Starstruck [CLOSED APPLY FIC]

(4)

"What?" Errick dropped the crate he was holding, and it landed on his foot with a crunch. "Fiddlesticks."

Behind him, Trent snickered.

"Lift this off my foot, please?"

"You sure that's what you want me to do?" He smiled, hesitating with his hands over the crate.

"YES."

Trent picked it up with a grunt, carrying it over to the stack they were leaving for the Chellerians.

Ronnie rushed over to Errick, helping him over to sit on one of the passenger seats. "We have some emergency medical supplies over here somewhere—"

"Please find them quickly," he groaned through gritted teeth.

"Remove your shoe," Ronnie ordered.

He winced, taking off his shoe and sock.

They examined it, pinching it lightly. He inhaled sharply. "You got lucky. I'll get a spray and an infused bandage, and you should be fine."

"Great." Errick turned his attention back to Locksley as Ronnie left the room. "Val, Bryony, sit down. Locksley, please explain this."

"We got an emergency message from Stronte. Seems legit," he offered the uniglass Ronnie had been using to his Alpha. "Signed and everything."

Bryony peered over his shoulder. "God, she is so patronising!"

"She's given us virtually no information, apart from 'pick up the fugitive in cell 13 at the co-ordinates I sent to your Ace? She's mad. Did you get any co-ordinates?"

"Yep," Locksley said grimly. "A good few clicks away."

"We're done, Alpha," Sanii entered, Trent shuffling behind her. "Where are we to go next?"

"A prison, apparently."

—

"Is this the place?" Locksley pointed down below. It was dark and gloomy, with too many walls too high and too many bars too wide. Snow was thick on the ground and left an obvious crunch, the wind howling in such a way that it would snatch your breath from your lungs in an instant. It was so barren that even if you managed to escape no-one would be waiting for you on the other side. To be sent here, you'd have to do something very wrong.

—

"We go in, we get our prisoner, we get out. Make eye contact with nobody, got it?" Errick looked from Val to Trent to Sanii and back to Val again. "Sanii, you back up Trent. Val, I want you next to me. The rest of you prepare quarters fit for a fugitive and be ready to get the hell out of here on my say-so." 

"Aye aye, Captain," Trent mock-saluted, adjusting his earpiece. "Nobody's going to die today."

"They'd better not."

Sanii bowed and followed the others out, last to leave the ship. Ronnie gave her a nervous smile that she felt she could not return.

It felt as if she was a criminal about to be sent to this prison, and she held back a shudder at the thought.

"No visiting hours, I'm afraid," the leading guard at the door barked. "Go back to your ship."

"We're here to pick up a prisoner," Val feigned a calm tone, speaking smoothly. "We have a letter from the Aurora Legion."

'Go, girl!' Bryony's voice on the comms system sounded in all their ears. Sanii adjusted hers so the volume was near mute.

He reviewed the uniglass, consulting his fellow guards in hushed tones. Turning back to them, he nodded primly. "Only two of you are allowed beyond this point."

Errick gestured to Trent, mouthing an apology at the other two. "Go back to the ship." 

"Right this way."

"I feel like we're about to be killed," Errick whispered to Trent as the guard worked a series of complex locks.

"I may not like you, but as your Tank it is my duty to protect you."

"Good."

—

"What's going on down there?" Bryony demanded the moment Sanii and Val returned to the ship.

"Our eardrums were almost blown apart by your comms system," Sanii narrowed her eyes, pulling the earpiece out of her ear swiftly. "The guards only let the Alpha and the Tank into the prison."

"What? Why?"

"I'm sure he explained it to them in high detail," Locksley commented sarcastically, giving her a look. 

Bryony looked away, embarrassed. "Right. Sorry." 

"It's okay," Val smiled at her, touching her arm. "Shouldn't we be preparing for the prisoner's arrival?"

"Of course," Sanii agreed. "Where are the guns?"

—

Inside the prison was worse than it was outside. Picture this: grey, blood-stained walls that carry the sounds of screams even to the entrance. Bars shaking, guards barking orders. It juxtaposed the outside in almost every way possible, and though he hated to admit it, Errick was glad of Trent's presence.

"Visitors?"

"WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, PLEASE!"

"Stand up to the Legion!"

"Get out of here!" 

"Stand up to the Legion!"

"You—"

"STAND UP TO THEM!"

The guard was unaffected by all this, and it made Errick feel... unsettled, to say the least.

Eventually, they reached the end of the first row of cells. The final one was silent, and they could barely see inside it. Errick inched closer, which was probably not a good decision.

"I must warn you—" the guard began, but he was interrupted.

"They sent their children. Do they wish to insult me?"

A/N this one hasn't been updated in ages so here you go