Rockefeller Plaza is one of the most famous places in New York City. Known for its shopping, fine dining, and over all magnificence of architectures, Rockefeller Plaza is a gathering place for natives and tourists alike. However on this particular day things were not going as normal. The street for two blocks around 45 Rockefellar Plaza were cordoned off allowing only police and emergency vehicles to get anywhere close to this paticular building.

Two S.W.A.T. vans pulled up and in a matter of seconds the teams were unloaded and heading over to the mobile command post that had been set up outside of the ground floor entrance.

"Here's the situation," The one scene commander began just as soon as all of the men were assembled, "We have a hostage situation up on the third floor in the Pulse Restaurant. Some company VIPs were having a luncheon in the back room when some disgruntled employees decided to barge in. We're getting mixed reports from the two or three people that got out so we don't know exactly what we're dealing with. We're hearing anywhere between 4 and 10 people armed with machine guns. The men are wearing ski masks and have yet to release any hostages. The restaurant is in lock down and they've chained the main doors closed."

"Have you been able to make contact with them over the phones?" Jacen King asked, his eyes cold as he absorbed the information along with the rest of the S.W.A.T. team.

"So far they haven't answered the phones quite yet. The A/C has been shut down to that restaurant and has been off for the past thirty minutes. I expect they'll answer next time call if only to order us to get the cooling system back online."

Turning to a floor plan, the man continued his orders. "We're setting up four men just down the hall from the main entrance. Four more men will hold tight by the service entrance. You'll all be getting the phone calls piped to your earbuds. Are we clear?"

***

Jacen crouched outside the service entrance with his H&K UMP gripped firmly in his hands. His earbud and throat mic were both firmly in place underneath his own black ski mask as he waited for some sort of signal. He could here a soft ringing that indicated his boss was putting through a call to the restaurant and after aproximately twelve rings a connection was finally made.

"Hello. This is Lieutenant Steve Allen of the NYPD. Is anyone in the restaurant injured?"

It figured, it freakin’ figured. There was nothing in the world that Tarin and Lee could do that came out normal. They couldn’t even go out to a nice dinner together. No, of course not. The night had started out perfectly. After everything that had happened, a normal date had sounded like the most amazing thing on Earth. So they were going out on the town. There was a restaurant at Rockefeller Center that Tarin had wanted to try for ages and Lee had been game for a trip there. It was a great excuse to dress up a little too and Tarin had gone with the tried and true jeans combined with a button up shirt and a suit jacket. Lee always reacted well to that and his shorter hair looked amazing with the dark colors.

Things had been great, conversation had been easy, and the food had been delicious. Until the a-holes in ski masks had barged in with a whole bunch of automatic weapons. It had happened too fast for Tarin to even think of doing anything, and besides, there weren’t any spirits around. Déjà vu from their time in Colombia set in and Tarin had to bite his tongue to keep from making snide comments to their captors.

For one, Slate wasn’t around to heal him when he went too far, and Tarin was pretty sure these guys weren’t interested in playing. In fact, they didn’t seem interested in most of the people in the restaurant at all…just the big wigs that they drug out of one of the VIP rooms in the back. Apparently the rest of them were just meat shields. Always reassuring.

Everyone was sitting on the floor, because chairs made the situation so much more dangerous for the intruders. Tarin looked at Lee and reached out to take her hand as he leaned his head back against the chair behind him. “Never a dull moment, huh?” he said, turning his head to look at Lee and take her hand.

The phone rang and no fewer than half the people in the room jumped at the sound. For some reason, the guys with the big guns had killed most of the conversations going on. Tarin listened to the negotiations as sweat started rolling down his back. Great, the cops had shut off the air...he shrugged out of his jacket and let it fall to the floor. It was going to be a long night.

Things had been going well since they had gotten back from Columbia, very well, at least now that things were settled back down again after getting back into the city.

Or at least things had been going well until they had been almost finished dinner. Lee had been quite happy about the idea of going out for dinner, especially to the place that Tarin had suggested, because of how it meant that Tarin would be dressing. And, Lee knew, she could have dressed up a lot more than she had, but she had settled on just a little black dress instead.

Now, sitting on the floor with their captors walking around with guns, Lee was glad she had actually chosen this particular dress, since it was longer than her normal clothing.

