Out of all the Rando Week arcs, this one is the longest.
Chapter 164: Agents of Asgard Part Two
FBI Correctional Facility, Maximum Security - 11:40 AM
The next morning, Apollo and Sigyn, now Britney Braun under her prison alias, are taken by their elbows by FBI correctional officers and shoved into an unmarked van. Before they could fix themselves, which was harder to do since their ankles were shackled, their bound hands are cuffed up to the vehicle's ceiling as they're forced to sit on metal benches against the van's wall. Same treatment for all the other prisoners, some of whom tried to pick a fight with an officer who wasn't having it. There are two armed guards sitting by the doors and another two in the front, one of whom is driving. There's some small talk between the officers but it's too quiet for Apollo and Sigyn to hear as if it were anything important. They're positioned and staring at all the prisoners as if they're planning an escape.
Too early, if Apollo and Sigyn were to input. The driver up front plays the local radio station as they start moving.
"Jane would be proud of us," Sigyn whispers to Apollo who sits across from her.
"I don't know about you but I've always pictured you here," Apollo fires back.
The officers in the back shush them and the Asgardians ignore them. Some neighbouring prisoners crack smiles before hiding them quickly.
"You know what Merida would say?" Sigyn whispers again. "Ugh, why can't Ivory just die?"
"She seems more immortal than us," Apollo points out, thinking back to every time their friends would complain about her presence. "Ivory, not Merida. Don't tell her I said that."
"Maybe we should lodge her in the Serpent's throat. Again, Ivory not Merida."
Apollo's face doesn't budge and Sigyn almost takes back her words. She wasn't sure what to do since he seemed fine with joking about Ragnarök at Emily and Daniel's wedding. Maybe it was all the joy at the time clouding his fear. He breaks eye contact and Sigyn shrivels in her seat the best she can since her arms and legs are bound in place. She hangs back like a hammock, not even looking at Apollo.
"You two, keep quiet or you're going straight to solitary," the driver threatens.
They didn't say anything for the rest of the ride. There weren't any windows behind them to look out of so Apollo and Sigyn kept their eyes on the ground of the van, at everyone's shoes and either the boxy orange jumpsuit pants or armed uniforms. Their heads steer upwards as they feel the bumpy road feel out. Catching a glance out the driver's window, they see the supermax. A purely concrete and steel fortress, a dreary building with barely any windows or doors. There are officer towers at nearly every post, manned and armed. Other officers walk the grounds, carrying weapons they couldn't see.
Sigyn was almost so distracted that she didn't notice she was unlocked and extracted from the van. The sunlight hits her eyes as she's dragged inside, Apollo escorted a few steps ahead of her.
She was grateful to already be in the itchy canvas jumpsuit because she didn't want to change in front of everyone in the open. She had to bite her tongue when they patted her down before getting in the van and before she stepped into this building. She was too busy looking at the compound to care if anyone's hands went beyond the searching ground. All eyes on every angle to see if there's any contraband hidden within the body's crevices.
They walked past the changing area to a front desk where they're signed in, files transferred, and they were lined up one-by-one for their prisoner ID photos. At least they got the cuffs removed for the photos. Sigyn almost forgot how to walk without them because she had her full mobility again. Apollo kept a neutral face in his photo but Sigyn couldn't help but grin a little, making sure her pentagram tattoo binding charm was visible through her jumpsuit's neckline. She hopes the camera caught her wink.
As they're being cuffed again, Apollo locks eyes with her and her mouth dries. Should she apologize? That question goes out the window when she watches Apollo rub his cuffed wrists with a fake pained expression, looking like he's about to cry because he's pretending it hurts. She takes back whatever apology she wanted to give and rolls her eyes, masking her smile. Some of their wrists and ankles are ringed with red lines and bruises because of the tight and constant shackles.
With the same group of guards surrounding them, they're escorted through a muddy yard. It resembles an empty field in-between towns on road trips, one nobody ever pulls over on the side of the road, let alone visit.
