epidemiology | event: prison disturbance

Entry tags:

event: prison disturbance

CHARACTERS: Open to all!
DATE: June 29th
WARNINGS: ~~Possible~~ Probable mentions of violence
SUMMARY: Weeks of Kafkian nightmare only makes prisoners angrier.

PRISON DISTURBANCE

SIGNAL

It's an otherwise normal day aboard the Asterion Prison — insofar as anything about this is normal. The prison runs like clockwork: cells open; guards stand watch as the inmates file out; different species wait in line with varying degrees of patience for their first meal; roll call ends, as it has every day, with the full count of bodies present.

For those who can sense it, though, there is an undeniable feeling of waiting in the air. Something’s different about today. Something’s happening. It’s a question of what: there doesn’t seem to be anything new or out of place.

Until a message flashes across the screens of every member of Audentes: Light it up.

And someone — or someones — do.

FREE-FOR-ALL

The prison devolves into chaos. The concentration seems to be in the recreational area and the chow hall, but confusion and panic in general are the orders of the day, fanned by certain dedicated members of ALASTAIR. Some know exactly what’s happening. Others have no idea, but are more than happy to have an excuse to throw a punch or a tentacle. Still others would like to be excluded from this narrative, one that they never asked to be part of. One alien huddles under a table. Next to him, a humanoid, heedless of the disorder, calmly slurps her meal.

More guards are called in to contain the turmoil, but the extent is such that it takes a long time for the prison to return to its prior state. In the meantime, taking full advantage of the chaos, one of their number managed to slip away. The next roll call reveals what Audentes has already found out from their own: there has been an escape.

Things are about to get a lot more interesting.

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[ vibrations thunder rhythmically across the floor. the sound of footsteps, muffled, as are the voices that accompany it. the words can’t be made out but the tone can. not frightened, rather distinctly annoyed by this update.

crouched in darkness, anakin waits until he feels they have left. only then he extends his hand. the force seizes the shaft cover, and anakin guides it carefully outward. despite the limited space, he slips out with a modicum of grace, dropping lightly onto the floor. ]

Clear, [ he offers, needlessly perhaps, to the figure still in the space above him. anakin tips his head up to watch damian climb out. once he’s down, anakin restores the cover. he peers down the hall where the others disappeared. dimly, he can hear the din arising from the cell block. he doesn’t smile, but a fierce rush of pride washes over him.

now they just have to keep up their end of the bargain. ]

Only sixteen more close calls to go. [ he tips his head to the side, corners of his mouth briefly pulling up. ] Let's get going.

Edited 2017-06-28 17:34 (UTC)

[Fiona's not certain exactly what's going on, but she knows it's something that's Audentes's doing. Light it up. Her loyalty is not strictly to Audentes, which means she wouldn't stick her neck out just for funsies -- but this is the second riot and it seems to at least be somewhat organized, so it's her best bet at getting the hell out of this joint so far. And she'll take what she can get, honestly.

Fighting the holographic guards is an exercise in futility and she'd rather not get into it with, like, any of these terrifying-looking inmates, so she's instead skirting the edges of the recreational area, doing her best to directly avoid conflict. However, she's not hiding herself in her cell, either -- she's waiting for a door to open just long enough to let a fresh batch of guards in while she sees herself out.]

[ when they were at the party, he had known something was off. he couldn't place it, but there was an intention in the air. reality had a way of responding to those sorts of expectations, even if the idea might not be clear, it was there.

and it's there today.

given, he has his own heads up, so it doesn't take long for Loki to make his way through the hallways, cloaked in the skins of several of their non-Audentes inmates. whenever someone wanders to far, or too close, Loki creates a barrage of tailored illusions to keep the chaos contained (and in some cases, still raging). the inmates that Loki disguises himself as (the poor things) are getting the brunt of whatever mischief that he's managed to get them into: a physical altercation, a love confession, or a not-so-true admission. he baits the guards, as each other, and as other inmates, slinking around corners and beckoning those over who'd like to join him in the diversion. ]

Make this good.

