Chapter 31

"GRAB HER!"

With pure instinct, Tahlia whirled around and decked Brisco in the face, sending him straight on his back. Patterson locked eyes with her as Tahlia stood her ground, her face, neck, arms and hands splattered with Mideon's blood. If he made one move toward her, she would knock him out cold and dared him with her eyes to test the waters.

Patterson wasn't a complete fool. He was already backing away, hands up in an 'I surrender' fashion. He just wanted to get out of there in one piece and call security. After seeing Mideon down, and then her decking Briscoe… he knew what happened to Dennis. She had attacked her own team member and left him there with what looked like some breaks. That was assault with a deadly weapon, those brass knuckles on her fist. As soon as he was in the hallway, he screamed for security.

Immediately going back into the bathroom, Tahlia escaped through the window again and closed it just as security burst into the dressing room. She was nowhere to be found, making sure to take the evidence with her and kept the brass knuckles on in case she had to knock someone else out. Patterson was pathetic calling security on a Ministry member. Snorting, Tahlia made her way through the parking lot, watching her back and crouched down near Paul's rental. He always chauffeured Taker around from place to place, unless they had to fly. She just hoped the Ministry came out soon because she had no idea how to get back to the hotel without raising more security. Taker please hurry, she thought, keeping completely out of sight and wrapped her arms around herself, letting silent tears slide down her cheeks now that the adrenaline wore off and harsh reality set in.

When Taker and his Ministry made it backstage, they were greeted by security and policemen. They had left the Corporation, including Vince, out in the ring, recovering from the ass whooping they had just been dealt. He tried to make sense of what was being screamed at him from some and questions from others, his acid gaze finally landing on Patterson.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded, wiping sweat off his brow.

"We need to speak with Tahlia."

"I sent her back to the hotel earlier in the evening, right after the Acolytes match. So, why?"

Paul had no idea what was going on and he assumed Taker didn't either, but the fact that the cops were here said it was something serious. That was probably why Taker had not even thought twice about beginning to establish an alibi for her.

"That's a lie! She was a crazy person in there! She attacked YOUR guy!" Patterson yelled, staring at the police officer wide eyed.

The police officers looked at each other and then back at the older gentleman, who made the call in the first place. "Sir, did you actually SEE her attack him?" The officer asked, looking annoyed.

"No, but…" He pointed at a knocked out Brisco. "She hit him!"

"What were you two doing in the Ministry locker room in the first place?" Paul interjected, raising his voice slightly to where it had a high pitch. "She's not here, so why would you come here?"

"I – uh…" Patterson didn't have a solid answer to that question and could feel control slipping through his fingers. "I just…"

"You just what?" The second police officer demanded, pushier than his partner and narrowed his eyes. "Sir, lying to a police officer is against the law. Answer the question, why were you in there with your friend?"

"They came on my order." Vince McMahon sauntered up, squaring his shoulders along with the rest of the Corporation behind him. "That little whore…"

"Sir, I highly advise you not to use foul language in a police officer's presence." The first officer demanded, walking up to the haughty older man that looked full of himself. "You sent them to this room? For what purpose?"

"To bring that woman of theirs to me to question her!" Vince didn't realize just how much trouble he was in.

"Does that include assault, sir?"

"I told them by means necessary."

The first officer turned to face the giant man with blazing green eyes and black hair. "You and your men are free to go, sir. We have our perpetrator."

Vince beamed, thinking the Ministry was about to be taken away in handcuffs…until the officers advanced on him. "Wait, what? What the hell?! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"

"Vince McMahon, you have the right to remain silent…"

That was the last part the Ministry heard as they all hurried down the hallway away from the scene. Mideon had already been taken to the nearby hospital to be treated. Now, all they had to do was find Tahlia, who was the center of this chaos.

"Just wait…" They couldn't go hunting for Tahlia just yet, they were going to wait. "She's not here so… no need to hurry, right?"

"I need a shower. Bradshaw…"

"Yes, boss?"

"Go check my car."

"On it."

