Author note:

All right I'll let you all in on a little secret.

I messed up.

The chapter that's supposed to be chapter 11 actually skips a whole load of timeline and there's plot I want to put in there sooooooooo

There's gonna have to be a wait on that one. The unfortunate thing is I won't be able to sit down and write properly until two weeks after today because ya girl's got her exams on. So while these papers have me wallowing in depresso expresso, please make do with this one. I promise I'll be back soon.

Ugh, and I was so excited about dropping chapter 11 too. It was gonna be so RAD. Oh well, guess you'll all have to wait in suspense (teehee)

Also, anonymouscsifan, you are my fave and thank you so much for being so dedicated.

ALSO ALSO we've finally hit more than 20k words I am so proud. Getting teary-eyed over my fanfic baby. Y'all don't know how damn happy this little fic makes me.

Enjoy now!

Chapter 10

Tight.

/ - Elliot POV - /

It seemed like such a straightforward thing to do when he had been numb and desperate. In reality, saving Gwen required a lot more than despair and good-will. He had to plan out his actions.

Elliot wasn't physically present to rescue her from her position, and if he had been what could he have done anyway? No, he was more helpful to her behind his PC. He was not made for the missions Gwen took on.

First, he would deactivate the security cameras in her holding room, as well as the ones in the corridor. He had to time it right, so that the lights dimmed just as the cameras were coming back on. The combination of these factors should buy her enough time to escape. The only problem was, Gwen was tied to the chair. Even if he presented her with the optimal conditions for escape, she had to be physically able to move first.

How could he let her know? The place's security systems were almost impenetrable. They had layer upon layers of firewalls and AI defence codes that sent Elliot back to the beginning every time he bumped into them. It was almost as if they had a dedicated team working to keep him out.

There was only one thing he could think of, and part of that plan still relied heavily on Gwen's capabilities.

Elliot waited until the men making their rounds passed her room and moved further down the corridor. Then, he moved the camera through which he was watching Gwen. It had taken him almost an hour to take over control of the main camera system. But he hadn't acting, waiting for the guard to leave. For a place which seemed to be heavily guarded, the guards themselves were quite reckless.

Leaving the surveillance room unguarded? They must have had a large trust in their door-man to keep any invaders out. Too bad he wasn't a physical invader, Elliot mused.

As expected, the abrupt movement of the camera side to side created a whirring sound. Gwen looked up, letting him know she was alive. The lifelessness in her eyes hurt Elliot far more deeply than he had anticipated, but he used it to further drive his determination.

I have to save her.

He had to time this correctly. The doors first, then the cameras and later the lights. But all of this relied on Gwen knowing what to do. He only prayed that she did, because if they messed this up he didn't know if he could save her a second time.

A large part of him didn't want to think about it, but it was slowly dawning on him how serious the situation was. Their back and forth messaging the previous days had lured him into a false sense of security, but the truth was Gwen could die. She wasn't in there, playing a game of cat and mouse. It was either she caught them first or they killed her.

Elliot didn't want to think about it.

The guards were far enough away that he could unlock the doors without them hearing it. Not letting himself over think his actions any longer, he deactivated the locks on Gwen's door.

The sound caused Gwen to lift her head up, looking at the camera in suspicion. He knew she only knew him as a stranger, but her piercing gave shook him nonetheless. There was desperation in her eyes. Elliot watched to see what she would do next.

Her body slowly started wriggling rhythmically, in a motion that was almost mesmerising to him. He could never do that with his body, he thought fleetingly.

As Gwen's shoulders slid down to the top of her bindings, Elliot realised he had to deactivate the camera feed. If he could see what Gwen was doing, then if the guards from the surveillance room returned, they would see it too.

But he didn't want to stop watching.

As Gwen's shoulders finally popped free and her head slipped from the bounds, Elliot cut the cameras in the building. This wouldn't alert the mainframe for at least 3 minutes, so Gwen had that long until she was out of her chair and in the corridor. Then he could deactivate the lighting system as the cameras came back online.

Gwen would have to find her own way out, in the darkness.

Elliot counted down the seconds in his head, sweat dripping down the side of his face as his heart started to beat faster. He fought the bile that was threatening to rise in his throat. This type of vigilante act was not for him. It was a lot safer when all the variables were accounted for. Right now, Gwen was not.

As the last few seconds ticked down, Elliot's fingers shook. Raising them to the keyboard, he deactivated the lights and stared at the feed of the cameras. With the main lighting system off, it was almost impossible to make out anything on the screens. However, the off-system lighting provided enough that he could see movement.

There was a figure on the top left screen, darting down the hallway. Elliot felt a huge lump of stress leave his system as he realised it was Gwen. She had made it out of the room and was running for her life.

But wait.

"No. What the fuck." He slammed his fists onto his PC screen, as if violence would get through to Gwen on the other side. Where was she going? Why was she going the opposite way to the exit? It was as if she knew exactly where she was headed.

Elliot followed her figure from camera feed to camera feed as the realisation slowly hit him. She was going straight for the wolf's den.

"Fuck."

She was going to get herself killed. He'd just given her a chance to escape and yet she was looking for David? There wasn't even a guarantee that he was in this building. All she was doing was putting herself into more danger.

No. I have to stop her.

Elliot tried to lock the doors blocking her path, but she always slipped through them just in time. It was as if she knew, and her knowledge drove her to run faster. She knew he was trying to stop her, the smart devil.

