FS93: *Facepalm*
EK94: What did you do now? Leave your windows rolled down on your car during a storm again?
FS93: No, nothing like that! I just realized that two chapters ago I added a little * meaning to add a note for it at the end and never did.
EK94: (Sarcastically) Good going, genius.
FS93: At least it wasn't that important. It was just about how Japan does follow the whole Habeas Corpus thing since their constitution closely resembles that of the USA's…
EK94: …Why did you even think of that? ?
FS93: No idea, really. Anyway… Enjoy!
Chapter Nine – Rescue
Crow sat back against the wall in the holding area, his arms wrapped around his knees, tapping his foot impatiently. His gaze flickered from Elodie, who was leaning against a wall a little ways away, to Jack, who stood coolly in the center of the room, arms folded, a scowl on his face. Crow had no idea what the two of them had in mind for escaping, but an uneasy twinge in his gut was telling him it was gonna be risky. He was waiting anxiously for whatever the signal was going to be, though he had no clue what it was or what he was supposed to do when it happened.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jack give a slight jump, as though something had startled him. His keen grey eyes snapped to the fake guard as the latter raised a hand to the headset in his ear and muttered something. Crow felt himself tense up, wondering if the signal was coming.
Jack walked absent-mindedly toward another guard, standing close to where Elodie was. Crow had to lean forward to hear what he was saying.
"A lot of people here tonight," Jack spoke conversationally, deepening his voice to mask his accent.
"Well, there are a lot of people working on that darned bridge," the guard replied coolly.
Jack scoffed. "Tell me about it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, when we're stuck in this city of devils."
Crow noticed the light emphasis Jack put on the last three words. That was when Elodie sprang into action.
"City o' devils?" she cried, using her fake drunk-male voice. "You think this is a city o' devils, do yuh, copper? Well, I'll tell you what: this is a city o' devils! But not 'cause o' us, oh no sir! It's you Sector Security lot that are the devils!"
"Quiet down, you Satellite scum!" Jack snapped as everyone in the room turned to watch what was happening. "No one cares!"
"Is that what you think?" Elodie shouted, stumbling away from the wall and pointing accusingly at Jack. "Well, here's some news for yeh, bud! There're about ten dozen people in this room that care! They're all bein' arrested for crimes they didn't commit! An' the supposed 'crime' is tryin' to bring freedom to the people o' the satellite! An' you think we're scum! Take a look in the mirror an' you'll see who's scum, yeh scumbag!"
There was a smattering of applause from the other prisoners as Elodie spat at Jack's feet. Crow watched, feeling utterly perplexed; was this supposed to be the signal?
"You know what?" Jack snarled, moving towards Elodie. "I think I've just about had enough of you!"
Jack made to grab her, but Elodie ducked beneath his arm and drove an elbow into his gut.
"Take THAT, yeh traitor!" Elodie cackled as Jack gasped.
"Will someone help me with this?" Jack shouted, wincing slightly. The nearest guard, the one Jack had before been conversing with, immediately jumped forward. He was a small, just slightly taller than Elodie, and he seemed to be one of the newer recruits, but he and Jack had no problem wrestling Elodie to the ground – Crow suspected Elodie let them beat her, but it was still alarming to watch.
"Come on!" Jack ordered as he and the second, conveniently smaller guard grabbed Elodie and drug her, kicking and yelling, across the room to a smaller, adjacent room. Crow and the other prisoners watched as the two guards threw Elodie into the room and slammed the door behind them.
Crow got to his feet as the sounds of a scuffle came from behind the door, and he wondered what the deck was going on. Was he supposed to do something? What this all part of the plan?
All of a sudden, the noise stopped. The room filled with palpable silence, and everyone was watching the door. A few moments later, the door opened and the two guards came out, dragging an unconscious figure in a stained coat and tattered hat between them.
"This rat's gonna be out for a while," Jack growled to a couple of other guards as he handed the unconscious prisoner over to them. "He'll probably be a bit delusional when he wakes up. Just keep away from people and make sure he doesn't hurt himself or any others."
Crow's blood froze as the other two guards drug the hermit away. What the devil was Jack doing with Elodie? Was she really unconscious, or was she faking to try and sneak in somewhere? And what was the purposed of the fight? WHAT WAS GOING ON?
"If anyone else has anything to add to that slime ball's comments," Jack was yelling to the room at large, "feel free to follow him!"
No one moved. After several seconds, conversation continued and the tension of what had just happened was slowly released. But Crow was extremely confused, and he was worried about Elodie. If Jack had seriously hurt her…
Suddenly, a loud, shrill bell rang.
"Alright!" a guard yelled. "The first trolley's about to head out to the City! The first fifteen prisoners need to be on board!"
