Chapter Nine:
The Escape

	Rocket worked as quietly as he could in the dimly lit room. Kneeling on the floor with his fatigue shirt laid out so he could put all the pieces of the recording device down on it. Each piece showed up so easily against the bright orange and was almost impossible to lose. He'd had plenty of time to think about what he was going to do to convert the recorder into a flash grenade. Lying next to Silas and listening to her breathing evenly, had calmed his mind. It always seemed to work better when he was calm To him it was like floating on his back is a calm swimming pool, he breathed in, hearing his own inhale echoed in his ears, then bam, it had hit him all at once.
	Slipping out of the bed was no easy task. Silas had quite a strong grip for such a little girl. Her arm had stayed firmly wrapped across his chest for most of the night. But now that Rocket had an idea for the conversion, he had to run with it before he forgot.
	The other problem that presented itself early on in the process, was that he didn't have any of the proper tools he needed to work with. There was a work around though. The answer had come at the hands of the lazy guards that attended the solitary cells. He'd taken a plastic knife, and a plastic fork from the dinner trays. Rocket was sure the guards were suppose to check if  all the utensils from the trays were accounted for, but these guards didn't seemed to care much.
	Thankfully it wouldn't take Rocket long to make the conversion. The only reason his progress was slowed at all was because they had dimmed the lights. Fortunately his night vision was above par. A few more moments was all that it would take and then they could escape this place.
	At first Rocket had thought early morning to be a good time to make a run for it, but now it seemed that night time might be the right time. With that he slid the back plate closed on the device. It was finished and they were one step closer to freedom. When he turned around he was startled to see Silas sitting up in the bed watching him. She looked as if she'd been a wake for awhile, but had just not said anything.
	“Hello there sleepy head.” He whispered softly and gave her a toothy smile.
	Silas didn't say anything at first her eyes were finding his in the dark. “I love watching you work. You're so intense about it, passionate for the end product, it's almost scary but beautiful in a way.”
	“Well it's my philosophy that if you're going to do something, you should put all your heart into it, because if you fail, you might not get a second chance. I guess that only works if you're a mercenary, or soldier dealing with weapons of mass destruction.” Rocket moved up to sit next to her on the cot.
	“That's actually pretty deep Rocket, keep talking like that and I might think you're a poet in disguise.” Silas teased him.
	“You start thinking I'm a poet, and we can't be friends anymore.” Rocket laughed quietly, then his face grew serious. “Silas, It's time.”
	“Now, like right now?” Silas asked as if she hadn't heard him right, her heart already starting to race.
	“Yeah, I figure since there are so few guards in the daytime, there might even be fewer at night. Now would be the perfect time to escape.” Rocket nodded slowly and touched her shoulder.
	“I don't know if I can do it right now. I need more time to deal with this...to deal with the idea of losing you.” Silas gripped his hand tightly pulling it tighter to her shoulder.
	“Lose me? You're not going to lose me unless things go really badly. That's one of the main reasons I wanted to go at night. There will be less of a chance of anything going wrong and if something does go wrong there is a larger margin of error. The plan is simple, we knock out the guards down here. You become one of them, we take their stuff. You lead me through the halls. If anyone asks where we're going, you can tell them you're taking me to the infirmary.” Rocket explained while Silas nodded along, her eyes reflected the involuntary resistance growing in her.
	“If they ask. Why am I taking you to the infirmary?” Silas asked, doing her best to work through all the things that could possibly go wrong, but only finding fault in everything.
	“Tell them I'm pissing blood or something, just make it up as you go. It won't be much of a problem once we make it to that map, we'll have a better course of action after that point.” Rocket caressed her cheek. “All I know is that now is the time, I can feel it in my gut. We have to do this.”
	“Alright Rocket, I'm trusting you to lead me through this.” Silas stood up and pulled her pants on, holding them up.
	“All you have to do is follow my lead. When I push this button, I'll say “eat it!”  Then you count to three and cover your face, but count quietly or the guard will get suspicious. Now get your game face on, and lets get this show on the road.” Rocket pulled his fatigue top on and stood up from the bed.
