As Akita sat in the cell, it was only a matter of time for her time to be interrogated. Questioned rather. Still, she wasn't looking forward to it and she was pretty sure that the guard she was found with would crumble. Judging from the day she decided to head into the co-ed ward solely to put a stop to that unleashed inmate before he could break into her turf, the guard didn't have a good record for staying silent.

He would definitely croak.

So she waited, arms crossed as she watched a pair of eyes that watched her every move. Her eyes moved on to the walls and floors which were too thick for her quirk to work. Yep, she was stuck in here until the warden decided to toss her back into the wards.

A conversation that was sure to go south for her.

"Might as well face the music now," she thought with a silent sigh while looking around the small, cramped isolated interrogation room. Or it could be called a questioning room, depending on who you asked and how sarcastic they sounded that day.

"I wonder how they'll take the news." it was no use trying to hide it any longer, especially with who was in charge. Now it was a matter of how they will handle what she was about to tell them.

When the door finally opened, Akita kept her head up. It was time.

Akita would have assumed that the warden before her would be glaring at her, but all she received was a cold look that simply tolerated her existence. "Akita."

"Warden."

How professional.

It was then that she spied the guard dog, not too far behind her. The growling aside, that collar was very fitting for a dog like her.

The jackal got real close, close enough to feel her breath on her face. Yet Akita just sat there. Unfazed. "We already know what you did, Akita. No use trying to hide anything, not like you can."

Silence from the inmate.

"Shi," the warden began, "thank you, this is enough. I'll be fine. Go back to your post."

"But, ma'am-"

Eris pointed to the guard in the corner. "I'll have backup anyway, now it's almost cutting into your off time, isn't it."

"I don't mind staying-"

A raised hand was all it took, "an overworked guard is one that doesn't have the energy to deal with outbreaks."

"...as you wish." the jackal headed woman nodded as she left. Shi was wide eyed for a second there, but she did give Akita a nice little snarl on the way out.

A little attention gaining cough from the warden caught her attention, mostly because it was time to face the music.

"I would prefer not to waste my energy with my quirk today, Akita. I suggest that you tell me everything," to make her point clear, Eris moved some of her burgundy hair behind her ear, making sure to draw attention to the eyepatch.

"I have nothing to hide," began the 'top dog' of the female ward. "Might as well come clean with everything."

The lone, shimmering gold eye just stared at the prisoner, a stare full of doubt. "Will you?"

Out came a shrug in response, "even if I told you the truth, you would just use your quirk on me to make sure. Won't you?"

The golden eye narrowed. No matter what anyone said, Eris unfortunately agreed.

It never mattered that a prisoner lied or told the truth. It would be forced out of them eventually. Her quirk at times made her wonder why she even gave them the option of coming out truthfully when she just uses her quirk on them anyway.

Ah, that's right.

Humanity.

"So let's hear it, Akita." the golden eyed woman huffed, crossing her arms while the dark haired Akita nodded in place.

"Fine," the tone was quite deadpan, "it wasn't just that guard I slept with. I slept with more guards than just that guy."

As the words left Akita's lips, the guard in the back dropped her unlit cigarette in shock. Like the warden, she too was shocked, but the difference between the two was composure.

While definitely shocked by these events, Eris had managed to remain composed, only showing the slightest widening of her own eye, which was quickly put under control.

Though thanks to the guard in the back, her eye shifted its attention. Locking onto the shocked guard, a thought entered her mind.

"Is this guard one of those people Akita slept with? Or is she just shocked like me?"

Whether or not that was the case, it was something she was going to find out in time.

"So, warden," Akita brought Eris' attention back onto the inmate. "Going to use your quirk and check if I'm lying? I'm willing to give names."

"Depends on how cooperative and truthful you are," the burgundy haired woman began, leaning forward. Now, if only a light swayed above them. "But, with how things are right now. I suppose you're right, we might just skip this charade and go straight to the truth already."

Without pause, Eris snapped her fingers, alerting the guard that went to pick up the cigarette. "Get ready to inform the others of the containment of the following guards."

The guard saluted, "will do, ma'am!"

"Now, Akita. It's time for us to dig for the truth...and the punishment you'll receive."

A scoff came from the rather calm inmate, "I'm already in jail, there's nothing else that could be worse."

"On the contrary, there's a few different methods we could go with," a devilish yet innocent looking smirk appeared on the warden's face. "You seem to hold yourself quite high as the female ward's 'top bitch', don't you, Akita?"

"...?"

"You also mention how many of the inmates are 'your girls' as well. It would be a shame if something happened to that 'order'..."

Akita would have shot right up if it weren't for the guard behind her. So she leaned forward. "And just what do you mean by that?" it almost came out as a hiss. Almost.

"Delusions can ruin a person. We have a fair list of people who joined you after your arrival, we can easily ship them to smaller prisons around the country and let you live a life of solitude. We just might lock you up like some other prisoners who were meant to be locked away for good. We definitely have the cells for it."

Memories began to return to the top dog inmate, memories that made her bite her bottom lip briefly. It was going to happen again…

"...what else do you have?"

Eris tapped her foot with that same smirk on her face. "Whatever do you mean?"

She couldn't even hold up the expression anymore, giving the warden a rather frustrated look. "Listen, if you do anything to them, I won't forgive you...but, what other option do you have."

"There's only one thing I can ask for, but that will just be broken immediately." When Akita raised an eyebrow, that's when Eris elaborated, "stop causing problems for the prison. First with the whole top dog thing, which includes causing an issue with other inmates due to that as well as getting into places where you shouldn't and now with sleeping with a multitude of guards adding to the previous mention of entering unauthorized places. Cease. Permanently."

