The sound of a door being shoved down had woken me up straight away. I had always been a light sleeper, and it was in times like this that I thank god that I was. The sound of a gun being cocked had forced me to immediately leap off of the bed in order to dodge roll out of the way of an inevitable shot. It was lucky that this was my instinct, as the second that I had leapt out of the way; a shot had been fired at where I had been lying only mere seconds before. Without hesitation, I rolled to my right so that I was now under the bed. I loathed hiding in situations like this, but I'd left my gun in the bathroom when I'd brought my uniform out to hang it on the radiator – which was very luckily: just beside the bathroom door. Having left the door open, I quietly lay under the bed on my stomach, creating a plan, and silently dragging myself near to the front of the bed.
"C'mon out, sweetheart. I know you're in 'ere. I just wanna talk to you. Never spoken to no Turk before, 'specially no girl Turk. Just wanna talk, so don't hide…"
My ass, you wanna talk...stupid son of a-…I found myself thinking, silently cursing the man. With my gaze fixed on the bathroom door, I made a plan to cross the gap between the end of the bed and the bathroom and quickly grab my uniform before I entered the bathroom. I would then shut and lock the door, quickly put my uniform on, grab my gun and then escape through the bathroom window. I just hoped that it'd work, because it was the only sane plan I could think of at the time. Well, close to sane, anyway.
"You should never try to hide from a pro like me, darlin'. Turk or not." he mocked me. The bastard had seen me! He'd found me by kneeling down beside the bed, and checking underneath. He was such a fool…he had the advantage there, but had blown it by being a smart-ass. Kind of like Reno… my mind remarked, and I had to bite my lip to stop myself laughing. It was true: both this hit man and Reno were both arrogant gits. However, there was one minor difference: Reno could do his job. This guy couldn't.
Well, now was as good of a time as any to test out my plan. If it didn't work, then I was finished. Without thinking, I immediately escaped from underneath the bed by pushing myself out through a forward roll, just as he opened fire on where I had been lying on my chest. Getting to my feet, he then aimed his damned automatic in my direction as I did a dive from where I had been standing for a few seconds –reaching out as I did in order to grab the heap of clothes on the radiator. I was glad that it had been a small radiator (meaning that I had to lay my clothes out on top of each other), otherwise getting my uniform would have been a much harder task-. This dive ended in another forward roll, meaning I had to pull my arms in from the dive and hug my uniform to my chest.
He had still been shooting – with, may I say: an absolutely awful aim. Most of his bullets hit the bed, and a lot of them where imbedded in the walls behind me. However, after I had dived and rolled, I felt bullets connect with my back. Yes…I recognized the feeling of blood trickling down my body from the entrance and exit wounds of the bullets. I guess he'd just gotten lucky from aiming his gun in my general direction and hoping for the best. It was at that moment that he needed to reload. Grabbing my own gun from where I had left it on the floor in the bathroom, I immediately threw myself to the ground in order to do an odd maneuver that required me to roll and change direction. No easy task in just a shirt, I'll tell you…
This left me now facing the door, and aiming from a position where I was down on one knee. With my gun pointed in the intruder's direction, I swung a vicious sweep kick at the door that slammed shut with a loud thud. Getting up, I then locked the door, which was soon damaged by a fresh wave of bullets within a matter of seconds. It seemed he had reloaded… I couldn't fight him now that I was injured…instead; I stuck to my original plan of hastily getting dressed, and racing over to the window behind me. I couldn't check my wounds now, regardless of how much they distracted me. There would be time for that later! Besides: I had dealt with much worse!
Quickly straightening my jacket and discarding the now bloodstained shirt of Vincent's, I scanned my gaze over myself and made sure I had everything. Full uniform? Yes. Holster? Yes. Gun? Yes. Ok. I was good to go. Moving my attention to the small, rectangular window that was above the toilet, I decided that seeing as I was quite small and thin compared to other adults (not to sound vain, but I was just being honest.) I could just about fit through it, but I'd have to be fast. The bathroom door didn't look like it would hold for much longer…
"If you're a real Turk, then ya shouldn't be hidin'!" the intruder's voice bellowed over heavy gunfire. The idiot was trying to lure me out…Well; he certainly wasn't going to be successful. Stepping on to the white plastic cover of the toilet lid, I quickly placed my hands on the window ledge that was quite a way above. I jumped up, and had to push my feet against the wall in order to give me the support I needed to try to push myself up on to the ledge. Swinging my left leg up, I managed to get it on to the thin ledge in a very awkward and insecure position. I hastily swung my other leg up and pulled myself into a kneeling position on the thin window ledge. My time was really running out it seemed, as the condition of the door was quite honestly awful. I returned my attention to the small window next to me, and saw two latches on either side of the glass, misty from the rain. One latch easily clicked off, but the other on the left hand side of the window frame was unbelievably stiff. I was becoming desperate to make my escape now, and this window really wasn't going to co-operate. A good shove of the window would completely open the latch, and also would have opened the window. How would I shove it without completely falling out, though? I panicked for a moment, before regaining my cool. How couldn't I have thought of this before? I moved as close to the edge of the ledge as it would allow without resulting in me falling off, and pulled my right leg back. Giving one, quick glance at the door, I soon looked back at the window and kicked the plastic latch and frame as hard as I could. Perfect! This gave the latch a strong shunt, which gave it no choice but to open.
