A loud, pained groan comes from the side, making Edward whip around to find Evelyn standing over Bryan, with the her foot digging harshly into the his chest.historical

He gasps out loud in anguish, his hands clawing at her boot. She smirks down at him and points her gun, sneering, "This is it for you, loser."

With a burst of energy, Edward shoots forward and closes the distance in two bounds before slamming into Evelyn.

He's able to make her lose grip of her weapon, but he ends up hitting his head on the tiles as a result. Momentarily dazed, he barely registers her fist lunging against his jaw. His head twists at the punch, her weight threatening to crush him. He chokes as she wraps his hands around his throat, squeezing tightly, rage in her eyes.

"Leave Sir Edward alone!"

Before Evelyn could react to that, Bryan picked up the discarded gun off the floor and shot.

.

The bullet went right in the middle of her forehead, finishing her off in an instant. Edward wheezes for air as her weight leaves his chest. Her unmoving body fell limply at his side, blood streaming down at the sides of her face.

Rough hands grasp his shoulders.

Bryan pulls him up to sit, letting go once his breathing evens. His hand comes up to brush against his throat, and Edwars nods gratefully at him. He responds with a relieved smile, acknowledging his thanks with a gratitude of his own.

"Eleven o' seven!" Aira informed, waving the timer in the air.

Edward stands, briefly noticing that Charles already has Damien.

His son looks so relieved that he's sobbing in his arms, which is making him want to go there and pull him into a tight embrace. However, they're running out of time. Their reunion will have to wait.

"Aira..." Edward called, voice raspy.

"Lead them all out. Charles

knows where to go. We'll catch up with you."

"What? Why...?" Aira blurted out, confused.

"We're all here!"

"No, we're not..." Bryan said gruffly.

"Ma'am Cassidy isn't with you. We still have to find her."

"You're gonna look for big sis?! Let me go, too!"

"Aira, we can't waste time. Follow the instructions. Head out. We'll meet with you later."

Aira looks furiously at Bryan for a moment, apparently not believing she's being told around when she so obviously wants to go help rescue Cassidy. But he quickly discourages any heroic notion from her mind with a well-pointed glare.

"Alright. Fine..." Aira huffed before stomping over to where Charles was and pulling Damien up by his sleeve, catching both of them off guard.

"Come on, guys. Let's save the heart-wretching reunion for later."

Sparing one last glance at Bryan, she then throws the timer at him before following Charles as he guides all of the captives out. Edward notices they're all a little disoriented, the younger ones especially, but those who're Damien and Aira's age are handling the situation well enough, with some of them even taking charge of the smaller children. They all hurry out, following Charles.

"Good. The kids are now safe."

Edward, Bryan and Seven had quietly taken out most of the guards around the entrance when they'd come in. So, they should be fine. If anyone crosses their path, they hope that Charles is strong enough to deal with the threat swiftly.

"Come on..." Bryan grunted.

"We have to find Seven. He'll know where Ma'am Cassiy is."

Edward nods.

With that, both of them run down the hallway - to the west side of the building. That's until they heard someone calling for them out of nowhere.

"Sir Edward! Sir Bryan! Over here!"

They take a sharp turn where they see Seven coming up to them. He seems a little breathless from all the running.

"How long do we have left, Sir Edward?" he asked in between pants.

"Ten twenty-seven. We didn't see Cassidy anywhere. Are there any other holding cells in the building?" he answered and looked around.

"No. If Ma'am Cassidy isn't there, I'm not sure where else they could've-"

"I am not leaving this building without checking every nook and cranny. I'd rather go out knowing that she wasn't here than run thinking that she might've been."

He winces at the acidity in Edward's voice. Bryan steps slightly to the side to make sure that he catches sight of his urgent glare.

Caught between the two, Seven could simply stand there and look at them back and forth.

"We haven't checked the west side of the building..." Edward continued.

"What's in there, Bryan?"

"Just some small headquarters..." Bryan replied.

"It's where the supervisors of this place give out orders to their platoons, where they monitor conversations - everything."

"We haven't come across Keith yet."

"What're you getting at? Are you saying-"

"That Keith might be in the building with Cassiy? Highly possible."

Edward's look is grim. Bryan and Seven can't help but mirror it.

"Hold on. There's a small section in the headquarters that's used as a dark ward..." Seven chimed in again, wide-eyed.

"It's typically used as an interrogation room, but it can also serve as-"

"What're we waiting for, then...?!" Edward shouted, hastily running again.

"Come on!"

Briefly, Seven shares a look with Bryan. Together, the two then run after Edward, with them yelling at him to go left or right according to where they are headed.

Seven shouts the last few directions. Soon, they are entering a large area - empty, though numerous monitors are blinking back at them. Edward gestures for him to lead them to the so-called dark ward. He guides them over to the westmost section.

On their way, Bryan realizes that the technicians and other staff have already been evacuated. Scowling, he curses their small numbers.

'We're too slow.'

Keith might've already gotten away with valuable information. Worse, he could've gotten away with Cassidy, too.

Right then, Bryan suddenly felt someone come up from behind him.

But before reflex can kick in, he finds himself already hauled up in a sweeping arc. He slams back into the ground with an agonizing splat, his vision getting spotty.

"Bryan!"

He hears Edward growl, and when his sight clears, he sees Asher looking down at him blankly, a gun pointed threateningly to his head.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Asher?!" Edward exclaimed in aghast shock.

He takes a step forward to act, but he halts when the gun clicks. His mind whirls, trying to think of a way out of this predicament, but before any strategy can become concrete in his head, the section of a wall that Seven had been leading them to slides open. The darkness of the room beyond is then lit up with artificial light.

"Fancy seeing you bastards here."

Keith smirks down at all of them - with Cassidy held tightly in his arms.