Author's Notes: I'm really sorry about the wait. Life, writers block and a stubborn muse have conspired to keep me from updating. On the plus side, I've finished one of the four stories I was writing, so hopefully things will move along a bit better now. As always, please enjoy and review.
"Are you ready?" he asks as he pauses before opening the final door between the Shadow Gallery and the tunnels.
"Do Ah have a choice?" she sarcastically shoots back, trying to keep from tugging at her itching wig.
"No, I'm afraid you don't," he answers, tilting his head to the side as he looks down at her, the Guy Fawkes mask hiding any expression he may have. "Play your part right and you will be a free woman tonight."
"But what price freedom?" she quietly asks, the sting of tears causing her eyes to burn.
"This is the only way, Audrey," he quietly tells her.
"My head believes ya, it's my heart that isn't so sure," she replies with a sigh. "We might as well get this over with, no point in standin' here all day."
"True," he agrees with a nod before he turns and unlocks that final door.
She follows him as silently as she can, concentrating on where she's stepping and not where they're going. She pays attention to nothing else but him and where she's putting her feet, avoiding loose stones and pebbles as much as possible. It still boggles her mind how a man as big as he is can move as silently as a cat and she silently prays that her bumbling attempt to follow in his foot steps doesn't give their position away to the two groups of searchers that are out there somewhere.
A short eternity later they reach their parting point, both stopping side by side to stare at the stairs that will lead her to outside world. He knows that now is the moment of truth, but he has lived with this woman for close to four months now and he knows her nearly as well as he knows himself. If she chooses, she could make a break for it and find her way back to her fake family. But she knows it would be only a matter of time before the men from Shire Stables came looking for her and she has no doubt that they would harm or even kill the twins to get to her, possibly even taking them to be slaves as well. He made sure to drill that little message into her head these past few weeks.
He puts a black gloved hand on her shoulder and she rests one of hers on top of it while he looks down at her, though she doesn't look back him. Instead she takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly, gently squeezes his hand, squares her shoulders and then walks away from him with slow, steady steps. He watches her go until she disappears from view and then waits until the sounds of her steps fades away.
As soon as he's sure she's gone, he moves into the hiding spot that he will occupy until her return. It's not a spacious hole in the wall, but it's big enough for him and her and a small monitor that he connected to several nearby surveillance cameras for him to watch her progress. After flipping through several of the different camera views, he spots her in the park across from Percy's favorite pub, pretending to be warming up to do an evening jog around the park when in fact she is simply waiting for the scoundrel and his men to put in appearance so that she can lure him to his doom.
She can feel her heart pounding against her ribs, hear her blood rushing past her ears and all the while she stands there waiting for the hunter to come out and chase the scared rabbit. But she knows that rabbits have very sharp teeth and a wicked kick when cornered and she hopes she doesn't freeze up at the mere sight of the man who came to the chalet in Switzerland to check on her makeover progress every few weeks all those years ago. Just the thought of those times makes her breath catch in her throat and then she hears V's voice in her head as surely as if he is standing beside her.
Take your weakness and make it your strength, the voice says to her. Even the most frightened animal will become the fiercest fighter when cornered. Take your fear and turn it against your enemy and then you will be the hunter and he the hunted.
She takes a deep breath and wishes the miserable bastard would just hurry it up so she can get this over with. She briefly looks up from stretching her hamstrings and sees a Bobby looking at her curiously. She quickly looks back down and silently prays that he just moves on, that he doesn't stop or worse yet, come closer to get a better look.
Move along; move along, she silently chants to the policeman. Ah'm not the woman ya're looking for.
She nearly giggles with the absurdity of the thought and really wishes she had the ability to alter a man's thoughts like Ben Kenobi from that old sci-fi movie V showed her a few weeks ago. It certainly would have saved everyone a lot of pain and aggravation if she could and she wouldn't be in this mess.
And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, she quietly reminds herself.
She chances a sly glance towards the officer and with a sigh of relief sees that he has moved on. She knows she can't fake warming up much longer and with a cop hanging about, things could take an ugly turn. With one last shaking out of her muscles, she starts doing a light jog around the small park, avoiding people straggling home after getting off of work late or heading for the pub that she's trying to keep an eye on for pint or two before curfew forces them to seek the relative safety of home.
As she completes the second circuit of the park, she begins to worry that maybe they're not in there and that V is mistaken. She knows she's strong enough to go around this park several more times, but she needs to be fresh enough to lead them to the tunnels and stay ahead of them long enough to get to safety. She wonders how many more times she should jog around this tiny park before calling it quits and heading back to V.
Just as she contemplates returning to the old access entrance that she came through, she sees them emerge from the pub. She can feel her heart skip a beat and the muscles around her chest constrict making it hard to breathe for a moment. Then all the long hard hours of training kick in and she picks up the pace a bit so that she can get a better view of them and them of her.
