Do You Ever Wish that You Weren't a Prisoner?/Burn it Down
Athena stood on the mountain top edge of Argus above the main city. Alongside her were five of her six remaining loyal devotees; Marrok, Cola, Gilford, Aoi and Ares. The six faunus stood as they waited for the signal. Gilford raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure this is gonna work?"
"Positive."
"You said that about the Storming of Sanctum." Cola reminded her coldly. "And yet you, along with most of your forces, were imprisoned here in this very place that we're about to invade."
"That's because I failed to take into consideration that a gifted student would rise above expectations to stop me and because I didn't have a backup plan because I leapt too quickly into Operation: Storm Sanctum." Athena responded back with a frown. "But considering that Ash Nikos is nowhere within Argus, and that I have a plan, backup plan and a backup plan for the backup plan, there's no way they're going to stop us this time. I am certain that this plan will prevail."
"If you say so..."
Cola was not convinced, making Athena turn away, showing a saddened expression to her consort. Ares put his hand on her shoulder. "Athena, we've got this."
"Yeah, we do."
Athena thought to herself, Everything's in place. Tawny's moved out her things from her apartment back to the airship and is getting into her disguise right now. She's pretending to be on her lunch break as we speak. Now we just have to wait for her to give the signal.
A request for a videochat phone call disrupted her thoughts. It was from Tawny, and she pressed answer. Tawny stood in the deserted bathroom, but she no longer looked like the prison guard she was pretending to be. She had her skin painted to match Maura's darker skin tone. Fortunately, her green eyes were the same color as Maura's, but her hair had to be dyed black and pulled into a ponytail with a green scrunchie. Snake scales had been taped and/or glued on to match Maura's and to hide her cat ears, she wore a green derby hat. She wore an emerald green sundress with shamrock colored flowers along the helm, green open toe heeled sandals and a green ribbon around her right wrist.
"Athena. I have finished making myself into Maura." She lifted her hat, revealing a green ribbon in place of her cat ears. "I even followed your advice to use the ribbon to hide my ears in case the hat falls off." She placed the hat back on. "What do you think?"
Athena smiled. "You look perfect."
"Really? Because I feel ridiculous." Tawny complained.
"Now then..."
Suddenly, the door opened and a female prison officer walked into the bathroom and screamed. 'Maura' got out a laser sword and swiftly beheaded the woman in a flash of green light.
"Sorry about that." Tawny said, sheathing the sword.
"No, you did good. Unfortunately, with that scream, they'll start coming for you. You can either flee the area or fight them, but whatever you do, don't get caught. I'll see you in a bit." Athena quickly hang up and pocketed her scroll before turning to her comrades. "Let's move. And remember, not a foot out of place."
Inside the prison, Tawny decided to run from the bathroom and left before the guards got there. She saw that they had run from the west end and after they entered the washroom, she went in that direction.
The imposter gathered her thoughts as she sprinted up the stairs. Alright, all the prisoners that I need to save are being held on the last seven floors. The first five have solely faunus prisoners, and the last two have a mix of humans and faunus held in cells. The first floor has no prisoners, that's where the offices are. Mess halls are on the tenth and twentieth floors. I don't need to realize every prisoner, but if I did release a few more prisoners, maybe they'll cause a distraction for them. Hopefully Athena won't scold me too much for it.
As Tawny arrived at the top of the 27th floor, she saw the guards walking forward as she hid herself behind the doorway. Using her slight of hand, she grabbed a few sets of keys as they passed by. Looking around to be sure there were no guards, she went to a cell a few doors down from the entrance. The prisoner, a girl who looked to be no more than twelve, noticed 'Maura' as she tried to unlock her cell door.
"Maura?"
"Shh. It's me, Tawny." she whispered. "I'm going to get you out here, but I need you to play along with this ruse to help everyone escape." She unlocked the cell door and handed a set of keys to her. "We need to get everyone on this floor out of their cells and then we set this place ablaze. In the midst of the chaos, they'll try to move the prisoners. We'll arm them with weapons and help them break free. Can you do that?"
She winked. "Certainly, Maura."
"Good. Then let's move."