Gwen stopped outside a door to the main room, and Elliot sank back in his chair. There was no camera feed in that room. As soon as she stepped through that door, she would be by herself. He'd be blind, unable to assist in any way.

It felt like an eternity. Elliot was sure he had lost ten years of his life just staring through the camera feed, willing Gwen to reappear from the doorway.

It was ten minutes into this nothingness that Elliot had his first break down. It started off as a quiet, repetitive 'no' which he continued until it got louder and suddenly he was freaking out. Hands gripped the sides of his hair and tugged up roughly as he scrunched his eyes closed.

Then came the heavy breathing and the start of hyperventilating. Elliot's mind was in pieces as the world spun around him. He was desperately trying to regain control and focus but nothing was calming him down.

Shit.

Curling up into a ball on his chair, Elliot rocked back and forth as tears streamed silently down his cheeks. If he opened his mouth, he was scared to hear what sound would come out. Forcing himself to be silent was the only way he could calm down.

A whimper escaped.

Fuck I am SO weak.

His frustration bled into his voice as his whimpering grew louder.

This panic lasted for a total of 5 minutes but for Elliot, it felt like hours. When he regained enough control to continue staring at his PC, he couldn't tear his eyes away.

A buzz on his phone alerted him that Angela was looking for him. It was probably about that stupid party that Gideon was holding. When he'd heard about it from the man, Elliot wanted to laugh in his face. Yeah right, as if he would go to something as social as that.

He'd considered asking Shayla to come with him, but that was when he'd received the message from the anonymous person via Gwen's phone. And in an uncharacteristic panic, all thoughts of the party had left Elliot's mind.

That brought him back to the present. Back to the unmoving camera feed and the darkness of the doorway that Gwen had disappeared into.

Elliot's second panic attack after an hour. This one had him pacing around his room, fighting the voices in his head. He didn't recover from this one and soon found himself whimpering on the floor, a hand grabbing the blanket from his bed and the other arm wrapped around his torso.

He passed out in that position, mind and body exhausted.

It was a couple hours later when he jolted awake. The panic he felt at that point was controlled and he robotically moved to his computer. The camera feed was static. Elliot felt bile rise in his throat.

I was so fucking weak. Gwen is probably dead because of me.

With shaking fingers, he rewound the feed recording, pausing at the time about thirty minutes after he passed out. A figure limped out of the door of the office. Blood and hair stuck to their face, making it almost unrecognizable to Elliot.

Gwen paused at the door and looked back into the room. She raised her arm and Elliot flinched as she fired her gun at something. She paused again, staring at her gun for a long time. It was almost as if she was in a trance, controlled by some other force.

Elliot watched in fear but he couldn't look away. Gwen took another step further away from the room. As she turned to leave, she stopped and looked at the camera, straight into Elliot's eyes. He nearly fell back in his seat.

With unshaking hands, she raised the gun up and fired. The bullet had Elliot gasping for air and he watched the screen immediately flicker to static.

Holy shit.

/ - Gwen POV - /

Gwen thanked her luck when she stumbled back to her lodging. The owner of the AirBnB didn't live close and it was quite secluded. No one caught a glimpse of her as she staggered back, covered in blood and grit.

Her muscles ached and her head was whirling in circles. She kept seeing it, images of blood being splattered and cries for her to stop. But the loudest sound of them all was a sickening laughter, one that had dominated her brain as soon as she had stepped foot in that office.

Even after disposing of the men situated there, she had not found the source of the laughter. When Gwen re-entered the hallway, she was held tightly in the clutches of insanity. Seeing that camera watching her, unmoving, struck a nerve. That filthy stranger had known she was in there. He could have done anything, called the police, gotten help. Instead he had played god, opening doors for her and guiding her as if she needed him.

What a joke.

As she dried herself, Gwen took the time to plan out her next few days. She had three days left in China before Tyrell expected her back. The thought of her boss made her laugh darkly. He would not expect the news she was coming home with, the scumbag.

Now that she knew, now that she had a safety net, Gwen would follow no man.

With a small sigh, she rolled up her sleeve and got to cleaning the shower. Remnants of blood had darkened the water around her and Gwen was brought back to a memory she would rather forget.

That memory led to the thought of Elliot, and Gwen found herself promising that she would fix their situation. They had to talk, and Gwen would bite her own tongue out if it meant she could keep calm. No matter what, they had to fix the rift between them, even if it meant severing ties forever.

She wouldn't allow herself to be distracted by thoughts of him anymore. Elliot had obviously changed, had obviously obtained new priorities.

So had she though, and it was time to make that clear. Gwen wasn't some stupid girl pining after Elliot's friendship. She was a strong, independent person and had been on her own for long enough that she could handle it for longer. Elliot was nothing more than a blip in her sensibility, causing storms in her oceans.

But that would change. When she got home, their interaction would make or break them. No more of this grey area bullshit. Either he treated her with respect and wanted her back in his life, or she would accept that he had forgotten her and leave forever.

Time waits for no man. But it had waited for her. Gwen was sure the waiting was over and she didn't want to be caught unaware when life threw her it's next curveball.

She would finish her business in China and head home. She would rest at home, explain to Chen her plans and then she would march on over to Elliot's.

Yeah, I'll show him who I really am now. If he thinks I'm weak enough to want to stick around again just so he can emotionally abuse me, he's thinking something wrong.

End Chapter 10.