Lee was sitting, her legs tucked beside her, her head tilted to the side slightly, when she felt Tarin's hand reaching out to grab hers. "Unfortunately not," Lee said with a slight sigh. Was it wrong, bad, that she almost wasn't worried about the situation? Well sure, she was worried, but Lee wasn't feeling the fear that so many other people in the restaurant seemed to be feeling. Really, why would she? She and Tarin had faced worse than this, much worse than this just a couple weeks earlier in Columbia, and at least this time if they stayed quiet, it seemed like they'd get out of it without much problem.

"Maybe we just shouldn't go out any more," Lee said softly, the frown on her face growing, as she leaned her head the other way, toward Tarin's shoulder. "I had enough of the heat last month."

Mark was an unpopular man. This was apparent as the amateurs manhandled him. Roland suspected that something was brewing prior to the theatrics that were now occurring around him. it was his waiter, who had been much more interested in the door and other suspicious glances that were being conveyed around the restaurant. Since he had missed the initial opportunity to remove the man from the earth, thanks to the Irish lass, he was determined to follow up. Roland never let a job slip his grasp. He promised Mark he would see him again and didn't want to disappoint him.

Now he was seated on the floor next to his table. Roland knew there would be swift response from the police, due to the restaurant's location. This put him on the side of the table opposite the window. That and he distrusted the accuracy and lack of zeal among New York's finest snipers. Many of the patrons were keeping their heads down, so he followed suit, though he only did so when Mark happened to look in his direction. The actual gunmen were hacks at best, now in a situation beyond whatever plans they had drawn up in their garage.

The air conditioning had been shut off, meaning the negotiators were running their playbook. Roland waited for the eventual phone call which came as expected. The phone rang as the various masked men hustled about. Their leader was the only one who remained calm. Perhaps there would be some fun involved in what was to come. One way or the other, Mark would not leave the restaurant alive. Roland always kept his promises.

"Nobody's injured yet, but they will be if you don't pull your men back from the doors!" A somewhat panicked voice sounded over Jacen's earpiece. If that was the guy running this particular operation then the chance of getting everyone out without casualties had suddenly dropped quite low.

"I need to talk to one of the hostages to confirm it."

"Who the hell do you think you are?! I'm the one calling the shots here! You don't talk to anyone unless I say so!"

Jacen could feel his muscles tensing as he waited for the go signal. Men like this were the most dangerous kind of terrorists. Instead of issuing clear cut demands the were out to prove that they were in control before actually passing on what it was they really wanted.

***

Inside the restaurant the atmosphere was getting even more tense. The apparently leader of the group looked on dispassionately as one of his more unbalance lackeys took care of the phone call. From all the shouting it was apparently the man was getting extremely worked up and agitated but suddenly the leader walked over and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. Almost instantly his demeanor changed as did his tone of voice.

"Fine... you want to talk to a hostage, I'll put a hostage on." The man on the phone continued as he turned to scan the restaurant, "You! Girly! Not you, YOU! In the black dress! Get over here!"

Lee wasn't really paying much attention as she heard the man, one of the men with guns, talking on the phone. Watching for signs that things might be going south, but Lee wasn't overly concerned with listening to each and every word the man was saying. Which she would have been able to hear, even from across the restaurant had she been paying attention, because of how quiet everyone else was.

Lee's attention was forcefully directed to the man on the phone when she heard him start yelling. "...YOU! In the black dress! Get over here!"

Lee hadn't been paying attention, but as soon as she heard that, and saw the man looking in her direction, she sighed. Of course it would be her, it couldn't have been any one else they were holding in the restaurant. "So much for not being noticed..." Lee muttered as she slowly climbed to her feet.

Yeah, now Lee was starting to get worried. Before, her and Tarin were just another couple faces in the crowd nothing to single them out, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when these guys had shown up. But now, they were calling her forward, they were actually looking at her, paying attention to her.

But it would be worse to not play along, Lee knew. That would just make them more upset, and would likely make them start taking that anger out on people. Such as on her.

"Yes?" Lee asked once she had reached the man on the phone, who still had another man standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder. She wasn't being rude,just maybe slightly rebellious because she wasn't sounding scared like just about everyone else in the restaurant was.

Rather than answering, the man simply shoved the phone toward her. Shoved it toward her, but didn't actually let her take the phone herself. Lee had to actually fight to keep from rolling her eyes as she moved so she could actually hear what was being said on the phone as the man held it. "Hello?" Lee asked, her tone holding less of that rebellious tone.

