Character Scramble VIII Semi-Finals: Come Sail Away

[u/Cleverly_Clearly]

The Character Scramble is a writing prompt tournament where people compete to write the best story they can. At the beginning, everyone submits characters that meet the guidelines, then those characters are randomized and distributed evenly. From then on, each week there's a new writing prompt for everyone to follow. At the end of the week, everyone votes for who they think should advance, until we have our winner at the end. The winner at the end of the tournament gets to choose the theme, tier, and rules of the next scramble, along with a nice custom flair as their reward. The current theme is based on Part 6 of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga, and the tier is 2-8/10 against Captain America or Batman.

Without further ado, here we go!

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Hub Post

Pairings

Rosters

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(♫)

Your team has commandeered a maintenance skiff. You’re peeling away from Green Dolphin Street Prison as fast as your boat can take you, watching that horrible institution shrink in the distance. You’ll live the rest of your life as escaped convicts, but it’s better than being locked up - you’ll just change your names and keep a low profile from now on. Or so you think.

After a cursory search of the boat you’ve stolen, your team notices something - a letter, addressed to you, courtesy of (guess who) [villain of choice]! It seems that, as usual, this was all part of [villain of choice’s] sinister plan. You tear open the envelope, discovering five tickets and a map to…

Walt Disney World?

A simple message is scribbled on the front of the map in black marker - Come find me. Earn your freedom, and your wishes.

So, you’ve found your final stop. You’re going to take the skiff up the coast to Cape Canaveral, then go west until you reach Walt Disney World. A two-hour 160 mile trip, two-thirds by sea, one third on foot, and finally come face-to-face with the man behind all this. No trouble at all.

And then you hear the sirens.

Looking back over your shoulder, you discover that the police are on your tail! Honestly, you probably should have expected this. Looking even closer, you can see another Green Dolphin Street maintenance skiff, sailed by a group that definitely do not look like prison guards. Seems like another gang of inmates had the same idea, and they’ve accidentally led the fuzz right to you! Their boat quickly begins catching up with yours, and starts ramming you - apparently figuring that if the police can pick your team up, they’ll stop chasing after them. Well, you’re not going to take any of that, are you? You need to outpace your opponents and go the distance!

See, your team has to traverse a set distance, as in, The Distance. See, there’s a reason I picked that music.

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Normal Rules

People Living In Competition: Look at all these obscure characters in the scramble! Give a brief summary of your characters in your post. Be sure to mention things like powers, personality, weaknesses, just stuff that the average reader should know before reading.

All I Do Is Win: The Scramble is a game, and in the end the player always wins the game. This time the player is you, champ! That means that when your write your story, your team always comes out victorious. Even if the odds of you winning are 1 in 100, explain those odds in the analysis and then show us that 1 miracle run.

Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket: Characters are assumed to be at the same power level they started the tournament at at all times. To clarify, this means you would not be able to loot Captain America of his shield if you beat him in a previous round, or otherwise gain a competitive advantage based on anything that happened in a previous round. This is to aid your opponent in research of your character.

Ballots Not Bullets: If you don’t vote, you don’t win. Simple. Voting qualifies you for each round, which means forgetting to vote gets you kicked out, regardless of whether or not you would have won. That means that when the voting goes up (after the due date), you should probably take care of it pronto-like.

Due Date: The night of Tuesday the 22nd. Voting will go up Wednesday morning Friday morning, you've got a two-day extension.

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Round-Specific Rules

• Round Goal: Bounce On The Devil, Put The Pedal To The Floor! It’s a two-stage race, except that you’re fighting another team and dodging the law! You’re following the path shown on the map above, going up the Florida coastline from Port St. Lucie to Cape Canaveral in your motorboat, then racing the other team on land from Cape Canaveral to the Magic Kingdom. Whether you run it on foot, hijack a vehicle, or find some other way of getting there, you’ve got to get rid of the other team, whether you kill ‘em or knock ‘em out or incapacitate ‘em or whatever, and shake the feds!

• You’re On A Boat: Your skiffs are both big enough to accommodate everyone on the team, so don’t worry if you’ve got some big robot or something that wouldn’t normally fit into a motorboat. However, the boats aren’t indestructible, so try not to throw around too much heavy firepower while you’re still on it, unless you want to swim that hundred mile stretch to Cape Canaveral.

• Police On My Back: The police are gonna be following you until you can defeat the enemy team. They’ve just got police cruisers for the aquatic stretch of the ‘race’, but on the final third they’re gonna be coming at you with roadblocks, helicopters, and anything else the Orlando Police Department can muster up in order to put you back behind bars.

• On The Road Again: The final leg of this ‘race’ takes place on land. Your team will head down the Martin Anderson Beachline Expressway, past the Orlando National Airport, and then pulling onto Interstate 4 near Sea World Orlando, and finally going down Epcot Center Drive until you arrive at the gates of the Magic Kingdom park.

