No Surprises, Please

The Warden grew frustrated. He could feel his time running out, now past the point of no return.

The girl charged forward, her sword in one hand.

The Warden gritted his teeth, interlocking his fists as he reeled them upwards.

Akilah looked up, already a step ahead of the giant. She smiled to herself as the unfolding events proved her hypothesis.

“He’s stopped trying to guess my next move. Now he’s just panicking.” Akilah thought.

She continued her sprint towards him, the metallic fists falling straight towards her head.

Thud

The Warden’s fists slammed against the concrete. For a moment, he thought he had gotten her, a cloud of dust obstructing his view.

Akilah slid between the giant man’s legs with a new physicality that even she was surprised by.

“It looks like my training paid off.”

She hopped to her feet, quickly jumping into the air as she raised her sword to the side of her head.

She swung the sword toward the Warden’s nape, watching the blade closely. Her eyes squinted through her thick glasses as she estimated the right time to activate her ability.

“Now!”

She channeled her Spirit into her palms, recalling the rush, the confidence that guided her swing.

Her eyes glowed purple along with her blade, the sword leaving a trail of indigo light behind it.

Suddenly, the sword corrected itself, heading straight between two of the Warden’s metal shingles.

The Warden was still looking down at where he had struck, so the stretched nape left just enough space between the shingles for the blade to squeeze through.

Akilah gritted her teeth as she put every ounce of strength left in her arms to use, pushing past the pain in her gunshot wound.

Thwack

The blade met the Warden’s nape, immediately exploding into blood.

Akilah was taken aback by the crimson red, immediately slicing her blade out of the cut as she jumped back.

The Warden’s eyes widened as he tried to gasp for air. He collapsed onto the floor, unable to move his limbs.

“She hit a nerve in his spine, didn’t she?” Hardy thought as he looked at the horrified face of the Warden.

Blood spilled onto the broken concrete, the carnage freezing Akilah in place.

“Tell everyone to keep working towards a unified world.” The Warden’s words to the guard echoed through Akilah’s head, frustrating and confusing her all the while.

Eventually, the Warden stopped moving, turning into a corpse before the rebels’ eyes.

Vida had made her way into the control room, trying to make sense of the countless levers and buttons.

“Okay, so this is level three… I need to open 331 through 362… There, 300-3100.” Vida thought as she flipped the switch, opening the door from the panopticon to the hallway that read 300-3100 over the door.

Inside the hallway, Vida could see the cell doors release their locks, swinging open as the prisoners looked out their cells cautiously.

The red lights of the sirens had disappeared, giving way to the bright white lights of the prison.

Vida smiled to herself as she saw the civilians they had worked so hard to free take their first steps out of their cages.

The girl ran to get her friends, speeding over to Hardy to get gauze for Amora’s shoulder.

Akilah walked with a labored limp, making her way up to Amora as Vida helped Hardy up the stairs.

“You alright?” Amora looked up from the floor, staring at Akilah’s bloody sleeve.

“I should be asking you that.” Akilah chuckled.

“Let me help you-” Amora held her hand out to activate her healing light, wincing at the movement in her shoulder, but Akilah stopped her.

“Worry about yourself for now, Amora. We’ll get help back at the compound.” Akilah carefully helped her friend up onto her feet. “Let’s get these people back home.”

Amora looked at her friend, examining the tired, yet blank expression Akilah wore through her gaiter.

“I don’t know if this is confidence, or suppression.” Amora thought to herself. She knew all too much about suppressing emotions from the others in the compound, and she began to worry that Akilah had started down the same path.

“Hello, hello.” Hardy exclaimed down the open hallway. “We’ve come to get you guys out of here. The Regime has imprisoned you for using what should be your unalienable rights, so we’ve come to set the record straight-” Hardy’s speech was interrupted by a scared voice down the hallway.

“Wait… Are you with the pink-haired terrorist?” One of the prisoners called, fear trembling in their voice.