	Once Silas was back to her masculine form it was time to begin. “Alright, when the guards get in here it may be important to throw a few punches. Please, just do fake punches, if you need to hit me to make it look authentic, then do so, just don't hit me too hard . It'll be twice as hard to escape if I'm unconscious.” Rocket smirked, while leaning close to Silas.
	“Get your goddamned hands off me, you slimy snake bastard!” Rocket yelled at the top of his voice.
	“Shut your furry mouth! It was my night to sleep on the cot so get the hell off!” Silas's voice boomed loudly.
	Rocket was impressed by her improve skills, despite the fact that he, himself was feeling a bit silly with all of  this mock fighting. “I'm top dog bitch, I will smack you down.”
	There was a dull thumping against the door. “Quiet down in there the both of you! It's lights out don't make me come in there!” The guards voice as nothing more than a mumble from the other side of the door.
	“Good, you can help me clean this pansy's blood off the floor when you get in here.” Rocket shrugged as if he were struggling to make it up on the spot.
	“Figures you'd need help taking me down, Raccoon.” Silas hollered, just then they heard the locks on the door being unbolted.
	Both of them slid further into the cell, knowing that they were going to have to draw both of the guards in. The door popped open and in stepped two guards. Neither of the guards seemed familiar, which was another stroke of good luck. They were both wielding their stun batons when they walked into the cell. They looked like they meant business, but so did the Quazi and raccoon. Both sides stood their facing each other, much like an old western showdown. Who was going to twitch first? And the winner is; Rocket threw himself at Silas in a fake grapple, and held the recorder out.
	“Eat it!” Rocket pushed the button and closed his eyes counting.
	One...two...three... Nothing happened, the flash grenade didn't work. “Shit!” Rocket said angrily and  there was no plan B.
	Silas was aware that the flash grenade hadn't gone off and without missing a beat he was already on offensive. One large hand gripped the stun baton of the closest guard, jerking to the side bringing the guard closer for a heavy knee to the stomach. The guard coughed hard and flailed back, losing his balance while he fought to breath. Silas turned on his heels, now wielding a stun baton as well. Rocket had his arms wrapped around the other guard's neck squeezing tightly. When the the guard reached back to touch him with the baton, Rocket would slap it away, much the same a cat batting at a teaser toy. His other hand was clawing frantically at the guard's face, not really wanting to blind him, but more wanting to distract him from touching Silas with his stun baton.
	“Touch him with it!” Rocket groaned and wrestled to keep his grip.
	“But...” Silas argued.
	“Do it!” Rocket shouted frantically, as he was starting to lose his grip on the the guard.
	Silas touched the tip of the baton against the guard and sent a jolt through him. The current traveled through his body shocking Rocket as well. The shock was so strong it caused him to let go of the guard and drop to the ground. That was the opening Silas was waiting for. This time he'd held the baton on the guard for longer sending several shock waves through him. All at one the guard collapse in a heap of his own fluids.
	The other guard was struggling to get on his feet, when Rocket ran at him. He threw his small body into the air, curling into a tiny furry cannon ball. The hit to the guard's face was solid, but carry through was what caused the most damage. The guard's head snapped back hitting the concrete wall. The guard was stunned while he was fighting to hold on to his consciousness. Rocket was certain that the guard was seeing stars or birds before he passed out. Silas turned around and looked at Rocket, who was triumphantly brushing himself off.
	“I've never been so scared in my life.” Silas gasped out, leaning over to collect himself.
	“Yeah judging by the condition of that guy's shorts over there, neither has he.” Rocket said casually as he rolled his head around, trying to collect himself.
	“Yeah, poor thing. Let's take that guys clothes please.” Silas pointed at the guard Rocket was standing next too.
	“I thought you might what his clothes.” Rocket breathed out slowly and started undoing the guard's clothes. “Man though, that was fun, nice improvising.”