<=====[TO BE CONTINUED]

[u/selfproclaimed]

Cornered

The Lawnmower's engine rumbled put as Zed stood, frozen in spot unwilling to make the first move. Zed's eyes cast over the environment. The hallway was long and narrow, with the only nearby routes of escape being into other padded cells. Further down the hallway past an opening was a meeting room with a little more space. Past that was a winding series of corridors.

"Hold on," Zed whispered to Jaune. "This could get bumpy."

"Wait..wha-" Jaune began.

Zed slowly cast his arm under Jaune's legs, hoisting the lower half of his body upwards until he was carrying Jaune bridal-style. The ninja planted one step forward ever so slowly so as to test the lawnmower's reaction.

The machine shifted. It was marginal, but it relayed exactly what Zed needed to know. It was watching them.

Zed raced forward, landing on the balls of his feet with each step until he was just a few feet short of the Lawnmower. Pushing off the ground, Zed leapt above the landscaping tool tucking his legs as he flew over. The moment he landed, Zed took off without even bothering to glance behind himself. Jaune, however, was a curious man and glanced back towards the Lawnmower. The machine had rotated, facing them now. From its sides, two metal rails popped out. A moment later, two long chainsaw blades telescoped outwards, the jagged blades whirring violently.

"Run!" Jaune cried out as Zed turned a corner, breaking the line of sight with the Lawnmower. The last thing Jaune saw was the machine jetting towards them at incredible speeds.

The sounds of the chainsaws tearing through the drywall alerted Zed to the danger. There wasn't much he could do, however, cradling the injured Jaune in his arms. It didn't take long for the Lawnmower to catch up with the two, regaining sight on Zed as it followed them around the corner. Jaune watched in horror as the machine begun to gain ground on them, the painfully loud buzz of the chainsaw becoming an unbearable shriek. Just as the jagged metal was about to rip into their flesh, Zed dove into an adjacent room landing in a somersault. Jaune winced as the acrobatic maneuver did nothing to help his arm. The lawnmower zoomed past the door, unable to stop its own forward momentum.

With a moment's respite, Jaune looked around the room. It wasn't especially spacious, but compared to the box that he had been stuck in just minutes ago it might as well have been a football field. The room was dark, the only source of light poured in from the hallway. Jaune could see a 4x8 foot table centered in the room, chairs stationed around it. From the hallway, the two could hear the Lawnmower's engine fade away. Any sense of ease brought on by this was quickly extinguished as the noisy engine could be heard slowing down, and then getting closer. Zed walked towards the wall and set Jaune down carefully against it. Jaune mentally cursed at himself and the situation they were in. He wanted to keep his teammates safe, but now his actions had gotten Zed and himself on the ropes against some kind of homicidal robot. Here he was, nothing more than dead weight. No sword, no shield...no legs...

"Hopefully, I won't be long," Zed said, turning his back to Jaune as he slowly walked towards the doorway. "Stay put for now."

Putting his hands together, the ninja summoned two clones. All at once, Zed and the clones bounded out from the doorway and into the hallway. The three all darted across the hallway, zig-zagging every which way until they each disappeared into a separate room in the corridor. With no clear target, the Lawnmower slowed to a crawl, as if to consider its next move. From behind the Lawnmower, the real Zed jumped over the approaching Lawnmower while throwing two shurikens. The projectiles embedded themselves into the landscaping equipment, doing nothing to slow it down. With the real Zed in sight, the Lawnmower drove forward, drifting into a 180° turn until it faced the ninja. The machine raced headfirst into Zed, it's wide chainsaws outstretched, preventing Zed from maneuvering out of the way within the narrow corridor. With no other options, Zed extended his arms, letting the braces of his arm-blades intercept the chainsaws. Sparks flew wildly as the teeth of the chainsaw dug into the metal of Zed's gauntlets. The Lawnmower pushed itself forward using all of its horsepower, digging the blades further and further down forcing Zed to bend his knee to the ground. With no other options, Zed tilted his bracers allowing the chainsaws to travel down towards him. Using his now bent legs to push off from the ground, Zed dove between the blades as the teeth cut into his gi barely grazing his flesh. As he passed over the Lawnmower, Zed grabbed the top of the engine halting his own momentum. The Lawnmower reared up as Zed's weight pulled it backward, the rotary blade under it spun wildly as it was exposed. Planting his legs upon the handlebars to keep the machine still, Zed extended an arm blade and thrust it towards the motor of the infernal contraption.

