Ch11
Wufei was heading through the main gate of the yard when a bump came from the man on his right. Wufei knew it was Marcus before the man had run into him and he looked mildly irritated. Good. Wufei was currently the man with the plan. That was how it was going to stay. "Care to spot me on the bench press today?" Wufei pried.
Marcus, knowing that he would have to comply in order to understand what was going to happen, nodded curtly. He waved to two men in his block that went ahead and claimed the weight bench. "I don't enjoy being kept in the dark." He threatened.
"Neither do I." Wufei replied. It was a quick line to provoke. Wufei didn't really care if he pissed him off and Marcus should know that.
They came to a halt facing each other on opposite sides of the weight rack, "Care to go first?" The older man suggested.
"No." Wufei gestured with his hand, "Please you first, I insist. I'll spot you."
The two men that had been holding the bench looked ill at ease at the idea that was proposed, but moved off when Marcus motioned for them to leave. He placed forty-fives on each side of the bar and began once Wufei was in place. Wufei knew by his movements that he was not limited by the weight much. It was obvious he could lift more; he just wanted to make sure there would be no threat. "The man you sent after me. He was on LSD."
"Duh."
Wufei frowned at the dancing eyes staring up at him. "How did you get it in here?"
Marcus snorted, "Yeah. Like I would tell you that."
Wufei nodded. He expected as much. No cooperation among competing thieves. "Can you get anything?"
Marcus frowned as he set the bar back up and sat up on the bench, "Not everything. But most."
Wufei moved to the bench, "If I were to make you a list. Could you get me things?"
"Will you tell me your plans?" Wufei lifted the bar and started lifting the weight.
"Perhaps."
"I will kill you."
Wufei laughed, "I had a friend that used to tell me that."
"What happened to this friend?" Marcus questioned and pressed down on the weight till it touched Wufei's chest. Both interested and a threat.
"He did what he said." Wufei growled and pushed up against Marcus, racking the weight. "He helped throw me in here. He killed me."
Marcus laughed appreciatively at Wufei'saggresion. He was the hardest of the pilots to read when he wanted to be. "Lucky for me you were friends."
"Agreed." Wufei arose from the bench and stretched. "If I make you a list, will you retrieve the goods?"
Marcus paused for a moment and shrugged, "You seem to be the most honest man in here. Will you promise to break my group out?"
Wufei looked around the yard. Donovan was staring at him. Ulviric was watching across the yard. Trent was standing near the grassy patch Wufei usually occupied. Watching.
"Yes."
"Then yes. I will deliver."
Wufei tried not to smirk as he was being escorted to the warden's office. Everything had been slowly moving towards where he wanted it to be. It had taken a while. Longer then he would have hoped actually. But if the small riots, fights and increased drug usage around the facility had suddenly just started then they would suspect something.
This had to take time. It could not be rushed it required patience.
A week after he had met with Marcus he met with him again.
"I need the strongest and fastest men you have in here. Preferably well rounded like me. And I need a thief." Wufei stated.
Marcus smiled at him. "I have two potentials, but I think that you will need to involve some of the other cell blocks in order to get those men."
Wufei nodded. He had suspected so just by looking at the build. A muscle bound meaty inmate wasn't going to be worth anything to him. He needed stealth and speed.
"That's fine and what I expected. My question is what about the thief?"
Marcus smirked at him, "What you don't know?" Wufei raised one eyebrow. "The best thief I know in this jail is your cell mate. Trent."
Wufei frowned. He hadn't seen Trent as a competent thief in any way. He was awkward in his movements and his personality was too audacious for stealth. Then again Maxwell was the same way. How was it the two noisiest people he had ever met were the best at stealth? It made no sense.
Well he would have to confront Trent about this news later. Wufei still couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea.
"Fine. I need there to start being minor scuffles and fights breaking out and steadily increasing for the next month. Can you make that happen?"
Marcus looked at him and nodded. "Why though?"
"To start the build up to the great escape."
