Free Web NovelChapter 30: Jail Break!
『"All in the name of liberty..."』
Ding!
The sound of an elevator door opening shifted the guards’ attention for exactly one second.
That single second was all Amara, Ethan, and Naomi needed.
Three lightning spears materialized in the air above the distracted guards and dropped with a devastating precision, striking three targets simultaneously, before exploding outward in cascading electrical shockwave that caught half a dozen more in the blast radius.
A barrier snapped into existence around Amara and Ethan, shielding them from the explosion’s range. The concussive force rattled the air, but Ethan’s shield held.
The moment it dropped, Amara didn’t hesitate.
She dashed into the smoke’s cover with Angel’s Bane already manifested, her blue eyes glowing with the enhanced perception of her intent sight.
Even through the obscuring smoke, Truth guided her strikes. She knew exactly where they would turn and how they would aim, revealing their position through the intent of their actions.
She moved like water, disarming guards still standing, striking with the flat of her blade to knock them unconscious rather than kill. They were corrupt, but they were still people. She wouldn’t become a murderer if she could avoid it.
Another swing knocked a rifle away, then another to strike the back of a knee. She followed with a precise thrust to the shoulder that dropped another guard.
When the smoke finally cleared enough to see, they all looked toward the elevator that had opened.
Hiro stood in the doorway. Beside him were Raj, Tova looking terrified, and Andre with frost still coating his hands.
"What are you guys doing here?" Amara asked, relief flooding through her so intensely it almost made her knees go weak.
"Long story," Andre said, eyes scanning the situation calmly. "But we gotta bounce. Like, right now."
"I got stabbed, by the way," Hiro added. "Knitting needle. Right in the gut. Wasn’t pretty."
They were all rushing toward the elevator when another one, several meters behind the guards they’d just disabled, opened with a mechanical hiss.
Dozens more guards poured out, weapons already raised.
Things weren’t looking good. And to make matters worse, the east-side elevator began descending as well, its indicator lights suggesting something was coming down fast.
For all they knew, another batch of soldiers waited behind those doors.
"They’re not allowed to leave this place alive," the warden’s voice echoed from somewhere in the back of the guard formation. Then he slipped away, disappearing into the north elevator.
The new wave of guards opened fire immediately.
Ethan manifested four layers of shields in front of their group while they ran, boots pounding against metal flooring as energy blasts struck the shields one after another.
The first layer shattered like breaking glass. The second followed seconds later. The blasts tore through the third shield and Amara could see Ethan straining as he poured everything into maintaining that final barrier while they scrambled for safety.
Then the guards switched tactics.
Three of them grabbed RSF-4 grenades, armed the compact devices, and threw.
As the grenades arced through the air towards them, Ethan’s eyes widened. "Get Back!"
BOOM!
Everything went white. Then red. Then nothing but ringing silence.
Amara found herself on the ground, ears screaming, dust and debris raining down around her. Naomi was beside her, barely moving, but also apparently unharmed.
They’d been protected. But at what cost?
She blinked away the spots dancing across her vision and looked up.
Ethan was still standing in front of them. His uniform was torn to shreds, blood running from dozens of cuts across his exposed skin. His force field flickered weakly, struggling to maintain cohesion.
These were weapons designed to bring down Tyrants. And Ethan had taken the full force of three grenades to protect them.
"Ethan!" Amara screamed, scrambling toward him.
"No!" Hiro and Raj grabbed her arms and pulled her toward their elevator even as she struggled against them. While Andre scooped up Naomi.
Ethan turned back to face Hiro, Raj, and Andre. "Get them out of here." Blood dripped from his chin as he spoke.
"Like hell!" Amara tried to wrench free. "I’m not leaving you—" But Raj’s grip was strong, and the guards were advancing, weapons recharging for another volley.
"I’ll be right behind you," Ethan said, and she knew he was lying. But there was no time to argue because the east elevator was opening.
Ding!
The east-side elevator finally opened and an old woman stepped out, the same one from earlier, with messy long grey hair and wild eyes that held no sanity whatsoever.
She gripped two knitting needles fashioned from what looked disturbingly like human bone.
"Where’s my scarf!?" she shrieked, her voice echoing through the space with unhinged anger.
She rushed out with speed that shouldn’t have been possible for someone who looked eighty.
The advancing guards turned toward the new threat, but before their eyes could fully process what they were seeing, she’d already closed the distance.
Three needles strikes were delivered, reconstituting the twitching bodies of three guards into yarn.
She yanked out their insides, not as gore, but as perfectly usable material, and knitted them into a sweater, beanie, and mittens respectively. All within seconds.
Then she wore the clothes with satisfaction.
"Oh shit," Hiro pointed with wide eyes. "It’s the stabby old lady!"