[ he hisses under a toothy grin. ]

[ bruce does not need to be told. one sleeve ripped; claw marks across the bicep. hidden by his clothes, the line of the table he smashed into decorating his back. he feels neither. unlike the "other one" readily available to be seen: a seven foot tall lizard creature surely a distant cousin of killer croc. only just regaining consciousness and looking dazed and unaware. ]

Wait until he comes around. He'll tell you none could do better.

[ bruce finishes tying off the alien's arms with his own jumpsuit. once finished, he runs a hand through his hair. he remembers this one from the heist. part of the team to which he was assigned. he had masked them in illusion, then. an eye around shows the same process applied a little differently. ]

How detailed can you get those illusions?

[ he isn't one for picking a fight. not without need. but he does make a point of finishing those fights he is forced into. right now, his child's safety depends largely on how much of an uproar they can create here…which is all the reason bruce needs to knock heads together. ]

[Damian drops with equal silent grace and though Anakin has surely already gathered that he was a child soldier of some form, it quickly becomes apparent that for all of his grumbling and complaints, he knows how to obey an order in silence when it's necessary.]

Only sixteen? And people believe escaping this place will be difficult. [Not that it means he's going to be any less smug when they can communicate. He's quick to take up after Anakin, his senses sharp and focused on their surroundings. The bulk of the guards have disappeared off to the riot but a few remain behind. Damian is almost disappointed when Anakin's senses pick up on each of them before he does. Stupid force.

A whirring sound alerts him to the presence of an artificial guard and he freezes in place out of sight and only inches from Skywalker in front of him. It's these guards that worry him much more than any of the corporeal ones.]

[ anakin, too, grows very still. no matter the efforts of those behind them, their best protection is secrecy. as long as they remain undetected, the safer they will be. no matter damian's capacity or skill ( of which both are significant ) he's a child. someone's child who entrusted their son to a stranger. anakin does not take that lightly.

the guard is slowly patrolling. anakin stretches his senses into the force. he finds what he hopes for down a hall away from them. anakin seizes the piece in the force and twists.

the bolt ricochets off. if the sound was too small to hear, the steam that pours in from the pipe cannot be ignored. the guard moves away to investigate. anakin signals damian to move. ]

[ Loki watches him, looking somewhere being observant and impressed. ]

The question really is how good I am at fooling people? [ a just-long-enough dramatic pause. ] For that, I answer: It's what I do.

[ illusions were about perceptions, and as long as someone's perceptions could be screwed with, then they could be fooled. some people were more difficult in that sense, their perceptions more unlikely to sent askew (see: Verity), but it was rare. in his abilities, Loki was flawlessly confident. ]

Why, what'll have? I'm up for a bit of creative intervention.

[ even the whole prison riot thing doesn't seem to faze him. ]

[Damian follows, aware that Skywalker has sensed something that means it's safe to move forward. The full scope of his powers is beyond Damian's grasp, but he trusts that the man knows what he's doing and takes his cues accordingly. It's a while before it's safe to speak again and they weave in and out of hallways at Skywalker's direction, hiding when he motions them to stop and moving forward when his senses—the Force—tells him that the way is clear.

They can no longer hear the distant clang of their allies, but Damian knows they haven't been quieted yet.]

[ they're close. success is so close anakin can almost taste it. space is terrifying and merciless; to anakin, it means freedom. the stars promised him his, a lifetime ago, on a dusty, hot planet marked by twin suns.

there is only one more blast door standing between them. that door is closing. whether because their movement was noticed or as a precaution makes no difference. without his lightsaber — with the control panel on the other side —

anakin is not going to get there in time.

every conclusion is made in a split second. in that same second, he enacts the solution.

anakin seizes damian in the force and throws him down the hall and through the narrowing opening. ]

Use the panel—!

