[ I know why. ] Vlad raised his head slightly. He pushed off his bed and slowly made his way across his cell so that he could look at the blonde as she continued. [ They're scared there'll be a war, and they need an advantage. They've been talking about who's ready to be "deployed" - they think I'm almost ready to support... support what, I don't know. Hawke and Vlad, if you're "motivated accordingly". Ivy's a "work in progress". ] A war?! So, they were weapons. Lab rats kept in a prison their entire lives, experimented on and tortured until they all complied. If this is what his life had in store for him, heād rather die. At least death is final and once dead, no one could control him. [ They say things sometimes that they don't think I understand. ]
Vlad crossed his arms over his chest as he focused on what Ivy and Specter said. The wheels were beginning to turn in his head. Escape attempts have been tried before. After all, who wouldnāt want to get out of a place like that? Ivy probably held the record for attemptsā¦ But there was always one thing that each attempt lackedā¦ numbers. The last time Ivy tried, she got pretty far, or so he heard. After all, itās hard to stop someone when you canāt touch their skin. But, if they all tried togetherā
[ Spec, have you got the codes for this week? ] It seemed that Hawkeās mind was on the same track as his own, or maybe he was eavesdropping. Either way, it seemed everyoneās minds seemed to quiet, listening intently. Was this really about to happen? [ And Ivy... if you could do that, do you think you could get through to Specter to get him out? Because if we could all go, we might have a better chance as a group effort... ]
[ ā¦I have all of the codes, ] Specter said slowly as his mind was already devising plans A through Q for escaping. Truth was, he did have all the codes. This facility may be high techā¦ And the people who run it might be sadistic assholes, but they werenāt the smartest bunch out there. With people like himself and Hawke, how did they expect to keep their secrets secret for long? Plus, it wasnāt difficult to remember codes when half of them are the same and they never change. Something inside him long ago told him to commit them to memory. He knew that it might come in handyā¦ Although, he didnāt quite think itād be for something like this.
[ I know they take you different routes sometimes. They don't always bring me to the same place for testing. And we know this building is round. If everyone tries to remember every route you've ever taken, I could figure out the layout of this place and move us around. It could at least help with shaking the guards off. But I don't know how far we'll get. ] Novak added their own opinion. Of course, they were more of the realist. In situations like this, too much hope could be dangerous. It could slowly fester and kill them from the inside out if they werenāt careful.
[ If anyone is going to have the most knowledge about the layout of this place, itād be her, ] Vlad chimed in, pointing his index finger across the cellblock toward the quiet Ivy. The raven haired girl turned her head slightly to glance over her shoulder back at him. Sheās ran more of these halls than any of the others combined. He didnāt know if she remembered where she went, but if she even had a sliver of a memoryā¦ itād be something.
Ivy sat there quietly, staring down at her lap as she tried to adjust her arms within the straitjacket. She scratched the far reaches of her memory, trying to catch any glimpse of her escape attempts. But, what she had never told the others is usually her punishment included extensive electroshock torture and then if she fought backā¦ It usually included some sort of blunt head trauma. To be honest, some days it seemed like she could feel her memories slip from her like water between fingers. She blinked her eyes sporadically and shook her head trying to shake the fuzziness from her mind. [ Iā¦ I only see glimpses, like a dream. Nothing tangibleā¦ Iā¦ ] her voice trailed off as she faltered.
