Fic: Bounty 3/? (Lita, Punk, Daniels) NC-17 for graphic depictions of violence and course language

Jan 25, 2011 16:00

Title: Bounty
Pairing/Characters: Lita, Daniels, Jericho, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, AJ Styles
Rating: NC-17
Complete: No.
Genre: Mystery, suspense, horror
Summary: Lita goes to the office and gets a letter she'd rather ignore, but no one else is going to ignore it.
Warnings: Contains graphic depictions of violence, horrific imagery, mentions of murder of a child. Also, horrible language

Previous Chapters



Sometimes my life is a little too fucked up, even for me. And this? Well this was one of those moments.

Pinned against the wall of my apartment, feet dangling off the floor while a forearm is choking me, braced across my throat.

Now normally this would be my idea of a fun filled Saturday night, but when that forearm is attached to the arm of a convict who has an interest in beating his wife while jacked up on coke it's a shitty situation.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

~Three hours earlier~

The Millers were a family who had been devastated by the loss of their daughter and I couldn't really blame her. She'd been a beautiful little girl, intelligent and funny.

I went to high school with her mom. Jesus, these were always the hardest interviews to do. Someone you knew, someone you liked and now here you were, talking to them about how their kid had been murdered and the people who did it were still running free.

Talia Miller looks just like she did in high school. Too much blonde and not enough colour, but yet there's something beautiful about her.

“Lita,” she looks relieved to see me. Amazing all things considered. We'd not been friends but she was one of those people who was liked by everyone. Somehow it made everything about this crime seem worse.

Who the fuck would hurt someone who dedicated their life to saving lives?

“Mrs. Miller,” the name falls off my lips and the stricken look on her face and Phil shifting at my side makes me realize I made a mistake. This isn't really a time for formality. “Talia,” I start over, and reach out to squeeze her shoulder ignoring Phil's cough from beside me.

Yeah so I'm not good with physicality. He could go fuck himself.

“I'm so glad you're here,” she tells me, and tears flood her eyes, spilling over. “The police have just left, your brother...”

“Yeah, I know,” I say. “Do you mind if we come in? We're working the case too.”

“I thought you would,” Talia steps back, gesturing for me to step into the house. “I'll get some drinks.”

“That's really okay Talia, we just want to get some details, if you don't mind,” I tell her, wrapping an arm around her back, hoping to God and whoever else she doesn't notice the holster and gun at my side and steer her toward the living room. “Let's sit and talk okay? Is your husband home?”

“No he's g-gone out,” Talia replies and sits down, gripping my hand now.

I look around the house as I sit. Nice place, definitely more than I could afford but when it's the home of two of the state's best surgeons you gotta figure it's gonna be pretty nice. Pristine actually, doesn't look like children even live her.

A child.

I look at the little girl, Hannah, she's beautiful in the pictures, always smiling and something about the image of her hugging her mom and both of them staring into the camera hardens me inside.

Reminds me too much of my own mother.

I shake those thoughts from my mind. “Now,” I smile at her and hope it doesn't look as fake as it feels, hope the sympathy I feel for her shows through in some way. “We have the details from the police in a vague sense so we know the background but, as bad as this is, we need to know what they said to you on the phone.”

Talia draws in a sharp breath and her eyes go hazy for a moment in remembrance before she answers, “it was awful,” she murmurs the words looking down at her hands, one still grasping mine. “They told me she never stopped crying.”

There's a special place in hell for people like this.

I glance over her shoulder at Phil and see he's looking over the house too, studying every minute detail and I know if I asked him to later he would be able to replicate it exactly in ink or pencil.

“Okay, I'm sorry Talia,” I squeeze her hand.

“They told me she was beautiful, but that such beauty had to die. They told me to...to call you,” Talia's voice is filled with fear.

My blood runs cold.

“What?” my voice is louder than intended and I don't realize it until I notice Phil has snapped around to look at me and Talia seems shocked.

“They said you could find them,” Talia responds, swallowing heavily. “Please tell me you can Lita, I need to...I need them to pay for what they've done.”

I find myself swallowing too. “I will,” I promise and glare at Phil as he gapes at me, no doubt surprised by the resolute nature of my voice. “What else did they say?”

“Something about your life ending, they began when your life ended,” Talia responds. “What does that mean?”

I lean back, and slide my hand from Talia's as I consider what that could possibly mean, a million possibilities sifting through my brain but only one truly sticking out. “Christ,” I mutter, shaking my head and standing. “Do you have any pictures of Hannah we could take? It would really motivate the team and we would be able to question people in the neighbourhood where she was found.”

She nods and makes her way to her feet, leading the two of us upstairs and Phil is so quiet as he moves along behind me I almost forget he's there. “What's your name?” she asks him as we're led into her bedroom.

Phil looks startled and licks his lips before replying, “Phil Brooks.”

Talia nods her head, pulling out a photo album. “You went to Addison Heights too.”

“Yeah, yeah I did,” Phil replies, clearly surprised.

I was too. I was friends with Phil then and knew that most people didn't even remember him. If possible he was quieter then than he was now. Which basically meant, guy was mute.

