Maggie strode into the execution room in a hurry, Donovan trailing after her. She hadn't had time to transfer his custody nor did she think it good to leave him in the car, so she just told him to follow, stay quiet, and not cause trouble. If the warden had just talked to her on the phone, she would have waited until the transport arrived at the airport, but she hadn't had time. Donovan was silent, obedient, and she didn't know what to think of him yet. The man certainly looked tame, but who was she to say so soon after meeting him.

Slamming her hand on the access door window vigorously, it took her a moment to get their attention, but eventually someone came to it with a confused and aggravated look. She slapped the paper over the window, panting. The warden had given her custody of Tanner and let her in but told her that if she wanted him alive, she'd have to run. That man really wanted him dead and didn't think she would do it. It wasn't like she'd done so because she cared, more like she didn't want the old bastard to pull on over on her.

The man opened the door, and they didn't expect her to step right in.

"There was no answer when I called, but I obtained custody of this man a few hours ago through federal corrections, and the warden signed off on my arrival," Maggie said to them, and the techs crossed their arms.

One picked up a phone, and she glanced over at the man who she had come to retrieve. It took all of her reserve to keep her form tight and professional. Tears had soaked into the neck of his prison jumpsuit, and his striking hazel eyes were a dim agonized glow. The man had enough muscle to snap any one of them in half.

But he was shaking.

Strapped into the electric chair, he was trembling, washed in his own tears, and yet speechless to her arrival. What must be going through his mind, moments away from his own end, and now unsure of what awaited him?

"Well, the boss says you can take him. Close the blinds." The tech motioned to another man and he slid a sheet of fabric over a viewing window.

There had been people here to watch this man be executed. Maggie wondered whose vengeance she was taking away. Many years ago, she had wanted such vengeance, to cause a man to suffer and to die. Who was she kidding? She still wanted that.

"We'll pack him up for you," the tech said, and she narrowed her eyes.

"What is he, a package? I don't need your assistance. I have my own transport team and van outside They arrived a little after I did." Maggie knelt and undid the man's leg cuffs, and the techs in the room took several steps back to the wall.

They were terrified of this man.

If he made a move on her, she'd shove a knife so far into his throat he'd be dead before he hit the ground. No one terrified her anymore. Removing the straps and attachments on his head, she saved the wrist cuffs for last. After removing them, she looked to the man who had yet to move. There was confusion on his expression as he lifted his hands and looked at them.

Then he moved.

Maggie's hand was on her blade faster than he could have gotten to her, but the guy was huge. When his arms came around her, they almost knocked her over. At least they would have, had he not fallen to his knees from the chair and clutched her to himself instead. Breathing raggedly, she was still holding the small blade in her palm, but she was too stunned to move.

There was the Taser on her other hip too, but she didn't think she would need it.

She was going to need something though.

Right now, she didn't know what to do.

The man was crying... holding her to his chest and outright sobbing on her shoulder. Maggie had never felt a man quiver the way this one was, especially not one with arms that could crack a tree in half. It had been so long since she'd had the ability to cry that she didn't know how to react to it.

Was she supposed to care?

Should the desperate tears of a man who had just leaned into death's door affect her?

She didn't, and they didn't.

"Hey," Maggie spoke, letting go of her blade to touch his chest lightly. When she pushed him with minimal force, he released her a lot quicker than she'd expected. Slumping in on himself, he found the ground in front of her with his eyes as they pulled apart. "Tanner, right?" Maggie asked, unsure of what else to say to him.

The man nodded, shifting a long ponytail of curly blond hair behind his neck. Tanner looked like his picture, though his eyes were... different. In the picture she'd seen of him, he'd had dark, lifeless eyes, clearly those of a cold-blooded killer. Right now, he looked broken and terrified. Despite having let her go, he was still rickety, and he occasionally twitched his eyes toward a tech or the chair behind him.

"Let's get out of here. There's a transport at the door," Maggie said, though he didn't move. The man looked at his hands, they shook heavily, and he offered them to her palms down, still in silence. "Do you want restraints?" Maggie asking the question confused him, and he glanced up to her. "If you don't intend to harm anyone, you can come without them for a minute, but they will definitely put them on you before we take you out of the prison into the van." The man stared at her silently, but his expression twitched to the first bit of skepticism.

It caused Maggie to smile.

