The red tint of the alarm lights filled the hallway. The prisoners began to bang on their cell doors, demanding to know what's going on.
"Code red in the south sector. I repeat, code red in the south sector." A calm female voice rang over the intercom.
Tine ran from around the corner, coming face to face with the group of rebels.
"Brother! It's them!" She screamed across the hallway.
Ocho squinted through the red light, his face twisting in rage as he recognized Akilah and Amora.
"I'll kill you!" Ocho screamed as he charged, his fists glowing purple.
Vida panicked at the sight. She held her hands out as she channeled her Spirit instinctually. In an instant, the ground below them began to rumble.
Before anyone could react, a wall of twisted roots broke through the ground, dividing Ocho from the rebels.
"Tine!" Ocho called from the other side of the wooden wall.
Tine gasped at the sight of Vida's ability. She reached for her utility belt, fumbling with her service weapon as she aimed it towards Vida.
Her glasses glowed purple as she aimed the gun straight towards the heart of the girl with the dreadlocks.
Bang
A shot rang through the air.
Boom
A loud, low boom rang back at the Deputy. Hardy's hand glowed orange, pointing two fingers towards the ground.
The bullet lodged itself in one of the cell doors, misdirected by Hardy's wall of noise.
Every soul in the hallway winced in pain. The noise made their ears ring with a violent intensity.
"Shit. What was that?" Tine muttered as the ringing in her ears subsided.
She shot again.
Boom
Hardy replayed the blast. This time, the teens were ready, covering their ears. The sound ricocheted the bullet towards the window on the other side of the hallway. The bullet bounced off the glass, lodging itself in another cell's door.
"Bulletproof glass… It won't be easy to get out of this place." Hardy thought. He tried to plot out the rest of the mission in his head, but things weren't going to plan.
Thump. Thump
A sound came from behind the wooden wall, a repeated thumping.
Vida was the only one who noticed. Hardy was countering Tine's next shot while Amora and Akilah covered their ears in preparation for Hardy's next noise.
A fist broke through the wood, followed by another fist. The hands retracted before making more holes.
Ocho broke through the wall, jumping through the handmade hole as he charged forward.
Splinters flew through the air around him, crashing against the floor with a violent crackle.
Vida's eyes widened at the sight. She summoned another wooden barrier, crashing through the floor in front of Ocho.
Ocho jumped towards the wall. He kicked against the bulletproof glass, hurling himself over the ascending wooden wall.
Vida gasped. "We have to move."
"Agreed." Hardy responded. "This way."
Hardy sprinted towards Tine, his glowing hand still pointed towards the ground.
"You're dead!" Ocho gritted his teeth as he continued his manic sprint towards the rebels.
Tine stepped back, her gun still aimed towards the group.
She shot one more time, which was immediately blocked by Hardy's sound. The bullet lodged itself in the ground before the Deputy.
Tine threw a punch as the rebels grew closer, her form as amateur as the teens'.
Akilah went low, jabbing Tine's stomach with the sheathed sword.
The Deputy gasped as the air was knocked out of her lungs. She doubled over, her vision blurred.
The group turned the corner, sprinting toward the panopticon at the very center of the prison.
"We should be able to get to the control room through the center of the prison." Hardy said as they ran.
Ocho sprinted over to his sister, kneeling down to her level.
"Are you okay?" Ocho helped Tine up as she nodded in response.
"I'm sorry… I messed up again." Tine began to cry.
"It's fine…" Ocho gritted his teeth, raising his watch to his mouth.
"Intruders heading north, heading towards the panopticon. They're trying to make it up to the third floor, I don't know why. Over." Ocho spoke into his watch.
"Me and the warden are heading over there now. Over." A voice crackled through Ocho's watch.
Hardy led the girls down hall after hall, banging and screaming coming from the closed cells they passed.
"Hey! Stop!" A voice echoed down the hallway. A uniformed guard turned a corner they just passed, pointing his rifle at the group.
Bullets sprayed from the gun, an automatic stream of lead shot down the hallway.