[ Actually, ] Specter spoke up. He could feel the dread, confusion and sadness that seeped through the mental connection as Ivy tried to grasp at anything she could remember. He felt a knot grow in his stomachā¦ They all needed to get out of there. They were losing themselves inch by inch, piece by piece. He could feel it in Ivy and it scared her. [ Iāve been practicingā¦ Trying to stretch my powers farther and farther. Some days I can see farther than others, but onceā¦ I think I saw stars. ]
[ I know how it must seem. But we can't sit around waiting for them to pick us off. Look what they did to me - to Ivy. You think they won't do worse to get what they want? They've hurt us before and they'll hurt us again. ] When Hawke said her name, Ivy looked over at him. This was the most of a plan they ever hadā¦ Ever. They never talked about escaping. And when she tried, it was the spur of a moment thing. She saw an opening and took it. It was dumb and reckless, but part of her hoped it would be the time theyād finally kill her for acting out, just to end her suffering. But, nowā¦ there was a chance. Ivy was terrified. [ Do you trust me? ]
Ivy held his gaze as she nodded her head slowly, trying to keep herself calm. She trusted Hawke more than anyone else in there. And she wanted out desperately. But what scared her wasā¦ If they were caught, what would the guards do to them. She felt like there wasnāt much left of her and she had no idea how much more she could physically and mentally handle. Ivy didnāt want to become a vegetable, lost in the vastness of her own mind.
[ Ivyā¦ ] Specter stepped toward the wall that separated their cells, tapping the concrete with his index finger as he spoke. [ If you can disrupt the current, for just a secondā¦ It should be enough for me to phase through. ]
She sat in silence for a long moment, before nodding her head. [ Okā¦ But, I need to get out of this. ] Ivy closed her eyes, taking another deep breath before she started to move to her feet. Every moment hurt and ached, but with enough effort she was able to stand. She couldnāt help the overwhelming dread that plagued her mind as she crossed her cell to her bed. Ivy was so weak and beatenā¦ And the last time she did thisā¦ She passed out. She prayed the others wouldnāt leave her if this took too much out of her. Her hands began to tremble at the thought of waking up in her cell with all of them gone, left to suffer the punishment for their transgressions while they ran free.
Ivy hooked her right foot under her mattress, and with a quick flick, she tipped it back against the wall, exposing the springs of the bed frame. Luckily, she has mastered the art of getting out of these damned things. Usually it took her the better part of an hour but she was hoping with Vladās help it would be fasterā¦ She didnāt know how much energy she had left in her.
There was a spring toward the foot of the bed that stood up a little more than the others. After her first stint in a straitjacket, Ivy broke that spring so sheād have it if she were ever to need it againā¦ and she did. She crouched down with her back to the bed and wiggled her torso until the lowest buckle caught onto the spring. With it already being unclasped by Vlad, she was able to slip the strap out rather quickly. One down, two to go. She lowered herself to her knees slowly until the second buckle caught. Ivy grunted and groaned as she twisted and turned her body, trying to shimmy the buckle loose.
Once Specter heard Ivy start working on her straitjacket, he turned his attention back to Novak. [ Could you make some kind of map if Hawke links our minds while I scan as far as I can? ] He looked between them and Hawke. Once he was given the ok, Spec took a couple calming breaths before focusing all his attention and energy to his sight. His vision pushed past his wall, then the door of the cellblock, stretching out farther, foot by foot. The farther out he reached the more focus it took. The more it passed through, he could feel the strain like an instant migraine. His hand reached out to grab the wall to steady himself so he didnāt break focus. When he couldnāt push and farther, he let his vision sweep from right to left, then above and below. Although he wasnāt able to see the entire building, he was able to get a view of one hundred feet in either direction. It was a startā¦ At least theyād know which way to run until he could tell them more as they went.
Ivy winced when the second buckle came unfastened and she stumbled forward, falling on the ground. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly to try and conserve energy. Thankfully, she didnāt need the top buckle undone to get out. She raised her right arm over her head, adjusting and contorting her body to compensate for the tightness of the restraints. She gritted her teeth and popped her shoulder out of socket, allowing her to reach the buckle. With her hand still in the sleeve, it took a moment for her to get the last restraint. But once it was free, she sighed, yanking it off of her.
She pushed off her bed with her left hand and walked over to the sink. Ivy placed her right hand on its edge, and in a quick movement, snapped her shoulder back into place. āFuck,ā she groaned. She rotated her shoulders as much as possible without hurting her ribs as she walked over toward the wall that separated herself and Specter. Her eyes closed as her fingertips traced the surface feeling for the strongest pulse of energy. When a rhythm like a heart beat flowed from the wall into her fingers, she froze, placing both of her palms against the wall at that point.
