Hagan Avenue (continued)

Kowareta Tsubasa chewed his bottom lip nervously as he looked at the document in his hands. This was his first mission and he was supposed to complete it in order to prove his loyalty. But the problem was...he didn't know if he could do this or not. Fidgeting nervously, the teenager walked to the dark night.

Kowareta Tsubasa chewed his bottom lip nervously as he looked at the document in his hands. This was his first mission and he was supposed to complete it in order to prove his loyalty. But the problem was...he didn't know if he could do this or not. Fidgeting nervously, the teenager walked to the dark night.

In a motel down Hagan avenue, Brayden Drake finally made it back to the motel where he was staying with Lena and their son Devon. It wasn't the most ideal situations and he knew that, but he was scared for their lives. After the threat from Vulpes, Bray had gone to great lengths to keep Lena and Devon safe, in case he came back to question him more after what Joshua had implied he'd done.

That bastard.

Bray slumped down in a chair, closing his eyes until his four year old son jumped on him. "Bray!" He shouted. The little boy still hadn't been told that Bray was actually his father. That was a conversation for another day, or maybe when he was a bit older. The boy had started to look like him so it had been a good thing he'd gotten Lena out of there. Devon had his deep blue eyes and dark head of hair, yet he had Lena's nose and smile.

"Hey kid, how are you?" He grinned.

"I'm good. Did you work today?"

"Yeah I did work. Did you?" Bray asked.

"Nah. I played with my cars."

Lena came over and gave Bray a kiss on the forehead. "I've ordered in dinner tonight. I'm getting sick of takeaway's though. We need to start looking for a place, Bray. I'm sick of being in motels and not having my own kitchen or place." O'Leary's wife told him.

"I know. I just need to make sure it's safe first, okay?" Bray sighed.

Lena nodded, knowing how important it was that they were safe. Bray knew that people related to her husband were looking for him, and by now probably her and Devon too. It seemed that it would only be a matter of time before they were found. But Bray wasn't going to go down without a fight. And he wasn't going to let anyone find him either. They wouldn't think that he was back in Wing City, where he was from. And he wasn't using his real name, James Braydon, either from before he'd gone undercover. Not even Lena knew that Bray had been undercover and he intended to keep it that way.

Thaddeus Kraggan looked at the hotel's front, sighing as he considered what had to be done. All the work in getting to this point was done, so to do anything else would be to waste it all.

Braydon should've known that someone was eventually going to figure things out, but taking over the position of Chief was unexpected. A more passive man or woman might not have noticed, but Thaddeus knew the mess he was stepping into, and had went through the motions of checking on the undercover cases he had. And what else did he find, but one James Braydon, who, when the Solinus PD checked where he was supposed to be...

Wasn't.

"Alright, this is going to be clean, if public. I don't want these people harmed, but let it be known. WCPD is not letting things slide anymore." Kraggen moved in the wake of his team, entering the building as the rearguard of the retrieval squad. Information had led him to believe Braydon wasn't alone, which only made things harder.

His mind turned, expression growing angered when he recalled the paths taken. After the call to Solinus PD, he'd worked with them to establish location. On a chance, he'd had the facial recognition software run in Wing City, and an ATM camera of all things had noted the rogue officer passing by. From there, it was pulling files and accessing accounts, finding the man's card records. That irked him as one of the more serious things Braydon had done. Most undercovers knew to never leave obvious trails, and here he'd nailed his man on one of the simplest tricks in the book.

Hand signals now, the motel manager stepping forward with the key to Braydon's door. Looking to Thad, the larger man gestured with a gauntleted hand to continue. Unlocking the door and stepping aside as the the WCPD Chief's team moved into the room, leveling beanbag shotguns and tasers, the Chief himself stepped in behind them.

"Game's up Bray. You shouldn't have come back, now of all times. You're under arrest." The gravely baritone of the large figure of Kraggen drawled, crossing his arms before him. A glance around the room at the others within, and he was glad he'd ordered the firearms holstered and non-lethal force. Out of respect, for the scene had the look of a family, he didn't mention what James was under arrest for.

Something was wrong. Bray sensed it before he heard the card go into the door and it opened. What he saw he hadn't expected. They'd found him. Not Vulpes or O'Leary but the WCPD. He held his son tightly for a moment, staring down what looked like a new Chief.

"Bray... what's going on?" Lena was the first to speak after it was announced that he was under arrest.

