“Robin!” The scream escaped from Frisco’s lips as he watched the crimson leak across her neck and saw her crumble to the ground, like a broken doll. “Oh God, Robin. “ He reached her side in a split second, his heart banging in his chest frantically and his mouth gone suddenly dry. “Robin God No.” Desperate, he placed his hands on the her neck, feeling the blood spurt between his fingers despite his best efforts to hold it in, to keep her alive.

Lucky was there too, carefully holding the neck up so that the direct pressure Frisco was applying would be more effective.

His partner’s presence barely registered on Frisco, his whole being was consumed with thoughts of Robin and keeping her alive. He had never been this scared before. She was going to die. How much time did she have before she bled to death? A few seconds? A few minutes? God was it too late already?

He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t.

“Robin?” Nearby Anna dropped the gun she was holding and stared with horror at the scene in front of her. She dropped to her knees and began to rock herself back and forth, whimpering softly.

Frisco didn’t spare her a glance as he kept his hands tight on Robin’s neck.

Trying not to notice how much more blood she had lost in just the last few seconds alone.

“Masters!”

“I’ve got it!” Alex yelled as he scrambled in his pockets for the long range communications device. Without hesitation, he pressed a single button on it.

“Get Me Donnelly Now!” He barked the orders out as he waited impatiently.

“This is Masters. I need you to lock on our position with the GSP immediately. I need a medical transport from this site to Florence.”

“Forget Florence! Tell Sean we need a full emergency transport to Geneva” Lucky yelled from his position holding Robin’s head so that Frisco could apply direct pressure to the neck. At Alex and Frisco’s stare he explained. “Florence won’t have the equipment and from where we are now, Geneva’s only a 40 minute longer flight.”

He didn’t say what they were both thinking, that the odds of Robin surviving the flight were minimal.

“Right,” Alex nodded. “Geneva. We need a full emergency transport to Geneva. Code Red. Yeah. Robin. Faison. I have no idea.....” Alex looked around. “Where the hell did Faison go?”

Frisco looked around but didn’t move his hands from Robin. Not spotting Faison, he met Lucky’s eyes in anguish.

Lucky breathed in deeply. He wanted to be here, with Robin, where he was needed but they had a mission and it needed to be accomplished. He needed it to be finished.

Lucky swore softly. “Nikolas!”

Nikolas, who’d been standing in shock since he’d managed to stop the tank after it had barreled into the side of the villa, scrambled to his brother’s side.

“What? How can I help?”

Lucky looked at the brother he had hated more than he had ever liked and who if he was honest with himself he had never loved.

And looked once more at the man who was his brother in everything but blood.

Frisco nodded at the unspoken question.

Guiding Nikolas carefully, he slipped his hands out from under Robin’s neck and let Nikolas’s hands move in.

“Where are you going?” Nikolas asked, not liking the expression in his brother’s eyes.

“To do my job.” Lucky said simply. “Don’t move your hands. You lower her neck and the direct pressure on her neck is gone. Anything happens to her because you screw up and so help me Nikolas this time I won’t just walk away.”

“I was trying to help.”

“You shouldn’t be here Cassadine. This isn’t your affair.”

“Of course it is damn it. Lulu is my sister and you...you’re my brother Lucky whether you want to be or not.”

“Not. Trust Me Prince Nikki. At this moment it’s a not.”

“Lucky!” Emily’s voice broke in softly and at the sound of her voice Lucky felt some of the rage and helplessness that had consumed him from the moment he saw the blade slice Robin’s throat lessen. “This isn’t helping.”

“No. You’re right. It isn’t.” Lucky caught Nikolas’s eyes. “Whatever Frisco says to do, do it.” Lucky’s voice was raw with emotion. “Don’t let Robin die.”

Nikolas bit back the angry retort that had filled him at Lucky’s earlier words as he saw the anguish in his brother’s eyes. “I won’t.”

Lucky turned to Frisco again.

Frisco nodded. “Kill the bastard once for me.”

“You’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. The medics will be here soon.” As Lucky hesitated, Frisco shook his head. “There’s nothing you can do here Junior. Nothing.” He lowered his voice. “Lucky I don’t want that bastard to get away.”

“He’s wounded. He should be easy to track.” Lucky tore his gaze from the intensity in Frisco’s to stare at Robin for a second. Except for the blood pooling around her neck you would have thought she was sleeping. Flashes of memory echoed in his head....Robin rescuing him when he was little more than a beast chained and enslaved, Robin giving up her chance to discover the truth about her parents to save him, the long months at the safe house where Robin and Frisco had taught him to be human again, the nights when he would wake screaming and she would be there to hold him, Robin telling him it was time to go home, Robin on his door of his Southern California apartment offering him the chance to join the WSB....

