Tsuki ✔️COMPLETE

Chapter 7: The Great Escape

The crew members not coming on the rescue mission were dismissed, and Gaku set to work instantly, putting his gauntlet into immediate action. Crew members brought him sheets of metal and wood from their ship's supplies, ropes, long rags to tie around their faces, tools, and many different fixings.

"Grappling hooks, saws, crowbars, hammers, chisels..." Gaku muttered to himself, priming the nib of a finger quill on a corner on a piece of wood. He drew a single, small circle in black ink and then tapped it with his right hand. The piece fell to the floor as if it had been cut out.

His Collector ability never failed to impress, but Rubi knew there was more to come. He drew on the materials he had been provided, detailed, dimensional drawings of the tools they would need to break into and out of the prison.

One by one, he pushed the images into existence and handed them out to his team to put together. He was sweating, focusing intensely as more lamps were brought to assist his workings while the sunlight died away, and straining to separate his creations from the source. The better the drawing, the better the result, and Gaku was a master artist.

The crowbar in Rubi's hands felt like any other, the right size and weight. Pieces were joined together into more complex tools by crew members, flat edges meeting to produce the whole object.

Over the few hours they had, Gaku produced every item they would need. Night finally fell and they checked and double checked their equipment. Once they left, they had no time to turn back. Getting caught with a criminal's arsenal would mean certain doom for them all.

Take'Ichi and Mimi wished Rubi and the group luck, the sprite shaking a little with nerves.

"What if you can't make it back?" he sniffed. "What if you can't rescue that man?"

"Even if we can't break him loose, we will come back." Rubi assured him. "But I'm certain we can. We will all get back to the dock by sunrise, safe and sound. Promise."

"Alright." he whispered back, getting ready to hole up in his room until go-time. He would not sleep a wink.

"Keep an eye on him." Rubi said to Mimi. "Don't let him stress himself out too much."

"Yes, Captain." she replied.

"And look after yourself too."

"Yes, Captain. Be safe."

"I will."

"Let's go." Gaku said, beckoning Rubi over. "Zodwa, you lead the way and show us where to split up."

Zodwa pointed out the window, directing them to the skyline.

"See the tallest point there?" they said. "That's the Courthouse. There used to be a bell in that tower. Now it's just more dungeon space for people before their trial."

They moved their fingers over to the nearby buildings.

"If you don't want to be seen, get in through a high window from a neighbouring building. Most of the side streets have no torches. The front doors are too heavily guarded and you won't be able to get through the walls easily. If memory serves me correctly, there are two stairways. The first is from the ground floor up to the second floor, then there's a fair amount of ground to cover between that and the one going from the second floor all the way to the top of the tower, four floors up."

A lump raised in Rubi's throat. A sour taste. Zodwa probably lost their fingers there. Somewhere in that building, as a child no less, they had been marched up those stairs, down those corridors, held and mutilated. Then once more.