wc: 2436

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The flight was relatively uneventful. Grian winced a bit at the sound of the fireworks, but the cloud coverage worked well to conceal them from any onlookers on the ground.

"Should be on your right," came a voice in Grian's ear. Grian could hear the tapping of Cub's keyboard from the other end of the earpiece, quick and nervous sounding.

Grian veered to the right, and he could hear the flapping of wings following his trail. It was eerily quiet, a solemn and slightly nervous air settling around the group. Through the mist, the cement roof of the capital building came into view, and he tucked the elytra in to dive.

"We're there," Grian whispered back into his comm, accompanied by the soft thumps of his comrades' feet landing on the rooftop. On reflex, Grian caught Scar's arm, and the fae sent him an insulted look.

"I wasn't going to fall," Scar whispered, pouting. Grian cracked a small smile and let go.

"Should be in the corner to your right," Cub said. Grian obeyed, moving towards said corner and spotting a vent.

"It'll be a tight squeeze," Grian murmured. He knelt and tugged at the vent- it seemed to be no wider than two people, hip to hip, and they'd have to army crawl. "Jev?"

Jevin stepped forward, stood next to the vent, and dissolved, blue slime sinking to the floor and slithering in between the cracks of the vent. After a few moments, Grian could see it reform into his body. There were a few clinks as he picked at the bolts with his sword before the cover finally came free. He hopped out, gesturing to let Grian in first.

"We're going in," Grian whisper-called to Etho and a Listener named Xaviel, crouched at the edge of the building and bows drawn. "Anyone seen us?"

"No," Etho whispered, unstringing the bow. "We're safe."

Grian nodded, took a deep breath, and crouched into the vent.

"We're in the vents," Grian muttered into his earpiece, suddenly feeling as if the walls of the vent had shrunk in on themselves. In, out.

"Take the first right," Cub replied. "The first vent opening should be a mailroom of sorts. Might have some stuff."

"Got it," Grian said, pushing himself forward. It was unwieldy, and not at all graceful, with his cloak tangling underneath his boots, but Grian gritted his teeth as they inched into darkness.

Grian ran a hand along the wall to his right as the light from the vent cut out completely, looking for the turn. "Cub? Can you see where we are?"

"It won't be as accurate anymore," Cub said. "If it's right, it'll be coming up now."

Grian reached forward, groping blindly, and made a small sound of surprise when his hand met empty air. "Got it. Everyone okay?"

There were a few noises of affirmation, and Grian started to turn, drawing his legs in and pushing off of the left wall. He exhaled in relief at the sight of slivers of light shining from an opening a bit further down. "I see it."

"Good," came Cub's short reply. Grian hauled himself forward and dug the tip of his knife into the bolts. With a twist, they came undone, and he caught them before they could clatter to the ground.

"Is there anyone there?" Impulse whispered, almost silent, and Grian nodded, holding up two fingers.

Grian crossed his fingers and prayed that they weren't being too loud as the group adjusted, with Scar and Etho crawling up to the opening and somehow managing to draw their bows, aiming through the cracks of the vents.

There were two thumps, a choked off sound of surprise, and then silence.

Etho braced a foot against the vent and pushed. Grian snatched it before the cover could fall and sent Etho a nod. Him and Bdubs lowered themselves gently from the opening, landing soundlessly on the floor and turning to the cabinets. Bdubs sent a blinding grin up to Grian and a flash of a thumbs up.

"Let's go," Grian whispered to the others, and they slowly made their way towards the other rooms, Cub murmuring quiet directions in his ear. "Cub, tell Mumbo to connect with Etho and get them to the barracks when they're done."

The cycle continued, dropping various Listeners and Hermits off in different rooms. As they moved, various confirmations of success from Cub in his ear started to lift his spirits- "Some interesting files were found in a few offices, some aren't worth it, but a couple seem noteworthy. Jevin's left a piece of himself in the engineering room, and the force field's barely holding itself together, so we should be all set for the barracks." 

Grian could hear the thumping of his heart in his ears as Cub guided him towards the barracks. 

"Everyone's on their way," Cub informed him, voice monotone. "There should be a left turn coming up."

Grian obliged, finding that the vents seemed to widen slightly as they approached. Ahead was one particularly large vent, a dim glow past its rusted surface.

"There'll be a hallway or something, then barracks should be closeby."