Bray stayed silent for a minute, trying to work out if he was under arrest as Bray, for stuff involving Solinus and the Human Trafficking Ring, or if he was under arrest for violating his undercover. He couldn't quite tell, but they had said Bray and came to the conclusion that it was the former. He could easily play his undercover card. Ten years was a long time. They'd probably forgotten all about him and this new Chief was probably following up on Solinus leads.

"Nothing... I'm sure it's just a mistake. Take Devon. Oh and save me some of that take away."

"Why are the police after you, Bray? I don't want the police taking you."

"They're not taking me, kid. I'm be back for dinner, I promise. Now, you stay with mom and look after her for me."

"Will do!" The little boy smiled before moving over to his mother. Only then did Bray stand himself up and move towards the men that had appeared to arrest him. "You don't need cuffs or anything. I'll come with you. I'm sure this is all just some big misunderstanding." Bray told them.

While Kraggen approached the hotel, a single white pickup truck pulled up behind the WCPD Squad car. The Truck idled for several moments as the lone grey clad Tech Con Employee got onto his radio. "Hotel-Bravo this is Constellation-Three-Niner, I got some cops here in front of the Papadopolous Hotel, Last time i checked they didn't have any warrants."

The radio clacked.

"Constellation-Three-Niner, Acknowledged situation report three one nine, Corporate Authorization Initals are Delta, Gamma. Proceed with questioning and confrontation."

The Mercenary nodded slightly, listening to sirens echoing in the distance. Distinct sirens that Tech Con vehicles came equipped with.

The Mercenary grabbed his Plasma rifle, and stepped from the white pickup truck.

"Constellation-Three-Niner, Senior Captain is en-route." The Radio chirped.

"Affirmative, Hotel Bravo." The Merc replied.

Leading Braydon down the stairs and out of the building, Thaddeus nearly snarled when he saw the Tech Con mercenary standing outside, and heard the sirens of more of their vehicles. With a glance and a nod at one of his squad members, the man called for backup and escort, as the Chief dug in his coat for the warrant he had there.

"Get him in the car, and get me a cigar before I get "handled" by a bunch of mercs operating very tenuously in my jurisdiction." Barking, Thaddeus muttered quietly under his breath, as his police moved the man into a vehicle. "And especially before I have to punch some idiot posing as a cop all the way into orbit."

A moment later, Thaddeus was leaning against the squad car holding Braydon, the warrant in hand as he jetted another plume of smoke from his cigar, waiting on the Tech Con interference to get in his way. Glancing back at his officer inside the car, the woman held up a pair of fingers for two minutes till arrival.

"Good. Just in time to see the rent-a-cops off."

Moments went by, and a second white pickup pulled up, it's flashing green and blue lights extinguishing along with the truck's engine. In the bed of the truck was a rather well armored man swiveling about a Fuel rod cannon, sliding the magazine back and checking the ammunition as the commander emerged.

Slender fingers coiled around a dark pair of sunglasses, as they moved to place them on her face. Then she slid her plasma pistol into it's holster, and she started towards the Chief.

"So, What seems to be the problem, Officer." She said, looking to the Prisoner, and then back to the rest of the team.

A mercenary approached from the right, saluting. "Captain, I've got the Imperial Consular Office and the CPF on the way, just in case." He said, and the woman nodded. "Thank you, Castille." She said, approaching and eying the Chief up and down. "So you're the new Chief. The Tech Con quarter is private property, Having you around here makes us look incompetent. Show me your warrant, if it checks out. Then do your job, and then get the fuck off my property before I make some phone calls and lawsuits get filed."

Turning around the warrant so she could see it, a moment of will exerted the field effect of Thaddeus' armor pieces. Not as though he expected a fight, but rather that he wasn't letting the important document out of the hands that needed to see it. "Taking care of problems of our own, Captain."

He drawled the last word, emphasizing it as he continued, as if explaining to children. "The man I have here was a deep cover agent, who apparently simply blew away his cover before returning home, without so much as a warning to our offices. That makes him our problem, as a fugitive, and as a fugitive on your property, I would worry less about appearances and more about hard facts. Such as having said fugitive on your property."

Taking a drag on his cigar, he waved his officers into their vehicles. "In answering your threat, I'd like to see how well they hold up in court once its known that a fugitive was present in your sector both escaping your notice until the WCPD showed up to handle it. And, on that note..."

He banged on the car's hood, the officer inside cracking the door slightly. "We're retrieving the family for the safety concerns. Take Parkerson and escort them back down here, please."

The officer nodded, moving back a car before moving around to the front with her selected partner. "Now, if you'll please clear my path so I can "do my job".

