Untimely

- IX -

The pained expression in Five's face before he ran in the opposite direction filled Mara's head. 

Was it hesitance? Was it guilt? 

She couldn't tell. It felt almost foreign for someone like him, and it confused her.

Maybe Klaus was right.

Maybe it was just façade.

Or maybe its the lack of oxygen going through her lungs at the moment.

With her frame being smaller than it should be and the unfortunate position she was in, the man towering above her was easily winning. The baton was now slowly inching its way to crush her neck against the railing, and she could feel herself slipping.

The majority of the guards had chased after Five, leaving just three around her and trusting that they would get the job done. 

If a time would be as good as any, it would be now.

So with this in mind, Mara leaned back and brought her knee up to his jackpot.

The man immediately dropped the baton and reeled back, yelling and writhing as he did so. The Sparrow quickly took off, the other two men hot on her heels.

If her memory served her well, then there should be a staircase nearby leading to the second floor. She figured she could find an empty dark room somewhere there and finally get away from this dammed building.

Thankfully, the staircase wasn't that far. Mara already had it in view as soon as she turned a corner.

The railings lining the steps were glass instead of the concrete that surrounded the balcony, and it didn't seem to be supported by a pillar. It was merely connected by the edges of the two floors.

Mara wasted no time and she skidded down those steps. She spun around as soon as she reached the next flight of stairs, but just as quickly, something hard rammed into the side of her body and sent her crashing through the glass railing.

Her left shoulder was quickly met with the hard concrete floor and an unsettling crack echoed through her body. A sharp pain spread across her abdomen as the wind in her lungs got knocked out.

Mara tried not to falter, but everything was spinning out of control and she couldn't focus on a single thing. It didn't help either that the man above her was obstructing her lower body.

She tried to settle her vision, but who she saw was unlike the other security men. 

Tattoos snaked up from his collar and curled behind his pierced ears. His wild red hair covered his otherwise gruff face that held a very amused expression. He trapped both her wrists to the floor with his large hand and smiled almost contently as he pointed a very peculiar knife to her neck.

Mara frantically tried to pull off her glove, only for her to realize that it was lodged underneath his pressing grip. She tried to move her legs as well,  but to no avail.

The man laughed, cold and sinister, and positioned the knife above her face.

Is this really how she was going to go? Stabbed in the head inside the lobby of the biggest telecommunications provider in the world. 

At least its not entirely boring.

Mara only closed her eyes, waiting for the abrupt sensation of the knife piercing her body.

But it never came.

The weight above her lifted with a loud thud and Mara instinctively stood up, her eyes opening wide to Five smashing his whole body to the brute. The knife slid away from his grasp and the man was left stumbling to regain his composure.