Chapter 16: A City Under Siege

Mira's eyes slowly grew more used to the dark and she preceded cautiously, Hunter at her back. "Do you feel anything?" she hissed.

"He's gone this way, Mira." Hunter closed his eyes, counting on his super sensitive senses to tell him that Braxton had gone this way, only a few moments before. "I can smell him."

Mirage nodded and then kept up her suspiciously cautious trip down the tunnel. Everything was becoming clearer and she could see the tiny dot of light that showed the end of the tunnel and the beginning of another set of tracks that fed into Braxton's hideout. So when an arm reached out, grabbing her around the neck, a surprised squeak left her lips.

Leather gloved hands pulled her back against a hard body and a gun was pressed to her skull. "Drop your weapon and then tell lover boy to drop his," Taylor Braxton growled ominously.

"Now why the hell would I do something that stupid," Mira growled. "Tell you what, you drop your gun, give yourself up and give us the antidote for the orange drug you've devised and Hunter might let you live to spend the rest of your hopefully long, long life in the tombs at ASP headquarters."

"Mira, now's not the time to be baiting the psycho killer," Hunter said softly, his eyes going from the shadowed look on Braxton's face to the gun he had pressing against Mira's head.

"Your boyfriend over there has the right idea, Mirage. Drop the fucking gun or I'll blow your fucking head off."

"Okay, now let's see, you blow my head off, you've lost your leverage and Hunter takes you in, if he doesn't get mad enough to kill you himself. I don't think you'll do it, Braxton. You're a coward at heart. You can't fight an opponent face to face; you have to wait until their back is turned. That means your life is more important to you then killing me."

Braxton ignored her, tugging her even closer to him. "Drop it, Hunter or your little toy here is going to be a stain on the wall of my tunnel."

Hunter met Mira's eyes, seeing her thoughts in that glance. He nodded almost imperceptively and started to lower his blaster. "I can't let him kill you, Mira."

Taylor relaxed his grip just the tiniest of bits when he saw Hunter lowering his weapon and that's when Mirage struck. Her elbow went back and into his ribs followed by a solid backward punch into the groin. He bent, releasing his hold on her completely and she took a step forward, grabbing his head and pushing it hard into the knee she brought up as she turned back to face him.

Braxton hit the ground hard, the gun skittering out of his now relaxed grip. Mira sat on his back, grabbing his arms and cuffing them tightly and then searching him for other weapons. She pulled an arsenal from his body, even checking his boots and finding the toes outfitted with sterling silver tips that shot out and became knives.

Tugging them off, she threw them a few feet away where the rest of his arsenal lay. "Damn," Hunter breathed. "Sure you got it all?"

Mira nodded. "Unless he's got a bazooka in his pants." Taylor moaned as he began coming around. With a grin, she grabbed his arm, yanking him up. "Ready for a vacation, Taylor?"

"Huh?" he asked dazedly. "What vacation?"

"The one you're about to get at ASP head quarters." She let Hunter take Braxton and bent to pick up his arsenal, dropping it all into his boots to cart back to ASP. "Damn, Taylor, get some odor eaters for these things."

"He won't need odor eaters where he'd going. See, Taylor, ASP isn't really recognized by too many other law enforcement communities and since we police our own, we even house those that need to be kept from the public. You'll be going into a five by eight foot cell with no windows, no rights, and no considerations. You don't have the right to an attorney or even a phone call. The justice given by ASP authorities is absolute; there are no reprieves or chances. What you've done is enough cause for you to be put away forever."

Taylor growled but kept quiet otherwise, moving docilely at Hunter's side. He didn't have much choice, considering the grip Hunter had on him and the fact that Mirage walked just a few feet behind him. They made their way back down the tracks, showing up just as Dianna and Beast were freeing the last of the "Zombie girls", as they'd been dubbed.

"You got him!" Dianna said, hurrying to pull Taylor onto the platform as Beast gave Hunter and then Mira a hand up. "Is he talking?"

"Well, beside a 'huh' we haven't heard a peep out of him but that could be due to the whooping that Mira gave him," Hunter said, gazing proudly at her.

"Yeah, well it pisses me off to have knives held to my throat." Mira returned Dianna's hug. "Now, about that time off..."

