Tia's POV

It takes me some time to register his words. Something in my head is refusing to let me comprehend, to understand what Deamon has just said. Even Ridge looks taken aback slightly; his fingers, which had been lightly resting on the base of my neck, knot in my hair so tightly it's hard not to wince.

Sips' face is so comical, I want to laugh. His already grey skin becomes impossibly more pale, and his black eyes widen as he turns to the assassin beside him.

All the attention shifts to Sjin, who looks slightly confused, but he's fidgeting slightly-his hands go behind his back, his muscles tighten, his jaw locks in place, and the friendly looking facade turns into a statue.

"How the hell do you know?" Sips demands, which breaks my steady concentration on the man who scarred me for life.

"I can read minds" Deamon sighs, though a smirk plays at his lips-I get the feeling he gets off on causing chaos with his ability.

"Bullshit" Ross snorts, folding his arms stiffly in front of his chest.

Deamon stares at him steadily.

"Your father was a gambler who used to attack your mother, and you had a dog called Goldie who your dad ran over with his BMW on purpose when you were 8. At 16, your mother was murdered and although you had no proof, you knew it was your dad, so you spiralled into depression and became a gambler just like he is. Right now, you're thinking 'how does he know all of this, he must have researched m-'"

"Alright, we get the point," Ridge snaps, his fingers still tight in my hair. Ross looks incredibly disturbed and stares at Deamon somewhat fearfully.

Glancing at Sjin, I realize that he is staring at me intently. When I meet his eyes, he does not look away.

"Well, now that we've all been introduced..." Verbal murmurs, and Bebop giggles hysterically, a mixture of human giggles and rapid bleeping from his robot side. But he is cut off at the echoing of police sirens, suddenly very close. About 25-30 police cars screech onto the scene, and one officer with a megaphone is joined by dozens of others with guns. Above us, black helicopters circle like vultures swarming in on prey.

"Put your weapons on the ground and put your hands up!"

Looks like the government decided to pay is a visit after all.

"Shit" Trott hisses, backing away from us.

"Bebop" Ridge murmurs.

"On it" the robot bleeps, and holds out his robotic arm.

Some sort of forcefield appears, shimmering an aqua blue colour. It grows steadily sideways, splitting us apart from the officers who attempt to hit, shoot, and run around the boundary.

Ridge's fingers leave my hair suddenly, and I turn to see him open the car door.

"Get in" he commands, and I obey without question, slipping into the passenger side after I stop hovering.

"We don't need your help" Sips snaps angrily, eyeing the growing number of police cars, and a large van full of army people with odd camouflaged clothes opens up, flooding the streets.

"Stay here then" Ridge snorts, getting into the driver's seat. Before the door closes, I hear Bebop yell.

"I can't keep going-hurry up!"

The door shuts, and instantly all noises are muffled, apart from the soft purr of the engine starting. My hands slide across the smooth black leather, the cold material causing my skin to prickle.

"What now?" I ask, watching Ridge put the car into the highest gear.

"We get out of here" he grins, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Before he can start driving, the back door opens and Sjin practically hurls himself onto the seats, scrambling madly for some sort of grip on the leather. The other four follow (I have no idea how they all managed to fit) and Ridge sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose and waiting impatiently for them to pile in.

As soon as the door shuts, Ridge slams his foot on the accelerator, and the car lurches into action. Bebop's forcefield finally dissipates and we instantly slam into about four offices, before continuing without pause.

Police cars spin round in hot pursuit, madly weaving in and out of the traffic and bullets make dents in the car metal. Ridge spins the car round a corner sharply, the tyres screeching in protest.

"We're not going to get out of this alive!" Smiffy yells over the piercing sound of sirens.

"Oh stop being a wuss, this is fun!" I grin. Above us, Deamon, Bebop and Verbal are flying, and Deamon woops in delight seconds before an explosion shakes the ground behind us.

"Little help, Verbal" Ridge whispers under his breath. Instantly, the immortal nerd soars even higher into the night.

"What's he gonna do?" I frown, glancing for the umpteenth time at the wing mirror to watch the police cars behind us trying desperately to keep up with our speed.

"He has a power very similiar to that of a portal gun." He glances at my confused face and smiles warmly; I can see Sips and Sjin watching us in the mirror, and Sips is staring at Ridge with a weird look, obviously not used to seeing the friendly side of Ridge. "He can create an entrance portal and an exit portal."

"Sounds...tricky" I admit. As I say that, a crystal blue oval appears in front of the car.

"Hold on" Ridge orders, a little louder so we can all hear him. His hand takes mine as we drive into the portal, and everything turns black.

When my vision returns a few seconds later, I begin to wish it hadn't.

The car is plummeting through the air downwards like a rock from the top of the London Eye.

Yells of surprise and fear burst out behind me, and although my heart is pounding, I stay rigid and calm, apart from my hand clenching Ridge's tightly. The ground rushes up to meet us, and I am about to start screaming myself when another blue portal appears beneath us seconds before impact, and my vision, once again, goes black.

