Chapter 8: Baglor.

The abandoned Wayne Warehouse was a relic of a long-lost time in Bane City's history. Before the Bagarattis were the Waynes, a family of proud and aristocratic men and women. Rumor had it that they were descendants of British Royalty. The manner in which they conducted themselves lent credence to this fact.

They were believed to be kind and honorable. Masters of commerce and industry, all their operations were above board with little to no crime involved. They also had a reputation for charity. As the story goes, Bane City flourished when the Waynes were at their peak.

Everyone was happy, and all was well with the world. Well, except for the fact that Bane City had a strange high record of people going missing, mostly travelers passing through. Aside from the missing person's case, there was a string of serial killings. Bodies turned up dead, brutalized, molested, and desecrated. It wasn't so regular that it was a daily problem, but it was regular enough that many myths and tales sprung out of Bane City.

The police didn't know who or what was responsible. There were hardly ever any clues. But there were whispers and rumors. Some believed that the Waynes were responsible. Maybe not all the Waynes, but a few rogue members of the family, particularly two notoriously eccentric brothers.

Today, nobody knows why the Waynes were suspected. Nobody knows if they were actually the culprit. Because today, the Waynes are gone. One day, Bane City woke up, and every member of the Wayne family seemed to have vanished into thin air. They seemed to have sneaked away in the middle of the night, leaving their estate intact.

As the years rolled by and the Waynes' assets fell into disuse, bold citizens of Bane City took over certain assets and made them their own. The city itself mopped up the rest. However, a few were too large and fell into disrepair too quickly to be useful to anyone. A prime example of this was the Wayne Warehouse.

Abandoned and forgotten by most, the building was a sore site to behold. Its windows were shattered, and its doors were no more. Most of its metal sheet walls were missing. However, its steel frame stood the test of time, creating a meeting point that was public and yet private, like a dark alley with a roof.

Kia drove into the warehouse with Vajesh in her trunk. She didn't kill her engine. She wanted to be ready to get the hell out of there if things went south. Hands on the wheel, feet on the accelerator, Kia was ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

She waited and waited. And then she heard the sound of SUVs driving towards her. A second later, she saw them, heavy black tinted bulletproof SUVs. The vehicles rolled into the warehouse and formed a line before her. Clearly, they had done this before.

Kia counted five black cars, all identical. It was a real security convoy. A man like Baglor was like an African dictator. He needed as much protection as he could get. However, his convoy wasn't just about security, it was also a show of power and wealth.

Nothing happened for a full second. Kia sat in her car, and the Bargarattis sat in theirs. And then, they began to hop out. Within a few seconds, Kia stared at about twenty men, all dressed in black suits and armed with assault rifles.

Suddenly, her situation became clear. If the Bagarattits suddenly had the devilish idea of killing her, they would do it. There was no way she could escape gunfire from twenty armed men. And if, by some magical means, she managed to drive away, they only needed to chase her down, ram her vehicle to the side of the road, and multiply the holes in her body.

Coming to terms with the fact that being in her car offered her no protection, Kia killed her engine and stepped out. She stood before the twenty armed Bargarattis and tried not to look small.

"Where is he," one of the armed men, who seemed better dressed than the rest, said.

"In the trunk," she replied.

"Get him out."

She clicked the button on her key, and the trunk popped open. Out staggered Vajesh, looking really terrible as he walked towards his comrades. Two men helped him into one of the vehicles.

"And Baglor?" Kia said. And as if on cue, a sound came from the second SUV to the right. Its right rear door opened up and out stepped Baglor Bagaratti, dressed in a jet-black suit with a silver-colored tie hanging around his neck. On his right hand was a silver ring that caught the light in an ethereal way.

Baglor Bagaratti was half man, half legend. There were countless stories about him. Some mundane, others bordering on myth and fable. On one hand were stories of him brutally murdering twenty men in one night with his bare hands. And on the other hand were stories of him being a super-intelligent businessman who ran his crime family like a mega-corporation.

However, all these stories were, for the most part, rumors because Baglor was always silent. He never made a statement and was hardly ever seen in public. The police force only had a few pictures of him, and most of them were old. As Kia caught a glimpse of Baglor's face through the light of her car's headlamps, she realized that none of the pictures she had seen of Baglor did him justice.

Standing at Six feet and six inches, Baglor was a giant who made all his men look like the minions they were. His towering height was complemented by his strikingly powerful physique. His barrel-like chest flowed down to his flattened torso, creating a vacuum upon which his tie seemed to hang. However, while his chest was massive, his arms were the true testament of his strength. His arms were long, powerful limbs that seemed capable of crushing Kia's neck with one single squeeze.

And yet, as she looked at him, a tiny bit of her couldn't help but wonder how his hands around her neck would feel, nothing fatal, just a light squeeze to make her feel alive. As he walked towards her, she saw his face even more clearly, and to her surprise, he was even more handsome than her initial impression.

Kia expected a mean or angry scowl that reflected wickedness and brutality. However, what she found was a handsome and expressive face with a calm, gentle smile. The very structure of his face seemed to have been sculpted from marble with a strong jaw, a sharp chin that had a tiny indentation at its bottom, and prominent cheekbones that made him look both powerful and handsome at the same time. However, the coup de grace of his face were his piercing blue eyes. They shined like blue sapphires behind a coat of glass, making him look like a god as he looked down upon her with his seemingly benevolent and yet ominous smile.

Standing in front of her, he folded his arms and looked down with a proud smile that Kia found arrogant.

