Traitor's Mark - Rewrite

Four Stories Up

Rain beat on the darkened windows of the GalloTech headquarters. At this time of night, there was no one there to appreciate the sound except the night-watch, who were too focused on doing their jobs to care. Despite their vigilance, not a soul passed by the executive suite, the hallway eerily silent.

It must be here somewhere... She was running out of places to look. Not in the physical files, she'd checked every drawer of the desk, every file cabinet. It was supposed to be here. She was trying to look through the file system on the desktop, but her hands shook too much for her to type properly. She knew she was running out of time, and the tremors weren't helping. She wasn't sure how she had lucked out with this gaping hole in security, but she wasn't about to let it go to waste because of this damned curse. Putting forth her best effort, she managed to steady herself, focusing all of her attention on typing everything in correctly.

"Oh, come on..." She muttered to herself, frustrated. This was a tough system. She only had a second to consider her last resort. Is it worth it? It might tip them off that something's wrong, not to mention my condition... A sudden stab of pain in her chest convinced her that it was her only chance. After a murmured swear, she started to whisper a spell, one of the only ones she'd ever managed to learn. She wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but she knew it made cracking magic-powered machines like this much easier, which was enough for her.

That turned out to be a mistake. She heard the sound of footsteps outside the door- nobody was supposed to be here at this time. It startled her, cutting off the incantation prematurely. That was enough to set off a breach warning, the system quickly closing its self off.

"Damn!" She leapt to her feet, trying not to topple over as the blood rushed from her head. The sound of more people rushing to the door told her she had precious little time to escape. The handle of the door turned. She went for the only other exit- the window.

"Stop!" She heard someone shout from the doorway, a sudden flood of light filling the room. She didn't let that slow her down.

She leapt from the window, knowing she could make it as far as the fire escape on the next building over. She just hoped that it would hold. Falling, she heard a shout from behind- they wouldn't follow her. The railing was just within reach; she grabbed it. The sudden stop strained her shoulder, but it was better than getting shot. Pulling herself over, she descended as fast as she could. Her vision was blurring now, and the pain was mounting, spreading from her chest to her abdomen. That had been a narrow escape, far too close for comfort.

There was no time to rest, however. She staggered down the alley, knowing she had to get out of there before the cops showed up. Then again, she didn't know if she'd even make it that long. Her legs were giving out, but she managed to drag herself a little farther before she knew she couldn't go on. She collapsed against one of the damp walls.

"So this is how it ends..." She muttered to herself. Huddled in a dark, cold alley, alone. That was what she had expected, but it was still sad, she thought. Another pang left her vision spotty, and her mind started to go blank. She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

"So it was you," Was that voice a hallucination? The feel of a cold hand on her back didn't seem quite real. All of this seemed like some final trick her mind was playing on her as she was dying. That's what she thought at first; when she started to regain her senses, it occurred to her that this might be real. The pain began to abate, settling into a dull throb. This wasn't supposed to be possible, only her boss could stop the curse. And yet here she was, staring at a total stranger.

A man was hovering over her. As her vision cleared, she took in the particulars: platinum blond hair, messy and barely tied back, with sharp features and a pair of hard, dark eyes. His clothing hung loose on him, too big for his fine frame.

"Who sent you? And what did they send you for?" His voice was quiet and brittle as he crouched next to her. She got the impression that he didn't speak much. Her first impulse was to answer him, even if it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. The only thing that came out was a feeble wheeze.

"You're in no condition to tell me anything," His expression settled into impatience. "Well then, guess I'll have to patch you up a bit," He sighed, then pulled her to her feet. She groaned as the movement agitated her still-sore body, but managed to stay mostly upright by leaning heavily on the stranger. She didn't want to go with him, but she couldn't do anything about this situation. She didn't really get a lot of time to consider her position, however. Even as her condition had improved, she wasn't out of the woods just yet. Her consciousness ebbed as they went along the alley, and she finally found it impossible to keep moving.

"Guess I should have seen this coming," The man sighed again, shifting to keep her from collapsing into a heap. "You're in deep, aren't you?" He wasn't sure whether she could hear him or not, let alone understand what he was saying, but he kept talking nonetheless. As carefully as he could, he managed to get her up onto his back in order to carry her, since she clearly couldn't stand anymore.

With the sound of sirens in the nearby streets, he headed deeper into the alleyways, taking the unconscious thief with him.