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Chapter 167: Agents of Asgard Part Five

FBI Correctional Facility, Maximum Security - Time Unknown

SHIELD might not have given them a timeline for the extraction mission, but Sigyn knows she has to act fast since Apollo is about to teeter back into madness. It's not that she hasn't been pulling her weight because she's trying but there are the constraints of always being watched, controlled, and trying not to raise suspicion. Besides, if she finds Ivory, then what was the point of escaping if they didn't have a plan yet? If she lost Apollo in prison, then she would have to strategize something, maybe just remove the binding charm from her chest.

She honestly forgot the charm was there since she didn't find a use for her magic. It's not like she was ever dependent on her powers. She spent most of her childhood and teenage years avoiding the use because it would lead Amora to her.

These were Sigyn's thoughts as she was doing her shift in the laundry sector to distract her from the pungent smell of used and soiled prison jumpers. It didn't help that the detergent had no scent. She starts another load as she looks at the next basket which had fewer uniforms compared to the others. It's odd to her since she heard that the sectors were filled relatively equal and the laundry was sorted by floor per sector.

"Why's this one so small?" Sigyn asks as she dumps it in an empty machine.

"Probably the SHU," another prisoner working the laundry sector, Smith, says as they fold up the finished loads.

"SHU?" Sigyn asks, suddenly feeling like an idiot for even questioning.

"Solitary," Smith responds without finding it odd, to Sigyn's relief.

Sigyn nods. "So, who's in the SHU?"

Smith pauses folding a pair of pants and looks up. They start listing names and reasons for each prisoner being there. It wasn't a long list but it took a while because they were hesitating. Most seemed to be in there for temper problems, starting extreme fights, abusing officers, or they were considered too dangerous to be in a general block.

"Some hot girl named Gates," Smith finally says to which Sigyn has to hide her smile, "I actually don't know why she's in there but I remember her going in shortly after she showed up."

"Weird," Sigyn says as another load ends and she goes to take it out and start putting it in the dryer. She bites down on her lips to hide her smile because she didn't need to use her prison gold as bribery.

New plan: get into the SHU.

-o-

After her laundry shift, Sigyn walks back to her block to try and find Apollo. She'll probably stage a brutal fight with him since she needs it to get bad enough for the SHU without killing him (as if she could), without telling him so he wouldn't be acting. Maybe she'll even knock some sense into him so he'd start planning an escape.

Something distracts her. She hears something coming from one of the offices. Sigyn looks around and walks towards one of the barely ajar office doors, the sounds of a man talking and someone else's faint crying grow louder. Without thinking because she didn't have to spare another thought since she knew what was happening and she didn't like it, she swings open the door and everyone freezes to look at her.

An officer with his hands going down a smaller female prisoner's pants, tears streaming down her face but almost looking relieved when she locks eyes with Sigyn.

Well, perfect timing on her part.

"Inmate, get back to your cell or else," the officer threatens Sigyn.

Sigyn doesn't even blink, just a small twinge of a grin from the corner of her lips. "Okay."

Instinctively, she holds out her hands expecting magic to burst out but it never does. Stupid binding charm. Instead, she rushes into the small office and leaps over the desk to kick the officer against the wall. The inmate scurries against the opposite wall as Sigyn and the officer hit the ground. Before she could get back on her feet, Sigyn tosses the other inmate the ramen package she got from Apollo. The officer tries to pin Sigyn down but she yanks her arm back as he calls for backup with the transceiver on his shoulder. Sigyn grabs the expendable baton from his belt and whips it out, extending it above her head to make some distance between them before shanking it into his side. Couldn't have done more than a flesh wound but the other inmate ran out screaming. How was she in the supermax? Probably because she thought Sigyn would attack her next. At least she could enjoy the free ramen.

"Inmate Braun!"

Sigyn pauses as the officer she shanked starts cussing her out. She thought hearing Britney was bad enough but the last name was even worse. At least the slew of curses is music to her ears.

Sigyn drops the baton as the other officer who called her name calls a medic for the other officer. To her surprise, he offers her a hand and when Sigyn looks up, of fucking course, it's Officer AR164. She refuses his gesture but holds her wrists out to be restrained.

"Not necessary, we're heading for the SHU," he says as he starts leading the way.

"Weird," Sigyn states. She walks on guard, unsure if he's about to do anything. She doubts it since he saw her shank the other guard and wipe the blood on her hands on her jumpsuit. Gods, if she can call Xavier for some help. "Hey, unrelated question but are we allowed conjugal visits?"

"No," Officer AR164 isn't even fazed by that question. "Why, you got someone waiting for you? Mind you, someone you're legally-bounded to for it to count if they were permitted here. Marriage is easier to process than common-law."

Sigyn is almost offended he asked. "Surprised?"

"Curious."

Sigyn frowns. "I'll have you know that I unintentionally ghosted my ex, one I promised to come back to, for seven-almost-eight years and now we're fine."

No reaction from his face. "Wow. He must love you."

Sigyn nods, looking away for a bit. She still can't believe they're fine after all that time. "He does. He really, really does."

