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

[thismaskismybadge]

"Bastion. Alright. Thanks, Bastion."

Gwen keeps pace, and as they pass single occupancy cells, she catches on quick. "So. Cells with multiples like me and Darcy first. Yeah?"

[light_mischief]

Skulduggeery's own nerves have skyrocketed as the breakouts have begun, calculating each free face he sees against the potential dangers. They're likely to run into Malin's lackeys, and possibly the Captain or Malin themselves, all without their powers. Which ones of them will be able to handle a fight without them? What weapons were they able to obtain from the repository at the end of the hall?

He isn't surprised to see Darcy is part of the first wave of freed prisoners; he's capable even without supernatural gifts. But Skulduggery is filled with regret to see him on the other side of the bars, knowing full well that it's his failure to act that's put them all in this situation.

"You're ready for this," he says, coming to put his hands against the bars next to Darcy. "Don't undervalue yourself now, after everything you've been through." His head tilts as he tries to pick his next words, knowing time is truly limited.

"There's more to say, but I'm going to save it for when we're home." Relentless optimism. He can't abandon it until he's sure there's no way to free the Captain. "Do you know what the plan is?"

[decrypter]

She knows Darcy has to go. That Helena can't do anything here for her, feeling weak and useless, reduced down to her original purpose - there is nothing of value in her that some exhibitor would want. Nothing to keep her for. When they separate the wheat from chaff-

she can't think like this. even in the darkest nights. Darcy needs her strength, her support, needs her to figure out somehow the path to smiling, to bid her off that way. She has to believe, even when nothing seems reasonable to believe in. The door is shut, so they'll find a window. She has to believe, as fervently as she did when they were all locked in the room together.

The bars won't let her reach out and hold her hand, but she presses her fingers through as much as she can. Tries to offer a return touch, coming up and pressing her forehead to the bars. Anything is better than nothing.

"If you do not, I will find you. I will bring you back to me. Whatever it takes."

She'll shuffle through the cosmos, to bring all she loves back to her side. She will find whatever place Darcy ended up, and bring her home. All the certainty she holds, all the conviction she needs to place in herself, crystalizes and grows around that fact. She wants to scream and demand someone stay and cry and fall to pieces. Life is endlessly holding on, despite.

Her fingertips tremble from cold, but she still reaches out.

"...it's Michael, right? When you need protection?"

If there's someone for battles who'd suit Darcy right now better, she doesn't know it.

Our Delilah will shave you razor clean

[littlefairytale]

Ruby perks up a bit the second she sees Darcy. "Darcy! You're out! I knew it, I knew someone would figure something out."

For once it wasn't half-blind optimism. It feels like hope has been that more often than it hasn't, the last few months.

"I-It's probably not going to be everyone right now, right? That'd be too easy."

[saltwaterlungs]

"I don't know-" Darcy wheels to a stop as soon as she hears Ruby's voice, "Bastion- the ehn big omnic tank thing- is breaking people out. Someone might show up before they're done. Or maybe we get lucky."

That part is delivered dry enough that Ruby can't mistake it for a genuine sentiment.

[saltwaterlungs]

"Don't worry about me. This is the only thing I'm good for, ehn," holding Phil's shank in hand, it has to be true.

"More or less. Get to the bridge, work out how to break her control over Captain and Sparkles, get Friday back on our side to turn our powers back on, see if it is Jenny's brothers enthralled by Malin and if we can get them to help us again."

Recited carefully, each step considered.

"Fio can handle Sparkles. The..." sighs, reaching for his hand, "I know how the Captain got out the first time. I know, I'll... do it, if we have to. But I think we have to exhaust all our options first. Maybe... he's changed enough to break himself out, this time."

[saltwaterlungs]

"My Patron," Darcy breathes, and of course. Of course she remembers. Even here, even now. For a moment she almost asks her to redirect to Jenny, for the sake of the plan, but.

The thought is so sweet and perfect that Darcy would do nothing ever to break it.

"For protection," she confirms, sitting up a little to smush her mouth against whatever part of Helena's forehead is accessible through the bars.

"You don't know what this means to me."

[decrypter]

All the writing in fairy tales is true, for the power that one kiss can give to a soul. One touch, one brush. She presses her face closer, as if she could will the bars away and kiss her properly, sending her off to battle instead of fighting for sheer proximity. How many tales had lovers separated by a wall, fighting the barrier for what scraps there were.

"Explain it to me. When you come back."

When, not if. She has to believe, has to. And if something out there gives her knight a flaming sword to wield, that would also be very, very welcome.

[littlefairytale]

Ruby's mouth presses into a line and she nods. Yeah. Lucky isn't a thing they get to be today. Whatever success they might have is going to have to be earned in spite of the odds.

And the fact is Ruby knows what tactical call she'd be making, right now, with an unknown time limit. Get out as many valuable people as possible in as few moves as possible. Alone in her cell, unarmed and down half her vision, she won't make that cut.