[ the shutting doors seal away what else he said. ]

[ someone's having a good time. ( so is he. though he does not reflect on it, bruce is enjoying himself too. more than he probably should. ) ]

Before I answer that, how good are you with machines? [ different needs.

cameras have a well documented effect of being able to cut through a lot of bullshit. the guards' optics might do the same. ]

[Every instinct tells him to fight the sudden force that grabs him and lifts him off of his feet but even if he hadn't realized a split second later what it was, fighting it wouldn't have been any use. Instead Damian is quick to make his body as aerodynamic as possible. He gains the speed and the form he needs to roll to a graceful stop, coming up on one knee and diving for cover. The dive turns out unnecessary as there's no one in the room and he's springing to his feet a moment later and dashing to the panel.

It takes longer than it should for him to key in the correct commands that open the sealed doors and he breathes out a sigh of relief when they finally open with a soft whir.]

An effective tactic, Skywalker. Fast thinking. [After he'd gotten over the initial shock of the throw, it might even have been a little fun. He tamps down on the mischievous grin beginning to peek past hi slips.]

Where to next?

Took you long enough. [ your new friend is kind of an ass, damian. the more you know. but the corner of his mouth tracks up. ]

One floor down. Let's go.

[ one floor down, anakin leaping over the safety railing to land softly below. for this door, all he needs is to wave his hand before it, two fingers raised. the door slides open to reveal a narrower hallway, more spartan in appearance than the rest of the ship already stripped down to its essentials. emergency lights posted near the ceiling and the floor illuminate enough to navigate freely, though not enough to render it anything but dark.

the pods ring the left side, quiet and closed. enough in number, by anakin's estimates, to carry the sentient staff. anakin picks one at random. crouching by the control panel, he lifts the cover and digs his fingers among the wires. ]

I'm going to disable the sensors, [ he explains, eyes on his work. ] Make it look like it short-circuited and ejected on its own.

[Now that they're here Damian's nerves are finally beginning to kick in. Until now he's been focused on getting past the guards and making it to this point, so much so that he hadn't allowed himself to stop and think too much about what would happen when they got here.

Now that they're here, a decision sits in the pit of his stomach like a rock. He knows what he's going to do. If he examines himself closely he might realize it was always going to be the outcome of this mission. Damian watches Skywalker work without really seeing what the man is doing, his voice coming out strained and tense.]

Skywalker. [The words he has to say are heavy on his tongue but he forces them out anyway.]

I can't go.

[ anakin's hands still. glancing over, he frowns. ]

It's okay. [ reassuring; an assumption. ] There's enough oxygen to last the two of us. These things aren't exactly known for their steering, but I can fly it, no problem.

[ even experienced pilots are overwhelmed sometimes by the absolute nothing of space. ]

We'll only be inside for a short while.

[The weight grows heavier and he shakes his head.

Quietly] I can't leave my Father. I...I'm sorry, I can't.

[They have every reason to believe they will be reunited shortly and he knows what Father would want for him. Even so, there is the chance that something will go wrong. Or perhaps that everything will go right but that they will take too long. He can't leave his father to an unknown fate. What if something happened while he was gone? What if there was another riot and some deadbeat got in a lucky shot? What if the guards discovered their escape and Damian's connection to Bruce, and punished him in his stead?]

It was not my intention to deceive you. [He simply hadn't been honest with himself.]

You mortals ...

[ for a hot moment, Loki looks offended—hand-to-his-chest, honesty to the Norns offended. ]

They'll be able to see through your unfortunate facial hair before they're able to catch wind of my illusions. [ there's a hot tone to his voice and a tilt of his head in Bruce's direction. ] You can trust me on that.

[ if it's something that Loki doesn't do halfway, it's illusions. ]

You haven't.

