Cross-City Chase {Flame/Mimic/Shaki}

[Flame]

Continued from Hunting the Past

The tunnel was black, completely black, in the darkness even her bright excited eyes did not create much light. Though she knew that one ability could have created the light they needed it really was not worth the trouble. It was stressing to use, highly tiring so she was unwilling to actually use it. The walk through these service tunnels had been awkwardly quiet, with nothing worth saying for the majority of the walk Syphalia and the two behind her had stayed mostly quiet for the whole walk through. The situation of course was not helped by the fact that the tunnel was cramped. The darkness added to that, it was too the point that even a non-claustrophobic person would feel the claustrophobia. Syphalia definitely felt it, she preferred to be out in the open without all the enclosed areas. She breathed slowly in and out but the air was thick, it was moist and damp, understandable since this was a service tunnel but it did not stop it from feeling disgusting. It was sort of grimy and yucky, normally Syphalia was okay with this, she was very much a tomboy raised on the streets but even she had her limits.

Her hand pressed against the side of the tunnel, touching the lukewarm stone walls. They were wet and rather disgusting to the touch, but she needed something to keep track of the twists and turns of the tunnel to make sure she stayed on track and didn't run into the wall or something. It had happened once or twice as the tunnel had made an abrupt turn but generally the hand on the wall was helpful. Her head was hung, they had been only walking for a minute but it felt like much longer, the darkness of the tunnel was beginning to dampen her spirits. She wondered if the marines had figured out their ploy to get out. Surely they would question how Pierce, such a large fishman had just disappeared from a marine base. Looking up she then noticed something, in the distance a few stray rays of light could be seen shining down upon what seemed to be a thin metal ladder which climbed upwards. The exit, she knew it, "Lets go." Syphalia said with a smile before taking off towards the light and ladder.

Moving quickly, she was excited to get out of the tunnel and back in the fresh air. Coming to a stop before the ladder she looked up, the ladder led up to a grate through which she could see it. The clear blue skies of the outside, only a few clouds, even the air in the tunnel here was lighter. She turned to face the two of them who were coming up behind her. There was a great smile crossing her face, her mood had quickly gone for the better. Apart from marine resistance she doubted there would be any major troubles getting off the island. Placing her hands at her hips she spoke with a cheery voice "After we go up there and get out of the base it'll be smooth sailing guys. Lets go!" The last part of that she said in a very peppy manner, perhaps a little overly so. She was excited to get going there would be no waiting to plan for her.

Without any hesitation she then turned back putting her hands on the ladder she climbed up it. The ladder seemed sturdy beneath her though honestly she was a lightweight and small. Most things were much more sturdy for her than most she did not put much pressure on them especially compared to her compatriots. Climbing rung by rung her enjoyment increased, the air become lighter and less stuffy. Her spirits were on the rise, finally as she reached the top she pulled a hand off the ladder and pressed it against the grate on top slowly she pushed it slightly open poking her head out to take a look around. By some lucky fate the tunnel opened up into an area between the base wall and a stack of wood that was being used for construction. Carefully she signaled down to Garuda and Pierce to climb up with her.

Fully opening the grate she climbed out and quickly pressed herself against the stack of wooden planks that were being used for construction. Poking her head over she noted marines moving around with a little more hustle and bustle. The majority however were moving towards the base building, they would be organizing searches now. The construction workers were all still huddled around the destruction she had caused earlier. There were a few marines with them too making sure they were not doing anything crazy. Unfortunately the gate to the marine base was across a clearing, they would definitely be spotted if they tried to get out that way. The other option was jumping the wall, seemed unlikely but perhaps possible? The gate would definitely be easier though more dangerous. Beyond that it would be smooth sailing. At least that's what she hoped, little did Syphalia know that bounty hunters had been gathering in the town outside the base. They knew she was here, they were thirsting after her bounty.

In the effort to cross the city to the port they would chase her down. Escape would not be easy, not for her and her friends at the least.

"Over the wall or through the gate guys?" Syphalia asked in a quiet voice once the other two were out.

[|The SHAKINATOR|]

Garuda had struggled in the tunnels of doom a lot more than he would have liked or expected to. Having held his breath for such a prolonged period of time, his head had begun pounding against the inside of his skull. Luckily, the saw the light at the end of the tunnel before Garuda collapsed from lack of oxygen.

It was still all strange to the former bounty-hunter. How had they managed to get out of a marine base with a prisoner so easily? Why would the marine’s help them? He could not get that concept through his head but he wasn’t going to complain about it. Although he could still complain about the route they had to take to escape.

“I’m never going through that again. I’d rather take my chance against 50 bloody marine guards.”

Garuda claimed in exaggeration as he lifted himself out of the man-hole after the tedious effort of climbing a ladder. Syphalia seemed really cheery about getting out, claiming it was free sailing from here. Garuda assumed she had forgotten about the bounties on their heads. They were never free as long as they were pirates, despite what everybody claimed.

Syphalia had realised a simple but possibly serious problem. They were still in amidst a problem. They had the option of charging past the marines and got through the gate to possible freedom. Or they could attempt and climb over an almost impossibly difficult wall.

“After going through that god-forsaken tunnel, you now want us to walk right past the marines? I know the two of us are wearing marine outfits but the fish-man won’t get past them.”

Garuda spoke-out but in a muffled tone of voice. He placed a hand through the dreads on his hair as he tried to think through the situation. He still wasn’t comfortable around Pierce and wondered if using the word fish-man would offend him or not.

Truth be told, he had never been one too familiar with racism and how it worked. All he knew was that he was a natural at rubbing people off the wrong way. Lucky for him, he was good with his fists.

Judging from the height of the wall, Garuda decided to question the options at hand. He couldn’t see how the three of them could scale such a wall without equipment such as a ladder or rope of some sort.

It was then an idea popped into the shipwright’s head as he began to look around frantically, trying to capture the idea into a physical form before it escaped him.

“Why don’t we use some of the equipment from the construction site to climb over? There’s plenty of stuff here.”

Garuda pointed out, taking hold of one of the planks of wood; checking it for its sturdiness. It was good wood. Not overly expensive, but not the cheap stuff either. It would hold his weight. Pierce he wasn’t too sure about but once Garuda was up, he was hoping he would be able to give Pierce a helping hand, even If their makeshift ladder was a bit weak.

“I think this wood will hold. I just need a hammer and some nails. I can manage without the hammer you can’t find one, but I need some nails. Reckon you can get hold of some Syphalia?”

Garuda asked politely. He didn’t want to order her around considering he’d complained so much recently. He just wanted to get as far away from the base as possible. Building things out of wood was his speciality and he wanted to make us of it in such a situation, although making a charge for the gate was both more exciting, easier and dangerous.

[White Mimic]

“Ah, come on… oh, geez…” The tunnel would be cramped for a normal person, but for Pierce it was the human equivalent of a crawl space. He had been forced to walk low and at an unusual angle for he was a bit too tall and his shoulders were a bit too broad for the dimensions that the tunnel had been built for. With every barefoot step in the darkness as he followed his two liberators, some part of his muscular frame scraped against the grimy walls, making his filthy shirt and prison jumper even dirtier. Even in the lingering darkness, he could see new streaks of dark mildew staining the blue and white he walked in. Better his prison clothes than the bandana he still kept tied around his neck.

