2170 CE – Earth, London

Baton Pass

"Naomi, just run!"

A damn good idea.

Without further instruction she had bolted from the hall. Who said kids didn't listen in lectures? When a mad man shows up to class yelling out your name and pointing a gun you run; even if he's dressed in an Alliance uniform. The gunned down can't seek forgiveness.

Weaving through corridors Naomi had caught glimpses, through the many ornate windows of her university, of dropships landing across their campus. Boots crunched into pristine grass as Alliance officers launched across the campus in all directions.

So many guns.

Naomi had never had a run in with the law. She'd always be a goody two shoes in life, never even having a toe out of line and always discouraging others from doing anything shady. She had nothing to fear from the officers and yet she saw the guns, remembered the yelling man in her lecture, and felt her heart beat faster. Anxiety clawed at the breath trying to enter her lungs. It threatened to smother her but she forced it down and ran from the building out into the campus.

The university grounds were chaos. Soldiers with notepads were shouting at soldiers with guns while terrified students milled between them. A light drizzle gave Naomi the opportunity to pull her hood up over her head as she moved through the crowd; her steps slow but urgent, her head bowed but always watching. She was almost clear of the soldiers when someone snagged her hood from behind.

"Excuse me miss. We need to check everyone before they can leave."

Naomi felt a sudden dread clutch her core.

Maybe it's not me. Maybe he won't recognise me.

She turned, his eyes locked with hers and there was the flash of recognition. He masked it almost instantly but it was enough. She was the quarry and he had found her.

"Naomi?"

"Nah, not me mate." She said as she turned to walk away.

He grabbed her arm forcefully as if to pull her back. "I'm sorry Miss but you-"

She turned suddenly and the force of her movement whipped the soldier clutching her arm up from his feet and threw him to the ground before her. It was like an instinct she'd never known that she had. The campus around her grew quiet. Her scuffle had been far too public. A small black girl throwing a bald white man to the ground was never going to be a good look. If they didn't hate her before they were going to now.

"IT'S HER. IT'S THE SLAYER!" The man from the ground yelled.

The soldiers nearest her made a move towards her and a much more familiar instinct took control; Naomi ran.

Moving faster then she ever thought her body could move Naomi cleared the campus. Her friends would never have described her as athletic or sporty unless the sport in question was channel surfing. She had never ran so fast and so far before but then again she'd never feared for her life as much before.

Must be the adrenaline keeping me going. I'll be exhausted if I stop.

She was approaching the main gates and risked a look back at the soldiers. They had fallen way behind her. Perhaps it was sheer frustration getting to him but Naomi saw a soldier level his gun at her. She leapt to the side away from her exit and into the bushes as projectiles tore through the afternoon air and struck the wrought iron campus gates. Back on her feet faster than she thought possible Naomi was off and running again. If escape was impossible she'd need somewhere to hide. In her peripheral vision she saw what looked like an argument between the soldiers.

Good, stay distracted and away from me.

Weaving between the narrow alleys that separated the old grey brick buildings of her university, Naomi darted into a gym. She had never visited it before but was delighted to find it almost empty; the commotion of soldiers on campus had drawn almost every student outside. She slowed to a walk and moved deeper into the dank building; she wasn't as short of breath as she thought she should have been. The building was old an echoey, one of those ones built early in the 21st century that had winding hallways. Her university liked to repurpose them as a sign of their wealth. Naomi personally found it hard to see wealth or value in building materials as old and ugly as brick and stone. A part of her wanted to duck into a closet and hide but the adrenaline coursing through her made her too restless; there was no way she could just sit still.

"Split up, camera's caught sight of her entering this building. Stay alert, Cerberus are probably already here. Bastards are always one step ahead of us."

Naomi heard the order echo along the winding hallways and she began running once more. They caught sight of her before long. Giving chase as she climbed stairs, rounding corners as she did. Every turn brought her face to face with more soldiers and so she'd double back or climb higher. She was running out of places to go when she burst into an indoor basketball court. She ran across it only for the door before her to open and soldiers to pour through; she turned on her heel and more soldiers were behind her.

"That's far enough miss." The bald soldier from earlier said as he appeared.

"Dammit, Cerberus." A man called from behind her.

Then weapons appeared and Naomi felt a cold fear.

This is it. This is how I die.

She raised her hands slowly above her head. Tears formed in her eyes. How in the hell was this happening?

"Naomi, that's not necessary. We just want you to come with us so that we can make you aware of certain events that are occuring." The man behind her said. She didn't dare turn from the guns facing her. A single mistake and she'd be torn apart before she knew what had happened.

"Don't listen to him miss. We snuck in here in Alliance uniforms so we could sneak you out. Going with them is certain death."

"You arrogant traitor. Do you know that impersonating Alliance soldiers is a criminal offense. Not to mention the fact that your men fired weapons among a civilian population." The voice called from behind. It was stern; unyielding.

"It was necessary to save Miss Lockhart from becoming another one of your pawns."

"Don't listen to him Naomi."

"Miss Lockhart it is important you walk towards me."

"STOP!" Naomi shrieked as she closed her eyes to stifle the tears. It was too much. Cerberus? Alliance? What was happening? This morning she'd been afraid of telling her lecturer that she might be late finishing an assignment and now she was being held at gunpoint. "I don't understand."

You don't need to.

Naomi opened her eyes and saw a woman not much older than herself stand before her. She was bathed in radiant light and somehow Naomi just knew that the soldiers that surrounded her couldn't see the woman as they continued to try and entice her to their side over the other. The woman walked and Naomi turned to watch where she went, she couldn't explain why but she felt deeply connected to this woman. The woman moved across the basketball court to stand beside the man that had been calling from behind her. He was shorter than she had expected, his hair a blonde buzzcut to match his blue eyes. The woman smiled at her and he, oblivious to her presence, continued to yell something. But Naomi wasn't paying attention anymore. She watched as the woman pointed at the guns being held by the soldiers that flanked him.

Eyes open now Kiddo. What do you see?

It took Naomi a second but then she spotted it. None of the guns were pointed at her. They were pointed at the spaces behind her; presumably where the other soldiers stood. She turned to the other group trying to entice her and spotted several guns aiming at her while others still pointed at the men behind her. She turned back to the men behind her, the ghostly apparition of the woman was gone but she knew what she had to do.

"I'm coming over."