At the abandoned Tamaki Canning Warehouse, Nathan, still dressed as Father Destiny, had Isabelle tied up to a wooden chair in the middle of the room where the moonlight was cast above them.
“I should’ve known it was you,” Isabelle said, shaking her head.
“There’s no shame in being wrong, Izzy. Besides, this isn’t about you,” Nathan replied.
“Seems like I play a pivotal role in your little charade, so it seems that it is a little about me, isn’t it? Or are you just a bad screenwriter?” Isabelle smirked.
Nathan took the butt of his gun and smacked it against Isabelle’s jaw, “You say another word and I blow your brains out before the Red Raven even gets here.” He warned.
Isabelle replied with a blood-soaked smile.
The time was 8:40 p.m. and Rick parked his car across from the Tamaki Canning Warehouse. He knew it was a risk not dressing up like the Red Raven to stop him, but he knew he had to do it. He’s fed his ego long enough and he wouldn’t forgive himself if he fed a crazed lunatic fan’s ego on top of that.
As he walked across the street to the canning warehouse, he saw from one of the windows that Nathan and Isabelle were below the moonlight. He expected a grand entrance from him. Rick’s anxiety crept up on him as he walked behind the building and opened the back door. The door was opened with a loud creak which Nathan immediately picked up on.
“Red Raven my old foe, is that you?” Nathan called out in a flimsy English accent.
Rick wasn’t surprised that Nathan was as committed as he was to the role, so he replied back in his booming Red Raven voice that he hasn’t used in years.
“That it is. Now, I have you right where I want you. You are going to be handed over to the police and judged accordingly in the eyes of justice!”
Rick was hiding behind a pile of opened cardboard boxes, praying that Nathan wouldn’t see him.
Nathan replied, “Come on out and take me in, old pal! I surrender!”
Rick walked out behind the pile of boxes with his hands up. “Before you do that, I need you to let my daughter go.”
Nathan’s jaw dropped, “No, this can’t be! You’re supposed to be in costume!”
“I wasn’t going to give you what you wanted, Nathan.”
“But it wasn’t just for me, it was for you! All of this was for you! We talked and you agreed with me on everything!”
“I may have missed being the Red Raven, and yes I may have taken the fame I had with that role way too far, but I never wanted this. I never would have wanted lives taken all to be a character I played on TV once. I never would have wanted to dampen the relationship with my husband or daughter any longer just to follow around a serial killer who simply wanted to be captured. However, I think I do have something to thank you for after all,” Rick explained.
Nathan smiled weakly and felt the air leave his lungs when he uttered, “What?”
“For buying time to see my daughter in action,” Rick said.
Nathan looked behind him to see Isabelle untied from the chair. She punched him in the face and tackled him to the ground. He tried to squirm away from her but she put all of her weight on top of him with her legs.
“This wasn’t how this was supposed to go! I refuse to go this way!” he screamed.
Isabelle punched him in the face one more time and he was knocked out. “Finally he shuts up.”
Isabelle proceeded to handcuff him and sent out an order to the police station to arrest Nathan at the Tamaki Canning Warehouse. Then, Rick walked up to Isabelle and embraced her.
A few minutes later, the police arrived to take Nathan in. Isabelle drove off with the other police vehicles while Rick drove back to his home in silence. He smiled to himself, relieved that it was all over.
The next afternoon in Cameron’s hospital room, Rick, Cameron and Isabelle all watched the conclusion of Nathan’s trial. He was declared insane and was sent off to a mental institution.
“I hope that kid finds the help he needs,” Cameron said.
“So do I, hon. Even after all of the things he’s made me relive and all he’s done, I hope for the best for him,” Rick replied.
“That must’ve been horrifying, having to relive that trauma he unearthed about you,” Isabelle said, looking over to Rick.
“It certainly wasn’t what I expected, but, in all honesty, I needed to be reminded of all of that because I never realized how much damage it really did. I feel I never really understood what I’ve done to both of you and how I’ve let the Red Raven and the whole Hollywood persona in general just take over my whole personality,” Rick answered.
Isabelle sighed, “I feel like such a jerk for just leaving you after seeing you and Vivian. I mean, do I regret it altogether? I’m not sure because I was able to finish my time at the academy and find myself. On the other hand, I left you and Dad on your own and even though I was able to find myself, you weren’t able to for so long and you both were suffering.”
Rick walked over to Isabelle in her chair and gave her hug. “I’m just happy you were able to find yourself. Don’t ever regret anything you’ve done like I have.”
Isabelle hugged him back and left a few teardrops on his shoulder. Shortly after their hug, Isabelle got a call from the police station for assistance halfway across town. Isabelle said goodbye to her fathers one last time and promised she would be back before Cameron was checked out of the hospital. When she left, Rick and Cameron were left alone in the room.
“I’m happy that you didn’t wear the costume. It shows how much you really changed,” Cameron said.
“I know who I’m supposed to be, not what I was before,” Rick stated.
Rick held onto Cameron’s hand as the two exchanged a brief kiss.
THE END.