Chapter 6 – One Second

Tyana stepped out of the shower, shaking the water from her hair. She wrapped herself in a towel then found another for her bright locks. She rubbed at her head of soaked turquoise and walked through to her bedroom, leaving small puddles of her little footprints behind her. She combed through her dripping hair and then unwrapped her towel and began to dry herself. But a mirror—or reflective panel as it was known as in this realm—across the room caught her eye and she curiously crossed the room to look into it. She looked at her bare body, noting for the first time every single difference from the months before when she had only been 17. She was taller now and so womanly. Her hips were round and curved, the way she had been told many men liked them. Her thighs, just as they always had been, were toned and muscular and her stomach was just as flat and well kept. Her breasts, she noticed, were somewhat larger than she had predicted they would be by the time she reached 24 but they weren't too large. They were a nice size she concluded. Her arms, in the same way as her legs, were also muscle bound but not so much so that they didn't look feminine. They just looked like she could handle herself, which she could, but they were also just small enough at a first glance not to look threatening. Which she supposed they really weren't until her adrenaline got going. That was why she was so deadly. Because the chemicals of her body knew how to use what she had. And she had enough to do some serious damage.

And so she smiled. Someone wanted to kill her? Who cared? She could handle herself just fine. Tyana nodded firmly. And then she dried and dressed. Bring it on. 

She strapped on her watch as she left the bedroom. Tyana settled onto her couch with a bored sigh and looked about her. It was a nice place. But it was typical of this dimension. Ever since she had returned 'home' she couldn't help but compare everything to Jeff's world. And to tell the truth, this dimension very rarely came through on top. It was too cold, too hard, too 'perfect'. It tried too hard; and to no avail. It wasn't personal. No one was real. No one shared their feelings; everything could be taken at face value because there simply wasn't any depth to anything. And it was hopeless. She hated it all.

There was a ring of the bell at her door. And Tyana's brow creased. No body knew she was here. No body knew she was alive. No one it was safe to associate with anyway. No one but the mission. And even they wouldn't stop by unannounced. She grabbed her gun. Well, one of them. Tyana strapped another on into her waist band and inched towards the door, her gun poised and ready to shoot the frail out of whoever was on the other side. Whoever shouldn't have been on the other side. Her hand lingered over the button that she would press to open the door. She applied pressure. The hiss sounded and the door shot open. And she was faced with a stranger. Who held a gun.

"Tyana, I have a message for you" they said, pulling their gun out so that it was straight forward, aimed at her head, "We'd all like you to die" 

Tyana wasn't expecting there to be a pause but there was one nonetheless. And she couldn't help but be cocky, "that's awfully nice of y'all to warn me but ain't no one dying today" she caught them off guard by raising a leg and smashing the gun clean from his grasp within half a blink of an eyelid. God she loved her speed. "Oh yeah, except you" Tyana pointed the gun at his head and applied pressure to the trigger. The bullet left the barrel. But her target had moved. She was clasped from behind. Frailing hell, she cursed silently, she had never seen anyone move like that. Even she couldn't do that. She wasn't dealing with a normal person she realized. Well, as normal as one could be going around trying to kill innocent love-sick people who simply wanted to help a different humanity. It was obvious, she concluded, that she was dealing with a bad guy. No shit Sherlock.

Tyana stopped distracting herself as she felt her neck being squeezed so tight that her head may pop off. But she knew what she was doing; the killer was a guy—a different guy to the one who had tried to kill her the day before—but a guy nevertheless. She kicked backwards with a force that no one else could possess. He released her from his grip, doubling over. Tyana spun around and slapped him in the head with a spinning heel kick—one of her specialties—and then he fell to the floor. "Shit, man, you're still conscious?" she whined, taking in his wincing. She sighed, exasperated by him. And just plan kicked him in the head with great force. He blacked out.

Tyana tied him to a chair, chaining him with cuffs that had been conveniently kept on his person. She didn't even want to know why she decided as she cuffed him up to the rungs of the chair. And then she grabbed all of her belongings—what very few she could call hers—and packed them. There were at least two people out to kill her. And something told her the number was larger. Something told her she should leave. Something told her Bret was right; the safest place for her was that god awful vicinity, head quarters. Tyana called Bret to let him know what had happened. He agreed she should return immediately but not after he had said she didn't have time to interrogate the man that lie still out stone cold on her lounge floor. She left in a hurry. Sure she could take on whoever tried it on with her but she wasn't stupid; she wasn't perfect and was bound to mess up some when. And considering what these men were trying to do, a mess up could be fatal. And so she was on her way. And just like everything else, she hated that fact.

Tyana was greeted at the doors of the head quarters and searched for illegally planted tracers and such. Once she and her baggage were cleared she trotted down the steps, through the door, and then was pulled into a hug by Bretski.

"I told you, you should've come back here last night"

"Well you know me, I'm just plain stubborn" She laughed.

Bretski rolled his eyes, "Tyana, how can you laugh? Someone tried to killed you less than 3 hours ago and that was only 21 hours after someone tried to do the same thing yesterday"

Tyana shrugged, picked up her bag and began walking; finding that, of course, Bret followed her, "So what? I'm obviously so damn good looking that if someone can't have me they would rather I die" she feigned another laugh.

Bret sighed and caught the crook of her arm in his hand, stopping her and turning her to face him, "Ty, stop it, it's not funny and you know it. What are you really feeling?"

"For real?" he nodded. And she let down her shields, "I hate to say it Bret…but I'm afraid,"

"Because of what happened?"

"No…afraid because I have a feeling that someday they'll succeed" 

***

Jeff glanced down at his watch, finding that it was 5:15 exactly. He quickened his pace, heading towards his locker room to get ready and warm up before he was due in the ring. He shivered suddenly, overtaken by a feeling that something was very wrong. And then the headache hit. His mind split in two, cracking his head with agony. Jeff clamped onto the stair rail of the staircase in the arena, pausing on the step as he free hand rose to clamp to his smashing skull. He tried to scream out in his pain but nothing would leave his lips. And then he saw it.

Flash.

The girl in front of her mirror, examining her body. The girl from his dreams. Determined.

Flash.

Strapping on her watch.  5:15.

Flash.

The look on her face as she stared. Clasping her gun.

Flash.

The evil grin of a man. The gun in his hand. Outstretched arm. Aimed at her head.

Flash.

The girl's cocky smile. Her gun poised.

Flash.

A sequence so quick Jeff couldn't register it. The result; the man on the floor, the girl backing away.

Flash.

The man tied up. The girl packing.

Flash.

Her face as she fled. Terrified. And angry. A blur of turquoise.

Flash.

Her eyes. Deep. Violet. Familiar. In pain…

Flash.

Jeff shook it off, suddenly finding he could see again. The pain in his head disappeared as quickly as it had come about and for no reason he found himself glancing at his watch. 5:15:01. That was impossible. All that pain, all that information, all those events. All within a second? He didn't believe it. Something must have been going wrong with his watch. He came over dizzy. Or maybe it was his mind that was going wrong. He didn't have time to decide before he collapsed at the foot of the stairs. 5:15:02.

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*A/N* Two chapters this time, mainly just because I felt like giving you a little more excitement to follow up on the first attempt to kill Ty :o)

Shadow: lol, the lone reviewer, that's a good name for you, suits well. Lol, you're making me blush again *bright red* I originally hadn't intended to use the child actually but I realized it was a bit naff to just suddenly have someone start shooting with anything before hand so I used the kid to give it a more planned nature and make it more twisted. Hopefully I kept up with the details in these chapters—I know I didn't in Most Wanted (5)—thank you for reviewing :o)