PoV: Megan

As I sprinted off, I found that I was giving myself a proper scolding, Come on Megan! Just cause you are 'normal' is not an excuse to let your guard down! You let that guy sneak up behind you. Tata would be ashamed of you! Hey, I'm ashamed of Me! I thought as I speed vaulted over the short wall, making sure not to break my momentum. I bolted across the road, making a truck come to a screeching halt. I turned, running down the road, trying to get to the Japanese garden. I'd heard that it was walled, so it would likely be a good spot to lose any pursuers, assuming I could get over the wall from the inside. I spotted the wall of the garden and kept running towards it. Despite all this planning, my internal scolding was still going on, ... just because you thought you would have another month before they found you, you thought you didn't have to worry! What happened to plan for the worst, huh?

"Shut up me," I hissed, then instantly regretted it, as I had wasted precious breath. I'd better be able to find that entrance soon, I thought as I turned down one side of the walled area, hoping the entrance was that way. I heard a car screech to a stop behind me, and I risked a glance behind. The red Forrester that I had spotted a couple times had pulled up at the spot I had turned and two men and one woman got out. They had standard issue handguns, yet were wearing fairly normal business apparel - dark blue blazers, white shirts, and dark grey pants - and seemed very intent on following me.

Calamity! I swore in my head, turning back to look where I was going. I was approaching a small parking lot. Come on! Where is that storming entrance? I thought, starting to get nervous. I got to the parking lot, stopped, and looked around. I could hear my pursuants behind me. Then I saw the entrance. It was right beside me. Well, I feel dumb. I thought, then ran inside.

The foliage was sparse, which meant there wasn't much cover. I jogged to a Y intersection, trying to get the layout. There was a green pond in the middle, a bridge over the pond, and a path encircling the pond. I went right, running again. The path turned, and I paused, checking behind.

The people following me had just entered the garden. They had their guns out and were looking around cautiously.

"Call for backup agents," The woman said, "We can not let her get away," She then took the left path, motioning to one of the others to take the right.

"Yes ma'am," One of the other agents said, then held a finger up to his ear. I couldn't hear what he said, because the other agent had started to walk down the path I was on. I turned around and began to walk as quickly and casually as I could. As I walked, I took off my jacket and backpack, tying the jacket around my waist and carrying my backpack by hand. Then I swung my backpack over one shoulder and began to fiddle with my necklace.

It was a silver maple leaf pendant with a blue and green swirling design in the middle. Not that any of that mattered. As I kept walking, I fit my thumbnails on either side of the tip. I then pulled in opposite directions. The pendant separated slightly and I heard a small click from it. I immediately felt a sense of relief. Tata knows things are going south now. Just stay alive and get out in one piece. I though to myself.

I had reached another intersection of paths. I took the one to the right again, then got off the path and into the bushes. I crouched behind a tree and waited. I found myself remembering a time in Japan, where I had got into a similar situation, and at that time had cursed how skinny jappanse trees where. I found myself doing so again.

"She must be over here." I heard the woman say. I looked around the tree and saw the her and the other two agents at the intersection.

"When will our backup be here?" One of them asked.

"Five minutes max." The other agent answered shortly.

Great, five minutes to lose them and get out of here. This will be difficult.

The agents spread out quickly, and began to search for me. I saw them encounter a family, and tell them to leave the area. I smiled, glad they were getting the civilians out of the way.

One of the agents turned down the path I was hidding by. I tensed, extending my senses around me. If someone snuck up behind me, I needed to hear them.

I watched the man approaching. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties. He held his gun with confidence, had blue eyes, short brown hair, and a unblemished face. All this led me to believe he was new to this job, and this world. My world.

I imagined Tata's voice in my head, This is your ground, Agent. You are the best we've got, don't let yourself be beat.

Good advice, now let's follow it. I thought as the agent drew closer.

He was slightly crouched, and moving like the SWAT teams do on TV, with both hands on his handgun. He was constantly looking around, and I knew there was no way he would miss me. If I moved, he would see the movement, and start shooting. My best chance was to stay put, and ambush him.

He was about two meters away now. I fought to quiet my breathing. I hadn't been in a life and death situation for over four months now, and apparently that was enough time to forget how to deal with it gracefully.

I opened my mouth as wide as I could to quiet my breathing. Normally I would just calm it, but for some reason I couldn't do that at the moment.

He was less than a metre away now.

My eyes alternated between tracking his gun, and following his eyes. The moment he saw me, I had to strike.

Half a metre away, and he was facing the opposite side of the path from me. I should attack now, I thought, but found myself doubting if I could get him. I would have to propel myself at his legs extremely hard in order to knock him ove-.

I missed the chance. He was right in front of me now. His gun was pointed over my head. He was looking right over top of me.

How can you be missing me? I thought, How can you be that incompeten-

He glanced down. I saw his eyes widen in the millisecond before I launched myself at his legs, knocking him to the ground. He gasped for air as we hit the dirt. He tried to call out, but I punched him in the stomach, winding him. After all, you can't make noise if you don't have any air in your lungs. I rolled off him, ending up in a crouch, and took a splits second to locate his gun. It had fallen out of his hand when I tackled him, and had landed a little ways away. Apparently I took a bit too long looking at it, because he elbowed me in the stomach as I was still looking at it. I doubled over, winded.

He opened his mouth to call out again, and my instincts finally kicked in. I punched him in the stomach as hard as I could with my right hand, hell down into my hip, and gave him an uppercut with my right foot. I then moved back on top of him, straddling him as he lay on the ground, and began to strangle him. He struggled at first, but as had almost no air in his system when I started, the struggling stopped quickly.

I swiftly reached the crucial point, would I kill him or not. Normally I would have killed him without a second thought. He was my enemy, and I had to survive. To good reasons for him to die. But I found myself wondering if that should be enough. During my time with Kaylee and Cassidy, we had watched many movies and shows with that idea being discussed in the story, and I'd found the idea fascinating. But living out was very different. He was about to die, but he didn't have to.

I sighed, and relaxedy grip. I breifly checked his pulse, to make sure I'd got the timing right. He was still breathing.

I... Did it. I didn't kill, I felt shocked. I made the choice, and I felt proud of my decision, Huh, I could get used to this.

"Put your hands on your head, we have four guns trained on you, and we'd rather not use up our valuable resource called bullets."

I looked up to see the Agent lady pointing her gun at me, backed up by her remaining three agents.

Aw sh-

A/N Well, I think Marvel  movies inspired that ending. Good old sensoring through cuts. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you are enjoying the action. Am I writing the fight scenes okay?