Don't worry, guys, we got a while since whatever I hinted at in my last AN.
Chapter 169: Agents of Asgard Part Seven
FBI Correctional Facility, Maximum Security - Time Unknown
The days pass slowly in prison, a repeating parade of early morning wake-up orders, bland meals, and precious hours in the yard or at work. At this point, it was nearly muscle memory filling in robotic actions. It's almost like those movies where the characters are stuck in a time loop trying to find a way to break the circuit. Apollo and Sigyn's was Ivory Gates.
-o-
Sigyn got transferred to yard maintenance as her new prison job which she didn't understand since their yard was barren desert land. She doesn't even know what state they're in but she wants to say somewhere in the south-west like New Mexico or Arizona, maybe even Nevada. Either way, she gets a crummy pay to sweep dirt into her eyes and extra fresh air.
As she zips up her jacket, she approaches the shed where she sees Apollo looking over the locked-up yard tools. Sigyn didn't see any purpose for the rake since there was nothing out there to rake.
"I thought you were on laundry," Apollo says.
"I got a job switch since I shanked a guard after my last shift," Sigyn responds casually. "Prison changes people fast."
"Good. Come with me."
Sigyn follows Apollo to the back of the shed as the officer watching them starts yelling at the prisoners starting a fight with the outdoor brooms. They have at least ten minutes.
"Before we say anything-" Sigyn starts.
"Shut up for a minute," Apollo says, suddenly looking out the window. "Look."
They peer out the window and see a thin prisoner walk outside in an oversized prison jacket. She isn't sure where to go but her eyes gravitate towards the fight in the middle of the yard like any other prisoner in sight. Once her face turns in their direction, they back away at the unexpected and sudden presence of Ivory Gates. Still, she's the only one in this entire compound who looks decent in her prison uniform, especially for someone who was in solitary for who knows how long.
"That's Ivory, right?" Apollo asks.
"Yeah," Sigyn responds, unsure how Ivory got there.
"Okay, cool."
"Haven't you met her before?"
"I don't remember."
Sigyn rolls her eyes before focusing on Ivory again. "Solitary inmates don't work and we're not allowed to wander during our outdoor time. She must've gotten out. Saves me some work."
They notice more officers run out from the building to handle the broom fight in the yard. That'll buy them at least another five minutes.
Apollo lifts one of the loose boards in the wall and pulls out a sheet of scrap paper. He lays it flat on a table and shows Sigyn a map of the prison he drew with crayons he bought at the commissary that he has in his pockets. He tried his best to mimic the labyrinth layout but there was a lot of empty space. Some rooms were labelled and others had question marks inside. Sigyn understood that red meant cells, brown was the yard, yellow was the bathrooms, green was the kitchen, and orange was the common area like the cafeteria, neighbouring lounges, visiting area, and the calling centre. All the hallways were lined in black and the officer's offices and posts in purple.
"What the hell?" Sigyn asks.
"I told you I was working on it," Apollo responds. "I've walked around enough while you were in the SHU and started drawing this when you got back. When you're on top of the prison pyramid, nobody cares if you're wandering since nobody will look at you. These exterior walls are the same, officer placements and rotations are the same except for weekends and holidays. I can't be too sure on the rooms except for the ones I've been in."
Sigyn nods, grabbing some markers. Due to limited inventory, she has to repeat colours like brown. "Solitary's around here." She opens the blue for the first time. "Laundry."
"I can't account for the other blocks but they're vaguely in the empty space."
"Great. So the other 75% of this compound."
Apollo rolls his eyes. "I have officers still watching me. It'd look suspicious if I wander there."
At the sound of someone walking in, Apollo shoves the plan in his pocket. He and Sigyn space themselves in case an officer was to think they were conspiring, which they were. It now makes sense that their alleged cover crime was conspiracies against the government.
Luckily, it was only Ivory. She walks in with her hands in her pockets as Apollo takes out his blueprint of the supermax. Ivory glances at it and she doesn't even bat a lash.
"I should've stayed in solitary," she mutters. "I never thought I'd miss the deafening sound of isolation."
"How did you leave solitary so soon?" Sigyn asks.
"Considering I asked to be in there because prisoners are creepy, I asked to leave. Besides, I was behaving."
"I didn't think I convinced you."
Ivory shrugs. "As you said, we've been thought a lot so we do deserve this. I'll lay low while you two morons finalize things. Don't fuck this up or I'm shanking you both to get back into solitary. Hell, I'll even rat you two out as spies orchestrating an escape and make an immunity deal."
She walks out just as the officers finish handling the yard fight. Apollo hides his plan again, back underneath the wall of the shed where he first got it to show Sigyn.
"Wow," Apollo states.
Sigyn brushes her hands off. "Well, little bitch cousin, time to plan an escape."
"Why am I the little bitch?"
"File says so."
-o-
During their allocated "free" time before curfew, most of the prisoners were gathered in the lounge for a movie night but Apollo was sitting in the cafeteria with Pats and Jensen playing many rounds of poker and betting items from the commissary. When Apollo notices the officers on patrol chatting in the corner, distracted, he puts his cards down. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his and Sigyn's commissary cards and call cards.
"Loads of cash still on these," Apollo whispers. "I need your help and possibly a lot of prisoners."
Jensen and Pats look at the offer and it was the best of the best when it came to making deals in prison. Once they agreed, Apollo gave a quick rundown before getting up from the table. He was heading back to his cell and saw Ashton looking over the observation deck, eyes aimed right where Apollo was playing cards with Jensen and Pats. Apollo isn't sure if Ashton caught him selling his and Sigyn's cards but his eyeing face says he did.
"They need it more than we do," Apollo says. It's not a lie. If he'll be out of here in the next day or two, they won't need them.
Ashton responds with a plastered smile. "Of course, they do. Does Britney know you sold hers as well?"
Apollo shrugs to continue his story. "Who is she going to call?"
"She asked me about conjugal visits."
"Oh, gross, but he isn't available anyways."
Ashton laughs to himself which causes Apollo's brows to wrinkle. Gods, he hopes Ashton isn't onto him.