Lewis had only closed his eyes for a bit; dozing as the fatigue of the day caught up with him when a certain assassin burst through the room window with her eyes glowing.

He was immediately shocked to full awareness."The door still works Viv-"

The rest was a blur, Lewis only getting a feeling of being lifted off the ground, then several tiny but sharp pains sprouting all over his body and wind on his face.

Then came the crash.

She had turned him over at the last moment, acting as a cushion for him against the chrome hood of the car they had flattened.

As Lewis started to realize what had just happened, the Star hotel exploded.

It was a spectacular sight up close. The fire ran across the rooms, and the dark smoke billowed from the already burning ones. The structural integrity of the hotel building was surprisingly still okay.

 Lewis saw the missile this time as it went right into the window of the room Vivian had just pulled him out of.
That reminded him.

He rolled off her and onto the road, staying down for a while to catch his breath. Miraculously nothing was broken but when he pulled himself up and checked on Vivian, he couldn't say the same for her.

Everything looked broken.

She looked dead as far as he was concerned.

 Lewis ducked back behind the car when bullets started flying at him.

Honestly.
Who sent a missile through your window then added...

 Lewis peeked around to check whether he'd seen right.

A goddamn tank.

 And they were getting closer, flanking him from both ends. He knew that there was absolutely no way he was going to survive this.

 Not without her.

 Another person came out of nowhere and slid right next to Lewis. She spoke before he could ask any questions, "Turana. I'm with the vixen. Where is she anyway?"

It was then that Lewis noted that the shooting had stopped. Still, he didn't dare risk looking around the bullet-riddled car. Heatwaves were flowing off the smoking hotel, which had not crumbled from the attack. People and guards were darting back and forth in disarray, and Lewis didn't even have an idea where they were running off to. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep.

Turana nudged him in the ribs. Hard.

"Hey, you've got to stay awake. Where is the vixen?"

He pointed upwards, to the caved-in hood of the car. Turana got up and checked. She didn't duck again. Lewis was just waiting for the shooting to start again and for her to drop dead, probably with a bullet wound in every part of her.

And she was pretty-

"What the-?"

The tone of her voice meant this was something he had to see. Lewis tried to push himself up against the car but his left foot gave out and he collapsed. Turana's face was covered in soot and her hair was disheveled, but he couldn't miss the other dangerous look, similar to the one Vivian had.

Turana lent Lewis a hand but didn't look down at him, never taking her eye off whatever she was looking at. All of which prodded Lewis' journalist curiosity even further.

Lewis got up just in time to see Vivian leap onto the tank. She was moving so quickly that the only distinguishing feature was her glowing eyes. She yanked the hatch off the top, then disappeared inside. There were gunshots and screams, mostly screams, and then nothing.

She climbed out, clothes drenched in blood, which made Lewis wonder how much of it was hers. By the looks of things around, very little.

All the previously advancing soldiers were lying dead on the ground. No not dead, decimated. Destroyed. Disembodied if you wanted. And they all had had guns whereas she had not used one.

He looked back at her. The eyes were still glowing with a feral fury as she surveyed the site with an acuteness for anyone else left alive. Lewis couldn't see how anyone could have gotten past her.

And then those eyes turned straight to him. No hint of recognition, no sign of emotion. Just blank white warning signs. Lewis suddenly felt the urge to go to the bathroom. He felt like running, but knowing he couldn't get far enough away from her froze him in place. It felt like she was almost daring him to move.

Then she took a step towards him.

Turana whispered to Lewis,
"Count to three and get down, I'll distract her and then you run into the hotel."

Lewis struggled with controlling himself not to grab her arm. If Turana moved, she would call attention to herself. And not in a good way.

Once again she didn't wait for him to reply.

And then she ran.

Turana went the opposite direction of the hotel entrance and Lewis, feeling that it would be a real tragedy if she sacrificed herself and he wasted it ducked, then ran towards the entrance.

The guard from earlier who had prevented them from going in before, Raspul, manned the door and opened it when he saw Lewis running towards it. He saw a blur slam into Turana and heard her cry out, but nothing else. Lewis flung himself at the open space between the doors, hoping that he didn't get caught midair or anything.

Fortunately, it worked and Lewis landed inside alive. He immediately shut the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily. In the lobby were several people, some with torn and bloody clothes and hair and others trying to comfort each other. Guards and staff were passing around towels and tending to the injured.

Then that other guard from before, the one who had spoken to them before pushed his way forward past everyone. Lewis struggled to recall his name.

I am quite sure it was David. Dennis, or perhaps Daniel.

Lewis scrolled through the list of names in his head only to be grabbed roughly by Darius. The look in his eye was mad.

"Where is she?"

All Lewis did was laugh as Darius shook him harder. "Where is Vivian!"

Lewis couldn't imagine anyone wanting what he had seen outside. Not even himself. He admitted to himself that he had had an inkling of attraction to her before, I mean, who wouldn't? But this man seemed like the person who knew what she was. And he still obviously liked her.

This time it was a blow to the side of his face that forced him to snap to his senses. Lewis covered his face with his hands as best as he could.

"She's outside."

"Dead?"

"Alive, very much alive. I don't advise going out there though-"

Darius had already slipped through the other door.

Minutes passed. Probably hours, without anything coming from the outside. Lewis personally sat blocking the doors, properly this time so nobody would go out. Seated with him was Raspul who was the bar on the door. There were scraping noises and bangs outside all night, but fortunately, none were attempts to get in.

When the first rays of daylight streaked through the windows, Raspul was ready to open the doors.

"No. I saw what is out there. If she gets in here she will kill everyone."

Raspul just grunted and nudged Lewis aside like a rag doll. He undid the lock and peered outside.

He looked more surprised than scared.

"There is nothing here."

Lewis's fear was overwhelmed by his curiosity and he slid past Raspul into the morning breeze.

There was nothing outside. No remains of the tank and busted cars, or even soldier corpses. Not even their blood.

One lone figure stood in the clear space, her dark hair billowing over her face. It finally stopped for a bit and Lewis held his breath.

Her eyes were normal.

And she was smiling.

Lewis didn't know which was worse.