ic [IC] Tonight there's gonna be a Jailbreak

[olopi]

GM

 

The lights were surprisingly sturdy, each of them taking a few shots before breaking. Fortuantely, ammo didn’t seem to be much of an issue. The pistols held a lot of it, and both the agents were carrying additional clips on them.

 

Once all the lights were out, the entire room was dark, with only a few glowing buttons and an indicator showing various paths on the floor piercing the darkness. It wasn’t really enough to see properly, but it meant that navigating the facility was still possible. But for anything else, they wouldn’t be of much use.

 

And then, just as he’d shot out the lights, Synth could hear the footsteps, now only around the corner. They were doing their best to stay quiet, but their approach had been just loud enough for Synth to hear. The footsteps were quiet, as were the other sounds made by the people’s other movements, probably a hand closing.

[Supercape]

Synth

 

Synth was about to throw the gun away again, before having second thoughts. If he had to shoot out some lights now, he may again. He tucked the pistol into his belt. He might need to shoot again, but he sure wasn't going to shoot anybody. 

 

Now, there was darkness, or near darkness. He couldn't see in the darkness, but hopefully neither could they. No IR goggles on his captors. 

 

And under cover of darkness he crept forward, virtually silent, nose and ears wide open to smells and sounds. With a bit of luck, he could creep out of Blackstone and the whole thing would die down. But, he sighed, he was unlikely to have a bit of luck....

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Supercape

[olopi]

GM

 

Moving forwards was probably the best option given the situation. The few sources of light were easy to avoid, and by the time the people now behind him had moved into the room, Synth had already covered a fair distance. They took out flashlights, and Synth just about managed to duck around a corner a blink of an eye before the light would’ve reached him.

 

From now on, sneaking was even more difficult, because he had to dodge the flashlight moving around the room, with the agents clearly expecting something to show up sooner or later. There were three of them, one waiting by the elevator door, the other two moving up and scouring anything somebody could hide behind.

 

And at the pace they were moving, Synth would have to cover the rest of the distance, about half the way to what appeared to be some sort of airlock-system, quicker than before to not get caught.

[Supercape]

Synth [As Grunt]

 

Agents...of whom? SHADOW? AEGIS?

 

No point in asking them. This was a world of lies. 

 

Undesirable as it was, his opportunity was limited here, jammed in. He could not afford a stealthy approach, but speed and delay. 

 

He knew he kept that gun for something. He pulled it out and unloaded six or seven rounds, rapid fire, into the air. Wouldn't hit any one, and wasn't meant to. But the agents would think twice about charging blindly if they were going to catch a bullet by doing so. 

 

That done, he tucked the gun back in, fluid and fast, and started to run towards the airlock as fast as he could - which, as it happened, was blisteringly fast. 

[olopi]

GM

 

As one would expect, the first reaction of everybody involved was surprise. Whatever they’d expected, this probably wasn’t it. Synth was facing away from them, for good reason, so he couldn’t quite tell what was happening, but it sounded like they dropped to the ground, where they’d be safe from more attacks, breathing heavily.

 

And as Synth was running towards the door, he could hear the first guns being fired behind him. It appeared that by now, they’d recovered well enough to fill the room with lead. They couldn’t see their target, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t possibly hit it.

 

And just as Synth got up to the door, where there was a bit more light, he could feel a by now somewhat familiar pain, that of a bullet passing through his body. He could also see the button to close the door behind him, just out of reach…

 

 

[Supercape]

Synth

 

"Oh no, not again!" cursed Synth. He looked down to see some seeping blood over the costume. Damn it. He could synthesise moor blood quickly, but between his crushed nose, stabbed lung, and bullet wound...well, resources were not infinite. He needed protein! and with the thought came the craving to eat two roast chickens and wash it down with a MAXIPROT shake. 

 

But not right now. 

 

"Missed!" he called back to the shooters. Lying out of his teeth. But he felt like shoving a bit of frustration back at them. 

