Another Threat

The alarms were blaring furiously. Glass was everywhere and an entire crowd of people was cowering on the ground. Seeing this, Blake immediately turned to run the other way and potentially look for another exit, but he was immediately stopped in his tracks.

Another, albeit smaller group of armed terrorists were walking in to corner the people trying to flee. They brought with them some more helpless people and a few mall security officers to add to the crowd. With no way out, the only thing Blake could do was put on his newly acquired wristwatch and wait for an opportunity. 

He was forced to sit near Ethan. Lena was a bit further back than him. Even Miles hadn't made it out of the building in time since he was way at the front. Once all the hostages had settled down, the armed men made their way to the entrance to join the rest of their group. 

And as they did, the lady who seemed to be leading this whole thing spoke up.

"Any of you do anything suspicious and you're dead meat.", she snarled.

She looked over all the faces staring back at her.

*Bang, bang, bang*
She fired three rounds into the ceiling suddenly. As the sound reverberated throughout the entire mall, she spoke again.

"Save me the trouble of finding you and just come out, Ethan."

Blake looked over at Ethan, but before he could even ask, Ethan answered immediately.

"Yes. I know her and it's a long story."

"What does she want?"

"...I guess you'll find out soon."

He slowly stood up after saying that and the terrorist lady immediately locked eyes with him. She stormed over to him with two of her men following closely behind. Their footsteps echoed loudly against the floor.

*Tap, tap, tap*
Blake looked back at Lena. She would die by the end of the day. That was the only thing he knew right now. 

*Tap, tap, tap*
He examined his surroundings. It was impossible to notice the escalator next to him, but it was too obvious as an escape plan, so it would've probably been useless. Much more important was him noticing that there were no terrorists stationed at the back of the crowd. 

*Tap, tap, tap*
He needed some kind of distraction before he could do anything though. Blake pressed his forehead to his hand as he thought about how he could use what he'd noticed. He thought and thought, but to no avail. 

Complete silence. The tapping had stopped. Blake looked back up and saw Ethan and the terrorist's leader standing right in front of each other. The former spoke first.

"Eva...", he said.

"...The stasis bomb. Where is it?"

Ethan shifted his eyes over to Blake briefly before responding.

"If you're talking about the pocket watch, I don't know."

Eva lashed out immediately but not at Ethan. She swung around and struck one of her men. He slumped onto the floor and went completely limp. Ethan didn't seem to be surprised by this though as Eva turned her attention to him one more time.

"Same question.", she said.

"Same answer. I don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

Eva clicked her tongue and then stroked her chin. It was dead silent as everyone dreaded how she'd react this time. 

At first though, she didn't have any over the top reaction. She simply got closer to Ethan and asked him another question.

"You really want to do this?"

Ethan wasn't given any time to respond. Without any kind of warning, Eva kicked him hard in the shin. His leg buckled under him, and she pressed on it hard with her foot. He shouted in pain as Eva upped the pressure more and more.

*SNAP*
Ethan screamed even louder than before as his bones shattered, and his leg was rendered completely useless. 

But Eva never let up. She kicked Ethan in the face and sent him flying onto his back. 

"Don't give me that crap!"

She sat on top of Ethan's body as she punched him in the face. 

"You and your guys were watching it!"

She punched him over and over again. 

"How the hell could you... have lost it!"

The time between each of her attacks grew smaller and smaller with every word out of her mouth. And eventually she completely shifted into a blind rage as she began striking her victim without any objective in mind. 

"Either you're lying to me or just incompetent! Either way, it's a bullet in your skull!"

Almost every single person's attention was fixed on the senseless violence going on between the two of them. And almost nobody could find it in them to look away from the beating taking place in front of them. Almost being the keyword.

There was one particular individual who had managed to slip away from the scene, unnoticed. Blake was crouching behind the underside of the escalator now. Before doing anything else though, he decided to take stock of his inventory quickly. 

He'd almost forgotten, but he was still carrying the paper bag. So, he had some cash, a portable voice recorder, and his phone. Those were the only tools he had available to him. Once he registered this, he took off his shoes before obscuring them as best as possible in his current hiding spot.

Afterwards, he took a moment to check on Lena. She was scared, but still alive. And he intended to keep it that way.

He took off in the opposite direction of the crowd, using the escalator's cover to obscure himself from anyone who might have been aware enough to catch him. And thanks to him only having his socks on, he was able to run great distances without making any noise at all. While he was able to get away however, there was still the issue of where he would go after this. 

Blake tried his best, but unsurprisingly, it was difficult for him to come up with a way to deal with the numerous and very dangerous armed criminals occupying the front entrance of the mall. He had no weapons of his own, and even if he did, his physical abilities weren't anything to write home about. As evident by how quickly he had run out of breath and was forced to stop and take a break. A voice emanated from his wristwatch. 

"So, what's your plan?"

"I'm still... working on it."

Gasping for air still and clutching his side slightly, Blake walked and walked and somehow brought himself to the second floor before his reflection spoke again. 

"What are you doing right now?"

"I need to see how things look outside before I can come up with anything."

He trudged down an empty hallway and eventually found what he was looking for. He opened a door and found himself face to face with the fresh air of the outdoors. There was no time for him to take in the refreshing atmosphere, however. He looked over the edge of the building, into the parking lot below him, and saw a whole army of men stationed outside the front entrance of the mall.

"God, that's got to be... around two hundred?", Blake said.

"We already know the police are making their way over thanks to Ethan, but no one's getting through that any time soon.", his reflection responded.

"Will they even try? All they have to do to avoid a shootout is tell them about all the hostages inside. They've got full control here."

Blake spent a bit longer examining the situation before deciding there was no way waiting for the police to resolve the situation would work. He leaned his back against the stone rail as he sat down.

"She really dies today, huh?"

He looked down at his wristwatch, but not to look at his reflection. Instead, he focused on the strap connecting the watch to his wrist. For a while, he couldn't bring himself to say anything, but there was only one conclusion he could come to. He sighed heavily.

"...There's nothing I can do. 

I have to let her die."