Eventually the trio came to a ladder rising up to a grate in the ceiling of the tunnel. A way out. However, as Syph climbed up first to make sure the coast was clear with Garuda following soon after, Pierce came to the realization that he was angled the wrong way in the tunnel. “Oh, uh… sh-shoot, um gimme a sec.” He backed off from the ladder as Garuda continued to climb, trying to find a spot in the tunnel that would give him enough space to turn. No such luck as the entire passage was built to a near uniform width. As such, Pierce had to uncomfortably swivel around. His shoulders rubbed up between the walls, and he was almost worried that he would get stuck right there, but this fear proved to be unnecessary. True he had to shimmy a bit, but other than that, the readjustment was relatively painless.

Pierce lagged a bit behind Garuda before him, only starting his climb as Garuda reached the top of the ladder. It didn’t help that in such a small space, the fishman had to position his knees sideways while climbing. The moldy wall close behind him didn’t really allow his legs the range of movement he was used to. But, Pierce was glad it was dark enough that even if he hadn’t been last, it would have been incredibly difficult to make out how ridiculous his movements must’ve looked. Eventually, he peeked his head out of the hole in the ground, and discussion of escape began while he was still hoisting himself out of the hole, once again his shoulders fitting through the cramped space with a little bit of creativity.

With the option of scaling the wall or leaving via the gate, Pierce was inclined to agree with Garuda’s judgment. If they were seen on the wall, the three of them would at least have a chance at escaping before anything could really be done about it. Pierce nodded in agreement at Garuda’s assessment up until he was referred to by race. He shot this new guy a funny look before snidely adding “I DO have a name, y’know.” He was still mad with Syph at the moment, and it would be a long boat ride if Garuda got on his bad side as well, so the fishman would at least try to be tolerant. He wouldn’t want to resent the company of BOTH of his saviors, now would he?

Not wishing to break down the group dynamic into petty squabbling amidst a much more pressing issue, Pierce listened quietly to Garuda’s ideas. While he listened, he glanced over at some of the construction sites, looking for materials to help further the plan. “What if use one of those… one of those umm…” The word escaped him as he looked out at some of the pulleys that had been used to lift blocks of stone or concrete to form the outer wall. He knew what they were and how they were used, but he rarely ever used the word himself so it took a few seconds to jog his memory. However in the same time, he also realized that none of the pulleys had been set up on high enough scaffolding to raise the group up to the top of the wall. “…Actually, never mind. Wouldn’t work, eghm…”

He continued to think out something to help contribute as Garuda talked it over with Syph, rejecting the need for a hammer but admitting the necessity of nails. He felt at a loss for ideas at first. While he was a little familiar with some principles of construction, it had never really developed beyond repairing a wall or some other mundane project. This little fact gave him a brief moment of self-doubt, that he wasn’t of much use here other than maybe some heavylifting. That’s when it dawned on him.

“…OH!” In a hushed voice so that his sudden inspiration wouldn’t give them away. “The uh… SCAFFOLDING! I could go get some and move it over here, near the base of the wall, yeah? Then you could build on it. Reduce resource cost or whatever. See like… what about that bit?” Pierce pointed to a serious of wooden platforms supported on thick struts that had been propped up against the outer wall of the base being constructed. “If I break that bit on that side off from the rest of it,” The fishman waved a hand around, gesturing the smaller left side of the massive structure. “I could drag it over here real quick while the marines are distracted. I reckon it would reach, like…” He looked over at the wall for a second before turning back to Garuda. “Like almost halfway up? Would that work?”

[Flame]

Neither of the two of them wanted to go through the front gate. Obviously Pierce was a little too conspicuous to try such a thing. She had suggested it slightly for laughs, there was no way that they were going to get the at least ten foot tall fishman through the front gates of the marine base unseen. Which meant they were going over the wall as both of them suggested. Perhaps them being on the same page would be a good thing, she had not hit it off the best with Pierce having someone whom Pierce could get along with would definitely be a good thing. "Over the wall it is I suppose ... " Syphalia said with a smile. If only they had had the same idea of how to get over the wall. Both of them had their own ideas, Garuda wanted to build a ramp and Pierce wanted to move a piece of scaffolding over.

She paused as she sat against the pile of wooden planks which provided her cover from the people milling about the base. They needed to decide quickly, getting out of the base was the first and probably most important step of their getaway. The problem was she was not particularly taken by either of the suggestions given to her by her compatriots. Garuda's would take time which they really did not have. With it she had to retrieve some nails and then he still had to actually build the ramp. Not to mention whatever sounds he might make while doing it. On the other hand if Pierce had to go bring the scaffolding over that was a major problem on its own, he was way too conspicuous as a fishman to grab the scaffolding and get back without being noticed. Pressing her hand against her forehead she rubbed her temples wondering which one she should go with.

Honestly she had been tempted to try and just jump the wall, it was not extremely high. That being said, she was probably the only one of the three who could make the jump, or at least she was pretty sure she could make that jump. Scratching her head she looked from Garuda to Pierce and then back to Garuda. She was unsure what to do in general. It was odd she was generally pretty good with this kind of on the ball thinking but given the extra limitations of having Pierce and to a lesser extent Garuda she could not go with some of her more off the wall ideas. She decided she'd just leave them to decide after she gave her own input to the situation. After her showing to Pierce earlier she probably should not come on too strong at least she thought as much.

"Well ..." she looked to Pierce first "Perhaps your idea would work, it at least is faster and more efficient than Garuda's. But. And I do mean but, you cannot be the one grabbing it, too large and too easily noticed. It would have to be Garuda or myself doing so." Syphalia said that with a sympathetic look on her face. He was having some issues with his identity as a fishman she didn't want to push it in. But it was the reason she could not let him be the one to grab the scaffolding.

"Your idea would probably be better if you can do it fast enough. We dont' have much time before the whole base is in an uproar looking for Pierce. I can go look for nails but that won't necessarily happen quickly and we need to go quickly ... " She paused suddenly realizing based on what she said she was leaning towards Pierce's idea. Perhaps because it was generally the better of the two? Yeah perhaps, looking at Garuda she began to talk again.

"I think we should go with Pierce's idea ... no this is not to appease you Pierce" she said turning back to him. "That being said Garuda you should grab the scaffolding if you think you can ... I'd prefer not to have Pierce with his size breaking cover to try and pull it over here."

She gave Pierce a sympathetic look for a moment before letting it disappear behind a more serious face. She figured they only had two or three minutes at most before marines would stream out of the base on the search for the trio. Which meant they needed to be over the wall and getting out of here as fast as possible. She figured once they were out of the base the way would be clear from there. As far as she knew there would be no other major problems on the way, save perhaps some marines stationed at the docks.

[|The SHAKINATOR|]

He wasn’t the brightest pea in the pod; Garuda knew that. However, it still pained him to have his good run of luck with ideas come to an abrupt end. The lad however wasn’t overly concerned by this and was completely willing to go with either Syphalia or the Fishman’s idea.

