Before Mila could scream, a blade was pressed to her throat, its sharpened edge biting against her skin. She winced, her eyes squeezed shut as the man's arm tightened around her waist, momentarily lifting her off her feet.

"On your knees!" the man shouted at the circle of spies who had sprung into action - Zayn, Louis and Liam pointed their guns while Harry and Niall aimed their throwing knives. The man pulled Mila back again, her toes merely touching the ground. "I said on your knees! Now ... or the woman gets it!"

Mila's heart was racing. This is how it ends, she thought as the spies remained on their feet. I knew they were all horrible. The longer they remained standing, the more she feared her life would end.

Zayn's eyes met her own, his expression worried and angry. Slowly, he pushed his gun into his belt and turned to face his men. "Do as he says, lads," he told them.

"Zayn-" Louis began, shocked.

"Do as he says!" Zayn snapped. He slowly lowered himself to his knees before Mila and her captor, waiting for the others to copy his actions.

"How humiliating," Louis grumbled as he put his gun down and crouched beside Zayn. Mila watched as the others spies dropped to their knees, weapons pocketed and strapped away as the man waited patiently, his grasp on her never loosening.

With all five spies on their knees before Mila and the man, she began to question why Zayn had decided to follow the guy's orders. He didn't seem like the type of person to follow a villian's rules.

"Look at ya all," said the man holding Mila. "All on your knees. Won't Tony be proud."

"Of you?" Louis scoffed. "Please."

"Louis!" snapped Zayn, his eyes narrowed. Louis gave him an incredulous look, glaring up at the man behind Mila.

"You should know that Tony will be pleased to see you, Zayn," the man said, grinning maliciously down at the lead spy. Zayn's face was expressionless as he listened to what the man had to say. "He always did say it was a mistake leaving the baby alive. He told me a little story about your parents, you know?"

Zayn's head shot up ever so slightly.

"He told me he enjoyed hearing them scream as he tortured them to death. One slice of a knife each time until they could no longer bear it. Then boom, right between the eyes."

Everyone remained silent, eyes on Zayn as the man spoke. Mila wriggled in the bad guy's grasp, the blade too close to her throat. Zayn's eyes continued to dart between Mila and her captor, hatred in his eyes. She could remember him telling her that being strong was part of his job and it was obvious that he was finding it difficult to stay calm.

"This isn't about my parents," he said through his teeth. "Where's Tony and where does he have the object?"

"Oh, but this is about your parents," the man continued. "What we've stolen is something your parents helped design. It's an enhanced version of the original make. They used this thing to kill hundreds of our men."

"So, you've stolen a weapon? An unfinished piece of weaponry? Are you insane?" Louis snapped.

"You have no idea how dangerous weapons are when unfinished. They're almost as dangerous as any piece of weaponry that is complete" Zayn said steadily. "Give it back to us and we can forget all of this."

"It's not a weapon you imbeciles!" shouted the man, right in Mila's ear. "We wouldn't steal something so obvious."

"So you've stolen parts of it?" Zayn pressed on.

"If you think I'm stupid enough to tell ya, then you're all wrong," said the man. He pulled Mila tighter against his body, the knife pressing against her throat further. She shrieked as his arm tightened around her waist. "Where did this one come from then? We did find it odd that hardly anyone was boarding this train but I assume that was the Association's work, right? What about this little one, eh? What's she got to do with all of this?"

"She's an innocent," Niall blurted. "She's not supposed to be involved in any of this."

"Is that so? Then you won't mind if I get rid of her, right? After all, from what I've heard, you lot working for the Association have all the normal things in life stripped from you. You won't care if I kill one woman, huh?" He pressed the knife closer against her.

"No!" Zayn shouted, suddenly on his feet. The man took a step back with Mila, the knife suddenly pointed forwards, at Zayn. "Let her go, she has nothing to do with any of this. She's an innocent passenger who was thrown into all of this unexpectedly."

"Exactly, she she won't be missed, will she?"

"Don't hurt her, mate," Liam called from behind Zayn. "Don't be such a prick."

"Just give her to me, and I'll let you take me to Tony." Zayn's sudden comment made everyone gape at him, the man included. Mila was shaking her head frantically, knowing what that would mean; he'd be tortured and killed just like his parents.

"Would you now?" asked the man, almost sarcastically. "Why would you give up your life for this one?" he nodded down at Mila as he spoke.

"Because there is no reason to kill her and I don't want any more casualties than there already is," Zayn said. As if proving his point, he pulled his guns and knives out of his belt and dropped them to the ground by his feet. He was completely unarmed and vulnerable. Mila frowned at him and all he did was give her a reassuring smile.

