Rose exhaled slowly, closing her eyes. She had been staring down at her feet, heart aching, as she battled internally to make her decision. There was no way they would believe her, despite her really not being able to do anything. Three o'clock would come and go and she would be left tortured worse than she had been, which was really quite something.

She had burns from strong Tasers and her hair was still wet from being nearly drowned several times. Her throat bore painful bruises, her back scratched, lip split, face beaten, eyes blackened, nose bleeding and cheekbones marked from continuous attacks from one of her guards, who seemed to hold particular hatred toward people with her kind of defiance. He certainly appeared to enjoy the evidence of pain on her skin.

They had not yet broken her, and as strong as her will held, they would not. She had stopped screaming and struggling and took the beatings, fixing her aggressors with a cold, indignant glare that was more than loathing – it was accusing. The treatment she had received would be branded into her memory as a truth of how humans behaved when they were scared of things they did not understand.

So desperate to be in control and with all knowledge were people such as Clarissa Deaver that they hurt other human beings with the same rights as them. Though it would sting, sear and burn, their torment would never make her cry. Not if she could help it.

She looked up at the sadistic guard who had been the cause of her latest slap mark, a red handprint on her cheek. He stood by the door to her makeshift cell, facing her with his rifle vertically aligned. His expression was stony, so full of disgust that it made her wonder what had happened to him that had turned him to cruelty. If she was not human, and they were, did she want to be human?

Who wanted to be normal when normal was like them?

She sighed and her eyeline dropped to her feet again. She endeavored to fill her thoughts with the better things that had been in her life: the warmth of the bed in her apartment after a long, tiring day, the smell of the bakery she walked past every morning in Covent Garden, the clear blue skies that occasionally lightened her day during a British summer, the feel of wet grass between her toes, the sensation of an embrace…

Other memories crept in, particularly that of the embrace, of who it belonged to prior to her vanishing. Raven hair, unkempt from morning till night, accompanied by pale skin and scarlet eyes that could be warmth or passion. The sound of a familiar laugh, singing along under his breath to 'Kung Fu Fighting'…

"Rose… aren't you a bit empty?"

She wrenched her eyes open and glared ahead when she realized that the sadistic guard was no longer alone. So they thought that the bastard couldn't handle her on his own? That would wound his ego, though he appeared determined not to show it. He clearly was trying to look like he didn't give a damn, and it was working. She almost believed that he couldn't give a crap that he was being labeled incompetent with a simple gesture.

The new guard stood with just as much purpose, looking fierce in the set of his jaw and with severity in his eyes. The violent guard glowered at Rose with distaste.

"What d'you think you're looking at, girly?" he demanded.

She frowned. "What…?"

He struck her sharply across the face. "Don't answer me back, you got that?"

The other guard, startled, turned to one side to look at the violent guard properly, and Rose's heart leapt into her throat.

The back of the new guard's head had been completely smashed in. Flecks of brain matter were visible, blood gushing in dark clumps down his back, fragments of skull caught in the collar of his clothing. Her words got caught in her windpipe, and had she not been bound to a chair, she would have jumped up. She began to feel sick. Her power… it hadn't been removed, not completely, just made dormant…

With all the electric shocks she'd been receiving, it had come back.

She pulled herself up, yanking her wrists, which had been tied down. She had to get out. The guard held her by the neck, forcing her back down. Her eyes continued to stare in horror past his shoulder to the ghost standing behind the door.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he snapped. "Quit it!"

He had not seen her this terrified before, even facing torture.

"Get me out!" she screamed. "Please! Let me go!"

The guard reached for his walkie-talkie. "Agent Deaver, the prisoner is losing her mind. Please get up here now!"

XXX

Matt was rapping his fingernails against the space of leather seating beside him impatiently, desperate to hear how his friends were faring. He could not stand the fact that he was trapped back here in a car with no power and no way of assisting those who were fighting for their lives, and the life of Rose. He glanced over at Tess, who was giving one of those, 'please stop if you value my sanity' looks.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "I'm nervous."

In a silent motion of comfort, Tess put her hand on top of Matt's. There they sat, Redd and Aeon, waiting for their people to return to them. Before they had sneaked out, they had discussed what they would do, but never really considered what it would be like to do nothing.

When Tessa asked Matt why he had wanted to get involved, he said he wanted to help out Mello when Mello had helped him so many times, and when Matt asked Tessa, Tessa had responded that Elisabeth had always been the strong one, the brave one that took things in her stride. This one time, Tessa wanted Elisabeth to have a chance to be weak. She wanted Elisabeth to need a hug, or ask for something, since she never did.

"We're so safe out here," Matt muttered. "I feel like we're cheating. It shouldn't be this easy."

Tess ran her free hand through her hair. "You call this easy?"

"You're right. Sorry."

"Don't be. Jesus, Matt, don't apologize." She rolled her eyes at him. She locked gazes with him determinedly. "I like you, okay? There's no reason to get all nervy. I know you're not like that normally. I know we're in a tricky situation, but we're gonna get through it. All of us. All right?"