“What…?” Vida grew confused, her mind calling back to that headline that aired when she was trying to find Hendrix and Bloom.

“No… They think we’re terrorists.” Vida thought as the realization hit her like a brick wall. Her eyes widened at the shock as she held one hand to her mouth. “Is this who we’re fighting for?”

She pressed a hand to her forehead, gritting her teeth to keep her feelings from spilling out.

“Listen, we aren’t here to hurt you. We just want to help you get out-” Hardy was interrupted by another voice.

“I’ll leave when I’m allowed! I don’t know what your plan is, but you’re not gonna win me over! You won’t get the chaos you want!” One of the prisoners exclaimed.

Hardy rolled his eyes as the crowd began to boo, shouting insults at the rebels.

“I didn’t think they’d still be buying it.” Hardy thought as he lifted his boot to dodge the prisoners’ spit.

“One last call. Whoever wants to leave can come with us.” Hardy raised his hand as he awaited a response.

“We’ll come with you!” A voice at the end of the hallway yelled. A middle aged couple ran down the hallway, hand in hand as the crowd booed them, throwing whatever they could find at the imprisoned couple.

Their faces showed sadness and fear, but also relief as they stood in front of the rebels.

“You made the right choice. C’mon, let’s go.” Hardy waved to the couple, who made their way down the hallway with the rebels.

The four injured fighters ran as fast as they could, which wasn’t that fast at all.

Vida helped Hardy walk as he winced at each and every movement in his abdomen. Amora ran with her right arm held down, trying to keep her gauzed shoulder from moving. Akilah tried to keep up through her exhausted state, pushing through the pain in her arm as she held her sword out cautiously.

The group made it down hallway after hallway, having to maneuver around armed patrols to keep the Deputies from tracking them down.

Eventually, they were right back at the garage they entered through, the guards that were there had disappeared into the building.

“Stick close.” Hardy whispered as he pointed his hand to the ground. He closed his eyes as he tried to focus.

“Just one more time, then we’re home.” Hardy thought, trying to hype himself up.

“Wait!” Amora whispered. “Look!” She pointed towards the path they were about to take with her only good arm.

Deputy 1001 talked with a guard that was patrolling the perimeter of the prison, seemingly getting directions towards something. Her icy white hair stood out in the pitch black of the night-covered woods that surrounded the building.

“Shit.” Hardy muttered as he thought of a way around the Deputy.

The group’s radios began to crackle for the first time since the mission started.

“I see you guys. I had to move the van slightly to avoid the Deputy, so just stick to the building wall until you’re on a straight path towards me.” Jason’s voice cut through the static of the radio.

Hardy smiled. “Coming in clutch as always, Jason.”

Hardy activated his ability, nodding towards the group as they began their journey. The group hugged the wall of the prison until they were on a straight path towards the van, where they crouched as they ran as fast as they could towards the fence. All the while, Hardy was focusing on keeping their Spirit signatures concealed.

The group made it past the fence. Akilah cut a hole just big enough for the group to squeeze through.

They quickly packed into the van, taking a deep breath of relief as the door closed behind them.

“Time to go home.” Jason smiled at the tired group of rebels through the rearview mirror, shifting gears as he began the journey towards the city.

“Um… Thank you guys. We really thought we would spend the rest of our lives in a cell.” The husband said, still in his prisoner uniform.

“Don’t worry about it. We can drop you off at your home, or you can stay with us at the compound for as long as you’d like. It’s up to you.” Hardy explained as he awaited an answer.

The couple looked at each other, both nodding in agreement.

“We won’t be safe at our house. If you would be so kind as to let us live with you, we’d appreciate it.” The woman interlocked her hands, pleading.

“Of course.” Jason replied.

“I just wish the rest of them could see what the Regime really is.” Akilah held her head in her hands, completely exhausted.

“We can’t blame them. If this happened only a year earlier, we would’ve stayed. We only know the truth because of… Our daughter…” The man grabbed his wife’s hand as the rebels looked at each other, intrigued, yet concerned.