GoT Writings

Week 3, Day 3: story. scenario based prompt

Arnie Would Be So Proud
It did not take much to complete the look that would get her past the guards.
Her thick glasses, her old-fashioned clothes, and her unidentifiable accent all gave off the impression she was from another place, another time. Perhaps she was a time traveler. She chided herself for drifting into the last movie she saw. Although that would have been helpful in this current game of espionage.
Her disguise was realistic and the security guards were so stupid. She understood their derogatory remarks and slanderous suggestion. She was fluent in most European languages and dialects. She understood them perfectly. Keeping a blank expression on her face had grown easier over time. Long hours in front of a mirror with flash cards, she would give herself 2 seconds to imitate the expression on the card. It was a good thing. She could move from disguise to disguise in seconds.
Margot could have moved faster, the ancient woman who just passed her was far more hunched back than Margot pretended to be. Margot had to remind herself this was not a foot race. She would get where she needed to be in the precise time ordered. As her training infused, she used her approach to do head counts, entrance and exit possibilities, street hazards, street opportunities, distances, and so on. It was a blessing and a curse. She could remember everything with numbers for indefinite amounts of time.
Once in the lab, she would dump the old lady movements and stooped posture. In the meantime she had to play old lady for the idiot guards. The bored ones always took so long to grant her security clearance. They took their time to do everything by the book and to bully the recipient of their attention. She did not have to fake the pained expression on her face – not with the dagger like stings shooting up and down her spine from being partially stooped over for the last six blocks. If the guards thought their digs were getting to her,that was fine.
Margot harrumphed in relief when she was cleared and she was finally able to transverse passed the guards and down the hallway. Let them laugh. Once in the lab, door locked, she shed the disguise and moved with precision speed to locate the formula.
Half way through her grid search, the alarms penetrated her focused search. “Well, everyone has to die sometime.” That’s what Arnie always said. “But not without a fight,” Margot would answer back. Arnie would be so disappointed if she went quietly never to be heard from again. And, as Margot surveilled the multitude of chemicals in front of her, he would be so proud of her being able to think clearly in a life and death situation.
Her hands a blur as she quickly mixed the ingredients together. A quick shove and the metallic cart squeaked and groaned to land with a thump and shiver at the door. Taking shelter under a bulky desk, she waited in forced patience for whatever end the heavens had in store. “Well, aren’t we clever?” Margot pulled the thick brown envelope from the underside of the desk drawer. “Ahhh!” Margot massaged the top of her head that smacked the underside of the metal desk when the explosive went off.
Margot wasted no time. She leapt out of her hiding place and made her way through the billowing smoke. Her eyes teared up, followed by laborious coughing as the chemical stench assaulted her nose and throat. She needn’t have been concerned. As she joined the mob, she added her voice to those coughing, screaming and pushing to get out of the building. She moved rapidly through the flow of people to get close to the front of the stream, making herself heard over the throb of the crowd, “nach rechts abbiegen”. Obediently, the leaders turned right. At the Russischer Hof, Margot’s limp transformed to noticeable and painful. The mob behind her assisted her to the side and dumped her unceremoniously at the doorstep of her hotel, to continue on to the safety that must be where the leaders were going. Once inside, a quick survey of the interior told her that everyone was manning a window to try to gain information and had taken no notice of her. A slow stroll to the stairs, and a sprint up the three levels of stairs and she was at her room before the burnt clothing smell that trailed after her registered in the consciousness of the people in the lobby.
Looking about quickly, she knew instantly that she could not stay for long. Arnie left the backpack in the appointed hiding place. Within minutes, Margot shed another layer of clothing and was ready to sprint across the rooftops to get to her exit contact.
There were five ballet leaps across alleys to get to her contact. With each approach she would repeat her mantra: Arnie, help me. And then her landing mantra: Arnie, you would be so proud.
[word count:839]
and "Game of Thrones"