His lips curved upwards at the corners into a Mona Lisa smile. "All right." He flipped his palm up and squeezed her hand. "Thanks, Tess."

"Here for a reason, man."

"Here for more than just Elisabeth, maybe?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"Dude, don't push it," she muttered. Her features softened. "Couldn't have you just running off causing trouble without me there, could I? That would suck-"

"Some almighty balls," he finished for her.

"Exactly." She found herself smiling back. "You see, you act dumb, but you do get it, Matt."

"I get you." He waited for the agreement.

Her smile was wry in response. "I wouldn't go that far. Maybe… coffee first?"

"Yeah. Coffee first. I'd like that."

XXX

There was a serious flaw in the plan that nobody had ever really considered. L and Elisabeth being put together was actually a mistake. At first, the mistake would have been the fact that they couldn't stand each other's guts and would constantly be throwing each other in the path of danger. Now the trouble was that the curiosity Watari had stirred in both of them had left them with unresolved questions.

L was absolutely convinced that Elisabeth felt something for him, and he experienced strange shots of adrenaline at this dangerous thought. He kept stealing glances at her, like any moment she would disappear into thin air. He couldn't believe how her mind worked. She had no respect for him, and yet he was sure she liked him – dare he say it – romantically.

Elisabeth, on the other hand, was terrified because she knew she might actually like this insufferable jerk. There was only one manner in which her rapid heart rate and immediate defensiveness could be interpreted, and she was well aware of that. Wondering if L had ever had a girlfriend hit her in the chest with pangs of undeniable jealousy. Now she was left to wonder whether he liked her or not.

Shit. She hated this. He hated this. Why could nothing in life ever be simple? To top this off, they may never even get to talk about it. What they needed was the right time, the right setting. Even without powers, it would definitely be complicated. He was the world's greatest detective, for God's sake. She was training to be a pathologist. They would never have time. After all, they were both workaholics, and in both of their opinions, love came after the job.

Love? That was pushing it. Seriously pushing it. It was a crush. For fuck's sake…

"How did you get in here?" barked a suit-clad agent accompanied by another.

Damn it – they'd been so tangled up in their thoughts they hadn't considered their surroundings and situation. Now they had two guns pointed in their direction, and the only thing on a gun Elisabeth could control was an electronic scope on a sniper rifle.

With a sigh of complete and utter frustration, Elisabeth held up a sturdy hand to the two men in front of them, indicating that they wait, much to their shock. She turned to L.

"Right, we need to sort this shit out right now," she said resolutely.

"Is she serious?" one of the agents whispered, only to be shushed by her.

"We're just going to confuse ourselves and get other people hurt if we don't know where we stand," she pressed. L nodded in agreement.

"Yes, we have to determine the boundaries."

"So it's that far that we require boundaries?" she asked. "Or is that a 'don't stalk me' kind of boundary? What's going on here?"

"Uh, you just broke into-"

"Shut up," Elisabeth ordered the agent. Both were so taken aback that they flailed wordlessly for a brief while, trying to process whether what they were seeing was a dream or not. "Okay, I'm going to say this out loud. L, I appear to be kind of… I don't know… into you. So that's where I stand."

"Well, if you like me-"

"If you like me-"

The agents had gathered their senses enough to cock their guns and be ready to fire, threatening the pair. These people had broken into a high-security, significant piece of property where major operations were taken place and clearly they were lulling them into a false sense of security by looking like they needed to have a quick relationships chat. They also didn't look like they were armed, so they must have had a bomb on them or something small of that nature.

"You're coming with us!" one of the suit-wearers shouted.

"Oh, will you just fuck off?" Elisabeth groaned, flicking her wrist at them and pumping them with volts. She looked back at L. "Where were we?"

"Boundaries?"

"Oh, fuck boundaries, we might die later," she muttered and locking her lips with his. It took a moment for L to process the surprise. This kind of reaction was not one he was used to dealing with. In addition, this unusual sensation was… rather pleasant, to be honest. Well, it was not he wished to end soon. Elisabeth, despite her cool exterior, was in fact warm and soft. L couldn't be sure whether it was her fault that electricity danced across his skin.

When they withdrew from each other for breath, L smiled to himself.

"I think I can live with the 'no boundaries' prerequisite."

She laughed. "Yeah, me too." She looked around the corridor, then at the unconscious agents. "Shall we go look for Rose now?"

Although this is one of the shortest chapters of the latest I've published, this also has some of the most important parts in it. I'm sorry for those who are more action-orientated; there is more of that coming next chapter.

If anyone has any questions, please do post them in a review. As for the scene with L and Elisabeth, I wanted some comedy in there, seeing as everything's been so heavy recently.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and please let me know what you think!

C.

P.S. Thank you again to Zephyr Morpheus Lee for the use of her OC Tessa. I hope she is updating "The Runaways" very soon!