(no subject)
The ditch offered little protection from either the elements or the people chasing her, but little was better than none. She grit her teeth and tried to will herself small, curling in against the mud and clutching the jump device to her chest.
Silence.
Near silence, anyway. Concentrating, eyes squeezed shut, she heard a few birds a short distance away. No humans, though.
She stayed where she was for a moment, forcing herself to breathe slowly and calm down. Then, still clutching the jump device with one hand, she turned to peer over the edge of the ditch facing the road.
Empty. She grinned.
"Safe," she murmured, and ducked back down to study the jump device. "Now. Why aren't you working...?"
The rain probably didn't help. The little box was sealed and watertight, but still slippy when wet; the buttons and dials refused to cooperate. Not that there was any hope of it cooperating in the first place, what with the whole lack of power issue.
She'd assumed it would be fully charged when she'd picked it up from the lab. What kind of crazy supervillain didn't keep his experimental time-travelling devices fully-charged? And with a team of minions just metres down the corridor, there hadn't been time to raid the supply closet for an extra power pack or two. It had been now or never for a jump; she'd picked now.
Most of the minions had jumped with her, an effect she hadn't predicted. Apparently, the device worked for a radius of at least five metres. She'd lost them in the streets of the town she'd landed in, small enough to duck past people the older men and women had to push aside, but she knew they'd head back there to wait for her. Where else did she have to go, after all? She was-- hell, she didn't know which century she was in. She only knew she was still in Europe from the snatches of French she'd caught during her escape, but that left several countries to choose from.
Time to pick a direction and keep walking, she supposed. She'd come across another town eventually. Hopefully one that was minion-free.
People of all sorts crowded the main street of the market town she'd found. Bad sign, she thought. Might be minions in the crowd and she wouldn't even know. But no one had confronted her yet, at least, and she hadn't noticed anyone conversing in English.
...another bad sign. The only French she knew was bonjour, and she was pretty sure she pronounced it horribly.
The jump device was hidden in an inside pocket of her jacket; she resisted the urge to check on it. Never mind minions; pick-pocketers were undoubtedly everywhere. Unlike any handy source of electricity. No power packs, no generators, not even a double-A. How was she supposed to get this thing working again.
Potato and some water, she thought with a wry smile.
Someone stopped in front of her and she froze, instantly calculating the quickest way to take the jabbering threat down without drawing too much attention to herself. It took her a few seconds to realise the boy wasn't threatening her at all; he was firing off questions in rapid French and holding out various items of clothing. What, did he think she needed a new wardrobe? She glanced down at herself. Okay, her jacket and jeans were a little out of place...
"Sorry," she said, looking up again. She offered an apologetic smile. "I don't..." Oh, what was it? "Je ne..." Ugh, something that started like that.
"English!" The boy grinned and didn't move away. "Yes, I speak English. Very cheap, mademoiselle, you need clothes, I have them, very cheap."
She stared. Way to not draw attention to herself. "No," she said firmly as she tried to push past. "I'm fine."
"Food?" The boy moved aside to let her walk on, but followed her, close enough to stop her any time if he wanted to. She noted that idly. "I have food, too."
"I have no money," she insisted, staring resolutely at the path ahead. "Can't pay."
"Other ways to pay," he replied, and though she still didn't look, she could hear his expression in his voice.
She rolled her eyes. Screw not drawing attention to herself.
She stopped sharply, lifting up her foot and bringing down her boot on his flimsy shoe as he stepped forward. At the same time, she shoved her elbow backwards at just the right height and the small solid patch in her jacket's lining connected with the boy.
She walked on again, sans follower, and smiled smugly to herself as market-goers stared. It would probably be mere minutes before the minions caught up to her -- but hey, they were probably the only source of electricity in this whole damn century. She'd make this work somehow.