"You're brave, I'll give you that. Just like your father was," said the man. Mila took a deep but shaky breath when his arm loosened ever so slightly around her. The knife was still pointed towards Zayn however, and Mila shook her head.

They can't take Zayn, she panicked. They'll kill him.

"Zayn, they'll kill you," she whispered. The man behind her chuckled maliciously.

He shrugged. "Just get yourself home safely, Mila," he told her with a small smile.

"Isn't this touching?" laughed the man. "I hope you've already said your goodbyes?"

"This is fucking bullshit!" Harry suddenly spat, standing on his feet. He hauled Zayn backwards. "Zayn, you can't do this, it's insane."

"Harry," Zayn said slowly, turning to face his friend. "I know what I'm doing." Just before he turned away from Harry completely, Mila noticed him send the long-haired spy a wink. She frowned, confused.

"I knew you were all insane," she muttered just low enough for herself to hear.

"Your parents would be proud of you, Malik," said the man. "It's a shame they couldn't be here to see your bravery."

Zayn's eyes narrowed at the man and his hands curled into fists. The anger on his face made Mila gulp, his eyes menacingly glaring at the man holding her. His gaze eventually moved to Mila.

"Mila?" he said sharply, his voice tight. "Remember when you told that you were a black belt?"

Mila was confused but she nodded.

"What?" Louis questioned suddenly.

"Well, now's the time to prove it," Zayn finished with a smug grin. Mila knew instantly what he meant and her heart began to race again. Of course! I still remember the moves, she realized. All of her years of combat slowly came back to her all at once and she found herself moving in the man's grasp. Before he could question what was going on, she raised her foot and dug her heel into his toes. He yelped and jumped back, the knife falling from his grasp. Mila bucked her hips backwards before bringing her head back, against the man's throat, putting some distance between them. She brought her elbow back and dug it into the man's ribs. As soon as there was enough space between the pair of them, Mila kicked out, her flat shoe burying into the man's stomach, pushing him further away. Wouldn't the heel have been more effective? she wondered as she took a step back.

She felt Zayn's hand on her arm and she jumped ever so slightly before running at the man once again. He was just regaining his balance when she jumped with both feet and kicked him in the chest, pushing herself upright from the ground with both hands just in time to see him fall to the ground before her.

"Dick," she said before kicking him in the face, knocking him out cold.

There was a moment of silence and when she turned to face the five spies, they were gaping at her, open-mouthed. Zayn's eyes were wide, shock written across his every feature. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting her to be quite as good at fighting. Mila cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I am sorry I ever hated you," Louis said, breaking the silence. "That was incredible."

"I'm sorry for calling you a child," Niall muttered and Mila just gave him a small smile.

"Did you knock him out?" Zayn asked suddenly, peering over Mila to look at the unconscious man. "Holy shit, you did."

"She's good at injuring feet and using her feet," Harry observed, grinning. "Remind me not to mess with you." Mila just laughed and shook her head.

"And you got on at me for knocking someone out," laughed Zayn. He took a step towards Mila and tilted her chin up ever so slightly until she was looking directly into his eyes. She froze, wondering what his intentions were. Is he going ... to kiss me? she wondered when he bent his head down.

"W-what are you doing?" she uttered, her eyes locked on his.

"He bled you a little," he told her, and she let out a breath. There was a small incision on her throat from the knife. "You'll live, hopefully," he said cheekily, winking at her before bending to pick up his weapons. Mila let out a breath; anxious and slightly disappointed.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Niall asked, taking a step towards Mila. That's when she noticed all of the weapons he had been holding earlier, strewn across the floor at his feet. She realized he must have dropped them when the man had grabbed her. "I can remember when the Association first agreed to start training me. I was terrible. Then again, who isn't to begin with? I use to be OK at the easy blocking and punches but then I developed quickly. I'm like a ninja now. I'm pretty good with a gun too and knives. Harry's the best with knives though. Zayn's good with a gun. Liam can punch like a master. He helped train me. Of course every time he would beat me-"

"Niall, shut up," Louis groaned, patting the Irish lad on the back. "I know you like to chit chat but for God sake, we have a job to do."

Niall looked away sheepishly. "Sorry," he said, smiling. His ears were a faint red and Mila just gave him a wide smile as he slung his arm around his shoulders. "So how long?" he repeated.

"Since I was twelve," Mila told him. "My dad was very keen on being able to protect others and yourself from danger, so karate it was." She shrugged as if to prove it was all nothing. "I'm sure you guys are just as great, honestly I'm crap."

"Bollocks," Liam laughed. "That was some awesome stuff right there. You could give Zayn a run for his money - he's pretty great at combat."

