Alarms? Panicking inmates? Missing guards? Boring.
Vi persisted on her large set of reverse push ups in her cell with the door slightly ajar. Another stupid drill. I'll get more attention trying to leave then if I wait for the guards to finally make sure the cells are clear. That didn't change after the last remaining inmates in Row 5 took off.
"I won't mind seeing you rats take a beating instead of me. Freaking out just because we are getting blue and pink early this time," she told a couple who tried to recruit her. They're not asking out of love, of course. It's because they knew I'm the best fighter here by a damn sight. No, I'll be patient for once.
Then she heard the shouts, screams, and most importantly, gunshots. Rapid gunshots.
"What the hell?" Vi wondered. She knew the sound of the anti-riot machine guns firing rubber bullets well enough. That wasn't it.
Rolling her shoulders a little, the brawler opened her cell door and looked down the hallway. There was smoke coming out the vents now.
"Poor Urgot would be loving this." She grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall. If I get caught by guards, it should be easy to excuse.
Like a large stalking feline, she moved fast, low, and quiet. The smoke didn't smell like it was from a fire. It had a scent similar to one of Powder's failed smoke bombs like Wags or Shelly. Can she be involved? No. No, you have to find and save HER, not the other way around. And that means at least surviving first.
There was more gunfire and Vi could make out the muzzle flashes reflected on the wall. Very close now. Swallowing, Vi prepared the fire extinguisher and aimed it for head height. Then waited. The lights kept their plain dance of light blue and pink.
As soon as she saw the barrel of the machine gun, Vi sprayed the foam/vapor mix and screaming pushed it around the corner. Blue and pink.
"Aah!" the gunwoman screamed in frustration. She tumbled back and Vi advanced around the corner. Blue. Pink.
Vi leapt up, intending to smash the bottom of it into the shooter's face. Blue. The shooter had put all her weight on her back left leg and leaning away aimed it up at the fire extinguisher. Pink.
A fraction of a second later, they knew each other.
"Powder?"
"Vi"?"
Jinx aimed the gun away and Vi tried to stop the extinguisher, but the momentum was too great. Its base struck Jinx in the left cheek. Her balance was lost and she fell down, hitting her head against the wall.
"No. No! NO! I'm sorry, Powder!" Vi exclaimed as she tended to her little sister. She had a decent and fast pulse; her breathing was regular. She had some bruises visible on her arms and of course her cheek now. She also had a lot of blood spatter, but it didn't seem to be hers.
She came for me. She waged a battle to free me and I could have killed her.
Vi's fists were clenched as tight as titanium. She felt herself teleported back outside the cannery that night when she had failed, lashed out, and then disappeared into a deeper and darker hell. It was only hearing her own primal scream of rage and anguish that brought her back to the moment.
Vi got under Jinx and lifted her in what was once called the bridal carry. "I can't even ask her what her plan was." "THIS… just makes more problems," Vi remembered Vander telling her about her bloodied fists. True, but what are my choices? At least I have Powder now.
"You're still pretty light, sis. Even with your, uh, new tools?" Powder was always good at the arcade shooting game, but it was hard for Vi to imagine her wielding a large machine gun well. And boldly too. She walked past small groups of bodies. Some still breathing; some not.
The smoke was gradually dissipating and Vi felt safe to move faster. She hadn't gone many places since arriving in Stillwater: the cafeteria, the inner yard, the gym, the showers, and of course, the hole. Still, she knew to go up and she could follow the numbering system to get to the main exit.
She was almost to the elevator when two things interrupted her. The first was a soft groan from her sister, which made her smile. The second was a call from a group of inmates.
"Vi, right? Leave her! She's killed or nearly killed half my crew!" the gang leader called. She had about four with them, almost all of them armed with broken chairs or a baton.
Vi didn't recognize who it was. Not that it mattered much.
"I'm taking her away. You won't ever see her again. It's a damn near certainty she's the reason we all may be able to escape this shithole," Vi argued as she reached the door. It looked like someone was already coming down. Beautiful.