Dianna rolled her eyes. "Mouthy to the end."

Taylor Braxton made nary a peep during the long trip back to ASP headquarters. He was walked through processing and put into an interrogation room, seated and cuffed to a long table where the chairs and table were bolted to the floor.

He barely glanced up as Shadow opened the door, a thick file in his hands. He took the chair across from Braxton, an expectant look in his eyes. "You've caused us a bit of trouble," he said, glancing down at the paper on top of the file. "Anything you want to say before we get started?"

Taylor rattled the cuffs that held his hands to the table. "You're going to have to kill me," he said softly.

"Killing you is not an option, Mr. Braxton. See, despite my own beliefs, our founders feel that punishment for crimes committed will be decided upon by your peers. Since I can think of no one more justified to decide upon the punishment of your crime than those you hurt by it, well, we have to wait until they are capable of doing it." Shadow pulled some pictures out of the file, the first one being of Mistress Melody. It showed every bite mark, every injury that had been inflicted upon her body. The last being one of one of the girl's in the coffins Hunter and Mira had rescued.

"These women caused you no harm, they did nothing to you to warrant this treatment," he slammed his hand on the table. "You defiled them, drug them, put them in coffins to sell them to the highest bidder. I'm here, not to discuss your crimes or the terms of your punishment but to find out what exactly was the drug that you gave them."

"Go to hell," Taylor growled, slamming his hands on the table.

"Have you ever seen the tomb here?" Shadow asked, holding on to his temper with a fine thread. "It's worse then hell. You've seen your last bit of sunlight, Braxton. If you cooperate, we might be able to work up a bit of sympathy."

Taylor glanced over at Shadow, his mouth moving but no sound coming out. Sitting forward, he watched as Shadow sat forward as well, then he sprayed the man with a mouth full of spittle.

Shadow sat back, wiping his face on his sleeve. "I'll take this as a refusal to cooperate," Shadow said slowly.

"Go fuck your cooperation, and while you're at it, you might want to kiss this city good-bye. Taylor lifted his hand, pushing down one sleeve of the orange jumpsuit they'd put him in. Without a single sign of pain, he dug his fingers into his forearm, ripping his skin open. Blood dripped onto the table but Taylor ignored it, reaching into his skin. He pushed at something buried there and then his eyes met Shadow's and he began to laugh.

A strange buzzing noise sounded but it wasn't from inside of ASP and Shadow jumped up from the table, reaching out and grabbing Braxton's arm. He reached into the same ragged tear, finding the button that Taylor had pushed and ripping it from his arm. "What the fuck is this?"

"Your demise," Taylor said then laughed even more as the buzzing became louder and then pulsated. "How many of them are here? How many of them did you bring back here to try to help? You do-gooders will never learn."

"Are you talking about those girls you kidnapped?"

Before Braxton could answer, Shadow's cell phone began to ring and he stared down at it, his eyes on the small window. "Yeah Dianna."

He listened intently and then hooked the cell phone back into his belt, staring at the man across from him. "Turn it off," he growled. "Turn if off now!"

"Why the hell would I do that? By the time they are done, there won't be anyone around that will go up against me. You'll all be dead and I shall run my own little harem of women. I'll live like a king."

Shadow grabbed Taylor's head. He shoved his blaster into Braxton's gut. "Turn it off or there isn't going to be enough left of you to sit on a fucking throne! Turn it off! There are innocent people dying out there, you stupid son of a bitch."

"Innocent people," Braxton laughed. "Hah! Threaten what you will. I'm the only one who knows how to control them."

Shadow growled then pushed Braxton back in his chair, heading out of the interrogation room. He hit the call button for the elevator and then headed up the stairs. He could hear the pulsing even louder and he kept his blaster pulled, ready for whatever he would see when he got to the upper levels of ASP.

Hitting the door running, he stared at what was left of one agent. His body had been ripped in half and his lower half was missing, his upper half had chunks taken out of it, as if they'd been eating him. Despite thinking he was ready for anything, he knew it was going to be worse than his most awful nightmare and he began wishing he were at home with his wife. "Callie," he groaned. He could only hope that she'd found somewhere safe for her and their babies until he could get there.