Mordecai kept himself calm. He needed to be as placid as possible in order to figure out the best method of escaping his prison. He had no weapons to fight with, no armor or shield to rely on, he didn't know where his allies were being kept yet alone where in the prison he was being kept in yet alone where the prison is even located; he might not even be on Pandora anymore. He had nothing to work with, so the only thing he could have were a mind at peace and calculating.
The one thing keeping him from being truly calm was the thought that Talon might already be dead. Having already identified the soldiers as being from Maliwan, he couldn't help but think back to the last time a major corporation got ahold of his beloved avian ally. He tried to ease his body into relaxing, but the constant aura of danger only continued to emit throughout the air. One mistake, one wrong word, even one mistimed breath would lead to many horrible deaths. And none of those dead bodies would be any of the baddies running the prison, base, whatever this place is.
The cell itself was nothing special. As Mordecai relied on using weapons and his bird partner, he didn't require much to be held down. Just a solid wall and even thicker door. He made a slight remark to himself that he felt insulted that his VIP room actually was a two star hotel room. He got a bed and toilet, all of which offered nothing he could use to escape. The bed had been bolted to the wall and would be too thin to use as cover against even the smallest of firearms, and as thin as he was, Mordecai just couldn't flush himself down the pipes.
His meditation got interrupted when the door slid into the adjoining wall and in walked a single tall guard armed with a nasty looking Hyperion shotgun. A simple grunt made it clear to Mordecai that he should follow the man's orders without questions. Mordecai got up and went into the hall, being helped along his way by the butt of the gun politely tapping against his spine. Mordecai wanted to find a way to mark each hallway with something to help differentiate each one of the symmetrical and identical paths, but the guard made it clear if Mordecai tried anything he would have to deal with multiple roads of buckshot in his back, all told with a simple grunt and another shove with the gun, this time with the barrel.
Mordecai found himself in a wide-open area. With how the tables were spaced apart, it looked like and had to be a prison lunchroom. Mordecai's escort leaned against the near wall and held his weapon with one hand. Not wanting to try anything, Mordecai simply went forward and noticed the long counter alongside the opposite wall. The counter had various trays full of glop that counted as food if you squinted to the point where your eyes are ready to close and used a spoon to dig through it to locate the actual substance. Obviously today's chief took what was left over from the soldier's meals and threw it together into a pot to make this strew. These foodstuffs were meant to fill the prisoner's stomachs and keep them alive, not to give them energy or motivation. Mordecai thought back to a conservation he and Roland had during the first days of the Crimson Raiders; Roland found the rations in the Crimson Lance to be underwhelming at the best and didn't fulfill any requirements for being food.
One minute late, Mordecai had a tray full of brown gloop with chunks of red 'stuff' and a little green blob of gelatin in the corner. With a crack about the jello being more nutritional than the main dish, Mordecai took a half of a spoonful of the stuff and put it into his mouth. It didn't taste bad, but nothing to remember. He didn't feel sick eating the mush, but at the same time he didn't feel anything. Man, imagine eating this junk every day. It would drive anyone mad! Then again that must be the reason why they served the stuff…
"Saving that seat for someone?" Hoarsely asked a familiar voice. Mordecai put down his spoon to look behind him to see a very worn-down Gaige carrying her own tray. He never seen her look this miserable before; her hair been let out of the twin ponytails, her punk outfit along with her goggles had been replaced with a generic orange jumpsuit thus robbing her of her identity…and her left arm had been taken out. She looked to be having a hard time standing straight up, and her still organic hand shook to keep the tray balanced. She practically threw it down on the table.
"Okay, that's torture!" Mordecai broke his cool and shouted out loud. The guard that brought Mordecai here grunted once again, translating to 'keep quiet'. "Gaige, are you okay?" Mordecai then spoke in a normal talking voice. "I mean, dear god…"
"It stings." Gaige sighed. "At least they were nice enough to give me something to prevent my open wound from getting infected. But I feel so…" She mumbled something as she sat down and dug into her meal with barely any enthusiasm. Mordecai couldn't help but watch the once energetic girl move without any real energy. They had been here only for a few hours and they already destroyed her. It only made him wonder about the conditions of the rest. He was kept inside a simple cell that could house just about any normal person. Lilith and Maya are probably trapped in a place that restricts their powers, Krieg and Brick must be currently chained up to a wall to prevent them from attacking anyone with their bare hands…
…Mordecai stopped himself mid-thought. He needed to be calm! He needed to be relaxed and composed…he can't be worried! Being a nervous wreck would him serve to get him killed. Taking a deep breath, he looked out a corner of one eye to a guard hanging about. He couldn't hear it from here, but the man's body movement spoke out laughter. They were enjoying the torment of the Vault Hunters.
And to add on to Mordecai's growing dread was the sound of Marcus yelling out in pain. It sounded like the time Marcus dropped a crate of rifle ammo on his foot, but with a more harsh and real tone. Both Mordecai and Gaige turned to see Marcus literally being thrown into the lunch room. The arms dealer looked to be dirty and stained with various amounts of grease and mud. While sweat and grease were apart of Marcus' aura, he looked to be uncomfortable wearing his own skin. The man skittered over to the two Vault Hunters and asked, "You got a dollar on you?"
Mordecai shook his head. "Please let me have it!" Marcus misinterpreted. "I just spent the last hour watching them burn away piles of money. And they just watched and shrugged and watched and shrugged and watched and shrugged…" Marcus strolled off, muttering the same three words over and over. Gaige didn't offer anything and just shoved food down her throat like there was no tomorrow. Then again, who knew if tomorrow would be the day they would execute them all…
Mordecai couldn't do it. No matter what he thought of, no matter how hard he tried to focus on something else, he couldn't remain calm. These Maliwan soldiers were going to break them all…