"This is Lieutenant Steve Allen of the NYPD," Lee heard through the phone, though slightly muffled with the way that the man was holding it. "Who am I speaking with? Has anyone been hurt?"

"My name's Lee Brooks," Lee replied steadily. "I don't believe anyone's hurt, just scared. The men have us all sitting on the..."

"Enough." Lee heard a moment before she felt something hard contact her cheek opposite the phone. Having not expected the hit, Lee hadn't been able to brace for it, and as her hand came up to comfort her stinging skin, she found herself suddenly facing Tarin; apparently the suddenness of the hit had spun her around.

The man had actually hit her. As that thought sunk in, while she was looking at Tarin, Lee's eyes widened and she shook her head slightly toward her husband. Hopefully he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Tarin sighed as Lee laid her head on his shoulder, it was almost disgusting to him how calm he felt. Tarin saw that as a definite indication that thy’ed been through these things way too much in recent history. She commented on the fact that she’d had more than enough heat in the last month and Tarin actually cracked a slight grin. “Tell me about it.” He said, leaning his head to the side so that it rested on Lee’s.

Inevitably those thoughts brought up memories of a town square and a crowd of people. Of Lee swooping in to the rescue in a body suit. Tarin sighed and opened his eyes, he hadn’t realized they were closed. The apparently leader of the masked menaces was on the phone with who had to be a negotiator at this point and Tarin watched dispassionately as he spoke. The guy was a total idiot and his ineptitude was going to end up getting people hurt, was this really the guy in charge?

Tarin’s question was answered in the worst way he could have possibly imagined a moment later when another man stepped up and put his hand on the phone guy’s shoulder. Now that was a leader. At the touch the other man settled and acquiesced to the boss’ request. Tarin’s blood ran cold when the guy said, “YOU”. Then relaxed when someone other than Lee stood, only to feel his stomach flip over again when the guy specifically pointed out Lee’s dress.

As she stood and walked away, Tarin shifted his position, the almost stifling heat in the room suddenly forgotten as his wife walked towards the phone, and two of the men with automatic weapons. One of the guys closer to Tarin stepped even closer as he moved. Tarin ignored him.

Tarin had to admire the way that Lee walked up there. She was the picture of calm and for a moment Tarin wondered if she was going to tell the guy where he could shove his phone. Tarin hoped that’s not what Lee was going to do, but he was proud of her for the demeanor. The other restaurant patrons were riveted by what was happening, the lone woman moving to be the phone liaison to the negotiators, the proof of life, as it were.

Lee spoke, and her voice was calm and clear, she spoke…and apparently said too much. The sound of the man’s hand making contact with Lee’s face was unbelievably loud in the silence of the restaurant and Tarin felt his eyes widen as his heart dropped into his stomach. That son of a bitch had just hit his wife.

The contact had been so hard that Lee spun and held her face, then she looked up and blinked in startled surprise when she met his eyes. Then she shook her head. Tarin was already moving.

“Arghhh.” He yelled, throwing himself forward and at the bastard that had hit Lee even as he gained his feet. He never made it. Through a feat of perfect timing that Tarin would marvel at for years to come, the guy who was really running the show swung his gun as Tarin approached, perhaps announcing his intentions with a furious yell had been a bad idea.. If the crack when Lee had been slapped had been loud, the sound of the gun connecting with his forehead was deafening, and Tarin went down in an explosion of light.

He was dazed as he laid there, trying to get up and barely felt it as a combat boot nudged his shoulder to roll him from his side to his back. The lights and spots came and went as Tarin looked up and as they faded, he found himself looking up the barrel of a gun that was pointed right between his eyes. He should have listened to that small shake of the head that Lee had given.

Tarin could see Lee in the background, now held by the guy who had been on the phone. As dazed as he was, Tarin couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t just kicking his ass. It didn’t occur to him that a woman whose husband was in dire peril might think twice before acting rashly, even if her husband had just a moment before. Their captors were laughing and Tarin groaned as the pressure from the boot in his chest increased to just south of painful.

”That was very brave…very brave, and very stupid. the man with his boot in Tarin’s chest said, before giving him a swift kick in the ribs. They always went for the ribs…apparently villains weren’t the most original bunch.