The window also reacted to this blow. It opened with a large amount of force, and swung open rather widely, giving me what I estimated to be just enough room to climb out. I just hoped that the door would hold long enough for me to escape.
Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky as to make a perfect escape. The door gave way, and the hit man stepped in to the room, automatic in hand. Stamping on the now bloodstained shirt that Vincent had given me before; he only raised an eyebrow as he looked at me. "Doin' a runner, are ya? You can either die by gun like a real Turk, or ya can die from the drop like a coward. What'll it be?"
What a retard! I had to try my hardest not to laugh at what a bad job he was doing at being a villain. This guy didn't even deserve the title of 'lap-dog'! I mean, he could have shot me and finished me now, but no…yet again, he'd chosen to talk to me! It was all I could do to keep a straight face. "Sorry, but I think I'm gonna have to choose the drop!"
"…. Crazy bitch."
"Nuh-uh…Crazy Turk bitch, if you don't mind." I mocked him. Well, how couldn't I mock him at least once before leaving?
"It's been fun. Really!" with that, I made my exit. As the window was only large enough for a 'petite' adult like me to crawl out of (I chose 'petite' rather than 'small'…'small' makes me sound short!) I turned so that my back was facing the window, and dropped in order to grab the window ledge. This was hard to keep hold of…not only because of the fact that rain was still pouring down, but because the rain had made the ledge slippery and hard to keep a grip on. What I didn't expect was for his face (yeah, you guessed it…our new friend, the psycho…) to appear at the window, and him to aim his automatic at me again.
"We've got the same policy as you Turks: complete the mission, no matter what.". With that, he opened fire just as I had let go of the ledge. Bullets ripped mercilessly through my left arm, but the damage was hidden pretty well by my jacket. As I reached out to grab the window ledge below, my heart seemed to thump even harder and faster than usual as I missed my target. My fingers of my right hand had come in contact with the window ledge, but had slipped due to the ledge being wet and slippery, and had completely missed the grab! Much to my discomfort, I forced my injured left arm to reach up for the window ledge, and grab. It was by doing this that I only just managed to save myself. I struggled to keep my hold, as hanging by my injured arm was causing an agonizing pain to flash through it. I hissed in anger and pain as I tried to reach up my right arm to grab on to the ledge. At the same time, I was trying to place my feet against the wall in a way that would allow me to jump and push myself away from this ledge…However, with the stinging pain that was shooting through my arm and my grip loosening, as well as the hit man still firing at me (luckily, a lot of his bullets were hitting the window ledges above and the one I was clinging to, but unfortunately: a bunch of bullets found a nice new home in my shoulder, and one managed to hit my cheek. I was trying not to concentrate on the pain, or the blood that was slowly moving down my face.) I was seriously debating whether or not I was actually going to survive this crazy stunt. Apparently, this ledge really didn't like me. My attempts at getting my right hand to get a decent grip on it were in vain, as my left arm surrendered, and my fingers slipped from the ledge, sending me falling down to what I assumed was going to be my death. As a Turk, I was prepared…but apparently today was going to be my lucky day, after all. There were more rooms below this one, which meant more ledges that could stop me from plummeting to my doom. Right now, my left arm would refuse to co-operate, and so I reached out my right arm in desperation. I just hoped that this ledge wasn't too slippery….
Once again, I found my heartbeat quickening as the ledge below came closer and closer. Would I make it? Or was this how it was going to end?
"Agh…" I let out another hiss of pain. As my right hand had made contact with the slippery, wet ledge and made a firm grip, the rest of my body had swung forward and slammed against the rough wall.
Instinctively as you jump, you move your legs to propel yourself further, right? Well, I'd done that during falling, and as my body made contact with the wall, the hard brick of the building had mercilessly scratched not only my leg, but all the way up to my waist. I assumed that from the hard contact made, it would be skinned and bleeding at most. I'd kept myself stable on the ledge, though…that was all that mattered for now. I could sort out any injuries later.
