Getaway

Ko came up with an idea for us to literally sneak out of this room using the front door. With Bear out there, it would be risky, but I was a bit shocked at how straightforward her plan was. As it turns out, I noticed a massive downside involving the choice of attire I’d be required to wear…

“Do I really have to wear that?”

Ko approached me from the other side of the room, just as she finished tying up and locking the maids in a storage closet. They didn’t put up much of a fight at all, if you could even call immediately throwing your arms up in the air and surrendering ‘a fight.’ She’d stolen both their uniforms and now requested I put the bigger one on.

“Don’t forget. You were trained to walk in a woman’s shoes,” Ko reminded me of some training I'd rather not remember. “So for the sake of our escape, please put this on.

“Are those two even going to be okay?” I asked, trying to delay having to do the inevitable.

“They’ll be fine. I didn’t take everything from them,” Ko explained. “Just the parts we’d need for a disguise.”

At least they still had their dignity. But as for me, I can’t say I’d want to be caught dead wearing something so frilly.

“I did the hard part by getting these,” Ko said, sounding more aggravated. “So work with me.”

“Guhh…” I groaned, accepting my fate. “Fine. I guess I’m comfortable enough in my manhood to do this.”

It would only be temporary, and we just needed it to get past Bear and his band of hairy Men.

Seeing as most of my other features weren’t very feminine, we tossed a white blanket over my head and called that good. The idea was that the brightness of this dress would be what attracted eyes from every other part of me, which was more or less masculine and exposed. Not that I’m a very big guy, but you’d have to be blind to think I was a woman.

As long as Ko took the lead, I could act a little shy to help blend in.

Ko, contrary to me, would probably have an easy time impersonating Seiko. The only real difference between them was that Ko’s hair was a few shades brighter, but in the dim lighting of these hallways that wouldn’t be as obvious.

Once everything was ready, Ko carefully opened the door and stepped out to have a short conversation with Bear.

“We’re going to get the two of them some sleepwear,” she did a decent job copying Seiko’s voice, “so please stand guard here and make sure nothing happens while we're away.”

“Ah…” Bear cooed out, positively. “Guess the drugs are taking effect.”

My body flared like it was struck with a sudden case of heat stroke. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that I was partially responsible for whatever drugs he was referring to. It had to have been the baked goods we stuffed our faces with. Damn it!

“I would say it is working,” Ko played along. “Just so I have it all down, can you explain to me all the side effects again?”

“Sure. You two should be immune, since you’ve been exposed to the antidote…but the gas causes drowsiness, maybe nausea, weak muscles and fatigue. It’s all meant to immobilize them.” he brushed his beard. “Wait, did the boss say laxative or relaxative? I can't remember…”

I thanked God that it wasn’t my fault that we were drugged, nor was it the emotion suppression pill. But if what he said was true, the two of us might be in for one hell of a rough night when those effects kick in.

“You want me in the room?” Bear asked. “Might be good to just have someone watch them while you're gone.”

We had all the keys to the door, and it locked from the outside. Why not get him in there? One less thing to worry about.

“We won’t be gone long. So feel free to stay here.”

Bear shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

I was a little confused. We’d set up a decoy on the couch to make it look like we were sleeping there. It would definitely have fooled him. But then again, if he went in there, it wouldn’t take long for him to discover we were missing. I think she made the right call.

Finally, it was time to put our plan in motion and walk out into the hallway. The maid in white had a particularly fancy way she moved, so I did my best to copy it. High heels were extremely awful to strut in, but I guess the price for fashion was high.

It seemed like nobody was even paying attention to us. Ko made sure to keep a steady few paces ahead of me, and I just kept facing forward. With the active camo cloaks around Bear’s men not turned on, I counted at least ten all through the hallway.

We entered the elevator we’d taken to get up to this floor and set it to take us all the way down to ground level. Once those doors were closed, I changed out of the maid outfit and got back into my guardian uniform.

I could feel Ko’s scornful stare as we progressed down, all because I could have fed us spiked cookies.

How could I not have even considered they might be drugged? Thankfully they weren’t, but looking back on how stupid I was…I just wanted to bang my head against the wall.