The whole getting the scaffolding was going to be difficult to speak the truth; especially after the shit they had pulled. To go back in amidst the marines was little short of suicide but Syphalia had put her faith in him and he wasn’t one to back away from such a request. He was a brave warrior of the sea’s and would not let any fear hold him back when something required his strength.

“I’ll get it. It’s not a problem.”

Garuda tried to speak with confidence but there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice. He took in a deep breath as he rubbed his hands together, as if warming them up before the task would make it all run a lot smoother.

The adrenaline that had subsided only but a while ago had returned in full swing and the swordsman felt it through the aches in his muscles.

This task wasn’t as much about skill or strength in the manner in which he boasted about. This was more of a con; trying to pull wool over the eyes of the marines that were looking for them. It was like stealing the equipment of a navy officer except it wasn’t just like it but was literally the task he was about to perform. Only the most foolish would attempt such a thing, the foolish or the bravest.

He observed his surroundings through behind the planks that the trio were using as a means to hide, despite the fact that hiding a large fish-man wasn’t the most practical ways of going about this. Then again, nothing in such circumstances was practical and the only way to survive was to improvise as they went along.

Garuda couldn’t say anything about it but neither could he not help but feel foolish for not having thought an escape plan before having headed into this reckless mission. If it hadn’t been for the helpful marine, which was a miracle in itself, they would have never got out without a scratch.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he focused on what was going on above the ground following the mess they had created down below. It seemed they were still recovering from the commotion they had caused earlier as a means of distraction and now that several of the commanding officers were missing, it made things seem a lot less difficult.

The warrior smiled to his thoughts as a plan began to brew in his head. He had an idea that would allow him the least amount of trouble. It was a simple idea, very simple in fact and wouldn’t even require Garuda to speak a word should it go through flawlessly.

The brutish man put on his best mean face as he walked through amongst the marines and workers that were labouring the broken building. It was the type of walk a bully made as he walked amongst the school weaklings, eyeing his potential victims as he walked past.

Immediately eyes turned toward him and yet at the same time, they lowered their glance as he sent iron daggers toward them, his eyes piercing through their armour of self-confidence, shattering their only defence in life. It was the stare he had used to instil fear into his victims in his short days as a bounty hunter. It was worked wonders and his presence alone had accomplished more than his might and strength on several occasions. Although he had to admit, the smell of urine wasn’t pleasant despite the circumstances.

Fortunately on this occasion all the men had managed to keep control of their bladders as no single man was subject to his gaze. It was more of a, ‘stay clear of my way if you know what’s good for you’.

He had already scouted out the scaffolding he was going to take, it was an abandoned one, nobody had bothered to use, surplus to requirements Garuda had assumed. It wasn’t until he had placed a hand on it when he heard a strong woman’s voice call out to him.

“What are you planning to use that for?”

The voice was soft but confident and held an air of authority to it making the vigilante snap out of his persona and a sense of fear suddenly chilled his spine. Had someone seen through his act? Had they been caught?

[White Mimic]

Pierce grimaced dejectedly as Syph deferred his idea to Garuda. “My size?” Pierce looked down at himself and the various new stains on the tight prison jumper contouring to his muscular frame. He then glanced over at the massive structure of wooden planks and iron bars, then trading glances between his ‘size’ and the frame that towered over them all even though it only reached halfway up the wall. “Well, I mean if we’re moving that, the size of whoever’s doing it really wouldn’t matter…” He was hoping to actually be a more contributive part of the escape plan as opposed to just being the guy who came up with some part of it. Pierce also imagined he would’ve been able to get the drag the frame over to the wall the fastest, considering his size and fishman strength, but he could understand the desire to keep his whereabouts unknown. Part of him suspected, however, that this was all some sort of insidious means of revenge Syph had for his little outburst at her earlier.

As Syph continued to piece bits and bobs of the ideas on the table together, Pierce slouched behind the cover they were using, slightly miffed at the thought of that kind of behavior. Of course, he knew better than to act on that since Syph was more complicated than he could just assume for. People generally were. He could assume, however, that he wouldn’t have much of a physical hand in any of this since she was so obviously worried about him being seen. It was annoying, but it wasn’t the time for any of them to be picking at squabbles. As such, he kind of zoned out as she talked, looking out across the construction field, at the forms of machinery, shaping, laborers, eager to leave this whole situation behind and not have to think about it for a long while.

Pierce’s concentration, or lack thereof, was broken by Syphalia saying his name, though what came before still rang around in his subconscious gleaning: this is not to appease you. He looked over at her, gave her a slightly sour look as he realized what words had come out of her mouth and what the referred to, and returned his attention to the construction field. “Whatever.” Was his only response. The slighted fishman wasn’t even expecting appeasement, it didn’t really fit with his idea of the girl anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, as she finished speaking with Garuda, he noticed Syph had looked over at him. He shot a quick caustic glance over at her before watching Garuda make his way out to the scaffolding.

As soon as the swordsman casually made his way out of earshot, infiltrating the ranks of the laborers and intimidating those he passed, Pierce looked around the yard for ways he could’ve managed to get over there. His gaze was focused on a block of planks bound together that he could’ve used as cover when he whispered over to Syph. “I think I should’ve been the one. Like… I don’t know if you don’t think I can be sneaky or something but like…” He glanced over at Garuda who was still making way through the workers and then up at the looming grid of pipes and planks that was still attached to an even larger collection of the same materials. “…that whole thing is gunna be real heavy, not sure if your friend over there can even move it without… I dunno…”

The thicker veins on the fishman’s strong, scaly arms mounded and tensed as he thought about moving an object that large himself, but then he started comparing the idea to what he didn’t even know about this man. Pierce could move it, definitely, he was confident. Garuda? The first thought was that he might strain himself even dragging it a few feet, and that was assuming he could detach it from the rest of the scaffolding wrapped around the nascent structure without any of the workers noticing. Second thought was that maybe the human wouldn’t be strong enough to brace the gridding frame in the chance that it started to fall over. But then he realized he was jumping to conclusions, assuming the peaks and nuances of another person’s skill based on race. “Ah, ignore me… think I’m being a bit prejudiced. But still,” Pierce was now a bit adamant but he kept his volume low as he observed Garuda. “Bet I coulda done it. Oop. Uh-oh.”

Pierce had looked over to the woman who had called over to Garuda. While he had never seen or heard her before, he could take a good guess as to who it was based on things he had heard from Jasmine and, on occasion, Merle. From what he remembered, she was a marine of some sort who had been called in from another base to help oversee the rebuilding effort and also reinforce Port West in its moment of perceived weakness. However, he couldn’t remember her name for he had only ever heard it twice. Still, some of the stories he had been relayed by his marine friend lingered enough for him to know she was bad news. If she was who he thought she was, that is.

“That’s not good.”

[Flame]

Garuda responded to Syphalia's request with an affirmative, he would do it. Well it was Pierce's plan but since she was the one who had made the final choice and the decision of who to do it, it seemed that it would be on her. There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice but he seemed committed to doing it anyways. That was good, because for now time was of the essence they did not have time for him to be dawdling around pulling together his courage. He rubbed his hands together for a moment and was off. Syphalia smiled slightly and then turned back to Pierce as she heard him speak. Everything for at least the time would be up to him, no more she could do.

