Penguins of Anarchy III: Edge of Disaster

Eleven

Drake sat back in his cell. He felt a rush of energy, almost giddiness. This was the day. This was the day everything would finally turn in his favor. If he couldn't pull this off, they would lose the war. Everything would be destroyed by the Alliance. Everything he ever loved would be gone.

Even though most of it was gone already. Images of Omniscion holding Greeney's revolver and shooting Greeney and him flashed through his mind again. He shook his head as if to shoo the flashbacks away. He didn't want to go back to being crippled by flashes of memories. He remembered almost everything. All he had to remember was this one last thing, and he would be free from being mystified by his own past forever.

But for now, he needed to be ready to fight. "I still have one breakout moment left," he had said to Nekron the day before. That meant he was ready to escape—which was good, because President Agamemnon would be making his speech tomorrow. It was time to go through with the plan. If anything went wrong, if Nekron was caught and killed, there would be no escape. Drake couldn't contact Gostt and tell him to bring another asset—he wasn't even sure if Gostt had more assets. This was Drake's only chance at redemption, and he wasn't about to shy away from it.

The sun was rising. Light began spilling through the windows into the cell block. Drake could see Celtic a few cells down the hall on the opposite side, sitting on his bed, looking back at him knowingly. They were both just waiting. Nekron hadn't said when he would deactivate the cell locks; it would take caution and patience.

Once they were free, Drake and Celtic needed to meet up with Felly, Glyphton, and Larikos—and presumably Nekron as well if he managed to survive—and then they would head for one of the gunships outside. The Martial Alliance gunships were equipped with solar-powered cloaking devices that would make their aircraft completely invisible. They also were not equipped with tracking beacons, so the Martial Alliance could not determine the missing vehicle and then locate it on the radar. It was foolproof—or at least Drake hoped it was.

For two hours Drake waited, glancing back at Celtic once in a while, and seeing the anxiousness on the big penguin's face. What if it was all a lie? Drake wondered. What if this was some cruel joke by Omniscion to give Drake false hope? What if Nekron wasn't in contact with Gostt after all? Or worse, what if Gostt was a double-agent just like Bledsoe Much? Drake shook his head. He had had this debate in his head before. It didn't matter now. Either he would pull this off, or he wouldn't. There wasn't any time left for doubt.

Two more hours passed. Drake was dozing off. Suddenly, he heard the creaking of the cell door as the lock was deactivated and it swung open. He got up and stood in the doorway, looking up and down the hall. All of the cells doors were opening. Celtic emerged from his cell. The other prisoners were just staring in shock and distrust at their open doors. Then, in a moment, they all understood what was happening. "Well don't just stand around!" Drake said. "Let's go!"

The prisoners began pouring out of their cells and charging down the halls, some unarmed and some carrying sharp shards of glass or stone. The guard on watch duty in this cell block let out a shout as he saw all the prisoners and was quickly dispatched by a sharp stone.

Drake walked up to Celtic, looking up at the big guy. "This is our chance for freedom, Celtic. Let's not waste it."

Celtic grinned. "Agreed." The two of them ran down the hall. An alarm went off, and emergency lights began flashing red. They could hear prisoners crying out in triumph from every section of the prison as they went from cell block to cell block. Gunfire could be heard; many prisoners were being killed by the guards, but the guards were soon overpowered and their weapons were given new ownership.