【19 - Super Special Jailbreak Plan is Elaborate and Maybe Even Successful?!】
A full week passed of Heidi's tame imprisonment. Her tense anxiety was gradually giving way to resignation. She had no way of knowing if her boyfriend was okay, and only the most basic of information was relayed to her about the outside world. That being that there'd been no additional terrorist attacks and that Augus hadn't devolved into chaos just yet. Heidi spent a lot of time daydreaming about it and came to the conclusion there was no conceivable way she could escape. Not unless she broke into the kitchen, took a knife from there and used it to take Doctor Magnum hostage and see where that got her. Probably not very far. She couldn't be rescued, not unless a team of non-government secret agents burst in with weapons and fought to take her out. Equally improbable. It was very likely she would remain here, possibly forever.
While they were supposedly making use of her through study, if there was truly no way out she'd want to help some way better. They wouldn't let her leave and reunite with the other chosens, but maybe they'd let her fight somehow. While Heidi had no say in her day-to-day schedule it wasn't terrible. They made her join Dr Magnum and the other scientists for several hours of observational research a day. The research team was nice enough to her, even conversational at times. The warden was completely no-nonsense and there was the underlying certainty that rebellion would be swiftly punished, but he was never unnecessarily cruel to her. After she'd made no attempt to be difficult he was almost civil and they'd talked about new recreational privileges.
It was the late afternoon and Heidi was standing outside in the desert wastes. The chain-link perimeter was barely visible, rolling beneath a haze. The scientists had set up a tent and there were machines some ways away. Cameras with multiple kinds of lenses and radio-wave scanning equipment. The chipper AI robot was opposite Heidi – it was the only one who acted like she was a friend but it was still too weird for her to trust it. Its blue flaming heart was active, like Heidi's hand but they weren't having a proper duel. Heidi had replayed her turn three times now and it was tiring her out but she was being forced to continue.
"Alright!" Dr Magnum called "We're ready for you to go again Heidi!" he gave her the thumbs up and she sighed.
Her cards glowed red and tapped "I evolve Mini Titan Gett, Brawler Zyler and Jiruba Precision Shooter into Supernova Mars Disaster." The three cards slid together and Heidi strained as she put the glowing card down "Vortex Evolution…" her whole body caught red energy, it swelled and condensed, shooting upward into a pillar. Fire burst forth and the legendary phoenix emerged with another furious songbird call.
Heidi wondered if it was getting annoyed by being called back and resummoned in such a bothersome way. She wondered if provoking a god-being's rage in this way was wise. Cameras popped and flashed, computers whirring as the phoenix snarled at its unarmed opponent. M-006's screen-face blinked up at it like a cartoon. The phoenix waited for Heidi to declare an attack, screeching again in the silence. Their duelling space felt like the inside of an oven, red enveloped everything. Minutes passed before the giant phoenix looked back at her with a fiery gaze, finally sizzling out and retreating back to its card. Heidi blinked as its glow faded.
"We didn't tell you to bring it back yet." The Doctor called, grey hair sticking out in patches from his comb-over.
"I didn't! Maybe it got annoyed…"
"Hm, fascinating. Well we're done for the day. This data is incredible, we're going to have to run through it all immediately! That means you're relieved for the rest of the day. Thank you both."
"No problem, Sir!" the AI replied in a robotic voice. It saluted while Heidi packed up her cards with a tired sigh. The warden approached to escort her back to her cell.
She rested up and then had nothing to do but read. While she didn't enjoy classical literature it distracted her from her situation a little. When that failed she could only pace her room, bored out of her mind. If she behaved maybe they'd give her a gaming system, but she still hated being couped up. She needed to move. Heidi practiced some of her karate moves to make sure she wasn't getting rusty. Then shortly after dinner was delivered to her she went to bed.
It was a fitful sleep. She dreamed of laughing men in uniform with glowing, monochromatic eyes. General Urobach's scarred face. Then Gatekeeper Pluto, so still he appeared timeless. Those deep-void eyes slowly inching to face her, carrying the gravity of a planet. A star erupted and a phoenix roared, splitting the dream with its supernova. Again, not the same phoenix as Supernova Mars Disaster. A whooshing sound made Heidi sit up in the dark with a gasp.