“I'm sorry, alright?” I told her. “I was worried about you. So I figured, might as well let you enjoy yourself for a minute.”

“I have a confession to make. I was wary of the food,” Ko admitted. “But, I was enjoying myself, like you wanted, so I let the temptation get the best of me.”

I sinned out of ignorance, and she did it because it was enjoyable. Two very distinct roads that lead to the same destination.

“It doesn't seem as if that was the problem though,” Ko said. “We just need to be more careful in the future.”

That’s about all we could do at this point. What worried me in the present though was how we were going to get out of this building, and if those side effects would ever kick in. So far I felt fine. Ko felt good too. She did get a nice nap though.

Suddenly the elevator stopped dead in its tracks. Ko and I wobbled around as we tried not to topple over.

A light in the corner above the control panel started flashing a red colour. Some static rang out of a small speaker embedded into the wall.

“All personnel,” said a female voice over the intercom. “We have two escapees located in elevator 3 on floor 66.”

“Great.” I huffed. “Guess they know we got out.”

“We delayed it as long as we could,” Ko said. “Let’s get out of this elevator.”

There was a vent access way above our heads. I lifted Ko up and she got that open. We both climbed in. A ladder which was placed in the shaft took us to floor 67, where we hoped nobody would be heading to.

That glass window that overlooked the city was just behind us, and it made me especially nervous. We were pretty vulnerable climbing up the elevator shaft.

A door release button allowed us to get the 67th floor elevator door open, so we got back into the building and checked our surroundings.

“How do we know if one of his guys is in front of us?” I asked.

“The invisibility isn't perfect,” Ko clarified. “If you see any distortions in the air, that's one of them.”

It was like watching out for ghosts. They could go anywhere, unseen to the naked eye. One wrong turn and we'd be in their grasp. Worst of all, they were actively hunting us down.

“Attention escapees have made their way to floor 67!” Called out the lady on the intercom.

They were tracking us pretty well. It meant we’d have to keep on our toes if we didn’t want to get caught.

There was a suspicious motion in the air, like a weak distortion in reality just next to me.

A blade just barely brushed past my head! I dodged, side stepping to get some distance.

Combat with an invisible man was going to be tough, but I had to make it work. He was using a knife, so I took on a stance that would keep my heart furthest away from his blade.

He swung the knife again, nearly missing my arm. I caught his hand and tried to disarm him, but he was way too strong for me to get advantage over.

Ko came in and jumped into the air, landing right on his straightened out arm, forcing it to collapse from her weight.

“Ahh!” he screamed as a sharp snapping sound crackled from his broken bones.

“Let’s run!” Ko said, bolting down the hall, me close behind her.

***

We had to go up a floor, since the one below was swarming with Bear’s men. The intercoms were even more proactive at announcing our position to them. But then something odd happened…

A sparking sound hit the speakers, then we heard a new, yet still female voice give an announcement.

“All personnel!” a muffled voice spoke. “Uh…the…uh…”

“What the heck is this?” I raised a brow, stopping to listen in.

“The Escapees have escaped! I repeat, they have escaped! They are currently working their way through a maintenance tunnel underground. Go through the basement to get there.”

A few of Bear’s men were running down the hall, so we dove to cover.

“You hear that?” One said.

“Yeah, sounds like they’re going through the tunnels.”

“Summi sounded weird though. Let’s find Bear and see what he thinks.”

The intelligence of these guys wasn’t very high, but at least a few of them might get confused and buy us some time. Whoever gave out that order, they might have been on our side.

My legs were starting to feel a bit weak. I don’t know if it was the drug or the constant running around, but it was getting rough to keep running around. I took a few seconds to pause and catch my breath.

“Kitsune, behind you!” Ko announced, seeing a distortion ready to grab me.

I hastily turned and shoved the invisible body forward, crashing it into the wall by the neck. It was much weaker than I was expecting, causing me to put a lot of force into my charge.

“Gaahh… Ahh…” a feminine voice cried. Definitely not the grizzled tone I was expecting. “Stop… It's me!”