The guards moved forward cuff Trowa and Shadow's hands.

            "Hey, when I say now, hit the deck, ok?" Shadow muttered.

            "Huh?"

            "Drop to the floor when I say now!" Shadow repeated.

            "What do you-"

            "NOW!"  Trowa fell to the ground as Shadow pulled out guns from two hidden leg holsters and fired off several rounds, taking out most of the guards. The few that hadn't been hit were quickly knocked out by Shadow's flying fists and feet. Trowa looked up in surprise.

            "Wow." Shadow dropped the guns, grabbed his arm, and began dragging him down the hall.

            "No time to talk.  Come on." They ran for several more minutes before Shadow stopped them again, this time beneath an air vent.

            "They're on to us."

            "We're not going up there?"  Trowa asked.

            "Give me a boost, will you?"  Trowa just sighed and interlaced his fingers, creating a step.  Shadow clambered lightly onto his hands, shoved the vent cover upwards, and slid into the opening.  A few seconds later a hand, still gloved with the fingers cut out, reached down to pull him up. "Let's go."  Shadow quickly led him through the dizzying maze with speed and skill, and before long they stopped again at another vent. "Ok, now all we have to do is sneak out the back door."

            "Doesn't sound too hard," Trowa replied as Shadow pulled up the vent cover and dropped silently to the ground.

            "Let's go."  Trowa followed Shadow's lead and lowered himself down just as quietly.  They snuck down another hallway and met up with another squadron of guards.  "The door's straight at the end of this hall!" Shadow yelled.  "Run for it, I'll catch up with you!"  Trowa turned and sprinted for the door as Shadow pulled out a small gas cartridge, uncorked it, and flung it into the middle of the pack of guards.  "See ya later boys!" were Shadow's last words before following Trowa out the door.

*~*~*~

"That was close."  Shadow pulled off the long headdress, revealing tendrils of reddish brown hair held back by a strip of cloth tied across her forehead.  "Sorry about the secrecy," she said, indicating the head coverings.  "But I couldn't risk being recognized."

            "You're a girl?" Trowa stated with uncharacteristic surprise.

            "Yeah, so?" She replied coolly, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.

            "You're tough.  For a girl, I mean."
            "Oh, well thank you very much," she retorted sarcastically. "We should keep moving, they'll be tracking us soon."  She opened her knapsack and pulled out a forest-green trench coat.  "Put this on," she said as she tossed it to Trowa.  "It will help with camoflauge."  She then removed her guard uniform vest and pulled on a coat identical to the one she had just given to Trowa, except that it was a deep chocolate brown.  She dug through the knapsack and pulled out two more guns.  One she placed in her right leg holster, and the other she tossed to Trowa.  "Come on, Barton.  Don't want to fall behind a girl, do you?"  Then she turned on her heel and headed into the forest.

*Author's notes: Sorry, another short chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers, computer geek michelle, anne laure, Silver Serpent, skyfire 1, RVD, and fyre_faerie_gyrl. Another chapter is on the way…