Chapter Title: Final Verdict
Notice..
This is a work of fiction. It should be noted that event and characters are not real so if some situation and statement feel real then it all purely coincidental .
Black Dragon Headquarters
The silence was suffocating. No one spoke.
Even the usually loud-mouthed explosives expert stood still, lips pressed shut. Every eye was locked on Natasha, who had just offered her life so Annalisa could vanish for good.
Damien's gaze was heavy but unreadable. Samuel refused to meet anyone's eyes. The tension gripped the air like a noose.
Only Blade stood. Bryan "Blade" Avett wasn't a man of many words. But when he spoke, every syllable carried weight like the drop of a guillotine.
He stepped toward the end of the table where the blueprint of the institution glowed across the wall. He didn't look at it. His eyes were fixed on the room.
A dozen hardened men, killers, spies, ghosts of wars no one remembered, sat silently around the black steel table. Not one dared move. Not one dared breathe.
Until Blade spoke. "Everything is in place. There's no turning back after this."
He paced slowly, voice calm but laced with danger. "This isn't just a rescue mission… this is a resurrection. For five years, they kept a lioness in chains. Now she wants to walk free and when she does, the world will feel her roar."
His eyes flicked toward Samuel.
"For those of you with personal ties to this mission, bury your emotions. We're not here to grieve. We're here to finish what was started the day the Laurel bloodline was burned."
He stopped walking "The garden will bloom in flames. The decoy will buy us just enough time for extraction. The cameras will be blind. Their guards will be confused. Their chain of command will fall into panic."
His gaze narrowed, it was sharp as a drawn blade, just as his name goes "One mistake,one second too early, too slow, or too soft and we lose everything."
Then, finally, he placed a hand over his chest. "But I trust every one of you, because we are the unseen blade. The silent retribution and this time, we're not just stealing someone back, we're delivering a message."
With a sudden, deliberate motion, Blade pulled a dagger from the sheath on his back and drove it through the center of the institution blueprint.
The room exhaled.His final words cut through the silence like steel through flesh.
"Let the world think Annalisa Laurel is dead. What they'll meet instead… is the devil she became."
Then the eldest of the squad leaders Gregor stood up. He raised his fist to his chest as he also spoke. "If she's willing to walk into the fire, then we make damn sure it lights the way not just for Annalisa, but for every fallen Laurel."
As if Gregor's had ignited a new flame within them one by one, the others followed.
"For the house that fell," said another.
"For the heir who rises,"
"For Lady Laurel, for Annaliora, for vengeance."
Finally, Damien moved. His voice was cold, steady, final. "Then the verdict is passed."
He looked directly at Natasha. "You will burn… and be reborn through her."
Natasha nodded once. She shed no tears, she wasn't shaken by what he said. She remained just fierce, with focused peace like always.
Blade stepped to the center of the room, unsheathing the ceremonial dagger from his belt. Its black steel gleamed in the vault's dim light.
"The plan is now active. From this point forward there's no turning back. We stage the explosion. We plant the decoy.
We erase Annalisa Laurel from this world."
He raised the dagger, and his voice dropped to a whisper of command. "Those who stand by this plan, step forward now."
Without hesitation, boots echoed across the stone floor. Damien, Samuel, the squad leaders. Every single one stepped forward, forming a line behind the fie.
Then Blade turned to Natasha with a smirk.
"You will not die as a shadow, Natasha.You'll die as a shield."
But Natasha only smiled back with quiet defiance, standing tall in the face of her fate.
"No. I'll live as one."
End Of Flashback....
To Be Continued