"I'm going out to get a drink from the machine down the hall," Mayumi said, tucking her gun into her pants and pulling her shirt over it to cover it.
"Be careful," Julie warned, flipping on the TV.
"I'll be fine. I think I can take care of myself."
"If you're not back in two minutes, we're coming after you."
"It'll take me two seconds."
"I'm timing you!" Julie called out as Mayumi went out the door.
Mayumi shook her head and went out into the hall.
"Should one of us go with her?" Shiris asked, peering out the window onto the lit streets below. No one was in sight.
"Naw, she can take care of herself. You worry too much!"
"You'll thank me for worrying so much one day," Shiris replied.
"Yeah, yeah, but still, you worry too much."
"So how long has she been gone?"
Julie glanced at her watch. "1 minute 16 seconds. She still has time, don't worry."
"I'm not worried. I'm just…concerned."
Julie smiled and shook her head.
I minute later Shiris suggested they go look for her.
"Give her a few more seconds. I'm sure she's on her way back right now." Julie replied, but glanced at her watch a minute later.
"Lets go," Shiris said, grabbing her gun. Julie was still a little hesitant. It took a whole lot of power to bring one of them down…
A thud from in the corridor brought then to their feet. A crash and the sound of breaking glass brought them outside the door and in the hallway.
Because it was night, the hallway was dimly lit. But they could still make out the shattered mirror at the other end of the hallway, right next to the broken vase. Shards of glass littered the floor.
"Mayumi!" Julie shouted, starting for the mirror.
Shiris grabbed her shirt and pulled her back.
"Are you crazy? That's exactly what they're expecting! We have to be careful!"
Julie, eyes narrowed, nodded.
They turned back to the mirror, which was about 100 feet away. It was next to the elevators, and two other hallways led into the area. In other words, it was the perfect ambush spot.
"Okay, I'll go along the right, you go along the left. When we hit the end, on the count of three, we go out."
"Right." Julie crept along the wall across from Shiris. At the end, Shiris held up her hand and counted off three fingers.
On the third finger, they leapt around the corner, guns up.
No one was there.
"Where'd they go?" Julie muttered, pointing her gun at the floor.
"I don't know. But they have to be somewhere. Let's-"
Above their heads, they head a thump.
Julie looked at Shiris, who, after a second, sprinted over to the stairwell. Julie raced after her, footsteps clanging on the metal stairs, and burst out onto the seventh floor.
"Where are they!?" Julie cried, slamming her fist into the wall. No one was there.
"They're playing with us. Come on, we're not going to lose." Shiris headed for the elevators. It seemed as though the lights had dimmed even more.
"They have to give us another clue, otherwise…." She paused.
"Wait a minute…."
Shiris whirled around to face empty air. The door to the stairway banged shut.
"Julie!" Shiris cried, raced over to it and pulled on the doorknob. It was locked.
"WHERE ARE THEY?!" she screamed. Heart racing, she surveyed her options. She could take the elevator, which would be very risky, she could jump out the window, which would be certain death, or…she could use a telephone! She ran to the nearest door and began knocking furiously.
"Help! Open up!" She shouted in Russian, English, Japanese, Spanish, and all the languages she could think of. No one answered. In fact, no one seemed to be on that floor. Her knocks echoed in the empty hallway. After the last door, she leaned against the wall. She was completely alone.
"They took over the whole floor…" now she was a little freaked out. Whoever had done this had to be powerful… "No. I'm not going to psych myself out. I need to find them. Okay. I'll take the elevator."
She walked over and pressed the button. It didn't light up. "What the hell?" She shouted, punching it again. And again. And again. Nothing lit up. Nothing started up.
"They knocked out the freaking elevators too?! Now what am I supposed to do? Starve in here?" She yelled into the air.
As if in response, the lights dimmed even more. Shiris knew they were toying with her, creeping her out as much as they could before they took her.
She drew her gun and backed up into he corner by the elevators and stayed perfectly silent. She could see down one hall, but the other two were invisible.
Nothing moved, nothing made a sound. All she could hear was her own breathing, a little fast and very ragged. A siren sounded faintly in the distance. She pushed her hair away from her face. Her hand froze midway down her cheek as she heard the creak of a door. Now she held her breath. She couldn't see anyone coming down the corridor she was facing, so it must be coming down one of the invisible ones. Great.
Faintly, down one of the corridors, a gun cocked. Okay, she was not going to wait to be killed. She was going to take the offensive.
Waiting a second to gather her nerves, she leapt out of her hiding spot and aimed her gun down the hallway to the left. Within a millisecond she realized she had chosen the wrong hallway. She tried to turn around, but a blow to the head stopped her. She fell to the ground and saw her gun kicked away from her. But she wasn't part of the Alliance for nothing. The next time the foot showed itself, she grabbed it and twisted. The man grunted and fell to the ground. Shiris jumped up kicked the man as he stood up. She couldn't see his face because it was so dark, but she could see he was taller than she.
The man didn't fall from her kick. Furious, she did a roundhouse kick and he slammed into the wall. She grabbed his neck.
"Where are my friends?" she shouted, squeezing. He didn't answer. "Tell me!"
He began clawing at her hands when she squeezed harder, but still said nothing.
She shouted in frustration and threw him down on the floor. Picking up her gun, she aimed it at him. Thus far, she had not seen his own gun.
"Where are they—Hiiro?!"
She stared at the boy. It was indeed Hiiro, illuminated by a streak of moonlight.
"What are you— uhh!" He took advantage of her surprise by lunging up and punching her in the face. She would definitely have a bruise from that one.
When she didn't fall, he slammed her in the stomach. She landed hard, the wind knocked out of her. This time she couldn't move. He lifted her barely conscience form off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder. Her head facing his back, she saw the floor of the stairs and then felt herself being jerked around as he descended quickly. The movement was too much for her, and she couldn't stop the black dots from overtaking her vision.