As the other guards began herding some of the prisoners toward the trolley, Crow stayed where he was, unsure what to do. Was this really part of the plan? Had he missed the signal? What was he supposed to do?
"Hey, you! Carrot-top!"
Crow turned to see the guard who had helped Jack carry Elodie away approaching him, glaring at him through the helmet visor.
"What're you doing just standing there?" the guard demanded. "Get going!"
Crow tried to struggle as the guard pushed him towards the line for trolley, but the guard held fast.
"By the way," the guard suddenly whispered in his ear, "that was the signal."
Crow's eyes widened when he recognized Elodie's voice. Now it made sense! The fight was an excuse to get one of the other guards alone so Elodie could get a new disguise. The real guard must have been the one they had drug off.
"Beast to Chaos," Elodie muttered into her radio, one hand over the earpiece, the other pulling at Crow's arm. "Phase two of operation Jailbird is complete. We should arrive with the Bird in ten minutes."
"Copy that, Beast," Crow heard a feminine voice come through the radio. "By the way, nice act! I think Archfiend is gonna feel that punch."
Elodie's lips twitched in a smile. "Archfiend's a big boy; he can deal with it."
Crow chuckled. "You're amazing."
Elodie blushed pink as she tried to hide a smile. "I wouldn't say that. We're not out of the woods yet. But enough talk. Try to act as though you're actually being taken prisoner."
Elodie shoved Crow into the line and moved to stand with Jack near the door. When all fifteen prisoners were in the trolley, the two fake guards stepped in and closed the door behind them. Crow sat down on the end of the bench closest to his friends, and, a few moments later, the trolley jerked forward and started its journey across the bay to the Facility.
"Hey, are you guys okay?" Crow spoke up to all of the surrounding workers.
"We're fine, Mr. Hogan," one of the, Daisuke, replied gruffly.
"Where're the other designers?" a second worker, Marcus, asked. "Atlas and Fudo and Kumari…"
"They're alright," Crow answered, careful not to look at the 'guards' next to him. "I managed to get a warning to them before they took me. "I'm sure they're working on a plan now."
"At least they weren't caught," Daisuke murmured with a relieved sigh.
Crow nodded. "Don't worry, guys; we'll get out of this. Just hang in there until we do."
Several minutes later, the trolley stuttered to a stop. Jack pulled open the door and ordered everyone to get out, single file. He and Elodie stood near the door as the prisoners got off as another guard checked them all on a list. Crow was the last one off, and as the guard checked his name, the man smirked.
"Welcome back, Hogan," he sneered. "What is this, your third trip? Fourth?"
Crow growled darkly and stalked away from the guard. Looking around at the steel walls and iron bars, the bird-duelist couldn't help but feel dismayed; how were they going to escape from this place?
"Yo, Carrot-top!" a voice called, and Crow turned to see Elodie and Jack approaching him. "The warden wants to talk to you," Elodie spoke in a passable man voice. "Personally."
Before Crow could say anything, Jack and Elodie grabbed him by the arms and lead him across the room and down a wide corridor. When they came out of the corridor, the three found themselves in the area where the prisoners were held. The place looked like along, pentagon-shaped tube, dropping down to a dark, black hole with a wide bridge going across it and cell doors lining the walls on several levels. Glancing through the bars on the cell doors as they passed, Crow thought he saw a few gloomy faces watching them. The atmosphere was heavy with the feelings of despair and loss of liberty that the prisoners felt here. Elodie couldn't help but wince slightly.
"You can feel it, huh?" Crow guessed. Elodie nodded once.
"I hate this place," she spoke in a low voice. "I can only imagine what you, Yusei, and Kalin must have gone through here…"
"Will you two shut up before you blow our cover?" Jack whispered fiercely. Elodie closed her mouth and looked ahead, doing as Jack told her; that was proof enough of how much the Facility scared her.
Jack and Elodie seemed to be taking directions from Naomi, aka Chaos, over their radios, because Crow had no idea how else they knew where to go. He assumed that Naomi had somehow taken over the mainframe, and they were going to meet her rather than the warden. His suspicions were confirmed when the two 'guards' lead him to the elevator across the room and pressed the button to take them to the mainframe.
"I can't believe we've made it this far," Jack muttered as he leaned against the side of the elevator, shaking his head, as they travelled up. "Do you realize how many things could have gone wrong?"
"Yes, I do, Jack. You've told me about twenty times," Elodie replied tersely. "We're getting lucky; I just hope it lasts until we get the heck out of here." Elodie pressed the button on her radio and said, "Beast to Chaos, We're coming up the elevator. We're just about to reach the mainframe."
