Ash took out some popcorn from his storage and gave it to the others. "Ohh, I should probably film this so Nian could make this into a movie. Maybe we should name it Shawshank Absolution. Gotta dodge the copyrights." Ash took out a camera and controlled it with telekinesis.
"A movie? I want in! I want in! And can I get a chili cheese dog?" Ifrit requested, Ash ruffled her hair with a smile.
"Of course you can be in it sweetie. You'll be the plot device. Nian's movie has to have a bad plot twist after all." Ash chuckled and Silence chortled.
"Yeah, her world war movie is selling hotcakes. And she's getting a big head over it. When she just took advantage of our fight against Yan and Ursus." Saria shrugged.
Their table was filled with party food and drinks. They watched Anthony square up against his supposed assassins.
"Can't you guys treat this a bit more seriously? They're after my life over here!" Anthony dodged a swing and he kicked the guy.
"Well, you can handle it right? Why should we interfere? They're your assassins, not ours." Ash snorted and Anthony didn't have a retort to that.
"Ohh! Ash, you better handle the camera work well!" Ifrit clapped at Anthony's masterful display of fighting.
"On it, firecracker. Anthony can be a pretty good double or stuntman. Hey, you'll have a job later Anthony. Aren't you happy?" Ash would introduce him to Nian later.
The dragon was a bit too zealous in asking their operators to do stunts in her flicks.
"Shut up! I don't want to be a movie star!" Anthony started beating up the dozens of attackers.
And when the fighting was done, he stood over them. "You messed with the wrong feline." Anthony said subconsciously.
"See? He has it, he can even spout lines like a natural." Ash clapped and the others nodded. They thought it felt natural.
"You guys..." Anthony deadpanned at them and the guards started entering the place.
"Of course they'll arrive when it's over, what is this shit?" Ash rolled his eyes and called Anthony over to their table.
"What happened here!?" The warden looked around and asked what transpired.
"Officer, those guys started rioting. I think they're rival gangs or something." Ash already put some symbols on them.
One was Hydebro's logo and the other was some random crap he saw out there.
The guards checked it out and there were identifiers on them. They were definitely paid, but with the logo of Hydebro on them. They couldn't do anything, there were too many witnesses.
"Tch, get them to the infirmary and lock them up in isolation." The warden clicked his tongue and glanced at Anthony that didn't have a scratch.
"See? That's how you do it." Ash sighed and Anthony looked at him with shock.
'I definitely thought I'd be punished... How did he do that? There definitely weren't any identifiable logos on them when I fought them.' Anthony was amazed.
"Isn't it because it's Ash?" Ifrit tilted her head and Ash chuckled. "You're buttering me up eh? Here, I know you love these." He gave them some strawberry candy that she likes.
"Yatta! Ash is the best!" She popped it into her mouth and she was delighted.
"So, what now?" Saria wanted to return to their lab so they could complete the gene sequencing of Specter's stable sample.
"Yeah, aren't we going to have some backlogs back home? Gene sequencing is some serious stuff, I don't think Joyce will be able to check it all alone." Silence was worried about her friend.
"Don't worry, we'll do this once we return to our cells. You proceed with the plan later alright?" Ash waved nonchalantly.
"Do we really have to blow up our cell? Won't that, you know? Attract more attention to us?" Anthony didn't have faith in their plan. It was so flashy and dangerous.
"Trust, man. You have too little faith in us." Ash smacked his back and they finished eating their food.
After that, they returned to their cells and Anthony was fidgeting around. He was restless, they were going to blow up their cells after all.
"Relax man, they'll be here any moment now." Ash rolled his eyes.
"Who can relax when they know they'll be blown up!" Anthony retorted and Ash snorted. "Suit yourself, I'm not the one getting stressed."
Meanwhile, Saria was carrying Silence who was pretending to be unconscious. "Is this really gonna work?" Silence whispered.
"Of course, Ash was the one who made this plan after all." Saria shrugged.
"Yeah, have you learned nothing with your time with him Silence? If he's directly involved, it would work out." Ifrit puffed her chest in pride.
"Here they come." Saria saw some guards and they were nearing the infirmary.
"Help... Please help us, my cellmate suddenly went unconscious and she coughed up blood... Come on Silence, bite that ketchup packet." Saria ordered and Silence's eyebrows twitched.
She opened up a ketchup packet inside of her mouth and she drooled, looking like blood was trickling out of her mouth.
"Wait, let's check." The guard looked at Silence and she looked pale as hell.
'Please work, please work.' Silence chanted inside of her mind. Saria used her calcification arts and powderized it, applying the stuff on her so she would look ashy and pale.
"Come on, she looks bad. Let's get to the infirmary." The guards nodded and they led them to the med bay in a hurry.
And when they arrived there, Saria slugged them. "Okay, I told you it would work." Saria snorted and Silence rolled her eyes.
"It was so simple and ridiculous that it was more likely to fail." Silence deadpanned at them.
"Wait, we don't know where their cells are..." Ifrit brought it up and the two realized.
"Well, do we go to the control room and check the cameras?" Silence suggested the sensible course of action.
"Well, we're near them according to Anthony. How about we just check every cell until we find them?" Saria wanted to brute force it.
"Ooh! Ooh! I have a better idea! I'll blow stuff up until we find the right cell!" Ifrit ran and went to the right wing of the tower.
"Ifrit-sama will free you, mongrels! Kuahahaha!" Ifrit started using her arts and she blasted the cell doors one by one.
