A/N: Take a DEEP BREATH now!!! 

Dedicated to: Aaron_Ledgers Annteee 

Damien POV

It was as if everything was in slow motion. I turned around and surveyed everything around me. Randy was trying to pull me away from the barred doors. Nik and Felix were holding onto Mick, desperately trying to console him as he was crying out of fear and shock.

I held my breath as Hawkes aimed the muzzle of the gun pointblank, right at my father's head, ready to pull the trigger. I scrambled out of Randy's hold, wrenching myself away as I kicked and screamed at the metal barriers to open. I grasped the bars and shook them but the damn thing wouldn't budge!

I spied out of the corner of my eye, a dazed and disoriented Zack slowly sit up, shaking his head as he opened his tablet. He caught my gaze and nodded slowly. The barriers slid noiselessly upwards, as I rolled underneath them to reach the door mechanism to get them to slide open.

"DAMIEN...NOOOOOOO..." Randy hollered after me, trying to grab me back. Meanwhile Tank, the robot who had gone rogue earlier and tried to shoot at my dad, was re-awakened by Zack and was now lumbering towards Hawkes who had no clue that the monster military robot was in motion.

Tank managed to get close enough but the move proved ineffective as Hawkes somehow rammed a missile into his gut with his free hand. The AI Unit fell backwards, screaming in agony before he exploded into a thousand pieces. As the pieces scattered while Tank's carcass lay strewn and burning upon the ground, Hawkes turned his attention once more towards my father, his trigger hand unwavering.

Hawkes kept his eyes locked on my father as the doors slid open. My father's eyelids flickered open, seeing me running towards him. I saw the tears streaming down his cheeks as he shook his head violently at me, motioning for me to get away. DAMMIT!!! I wasn't going to lose my father this way! No way in hell!!!

I pried the pistol off of a dead Egon's hand and took aim, my hand shaking as I did so. I had one chance...one chance to keep Hawkes from shooting my dad and I was going to take it!

"HAWKES! Don't do it, Hawkes...I know you love your sons! You love Alma! Don't throw it all away, please..." I gulped, choking the words out of my throat as I kept the barrel of the gun pointed at his back, my hand shaking. Could I really do this? Could I actually pull the trigger?

In a blink of an eye, Randy growled and charged out of the doorway in a running tackle towards me as Hawkes slowly turned around, suddenly distracted by Randy's movements as he came busting through.

Hawkes then raised his gun towards me, a few seconds long enough for dad to shift his left hand which held his gun. But before dad could take aim, a gunshot rang out, stopping us all in our tracks as Randy tackled me roughly to the ground.

I shoved Randy off me as I rolled around on the grass, only to see Hawkes keel over, clutching his chest as blood streamed from the gaping hole in it. Nik crossed over us, steadily walking towards his father, with a smoking gun held in his extended hand.

I wrestled Randy off me and got up, pulling him along with me as we raced towards my dad. We fell onto the grass before my father, kneeling as I pulled him close to me. I held my dad tightly in my arms, not wanting to move him or do anything for fear of injuring him further. Those mesmerizing baby blues stared deeply into my eyes, relief flooding through them as he kissed my cheeks, pulling me deeper into the embrace with his left arm.

Together we pulled Randy into our circle, holding onto each other, disbelieving of what had just happened., as armed medical personnel rushed towards us. We looked over at where Hawkes lay as Nik softly approached his prone figure which now lay motionless on the lawn.

Mick and Felix slowly came out the sliding doors, running over to where Zack was, helping him up as medical personnel took care of his head wound.

"Dad...why did you do it, dad? Alonso could have been helped...I don't understand...please help me to understand...please..." Nik spoke, as he gently lifted his father's body, resting Hawkes' upper half now upon his lap, tears streaming down his face as Felix knelt alongside his father clutching his other hand.

"I'm so sorry, my sons...Forgive me...I thought...I was...doing the right thing. Promise me that you'll both take care of Alma and Alonso, especially him. He needs you both now, more than ever. Promise me!" He rasped, as we slowly stood up, bearing dad between us as he hobbled over to where Hawkes lay.

"Over here...quickly. Tend to him first...I'll be alright..." Dad yelled over to the medical staff who ran over to where Hawkes was.

"Don't you die on me, Hawkes...Don't you dare die on me now..." My dad said, in spite of the fact that the guy tried to kill him. My father let go of us, crawling towards Hawkes. They had been through too much together. There was so much history and friendship between the two men for it to be destroyed by something like this.

Hawkes eyelids fluttered open, as the medics hoisted him onto a gurney, while another was being wheeled towards my father. Hawkes took a tender look at my father, whispering, "Forgive me, sir..." as dad looked on with silent tears.

Randy and I pulled dad up into a standing position, while Black Hawks circled above us, searching for the remainder of Egon's men who had operated the tank that destroyed the Eastern wall.

Soldiers and other military personnel surrounded and caught the intruders. They rounded up a few more who had tried to break into the compound from the Northern wall. The military began confiscating all weapons and military assault vehicles used during the attack.

"D, are you okay? What the hell just happened?" Commander Bryant came running, his jacket torn from a long gash and some bruises which now decorated his face and arms, "I was watching the trial from the Green Room and all hell broke loose only to find out that Egon had managed to escape and was on his way here to get his son..." He rambled on.

"It was Hawkes all along, Bryant...He'd been helping Egon all this time..." My father grunted, as the medics now hoisted his injured body onto the gurney.

"But why? Why would he do such a heinous thing, siding with the enemy? This is Hawkes you're talking about!!! OUR HAWKES!!!" Bryant gasped, shocked at the news.

"For the love of his sons...For Alonso..." My dad sighed, exasperated from the entire event...

We all got sent to the infirmary but were later transferred to a military hospital outside of the compound. There were quite a number of casualties, thankfully none of them fatal. My dad went into surgery about the same time as Hawkes did, but only one of them came out alive.

Hawkes died at precisely 2:15 am from his wound on the operating table. William Mathers, Rob and Martha Weizmann came to visit my father and the others. William Mathers and the FBI had to take statements from all of us and especially Nik.

Nik was dying on the inside, stunned into grief by his actions. But he had no choice. He had made the decision to face his father in order to protect all of us. Mick and Felix rocked him back and forth as he cried into their arms. It would be a long time before Nik could be consoled from his father's death.

As for Egon's men, there were no more trials to be had. The men were instantly sentenced to life imprisonment without bail or possible clemency whatsoever, in a highly impenetrable prison, on a deserted island somewhere of which the location remain undisclosed for obvious reasons.

As I watched my father resting in his hospital bed after the operation, I wondered what our lives would be now that this entire incident had culminated into this.

"Hey, are you okay?" Randy whispered, as he entered into the room quietly while my father slept.

"No..." I nodded, as I felt his arms wrap around me.

"You?" I asked, as I settled into his arms.

"Not for a while...I guess..." He responded, as we together watched over my dad...