Scoffing, the 'top dog' already had a reply...and she didn't waste any time spitting it out.

"...Fine. Lock me up for a while then. Let's get this shit over already."

Scribbling something down on the clipboard, Eris kept her sole eye on the prisoner. "While the guards you slept with will be punished, you shall be put into isolation for a week, three basic meals a day and no contact with any other inmate. After that, upon returning to the ward, you will be equipped with a, shall we say, monitor of sorts to keep track of you."

"That doesn't sound too bad..." she thought, but the warden continued.

"We will discuss the rest of your punishment afterwards, right now the guards you slept with are a bigger concern right now..." she got to work on removing her eyepatch. "And that's not the only problem..."

The information Vito told her, the body tamperer and the person who let him free. A single individual or the work of two different groups? The questioning of those guards came to a stop, but right now, maybe some of them could be taken down thanks to the inmate before her? That's if they were also a part of the same group...

Whatever. It could wait until after this was done. Of course, this revelation just had to happen today...well, on the positive side, she did feel like it was better to deal with it now than find out years later.

"Look at me, Akita. Now tell me all the guards you've slept with."

It was time for the truth to come out.

"I got an offer for ya!"

When Rin leaned backwards when he heard his name called out rather suddenly, he didn't expect the person to have an offer for him. It made him curious.

"Go on! Go on!"

Remko on the other hand didn't really know how to take such enthusiasm, but at least he was interested in the proposal...right?

"You get to walk around the ward at night, right?"

Rin had leaned back to turn himself around, all the while with a crazed smile on his face. "Yes, yes! I do!"

Swaying side to side, Remko briefly went over the plan in his head. Having an inmate that could cause trouble at night could be useful, but daytime would be much better with the amount of other inmates that could join in on the chaos.

Biting down, he would have to save it for later when they had a potential point of escape.

"We want you to cause a scene later on and before you ask, we have something for you when you do it."

Rin went silent, giving him the most inquisitive look an insane person could. It was clear on his face that he was asking just what was his reward for such a task.

"We'll give you blood, a whole pool of it when the job is done."

Now rocking in place, the inmate in the straitjacket sang, "when do I get it? When do I get it?!"

Frowning a tad, Remko just raised his hand. A failing gesture that tried to get the insane vampire to stop. "You'll know when you'll get it."

"Do I start now?!" The speed of which he jumped up surprised the silver armed man.

"No!" the prison escape artist hissed, grabbing hold of the vampire before he ran off who knows where. "You'll know when it starts when you'll get some blood to take. You know, one of those half payment things and when the job's done you'll get the rest."

The spikey haired blood addict bit his lip, but nowhere near enough to draw blood funnily enough.

"Is...this a good idea?" It was a little too late to reconsider the offer he (Remko) just put on the table after that expression the vampire gave him, but-

"Oooh! More blood for me, how lovely!" he swayed side to side with growing speed. "It's a deal!"

"That was easy," thought the oddly silver arm inmate. "Now-"

It was almost as the man in the straitjacket was off in his own little world. "What a very busy day I'll have for nice, clean blood! At least I don't have to fight for it this time~!" with one quick blink, his red eyes bore into the older and newer prison inmate. "It better be a lot of blood."

"It'll be a lot, calm down."

"Yay!"

As Remko stood back up, he uttered, "now that we have an agreement. I'll get to work and let you know when things are going down and I'll get that free sample ready for you."

"As long as it isn't that guy's blood." Rin chuckled, pointing over at Li of all people.

"...Why?"

Rin spat, or at least he mimicked spitting something horrid out of his mouth. "It's disgusting! Blood tastes good, but his blood tastes awful. Like some superficial shitty water!"

Stroking his chin, the prison escapist had to wonder what they meant. Was he like him in the same way with his arm?

"So... are you in?" he asked the grinning vampire one more time. He had to make sure that he really agreed after all.

"Hehehe!" the vampire laughed, stretching backwards, tongue already licking his lips. "Sure! I'll do it! Blood's blood you know!"

"Great," the more composed inmate nodded a little too quickly. "I'll give you the starting dose of blood when we're ready to go, and if you're out at night tonight, tell us if anything about what it's like for a little more bonus blood."

"Hip hip hooray!" the bounded inmate bounced up. "Better go to work~!"

Remko watched as the insane blood drinking vampire happily skipped off to who knows where to do who knows what. He could only hope that the trust he put into the younger convict would pay off for them in the end.

As he headed back to the other two members of the escape group, Li was immediately on his back.

"How did it go?" asked Li, tapping his foot with clear distaste. "Did you get shot down by the freak?"

"You saw him skip off happily, didn't you?" Remko shot back. "Things went well, he agreed to the offer I gave him."

The neon yellow Li rolled his eyes which caused Zuko to roll his. "Whatever," the con artist waved his hand, "the important thing here is how we successfully obtained a useful pawn to use as a distraction."

Tapping his foot once more, the neon yellow Li asked, "so what do we do now?"

"There's only one thing we can do," the experienced jailbreaker said automatically. "We need to have a look around."

Bowing like some upper class gentleman, Zuko had the biggest grin on his face. "I shall be more than glad to show some new inmates around the ward."

Li rolled his eyes at the con artist. "Tch. Idiot."

Remko grinned though. Now it was time to do that one thing left to do now that they've recruited their distraction and an extra pair of hands to help with the escape.

"Time to go sightseeing."

Another day, another well prepared meal for the inmates. Myrmex stretched as his mandibles clicked and clattered together.

With a quick check of his phone (after the washing of his hands of course), the head chef of Styx headed out of the kitchen.

"Oh, getting something to eat, boss?" one of the fellow cooks asked.