Roland teleported inorganic material. That was his mutation. However, ninety five percent of what he accomplished was based on raw nerve and experience. His eyes scanned over the sheeple who were being good little hostages with their heads down, praying for it all to end. Then what? Back to feasting? They slept with their eyes open. Roland's eyes were monitoring the situation. He had no concern for his personal safety, so most of the time, his perception was trained on the small crack around the swinging door to the VIP lounge. Mark was in there, as was Roland's money and reputation, which meant more than any person around him.

Then he heard the order for a woman to come answer the phone. He had honestly forgotten about the hostage situation, so obsessively pointed at his target. The girl was attractive and apparently attached. The beau was watching the scene attentively, as any good guy would. He probably feared they would do something to her, something horrible. That was the sort of thing that amateur clowns like this did, though, so it could very well be valid. He watched as she spoke too much and received what he had expected her to receive for it.

People gasped in shock. He tried to as well, to fit in, but it just wouldn't come. So, he continued to stare at the drama as it unfolded. The brave beau was living up to his romantic ideal, charging in to save his damsel in distress. It was incredibly foolish. Roland prepared his fake gasp of shock, hoping to at least feign a jolt of surprise. Too much sitting still would stick out like a sore thumb. Again, it didn't matter much, as he could easily kill every one of them before the first one hit the floor. Mark's safety had to be preserved until it was Roland's time to kill him.

The liquor store stepups proved their mettle as they joyously kicked the man while he was down. While Roland generally lacked anything that resembled chivalry, he felt it was only fair that the man with the lively feet was the second to last to die and he received some of the same treatment. Call it karma. The important part of the exchange was the revelation of a sidearm on the leader's shoulder as he raised his arms to crack the man 's skull with the rifle butt. He hoped all the commotion wouldn't make the lightening of the holster too noticeable. If it was, that was alright too. These men's lives were already over. They just didn't know it yet.

The sound of skin on skin contact seemed to ring over the earpiece and it was all Jacen could do to keep from rushing into the building. As much as he wanted to make the men pay, he couldn't risk getting any of the hostages hurt, especially when he knew the woman involved! "Lee..." Jacen muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing. If he had been dangerous minutes earlier he was doubly so now. The fact that these pieces of dirt had taken hostages that happened to include one of his friends was just pushing the whole situation way to far.

"Women... they always talk to much." The man's voice was suddenly to the forefront again, "Pull your men back from the front door. We can see them. If they don't get pulled back I will begin shooting hostages, starting with the lovely young woman you just spoke to."

"They're pulling back now. What is it you want?" The Lieutenant asked immediately.

"Privacy." The man said before disconnecting the call.

"Forward team, back off! Pull back and secure the stairwells down the hall. Rear team, your door leads into the kitchen. Can you see anyone inside?"

"One second." Jacen murmured quietly as he turned his gaze over to the last man in his team of four. Moving quickly the man inserted a thin wire camera underneath the door. Looking at a monitor he paused and then held up one finger.

"We've got one target in the kitchen. Other than that it's clear."

"Use a silencer and move in. I want eyes on the main dining room. NOW!"

***

After the call was disconnected the man that had been doing all the talking turned to talk to the man that was currently standing above Tarin. "It's done. They're pulling back."

Nodding silent the leader turned and walked away, dissapearing into the VIP lounge without the slightest hesitation.

"Girly, get your boytoy back over to the wall before I decide to step on him and squash him like a bug." The angry man ordered as he stalked past Lee and back over to stand next to the phone, "And stay quiet if you don't want to get hurt!"

***

Outside the service entrance Jacen slung his UMP over his shoulder by its strap and then drew out his Glock 9 mil with attached silence. Taking position right by the door he needed to the second man in line. With a quick turn of a master key, the door was unlocked and Jacen was rushing inside. With two soft spits the single man in the kitchen collapsed to the ground.

"Kitchen secured. Moving to door to monitor the dining area."

Lee stood and watched in horror as she saw Tarin get up and charge toward the man who had hit her. Even after she had shook her head at him, trying to tell him not to do something stupid, he was getting up and charging toward the men who were holding guns.

And, strange as it was, Lee was actually relieved when the man hit Tarin with the gun. Relieved, because he hadn't just outright shot Tarin. And almost as soon as that relief hit her, replacing the horror at seeing her husband charging the armed men, it was replaced by anger.

By this point, Tarin was on the ground, the man who had hit him kicking him, but Lee couldn't go to help him since the man who had slapped her had his hand clasped around the back of her neck, holding her in place.