	“Yeah you too, but what the hell happened to the flash grenade?” Silas hissed as he walked over to the door looking around.
	“Well funny thing about this model of recorder I just figured out. If you take it apart, the battery discharges it's energy to prevent electric shock. Thanks to you stunning the guard I had grappled, it recharged the flash grenade. Now we can use it later if we have to.” Rocket said tossing the guards shirt to Silas.
	Silas turned and looked at the guard for a long moment and flexed all of his muscles really hard. His body shifted and changed to match that of the guard. Quickly he pulled his fatigue top off throwing it to the back of the cell, before quickly putting on the other shirt zipping it up.
	“You're very calm and optimistic after everything that happened.” Silas was sounding a bit frantic, his voice matching the cop as best as he could.
	“Most of the time; my plans don't always go according to plan, that is how I got so good at improvising.” Rocket smirked with a toothy grin.
	“Well at least this escapes can't get anymore exciting.” Silas did his best to calm down.
	“Sure it can, just wait and see.” It was obvious Rocket was teasing him, no doubt high on adrenaline, but Silas was certainly not having fun.
	Rocket worked to get the rest of the guard's clothes off and over to Silas. Rocket moved around the other downed guard slowly, not wanting his bare feet to come in contact with any refuse the guy expelled.. He took his pepper spray, cuffs, and a set of key cards. Rocket would have taken the stun baton, if it hadn't landed in a puddle of questionable filth. When he turned back towards Silas, he was stepping down into his boots before pulling them tight. The last piece he had to get ready was his belt, he pulled it on and clipped it in the front. It was amazing just how much Silas looked like the guard.
	Rocket slipped all the things he'd confiscated from the other guard into his pockets, except for the cuffs. “Alright on our way out of here, don't forget to grab the rifle.”
	Silas gave a sharp nod and stepped into the room, pushing the door closed behind them. The unmistakable sound of the lock grinding home, let them know that it was too late to turn back now. Rocket was already putting the cuffs around his wrists, opting to leave his hands in front of him. He tightened the cuffs just enough so they looked flush against his wrists, but left enough room to pull his hands free at any time if he needed to. Silas grabbed the rifle next to the door and looked at Rocket. They shared a long glance and nodded. It was time for them to make their escape. Rocket reached up and turned the pulse rifle on.
	“Let' do it.” Rocket turned and opened the door.
	They both started up the stairs, Rocket in front Silas close behind. It was easier to make it back to the mess halls than either of them could have predicted. Rocket scanned over the map layout trying to make heads or tails of it. Silas kept an eye out for anyone coming. Rocket may have been right, there were no guards around. It was almost creepy. Hopefully things would continue to be this easy.
	“There it is, the evidence locker is located just past Cell Block G. Lucky for us, the garage is just past that. Now the bad thing is, we have to go through Cell Block B, which we're in, to get to the main hub. From there we just walk away from the visitor center, here.” Rocket pointed at the room marked 'Visitor' and slowly traced along the path they were going to take. “ Then we take a right at the end of the hall. I dunno how many guards we will run into, but we might be able to slip past them without any trouble. If needs be, once we get to the main hub we can make a run for it, just dealing with the guards we come to.” Rocket took a step back and sighed inwardly. “This is going to work.”
	“Alright lets go.” Silas said aiming the rifle in his direction and pair started walking.
	The hall before them was long and led past the cell they first started out in. Then there was a guard at the end of the hall. It was just what they were concerned about. The guard was standing next to the door that lead out into the main hub. Silas felt his heart starting to race and her knees starting to vibrate. Rocket slowed his pace, doing the best to talk quietly out of the corner of his mouth.
	“Stay calm, if the guy asked. Tell him a cell block transfer from Solitary to Cell Block G. Tell them I'm not in the file. It should clear.” Silas cleared his throat and touched Rocket's back, letting him know that he was heard.
	The guard at the end of the hall yawned and straightened up. “Hold! Brax, what the hell are you doing up here at this hour?”
	Silas rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat again. “Sorry, I gotta prisoner transfer from solitary to Cell Block G.”
