END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

iii-ish, but really just a wildcard

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ Bastion and Gwen stop between 113 and 114, and the omnic approaches 114. Bastion has no idea why Ava's using her bleeding fingers to draw patterns on the wall, although they can guess that the explanation involves magic; that usually is the answer when blood and odd behaviour coincide. They grab hold of the bars with their manipulator arm, brace their feet in front, and put everything they've got into twisting them aside. Their self-monitoring system lodges its protests as several already-stressed actuators are driven further into the red. ]

[decohere]

[she's aware that Darcy has gotten out though not how, and can overhear the conversation with Skulduggery nearby. but choosing not to interrupt the pep talk as they discuss tactics and being careful. it brings both a renewed sense of hope, and anxiousness. she believes in Darcy's ability to take advantage of the opportunity to strike at Malin, especially with Siffleur and an army of little Victors on the loose too.

she wipes her bloodied fingertips off on her prison uniform, giving up on the failed sigils with a sigh of relief, hoping this means they don't have to go do anything risky like risking Maximilien's life just for a chance to fight... that she doesn't have to keep trying to come up with any desperate solution while uselessly trapped within this cell. she grasps at Peter's hand, squeezing tightly.

not expecting Bastion, her eyes widen as it comes to a stop in front of their cell. yet another managed to break free, a tank of an Omnic. that certainly increases the odds of success. and she's about to speak out in support when...]

Hey, hey... careful, don't hurt yourself. [the sound of bending metal and strained machinery isn't a pleasant sound to the ears, usually, but... her heart rushes with the anticipation of freedom.]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ With the data points they've gained from cells 130 and 121, they predict that if they continuously applied as much force as they can exert without straining their motors, the bars would bend enough to allow egress after several days. That's too much time for Malin to trade away their friends or catch them in the process, especially multiplied by the number of cells here. There's already prisoners unaccounted for. ]

// I can repair myself when we restore our powers.

[ They reduce their pace a marginal amount, even so. Slowly the gap between the bars widens until it's enough for either of the Starrs to wriggle through. They're holding their manipulator arm awkwardly when they let go and step out of the way, and the humans - particularly Gwen, who's been right by their side - might notice that they're giving off more noise and heat up close than they were beforehand. ]

[be_seeing_you]

[Number 6 has been watching Ava finger paint grudgingly from a corner of the cell. He doesn't enjoy witnessing his beloved wife use her own blood this way, but the alternative would be watching her feel even more helpless. Thank goodness Bastion has stepped in to offer them another option. At great risk it seems.]

We will not forget this, Bastion. Thank you.

[He squeezes Ava's hand, smiles for her, and then moves to be the first to squeeze through the bars. Instinct drives him to check for dangers before she tries. He actually manages to do this with some grace, because this is not the first time he's had to maneuver through a tight squeeze. It may even be a good thing he hasn't fully recovered the weight he lost in The Village.]

All right. I'm through. Ava?

[decohere]

[she rather exhaust all the stupid humiliating failures than try nothing at all, but she's glad for somebody actually capable of brute forcing them out.

she's not far behind Peter, and it's even less of a squeeze for her through the bars with her much smaller frame, though her foot slightly catches and she stumbles into him. it's weird, having to account for her body being too solid. she brushes off as if nothing happened at all.

and then takes a look around, a nod to Gwen who claimed to be nothing more than a regular teenager despite the fact nobody here is much of a normal anything.

there's plenty of cells still unbroken between theirs and darcy's down the hall, and she comes to a quick conclusion on why Bastion had chosen them to rescue next. a logical and tactical move, as many fighters as possible in the fewest amount of moves.]

Thank you... are you... [she knows that time is short and precious before they get caught again... and doesn't want to fuss too much, but she can see the way they're holding their arm... Ava bites her bottom lip.]

Right. Get our powers back. [she has no idea how that'll even be possible, but she's willing to try anything]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// I'm functional.

[ It's not a lie, but it's true of any condition where they can continue to act and move, so it's also not much of a reassurance. They don't want to share the exact percentage of operationality they're functioning at; it would sound worse than it is because it's including their disabled guns and self-repair system. For a Bastion unit, the ability to shoot things is as important as the ability to move, communicate, or change configurations, at least according to a self-monitoring system that was programmed for the battlefield. As such, all the reports of locomotor overheating and burnout and pressure damage and so on are competing with a critical error that hasn't stopped blaring into their internal awareness since they reinitialised in cell 130. ]

[ They step to their right, positioning themself in front of the cell next to the Starrs'. Dimitri's trained for combat; Fio is so small that she's the only human on board who doesn't register at all as a physical threat, but she's Sparkles' best friend and on good terms with Friday. That's an asset that ranks above what Clarke Griffin and John Doe across the hallway can contribute. Dimitri also seems to have fallen asleep, so they beep a warning to him in the hope that he won't startle awake at the sound of destruction and react poorly. ]

[decohere]

[a small nod. Ava knows exactly what 'functional' means, a technical truth that ignores the struggle of remaining so. but this is an escape mission. everyone must be willing to push their limits, including herself.

she spares them one more concerned glance before Bastion continues on with breaking out the next cell, selfishly relieved that it's Fio's. but knowing it's a good strategy too, she's what saved them last time with Sparkles and the Labyrinth. they need every advantage they can get.

but right now she has another Omnic to check in on.]