2.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little- death that brings around total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn my inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany against fear.

In an alley, in the middle of the night:

"Can't believe I'm doing this, you owe me one Maxwell," she grumbled kicking over another bin and watching as the lid skittered, across the floor.

"Hey! Will you stop moaning already…do you want to get caught!" Her brother hissed in a low whisper. She glanced at where she thought she saw him, shooting daggers at the back of his curly black-haired head.

"No, but still, if Mum knew…she'd kick your butt for taking her sword" she muttered.

"What Mum doesn't know won't hurt her…"

"But she always does, she has a knack for stuff like that, it's freaky" she shuddered "– it's like she has a sixth sense or some- ARGH!" The last word was bitten off as suddenly someone grabbed her ponytail from behind.

She felt her head snap back and heard a sharp crack as her skull ricocheted off the brick wall. She grabbed the back of her head as pain laced through her skull. The world spun before her eyes, turning the black back alley, hazy; she went down, feeling cold concrete through her jacket.

"Sonia" Her brother snarled her name as he spun round pulling out a silver double-edged blade as he saw her go down.

A cold laugh filled her ears, the sound sending chills down her back. She felt someone's shadow fall across her face and she felt some grab her arm and pull her too her feet.

"I wouldn't think about that if I were you, boy," a harsh, grating voice hissed next to her ear.

She stumbled into the figure, as the sudden rush of blood to her head left her legs feeling weak. Suddenly something thin and sharp scratched her neck; the pain startlingly severe against the throbbing pain radiating from behind her eyes. Her head seemed to clear instantly.

"Now, let's see what we have here" the voice said again.

Sonia glanced around, shifting slightly- breathing shallowly in order to alleviate some of the pressure on her neck. Fear twisted her stomach in an iron grip; she was scared, hell, she would have been pissing her pants and blubbering like a baby if given the chance; her heart was pounding against her chest and her mind screamed at her she was probably going to die. However, despite the fact that she was so scared she felt like she was going to hurl all over the shiny black shoes belonging to her captor she tried her hardest to keep that fact to herself. Her mother often said that Death Dealers could and would use that fear against you, and if Sonia's instincts were right, these were death dealers. She pushed her feelings aside, she would not fear, if she did - more than her life would surely be lost.

Two men stood at the end of the alley, black coats mixing in with the darkness. Another faced her brother and another held the knife to her throat, at seeing her shift he placed a vice like grip on her forearm. She quickly weighed up her chances.
Even with what she knew it would be difficult to get out of this one; sweat trickled down her neck, making a cold chill run down her spine; something was definitely wrong.

'Ah hell, why the crap did I agree to this in the first place? - Mum is going to kill us…' her train of thought tapered off, as the man began to talk.

"Now, what would two children be doing out this late at night…?" he said

"We're not children" Max growled

"Maaaxx…bad time to be defensive" she said in a singsong voice through gritted teeth. The knife cut deeper into her throat as the grip on her arm tightened. 'Great!' she thought with great sarcasm 'I am either going to die of no circulation or bleed to death all over the alleyway…' and, Sonia knew she really didn't feel like dying today.

"Max, you do realise I am going to seriously hurt you when we get out of this…"

She shivered as the alleyway erupted into laughter.

"Tut…tut…ever Selene's daughter…ever strong, rude, arrogant…stupid."

"Hey-" she began in defence before the sharp crack of skin upon skin cut her off. Max seemed to jump forward. As her senses reeled from the slap and her neck stung; the grip on her arm had loosened.

Finding her momentum, Sonia grabbed the knife wielders hand and stumbled purposely, throwing herself to the side, taking his arm with her, The person was ready for her stumble but not for the fact that she held on, tumbling with him as he went down. A sharp backhand across the face followed by a booted foot shot at his knee had the man down with a cry, dropping the knife to the ground. The two men further down began running drawing weapons out of the darkness of their coats. Facing at least eight men in all the twins shared a look as the fight began; it would almost be unfair.