(no subject)

[sunnydalealum]

It's five-thirty at the offices of Wolfram & Hart New York, and the regular workday is winding down.

Some people, of course, don't leave till much later, even under ordinary circumstances.

Which these are decidedly not.

"I'll need as many of you on guard as I can get." Emma's walking fast as she speaks, coming down the hall from her office, her heels clicking on the hallway floor. Brianna, soft-footed in sneakers and carrying an incongruous guitar case, keeps pace on her right; a handful of others trail in her wake. "All of you, ideally. Start calling now, and let's see if we can get everyone in by eight, start things rolling by nine -- Ajani?"

Comments

[sunnydalealum]

If she does look up at any point in the next several seconds, she's going to see Brianna silhouetted in the broken window, staring down at her openmouthed.

She can't do that. None of them can do that.

[amazongeneral.livejournal.com]

Nah. She's busy. Also, it's going to completely burn through her remaining luck if she stupids glass into her eyes.

She'd like to catch the next sill and haul herself in and take the stairs. She really, really would; but she's falling and she's at the wrong angle and she doesn't know how much of her strength remains. She can only grab the sill enough to twist right-side up. If she grabs the next sill, bounces herself off the wall of the building, and tears her grip loose, she'll likely be too far away for another handhold.

She can only slow her fall.

So she does. By the time she reaches the first strip of decorative brickwork she's going fast enough she has to grab with both hands, and has to let go with the upper one to grab more solidly with the injured arm, fingers burning enough from the rough brick that she feels it even through the haze of adrenaline. She has to let go again as soon as she's jerked her weight on the injured arm; she's falling once more, from sill to sill.

[sunnydalealum]

The windowsills and other projections that are helping slow her fall are also helping in another way: they're gradually cutting off line of sight from the window.

Brianna steps back when she can't see the falling figure anymore, and looks over her shoulder at Emma.

"She might ... survive the fall," she says, unease and disbelief and apprehension mingling in her voice. "Should I take a team after her --?"

[sunnydalealum]

"No," says Emma, sharply again. "No, I want everybody to stay here. There's no time to go after her."

She turns and strides across the room, toward the door. "We can still do this tonight."





It will be some minutes yet before they discover the hacked-apart root, which will mean that they can't do it tonight after all.

By the time anyone checks the pavement below the broken window, nothing will be left but the glass.