Myrmex turned his head a little in the direction. "Mhm, quite. I'm going to be taking my break now, I shall be back shortly!" he clicked. "Remember to take your breaks too."

"Will do boss, have a nice lunch."

Closing the door behind him, he began his journey down the halls of the prison. Thankfully the area was one devoid of inmates, considering it was a place for staff, higher ups and whatnot. Sometimes the rare hero made their sudden appearance in the prison for whatever reason.

Nothing that he really paid much attention to any of the others that might appear in their daily lives here at Styx.

Of course, there were some people that he did pay attention to, such as the one who helped him get here in the first place. The warm memories aside, two guards walked past right as one asked, "you going to watch the match tonight, Myrmex?"

"Of course," he nodded with a clack. "I heard that the matches tonight are going to be more serious, seeing as some of the champions are going to be competing."

The second guard laughed, "or perhaps all of them will compete?"

"Why can't this day end already!" the first sighed. "I get with the job, but now the wardens are calling everyone in..."

If Myrmex could go wide-eyed, he would. Alas, he lacked the ability to. "Oh, you didn't hear? Apparently one of the inmates, Akita I believe, was called into question. Seems like something serious happens with a guard. I don't know the exact details, but something happened. She looked very...pissed..."

"Eh? I wonder why..." the second tilted their head.

Shaking his head, the cook stepped forward. "It doesn't really matter what happened, but here. Take some fresh mints with you, I think you both need them."

With a quick dig in his pockets, Myrmex handed over the mints he mentioned to the guard. "Oh, thanks for that."

With a click, Myrmex pointed at the guard. "Just remember to take those freshly-made mints, alright? Gotta be presentable at any moment."

"Yeah, yeah. I understand, we understand. No problems." the guard said, holding the tic-tac looking box up. "See you tonight then."

"Hey, hand some over to me," came the voice of the second guard as they walked down the hall, leaving the insect cook alone. "I need some if I'm next."

Checking the time, he quickened his pace! He didn't want to waste his break, after all. Though, from around the corner came one of the janitors, mopping the floors as he did.

"My apologies," bowed Myrmex. "I didn't realise that the floors were being cleaned now."

"I didn't know that there was a sports match on tonight, then again I don't really care for them." the voice of the janitor Penthus spoke up. "You have fun with it."

Checking where he stood, to make sure he didn't ruin any of the cleaned floor, Myrmex nervously clicked his mandibles. "Yeah..." he trailed off, "it's pretty interesting if you're into that sort of thing..."

"Something about champions, what kind of match is that? I do hope the person or team you're rooting for wins in the end."

"It's, well, not really a team thing. It's individual...sort of like boxing or mixed martial arts, that kinda thing..." the chef added with the soft clicks and clatters of his mandibles.

"Didn't really see you as the type of person to be into that sort of thing..."

An awkward silence rolled through as Penthus dampened his mop for another round of cleaning the floor.

Suddenly, Myrmex clicked again. "You seem a bit down in the dumps, while I can't see your eyes, I can clearly see you're not in the best mood." he then quickly added, "or you have something that you want to vent out."

A sigh came from the brown haired janitor, running a hand through said hair a little. Ruffling his hair a bit, showing how his red eyes looked down to the ground right before shaking his head like a wet dog trying to get dry.

"Just...after witnessing some stuff within Styx lately, just makes me realise how shit this place is."

Once again, Myrmex lacked the ability to raise an eyebrow or widened his eyes. The best he could do was open his mouth slightly. "What do you mean by that? It's one of the best prisons in the world."

"Yeah, one of the best prisons in the world. Not the best." huffed Penthus as he let go of the mop's handle, letting it sit in the bucket which probably needed a change of clean water in a couple of minutes. "There's a reason people say that Tartarus is much better."

"And we do not know what it's like at Tartarus either. They could be worse." Myrmex clattered nervously, waving his arms.

"Could be," Penthus probably frowned. It was hard to tell thanks to how his hair hid most of his face. He really needed a haircut, but Myrmex made sure not to say that aloud. "But I haven't heard anything about a prisoner breaking free of Tartarus before, nor one escaping. Not even guards sleeping with inmates!"

"Is that what happened?!"

The janitor could only nod at first, but he looked Myrmex in the eye suddenly. At least that's what Myrmex thought he was doing. "Can't you see? Despite all their talks and rivalry with Tartarus, it feels like bullshit ego! Styx has proven that they can't handle it!"

"And what are you planning to do?" A simple question right from the closed mouth of the cook, the nervousness in his tone had vanished long ago.

"I was planning on getting a transfer, try to land a job at one of the other Underworld Prisons or even Tartarus itself, but I hear Tartarus' guards also do that themselves sometimes due to how they run the prison. Already a clean place..."

"But?" The cook gave Penthus a look. "It seems that you're staying here, correct?"

The prison coworker turned his head away, grabbing his mop. "For now. Right now this is the only job I got. Recent events might make me question this place and how poorly handled they've done with everything, but money is money."

"Right...but I wouldn't be so quick to lose faith in Styx. I know you haven't been here as long as I have, but they have it under control." Mrym tried to smile, it didn't really work out with his head and all that… "I still believe that Tartarus isn't perfect. It's got its flaws."

"Isn't that what all the guards say about them anyway?" Penthus twirled the mop in his hand. "That Tartarus isn't all diamonds as they claim to be? Just sounds like more ego talking."

"Not just the guards. While not everyone thinks Tartarus in the same way they do with their spotless image, a person should be aware that they have faults that remain hidden from the surface."

Another wave of silence before the janitor continued with the floor after a bit of an intense stare from either side. It wasn't exactly going to clean itself.

"Sorry to keep you from your break, chef."

