[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/231117/4397e947d9496e89a02a516a94d678c6.png[/img][/center][hr]Maya’s eyes were fixed on the grappling hook rapidly tightening on the chandelier, when, behind it on the wall, her focus sharpened on a glimmer of purple light in the darkness, rapidly approaching. [i]Edmund![/i] He bounded onto the ceiling, sticking to every surface he ran on like a spider, and ran right past her, a few shots ringing out behind Maya as she assumed he took care of the one attacker who survived the fall. 

[color=7041A5]“Edmund--!”[/color] Maya cried, cut off by shock at her own panicked breathing as Edmund crossed in front of her and cleanly dispatched the attacker scaling the grappling hook. When he finally returned to her, Maya had never been so happy to see him in her life - even his helmet, blending into the darkness in all but the pulsating glow of the trim, was the most welcome sight she could imagine. When he knelt, she reached out and grasped his arm with both hands, clutching his armour with a white-knuckled grip; she barely registered what he was saying to her, hearing little more than the chaos on the floor and her heartbeat in her ears until she saw the glint of steel in Edmund’s outstretched hand. 

Maya blinked at the offering for a second before everything rushed back to her all at once: it was her sidearm, her PPK/S the one she always wore - except for tonight, because it ruined the lines of her dress and she was apparently foolish enough to think [i]Giles[/i] could protect his home from terrorists - and Edmund needed her to keep them on the ceiling. Right, good idea; bad guys on the floor, stay on the ceiling. 

Nodding mutely, Maya took the gun, heart and mind racing as she fumbled through practiced motions with shaking hands. Right, finger off the trigger, muzzle down, pull back the slide - it took a few tries to fight the spring, and she jumped when a bullet flew up in front of her, having forgotten in the panic that she carried with one in the chamber. As she fiddled with the gun, the pair of them grew suddenly heavier; startled, Maya let out a small noise, and they became much lighter, the gravity holding them growing and shrinking in quick chunks like someone clumsily turning a dial. For a brief moment, Maya felt herself float just barely off the ceiling; remnants of the chair that littered the ceiling escaped her grasp completely, as did the corpse of the first terrorist Edmund shot, both careening out of Maya’s grip and to the floor. 

Frightened by the prospect of falling, Maya let out a more audible squeak, and her Holy Sigils flashed, slamming them both firmly back onto the ceiling. [color=7041A5]“I’m fine,”[/color] she cut off any possible remark from Edmund, her stern tone undermined by the crack of fear in her voice. Strength was not the problem: Maya was quite sure she could rip the whole roof off the building and chuck it into space if she wanted to. What she lacked was [i]control;[/i] much like the [i]Larme Incident,[/i] reversing gravity seemed second-nature enough, but as soon as Edmund brought it to the forefront of her mind, she felt her control begin to falter. She struggled to put it out of her mind, striving in vain to let her instincts take care of it. 

From among the tumult of gunshots below, Maya heard the sound of crashing glass once more, the chandelier just above the two of them exploding into a shower of glass. Maya screamed, ducking down to hide her face. A few more shots followed, chunking away at the ceiling plaster, tracing a line toward them. 

[color=7041A5]“Your cape!”[/color] Maya suddenly remembered, looking up to Edmund. [color=7041A5]“It’s bulletproof right? Give it to me!”[/color] She scrambled along the floor as another grappling hook found purchase on a different nearby chandelier, but was distracted by a somehow-audible shouting from the floor. 

[color=a187be]"EDMUND!"[/color] Sara called out, [color=a187be]"Get her to Theobald!"[/color]

[color=7041A5]“What!?”[/color] Maya blurted out incredulously, shooting an incensed look at Edmund, [color=7041A5]“Like Sheol you are!”[/color] 

Another shot chinked away at the plaster dangerously nearby, and with a frightened noise, Maya scrambled painfully to the base of the nearest chandelier, hoping to conceal herself under its crystal umbrella. She barked at Edmund. [color=7041A5]“That bear-fucking bitch is crazy if she thinks I'm going back down [i]there![/i]”[/color] Either that, or she was trying to make things easier for her gun-toting buddies on the floor. 
[hr][right][@webboysurf] mentioning [@Stern Algorithm][/right]