Tahlia wouldn't have gone off too far, but he was going to venture out on a limb and assume whatever damage to Mideon had been done by her. He doubted those old bastards could actually put anyone in the hospital. That also begged the question, just what had that deranged lunatic tried to do to Tahlia? She wasn't one to attack unprovoked. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Taker slipped into the bathroom for that shower. He had every intention of visiting his coworker as soon as possible, just to make sure he was still alive.

Hearing Vince bellowing at the top of his lungs to be released by the police, Tahlia watched all of it from her perch by the rental vehicle. She stayed hidden in the shadows, her clothing and hair blending in perfectly with the darkness. Once the police drove away from the arena, Tahlia went back to hiding behind the vehicle and waited, knowing Taker had been detained due to Patterson calling the authorities. Oh god, what if she went to jail for assault? It was self-defense…mostly! Hearing footsteps approaching, Tahlia squeezed the brass knuckles around her fist and closed her eyes, mentally counting to three.

"Holy shit!" Bradshaw squealed out, jumping about a foot in the air and felt his jaw drop at the sight of… "Tali?" This was where she'd been hiding this whole time?! "Oh my god, what happened to you?"

"I-I'm okay…I'm…" Tahlia blinked when Bradshaw yanked her into his arms, the blood apparently not bothering him and started crying again, burying her face in his chest.

Taker would be both relieved and pissed at the same time because they had no idea where she'd gone off to. "Come on, we gotta get you back into the arena. The boss needs to see you…"

Tahlia shook her head. "No, I can't go back in there." She backed away from him. "Security is looking for me and if they find me here…"

Bradshaw agreed, especially since Taker told security and the police she'd left the arena a while ago. "Fine, I'll drive you to the hotel, but I'm calling the boss to tell him what's going on."

"Okay."

Paul was the one who picked up the phone, Taker still in the shower. He listened intently as Bradshaw explained how he had found Tahlia, reading between the lines as the usual loud and carefree Acolyte was picking his words very carefully, as if he was afraid someone might be listening. Paul made a mental note to congratulate the man later as well as inform Taker of Bradshaw's caution. Paranoia was a friend on occasion.

"Thank you, for staying with her. I'm sure with the Corporation now acting out past the WWF's normal storylines, she could be a target. Taker is more than glad she decided to return to the hotel early tonight. It has kept her safe."

It took Bradshaw a moment to digest all that, but when he did, he nodded to the empty space beside him. Tahlia was in the shower, washing away all that blood. "Of course. I'll check in with you soon."

Paul hung up without another word, wondering what exactly how gone down tonight.

He was curious too because there were blood spatters along the floor and up the wall along with the window ledge. Taker had noticed it immediately and peered out the window, grinning when he realized what must have happened. She had dropped Dennis somehow, nailed Briscoe, and escaped this way. He made sure to get rid of the blood trails before enjoying his shower.

"Clever girl."

It took a while to scrub all the blood off of her and Tahlia shed more tears, having her crying jag away from prying ears and eyes. She kept having flashbacks to nailing Dennis repeatedly in the face with the brass knuckles. What had come over her? It was animalistic and brutal…and part of her enjoyed it. He deserved what she did to him and she didn't regret defending herself, but she had also destroyed him. Once she was sure the tears were gone and the blood had washed away, Tahlia stepped out of the shower wrapping a towel around her body. She brushed her teeth, hair and then changed into a pair of sleeping shorts and tank top, not sure if she'd be seeing Taker tonight or not. Taking a deep breath, Tahlia walked out to see if Bradshaw had gotten a hold of their master.

"He's takin' his time," Bradshaw explained when Tahlia finally emerged. "I'm not sure what they're doing, but I do know they don't want to rush back. They're not giving anyone anythin' to think twice about tonight."

Also cleaning up the evidence. By the time any of them left, they had been at the arena for over an hour. Taker had emerged from the shower to find Edge and Christian had taken care to plant their own prints over everything, just in case anyone came back, but it was highly unlikely. He was guessing, from the blood trail, that Tahlia had used a weapon of sorts. While strong and vicious, he didn't think she could use her bare hands to inflict the kind of damage that amount of blood would have left behind.

"We're leaving."

Viscera led the way, clearing the stragglers left in the hallway with his bulk quite easily and hissing at those who tried to be defiant.