She quickly sizes up the men and she doesn't like what she sees. There are nearly a dozen of them with Percy in the middle of the pack and those closest to him look like walking mountains of muscle. Intent on something their boss is saying all eyes are on Percy and none of them notice her, making things even harder for her.
The plan had been for them to see her from a distance and for them to chase her as she lead them away from the safe streets and into the dangers that await them below ground. Of course the plan had also called for only about half a dozen men, not nearly a dozen…correction a full dozen she realizes as on of the bigger men moves out of the way to reveal a much smaller man behind him. In the quickly gathering gloom there's no way for them to identify her from this distance either and to add to her problems, they're headed the wrong way.
She quickly rewrites V's carefully laid plans and makes her own as she doubles back the way she's come. She carefully crosses so as not to get hit by a car and then jogs up behind them as quietly as she can. She can hear Percy giving a detailed account to his men what he's going to do to her once he's got her and her blood runs cold. The old fears and training start to strangle her heart, making it hard for her to think or breath.
Then a fiery anger and a hate as she's never felt before burns in her belly and she can feel her blood starting to boil, bringing with it a clarity of thought like she's never known before. She speeds up, brushing past the men, timing it perfectly to hit one of the smaller men with her hip and knocking him off balance enough to stumble into a few of his compatriots. He sputters indignantly for a moment as he regains his footing and then he glares at the woman slowly jogging away from them.
"Oy!" the man yells after her. "Watch where ya goin', ya stupid bint!"
She waits until she's about to go under a street lamp, turns around enough to look back at them, only slowing enough to stare right at Percy with her piercing green eyes, the bright red hair of her wig very noticeable and she flips him a two finger salute before turning and taking off at a dead run.
"Bloody fucking hell!" Percy gasps, stopping dead in his tracks for a moment. "It's her! GET HER!"
His men stare at him in confusion for a moment until they see him starting to run after the woman who flipped him off. They don't ask questions, but follow Percy's lead and give chase to the woman who quickly disappears around a corner. Each one of them wants to have the honor of catching the woman they have been hunting for over three months, so they fight and jostle each other, trying to get into the lead and only succeeding in getting in each other's way.
She thanks all the stars in the heavens that she and V went over this area in disguise until she knew it like the back of her hand. Even in the near dark she knows where she is and where she's going and she's actually find a bit of delight in the chase. She almost wants to laugh as she can hear them pushing, shoving and cursing at each other to get to her.
She knows normally she wouldn't stand a chance against one of these men, but she had surprise on her size plus V knew that they would be just about killing each other to get to her. She also knows the back allies better than they do as she leads them on a merry chase, taking them farther and father away from busy streets. The ones in the lead of the pack laugh when they see she's lead them to a dead end, but the laughter dies in their throats as she quickly disappears behind a partially opened grate that's mostly hidden by old boxes of rubbish.
There's a roar of anger from the lot of them as they charge the spot she slipped through and she can hear them as they shove the boxes out of the way. A moment later and the sound of the grating being ripped out of the wall reaches her and she runs down the tunnel knowing that they'll follow like moths to a flame. She glances behind her and she can see the light of their torches sweeping the area, trying to find her.
She's glad that V made her learn this entrance inside and out and to run it in the dark. She had thought he was a sick bastard when he made her go up and down the corridors and stairs with a blindfold on, but now she's happy that he did. There's virtually no light down here and she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would probably fall and break her neck if he hadn't.
She turns back to her task to draw them in deeper and lets out a sharp whistle to entice them farther in when she hears them hesitate. There's renewed yelling and pounding of feet as they take up the chase once more like hounds on a hunt, baying and howling for blood. She takes some grim satisfaction in knowing that it's not her blood that will be spilled this night.
She reaches the bottom of the stairs and runs full out, keeping one hand on the wall beside her so she doesn't miss her turn. She can see the torch light on the walls around her as she reaches the corner and goes around it, barely slowing down to do so. She reaches her arms over her head and a second later she feels leather clad fingers grab hold of her wrist and yank her off of her feet.
She allows him to use her momentum to swing her into the safety of their hiding spot, well above where she could have ever reached without at least a step stool to help her. She curls up into a ball to make herself as small as possible and tries to get her breathing under control while V covers her with his cloak and then shields her with his body as her pursuers pass beneath their hiding spot. As soon as they're gone, he backs off and she sits up, drawing in great gulps of air while she tries to get her body to calm down.
She tries to listen carefully past her gasping breath and pounding heart for the sound of the explosives going off. She knows they're not big, but there are enough of them to cause a chain reaction. Just as she's sure that they're not going to go off, she can feel the vibrations through the wall followed by the rumble of collapsing tunnel. A few seconds later and a cloud of dust comes billowing down the corridor carrying with it the smell of masonry dust and a slight smell of the explosives used to get the tunnel to collapse.
She leans her head against the wall and closes her eyes while he fiddles with the monitor, switching it to show the cameras inside the tunnels now. She draws her knees to her chest to allow him room to move in the confining space while she concentrates on getting her breath and heart rate under control, ignoring the smell of him and heat radiating from his body. At one time she may have been interested in proving him wrong about his inability to love, but now he's nothing more than an ends to a means and after tonight, she will be glad to be rid of his company.
