The Past Ahead - an Empires SMP AU

Chapter 26 - Escape artists

           Scott hated being a prisoner. It was annoying enough that one time he was kidnapped by Joey and Sausage, and Gem was saying it was his fault, but it was even worse now that his future self was a prisoner alongside him, and Scott of Chromia was just as sarcastic and witty and thick-accented as he was. Those are all my things, why can't anyone let me have anything that only I have anymore?!

           He tried again to get rid of the manacles that not only bound his wrists together but also blocked his magic, with no luck. They were still securely locked on. "That's not going to do anything, you know," Scott of Chromia said annoyingly.

           "Well, I don't see you doing anything to help us escape," The elf retorted. "I can't do that with her here," The other Scott pointed between the bars at Mayor Lizzie, who was their prison guard. Lizzie herself wasn't very attentive, but she had the other cats watching the Scotts whenever she wanted to sleep on the job.

           Just then False came in, carefully trying not to step on any cats. "Is my shift over yet?" Lizzie yawned. False nodded and all the cats left the room. False watched them leave and then waited a few minutes before approaching the cell. "Hey, False," Scott asked, "Why are you working for Xornoth? Your eyes are blue, so you're not corrupted."

           "No, I'm not," She said quietly. "What did he promise you?" The elf Scott asked. "Whatever he promised, you're not going to get it. He's just manipulating you." "I know," False said. "Then why are you-" The tinkerer held a finger to her mouth, indicating silence. Then she leaned in closer and whispered, "You know how to lockpick, right? Lizzie 'lost' the keys." Her fingers formed quotation marks in the air. 

           The Scotts blinked at her. "What? Uh, yeah, I do know how to lockpick, but-" "I'm not with them," False said. "Well, not all the way, anyway. Some part of me did want to believe Xornoth could give me safety. But the other part of me is still paranoid of everyone and everything, so when I joined I was still just- well, I didn't know what I was doing. Spying, mole work, call it what you like. But now I can help you guys escape."

           Scott just nodded; they could ask False more questions after they had escaped and were somewhere safe. Scott of Chromia took off his boot and started fiddling with the heel. "What are you doing?" "I've got a few lockpicks hidden in here," Scott muttered, twisting it around. "I haven't used them in a while; the secret compartment's kind of stuck." "Well, thank you for telling us that bit of news." 

           They all whirled around to see Lizzie standing in the doorway, with Joey behind her. False didn't hesitate. She threw five knives into the air at them and the corrupted emperors scrambled out of the way. The knives embedded themselves into the wall behind them. Lizzie swung her sword at the mechanic but False grabbed it and twisted it out of the cat's paw, cutting herself in the process but she didn't seem to notice. She picked up the cat by her tail and threw her at Joey, who had been coming up behind her with his ax drawn. 

           Cat and emperor crashed onto the floor, Lizzie ending up on Joey's face somehow. Joey screeched and threw the cat back at False, who dodged but the mayor stretched out her claws and yanked onto False's shoulder. Pulled along by the cat's momentum and weight, the two of them fell onto the floor, Lizzie biting into False's arm.

           Her unsheathed claws were going everywhere, scratching, clawing, and blood was splattering all over the floor and on the thrashing emperors. Joey got back into the battle and hit False's head hard enough with his ax to give normal people a concussion, but False wasn't normal. She slammed both of them into the floor and reached for something on her belt. 

           The Scotts were busy trying to get the lockpicks out of his shoe and also having fun watching the battle, so they noticed the demigod sneaking up on the deranged mechanic before she did. "False, behind you!" Scott shouted, but it was too late.
Xornoth, still possessing Hermes, grabbed both of False's shoulders and started pumping her with electricity. False held still, eyes widened in hororr, the volts freezing up her muscles and preventing her from moving.