As my eyes adjust to my surroundings, the car slams hard on the ground, but now we are nowhere near the London eye; the car is on the some deserted little street, with council houses falling to pieces.

There is a long, drawn out silence. Before I start to laugh.

As I start, Sips joins in with a low chuckle. And then the Hat films crew nervously start too. And even Sjin lets out a giggle which escapes his mouth. Ridge joins in, and suddenly the entire car is cracking up with laughter from the fear of death to the unbelievable portal-thing to the realization that we just survived whatever we just did.

"I think" Ridge begins after the laughter had finally calmed down, "that I need a drink after that."

"A bloody strong one!" Trott laughs, and we all chuckle in response.

As we all leave the car, we hear the rest of the demigod crew celebrating outside the car, laughing and talking in high pitched voices about what they did excitedly. We all gather on this street together, and for once, there is no tension in the air.

"Where's the nearest pub from here?" Ross asks. 

"Not too far, I think. Drinks on me!" Deamon grins, and the mortal men cheer, joining in the conversation. Ridge turns to me away from everyone else, and I can still see Sjin watching me quietly from the back of the group.

"What do you want to do? If you're tired, we can go back to the hotel" he suggests, but I can tell he wants to follow them.

"I'm not too tired. Besides..." I smirk up at him, "...there's nothing we can do back at the hotel anyway, right?"

Ridge falters and opens his mouth to reply, but I grin and brush past him, following the boys who are striding down the street. A few seconds later, a hand takes mine, and we catch up with the rest of the crew.

_______

"I'm just going outside" I tell Ridge over the yelling in the pub. I'm seated snuggly on his lap, and his arms are tight around me, holding me against him as his head rests on my shoulder. "I need some air-it's so stuffy in here!"

Ridge chuckles close to my ear, letting his lips slide across the top of it softly. "Hurry back to me."

I smile as I fidget from his grasp and I ruffle his perfect hair before hauling myself from his lap and striding out of the pub. 

The cool air hits me hard, and I groan as I flop against a wall, inhaling the fresh, smoke-free air. Looking up at the night sky, I smile at the stars-this is a rare sight around here, especially in London, where the air is full of industrial pollution. Enjoying the silence, I sigh heavily as a cool midnight breeze ruffles my clothes.

The door to the pub opens, and a familiar figure steps out; I'm instantly on my guard but don't show it.

"Hey" Sjin greets me, leaning casually (and smartly) on the wall on the other side of the door.

"Hi" I reply simply, watching him out of the corner of my eye.

We stand in an awkward silence for a moment.

"Nice night tonight." he comments, and I hum my agreement.

Again, awkward silence.

"I need to talk to you about something" Sjin begins nervously, and I glance his way.

"If it's about what Deamon said, it's fine" I smile tightly, trying to remain polite.

"No, it's about...back then, in the alleyway."

Instantly, I cringe and look away as memories cloud my vision. The gleam in his eyes, the glint of the knife, my screams piercing the darkness as sharp as his weapon.

"What about it?" I ask through gritted teeth. If he was even thinking of apologising, I'm going to slam my knife into his throat.

"It...wasn't what it looked like. I mean, it was what it was but...it wasn't." He stumbled over his words, and I have to laugh bitterly.

"I think I need a bit more than that."

He chuckles nervously, playing with his sleeve awkwardly. "Well...y'know that I was...given an offer by Ridge ages ago to be his assassin?"

My ears prick up-this was new information. "No...I didn't."

"Oh, well uh...he asked me to help him out on a few jobs. I was with Sips at the time but I was just starting out and Ridge offered me loads of cash if I helped him so I decided to...run a few errands for him."

"Oh" is my reply. "Why are you telling me this?"

He swallows. "That night, when I stabbed you...I never wanted to. I was set up to do it on purpose. By Ridge."

My heart stops and I freeze. "W-what do you mean?" I turn to look at him, and he meets my eyes sadly.

"He wanted me to to stab you, but not kill you, so he could swoop in and be your...hero, I guess. I'm not sure why he did, but I was just taking orders. That was my last job before I left-I felt so guilty for doing what I did and I...I just couldn't do...that. Hell, I'm not even Sips' partner-I'm just there in case he needs a shield against a bullet!"

My arms are trembling now, and I can't think straight.

"Ridge...made you...stab me....so he could save me?"

"I know it sounds weird, and I don't really get it either...I get it if you don't believe me, but even if you do...before you, uh, go any further with your relationship, you should probably ask him about it."

He turns to go back in, but I catch his sleeve quickly.

"Tell him that you told me, and I'll be waiting back at the hotel...for answers" I tell him, and he studies my eyes, before nodding silently.

"And Sjin?"

He turns again. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He nods again, and goes back inside, whilst I turn my back on the pub and start running back to the hotel, my heart pounding with every thud of my feet on the pavement.