Her bedsheets were sweaty and blankets tangled by her feet. She was panting. After swinging her bare feet out of bed she looked up to see her cell door open.
"…hello?" she kept her voice a whisper.
Nobody was there. Heidi got up as her eyes began to adjust. Wearing her simple white clothes she stepped over and into the corridor. She looked both ways and saw no one. Heidi began walking to the corner and noticed a camera pointing at her. She stopped and frowned at it, realising its blinking red light was off. It moved with a quiet whirr and faced the left. Heidi stared at it for a moment longer before realising it was pointing her somewhere. Her eyes shone with hope, she immediately went down and tried staying close to the wall. At the next junction was another camera, this one also shut off and whirring to face a new direction. Heidi bustled down several more corridors as quietly as she could manage, her heart racing. Finally she was led to a big blast door that whooshed open at her approach. Heidi had never been in this part of the facility before.
She stepped inside with trepidation. No lights turned on but she could tell it was a big room. A big room that led nowhere, opposite was just a flat wall. However rows upon rows of robots just like M-006 were dangling from hooks. Partially-constructed, hanging lifelessly. Heidi cupped her mouth.
They were clearly further along in building a Kaijudo robot army than the doctor had implied. It all looked so creepy! What was the government planning to do with these? And what was going to happen if they fell into enemy hands?
Bad things, was the answer. Bad things would happen.
After ogling at the hundred-odd robots Heidi paced the edges of the room, scanned the ceiling and floor but found no hatch or door for her to escape through. When it was quite clear the room was a dead-end Heidi left and stared at the nearest camera that pointed her here.
"Why did you show me this? What's the point?"
Nothing happened for a while. Heidi stood with hands on her hips. Then the camera slowly whirred and pointed her back the way she'd come. She speed-walked the empty facility in the dark, stealthy on bare feet as she was pointed all the way back to her cell. She stepped in and the door whooshed closed behind her.
"How nice of you." She said to the empty room sarcastically.
So it wasn't a rescue attempt. That would have admittedly been too good to be true. But someone was looking out for her… maybe. Heidi recalled how one of their unknown enemies hacked the DMA systems to attack the school. So had it been an enemy? Though since she's a captive of the government… the enemy of her current enemy is her friend, in this situation?
"Argh!" she grabbed her head with frustration and went to her bed, sat down. She didn't know. Just another mystery to keep her up at night.
。
"…I don't know about this, Doctor."
"You don't know about what, Heidi?"
Workers in lab coats struggled to unload a machine from a cart-driven trolley. It looked like a giant electric fly-lantern. The men bent their knees and struggled against its weight, straining as their faces went red. The leading scientist spun around to yell at them "That technology costs more than your lives, break it and it'll be your heads!" He turned his blue eyes back to her and shook his head "We're lab technicians, we could've done with some menial muscle workers to go along with the marvellous funding, though I can't complain. Relieving us of the physical labour and tedious set-up still would've been nice."
"Doctor." Heidi stared at the machine as it was safely set down, the men panting with the exertion "I don't think it's safe to try and trap Supernova Mars Disaster's power into that thing. What if something goes wrong?"
"My dear, risks are necessary for the advancement of science." He stuck a finger in the air, the gleam in his eyes made him look more like a mad scientist than ever before.
"What if it explodes? Or what if it works too well and the phoenix gets damaged-"
"My dear." He shook his head "We are the scientists. You are the prisoner. All you need concern yourself with is to act when we tell you. Now 006 is waiting for you." He turned away, back to his tent. Heidi felt a hit of nerves as she approached the happy robot.
Seemingly no one had noticed the hacker last night, or they weren't telling her. It was so strange that Heidi couldn't help wondering if she'd dreamt it while sleep-walking around her room. After stopping at the correct distance two Kaijudo flames and tables manifested. Invisible energy filled the space and they routinely went through some moves before Heidi once again readied herself to summon Mars. She let out an unhappy sigh but knew she didn't have a choice.
"I vortex evolution to summon Supernova Mars Disaster!" She grunted as the power flowed through her then expanded to fill the outdoor space. The phoenix let out an impressive roar, celestial spheres held in its talons. Flaming body a glorious red and gold.