"Vi, I know your reputation. Decent chance you'll win. But if you lose, it will be the end. You don't have to do this."
"Yes," Vi answered as she set Powder down against the wall near the doors. "I do." She rolled her shoulders slightly.
Vi sprinted forward. The corridor was narrower where they were standing and if she could keep them there and farther from her sister it would likely go better. The gang leader knew that and dove forward, going for a low with a baton swing for Vi's legs. Vi leapt and tried to deliver a flying knee, but the leader evaded.
Taking a risk of leaving Powder unguarded, Vi used her momentum to bring her to the other four. She blocked an across chair leg swing and delivered a strong uppercut into inmate one. The force pushed back inmate four. Vi brought an elbow strike into inmate two and dodged inmate three. A follow up knee under the jaw of three seemed to take them out of the fight and Vi dodged inmate two again and seized their baton.
She realized she'd have to take a couple blows as she bought a little time by swinging it at them and then turned and threw it with full force at the leader who was mere feet from Powder now. Please. Please. The baton spun through the air like a shuriken. It would incapacitate the leader if it landed. But it didn't. The leader's sharp instincts made her dodge it by an inch.
The leader took a second to smirk at Vi who caught a blow to her back and arms. She tried dashing back, but the leader was already pulling back. It was hard to see, but Powder's was still mostly out. Vi felt like she was in a dream where you're running in place. The leader started the swing and then suddenly fell back and dropped the baton.
Vi's tunnel vision expanded and he saw a young dark skinned man with white hair had struck her in the face with a club. "Ekko?" Vi said then remembered she had more to deal with.
"Little Man," he corrected and delivered a strong kick to the inmate leader's head, upgrading her from dazed to knocked out.
Vi saw that one was demoralized enough to have run away. Two and four advanced, attacking her from opposite sides. Vi spun and jabbed two. She blocked four and crossed two, who was getting woozy. She evaded four again and rear uppercut two, finishing her off.
Four finally got a strike to Vi's head and she stumbled back. She glanced over to Ekko, who was pulling out something. Four was pressing his advantage. Vi was dazed and tired. She attempted to evade, but four landed another strike into her ribs. He prepared a third blow when a bullet struck his forehead and felled him.
"Did I miss much?" Jinx asked as she pushed herself up against the wall, keeping her smoking pistol in her left hand just in case.
Ekko smiled. "No, bullseye." He moved to offer support which she accepted with glee. "What happened?"
Jinx grinned and brought right hand to check her left red cheek and the back of her head. "Vi," she answered and looked at her bruised sister as she moved to her.
"Powder," Vi exclaimed. Rushing over she hugged her with gusto. Ekko gave the sisters space and went to check if the inmates needed to be bound.
"Close enough," she said and returned it. Vi wanted this moment hugging her little sister to last the rest of their lives.
The months of her cell's walls echoing with her screams of "Powder" until she exhausted herself to sleep. The years of dwindling hope of reunifying with her while she lay cold on the solitary floor with cracked ribs and internal bleeding. The sorrow was releasing in the embrace as were her tears. Many tears.
"Powder, I am sorry for what I said and did that night. I was wrong. You are not a jinx."
Jinx paused her own crying to laugh morosely at that and softly, slowly broke away. "Thanks. I've got some apologies and explanations for you too. But that will keep. We've put a lot of people better than me in danger to get you out. We should parole you now."
Ekko nodded. "She's right. I can bring you both somewhere safe."
Jinx pressed the buttons. "I can't wait for you to see what Little Man has made. Boy Savior's created a paradise."
Vi looked at Ekko. "Boy Savior? How many names do you have now?"
Ekko put a hand behind his head. "I do seem to collect them. But aliases are useful when resisting Chemking Silco and his empire. And avoiding the enforcers too."
Shaking her head, Vi patted Ekko's arm. "I guess some things never change. I've never meant an enforcer who wasn't an asshole criminal with a fancy uniform."