Shit got chaotic immediately. And the inmates stared at their blown up doors. "We're free! We should escape!" One of them shouted and everybody started rioting.
"Kuahahaha! This is the life!" Ifrit laughed like a maniac and threw fireballs left and right.
Silence smacked her forehead with a facepalm. "Ifrit is smart, this will cause chaos. So these distractions can give us some time." Saria nodded at her actions.
"Hah, I didn't sign up for this. I'm supposed to be a researcher..." Silence slumped down in stress.
But they didn't find Ash or Anthony in the right wing. "Then the left corridor it is!" Ifrit started running the opposite direction.
At the intended target's cell, Anthony heard screams, explosions, and alarms.
"What was that?" He started getting nervous. "You're a big guy, what are you so afraid of? Come on man, shouldn't you be the more composed one?" Ash raised a brow.
"How can I be calm? Your companions are making things explode at this very moment!" Anthony's fur was standing on end.
'These guys are maniacs, shouldn't prison breakouts be stealthy?' Anthony was going to have a meltdown.
"Shut up man, you're being loud. Come on, deep breaths. Hah, why am I babysitting a grown ass man? I'm a minor for fuck's sake." Ash sighed and Anthony looked sheepish due to his words.
"Okay, I'm calming do-" Anthony got cut off as an explosion blasted the doors of their cell and he was shellshocked.
"Kuahahaha! Ifrit-sama is here!" Ifrit appeared and she was pleased that she finally found them.
Saria then appeared, wearing clothes of the female guards that she found somewhere. (pic)
"You're looking good Saria." Ash nodded at her and he thought that she was just missing some handcuffs and a whip.
"Umu, I thought we could be less conspicuous with this." Saria was pleased that Ash agreed with her.
"What the hell? You could at least warned us." Anthony groaned, his ears were ringing.
"Don't be a pussy cat man, you're a man." Ifrit berated him and he got depressed that a small girl talked him down.
"Let's go then." Ash shrugged and they started walking out of their cell leisurely. He reverted their forms back to the original and no one wants to mess with a guy who looked like he could pop your head like a watermelon.
"Isn't this going a bit too well?" Anthony raised a flag and Ash rolled his eyes. "Great, you definitely had to call for Murphy's curse." Ash sighed.
"Kukuku~ Chief Saria, remember me?" A man who was also wearing the clothes of the guards stood in front of them.
"You rejected my application for the defense sector of Rhine labs, such cruelty..." The guy shook his head wistfully.
"Uhh... Sorry, I don't know you. Can you step aside?" Saria really didn't know him.
"You humiliated me and hit my pride... Yet you don't even remember me!? Jesselton Miller!" He got furious.
"See? A small fry appeared and he'll start monologuing." Ash sighed again and Anthony actually felt it was his fault.
"Sorry." He stepped up and cracked his knuckles, he'd be the one to take care of him.
"I'll have to ask you to step aside." Anthony squared up.
"Hoh? Then go on and make me." Jesselton smirked and Anthony punched him.
He was surprised though, when Jesselton's arms started taking a metallic hue. "What? How did you block that so easily!?" Anthony was confused.
And he felt that his fist hit something really hard. "Metal plates son, my arts react to physical trauma." Jesselton slugged him on the face and Anthony flew away.
"Guhahaha! See? I've been augmented by Rhine labs. They put ferrofluid implants in me and my arts can control iron. How is it? Feels like you've been hit by a piece of metal right?" Jesselton explained his powers graciously.
"Isn't that guy an idiot? Why would you explain your powers to your enemies?" Ifrit pointed at Jesselton and Ash shrugged.
"It's their standard operating procedure Ifrit. They have to do their monologues as they beat the protagonist with their powers." Ash shook his head.
"Then how will the cat man beat him?" Ifrit tilted her head and Ash pointed at Saria. "Through the power of friendship. And fists, don't forget about the violence."
Saria stepped up and her arms started calcifying. "Hmm, your arts are similar to mine. Let's test it then." Saria was ready to throw hands.
"You'll regret rejecting me!" Jesselton controlled metal bars around them and slammed it towards Saria.
But she blocked them with her forearms and her defense held true. "As if that smallfry can compare to guys like the emperor's blades." Ash snorted.
"Yeah, those guys are very scary yeah? Even though Saria is really strong, she would've gotten killed by those guys easily in a one on one." Silence remembered their battle against one.
Saria then calcified Jesselton's arms and he couldn't move them. She kicked him with a roundhouse and he slammed against the wall on the side.
He slumped down, holding his side. All of his ribs got snapped like twigs and he couldn't breathe.
"Ash has a rule against smallfry like you. We should beat you up with extreme prejudice." Saria crouched in front of him and he trembled in fear.
She then held his head through his hair and started beating the shit out of him.
Ifrit also went up to him and kicked him between the legs. "You smallfry, you dare stand in front of Ifrit-sama!"
Silence didn't know what to do. "Why not kick him a bit?" Ash suggested and Silence considered it.
'I am stressed a lot... Shouldn't I relieve myself a bit?' Silence also ran up to him and started kicking Jesselton's cracked ribs mercilessly.
"I'm supposed to be a medic! A healer! Why did I even need to be here!?" Silence released her frustrations on him.
"Uhhh, shouldn't you be stopping them?" Anthony looked at them in worry.
"Well, that prick had to be a wannabe villain. He gets what he deserves for wasting our time." Ash spat on the ground. Every minute of Ash's time is worth millions, literally.
They then left behind a half dead Jesselton. Putting the fear of god in him.
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Thank you for reading everyone, ciao.