By the time Taker arrived back at the hotel, Tahlia was fast asleep in their room. She didn't have her own because Taker hadn't ordered her away from him. She was on her side, facing away from the door and snuggled up with a pillow. The adrenaline wore off after the shower and crying; she'd also gone to bed without eating dinner.

"She passed out…and I let her. She didn't tell me anythin' that happened either. I think she was waitin' for you." Bradshaw spoke quietly, placing a hand on the boss's shoulder and left to go back to his own room he shared with Farooq.

Mideon was in a coma, so there was no reason for anyone to go up to the hospital tonight. It'd been a long night; everyone needed to take a beat, sleep and talk in the morning. Tomorrow was a new day. Paul left as well, hoping Taker didn't wake the poor girl up because it looked like she'd had a hellacious night.

Taker eyeballed her, knowing she needed her rest and stepped back out the door. He beckoned a finger, his little gopher emerging. Everyone needed that one tiny person, that one person who could slip in and out, be unnoticed. Surprisingly, for him, that was Christian. Christian was the one who had tailed Tahlia when she was with the Corporation. He had helped ferret out those who needed to be checked and he was the one who Taker was turning to now.

"No one goes in that room but me."

Christian nodded, already slipping back into the shadows.

Within the hour he was at the hospital, carrying magazines and a pizza. He grinned when the nurses told him Mideon was in no condition to eat, offering it to them with a chuckle and apology, earning them confiding what they knew of Mideon's condition as well as the theories as to what had happened. Given the hour, visiting wasn't technically allowed, but he had sweet talked himself into that room. He was going to make sure Mideon knew the events of the night, how it had played out. Taker would do what was required to ensure Tahlia was safe and Vince took the fall.

Slowly opening her eyes the following day, Tahlia took a few moments to come to terms with her surroundings and breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't behind bars. Instead, she was in a comfortable bed and a quick glance by the wall showed her both her and Taker's luggage. Her eyes moved to the figure sleeping beside her and Tahlia didn't bother touching him, seeing the slight circles around his eyes. Instead, she slipped from bed silently to start coffee and ate some crackers. Her stomach rumbled from lack of sustenance, but she didn't want to wake Taker up by making a call down to room service. She could wait a little longer, already knowing when he did wake up, there would be hell to pay.

The second she had stirred he had woken up and he opened his eyes, rolling to watch her better as she quietly moved about the room. "Come here." He ordered, voice husky from having just woken up. He opened his arms, catching her when she slid into them and nestled her into his chest, dropping a kiss on her hair. "I want you to tell me what happened last night, Tahlia." He said softly, feeling her tensing up. "Please." She was never going to hear that word from him ever again.

Slamming her eyes shut, Tahlia heard the plead in his tone and couldn't deny him anything. She never could. "It was me…that attacked Dennis…" She confessed, pulling away from him and wrapped her arms around herself. "I snapped on him. I'm so pissed he lied to me while I was infiltrating the Corporation. I called him out on it and he didn't say a word. When your match came on, he…grabbed me from behind and put me in a sleeper hold. He was trying to knock me unconscious…and do god knows what to me." Tahlia trembled, not out of fear, only anger. "That mother fucker…I backdropped him onto the bench and then…I started hitting him as hard as I could with the brass knuckles. All I saw was red while hitting him. And when I was done, I went into the bathroom to clean up and that's when I heard Vince's goon squad walk in. So I scaled the wall in the bathroom and slipped through the window before they could catch me. I waited for a while and went back inside, not seeing them anywhere. They came back in to do a double check I guess and caught me with the brass knuckles and blood all over me. Brisco came after me and I knocked him out with them. Then I just looked at Patterson, daring him to touch me and instead he ran like a coward bitch to call security on me. So out the window I went again…and I hid behind the rental vehicle in the parking lot and waited for you or anyone from the Ministry to leave." Looking down at her hands that had been covered in blood, Tahlia swallowed hard at the viciousness of her attack and kept her back to Taker. "Did I kill him?" She whispered out finally, dreading to hear the answer and felt fresh tears sting her eyes.