Genosha: Onwards To Victory:: The Bent Hairpin

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

In the prison, things aren't always as they seem, as the real prison break takes place.



When the prisoners had first been manacled to the walls of the concrete pit, there had been three, four, perhaps even five guards per prisoner - two each to drag an individual along, and a large group of them with guns out and fingers twitching near the triggers. There had been some chatter on the radios, but the guards had done their best to keep from letting their charges get anything clear from the comm chatter.

But now, the number of guards was slowly dwindling. Where before there had been close to forty of them in the courtyard, after a few minutes the number was down around thirty. Then another handful left. And another. Twenty guards. Then fifteen. Then only enough guards for one to be watching each prisoner. Then less than that. Until there was only one left, his eyes sweeping the group back and forth. And then he, too, was gone, his footsteps heading away.

The sound of the guard's footfalls slowly died away, leaving them in the cold pit, unable to even guess what was going on up above.

Doug, closest to the exit, had not moved the entire time this was happening, his head hung low and eyes closed, the picture of a beaten man. His lips began to move almost imperceptibly when the last guard's feet could no longer be heard.

"...veinte-ocho, veinte-nueve, treinta." Doug's head came up, and his eyes opened. Eyes that looked hard, ready, and not at all beaten as he looked directly across at Remy.

"Clear."

Remy's head came up, his expression thoughtful with the last noises and finally, he shook his head.

"Looks like de others decided to cut things a bit fine." His Cajun accent, gone for the duration of their incarceration, was back. "'manda, Scott, Remy hope dat you coordinated things properly, because we not getting 'nother shot at dis."

The Cajun stretched slightly, shifting the restraints a bit, and then took a deep breath. With agonizing slowness, he began to pulled his legs up, bending at the knees and curling his body to bring them up to the point that his knees were level with his forehead. His face was beet red, and trembles of pain washed through the facial muscles like intermittent ticks. He rotated his hips sidewise, and leaned in so he could grasp the bone knife deeply embedded in his thigh with his teeth. A low, pained scream started as he pulled it from the muscle, the cracks tearing flesh as his crusted pants were soaked with flesh blood. Finally, it came free and his body collapsed, hanging, swinging from the wrists as he tried to catch his breath and fight through the blinding pain.

After a long moment, he began to move again, making sure his body was straight as he pushed his head forward as far as he could. Remy let go of the bone knife, and as it tumbled in the air, caught it between his feet. He shook his head and blinked rapidly a few times, trying to clear his head. After a moment, he took a deep breathe, and once again began to raise his legs, straight out and up this time, like an acrobat on a pole. They could see his fingers going white as the weight and pressure on his wrists cut the circulation to his hands. Slowly, painfully, he went up until bent double off the wall, and he could insert the tip of the bone knife into the manacle lock. The good thing about the manacles was the fact that they were old, with locks built more for size than anything else. That meant big mechanisms, and they could be manipulated by a less delicate piece of equipment.

Sweat and blood intermingled, threatening to blind him as he worked, his leg muscles bunched and starting to spasm. There was a loud click, and Remy suddenly dropped to the ground, landing on his back with a sickening crunch. The man lay there in a heap, unmoving.

"Fuck." Amanda strained at her own manacles, as if she could break them by sheer force of desperation and concern. "Remy, you alive down there? 'Cause I've used up all my juice and I can't exactly 'port out of here again."

After a moment, the pile stirred, and Remy slowly pulled himself to his feet. He worked as his restraints for a moment, bending impossibly for anyone without plastic laced bones, as he pulled them from his body one by one and dropped them in a heap in the side. "Let's not do dat again." He said, finally regaining his balance. He went over and picked up the bone knife, and then stopped at Scott's place, working on the lock on his manacles, quickly snapping them open.

"Alright, Sarah's out confirming whether or not Essex is actually de fucking Genegineer behind dis. Did dey move Mudd down here to speed up de mutate process yet?"

Scott massaged his wrists nodding his thanks at Remy as the blood started to flow through his hands again. "He should be," Scott confirmed. "Thanks to the others the Genoshan's are being forced to react for the first time since this whole mess started." He smiled, "What say we finally get outta here?

