Walters said. "GUN will try to use them as leverage against you. To keep you in line."

"If they dare hurt them again..."

"I warned them. You never would have done anything of this if your agents had been left alone."

"This doesn't mean they won't try something."

Walters nodded.

"As long as you do what they want, GUN won't give your agents a second glance."

"They really care so little about Hybrids," Robotnik muttered. "What about all the rest?"

"All the Hybrids who accompanied you to the facility are back under my command," Walters smirked. "And because nobody else wanted to deal with a bunch of pregnant Hybrids, they also ended up at our base."

Robotnik let out a soft chuckle.

"You're senile."

Walters shrugged.

"I figured this was my only shot at being a grandpa."

Rolling his eyes, Robotnik started to think things through. GUN can believe they can keep him on a short leash, but he would show them. Even if it took a few years, he would show them they couldn't keep him caged.

"What happens if I refuse?"

"You'll stay here," Walters grimaced. "And your agents will be reassigned."

Nodding, Robotnik stared down at his fingers.

"Please, Ivo. Please take the deal," Walters' voice caught as he pleaded. "I can't stand seeing you like this. I've been through this too many times before for you to refuse."

"Who else did you offer deals to?" Robotnik furrowed his brow.

"It's all in the past," Walters sighed, shaking his head. "What matters is your pack is waiting for you. Don't leave them, Ivo."

A beat of silence before Robotnik straightened up.

When it was his group's turn, Constantine was the one to give the report. He’d insisted that Red Robin would be too stiff about it. He got some stern reprimands from the heroes, minus Batman, when he mentioned pushed the al Ghul’s into the Lazarus Pit, though he ignored them all. He said he didn’t know what happened to them, only that they didn’t resurface. Zatanna spoke up to say that the Waters were drained and ready for Phantom to dispose of it.

Just as the last of the reports had been given, the back wall opened green and Phantom walked out. He ignored their looks as he walked to the front of his room. “Ra’s al Ghul has been imprisoned and will serve his sentence for his crimes within the Realms’ Prison. Talia al Ghul has been returned to serve her parol in Gotham under The Lady and her Knights.” He locked eyes with Batman, Red Robin, Zatanna, and Constantine. “I thank you for your assistance with them. What of the Lazarus Waters?”

Zatanna handed him a thermos from her bag. “We didn’t know what you wanted to do with the stuff, so we gathered as much as we could to see what you wanna do with it.”

He nodded in thanks. “The Coma patients?”

Deadman said, “We split up to cover more ground faster. There were traces of Realms Magic and hauntings near all their homes.”

Sadly, Phantom looked at the table and inhaled deeply. Then, he looked at the last group. “The G.I.W?”

“Absorbed into the DMS,” Raven answered, “They were possibly working with the LoA, though I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that any longer. We’ve got all their files for you to look at.”

“Good. And the portal?”

“Incomplete,” Wonder Woman said, “Though they seem to be quite far along in the planning process, but there’s been no actual building being done.”

He nodded again. “Thanks for your help, guys. I trust you can handle the rest on your own?”

“‘The rest’ being..?” asked Zatanna.

“Handling the G.I.W, making sure those people get the care they need.”

“And the Realms Being that was here?” Superman asked.

“She won’t be a bother any more.”

“Oh?”

“She Challenged, she lost. You don’t need to worry about her. There shouldn’t be any lasting effects from her possessing those people, but you can call for me if there is.”

“Hold on,” Red Robin spoke up, “They were possessed?”

Phantom shrugged. “There’s really not a way to tell, other than the Realms Magic Deadman mentioned, but it’s a pretty good guess. If not that, then it was Shade Magic, but the only lasting effect from that is stronger emotions for a bit.”

Deadman tilted his head. “A Shade Challenged you?”

“Yes,” Phantom repeated, “She lost.”

“Got it, boss.” The ghost mimed zipping his mouth closed.

After a moment, Captain Marvel raised his hand. At Phantom’s nod, he asked, “Are you okay?”

Phantom inhaled shakily. “No, but there’s nothing you can do to help, so don’t worry about it.”

The magic user nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it.

“Anything else?” When no one spoke up after a minute, Phantom nodded once, and then let a portal open below him. On the other side, he let himself turn back into Danny before hiding in his pillow fort in the basement of the House of Mysteries.