Jaune looked up as he heard a loud metallic crunch. He held his breath, uncertain of the outcome of whatever clash had just occurred outside the room. An agonizing silence filled the air, making Jaune aware that the ringing in his ears never truly went away. Leaning forward, Jaune began to crawl towards the doorway wincing as the pressure on his arm began to tear the wound back open. He could feel the dead weight of his legs dragging across the floor, hampering his movement. With a haggard breath, Jaune pushed himself forward again as he tried to get closer to the doorway. He sensed a figure in the doorway. Jaune looked up, expecting to see his teammate standing over him as cocky and assured as he always was.

What stood in the doorway instead was the Lawnmower, it's chainsaws extended. The light pouring in from the hallway accentuated a new dent on the top of its motor that was accompanied by the unmistakable streaks of blood splatter.

Panicking, Jaune tried to crawl away knowing how futile of an effort it was. The swordsman looked for any sort of option, his eyes settling on one of the wooden chairs that surrounded the table. He reached out for the leg of the chair. In no time at all, the Lawnmower was upon him. Jaune swung the chair wildly at the machine knocking off one of its chainsaw arms, but was intercepted by the second. The blades tore through the chair, leaving Jaune with the splintered remains of a wooden skeleton held together only by loose nails. Slowly the remaining chainsaw arm descended upon him. With no time at all to move out of the way, Jaune stuffed as much of the remains of the wooden chair in the way of the chainsaw. Jaune feebly watched as the chainsaw bore through the wood. It would reach him in the blink of an eye.

This was it. He couldn't run, he couldn't fight back, and he couldn't expect someone to save him at the last moment. He would die here, alone and imprisoned. A fitting end for a failure such as himself. He couldn't save his friends or loved ones, he couldn't escape this prison, and he was nothing but a burden for those who were around him. In death, at least he could reunite with Pyrrha. Some consultation. To see the only person who never could realize what a loser he really was. Was this really for the best?

'Jaune'

The blade finished cutting through the wood and descended into Jaune's breastplate. Chips of metal flew every which way as the teeth hungrily devoured their meal.

No! That was completely wrong! Jaune couldn't let things end here. He had a duty to see to it that Pyrrha did not die in vain, to escape this prison, return to Remnant, and find the people responsible for her death. Jaune wouldn't let the countless hours Pyrrha spent on him go to waste.

The chainsaw plunged into Jaune's chest. Jaune could feel a prodigious energy well up from within him. A light erupted from his body and poured over onto the Lawnmower. Jaune remembered this feeling before. He felt it in the Cafeteria and when Cardin had tried to punch him that one time. A great crack formed upon the Lawnmower's exterior shell as the chainsaw arm flew off into a corner of the room. The Lawnmower was blasted back into the hallway. Jaune waited patiently to see if the machine would move again. After a few moments, Jaune began to crawl towards the hallway to inspect the machine, but suddenly found himself surprised at the pain that wasn't there. He looked down to discover that his arm was perfectly fine. He still couldn't feel his legs, but this was a start at least. Was...was that his Semblance?

The Lawnmower started again, causing Jaune to flinch. He wasn't sure if he could pull off that trick a second time. As if from nowhere, the Lawnmower produced two new arms from under it. These were equipped with massive buzzsaws. The Lawnmower began to approach Jaune when a shadow emerged from the hallway. Zed charged forward, blood dripping down his arm. He dove down and sliding one of his arm blades flat underneath the Lawnmower. Zed then raised his arm, flipping the machine over and onto its back, breaking off the right buzzsaw arm as it turned. Jaune moved quickly, crawling towards the Lawnmower and grabbing its side as it wobbled violently back and forth trying to right itself like a beatle. With it's exposed rotary blade underside exposed, Zed struck his arm blade into the underbelly of the machine. The rotary blade jarred as Zed's weapon pierced into the machine's interior. The Lawnmower seized up and began sputtering.

"Is...is it over?" Jaune asked hesitantly.

"Not quite." a voice called out. The two looked towards the doorway to find a man. He calmly approached the Lawnmower before producing a small handheld object. The device uttered a strange sound. A moment later the machine sputtered out its last breath before becoming forever silent. Satisfied, the man returned the device to his coat pocket.

"Who are you?" Zed demanded.

"A friend."

[u/selfproclaimed → u/selfproclaimed]

Breaking Point

At once, Heavy took out his minigun and began revving it. He walked backward slowly until his back was touching Sakura. Yoshi got the intention of his method and joined the two, backing up until his tail was practically touching the two. Heavy began to rev Sasha, turning his aim between each of the interlopers.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Heavy demanded, all sorrow in his voice having been replaced with anger befitting of someone of his stature.

"Is it true?" The woman wearing the black catsuit asked as she sauntered forward. "Are you really the one responsible for the deaths?"

"I...I..." Sakura began, unable to keep eye contact with her accuser.

"The only one responsible for deaths are robot and prison." Heavy intervened, aiming his minigun at Catwoman.