Pierce seemed to be grumbling about something she had said, the word 'size' she vaguely heard before she fully turned around. He seemed upset for some reason, she pondered it for a moment. Surely he saw the reason of it, perhaps he was thinking he could hide himself behind the scaffolding as he brought it over but still it would be better to not send the fishman. "Pierce ... its not only your size its also the fact that you are a fishman" Syphalia said it bluntly. This would probably be a point of contention between the two of them but she did not have the time to butter him up with soft words. Even if she did she probably could not do it, it was not in her nature. Pierce's face seemed to distort slightly as if annoyed, but then he seemed to dismiss everything. His eyes were now glancing across towards where Garuda was.

She took a look back towards Garuda, he was making his way past the laborers and towards the scaffolding. All in all no problems so far. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, a relief to say the least. Syphalia turned back to Pierce again, she took a moment to think if she should say something. The momentary silence was kind of awkward, especially given the current tension between the pair of them. Thankfully Pierce broke the silence, by voicing his concerns of course, but then she supposed that was all he could do now. It had been his plan, of course he would have wanted to be the one to put it into action.

His concerns were duly noted, she was about to voice such a thought but Pierce spoke again. And once again he threw away what he had been saying. Syphalia frowned slightly, she had been about to defend Garuda. For all he was worth she thought him fairly strong as men went, probably would be stronger than herself, perhaps not Pierce. But even for a scaffolding such as the one he was going for she figured he could probably handle it. She believed in him that much, he had proved fairly useful. Her momentary thoughts were interrupted as she heard an 'oops' come from Pierce's mouth. Immediately she turned around to see Garuda almost at the scaffolding but now being approached by someone.

It was a marine lady, but that was not the issue. Based on the way she held herself Syphalia surmised that she was of some importance. As to exactly who she was Syphalia did not have a clue but based on a quick glance at Pierce's face it seemed he might have an idea. Pierce voiced the thought that was probably running through all three of them quite simply 'That's not good'. She needed to cut the tension a little before they got ready to counter whatever was about to happen.

"By the way this is why I did not want to send you." Syphalia said with a teasing tone. It was not meant to come out harsh, though given their current relationship it might. Syphalia gave Pierce a crooked smile for a moment before her face turned back to a more serious look.

This was definitely a problem, for now she had two choices, either go and help Garuda or just hope he could deal with her on his own. Believe in his acting skills ... seemed like it might be a bit of a tall order given her last experiences with it. She looked back at Garuda for a moment praying to whatever gods that may be listening to get him out of this fix.

"For now, we should probably just wait and see ..." Syphalia said to Pierce. Her voice was uneasy, she did not like having no control, but at this point the only way she'd be affecting this situation would be by going out herself and doubling the odds of them getting caught.

[White Mimic]

((We have permission to play as Garuda while Shaki is on vacation. IE: We'll be playing him until he responds IC.))

“Mm.” Pierce gave a curt nod at Syph’s suggestion of remaining furtive and observant. He rested an arm on his knee as he viewed the Marine superior from the safety of the obscuring stack of planks they hid behind. The woman was a bit on the plumper side, but only in the sense that she had a healthy layer of fat enveloping a muscular frame. Her dark curling hair had been drawn into a tight ponytail and a hefty looking hammer hung from her belt. Her marine coat had been draped around her shoulders and, while Pierce still wasn’t familiar with the Marine ranking hash marks, she seemed done up enough to be in charge. Perhaps she was who he thought she was, though Jasmine had described the woman with freckles. The Marine superior’s skin was simply too dark for him to determine her facial complexion from here.

“Well?” The woman was still waiting for an answer from Garuda, still collecting himself from being caught off guard. “Gah… what was her name… Captain something…” Pierce was trying as hard as he could to remember anything that could’ve been helpful. Jasmine had mentioned a few things whenever the topic of construction came up and this woman was pertinent to the conversation, but the fishman never imagined they would be important later down the line. Of course, he hadn’t figured he’d be escaping while this lady was still on site.

“Ngh, its gunna kill me later when I remember. We don’t want to fight her though, I don’t think.” Pierce looked over at Syph briefly, though he looked down at the ground soon after as he tried to formulate his thoughts, recalling what Jasmine had said to him in passing. “She’s got this… thing… can’t remember what it’s called… started with an H though. Hoka or something. Agh… what was it, I remember Jasmine explained it to me.” He was having difficulty imagining how it worked, the hoka. It was this strange ability one got from their ambitions or something, and this Captain’s gave her super strength and the ability to touch Devil Fruit users, not that any of the three of them were such users in the first place. However, if someone could achieve that level of strength on their drive alone, it certainly wasn’t someone Pierce wanted to deal with.

While Garuda started to explain himself, Pierce quickly scoped out the area as best he could, trying to come up with a distraction of some sort. There wasn’t much to work with however, mostly lumber and the scaffolds attached to the buildings, a few tarps draped over this and that, some paint cans piled around the tarped areas, and a few tools lying around. Not much of anything was close enough to make a proper diversion with, and that which did lie nearby would only draw attention to the orange fishman in the prison jumper, standing blatantly where he was not supposed to be. But, the convict did have a few tricks up his sleeve.

Remembering back to a slight mishap that had occurred in the construction zone, according to Jasmine, Pierce recalled that while the Captain was not one to care about a few stains here and there due to the construction, she was not quite so flawless. There had been a spill of dry mortar, and some of the particulate had made it into the Captain’s hair, upon which she promptly stopped all production to go fix it. It had shaved a considerable amount of time off the day’s progress as the fishman remembered. Just up above the Captain and Garuda were two paint cans, one filled with primer and the other filled with the blue-grey that the repairs would ultimately be plastered with.

Pierce glanced over at Syph quickly to make sure she wasn’t looking before leaning away from the planks a little bit. It would be a bit of an effort, but if he shotgunned it, Pierce imagined he could puncture at least one of the cans with a water pellet. Of course, there wasn’t any water nearby, not in any quantity he could take advantage of, so he’d have to manage with the next best thing. Running a webbed hand up his opposite forearm, Pierce wiped some of the residual venom off of his quills and into his palm. It was a paltry amount but it would be enough to at least make an immediate attempt on the two paint cans. He flung his hand out in front of him, launching the particles of venom forward through the air. Overall, it was a messy job since he hadn’t even tried something like this since he had been imprisoned. Most of the pellets flew off harmlessly to the side, but a strong flick sent those in the center of the spray careening towards the cans.

Only one out of the three made contact, and it punctured the can so gently that the hole that had formed was not even wide enough for paint to flow out. Instead, it bubbled out at a slow oozing trickle. The thick blue-gray began to puddle around the can, but its encroaching spread was cut short once it began to bleed between the boards of the scaffold. With a tiny ‘plit’, the paint began dripping onto the boards beneath it and puddling just above the Captain. With luck, it would over flow down onto her before Garuda was forced into a more drastic reaction. Worried at the reception of his impromptu idea, Pierce glanced over at Syph and shrugged his broad shoulders. “Best I could come up with.”