"Activate the device!" Doctor Magnum could be heard and the cylinder began to vibrate, purple electricity sparking from within. The blanketing red energy began to suction into the machine. "Eurika!" the doctor shouted "I've done it! I'm harnessing energy from a legendary phoenix!"
Mars's head turned to the contraption and it screeched with fury, letting loose a stream of fire that made the cylinder spark and explode. Heidi shielded her face from the heat and fiery onslaught, she could hear the mournful cries of a few scientists. But her phoenix wasn't finished, it whipped its neck to the tent and let loose another torrent of fire.
"Doctor!" Heidi screamed before tearing her card from the table-top. Supernova Mars Disaster was extinguished along with its attack. Heidi grabbed her deck and sprinted to the smoking ruins before her. Workers were groaning among fried computerware, she recognized the grey hair of the doctor as he lay facedown without moving. Small fires were still going on the flattened tent canvas.
Heidi knelt down beside him and a hand caught her wrist. The warden was speaking into a mouthpiece "Bring the medical team down here now! And call in for a hospital chopper!"
As personnel came running from the building Heidi was yanked up and dragged away. He was being rough and her shoulder was smarting.
"Hey! Ow- that hurts!"
"You made your creature attack the scientists." The warden accused, his eyes narrowed above those jutting cheekbones.
"No, I swear-"
"Come on!" he yanked her inside "I'm taking you straight back to your cell, prisoner. And as for those recreational privileges we've been discussing, you can forget them!"
Heidi gave up on trying to argue and let herself be pulled away. She was more or less thrown into her cell. When the door whooshed closed she turned and kicked the metal in anger. Her toe smarted and she hopped, moving to her bedside table and punching that instead. She sat down and tried to still herself but remained seething under the surface. Hours in solitude went by and her anger didn't leave, though she worried a bit about the fate of those doctors. Then again, she had warned them and it wasn't like they were her friends. She was resigned to the fact her stay here was bound to become even more unpleasant when a sudden explosion made her jump to her feet. The whole base rattled.
Heidi strained her ears for any sound of commotion, walking right up to the door and leaning against it to listen… It whooshed open and she sprang back, almost falling over. No one was outside. Heidi approached the corridor and could hear urgent running and shouting as guards whipped past the next junction. She looked at the nearest camera and though its light was blinking it turned its head to direct her. Heidi sighed in relief, with her deck in her pocket she ran off. Slippers racing against the metal halls for what was hopefully her freedom.
Heidi skidded into a wide room.
"Hey, halt!" Several armed guards started running at her. Heidi's eyes widened but then a blast door sealed itself shut and separated them. Heidi looked at the nearest camera and gave it a thumbs up before running down the next hall. She whipped around a bend and almost smacked straight into Timothy.
"Heidi!"
"You're alive!" she jumped and they hugged each other fiercely. She could almost start crying. His tousled hair was windswept, he was dressed in a navy-patterned shirt and slacks. Smelt like shaving cream and comfort. He kissed her on the lips but then forced them both apart.
"We have to get out of here. This way!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!"
They ran back where Timothy had come, passing a walkway and being spotted by a man who shouted at them. Heidi looked despite herself "Shit it's the warden, run faster!"
Ahead was a hanger bay of sorts, and beyond that a bright open door to outside. The blast door ahead started to close. Timothy and Heidi slid inside, looking back with relief as the warden swung his arms like he was running a marathon, hands flat and long hair flowing as he gunned for them. He jumped into a roll and Heidi felt her relieved smile fall as the warden landed in a crouch with the door sealing shut behind him. He'd made it.
The two teens stood warily as he rose to his feet. Hand itching for the taser baton at his waist.
"You can't take us both." Timothy said, they took a fighting stance. "We're getting out of here."
"Fine… if I can't physically restrain you both…" he reached into his grey uniform and pulled out a deck. "Ketou da, Heidi!"
"You play Duel Masters?"
"There's a lot you don't know, chosen duellist. But I can assure you this: You are my most special prisoner and you are not getting away." His hand caught green fire, ghostly whisps trailing upward.
"He's trying to stall us!" Timothy yelled.
"I'm not completely sure we can beat him in a fight. And those blast doors should keep the other guards out." Heidi murmured before stepping forward. "Alright. Yoshi, let's see what you got."