[ ā¦Iām ready, ] she said with a brief glance at Hawke.
Specterās heart skipped a beat when he heard Ivy speak up again. This is really happening? He gulped as he walked toward the plexiglass wall. His hands trembled as he slowly pressed them against the transparent surface. This was their shot. You got this. You got this, he told himself. [ Ok. Go. ]
Ivy focused every ounce of energy she had left in her body toward the power in the walls. It was like her body turned into a battery, absorbing the energy, letting it flow into her and course through her. Every nerve in her body was electrified and heightened. The hairs along her arms stood on end as the wave passed over her. It was like she was rejuvenated. She could sense that her touch was more powerful, but also every neuron in her mind was firing at the same time. Then like blowing a fuse, the overpowered sensation of energy overwhelmed her mind causing her eyes to roll back in her head as she blacked out. Her hands slipped from the wall as she collapsed on the ground.
Once the power was down, Specter quickly phased through the wall out into the center of the cellblock. He froze, looking down at his hands and laughed. It worked! He then quickly turned to look toward Ivy as she collapsed. He nearly ran into her cell to catch her. āIvy!ā But he then stopped before going through her wall. He had no idea if the power was still down, and if it was, itād do no good getting himself trapped in her cell. He quickly ran over to the key pad and typed in the code to unlock the cells. 4-7-2-3-3-9
When the locking mechanisms engaged, Specter ran back to Ivy. He quickly threw open the drawers of her nightstand until he found her gloves. She had three pairs so that she was never without. It was always mandatory she wear them. Spec snatched them all up, he quickly put one pair on, slid the second into her pockets and chucked another pair out into the cellblock for one of the others. āI donāt know what to do! Weāll have to carry herā¦ Or something!ā
[ We need to go, ] Vlad thought toward Hawke as he came out of his cell. He worried about how long they had until the guards arrived. The second they saw Specter phase through the walls on the camera, he knew theyād be on their way. They couldnāt have more than sixty secondsā¦ If they were lucky. [ How am I going to get out of this? ] He pointed at the piece of tech that covered the lower half of his face. [ If I canāt talkā¦ I donāt know how far we're going to get. And we donāt have a key! ]
Vlad crossed his arms over his chest as he focused on what Ivy and Specter said. The wheels were beginning to turn in his head. Escape attempts have been tried before. After all, who wouldnāt want to get out of a place like that? Ivy probably held the record for attemptsā¦ But there was always one thing that each attempt lackedā¦ numbers. The last time Ivy tried, she got pretty far, or so he heard. After all, itās hard to stop someone when you canāt touch their skin. But, if they all tried togetherā
[ Spec, have you got the codes for this week? ] It seemed that Hawkeās mind was on the same track as his own, or maybe he was eavesdropping. Either way, it seemed everyoneās minds seemed to quiet, listening intently. Was this really about to happen? [ And Ivy... if you could do that, do you think you could get through to Specter to get him out? Because if we could all go, we might have a better chance as a group effort... ]
[ ā¦I have all of the codes, ] Specter said slowly as his mind was already devising plans A through Q for escaping. Truth was, he did have all the codes. This facility may be high techā¦ And the people who run it might be sadistic assholes, but they werenāt the smartest bunch out there. With people like himself and Hawke, how did they expect to keep their secrets secret for long? Plus, it wasnāt difficult to remember codes when half of them are the same and they never change. Something inside him long ago told him to commit them to memory. He knew that it might come in handyā¦ Although, he didnāt quite think itād be for something like this.
[ I know they take you different routes sometimes. They don't always bring me to the same place for testing. And we know this building is round. If everyone tries to remember every route you've ever taken, I could figure out the layout of this place and move us around. It could at least help with shaking the guards off. But I don't know how far we'll get. ] Novak added their own opinion. Of course, they were more of the realist. In situations like this, too much hope could be dangerous. It could slowly fester and kill them from the inside out if they werenāt careful.
