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“Don’t you worry, Rachel, I’ve got a plan,” Hyde announces with far more confidence than he should have, considering they’re locked in a tiny little jail cell, and the guard left with the key half an hour ago.
Being locked in an enclosed space with Mr. Hyde is as pleasant as it sounds. Rachel’s no stranger to jail, between the hijinks of the lodgers and the activities of her sister in law, but so far Hyde has failed to sit still for longer than twelve seconds– Rachel’s counted. He’s tried almost every avenue of escape so far, including yelling very loudly at random intervals and gnawing on the bars of their enclosure. Rachel’s surprised his teeth haven’t chipped.
Between escape “attempts,” Hyde will pace up and down their shared cell, kick at the ground angrily, or jump on the single cot in the corner of the cell to yell something theatric, or perhaps because he just likes to be up high. Rachel has relegated herself to sitting against the wall so as to avoid being unceremoniously knocked off the bed.
She hums in response to his latest declaration. “And what’s that?”
Hyde again jumps on the cot, so he can more dramatically deliver his news. Her mouth quirks up in a smile. “When the guard comes back, I’m gonna make a break for it. You’ll distract him, of course. If I can just make it to somewhere out of the way enough to transform, then Jekyll can handle it.”
“That’s not a plan! That’s like, the first step of a plan.” Rachel counters with gentle mirth. “You’re making Jekyll do all the hard work. Also, how am I supposed to escape?”
Hyde considers this, tapping his finger against his chin erratically. “You’re fast, you’ll probably be fine,” he finally concludes with a half-shrug.
Rachel sighs. Before she can say anything, her response is prematurely halted by the sound of footsteps approaching.
“Alright, you two,” the guard says as he comes into their sight, “we’re relocating you. You will cooperate, and calmly follow me, one at a time.”
The guard goes to unlock their cell and Rachel figures she better act now.
She groans loud and dramatically. “Oh, please! Get me out of here! This man,” she glances back at Hyde, who shuffles towards the gate, “bit me! I think it might be infected!” Hyde gives her a big thumbs-up from behind the guard’s back to show he approves of her tall tale.
The guard seems a bit offput by her melodrama but steps forward nonetheless. “Well, lemme take a look at it missy, I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
As he reaches for her arm she jerks away. “No! I mean, it’s really, really bad. I can’t even look at it myself, for fear of fainting at the sight of all the blood–” Now that was the biggest lie she ever did tell. Half her days she found herself covered in any variety of animal’s blood, including human on a few memorable occasions.
The guard takes another step closer, and therefore another step away from Hyde. “Ma’am, I do believe you might be experiencing a bit of female hysterics, but you can trust me, it’s okay.”
It’s at this point that Hyde finally acts. He kicks the guard in the shins, causing him to tumble down onto his knees. “Go go go!” Hyde cries as the guard swears and scrambles to stand.
The two waste no more time, sprinting out of the cell and into the halls of the holding facility. They definitely can’t go out the way they came in, as there’s far too many officers running about, so they’re running blind and hoping their random turns will lead to an exit.
The guard’s recovered quickly and is running after them like a bat out of hell. As they turn a corner, Rachel sees a door left ajar. “There!”
“Way ahead of you!” Hyde calls out. The two duck into the small closet. Outside, the guard sprints past their hiding place, assuming the two had continued booking it.
“Rachel,” Hyde says after a beat, “can you make sure I stay quiet?”
She doesn’t have any time to agree before he lurches over and grasps his hair, chartreuse liquid spewing out of his various orifices.
He’s clearly making an effort to muffle his screams, but in the interest of not giving away their very precarious hiding spot, Rachel looks for something to help. She lands on Hyde’s cape, which she unceremoniously shoves against his face.
As Jekyll comes to, he takes the already goop-covered cape and wipes the remnants from his face. Rachel hears him mumble something like “stop complaining, we’ll clean it later,” under his breath.
“Right,” Jekyll says, now unbuttoning said cape and handing it to Rachel, “You take this.”
“Dr. Jay, I know you’re paying me, but do I have to carry this disgusting thing?” Rachel asks playfully.
