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

[pointofhonoria]

"Which makes this the kinda time we rely on those friends t'come up with some plan we ain't even got a breeze of. Or, well. At least on folks who want outta the same situation." Depending on the person, 'friend' might prove to be a big strong. "There's always a flaw in these things, Cass. One way or another. Even if we ain't the ones that can see it yet."

[gnighteverybody]

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

Yakko has started circling around Crabb Specifically.

[not_the_last]

Cassandra nods, and absently shifts her head to one side to maintain eye contact as Yakko passes between them. "You're right. There'll be someone here who can think of a way. Who'll spot whatever she's overlooked."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

All that kinetic energy sends Bastion bouncing off the undamaged bars, where they go sprawling on the ground and skidding toward the back of the cell with clattering and scraping noises not entirely unlike a metal shelving unit falling down the stairs. At least it's the ground they hit and not Okie.

Breaking down the bars with direct force didn't work, but they can try a few other approaches. Their self-repair system's still not responding, so if they hurt themself they're stuck that way, and they can't try melting the bars with it. They'll have to be more careful. Bastion stands up and approaches the cell bars a second time, planting their feet in front of the wall and gripping the metal, then shoving their handhold to the side as hard as they can with the rotational force of their whole body.

[pointofhonoria]

There's a flash of 'oh for God's sake' on Crabb's face, but otherwise she barely blinks, looking past Yakko as if she's already used to this. After rooming with him for a while, she might just be. "'xactly. There's always something, always someone. Wouldn'ta got anywhere near so far as I have in life if there weren't, really. And if there's anythin' we've all been through on this Goddamned ship that's gotta bring at least mosta us together, it's gotta be this."

Please. For the love of God, it better be this.

[sailmods]

[with a loud groan, the metal bends far enough to allow someone through.]

[skaikru]

If she was going to put us under mind control she would have done so already, don't you think? Or drug us if the idea was to keep us docile, if we looked like any sort of threat.

( we call this personal growth over two years of being stuck on the weirdest cruiseliner of all time; one little apocalypse human talking like she's got any authority or real idea what she's on about. and yet — to clarke it all makes sense. )

Look, if we're stubborn enough to survive dying over and over again, we can survive this.

[skaikru]

Ava chimes in to chastise (is there a more severe term than chastise? if so, then that) then the two of them briefly get sidetracked when Peter chooses this moment to reinforce his love for Ava. And like, happy for them but also ew as a spectator in literal hell. But we return to our regularly scheduled dressing down, and the corner of her cell still calls. She could just sit down and cover her ears, but futile tempers win out.

To Ava: "The right thing? Like sitting around and waiting for reality to collapse and kill us all? I'm sorry for not meeting your expectations as Plan B, but at least I was still trying."

Then, the more eloquent fury waning, she slaps the bars of her cage with no regard to how much it hurts existing wounds. And directs to Peter: "And worse case scenario I expected the prison to at least having... fucking — doors."

[decohere]

To further Clarke's suffering at their pda, Ava laces her fingers with Peter's and gives his knuckles a light kiss, encouraging.

It's true, she expected Clarke would eventually take drastic enough of an action that would ignite enough of a crisis that would finally force things to change, one way or another. But. "I thought you'd blow a hole in things to escape, not outright enslave someone! Thought that was the basic line of decency and morality most people knew not to cross!"

And like, sure. Ava gets that sometimes plans completely backfire. She fed a corpse to a spirit while trying to free it and ended up doing far more damage than intended. Which spiraled out of control with the whole Labyrinth ordeal. But this is totally different, okay.

[skaikru]

Just punch her in the face again, it would be kinder. They aren't even her parent figures and it's still giving the by-proxy PDA ick.

"It was just a string that was supposed to stabilize this place and let someone come save us until I got it around his throat," she snaps through the bars, just completing the caged animal aesthetic with the underlying hiss and a little bit of spit.