Well, technically, Lee knew that she could go to Tarin, all she had to do was break free of the grasp holding her, but all the attention of the gunmen were on her and Tarin. Not the best situation, and at least in Columbia she had been able to get energy from a couple people before going up against the main group. So instead Lee stood there, glaring daggers at the man who was now kicking Tarin, as she was siphoning from the man holding her. It was his fault for touching her, after all. But with the amount of attention on her, Lee knew that it wouldn't do to have the man pass out from exhaustion within a minute, which she knew that she could do, so while she was siphoning much more more than was normal for her, she made sure not to do as much as she was capable of.

But then the silent leader type guy was walking away, and suddenly Lee found herself being pushed by the grip on the back of her neck toward Tarin. Telling her to take him back to where they were and to be quiet.

"Yeah, **** you, too," Lee mumbled under her breath as she walked toward Tarin, crouching down to help him back to his feet so they could head back to where they had been sitting. He definitely was not even close to the worst shape that she had seen her husband in, but as she got Tarin to his feet, she noticed that he was definitely a little shaky, so she wrapped her arm around his waist, helping to steady him. "You ok, hon?" Lee asked softly as they walked.

Reaching the table they had been having dinner at, Lee helped Tarin sit back down on the opposite side that they had been since from that vantage point it would actually give Lee a better view of more of the restaurant. Then she sat down beside him, sitting similarly to how she had been before with her legs tucked beside her, her head resting on Tarin's shoulder. But this time her eyes and ears were scanning the restaurant. Since these men had already singled them out, they were now in more danger than they had been before, and just because they hadn't taken the chance to shoot Tarin when he had charged them didn't mean that they wouldn't start shooting.If the cops didn't hurry up and rescue them, Lee was going to have to find her own opening to be able to end this.

Why couldn’t people understand that it hurt when they beat on other people. Tarin took the kick in the ribs though, just like he took the gun butt to the middle of his forehead. Tarin also wondered why cartoons always showed characters seeing stars when they were hit in the head. In Tarin’s experience it was usually little dots that faded in and out of vision and floated. The kicking stopped and somewhere people were talking, Tarin was hearing everything as if he had ear plugs in though, then Lee was crouching over him. Tarin knew his head was out of sorts because he thought the word ‘fuck’ came out of Lee’s mouth towards their captors.

“Mrowr….rowr….hun?” Tarin heard in Lee’s voice, and he simply nodded his head as she helped him sit up then slowly rise to his feet. It didn’t feel like Colombia had, Tarin didn’t think that his ribs were broken, and there was no blood from his head. These guys were bullies, but they were amateurs. When he thought about it, Tarin wasn’t impressed. Not at all. He also wasn’t paying close attention to how and where Lee was maneuvering him and seating him on the floor.

The spots were finally fading and Tarin was relieved when he could actually start making out words in the restaurant. There weren’t very many people talking, though and Lee had a look on her face as she leaned her head on his shoulder that didn’t bode well for the men in the room. Tarin knew what Lee was capable of. Tarin also knew what Lee had done before her rampage in Colombia. She didn’t have that kind of power and these guys definitely weren’t trained soldiers with their weapons. They were just simple thugs.

Tarin slipped an arm around Lee’s waist and held her close, his head leaning on hers as he shut his eyes and tried to block out the blazing headache emanating from the point of impact from the gun. The gun that had hit him in the forehead. Tarin finally had the sense to shudder a little bit, it could have been a bullet that had hit there, after all. “I think we should just ride this one out, honey.” Tarin murmured into her hair, “There’s no Slate around to fix us this time.”

Using a silencer all the time had benefits. The obvious lack of an exploding barrel was the main one, but also the familiarity with the sound. People who weren't around them often might not hear it at all or simply let it become background noise. Roland always used them, so when he heard the two chirps from the kitchen, his timetable moved up. It could be one of three things. A. Internal struggle between the bandits. However, this was not likely since none of them were smart enough to conceive the idea of subtlety. B. A competitor for Mark. Also unlikely, though Roland's failed first attempt could have been monitored and a sweeper team could be arriving to clear everything up. C. The most likely option. The police were stepping up their game.