Out of the corner of his eye, Grian noted some of the others returning to the group, shooting a thumbs up before peeking through the vent, and-

Oh.

"Cub, where should we be right now?" Grian asked, the waver in his voice infuriatingly stubborn.

"It's not exactly labeled on the map," Cub supplied. "There's just kind of a long winding hallway and then the barracks are at the end."

"Grian?" Ren prodded from behind Grian. "Are we going?"

Grian stared down at the prison that lay outside of the vent grate.

Of course, they'd have to go through this hallway. Gosh, he was stupid- did the gods really hate him this much?

"We're not going in there," Grian said shakily, pushing himself backwards away from the opening and leading to a small domino effect of surprised noises and backwards movement. "No." In, out- no, he couldn't think over the roaring blood in his ears and memories of cement hallways. "No."

A careful hand brushed Grian's shoulder, and he flinched, whipping his head around with wide eyes. "Grian, we have to," Impulse said quietly, his voice calm. Grian shook his head.

"Not there," Grian croaked.

"We can't just abandon the plan," Cub advised quietly. Grian dropped his head into his hands.

"Please," Impulse whispered.

Grian pressed himself against the wall of the vent, turning his head away from the grate with heaving breaths. "You do it. I can't."

There was a moment of scuffle before Impulse managed to get in front. With a groan of metal, the grate fell through, and Grian wanted to throw up.

"Let's go," Ren urged from behind him. "We have to."

If we don't, then we fail. This is no place to fall apart.

Grian ground his teeth together and heaved himself back towards the opening, and Impulse threw a smile over his shoulder before slipping out of the vent and landing with a quiet thump below.

In, out. The long, gray hallway stretched out in both directions, a bend cutting off most of the cells in this section. Bars, practically radiating sugar, sat immutable in the doors of dusty prisons, sparsely decorated with nothing but a hole and a floor.

It was too familiar. Grian took three shuddeirng breaths, dangling his legs down the opening and sliding out of it, already ready to sprint all the way down the hall and into the barracks- as long as he could get out of here.

"Wow," Impulse murmured. "This is-" His voice trailed off as he shot a glance towards Grian, undisguised worry flashing in brown eyes.

Grian knew this place- the guards stayed stationed at either ends of the winding hallway (he could still hear the sounds of heavy footsteps and see the gleam of spearpoints), the undulating shape meant to hinder all of the prisoners' line of sight of the doorway. When Grian had- stayed here, all he could see was the empty cell in front of him and the walls curving away from his view.

"What the-" came a hoarse voice, and Grian winced, remembering that there were actually other prisoners here. He turned and pressed a finger to his lips, staring into the cell where the sound had came from. A dozen emotions flitted over the ragged Watcher's face, only half of a mask barely holding itself together and revealing one bright eye. After a moment, the prisoner nodded and sat back against the wall.

In the span of a few seconds, Grian could feel his senses sharpening, a clarity settling over his vision and his heart thumping with steady staccato beats.

Do well, said a voice, radiant and echoing- Grian jumped and whirled. "Did you hear that?" he whispered.

Impulse frowned and shook his head as Etho and Bdubs began to creep towards one end of the hallway, unfazed.

I will, Grian thought- maybe it was an answer, to whoever was in his head. Maybe they were helping him, maybe...

Focus.

Grian faced the group that was silently waiting in the vent and held up three fingers, motioning towards one end of the hallway and then the other. Obligingly, two groups of three formed and moved quietly down the hallway, Grian tagging with Etho and Ren.

"Start freeing prisoners," Grian whispered to Stress, and she nodded with a grim look on her face.

"How long is this hallway?" Etho asked as they moved; surprisingly, a lot of the prisoners barely reacted to a guy with a green vest, shock white hair, and one red eye next to a wolf hybrid. To be fair, most of them were probably almost dead; Grian could see Ren's ears flatten whenever they ran past motionless forms.

"Pretty long," Grian said. "Although we sh-"

As they rounded the next bend, Grian's heart stopped.

He flung himself backwards, pressing against the wall, and Etho and Ren followed, expressions bewildered.

"Wh-what is it, is there something? Is there someone?" Ren asked hurriedly, tail wrapping around one of his legs.

Grian didn't respond, breaths already coming quick again, because- that cell-

"Grian?" Etho asked. "You okay, buddy?"