The two began releasing prisoners, but two male guards took notice. "Hey, what are you doing here?!" one of them asked.
She got out her laser sword and began to cut down the bars of several cells while the first prisoner she released fought against the first guard. It seemed like the lone prisoner was about to be defeated, but soon the newly released faunus prisoners punched and kicked the guards down, saving the twelve year old girl.
"They're trying to escape!" the second guard exclaimed.
"We can't let that happen!" the first guard responded.
Tawny swiftly subdued the guards and quickly inhaled to calm her nerves, running forth as more guards came for her. She fought them off with her laser sword, the green beams fired from it knocking down the guards. Smirking, she said to herself, "Man, this weapon really is powerful."
The guards continued to come at her, but she was not afraid.
Meanwhile, in the washroom where Tawny had disguised herself as Maura, it was brought to Warden Cumin's attention about the murdered guard.
The warden stood with two other guards. "But how could this have been possible?"
"I don't know." the first one answered.
"We heard the scream and thought that the murderer would be here." the second one followed.
"But there's no way a known murder could have snuck in here just to murder a single guard. Keep your eyes peeled, gentlemen. I suspect that we may have a traitor in our midst."
On the perimeter of the prison grounds, Athena and the specialists, sans Marrok and Tawny starring as Maura, looked ahead and saw two guards at the front entrance. Gilford and Cola nodded and Athena did as well, looking at Marrok, who's job was to lead the recruits to their base. She turned and saw as Gilford and Cola ran forth to challenge the guards. As Gilford used his fangs to bite the first guard and wound him, Cola took his whip and lassoed the second one, spinning him as Athena took Ares's hand with her left and Aoi's with her right, flying them into the prison grounds. The three swiftly dashed through the doors and into the prison.
The guy at the desk stood up but was quickly murdered by Ares throwing a dagger at his throat, impaling him as Ares retrieved his bloodied weapon.
"Alright guys, we have 507 prisoners that were at the Storming of Sanctum and not a lot of time before our presence is known to everyone. You guys know your task, so get moving." Athena unfurled her wings. "I must find 'Maura' and aid her however I can. Eventually, at the right moment, she will set this prison on fire. So be prepared and good luck."
The three split up. Aoi took the elevator to the 26th floor, sharpening her sword with a whetstone as she ascended to the near top of the prison. As she did this, Ares made his way on foot to the 23rd floor. Back on the 27th floor, all the prisoners had been released and the guards had been killed.
"So, what now?" the girl asked.
"I need to get you out of here." She ran to the west end of the corridor with the prisoners following her. "There's a few other faunus that are aiding me in my operation. Their names are Athena, Ares, Aoi, Cola, Gilford and Marrok. I'll take you to the last one now and he'll lead you to the ship."
"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere." a female voice said.
Tawny skidded to a stop and found the source of the voice; a woman in a more refined uniform and badge was standing nearby the entrance, glaring at her.
Oh crap! The assistant warden! the imposter thought.
"You have a lot of nerve, Maura Celandine. But you made a grave mistake coming here." She got out a switch and pressed a button. An alarm went off, alerting everyone that they were there.
As the factory alarm went off, 'Maura' held her hand to her mouth in horror. "Oh no..."
The assistant warden tossed the switch aside and got out a large two handed sword. The woman charged towards the imposter, who was now afraid.
As the alarm blared throughout the prison, Ares groaned as he cut the bars with his sword. "Oh crud."
The view switched to Athena releasing a prisoner on the 25th floor and handing them the keys. She widened her eyes in shock before calming herself and sighing in exasperation. "A bit too soon, but we can work with this."
She flew along as the scene switched to Aoi releasing prisoners by using miniature bombs to blow up the bars, Gilford and Cola running into the prison before showing the dead guards at the entrance and the two seeing the bunch of prisoners from floor 27 all running down the steps.
"Gilford, lead them to Marrok!" Cola commanded.
"Got it!" He nodded to Cola before addressing the crowd. "Everyone, follow me!"
Gilford lead the faunus out of the prison and to Marrok. "Hello there." He took his hood down, revealing his sheep ears to the crowd. "Come with me if you want freedom and a second chance."