So it had been happening...Slowly. It started off as one scuffle between three guys in the yard. And slowly escalated from there. Three days later another one broke out with different men. They waited a week, before another one broke out.
The latest one involved shanks of mattress wire and injury to one guard. The men got sent to solitaire for that. Problem was that they were running out of holding bays in solitary confinement areas.
Wufei asked for a meeting with the warden and Alan Scott had accepted.
So as they rounded the last corridor that Wufei already had mapped out in his head, the guards let him in to the room where the warden was waiting and left.
"Ah, Wufei. What can I do for you today?"
Wufei stood quietly for a moment and stated, "I believe that you are losing control of your prison."
The man frowned at him and shrugged majorly, coming to some decision in his head. "Yes well. There seems to be a buildup of hostile contention in the prison right now. We don't know exactly why." He conceded. "I would hate to think you have anything to do with this?" He looked Wufei over who gave away nothing.
And Wufei shook his head. "No, I don't." Wufei continued on, "What I do have are potential solutions."
"Really?" He seemed skeptical. Not trusting either.
"I don't like the increased hostility, while I'm waiting for a trial date. One might get caught in the action, unnecessarily. If anything else besides my eliminating of a bully T in defense show up on my record while I'm in here it wouldn't look good. And...I'm bored."
The warden looked him over for a second. This was not a man easily fooled, but he was trusting as long as you gave him no reason not to, "Well then, what might these solutions include?"
"Televisions in each wing. It tends to turn people into drones so why not?"
"The potential danger of having that kind of electrical equipment in the cell block-"
"There is no danger. Just mount it correctly, or put it behind some plastic container." Wufei countered.
The warden nodded, still thinking on it. "You have any other ideas?"
Wufei nodded, but hesitated slightly, before saying, "You are not going to like the idea."
"Try me." He said grandly. This was the type of man he was. Potentially progressive and attempting to make friends with his enemies. It made it easier.
"As I'm sure you know about the on-goings of the prison it has probably come to your attention that I practice my martial arts in the yard almost every day." The warden nodded. "Well several other inmates have expressed interest in learning. And before you object consider this. There has been precedence of boxing tournaments in jails to release aggression in its inmates. I think it might be a good way to help keep these outbursts from happening. Especially since only the...less hostile inmates will be subdued by TV." Wufei shrugged, "Perhaps a tournament."
The warden sat at the desk with his hands clasped together on his desk. He did not seem very moved by Wufei's idea. And when he spoke "Let me think about it." That proved to be true.
"Then we are done here." Wufei turned to leave and the warden stopped him with a question.
"So you would be willing to set up a tournament and train anyone who wanted to learn.?" Wufei nodded, "Why?"
Wufei turned with a clean, honest look on his face and lied through his teeth. "I'm bored. I don't like being bored."
The tone he ended it with held a hint of a threat, not obvious, but there.
When Wufei walked into the cafeteria and looked across the hall to Marcus he nodded at him slightly and went into the cafeteria line. Behind him voices started getting louder inmates were getting rowdier and by the time Wufei got his tray and turned. There was a fight going involving three tables. The guards came to quiet them down and it grew into a small riot as they threw whatever they had at the guards.
The guards were quickly pressed out of the cafeteria, and they locked the doors. The inmates were in a full on riot and Wufei watched as it all unfolded. There were cheers and large attempts to yank the bars off the doors and windows.
When it was obvious it was failing they turned to wrecking the facilities. Trent ducked down behind one of the counters near Wufei and Marcus was observing the mayhem on the far side. There was no way this would result in an escape, but the hostility that had been prodded and grown in the last month was starting to explode.
Wufei really had to question how many men Marcus had under his control now. He couldn't tell if this was pent up frustration or people doing what they were told to do by the master puppeteer. It was a little disconcerting.
A man was coming at him with a broken lunch tray; Wufei kicked him in the stomach before he could get close enough to do something. He picked up the tray and snapped it into smaller fragments, tucking them into his pants.
