Tasha pretty much used up what little cash she'd had left in her purse to pay the cab driver to drop her off at the end of a dead-end road, with the addition of giving him a hefty tip for going out of his way and as a potential motivator not to mention this to anyone. She would have to visit an ATM sometime in the future to withdraw more cash if she was to do anything else.
From this location, it was a forty-five minute hike to the lab, made worse only by the fact that she had twisted her knee a tad when Hunter pushed her into the wardrobe. It was a barely noticeable discomfort, though it became a tad more noticeable the more she walked. But it was necessary to keep the location secret and her son safe. Besides… she had endured worse.
When she finally arrived at the entrance, one that was cleverly hidden enough so that you wouldn't see it unless you knew exactly where to look, she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a loud snarl behind her.
Very slowly, she turned to see one of the things she had feared most. A large, dark gray werewolf that was almost black with golden eyes that were so bright they almost made the fur look even darker by contrast.
It snarled, baring a full set of teeth that dripped venom. Tasha screamed and bolted for the entrance hatch, knowing that was her only hope at this point.
To her surprise, the hatch burst open before she even reached it. She barely heard what sounded like Esben's voice within yelling, "Get the wolf! GET HIM! Leave the woman alone!"
Tasha was nearly bowled over by two other wolves that burst out from the hatch, though they didn't even touch her other than a tail that brushed her shoulder and cheek as they whipped by.
For a moment that seemed like an eternity, Tasha couldn't move. Her eyes remained frozen on the carnage that ensued behind her. The dark werewolf was pounced on by two werewolves who were somewhat smaller, one chocolate brown and one beige, though their fur colors were quickly brightened by fresh red blood as claws and teeth engaged in battle.
"GET IN HERE!" Tasha realized that Esben must have said that at least three times when she finally felt his hand on her arm, pulling her inside. The last thing she saw was the Hunter werewolf viciously ripping the head off of the beige werewolf, putting an end to that one with an additional thrust to the chest to slice through some vital organs just to make sure. The sound of crunching ribs could be heard as he finished mutilating that one, and the hatch shut over Tasha's horrified eyes just as the chocolate one leaped onto Hunter's back.
"He'll be fine," Esben muttered more to himself than anyone else as he lead Tasha down deeper into the underground facility. "This has happened before. The only way to keep him off of my back and away from my staff members is to sacrifice a couple of my expendable rejects. I picked a couple of the weakest and clumsiest for him to tear to shreds."
Tasha shuddered. "Esben," she said when she found her voice, "I had no idea Hunter was a werewolf."
"You only need to know what you really need to know, my dear. And," Esben glared, "I am seriously starting to question your usefulness here. You apparently allowed Seven to escape and I have lost the ability to predict what exactly you're up to out there, especially since you have been out there quite late, who-knows-where."
Tasha tried to get a grip on herself to spin her latest tale, despite still being rather green around the gills. "I went out there to see if I could find out where she might have gone-"
Esben held up a hand. "I'm not going to listen to any of this. I had a hunch that Hunter might follow you if you went out there. I also knew full well that he was going to change tonight, and I have been withholding his medicine as well."
"M-medicine?"
"Never you mind about that. Now you'd better tell me the truth, Ms. Pines, something that is going to convince me that I shouldn't throw you out there to Hunter right now and use your son in my next experiment."
"N-no, please don't hurt my son!"
Esben barked a short, cruel laugh. "You are really something, you know that? It's a mystery to me how you could watch so many humans have many different things done to them, yet you get hyper and protective whenever I mention harming your kid." He drew closer, his eyes narrowing as an evil grin split across his face. "It might be very interesting to add this to my experiments, to see just how far a mother's love and devotion can go. Would you still care about your son, if I changed him into a werewolf?"
"ESBEN DON'T DO IT, I BEG YOU," Tasha shrieked. "I'll tell you everything. I will tell you anything. Just please don't hurt him!"
Ebsen folded his arms. "Then talk, Ms. Pines."
Tasha drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I want to see my son first." Her voice was somewhat raspy now.
Esben tilted his head to one side. "You tell me everything first, then I will arrange for you to have five minutes with him."
There was a moment of silence. Neither of them liked being jerked around, but Esben had to establish his dominance and that he was the one who still held all the cards here. Tasha would just have to accept that.
When Tasha opened her mouth again, she finally told him everything. She told him what she had told David and everything else that had followed, including her private discussions with Hunter. She even mentioned how David and Subject Seven would be spending the next few hours, most likely, at a diner and which road it was located near.
Esben processed this information, then nodded in apparent satisfaction. He continued to look at her for a long moment, attempting to gauge any future usefulness she might have. She had told him any and all information he needed, so… was she really worth keeping around now?
He already knew it hadn't been the best idea to stage a riot that permitted Tasha and Seven to "escape" in the first place, but… it had been necessary to gather more information on behalf of his benefactors to see how Seven would react, and what she would do, while experiencing perceived freedom. Plus, at that time, he still had Tasha firmly under his thumb.