[Flame]

Her eyes were held in place watching as Garuda stood there most likely trying to collect himself as he stood before the marine woman. Worry lines built on her face as she could tell that he was not talking. He was standing there trying to figure out what to say but nothing was coming up. Concern built up, at this rate they were going to be found out before they even crossed over the wall. That was no good, but what could she do. Syph was a melee fighter she had no capabilities when it came to dealing with situations like this.

Once again she considered the possibility of going out herself, perhaps she would be faster on her feet than Garuda. She was pretty sure she could talk her way out of whatever situation Garuda had gotten into. But then what would she do, how would it look, what they needed was a distraction. Syphalia's mind was filled with thoughts like this, so much so that she was not paying attention to whatever Pierce was saying. As far as she was concerned Pierce might as well have been making random gurgling noises because she just was not listening to him. She picked up random words like 'hako', 'captain', and 'expla-' but she did not care enough to think it mattered. So she sat there, her eyes peering over what cover they had found hoping now for a miracle or something.

Beside her Pierce was making some movements but she paid no attention, no in her head she was arguing with herself whether she should go and make a move to pull them out of the situation. She noticed Garuda's mouth start to move, he was saying something. Straining her ear she tried to listen to what he was saying but it was no good. Not at this range with all the other work going on would she be able to hear what Garuda mumbled back to the marine. The face on the marine girl seemed still unconvinced, she folded her arms over each other and opened her mouth to speak. Garuda even seemed to flinch a little. Oh screw it, I'm gonna go - Her thoughts stopped mid moment as she noted something drip down onto the marine lady's uniform.

That drip became a small stream of a blueish gray color which started by dropping began to pour down onto the shoulder of her uniform. Immediately Syphalia was able to see the difference, it dyed her shoulder and slowly in small branching arms it began to take over her shoulder. The marine girl had noticed with a small shriek, she danced away from the stream that instead began to puddle upon the grounds of the base. Then looking at her ruined uniform started to wipe at it with her hand. That of course did nothing to sooth her now ruined mood, she took a single look at her hand and began to freak out more. Syphalia pegged her as a massive clean freak at this point and was holding her hand to her mouth as to not begin to laugh out loud. The situation was a lot more serious than what she could afford to laugh during.

The marine lady looked at Garuda who was also fighting to hold a straight face, pointing at him she exclaimed something before turning back around and racing back towards the base. Perhaps to get a fresh uniform or maybe to clean her own uniform. Both seemed likely given how she had come off from that interaction. But for now it seemed the crisis was averted. Now the important part, they needed to get away. Syphalia popped over the long pieces of wood that were Pierce and her's cover. Quickly she motioned with her arms calling Garuda back over to where they were. Now was their chance, that marine lady would be coming back, by that time Syph dearly hoped to be out of the base and making their way to the docks. For a moment Garuda did not notice, instead he was still standing their rather dumbfounded at what had just happened. So much so that Syph had to stoop down grab a small rock off the ground and toss it at him. It struck him in the leg, but it got his attention and that was the important part. Garuda began to shuffle over still carrying their tool of escape along with him.

Wiping away a sweat drop from all the worrying she took a moment to figure out what exactly had happened right there. Following the blue gray puddle upwards she noted a small blue gray trail running up a large flat piece of wood. At the top of which were a few cans, one of them seemed to be spilling paint. She squinted for a better view, as if aimed right at her she noted a small dark hole on the paint bucket. It seemed to be where the paint had come out. That small hole, she wondered for a moment where it had come from before coming to a quick realization. Her eyes widened a little as she looked up at Pierce, she immediately noted one of his hands was a little more wet than usual. Giving a nice smile she decided to thank him. He had earned it anyways.

"I suppose this means I should be saying thanks." Syph said quietly as she watched Garuda hobble towards them carrying the scaffolding as he did. She felt a little impatient but given the situation it seemed alright to feel that way. After what felt like an age, but was really less than even a minute, Garuda passed by them he was still carrying the scaffolding. Standing beside them he paused for a moment. Looking at Syph he flashed her a cheeky smile, she gave a small giggle. He did not have the right to look so goofy right now, but she would allow it. Pointing at the wall she motioned for him to keep going.

Garuda turned his head back to the wall, she could strain building up in all his muscles. Step by step he brought the scaffolding closer to the wall until finally he dropped it with as gentle a thud as he could provide it next to the wall. Turning back to them he gave them a quick thumbs up.

"I guess its time ... this time you should go first Pierce." Syphalia shooed him towards the scaffolding turning back to watch for any marines coming. They needed to be fast, up and over and then outta here.

[White Mimic]

“Mm.” Pierce nodded at Syph’s suggestion and glanced back through the slim spaces between the stacked planks before scuttling towards the scaffolding Garuda had set up. He wanted to be sure no one was looking in the general direction before he tried to mount over the wall, for there was truth to Syph’s previous insistence on the inconveniences of his size.

Making sure no one was looking, Pierce stood up and reached for the first level of scaffold above him, clutching an iron bar first and a plank of wooden walkway second. It was incredibly solid as a building base, naturally. Only the best for the marines. The iron supported the fishman’s weight easily, with the only sign of weight stress creaking out of the wood plank as he hoisted himself up and stepped onto the first level. The sudden sound made Pierce a bit nervous but nobody had seemed to notice the muscular orange frame clad in blue ascending the misplaced construction apparatus. The sound was no more out of place than any of the other creaks that occasionally echoed across the yard as patrols made their ways through their routes.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the escapee continued on his way up the wall. He scaled the scaffolding, occasionally glancing this way and that but never slowing too considerably. The patterns of the interlocking iron and wood were structured and similar as he ascended, and Pierce soon found himself in a groove, making the same movements over and over, faster and faster. It became an easy climb soon enough but it was nonetheless invigorating to move like this after weeks of stagnant incarceration.

Reaching the top in what felt like no time at all, Pierce turned his gaze ever upward. As he had predicted, the scaffolding had only reached up the wall so far. “Uhh… hmm…” Several meters of stone and concrete stretched above him, smooth and light, just as it had looked from the tiny prison window. He turned around and peered down the scaffolding at Syph and Garuda, whispering down at them. “It’s not tall enough. What do we do?” He glanced back up at the lip of the wall contemplative. “Actually… I bet I could climb it.” He wasn’t sure if his suggestion was a good idea or just his eagerness to continue stretching out the kinks and cramps he had accumulated in his restrictive cell.

A thought occurred to Pierce however as he prevented himself from jumping the gun and excitedly scaling the wall alone. He couldn’t just carry both of them up with him. Well, he COULD, but it would take way too long and it would certainly draw attention from the sentries patrolling the wall on the other end of the base, let alone anyone else in the construction yard. They needed another way. There wasn’t a ladder in the near vicinity of the base of the scaffolding that the fishman could see but it reminded him of Garuda’s earlier idea.

Pierce’s head popped back over the edge of the scaffold, calling down to Garuda in a harsh whisper before he had got too far along in climbing up to the fishman. “Garuda! When you said you could build a thing, was a rope or something involved? Can you see one?” Garuda hopped back off the scaffold and looked around the area, eventually ducking under the first level for a bit before coming out with a rope coiled in his fist. He held it up for Pierce to see before tossing the coil all the way up to the top.

