Caleb felt the metal slice his hand, yet refused to let go as his heart leapt to silence that followed the heavy splash of the cart into the water.. But he could her the irritated tapping of a foot, and pulled himself from hanging off the edge of the cart-rail to see Will standing above him; her arms crossed, and her face crosser as she glowered down at him. "Don't be an idiot."

"Yeah," Caleb grinned, as the girls and Julian landed behind her on the rail, clapping and grinning to contrast Will's seriousness. "I'm glad you're alive too.."

"Cornelia." Will's low growl wasn't a good sign, but Caleb found himself grinning at her until he realized what she'd meant; Cornelia hooking her arms under his and around his chest to pick him up as Will stared thoughtfully down at the water below and Caleb begged she ignore shouting, because it was echoing too much.. They'd never be able to search long enough.. "Where are they?"

"Up that tunnel." Caleb frowned at Julian, but held a retort because he knew that there was no stopping Will. So they were all going to die.[0] "There are prisoners still chained to the rock base!"

Will was gone before Caleb blinked and he frowned at her when Cornelia and the girls finally caught up to her; standing in front of the prisoners as they yelled out for her, and he pushed away from Cornelia as soon as she landed, recognizing panic all too well as it made it's mark over Will's apologetically desperate face. "You have to cut the chain!"

"Look- I-" Will was losing it; the water was making it's way to her knees, and the men were scrambling to stay dry on rocks as Will stood - thinking as fast as her little brain would allow. It was definitely panic, though, when the solution was painfully obvious, and Caleb nodded as Taranee brought flame to her hands and crashed through the metal links.

Caleb grimaced as he pushed the redhead in the direction of the dry ledge, he himself wading past to look at their supposed exit, andhe tried to console himself as he turned to glare at Julian with more accusation than he knew the man deserved. "We can't get out that way! It's coming in too fast!"

"I could make a hole.. Straight up through the rock, but.." Caleb sighed, as Cornelia looked at Will apologetically. At Least she wasn't just yelling at them.. Though Caleb was starting to think that might be his job, because he was starting to want only to yell at Julian, who hadn't known not to indulge Will when death was almost certain; Will didn't tend to think about things like death.. Not until Caleb was already pulling her away from it. "The lake water would just come in faster!"

"If there was something airtight that we could get inside..?" It hadn't sounded like a question, but Will bit her lip and looked around; a few men shrugging before they looked to her.

"There's the guard's room?"

...

Will smiled to the older man, and tried to ignore Caleb's forcefulness of pushing herself and Taranee in after Hay Lin, but Cornelia and Irma flew in and Will's eyes widened when she heard shouting from outside. "Guards."

Will stared at Caleb's father; the man waved it away as though it didn't matter, but the shouting continued and she could hear the water lapping off the walls around them, and Hay Lin's eyes stared out to Caleb sadly, "They're people too!"

"Hay Lin, they are going to kil-" The shouting got louder, and Caleb seemed to cut off as soon as she'd closed her eyes and began shaking her head. She'd never really thought, about how many people the others might've injured, but she knew that right at this moment, she wasn't about to listen to them die.

"Let them in! Get the door open!" Will grabbed Irma by the shoulders, and faced the girl toward the door; Irma obliging and straining to hold the water from the outside as Caleb frowned, but opened the door as a few guards' eyes widened with stunned relief; praying thanks as they walked in, but Will jumped when a knife pressed against one's neck.

"Weapons. Outside." There was something hard about Caleb's tone, and Will found herself staring anywhere but him in defiance as he strode towards her back, and she pretended she couldn't hear his harshly spoken words. "Next time, we can not save everyone."

Will pouted then, and didn't bother to turn to face him, but she knew he wasn't trying to be mean. It was his job, and Will supposed that his father's presence was just reminding him of that fact, because he had bent the rules; half the time he'd ignored them completely, because as much as he seemed like he was in charge, it was their planet; their game that he was playing. And Will had almost forgotten that people were going to die eventually.. That people already had.. Half of the miners around her looked like they were almost part of what she hoped was a minority, but they were goin to live now, and Taranee sealed the doors, and Cornelia concentrated as she pressed her hand against the floor, and Caleb had moved away, by the time she turned around, and he spoke something -she guessed much alike what he'd said to her- in Hay Lin's ear before she nodded and he smiled.. And Will wish she had just nodded.

[0] So, this makes Caleb sound a little horrible, that he wants to leave them - but he's almost going back into rebel mode, and he's thinking more strategically again; he'd rather 7people live, than everyone dying because they'd gone back.