But it wasn't until Darling moved that he realized Maris had been wounded.

Badly. At least a dozen rounds had hit him. Most didn't penetrate his armor, but three were definitely embedded in his body.

"I'm all right," Maris assured him in a strained tone. "Nothing major pierced... Except... my battlesuit." He stepped back to glance down at it and let out a sound of extreme anger. "Would you look at what those bastards did? They ruined it! Handmade, Phrixian silk. Do you know how hard this is to come by? And the blood is impossible to get out of it, especially after it's soaked in." He straightened up and Darling was sure he was glaring at him from underneath the helm that hid all his features. "And you wonder why I hate battle so much." He gestured down to his torn battlesuit. "You see!"

Darling laughed in spite of the danger. "You're insane, Mari."

"Ha! It doesn't matter how you feel so long as you look good while you feel it."

"We need to get you out of here."

Maris fisted his hand in the fabric at Darling's shoulder and held him by his side. "Not without you."

Darling growled at him. "You're such a stubborn bastard. I really hate you."

"I hate you, too..."

Wanting to strangle him, Darling moved forward, down the hallway, blasters out so that Maris could check the doors behind him. But just as he neared the end, he realized the mistake they'd made...

"Do you hear that?"

Zarya could barely understand Ture's words. Something kept buzzing and it wouldn't stop. "Hear what?"

A blast hit their door. At first she thought she imagined it. Until it struck again.

And again.

Could it be...?

You're dreaming. It's not real. Just a hallucination brought on by your fever and pain.

In her mind, she imagined Darling carrying her out of this nightmare like he'd done when she'd sprained her ankle in the kitchen. I swear, if I get out of this alive, I will never leave the palace again.

An instant later, the door lifted. Smoke billowed into the room, filling it instantly. She choked and coughed, trying to breathe around it.

Ture tightened his arms around her, holding her close as two League soldiers spilled into the room. Preoccupied with whatever was happening in the hallway, neither of them looked back at them.

"Grab the woman!" someone shouted from outside the cell. "We have to have her or we can't leave."

The two soldiers turned around.

Zarya's heart pounded as she tried to understand what was happening. Why they wanted to take her again. Aching to the point it hurt to breathe, she didn't move until they closed in on her-in their hurry, they'd forgotten to handcuff her.

Their mistake.

She reverted to her strict training. Grabbing the blaster from the first one, she used it to shoot his partner. Shrieking, the soldier went down.

Before she could move, the one she'd grabbed brought his fist down across her face. The room spun, nauseating her.

Ture lunged at him and slammed him back against the wall as more soldiers poured into the room.

Zarya fought as hard as she could, but she was injured and outnumbered. Still, she didn't let it daunt her.

There were more battle sounds out in the hallway.

A new group of soldiers rushed her and Ture. She leveled her blaster at them and pulled the trigger, only to discover it was out of charges.

Turning it around in her hand, she intended to use it as a blunt object against their heads.

But the men didn't make it. Before they could reach Ture and her, blasts struck them and sent them to the ground at their feet.

A second later, the smoke cleared enough to show another soldier coming inside to check on the League soldiers who'd fallen.

He'd barely stepped inside before he was attacked by three more League soldiers. With skills that defied description, he turned and caught the first one with a blow so hard, he shattered his attacker's nose. The next, he flipped and stabbed and when the third saw what awaited him in the bodies that were littered all over the room, he turned around and retreated.

The newcomer turned to face them.

He wasn't with the Sentella. Her heart sank as she saw the burgundy battlesuit with foreign markings she couldn't identify.

Unable to fight him, she prayed this was an ally and not another enemy out to do more damage to her and Ture.

Bleeding profusely from several wounds, he froze the instant he caught sight of her. Then he spoke in a language she didn't recognize.

Although... there was something vaguely familiar about it.

Where have I heard it before?

More blasts ricocheted in the hallway behind him.

In one smooth, impressive move, the soldier hit the floor, slid on his knees and spun around to shoot the three League guards who ran in behind him. He rolled over and came to a stop by her side.

"Zarya?"

Tears filled her eyes as she recognized that deep voice. "Maris?"

He nodded. "Can you walk?"

Before she could respond, the room was invaded by even more League soldiers.

Darling heard the mayday from Maris, but he couldn't get to the room where they had Maris pinned down. There were League soldiers everywhere now. All of them shooting.

Were they cloning the bastards in a back room somewhere?

Instead of their numbers decreasing, they seemed to be multiplying by the heartbeat. Like some mythic beast. Kill one and two emerged to take his place.

"Mari?" he called, needing to know his friend hadn't gone down.

No answer.