“Nice throw.” Pierce picked up the scattered coil of rope and slung it over his shoulder before frilling his quills and thrusting them into the wall. Like a pair of mountain picks, the fishman stabbed into the stone, one arm at a time. His biceps ached at the familiar stress first, soon followed by his back, but meter by meter, Pierce crawled up to the top of the lip. He gripped the edge of the ramparts with one hand but swiftly froze as he heard footsteps walk by above him. The wall patrol. They didn’t slow or speed up. They drew closer, and closer, then passed. Dampening into the distance, Pierce realized he had started sweating. Comfortable with the distance that had accumulated, he peeked up over the wall and looked both ways before hoisting himself up. He wasn’t familiar with the patrol patterns on the wall on this side of the base so he didn’t know how much time he had to work with. Hopefully he wouldn’t need that much.

Pierce one end of the rope down to the scaffold. He purposefully threw only a small amount at first before uncoiling the rest to the top of the scaffolding. The last thing any of the three would want would be the loud thud of rope slamming onto the floor and drawing more attention. The rest of it he started tying to a bar on the lip of the wall, acting quickly before any of the patrols would have a chance to see him. He couldn’t just stand there and help. As Syph had said, he was too noticeable.

[Flame]

This time Pierce was on board with her, at least he was seeing reason. And while he took a moment to make sure no one was watching Pierce was the first to mount the scaffolding. There was a little creaking when he got on but in the end it did not seem to be anything to be too concerned about. Syphalia stood there for a moment watching Pierce finally climb up the scaffolding. With each step he came more and more into view, she could only wish that he climbed faster. It was no use she could not make him climb faster even if she wanted as much. As he made it part way up the scaffolding she decided for her to get on to. Looking over at Garuda she wondered whether it was okay for her to, of course not. That marine girl would come back looking for him, he should go first.

"Garuda, you next. Someone here is looking for you." Syph said to him slapping him on the back lightly. With her hands on her hips she watched as Garuda started climbing up as well, all in all it was fairly quick. As they started to make their way up the scaffolding. At this point Pierce had nearly made it to the top so Syphalia figuring she might as well go up as well. She didn't need as much distance from Garuda as Pierce. If Pierce fell it would have been much more dangerous with all his natural fishman weaponry. Unlike Garuda and Pierce who were both tall, the scaffolding was slightly more annoying for Syph.

She had always been on the short side and now it was gaining her problems, a few times she found herself reaching up for a bar that was a little out of reach so she'd have to change positions on the scaffolding and continue upwards. Hand by hand, rung by rung she made her way up the scaffolding. Looking back behind her she noted she had a decent view of the marine base. No one there, the marine grounds were mostly empty, she could still note the bunch of construction workers still milling about as they prepared to fix all the problems Syph and Garuda had created. She grabbed another rung before pausing as she heard Pierce's voice calling down towards Garuda and her. She looked up just fast enough to press herself against the scaffolding as Garuda's body dropped back down to the grounds.

Her eyes widened, what the hell was this guy doing, she looked below her. There was Garuda shuffling around the grounds looking for something. Syphalia shook her head, if he wanted to get caught then he could. She had taken enough risks at this point, looking back up she started to head up again. Then something passed by her and above her she noted Pierce was now holding onto a coil of rope. She wondered what the rope could be for, and finally made it to the top of the scaffold. Ahh, now she understood, at the top of the scaffold she found herself still staring at the wall, the top of the parapet was still a bit farther up. That was also where she found Pierce, hanging from the parapet, just hanging there. It seemed he was waiting for something, Syph made to call to him, but then stopped herself. Pierce was not stupid, if he wasn't going over then there had to be a reason.

Standing there on top of the scaffolding she felt a little exposed. They had not been noticed yet, but now with the scaffolding up they were a bigger target than ever. This part needed to be fast, she looked up and finally noticed that Pierce had gone over the wall. And coming down to her was a rope, slowly but surely it was lowered down and as it came within arm's reach she grabbed it. Holding it for a moment she gave Pierce some time hopefully to knot it to something. Comfortable in the fact that he could probably tie it in a certain amount of time she waited before finally tugging on it feeling it come taut. Placing both hands on the rope she wrapped part of the rope around her hand. Then placing one foot against the wall she brought the rope to full tension.

Then one hand after another she grabbed a little higher and took another step again. Coming to the top she found the metal bar Pierce had tied the rope to and grabbing onto the rope she looked down. Garuda was on the platform now, probably waiting for her to get out of the way. Pulling up on the bar she popped her head over, looking left and right she saw that the parapet was empty. So quickly she pulled herself over the wall onto the empty wall-top. She assumed Pierce had gone over the other side of the wall by now. Turning back around she looked for Garuda who was climbing up the rope. Deciding to be look out, she swept the grounds for any signs of marines. As Garuda came towards the top, she turned around. Their escape was almost complete, now all they had to do was ...

An alarm went off and she heard a volley of gunfire go off. A knot formed in her stomach, they had been found out. Her mind raced as Garuda came over onto the wall his leg bleeding. "Ugh, you just had to get shot." Syphalia said with a pained smile on her face. Getting off the other side of the wall would be really hard for Garuda with the wounded leg. She could take him down but it'd be preferable if Pierce did. He had the stronger build it would more readily handle the impact of dropping over the other side while carrying Garuda or catching Garuda as he fell, either way. 

With all sense of invisibility lost she called out. "Oi Pierce, where are you?"

SPOILER: Click to show

bleh ~

[White Mimic]

“Alright, that should do iiiinnnnNNGGG!” As soon as Pierce had finished tying a hastily done knot on the bar, he noticed that one of the patrolmen nearby had begun turning around. He was going to walk the reverse direction of his route and the escaped criminal was going to be right in the officers line of sight. The fishman hesitated for a split second before leaping over the outside of the wall, stabbing his fins into the stone work on that side and hanging by his forearms.

Two beads of sweat rolled down his temple, he stopped breathing, and it felt like his heart stopped. Pierce hung from the wall, too terrified to move, or even look around. All he did was stare into the dark, into the stonework of the wall. The image was familiar, but the feeling was new. Time stood still for the fishman on the wall, waiting for the man to pass, a time that matched the speed with which the convict had tied his knot but what could have passed for years in his mind.

Pierce listened to the steps as they grew closer, ever closer. He prayed silently that they would simply pass as before, though in this regard, he had not been so lucky. The walking stopped, just above the fishman, and all was silent for a time, creating a stirring panic in the heart of the man hanging off the wall. After a few moments, he heard a rustle from on top of the wall, followed by a quiet exclamation. “…egh… dang rash…” When the footsteps resumed in their original direction, a wave of relief flooded throughout Pierce’s wildly beating heart, though he dared not let out a sigh. After waiting for the footsteps to walk out of earshot, the fishman finally looked down at the street beneath him, empty and dark, and began climbing down by stabbing his sharp fin quills into the wall, hacking his forearms downward to do so.

After climbing down the other side of the wall in much the same way he had first scaled it, Pierce had set about devising some means for his two rescuers to follow him down, a task not quite so simple for those without the handicap of natural climbing instruments. Nothing in the immediate vicinity within the ally made itself obvious to this end. There was hardly anything to work with down here anyhow.