Whatever the case, Roland needed to start eliminating some of the random fodder in the room. Implements gleamed from sterile white racks on the walls. Blades were even more silent than silencers. He applauded the chefs for using stainless steel. Two of the men were standing near the dessert area, their greasy fingers dipping into the warming chocolate. They suckled upon their digits and their eyes consumed the beau's lovely wife. The distraction was excellent. A stack of busboy trays sat drying, upside down and piled seven high near the wait station. Six remained, once the seventh found itself behind the ankles of one of the suckers.

Roland waited for the moment. Just a turn and a shift of the man's achilles tendon. It came and the man issued an expletive as he went down hard. In the time it took for gravity to bring the brute to the floor, a thin paring knife found itself standing on its end, ready to catch him in the throat. Roland's timing was superb. A moment one way or the other and either the space for the knife would have been gone or it would have fallen on its side. Timing was everything to Roland. A small geyser of blood sprayed in the air as the unfortunate jerked involuntarily while bleeding out. A gurgle of air mixing with the blood was what brought the other man's attention down to his comrade. Eyes wide with shock, more expletives came as the sight of such an improbable event felled his friend.

"We have eyeballs on the dining room." Jacen murmured quietly as he operated the fiber-optic camera and carefully scanned the main area of the restaurant, "I see four... make that five wielding weapons. Looks like one's on the ground, injured or dead."

"Internal struggle or accident?" The Lieutenant asked with obvious worry in his voice.

"Can't tell. I count twenty-four... maybe twenty-five hostages. There's a man off near the back of the room cradling his head and the woman beside him has an obvious bruise forming on his cheek. That must be the woman you talked to on the phone."

For a brief moment, Jacen focused on Lee. Briefly he swore over the fact that there was no zoom feature on a fiber-optic camera, but at least he could see she was still alive. More than likely the man she was cuddling up to was her husband but that didn't matter. What did matter was that there were people in that room that he knew and they had gotten hurt. "They are going to pay for that one... they'll pay dearly." He thought grimly as he finally turned back to scanning over the room once again.

***

Everything seemed to be relatively calm in the dining area when suddenly a single gunshot rang out from back in the VIP lounge. Immediately the five men in the main room spun around, their weapons raised just in case something had gone wrong.

"Next shot goes through your heart instead of your knee Mark!" A loud and deadly voice could be heard over the shocked gasps and quiet sobbing of some of the hostages, "The information... NOW!"

"Everyone stay calm!" The spokesman ordered as he pivoted, swiftly turning his attention back to the numerous hostages, "We don't want anything from any of you. Stay still and noone else will get hurt."

***

"We have a single gunshot from the back room." Jacen reported quickly as he swiveled the fiber-optic around and trained it on the far door. "Can't see anything... sir, that may have been the first kill."

"I know that. Standby."

As she was gazing around the room, Lee took a moment to shift slightly and glance at Tarin when she felt him wrapping his arm around her waist as they sat there. His eyes were closed, and Lee could tell by the crease in his forehead that he was still in obvious pain. At least he wasn't bleeding from where he'd been hit, that was always a bonus.

Her cheek was still stinging like crazy too from that slap, but Lee did her best to block out the pain. She'd been through much worse, after all She'd had a dirty nail stab her in the shoulder just a couple weeks ago, and all she had done was calmly walk out of the building and start cleaning herself up, for goodness sake. A slap in the face, even if it was already bruising and swelling like it felt like it was doing, was nothing to worry about until they got out of there.

Settling her head down on Tarin's shoulder again, Lee was scanning the room once more when she heard Tarin's whispered words that he thought that they should stay out of things. Yeah, that had been a good plan to start with, but after those guys had called her up to talk on the phone, they were already involved; unless the cops burst in right that moment and things went well, they were involved.

But before Lee could say anything to Tarin, a shot rang out from the back room, and like everyone else in the room, Lee jumped. Then Lee's eyes were darting around the room: to the main door into the restaurant, to the men with the guns, to the back room, and back around.

No cops bursting in, and all the gunmen were turned facing the back room.

Lee was just about to jump up when the man who had called her over, the man who had slapped her, turned back around to face the room, yelling for everyone to stay quiet and calm. Uh huh, after they'd just shot someone in the other room, after everyone here had seen this man slap her , seen Tarin get beaten, like they were going to stay calm and quite.

In a way, Columbia had been much easier, Lee realized as she watched the man gazing around the room. At least there, she had been wearing pants, had had flat boots while she was running around the village...

