The Masked Hero (Beta story/ Director's Cut)

Chapter 17: Escape Plan

Trey walked along with a group of people, Vinebomb following behind him. Vinebomb acted very strangely: He was very upbeat and could not stay still or quiet for most times. Trey, while at first very annoyed by his behavior, decided to just accept him for the time being.

After riding down an elevator, they reached the bottom floor of the place, and Trey was sent to a hamster-wheel like machine while Vinebomb was sent to the line Vaati was located at. After encountering Vinebomb, Vaati realized it was the guy standing next to Trey. He whispers over to him.

Vaati: Hey, robot.

Vinebomb: Who, me?

Vaati: Yea you. Who were you just with?

Vinebomb: Why, my new freind Trey, of course! My name's Vinebom-

Vaati: Yeayeayea good. Whatever. Just.... I need your help.

Vinebomb: Why would I help you?

Vaati: I'm, well....... freinds... with Trey.

Vinebomb: You too?

Vaati: Yeaaaa, just help me out here. I can see you don't have any chains. I need your help. Get over to Trey, and get his attention towards me. Can you do that?

Vinebomb: Sure thing, captain!

Vaati: ............. well, go.

Vinebomb: Oh, right.

Vinebomb sneaks over to Trey, who was being forced to run inside of the wheel contraption. He knocks on the bars, attracting his attention.

Vinebomb: Psst, Trey.

Trey: Huh, Vinebomb? What are you doing?

Vinebomb: There's some random guy who wants to talk to you.

Trey looks up to where Vinebomb is pointing, and sees Vaati, waving. He sighs in relief. Suddenly, from a few motions he makes, Trey realizes what Vaati is trying to do: communicate between each other using Vinebomb.

Trey: Alright, tell him I  want to keep talking. Got it?

Vinebomb: Sure thing!

He runs back to Vaati, relaying Trey's message. They continue to use Vinebomb to communicate, Vinebomb eager to do the task for his freinds. This is what they said:

Vaati: Alright, we need a plan.

Trey: What have you got in mind?

Vaati: Explosions?

Trey: Nah, too risky.

Vaati: Then what about sneaking out?

Trey: I'm trapped in a cage here.

Vaati: Oh, right.

Trey: Any other ideas?

Vaati: Well-

Suddenly, when transferring a message, Vinebomb tripped, and when he tried to get up, his leg got stuck. However, that didn't prevent him from relaying the message. To where everyone could hear it.

Vinebomb: Hey Trey! He said-

Trey: Whispers Vinebomb, No!

Vinebomb: Maybe we could use the robot as a distraction!

Everything went silent. All attention was focused on Vinebomb. Guards slowly moved towards him, looking very mad. Vaati and Trey both facepalm.

Vinebomb: Wait, what robot were they talking about?

One of the guards swung at Vinebomb, but he easily sidestepped it, and with that, his leg got free.

Vinebomb: Uhm, no thank you!

Vinebomb runs away from them, the guards shouting and chasing after him. Surprisingly, no one could even touch him. In the moment of distraction, Vaati broke his chains and removed the gloves. He then fired a beam of energy at the people beside him, breaking their chains.

Trey broke out of the wheel he was in, and, after looking around, found and freed Kuro. Vaati met up with Trey and broke the chains on his hands, letting him flex them a bit. Oddly enough, the wing guard could not be broken.

The place was in chaos, people ran around yelling, chains were breaking, guns were firing, and fights were taking place all over. Vinebomb was lost amongst the swarm, and the others of the group were pushed back to the outside of it.

Vaati: Well, that's one way to make a distraction.

Trey: We need to get out of here. Like, now.

Kuro: How? We don't even know how we got in here.

Vaati: I think I know how.

Pointing towards the left side of the room, Trey and Kuro see that Vaati is mentioning about the entrance of guards from five floors above. Realizing no other way out is visible, they decide to make their way up to there in hopes of escaping. Trey feels the weight of the wing guards, and decides to grab an assault rifle he spotted on the ground.

Vaati leads the group, and Trey runs behind them. Noticing the trio moving up a flight of stairs, guards fired at them. Trey easily shot them down, preventing them from firing back. Some of the inmates noticed this, and decided to follow behind them. Rounding a corner, Vaati drew a short-sword from a guard he knocked out and slashed his way through oncoming threats. Trey continued to fire at the guards, but suddenly, his gun stopped. He tried to find out why, but before he could, a guard tried to swipe at him with a knife, but was suddenly tackled by a large burly man.

Man: We'll take care of these guys in your way! Just lead us out of here! He tosses an ammo cartridge to him.

Trey: He catches it, and swaps out the cartridges. Sure thing!

They continued to make their way upwards, Vaati far ahead, Trey defending him, Kuro following Trey, and the other inmates following behind. They slowly scale the second floor, then the third, then the fourth, and before long, they made their way to the fifth-floor exit. The onslaught of their enemy was brutal, but with their powers combined, the escapees pushed back, and after running through the maze-like hallways, they spot large double-doors, and burst through them.

The late afternoon light shines warmly on the trio, and the mixed sent of sand and mountain grass wafted into their nostrils as the cool, calming wind blew onto and past their bodies. The escapees behind them felt the outside world, and acted as if it was the first time they ever had the chance to feel it before. Guards weren't chasing after them anymore, and they all slowly made their way around, taking in the sights and smells around them. Trey turned around when he heard the familiar sounding steps of a robot, and was greeted with Vinebomb bounding towards them. Trey was excited to see that he was still alive, and swinging his arm towards them in a joyous manner.

And his heart dropped as he saw a bullet travel straight through his chest.