However, in looking for something soft to land on or perhaps another rope, the fishman had become distracted. He had dismounted behind another a building, a smaller business it looked like, and in his search for anything that could help he caught a glimpse down the nearby street at one end of the building. The view was minimal, almost nothing, but the small sliver of black cobalt in the night that he could see filled the fishman with a sudden, intense longing. It had been so long since he had seen it, the ocean, and it still felt like miles away. Then he realized as he stared out at that tiny, slim bit of sea on the horizon, he was indeed on the other side of the wall.

Only a second later did the crack of gunfire bleed out from behind the wall, jutting Pierce from his diversion. Frantically, he continued trying to rig up a means of descent, realizing he had made next to no progress. However, there was little to be made with what was available. Only a barrel and two crates was all he had, not nearly enough to properly cushion a fall or anything else. Up above, he heard Syph call down to him. He leaned back around the corner of the building, looking up at her head peeking up over the rampart. “I’m down over here. What’s going on?”

[Flame]

A voice, Pierce's voice came in response to her question. She looked down over the ramparts scanning the ground below her. There she spotted him, from all the way up here he actually looked rather small, which was refreshing giving that he usually stood twice as tall as she was. Beside him were some crates and barrels it seems. He had safely made it out, well that at least was the main task completed, now was only for Garuda and her to get out. And then all they had to do was run right? Which first meant getting off this parapet and down to the outside grounds. Everything after that was secondary, she could worry about it when she could. If the marines caught them up here it was all over. "Get ready to catch Pierce!" Syph yelled down towards her former crewmate. Turning back to Garuda she looked at his wounded leg for a moment.

"You trust him to catch you right?" She asked a question whose answer did not matter. It would be nice if Garuda was okay with what was about to happen. That being said, he had no choice, if he did not want to she was going to throw him off. If he was full strength perhaps he'd be able to stop her from doing so but in his wounded state she was fairly confident she could do it. She eyed Garuda expectantly waiting for his confirming answer. He did not look particularly happy with what he was being asked but then again perhaps he was just in pain from his knee. She couldn't decide and because Garuda was only grunting in response she did not know what to take it as. Shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders, "Bear through the pain, are you okay with being caught?" Syph asked once again. Garuda looked up at her "I'll make it." He grumbled obviously unhappy about what was going on.

Syphalia nodded at him, lending a hand to pull him to a standing position. Garuda got to two feet stumbling slightly as he put pressure upon his wounded leg. Apparently the bullet in the leg was worse than it originally sounded. Getting under his arm she hoisted Garuda up slightly to pull weight off the leg. As they approached the parapet Syphalia called out down to Pierce "You better be ready!" Then without waiting for a response she looked at Garuda and nodded it was time. In any case she was vaguely aware of the sound of feet on the parapet, they were coming there was no time. Without any warning she grabbed him by the belly put him over her shoulder and then launched him over the parapet down towards where Pierce had been last standing. She listened for a moment wondering if she'd hear the unpleasant thud of him hitting the ground or whether there would be the better sound of Pierce catching him.

Now for herself, she looked down for a second wondering if she had a fear of heights. She had no such thing, that being said it was still a long way down. Hesitant she looked left and right across the parapet, the footsteps she had heard before had to belong to someone. They were coming closer she could tell because of the increasing intensity of them. They were coming from, her right ... she looked down the parapet and just at that moment did the source of the footsteps appear. Out of the door of the nearest tower a man appeared, he was not wearing a uniform, so he was at least a commissioned officer of the marines. Not to mention he saw her as she was standing looking over the parapet deciding on how she should make the jump down. "Soru!" The man said as he charged at her drawing his blade. His body blurred forward, she had seen true soru, this was not it. He was probably in training as she could follow him easily with her naked eyes. She had no time for him, she had to leave now. 

As he approached her at his own mach speed there was a grin on his face. He was confident in his imperfect soru, how wrong he was to be like that. She charged towards him grabbing at her still sheathed sword she turned and swung it to intercept him as he made his attack. Her sheath and his blade clanged together, she was thoroughly unimpressed. She could have done better than that, the fact that his sword did not even cut through her sheath was just sad. Unsharpened and unready this officer was not ready for the reality of the Grand Line as far as she could tell. Flexing her muscle a little she figured she'd show him what a real difference in strength was. Putting her muscle into it she knocked his blade away from her sheath. Then lunging into him slammed the hilt of her sword into his belly. Dazing him for a moment "You are twenty years two young marine." She grabbed him by his shirt lifting him into the air with one hand. "You'll pay pirate scum." Syphalia laughed at him before throwing him backwards onto the parapet. She heard the sounds of other footsteps on the way.

Time to go, jumping on top of the parapet she looked down realizing how high up she was. She had always wanted to try something like this she tried to convince herself of that. Balancing herself on the edge of the parapet she allowed her body to swing backwards and forwards the arch of her shoes balancing on the edge. Tipping herself along the edge she let out a whoop of amusement. This would definitely be interesting. She tipped herself along the edge arcing forward into a fall as her body swung downwards her feet finding their place upon the vertical of the wall. Her legs reacted immediately, moving back and forth in a running motion as she found herself charging her way down the wall. It was quite superhuman and for a second she wondered if she was actually doing it. She wasn't, her feet started to lose their traction upon the surface of the wall and suddenly she was free falling down the wall. The ground below her came closer and closer and suddenly she was quite concerned with what was about to happen. What was she supposed to do, she remembered something about rolling with the landing. No, no not at this rate even she knew better than that.

Then an idea popped into her head. Pulling her sheath forward in mid air she swung the weapon down towards the ground creating a pocket of compressed air that shot towards the rapidly approaching ground below her. Not once but she did it again and again. As the compressed air hit the ground it expanded upwards crashing into her and slowing her descent. She did it again and again until she could do it no more and crashed onto the ground with a great thud. Her whole body was sore, but as far as she could there was nothing broken. "Ugghhhh" she groaned at her soreness. Before picking herself up once again. It was painful but she stood apparently without problems. Both of her hands touched at her sides feeling for any injuries. All good it seemed, though it would be nice to have a proper doctor. Now then to find Pierce and Garuda they should be further down along the wall. She called out "Pierce? Garuda? Where are you guys at?"

[White Mimic]

“Um sure… catch what?” Pierce called back up to Syph though she had just as soon vanished beyond the top of the wall as soon as he had given his affirmative. The only sound was the scrambling on the other side of the wall as the base continued to mobilize. He looked around briefly, worried that the escalating commotion would rouse the nearby civilians from their slumber. “…Syph?” Soon enough, she reappeared just above him, assisting Garuda onto the wall. All at once, Pierce realized just what he was meant to catch. He would have much preferred a safer descent for his liberators, but clearly there was no time, and from the way Syph was assisting Garuda the fishman could only guess at what had gone so wrong.

“Whoa- wait.” Leaving no time for Pierce to prepare to catch a person, Syph shoved Garuda off the wall, sending his body plummeting to the ground below. He flailed a bit at first, arms and legs twisting in the wind, but managed to maneuver himself around to face downward at Pierce before stiffening his limbs as best he could, with the exception of the bloody leg which remained slightly bent and shaky. As such, Garuda descended through the night air like an owl made of stone, nearly swooping but not at all in the right direction. Left with no time to brace for the impact, Pierce instinctively stretched his arms out to try and catch the rapidly approaching muscle bound human while also hastily positioning himself beneath him.