[ deceit is one thing. damian is a kid only now realizing he'll be separated from his parent. temporarily, of course. but a separation is a separation and damian is just a kid.

turning his back on the panel, anakin faces damian. he takes a knee so they are near eye-level. there is no hint of censure to be found in anakin's eyes. if anything, his features have softened in understanding. he still makes his case, however. damian is a kid, yes. and he'll be better off the farther from this prison as possible. ]

But Damian, think. It's a risk for you to go back. There are guards everywhere between here and the cell block. If you run into trouble, I'm not going to be able to help. And you know your dad would want you to go. [ his hand finds damian's shoulder. the durasteel fingers squeeze gently. ] You'll see him again.

[ deadpan, ] No offense.

[ no emphasis on the dead part even if he is, in fact, mortal and did actually die that one time. but we don't talk about that because he has no idea.

digression aside, bruce is as convinced as he is capable of being under present circumstances. a few months ago, trust would have been a laughable exercise. in present time, he is willing to extend it for as long as he is not given a reason to withhold it.

and right now there's a little boy relying on him putting on a show. ]

Make me into shadows. A monster without a given form or face. Something unavoidable.

[ darkness and not knowing. primal fears. weaponize the elemental to induce a panic. it's what gotham does best, and he is, twice over, gotham born and gotham bred. ]

[ the trust part is always ironic.

there's just an easy cock of his brow at the tone, a Look that comes from beneath a dark brow, as if he were finding a way of being annoying without opening his mouth. ]

All out on the first date, hm?

[ there's an enticing wiggle of his fingers, green tendrils curling up like smoke between them. ]

Shadows it is.

[ he stretches his arm behind his head, almost to the elbow, dropping back against a wall. ]

Shall we?

Now's not really the time for a light touch.

[ bruce sounds — not annoyed, nor offended. on edge: as he had to be to pick a fight with the first scaled monster to cross his path; as he must be to immediately opt for the terrible. another in the know, and one with an anxious, distinct interest in success. his eyes are narrowed, intense. ]

Where do you want me?

[He has risked far more for far less, and he knows his mind is already made up.]

I will be fine. It's not the first time I've had to make my way through a heavily guarded prison undetected on my own. Such is the life I have chosen. [He is Robin. He can not leave Batman without someone to watch his back. If Drake ever got anything right in his entire life, it was that Batman needed a Robin, always.]

You are correct that he would want me to go, but that is because he will be thinking of what he believes is best for me, and not what is best for him. He would not leave me and I will not leave him. Families shouldn't be separated, Skywalker.

[ no. families should not be separated. but where damian would try to remind anakin of the wife who was taken, anakin's mind is split: part remaining in the present; the other further in the past. anakin is nine-years-old again, telling his mother he cannot leave her. he can feel the heat of her palm against his cheek. see her tired, beautiful face when he tells her he will see her again. hear her quiet urging: be brave. don't look back. don't look back.

he didn't, then. he knew if he did he would never leave. so he did as she said. he did as she said because anakin didn't like to misbehave. not to his mother. and he promised her he would come back for her.

he should have turned. he should have gone back sooner. he should never have left.

the distant look in his eyes hollows. anakin's features draw close, and fragile, a glass through which one can see but darkly. he breathes in — a delicate sound — and his features smooth. it is his human hand, which he lifts to damian's face, brushes away the dark hair. ]

You're a brave kid. Braver than I was at your age. [ a strange smile transforms his face. it cannot be called happy; it cannot be called sad. ] If you want to stay, stay. I won't force you.

Aboard the ship is my lightsaber. It's a silver hilt with black ridges. If you can find a way to where the weapons are kept before I get back, find it. Use it. It'll protect you, and it'll protect your dad. That's why I made it: to protect what matters.

[ he should rise. he should get back to work. he should be climbing into the escape pod and firing away from the ship. but a sense of finality keeps him rooted. not a warning; not a whisper of danger. rather, as if this is not simply an until later, but a goodbye.

anakin's hand comes to a rest over damian's heart. ]

You have a good heart. Better, actually, than you think. Trust in it, and trust in yourself. [ anakin rises smoothly to his feet. he smiles. ] The Force will be with you.