Watching Remy get free of the manacles, was fascinating in a train-wreck sort of way. Clarice wasn't about to sneeze and risk interrupting him. "I'm....okay with that," powers or not, she could not stay here forever and with Remy and Scott, there was a much better chance of getting out. She waited impatiently to be released so she could go to Remy to look him over; even powerless she wanted to be useful and as a medic was the only way she was right now.

Tabs' eyes didn't stop moving, just waiting to be caught. "Grab mine next, would you?" she said. "I can help." The paperclip in her bra was really starting to itch. The, she felt a relieved smile start to tug at her lips. She wasn't alone any more.

Korvus waited his turn patiently. He didn't have any skills that would help them escape faster. He was low priority; he knew and accepted that.

"Tabitha, get Terry's, would you? She can speed things up, too." This came from Jim, whose blank disorientation had vanished the same moment as the guards. He glanced over to where Amanda, now freed herself, was busily working on the restraints holding Marie-Ange.

Marie-Ange hit the ground near-silently, bare feet only making a little 'pat', and rolled her shoulders to get the kinks out, one arm making a pop sound as she worked the joint loose. "Merci, Amanda." She tugged at one shoulder of the hated prison jumpsuit hard, until it pulled free and then shook it loose, and moved to work on Clarice's manacles. "When you are free, for Remy's leg." She said, handing her the fabric as she helped the purple girl down. "Please, so he does not bleed out."

Terry pushed up onto her tiptoes and tried to relieve the strain on her wrists and to maneuver the locks into a more accessible position while she waited for Tabitha's approach. Once one hand was free, she gestured the woman to move on and shimmied in place to reach the bit pf metal she had secreted away during the last escape attempt. Relying entirely on touch for manipulation of the pins, it took her a bit longer than normal to spring the clasp free, and she stumbled as she hit the ground before turning to move down the line toward Lex as the next person needing release.

Pushing one leg out, Lex set himself up as a stepping stool for Terry to use as she freed him from the locks. Once he heard the click of the metal unclasping he waited for her to step back down, and started to stretch. "Thanks," he grunted, scanning the scene to make sure there were no cameras or alarms on them. He couldn't find any so he simply waited for the rest of the group to get free.

Remy stood, leaning against the wall and trying to massage some feeling past the pain in his thigh. "'manda, you need to get Mudd. Find something left and teleport into his office. Everyone else, get out of dis pit. We not going to be left alone for much longer."

The witch winced, but nodded. Teleporting without the opportunity for a recharge was hard, and Hammer Bay wasn't exactly friendly towards her presence. At least she was actually armed - she pulled the shiv she had made out of a sharpened spoon from out of her waistband before taking a deep breath and letting herself sink into the floor, vanishing from sight.

***

Herbert Mudd sat in his small office in the guards station, blessful unaware of what was happening in the holding area. Instead, he was reading a magazine and occasionally checking that his uniform was straight. Commander Mudd, Minister Moreau had called him. A promotion out of twenty five years of civil service, checking zoning petitions and investigating work place safety certifications. But now, he was GDF - better, he was part of the 'Specials', the first man to go through the mutate project and had been implanted with the power to suppress the X gene and mutant abilities in others. At an age where only retirement had loomed, he now was an important member of the island nation's defense; a man with powerful friends. He stroked his impressive white mustache in a satisfied way.

There came a knock at the door, his escort most likely. Mudd stood, straightening his uniform again and opened the door. There was indeed a guard there, but as soon as Mudd opened the door, he fell forward with a dead thud, the back of his uniform covered in blood from the puncture wound to the back of his head, angling up into his skull. A blonde girl in prison orange stood there, bloodied hands holding a home-made blade.

"Mister Mudd, isn't it?" Amanda said with a distinctively feral-looking grin. "Just the man I wanted to find. Got a little job for you, see?"

"What, wait, you can't..." Mudd blustered, backing away and almost tripping over the body of his escort.

"Not so fast, sunshine." Amanda took hold of the front of his uniform and yanked him back, shiv held up to his right eye. "First, you give back what you took."