The Storm Inside

Chapter Twenty Six: The Plan

A/N: we're finally getting Beatrix back (not in this chapter but soon)

"How is she?" Mary asked. "I've been so worried for her."

"She's..." I started, not sure what to say. I didn't know how to tell this woman that her daughter was probably not doing well at all. I didn't know if I should. "I don't know," I opted for. "I haven't seen her for a bit."

"But she's here, isn't she?" Mary asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. But they're isolating her."

"Sorry, I'm confused," Sophia said. "You're Beatrix's mother?"

"Yes, she's my daughter," Mary said.

"And you didn't tell us?"

The older woman sighed. "Sweetheart, I've been locked up here for months. I have no idea who you kids are, how was I supposed to know you had anything to do with my kid?"

"That's fair," Sophia admitted.

"She thinks you're dead," I said.

"Are you sure?" Mary asked. "Because there was no body found, since, you know, it was here. Alive. She's smart enough to suspect that something went down that she wasn't told about."

"She was always suspicious," I told her. "And she always hoped that someone would reach out and tell her that your "death" wasn't an accident. Did you write her that letter?"

"I didn't have a choice," Mary replied. "I guess they wanted to make sure she fell for it. She'd recognize a forgery, since she's forged my handwriting before. It wasn't technically all a lie, I am in prison, just not the regular kind."

I was starting to realize that I may have been incorrect to assume that Beatrix had really killed Thomas. The whole thing was starting to look more and more like an elaborate setup. But in my defence, it hadn't been complete unfair for me to assume that she had, given the fact that I had seen her kill eight people in front of me, just a month ago.

"She has powers, doesn't she?" Mary asked. "I didn't know if she would, since I can't use or don't have mine anymore. I always wanted to tell her everything, but I didn't know how to bring it up, and she never told me anything that insinuated that she did. She's so young, I didn't know how she would take it."

"She does have powers," I said. "She inherited yours, and got extra from Thomas."'

I wondered if she still had them. Mary had already been pregnant with Beatrix, albeit barely, before she lost her powers or lost access to them. But if it was dying that reset your system and made you lose your powers, then perhaps the ones that Thomas had given Beatrix were gone.

"I'd say it's time for us to escape," Mary said. "I couldn't exactly do it on my own, but now that you're here, we can figure something out."

And so a plan was formulated. A messy, not very developed plan that would not work without a great deal of luck. But I was feeling good about it.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Mary asked Sophia. "You're not too tired?"

"I'll be okay," she replied. "But thanks."

"Let's go over it again," I said, sitting criss-cross applesauce on the hard floor. "I cause a disturbance. Some guards come. Hopefully one of them is a female. Sophia makes herself look like the guard, after we knock her out. Then she gets over to the control tower and wreaks some havoc, including sending out a signal for help. I'll tell her the numbers to call. And the two of us look for Beatrix, and we all meet up outside."

Sophia sighed, laying down on the ground and wincing at the hard surface. "That's a lot of maybe."

"You can do it," I assured her. "We'll come help as soon as we can."

It wasn't hard to get the guards to come. While there wasn't exactly furniture in the room, there were a few pipes and electrical wires in the wall that I could mess with. It was exciting, using my powers, even as I feared the loss of control. As the wires were ripped out, the basement somehow became darker than it already had been, and I could barely see two feet in front of me.

"That's a bit of a problem," I heard Mary's voice say through the darkness. "How are we going to knock out guards if we can't see where they are?"

"I think I can help," Sophia said.

"How?" I asked.

"It's just a theory, but... can I try something?"

I nodded, and she came up behind me, and I felt her fingers gently placed on the back of my head. An odd sensation entered me, a calm buzzing in my head. And then, I could suddenly see clearly, even though the lighting hadn't changed.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "I can't make light but... I think I changed how the room looks for you. How your brain perceives it."

Well, that was fucking terrifying. But also really cool.

She did it for Mary, who stood up against the bars a moment later, just as the door swung open. To my relief, it was a woman who came inside, stepping carefully as not to trip in the darkness. And then I realized that we had an advantage, we could see and she couldn't.

"What's going on in here?" she asked, trying to sound forceful even as her nervousness came through in her voice. We all stayed completely still and I silently prayed that she would come just a bit closer.

As she took another step forward, Mary reached through the bars, grabbing her and putting her in a chokehold. They struggled against each other for a moment, before the guard sank to the ground, unconscious.

Mary took the bundle of keys from her waist and we scrambled trying all of them until we found one that let us out of our cells. Then, it was time for Sophia to become the guard.

"This... feels wrong," she said, as we took the uniform off of the unconscious woman.

"I mean, she's wearing clothes under the uniform," I said. "Otherwise, that would be weird."

Sophia quickly put it over her own clothes, and tied up her hair with the guard's elastic. And when she got back up, she wore her face as well. Mary and I dragged the body into the cell with us, putting her in the back, before closing the cell door and getting in their ourselves, just in case there were any guards waiting outside that might look inside.

"It's just an electrical problem," I heard Sophia say to someone outside. "I'll head by the control tower and fix it."

This seemed to be accepted as there were no voices heard after that, and we both breathed a sigh of relief. After a moment of waiting, we left the basement. "Oh wow, this really is the same place," Mary said. "This is the hallway with the train station. We can leave through there if we come back here."

Unfortunately, it seemed that idea would not work, because when we checked it, both entrances to the station were now blocked off. It seemed they had learned their lesson the last time people had escaped through it.

"Do you have any idea where they might be keeping Beatrix?" she asked as we walked.

I thought back to everything we'd heard about her. "She's being isolated," I said. "We haven't seen her at all. But I think they're doing some kind of experiments-" I cut myself off when I saw someone approaching. A doctor, carrying a clipboard, not looking up as he jotted something down. He didn't see us until it was too late for him.

Mary slammed him against the wall and put her elbow to his throat. "Where is Beatrix Adderly?" she demanded.

He didn't answer the question, looking at her in shock. "What? Get off of me!"

"Where is she? Where are you keeping my daughter?!"

"She'll probably kill you, if you don't tell us," I said casually. "Or maybe I will. I've actually killed quite a number of people. But I'm sure you know that."

She pressed harder on his throat, getting right in his face, and he began to gasp and choke. "On the floor above this one!" he said desperately. "In Laboratory Three!"

"Thanks," Mary said, stepping back. For a moment, the doctor looked relieved, before a swift punch had him collapsing to the ground. "Let's go," she said firmly, turning away from him, and we headed for the next floor.