Disclaimer: Disney owns, I don't. No pay for me. (Sob, sniffle.)
Chapter 6 Breakout
The four heavily armed guards met at the end of the corridor. They were half way through their shift, and met just to check if all was quiet. Nothing ever happened in this wing of the maximum security federal prison. It was bury deep within the main building, three stories underground. No one had ever try to break out. This particular wing was for the extremely dangerous inmates who were kept under the tightest watch. The newest of the four guards, who had only been assigned last week, said, "This is a piece of cake. Walk the patrol all shift and put up with a little abuse from the inmates."
The oldest of the four said, "Yeah, just keep your eyes open for anything unusual. These 'Adam Henry's' always find a way to slip some contraband in. That's your main job."
Blackout paced his cell. He wasn't sure why he was in the wing. He didn't think of himself as really dangerous. He wouldn't hurt a fly! O.K., yeah, there were all the experimental animals he went through when he was perfecting his Stealth-Tech, but he doubted anyone knew of the ten or twelve homeless people that followed. He grinned and chuckled a little thinking of all the screaming that went on during the first few human test. He still wasn't sure if it was from the high amperage that was applied, or the toxic chemicals that permeated the suits and burned the skin. But, he had finally hit upon the correct chemical composition, (turns out he didn't need the toxic ones after all), and proper voltage with lower amps. Of course he knew it wasn't the volts that killed, it was the amps. But he also knew he had to cover his tracks and not let any of his "test subject" leave with any important information.
Blackout realized his pacing the cell was not helping, so he laid down on the bed. He thumbed through the volume of Shakespeare he had gotten from the prison library. His eye caught a single line on one of the pages. It read, 'One may smile, and smile, and be a villain." Blackout pondered that for a moment. Was old Willy talking about hypocrisy, or that all villains smile a lot? Probably the former. You can be a foul villain and fool everyone with a smile. Yes, misdirection. That might help when he found a way to escape. "Too bad I don't have my Stealth Suit. Then I could practically walk right out!"
"You mean like this one?" The hushed voice sounded familiar but was coming from nowhere.
"Shego? That you?" he hissed, checking the corridor for the location of the guards. One was headed towards them.
"Yeah, I raided your closet. Hold on, let the guard pass." Blackout started to peruse the book until the guard was out of range. "One moment and I'll have the door unlocked."
He heard the locks click, one at a time. The door swung open and closed quickly. "How did you get the lock open so fast?" He asked.
"I've been in here before. I know what the keys look like. So, I made some fakes and switched them earlier when they were talking. Now, here's a bag with one of your suits." A plastic grocery bag appeared on the bed. Blackout hide it behind a pillow while he rummaged through it. "Hold on, guard!" he heard Shego whisper.
Blackout leaned on the pillow covering the bag and opened the book. He looked up and smiled as the guard passed without a glance. When the guard was gone, he quickly donned the suit and hit the switches on the belt. He heard the familiar, low hum the told him the mechanism was working. The hum faded to silence and Blackout phased to invisibility. He arranged the pillows and some clothes under the blanket to make it look like he was asleep.
The two slipped out the cell door and Shego locked it, tossing the keys onto the bed. "That'll confuse the heck out of em!" she said gleefully. She heard his footsteps ahead of her. "Wait!" she hissed. The footfalls stopped. She walked forward a couple of paces. "There are motion sensors near all the doors!"
There was silence for a few minutes as another guard walked within inches of them, and continued his patrol.
"Shego, there were three suits in the closet. Which ones did you grab?"
She thought for a second, "The two that were hanging together. Why?"
"My dear Shego, you did what I expected. These suit have been modified to absorb motion sensor waves. The suits also negate the infrared spectrum, so we are safe. Shall we go?"
"What about the third suit?"
"That one hasn't been modified yet. That's why I had pushed it off to the side."
They were at the main door to the wing. "So how do we get through this door and up to the main floor?" He asked.
"Turn left and head for the far wall." As he approached the end of the walkway, all he saw was a big three foot diameter fan embedded in the wall. The mesh grating was torn and ragged on one side, but arranged so it appeared to be intact from afar.
"The guards never come over here." The grate curled open. "Get in." Shego listened for the duct to buckle a little, telling her that he was in. She followed, closing the grate after her.
"Directions?" he said softly.
"Straight. I'll tell you when to turn." The fan behind them suddenly came to life. "Timed that perfectly," she said in her normal voice. "The fan noise will cover our talking for about ten minutes. We're heading for a maintenance room."
After six minutes and only two turns, Blackout came to another grate that seemed intact, but not. He peered through and saw the room was empty. He felt Shego push past him and watched as the grate peeled back. After a few seconds, he climbed out and stretched his cramping muscles. "I need to get into better shape if I'm going to be crawling around in ventilation shafts." He turned off his suit and phased into view. Shego did the same.
"You mean I didn't have to inch my way around the sensor doors?" she said through clenched teeth, her hands started to glow. (Pre-ignition!)
"Well, I've been improving the suits, but they haven't been tested yet. I'd say that was a positive test. I was waving my arms while I was standing at the door and didn't set off the alarms." Blackout smiled.
Shego's hands blazed, "And what if your improvements didn't work? Then what?"
"Then guards would've come streaming through the door and we could've slipped out unnoticed." His smile broadened.
The flamey plasma and glow faded from her hands. She slapped her forehead, "Of course! In the confusion we coulda walked right out."
"That was my plan. Now, what's yours?"
She grinned and pointed, "We take the elevator."
A/N: If you're wondering what an Adam Henry is, ask you're local Police Officer. (You can't swear over the police radio.)
They use to use the old alphabet/name codes. (Adam, Baker, Charley... ) Ergo, Adam Henry equals Axx Hxxx. Fill in the x's.