"No, but I do remember being corralled into a massive swath of prisoners," A masculine voice called out from the direction of the redheaded woman. It took the trio a moment to realize the voice was not coming from the woman, but from her large, translucent teal sword that glowed with every word. "I also remember the young girl in a bright outfit riding a green creature breaking us out. We didn't have much choice in the matter."

Sakura held the Star Wand close to her chest, her hands twisting the rod as she fidgeted with it, trying to not think about the cost her plan had.

"A general is responsible for the lives of his soldiers that he commands," Snake said as he drew another drag from his cigarette. "Do you know the names of the ones you buried?"

"I...I..." Sakura stammered again.

"Wheeler, Homura, Thomas, Wendy, Nale, Austin, Felicia, Viola..." Snake began, listing off the names.

"...stop..." Sakura said in a low voice.

"...Ceaser, Banjo, Koichi, Hana, Taylor..." Snake continued.

"Stop, please!" Sakura pleaded, her voice breaking.

"If you cannot listen to their names then what right did you have to gamble their lives?" The man in the armor said in a commanding voice. "Hold your head high and accept the consequences of your actions!"

"Is that why you are here?" Heavy bellowed. "To act as consequences?"

"Not here," Snake said as he removed his cigarette in his mouth, grinding the hot tip into the palm of his bodysuit-covered hand. "The dead must be respected here."

This comment slightly lowered the guards of Sakura, Yoshi, and Heavy.

"FUS RO DAH" The Dovakin shouted, his voice becoming as strong as a hurricane. An invisible unrelenting force shot forward towards the trio. They were launched through the doors of the labor area back into the prison where they hit the ground tumbling. Sakura immediately reached into her pocket and pulled out a card, lifting it high into the air.

"Shield!"

A magical dome surrounded the three as they slowly began to pick themselves off the ground. The next thing they knew Red had appeared in front of them, slamming the Transistor across the barrier. The force field held against Red's attacks. Switching tactics, she plunged the sword into the ground, sending tremors through the Earth. Heavy, Yoshi and Sakura bounced within the force field, hitting the interior walls. With Sakura's focus broken, the force field dissipated. Red raised her sword to strike, but Heavy charged his shoulder forward checking her in the torso. He then whipped his minigun forward, the spinning barrel pointed directly at Red's waist. Before the bullets fired, Red disappeared and reappeared several meters away leaving afterimages in her wake. Heavy let loose a stream of bullets in Red's direction who, in turn, began teleporting out of the way of Heavy's aim, swiftly making her way towards the second story of the prison.

The sharp crack of a whip and the ensuing pain of leather slapping against his face alerted Heavy to their next attacker. Before Heavy could redirect his aim towards his new opponent, Catwoman was already upon him. She leaped into the air, landing on the barrel of the minigun and stepping forward to deliver a fast kick to Heavy's face. Using her momentum, Catwoman spun her grounded leg off of the minigun to deliver a follow-up kick to Heavy's face. This series of blows caused Heavy to drop his minigun. The Russian charged forward, attempting to grab Catwoman in a bear hug, but she was faster on her feet as she backstepped outside his range. Catwoman spun lashing her whip back towards his face where it landed with a painful snap drawing blood across Heavy's cheek. Catwoman swung her arm to attempt a follow up lash but Heavy, not to be caught by the same attack a third time, caught the edge of the whip in his palm and sharply retracted his arm back. Selina was pulled forward by her whip into the waiting fist of Heavy, knocking the wind out of her. Heavy grabbed Catwoman's leg and spun a full 360° before letting go, hurtling Catwoman into a wall. The masked thief braced herself against the wall with a graceful three-point landing.

"Don't you know cats always land on their feet?" Catwoman taunted as she bounded off of the wall and hurled a canister emitting a stream of smoke towards the three.

"Windy!"

A powerful gust of air came forth from Sakura's card. Both the can of knockout gas and Catwoman herself were thrown back by the gale into the wall. This time Selina could not readily react to the attack and felt the full impact of the wall as she was slammed into it.

Red appeared again in front of the group and swung the Transistor wildly at Sakura. The girl stepped backward, dodging the slashes as they came. As Red prepared a horizontal strike towards Sakura, she found her arm caught. Looking behind her, Red saw a long tongue wrapped around her arm. Yoshi pulled his tongue back as he attempted to bring Red into his gaping maw. As Red approached Yoshi, she reversed her grip on the Transistor and thrust the hilt of the sword into Yoshi's gut. He fell down, clutching his stomach in anguish. Red turned her attention back to Sakura and darted towards her again as the girl brought out another card.

"Jump"

Sakura leapt high into the air just barely missing the slash from Red as she teleported forward. Not missing a beat, Red struck the Transistor into the ground and aimed the guard of the sword at Sakura. A streak of light shot forward and connected with the girl. Suddenly, Sakura's body was pulled towards Red. Red drew the Transistor back.

"Sword!"

