'The Action Hero's Handbook IV.V- How to Win a Fight When You're Outnumbered'

//SURVIVING THE FIGHT Step 1: Never allow yourself to be surrounded.//

Illya danced about the edge of the knot of THRUSH minions nervously. Seven to one wasn't great odds. He'd been in worse, but this was a particularly big looking seven, and he didn't know where Napoleon was.

Napoleon. He sighed heavily, taking another sidestep as one of the thugs swung at him. Napoleon could be anywhere. He could be trying to contact Illya, but those goons had already broken his communicator. And his reading glasses.

Well, never again would he assume that the public library would be the safer end of the mission.

//Step 2: Keep your opponents lined up.//

Well, the important thing was to take on one of them at a time, Illya reasoned. He tried to keep the first thug between the other six and himself, a human shield against a second attacker. Sometimes it worked out that way.

Then again, he shook his head, clearing away the dizziness that resulted from an unexpected blow, sometimes it didn't.

//Step 3: Never settle into one spot, and never allow your opponents to get settled.//

He bobbed and weaved around the chairs and table, mostly keeping out of range. He had to duck one thrown book.

Movement was crucial, but he didn't venture into the stacks. Once he was between shelves, it would be easy to topple them over onto him. But maybe THRUSH was dumb enough. Goodness knows they had been in the past.

//Step 4: If you must fight, strike fast and hard and move away quickly.//

Illya leapt up onto one table, landing a stunning kick to one of the seven's jaw. From there, he vaulted over his opponent and onto the ground, flooring yet another THRUSH minion with a sweep. Then he bounded back, putting another table between himself and the others.

He knew the rules of fighting multiple enemies on your own, and improvisational weapons were one of them, but he couldn't bring himself to chuck one of the heavy books at them. It was a *library* book, at that.

However, he had absolutely no qualms with breaking a library chair over an enemy's back.

//Step 5: Identify your method of escape early on in the fight, and use it when the time is right.//

There was no feasible way to get back to the exit-- any exit, for that matter. He would have to go through the goons.

Next time, Illya decided, he would stick research that could be done on the ground floor. That, and he would take his gun to the library.

A window... the windows were high up, but he was certain he could get to one with a little work. He had only to scale these shelves and make a jump for the ledge...

Illya fervently hoped that Napoleon was doing better than he was.

//Step 6: Create a sizable distraction and use *time framing* to make your escape.//

The bookshelf did not hold up to being scaled. In fact, it toppled over, allowing Illya just enough time to leap ship.

It also caused a large, loud domino effect throughout the library's second story, and the thugs scattered. Taking the opportunity as it came, Illya ran through the gap they gave him, making for the door like there was no tomorrow.

He often did things like there was no tomorrow in this line of work, but he never thought leaving a library would be one of them...

Outside, there was a car waiting. It was a small convertible, with Napoleon at the wheel. Illya hopped in without being told.

"Floor it, lyubovnik." He nodded, buckling his safety belt. "Seven of them, and I'm unarmed."

"Remiss of you."

"I was at the library!" He scowled. "I do not normally carry a gun to the library."

"You carry a gun *grocery shopping*." Napoleon sighed.

"Libraries are different." Illya shrugged.

"Apparently not."

He turned to look out the window, working his way into a sulk.

"Look, you obviously had a bad time of it." Napoleon began, trying to reason with his partner.

"No, really?"

"I, on the other hand, managed to complete our objective."

"I'm *so* happy for you."

"And if you would hold a quick little sarcasm cease-fire, you would realize that the completion of our objection equals a long weekend." Napoleon grinned.

Illya softened. "Keep driving, Napoleon. In case we have not lost them, we should go someplace unexpected."

"Way ahead of you, Illya mine." He winked. "Your bag's in the back, and I phoned the hotel."

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