	“Damn! Awfully late in the day for that crap, doncha think?” The guard picked up a small device and opened it up, his face was cast with a pale white light.
	“Just between you and me, the lazy bums that were stationed in solitary before me were suppose to take care of it, but they didn't and as you know shit rolls down hill.” Silas was playing it up very well Rocket thought.
	“What's the prisoner's name?” The guard skimmed down the lists.
	“Rocket Raccoon, he's not on file. We're just holding him until a bounty hunter comes and gets him.” Silas was starting to get nervous again.
	“Oh yeah, I heard he was here. They wanted to keep him in solitary until the bounty hunter came back. Well it's not my job to ask questions. I get paid to stand here. Since the guards haven't been updated their damn paperwork from solitary, I'm not going to delve in too deeply on this one. On your way and if anyone asks you didn't see me and I didn't see you.” The guard leaned back against the wall pulling his hat down over his eyes.
	Silas was studded at how haphazard this prison was run. Never look a gift horse in the mouth he though as they slid the cell block door open and stepped into the main hub. Much to their surprise there were quite a few more guards in this part of the prison. There were also two night time secretaries that would no doubt end up being more trouble that they were worth. Rocket angled away and decided that keeping as low of a profile as they could was the best course of action.
	“Eyes straight and keep walking. Don't shrink and try to hide. Let's go.” Rocket whispered softly.
	“Hey Brax! We still on for poker this weekend?” One of the guard's shouted from across the room.
	Silas winced and sighed heavily. “Of course, wouldn't miss it.” He responded trying to sound jovial about it.
	“That's right buddy, I need you to help me make a speeder payment this month.” The random guard cackled like some drunk at the bar.
	“Yeah, we'll see about that, buddy.” Silas forced a laugh and gave Rocket a mock shove.
	Rocket started increasing his speed the closer they got to Cell Block G. Silas took the raccoon's lead and was moving faster as well. There it was in sight, the door leading to G. Rocket thought to himself. His guts were pushing into his throat from anxiety. His fingertips were tingling. So close! They were so close that they could almost taste it. Just then the door opened to G opened and through it stepped Leo, the guard from the mess hall the other day. Rocket and he locked gazes and Silas knew the jig was up.
	“What the fuck are you doing out of your cell?” Leo yelled drawing his stun baton.
	The facade was over, which was good Rocket thought, because it was payback time. “Oh yeah that's right, we're on three aren't we?” Rocket stated throwing his hands out and the cuffs flew off hitting Leo in the face.
	Everything slowed down around them. Silas jerked around towards where the other guards had been standing. He lifted the pulse rifle, he counted four guards on the move towards them. The two secretaries were ducking under their desks. Where was it? Silas thought waiting for the inevitable. The once florescent lights dimmed and turned red as the silent air was ruptured by a loud blaring sound. Emergency lock down was under way. Their time to escape was growing shorter.
	Rocket launched himself at Leo, punching the soft muscle on the inside of Leo's arm as hard as he could. The force of the strike cause Leo to fumble his baton. Rocket seized the opportunity and wrenched the baton away from Leo, preceding to beat him down with the baton. As Silas stepped around Rocket, he reached his free hand out retrieving her stun baton as well. Laying down a drum effect on Leo. Silas aimed and fired the rifle clumsily at the approaching guards. With only twelve shots in the clip, he did his best to pick his shots. He managed to knock out two of them but the other two were close behind. Rocket finally smashed one of the batons over Leo's head sending out a shower of sparks. Leo collapsed on the ground unconscious. Silas was already on the move towards the door to G. Three more shots left, he though frantically, everything was still moving impossibly slow.
	“Come on we gotta go!” Silas said firing two of his last three shots at the still approaching guards.
	Thankfully their progress had been slowed by their path of moving from cover to cover. Just then the other cell doors opened and more guards starting piling into the room. The door to G open and Rocket was already on it. A guard stepped through and he jabbed the stun baton into the side of the guard. It only took one long pulse before he dropped his Pulse Rifle. Silas grabbed the guard by his uniform and threw him into the main hub. Rocket picked up the Pulse rifle and the pair of them stepped through the door, pulling it closed.
