Chapter 7: Breakout
"NO!"
The Kree guards forced Carol and the rest of the team back, four in all and as strong as she was without the dampeners attacked to her, if not for those dampeners the team might have taken a shot at freeing Riley from the guards…
Unfortunately they were on full power.
The Kree officer in charge glared at her.
"Stay back mongrel," he snarled, "The doctor needs to continue this Terran's education, red mark or no, you get in the way we are authorized to use force!"
Carol glared at the Kree soldier, part of her was tempted to push the issue, bur Riley shook his head no., but he did so with a slight smile on his face.
So far everything was going according to plan.
"It is alright," the SHIELD agent said, "I'll go with them; just keep a place warm for me when I get back."
Carol nodded, that was the code word, now they just had to…
Angry chittering caused the guard in the back to spin around; he tripped on the small figure near his legs.
He spun around, stunner at the ready.
"HEY YOU ALMOST STEPPED ON ME PAL!" Rocket snarled, "Don't go glaring at me because you forgot how to walk."
The Kree looked like he was about to clobber the small alien, but his officer roared something in his native tongue.
The soldier stood at attention.
"Dr. Minn Erva is waiting for this prisoner," the leader growled, "We don't have time for correcting rodents right now."
Rocket hissed at the guards as they passed by. Riley caught the tiny alien's regard as they left chamber.
Rocket nodded.
He had gotten what he needed off that guard, and with Carol causing the distraction, no one had been the wiser.
Adair smiled slightly.
Rocket had boasted that he had broken out of twenty prisons during his short life…
It looked like he was going to make it twenty one.
IOI
Carol watched the guards pretty much drag Riley to the small lift that led up to the surface. Dane and Crystal stayed close to Liz while Hercules, Tigra, and Groot kept Rocket hidden from the cameras that the guards used to monitor this section of the cell block. She was not sure how the large tree-like alien knew where those cameras were, but it was clear from Rocket's confidence, that what was about to happen next was going according to plan.
There was just one problem though…
She hated this plan.
She hated everything about it.
It was bad enough that they were using Riley to keep Minn Erva busy, to know that he was being tortured and experimented on right now just to buy the smarmy little rodent the time he needed to get this escape plan of theirs rolling.
Sadly, they had no choice, none of them could pilot a space ship, and Rocket apparently could.
They would need that if they even wanted to see earth again.
She heard the tiny alien humming to himself as he worked. It had taken days to gather the bits of junk he needed to get things rolling. A source here, a part of a broken guard communicator there. To Carol it looked like the little creature just liked shiny bits of junk, but seeing his fingers move swiftly over the components, she did not doubt that he had some skill.
She just hoped that it would be enough.
Tigra hissed softly to herself.
"What is it now?" Rocket snorted.
"Are you sure you know what you are doing?"
The alien snorted.
"Would you like to take a shot at it striped girl? Do you understand standard Kree communication protocol? The tone system they use to handle their automated equipment? How about the dampeners' internal locking mechanism, the ones that fit into your spine? If you want to take over I'm willing to let you do the busy work."
Tigra hissed. Clearly what the little alien said was Greek to her.
He chuckled.
"Then let me work my magic. Everyone be ready, when things start happening, they are going to happen fast."
He glanced up at Carol.
"Your boyfriend better be right about this Blondie. Kree protocols are quite clear on what happens here during prison breaks. The few survivors from the last one attempted here did not tell us what we needed to know easily."
She glared at him, not that fact that he was questioning the plan or Riley…
..But that he called Riley her boyfriend.
"Riley knows what he is doing Rocket," she said, "Just do your part, and let him do his."
The raccoon sighed.
"Let's just hope that the blue guys have not completely scrambled his brains by the time I'm finished."
Carol winced.
In that, she and the alien was in agreement, the success of this plan depended on Riley being right about Minn Erva, and what that Kree warship would do once word of the break reached it.
One misstep could lead to the death of them all, but what choice did they have? They were all dead if they stayed here.
It was now or never.
Escape or die.