"Ah! It's fine! It's fine!" the nervous flail came back.

The two soon parted ways, one to clean and the other to eat. Quickly arriving at his destination, the proud cook pulled out his meal from a small black box. The familiar scent that he was more than accustomed with hit his nose...or well, face in his case. Not his favourite, but food was food.

"So this is what I got today." he looked over his meal. A meat dish. Rather basically prepared and preserved but it was what it was. Good enough for him and its purpose, though smaller compared to recent other meats he ate.

There wasn't much time before he was back on his shift. "Better get this done quickly then. Thanks for the meal!" sitting alone in his lunch eating room, Myrmex's fangs clamped down on the stinky meat. He had to enjoy his break while it lasted.

After recruiting Rin for their cause, even though his purpose was minimal at best, Li had followed both Remko and Zuko. He made a note to keep an eye on the conman specifically.

Right now they were going to scope out points of interest on how to escape from a prison like this. The first thought that came to mind was basic and primitive.

That was to fight their way out.

A result that would end up in them being overwhelmed by sheer force and various effects from quirks. The worst case scenario for that was most likely death if they failed. He couldn't risk something like death, but Li turned to the one in charge of this hopeful situation.

Remko Akko.

Someone experienced in the art of escaping prisons. Sure, they were all smaller prisons of varying degrees of skill to handle prisoners, but the fact that Remko broke out of them was just what he needed. Someone with the experience of breaking out.

And he could go back outside, to continue what he used to do.

Kill heroes.

He didn't really care about why Remko wanted out or even Zuko, this was the perfect opportunity. "Let's hurry up and pick a spot already!"

"It might be an idea to cash in on Touya's assistance already," Zuko sure sounded polite despite the cheshire-like grin on his face.

"Hm, maybe. If he can help, it would be appreciated. Besides, I thought you had a decent idea of where to spring our esca- I mean, excursion."

Simply nodding with a wave of his hand, the con-man continued with what he was talking about. It was like Remko never spoke a word. "If he's assisting us, we would have a better time narrowing down multiple options."

The heterochromia inmate rolled his brown and silver eyes. "...You got a point," he added on afterwards as he soon began to slowly grin. The so-called leader of the group uttered quietly, "as soon as we plan and prepare to make a dash, we can soon set off that vampire guy!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Li spoke up, causing Remko to turn his head back.

"Who's the prison escape artist here?"

Li shot back with fire. "Breaking out sure, but not getting caught again."

It was almost as if a switch was flipped as Remko began to snarl, almost ready to throw down if it weren't for Zuko on standby.

"Now, now. Calm down. We would just be playing into the guard's hands, after all." he didn't wait for one of them to ask by whatever rambling he meant. "If we fight, you'll lose Remmy. Unlike those other smaller prisons without a lick of fame, Styx is much more tough to pop out of, especially alone."

The short silver haired Akko had to interject, "there was a rumour that someone broke out by themselves though!"

"Don't shout too loudly," Zuko hissed back. "There's always an exception to the rules, but not everyone is the exception."

With a huff from Remko, Li made his voice heard. "Ain't that Touya over there?"

Before they could act, said person had already walked over and entered the conversation. "My, my. Fighting will get us nowhere. Now, I assume you'll need my help, so let's get on with it!"

"How the fuck did you know that?" questioned both prison rookies. They weren't exactly shouting across a wide open space. So how did he-?

The response they got from the lanky inmate was, "all your mouths flap too much."

"...right…" the American of the group gave the new arrival a look.

Giving the perfectly angled bow that put Zuko's to shame, the inmate had something to share, "honestly, right here is a decent exit point."

That caught Li's attention. "What do you mean?"

Touya simply pointed across the room. "You see, there's been quite a few guards who had been called in recently. Security in some places has gotten a little lighter, but there is one place that is pretty dangerous to get through but should work with how many guards have been called away."

"Called away? What for?" Remko leaned forward on the bench, eyes narrowed. Even Zuko mimicked the same actions out of pure curiosity.

At that, Touya simply shrugged. "Apparently there was a problem in another ward recently, so some guards were called in for that. Then again, some guards have been shifting their positions a bit before that too. So I have no clue what the hell's happening. It doesn't matter why though, you got an opportunity."

Clasping his hands together, leaning even more forward, one of the fresher faced inmates (Remko) didn't know what to think. "An opportunity so soon? If guards are being called away like this, we might not have another perfect chance to act..." shaking his head briefly, his brow narrowed. "Then what about the exit point? How will we know when the guards will be called away...asides from rushing at Rin and that's not a guarantee that all guards will leave their post..."

Yet, despite the difficult decision, it was still a great opportunity.

"As long as it's dangerous, you're for it, aren't you?"

Touya's perfect smile just seemed to glow with some otherworldly light. "Why do you ask?" the way he asked made it seem like his eyes lit up, but then again he was wearing sunglasses.

As the brown and silver eyes looked daggers at the sunglasses-wearing inmate, he grumbled out as quietly as he could, "we want to escape, Touya."

"I know that." came the reply.

"I think I said before that the escape would be dangerous anyway," his metallic, silver hand gripped into the ground. "We don't have time to purposefully make this shit harder than it has to be!"

That same polite smile that belonged to a gentleman appeared once more on Touya's face, his hand reaching for his darkly tinted sunglasses. "As I said before, I know. A silent escape will just register our efforts as something that never happened. We might be treated as rumours. Do you really want that?"

"...Do I?"

"We'll, I suppose if things go smoothly, perhaps that might be riskier?"

Ignoring Touya, Remko was too busy with his own thoughts. "I escaped from multiple prisons before...but, am I fine with it?" He didn't really know what to think, he was the type to pride himself for punching a hero, in public. He would be lying to say he didn't like the legacy of his recent Prison Break Magician title that once belonged to someone else long ago.

