Lock and Key

Prison Break

By the time Grace had woken up she couldn't remember who long she'd been asleep. Her dream had been illuminating but waking up from it she was met with the reality of the situation she was in. She wanted to protect the Apex kids, to get them home safely, but how could she do that from the inside of a cell. She hadn't even talked to any of them since she'd been locked as she was sure Simon had made them swear not to talk to her or something like that. She was sure if she could just talk to even one of them, if she could explain to them that she'd been wrong about numbers and wanted to help them the right way, Grace was sure that they'd listen.

But it was unlikely that a situation where that would be possible was going to arise. After all with the kids being on a no talking order against her it was unlikely that one of them would go against Simon and reach out. And with her leg being in the state it was... Grace looked down at her leg, the swelling had gone down but it was still fairly busted up and without access to some crutches even if she did escape her restraints again she would be stuck here for the time being. Which of course was exactly what Simon had intended. Grace sighed, at least until her leg healed, getting even one chance to convince the children was going to take nothing short of a miracle.

Grace heard the door creak and cringed at the prospect of having to interact with Simon once again. The only interaction she wanted with him at this point was one that she made sure would be their last but without a plan for the time being it seemed as though she'd be doomed to suffer through however long of Simon's seemingly never ending cavalcade of torment until he was satisfied. However as the door opened that was not what Grace was greeted with. Rather in front of her stood one of the Apex's own. Due to the darkness Grace found it a bit hard to make out exactly who stood in front of her but she quickly determined that the girl who had entered her prison was Serina. That was a thing about Grace, all of the Apex kids blended together for Simon who constantly had to be reminded of names but Grace; Grace never forgot one of her kids.

"I-I was just supposed to bring you your food and I know I'm not allowed to talk to you but something happened and Nick is hurt and Simon's not here and I don't know what to do-" the girl started crying. Grace didn't even register that Simon had left, one of the kids was hurt and that was far more important. However she couldn't do much from the position she was currently in to fix that. In her most calm voice she did her best to instruct the girl.

"Hey, hey, Serina it's okay. I'm going to help you, everything is going to be okay. What I need you to do is bring me the key to these," she moved her hands in the handcuffs to demonstrate. "And I need you to bring me some crutches. Is that okay?" she asked in her trademark soothing voice. The girl seemed more calm and nodded.

"I already have the key," she said wiping her tears. "I'll go get the crutches." she said before scrambling off. As she did Grace held her breath. The timing of everything had been incredibly convenient but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides that Grace had no clue what it was that could have possessed Simon to leave the car unattended. Knowing him it was likely something that was going to be used to try and ruin her life but that wasn't what she wanted to think about. Serina returned with the crutches and freed Grace from her restraints. Grace knew she could have gotten out without the girls help but in case this was a trap it was likely in her best interest to not give away exactly the level of freedom she was able to acquire. Grace struggled a bit on the crutches at first but with a bit of help from Serina she was able to exit her prison.

"Where is he?" she asked the girl. As she led her towards where the injured child was Grace felt oddly calmed and disturbed by being within the mall car properly. The few times she'd been out of her prison since Simon's takeover she'd been being held by the children before promptly being made unconscious so simply walking around the car and seeing how both familiar and foreign it felt was certainly a change. As she approached the infirmary she found it crowded with children who were concerned for their friend and as more of the Apex caught sight of her an even larger crowd developed of children some who were frightened some who were excited and most who were confused. Grace resisted the urge to give each of them a hug and approached the cot where Nick was holding his arm in pain.