Two tables darkened into view, the players stepped up. Timothy looked up at the hanger nervously, it was probably big enough to contain their fight unless their opponent played with giants. The warden shuffled his cards, full lips parting into a sneer. He was so strange, even his voice. Rich like wine or something else Heidi wasn't old enough to enjoy yet.
"Ikuzo, that's how you say it right?"
"Koi. A bit out of practice are we?"
Ten teal panels shimmered to life. The warden set nature mana "I'm not some robot impersonator, Heidi. I'm the real deal."
She whipped out a card and charged fire mana.
The warden charged light mana and then "I summon Adventure Boar!" The swine warrior swung from a vine into play, solid and breathing. 1000-power but a power-attacker.
Heidi drew and charged "Choya the Unheeding!" Heidi's spring-footed humanoid landed and began bouncing in place.
The Warden deliberated before announcing "I charge more light mana then pass the turn back to you."
"Hmph, scared?" She drew, her creature was also a power-attacker so he must not want to lose his. "I summon Cocco Lupia!" her orange crowned firebird did a cheerful loop, flapping itself in place. "I'll take the first charge then! Choya break his shield, ike!" The orange fighter sprang up several times before bounding over and kicking through glass. Pieces bounced off the warden's sleeve, he scowled before adding the card to his hand.
"Very well… Adventure Boar attack her shields as well! Ike!" The swine squealed before jogging over, swinging a club that decimated Heidi's far shield.
She added Garkago Dragon to her hand and smiled at it "hello friend, been a while since I played you…" Heidi drew and considered her options. He clearly doesn't want me attacking that creature, but by going for my shields he's left himself wide open. Two can play at this game. "I generate the cross gear Fire Blade!" two rocket-skates flashed into view and did nothing "Now Choya the Unheeding, ike! Cocco Lupia, ike!" There was a flurry of cyan glitter bursting from the onslaught.
"Nice!" Timothy cheered.
The warden was unfazed as he added the new cards to his hand, then he shot her a very suspicious look with those brown eyes. "Alright… I summon Dia Nork, Moonlight Guardian and La Ura Giga, Sky Guardian!" the two mechanical jets hovered up, both blockers and both stronger than anything else in play. That Dia Nork had 5000 power. "I'm aware of Choya's obnoxious effect so he'll be the first I take down, Adventure Boar ike!" he twisted the card and his long hair billowed, green light rippling out and the swine jumping with its club overhead. Choya was flattened with a crescendo of red sparks, his card flew from Heidi's table.
She drew. Her opponent had two shields now but plenty more cards in his hand. Luckily Heidi had "Garkago Dragon! I tap five to summon him, you should've attacked Cocco Lupia instead!" Her double-breaker dragon roared forth, covered from head to talon in red plating. Timothy stared at it, undoubtedly remembering it from their duel a month ago. It gained 1000 power for each other fire creature Heidi had. It could also attack untapped creatures, or it could if Heidi had the mana to use Fire Blade. As it were she had to end her turn.
The dragon was easily four times the height of the warden. He studied it cautiously before drawing "Alright let's see how you handle this… I tap six and summon Gran Gure, Space Guardian!"
"…That's a problem."
Heidi stared up at yet another blocker, this one on 9000 power. It was brown-green with a bladed wingspan wider than Garkago was tall. With Cocco Lupia in play Heidi's dragon had 7000 power, she'd need another two creatures before her dragon could be evenly matched against this foe.
The warden swept his arm out "Adventure Boar, break her shield!" It charged past her creatures and Heidi turned away as glass bounced off her, seriously regretting not wiping out the beast-folk when she had the chance.
She turned and plucked the shield trigger from the air "I cast Crisis Boulder!" A giant orange sphere whirled and the Warden simply moved a card from his mana zone to the graveyard.
"He has too many blockers, you need to get rid of them!" Timothy shouted.
"I know!" she yelled back, but knew Dia Nork and Gran Gure were too strong for her normal blocker-destroying tactics. Heidi drew and started her turn "I summon Kooc Pollon!" her smallest fire bird leapt into play with an eager chirp, helmet falling to cover its face before it swept it up again. "Garkago is on 8000 now but that's still too weak for me to attack with…" she grit her teeth while her enemy grinned "Your move…"
"And I'm afraid your chances of escaping have left you." He added mana then emptied his hand "I summon Snork La, Shrine Guardian and an additional two La Ura Giga, Sky Guardians."