In, out. Grian didn't respond, squeezing his eyes shut and trying his best to slow his racing heart.

Etho peeked around the corner before turning and shrugging. "I don't see anythi..." He trailed off, eyes looking at- probably something Grian was very familiar with. "Oh snap."

"What is it??" Ren demanded with a whisper-yell, stance widening and claws flexed. "Come on, dude, give me something."

"Don't need to fight," Etho murmured, and Ren visibly relaxed. "Just- this cell- There's a lot of blood. Some is red." He turned back, eyes honing in on Grian. "Grian? You alright?"

Grian blinked, and in an instant- yeah, he... was?

Strength, a voice said, and oh yeah, he had some kind of guardian angel now. That was probably why.

"Y-yeah," Grian said, staring down at his now steady hands. "I- Let's go."

There were a few beats before Grian pushed himself off the wall, head turned to observe the empty cell on the right hand side. As Ren followed, Grian could hear his wincing "Yeesh."

"...Grian, I don't mean to push, but was that..?" Etho sounded a bit awkward, scratching the back of his head. Grian didn't respond, instead motioning to be quiet and drawing the Staff from his coat pocket, the small rod quickly lengthening to full size. Etho unsheathed twin swords hanging from sheaths at his hips, Ren hefting one of the sugar gun things that the redstoners had designed.

"..hear something?" one of the guards was saying, Grian's ears quickly tuning themselves to the Galactic. Ren and Etho glanced at him, expressions asking for explanation. He shook his head. It doesn't matter.

"Don't sweat it," the other guard muttered. "You've always been so paranoid."

Grian pointed at Ren and Etho and jerked his thumb to his right. They nodded.

Without a sound, Grian launched himself from around the bend, planting one end of the Staff into the ground and propelling himself outwards, legs outstretched to drive directly into the guard on the left's chest. When the guard exhaled with an oomf of surprise, Grian slammed the Staff down across his neck, blocking an inhale.

"Make a noise and you die," Grian threatened, voice low- no matter how well trained these guards were, in the end, they were human. They would do anything to survive. The guard didn't move, mouth open and the smallest of choked noises escaping, but his wings writhed against the floor where they were pressed- twitching, tensing, feathers puffing.

Grian glanced over to his right, where Ren had wrapped a gag around the guard from behind him. Etho swung his sword, and his aim was true. The Watcher fell, a bright jet of violet arcing through the air- Grian closed his eyes as his body hit the floor with a thud.

"Shut up for a while," Grian muttered to the rapidly paling guard, ramming the end of the Staff into the side of his head- the guard quickly fell limp, and Grian released his hold and stood.

"Oh my goodness," Ren was saying, cringing away from the final twitches of the man in his death throes. "Oh- oh."

"Is this the barracks?" Etho asked Grian, turning to the heavy steel doors. Grian tapped the comm in his ear.

"Cub? Come in," Grian murmured as Etho bent in front of the door handle.

"Hey, everything okay?"

"Yes," Grian replied shortly, ignoring the blood filled cell behind them that he had once called his own. "We got the guards, and I hope the others did the same on the other side. We getting the barracks?"

"There should be two entrances, the... prison, is that what I heard? Is like the straight line of a semi circle. The barracks kind of surround it in this round shape."

"Alright, let me know when the others are ready to storm," Grian said.

"Uh, Grian?" Etho said, one hand resting on Ren's shoulder (the man still looked positively horrified at the corpse). "We got company."

Grian turned to see some Listeners as well as Jevin, Scar, and Stress, accompanied by- a large group of prisoners.

"Hey guys," Grian said carefully, eyeing the unfamiliar ones- some were bristling, chests puffed up and shoulders thrown back, while others seemed hunched in on themselves. "What's this?"

"Some of the prisoners opted to stay in their cells because they're too sick," Stress explained quietly. "I would heal them, but I should save my energy. These ones wanted to fight with us."

Grian scanned the group of disparate prisoners, all in various states of raggedness and thin, malnutritioned bodies.

But he did see the spark, the rage, gleaming in their pupils as they tossed shattered masks to the side.

"We're going to storm the barracks," Grian said simply. "Get ready."

tws: chapter contains prominent descriptions of blood and injury, fighting, descriptions of death 

battle of the capitol part one!

thank you for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are!

see yall next week (hopefully)!!

-Ete