To be a ghost was...

"Fine, you win. Just don't make us fail this golden opportunity."

Li rolled his eyes and asked a far more important question. "So what exactly is our evac point?"

A good question, good enough for Touya to chuckle in that usual way of his. "Well, I do hope you all don't mind getting dirty...or mind the smell."

...

"...you serious?" Li raised his eyebrow, only for Touya to nod (all the while keeping that unchanging smile on his face).

Remko went next with a question of his own, "is that the only way we got?"

"That's your best option for escape… our should I say our escape in this instance?" immediately shrugging, he (Touya) continued, "not like there's anywhere else to try our luck. Styx has really kicked up their security over the years, constantly adapting and evolving."

"A prison that learns with each new inmate, right?" the cloudy eyed con artist smirked. "If what you said is true, guess we gotta get dirty."

"Isn't there a catch though? There's always a fucking catch." a lot of bark from Kagayami.

As Li's glare stabbed into his side, which he ignored for the most part, there was more to explain. "You see, we need to get into guard-only territory first in order to go through everyone's favourite level. We can only do that when the coast is clear though."

"And how the hell are we supposed to know when the coast is clear?!" came the low growl of the larger rookie.

"Let me show you."

So Touya took off his sunglasses, showing his blazing eyes to the world.

There was an intense looking in the fire-like eyes of the more experienced inmate, at least when it came to Styx. If those with him didn't know any better, they would have thought he was trying to go cross-eyed. It definitely didn't help that he was staring at a wall.

"What is he doing?" Li thought, noticing how the shade-wearing Touya wince from the light before stepping closer to the wall. The same thought echoed within the other two as they waited for Kotaki to finish...that.

"In that room, there is no one in there. No guards at all," Touya began, his smile slowly shifting into a smug one as he stepped back from the wall, turning to the group rubbing his eyes while putting his shades back on. "Seems the guard in there was called out and if you had a tool, you could bypass the doors. Man they really light this place up."

"Huh?" came the thought of all three other inmates.

"How did he…? Wait, bypass the doors?" After raising his right, silver arm up high, Remko stepped forward. "I could easily get through it with this thing!"

"That's your quirk, is it not?"

When the question was asked, the androgynous looking convict could only really nod hesitantly. "Then there's your problem. Unlike that day where that brute smashed his way into the co-ed ward, many parts of the prison are locked down tight with anti-quirk measures." Touya lowered his shades slightly as he peered down at the strange, metallic arm with burnt prison number. "They take all living inmate quirks into consideration. As soon as you're in the system, updates are performed on all tech available. Starting with the most important ones after all."

"...well fuck me I guess."

Without messing a beat, Zuko joined in with, "I'll pass."

"...oi! You fuc-"

Remko was cut off as a more silent member took over.

"Then I'll take care of working with machinery," heads turned to Li as he sat on the ground with his arms crossed. "I built my own exoskeleton, I can work on something as simple as that. Just give me tools."

A grin appeared on the escape professional's face. "Great!"

As that was happening, the other two had their own little short-lived conversation. "So, that's your quirk?" asked the clouded eyed Zuko.

"Correct."

Senrigan: Touya's eyes give him increased eyesight that exceeds the limits of regular humans! With this he is able to read things (like signs) that are one kilometer afar from him and it gives him ten times more information than a normal person would notice at the cost of tiring him out quickly with all the visual information he receives at all times. However, should he concentrate and focus, he can lessen how far he can see with the additional bonus of being able to see through certain materials, especially thin ones. Due to his quirk being constantly active, he requires sunglasses to help lessen his quirk and is incredibly weak to sudden bright lights, making him easier to blind than others!

"It gives me better eyesight and what I just showed you just now." His explanation got the attention of the other two.

As Touya put his sunglasses back on, the gears in the metallic armed inmate began to crank.

"Hm, we might have to put the plan into action sooner than we thought. What a golden opportunity we have here, shame it's riskier than I would have liked." No matter how hard he thought about it, the chance was too great. Plus it got Touya's cooperation too.

"So here's the plan," Remko smirked, "Touya will use his eyes to keep an eye on the tools in the workshop, Zuko will use his quirk to snatch them. Then we'll get Rin to cause a ruckus!"

Zuko tapped his foot as he listened, right before shrugging. "I have no idea if I can effectively use my quirk with what someone else tells me, but it's definitely something worth trying."

With no one else wanting to add anything else to the conversation, they all went their own ways.

They had to prepare after all.

As Fumma sat at a random table, surrounded by those who vowed to follow him after his arrival, he kept thinking back to recent events.

One thought went back to that bald tattooed man who severed his own pinky finger which helped him use his quirk without having to sustain wounds that pierced his flesh.

It had been more than a couple of weeks since he heard back from that man and at first he thought he fled, hid within the prison somewhere to escape him. But no matter what happened, he never showed up. He doubted he was released, transferred to a lower prison maybe, but he would have heard of it somewhere.

That left just one conclusion.

He was dead.

As that processed in his mind, he was unsure how to feel about it. Luckily for him, someone called out to him.

"Oi, Yoshitsune. You got a call."

The jade haired inmate looked up at the guard. "A call?" as he stood, he gave a wave to the inmates that sat around him. Soon sending the guard a nod, he was escorted to the visiting area.

A nice little place where visitors can come and talk to inmates and inmates can talk on the phone when allowed.

The guard handed the attached phone to Fumma. "...yes?" the demon serpent quirked man asked, waiting for a response.

"Fumma? Boss? That's you right?"

"Yeah. It's me." as the 'boss' on the phone had their quirk in the form of a coat shift, he quickly asked, "is this line secure?"