The walls shake again, but less violently than before and a few seconds later the sounds of a tunnel collapsing reaches them. V softly chuckles to himself and she glares at him, knowing that for some sick reason he finds glee in the death of these men. She knows that they're not good men, but it still makes her ill to think that she's largely responsible for their deaths.
They wait in that dark hole in silence, the only light coming from the tiny monitor that V's using. It takes several more minutes before she can feel the final set of explosives going off through the vibrations in the wall and the distant echo of the collapsing tunnel is very faint. She lets out a breath she wasn't aware that she had been holding and starts to edge towards the entrance to their hiding place.
He grabs her arm and she can see him shake his head in the dim light, so with a frustrated sigh, she leans back and waits. She watches him as he switches the monitor from one camera to the next, carefully examining each scene as if looking for something. After several long minutes of this, he finally turns off the monitor and she can feel him slipping past her towards the exit.
She waits until she's sure he's out and then feels her way to the exit. As she's lowering herself down, a pair of hands grab her around the waist and she nearly screams in surprise, but years of beatings taken in silence means she only takes a startled deep breath. It takes her only a moment to realize that it's just V helping her down and a moment later she's gently set on her feet.
As soon as she's firmly on her feet, he releases her and starts to move away. She follows as quietly as she can, ever mindful that with the sun gone that it's even harder to move silently now, though he does it with ease. It doesn't take them long to reach the area of the cave in and what they find nearly brings her to her knees.
The dust hanging in the air makes her sneeze and her eyes water and she's glad that she's not wearing those blasted contacts yet. The smell of blood tinges the air and she can feel her stomach start to rebel, but it's the sound of men moaning in pain that makes her stagger. She leans heavily against the wall and for the first time since he started taking her out of the Shadow Gallery, she doesn't care how much noise she makes as she stumbles along behind him.
He stops and turns towards her, hearing her convulsively swallow several times before he halts her forward motion. He signals her to stay put and she hesitantly agrees, though it's hard with the sound of men in obvious pain. She rests her head against the wall and watches V as he carefully makes his way through the rubble.
He carefully checks to see which of the half buried men are moaning and then upon locating one, he picks up a large piece of rubble just before he soundly smashes it into the man's skull. He half turns at the sound of her gasp, expecting her to complain or protest his actions, but no more sounds are forthcoming from her, so he continues. He makes his way through the mess of concrete, wiring, piping and broken bodies and he makes short work of the men caught in his trap.
By the time he returns to her, she's sitting on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest, her hands over her ears, her head on her knees and she's rocking back and forth, quietly humming to herself. He touches her on the shoulder causing her to jump and she bites back a scream before it can pass her lips. She looks up at him and he can see even in the dark that she's been crying again. He pulls her to her feet and starts to head out only to be startled when she grabs hold of his arm in a death grip.
Knowing that their time is limited and that they've wasted enough time in the tunnels, he resigns himself to having her hang on to him. He starts walking at a brisk pace only to shortly realize that she's not paying attention to where she's going. He looks down at her and finds that her eyes are squeezed shut. With a puff of frustration he stops, forces her to let go and then picks her up, carrying her back to his home a lot faster than they would have gotten there had she walked.
He sets her down on her feet and she easily takes her own weight as he turns back to the task of opening the first door. She quietly follows him in, lost in her own thoughts, but completely aware of his displeasure in her if the stiffness of his back is anything to go on. She still says nothing when they finally get to the Gallery proper, but instead heads for her room.
"Was the sight of those men really that disturbing?" he asks. "They, after all, deserved their fate."
"Imaginin' what will happen and actually seein' it aren't always the same thang," she points out, stopping, but not bothering to turn around. "Ah helped ya kill them. That makes me a murderer."
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," he muses with a tilt to his head. "They worked for Shire Stables. They are responsible with taking people like you and making them slaves."
"Ah'm not a cold and heartless killer like you are, V," she hisses, glaring over her shoulder at him. "Those men had families who will never see them again and I helped you send them to their deaths. Quotin' Shakespeare at me isn't gonna change that."
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so," he replies.
"This above all: to thine own self be true," she shoots back at him. "The only reason Ah went along with this insane plan is because it's the only way Ah'll ever see the sun again. Don't think for one second Ah approved of any of it. Now if ya'll excuse meh, Ah need to go get ready."
"Yes, of course," he responds with a nod as she starts to walk away. "Georgia Jones' final curtain call will be a quiet affair, but will be the most important performance of all."
"Let's hope the Inspector plays his part as well," she replies, pausing before disappearing down the hallway that leads to her room. "Otherwise, we're stuck with each other for the rest of whatever."
"Perish the thought," he mumbles under his breath after she disappears around the corner.
All quotes are from Hamlet by William Shakespeare.