But... means to an end. If everything had worked out how she'd wanted, if everyone who wanted to leave could get off the ship and find someplace safe or at least open range to fight for their survival? The guilt would not be hitting nearly as hard as it currently is. She's done worse. What's one more war crime?

"But fine. Draw an arbitrary line in the sand when we were all brought to this place as suffering powered batteries and — sure, I crossed it."

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ Bastion reaches to help Okie out first. ]

[mistertwister]

[ with a much quieter groan, Okie lets himself be lifted and holds himself up on the bars. ]

Holy shit, dude.

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ It's a tighter squeeze for Bastion, but they get themself out of the cell and into the hallway. They didn't know if that was going to work after the way the first attempt went, but they could probably manage it again. ]

// I'll open more cells. I don't think you can help; do you want me to bring you to Siffleur?

[ They can't see any swelling or broken limbs, but they don't know what else might be a sign of injury on a weather-person and Okie's having difficulty standing up under his own power. Which is not conducive to helping tear the bars apart or riding on Bastion's shoulder while they do that. They're not sure what specifically Siffleur's doing, but he's at the end of the hall with Victor. ]

[mistertwister]

I can go with Siff, yeah. 'Less we get all our bullshit back I'm just a human that stands out.

[ He steps out into the middle of the hallway, gets the feel for his legs under him again. ]

You want I should pass on a message?

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ They're glad that he's doing better. It'll save time if they don't have to escort him, too. ]

// I'll start with cells where both parties can fight, in case we're interrupted.

[ They don't have any personal messages for Siffleur, and he should be able to pick up everything else he needs to know by looking around. ]

Wildcard type of thing, breakout time

[configuration_birdwatcher]

Darcy and Gwen are the first pair of cellmates Bastion spots who they know can both fight. They'll be at reduced capacity without their superhuman abilities, but experience and physical fitness still help. Bastion braces their feet against the floor and peels the bars apart with all their might.

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy looks immediately to Gwen.

"I am always right about everything forever, remember that," and he makes some attempt to help with the bars.

[angrycrabnoises]

Karkat doesn’t know what to say to that. He sucks in a breath through his teeth and nods.

“I DON’T KNOW IF THIS MEANS ANYTHING TO YOU,” he says finally, “BUT YOU’D MAKE A GOOD LUSUS SOMEDAY.”

[thismaskismybadge]

Jokingly, to Bastion, as she slinks out between the bars when they're just barely wide enough thanks to a gymnast's flexibility, "Look at what you've done. You've boosted their ego."

She's too aware of her reduced strength to try and help with the bars, but she does offer a hand to Darcy once they're spread wide enough to help pull him out.

communication.

[abhorrently]

When those who can bear messages start coming out and assisting, there are a number of names she needs to immediately reach out to. Cassandra, Arthur, Phil, Crichton, and Macaelius get the missive, either on its own or in response to their own form of reaching out.

"I'm all right. We're going to crack this place."

[not_the_last]

"Yes," Cassandra sends back. "Do you have any ideas?"

[configuration_birdwatcher]

The metal creaks and groans as Bastion forces it out of place. It goes a little faster than their own cell, maybe because Darcy's helping, although they get a few error messages warning them about overexertion of their servomotors. Not their biggest or most urgent concern right now. They can fix it later, once their self-repair system's back on and everyone's safe.

They beep quizzically at Darcy once the bars are parted enough to let him out, a mechanical equivalent of a huh? noise. Apparently they missed some discussion.

[abhorrently]

"Not many good ones, currently. I examined every inch I could reach, and nothing. But this is only an obstacle."

Maybe they'll all find spoons and can start digging.

[neverleave]

I guess.

[Steve's right, weirder things have happened. The button eyes are certainly creepy, but this isn't what REALLY bothered him about those men.]

There's still something's wrong with them, though. They didn't speak to us, just attacked. Maybe she's controlling them like she does the captain. She seems like the type to have thralls instead of crew.

[blindwatchersees]

A message gets back to her.

"Macaelius is ready to fight when the chance appears."