There were smaller fragments of people still going at full intensity in the attempt to rip the place apart. It wasn't often that they were free of guards. The plan was obviously to wait them out. It was simple enough to lock the doors and wait and it would cause the least amount of harm to the prison guards.
Wufei observed that a couple of the guards had been seriously injured in the scuffle before they gave up the cafeteria. They were being evacuated from the immediate area, while the prison equivalent to swat was being called in.
When the swat team showed up the response time was about ten minutes for a riot. Now how big would the response team be?
The prison was in lock down for the remainder of the day. There were no further meals for the day either after the riot at breakfast. Wufei sat quietly on his bunk starring at his hands trying to calculate his next move. Really it depended on the warden's response to a full prison riot...even if it had been contained that kind of issue was not easily over looked.
Those that had not calmed down after the initial orders to lie face down on the floor had ended up in a holding cell in the alley of death row. There weren't any cells available in solitaire so they dropped them into the only free cells they had.
Trent walked back and forth through the tiny cell; he had too much pent up energy. "Sit down."
Trent complied, but did it on Wufei's bed next to him. Wufei quirked an eyebrow at him, but let it go. At least he wasn't running around the cell any more like a mad man.
Trent and him had become...closer over the last three months of planning. Wufei hated the idea of having friends and calling someone a friend, but that was what Trent was becoming, if he wasn't one already.
The rest of his cell block listened to him now. There hadn't been any fights for leadership, since he started establishing his interest as a leader a month ago. He never used it to tell people what to do, but more as a peacemaker. If they wanted to fight with each other he would stop it and make them refocus on what they were doing.
He didn't need anyone messing with his plans and he was still looking for the few that he could use to break out of this place.
A plan was slowly forming in his mind, but there were still several unknowns.
"So why are you in here?" Wufei hazarded.
Trent stiffened where he sat; he had yet to reveal much about himself. Wufei didn't like it. Especially since he was considering the possibility of using him in the plan. "Why do you want to know?" Wufei shrugged and Trent glared. "What are you going to give me if I tell you?"
Wufei looked up at noise outside his cell. One of the guards walked past. They had been patrolling every hour.
"What do you want to know?" Wufei said back, once the guard has finished passing them at a meandering pace.
"How did you end up in here?" Trent asked.
Wufei stared at the cement wall across from him. Deciding. Thinking. Coming to a conclusion.
"Get the fuck off my bed."
The inmate's language was starting to rub off on him. He didn't like it.
Trent shrugged and hopped into his bunk on top, Wufei lay down on the recently vacated space. They remained silent for the rest of the day.
The next morning brought news of cell block lock downs with three breaks in order to use the shower and eat off the carts of rations and granola packets the guards wheeled in. Instead of a free for all at the food cart there was relative order. Wufei made sure of that.
The lock down would last a week. Wufei was not a fan. Everyone was getting restless and, sure, all he had to do was glare down his nose at these people who were all at least a foot taller than him and then the tension would dissipate, but he was getting tired of the various glares he had to distribute.
The second to last day of the week Wufei was pulled from his cell and escorted out of the block. Everyone sat up and took notices, but didn't say anything. Just outside the double sealed doors he came face to face with the warden. He looked grim.
Wufei stood quietly while the two guards were flanking him.
"If we were to do this." He started cryptically, "If we were to allow you to do your martial arts class- How would you implement it?"
"The first thing I would do would have a tournament. Every man could participate in any style he wanted. Kind of a free-style one on one tournament that would take out initial hostility and move some to want to learn what I offer to teach."
"You would have to win of course." Wufei was silent and gave a look of, 'Really. You're going to question me? Really.' Wufei nodded speaking roughly, "Fine, we'll announce one for the end of next week. I will also be installing a TV in each cell block." He waved to the guards. "You have some good ideas Wufei. I hope this works out as you planned." Warden Scott nodded to the guards to take Wufei back.
Wufei smiled a little at that. "As do I."
TBC…