Sakura quickly summoned the spirit of another card, transforming the Star Wand into a rapier-like blade. She guarded against the upwards strike of the Transistor which hit with enough force to launch Sakura into the air. Disoriented, Sakura did not notice Red changing the grip on her sword so that the bottom of the hilt pointed towards her. A series of small blasts fired from the Transistor, striking Sakura in the shoulder and leg. The damage did not pierce her skin, but the force of the blast was enough to cause her to cry out in pain. Individually, the attacks weren't serious, but with this combined volley they were adding up. Sakura fell to the ground several meters away from Red, her Sword Card disenchanted from her Star Wand. Red turned and began to approach her other team members.

I...I can't attack her...' Sakura thought to herself as she lay motionless on the ground. "If I try to get close she'll overwhelm me with her own power. I need to think of a way to attack while still defending...attack...defend...attack...that's it!'

Sakura slowly rose up from the ground with a determined look on her face, the first one she had in hours. She retrieved two cards and held them into the air. They slowly began to levitate above her head. Thrusting the Stat Wand upward, she called upon their power.

"Sword! Shield!"

Magical energy poured out from the two cards and enveloped both Sakura and the Star Wand in a thick blue cloud. Red turned her head in response to Sakura's summoning. The cloud dissipated, revealing Sakura now wearing an elaborate suit of armor. The armor itself wasn't bulky, but rather fit Sakura's lithe body well. The metal was pink outlined with golden trim. The faulds extended past her knees, resembling a dress. The Star Wand had transformed back into a saber, this time the guard of the handle more prominent within the hilt that Sakura held with a gauntleted hand. Despite the addition of what should have been a hefty load of metal placed on her, the armor felt completely weightless to Sakura.

Red slammed the tip of the Transistor into the ground, sending a bevy of lasers towards Sakura. Still powered by the Jump card, Sakura darted forward as she dodged the incoming projectiles. Again, Red turned the bottom of the hilt towards Sakura and fired a series of sparks towards the girl. Sakura altered her charge as she attempted to dodge the incoming projectiles. No such luck as no matter where she dove to, the sparks followed her. Seeing no other alternative, Sakura decided to run straight forward towards Red. The Transistor fired another series of bolts which bounced harmlessly off of Sakura's armor, doing nothing from stopping her from closing the distance. With no other choice, Red held the Transistor up to guard against Sakura's coming attack. Instead, Sakura swung her own sword in such a manner to disarm Red's grip on the Transistor before diving behind her. Red swung her head around only to get hit with the ensuing charges from her Purge() sparks. She fell to her knees, still breathing but clearly in pain.

Sakura glanced upward to see that Catwoman had returned to the ground floor, now accompanied by Snake and the Dragonborn.

The fight had only just begun.

[u/selfproclaimed → u/selfproclaimed]

Exhaustion

The Dovakin was the first to move. He ran towards Sakura, shield lifted and sword extended outward.

"Zun Haal Viik!" the warrior shouted. The air coalesced and burst forward from the Dragonborn toward's Sakura. As she felt the air collide with her, she could hear the voice of the Dovakin surrounding her. Time seemed to slow. Sakura felt...compelled to obey the command, even though she did not know what the words "Zun Haal Viik" meant. Her body began to move on its own, her hand twitching unnaturally. Sakura watched in horror as her hand released its grip from her sword, letting the weapon fall to the ground, changing back to the Star Wand as it landed. Her perception returned to normal and she could see the Dragonborn charging at her. With her Star Wand at her feet and not nearly enough time to bend down and retrieve it, Sakura held her arms up to her face in defense only to realize that her armor had disappeared along with the sword. Just moments before the Dovakin closed the distance, he was tackled by a green blur. The warrior hit the ground rolling, quickly rising back to his feet to see what had hit him. Standing determined as ever across from him was Yoshi, now recovered from his earlier attack.

His throat still recovering from his last shout, the Dovakin extended an arm letting loose a blast of flame towards Yoshi. The dinosaur extended his tongue towards the flame. In defiance of all physics, the fires began to stick to the tongue, but not as if there were burning it. Rather, it was more like the tongue had "caught" the fire safely in suspended animation like it was cotton candy, the flames neither burning into the muscle nor dying out from the lack of a fuel source. The Dovakin ended his futile spell allowing Yoshi to retract his tongue back into his mouth. Inhaling deeply, Yoshi spat a fireball back towards the Dovakin. The warrior stood tall, holding raising his shield towards the projectile. The blast connected, exploding into a burst of flames sending embers scattering out from his position. From the fires, the Dovakin emerged, flourishing his sword and dismissing the flames that surrounded him. His leather armor was charred, but the man himself seemed unscathed. The Dragonborn charged, lashing his sword out at Yoshi. The dinosaur scrambled backward, trying to dodge the attack. The edge of the blade danced just short of Yoshi's scales. Yoshi attempted to open his mouth to send his tongue out, but was met by the metal stud of the center of Dovakin's shield. The bash dazed the dinosaur long enough for Dovakin to deliver a downwards slice. By instinct alone, Yoshi attempted to pull back but not without the sword slashing across his face leaving a cut that seeped blood down his cheek. Yoshi cried out in pain, holding his hand to the wound as he cowardly began to backstep away from his opponent.