[ If anyone is going to have the most knowledge about the layout of this place, itād be her, ] Vlad chimed in, pointing his index finger across the cellblock toward the quiet Ivy. The raven haired girl turned her head slightly to glance over her shoulder back at him. Sheās ran more of these halls than any of the others combined. He didnāt know if she remembered where she went, but if she even had a sliver of a memoryā¦ itād be something.
Ivy sat there quietly, staring down at her lap as she tried to adjust her arms within the straitjacket. She scratched the far reaches of her memory, trying to catch any glimpse of her escape attempts. But, what she had never told the others is usually her punishment included extensive electroshock torture and then if she fought backā¦ It usually included some sort of blunt head trauma. To be honest, some days it seemed like she could feel her memories slip from her like water between fingers. She blinked her eyes sporadically and shook her head trying to shake the fuzziness from her mind. [ Iā¦ I only see glimpses, like a dream. Nothing tangibleā¦ Iā¦ ] her voice trailed off as she faltered.
[ Actually, ] Specter spoke up. He could feel the dread, confusion and sadness that seeped through the mental connection as Ivy tried to grasp at anything she could remember. He felt a knot grow in his stomachā¦ They all needed to get out of there. They were losing themselves inch by inch, piece by piece. He could feel it in Ivy and it scared her. [ Iāve been practicingā¦ Trying to stretch my powers farther and farther. Some days I can see farther than others, but onceā¦ I think I saw stars. ]
[ I know how it must seem. But we can't sit around waiting for them to pick us off. Look what they did to me - to Ivy. You think they won't do worse to get what they want? They've hurt us before and they'll hurt us again. ] When Hawke said her name, Ivy looked over at him. This was the most of a plan they ever hadā¦ Ever. They never talked about escaping. And when she tried, it was the spur of a moment thing. She saw an opening and took it. It was dumb and reckless, but part of her hoped it would be the time theyād finally kill her for acting out, just to end her suffering. But, nowā¦ there was a chance. Ivy was terrified. [ Do you trust me? ]
Ivy held his gaze as she nodded her head slowly, trying to keep herself calm. She trusted Hawke more than anyone else in there. And she wanted out desperately. But what scared her wasā¦ If they were caught, what would the guards do to them. She felt like there wasnāt much left of her and she had no idea how much more she could physically and mentally handle. Ivy didnāt want to become a vegetable, lost in the vastness of her own mind.
[ Ivyā¦ ] Specter stepped toward the wall that separated their cells, tapping the concrete with his index finger as he spoke. [ If you can disrupt the current, for just a secondā¦ It should be enough for me to phase through. ]
She sat in silence for a long moment, before nodding her head. [ Okā¦ But, I need to get out of this. ] Ivy closed her eyes, taking another deep breath before she started to move to her feet. Every moment hurt and ached, but with enough effort she was able to stand. She couldnāt help the overwhelming dread that plagued her mind as she crossed her cell to her bed. Ivy was so weak and beatenā¦ And the last time she did thisā¦ She passed out. She prayed the others wouldnāt leave her if this took too much out of her. Her hands began to tremble at the thought of waking up in her cell with all of them gone, left to suffer the punishment for their transgressions while they ran free.
Ivy hooked her right foot under her mattress, and with a quick flick, she tipped it back against the wall, exposing the springs of the bed frame. Luckily, she has mastered the art of getting out of these damned things. Usually it took her the better part of an hour but she was hoping with Vladās help it would be fasterā¦ She didnāt know how much energy she had left in her.
There was a spring toward the foot of the bed that stood up a little more than the others. After her first stint in a straitjacket, Ivy broke that spring so sheād have it if she were ever to need it againā¦ and she did. She crouched down with her back to the bed and wiggled her torso until the lowest buckle caught onto the spring. With it already being unclasped by Vlad, she was able to slip the strap out rather quickly. One down, two to go. She lowered herself to her knees slowly until the second buckle caught. Ivy grunted and groaned as she twisted and turned her body, trying to shimmy the buckle loose.
