E L E C T R A|COMPLETED|

Chapter Fifteen~ Kitten

~Braden~

Electra curled up like an innocent kitten when I finished cleaning the blood from her face. She looked adorable and innocent considered she blew up the station, another building, and killed a woman and her kids.
When I pulled the covers above her small body she cuddled into them and groaned softly. I swear that her face was looking better by the hour. Somehow her eye wasn't as swollen as it had been before and some of the cuts on her lips and brow were no longer there.
Maybe it was just my imagination. My hand had a mind of its own when it reached out and feathered over her hair. A soft, content sigh hummed from her body and I felt my lip twitch up into a small smile.
She was like a small kitten. A murderous, crafty, violent kitten. Her lips opened and a soft murmering could be heard. I stood from the chair and sat down on the edge of the bed beside her.
Leaning in, I still couldn't hear what she was saying. I pulled back with a frown and smoothed her tangled hair from her face. A knock from my apartment door made me shoot up from the bed in alert. Who the hell could that be so late at night?
I ran a hand tiredly through my hair and left the room to answer the door. My hand hovered over the doorknob while I peeked through the peephole. Madden.
I unlocked the door and opened it to reveal a distraught Madden. I made sure to block the door with my body so he wouldn't come in and find Electra in my bed.
"Have you looked at the news lately?" Madden asked.
"Yeah, some building blew up," I answered.
"It was an interrogation building that the feds kept hush hush about. Darby was in there, but got out before that place blew. Thirteen people weren't so lucky," he breathed out heavily.
"Why the hell was Darby even there?" I asked. Something told me by the beat up girl in my bed that I knew the answer to that.
"He caught her, Electra. Don't know how, but he did then she escaped when he left and burned down the building," Madden explained.
"Why'd you come here so late at night?" I asked.
"Darby, he wants to see you, but he's stayin' low profile in case that bitch tries to find him," Madden says and curiously peeks into my apartment from the side. Did he think she was here? That'd be impossible.
"Why?" I ask and shift on my feet.
"I think you know why," Madden says in a hushed tone. The P-87 running through my veins. I bet Darby wanted to start seeing what I could do and tell me what to do with it. I had a feeling it had to do with that sleeping girl in my bed.
"He wants to meet in an alley at the corner of Meeker and Paddington in an hour, " Madden said under his breath and looked around as if Electra would pop out of nowhere and attack. He would shit himself if he knew she was in my apartment right now sleeping in my bed.
"It's like three in the morning," I sigh.
"Yeah, what the hell are you doing wide awake anyway?" Madden asked and cocked an eyebrow curiously.
"I couldn't sleep," I answer.
"Meet him in the alley in an hour, " Madden said then walked away down the hall. I waited until he turned a corner and was out of sight before I closed the door. I drew in a long easy breath and walked back into my room to check on Electra.
Her chest was moving steadily ensuring that she was fast asleep and I could hear her light breathing. My lips twitched into a small smile when she started to snore lightly like a puppy. I had to remember that she was a killer, a monster. She had to be stopped somehow, I just didn't know if I could do it. I didn't know if I had it in me.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my black leather jacket as I walked through the alley. It was chilly tonight and my breath turned to foggy clouds every time I breathed out of my mouth. It was unusually quiet except for the distant wail of a police siren in pursuit.
"Braden, I was starting to think you wouldn't show," a figure pushed himself off of a wall and walked towards me.
The moonlight glowing through the alley lit up Darby's face when he neared. He looked worried, but determined at the same time.
"Why did you want to meet me out here, of all places?" I asked.
"I'm going to cut to the point. Electra needs to be taken down now. I had her, but she got away. I know by now that you've had to have experienced some changes. You are the only one who can kill the bitch, the only one who can match her strength. You have to kill Electra, Cross." Darby said.
A sickening feeling brewed in my gut from what he just said. He wanted me to kill Electra, I should have known it would lead to something like this. Why else would he put that shit in me?
"This is why you had me injected, so that I could kill her?" I ask and raise my voice that was laced with anger.
"I would prefer her to be taken in alive, but I did that once and she blew up thirteen people. I'm not gonna make that mistake again. You have a high purpose, son. She's killing women and children now and is blowing up police stations. She needs to be stopped," Darby explained.
I closed my eyes then opened them again. "How do you expect me to do that, kill her?"
"I asked a guy, who knew a guy, who knew a guy, who talked to a guy who works at one of her hangouts and he heard something big was supposed to be going down tonight. Some meeting or something. Anyway you get in and take her out. Bring her in alive if you can," he made it sound easy.
"Sounds easy, but it will probably get my ass killed," I felt my jaw tighten as I spoke my thoughts out loud.
"I'll have a SWAT team have the place surrounded and in lock down. We'll make sure civilians get out and then we'll shoot down her men while you take her down. We will get her. Are you in?" Darby assured.
He made it sound so easy and simple, but it wasn't. He wanted Electra dead or captured. I had seen what he had done to her and saw what she had done in retaliation on the news. I knew she was a killer, yet now every time I thought about her I saw her caring for me. I saw a different side of her, a side that spared me. I saw how innocent and peaceful she looked while sleeping on my bed. A part of me wanted to believe that deep down she was just a good girl who got caught up in a bad game. I wanted to, however I had seen her handy work.
"Are you in, Cross?" Darby asked firmly and pulled me from my thoughts. She was a murdering psychopath no matter what she looked like on the outside. I knew what had to be done.
"Yeah, yeah I'm in."