Definitely did not forget it was Thursday. Nope.
Aeration
Hatter considered the situation. She considered the Outer Wall, the people in it, what had been said and what logic could be applied, all to determine where the hostages were being held. Were they at whatever control centre this take-over group had or were they in a separate room? Guarded or merely locked in? An infinity of possibilities ran through her head in the space of mere seconds, each eliminated in turn until only a few remained. From there, she let intuition take control.
"The weather station," she said matter-of-factly. "We'll head to the weather station. That's where they'll all be."
"And by 'all' you mean bad guys and good guys?" Kia queried.
"Yes. And even if they're not, we'll be able to connect to Juke there. Either way, it's a plus for us."
"Alright." The girl peered left and right before looking back at Hatter sheepishly. "Where's the weather station?"
"About one and a half miles north."
"So right, then. That should only take us about twenty minutes to walk, what with this convenient corridor." Kia gestured toward it. She and Hatter could usually cover a distance in two thirds of the time it took others to do the same, both of them having an abnormally fast preferred walking speed compared to their fellows.
"I hate to say this, but we're going to have to take a slower route," Hatter sighed.
"What? Why?"
"Obviously, they're sending patrols out. Down here, we have no cover if we come across them, and we can't risk raising an alert. If we pass through upstairs we'll be able to hide." The Outer Wall had a potential five layers of rooms, the lowest layer being the circuitous hallway they were currently in. Whilst all five weren't frequently implemented, there would almost always be the second layer - this was the one Hatter intended to use. Glancing down the corridor, she managed to find what they needed and began to head for it. A simple metal ladder, bolted to the wall and reaching into a hollow in the ceiling.
Kia followed obediently, not even questioning how basic all of the mechanisms were at the Outer Wall. Everything was so manual compared to the scrapers, and she recalled learning that the grand barrier had actually been built before the cluster of structures they currently lived in. That wasn't to say the place lacked technology, merely that there wasn't a need to implement systems made for comfort; in fact, at the Kent Wall it was abhorrent to even propose such luxuries since it would weaken the defensive capabilities. And against such a chaotic foe as the ocean, one weakness could spell death for everyone.
"Come on," Hatter muttered impatiently as she struggled with the wheel on the hatch at the top of the ladder. Hooking her feet tightly around the rungs she applied both of her hands to it, giving a vicious wrench. With a groan, the wheel finally gave way and spun, allowing her to push the hatch up and climb through into the next room, which appeared to be some kind of laboratory. Equipment lay abandoned on the counters and she knew it wasn't a place she wanted to stay in long, since one never knew what chemists had left out in bottles.
She turned to give Kia a helping hand, then shut the hatch behind them and sealed it so no one would be able to tell it had been used. "North," she reminded simply, and Kia led the way to the appropriate door, since there were two. It was a heavy looking thing, raised from the floor and rounded, also with a wheel that Kia was just about managing to utilise. As long as they were shut, these bulkheads wouldn't allow a drop of water to pass them, maintaining the wall's integrity should a section happen to get damaged. As such, Hatter took the time to make absolutely certain that this door was sealed as well once they were in the next room.
Time passed slowly as they progressed, following the same pattern as they encountered each door, Hatter keeping an ear out all the while for any sign of approach. Some rooms were long, some short, and some were nothing more than broom closets in Kia's opinion. It wasn't until the world shuddered around them that they halted.
"What was that?" Kia asked, but her throat had already tightened in fear at the feeling that had become all too familiar in recent weeks.
"Not good," Hatter replied, noting how the shockwave had made them both sway; the epicentre was close, it would seem.
"Uhhh... Hatter...?"
The distressed tone in the girl's voice made Hatter's head whip around to follow the direction that was being pointed at; the corner of the room, now decorated with a flurry of cracks that were spreading across the wall at an alarming rate.
"Run!" the mod shouted, lunging for the door they had only just closed, but it was too late. The damaged wall buckled inward and finally gave way, a rush of water surging into the room and sweeping both of their legs out from under them. Salt bit at Hatter's eyes and hit the back of her throat, causing her to cough and lose precious air from her lungs. Terror infected her veins as she couldn't breathe, vaguely aware of Kia suffering the same nearby but not being able to do anything about it.
