It was night time again and the prisoners were ushered back into their cells by their new wardens. But tonight an announcement played over the speakers, and they wouldn't be the only ones who'd get to hear it. Every soul in Dhulka would be listening.

Yes! The voice of a man filled every cell. This is the woman I've chosen as my bride. For who better than the princess of this land would signify the joining of the Cadits and Dhulka in marriage!

Aldrin laid on his paper-thin mattress listening only to pass the time. The princess marrying the man who killed her father, Aldrin yawned. What a drama. But the man's next words stole every last bit of his attention.

Everyday we grow closer and closer to that goal. Soon the people of Dhulka and the Cadits will be able to travel freely between the subterranean and surface worlds. Soon we will live amongst one another as equals in society. No longer shall there be division and difference, but from now on, we shall be brother and sister. Rejoice, the earth shall see a new dawn!

The words bounced around in his mind and no doubt that of every other citizen of Dhulka. Equals, brothers and sisters, a new dawn. Aldrin laughed. Just yesterday an inmate was beaten to his last breath for a looking at a warden the wrong way. But they were criminals, they deserved what punishments they'd been served. And that was what separated Dhulka from the surface dwellers. In Dhulka you weren't just punished for your actions but your very identity as well.

The man over the speakers was a damn fool to think he could change the way people in Dhulka think and create a world where his brute brethren could coincide with such superficial lot.

There was a pause. Aldrin wondered if it was intentional, he'd enjoyed the show so far and didn't want it to end so soon. A moment later the same man's voice came through.

Watch, listen and never forget. This is what happens when you make mistakes.

Then like the howl of a injured beast, came a man's wordless attempt at communicating agony. He cried out for mercy and pleaded for forgiveness. One man's plea broadcasted all across Dhulka, yet only one was listening.

STOPP!! Please, just—

The broadcast ended.

Soon they would learn that the tortured man was a surface dweller being punished and the one voice who spoke up for him was that of Dhulka's blind princess, Lady Zemlya.

She may not have realized then but she created a shift in Dhulka. She confounded the surface dwellers and gained a sort of respect among them.  Aldrin would hear it first hand from the wardens themselves. They weren't used to such kindness it seemed.

And to her own people, it was clear she was no puppet. She stood up for one of the men responsible for Dhulka's demise, against their very leader and the man she was to marry. If she risked her life for their men, what not her own people. She made it seem as though the things the man preached were somewhat feasible.