She felt tense, not scared, and just tense, like the first time she had ever flown on a combat mission. The same jittery nerves, but that was all.
Rocket continued humming as he worked. Damn it! Why couldn't the alien just finish his work in silence, that humming was starting to…
"Got it," he purred.
She turned, looking at the strange device he had cobbled together out of his bits of junk.
Rocket gave her a predatory smile.
"We'll give your boyfriend a few more minute to get to the lab before we set this baby off. Then we will see if he is right about all this.
Carol glared at him.
He is not my boyfriend, she thought.
But he was likely their only hope.
IOI
The guards forced Adair down hard onto Minn Erva's operating table, they moved quickly securing his arms and legs, mechanical arms whirred as they readying the implant injectors preparing for the next stage of Riley's indoctrination process.
He did not struggle. Unlike his previous sessions here, this was all part of the plan, he needed to keep the doctor occupied, and hope that she would do what he expected her to when the trouble started.
Minerva, like all the Kree here were extremely arrogant. She spoke to freely in here, confident in the impregnability of her little prison. That and she continued to try to instill in him a sense of Kree superiority, all for the purpose of speeding his conversion as a sleeper agent.
Today, she would learn just how successful she had been.
The guards left as the Doctor entered, her red and black scientist jumpsuit stood out brightly in the dim lighting. A cruel smile graced her blue features; her long black hair tumbled down to her shoulders.
"And how are we today Agent Add Dair?" she cooed.
He ignored seductive tones of her speech; it was just another type of manipulation, trying to make him into her puppet, as she had done Captain Att Las.
Minerva wasn't a woman; she was a spider sitting in the center of her web. He had no desire to be devoured by such a predator, still he needed to keep her distracted a little while longer.
"Hello Dr. Minn Erva," he said in a flat monotone, "How are you?"
She smirked at him.
"Civility? Interest, perhaps things are progressing better than I have thought Agent Add Dair."
He almost smiled.
She had no idea.
She lifted a metal pad, typed in several commands. Lights began to flash on the table on which he lay.
He took a deep breath, readying himself for the next bout of pain.
"I think we shall proceed to the next two levels of indoctrination today," she said conversationally, "Your body had taken quite well to the initial physical implants, I think we will need to accelerate the program."
"You know what is best Doctor," he replied.
Again Minn Erva smiled.
"Well said agent, well said."
She leaned over the table at him, staring at him with those dark cool eyes of hers.
She smiled seductively, running her finger down his bare chest.
"One day," she purred, "Your people will recognize you as a savior, the man that elevated them, and brought them into the hands of their betters. I hope you understand that."
He smiled slightly. The gentle pulse of light and throbbing at his temples already starting to make his head spin, his thoughts swim with knowledge that was not his own.
He tried to stay focused on the now.
He thought of Atlanta.
He thought of Carol.
"I always wanted to be hero doctor," he confessed, "Unfortunately, few people ever are called that word until after they are long dead, and many that do die heroically die with no one knowing their names."
She chuckled.
"I never thought you fatalistic Agent Add Dair?"
His smile widened.
"I'm merely commenting on my current situation," he hissed fighting the indoctrination.
"Soon I will be dead and you with me."
"And who is going to kill me," she said, "your SHIELD no doubt thinks you and yours are long dead, and even if they did not, they could not reach us here."
"I wasn't taking about SHIELD," he said, "I was talking about Black 19 special protocol AA15"
The doctor's lips pursed.
"What did you say?"
"Protocol AA15, Doctor, your initial testing of my mind included many such unclassified protocols, you wanted to see if my mind could handle the load remember?"
She glared at him, no longer toying with him.
"What are you talking about Terran? Those protocols only go into effect if massive loss of control is experienced in this facility."
"Exactly Doctor," he replied, "Exactly."
Suddenly every loud speaker system in the prison let out a piercing high pitched wail. It grew louder and higher and pitch by second. Minn Erva clapped her hands over her ears. Riley struggled but was still bound to the table. The whine hurt, but he did not mind it.
It was all part of the plan.