Before their very eyes, they're led into their cell block.
They keep walking down the hall, Apollo and Sigyn looking around to get a good look at the place since they're supposed to escape but everything looks the same. A massive labyrinth of hallways with a vast open space decorated with locked and wired cells on the walls and the floor above them modelled like an observation deck with railings over the edge. Officers could make their rounds at all hours and have eyes on everyone on any floor. Prisoners strut around the place. Some bumping fists or hollering to each other across the aisle. They've been here a while. The new ones get wandering eyes and unreadable expressions.
Cell numbers are stencilled on the wall, vacant ones with their doors open as an officer calls a prisoner. An officer nods to a cell on the second floor and a prisoner is shoved in. The door clicks shut, multi-locked and surveilled.
Sigyn keeps her eyes on Apollo who remains ahead of her. She watches him make eye contact with a passing officer that eyes him, and Sigyn when he sees her, for longer than any other officer in this building, even the ones patting them down and escorting them. Sigyn catches his badge when he passes her. Officer AR164. She hoped for a name as if that would've told her anything.
Once he's passed her, Sigyn sees Apollo brought to his cell. Sigyn catches a glimpse inside and watches them un-cuff her cousin who will be left alone in that twelve by seventeen box. Bare concrete floors and grey walls with signs of former lives with marks and scratches all over the place. There's a bed bolted in the corner furthest from the door, which isn't saying much since the space is so small, with a thin blanket folded on top and a metal toilet in the other corner, also bolted to the wall. Nothing sharp in sight to snag their prison jumpers or scratch their skins, or be used as a weapon (at least without any creativity).
Sigyn isn't sure what to say but doesn't have the time before she's dragged away and Apollo's cell is locked. At least he'll have his rampant mind to think about everything he did that brought him here. That's what prisoners do, right? All the mistakes, failures, regrets, memories … he's screwed. Sigyn can only hope that he focuses on creating a plan so they can get out of here quickly.
She's brought to another floor, two above Apollo and they stop in front of an empty and identical cell. All her cuffs are removed but in her current situation, her mobility is limited again.
"What? I can't keep those?" Sigyn jokes, referring to the cuffs.
That comment gets her shoved into her cell. To her surprise, it isn't locked right away. She's almost tempted to run out, snatch Ivory wherever the hell she could be, and get out of here. Sigyn walks to the edge and almost backs away when she sees the officer from earlier, AR164, standing against the railing overlooking the observation deck outside her cell.
"What do you want?" Sigyn asks, crossing her arms as she looks him up and down. She isn't sure why she did that other than to look threatening. "Nobody else got a welcome before seeing their cells."
"Fine," he looks at her with a smile, "welcome to the supermax, Britney Braun."
She tries not to shudder and the sound of her past name. It should've had an Inmate in front of it but she doesn't care. "Charming. I'll be sure to enjoy my stay."
"Your file said you've been locked up for eight years," Officer AR164 tells her as if she didn't know herself. To be fair, Sigyn didn't know her file said that and hates whatever sick joke SHIELD wanted to play on her.
Sigyn scoffs. "That's an exaggeration."
"Stuck with your, who is he, cousin?"
"Unfortunately. For the record, he locked me up."
"File says he's your accomplice."
Sigyn narrows her eyes. "File says a lot of things."
"Did your friends or family know?"
"Who says they weren't trapped with us? Different circumstances."
"Good to know."
When he walks away, continuing his round, another officer forces Sigyn back into her cell and she doesn't argue. As the doors lock, Sigyn sits on the floor by her bed. She tries to focus on what she and Apollo strategized before getting arrested. He would think of a way out as she would find Ivory. Sigyn isn't sure what to do since she didn't think she saw Ivory on the way to her cell. Then again she wasn't looking for her since the prison setting was processing in her mind.
Eight years trapped in madness. Apollo's madness heightened by her.
What a time that was.
Ah, yes, that emotional trauma that I experienced as well while writing that big arc.