Long story short, Garuda managed to land safely, and Pierce did manage to catch him in a sense. But shortening the story in such a fashion diminishes how spectacularly unfortunate the occurrence was. While positioning himself in the alley beneath Garuda, Pierce hadn’t focused on where he had been moving and tripped over one of the barrels he had seen earlier in the alley. He hadn’t fallen over, but at the moment of truth, the fishman had found himself in an awkward and compromising position, bent backward at an awkward angle and slightly askew. Nevertheless, he had returned his arms to their outstretched position just in time for Garuda to fall into them… sorta.

Because of Pierce’s new standing position, when Garuda fell into him with his arms stiff, the fishman was met with a flying lariat to the neck. His strong orange arms wrapped around the falling man on instinct but he hugged at his liberator’s waist much stronger than he had originally intended, shocked at the blow he was receiving. He let out a weak, gagging cough as he fell backwards, slamming into the barrels behind him. Naturally, the wooden containers sundered underneath the weight of a muscular fishman and an equally muscular human slamming down on top of them, scattering their contents around the alley. Pierce let out a pained groan as his shoulders and head smashed against the wood and stonework beneath him, and Garuda gave a frustrated grunt in response to his shot leg knocking against the ground.

Garuda was the first to rise from the event, rubbing his leg after clambering off Pierce and subsequently limping out of the alley. He seemed a little more than miffed at the fishman’s botched attempt at catching him but overall okay because, in the grand scheme of things, he wasn’t a pancake on the cobble at the moment. That being said, Pierce didn’t receive a thank you right away, not that the fishman would’ve realized. Slamming his head against the barrels and ground, in that order, gave him a horrible headache hand in hand with a ringing in his ears.

Cradling his forehead in a webbed hand, Pierce rose from the ground, shaking off bits and pieces of barrel and its contents from his clothes as best he could as he followed Garuda. His clothes were stained with the starch of a few barrel potatoes he had crushed, and the fishman began worrying that he’d be stuck in potato clothes for a while but was soon brought back to pressing concerns by Garuda, who had begun limping down the street. “C’mon, we gotta get outta here.”

Pierce woulda offered to help him walk but, based on what he had seen of the man he doubted Garuda was the type to accept that kinda help. “Wait, but what about Syph?” Pierce looked back at the wall as he continued after Garuda. “She’ll catch up, she can handle herself fine.” The fishman nodded in curt agreement. He was certain Syph would manage just fine, as she had before, but if there was a problem later down the line, the two of them wouldn’t do her much good in a neighboring cell. Worst case scenario of course. Right now the goal was to get as far away from the waking giant that was the marine base behind them first, then regroup later.

[Flame]

No response, Syphalia gripped at her side as pain streaked up it, wincing she bit her lip. Turning her head back and forth she looked up and down the empty street she was on. No sign of Garuda or Pierce to be seen. Should she look for them? Or just head to their port of departure, everyone knew where to go so perhaps that was the better choice. She argued the points in her head before deciding that she should probably head there on her own. Not that she did not think Garuda and Pierce might need some help, with Garuda's leg wound and the fact Pierce had been locked up all this time they probably would. But wasting her time trying to find them seemed an unlikely way to solve their problems. She trusted the pair of them to have a decent level of priorities, they would know what to do.

Syphalia grinned to herself, she'd done it, successfully broken Pierce out of a Marine Base. Even if it was an undermanned, slightly broken marine base, the fact of the matter remained. For a moment she wondered if she would get a bounty bonus from this, smiling to herself at such thoughts she took one last look around to orient herself before walking down another street. The marines were aware of the breakout now, that was for sure, she needed enough distance before the full force of the sleeping giant could be put to the test and overrun them in the streets of Port West. For a moment she considered climbing upon the rooftops and trying to run away using that, but it seemed unlikely that she'd be able to do that well in her current state. So instead she continued to walk down the street, removing her hand from her side to reduce at least some of the oddness of how she looked at the moment.

Placing her sheathed sword at her side once more she began to walk down the street with a little more confidence. As she moved away from the marine base, the street became busier and she started to blend deeper and deeper into the crowd. It was a welcome camouflage for those chasers she knew would be on her heels in no time. For a second she kind of wished she had not torn up her cloak earlier. Then she remembered what she was wearing at the moment, she had not changed out of the marine uniform she had worn in the marine base. That obviously needed to be changed, she had lost the cap during her fall but she was still wearing the rest of the uniform. Looking left and right she searched for an alley she might use to remove the unnecessary garments that sat atop her normal clothes
they were not too uncomfortable but she really stood out with the white and blue uniform on. Casually she walked on, edging herself slowly towards the side of the street until she found a nice dark alleyway to slip into. Disappearing into the alleyway and out of the prying eyes she walked down the alleyway without stopping.

As she did she pulled off the white shirt which was a bit baggy upon her, revealing once again the black t-shirt which sat underneath it. The jolly roger on its back in full view once again, perhaps not the best, but she preferred it this way in either case. Then came the pants, she pulled those off quickly as well revealing the shorts she had previously been wearing. Sort of a tan color and ripped up quite a bit near the bottom they were simple and comfortable and that was all she wanted. Fully changed and with the marine uniform laying on the ground of the alleyway she emerged from the other side a very different looking person than she had when she entered. As she did she heard a siren, it came from the marine base, of course. It meant the marines would be on the loose, scouring the town for them. Syph doubled her pace walking as quickly as she could through the crowds. If she could come upon Pierce and Garuda before they made it that would be great she thought to herself.

In her head she was mapping the route to the docks where they were supposed to pick up the ship. She did not known this town too well so in general it was just a direction that she needed to constantly be heading towards, taking what turns she could to direct her towards her final goal. She pressed onward now with her eyes peeled for any sign of someone chasing her. Well of course, apart from the siren from the marine base. And that, that stomping she heard, it was the marines coming out of the base, that was for sure was it not. The real question is who would they send out, would they get to see the base commander. It would be an affront to the pride of the marines if they were able to succeed in this jail break. So perhaps they would see the commander. Then a thought came into her head, she was likely to be able to move faster than her friends, perhaps she could draw off the chase. It was definitely an idea, she looked behind her, already she could see groups of marines passing by at the end of the street where it met the road which encircled the base. They were coming, the thought returned to her head once more. Should she do it, she turned the corner down another road that headed towards the docks.

She really hoped that she could find the pair, it tempted her to risk calling out to them. She did not know Garuda or Pierce well enough to know if they would attempt what she was on the verge of doing. As she walked she grabbed onto the hilt of her sword, then looking at the buildings on either side of her she wondered for a moment. Nodding to herself she walked over to the nearest alleyway, found a pipe and began climbing. Up and up she went until she found herself standing upon the rooftop of a building looking down onto the streets below. This was a good plan, she thought to herself, she would have a better vantage point to look for Garuda and Pierce. She could also intercept the marines if they were getting into too dangerous a position. Now walking carefully atop the rooftops towards her destination she kept an eye out. She would spot them before they spotted her, hopefully.