<div style="text-align: justify"><i>Curses.</i><br/>
<br/>
Mallory let her guard down and now she was going to pay for that - there was no doubt about that. Three - four, including the girl - against one, in an alley devoid of random passerbys, she was truly in trouble. It was the kind of trouble everyone in militia warned each other about; there was not really a good way out, running was not an option, so the best one could do in such a situation was to grit their teeth and simply, well.. Take it.<br/>
<br/>
The moment her prey saw her pack of rabid strays, she sprinted towards them. Normally, Mallory would have tried to grab onto her again, but knowing she had no weapons to actually hurt the girl with, the dark-haired female had no choice but to let her go. Even if she did bring her back into her unfamiliar and unfriendly arms, her friends would not hesitate even for a second to snatch her back to safety. Had Mallory have a knife to put to the girl's neck, however...<br/>
<br/>
She shook her head, lowering her stance. Once more, her body moaned in a harmonic refusal against the treatment she's been giving it lately. With the air pushed out of her lungs one too many times today, the young officer felt really exhausted; not to mention her side hurt, where she'd hurt herself earlier, pouncing at the prey. And now, ironically, the prey attacked back, hitting exactly the same spot that was sacrificed earlier to ensure her capture.<br/>
<br/>
There was no getting out of this. Mallory narrowed her eyes and when the enemies began to move, she immediately focused on the younger one. No hope for any actual rebuttal, of course, Mallory was far from stupid, but the option of acting in spite of them was enough for her. She kicked hard, and managed to lock her foot against the smaller man's knee. It didn't crack the way she'd hoped it would, but it was still enough to break his steady pace. The woman jumped back, then practically snarled - the sound leaving her throat more animalistic than human at its core - at Connor.<br/>
<br/>
"Where's your pretty necklace?" she hissed at the man she saw not so long ago on the platform. As she saw it, he should have stayed there. Mallory's muscles tensed up when the other man, called Levi by his mates, jumped at her. She tried to kick him again, but he learned quickly. Grabbing her leg, he twisted quickly and Mallory bit the inside of her cheek, feeling intense pain exploding around the spot. It was far from broken, yes, but there was nothing pleasant about the experience.<br/>
<br/>
"Shame you decided to leave so soon-" the officer continued to spit nonsense as they grabbed her. She seemed furious, but there was no thrashing around involved - just cold, intense hate for the lowly dogs in front of her. "-but I'm sure more fun will be waiting for you when they get you back to your ce-" She half expected him to punch her, but no. The cold fury in his eyes could match hers, no problem; she jerked her head when Connor grabbed it with both hands and literally smashed his knee against her face.<br/>
<br/>
There was a loud crack, even louder in Mallory's head, and bright, red liquid spurted out of her nose, covering her pale skin, white teeth and silver parts of her uniform. Now that... Was a broken bone. She felt dizzy momentarily, little sparks appearing in front of her eyes. Still, she looked up, trying to focus her eyes on Connor, and failing every second. "Hab you met Labonne?" she gurgled out, her voice changed from the injury.<br/>
<br/>
She got what she wanted. Connor was a delicacy for the militia, and people like Lavonne would never skip on a chance to have some serious fun with them. Mallory was sure that before the man was brought onto the platform and about to be hanged, hours were spent between him and Victor Lavonne, discussing all sorts of things, with all sorts of tools.<br/>
<br/>
It was just a guess, but a strong feeling of fear must have washed over him, finding it easy to show on his face. Mallory smirked - for a brief second before another hit came; and then another. Soon enough Levi did not have to hold her; there was little she could do in her current state, so she just laid there, on cold stones, groaning under kicks and punches.<br/>
<br/>
That was, until they all heard it. Heavy steps and the sound of something being dragged. Mallory hardly noticed the commotion; she was one leg in the grave, or felt like it.<br/>
<br/>​</div>