Kitsune POV
"Red-haired guy! What do you have in your inventory?" Ikenie questioned.
I checked my inventory and found a small clip and four grenades. But I can't give my cards away like that.
"Uh... I've got two grenades and a clip." I lied.
Upon hearing that Ikenie gave a slight nod while scratching the back of his head.
"What about you?" Ikenie asked looking at Mika's way.
"I've only got a single grenade 'cause I used the other to break in here," Mika responded hesitantly.
"These are all trash! Well since you've got a grenade left why don't you use it to break the prison door?" Ikenie suggested.
"Are you insane? We could die if I throw it just a few meters away from us." Mika expressed.
"Are you saying you wouldn't do it? Haha. Alright here's a plan we go crawling back to our cell then you throw the grenade through the hole we blasted. How bout that?" Ikenie explained.
No matter how I look at it Ikenie's plan I can tell that it isn't well thought out. Beyond the walls of this prison exist numerous guards whom we have to see their ability. On top of us, there is a guard at the watchtower with a rifle. Also, we have Chavo to worry about.
"How do you plan on taking on the guards outside? We know nothing about them." I asked.
"You think I haven't already thought about that?" He said that as he dropped a weapon from his inventory. It happened to be a rocket launcher.
Third Person POV
"Assuming we're not swarmed," Kitsune muttered under his breathe. He sized up Ikenie, trying to gauge the man's angle in all of this. Help wasn't offered freely in Full Dive—there was always a price, a motive. What was his?
"Look," Mika intervened, eyes glancing between the two men, "we can stand here fighting ourselves, or we can work together and get out of this place. I'm not keen on dying again just to prove a point."
Kitsune's lips twisted into a half-smile, despite the gravity of their situation. "She has a point," he admitted reluctantly.
"But I've got bigger fish to fry. You deal with the guards while I deal with Chavo. We can work together, as a team. What do you say?" Ikenie said, a hint of confidence in his tone. "We move together. Now."
"I'll have to break the lock first," Kitsune said. And so they stepped into the corridor, three unlikely comrades bound by a common goal: survival.
"Teaming up is a logical step," Kitsune stated, his voice as cool and steady as a melody in the air. "We share a common enemy."
"Chavo," Ikenie mumbled, rolling the name around like a bad taste in his mouth. His restless spirit was now filled with curiosity at the notion of partnership. "Alright, count me in," he said with a nod, unable to deny the allure of the challenge that lay ahead.
"Excellent," Mika purred, a smile playing on her lips. "Now let's get to work. We're not here to play by the rules."
"Chavo's locked up in the high-security wing," Kitsune pointed out, scratching his head. "Getting through the guards won't be a walk in the park."
"Which is why we'll take advantage of the underground network," Mika interjected, tapping a virtual map that materialized from her wrist device. "This will be our escape route. I can make a map of wherever I've seen, that's my ability."
"That's impressive," Ikenie added, his fingers tracing the map. "We strike during the shift change."
Kitsune felt the gears turning in his mind, a smirk creeping onto his face. The risk was clear, yet, beneath the excitement, there was a gnawing sensation, an awareness that trust among thieves was as fragile as glass.
"Remember, Chavo has access to explosives," Ikenie said, locking eyes with Mika. "One wrong move, and it's game over for us."
"Which is why we won't make any," Mika shot back confidently, though Ikenie could see the shadow of concern that briefly darkened her gaze.
"Let's not forget why we're doing this," Kitsune chimed in, his calm demeanor never faltering.
"Right," Ikenie said, but his thoughts were already racing ahead. He knew that every alliance was built on shaky ground. But if he was going to escape successfully, this was the gamble he had to take.
"Then it's settled," Mika declared.
Dawn crept through the barred windows of the prison, casting long shadows across the stone floor as Kitsune's eyes snapped open. The time had come. Mika was already at the door of the cell, her gaze sharp, while Kitsune's silhouette loomed from the darkness, unreadable as ever.
"Ready?" Mika whispered through the bars, her voice barely audible above the distant clank of morning routines beginning elsewhere in the prison.
"Always," Kitsune murmured back, his confidence a facade he wore like armor.
"Let's move," Ikenie said, his tone suggesting impatience, or perhaps eagerness.
Kitsune focused on the task at hand, letting his instincts take over. He pressed the bar against the lock with a makeshift pick. With a satisfying click, the gate swung open, and they slipped into the dimly lit corridor.
"Guard rotation in the left corridor should be in three minutes," Mika noted, consulting the hacked guard schedule she'd memorized. "That's our window."
"Left here," Kitsune directed, and they veered down a narrower passage. It reeked of dampness and decay, but it was also devoid of surveillance—a blind spot in the otherwise all-seeing eye of the prison system.
"Feels too easy," Ikenie muttered under his breath, unable to shake the gnawing feeling in his gut.
"Easy is good," Mika replied, but her glance lingered on a nearby camera, its lens shattered by a precise strike—her handiwork.
"Here." Kitsune stopped before a wall that appeared solid, but upon closer inspection, revealed a cleverly hidden seam. He pressed against a stone, and the wall slid aside with a hush, revealing a narrow service tunnel.
"This is the tunnel I previously discovered," Kitsune said.
Kitsune was about to re-enter the tunnel when the muffled boom of an explosion rocked the foundation. Dust cascaded from the ceiling, and the ground trembled beneath their feet.
"Move!" Kitsune shouted, and they sprinted forward. The plan had been meticulous, but chaos was the great equalizer. The sound of boots pounding the ground joined the cacophony—a symphony of impending capture.
"Split up!" Ikenie commanded, his eyes meeting Kitsune's for a fraction of a second before he dashed down a side passage.
"Meet at point B!" Kitsune called out, disappearing into another fork in the path.
"Damn it," Ikenie cursed, taking a third route. The strategies—they needed to survive this first.
"Should have known it wouldn't be straightforward," he thought, ducking into a hole in the tunnel as guards thundered past. "But that's the thrill, isn't it?"