"YAAAAAAAAH!" Heavy cried out as he let loose a stream of bullets. The roar of the minigun alerted the Dovakin to the impending danger.

"Wuld Nah Kest" Dovakin shouted, his body darting away from the spray of fire unleashed by the Russian. Heavy attempted to swing the minigun to accommodate for Dovakin's new position, but felt arms gripping around his head and a knife pressed to his neck.

"Don't move." the voice of Snake whispered into Heavy's ear.

Noncompliant as ever, Heavy thrust his elbow into Snake's stomach, causing the spy to loosen his grip. With an angry roar, Heavy let go of his minigun and grabbed the arms that had fallen off of his neck. He swung Snake over his back and into the ground in front of him. Snake threw his free arm and legs out as he hit the ground, dampening the damage. Bending his back, Snake sprung his foot backward into Heavy's face causing the mercenary to let go of his arm. Snake rolled backward onto his feet and delivered an elbow into Heavy's solar plexus before delivering an uppercut into the Russian's chin and throwing arm forward to deliver a hook into Heavy's cheek. Heavy recovered quickly, however, and intercepted Snake's fist with an open palm, clutching his fingers around Snake's knuckles. Turning the tables, Heavy began to crush Snake's hand within his own. Crying out in pain, Snake tried to pummel Heavy with his left hand, but the mercenary barely flinched at the onslaught determined to break the man in front of him. Heavy pressed his arm against Snake's, forcing the spy to crouch down in submission against the sheer power of Heavy's strength.

CRACK!

The familiar snap of Catwoman's whip punctuated the leathery vine wrapping around Heavy's wrist. With a strong yank, Catwoman wrenched Heavy's grip away from Snake's hand. Seizing the moment, Snake retrieved his combat knife using his left hand and made a swipe towards Heavy who immediately let go of Snake's hand to dodge the attack. As Heavy shifted his feet, he lost contact with the ground and began to slip. Falling onto his back, Heavy saw the culprit for his trip. A multitude of ball bearings littered the floor around him. Catwoman chuckled at the sight of the fat man falling onto his ass.

Gritting his teeth, Heavy retrieved the Family Business from its holster on his back. He aimed a shot at Catwoman who pounced onto the wall and began to run across it as easily as if it was the floor, dodging wild buckshot that littered the air. It was then that Heavy felt a tap on his shoulder. By sheer muscle memory, Heavy whirled around to see Snake casually pointing his gun at Heavy. The two stood at a standstill, neither moving as their barrels were directed at the other's foreheads.

"You must be an amateur," Snake said calmly, pointing towards the Family Business with his pistol. "I counted six shots. You're empty."

"It is you who is amateur," Heavy retorted as he cracked a smile. "this gun is custom made and carries eight bullets."

CRACK!

Catwoman's whip flew through the air from the second floor and onto Heavy's shotgun. With a twist of her arm, the masked thief yanked the weapon out of Heavy's arms and into her own. She nonchalantly aimed the Family Business upwards and pulled the trigger. A spray of pellets exploded from the barrel and found their new resting place embedded into the ceiling.

Catwoman whistled.

"He was right! This baby's got some extra rounds in it." she said with a wide smile.

Again, Snake motioned with his gun towards Heavy's forehead. Reluctantly, the mercenary began to raise his hands in defeat. Snake began to press against the trigger.

"Shield!"

A barrier materialized around Heavy just before the bullet was fired, sending the projectile flying into a nearby wall.

"Stop!" Sakura cried out. "He's not responsible for this...I...I am. I'm the one you want!"

"No!" Heavy called out, trapped within the force field.

Snake retracted his aim from Heavy and redirected it towards Sakura. Catwoman fell from the second floor and next to Snake.

"You're a big girl to do this." She said, her hand on her hips belying the serious tone she gave.

"Sakura, no!" Yoshi called out as he ran forward only to be tackled to the ground by the Dragonborn. The warrior wrapped his arm around Yoshi's neck, positioning the edge of his sword around the dinosaur's neck.

"No sudden movements." He warned into Yoshi's ear.

Snake began to approach Sakura. "Is this it? You're giving up?"

"No. I can't give up. Not now. If my actions caused their deaths then I accept the responsibilities of that burden. But," Sakura said as she extended her Star Rod forward. "I cannot let my life end here. Doing so would make thier sacrifices meaningless. I will atone for their deaths and find a way to make everything right again."

