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Sharon felt like cursing the whole world to hell and further when she saw the circle of tough looking guys surround the exit they took. Was it enough luck that they made it out alive? Well, mostly and not everybody unscratched, she thought remembering Johnny's body lost under the rubble and Allen's arm missing from the explosion he had caused. Wasn't it enough what they went through?

What would They do to them now? Did They need them, anyway?

One of the men stared at them all in turns, visibly listening to something over his gear.

'Put down your guns,' he said and only then Sharon realized that she still had the weapons in her hands. With a shiver and no real reluctance she kneeled and left the things on the ground. She followed the next instructions and kicked them towards the men. She was better off without them anyway.

The man scanned their group again.

'We're taking the redhead with us,' he said nodding towards Lavi and two of his companions moved forward. Leo snarled at them and took a few quick steps back. The men aimed their guns at them, efficiently making him freeze on the spot.

'The fact that we have to take him alive does not mean unspoiled,' the leader remarked with a sly smirk. 'Give him over and you might even survive,' he added.

'Don't fuck with us,' Leo hissed angrily, breathing heavily. 'You're not getting him or anyone else.' The man smirked wider.

'I wouldn't be so sure about that,' he mocked and nodded at the two aiming with their guns. They unlocked them and readied to fire. Sharon held her breath and fought not to close her eyes away from the execution.

The two fired and in the same moment, or split of a second before, Leo dropped down to his knees heavily, the weight of Lavi pulling him stronger and faster. He gasped very painfully and at the same time the two attackers hissed as well. They dropped their guns and grabbed their heads, screaming terrifyingly. She knew all too well what was happening to them, she saw it once. She's seen Break mess with Fronts' heads to the point of frying their brains. Their cries, echoing with those from her memories, filled the night silence and stunned everybody. And over them, she heard a comment over the radio.

'Sharon, Alice, help Leo,' sounded in Tyki's voice and both girls jumped towards the two guys. There was a swish of bullets but none reached them as they pulled the two up. They took Lavi off him, seeing how Leo's legs were trembling unsteadily from the urgent fall. He was panting heavily.

'Can you walk?' Alice asked worriedly and he only nodded, words probably too much to force through.

'Where?' Sharon gasped out and the answer came over the radio: "stay where you are manageable". She gazed around looking for any clue what was going on and saw the only guy of Alma's group, Gilbert, fighting with two of Them that were still not wailing in pain from the electric shot. He was proficiently kicking their asses and, in a few blows, was aiming one of Their guns straight at the leader. The man's smug face fell when all the cries died down.

'I wouldn't be so sure about you taking us anywhere,' Gilbert hissed indifferently and in a quick hit knocked the guy out. 'You are coming with us instead,' he added and in that very moment two cars pulled up to them. Tyki was driving the smaller one and he waved at them to load on fast. Gilbert tied and stuffed the unconscious man at the backseat and then moved up to them to help. He took Lavi from the girls and took them to the truck of the bigger car. They followed.

Sharon watched how Gilbert together with Alma arranged inside all their unconscious companions: Kanda, Lavi and Allen. The older man helped the barely standing Oz inside while Alice took care of Leo. The blond girl went in the last and gave the street filled with bodies one last look.

She blinked stunned when she saw two figures standing there, a tiny bit discolored, a tiny bit unreal. The tall, thin white-haired man that for sure was the creep Break. Next to him there was a rather handsome, young, blond guy that had a very displeased scowl on his face. He seemed very similar but way better looking than... Elliot?

The truck doors shut, cutting the view and drowning them in darkness. Sharon strapped herself with the belt when the car moved. The slight swaying and the drop of adrenaline made her feel really dizzy and sleepy and very soon she let her head lie on the shoulder next to her. It smelled like Leo, she thought drifting away.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Sharon parked her bike in front of Fort I. The building in front of her seemed both familiar and unfamiliar and she felt a strange itch when she thought of entering it. It all started there, the biggest change in her life. The grand adventure. Or was it just a silly dream if she was still coming to work as before?

'Sharon, thank goodness!' Reim greeted her, all but jumping at her with a tight hug. 'I thought I'd never see you again!' She wrapped her arms around him as well, a small, fond smile twisting her lips. And the guy jumped away from her very fast, visibly embarrassed by his bluntness.

'Why would you be so worried?' she asked hiding her amusement at the behavior, instead, trying to sound as casual and innocent as she could.

'Well, some strange guys came the other day,' he started uncertainly looking around as if he was afraid of surveillance. 'They came asking for you and with some suspicious questions but I just said I only have my readouts and you never mentioned anything out of the ordinary so I couldn't really help them. Are you in trouble?' he finished with a frown. Sharon grinned.

'I guess not,' she replied with a shrug. 'I got a message today that I can't skip any more days of work so I'm here.' Reim watched her for a moment carefully but then shook away the expression and smiled lightly.

'Anyway, I'm glad you're back,' he added and she replied she was as well. 'You're diving?' he asked with a small smile.

'Sure thing,' she said and went to the chamber. Like she always did, she kneeled in the centre of the floor. She put on all the equipment, even thought it was quite unnecessary for her now. She plugged the bracelet she was wearing to the headset and tapped the access code to it. For a moment she watched the metal ring around her wrist with a frown: she still didn't fully know what it'd do. Tyki was not a master of explanations and not the keenest person to do that. With a sly smirk he gave it to her and said she'd know what to do. With the same look he told her that she should go back to her work as if nothing happened because no record of her deeds was kept outside of his own, personal computer. Now that sounded like a threat but did she care really?

'I'm going down,' she said to the mic and heard Reim say it was all clear. She dived.

Sharon found herself in the Inner faster and easier that anytime before and felt the bracelet push her into some specific coordinates. In a split of a second she found herself in her body form, in the middle of Inner Market Square. She was not alone in the middle of the Connex users.

Right in front of her quite a handsome blond was standing, looking at her with his highly displeased, cold, electric blue eyes. His thin lips pursed, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, like he was forced to stand there and wait. For her?

'I knew someone from the Wall was meddling with this affair,' he said for a greeting. 'Although you were not my first guess.'

'Sorry to disappoint you,' she retorted in the same cold voice, suddenly angry at the tone of his voice. The damn digital apparition dared talk to her like that! Well, he's not anymore in the position to be so smug. She glared at him as imposingly as she could.

'You are supposed to show me around the surveillance system,' she ordered as soon as the task popped up in her mind. They stared at each other maliciously for a moment before he huffed annoyingly and turned on the spot with a dismissive "follow me". Sharon smiled brightly, foreseeing a promising cooperation between them.

AN: Thanks for reviews, favs and follows.