Dishonored

Chapter Two: Escape from Coldridge

Dragging himself to his feet, and doing a sort of shamble over to the now open door to his cell, Corvo had to touch the iron bars and move them outward a little just to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. Nope, the door was definitely unlocked, and he was leaning closer to see if someone was watching him from down the corridor, when for former Lord Protector felt something crinkle underneath his feet.

It was a piece of paper that someone had left for him at the bottom of the door, and taking another look down the corridors as far as he could to make sure he wasn't being watched, Corvo bent down to pick it up. However, the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears before he could look at the note, so he pulled the door shut so that no one would notice that it was unlocked, and stuck the paper into the back of his pants like someone would do with a pistol.

"Well, Corvo, this is it, I'm afraid." A guard said as he walked up to the cell. "My shift's ending, and I'm off tomorrow, so I'm afraid I won't be there to watch you shit yourself when they hang you, or behead you, or whatever they're going to do."

"Yeah, I bet you'll lose sleep over it." He replied, putting his hands on the bars. "I'll be sure to think about you during the event, if that helps."

The guard laughed at this remark, moving a little closer to the cell door, before remarking on how he was going to miss Corvo's unbreakable wit, since most prisoners became docile little sheep after the first month, at the most. This man was also one of the ones who had taken the most pleasure in the daily beatings that were given to him, often making sure to be one of the ones hitting him, instead of being content to hold him down.

"Hey, Corvo, I just gotta ask you one thing before the end." The guard continued, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. "There's rumors all around Dunwall, but I just gotta know… is Emily Kaldwin your daughter? If she is, that would mean you had your way with the Empress before, so… Jessamine was always so proper in public, but tell the truth, did she like to have her hair pulled? Did you put her on her back, or did she like to be bent…

Most likely there was no end to the guard's inappropriate speech in sight, so Corvo ended it for him, interrupting the words by shoving the bar door into his face as hard as he could. Gasping with pain and surprise as the door broke his arrogant little nose, Corvo grabbed the guard before he could recover, pulled him so that his back was on the doorframe, and then he pulled the door closed even harder, slamming it into the guard's face with a muffled bang!

Bang-bang-bang-bang! The guard's face was heavily bloodied by the time Corvo stopped hitting him with the door, and the man was so dazed that the former Lord Protector had no problem pulling him into the cell, where he collapsed to the floor. Still partially awake, though, the guard tried to stop him when he pulled the sword from his belt, but Corvo ended this resistance by punching him in the mouth with the sword's hilt… making the guard spit out a tooth before losing consciousness.

Setting down the stolen sword, Corvo then took the guard's keys, before removing the unconscious man's clothes and boots as well. They were just about the same size, so Corvo left him lying there naked while he put on the uniform, only then remembering the strange note that he still hadn't read. So he took it out, unfolded the now heavily crinkled piece of paper, and saw that it read:

Emily can be saved from captivity.

The Empire can be freed from tyrants.

The Lord Protector can escape from prison.

Make your way to the sewers.

There had been a few attempts to break someone out of Coldridge before, all of which ended in failure, but all of those had been tried by using brute force or explosives. Corvo had never heard of an attempt that involved simply having a cell door unlocked, and then making the prisoner find his own way out… but maybe this could work… especially if Corvo Attano still appeared unconscious from his daily beating.

For this sudden idea to work, the guard would have to look more like a prisoner, so the former Lord Protector took dirt from the floor and rubbed it all over his unconscious body, before dressing him in the foul-smelling rags that all prisoners wore. He then dragged him over to the cot against the wall, positioning him so that it looked like he had passed out while trying to get into bed… with his head conveniently ending up in the shadows.

"Have fun explaining this to your Watch Commander, kid." Corvo said, walking out and locking the door. "You might be in here for a while."

Well, he was out, and after making sure to toss the note into a nearby furnace, Corvo had to keep his own head in the shadows as well. No matter how badly they had treated them, these guards were loyal to the Empress, and simply doing their jobs… except for the one who had so openly disrespected her memory by asking what she was like in the bedchamber. This meant that he didn't want to kill any of them, unless absolutely necessary.