Robin had given him his life back. Frisco was right. There was nothing he could do to help save her life, but he could kill Faison for her.

He could kill Faison for both of them.

He nodded and despite the pounding in his head and the ache in his heart, he scrambled to pick up the weapons dropped by some of Faison’s men, checking one carefully to make sure it was loaded before he hoisted it over his shoulder.

He turned to find Alex doing the same. “Let’s go.” Alex said quietly.

Lucky shook his head. “You can’t come.”

“You can’t go after him alone.”

“I have no choice.” Lucky’s words were softly said but the tone was cold. Briefly he indicated Emily and Anna. “I need you to protect them and help Frisco with Robin. Faison’s men appear to have deserted him but I’m not willing to take a chance and leave them defenseless”

He grinned as Emily snorted at that before he continued. “And I don’t want to leave Frisco alone just in ....” He let the words trail off but Alex got the message and nodded.

Lucky lowered his voice until only he and Alex could hear what was said between them. “I’m trusting you to keep Emily safe just like you did before.”

Not waiting for Alex’s reply, Lucky stepped away and towards Emily.

“Em?” Lucky hesitated, not sure what to say.

Emily looked at the man she loved and bit her lip to keep the words she knew she wanted to say from coming. She wanted to plead with him not to go. She wanted to tell him not to leave her. She wanted to say that she didn’t give a damn what happened to Faison. She wanted to point out that his forehead still trickled blood and just a few minutes ago she had thought him dead.

She wanted to say all of that, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t. He had to do this, she knew that. And she wasn’t going to make it harder on him.

So instead of what she wanted to say, she moved to kiss his cheek, being careful of her twice injured arm, and simply whispered what was after all the most important thing. “I love you Lucky Spencer. Come back to me.”

“Always. No matter what.” He told her softly. Stepping away from her, he turned back to Alex. “Make sure the medics look at her arm.”

As Alex nodded, Lucky took off in what he hoped was the direction Faison had gone.

Emily stared after him for a second before turning back to see if she could help Frisco in any way.

“She’s losing too much blood.” Alex had taken off his shirt and Frisco was using that as a direct pressure bandage.

Emily took a step closer and would have added her own good hand to help until Frisco told her to get back. “Don’t touch her blood.”

Emily froze. How could she have forgotten Robin’s HIV status?

“I don’t care.”

“I do.” Frisco replied evenly. “More importantly she does.” His tone gentled. “Besides there’s nothing you can do and you’re injured yourself sweetheart.”

With a sudden thought, he turned to Nikolas. “Cassadine? Lucky probably forgot about the HIV...”

“It doesn’t matter.” Nikolas shrugged as his hands didn’t move from Robin. “Her life is all that matters.”

Frisco nodded. Maybe Nikolas was more like his brother than Frisco had given him credit for. “That’s exactly how I feel.”

Frisco looked at Robin and then back at the wound at her neck. “Is the bleeding slowing down or is it my imagination.”

“I don’t know.” Emily shook her head. “I can’t tell.”

“She’s still lost too much blood.” Frisco looked at Alex. “How much longer until transport gets here.”

“Twenty minutes at best.”

“Too long.” Frisco’s heart plummeted. “She’s losing too much blood. She won’t make it.”

Emily Quartermaine watched carefully what was going on around her, trying to ignore the pain in her arm long enough to think. For the first time in her life she wished desperately that she had followed her parents into medicine instead of her grandfather into business. Hell, if this was a business problem and a loss of cash flow she would simply pump more money into the project until the situation stabilized.....

“What if we could replace the blood that she has lost?”

Nikolas shook his head. “We don’t have the equipment to do that kind of blood transfusion and none of us are medically trained even if we did have someone available w hose blood was compatible....”

“Mine is.” The quiet voice came from Anna who’s tears had dried and who had come closer, her face pale but resolved. “You can use me for a transfusion.”

“We still don’t have the equipment or the training...”

“Faison does.” Emily indicated the villa. “Somewhere in there there has to be something we can use.”

“That whole building is either collapsed or ready to collapse. You won’t find anything.” Alex spoke up even as his mind started to process the possibilities. A little tubing.... a syringe...

“We can’t just let Robin die.” Emily responded.

“Do you even know how to do a transfusion?”

“No, but....”

“I do.” Anna spoke up softly. “Before I became a spy I took a couple of premed classes at the university...”

“Right.” Alex nodded. “Then I think it’s time I went hunting for a syringe.”