At that realization, Lee carefully slipped off her shoes, leaving them sitting right beside her feet so hopefully no one would notice what she had done; she might be comfortable with having three inch heels as her everyday footwear, but somehow Lee figured flat feet would be better for what she was about to do.

Suddenly, there was a commotion over by the dessert area, and all eyes turned there. Including Lee's, though her eyes then darted again. Still no cops. What the hell? Were they ever going to show up, or were they all as incompetent and Rupert?

"I'm sorry," Lee whispered, her eyes back on the gunman who had slapped her. Let Train yell at her later for this, it was time to act, time for this to end, and the cops didn't seem to be in a hurry to help. "I love you."

With that, Lee pushed herself off the floor and into a run. She needed to get there quickly, before people noticed what she was doing. Thankfully, she had already siphoned some energy from the man who had held her while Tarin was being beaten, though it wasn't as much at this point as she would have liked. It would have to be enough.

As she was running, Lee also noticed that the man was quite a bit taller than her. A bit taller than she had already thought. Damn, that would make things more difficult.

Alright, time for Plan B. As she reached the man, came up behind him, Lee kicked him in the back of the knee. Hard. She didn't have to worry about using up too much energy, since she was about to get even more. As the man fell from the unexpected blow, Lee's hand shot out to cover his mouth, muffling his cry as she started siphoning. Her other hand shot out over his shoulder to grasp the wrist that had the gun; he'd drop it soon enough.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you," Lee hissed, leaning down toward his ear as her eyes stayed on the rest of the room. "You never hit a woman?"

Lee didn’t respond when Tarin pointed out that maybe they should just sit this one out. That was worrisome, even to Tarin’s slightly dazed consciousness. Exactly what she was planning on doing while the guys were looking right at them, Tarin didn’t know. “Please…” he whispered, hoping that she would hear him. His head hurt, his ribs hurt, and he compulsively tightened his arm around Lee’s waist. Would it be so bad to just fade into the crowd, just once? Of course, Tarin thought, Lee was so striking it was impossible for her to not stick out in the crowd.

Then, it happened. Somewhere in the back of the restaurant a gunshot erupted, followed by a howl of pain. Tarin’s eyes widened and again he felt lucky to have walked away from his bum rush with nothing more than a knock to the head and a few kicks to the ribs. Apparently these guys did mean business. Even more proof positive that he and Lee should stay where they were and leave all the sorting out to the professionals.

There was a commotion on the other side of the restaurant and Tarin lifted his head to check out what was going on, only to see a spray of blood erupting from one of the guys as he hit the ground. It appeared that violence was cropping up all around and Tarin’s eyes automatically darted around the restaurant and taking stock of where the gunmen had gone.

With the commotion, several of them had taken their attention off the restaurant patrons and were focusing on their downed comrades. Tarin looked over to comment to Lee how karma was a bitch, only to notice that she’d taken her shoes off and was looking at the guy who’d smacked her with a single minded purpose that made Tarin shudder. “Lee…” he said in warning, but she wasn’t listening to him.

Lee said she loved him and Tarin managed, “I love…” before she was apologizing and pushing up off the ground, “LEE!” he barked in a furious whisper as she sprinted across the room in silent and graceful strides that suggested that she hadn’t been the only one to come away slightly scathed from the last encounter.

Tarin’s heart was in his throat, but he stayed put for the time being as he watched Lee approach the man. Lee was so going to get it when they got out of this…Tarin couldn’t even wrap his mind around the possibility that it might be a situation where he should use the word if. Where were the cops anyway?

Lee had ahold of the man, who was much larger than her, but she seemed to be doing just fine. Then the guy let out a muffled groan as Lee drained him and the other thug closest to him turned. Tarin didn’t think, again, as the guy swung around and raised his gun to do whatever. Tarin pushed to slightly wobbly feet and took off at a run. Luckily, karma was on Tarin’s side this time and he managed to get to the guy before he realized he was being rushed. Tarin’s fist managed to connect solidly with the guy’s head.

The guy went down with the solid and satisfying smack of fist hitting face. Tarin praised the sweet spot for a moment as he looked at Lee and shook his head, then turned to see the attention of the three remaining captors in the room on them both. Subconsciously he turned and placed himself in front of Lee. If the cops were there, they’d damn well better hurry up and do their thing…or Lee wouldn’t have to worry about what Tarin was going to do because of her little stunt.