 

With a slight grunt, he stumbled forwards, pressing the button and hoping luck would be with him...

[olopi]

GM

 

A few more bullets passed by Synth, none managing to hit, as the door quickly closed behind him, with some yelling coming from the hallway. And then, for just a few seconds, there was quiet. The small room was well-lit, and there was no stench of blood as there had been outside. Everything was quiet too.

 

A panel on the wall next to the other door indicated it was about to open, as behind Synth, there was some noise again. The men trying to open the door somehow, most likely. If they were on the same side as the ones that had abducted Synth, they likely had some equipment to help them with it. If they were prison staff, they definitely had some. 

 

The door had opened wide enough to see through, as, for the first time in a long while, Synth saw the surface with his own eyes. Some distance away there was the pier, where currently two boats were docked, and a few armed men patrolled. On the way there, there was a paved road, all well-lit by flood-lights. But there also was the rest of the fairly small island, which was, from what Synth had heard, deserted save for a few birds.

[Supercape]

Synth [As grunt]

 

The view of the sky, and of the birds, was enough to cause a wet swell in his eyes, and a burst of energy to his heart. Damn SHADOW! Damn Blackstone! Damn AEGIS! I will be free of them all!

 

He concentrated and let his muscles swell down, becoming lose and elastic. In this shape, squeezing through the gap was as a simple as spreading butter on toast - he virtually melted through the tiny gap with barely a pause. 

 

If I get out of this, I'm going to meet up with Breakfast and have the biggest, greasiest fry up I can get him to pay for, and sit by the sea watching the birds. Maybe throw them some bacon and chips...

 

Simple things, so out of reach. But he was going to do his best to reach for them...

[olopi]

GM

 

Slipping through the door was no problem. Slipping by the guards, who weren’t exactly watching the door in the first place, wasn’t one either. And after only a few quick steps, Synth had gotten outside the floodlights direct influence, where the only light was that of the moon, and that of Freedom City’s skyline in the distance.

 

At this distance from the city, there actually were a few stars in the sky. It was a clear night, and navigating the few rocks that led towards the less-frequented parts of the island was easy enough, even if Synth could feel the cold in the area. It wouldn’t bother him much, but it wasn’t particularly pleasant, either.

 

And then, after a few minutes of walking and a short climb, he came across a nice outcropping of rock, just big enough to comfortable spend some time there, with a view down the New Jersey coast. Of course, he was still on the same island as SHADOW, who would probably become aware of his escape sooner or later. The men wouldn’t stay knocked out forever…

[Supercape]

Synth [As grunt]

 

Synth took a moment to take a breather; there was a limit to even his endurance, and he was sweating and bleeding and out of breath. Surely just a minute...or maybe two. He focused on his breathing, his heart rate, trying to optimise them. Stimulating his marrow to replace the lost blood. 

 

He put a finger on the stab wound, and the bullet wound. Healing slowly. He reached up, and with a grunt of pain, reset his nose back to the midline with an unpleasant crunching nose. 

 

Lying flat on a rock he steeled himself. For what it was worth - which may not have been a lot...

 

He forced his bones, his skin, and his muscles to twist and turn. He couldn't tolerate it fast, but fortunately there was not a massive change to do. After a minute of grumbling pain, he had changed to the same form as the SHADOW agent he had fought with. 

 

Now, surely SHADOW knew he could do this. And presumably they had some counter measures, but it might give a few seconds - or even more - of suspicion. 

 

That done - he judged it time to go for a swim. Stealing a boat would be too risky - although faster. And the cold would not bother him. 

[olopi]

GM

 

Finding a safe spot to get into the water – where he wouldn’t immediately be impaled by rocks – took a few minutes, but once he’d done that, still unspotted, he took one last breath, before disappearing under the surface of the water for a bit. The currents were fairly strong here, confirming what he’d heard before, but he managed to keep himself stable enough to not get dragged downwards by them, even if they would change his course by a fair margin.

