Freedom

Escape

   “What?” Cat asks, having heard Raven mutter. 
   "I know you!" Raven shouts at Mastermind. 
   "Do you now?" he responds. Hot tears roll down Raven’s cheeks. 
   “Cole, come out and stop being a coward!” she yells. 
   “Ah, so Ryan told you, did he?” Mastermind responds. Cat puts a gentle hand on Raven’s shoulder. 
   “Rae, what’s going on?” Cat questions. More tears rush down Raven’s cheeks. 
   “He was my friend...once,” Raven growls. Her eyes begin to turn white. 
   “Okay, calm down and explain,” Sky says. 
   “When I first got here, in the Overworld, I met him. He helped me avoid the cops for a while. All he was doing was planting me in the right spot for Notch, though,” Raven says, her breathing rapid. 
   “Indeed,” Mastermind confirms. The shadow of Notch slowly vanishes and a young teen appears in its place. “I am, indeed, Cole, an agent of Notch.” 
   Raven’s wings appear and her eyes turn completely white. Cat grabs her before she can attempt to fly after Cole. “Raven!” Cat shouts. 
   “He killed my husband! I may never see my child again! He took away everything!” Raven yells, her voice echoing. 
   “Raven, can’t you see it?” Cole says calmly, shaking his head and laughing. 
   “Raven,” Mitch says. 
   “You won’t walk out of here alive!” Raven exclaims. 
   “Raven!” Cat shouts. It echoes across the room. 
   “What?!” Raven snaps, turning on Cat. 
   “You’re wing, stupid! It’s...it’s not…” Cat can’t bring herself to finish. Raven understands. Her eyes dim, her full wing and broken stub vanishing. 
   “Deep breaths, Rae.” 
   Raven jerked her head at the familiar voice. 
   “You’re so dense, Brine,” Cole chides. 
   “It’s Martin now, thank you,” Raven spits. 
   “You were always so naive, and look at you now. You don’t even know where you are,” he continues. He taps a nearby wall. “Has it really been that long?” he asks. 
   Before Raven can say anything in response Sky intervenes. “You said when we knew who you were we could leave.”
   Cole laughs a maniacal but not mechanical laugh. “Did I? No, you must be thinking of something else. Although it would seem fair.” 
   “You’re a murderer!” Raven yells. Cole laughs, doubling over from it. 
   “Wait, that’s it,” Quentin mutters. Quentin pulls up several electronic images. “It’s in the air, it’s what knocked us out initially. How could I not have seen it before?” 
   “Mind enlightening the rest of us, doctor?” Cat interrupts over Cole’s laughter. 
   “Please, just Quentin, Cat. And it’s this.” Quentin zooms in on several of the pictures. “In a few of these, you can see the particles and.” Quentin scans the room. “Yes, I can see it if I look. It’s a hallucinatory drug, usually used as a way to contain prisoners that are a danger to themselves or others.”
   “Brinocide,” Raven mutters, recognizing the description. The walls that night had felt familiar. It wasn’t a coincidence. None of this was. 
   “Yes! It’s usually administered via ventilation into the chamber where the person is being held. This whole place, it’s filled with it. If it were solid I could cut right through it.” Quentin made a cutting motion with his hand for emphasis. 
   “So what does this mean?” Mitch asks. 
  “Yeah, I’m with Mitch. I’m not quite following,” Sky agrees. 
   “It means this isn’t real,” Raven mutters. 
   “It sure as hell feels real!” Cat snaps. 
   “Does it?” 
   “Raven is right,” Quentin interrupts. “The working of the mind can be easily tampered with given the right circumstances. I’m no brain surgeon or psychologist, but I’m well versed enough to know that this.” He tapped on the stand, withdrawing his hand as the stand scratched his hand. “It’s not entirely fake, but it’s not what it looks like either.” 
   “So, what do we do?” Sky inquires. 
   “Ah. What indeed. That is a true mystery. You’re trapped here as much as I am. There is no way out,” Cole states.
   Everyone turns to Quentin. “He’s...not wrong. The administration and effects of the drug are contained. If they aren’t then the whole facility could become trapped in a never-ending nightmare. Everyone in here is under its effect. The only way to break it is…” 
   “Outside help,” Raven mumbles loud enough to interject into Quentin’s sentence. 
   “Precisely.” 
   The four begin to talk around Raven. There had to be a way out. Right?
   Raven lifted her hand to her headset, which still sat firmly on her head. “Outside help,” she muttered. She knew exactly where she was, and she knew someone else that would know too. Someone who had not only dealt with this drug but had an instinct so keen that it might be mere minutes before he was here. The only problem was the interference. Could the message get through? 