"Shit. This way!" Hardy exclaimed, twisting around a corner as the girls followed.
"They know where we're heading now." Amora thought out loud. The rest of the group nodded.
"Wait. That means…" Akilah turned to Hardy, who immediately understood what she was thinking.
"The door locks… We need to hurry. If we don't make it in time we'll be locked inside the prison." Hardy waved to the girls as he sprinted down the hallway.
The group could see the ginormous room that made up the center of the prison on the other side of the doorway.
At the end of the hallway, black and yellow stripes lined the floor. The stripes began to rise, making a metal barrier between the rebels and the panopticon.
"We won't make it!" Akilah exclaimed as they sprinted.
Vida held her hands out.
A wooden wall broke the ground, curving into the space between the doorlock and the ceiling. It halted the door lock, creaking to a stop.
"Good thinking!" Hardy led the way, jumping through the gap.
The wood cracked under the force of the metal wall.
Crunch
The wooden manifestation crumbled into pieces. The door lock continued to move towards the ceiling.
Akilah picked up the pace, jumping through the closing gap. She crashed onto the floor on the other side, joining Hardy.
"C'mon, Amora!" Vida exclaimed.
The door lock grew closer to the ceiling. Amora's eyes widened as she realized they wouldn't make it in time.
Vida jumped towards the door lock, attempting to make it through the tight squeeze.
"Vida!" Amora grabbed her friend's feet, stopping her midair.
Her legs jerked as the lock smashed down where her torso would've been.
The wall slammed shut less than a second later. If it weren't for Amora, Vida would have been crushed between the door lock and the ceiling.The two girls fell to the ground, catching their breath as the sirens continued to blare overhead.
"Dammit!" Vida balled her fists in frustration.
Amora's breathing grew fast and shallow. Her chest tightened as she tried to think.
"What are we gonna do now?" Amora asked Vida.
Vida grew quiet, thinking to herself.
"I don't know…" Vida wanted to say those three words so badly, but she knew how much it would crush her friend.
"We… We'll just find another way around." Vida stood up, taking a deep breath out.
On the other side of the door, Akilah slammed her fist against the wall.
"Vida! Amora!" Akilah called for her friends stuck behind the metal.
"They won't hear you. I'm sure they'll be fine." Hardy placed a hand on her shoulder.
Akilah slammed her fist against the metal wall once more before turning around. "Alright. Can we find the control room from here?"
Hardy was taken back by the speed at which Akilah switched her demeanor. It was like she switched her emotions off in the blink of an eye.
"Yeah. It should be at the top of the watchtower. All we need to do is get across the bridge on level three." Hardy explained.
Akilah nodded, sprinting towards the stairs on the other side of the giant room.
The watchtower stood in the center of the room, towering over all five stories of the prison.
The walls of the room circled around the watchtower at the center, lined with cells emitting that same frantic banging.
On the floor, cafeteria tables were scattered across the nearly empty room.
The watchtower's light flickered on, pointing straight at the two rebels.
"Dissenters, surrender now or prepare for the unbridled wrath of God." A voice rang over the intercom as the light followed the sprinting dissenters.
Akilah and Hardy made it towards the center of the room, passing the foot of the watchtower.
"Die!" A voice exclaimed from above them.
Akilah felt a tug from behind. Hardy had pulled the girl backwards, looking at a guard falling onto the two of them from the floor above.
Boom
The guard crashed into the floor, breaking the concrete into pieces.
"Warden!" A second guard jumped down with much less intensity.
"Warden…?" Hardy asked.
"That's right. Before I kill you two, where are your friends?" The Warden asked, cracking his neck with a serious scowl on his face.
"Like I'd tell you!" Akilah exclaimed, unsheathing her sword.
"Alright, then. I'll just have to beat it out of you." The Warden rammed his fists together.
Clank
The fists sounded metallic, surprising the two rebels.
"What the…" Akilah noticed the Warden's fists. What seemed to be metal shingles covered the Warden's skin from his fingertips to his elbows.