Prison Break Chapter 1

By: Cadet Deming

After the events Captain America: Civil War, the Avengers on the losing side find adjusting to life on and escaping from "The Raft" prison harder than expected. PG-13 for language and action. I don't own the rights to the Avengers, so please don't sue. Includes characters from the movies and comics, no major original characters. Please read and review.

Sam Wilson felt like his wings had been clipped. His head was covered with a black fabric bag, his wrists were shackled behind his back, and he had no idea where the metal winged flight suit that had become such an extended part of him had been taken to. He felt like he had been swallowed up by darkness.

His only consolation was that at least his teammates from the Anti-Registration fight, the ones who had sided with him to follow Steve Rogers and fight signing away their freedom to the Sokovia Accords were with him too.

Scott Lang said, "Hey, if it helps you guys I've been in prison before. I can show you the ropes. I'm not totally useless without the Ant-Man suit!"

Sam questioned if being with his teammates was such a positive thing after all.

Sam said, "Remind me why I recruited you again?"

Scott said, "That was uncalled for. Haven't we had enough infighting?"

Clint Barton interrupted them, "I've been in prison too and one of the first things I learned was keep your mouth shut. I can't hear myself think."

Wanda Maximoff, the only female and only person with actual superhuman abilities chimed in, "I can't hear you think either. I can't hear anyone think. It is like my telepathy is gone. It is as if they are… dampening it somehow. I just hear…static."

Sam listened. There was an electric hum like an elevator, but no sounds of the outdoors. No birds singing, no cars driving by, just an eerie silence. The air felt unnaturally thick, and the air pressure popped in his ears.

Sam said, "We're going down. It feels like way down, underground or something. Where are we?"

Sam felt a touch of claustrophobia. As a child he had grown up in a basement apartment in Harlem, too many kids crowded into too little space. He dreaded walking down the rickety stairs to the musty, moldy smell of "home." His earliest idea of freedom was going up to the roof of the tenement building and watching the pigeons fly out over the city. Sam questioned if he would ever feel freedom again.

The floor stopped moving and he heard an elevator door open in front of him. Grey light peeked through the fabric that blinded him.

A woman said, "Step forward please. All of you."

He walked forward and someone pulled the bag off of his head. They were surrounded by guards and a tall blonde woman. The woman wore a black suit and heels. The guards were heavily armed and had weapons trained on his group.

Sam took a quick glance at the other Avengers and Scott. Wanda's eye makeup had been smudged as if she had been crying. Clint squinted appraisingly at their surroundings, as if he was studying for how to escape. Scott looked like he was struggling to seem tough, but Sam could see the nervousness on his face.

The woman said, "Welcome to the Raft. We're the highest security prison in the world. No one has ever escaped. My name is Doctor Karla Sofen, Lead Psychiatrist for the Department of Superhuman Containment and Director of Prisoner Relations. Walk with me and I'll show you around."

She turned tail and the guards jostled him forward. Dr. Sofen's heels clicked loudly against the metal floor. The soles of her shoes were an expensive bright red. Her walk was a confident sway.

Sofen said, "Each of you will spend 90% of your time in an enforced cell. You will be allowed a half hour each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You get one hour maximum in the exercise room. Showers are 20 minutes only, men at 7 AM and female prisoners at 6:30 AM."

Sam noted she made no mention of a prison yard. He wondered how far underground they were. He smelled the dampness he associated with being underground. This wasn't moldy so much as…salty?

Scott said, "You mean we have a co-ed prison but we don't get co-ed showers? What's the point of being here?"

Sofen said, "The point Mr. Lang, is you have been deemed a danger to society and need to be contained."

Scott said, "No rehabilitation? No parole? No chance to see my daughter?"

Clint said, "Yeah about that, I've got a wife and three kids. Am I ever gonna get to see them?"

Sofen turned towards him. "We don't have visitation because no one without a need to know is aware of where we are. The President of the United States doesn't even know where we are. And if you are so concerned about your family Mr. Barton, maybe you should have thought of that before committing treason against the United Nations."

Clint gave her a death glare. She smirked back at him.

The floor grumbled. A low roar bellowed.

Wanda frowned and asked, "Are you keeping the Hulk here?"

Sofen sighed, "No. Not yet, but Secretary Ross is working on locating him. We have something much worse. We have a lot of…things that are much worse here."

Sam wondered how bad they were if she called them "things' instead of people.

Sam asked, "Are we gonna meet the other prisoners?"

"You'll meet some of the less dangerous ones. In the sense that Mussolini was less dangerous than Hitler."

Clint asked, "How far underground are we?"

Dr. Sofen laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh at all, but full of condescension.

She said, "We aren't under the ground. We're under the ocean. We're so far under the ocean that outside of this complex if you tried to escape the water pressure would crush you to death if you didn't drown on the way up."

Scott asked, "Is it too late to send us to Guantanamo Bay? A Siberian gulag? A hard labor work camp? My ex mother-in law's beach house?"

A guard pressed his weapon into Sam's back and they started walking again.

Clint muttered "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

Wanda sighed, "We are here because we deserve to be."

Sam said, "Don't say that. That isn't true. I have faith."

Wanda said bitterly, "Faith in what? In Jesus?"

Sam said, "Faith in Steve Rogers. He's gotta get us out of here."

To be continued.