"I'm on a payphone, they won't track me down." the voice on the other end reassured. "There's something we need to discuss, Boss."

Fumma frowned, judging by their tone, it definitely wasn't good. So he braced himself. "What happened?" he didn't even try to disguise his frustrated tone.

"Do you remember Nozori?"

"More details." he already had a hunch as to who, but it could have been someone else for all he knew.

"Nozori Tendo?"

Fumma's frown deepened. "You mean that head of that Tendo family? What about him?"

The voice on the other end coughed. "Well, uh. You know how the Kazashini family killed like ninety percent of the clan?"

The yakuza's light blue eyes seemed to flash back in time at the slightest mention. "And I made them pay. Every. Single. One of them."

The underling gulped. "Well...that's where things went south..."

"Keep going!"

"Right!" ah, the fear in that voice as Fumma's grip on the phone tightened. "You see, ever since the complete termination of the Kazashini family and your arrest, Nozori completely took over."

"...what?! This must be some sort of joke…!"

Coughing, the voice tried to continue. "I'm sorry sir, but that's what happened. One day the Tendo family came down on the syndicate and we were absorbed by the Tendo family. They ever went ahead and took on other yakuza families and absorbed them too, I believe one of them was during the aftermath of a gang war. The Yamabishi Syndicate, the remnants...are no more."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, the yakuza captain sighed out. "That's not the news I needed to hear...but, there might be gems in here that prove to be good replacements once I'm out of here."

"...your return will cause some...problems, sir."

"Hm?"

"The remnants of the Yamabishi Syndicate are...willingly following Nozori now. Those who voiced their disagreement were dealt with, others happily followed. Loyalty for Yamabishi is no more. I've been meaning to tell you this for years now, but trying to call you is very difficult here."

"So...no one out there is loyal anymore...I see..." an angry sigh escaped his lips. No, calling it a sigh was wrong. It was a growl. A vicious growl. "Then I see to it that their treason will be punished."

If he got out of here of course.

As the underling, probably the last one loyal to him on the outside, remained silent as Fumma managed to calm himself down. Now he had to know, "why are you telling me this?"

"He's paranoid, man. I think he is at least. Did you know that he tunes into news about Styx?"

Now that caught his attention. "Why? To see me suffer? To see other clans suffer?" Not what he expected when he asked the question at least.

"Nah, apparently he has a sister in the prison."

"Wait, hold on. Do you mean…?"

"Nozomi Tendo." the caller revealed. "Now, from what I heard they aren't on the best of terms to the point of wanting her taken care of, if you catch my meaning. Assassination maybe. Perhaps you have an ally in there? Could be useful."

As Fumma's coat shifted a tad, he could only think about what he heard. "I've heard of the arrest before, but that was some history lesson I was told of when I was climbing the ranks." When he first heard about her in the prison, her name caught his attention, but now? "Perhaps I can strike back at Nozori this way?"

"It might be worth my time to send her a warning. Unless you call her right now."

A sad sigh came from the caller. "Sorry sir, I can't do that."

"..."

"Anyways. It was an honour working with you. While it lasted that is."

What? "What are you talking about?"

Another sigh came from the other end "...if they find out I've been talking to you. Off goes my head so to speak, I would be collaborating with the enemy and plotting treason. I only managed to come out here due to getting others drunk and...I might not head back tonight if I was followed...or they find out."

So...that was it then? Fumma couldn't really say for certain. "If the family has fallen, then it must be rebuilt. Starting with the fall of Nozori." he did wonder who to convince to go into the co-ed ward and give a warning. He doubted any alliance could form, but at least it will hit Nozori. "I'm limited to a few people. I can't ask Inyoku...that's too much trouble even for me. Perhaps Juro? They will need some convincing."

But first things first.

With a calm and almost soothing voice, cold as the tundra, he whispered out. "Don't let the enemy gain any advantage."

"Understood, Boss!"

Time was almost up for his call, the guard was getting ready to end it. It was too late now, their conversation was already finished when beeping came from the other end. It was hard for Fumma to tell if they hung up on him...or that their fears came true at the end there.

...

As he was escorted back to the ward, he made a note to approach Juro to pass his message on. He paused on the way back due to someone walking past. That dark cape like cloak around them as they proceed onwards.

The warden.

"Stay out of trouble, Yoshitsune." said the warden, not even giving them a glance.

"..."

There was just one thing about Warden Seimei. He was the first person he had ever encountered...that shattered his Jormungandr.

It filled him with...something. He wasn't sure. Violence maybe?

"Come on, move it." the guard ushered him back to his devoted followers. Now back to a place he was more comfortable in, he already began his plans to pass a message to Nozomi. Once that was over, he was going to focus on what was in front of him. It would definitely take time, but that was fine. He'll take as long as he needs, even if that requires him to sit on the backburner for now.

"Time to rebuild the Yamabishi Syndicate."

The place was bustling, thankfully not being too crowded for the group that arrived. They also managed to find a good seat to accommodate all of them without having to take a chair or tiny table to add on.

"It seems we got some good seats," smiled Alexios as he looked around. "We came on a good night."

Now out of his lighter shade of the Styx uniform, Alexios now wore a black leather bomber jacket with a white t-shirt, a pair of black pants with some brown combat boots.

"It's pretty cool out, perhaps we should have brought some extra jackets, scarves and gloves...unless we're eating inside." mumbled the guard dog of Cerberus. Shi was now wearing a black shirt with a dark red cardigan over top. She was also wearing some dark blue jeans with a pair of combat boots much like Alexios, but the ones she wore were black in colour. The jackal of Styx also replaced the dog collar she usually wore in the prison with that of a black choker.