	They stood in an empty hallway relieved that they were in the home stretch. Silas went first while Rocket guarded the rear. The guards were already prying the door open and they were out of time. Silas turned and looked at Rocket stopped running. He shook his head slowly and looked into her eyes. His mind had told him that the guards were going to come through the door. They would know that Silas in her guard form helped him escape. If that happened there would be no way for her to find refuge. This was the only way.
	“Alright we dealt with this, you need to go. When you get to the evidence room, take another shape and act like you're knocked out. Once the commotion dies down out here, get my stuff and leave.” Rocket pulled the set of keys out of his pocket and handed to him. “These are the keys to the garage, I'm sure one of them belongs to a speeder. I will meet you at Two Tone Bar, I think it's on Rylex, or Rexal, or something like that.” Rocket's voice was strained and he was gripping Silas' arm firmly.
	“I don't want too go!” Silas said her form melting a bit from stress and emotion.
	“I know you don't, but they will find you and they will kill you! I can't lose you too. Go now! I'll be fine. I'll always be fine. I'll meet you at Two Tone, now go! Go!” Rocket looked back at the door they'd come through, he could hear them banging against the door and pulling on it hard.
	“I will, I love you Rocket!” Silas whispered softly, using her real voice.
	For an instant Rocket thought he hear Alicia once again in her inflection, but when he turned to look at her, it was Silas's her green eyes that were looking back, they were filled with tears threatening to overflow. “I know.” Rocket whispered and started running back towards the door.
	Silas felt something in her hand, when she looked down she saw the flash grenade in her hand. Rocket gave it to her to ensure her escape. Silas was gone, on her way now. When Rocket looked back she wasn't there, just as he hoped.
	At that moment the door burst open and guards were piling in. Rocket wasn't about to let this spoil his fun though. Rocket reached into his pocket pulling out the can of pepper spray he'd taken from the guard earlier and lobbed it down the hall. The moment it was above the guards, he snatched up the rifle and fired on bolt. The bolt hit the target causing it to erupt and rain down it burning goodness upon the guards. Lucky for Rocket that the bolts in the stun rifle still generated heat or that might not have worked out so well.
	As the guards fumbled around trying to figure out what happened. Rocket let the pulse rifle come alive in his hands. It didn't take much to stun the guards. One bolt each, and there were only twelve bolts in the clip, that should be enough to buy him some time. At that moment he felt something in his stomach wrench, his ears twitched back. There was foot fall behind him as he jerked around to confront it, it was too late, his reward was the butt of hand blaster. He flailed and dropped the rifle on the floor. One hand coming up to grab the side of his head. His vision went blurry. He felt as if he were swimming and struggling to keep his footing. He lost of course and toppled down, rolling onto his back. He looked up through his watering eyes, it was Officer Lax. He was rubbing his eyes furiously. Then there was Officer Biggs, who was aiming her blaster at Rocket's face.
	“That goddamned lizard woman blinded me, did she get away?” Officer Lax grumbled and turned his unseeing eyes to Officer Biggs.
	“Unknown sir, our main concern is the Raccoon. We'll find out who the woman is later.” Officer Biggs stated as she knelt down to get closer to Rocket.
	It was apparently that Rocket wasn't going to make any attempt to move from where he was laying. He didn't have anywhere he could go anyway, not with the two officers over him, and the pile of guards in the doorway. It was over it didn't take a genius to know that.
	“Let's take him to the precinct for questioning Lax. He might be able to help us find that strange woman.” Officer Biggs stated, reaching down to check Rocket's pulse.
	“Sounds good. Let's radio it in and take him down town.” Officer Lax was still rubbing his eyes.
	Rocket smiled softly as they spoke. He'd lived up to his promise, Silas was free she was safe. Now all he had to do was think of a way to free himself. But first a short nap was in order, his head was killing him.