"Lead the way." the twelve year old girl said.
Marrok took the crowd as the guards approached them.
"Marrok, move!" Gilford ordered.
He took no hesitation in following his comrade's orders. Gilford fought the army of the guards as Marrok and the others ran. He threw small knives at the guards, getting one in the head, one in the arm, and the rest were dodged. The guards fired away at him and he rapidly tried to dodge them all.
Back on the 27th floor, Tawny was facing the assistant warden all alone. The warden's two handed sword clashed and pressed against 'Maura's' laser sword. "Your days are over!"
She pushed back the imposter fired a gun at Tawny, and her heart pounding in her chest, 'Maura' frantically dodged the incoming bullets as she ducked then jumped from wall to wall. As she landed on the ground, she was shot with a bullet, and although she had an aura activated, she still felt pain as the bullet hit her and sent her into wall. "You'll never stop me!"
"You're one to talk."
The assistant warden took some nearby chains and chained 'Maura's' hands to a set of bars.
Is this the end? Tawny silently asked herself. If I die, it's not only the end of me, but Athena's plan will be ruined!
The assistant warden aimed the gun at her head. "Any last words?"
Tawny looked around and saw something. "You really should be watching your back."
"Huh?!"
A blood curling scream was heard as she was literally stabbed in the back. As her body fell down to the ground, her eyes twitching as she gasped slowly for breath, Athena was standing there, smirking. "Perfect timing on my part."
"So tell me, is it time?"
"Yes, Maura." she answered. "It's time to burn it down."
With the 27th floor clear of prisoners, the cat faunus poured gasoline onto the 27th floor and through the stairway before the 26th floor. Athena took out some fire dust from a bag and threw it onto the gas, setting it ablaze.
The two went down. The impersonator was going a very good job as she used her laser sword to cut through the bars. As a montage began, Athena was shown dragging guards with her grappling hook, prisoners being released, mostly faunus but a few human prisoners were released as well. Bands of no more than thirty prisoners at a time were shown running from one specialist to another to get away from the prison. With her miniature bombs, Aoi blew up the side walls of the first floor and destroyed the stone wall guarding the perimeter and prisoners ran in all directions.
Prisoners on other floors were being released to try and get them out of the burning building, but 'Maura' freed them from their bindings and gave them a gun and a sword. Gunfire, swords clashing, whips cracking, bars breaking and other sounds of conflict were heard through the prison. Some of the released prisoners who knew where the ships were even came back to aid Athena and her specialists. All the smile, Athena smirked as the chaos unfolded.
The montage ended with the 25th floor collapsing. As the riot broke within the prison, many guards found themselves running out of weapons to use. A group of five guards, four male and one female, found themselves running through the hallways.
"There should be more weapons in there." the first one of them said.
A guard quickly punched in the combination only to find that all the weapons in the weapons vault had been stolen.
"Where are the weapons?!" the female guard shrieked.
The weapons, including guns, swords and the like, were in the hands of the escaping prisoners, highlighted by a brief glow around them. As the camera turned back to show them, they saw a shadow with a large sword and screamed. The screen blacked out and in one green slash, the guards had been killed.
The scene switched Warden Cumin growling as he ran up the stairs. "What's going on here?!" He gasped as he saw several prisoners fighting guards with weapons.
Suddenly, the assistant warden, suffering from the effects of the injury Athena inflicted upon her, came running in. "Maura and Athena are here! They're trying to free all the prisoners who were at the Storming of Sanctum!"
"We have to stop them!"
The chaos continued for another twenty minutes, and things had not gotten better. Several prisoners, both faunus and human, escaped in the chaos. Almost all the guards were dead. By now, most of the prison was on fire. The Assistant Warden was lying on the ground, very bloody and too weak to continue fighting.
"We need help!" Warden Cumin cried out in the midst of the chaos. Athena threw one of her boomerangs at him, only to miss.
"But who can we call?" the Assistant Warden asked. "All the police officers are currently dispersed around the city. Headmaster Aurelio's still in a coma, and all the other huntsmen and huntresses have left for missions!"
"Well there's one woman I know who can help us." He ducked and got out his scroll. "Hopefully, she'll answer."