"Really?" Mila questioned, looking over at Zayn who was disarming the man on the ground. Mila noticed his bleeding nose and she bit her lip. I may have been a little too hard on Zayn to begin with, she thought.

"Zayn," Louis said suddenly. The spy looked up at his friend, just as he pushed an extra knife into his other boot. "What do we do now?"

"They're all at the front of the train, that much is clear," Zayn began, looking down at the body beside him as if proving his point. "We kill them all and capture Tony. We'll make him hand over this ... thing they've stolen."

"He said it's something that involved your parents, Zayn," Liam said suddenly. "Do you remember anything like what he described? Does anything ring a bell?"

Zayn shook his head. "He may have been bluffing just to piss me off... Either way, we need to get it back and find out who helped McPherson's men get into the vaults."

Niall cleared his throat. "Zayn ... we still have Mila with us. Won't she be in danger still?" He flashed Mila a grin which she instantly returned.

Zayn's eyes met her's and he gave her a genuinely amused grin. "I think she can take care of herself. After all, she's shot someone twice, knocked two people out and revealed her awesome combat skills. I think she'll be quite alright with us."

Mila couldn't help but smile at his words. Every time he gave her a compliment, she felt her heart skip a beat, almost like a school girl with a crush on the hottest senior in the school. Mila felt her cheeks heat up at the thought of Zayn leaning closer than he did before and pressing his lips against her's. To say she didn't want that to happen would be a lie.

"Yeah, I should be OK?" It sounded more like a question than a statement and Mila cleared her throat awkwardly, nodding. "I should be fine."

Zayn gave her a curt nod and picked up the gun she had dropped when being grabbed. Once in her hands again, she smiled and looked down at the man she had beaten. An odd feeling of power overwhelmed her and she stood a little taller as she followed the five spies through to the next carriage to advance on Tony's men and to retrieve the stolen object.

I went to London last week, so if you're interested in hearing about what all went on, read the long part at the end! If not, then I'd like to say thank you for reading this and for voting, commenting - everything so far! I hope you're enjoying the story. You know I love my plot twists right? Be prepared! *evil grin*

Thanks, don't forget to vote, comment etc! :)

Cazza

[Extended Author's Note About London]

So, London was great! I had to get up at 5am though so I could get ready and double check everything before getting the 6:30 bus up town to wait for the mini bus that was going to pick us up at 7. It took between 1h 30mins - 2h to get to Carlisle where we got the train down to London and the train journey was about 2h I think? We got to London about 1pm. We dropped our bags at the station and headed to the Vivienne Westwood studios which was pretty cool. We saw how the outfits were made and designed then we got to look at some of the old outfits in the archive from the '70's up until now which have been modeled by people like Lily Cole and Kate Moss.  After that we got the bus to our Underground stop and then we went on the London Eye. The view? WOW, it was so beautiful! I was in awe because the city lit up is so gorgeous! It was like the Midnight Memories video ... but REAL! :')

Then we got some food because there was a market thing going on where food, clothes, jewellery and candles were being sold so I bought a cheeseburger. It cost me £5.50. FIVE POUND FUCKING FIFTY! Rip-off. Oh! There was a cafe under the Eye called ... wait for it ... 'Zen café'. I may have laughed XD

On the Thursday we visited Central Saint Martins uni which teaches fashion, art, drama and the like, so that was so interesting! The students were really nice too and so damn talented. I was jealous lol. Then we went to Somerset House to look at a gallery of photos by this guy who had like, a weird foot fetish? Pretty much all the pictures had a manipulated pair of legs from the knee down wearing a pair of fancy heels in them. They were great pictures but just slightly odd. I like odd >.< WICKED! We went to see Wicked at the Victoria Apollo theatre and I know I've seen it before but IT WAS EVEN BETTER THIS TIME! I was like in tears because I love it too much ehe I went to a restaurant called Giraffe! It was amazing!

FRIDAY! We went to Johnston's of Elgin which is a company which make cashmere garments and WOW everything was so soft and beautiful! So damn expensive though, so thank God we weren't buying! It was really interesting hearing about how they design things like jumpers and scarves on a photo shop-like website and then they send the print to Scotland and they copy the design into a machine and it just makes the clothing! It was so cool! I touched a poncho that was worn by Cara Delevingne!!!!!!!! After that, we went to Oxford Street (so busy because Christmas time and shopping) and had like 2-3h of shopping time! So Primark, New Look, Forever 21, Claire's, American Apparel, Starbucks, Waterstones and KFC were visited. My first KFC ehe. Once we all met up again, we started heading back. We had to get two trains so it was like an hour and a half on each of those then an hour on the bus back to my hometown. I didn't get home until 11:45pm... I was so tired

 So, after that rant, I am done >.<