Officer AR164's face softens when he looks at her again. When they approach the entrance to the SHU, he scans his card and holds the door open for her. "My roommate in university was like that, pining for a girl he refused to move on from. Looking at her now, I can't blame him anymore. He lucked out more than I, or anyone, ever gave him credit for."

"If anyone asks, I lucked out too."

He smiles for the first time she's seen. "You really did."

-o-

Officer AR164 walked ahead of her once they entered the SHU and it's completely quiet. Sigyn remembers Smith telling her a list of people inside but she can't tell. She feels her mind whirring like a washing machine's spin cycle, now understanding how easy it was for Apollo to snap back into his fragmented mindset. There's barely a sound, not even from the guards posted here. She wants to feel her magic coursing through her veins again so it'll give her something to focus on but stupid binding charm.

She's led to her cell and it's the same as the one in her block but a bit smaller, more rectangular.

"Be good and you'll get out soon," Officer AR164 says before locking her in her cell.

"Wait," Sigyn says, her voice shaking. To her surprise, Officer AR164 doesn't leave and looks at her. "Can you tell Apollo that I'm here?"

He nods. "I can."

Then the door closes and locks. She hears Officer AR164 leave and then Sigyn's alone with her thoughts.

They've kept her isolated since the fight. She's lost count of how many days when she's seen nobody except for unfriendly guard eyes peeping through the window to check her or fingers to slide her food tray through the slot in the door. It's been too warm to sleep and she spends every night lying on a thin wool blanket on her bunk, counting cracks on her ceiling, waiting for this mission to end.

Apollo's somewhere else on the sprawling compound. Gods, she hopes he hasn't completely lost it yet.

Sigyn misses seeing the sun. She didn't appreciate it enough.

All she appreciates was having a toilet to throw her shitty meal into.

-o-

The first time Sigyn got to leave her solitary cell was when it was time for her to shower. She's led to a common shower at the end of the hall, ordered to strip bare before one of her hands is cuffed to the tiled wall. Forget what she said about being grateful for not needing to strip in front of the other officers when she arrived, this was even worse since they'll watch her shower with one hand (after she figures out how to do that).

Once she turns on the water that's room temperature, she turns around and sees another prisoner being shackled to the shower since it's two at a time. Sigyn turns around and locks eyes with a naked Ivory Gates. Of course, she still has perfect silky hair in prison, of course.

"God, this place keeps getting worse," Ivory mutters. She glances at Sigyn with a stern face. "Not here."

Sigyn grins happily as she gets back to her makeshift shower attempt. She knows that solitary inmates get less yard time and she imagines it'll be soon so she'll talk to Ivory then.

-o-

Their yard time wasn't the same yard time. They got to wear their jackets if it was too cold but once they were outside, they were limited to stand in a square against the wall and not move. It wasn't a big square, just enough for them to stand with their feet stuck together like a toy soldier. Sigyn was grateful that she was in the shade and that Ivory was in the square next to her that was about six feet to her right. The guards were patrolling from the middle of the yard.

"I know what you're doing here and I'm not going with you," Ivory states.

"You want to stay here?" Sigyn asks, referring to their spots against the wall. "You enjoy this?"

"I got myself arrested. I didn't want to be involved in the mess I got into after I escaped SHIELD after my surrender to them."

Sigyn nods. "Okay, you'll have to start from the beginning."

Ivory sighs, crossing her arms and looking out towards the nearly empty yard. "So before you infested my mind with the apocalypse that eventually faded and I surrendered, I was handling some business that SHIELD interfered in. Then when they were transferring me, we hit a little speed bump and I escaped to get back to work. I saw the next step in our operation and had to get myself out of there. I didn't want to go back to SHIELD since they're involved already so I'm here."

"What was your last straw?"

"I had a hunch I'd run into someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill me. Not you. The final location I was somewhere I promised myself to avoid like the plague."

"Who and where? Must be so scary if you turned yourself into the feds."

"That's classified. You're still working with them if not for them."

Sigyn rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine, I don't care. Look, Apollo and I are-"

Ivory can't help but laugh. "Oh, gods - yes plural - you're both here. I'm not leaving with you two idiots."

"We're saving your life."

"By putting it in danger!"

Sigyn can't argue that point, especially since Apollo is creating an escape plan with his shattering mind. "Yeah, that's fair, but why would you actually want to stay here?"

"Sweetie, some people intentionally stay in prison."

Sigyn frowns. "Don't sweetie me."

"Whatever, sweetie, why not use your magic?"

"Where's the fun in that? After everything we've been through, we deserve this. Besides, I got you to surrender the first time and now I'm bringing you back."

Ivory groans. "I'm not dealing with this anymore."

Sigyn points at their squares on the ground. "You have nowhere else to go."

Ivory keeps her eyes on Sigyn as she steps out of her square. The officers on duty bark at her to get back in her square but she just walks out into the open field, stretching her legs and jogging on the spot until they restrain her and drag her back inside. Before she's back inside, she smirks at Sigyn.

Sigyn thinks that Apollo should've had this part of the plan.