Jekyll flushes. “Sorry! I’d look too suspicious with it on. Ideally I could swap out the vest, too, but it’ll have to do.” With that he exits their hiding spot just in time for the guard to come back, furious that he’s lost his detainees.
Rachel stays still as a stiff as Jekyll calmly greets the guard. “Oh, hello good sir! Say, could you tell me where Sergeant Brokenshire is? I’m supposed to discuss the options for some of my charges who were taken in today...”
The guard grunts. “Uh, I don’t know. Er–! You haven’t seen two hooligans running around here, have you?”
Jekyll pretends to think. “Hmm, no, nothing like that. Don’t tell me, there’s been an escape?”
“Well, by no fault of the police, we– er, might be dealing with such a thing.”
A gentle shock enters Jekyll’s voice. “Oh dear! That’s dreadful.”
Rachel tries her best to breathe as quietly as possible. She can’t leave until the guard moves. As she listens to Jekyll, it occurs to her how seamlessly he was able to transition from adrenaline-filled panic running to calm false obliviousness. His acting is uncannily perfect, it’s downright scary.
“Well, I mustn’t interfere with you any further then! Please, don’t mind me.” Jekyll continues. The guard nods briefly in acknowledgement and runs past him, back to where Rachel and Hyde had run from.
Jekyll gives it a beat then gestures at Rachel to come towards him. She creeps out of the hiding place and the two start running again. “I really hope he doesn’t mention that I was here to anyone, that will be a bit hard to talk my way out of.”
As luck has it, just beyond their hiding place is the back door, thankfully unguarded. As they spill out onto the London streets they let out a shared sigh of relief.
“Thank god, the hard part’s over.” Jekyll says.
“Yep,” Rachel agrees, panting a little.
They only travel a block or two before Jekyll straightens in the shadows of an alleyway. “Uh, excuse me,” Jekyll then interjects, before he undergoes another transformation. The snapping of bones echoes across the alley’s walls and Rachel frowns.
Hyde stretches his arms above his head, cracking his neck. He opens his eyes one after the other, shining with bright vivacity. “Eheheh! What a daring escape! We’ve gotta do this regularly!”
Rachel shoves his cape back at him, and he eagerly puts it on, ignoring the disgusting science goop staining it. “Y’know, I think I’ve had enough of getting arrested for now,” Rachel says.
Hyde shrugs, fiddling with the cape’s buttons. “Your loss.”
There’s a pause and Rachel’s mind wanders back to their diversion and subsequent escape. “How do you manage to play innocent so well?” Rachel asks.
“Ah, that’s easy,” Hyde says, “it’s the truth. Dr. Jekyll has never committed a crime, so why would he have any reason to act guilty?”
“So basically, compartmentalization.”
“Hey, there’s more to it than that! …Besides, it was you who threatened the police with a knife.” Hyde accuses.
Rachel sputters. “They were trying to take you in! You’re innocent!”
“Yeah,” Hyde says sarcastically, flapping a hand up and down, “except for that one time I set half of London on fire.”
“Well, they really shouldn’t still be after you for that. Hasn’t it been long enough?”
“I know! Look, I had them handled until you stepped in! We could’ve just flanked ‘em, but nooooo, you had to go all crazy butcher lady on them and then I had to make sure you weren’t taken in my stead.”
Huh. That last part almost sounded like genuine care for her wellbeing. “Aww, is that fondness I detect in your voice?” Rachel teases.
Hyde’s cheeks darken. “No!”
“Admit it, you were trying to protect me! Because you care about me~”
“I’ll admit that when I’m dead!”
“So you agree it's true then!”
Hyde sputters. “Wh– I do not!”
Rachel giggles and Hyde takes a playful lunge at her. She dodges, sprinting away, and Hyde runs after her.
Their original scuffle is soon forgotten as Rachel yells out a challenge. “Race ya back to the Society!”
Hyde’s eyes light up with a malicious glow. “Oh, you’re on!”
Hyde immediately scrambles for the rooftops– how predictable. He can prance about on those as much as he wants, but nothing can beat the secret shortcut Rachel’s had memorized after dozens of visits to this part of town to buy sewing supplies and the like.
The two laugh along to their manic heartbeats, enjoying this adrenaline-filled chaotic adventure together.