"Hahahaha!" A deep voice called out, echoing in the prison. Everyone looked around the prison seeking out the source of the voice. "Well said, Sakura."

A shuriken flew through the sky slicing through Snake's pistol and nearly lopping off his hand. The spy drew his combat knife and glanced upward only to see a mass of smoke descend upon him. He activated his Solid Eye, attempting to find the man within the smokescreen but his readings found nothing. The fog fell upon him and in that moment Snake felt a strike hit his side. The spy feebly swiped at the smoke only to be kicked in the back and be sent sprawling on the ground.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Yoshi sprouted wings upon his back. With a single powerful flap, Yoshi ascended sharply driving the Dovakin's head into the ceiling under the second floor. With his mounted aggressor now dazed, Yoshi reached his tongue around and pulled the Dragonborn into his maw. After a few seconds of chewing, and selectively swallowing his armor and weapons, Yoshi spat his would-be meal into a nearby wall, knocking the man out.

Catwoman lashed at the dark figure within the shadows only to find that her whip flew through nothing but smoke. The body disintegrated as another appeared next to her. She slashed her claws down to strike, but her wrists were grabbed mid-strike. A fist connected with her face, breaking through her goggles, with another two being delivered to her abdomen. Finally, her head was shoved down into her attacker's knee, knocking her out cold.

With all immediate threats down or recovering, the shadows and smoke began to coalesce into a human-like body, not that Sakura had any doubt in her mind who it was.

"Zed!" she said, the first smile forming upon her face in what seemed like forever.

[u/selfproclaimed → u/selfproclaimed]

Dusk

Zed crossed his arms, his expression as ambiguous as ever.

"I had thought I told you to escape." The ninja said coldly as he approached Red, who was beginning to lift herself off the ground.

The joy of seeing an ally who she had thought she'd seen the last of faded from Sakura.

"Well..." She began, looking away from the ninja. "We uh...ran into some danger and had to run away..."

"And you came back here?" Zed interrupted, his voice less cruel and more inquisitory. He kicked the Transistor from Red's grasp sending the sword-like weapon skirting across the ground. "In retrospect, I should have expected you to come back. It seems we all have unfinished business with this prison."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, her earlier tension easing.

"I'll get to that soon enough, but first," Zed said as he grabbed Red by the collar of her coat and lifted her up. "explain to me why you attacked my companions."

Sakura's heart skipped as she noted that this was the first time Zed had ever referred to her and the others as "companions". Previously, the ninja had been so cold and distant with them that she was sure he had only thought of them as people willing to work alongside him until they accomplished their shared goal of escape.

"Hey, let go of her!" The Transistor shouted. "She's mute. You can't torture any information about her."

"The sword can talk now, can it?" Zed said as he dropped the Red onto the ground. "This just confirms my suspicions earlier that the people gathering information about the prisoners here don't know every detail they file away on us, or they're more interested in what we can do rather than who we are."

Zed walked to the Transistor and picked it up. The ninja extended his arm blade and pressed it against the red "eye" of the blade. "Now I'm not in the mood to torture today, but pressing me likely won't do you any favors. I will ask one more time. Why. Did you. Attack. My companions?"

"It was the girl's fault they were taken. Her fault they were killed. You all started the riots, didn't you? You endangered us all. You brought the guards and the robot. When the wall came crashing down, we took off and hid away...They're all doomed you know. The ones they've take-"

The arm blade fell flat against the Transistor's "eye", providing enough of a "shut up" message as was needed.

"Did you ever talk with the ones who died?" Zed asked, lifting the arm blade from the Transistor.

The Transistor was silent.

"Your file went into great detail about the records it has of you communing with the recently departed. I think you owe Sakura some closure given how much heartache you've given her." Zed stated. He walked over to Red, who flinched as the ninja approached. He shoved the Transistor into her arms. "Don't make me regret this."

As Zed made his interrogations, Heavy stood up and, along with Yoshi, had returned to Sakura's side. The mercenary had his share of bruises, but he appeared to be no worse for wear. Yoshi, for his part, was still nursing the cut that he had suffered earlier in the fight.

"Now, before we move," Zed said, his back turned towards the others. "I believe you'd like to get reacquainted with the boy."

Sakura's eyes lit up as she gasped. From beneath his mask, Zed entertained a rare smile to himself. He extended his arm to point to a room on the second floor, still intact with the interior just out of the field of vision from the ground floor. Sakura and Yoshi rushed to the nearby stairs with Heavy trailing behind. The three hit the ground of the second-floor running forward until they reached the doorway of the specified room. Sitting against the wall on the floor of the cell with legs splayed outward was Jaune.

Jaune hesitated to say anything as he reflexively turned his head, glancing away from the trio. Slowly, he brought himself to look at his allies he tried to die for.

"H-hey."

He couldn't get another word out before he was tackled by Sakura, grabbing him in an unbearably tight hug.

