Death By The Undying

"Boss?" Colm said as he and Doran Langlot watched Angus kill a Vyker from the cover they had found to keep safe from all the ongoing gunfire. 

The sequence that ensued before the sound of Angus' fired shot had been so fast that their eyes had been unable to keep up and to now see the result of it all was the death of one of the powerful allies they had hoped would ensure their win made their minds start working fast. 

Whatever doubts were starting to creep in, Doran shook them away with an aggressive shake of his head,

"There's no need to worry. The remaining four will take care of him. Let's focus on what we can actually deal with," he said. 

"Boss, I been thinking of that," Colm said with a frown as his eyes went to the shootout happening between the Chore group and the Langley Gang members,

"Haven't seen any of the others we know. The redhead? Charles? The brute with those weird teeth? Or even the boy from the other day?"

Of course, Doran had noticed as well. He had just not had the time to give it enough thought since Angus had so readily presented himself but now that Angus was locked in a combat so fierce and magical that he knew it was best he stayed away from, he found himself searching for the others. 

"Inside the Mansion, maybe?" Colm asked. 

"They'll leave their leader to fight and hide away?" Doran said with a grunt, "Doesn't seem like them."

"Well, maybe they aren't here," Colm said with a shrug. "Would be for the best," Doran said, "When they return, Angus will be dead, the Mansion will be ours and we can simply wait to strike them down at our convenience."

At the time, the Langlot Gang members who had been forced to seek cover because of the Chore group managed to completely turn the tides. They lost three members in total but successfully gunned down every single lender of the Chore group. Their bodies were strewn all about the courtyard in a horrid and bloody sight.

The only one who had survived the shootout was Good ol' Joe who scrambled towards a door over to the side of the Mansion and dashed in for safety. 

Alas, some Gang members saw Joe's portly body stumble a few times as he ran into the Mansion. They even shot at him but struck Wagons and the mansion's walls instead of his body. 

"After him!"

Three Gang members broke away from the shooting fold, feeling elated after a successful slaughter of the Chore group, and ran into the mansion after Good ol' Joe. Reloading their Repeaters as they ran. 

Joe ran down the corridor and ducked his head while yelling as bullets were fired behind him. A few struck the wall but one cut into his shoulder with such force that it pierced out the other side. 

"Ah!" The Dionisio TaskMaster yelled as he raised a hand to his wound and his running speed slumped but he managed to turn a corner and make his way down the West wing. 

The choice was between running to the top floor of the mansion and risking getting gunned down as he tried to climb the steps or running on an even plane and going to the only person who could heal his injuries. 

And as though Fate was smiling at him, the door of the medical bay swung open with Yelena leaning against the door frame with a pained look on her face. 

Joe leaped through the open door and grabbed Yelena's arm to pull her in with him,

"Lock the door, Girl!" He yelled. 

Yelena's eyes widened at his order and then her green eyes moved until they fell on the three charging over. She had of course heard the gunshots and for every bullet that struck the Mansion, she felt a pang of pain but even then she had resolved herself to remain indoors. 

But when the sounds of gunfire began to get closer and were striking walls within the West Wing —Her wing of the Mansion—, she couldn't help but pull her door open and look outside. 

The three Gang members paused their runs and smiles began to stretch across their faces,

"Well, what do we have here?" One asked as he took a further step forward, 

"A beauty."

Yelena grimaced. Whatever was happening outside, very few bullets were striking the wall now, and the pains she had been feeling lessened enough for her to straighten her back and look into the faces of the three. 

"She's part of the enemy," said another but he didn't sound like he was cautioning his fellow. If anything, he let his eyes roam Yelena's form with scrutiny that was only surpassed by the third who said,

"Nah, I don't think so. She's wearing a gown… And I don't see no gun. Must be some maiden the Dionisio bastards have trapped here."

"Aye," said the first of the Three, "That must be it. Well then, how about coming with us? We'll take good care of you, girl. You can trust us. Can't she, boys?"

"Of course," the remaining two said unanimously. 

"What are you doing?" Joe asked with one hand still on Yelena's arm and his other hand over his wound,

"Get in here and lock the door!"

'Like a fool, I didn't grab a gun while I was running. Shit!' He thought with regret. 

"Shut up, old man!" Said one of the three as he pointed his gun and shot at Joe's arm. The only part of his body that was visible as he tried to pull Yelena into the room for safety.

"Ahhhhhh!" Joe yelled as he released Yelena's arm and fell back into the room while howling in pain. 

Yelena froze and looked to the side at Joe and then at the gun that had shot him. She clenched her fist but remained in place with a fiery look in her eyes. 

"Alright," said the Langlot Gang member that had shot Joe, "Now that the old man has let go of your arm, I say again, come with us."

"To where?" Yelena asked gently. 

The Gang members looked confused by the question,

"Well—" the one at the forefront started to stay but the rest of the sentence was lost as dark tendrils suddenly appeared around Yelena's body in her fastest casting time record since she had begun practicing the spell. 

She congealed the Tendrils into a singular blast as Henry had made her do many times when he asked her to kill him and fired. Her attack struck the Gang member in the middle of whatever degenerate suggestion he was about to make. 

The other two watched as the tendrils wracked through their comrade's body, lifting him a few inches off the ground with his eyes rolled back and his skin breaking apart. 

Every drop of blood dried up before they could even begin to drip and it all ended with a final slam against a wall on the other side. His life was already lost before the impact. 

"What in hell!" One of the remaining two yelled. 

The other pointed his gun and shot quickly at Yelena. He was so fueled by fear that he unloaded all of the bullets he still had in his Repeater. 

One of the bullets struck Yelena's forehead and knocked her head back but she straightened her neck and with a steeled look, she fired another congealed tendril that snuffed the life of the shooter.

The eyes of the only one still alive widened in horror and his hand shook as he watched the bullet that had punctured Yelena's forehead slowly get pushed out as the wound healed. 

"What— What in all hell are you?!" He asked in a choked voice. 

He never got his answer though as a third congealed Tendril shot struck him the very next second. 

As the lighting wracked through him and tore him apart from the inside without giving him the ability to scream, the Gang member decided death by shooting would have been preferable to death at the hands of this undying Witch. 

The horror he had felt at her healing wounds was bound to follow him into the afterlife. If there was one.