Now there were too many unpredictable factors to deal with. David Banner was in the picture. Tasha knew a bit too much than Esben would prefer, perhaps enough to be dangerous herself. The fact that Esben still had her son locked up still gave him leverage over her, but the circumstances had shifted just enough to make it risky for Esben, too.
Tasha had leverage of her own, potentially. Especially if she were permitted to leave again…
"Can I see my son now, please?" Tasha begged. She hated begging. She hated to appear weak. But for once, she permitted it to come out… especially if it would convince Esben that she was broken and harmless at this point.
Esben seemed to think about it, then he finally nodded. "Go to your quarters, I'll make the arrangements."
Tasha once again tucked her pride aside and went back to her quarters like a Good Girl, keeping her head down all the way.
True to Esben's word, one of the lab assistants did drop the kid off within the next ten minutes, then left them alone.
"Peter, oh Peter… " Tasha scooped her son into a warm, secure embrace as though she would never let him go. "Let me look at you. Are you okay, baby?" She brushed his bangs out of his face as she settled into a chair with him in her lap. He appeared a tad unkempt, his hair was a little longer than she would have liked, but he seemed unharmed otherwise.
It seemed to take a little bit for the child to warm up to her again, apparently remembering who she was but feeling a tad distant due to their long periods of separation. In the end, Tasha was satisfied that he was alright. He wasn't too skinny, and a certain chubbiness indicated he was being well-fed.
Their blissful reunion was interrupted when Tasha heard a noise, causing her head to snap up.
What the hell was that?
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Esben was in the process of shutting down everything… so to speak.
He had given the order to his skeleton staff to begin putting silver bullets through any and every one of the werewolves who were currently contained within the facility, killing them one by one. They put a bullet through the brain and the heart just to be thorough, then began to drag the bodies toward the incinerator to eliminate the evidence.
Esben already knew that he could never leave everything completely clean of loose ends, but he could do whatever he could. There were other werewolves out there, including ones who had escaped during the riot and Hunter himself, but… they wouldn't matter. Let the world deal with them as they saw fit, if they ever became a problem.
Esben had already reported back to his benefactors, giving them all the information he could and even mailing them all of the relevant information that they would find useful and possibly want. But they still wanted Seven, the perfect prototype… and they weren't going to finish giving him the money or anything else they promised him until he could guarantee that she would be delivered.
From the way it sounded, now was the time to strike, considering Seven was injured, weak, and probably only just beginning to regain some strength at the diner. The only problem was that she currently had David Banner, ala Hulk, as her own personal caretaker and bodyguard.
Esben wasn't entirely certain what triggered the Hulk to come out, but if it was anything like his werewolves… he would have to tread lightly. It might be easy to use some of Banner's noble nature to get him to cooperate to a point, but if pushed too far… the Hulk would come out, and that could ruin everything.
Well, the night was young… he began to contemplate what he had to use at his disposal, and how he could potentially use his current resources-especially the more expendable or untrustworthy ones-to reach his end goal.
Finally, he went into a little private office he had in the back of the facility and grabbed a rifle, placing a silver bullet inside and a few spares in his pocket. Then he went to Tasha's quarters and opened the door.
"Leave," he ordered.
"What?"
"You heard me, Ms. Pines. Take your son and go. Just go back to your precious David at the diner or whatever. I'm sick of having you here."
Tasha's eyes went absolutely wide as her arms tightened slightly, protectively, around her kid. Then her eyes narrowed into slits. "What is your game, Esben?" Then she gasped. "Hunter is still out there. Is that it? You want him to kill us."
Esben rolled his eyes and then smacked the nozzle of the rifle against his palm. "There is a small car located just outside, my car. Here." He matter-of-factly tossed her the keys. "What I want you to do is get out there, get in the car, and get Hunter to chase you toward the diner. Then your precious David will turn into the Hulk and deal with Hunter, while you get away with your kid and I can get away with Seven. We both get what we want, and Banner and Hunter may kill each other and solve a lot of problems. We got a deal?"
Tasha did not like the idea of being used as bait. But this was the one chance to finally get out of this, with her son. There was no telling what Esben's tricky mind had concocted as a contingency if she said no, and she wasn't sure if she should even dare try to double-cross him while going along with his plan.
She tried to tell herself that maybe, just maybe… it would be better this way. David was a sweet man, but… he had become a thing, little different from the werewolves. That's what she had to tell herself now, to justify what she needed to do in order to get herself and her son free, and to finally get away from all this madness for good.
"What are you gonna do, after you have Seven?" she wanted to know.
"What do you think, Ms. Pines? Take her overseas to my benefactors. When they pay me, I will have enough to set me up for life and I can live in retirement, knowing that I succeeded in what I set out to do despite all of the people who were against me." Esben motioned her. "Now get going."
Tasha didn't have to be told twice. She bundled her son up in a blanket, then scooped the keys into her other hand and headed out the door, toward the car.
It was time for not only the chase of her life, but she was also about to hurt and betray Dr. David Banner for the second time in her life...