[ this is definitely a difficult one to poke, but no less satisfying. Loki doesn't seem put-off, nor intimidated, but perhaps a little curious. he meets the riot with a casual ease that only a god of chaos can possess, finding his own home in the center of uncertainty.

the noise continues, and Loki lifts his hands as the bright green turns dark. with a slide of his boots he slips around Bruce, the smoke wafting around him as if it had all the time in the world. ]

Where ever you think there'd be the most chaos to be had.

[ as the illusion wraps around him, he starts to turn into wisps of darkness, as if he were there, but not as solid. the intricate threads of reality called. ]

Do you want teeth too? I can do teeth.

[There is something about Anakin Skywalker that Damian can not identify or describe, something that draws him to Anakin like no one else has ever drawn him. It is different from the need for his father or the pull that Dick Grayson has, different from anyone he's ever met. He isn't blind to how quickly his attachment to the man had grown and only some of it can be explained by the extreme circumstances under which they'd met.

It will be a long time before he can recognize the draw for what it is, years before he will understand the feeling of looking into a fractured mirror and seeing pieces of himself reflected back at him.

But while he may not understand the allowances he has made for this man or the bizarre connection he feels with him, he can still count its worth. And he can understand a goodbye when he hears one even if that's not what this should be. (He denies it even as he hears it, brushes it off as a groundless fear.) The separation is temporary, things will go according to plan.

Damian's heart aches at the words and the emotions they drag out him nonetheless. They shouldn't mean as much as they do, but he finds his eyes feel hot without reason and he forces a painful swallow over a lump in his throat.]

This is going to seem very melodramatic when I see you in a short while. [His voice is light and teasing but his eyes betray how much Anakin's words mean to him. Damian takes a step back after Anakin has risen and then stops suddenly, the finality that surrounds them holding him back.]

You are a good friend, Skywalker and that is not a word I dole out often or lightly. I am grateful to have been imprisoned with you. [With one last half smile he moves back.]

I'll see you soon.

[ there is nothing else to be said. anakin lowers his chin in an answering nod. his hands drop.

on his feet once more, he finishes his work. the pod's door slides open. the space inside is small, enough only for the bodies to occupy it and no more. much of the installation is given over to life support rather than flight control. the force blooms open in his mind as if coordinates were printed in the air. anakin takes control of the limited navigation to input them, overriding the controls. he gives himself further to the force, settling into a space of the next ten seconds, which guides his fingers in their tasks. he does not look behind him again.

the door closes. the airlock seals.

and anakin skywalker's pod ejects alone into the vast emptiness of space. ]

[ it makes for a surreal experience. watching his very form dissolve into inky shreds that absorb the light. he feels as solid as he has ever been, which further feeds the disconnect. he watches his fingers thin and elongate into streamers that vanish into the mass. the black seems to absorb the light around it greedily.

the dark become a living being. the alien behind them blinks still dazed eyes, and flinches away from the sight.

this will do. ]

There is something called subtlety.

[ which you know literally nothing about considering you just asked to be a shadow monster. ]

Edited 2017-07-22 15:14 (UTC)

You've already missed the memo.

[ it's not like he hasn't caught that, Brooce. this is over the top already, even for him.

yet he still pauses to admire his work, watching the shadows lick around the shape of a human, turning it into something else. he wonders if it feels comfortable, or if there's some level of dissonance that plays with the senses. while Loki may look like a human, his perceptions are far different, the way that he interacts with reality is a testament to his divinity.

so, he gives him teeth. rows, and rows of sharp teeth, angled in all direction like he's crawled out from the deepest part of the ocean. ]

Let's embrace some chaos, shall we? You first ... [ and he gives a long gesture to the nearest corner. ]

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event: prison disturbance

closed. damian.

fiona / open

Loki | Open

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