Minerva glared at him, her face a mask of rage.
"What is going on Terran?" she snapped, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"NOT ME DOCTOR, THE AVENGERS!" he shouted back.
Electronics in the lab overloaded technicians ripped off their headsets as their monitoring devices overloaded, doors triggered automatically, becoming locked in the open position. Dampener fields failed all over the prison, several guards were blown into outer space when a door failed, and one survivor was only barely able to reach the manual override.
The last dampeners to fail were in Minn Erva's lab, the automatic restraints shut down. The indoctrination equipment failed.
Riley's bonds came away.
Minn Erva moved with all her Kree strength, she grabbed Riley's wrists trying to force him back onto the table.
When he had first arrived it would have worked perfectly, but she had been in a hurry to tell her superiors of her success, she had been working on his body as much as she had his mind, giving him upgrades.
He used those upgrades now.
He broke her grip, and back handed her.
He was not as strong as Kree soldier, but with the dampeners offline he was stronger than he had been before his arrival.
The doctor staggered back, tripping over one of her machines.
Riley sprang from the table. A technician tried to make it to the alarm.
Riley was on him in seconds, He used his new strength to snap the tech's neck. It was a little more brutal then he was used to, but given the circumstances they had little choice.
Escape or die.
The doors hissed open; two guards strode in, Kree protocols demanded that they secure the facility quickly, before Protocol AA15 was tripped.
Riley flung the dead tech at the guards tangling them up in his arms and legs.
He leaped on them using the body to push them over, again they were physically stronger, but the whine was in their helmet comms now as well, throwing off their equilibrium, and likely giving them a splitting headache.
At least that is what Rocket promised it would do.
He was able to get an energy weapon from one of the guard's belts. He shot them both in the mouths before they had a chance to recover.
Again, a little more brutal than he liked, but time was short.
Rocket had promised him a full prison riot would be happening right now, they needed to act quickly before…
Riley screamed.
The energy blast struck him in the back was not fired from any weapon; it had come from Minn Erva herself…
…Another of her genetic enhancements.
He rolled with the blast, her shoulder badly burned, but still functional.
He fired several blasts at the Kree bitch. She tried to take flight, but the lab's low ceiling worked against her.
He tackled her pushing her hard against the wall.
She glared at him.
"FOOLS," she snarled, "Do you not realize what you have done?!"
He flashed her a feral grin.
"I have a pretty good idea yeah."
The facility shook beneath their feet, it sounded like the party that Rocket had started on the prison level was spreading, and with the dampeners offline, everyone should now be at full strength, prisoners and guards both.
It would make the fighting a little more even.
Minn Erva glared hatefully at him.
"I will dissect the Dan Vers woman while you watch Add Dair! She will know that you are the reason that she had to die that way, and you will have to live your life knowing that you killed her!"
He backhanded the scientist; she spat blood and glared anew at him.
He was just about to strike her again when he heard screaming in the hall outside. Two Kree guards went flying into the now smoldering lab.
Riley did not take his eyes off Minerva; the cunning Kree was too dangerous to turn his back on.
"RILEY!"
He heard her voice and he smiled.
She might not have been Agent May, but she was definitely the cavalry.
Carol flew into the room, Rocket riding on her shoulders, followed closely by Hercules, Dane, Crystal, Tigra, Groot, and a very angry looking Red She Hulk.
It seemed that without the dampeners they all had their powers back, and with it a fighting chance.
IOI
Carol glared at Minerva, after the weeks of mental and physical torture; she looked ready to rip the blue woman's head off.
She did not get a chance.
The facility shook again, but this time, the source of the explosion was outside, on the surface. It was followed by another rattling blast and then another.
Minn Erva laughed.
"You have doomed yourselves," she crowed, "Att Las is aware of what is happening! Protocol AA15 is in effect."
She grinned triumphantly at the Avengers.
"We are all going to die down here!"
If she expected fear or begging she got none of it.
Rocket Raccoon chuckled, and said one word she would not have expected in this situation.
"Perfect."
