The more we discussed the breakout, the more I grew on edge. Sure, he was young and this whole situation was the most unlikely I could ever think of- but he was the only chance I had to get out of here.

I picked up my camera and bag from the metal detectors and rounded the corner of the hallway.

Agent Skyrise- I admit, it felt pretty cool calling someone by their codename. I didn't catch what he said about the tardigrade though.

There he was, leaning against the bars to greet me, with the cold light illuminating his features. He looked exhausted and beaten up. Handcuff marks were raw around his wrists.

The military had repeatedly called him in for interrogations...who knows what they'd been doing to him to get him to talk.

"Got it?"

I confirmed, nodding and passing the bag between the bars. We'd tried to bust the hinges and use acid, but nothing. I was expecting him to explode the cell or something like in the movies, but this wasn't the movies.

He extracted the materials- detergent and other chemicals- and began mixing them carefully in the shadow of the jail.

"Don't stay still too much." He said while he worked. "There's a surveillance camera pointed around here. They might get suspicious."

"I'm here every day." I said with a shrug. "Part of my...detainment."

He continued putting together the solution. I watched him work, ears pricked for foreign footsteps. All the cells nearby were empty. I guess this was the "to be frequently interrogated" area.

Austin splashed the padlock and door bars with the substance. I handed him the lighter.

Bang!

The liquid blew up with a bright flare.

"Are they coming, are they coming?" Austin whispered urgently, rattling the bars. They were still intact.

"Do it again." I hissed in fear. He dropped to the ground and began stirring up the solution.

"I'll go distract anyone who comes here." I took a few steps to the right, trying to catch a glimpse of around the corner-

Four guards were running towards the source of the noise.

"Hey you!" One of them had a gun, and he instantly raised it at me.

"Stand down!"

"Leave your weapons!"

I stumbled back, hands visibly shaking.

Oh no oh no-

The biggest of the guards barrelled into me and put me in a choke hold.

"H- help!" I gasped, panic rising up my throat. The giant arm tightened my air supply.

I struggled wildly against the guard and glanced at my only saviour. The cell was empty.

CRASH!

The guard with the gun was slammed into the wall next to me, and I felt his skull reverberate against the wall.

As he slumped down, moaning, a black figure snatched up the weapon.

How did he get free? Did the solution work?

I tried to wriggle out of my captor's hold, but he flung me to the ground. My heartbeat tripped over itself as I struggled to breath. The world was spinning dizzily.

Another guard collapsed from an elbow to the head, spots of blood on his face. Austin looked up to see the third muscly giant charge towards him.

He froze, the gun still in his hand. His face was contorted in conflicting expressions.

The guard towered over him and pulled back a deadly fist and yelled and swung as hard as he could.

Combat instincts kicked in. Before he knew it, Skyrise had spun away, brought the gun up to the guard's sweaty forehead and-

A shot echoed in the eerily silent hallway.

I got up slowly and clutched my chest as my heart threatened to burst out of it.

The man toppled to the ground, lying atop his fellow guards like fallen dominoes.

I stared at the single trickle of blood that ran down his temple, and then to the black-clothed figure who stood over the unmoving bodies with his head bowed.

Austin blinked and shook his head, before grabbing my arm and pulling me to the exit.

"We gotta go." He said quietly, but instantly let go of me as he went ahead. I followed, fingers still trembling.

His eyes were wet.