I almost felt like one of those characters in those story books that Linda had constantly talked about. It felt like ages as Bruce and I eyed each other; both sides standing stock still on top of the buildings, a cold breeze passing through us. The night market continued to bustle beneath our feet, the faint voices and dim lights filtering to us above. The two with Bruce were also tense, waiting for his command. It didn't seem neither of us was willing to make the first move but I needed to get this over and done with to join Doc back on the ground.

Hoping it would be enough of a trigger, I flexed my grip and spun my blade around my hand.

Bingo.

Bruce pounced, rushing across his flat roof and leaping over to mine. Thinking on my feet, I turned abruptly and ran away from the market. Knowing Bruce, he wouldn't give two shits about the people below so if anything happened to fall from our scuffle up top…

Gritting my teeth, I continued on my path, jumping over another gap between buildings. As I did, the faint but indistinguishable sound of a gun being cocked alerted the danger behind. Heaving, I barely managed to twist my body as two small pieces of metal whizzed past me. Grunting as I landed, my eyes narrowed at the still-incoming trio. As one man lagged behind, struggling to reload his stolen gun, the other took aim despite the barrel bobbing unstably with his movement. I dived behind the low wall that surrounded the entire roof perimeter just as a shot chipped off some brick. I swore silently, pressing my back against the barrier and being mindful to keep my head down. Honestly, the odds weren't looking good.

Bruce was definitely a up-close-and-personal type of guy so he would be playing around with the blades - 100%. However, judging from what the other two were doing, they would be his distant back-up and shooting at me from afar. I needed to at least know where they had situated themselves in order to keep an eye on them. My desperate gaze fell onto a random plank of wood, light enough for me to throw and just as long as my upper arm. Lying flat on the ground, I quickly shuffled my way over and grabbed a hold of it.

"Hey hey Rina. Scared out of your mind now that you don't have your team around to help you? That you're so far from home you don't have any ground advantage here? That the great Corporal can't swoop in and save your life?"

My teeth gritted instantly at the mention of Levi and how John sent his hooligans after him.

"Piece of-"

"Don't think we didn't take note of how mad you were when you found out it was John attacking him. Or how you made it one of your terms that the good Corporal was to be left alone while you investigated as an MP. We're not as stupid as you may think. To imagine that the weakness of a sneaky, vile woman was simply-"

To cut him off, I threw my wooden plank into the air, putting a spin on it to attract immediate attention. No words were exchanged in the next few seconds, as all four bullets ripped into the bark, splintering it into pieces. Startling at first but after watching the trajectories carefully, at least I now knew where the two gunners were situated.

But were they just out in the open of shielded behind something? How would I get rid of them? I needed to do something quick before they managed to reload the things.

I froze a split second after hearing an almost silent crunch from a boot. Instantly rolling onto my feet and unsheathing a blade simultaneously, I barely missed Bruce's foot as it slammed to the ground. Still crouching, I whirled around as a strong force collided into my right arm, the blade flying out of my grip. I tumbled away from the force and heaved myself onto my two feet. My head snapped to the side as another force smashed into my cheek. Bloody hell he packed a punch. Using the momentum, I spun around and put power into my left foot. I served a powerful kick to Bruce's side, thankfully which had him stumbling away from me. Leaping forward on adrenaline, my fist managed to give a good punch to his face before he grabbed my other arm and twisted it so my back faced him. I shrieked as he grabbed my hand and tried to break my wrist.

Bad, bad, very bad!

Quickly using his hold on me to my advantage, I pivoted, raising my leg. My heel slammed into his jaw, making a loud crack. The thug released my arm and bent over, coughing from the impact. He managed to take two steps from me before I jumped a step forward and shoved my foot against his back. Twinkle Toes flew forward into the concrete, his body making another awful crack as he hit it.

Now acutely aware of the 2 backups cowering in the next building over, I kicked up my tossed blade and attached it firmly back into the hand grip. In one smooth movement, I cocked the arm back and hurled the blade to where one of the shooters should have been based on my calculations. There was a crack of wood, followed by an ear-piercing shriek.

"Stay down!" I warned, eyes flaming, patience growing thin. Absentmindedly reloading a blade, I took a menacing step towards Bruce who was still sore from his ass being kicked.

"Give me one good reason not to stab you in the gut right now."

He groaned, the only sound he was capable of making at the moment. I narrowed my eyes, patience growing thin.

"Not good enough." and raised my blade. At the sight, Bruce began weakly scrambling away from me, although the beating I gave him must've taken all his energy. Aiming carefully, I drove the weapon downwards.