The Captain scowled, and then she stared at the prisoner through the glass of the Patrol car. "Next time you decide to bring armed men onto my property while chasing a fugitive, call. Hell we could have rounded him up and shipped him to your station on a silver platter." She took a sidestep. "I'm not in your way." The Captain said, peering up at the hotel. "Phillius, I want everyone in that hotel out. Shut it down. I want to know how a wanted Criminal slipped through our patrols and our security."

The Officer nodded, and started up the steps towards the hotel.

"As long as this guy isn't an Aschen, which I doubt he is if he's sitting in your squad car and not exercising his rights, then I have absolutely no problem with your arrest. Just the fact that cops are in my little corner of Wing City, and that Fugitives are using Tech Con property as hideouts. I'll file my report and we'll address it accordingly. Carry on, I have work to do."

She stopped at the Patrol who initially called it in, and started at him.

"Non meae consumpsti tempora, seu factum es lacus." She said in a low voice. The Officer merely nodded, and then climbed into his truck, driving off.

Callandra however leaned on her own truck, and watched everything play out.

Chuckling slightly as he waved his two officers on, he coolly regarded the two officers heading inside. Placing the warrant back in his own pocket, he waited, mulling over things as the woman and boy were brought down and out to the squad cars. That the Captain would find Bray wasn't exactly a wanted man until he put the pieces together, let her find out on her own. Sticking it in the ear of the arrogant Tech Con pricks was something he rather enjoyed.

Her property? Might be. But her property was in the city, and the city was his jurisdiction. He'd done this to make a point and to send a message.

When everyone was back in the squad cards, Kraggen flipped a wave out of the window as they drove back to WCPD headquarters.

Bray let himself be led out of the hotel and into the patrol car without a problem. He didn't fight or struggle. He didn't do anything except for what they wanted. For all it was worth he was cooperating with them. For now. He just sat in the back of the patrol car waiting for them to go.

He frowned though when he saw Lena and Devon coming out of the building escorted by police as well. That worried him. They had nothing to do with this. Well, Lena did if it was worked out who she was and this was about his undercover or if it was about what he'd done in Solinus. But still, they didn't need to be taken in.

"Wait... Stop... Why are Lena and Devon getting into a car? They have nothing to do with this. Let them go. It's me you want, not them." Brayden spoke already trying to open the door despite the fact that the car was moving. Now that Lena and Devon were involved, things changed and he wanted to know why they were involved in this. And moreso, he wanted to keep his true identity hidden from her.

Because Lena didn't know. And she only looked concerned for Bray getting arrested. She wasn't asking questions to officers and she didn't look angry with him. She just looked worried and concerned.

Kraggan turned in his seat, glancing at Braydon through the bars. "Frankly, I did it for their safety. You picked the Aschen quarter to hole up in, and I just spat my jurisdiction in their faces. They were closing down the motel and taking everyone inside into custody."

Facing forward again, the large man rubbed his brow, sighing as he glanced at the streets passing by. "You shouldn't have ran, James. I've got a feeling you didn't just crack from the pressure."

The way he tilted his head backwards was a subtle gesture towards the rear car, where Lena and Devon rode. "You're earlier files never mentioned a son or a wife, and if you planned to leave the force running back to Wing City wasn't what someone I'd have cleared for undercover work would have done."

"They still don't know, by the way. At the time I felt it better to keep quiet, and I told the officers to tell them if was for safety concerns due to the mercenaries in the area."

"Yeah well, I figured the WCPD wouldn't turn up and grab me there. But I guess the new Chief of police is different, right?" Bray frowned when his real name was used. So this was about him bailing his cover. Seven years he hadn't been in contact with them. Seven years he just disappeared off of radar, choosing to stay under the radar with O'Leary in Solinus and fuck things up some more.

He stayed silent for a while, trying to figure out what he was going to say or do about this mess. The one set of people he hadn't expected to find him, had. And he was going to be in deep shit if the truth got out. He had to be clever here. They couldn't know what he'd done. This was all about him bailing undercover and he had to keep it that way.

"Good. I don't want them to know. They don't know that I was undercover and I don't want them to know. It's for the best and for their safety." And it was so he could keep Lena and Devon. If Lena found out... Bray was sure he'd never see either her or his son again.

"Anyway." Bray added a moment later, "I know protocol, and pulling out wasn't an option because of Lena and Devon. I couldn't just come back into the police force. This was the best way. Just reappear and start fresh."