 

He was swimming for a while, uncertain of the exact time, when he approached land. He had no idea where exactly he was, but judging by the light on the horizon, FC wasn’t too far away. He got out of the water at a beach, there was a road roughly 100 ft away, even if at this time of the morning, no cars were driving.

[Supercape]

Synth

 

The cold did not bother Synth. As long as he energy to burn, he had no problem. He could swim without issue, too. No, the challenge was not the terrain it was the search, which was surely inevitable. 

 

Shaking himself at least partially dry, he considered his options. His priority was making sure SHADOW did not get their hands on him. And even Blackstone was not safe from SHADOW. He needed to get off the radar. Completely off it. 

 

He had run through this scenario several times mulling the possibilities. He had come to no firm conclusions. Now, something crystalised. 

 

Alaska!

 

Cold and clear. A crisp beauty. Off the radar. 

 

Now, just to get there. A new set of clothes, a new identity, and travel. Hitch hiking, maybe. 

 

But first, new clothes. Mundane and unremarkable...he looked around for a suitable crime scene. Theft was the answer!

 

 

[olopi]

GM

 

Slowly, Synth walked up to the road. There weren’t any houses within short distance he could see, so the road was the first place to go. It looked deserted, and from what he could still recall of FC’s road layout (a few months in Blackstone hadn’t done much good for that part of his knowledge), this road led towards a small commercial area, probably his best shot.

 

So he went northwards. The road was deserted, and only a few of the streetlights were actually on, the others likely turned off to save energy. But after a few minutes of walking, he could see houses, not too far away, and a small pier. He approached carefully, hiding in a nearby bush while scoping out the area. There was some light shining from the back of one building, what appeared to be a bakery.

 

Out towards the pier, there was what appeared to be a fishing store, with a proper fishing outfit looking out onto the street from the windows. And off in the distance, he could see the first cars, moving southwards, towards him.

[Supercape]

Synth

 

A fisherman, thought Synth, was as good a disguise as anybody. He could grow a big bushy beard. 

 

Stealing clothes from Freedom City seemed to be familiar to him now. He didn't like breaking the law, but it was better than the law breaking him. He had no wish to be captured. He scuttled towards the fishing store on the pier, and took a look inside. There would surely be some jumpers and so on?

 

Breaking and entering was not really in his skill set. Unless, of course, there was an air vent or chimney he could squeeze through. The alternative was a quick smash and grab, although surely the store would be alarmed!

[olopi]

GM

 

The store looked well-stocked, if a bit small. It wasn’t a franchise, so this probably was a local store targeted towards people living in the area. All the lights, apart from the ones in the main window, were off, so taking a look inside wasn’t easy. But a sign behind the window told of “reduced price clothing”, so it was probably fair to assume more clothing was inside.

 

As for an entrance, that one probably was more difficult. A house of this size likely didn’t have any air vents, and it looked just a bit too young to still have a chimney that could’ve been used. A quick scan confirmed those suspicions. There seemingly was only one way in, and that way, as so often it seemed, included breaking glass, and not entirely unlikely, alarms.

[Supercape]

Synth

 

Well, shoot. 

 

Synth quickly tore of a good wind of uniform, wound it round her fist, and punched out the glass. 

 

He presumed there would be alarm; silent or blaring. One way or another. And he wasn't going to hand around for the cops to investigate. He had a minute, tops. 

 

But fortunately he was fast, his nerves slick like lightning, every muscle quick and strong. He moved without error to the clothing rack, and picked up the best clothing he could find. Changing was fast, his nervous system perfectly coordinated. 

 

And as quick as he could, he was out, senses alert for the sounds of sirens or cars. He did not wish to run, but would if needed. For now, it was a fast walk, and slowly changing his appearance to a gruff old man. With big bushy grey beard. 