“We went hunting.” Emily corrected.

“You’re injured.”

“Broken arm not a broken leg. Come on we don’t have the time to argue.” Emily replied as they raced back into the villa.

Frisco watched them go and then looked down at Robin who was even more pale and whose breathing was becoming shallow and light.

It was crazy. The odds were a million to one.

Please God let it work.

Faison’s tracks were easy to follow if one kept an eye out for drops of blood that sort of trailed one after the other Lucky thought grimly as he scampered down a hillside covered with rows and rows of grapes. The grapes were problematic, they were just high enough and full enough at this time of the year that a man could easily hide behind them, waiting to be ambushed.

Lucky moved with a cool determination. He was not going to be ambushed this time.

This time Faison was going down.

He held the automatic rifle in his hands with a precision born of training and experience. He would admit to anyone who asked that his forte in the WSB was computers and technology, what few people knew was that he graduated with top marks from all of his classes at the academy.

Including marksmanship.

And he would actually be feeling pretty confident right now.

If his head wasn’t pounding, his vision still blurred, and he wasn’t scared to death about Robin.

Still he moved forward, aware that he and Faison had been playing this game of chess and he had finally maneuvered the other man into a checkmate. All he had to do was to stay alive long enough to finish the game.

“I know you’re there Faison.” He yelled as he moved up to another row of vines. “I know you’re there so you might as well give yourself up.”

He didn’t expect a response. He just wanted Faison to know who it was after him.

Who it was who would kill him.

Lucky grinned despite himself.rinned despite himself.

The grin departed when he finally made out Faison leaning against an olive tree, his shoulder bleeding profusely.

The man appeared unarmed, but Lucky wasn’t taking any chances as he approached with his gun drawn.

“Game over Faison.”

“Oh no...” An insane smile lit Faison’s face as he tried to stand up, holding onto his shoulder. “This game will never be over. I claimed you as mine my dearest Lucky. I own you, body and soul and you know it.”

“What I know...” Lucky raised his arm and casually aimed the gun at Faison. “is that in a few seconds you will be dead and the world will be a better place.”

“You can’t kill me. You aren’t a killer. There’s too much of the boy scout in you to let you take the life of an unarmed man.”

“Now there’s another spot where you are a wrong, Faison.” Lucky kept his voice steady. “The Lucky Spencer you kidnapped was the boy scout, the naive teenager who believed that people were basically good. You destroyed that belief.”

Lucky cocked the trigger and drew closer even as Faison tried to move back. “You won’t do this. You’re bluffing. It’s a good bluff, but it is just a bluff.”

“No bluff. No threats. Just one single bullet. I’m thinking through the head but then I’ve heard that being shot in the stomach is the most painful way to die. It takes hours to die from a shot to the gut, you know. I kind of like the idea of you suffering before you die.”

Faison shook his head. “This isn’t you.”

“Oh no, this is exactly me.” Lucky grinned. “I am who you made me. And what I made of myself.”

“If you kill me, you’ll never know the truth.”

“The truth? Oh I know the truth. The truth is that you are a bastard. The truth is that as long as you are alive the people I love will never be safe. The truth is that if killing you sends me to hell I don’t mind because it can’t be worse than what you put me through.”

“That wasn’t the truth I was speaking about.” Faison smirked. “Although it’s nice to know that you enjoyed our time together as much as I did. The truth I was talking about was something a little more subtle. Did you ever wonder young Spencer, why I kidnapped you?”

“Because you are a sick twisted bastard.”

“Now that would have been my reason for taking my sweet Robin.”

“You couldn’t get Robin. She was with Frisco.”

“Possibly. But if I had wanted revenge on anyone, it would have been a Scorpio. Any Scorpio. Including those two sweet lovely young girls of your partners. Scorpios by marriage, they would have been wonderful additions to my menagerie if all I had wanted was revenge. The older one especially is a bit of a spitfire, I understand.”

“Leave Maxie and Georgie out of this.”

“Oh gladly, just as I would have gladly left you out of it. So I ask you again, why did I kidnap you?”

“To get back at my father you twisted sick monster.”

“Wrong answer. Would you care to use a lifeline or are you just going to walk away?” Faison paused. “Now I admit that after I.... got to know you better my reasons for wanting to keep you changed, but I didn’t take you in the first place for personal reasons. I took you because I was asked to. Paid to even.”

Lucky froze. “Who the hell paid you to kidnap me?”

“You see, you are interested in my truth, aren’t you?”