But the prisoners lived the lives they lived even before everything began. Nothing but the wardens had changed, and nothing else would until they were free. But with the current state of things what had become of freedom?

~~~

To the prisoners inside, all was as usual until everything went dark an hour earlier than the scheduled lights out. But the new wardens were as unpredictable as they were harsh.

The prison had cameras in every room and corridor and like everything else in Dhulka it was under the surface dwellers' control. But Lau Tayo would never set foot in the prison, without eyes watching their every move. When they made their move the surface dwellers would be staring at dark screens while their men in the Underbelly would watch the whole scene play out with night-vision-like clarity.

Fifty armed guards patrolled the prison every second of the day. That number was reduced to fourty with the help of Lua. They worked in shifts and when a new shift began, Lau Tayo and his team of thugs and officers moved in.

Immediately as it went dark a guard moved towards the utility room. When he went to open it a knife snaked over his shoulder and slit his throat open.  Tayo eased his body to the floor and wiped his blade clean before he moved on to the next guard.

Guard after guard dropped one after the other, taking several stabbings to the chest at once, clean cut in and out of the throat, a quiet bullet to the brain. Tayo and his men moved swifty through the prison, so far all had been going as planned. If things simply remained as is, everything would move smoothly.

Tayo and his team entered the living quarters. More guards were concentrated here then anywhere else, they had to move without a sound and as quickly as possible. But alas nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

In the pitch blackness of the prison the blast of a gunshot echoed down dark corridors alerting every guard and waking prisoners from their slumber. Guards moved towards the source of the sound. If one of them so much as smelled Tayo and his men this operation would be compromised.

But of course Tayo didn't walk into the prison, expecting to rely solely on the darkness to conceal them. All of his men discarded their dark garments and were left instead wearing bright orange jumpsuits. Then all the cell doors slid open. The prisoners were released and the lights powered on. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for that fact that there were more prisoners now then when night had fallen.

The guards found the man who'd fired the shot. But when asked why he did, he stumbled over his words and looked just as confused as the rest.

"I thought I saw someone, something. I fired then he was gone and then..." The guard scratched his temple. "Then the lights came on."

But who had released the prisoners?

A guard radioed the control centre of the prison. But all that could be heard on the other end was static. They didn't know then but they'd been cut off from the rest of Dhulka for the next 30 minutes. A guard was sent to check what was wrong only to discover that all entrances and exits were locked shut.

Someone, a group perhaps, or even all the prisoners were playing a game and the wardens didn't like it. Instructions were relayed over radio:

Gather all the scum in one place and search their cells!

But when they didn't find what they were looking for they focused all their attention on the prisoners who were forced to their knees, to have their hands on their heads in plain sight.

"It seems we have a tiny problem," said the head warden, "one of you here, or should I say some of you, aren't prisoners. Now go ahead and reveal yourself before I start blowing brains out!" The guard had his gun cocked at a young man who looked about ready to wet himself. While every other guard set their aim on another prisoner as well.

"One," the head warden began, "Two, oh you're stubborn aren't you! Thre—"

A hand raised into the air. All eyes fell on a tall tattooed man. Tayo didn't recognize him. He was just another prisoner.

"Aldrin was it?" The boss raised a brow. Amusement danced in his eyes. "You aren't one of them, are you?"

"I found something." Aldrin slipped out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "It looks like a map of some sort."

"Bring it here."

Tayo watched the scene play out before him. Who was this man and what did he have on that paper? Because they never drew a map. Tayo eased his hand away from his head.

"Hey! Get your hands on your head!" Guns aimed at Tayo. But when all attention fell on him, Aldrin had disarmed the head warden and took him hostage. The guns shifted towards Aldrin.

"Kill them all!!" The head guard bellowed.

But the guards were a second too late Tayo and his men had already begun firing. A circle of bullets met guards. The prisoners scrambled for safety. Guards fired back but their numbers had fallen to too few and soon they were all dead. The last took a bullet to the brain by Aldrin's hand. The head warden dropped. All gun's aimed at Aldrin.

Aldrin had enough sense to drop the gun. But he didn't care to protect himself from these men. "Who are you people?"

"We're from the Vermillion," Tayo answered. "We came to get all of you out, Dhulka is in ruins and we need to band together in this trying times to rid our home of the surface dwellers."

Aldrin scoffed. "You? You're from the Vermillion?"

Eyes focused on Tayo. But Tayo had expected this. "I was an officer of the Special Investigation Bureau before all this went down. But none of that matters now, what matters is defending Dhulka against these invaders. We need your help, Dhulka needs your—"

"And then what?" Aldrin interrupted.

Tayo shook his head. "What?"

"After we help you get rid of these invaders. Then what? Dhulka goes back to what it used to be? We go back in our cells and you get your shiny medals."

"Dhulka will be different. It certainly isn't what it used to be. If you choose to stand with us all your efforts will be recognized, I promise you that."

"Oh yeah, by who? The King? Last I heard he exploded into a million pieces. Even if you swear by it, Dhulka will never accept us. It never has and it never will, because this is your home not ours. Once all this ends you get to live in your sunlit apartments, we'll get our sentences reduced and by the time we're out everything will be just like it used to be. Everyone will turn their backs on us and we'll end up in the Underbelly where we find our way right back into our old cells."

"Look, Aldrin was it?" Tayo knew their trust in him was slipping and he was desperately grasping at it by the strands.  "I'm sure you and many of you here have family, friends, someone you love out there right now who needs your help. And you can't do anything about it being locked up in here. Join us, and we'll do whatever it takes to save them."

"What happens if we refuse?"

"Go ahead but the minute you step out there, you're a dead man."

A gun raised in Aldrin's direction, but before he even had the chance to react the gun went off. Blood splattered across the side of Aldrin's face. Another prisoner dropped at Aldrin's side, gun clattering out of his hand.

No one breathed a sound and no one moved an inch.

Aldrin gazed at the dead man, but all he saw was red. Laughter bubbled up his throat. Aldrin stepped forward and all guns pointed his way. "Looks like I'm dead either way."

"He was going to shoot," Tayo tried to explain. "We had no choice."

"Why don't you shoot me too?!" Aldrin's voice rang throughout the prison. "You never had a problem with that before. Men dropped dead in the Underbelly everyday but no one batted an eyelid, because if it isn't a lowlife strangling another for a few sols it's an officer killing men as he so pleases. We aren't on the same side, don't kid yourself now."

"We're not going to shoot you too." But Tayo knew his words wouldn't reach him, couldn't reach him. "If you choose not to support us, it is your choice and there's nothing else we can do about that. But I hope you know that Dhulka won't be the same anymore once all this ends."

"You're nothing but talk, you never wanted change till it was the only option. Dhulka was built on lies and fantasies, it was bound to crumble from the very beginning. But you're right about one thing when this is all over, Dhulka will be different. Because for once someone is brave enough to stand up for the change they desire."

A/n: boopity-boop hey ho, uhhhhhh, welp um hi! So yeah, I got the the idea of the uniform thing from Money Heist, coz that show was fireeee. Always love a good twist. Hopefully I did them some justice. Anyways, things rnt going as planned anymore it seems as though the rebellion isn't the people's first choice anymore but we'll see...