Meanwhile, in the Argus Military Base, a short woman with silver hair and brown eyes stood in a large room with large robotic arms currently being worked on. Caroline Cordovin looked at the mechanics hard at work. She smiled before she felt a vibration on her scroll. Without hesitation, she fished out her scroll and immediately pressed answer.
Before she could say anything, a voice cried out, "Cordovin! Thank God! We need your help!"
"What's the problem, Warden Cumin?"
Sounds of laser and gunfire were heard on the other line. "She's back! The prison's on fire and... Oh crap! AHH!"
"Cumin! Cumin, answer me!" She hung up and pocketed her scroll swiftly, groaning. "Captain Grey," Cordovin looked at a guy wearing a military uniform with grey hair and eyes. "tell everyone in base A1 to get to the ships immediately and prepare for departure at once!"
"But what about finishing the Colossus?" Grey asked.
"Forget the Colossus! Protecting Argus and its people are our number one priority! We must get over to Argus Harbor prison ASAP!"
"Right away, Ma'am!"
But she was already on the move. She moved through the base surprisingly fast for an old woman as the scene transitioned to Cordovin in the sky, standing in an opened up airship as she saw the damage going on below. "I vowed to protect this city, no matter the threat."
I just hope I'm not too late... she silently prayed to herself.
Back at the prison, Athena stood outside the prison grounds as Argus Harbor Max Security Prison burned to the ground.
Aoi came up to the leader and informed her, "We've got everyone! And we even got some new recruits!"
"Excellent work." Athena applauded. "Now we have to be sure that they're not imprisoned again."
"Hold it right there!" a voice cried out.
Several police officers and guards formed a circle around Aoi and Athena.
"You're surrounded." another voice added.
"Surrender now and perhaps we'll spare you."
"We will never surrender!" Aoi declared.
Athena smirked in agreement. "Let's get em!"
The owl-winged faunus fired away at the law enforcement officers as her grappling hook converted to a pistol. They came for her, but they didn't get far before being knocked down. Aoi swung at the guards with her sword.
As Caroline arrived at the scene from the ground, she saw White Fang members fighting the guards. "Of course. I should have known. Never trust a faunus." She looked even closer as she saw a particular faunus throwing boomerangs at the guards and gasped. "Athena?!"
"What's wrong?" The wise woman caught her boomerangs with her hands before placing them on her hips. Aoi continued to fight the guards. "You seem surprised to see me." She chuckled. "Were you really unaware that I escaped this prison not even two months ago?"
She gave the owl winged faunus a scowl. "I don't know how you escaped, but you won't escape again."
Athena smirked and folded her arms. "Says the woman without a weapon of any kind."
"That's where you're wrong! A good soldier, or leader, is always prepared!" The Atlas military operative got out a small rod that extended into a full size baton with yellow dust.
Athena held her smirk, unfazed by her drawing out her weapon. "I'll admit that I stand corrected, but you really think you can defeat me?"
Cordovin growled and charged forth with her billy club in hand. The Atlas operative attempted to strike the faunus in the back with the stick only to fail as Athena ducked down then quickly moved to the right by jumping into the air, evading the remnants of her electric dust. For a moment, she stood in midair, her back to the ground so that her wings pointed downward before using them to throw a gust of wind at Cordovin, pushing herself up. She lifted her arms and stood her ground to avoid being blown away. As the wind faded, Athena floated a few feet in the air with her wings.
Caroline swung her baton forth, growling as she attempted to jab Athena in the knee, then the shin, and then her right foot, only for her to move up, to the right and then down and block her stick with the grappling hook. As the two weapons grinded against each other, Athena had her smirk once more. "That's your weakness, Cordo! You're too hot-headed!"
Athena threw a fire dust boomerang at Cordo's head, only for her to duck and dodge it. "And like you're any better?!" She heard the boomerang swing back and she ducked again. "You act like you're doing what's right, but you're not!"
The winged faunus caught the boomerang with her left hand. "That's the question. You act like this is all black and white. You believe that all faunus are evil or no good degenerates. That is far from true. Even if the White Fang is as evil as you believe it to be, there are several faunus who aren't aligned with the faunus activist group."