Lucky shook his head and swore. “I’m not nearly as interested in your so called truth as I am in your death. You lie Faison. You lie and you manipulate and you twist things and there is no way in hell that I believe anything you say about anything.”

“You may not believe me but you wonder don’t you? You don’t disbelieve me and that makes you doubt.”

“I don’t doubt that I’m going to kill you.” Lucky’s voice didn’t waver. “For what you did to Lulu, Emily, Robin.....”

“What about yourself Lucky? Aren’t you going to kill me for what I did to you? Do you remember Lucky? The dungeon walls covered with your blood. It was hard to keep the rats you know, they love fresh blood. I remember seeing you shake and quiver in the corner, cowering in front of me, trying to hide all of that lovely flesh from me. Your skin was so soft and the look in your eyes was so gloriously full of fear and terror as I rammed into you......”

“Shut the f*ck up!” Lucky growled. “To hell with it. The game is over Faison you are going to die. I’m going to finally get to do what I dreamed of doing every time you raped me you bastard. I’m going to watch you die and know that I was the one who killed you.”

“Rape?” Lucky’s heart stopped when he heard a familiar voice behind him. “He raped you, Cowboy?”

Oh God. Lucky swore inwardly even as he kept his outward focus on Faison. He had never wanted his father to know the details about what had happened to him. It had been hard enough telling Emily the truth and he wouldn’t have if Faison hadn’t given her enough clues that she figured it out on her own.

He had never wanted anyone to know what Faison had did to him.

“Ironic isn’t it?” Faison laughed. “That your son would learn first hand just how violent an act rape is.... although I wasn’t always violent, was I?”

“It was always rape and you were always a sick, sadistic bastard.” Lucky drew himself up and tried to forget the fact that behind him, his father had yet to say something. “I’m not a kid and I’m not your victim this time Faison. This time I’m your executioner.”

And without hesitating a beat, Lucky released the trigger.

Back at the villa.

“Is this going to work,” Emily asked softly as she handed Anna the syringes and tubing that she and Alex had found in one of Faison’s lab.

It was going to take some effort to forget some of the other things they had seen in Faison’s lab.

“I don’t know,” Anna whispered as she plunged the needle into Robin’s arm. “I don’t know.” She leaned back and watched as the red fluid left her own body and flowed into her daughter’s. Her daughter. Anna took a long look at the beautiful young woman lying on the ground. Even pale and unconscious, with blood pooling around her neck, she could tell that Robin had grown into a beautiful young woman.

And although she would never admit it, Anna could have predicted that her headstrong and clever daughter would end up in the WSB.

Spying was the family profession.

“If she dies....” Anna breathed the words softly and Frisco looked at her.

“If she dies it won’t be your fault.” Frisco said firmly. “And she’s not going to die. She owes me a wedding complete with doves and a white dress and a singing Elvis.” He touched her cheek with his fingertips. “Then she owes me a happily ever after.”

Anna stared at him in shock. “You and Robin? You and my Robin, my Robin, are a couple? You’re sleeping with my daughter?”

“They’re not sleeping together, Emily murmured from where she had sat quietly, the pain in her arm catching up with her. “They’re engaged.”

“You are marrying my daughter?”

Nikolas couldn’t stop himself from grinning.

“Emily you’re not helping.” Frisco murmured. “Look, can we wait until Robin is better and then we’ll have this conversation about my intentions.”

“You have intentions towards my daughter.”

Whatever Frisco would have said was lost as Robin’s body began going through convulsions. “What’s happening?” Emily sat up.

“She’s going into shock.” Frisco shouted. “Alex try to hold her down so she doesn’t break the transfusion.”

“I think she’s stopped breathing.”

“Oh my God she’s dying.”

“How long on the transport?”

“She can’t die. She can’t.”

“Her lips are blue.”

“If we give her mouth to mouth she’ll start bleeding heavily again.”

“And if we don’t she’s going to die anyway.”

“When is that transport getting here?”

“They’re here. I can hear them. There it is.”

“They’re too late. Oh my God it’s too late. We’ve lost her.”

The stories about a white light were exaggerated Robin realized as she walked softly. It was more like a white fog, or at least it looked like fog but it wasn’t cold like a fog. It was warm, comforting, secure.

Funny how her feet seemed to know where she was going, like she had been here before.

Maybe she had.

She could hear voices, but they were distant and growing even more so. The urgency she felt didn’t come from behind her, it came from in front of her.

The growing sense that this was where she was supposed to be, this was where she was supposed to go.

She wasn’t afraid. She was...relieved.

Like she had finally arrived at her destination.

And as she continued to move forward, the voices receded until they disappeared all together.