As a short woman, Kia always found herself looking up to people. Most times, she didn't mind and hardly even noticed. But there were times, especially when faced with really tall people, that she became acutely aware of her vertical challenge. Looking up at Baglor, she felt smaller than she had ever felt. She felt squeaky, weak, and insignificant. She hated it, yet staring into his enchanting eyes, she felt a tad bit soft. Not weak, but soft. He had an irritatingly powerful effect on her, and she just couldn't stand it.

"Staring is rude," she said, breaking the ice as best as possible.

"That it is. But I simply have to take this all in. You are so funny."

"Funny how?" Kia asked angrily. "What do you mean by funny? Like I amuse you?"

"Yes you do," Baglor said, his smile widening even more.

"I'm not a clown for your amusement," Kia said angrily.

"Not by choice," he replied. "When Vincenzo told me that a female cop had broken Vajesh out of jail and was demanding to see me personally, I was already quite impressed and amused. But never in a million years would I have expected that the cop in question was a tiny little thing like you. Looking at your face, it's clear that you have earned your meeting with me. Anyways, enough fun. I'm here. What do you want?"

Kia was about to reply when her phone suddenly started ringing.

"Shit," she cursed and hurriedly pulled it out of her pocket. She swiped left to decline the call and slid it back into her pocket. But before she could return to the meeting, her phone started ringing again.

"You should pick that. It could be an emergency."

"No. I'll pick up after this."

"I insist," Baglor said, and something about the tone in his voice made it clear that he wasn't suggesting but given an order. Kia sighed. She wasn't going to die this early in the game because of a stupid phone call. She pulled her phone out and saw Jean's name on her screen.

She picked it up and raised it to her right ear.

"Hey  Je…"

"Kia, thank God. We just got multiple reports of ten brown hellcats racing through the streets. I think they are Cyprianis and based on their direction, they seem to be racing towards your position."

"What? Kia said in shock. How?"

"I don't know. I'm scrambling units now to intercept them but I'm not sure we would be able to respond in time."

"What's going on?" Baglor asked.

"Cyprianis. They seem to be on their way?"

"How? Hold on," he said with a wave as if putting her on pause. He turned to his men. "Gentlemen, seems we are about to be under attack. How many minutes do we have?"

It took Kia a minute to realize he was talking to her.

"Oh, Uhm, Jean, how long do we have?"

"They are on Night sky boulevard. So, five minutes. We would try to intercept them at Eagle's square."

"Five minutes. Ten cars. So probably forty guys or twenty," she said.

"Alright boys, circle formation. Use every car including hers. I want a solid perimeter between us and them. Then I want five guys at different corners of this ware house. The rest of us stay in the circle and fight. Once I give the word, the rest of you spring out and open fire on their exposed flanks. Got it?"

"Yes sir," all twenty men said.

"Then lets fucking get to it," he ordered, and his men obeyed. One of the gangsters walked up to Kia and demanded her key. She obeyed without question. To her surprise, her car was used as part of the circle. As his orders were being followed, Baglor turned to her, continuing the meeting in the middle of the flurry of activity around them.

"How did they know we are meeting here?"

"I don't know. I'm not working with them or anything like that," Kia said defensively.

"I'm not foolish. You won't tell me they are coming if you are working with them. Except. Never mind. Where did you get this information?"

Kia thought fast. Whatever she said in the very next moment was going to make or mar her operation.

"I am not working alone," she said, lying through the truth.

"Clearly," Baglor said.

"I represent a group of officers who want to work with you. We want peace and order on the streets. No gang wars, bloodshed at the minimum, no loss of civilian lives. The way we see it, that can only be achieved by having just one dog in the yard with all other dogs kicked out. The best way to do that is to help the biggest dog available. You."

"I will excuse the fact that you just called me a dog and focus on the core of your message. If what you are saying is true, then by allowing you to work for me, I get access to a network of like-minded cops, like a junta of some sort."

"In a manner of speaking?"

"In a manner of speaking," he said mockingly. "And the aim of this junta, isn't to eradicate crime but to organize it further."

"Yes."

"Bullshit. I think you want to divide and conquer. Use us to kill off the other gangs then turn on us once the field is clear."

"You would probably be too powerful for us to control or destroy by then."

"I don't think you believe so. I think you believe that you can eradicate my organization if you focus all your efforts on just me without any other distraction. It's a good gamble."

"We are ready sir," Vicenzo said.

Baglor looked around and nodded in approval. "Dimitri," he called.

"Yes sir," a young man with a buzz haircut said.

"Get the lady a gun."

Dimitri nodded. He opened one of the SUVs and got out an AR 15. He ran towards Kia and offered it to her.

Kia had shot an assault rifle many times before, but only at the station's shooting range. She found the kickback too nasty and disruptive for her liking. However, she knew that an automatic weapon was better than a handgun in an all-out battle. But her goal wasn't to be effective. Her goal was to survive.

"Thanks but I'll pass."

Baglor took it with a chuckle. "Too much gun for a weak little thing, uhn," he said as he cocked the weapon, which almost looked small in his massive arms. "Stay behind me. We shall discuss this proposal of yours further in due time. But to do that, you have to survive, No," Baglor said.

"You too," she shot back. "You have to survive , No," she added, mimicking the tone of his voice.

He chuckled. "Oh little one, my survival is inevitable. Only yours is in question here."

"They are coming," yelled Dimitri, and everyone present took on a fighting stance.

"Here goes nothing," Baglor said with a smile, clearly excited by the prospects of violence. There was a calm excitement to him that wasn't in the least bit tainted with fear. He looked back at Kia and shot her a wink as if, rather than going into battle, they were about to go on a date.