"It's not out of the goodness of my heart. I can have you dead on the ground before you can flinch, I assure you. Come along, Tanner." Maggie beckoned, and he stood. The man responded better to the threat than the kindness.

That was okay with her.

These men were all scum anyway.

They walked out of the room and Donovan was waiting. Donovan took one look at Tanner and backed away immediately. It was clear that they were not the same caliber of killer– just having them look at each other made that clear. Donovan had killed one person, someone he'd loved, and he regretted it. Tanner, on the other, had slaughtered nearly a dozen people, and his eyes had regained some of their strength after she'd pulled him from his demise. They were not the eyes of a man living in regret.

"Donovan, you can walk behind us if you are not comfortable having him at your back," Maggie said, and he complied, waiting for them to pass before he followed after at a short distance.

Walking in silence, she thought about the last two men she had to bring into the LC Penitentiary. They were being brought to her, instead of her going to them, as she'd done with Donovan and Tanner. Neither of them had needed any additional attention.

Julian was doing okay in the home. She had picked him up first and gotten him comfortable for a month before she'd gone to get these two. The boy had been unhappy about being returned to a padded cell for the duration of her trip, but she'd needed someone to take care of him while she was gone.

"You hate me." Tanner finally spoke, and she flicked her gaze over to him. His was dark and hard, but his voice almost sounded kind, as if he were used to speaking softly to others.

"Yes." Maggie saw no need to lie to him.

"Yet, I am not in restraints," Tanner continued, and she sighed.

The last thing she wanted to do was talk to these bastards. "I hate you, but that does not mean I fear you."

Tanner scoffed.

Maggie imagined stabbing him in the shoulder for good measure. It wouldn't kill him.

"You think I should feel otherwise?" Maggie taunted, stopping in her tracks to turn to him.

"Yes." Tanner's eyes were cold.

"Very well. I'm open." Maggie spread her arms, but Tanner frowned.

"I can't fight a woman." Tanner grimaced, and she twitched in annoyance.

If she were a man, would he have jumped her already?

Grabbing her blade, she decided she would cut him. It would make her feel good. Putting up with these pitiful excuses for life had her on edge. Darting the blade out at him with precision, she was startled when he stepped in and she missed. The snap of his hand on her wrist startled her. He bent his own hand to force the knife out of hers and it skittered to the ground.

Immediately frightened for her life, she grabbed her Taser, but again he sidestepped. The touch of his fingers against her neck made her want to throw up, especially when he gripped it to slide behind her and bend her other hand the wrong way, relieving her of her Taser.

This piece of garbage.

Ripping his thumb off of her neck she spun and threw her knuckles into his neck. He caught her hand in his fist. It tread between painful and firm, his grip on her hand as he looked on her with his cold eyes. The god damn eyes of a piece of trash that deserved to be put down. Flustered and furious, she clenched her hand into a fist and struck out at his face.

It hit him square in the jaw and snapped his head to the side.

Maggie froze.

Tanner had let go of her other hand and was just leaning against the wall behind him with dead eyes. When she'd thrown the punch, he hadn't even tried to dodge.

"Does it make you feel better?" Tanner asked, turning to her, and tears slid from his eyes.

Fuck. What was she doing fighting with a man who'd just been trembling and broken on the ground? Was that the person she'd become?

"If you want to hit me, you are welcome to," Tanner said, bowing his head to her. "I would be dead now if not for you, so my life is yours to do with what you want. If you hate me, want to cause me pain or suffering, then please."

"Piss off!" Maggie left him there, with the god damn bruise forming on the side of his face, and Donovan stunned and confused by what had transpired.

How dare he!

How dare that piece of shit act... human.

In that moment, he could have hurt her, could have subdued her, but he'd given up his position over her to suffer a blow that he could have easily dodged. Certainly, if he harmed her here, he'd never make it out the door, but that was not the reason he hadn't done so.

When she'd attacked him, he'd defended himself if the harm would have been debilitating or life threatening. The man had self-preservation in spades, but when she'd accosted him with something as weak as her bare fist, he'd taken it.

This man was much more intelligent that she'd given him credit for. Unwilling to forfeit his life, he was willing to grovel at her feet if it would allow him that life.

How long would that last?

Was it just some ruse?

Maggie wouldn't put it past him.

Curse this LC Project that Allen had agreed to oversee.

Word count: 1892 -- Edited July 14th, 2020