"Don't' ever do something like that again!" Sakura cried as she broke the hug.

"I..I'm sorry," Jaune said as he glanced at the artificial light bulb in the cell still somehow functioning. "I...it was selfish of me to do that. I told myself when Pyrrha died that I would do whatever I could to prevent something like that from ever happening again. But the truth is, I didn't trust in myself enough to think I was strong enough to that. I've...been a failure my entire life and I was just so afraid that I was going to mess up another team that...I guess I wanted to just throw everything to the wind to make sure that if someone had to get hurt it would be me."

"Oh Jaune, you don't have to worry about believing in yourself," Sakura said, her cheerful attitude gradually returning. "You just believe in us and we'll believe in you."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that your idea was stupid," Heavy said, practically yelling the last word out. "but I would be lying if I said it wasn't good to see you in one piece."

"Yeah about that," Jaune began, looking down at his legs with a downtrodden tone. "I...can't walk."

Yoshi slowly walked up to Jaune. With an indiscernible expression, Yoshi flatly said. "Yoshi not a dumb stupid animal."

The way Yoshi said it, Jaune wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement of fact. Jaune shook his head.

"No, you're not a stupid animal. You're my friend."

Yoshi broke his stoic expression and smiled. The dinosaur turned, presenting his saddled back to Jaune. The swordsman accepted the wordless gesture and reached out to Yoshi's back, pulling himself up. His legs hung limply over Yoshi's sides, but he managed to maintain balance on the dinosaur regardless.

"Thank you, everyone." Jaune said softly, his voice cracking slightly.

---

The two groups had moved back to the labor area. Zed held a close watch on the four and on one occasion had teleported right up to the Dovakin just as he was inhaling ready to let loose a dragon shout when he thought he saw an opening.

"Let it go," Snake had said at the time. "We're not their prisoners."

Red took her place in front of the graves. Taking the Transistor, she held it over the grave of Videl. The blade glowed softly as it began to take in information. After a few moments, the glow faded leaving everyone in the room with in silence. After about twenty seconds the Transistor came back to life.

"She's...regretful that she couldn't protect her friends and that she didn't find a way out of the prison." The man in the Transistor said, glowing softly to accentuate the more careful tone he was taking. Though the sword couldn't exactly turn to face anyway, it was clear that it was speaking to Sakura. "She's sad to see that you didn't make it out of her, but she's also glad that you're safe. Doesn't blame you at all for what happened. More than anything, she just wants to get back at the people who put everyone in this prison in the first place."

Sakura fought back tears as she uttered a gentle "Thank you."

"So," Heavy said, speaking for everyone. "What is plan now?"

"We're going to honor Videl's last wishes." Zed said in a matter-as-fact tone.

Snake raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, what other files have you been uncovering besides those of my team?"

Zed reached behind his back and pulled out a rough blueprint. Rather than showing a typical overhead view of the prison, as most blueprints would, it showed a side angle. Most notably, the prison seemed to be split in two horizontally with a section below, smaller in width but deeper in height and no defining features or rooms unlike, the top half. Written in the center of this section were two handwritten words.

The Underbelly

"That's where they've taken them," Zed said, pointing to the underground section. "They're planning to get rid of not just every prisoner, but the prison themselves."

"At the risk of asking a question I probably don't want answered," Catwoman said as she shifted her weight. "Why not just kill us all with that giant robot?"

"That I can't answer, at least not with certainty." Zed said as he put the blueprints away.

"So what?" Catwoman retorted, leaning forward in dismay. "We rush in, free everyone and we're right back where we started an hour ago."

"Not quite." Zed retorted wagging a finger. "Does everyone recall having a vision of their greatest wishes being granted before they got here?"

One by one everyone nodded, slowly realizing that the hazy memories they had been housing since they got there were not just a fever dream brought on in the rush of their arrests.

"Those wishes...can become reality. They're keeping a being they call a "Granter" in the Underbelly. We infiltrate the area, find this Granter, and wish everyone in this prison out."

"Good plan. You're pretty good," The Dragonborn said as he walked forward towards Zed as if to implicitly challenge his authority. "But how are we going to get past what must be the most guarded place in this prison?"

Snake laughed at the question.

"We get ourselves armed." Zed simply said in response.

---

The door to the Storage Facility.

How many weeks had it been since they had first come to this area? Time in the prison seeemed to blur together. Now the guards were missing, having retreated into the Underbelly. However, much to almost everyone's surprise, there was a man in a brown coat waiting outside the door. Most of the group tensed up at the sight of the stranger.

"Hey, no need to worry," Jaune said. "He's a friend Zed and I met. He's not from this place and he's had his eye on this prison for a while now."

"What kind of person is he?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Well...I guess you could say he's a Doctor."

The man greeted them with a wide smile and clapped his hands

"Right then, who's ready to make a prison break?"

End