Instinctively, she Desynced. Regaining some measure of control over herself, she kicked upward until she broke the surface, spitting out as much fluid as she could and exchanging it for oxygen. The room had almost completely flooded, sea water still rushing in through the damaged wall and reducing the air pocket rapidly. Hatter marked the presence of a ladder leading up and then identified Kia's still submerged form struggling with the onslaught of water, calculating the exact distance between the two. Inhaling deeply, she dived again, finding swimming an easier task now that she was prepared. Kia was the first goal, and soon Hatter was close enough to wrap her arms under the girl's shoulders. Kia's face was scrunched up in an attempt to keep water out of both her eyes and lungs but it didn't look like she'd lost all of her air, simply that she was fighting a losing battle with the influx of liquid.
Somehow, she seemed to realise it was Hatter by her and she relaxed, making the mod's job a lot easier than if she'd continued to struggle. Orienting so that their backs faced the floor, Hatter pushed them both up, Kia gasping loudly the moment they hit air. At least three quarters of the room was flooded now but they paid that no mind, backcrawling toward the ladder in canon, Kia second. After ensuring the girl had a tight grip on the ladder and wouldn't float off, Hatter threaded her legs through the rungs and focussed her entire attention on the hatch, cursing silently when it didn't cooperate. Amped with adrenaline, she yanked at the wheel and it gave way a little before sticking again, obviously not used enough to be well maintained and in good condition. It was just their luck.
Hatter was in the hollow between floors but Kia was lower, and beginning to panic as she found herself with her face pressed right up to the roof to make full use of the final few centimetres of oxygen. If Hatter couldn't get the hatch open then there was literally nowhere to go, so Kia stayed put even as the water finally hit the ceiling, knowing that she would be told when it was possible to move. Her life was fully in the mod's hands – she just hoped she had enough oxygen to withstand the wait.
Hatter knew her friend was in trouble. She knew because there was a minute change in the feel of the ladder, something she would never have noticed outside of Desync, as Kia's trembling stopped. The girl had resigned herself, to death or to Hatter's success, but either way it meant she had to hurry. Letting Kia die there, to be washed into the ocean like a piece of broken flotsam as the tide went out… the thought of it gave her a newfound strength and as if aware of the change, the wheel finally turned and the mechanism unlocked. Unwinding her legs, Hatter climbed down the ladder since even if she could have swum it, she wasn't willing to risk letting go. Both of Kia's hands were currently fastened around the stiles so Hatter pried a set of fingers off to move one to a rung instead, gently so as the girl could understand what was going on, which she did. Satisfied that Kia was able to follow, Hatter scrambled up the ladder and into the next room, aided in a strange way by the water as it pushed her upward.
By the time Kia made it through there was no point trying to close the hatch because its integrity was already lost. And yet the rate of the rising water level had still not slowed in the slightest, meaning here was another room they could potentially get trapped in. "Up again," Hatter instructed hoarsely before Kia could even begin to make for the door she had been eying. The bulkheads would seal themselves completely the moment they were touched by water and their escape into this layer had been a margin too slow to prevent that. Thankfully, there was another ladder up, this one painted a deep red which hopefully meant the hatch above it was useable. An ounce of luck finally returning to the pair, the wheel spun easily, allowing them to bolt up and close it before even half the room had flooded.
Finally able to catch a break, the two girls just rested to restart full diffusion in their lungs; Hatter sat whilst Kia lay face down on the cold floor like discarded rag. As long as nothing else happened, they were safe here. Hatter quickly glanced around to check that the walls and roof were sound, noting with a rush of dismay that there were no upwards exits nor doors to be seen.
"Well," Kia said, rolling onto her back and staring at Hatter, "we're alive. If a bit soggy." She grinned.
Well.
As I wrote this (on paper, at college) someone commented on the phrase 'if she could have swum', telling me to use swam instead because I was "using the wrong form". They were thoroughly not scared as I very politely enlightened them to the existence of the BLOODY SUBJUNCTIVE PERFECT PARTICIPLE
:)
