^^^ A/N: This chapter is graphic and scary btw :3 ^^^

*Recap*

"Everybody hands down and on the ground! This is a holdup!"

♤♡♢♧

Everyone let out a scream and immediately dropped to the ground. Scarlette and Marshall did the same, ducking under a table. Marshall cursed as he assessed the situation. He looked over to Scarlette. She was hyperventilating and tears ran down her cheeks.

"Shh, babygirl, it's going to be okay. I promise." Her eyes still looked hopeless.

"D-d-don't let them hurt me." She whispered frantically. "Don't let them get me, they'll take me away from you and-and..." He slienced her with a kiss.

"Scarlette Reeves they will not and cannot take you away from me. I'll kill them if they try. I love you Scarlette. I love you." He whispered back, kissing her again.

She nodded silently, taking his hand and pressing it against her tear-stained cheek.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Marshall took her hand and kissed her palm and looked around from under the table. There were four men wearing black masks holding up large knives.

"Shit." He whispered to himself. They were at least 6 feet tall with a heavy, burly build. Much too big for Marshall to fight with sheer force. He must be clever... He spotted the nearest one, wandering off a bit, occasionally kicking a hostage or two.

Bingo. He thought as he quietly stalked his newfound prey from behind. The man was kicking this young woman, who he considered weak. He let out a low growl as he slowly stood up, right behind the man, careful not to make any noise before bringing the man down by the neck.

Marshall kept a tight choke hold on the struggling man. "You listen here, alright you piece of shit? Either you cooperate or I snap your neck. Which one is it, scumbag?" He put a little more pressure on the man's neck, who decided best to calm down.

"A-alright, agh, just soften your grip buddy." He choked out, slapping Marshall's arm weakly. Marshall looked at him funny before gently loosening his grip... Then jabbing at a part of his neck, making the huge man fall, completely knocked out cold.

Marshall let out a sly smile and searched the man, finding a knife on the man. He crouched down low again, making a pained expression as he saw the civilians, scared for their lives. Some of them had families, children, husbands, wives... And they could die this very day... At the corner of his eye, he saw an old man, silently crying as he clutched something to his chest. Marshall felt a pang of sadness through him as he saw the old man, with tears running down his face. Marshall decided to change course to the old man.

"Hey." He whispered, tapping the old man's shoulder. "Are you okay?" The old man looked up at him and tearfully showed him what he was holding... It was his wallet. A picture of a man and woman with three children was in it.

"T-that's my daughter... Her husband and my grandchildren" The old man rasped out quietly. "I-I don't want to die today sir... I love my family. My wife, my kids my grandkids... I don't want to face the Lord yet. I want to see my grandkids grow up." He was near silent hysterics.

Marshall blinked back emotion. "S-sir, I know how you feel. I'm here with the love of my life. And I'm making it my job to get her out of here alive. And you'll get out here alive too. Later tonight, it'll be just a story on the news." He whispered, looking over the photo.

"Thank you. Thank you" The old man whispered. "Thank you young man." Marshall smiled uneasily. He had to take action now. He crawled down low again, looking for at least one of the men. He saw none. He raised himself up slowly, trying to see if they were still there, but quickly shot back to the ground.

He was able to identify the culprits and he started to stalk his target, knife in hand. He skillfully and noiselessly crawled and slid around on the floor, before stopping under a table, just 6 feet away from one of the men. Marshall then slowly, slowly reached out with the knife, and slashed the man's ankle open.

"Ahh! " The man managed to scream out before Marshall yanked him down and covered the man's mouth.

"You, my friend, are going to shut up, and give me your weapons right now." He whispered menacingly. The man simply spit.

"Never." He rasped out weakly.

'He's losing a lot of blood,' Marshall thought, 'Yet he's fighting so hard against me.' Marshall let out a low growl of a laugh as he put the blade of the knife to the open wound.

"Wrong answer." He cut the ankle clean off before covering the man's mouth.

"AHH! FUCK!" The man tried to scream, but it was muffled by Marshall's hand.

"Weapons. Now." Marshall whispered coldly. The man was letting small muffled wails of pain as he pulled out a large knife, and a smaller one.

"T-t-take them. Take them! Just leave me be!" The man begged softly, trying his hardest not to scream.

Marshall wordlessly took the weapons and stalked to the kitchen, where the other two were supposedly at.

Marshall barely had time to register what the man said before he was tackled on to the ground. A string of profanities escaped Marshall's lips. He was held in a tight choke-hold, gasping for breath. Even so, he didn't dare struggle, knowling well that the man holding him would tighten his hold.

"You ballsy son-of-a-bitch." The man grumbled, hoisting Marshall up. "We'll teach you what happens when you mess with us... Hey, Joe, let's teach this kid some manners!"

Marshall's eyes widened as the wind was knocked out of him. He was punched in the gut by another guy, who had a running start. Marshall coughed up blood.

"Is that all you've got?" He sneered, spitting blood on the guy that punched him. "I don't feel nothing!"

This angered the other man who took another swing, this time at Marshall's face. He winced, feeling the sharp impact. On the outside, Marshall remained indifferent about what's happening, but on the inside, he was panicked. He wanted to get Scarlette safe. But now, he's not sure if he could do that....

On Scarlette's part, tears were flowing from her eyes. She was watching the love her life getting beaten like a piece of meat. She just had to do something! She looked around and suddenly realized that she had her phone.

She rapidly, but quietly fumbled for her phone and called 9-1-1.

"This is 911, what is your-"

"Help me, I'm Scarlette Reeves, there's a hostage taking at a 60's type diner. I know you can trace this phone. Send help immediately, please, my bodyguard-"

Scarlette was suddenly yanked up by her hair. She screamed in pain as she was dragged towards where Marshall was being beaten.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Sweet little number, ain't cha?" One man sneered. Her eyes widened and she started to struggle. The man laughed heartily.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm a perv, but I ain't no pedophile. Why, you barely look sixteen! How old are ya, sweetheart?"

"F-fourteen." She managed to rasp out as she trembled on fear. The man laughed again.

"Cute little thing." He said, reaching a large, sweaty hand up to place a strand of hair behind her ear as Scarlette let out a terrifed whimper.

" Marshall screamed hysterically, kicking and struggling. He turned to Scarlette. "It's going to be okay Scarlette, okay? It'll be okay." Marshall was in hysterics, and Scarlette was sobbing. The man laughed again.

"What are ya, her boyfriend?" He asked, smirking. Marshall looked away. "Aww, how cute!" He mockingly cooed. "So, if I say... Took her, what would ya do, huh?" He got closer to Scarlette, tracing the outline of her lips. She glared and bit his finger.

"Ahh! Hmm, feisty little kitty." He said, leaning down to smell her neck. "I can smell your fear, sweetheart." Scarlette then let out a small yelp of fear.

"M-marshall... Help." She whimpered out. "I'm scared."

"Shh, no, sweetie, it'll be okay, we'll be just fine." Marshall replied, choking on his words. He didn't seem to believe that anymore.

The man laughed again, but with darkness in his voice. "Right, right. You'll be fine." He said as he took out a hankerchief. "Hear that sweetheart? You'll be just fine." He added, drawing out the 'fine' as he placed the handkerchief over Scarlette's nose and mouth.

Scarlette, being smarter than that, refused to breathe. She saw the man's confusion and gave him a smug look. The man growled in irritation.

"Cute. Now breathe. Before I get angry. You won't like me when I'm angry, sweets." She raised an eyebrow and gave him the one-finger salute. He glared at her and punched her in the gut. She gasped for air and immediately started feeling dizzy... The last thingnthat Scarlette heard was a voice saying 'Freeze!'