Return : Book One in the Return series

Part 11 - Jailbird

Aug 4/8:00/3629

  Vulture slowly walked to the bushes near the prison.

  This was going to be tough.  As the only prison on Apollo, it housed every single criminal dumb enough to get caught. That mean there would need to be at least one guard for every 3 prisoners, and as there was at least 1000 prisoners, if he fucked up here, he would get thrown into the slammer for the rest of his life. And maybe some more.

    He settled down. It might be a while before the rest of the crew got here, if they even did.

Soon enough, a visage appeared on the distance. Vulture squinted but couldn't make it out. As they came closer though, he realized it was Juggernaut, the meat shield. Good thing he was here first, he may be able to provide cover if this plan goes to hell.

Vulture waved. Juggernaut just stared at him, then sat down next to him as well. Vulture decided maybe not to engage in small talk.

A couple minutes later Vulture turned back towards the jail and when he turned again, Kunai was standing next to him. He jumped a little in fright, but tried to mask it as well as he could, and transitioned into standing up and greeting her, though he had a wry suspicion she did it on purpose.

  After a little bit more waiting, Big Sister arrived, head down, typing something onto a laptop with something they looked  like a set of antennas sticking out of her backpack. She didn't greet anyone, rather just sat down and continued typing.

  Lastly was Hellfire. He arrived late, loud, and absolutely not ashamed. He shouted , "What up?" And was greeted by stony silence. Unabashed, he sat down and attempted to make small talk to Kunai, which was met with a blank gaze, finally shutting him up.

Vulture said, "Alright, are we all ready?"

Everyone nodded, except for Hellfire , who shouted, "HELL YAH!" . Everyone stared at him. He slinked away to the rendezvous point, muttering , "none of y'all got a sense of fuckin sense of humour."

Vulture and the rest of the crew stared up at the behemoth that loomed before them. Vulture asked , "Big Sister, do you have the blueprints of the prison?"

"Yes, I'm uploading them all to your phones now."

Everyone pulled out their phones and stared at a incredibly complex diagram. None of them could make any sense of it. However, Big Sister simply said, "We all know where to go now?"

Not wanting to seem dumb, they all nodded.

Vulture pulled out a couple of  sharp hooks, attached them to his hands, and handed out a pair to everyone except Kunai, who was already well on her way up the wall, seemingly using nothing but her bare hands to climb the smooth surface.

Juggernaut and Big Sister equipped their claws and along with Vulture, began the arduous climb to the top of the prison.

After a couple stretches, Vulture was shaking, sweat pouring from him. He stupidly looked down, and it made him shudder. If any of them fell now, they'd be done for.

Pulling with all his strength, he clambered up to the ledge, looking down. Juggernaut was a little behind, and Big Sister still had a bit to go. Kunai was already perched next to Vulture, having gotten there much faster than anyone else.

After they all got up(and Vulture embarrassed himself trying to help them up) they sat for a bit, panting. Finally, with some unspoken command, they got back to work. Vulture pulled out a small flashlight and attached it to the bottom of his R4-C. Juggernaut pulled out a P90, Big Sister a small P12, and Kunai simply unsheathed a couple of razor-sharp throwing knives. They headed towards the nearest entrance down, Juggernaut taking the lead. They found a couple guards, and with little hassle, took them out and dealt with the bodies.

They finally found a doorway, and Juggernaut knocked it down with a couple kicks. The solid metal twisted under his strength and before it could fall, he caught it and set it aside with surprising gentleness.

Heading down the stairs, only the light taps of their feet clacking against the metal stairs, they made their way down to the first doorway, which was slightly ajar. Pushing it open, Vulture saw a couple guards, but they were all on the verge of falling asleep. Big Sister quickly took them all out with her silenced pistol. Pushing the bodies aside, she pulled out a cable and plugged it into the computer in the middle, saying , "I'm connecting myself to the interface now. Uploading the virus."

  In a couple taps, she sent something over to the prison's code, and in a couple seconds everybody could see the cameras on their phone. Big Sister said , "They'll update according to your position. Make sure to watch out for guards."

    They left the guards where they were and headed down the stairs. Floor by floor they went, clearing the area of guards and peeking through the cell bars to look for Matthew. When they were about a fourth through, Vulture looked down and saw a small closed in box at the bottom of the prison in the courtyard. There was a door there. Cursing his stupidity, he signalled for the team and they sprinted down towards the bottom floor. It wasn't a smart move. A couple guards began investigating, and although they did their best to avoid them, they had to kill some, and by the time they reached the bottom, they could see that on every floor, the lights were being turned on. Juggernaut sprinted into the door at the bottom, smashing it down and attracting a lot of attention. They ran through , and Juggernaut forced the door into a sort of barricade. It would take a while for them to get through.

  Big Sister swore, "There aren't any cameras down here. We're blind."

  Slowly, the team advanced through the empty corridors, hoping to find their target.