XX - It's Just Show Biz

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"Shit." Daniel groaned, rolling over. Her head hurt like hell but all she could focus on was the thrumming in her ears. 

"Daniel? Are you alright?" Who was that? Was it Lucy? It had to be Lucy, she was the only one who actually called her Daniel. 

"Mhmm. Should be." The brunette's hand came to rub at her face, coating itself in dirt and soot in the process. "Everyone else okay?" Daniel pushed herself into an upright position, rolling her shoulders out with a slight wince. 

"Dani." Lockwood sounded out of breath. Her head immediately snapped in the direction of the voice to find Lockwood propped up just beside her. His hand was laced with her own and she hadn't even noticed. 

"Locks?" 

Lockwood coughed in response as Lucy scuttled over to the pair. "Lucy." Anthony breathed out.

"Oi, where's his slap?" George complained. Daniel scooted herself back, pressing her shoulders into the wall beside Lockwood and leaning her head down to rest against his shoulder. 

"I deserve one." Lockwood admit as he looked down at where Daniel's eyes had fluttered back shut. "I've been an idiot. I should never have brought us here." He grunted as he tried to move, pulling a photo out of his pocket and unfolding it. "I should have listened to Dani. There." He pointed to one of the men in the picture with his thumb. "I can't believe I missed it. Fairfax wasn't just into casinos. He was the most connected man in Soho before he moved into iron."

"Fairfax knew Annabel?" George asked, he had come up just beside Lucy and was looking down at where the two stood beside one another in the photograph. 

"He didn't just know her. I think he was with her. He gave her the ring. He must have done." Daniel looked up at Lockwood with a frown on her face, he sounded so tired. "And that weird hallmark, that means there's gonna be a record of him commissioning it."

"Wait, so. . .he killed her?" Lucy asked, it didn't make much sense. They all thought it was Hugo Blake. Well, the three of them did, Daniel knew better than to just assume all the pieces lined up perfectly for them.  

"And the ring's proof." Lockwood gave a shallow nod. "I think he brought us here for the house to kill us. It wouldn't have even been suspicious, just four more agents dying on the job." 

"Come on, let's get out of here." Lucy grabbed onto Lockwood's arm, the one Daniel wasn't clinging onto already, and started to pull at him to stand up. "Leave before they realize we're even still alive." She grunted as Lockwood winced, pulling up both him and the girl on his side. 

"Well, if we go out via the Red Room, we won't be." George breathed through his words. 

"Oh! Look, there's light! Maybe we can get out up there." Lucy pointed up the wall, the blue hues of the morning air peeking through a few cracks in the bricks. 

Lockwood ended up climbing up first, using his rapier to push the cracking bricks in before climbing through the hole to find themselves still in Combe Carey, Daniel was next, then Lucy, then George. Why they sent the two most injured up first baffled Daniel, but she wasn't complaining when Lockwood pulled her through and held her against his chest. Once George came up and got himself on the ground, Lockwood pulled both himself and Daniel to their feet as they started to cough, the mixture of old home dust and smoke from the flare finally catching up to their lungs. "Go." Lockwood ordered, ushering them into the area that Fairfax had left them in hours prior. "Run-" Lucy stopped in her tracks, ignoring Lockwood's demand. On the other side of the room stood Ellie, Fairfax's assistant, with a rapier in hand angled at the agents. And then a gunshot whirred through the air and smacked just between Lockwood and Daniel. She flinched away from the sound, the metal piece hardly missing her. 

[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OCWhere stories live. Discover now