Feint or not, Ellie isn't expecting to be hoisted, and she's even lighter than she looks. All sharp edges and wiry muscle, and he's treated to her eyes going wide before she has to fight the reflex to drive a knee as deep into his solar plexus as she can.

Instead Ellie lets out a high noise and claws both hands into the clothes at the small of his back, rumpling them, and jams her leg against his shoulder, holding on with strength that is, quite suddenly, very superhuman.

"I'm taking you with me," she sputters, caught between breathless offense and half-hysterical laughter. Nobody's dared do anything like this to her in years.