"Go!" Raj released Amara and ran back toward Ethan who was swaying on his feet like a tree in high wind.
"You’re okay, buddy," Raj said gently, wrapping one arm around Ethan’s waist and supporting his weight. "I got you."
He pulled Ethan back toward the elevator where everyone else waited.
When Raj got in, Amara immediately crouched beside Ethan as Raj carefully lowered him to the elevator floor.
She rubbed blood from his face, trying to ground herself in the reality that he was still breathing while holding back tears that threatened to spill. "You idiot," she whispered.
In front of them, as their elevator doors slowly closed, the old lady continued her massacre. Knitting more guards into scarves and socks, choking others with their own intestines, all the while yelling, "my scarf! Where is it?!" the whole time.
Thankfully, she hadn’t noticed them yet.
Inside the ascending elevator, Hiro kept hitting the button despite it already being pressed, trying to make the car go as fast as physically possible.
"Dude, you’re going to break it," Raj said.
"Better than her breaking us." Hiro’s eyes were still fixed on the doors. "Did you see what she did to those guards?!"
Meanwhile, the Warden backed away into the north elevator, abandoning his soldiers to get massacred. The moment the doors closed, he pulled out a communication device.
"You have to make sure Submarine 5 isn’t fit for travel," he said quietly to whoever was on the other end. "They can’t leave here alive."
***
Amara and the others arrived at the upper levels of the Clam to find absolute chaos.
Guards had their hands full trying to restrain escaped prisoners while simultaneously working to restore the suppression system.
The control room was a hive of frantic activity. Technicians shouted contradictory orders as they tried to bring systems back online.
They navigated through the madness toward the emergency evacuation route Professor Gaius had supposedly gathered the rest of their group.
Amara’s eyes never left Ethan, who was being supported between Raj and Andre. His breathing was labored but steady.
"There they are," Raj said, relief evident in his voice as he gestured towards Gaius who stood with Sophia and Hana near one of the submarine airlocks.
"The evil dark organization," Hana declared, hand over her eyepatch. "The evil dark organization thought they could contain my power by staging this prison break," she proclaimed. "How foolish. How predictable."
Sophia walked over quickly. "Thank God. Not sure how many more minutes of that I could take." She gestured at Hana. "I ran out of Cheetos four minutes ago."
Then her eyes shifted to Ethan and widened. "Man. You look like you got run over by a truck... twice."
Ethan managed a weak smile. "Only feels like once. So that’s... something?"
Hiro moved closer to Sophia, lifting his jacket to show the already-healing wound. "I got stabbed, by the way. Wasn’t pretty. Blood everywhere."
"You don’t say," Sophia muttered, barely glancing at it. "You want a medal or something? We’ve all had a shit day."
"I’m just saying, a little sympathy would be nice." Hiro protested.
Sophia glanced at Ethan again who looked like shit and turned to face Hiro. "And I’m just saying that if you show me that wound one more time, I’m going to stab you in the other side so you match."
Hiro tracked her eyes and lowered his jacket. "That’s fair."
Getting sick of their conversations, Naomi blurted out. "Can we get the fuck out of here already?"
"Glad to see most of you are all in one piece," Gaius said. "And as Naomi so gently articulated, let’s get the hell out of here before things get worse."
As they moved toward Submarine 5’s airlock, Amara jogged closer to Gaius and pulled out her smartphone. "Professor. I have evidence that proves the warden and half the Clam’s staff are compromised."
She glanced back at Ethan, who was being supported by Raj and Andre, his torn uniform exposing the extent of his injuries. "The Institute needs to do something about this place. People are being tortured here."
Gaius’s expression darkened. "Lao Zi has always been ambitious. After his power sigil turned grey, cutting off any chance of advancement... I suppose he took a turn for the worse. Who would have expected he’d be involved in an illegal mining operation."
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Good work, Amara. The Director will want to see that evidence immediately."
"Thank you, Professor," Amara said, keeping a smile on her face as her eyes narrowed.
Something felt off. She couldn’t articulate exactly what, just that same crawling sensation she’d felt earlier.
Once they reached Submarine 5, Gaius moved to the hatch and began the opening sequence. "Alright, everyone inside. Quickly now."
Hiro started forward, but Amara’s hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform, yanking him back.
"How about you get in first, Professor," she said calmly.
"We don’t have time for this," Gaius replied. "If what you said about Lao Zi is true, more guards could be coming for you at any moment. We need to evacuate now."
Angel’s Bane manifested in Amara’s hand, and she pointed it directly at him.
The rest of the group reacted with immediate confusion.
"What the hell do you think you’re doing, first year?" Naomi demanded.
"Yeah, Amara," Raj said carefully. "What’s going on?"
Ethan strained to lift his head, blood-crusted eyes trying to focus on her. "Amara...?"