 

He did not change fast, but did change, risking a nasty ache in his bones, but not enough to incapacitate him. 

[olopi]

GM

 

The glass was strong, and shattering proved to be just a bit more difficult than he’d expected. But after a handful of good, heavy hits, it finally gave in, and shattered into the room in lots of small pieces, with Synth’s arm not really taking any damage from it.

 

Surprisingly enough, there was no alarm. Or if there was, it was silent. Either way, there was nothing obviously stating that he’d been discovered. Synth managed to grab hold of a reasonably easy to put on outfit, one he could put on while walking away, and right afterwards left the store through the same hole in the glass he’d entered.

 

There was a single car approaching, further up the road. But it seemed to just be somebody on their way to work. Synth, under some pain, managed to adjust his look and return to a nice position where he wouldn’t be immediately seen but could act natural in, all the while having a good overview of the street and the buildings along it.

[Supercape]

Synth

 

Road, rail, or boat?

 

Plane was not something he entertained. 

 

The alternative would simply be walking. He could do it, but it would be slow. Less chance of getting caught per day, but more days to do it. Not worth the risk, not now, firstly; he needed some distance. 

 

His best bet, he thought, would be rail. Stowaway on some train heading north. It would be fast, and with fortune, he would not be spotted. Just some hobo catching a ride. 

 

This called for his memory of Freedom City streets, which fortunately was well developed thanks to his months working as Winter Snow. Picking up the pace, he scuttled onwards. A bridge over a rail track would be ideal. Jump of the bridge, onto a freight train. Take it from there...

[olopi]

GM

 

Unfortunately, if there was one thing that FC really wasn’t all that great at, it was public transport. Especially rail. Inside his head, Synth could feel some of the European parts that made up his mind sigh loudly, as he recalled what he knew. The only train lines leaving Freedom City were on essentially the other end of the city, he’d have to cross most of it.

 

Which, while not difficult, would probably take a fair amount of time, considering he had no money on him. But in the end there wasn’t much he could do about it. He’d have to pass through most of Southside, where he could still recall most major streets, and into the Fens. Neither of which was known for being particularly safe, but at least the sun was bound to turn up sooner or later, unless somehow it had ceased to exist while he’d been imprisoned.

 

Which, while far-fetched, was a possibility.

[Supercape]

Synth

 

The walk was long and bittersweet; he remembered many nooks and crannies working as winter snow. He would miss Freedom City, for all its warts, he had enjoyed the bubbling life on the streets. 

 

But now, it was time for clear air and open lands, to reflect and wonder, and process all the grit and grime he had gone through. As well as the practicalities of limiting the danger of him being used for nefarious purpose. 

 

So he trudged through the streets, and this time chose the smaller ones. Perhaps not the safest ones, too. 

 

The odd thug or crook would pose no challenge. 

 

But being spotted or stopped by AEGIs (or indeed SHADOW) would cause a serious problem...

[olopi]

GM

 

It seemed that not a whole lot of people were willing to mug somebody this early in the morning, as Synth passed through the streets barely seeing any faces, only a few employees arriving early, and as he got ever closer to the train line, more and more cars, all probably on their way to work. According to a digital clock places inside one of the many stores, it was about 8 AM by the time he arrived by the bridge heading up to Greenbank, from where he could easily board a train without anybody figuring it out.

 

He passed by South River State Penitentiary as he walked northwards, quite a few cars doing the same, with some on the oncoming lanes. As one would expect, there weren’t a lot of pedestrians, meaning he could move without much trouble. He walked further up the bridge, as he could see the rail below him. Accounting for a train passing by, the drop was likely around 30 ft, something he could handle without issues.

 

He waited by the bridge’s edge for a while, as cars, bikes and the occasional person passed by, some sending some doubtful looks his way. And then, once he could hear a train approach, he got ready. And one leap later, he was on the roof of a cargo container. His final destination: Alaska.

 

~ Fin ~