Plot in this one. yay.

They were two shadows that slipped down the halls of the archangel. They're minds undaunted by the task ahead. The restraint system setup by the naturals hadn't posed a problem to the duo; and they had made quick work of escaping. Freedom was at the forefront of their minds.

Dearka sidled to the edge of an open door. After a few moments of silence from within, a quick glance inside told him it was empty. He moved on. His companion in escape was doing the same thing on the opposite side of the corridor. They had decided to spring their escape around sunset- when most everybody would be in the mess hall for dinner. There wasn't time for words. So the escapees fled in silence. Each more worried about making it out alive.

"Why didn't we think of this sooner?" Murdoch shouted up at Mu. The mobile suit had landed face down, so there was no way for them to see if anyone was inside. After much cursing and grumbling from Murdoch, they had returned to the Archangel to get something that could move the fallen machine. Except that they were having trouble getting it to do… anything. Mu was currently trying to get the Buster- one of the two gundams that they had captured, to pick up the other mobile suit and turn it over. With little luck. "That damn pilot-kid messed with the OS and I can't do a thing with it." Mu tapped the keyboard impatiently. This was doing little good for his nerves.

"Why don't we get one of those coordinators we caught to pilot it?" Murdoch shouted, kicking the Buster's foot to emphasize some point or another.

"Sure." Mu announced happily into the microphone, thoroughly enjoying Murdoch's look of surprise as his voice boomed from the speaker. "Why don't –you- head back to the Archangel and get one of the kids… and I'll wait for you here." Mu couldn't be more pleased with himself. They could tell one to pilot it and get the damn thing to move the new mobile suit, and if they tried to retaliate, they could always threaten to shoot their friend. All they could do now was hope that the two ZAFT soldiers liked each other enough.

So, for the second time that day, Murdoch turned around and headed back for the ship. In all his life, he had never had so much sand in his shoes- and somehow some had managed to find its way into his pants. He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets and continued along the beach.

"Are you two seriously willing to give a captured mobile suit back to one of our enemy? That's crazy!" Natarle had jumped from her seat and stormed to the top of the bridge when she heard an out of breath Murdoch mention it. "It seems that we have a fail-safe though, Mr. Murdoch?" Murrue tried to soothe Natarle's feathers. "But-"

"Listen, Mu will hold the other pilot at gunpoint to prevent retaliation." The mechanic stated frankly, looking at Nartarle with disdain. The captain smiled amiably and stepped away.

"Okay." Sai muttered, rather neutrally. "Thank you." Murrue bowed slightly and headed back for the bridge. Hopefully Natarle hadn't strangled Murdoch. If it were the other way around... well… she wouldn't mind so much.

Sai turned and headed back for the brig. His gaze slid to his shadow, sliding along the wall like a specter that never ceased to haunt his waking hours. He couldn't help but feel a sort of connection with his shadow. Because right now, it was the only one who never left him. Not that it had a choice… if it could, if would probably have left long ago.

By the time he abandoned his musings, he had already passed the brig entrance. He backpedaled and pressed the code into the entry pad. As the door slid open and a breath of air rose out to meet him, he found the brig- that was supposed to hold two deadly ZAFT soldiers- empty.

"Oh no.." he breathed... taking a tentative step back.

Red lights along the floor and ceiling began to flash red, along with a low mechanical wail that began to pulse in tune. The shuffling of people inside their rooms began to grow steadily. An occasional shout or curse broke the throbbing silence. The two coordinators broke into a run. Blindly, they skidded around corners and shoved past emerging crew. "Hey!" A blond man grabbed Dearka from behind and threw him off balance. His injured shoulder slammed against the ground. "Dammit!" Dearka shouted, writhing against the many hands that tried to restrain him. "Get somethin' to tie him up with!" someone above bellowed. "Damn coordinators." Another added spitefully. "Shut up, all of you, and hold him down!" The blond man shouted above all of them.

They were too busy to notice another figure slicing its way down the corridor past them. Nicol had ceded control of his body. And he now watched with detached amazement as he zipped past more EA soldiers. They couldn't catch him. He was too fast. But where could he go? His conscious mind ticked out several scenarios- and aptly rejected them all. There was no time to think about Dearka, and that fact disturbed him. It went against his nature to leave a teammate behind. They had been trained that in a situation like this, the first thing to do was get away and then go for help. He turned another corner… 'look for a hatch' he repeated doggedly to himself. Just find a hatch, and he wold be free into the night. What happened after that, well, he wasn't quite sure.

Shattering mirrors… screaming bells…

Ding…ding…

Screams… explosions…

Ding… ding…

Powerless… falling…

'Ding….ding…ding…ding…' pale lights flashed above and below her, creating the illusion that she was stuck inside of a metal cylinder. No… Caiohme blinked back the wavering darkness. She –was- in a metal cylinder. Her breath hastened as she whipped her head around. She couldn't move her body. "No!" she wailed to the side of the metal tube, "Let me out!" her hoarse voice croaked. Caiohme twisted against the invisible hands. Trying to kick and writhe her way free. "Let me out!"

'ding…ding...ding…' the lights continued to blink. She gasped. That was right, she was still in the mobile suit… thing. Before, when she had wanted to use the COM system, it had been voice activated. Her brows furrowed in thought for a moment. "Uh.. how about. Release pilot?" No response. "deactivate restraint system?" again nothing. She was grasping at straws here."raise platform?" Something to her right pinged. Suddenly, spears of light broke through the top of the cylinder as it drew back. Not natural golden light, but a stale and artificial white light that blinded her. Suddenly, the tube she was in became clear… much to her horror. She was indeed restrained. With a point of reference, Caiohme could tell that she was lying face down. A lot of good that did her. There was a large strap that crossed around her waist and disappeared into opposite sides of the tube. More padded straps held on tightly to each limb, and she could see where one had held her head in place.

Something had happened… there had been a deafening sound and then nothing. The shock of crashing into earth should have killed her. But… she was alive and intact as far as she could tell. "The tube!" She cried happily, realizing that it must be a safety-landing thing of some sort. Mentally, she made a note to find out what 'the tube' was actually called.

Beneath her, something clicked. There was a mechanical groaning, then the floor lurched forward. The various straps and pads fell away and were quickly retracted back into the walls of 'the tube'. "Owe!" Caiohme groaned, wincing as she fell in a rather uncomfortable position in the tight area. The platform didn't seem to notice her pain as it kept pushing her towards the opening. Several curses later, the platform dumped Caiohme out and locked itself into place. Her face met something cold and flat. "ugh…" She had landed on one of the screen that had once been in front of the platform.. and now that the mobile suit was face down… that made it below the platform… or… she had too much of a headache to think about it anyways. Now… how to get out.