Once Specter heard Ivy start working on her straitjacket, he turned his attention back to Novak. [ Could you make some kind of map if Hawke links our minds while I scan as far as I can? ] He looked between them and Hawke. Once he was given the ok, Spec took a couple calming breaths before focusing all his attention and energy to his sight. His vision pushed past his wall, then the door of the cellblock, stretching out farther, foot by foot. The farther out he reached the more focus it took. The more it passed through, he could feel the strain like an instant migraine. His hand reached out to grab the wall to steady himself so he didnāt break focus. When he couldnāt push and farther, he let his vision sweep from right to left, then above and below. Although he wasnāt able to see the entire building, he was able to get a view of one hundred feet in either direction. It was a startā¦ At least theyād know which way to run until he could tell them more as they went.
Ivy winced when the second buckle came unfastened and she stumbled forward, falling on the ground. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly to try and conserve energy. Thankfully, she didnāt need the top buckle undone to get out. She raised her right arm over her head, adjusting and contorting her body to compensate for the tightness of the restraints. She gritted her teeth and popped her shoulder out of socket, allowing her to reach the buckle. With her hand still in the sleeve, it took a moment for her to get the last restraint. But once it was free, she sighed, yanking it off of her.
She pushed off her bed with her left hand and walked over to the sink. Ivy placed her right hand on its edge, and in a quick movement, snapped her shoulder back into place. āFuck,ā she groaned. She rotated her shoulders as much as possible without hurting her ribs as she walked over toward the wall that separated herself and Specter. Her eyes closed as her fingertips traced the surface feeling for the strongest pulse of energy. When a rhythm like a heart beat flowed from the wall into her fingers, she froze, placing both of her palms against the wall at that point.
[ ā¦Iām ready, ] she said with a brief glance at Hawke.
Specterās heart skipped a beat when he heard Ivy speak up again. This is really happening? He gulped as he walked toward the plexiglass wall. His hands trembled as he slowly pressed them against the transparent surface. This was their shot. You got this. You got this, he told himself. [ Ok. Go. ]
Ivy focused every ounce of energy she had left in her body toward the power in the walls. It was like her body turned into a battery, absorbing the energy, letting it flow into her and course through her. Every nerve in her body was electrified and heightened. The hairs along her arms stood on end as the wave passed over her. It was like she was rejuvenated. She could sense that her touch was more powerful, but also every neuron in her mind was firing at the same time. Then like blowing a fuse, the overpowered sensation of energy overwhelmed her mind causing her eyes to roll back in her head as she blacked out. Her hands slipped from the wall as she collapsed on the ground.
Once the power was down, Specter quickly phased through the wall out into the center of the cellblock. He froze, looking down at his hands and laughed. It worked! He then quickly turned to look toward Ivy as she collapsed. He nearly ran into her cell to catch her. āIvy!ā But he then stopped before going through her wall. He had no idea if the power was still down, and if it was, itād do no good getting himself trapped in her cell. He quickly ran over to the key pad and typed in the code to unlock the cells. 4-7-2-3-3-9
When the locking mechanisms engaged, Specter ran back to Ivy. He quickly threw open the drawers of her nightstand until he found her gloves. She had three pairs so that she was never without. It was always mandatory she wear them. Spec snatched them all up, he quickly put one pair on, slid the second into her pockets and chucked another pair out into the cellblock for one of the others. āI donāt know what to do! Weāll have to carry herā¦ Or something!ā
[ We need to go, ] Vlad thought toward Hawke as he came out of his cell. He worried about how long they had until the guards arrived. The second they saw Specter phase through the walls on the camera, he knew theyād be on their way. They couldnāt have more than sixty secondsā¦ If they were lucky. [ How am I going to get out of this? ] He pointed at the piece of tech that covered the lower half of his face. [ If I canāt talkā¦ I donāt know how far we're going to get. And we donāt have a key! ]