Dahlia gave a bit of a smirk as the group picked out a table. "If we do sit outside, we can just get Tai to warm us up. Maybe then he'll have an actual use."

Of course, it was then that Tai frowned after apparently walking back to the group after grabbing some drinks. "You want a tan? I'll give you one for free."

These two also changed into more comfortable clothes.

Dahlia had undone her side ponytail, letting her auburn-brunette hair flow free. Like Shi she wore some jeans and had a short sleeved white shirt with some sort of branding on it with her own jacket on top.

Tai had a pair of long, dark red pants, a pair of white leather trainer shoes with black soles. The red eyed man was also wearing a white coloured hoodie with the hood down and with the zip undone, showing the dark purple v-neck t-shirt with some white symbol on the front.

"Now, now you two. Let's just have a nice night." laughed the friendly Osamu. "Seems you got yourself a drink. What did you get?"

Tai just lifted the glass with a red liquid within it. "Raspberry lemonade."

Osamu was now wearing a short sleeved black polo with a white skull near the front pocket, beige pants with a purple line running down the sides of his pants with a pair of black and purple striped running shoes. He also wore a silver wristwatch on his left wrist and a silver necklace around his neck as a pair of black sunglasses sat inside the shirt's pocket. Another addition was his hair as it had been styled with pomade.

Not far from Osamu, practically by his side but much more silent, stood Muika. Upon seeing everyone start taking their seats, she quickly picked her own spot at the table.

Muika was the most well dressed of the lot, wearing a dark purple one shoulder strap dress with a panelled violet-white ombre skirt that stopped at her knees. She also had a thin black belt tied around the dress' waist with a silver buckle as well as wearing a black sweater coat that looked to be quite snugly and warm around her body, but right now it was left open to show her fashion choices. The younger Yomaura sibling also had a pair of white and dark blue bow sandals, a silver necklace with a diamond swirl as the pendant. She also has a silver flower leaf bracelet on her left wrist and a black headband with a white artificial lily on the left side of her head.

Compared to everyone else. She felt like she was overdressed.

"Perhaps...I should have chosen something else to wear..." she thought, mindlessly grabbing a menu.

Osamu leaned in a bit towards his sister. "You okay, Muika? You've been quiet for a bit."

Without saying a word, his little sister shook her head, focusing on the menu's choices.

As the six sat around the table, two small see-through bowls filled with edamame and peanuts were in arms reached while the salt and pepper shakers were not too far away from the menus on the table.

"Oh yeah, here's your drink by the way," Tai said, handing a clear glass to the taller guard. "Didn't know what to get you, so I just went for a standard glass of water."

"Ah, thanks!"

Soon, everyone was checking over the menus. Wondering just what to get at this all styled establishment.

"Any plans on what you're getting?" Shi asked around the table in a tone that inmates would never hear.

"Grilled eel sounds pretty good," the usually angry guard that was Tai said in a rather down-to-earth fashion, grabbing some of the peanuts from the small bowl. "I think I'll go with that."

Muika seemed to have decided on what she was having while Osamu kept peeking over to whatever she was looking at. Dahlia put her menu down, already having a fair idea too. "So, who's the one going to be doing the ordering?"

"I'll do it!" the eldest Yomaura sibling gave a thumbs up. "Plus, this way I'll get the rest of us some drinks."

"Then I'll go with you, to help carry the other two drinks," 'Cerberus' said standing.

Tai tapped on the table, being sure to remind them of their order. "Remember, grilled eel." he said, putting some money on the table, shifting it over in the direction of the other red eyed man at the table.

Soon, all the others gave their desired orders and money on the table. Muika went to grab her own money, "For a drink, I'd like a-" but by the time she brought her own money out, Osamu had taken all the money, orders and went with Shi to order the meals and grab the drinks. Though he did give Muika a thumbs up on his way out. As if he already knew.

As soon as he disappeared, she let out a little sigh.

The sound of other customers around them filled the table with some needed ambiance. Alexios took a sip from his water, but Dahlia kept her eyes on the prison's counsellor.

As she was about to voice her thoughts, she paused whether it was a good idea or not to do so. Her moment of pause however opened the floor to someone else.

"So what's wrong with you?" came the tone belonging to Tai, who was mostly asking to pass the time until the meals arrived.

The sudden question came as a surprise, as you can tell. "Pardon?"

"On the bus, you were a bit quiet when Osamu was talking to you. Is everything alright?" Alexios crossed his arms on the table, leaning forward as he stared back at the well dressed lady.

Muika raised her hands, gently as if defending herself from a direct hit. "Oh, don't worry. I'm fine, just a bit of work drain!"

"If that's what you want to say," Dahlia sighed, resting her head on her hand.

"I don't know what you guys mean..." she closed her eyes, giving the best smile she could.

The blonde pointed at her. "Pft, work better on your lies. We can easily read your face."

"To be fair, it's not even our place to ask." the olive skinned guard nodded, "but, you do look troubled. If you ever want to talk about it, we are here. It could be better to do so now while you have the 'alone' time."

As she sat there, waiting for the other two to come back with drinks, she could only think back to what Osamu had told when she first started working at Styx. "Some of them might be rough around the edges, but I trust them. If you ever need a hand when I'm unavailable. It's okay to reach out. Don't keep bottled up."

Gulping, the droopy eyed young woman formed a fist. "It's...about work."

"Let me guess, that drain again?" huffed Dahlia. Muika didn't blame her, she couldn't. It did sound like she was doubling down on what she told them.

"No, well yes." ah, she grabbed hold of her own hands as she stumbled her words around. "You know how I've been giving prisoners counselling...right?"