"You mean terrorist group." Cordovin corrected.
Cordovin stuck Athena with her baton, causing her to jolt in pain as electric dust surged through her as she writhed in agony, the Atlas operative took the opportunity to grab Athena by the ankle and throw her into the ground. She tried to handcuff Athena only to get the cuff around her left wrist as she moved her right wrist to the other boomerang strapped around her hips. She took the opportunity to throw it at the Atlas specialist operative, forcing her to let go of the handcuffs as she dodged the fire-dust filled boomerang. Athena flew about fifteen feet into the air, took the handcuffs off her left wrist and threw them at Cordovin to district her as she swooped down and picked up her boomerang.
After attaching her boomerang to her hips, she flew back into the air and fired her gunshots at her from down below with her pistol. Cordo managed to evade most of them through running, but when three rained down directly on her, she put up an aura shield to block them that disappeared in a flash. As Athena looked down on the scene below, she saw a furious Cordovin, growling in frustration. "Come down here, you despicable bird!"
"I rest my case." Athena descended down, landing a few feet away from Cordovin. "So why do you continue, even when you've failed?"
"We will not fail! We never fail!"
"Really? Then what do you call that?"
She moved aside and gestured to the prison. Caroline gasped in horror. "No..."
The prison was almost completely destroyed. The upper seven floors had completely collapsed and the rest of the building was on fire. Several bodies of prison guards were seen on the ground nearby the prison, most likely dead or in critical condition. The gate had come down and wall surrounding the the prison had been cracked into several pieces that could easily be stepped over. As Caroline observed the scene, she heard someone cry out weakly, "They're getting away!" before falling unconscious.
"Argus Harbor Max Security Prison is no more. All of the faunus apprehended during the Storming of Sanctum have escaped. Your men and women in the police force are dead, Warden Cumin among them." Bruna proclaimed. "And Maura Celandine is to blame."
Cordovin balled her fist and attempted punch and swung at her with the baton in blind anger. "Why are you doing this?! What do you have to gain by doing this?!"
"Oh, you have no idea what's going to happen."
Caroline angrily asked, "What?"
Her aura shattered in a flash of blue as Athena jabbed her in the chest with a sword. Then she proceeded to fire her grappling hook around Cordovin, trying to tie her up. She evaded the attack as she spun around, but didn't see Athena advance to fight her once again with her sword. As Athena used her sword counter the baton, she disarmed her by lifting the sword up, knocking the truncheon out of her hands. Then she grabbed her by the collar, pulling her forth as a smirk appeared on her face. "You've lost your aura, and your weapon. Ha. I win, Commander."
Cordovin looked at her angrily. "This battle is not over. As long as I'm alive, I will find a way to stop you!"
She stepped on her foot to try and get her to let go of her, only for her to hold her grip even tighter and fly a few feet into the air. Athena held her sword to Cordovin's neck. "You have no idea how much I just want to kill you, you racist bigot." She stopped and withdrew her sword. "But that would actually hinder my own plan. I have great plans for myself, this kingdom, the world even, but you won't realize what it is, until it is all but too late. Everything you've built will be destroyed. The castaways you enslaved will be free, and when the world you've built comes crumbling down, you will meet your end. Until then, I can't kill you, but I can't let you chase me down either. So I'm afraid this is farewell, Cordovin."
Athena placed her right hand on Cordovin's right arm, moved her other hand to that same arm and threw the Atlas specialist with all her might at a ninety degree angle in the air. Caroline screamed as she fell down from the sky, crashed back first onto the roof and as the bones in her legs broke, she screamed so loud that the entire city heard her. As her scream was heard, a wide shot of the city was shown, with several citizens, including Terra, frozen or trembling in terror from the sound. The view switched to Athena, still in the air, smiling as she heard Cordovin's scream.
"Music to my ears."
"No..." the fallen leader said weakly to herself. Cordo's vision blurred as she saw the winged faunus fly away and the camera showed her point of view as she saw the blue sky filled with black smoke. "Forgive me... I've failed."
As the fire raged on and smoke filled the air, her vision blurred even more and her eyes closed as everything faded to black.