“It's nice, that you work at the Agency too,” Talia tells him before flipping through the album.

“Uh yeah, suppose so,” Phil responds, eyes flickering before he looks around.

It's always amused me about how people talk about my place of employment like it's a government office, some secret ops facility instead of a bail bonds place slash private investigation agency. Although we do tend to bring in more bad guys than the police do most of the time, and Hartley has a lot of bad guys.

We don't end up leaving the house for an hour and a half more.

Phil doesn't speak again until we're in the car and halfway down the road, “she remembers me.”

“People as nice as Talia remember everyone, it would be their shame if they didn't,” I respond dryly, rolling down the window as my stomach turns. “Go to rail stop 7.”

Phil glances at me out of the corner of his eye and in that minute I know I'm being analyzed. “You sure?”

“You heard what she said,” I tell him.

“Yeah but that doesn't mean we have to go back there, man, Lita,” Phil shakes his head. “I don't think this is a good idea.”

“I don't care what you think,” I snap. “We're gonna find these bastards and I'm gonna take pleasure in it.”

Phil goes silent, but I can see his jaw tightening before he jerks his head in a nod.

It takes 20 minutes to get there.

The place my life ended, an old rail station on the outside of town which hasn't been in service for sixteen years.

Since a woman by the name of Maria was killed.

A woman I called mom.
I step out of the car and take a deep breath, looking around I don't spot anyone and a familiar car drives up.

Daniels gets out, his mouth twisted into a frown. “What the hell? We're supposed to be going to your place, and now you assholes change the plan?”

“Got done at Donovan's?” I ask him.

“Yeah, whole fucking family hasn't seen the twin, I'll believe that as much as I believe they aren't dealing coke under the tables and selling whores out the back door,” Daniels grumbles.

I roll my eyes and walk over to the station, well aware of the two of them right behind me.

“What the...” Phil mutters as the sound of a train echoes in the distance.

I turn around, “no trains go past here anymore. It's unsafe.”

“You say that but there's a car coming,” Daniels points and sure enough in the distance is a singly lit car rolling our way.

I pull out my gun, “I bet it's them.”

Daniels and Phil follow suit, the three of us approaching the car as it slows, ready to shoot the hell out of it if need be.

Phil hops on first, followed by Daniels who pushes me back despite my protest.

Turning Phil looks around, shaking his head, “nobody on it.”

“Lita,” Daniels pulls something off the schedule board, but Phil gets a look at it first and the shock on his face is enough to shake me to the core.

“What is it?” I ask stepping forward boldly.

Daniels hands it to me and I feel like puking. It's her. Mom. A note stuck to the photograph.

“We started with her,” I murmur the words, anger filling me. “I'm going to kill them.”

“They were 17 years old,” Phil tells Daniels, disgust all over his face. “What now Lita?”

“I'm going home and I'm going to make a date,” I tell them both before turning and walking out of the car, hopping down and heading for the SUV, my teeth gritted so hard my jaw hurts.

They killed her.

They killed her and a little girl. A mother and a child, just not the same family.

The ride back to my apartment is a silent one.

Phil doesn't speak and for once I think he doesn't even know what to say to me.

It isn't until we're in the hall he grabs my arm gently, “I should go in first.”

“Fine, whatever,” I reply, annoyed. I hate being treated like a child and with this case I'm beginning to feel like I'm being handled with kid gloves.

I step in right behind him and all of a sudden the world goes white hot as I register gun shots and dive behind the couch. “Shit,” I shout, turning back Phil isn't there and my breathing goes as quiet as it can while fucking panicked.

A growl sounds and I frown. “Whoever the fuck you are I am going to kick your ass! This is not my good day.”

“I'd say not, Donovan's are after you. Placed a bounty on your head, and I'm going to collect it, said something about you not playing their way,” Willem.

That piece of shit.

More bullets fly, this time into the couch and I jerk upward, seeing him across the room I feel like I'm no longer in control of my actions as I fly at him, gun firing and the world red with rage.

Correction only two bullets fly and I'm certain the look on my face must be pretty stupid because Willem's laughing his ass off.

The wall hurts like nothing else when I'm slammed against it and breathing is hard when you're being held up against it like this. I kick my feet, looking down into his eyes.

“You took away my life,” Willem hisses.

“Not...much of...a life...” I choke out, tears sliding down my cheeks. Reflex. I don't cry just because I might die.

Willem leans in and growls again. “Now I'm gonna take yours.”

“I don't think so,” Phil speaks from behind him, voice gravelly and gun raised.

My eyes snap to his and this time I do want to cry.

Three shots to the side, I can see the blood spilling out of him and he's barely standing.

“Game over,” I rasp to Willem before Phil takes his shot.

Right to the heart and I resist the urge to scream as I'm dropped to the ground, now covered in Willem's blood and my own, registering Phil sliding to the floor and the door crashing open.

“What the hell happened?” Daniels shouts before darkness falls into my eyes.

main character: chris jericho, genre: angst, character: jeff hardy, main character: lita, series: bounty, main character: cm punk, genre: au, character: chris jericho, author: awritinglilypea, complete: no

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