Ali wasn't sure which hurt more, the shot that had landed in her leg, or the collision with the floor with over six foot of muscle atop her. She shoved at Ben as she grunted in pain. "Not exactly how I imagined you getting on top of me," she grumbled as she pushed her upper body off the floor to try and ascertain what was happening.

"Wasn't my preference either," Ben retorted in kind as he quickly moved to a crouch to scan the scene, before yanking her roughly across to a desk. Her corresponding yelp was due more to surprise than complaint.

"What just happened?" Ali asked as she rearranged herself to put her back against the boarded side, examining the outside of her thigh where the energy blast had hit her.

"Tihud took a shot at you, his friend took one at Vikad, but security covered him," Ben explained. "Nenanka is… angry," he added as he poked his head out of their cover.

"Angry how?" Ali asked as she grabbed her scanner.

"I think they're locked in a battle of wills," Ben explained, before reaching to take a shot at someone who was approaching Nenanka. "I'm not sure how we help." Tihud had hunkered down out of any obvious lines of fire, and had at least one ally in the assembly members, and a couple of security guards. Nenanka was rather more conspicuous, hence his assessment of her anger. She hadn't thought about her own predicament because she was livid this was happening at all.

"Keep Vikad and Nenanka alive, for now," Ali explained, as much of an order as she could give right now. She unhooked her own pistol as if she was going to be any use right now. "Tihud!?" She shouted.

There wasn't any response. "Guess he's busy," Ben said.

"Think we're about to be," Ali added as she took a shot at one of the security personnel creeping into her field of view with a gun raised at Vikad.

"Just how mobile are you?" He asked.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

"…Ali!"

"Not very, but I can still shoot at anyone who thinks I'm an easy target," Ali admitted, bending her good leg so she could more easily twist to take another shot. Then collapsed back into her sitting position with a hiss of pain she tried to breathe through. "If we're really lucky, I can prop myself up on the desk whilst you get to Tihud."

"I'm not sure I like that plan."

"Got a better one?"

Ben scowled at his current target. She was right, and he knew it. He also didn't like it. "I suppose asking you to intervene in whatever Nenanka and Tihud are doing isn't going to be the advantage I think it is..?"

"She's keeping him occupied, that is our major advantage," Ali said, confirming his suspicion.

"Or you distract him to give her an opening."

"Not that simple," Ali admitted, though she did like that plan better than the other one. She took another shot at one of the security guards as she lifted her scanner again. Trying to get a sense of the landscape without actually being able to see it when she didn't have enough time or cover to use her telepathic senses. "Actually, I think I have a plan you're gonna hate even more."

"If it were anyone else, I'd doubt that."

"You act as bait and I shoot him," Ali explained, before half rolling sideways to avoid being shot, haphazardly returning fire from her new awkward angle against the floor.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Ben asked, sparing her a glance as she pushed herself back into a sitting position, before shooting at another guard.

"Carefully."

"Do you know the meaning of the word?"

"Allegedly."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Okay, I'll try and get to Vikad, that should give you an opening."

Ali nodded and twisted to half crawl, half drag herself along the side of the desk so that she could do her best to make a stealthy approach between the rows of desks and podiums of the assembly chamber. She heard Ben shout as he made a rather more obvious retreat to the overseer's podium. Well, she could hardly criticise anyone else's lack of subtlety. She at least had more cover this way, but it was hard work when one of her legs burnt with pain every time she moved it or put too much weight on it.

Finally she was close enough to take a shot at Tihud's friend, the woman who had tried to force the security guy to shoot her. The only hesitation she made was to double check the setting on her energy pistol was low enough not to do any permanent damage, then she twisted to aim past her cover and shot the woman.

Ali didn't stay in place long enough to see what happened, but instead shuffled as quickly and quietly as she could to take refuge under one of the desks. She could take stock there.