This also meant not doing anything crazy, like freeing the other prisoners in order to cover his escape, even though that would probably make things a lot easier for him if he did. No, there would be no alarms, no riots, no killing… all he had to do was keep his head down, and since he was already shambling from the beatings, all he had to do was grumble things like: 'Tired, going home.', and the other guards either nodded, or commented that they felt the same way.

A few times, Corvo had to take the long way around, in order to avoid more populated check-points, and this was fairly easy, since he knew all the lesser used routes throughout the prison. This knowledge came from the guards using these routes while moving him to different places, so that they could beat him even more without being seen by anyone who might have a problem with that kind of treatment.

So far, his plan of avoidance seemed to be working, allowing the former Lord Protector to round corners, and move up staircases without so much as being noticed… that is, until he was passing by the interrogation chamber, and the door suddenly flew open, nearly hitting him in the face as the guard in charge of interrogations came walking out. Corvo had been watching down another corridor, leaving him unable to keep from gasping when he jumped back… and the interrogator just stood there in shock for a moment upon seeing his face.

With as caught off guard as the former Lord Protector was at the moment, the interrogator might have been able to sound the alarm or call for help, if he hadn't been shocked by seeing him as well… and this hesitation cost the interrogator dearly, when Corvo grabbed him by the front of the shirt, and rammed his head into the interrogator's mouth. The big man spit out some blood as Corvo drove him back into the interrogation chamber, and after pulling the heavy door shut, he immediately rammed his knee into the interrogator's stomach.

The big man tried to call for help, but only managed to let out a wheezing sound before Corvo grabbed him by the face, and shoved him backwards into the torture chair. All yelling stopped, though, when the former Lord Protector drew the stolen sword, and put it at the interrogator's throat, ordering him to very slowly put the ankle restraints on himself, as well as one hand. See, unlike the other guards who were doing their jobs, this man had heard all the treasonous plots of the Lord Regent… and done nothing… nothing, except torture Corvo, that is.

"Tell me something." Corvo said, using his free hand to lock the final wrist restraint. "You stood here, listening to all the confessions of Hiram and Campbell, time and time again, but you did nothing. Just tell me why? Why would you allow all this to happen?"

The interrogator opened his mouth and started to say something, but was stopped when the former Lord Protector took the sword away from his neck… and quickly slashed the blade across the big man's mouth… not interested in his excuses for such disloyalty. The interrogator cried out, blood running down from his mouth like a waterfall as his lower lip and front half of his tongue, both having been severed by the blade, flew across the room.

Spitting out enough blood and teeth for him to be able to speak again, the big man started screaming and yelling, none of which could be understood while Corvo walked over to the workbench at the far end of the room. There he grabbed the handle of the hot iron poker that was stuck in the furnace, and pulled it out, revealing the tool to be just as hot now as when it had been used on him earlier.

"Do you know what's great about this room?" The former Lord Protector asked, walking back toward the interrogator. "Screams and calls for help come from here all the time… so no one is going to come running in when I do this."

He then grabbed the big man by the hair, pulling his head back as far as it would go, before there was a sizzling sound as he shoved the poker into the interrogator's mouth. The big man kicked and pulled against the restraints, just as uselessly as Corvo had done under his watch, but not as silently. A few seconds later he passed out from the pain, leaving his mouth a charred empty maw when the former Lord Protector dropped the poker on the floor.

"Disloyal dog." Corvo grumbled, walking toward the other door of the room.

Once outside the interrogation room, it was back to his original plan of keeping away from all the other guards, although there were less of them around the closer he got to the front gate. It was strange, Corvo had expected the guards to constantly be on high alert in case anyone tried anything, but most of them were just kind of lazily moving about the corridors, or sitting at their desks, hardly paying attention to anything at all.

After all, this was Coldridge Prison, and only an idiot would try to escape or break in. Normally, he would have said something to the Warden about this lack of awareness and security, but in this case it enabled Corvo to walk right out the front door, with only having to exchange polite waves with the guard in the control booth, who was clearly too far away to see the faces of those coming in and out.

With an electric clang and whirr, the main gate slowly opened, and once he was through… just another guard going home after finishing his shift… the former Lord Protector was able to breathe fresh air for the first time in six months. The freshness wasn't going to last, however, since the note had told him to go to the sewers… and down under the bridge that connected the prison to the rest of Dunwall… there was an open sewer grate, where water was lightly trickling into the nearly stagnant river.