Heidi felt her clenched fist loosen. She was staring down an army of blockers. Five of them along with his annoying pig-headed beast-folk. Heidi still had her Fists of Forever spell somewhere buried in her deck but without another two fire creatures to summon as well Gran Gure would immediately block and she'd lose her dragon. She drew, it was a spell but not the one she needed. Heidi considered the options in her deck before coming to a decision and adding mana.
"I tap seven to cast Hell's Scrapper and use it on Dia Nork, Moonlight Guardian!" The DM-14 grinder machine rose forth, a chain whipping out and snagging the jet. It was pulled in, its engines straining but inevitably crushed into scrap-metal.
"You could have taken out some of my weaker blockers and my Adventure Boar." The Warden observed.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Heidi…" Timothy said worriedly.
"Your move!" she pointed and their enemy drew.
He stared at the lone card in his hand before returning his gaze to the battlefield "Adventure Boar take another shield, ike!" There was obnoxious hog-squealing as it trampled over. Glass pieces bounced from the table and she didn't turn fast enough, they cut the side of Heidi's face. She felt sharp pain and then red pattering onto the table. The warden shook his head "I wouldn't have to harm you if you just behaved like a good prisoner."
They were now two shields apiece, but when Heidi turned her face back to the warden he was shocked to see her smiling.
"Thanks for that. Your shield-breaking has helped me by adding two of my armored dragons to my hand this game!" Suddenly she was enveloped entirely in red Kaijudo energy. It wasn't pain and it wasn't anger, it was pure passion that fuelled her resolve. "I tap five to summon Crimson Back Dragon!" This smaller dragon had a flat head with tusks, metal wings and only 4000 power. It was still fairly big and the warden stepped back in fear partly because of her presence but also because he'd never seen that dragon before. "All of your blockers with 3000 or less power are automatically destroyed!"
Timothy jumped with a fist-pump. Heidi's dragon reared and spat fire, shooting down three La Ura Gigas and Snork La. One after the other the four cards flew from the table, the warden stepping to evade each one.
Heidi continued "I tap my remaining two cards to cross my new dragon with Fire Blade and make it a speed attacker!" Red shone from her table and the new dragon was equipped and prepared for an assault. "Garkago Dragon now has 9000 power so I'm taking out your last blocker!"
"Not if I don't block!" he cried.
"It's not up to you, Garkago Dragon can attack untapped creatures and you have no other blockers! Ike!" The dragon let loose a battle-cry roar, as if it'd been impatiently waiting all duel to attack. It lunged at the warden's guardian. A mighty collision shook the building, the vicious giants bit and impaled each other, fading out. What sounded like gunfire could be heard behind the blast door. "Better finish this up," Heidi said after another two cards flew off tables "Crimson Back Dragon break a shield, ike! You too Kooc Pollon, ike!" The dragon and happy fire-bird advanced before spit-firing and headbutting the last shields. The warden had no triggers, or at least none that could save him. Heidi leaned forward "Guess it's not your lucky day, warden. I'm nobody's prisoner. Cocco Lupia ike todomeda!" The crowned bird flew up and sang, glowing with heat before diving at the wide-eyed man. He gasped as he was hit in the chest, thrown back into the blast door and knocking his head against the metal. He fell on his bottom and sagged forward.
Heidi's dragons and fire-birds faded. She was standing still, distracted by the thrill of her win before Timothy appeared and started tugging on her arm.
"Come on, come on! We got to go!"
She packed up her cards quickly and then they ran out into the sunlight. Heidi shielded her eyes then finally noticed a huge gold saucer parked with its ramp out and waiting. It looked like the Starbolt Cruiser, but wasn't it destroyed during the attack on the DMA? Heidi went up the ramp with Timothy and he ran to the controls, flicking latches and pressing buttons. The ramp folded up and the door sealed. Inside it was like the ship that'd flown Heidi across the planet when she first left Duextra. Since Timothy was the only one here he pressed buttons and then ran across the space to another panel, pressed buttons there before running off to another. He seemed only a little confused about what he was doing, having to search for the right button he was supposed to press.