Darling checked for Maris's vitals on his bio scanner.

There weren't any. Nothing at all was registering. His heart stopped beating as cold panic consumed him. And his anger went to a place so fierce and foul that it screwed up his vision even more than the jerking did.

Letting out his battle cry, he charged the soldiers who had him cut off from Maris. All Darling could think about was getting to Mari before it was too late.

He flipped one assassin who came at him over his back and stabbed him through the throat. Turning, he took down another and then shot a third and a fourth.

As Darling came around the corner, he dropped a bead on the next target who was in the room where Maris had gone.

Then he froze in place.

No.

It couldn't be.

Blinking, he tried to make sense of what he saw. To understand something that couldn't be. Maris was in the room with a woman in his arms. A woman who wasn't supposed to be here...

"Zarya?" Darling breathed as his knees went weak.

Maris nodded.

"Darling?" The sound of her voice brought tears to his eyes.

Still, he couldn't fathom what he saw. Not until Maris handed her off to him. The warmth of her skin...

Her scent...

She was alive.

It wasn't a dream. It was real and she was here. With him. Not dead. Not missing...

Alive.

Her face was badly bruised and her features pale, but it didn't matter to him. She'd never looked more beautiful than she did right now.

Tears fell down his cheeks as he clutched her tight.

"I knew you'd come for me," she breathed, laying her hand against his helmet. "I knew it."

"She never once lost faith in you."

Darling looked past her to see the man Maris was now helping to stand upright. Like Zarya, he was filthy and bruised from repeated beatings.

The man licked his chapped lips before he spoke again. "I told her it wasn't feasible. That you'd never find us, but she was right. She said you'd promised her that you would bust hell itself open to get to her. And that you never lied." His legs buckled.

Maris caught him before he fell, then swept him up in his arms. "Don't worry. I'll get you to the medics as soon as I can," Maris assured him.

Darling started to remove his helmet so that he could kiss her, but Zarya stopped him.

"They can't know who you are, sweetie," she whispered. "It would be an act of war for the Caronese governor to attack a League facility."

She was right about that.

Still, with her in his arms, alive and breathing, nothing else mattered. Nothing at all. Everything around him faded until it was just the two of them.

He was so centered on absorbing every part of her that he forgot where he was, and what he was doing.

Something brought home an instant later when she reached down and grabbed his blaster, then shot over his shoulder. He turned to see a League soldier who'd had a clear shot at him. But for her, he'd have probably died just then.

Maris growled deep in his throat before he pulled back into the room. "They're coming in fast and furious." He set the man in his arms down.

Darling hated letting Zarya go, especially since he had her again. But he had no choice. Not if they were to make it out of here.

And he had no intention of dying today.

He set her on her feet, then swung around. "Let them bring it. You ready, Mari?"

"You know I hate fighting. But I think a little payback for my battlesuit might actually make me feel better for once."

"I know it'll do great things for me." Darling pulled a fully charged blaster off his holster and exchanged it for the one she'd shot. "Stay behind us."

Maris handed one to the man. "Do you know how to shoot?"

"Not straight... in more ways than one. But if I aim at their feet I can hopefully wound them until one of you finishes them off. And that way if I really miss, I won't kill an ally. You'll just limp a little."

Maris laughed. "Thanks for the consideration. I'm Maris, by the way, and I should probably warn you that it didn't go well for the last guy who wounded me."

"I'm Ture."

Darling tapped his link to call the others. "Hauk? You still evaccing civs?"

"Yeah. You pinned?"

"No. We're coming out of the last cell. I just didn't want you to shoot us by mistake. I know how caught up you get in a fight."

Hauk hissed. "Why are you bitching about that again? I only shot once and it was an accident caused by your premature exploding problem. Had you not startled me while I was changing our charges, it wouldn't have happened."

"Anyway," Darling said, ignoring his outburst, "there are four of us. Don't fire." He turned then to see Zarya's face before he plowed into the thick of the hallway battle.

Zarya paused as she watched Maris and Darling open a hole for them through the thick enemy fire. Fearless and skilled, they moved in total synchrony.

While she'd known Darling was exceptional, she now realized why Maris got so offended whenever she questioned his abilities. He was an incredible fighter in his own right. No wonder he was decorated.

She and Ture stayed behind them with her giving cover fire as Maris and Darling led them down the hall, then up the stairs. The stench of burning wires turned her stomach. But it was much better than the stale air of her cell.

They'd barely reached the upstairs landing when the entire building went dark. Darling and Maris fell back to cover her and Ture.

"They've reestablished their connection," Syn warned them through their headsets. "We need to tel-ass, folks, or we're going to lose our posteriors."