As she looked up, the faces of those around her already knew. Of course they did, that was her main job after all. With a wave from Tai's hand to hurry her up, she fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist. "Well, during my counselling sessions, I have some...patients that I work with, some of them are potentially dangerous."

The blonde mini-sun quirked man huffed. "Anyone can be potentially dangerous."

"Ignore him for now," Alexios shook his head. "Please continue."

"Yes...um...some of those files were...taken away." she fidgeted with his bracelet even more. "I know it's just to keep me safe, but-"

"-then what would be the point of you continuing your work then?" Alexios finished for her.

Muika didn't say a word.

"That bloody sisc..." Tai's grumbling got harder to work out. "If he's getting in the way of your work, then say something. It's your job to rehabilitate the inmates right?! Then just say something, otherwise he's going to get you fired."

Shaking his head, Alexios put his glass down after another sip. "Calm down Tai," his silver sparked blue eyes glanced over to the young woman who sat silently at the table, just absorbing the words thrown about the table. "While I do understand that it could be for your own safety, Tai does have a point."

"Shit, he does?" Dahlia's question was more sarcasm than any genuine question. She definitely got a heated glare for that.

"It's our job to make sure the inmates are successfully rehabilitated. Our job is to help them and the act of removing inmates to keep you safer hinders our ability, your ability, to help them." a sigh came from the slightly muscular beige haired man. "It's also possible for it to affect your job should the wardens check the records and find that inmates that were meant to have counselling never received them..."

"Oh boy, here he goes again..." Dahlia thought, and she wasn't the only one. Unbeknownst to her, Tai had the same thought.

"He'd probably explain himself if that ever came to light." added Tai.

"Still, the reasoning behind his actions are understandable. There are some people that are worth the risk to keep safe. Don't you agree?"

Tai scratched his neck and looked away at that. "There's a difference between protecting and interfering with work though."

"What to do, what to do." Dahlia rang her finger on the table in a loop as the conversation seemed to come to a stop. This was probably the only time she could add to this particular conversation. So she bit her lip (but not really) and decided to just go for it. "In the end, it seems it's up to you. What do you want? Are you going to let this continue when you really don't from the sounds of it? Are you going to speak up? What do you want?"

Muika sat there, wide-eyed, "...what I want?"

It was then that the red-eyed blonde took a sip from the straw in his raspberry lemonade. A sigh soon followed. "I don't really want to talk about this crap anymore. We all came out here to relax from work. Where the hell is the food?"

"Ah, sorry..." the ultra violet haired girl bowed her head.

"Tch, don't apologize for voicing your problems." added Tai. "Also, if it really bothers you, you can go to the wardens and explain this situation to them. Don't keep this shit bottled up to yourself when it's hurting you."

A cheeky whistle came from Dahlia, "wow. You actually sound like a decent human being for once, Tai." she got another glare for that.

"Do you feel better?" asked the Greek guard with a comforting expression. "Sorry if we overstepped boundaries-"

Muika found her arms moving faster than she expected. "N...No! It's quite alright. I...actually feel lighter somehow. Thank you."

With a snap of his fingers, Tai gave the poor girl a look. "How about we tell him as soon as he gets back?"

Now would have been the perfect time for Muika to either drop and shatter her glass OR spray her drink out like a tap being turned on when the hose wasn't on properly.

"No! Please! Don't do that!"

"Eh?" a raised eyebrow from the hands-on guard. "What do you mean by no? You got it off your chest with us, it'll be better if you confront him about this now."

She shifted in her seat, like she couldn't get comfortable. "I...I can't do that..."

"Why not?" this time, it came from Dahlia. Though her facial expression didn't really show...anything.

"It's not really that serious, I'm just...using this as an excuse to vent out today's workload...that's all. Osamu's just looking after me and here I am looking for an excuse to vent out a hard day's work..."

Dahlia rolled her eyes at that.

As Tai sipped from his raspberry lemonade, he also had a thought similar to Dahlia. "That outright confirms it."

The beige haired guard nodded. "If that's what you're comfortable with, then we won't force you to do anything."

"Sorry about all this, but seriously, thank you for your concern. All of you."

She smiled once more but unlike the one before it, it was much brighter in comparison.

Her smile went around the table, matching Alexios' own, just as the other two came back. Shi held two alcoholic drinks in her hand, passing one to Dahlia while Osamu held two non-alcoholic beverages and gave one Muika.

"Sorry we're late. There were some other people in line and we couldn't exactly back out without losing our queue progress," Osamu bowed his head, "our meals will be here shortly."

Her brother took a seat right next to her and she couldn't help but think, "While some of them are rough around the edges as you say, except for Alexios as he's always friendly, they all make for good listeners."

It didn't take too long for their meals to arrive and they all dug in.

"I didn't know you drank, Shi." noted Alexios, spying the clear mug of alcohol.

"I don't, but during my vacation I learnt that taking things easy like this is a good way to bond with the people you work with." she paused from her meal to mention.

"I thought old dogs can't learn new tricks." the brunette guard with an auburn glow scoffed to herself as she took a sip from hers.

"And here I thought old dogs can't learn new tricks." huffed Tai out loud, right as Dahlia's head almost slipped down to the table below. "The hell's wrong with you?"

"...Nothing. I just can't believe my own thoughts are on the same wavelength as yours..."

Raising a fist, Tai was almost about to unleash his miniature sun. "The hell was that?!"

"You heard me."

Osamu couldn't help but laugh.

It was a wild discussion into the night, filled with meals, drinks and a sudden party game. No one had any worries and those who did quickly forgot them with the growing party that unfolded as they put their work behind them like a distant memory and just enjoyed themselves for a couple of hours.

It was a much needed break for a lot of them.