Chapter Text
Gaius didn't know much about his mark beyond the hastily jotted down hotel number he'd scrawled onto a scrap of note paper before he left. He'd been told it was better to know as little about them as possible; easier to kill that way. Even knowing the reason for their contract could bring up all kinds of unnecessary moral judgements and, yeah, Gaius really didn't want to have to deal with that right now. He just wanted to get in there, get out, get paid.
The "hotel", if your standards were low enough to call it that, wasn't the kind of place he was used to venturing during his less than savoury pursuits. He preferred to case more classy joints; bell boys, tall ceilings, wide curving staircases with red carpets reflected in the glass chandeliers. Nah, the mark had chosen a small leaky hostel with definitely no bell boys (unless the drunk chick who tried to hit on him soon as he took a step inside counted), ceilings that were close to being extremely familiar with the top of his cranium, chipped linoleum floors reflected in the chipped landscape mirror that attempted to brighten up the wall behind the check out's desk. The check out themselves was, fortunately, passed out in their chair with a bottle of straight vodka held precariously to their side. Gaius looked at his watch; 2 AM, with any luck his mark was asleep. Even if they were awake, he imagined a scream or two still would contribute nothing towards waking the unfortunate receptionist.
Slipping a gun he wasn't one hundred percent sure he was comfortable holding yet out of his jacket, he took cautious steps up the low hooded spiral staircase, watching the few room numbers flash passed until he reached his mark's. Their room was at the end of a thin corridor which smelled like axe and cigarettes, with a dusty window at the end of it, which, even had it been clear, you could see looked out on the dull red brick wall of the neighbouring building. Gaius sucked in a breath. Yeah. Call him a snob but he'd become accustomed to the big bucks in his line of work. It just so happened that he needed even bigger bucks if he didn't want to wake up (or rather, not) lying in the river with his throat slit.
Fishing a small stack of lock picks from his chest pocket, he stood in front of the door. Had to mentally prepare himself for the fact that he was about to murder someone in cold blood and all. "Better them than me", he muttered under under under his breath. Easily and quietly picking the lock, he crouched slightly, gripped his gun and smoothly slid into the darkened room -
- at which point he felt something hard and metal connect with the back of his head, and he was out.
***
Gaius woke up in a vaguely familiar situation: handcuffed to a bed, though the bed in question was a lot less comfy and decidedly less clean than he was used to. "I hope you didn't think killing me would be that easy." A voice reverberated around the small, previously deathly silent hotel room.
"What can I say, I'm an optimist." Gaius watched a shadowed figure rise from an armchair near the far wall and walk in his direction. Immediately he noticed their height; they were an absolute shorty. He briefly entertained the idea that he'd been sent to off a child - how the hell did they knock him out through blunt force trauma with that frame? Once slightly more in the light he saw that it had definitely been an adult, not a child, and she was sporting some admittedly decently strong looking biceps. Gaius' head throbbed.
"You know, if you wanted to tie me up you could have just asked." His most earnest smile possible plastered onto his face, he tried his best to work out if there was any way to slip out of the cuffs without breaking every bone in his hands before doing so. His mark was probably scowling, though it was still too dark to tell. He liked to think she was scowling. He just had that effect on people.
"That was the most amateur attempt at an assassination I've ever seen. They must not really want me dead if this," she gestured to all of him, "is the best they've sent." His handcuffer walked to the foot of the bed until she was just close enough for him to make out her features. The first thing he noticed was the sharp focus in her eyes - next were the dark circles that were making camp underneath them. "Hey, so yeah, this is my first time, but any pointers would be appreciated." Gaius might have been a terrible assassin, but a terrible escape artist he was not. Actually he was kind of an expert in break outs, not to mention running away very fast. He just had to hope it was too dark for her to notice his left hand nudging a small length of wire up and over the hem of his right sleeve, and towards the lock of the opposing cuff.
His short captor circled round the foot of the bed and picked up a tightly packed bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "I'd love to teach you to do your job, really I would, but if Validar knows where I am then I'm afraid I can't stay." She headed for the door. "Give the cleaning lady my regards when she finds you in the morning." Her hand was almost on the doorknob when the small length of wire found its mark inside Gaius' left cuff. In the space of only a few seconds, the thief slammed the wire into his remaining cuff, leapt off the bed and crashed full force into his would-be detainer, sending them both flying against the exit with an unceremonious thud.
His target was disoriented, but he was not. From his position above her, legs and bag a tangle, Gaius wrapped his fingers around the young woman's neck and held her firmly against the door as he fumbled around inside her bag for his gun. Her hands grappled at his own, her voice sputtering. "-uo won't-! Find it!" She tried to cough. "It's not there!"
Gaius loosened his grip. "Then where?"
She glanced towards the window, sucking in deep breaths of air. "I...tossed it."
"What? Why?"
Her eyes were back on him again, their manner the very picture of sincerity, and exhaustion. "Because I'm not a killer, either."
He didn't move his hand. This could easily be a trick. She'd have to be a damn good liar, and speaking as a professional teller of fibs and falsities himself, he was very aware of the possibility. Continuing to hold her in place, he patted down her front pockets then jerked her forwards to check the back. All empty aside from a five dollar note, a credit card, and the room key. "Huh."
Gaius held onto the key and finally released his grip on his mark, who immediately braced herself on the hotel room floor, heaving and bringing a hand to her neck. He wasn't really sure where to go from here. Without his gun he could just strangle her again, sure, or any other method of a more physical nature, but he didn't actually fancy himself the strangling type - too much time to think, too much time to chicken out, just generally, not preferable. Once she was done panting, the woman looked at him in the dim light. "So, what?" She glanced at the key. "Are you going to stab me to death with that, or something?" Gaius let out a brief sigh.
"Look, you and I both know I'm not going to kill you, but I can't let you go. I'd be hung, drawn and quartered, and then probably roasted and sent to my parents' house in a box. You know how it goes."
"So we're gonna stay here."
"Uh, no."
"Then, what?"
"I, uh. Um."
"Damn, your astounding ability to formulate plans under pressure has me on the edge of my seat, I'm telling you."
She pushed off from the floor, and gave her bruising neck one final rub before picking her bag back up. "Come with me."
"What?"
"I'm on the run, you're about to be on the run, and I don't really know what I'm doing. Come with me."
"You do realise that allowing your would-be assassin to accompany you is a little, I dunno, naive? Foolish? Downright ridiculous?"
"If you're coming then come. If not, then give me the key and let me leave, because staying in here won't stop Validar from frying both our asses."
He stared at her. She was serious. And also entirely correct. If Validar didn't hear from Gaius by tomorrow morning he would just send someone else, and he doubted there were any more assassins under that man who weren't perfectly capable of carrying out their jobs.
He reluctantly handed over the key. She took it, unlocked the door and walked out. Gaius paused for all of ten seconds before running after her.