001 01000 Wake up

A terrible, ever-present ache was the first thing Sharon registered when she woke up. Every single smallest bit of her body felt as if there were needles stuck everywhere. She felt them pierce her flesh with each, even the smallest move she made and she couldn't stop the painful whines and gasps from escaping her lips. What the hell got her into such a state, she thought, tears trailing down her cheeks. Did she fall off her bike or something? She opened her eyes slowly and the night's darkness was something she welcomed gladly. She turned her head to the side and saw a very familiar sight: her bedside table. Her mind stopped for a moment. If she had an accident, shouldn't she be in a medical care center?

Just then, images from the evening flooded into her head, making her choke on her own breath. And then she heard the distant buzz of her huge equipment that she knew she turned off before leaving.

She tried getting up from her bed but ended up falling from it and crying out in pain. She clenched her teeth and crawled on all four to the nearest wall, wincing form the effort, but determined to make it to the right room. She hoisted herself up, clinging tight to the doorframe, panting. She would have cursed if she only could catch her breath properly.

Leaning against the wall heavily she made her way through the corridor and towards the doors left unclosed. Carefully, not to fall down, she pushed them open and froze still where she stood.

In the middle on the room, in between the whole equipment, someone was kneeling, curled up. Sharon felt panic rise inside of her and she imagined the worst scenarios possible. Against all reason she took a few shaky steps inside and stopped right next to the figure. Holding onto the tall server box, she lifted one of her legs and pushed at the human being.

She gasped surprised when she recognized the guy as he rolled onto his side limply. No, no, no that was impossible! What was he doing here?! How did he find her?! Wait, stop. Was this room even real? Was he here for real?

She gazed around frantically trying to decide if what she was seeing was the real world. It had to be, right? They would not drag her into Inner just like that. Right?

Who was it anyway, the guy that sent her unconscious?

Sharon almost jumped and fell over when she heard a quiet gasp. She looked down at the guy and saw him roll onto his back and move his hands up gingerly, unsurely. He rubbed his face with a sigh and then took off the headgear. He put it away and then looked up. His eyes widened briefly in surprise and then he shot her the widest, brightest grin she's ever seen.

'You look like you saw a ghost,' Leo chirped away merrily as he stiffly got up. Stunned into silence, she looked straight into his eyes and realized with a jolt that they were not violet anymore but intensively gleaming with electric blue. What the heck?

'You can't possibly know how happy I am that you're awake, alas, we don't really have time to play around,' he continued as if it was the most normal thing in the world. 'We should get going,' he added extending his arms towards her but she shoved them away. And lost her balance completely.

Leo grabbed her mid-fall and hoisted her up. He pulled her arm around his neck and wrapped his around her waist. He led her back to her bedroom as she tried to calm her breathing. And then a terrifying thought came to her mind. With her free hand she grabbed the guy's clothes and pulled at them. He turned his disturbing, questioning gaze at her.

'They can find us here,' she gasped out. 'They can follow me here-' He put a finger at her lips, surprising her into silence, and grinned widely.

'That I took care of,' he said smugly. 'I had quite a busy evening when you were sleeping. For all the proficiency of your dives you have no idea about one thing: security. I've spent an hour jamming the signals from that fancy equipment of yours, misdirecting the information and covering up your work from yesterday. Of which we still need to talk but that will have to wait until we do our current task-'

'Stop,' she said as forcefully as she could and he shut up, surprisingly. He helped her sit down on the bed and gazed at her expectantly, the smile never leaving his face. She took a deep, calming breath.

'Who the hell are you people?' she asked the question she was itching to ask for a while now. 'What did you do to me?' Leo grinned mischievously.

'We broke your biting restraints,' he exclaimed in a cheerful voice while she watched him skeptically.

'Somehow I don't see it like that,' she muttered. 'The guy yesterday, who was it?'

'Where do you keep your keys to the motorbike?' he asked instead of answering and started looking around, peeking into every drawer or cabinet he could see.

'Stop this, god damn it!' she cried out feeling the boiling anger rising in her. He obliged and gazed at her with the mischievous shine in his eyes that said clearly he was doing that just to humor her. She sighted resigned and pointed her bedside table. She heard the guy mutter "splendid" and he walked there and took the little thing. She watched him walk up to her, looking plain satisfied, and kneeled in front of her. He took out a strangely looking headgear and moved his hand up to fix it on her. Sharon grabbed his hand and gazed at him questioningly. She did not like how he was dealing with her and how she had no way or energy to change that.

'You can't use your old stuff anymore,' he said with a mocking smirk. 'Besides, you won't need the big stuff anymore and our special gear is perfectly enough for you to reach your level,' he explained and moved to fix the gear, now without any protests, Somehow, Sharon felt absolutely resigned to what was now happening to her. She knew that her rage and resolution would come back with full force when she had her energy back-

She gasped surprised when Leo switched on the connection. For a moment, she saw the world gleam in bluish light, but then she blinked and shook her head to clear the vision.

'You will be able now to switch on command between here and there so keep that in mind,' he explained seriously. 'That, of course, is only valid for the lowest level you reached but it's perfectly fine for now,' he added with a smirk and she frowned at him, the meaning of his words reaching her with some delay. And when it did, stared at him wide-eyed.

'You watched me!' she exclaimed irritated. 'You spied on me all the time and when I was trying to reach the Inner you... you blocked me.' He grinned quite evilly.

'We have enough people in the Inner,' he said getting up and pulling her with him. He wrapped an arm around her waist to help her walk and guided her for the doors. 'We needed someone in between to keep an eye on another important level, one that will lead us to the place we are looking for currently. And guess what, you will be the one to guide us, as soon as you're fit for work. But that, however, will have to wait a bit-' he stopped talking abruptly as they entered the parking lot. He motioned her to keep quiet as well. Only then she heard a quiet murmur of a talk somewhere to their right. He turned to her and frowned, his eyes saying clearly she was a burden in the moment. She glared at him just for the sake of it and he, with a small smirk, helped her to sit down on the floor. He motioned her to keep hidden.

With some shock she watched him take out two guns. He unlocked them soundlessly and stepped out bluntly into the open space. She wanted to scream he was nuts but, before she could do as much as take a breath, there were two simultaneous shots and two hollow thuds. She shivered at the images her mind provided and listened to the quick footsteps. She heard her bike start and it came up to her in a matter of seconds. Leo pulled her up to sit behind him.

'Hold on tight,' he said with a grin and as soon as she wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, he set off with the fastest acceleration the bike could offer.

Sharon squeezed her eyes shut and pulled in closer to the guy, using all her meager strength to hold onto him. Damn it! Did he even know you could die in the real world, driving like that?

Then, suddenly, they stopped.

Sharon looked up confused and instantly her eyes widened. What. The. Fuck. She felt completely numb as she watched the lights in front of them, as she listened to the electric buzz ahead and the mad snicker just before her. That was not happening, she thought and clasped her hands against her ears to block the loud bang of gun series.


AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.