While hanging there by only one hand, I knew at that moment that the son of a bitch above me had reloaded, and I could sense that he was aiming right at me again. Knowing that I had to get out of the line of fire, I looked over at the ledge to my right. Did I dare to? Getting a grip on this ledge had been hard enough, but to do it again? Well…how would I rather die? Death by the psycho shooting me, or by taking a nasty fall? As you may have guessed, I didn't have much trouble making my decision. I took a deep breath to prepare myself, and then I went straight for it. It was now or never.
It took almost all of my strength to throw myself across the gap between this window ledge and the one to the left. My breath seemed to catch in my throat as I crossed the gap between the two ledges, reaching out once more with my right arm, as my left wouldn't even move after the strain I had previously put on it. My fingers met with the slippery plastic…and slipped. I let out a gasp of horror, and thought the worst, desperately reaching out with my right arm again, my fingers spread wide. A fall from this height would be fatal, of that there was no doubt!
"No!!!" I screamed, the air leaving my lungs in a single breath as I expected the worst to come. It was then that my left arm replied to my frantic attempts at moving it, and reached out, grasping hold of the ledge. This ledge not being quite as slippery, I was able to – much to the discomfort of my damaged left arm- hold myself in place with one hand, my damaged left hand. However, I soon stretched up and grasped the ledge with my right, attempting to shift my weight on to my right hand and create a secure grip. Well…about as secure as a grip can be on a slippery ledge, anyway. I assumed I was safe for now. Well, that was pretty stupid of me…Hanging where I was with much difficulty, I scanned the area for an alternative way down. Before I had the chance to work one out, something collided with the ledge with great impact. It took a second for me to figure out what had happened…that jackass had fired at the window ledge I had caught hold of! As a result, the impact of several bullets had ripped the wet plastic ledge away from the wall of the inn, hurling me backwards, away from the wall, the ledge in my hand. I assumed that I had no chance of survival now. There was nothing to grab, and I was in too much shock to reach out for anything to save myself even if I had the opportunity.
I had no idea if I should call this luck or not, but I had been sent flying back at such a height, that I crashed on to the roof of a shorter building behind the inn. This of course, resulted in a great pain that flashed through my body. It was that pain that made me snap back to reality, and realize where I was: back out in the soaking town of Nibel with a man aiming his gun at me. My body was screaming out in pain, but I knew that I had to fight back.
Taking my own gun from its holster, it was my turn to shoot. Aiming at the bathroom window, I opened fire while doing several flips and dodges in order to evade his bullets – although this caused great pain, sacrifices have to be made in a life or death situation. After a few moments, his gunfire ceased. I took this as my opportunity to get the hell out of there! I used the same technique I had used back in the bathroom to safety drop to the ground. With that, I took off to look for anyone…Tseng…Rude…Reno…Vincent…anyone. My body burned with pain with each step, but I wasn't about to give up!
Finally – around the back of the inn at the mouth of an alley- I found Vincent, gazing into the alley and not seeming to care that the rain was pouring down on him, soaking him. I didn't understand what he was doing, so approached him. He immediately turned, the tip of his gun pressed hard against my forehead. It shocked me, and I stared at him for a moment, reaching for his arm. He reacted, slipping his gun back into his holster.
Looking at him for a moment, I felt happy…I wasn't able to pretend that I wasn't happy to see him this time, and just hugged him, relieved to have found someone. I would've preferred Tseng, but hey: Valentine had been nice to me, so I suppose he deserved my trust…even if he was staring at me…why the heck was he staring at me?!…it was probably because of the blood on my face and the fact that I was struggling to hold myself up, most likely. He was really nice and helped me to stand up properly…anyway; he really surprised me when he tried to comfort me. I mean… it was as though we were friends, or something.
"…It's alright, Elena…" I honestly never thought he had a nice side, but it wasn't the first time that I'd been wrong about something like this. After all: I thought Reno was an arrogant ass-hole who just criticized others because he was bad at his job. I was wrong: he's an arrogant ass-hole who criticizes others because he's damn good at his job…I dunno…maybe I was being too harsh on Reno…he can be ok, I guess.
Anyways, back to what I was telling you about: Valentine put his arm around me, which actually calmed me down quite a lot. That is…until this guy came out of the alley. It was what he said next that made me certain that he was somehow connected with what happened to the other Turks and myself.
"What did I tell you? It seems I can demonstrate how I will destroy the Turks…On this one that seems to have wandered across our path."
It was just one fight after the other! It seemed that Valentine wasn't gonna let me fight, though. Before I had the chance to draw my gun, he had shoved me away, and ordered:
"Run!". The new guy only laughed at this, and took out a long, spotless shining blade. I shook my head at Valentine, but he wasn't gonna take no for an answer, apparently. He'd gotten between me and the other guy, and narrowed his crimson eyes in my direction. "Elena." he stated somewhat coldly.
"Hahahaha…if you run now, then I'll find you later. You and all of your kind in your company will meet the sticky end that I've prepared for-…"
"Elena, RUN!"