"Timothy…" she watched him busying about "there's nobody else on this ship?"
"No."
"You rescued me all by yourself?"
"Not quite." He pulled a lever and they were airborne. The ship left ground and ascended quickly into the air. Through the glass edge Heidi could see a medical chopper approaching, the one that'd been called after Supernova Mars Disaster attacked those scientists. It wasn't nearly as fast as this ship. They zipped off into the clouds and away. Timothy sighed and stepped away from the panel "it's going to auto-pilot us somewhere south, far far away from here."
"That's good." She walked to the circular lounge at the ship's middle and sat down. She was a free woman. When Timothy came to sit beside her she leaned over and wrapped him in another fierce hug. Fought again to keep the tears from falling.
"Are you okay?" he asked while patting her. She nodded into his shoulder. "I better grab the first-aid kit and get a band-aid for your face." She let him go and he got up, she'd forgotten all about the cut in her victory rush but it still faintly stung.
"Timothy… who gave you this ship?"
"Engyo did. It was the prototype for the Starbolt Cruiser but they fixed it up."
"He just gave it to you? What if they're tracking us, what if Principle Engyo also betrayed us and is just waiting for me to find the other four chosens before giving away our location?" She remembered the grandfatherly figure and his twinkling eyes.
Timothy rifled through a kit and came back with wet-wipes and a band-aid "Heidi – this'll sting" he crouched in front of her and started cleaning the blood, she winced but fought to keep herself still "Engyo said the ship wasn't connected to any other mainframe. It's still possible for it to be hacked, but no more than any other piece of technology." He stuck the band-aid on and turned away.
"There could still be a tracker." Heidi remembered the small button-sized tracker Penelope had snuck into her rucksack.
"Well we can search the ship and be as thorough as we like, it's not as if finding the other chosens will be accomplished quickly… I've not been in contact with Principle Engyo- well, I suppose he's not a principle anymore. I've not been in contact with anyone, apart from the person who helped me free you."
"Who was it?"
"Apparently… the chosen water duellist."
Heidi went quiet. It seemed so long ago the chosen water duellist tried tipping her off with that email. What had it said? There's a reason none of the other chosens stayed at the academy. Don't trust Narciel. This water duellist was some kind of cybernetic whiz-kid. Heidi tried to remember, she was pretty sure they were supposed to be up north tracking down lieutenants. A lone wolf and a genius. The chosen water duellist had been the one looking out for her?
"Timothy… I didn't know Engyo all that well. But Narciel has been my teacher ever since I left with you guys. He taught me so much, helped me build my deck. He's also head of the temple you were born in, and you trust him-"
"Used to trust him." Timothy was facing away from her and his voice sounded empty. "The chosen water duellist reached out to me through messages. Gave sharp instructions, was only ever to-the-point. I… was given evidence about Narciel. Footage of him meeting with the lieutenants. He was working with them the whole time." As he spoke Heidi felt a hollow drop forming inside her "He's the reason Iwate is dead. He led him off to a trap, knocked him out and then ran away. Left him to the samurai and ran all the way back to his temple."
Heidi was quiet for a long time. Both of them were as they zipped soundlessly through the clouds. Heidi clenched her hands and looked down.
"Narciel wasn't kidnapped or killed… he just ran away without telling us…" she stood up and he looked at her "Well it's obvious what we've got to do now, isn't it? We have to go to the Dawn of the Phoenix's temple and confront him."
His chocolate-brown eyes left her face and he quirked his lip "I figured you'd say that. I figured you'd be mad and want to rush out and get answers. For once I feel the same way. Let's go confront this bastard."
Heidi smirked.
『AN: Wow, can always count on Shuriken16 to leave me a roast in the review comments. That was... lovely, that was. *Ahem* I do have a plot planned out ahead of time, believe it or not, and that other stuff I just won't bother to address. Yall know where it is if yall want to read it. I did also get good reviews from Acumashindorballomu and ShiningAzureEmporer. The two reviews after them were from the review game forum, me just hungry for more since there's no reviewer here for purely innocent reasons. But so long as this goes down in the archives as an official lengthy Duel Masters fanfic I'm happy. So next chapter is the conclusion to Fire Arc. The series finale ~ and it looks like Narciel is the big baddy. How's this gonna go?』
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