"Then— give 'em hell for me too." One more thing picked up from the Earthers she's surrounded by. "And if you end up facing Malin— she might have that fog in her eye but she still wears a patch. Maybe she can still see through it somehow but— but maybe not. You've seen how my blind side works. Use that."

Maybe she's stating something obvious, but she has to try and offer something.

[light_mischief]

"If you can return our powers, we should be able to free ourselves in short order. From what Fio said, Friday seems to be at least marginally in our favor over Malin, which is good."

Can Fio handle it? Sparkles may love her, but it's even less emotionally prepared than the Captain. And if it does find the power to break free, it may accidentally hurt everyone around it.

"Be careful with Sparkles. Get out of the way if things start to heat up. As for the Captain... Just get me my powers back. If he can't break free on his own, I think I can help him get there without anyone murdering me."

[kinda not-here]

[neverleave]

Natsuno has been standing in tense silence since the break outs began, arms crossed, face expressionless as ever. Darcy passes by his cell, which is across from Rita's, and whatever he has to say to her - now isn't the time.

But then she calls out to Rita, because of course she would, she's the kind of person who would use her last breath to insult someone -

Natsuno sighs and leans his head against the wall. Rita should start yelling in three, two, one...

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. ]

[configuration_birdwatcher]

// Yes. Two-fighter cells, other doubles, single fighters, then other singles. If Malin or her agents confront us I want as many forces prepared as possible.

Friday's not watching them anymore, but escaping is making a lot of noise and they don't know if Malin is close enough to overhear. They stop in front of Clarke and John Doe, Ava and Peter, and Dimitri and Fio's cells, with Ylva's off to the side.

[mistertwister]

I'll, uh, be on standby then.

[ He claps his hands as if they just finished a pregame huddle, before turning to shuffle awkwardly down the hallway. ]

[goodweather]

The noise fades into static. The itch, the miserable dog in him that hates, lies sedated for the moment, and Phil sits against the wall near the bars.

Feathers are scattered around his cell, some obviously shaped into more sharp things, many not, blown into corners and peeking out from between the bars. A length of cord is wound between both his hands like he’d been busy using it a moment ago. The smeared blood running down his face is, at least, dry.

He doesn’t quite seem to have noticed her, though his eyes are wide open.

(Not another trick from inside his own head. He’s so sick of being trapped in his own hallucinations and dreams. He’s spent months drowned in it—maybe this is another—or has it been no time at all—)

[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.]

our delilah

[lovethyneighb_or]

People are getting out. People are getting out! Mulcahy perks up and presses his face to the bars. He doesn't know this set of voyagers nearly well enough to really be able to say anything to them, but there are a few he's met. One of them--

"Darcy?!" he calls out. He can barely see without his glasses, but he thinks he spots a mop of black hair.

[lovethyneighb_or]

"Well, I've never been imprisoned in a jail before, but before I was taken by the Captain, I was drafted as a chaplain to an mobile army hospital near the front lines. Nobody wants to be in a place like that, least of all the surgeons putting men and teenage boys back together every day, but we were all quite stuck; you can't desert without getting tried and punished in court, you know."

Mulcahy doesn't mind! Trading stories is a wonderful way to pass the time until somebody weirder than them can do something about the situation they're in.

"After that I was on the Captain's voyage, and, well--you're already familiar with that kind of prison. After that... I don't suppose you happen to be familiar with Number 2 and his Village...?"

[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. ]

After getting broken out

[mistertwister]

The first thing Okie does when he's out is look for someone else. Which, one cell away, means he isn't looking for long.

"Holy shit, Cass," he says, immediately going to the bars. "Are you fine, are you okay?"

and they told us we'd never survive

[blacksludgeaffair]

[ It oozes easily out of its cage, slinks quietly up the hallway, and finds its host. ]

Phiilll....

[neverleave]

[Natsuno chuckles humorlessly. Do they even have two days, let alone two weeks?]

If we get out of here, maybe one of the bleeding hearts can flirt with her.

[goodweather]

[ It takes a few moments, but Phil perks up immediately the second he realizes that his name has been spoken by a voice he actually recognizes instead of the three yahoos across the hall-- ]

Symbiote, [ he says breathlessly. He reaches through the bars with dull fingers. His partner, his friend, his strength--it's here--together they'll be strong, together they can make all their rage and love have consequences, they'll wrench these wretched bars apart and Darcy will be safe and everyone will be free and they can all pick up the slack from there-- ]

[not_the_last]

"Okie?"

It comes out like a question, her voice going high and unsteady mid-syllable. She flattens a hand against the bars, trying to swallow down the mess of emotions rising in her throat.

"I'm all right, I -- how did you get out? Can you do it for the rest of us?"

[glassaxolotl]

“You are safe,” Dedue sighs in relief when he sees Darcy.

“Have you seen Dimitri?”