Oeil Poché (Simplicity)

[Simplicity]

Sim glanced over her shoulder at the door leading to the bar. They were inside and unless they were distracted, it was only a matter of time until the small crew was found. She hoped Adrian figured the window out soon, she really didn’t want her last stand to be in a bathroom. There were more dramatic and memorable ways to die, certainly less embarrassing ones too.

When Adrian gestured she tilted her head in confusion. She looked in the direction he pointed at but didn’t see anything obviously important or helpful. Simplicity wondered if he needed something from one of the group, but again nothing came to mind. Looking back at Adrian she shrugged and continued trying to figure out what it was he needed. Then one of the Georgie walked over to him with a handful of soap and started applying it to the hinges. Sim closed her eyes, tilted her head back and wished God would just strike down quickly.

As the boys worked on the window she crowded in behind them, watching as they made some progress. With nothing really to contribute other than stress, Simplicity turned back toward the door. The sounds of the bar were getting louder, and while that didn’t mean closer it wasn’t a good sign. Simplicity tapped the gun just about the trigger to keep the tick from moving elsewhere.

[Adrian]

After greasing the hinges Adrian went back to opening the window, torturous inch by tortuous inch. He found himself holding his breath as he did so. If it squeaked and someone heard the Hork Bajir would come storming in. He may be the last to die but they'd all die. If it squeaked and someone outside heard then the Hork Bajir would come and then he'd be the first to die. And if they just couldn't get it open they'd be stuck here, waiting to die. The last one was the worst case scenario.

But the window opened and with hardly a sound. A few very soft squeals of protest that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up but nothing too bad. When he had it open he smiled slightly before putting his knife in his teeth and boosting himself up and out into the quiet night outside. The people behind him may think he was abandoning them, hell he may be if he didn't move quickly enough, so he didn't waste time worrying about them.

He stood up and began trotting along the side of the building. He needed to know that they had a way out before people started coming out of that window and he didn't have much time before the others followed him.

He froze when he heard the crunch of footsteps. He was in a shadow and he prayed he couldn't be seen as he watched a human figure step into the light of a lamp bolted to the side of the building the bar was in. He was dressed relatively well and was calm as if he were on a stroll. It was obvious he was a controller even without the dracon beam strapped to his waist. But it was on his waist and not in his hand, a blessing.

Adrian wasn't a murderer. He wasn't a fighter and he didn't pride himself on martial talents. But you did develop some survival skills living in this world, you had to. So when the guy turned his back Adrian didn't hesitate. He ran towards him with knife in hand. When he grabbed the guy there was a bit of a scrabble. The Controller was surprised and Adrian had an arm around his neck before he could do anything about it but the free human hadn't been trained in anything and he was relying on his strength instead of any technique to drag the man out of the light. He had the knife in one hand and it may have made sense to just start sticking it anywhere but he'd made up his mind to cut the controllers throat and there never seemed to be enough time to think through your actions while you were in a fight.

So he waited until he had a chance at the guys throat and then sunk the knife in. It was messy but it was quieter than anything else he might have done and, after a few more moments of struggle, the fight went out of the body and Adrian let it drop. He turned back to the window and could already see a head sticking out. He went back and offered his hand to Simplicity, thankfully, the one without blood on it.

[Simplicity]

When the window was open Simplicity closed her eyes in relief. Now they had an escape route, perhaps not the most effective but it worked. She watched Adrian disappear through the window and waited for something to go wrong. When she didn’t hear an ear splitting scream which made she smiled . Mick nodded for her to go next, which she gladly took him up on after tucking her gun back into her jeans.

Simplicity usually hated being the “girl” of the group. In combat her allies seemed to forget how capable she was. She was certain it they trusted with a weapon, since they were the one's who'd trained her when she'd arrived in Ireland. Eventually she decided to attribute it to the save-the-woman complex most men seemed to have. Most of the time it annoyed her, but Simplicity never protested against it because every so often it came in handy. Being able to escape before the others was one such situation.

She pulled herself through the window as carefully as possible. The frame itself was slippery in places from the soap, and while it opened fine she didn’t want to bump the hinges. As she went through she stopped when she heard someone walking, and debated slipping back into the bathroom. The stranger didn’t seem to notice her and she let out a sigh of relief until Adrian snuck up behind him with a bad idea in his head. It took most of her effort to keep from calling out to him to stop.

Sim took his hand and finished getting settled onto the ground.

“Do you know how hard it is to walk around unnoticed covered in blood?” She hissed pulling over her jacket. Simplicity grabbed a hold of his wrist and threw the jacket over his arm. Then she motioned for him to hold it close to his chest and waved from him to follow her. The ERA hadn’t been staying far away but she hoped it would be far enough. She moved her gun to her front pocket after checking the safety and tried to pull her shirt over it before heading out of the alley toward the safe house.

[Adrian]

Much easier than it is to escape with a guard in the way, Adrian thought as he wiped the blood off his hands. If the woman wanted to give him her jacket to use as a rag he wouldn't say no. He just hoped she didn't expect to get it back. When he done he threw it as far in the opposite direction as he could. Which wasn't far but it may confuse someone on their trail. Not Taxxon, not for long, but any distraction may help them all.

He watched the group walk away from the body and towards the area he hadn't made sure was safe and wished them luck in his head. He hoped they didn't run into any guards. He turned and walked past the dead body and down the street he'd cleared the way too before disappearing into the night, leaving the sounds of carnage and slavery behind him.

THE END.