SSD IV: Shinsou

108. A Safe-House But Not a Safe House

What's this? An early post?
I've got a busy Friday so I'm doing this today instead to avoid being late.

Hope you enjoy!

Cameron hadn't expected a girl who stumbled (and looking back on it, she must've faked that) when a walking stick figure knocked her to walk out of a fight with the undefeated champion without so much as a bruise to show for it. They also hadn't expected her to really kill him. But that was what they'd witnessed. They'd spent all that time silently begging Regen to buy time so the kid would survive, they hadn't thought that maybe Regen was the one they should've been worried about.

And now Regen was dead.

And that girl was going to have his death on her conscience for the rest of her life.

There were other things to be dealing with right now. Pandemonium naturally ensued the moment the police breached, a whole two minutes late just to put a strain on poor Cameron's heart. The audience were all on the run, the police probably wouldn't be able to get all of them— especially with so many of them using their quirks to escape— but a lot of them would end up in prison for involvement in the illegal fights.

The girl in the cage didn't waste a second. She dropped the gun, unceremoniously letting it clatter to the ground before going straight for the gate that would open up the path to 'backstage'. It was locked, but only by a simple lever mechanism that anyone with long enough fingers could easily lift up to allow her through.

In a crowd like this, Cameron knew there was no chance he would catch the eye of any of the police officers or heroes, so he took the worker's route to backstage, hoping he'd be able to navigate it well enough from Regen's descriptions to find where Painless' friend (Shinsou was his name) was being kept. They had to assume that was where Painless was heading. Hopefully the chaos would last long enough for them to get the two kids out of here.

Backstage was not exactly what Corner had expected. Regen had told them that no matter where the ring moved, backstage barely changed. It was always a long, curving corridor lined either side with tight-packed cells holding every gladiator (that usually ranged somewhere between thirty and fifty people). Most of the gladiators were unwilling, homeless, or abducted, and forced into the games, but a few of them were here for the thrill or to prove their skills.

Corner would try calling out their names only the two kids had spent the last two days being hunted, a stranger calling for them would translate to a threat they'd need to avoid. As long as Corner kept moving, kept checking every cell they passed, they had to come across them soon. The sound of panicked shouts intensified and thumping footsteps filled the air. Corner was running out of time. They should be able to check the last few cells but it was going to be tight getting the two of them out safely.

They glanced into the cell on their left, finding a woman glaring back with equal parts suspicion, anger, and anxiety. Cameron had a very simple way of buying time. Like the gate on the cage, these cells had a very simple locking mechanism, but here, long fingers wouldn't make a difference to the prisoner on the wrong side of it.

Corner— standing happily on the right side— lifted the latch of every cell in his path, pointing them back the way he'd come for the police and an exit. That should keep everyone busy for a little while longer.

With their luck, Corner wasn't all that shocked to find the two kids they'd been looking for hobbling out of the last cell in the corridor. The girl was fine, despite being the one who'd just fought against the great champion, but the boy (currently dressed as a girl) was not in such good shape. He seemed only half-conscious, most— if not all— of his weight on his shorter friend. And despite the handicap of carrying him, Painless readied the blade she hadn't let go of since the fight and growled.