"You'll pay for that, Ali!" Tihud shouted. That confirmed he was no longer mentally battling Nenanka. Ali hoped that was because his friend had fallen on him and not because he'd won.

"Then you better come get me!"

Ali!

"Are you sure you want to pit yourself against my abilities?" Tihud cajoled

Ali laughed. "And leave yourself vulnerable to everyone else here? Go on, let's see what happens."

She knew it was a long shot even as she said it, but what did she have to lose? Either he would be preoccupied trying to dominate her mind or he would give someone and opening to shoot him as he tried to take her out in a more conventional way. Suddenly she found herself wondering why she hadn't just spiked the water supply with something harmless but incapacitating.

She knew his decision a moment later as she felt a pressure at the back of her mind, low key and almost ignorable, but after Nikud she knew what to look out for. She curled up on herself as she focused on following that signature back to it's source, deciding to go on the offensive and take the fight to him.

You really think your dog-whistle trick will work a second time? Tihud mocked as he felt her brush up against his mind.

Ali didn't react to his taunts, instead she felt him block that potential attack, leaving her a different opening. She let herself just rest there, in the small opening he'd provided, before digging the heel of her palm into the weapon wound on her leg. His scream was possibly louder than her own as the pain travelled between their minds and she was abruptly ejected from his psyche as his defences slammed shut.

"You wanna try that again?" She challenged, knowing that her best chance was to get him to make a mistake. She didn't particularly want to try her latest trick again, and she knew that in a straight up battle of wits she would lose. Though if it came to it, she planned on making him work for it.

She could still hear the sounds of fighting outside her little sanctuary beneath the desk, and she wasn't sure if it was hope that made it feel like it was quietening down. Then she felt an insidious cloud on her senses, a darkness creeping in at the edges of her vision. Isolation. The claustrophobic effect caused when the environment turns on you and you can't do anything about it.

Ali took a calming breath, refusing to let Tihud pull her into her memories of nearly suffocating in space. Telling herself that she was safe, she could brush up against the other minds in the room if she allowed herself, and trying instead to focus on why he knew to go there. How could he know about it? Her thoughts were sluggish as she fought through Tihud's attempts to control her memories, but it finally dawned on her that he had Ben and Claire - and others - for a month to work over. It was an odd thing to look for. Was he trying to find a way to control her? Or was he trying to ensure Bert hadn't linked anything back to him? Did it matter?

Are you safe and do you have a vantage point? Ali asked, a terrible idea starting to form in the back of her mind.

There was a moment before Ben replied, as good as anyone. Why?

I need you to tell me when to take a shot, she admitted, and she knew he could feel her own worry about the plan. One I can't miss.

This time the pause was different, a hesitation rather than a distraction. Okay.

She hooked the scanner back on her belt, and reaffirmed the grip on her energy pistol, doing her best to ensure it couldn't slip out of her hands. Then slowly allowed her resistance to give away to the memories, whilst keeping as many barriers up to any external threat she could. She knew Tihud hadn't got too deep, so she was hoping if she succumbed to the memories he would stop wasting energy pushing against a mental wall when he could simply shoot her.

As the cold fear she liked to pretend she didn't remember started to take over, a part of her regretted this plan. Her throat almost closing at the memory of finding herself unable to breathe, and unprepared for it. She had only been exposed to vacuum for a couple of seconds, but it had been enough. She remembered the burns where her skin almost froze, the pressure in her eyes and ears that felt like it would explode but thankfully never did. Though somehow none of that as bad as the horror that had dawned upon her as a breath that didn't do anything. Unprepared, but at least remembering enough of her training to know not to try and hold her breath.

She could've sworn her fingers and toes had gone numb by the time she heard a now! and for a moment struggled to remember why that was important. What was she supposed to be doing when adrift?

Shoot him!

Ali's eyes snapped open to see Tihud leaning down to where she was still hiding underneath the desk, snapping her pistol up fast enough to catch him off guard and pulled the trigger.