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Chapter 31

Chapter 31

When Wo Fat returned with the phone, Steve couldn't take it anymore; he could feel his man dying via their link and it was driving him crazy.

"Danny, tell me you've got something?" he asked as soon as his friend picked up.

"Five minutes, can you call me back in five minutes?"

"OK."

Anguish no longer let go of the Hawaiian, who couldn't even hope for help to arrive; the fear of losing Charlie and his inability to act paralyzed him. However, he regained hope when the door flew open and bullets started flying. Steve felt a pain in his ribs, but he didn't care - he'd just seen a knife fly across the screen and stab into the top of the dragon caretaker's torso.

"Charlie!" yelled Steve, struggling in his chair to free himself.

"Hey, take it easy Steve, take it easy," Danny tried, coming up to him.

The soldier was relieved to see his friend and Chin in his prison and calmed down long enough to be freed, but he ran out of the room as soon as he could. He came to a corridor at the end of which he spotted a kneeling man being watched by a standing man. He ran down the corridor, stopping only to discover Joe being held in check by Harry Potter. He took no time to question them and entered the room where Charlie was now lying on the floor, his parents at his side. Farther away lay the inert bodies of Doris and Ian.

Steve rushed to his man's side, to Molly's right, and caressed his face. His skin was too white, his lips blue and his chest barely moved. The knife was stabbed through his sternum, but the wound wasn't bleeding, a fact that made Steve panic even more.

"An antidote, Wo Fat said he had an antidote," he reported as soon as he touched his man.

He heard Chin swear and head back to the other room as Danny began rummaging through the corpses.

"Oh Steve, darling!" exclaimed Molly as she seemed to realize just then that he was there.

She trapped him in her bear hug, but quickly released him.

"But you're hurt, what have they done to you darling?"

"It doesn't matter Molly, we've got to give Charlie the antidote, from what Wo Fat told me he's got about thirty minutes before it's too late."

"Ginny's gone to get Jackub from the reserve on Donovan's advice, he's going to treat him, I trust Charlie's friends."

"Yes, if anyone can save him, it's Jackub. Where's Donovan?"

"With your sister and niece, darling, they're fine."

Steve hugged Molly again, before squeezing Arthur's shoulder and standing up to go into the hallway. He nodded toward Joe in a silent question to Harry.

"The woman threw the knife when we got there, Molly lost control, she killed her with a spell. The Asian fought back the spell and Ginny knocked him down. This one didn't move."

"Joe, what are you doing here?"

"Your mother was a very convincing woman, she persuaded me to come."

"And at no point did you think you'd step in while she tortured an innocent man."

"If he'd been innocent, you wouldn't have given up everything for him, he bewitched you."

Steve couldn't hold back his blow, nor the ones that followed, it took Harry to stop him as the man he'd once considered a second father lay bleeding on the floor.