   “Bazz,” Raven whispered. “I don’t know what’s happened to you or the others. Everything here feels so real, but I know it’s not. If we can just boost the signal, I can get a message to Spark. I...I don’t even know if you can hear me. I don’t know if you’re still alive, but…” 
   “Deep breaths, Rae.” 
   “I have to have faith that this will work. That it’s not real.” She took a deep breath. “Ready.” With a flick of a switch she turned on the headset. Static filled her ear, but she talked anyway. “Spark, I know I tried to contact you earlier and I told you to stay away. But, well things got bad. We’re trapped in a hallucination of sorts at the old prison. The one where I first met Bazz? That one. The hallucination, it’s…”
   Raven stopped as a distorted voice came through. “Brinocide...way...sec…” Then static resumed. Raven blinked. That was Spark. Right? Oh, she hoped it was Spark. Maybe they could escape. Maybe life could go back to being normal. 
  Normal. No, that wouldn’t happen. But together, yes, everyone could be together again. 
   “Raven! Overworld to Raven!” Cat was saying. 
   Raven turned. “What?” she asked softly. 
   “What were you just doing?” 
   “What?” 
   “With your headset.” 
   “Oh...I thought that...maybe I could...I don’t know…”
   Cole’s laughter interrupted them all. “You think your little headset will reach outside of here? Ha! You’re a fool. There would be far too much interference to even begin to get a message through!” 
   For a long moment, the only sound was Cole’s laughter. Then, through the headset came static. 
   “Put me on speaker,” came the distorted voice. Raven pressed a button, letting the static and distorted voice to be heard by everyone. 
   Cole’s laughter died down. “You really think you can get a message through? Really? You’re such an idiot!” 
   “Prison, right?” came the distorted voice through the headset. Cole’s laughter stopped. 
   “Yeah, downstairs in the arena,” Raven confirmed, glaring triumphantly at Cole. 
    “K. Be there in a sec.” The voice died away, static remaining for a moment until Raven turned off the speaker. 
   “The second he breathes it in he’ll be trapped all the same. All you’ve done is doom him with the rest of us.” 
   Raven’s smile wavers, but she has to keep faith in her brother. “For an agent of Notch, you really don’t know about anything he did, do you?” 
   “I know how you and your filthy brother killed him,” Cole snaps. 
   Raven laughs. She’s surprised by the laughter as much as the others. “I’m not talking about how it ended. I’m talking about how it began!” Raven allowed her wings to show and spread. Yes, if she focused she could feel it. Her wing was fine. Of course, it was! If it had truly been cut there’s no way she could have survived it, not even with Fox’s magic. 
   “You’re stalling,” Cole shouts, but he doesn’t sound certain.
   “You were always good with technology. I’m surprised I didn’t figure it all out sooner. Granted, Bazz died after I discovered the pannel, soooo.” 
   “You’re stupid! You’re all stupid! We’ll all die here and get our reward in the end.” 
   “You’re the stupid one,” Raven states bluntly. 
   Somewhere behind Raven, Cat stumbles. “I...I thought I heard…” Cat murmurs to explain why she almost tripped. 
   “No one here is truly dead. Are they?” Mitch mutters. “We’re all in…” 
   “A comatose,” Quentin interjects, though he seemed more concentrated on several screens he had pulled up. The room fell quiet for a moment. Cole seemed to have no words to say and the others were waiting anxiously for Spark to show. “Ah!!” Quentin’s shout made everyone jump. “Ah, sorry,” he adds as he sees everyone startle at his exclamation. “I was just confirming a thought that I had. Well, multiple really. But, Raven, correct me if I’m wrong, your brother has dealt with Brinocide. Correct?” Raven nods to confirm him. “Yes. And after severe exposure and later release, there are one of two ways a person may act. One in which the person questions the reality of everything around them, the other being where the person becomes hyper-aware of reality. Spark, I do believe has had many years of exposure to the drug.” Quentin pauses, glancing at Raven. Raven nods, assuring him that so far he is correct. “Yes, and he is extremely hyper-aware if any data here is correct. And, if it were a matter of holding one’s breath, those who can swim in lava also have to hold their breath.” 
   “Spark loves to swim,” Cat states as things click together. 
   “So regardless of the drug, we’re going to be able to escape,” Sky says, hope returning to his eyes. 
   “He has no idea how to wake you all!” Cole shouts, anger rising over frustration. 
   “Maybe, but he’s not an idiot,” Raven chides. 
   A drop of water hits Raven’s head. She looks up toward the ceiling. “Perfect timing,” she mutters. “Have fun dealing with Spark, traitor,” Raven says to Cole as the world around her begins to fog and vanish.