"Copy that, Beast," Naomi voice crackled through the headset. "See you in a few!"
"By the way," Jack inserted, glaring at Elodie as he wrapped an arm around his stomach, "was it really necessary for you to hit so hard?"
"Oh, suck it up, tough guy; it needed to look realistic!"
Jack opened his mouth to retort, but at that moment, the elevator dinged to a stop and the doors slid open. Elodie, Crow, and Jack all stepped out and found themselves in a rectangular room filled with TV screens and monitors. In front of one of the computers was Naomi, who was typing furiously as the screen reflected in her bright green eyes. A little ways away from her, two men were tied together back-to-back with gags over their mouths, still unconscious.
"Hey, guys," Naomi greeted with an ironic little smile, glancing at the three newcomers briefly. "Welcome to Hell's mainframe."
"You're not kidding," Elodie commented with a shudder. "This place is horrible."
"Have you located where your brother and friend are yet?" Jack asked the green-eyed girl, uncovering his own violet eyes.
"Workin' on it," Naomi replied. "I already know Alex in on level D, cell 27, and I'm trying to find my brother, Ryan, now…"
"Before we go any further," Crow cut in, "can someone please tell me what the whole plan is?"
"Right," Elodie asserted. "First off, though, Naomi, I want you to officially meet my best friend, Crow Hogan. Crow, this is Naomi Mori."
"Nice to officially meet you," Crow greeted with a smile, holding out his hand.
"Likewise," Naomi replied, shaking his hand.
Elodie clapped her hands together and rubbed them. "Alright. Now, Crow, here's the plan: The first half was to get you away from Security's attention and find a way to get into the Facility. That, we have done, obviously. Next, we're going to find Naomi's friends and get them out as well."
"How are we escaping?" Crow asked.
"The same way Naomi got in: Through the vents," Elodie replied, pointing up at the big square hole in the ceiling. "Jack, can you reach it?"
Jack stepped forward until he stood right beneath the open vent, reached up and wrapped his fingers around the edge of the hole. "Piece of cake," he smirked.
"Great! Okay then, Crow, you and Naomi will go up first, so you're both out of harm's way, and I'm going to go fetch Naomi's friends while Jack keeps watch in here. Then the four of us will meet you up on the roof, and I'll fly us back to Satellite with duel monsters. Sound good?"
"I think so," Crow replied with a nod. "Just one question, though: What's with the code talk?"
"I was wondering myself," Jack put in, turning to Elodie.
She smirked. "There are two reasons: A) If anyone happens to hack our signal while we're talking, they won't have any clue what we're saying, and B) it makes this a lot more fun!"
Crow laughed and rolled his eyes. "Elodie, you are something else."
"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much," Elodie replied with mock curtsy and wide grin.
Naomi chuckled. "Wow," she spoke, smirking as she spun around in the swivel chair, "you two really are a perfect couple."
"WHAT?" Crow and Elodie exclaimed at the same time as Jack burst out laughing.
"Oh, shut up, Jack," Elodie grumbled, blushing furiously.
"It's not that funny!" Crow complained as his ears turned bright red. Naomi just smiled cheekily, still spinning in the chair.
"Will you stop spinning?" Elodie snapped. "I thought you were looking for you brother."
"It's still searching the system," Naomi replied. "And I can't help it! I love spinney chairs!"
Suddenly, the computer beeped, and Naomi gasped, rolling the chair back to the computer screen. "We've got him!" she cried excitedly. "Ryan is in cell E19."
"Got it," Elodie nodded, her expression all business once again. "Alex in D27; Ryan in E19." Elodie looked down at her newest friend, determination in her eyes. "I'll take if rom here, Naomi. You and Crow get out of here; Jack and I will take care of your friends. You trust me, right?"
Naomi's green eyes met Elodie's hazel ones, and the two girls gazed at each other for a long moment until Naomi replied. "You've kept your word thus far, and you have has much to lose as the rest of us. I trust you well enough."
Elodie beamed at her. "Good. Now quick you two, in the vent! We've gotta move fast; Security's bound to notice something's up any minute."
Naomi got up and, with Jack and Crow's help, clamored back into the vent. With a leg-up, Crow followed suit.
"You two be careful," Crow called back as he and Naomi started off.
"Don't worry about us, Crow," Elodie replied. "We've got this!"
"Good luck, mate," Jack called. "See you in the open!"
FS93: Once again, if you review you get a preview! However, preview content is pretty limited since I only have half the chapter right now. *hint-hint*
EK94: I'm workin' on it, okay? ! I'm a little busy with other things at the moment!
FS93: Just warning our readers that it'll be awhile before they get another update, that's all.
Both: Thanks for reading!