𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗘 | 𝗞𝗮𝘇 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗿

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲

      Running through the prison had been oddly entertaining for Raina. Blood coated her clothes but she paid no mind to it. In that cell she hadn't laid a finger on the man, instead she'd focused on the slight breeze in the room, keeping all her attention on holding the man down. Kaz let out all his anger, he did it for Jordie, he did it for the kind woman at the bakery that he had mercilessly ley executed. Blood splattered onto her clothes but she paid it no attention, watching with an odd satisfactory look as he was finally brought to repay for all he had done.

     Silence had surrounded the two as they headed down to the basement, there was nothing to talk about. They were way out of their scheduled time when they got onto the roof, the others throwing questions at them. There wasn't time to get into all that so instead they raced towards where they saw Inej laid in Nina's lap, the girl's feet blistered with her shoes. It made Raina want to vomit from the sight and she cast Inej a worried glance.

     No words were shared as Kaz motioned for Jesper to help Inej, revealing to the group that he inhabited a lot more secrets than some knew. Inej was not surprised and Raina was merely cheering herself on for realising such a thing by herself. Nina, however, stared at him wide eyed as he got to work.

       "What happened at the prison?" Wylan asked as they finally looked away from Inej. "What triggered the alarm?"

     "I ran into two guards." Nina explained, looking curiously at Raina and Kaz. 

     "You didn't put them down?" Jesper quizzed, looking up from his careful work.

     "I did." Nina explained what had happened to the group. "But one of them got off a few shots, another guard came running and that's when the bells started."

     "Damn," Jesper winced, looking down at Inej once again, "so that's what set the alarm off?"

     "Maybe," Nina shrugged, her sold attention on the two with mirroring bloodstains, "where were you, Raina, Kaz? I wouldn't have been in the stairwell if I hadn't wasted time looking for you two. Why didn't you meet me on the landing?"

      "I decided that we should search the cells on the fifth floor, too." Kaz answered for them, looking down curiously through the glass of the dome.

      "What the hell is this?" Jesper quizzed, his anger rising, Raina suddenly felt uncomfortable with the tension. "You take off before Matthias and I get back, then you just decide to expand your search and leave Nina thinking you're in trouble?"

     "There was something I needed to take care of." Kaz spoke simply and Jesper scoffed a laugh.

     "Not good enough"

    The argument continued until Kaz revealed that they went looking for Pekka Rollins, except they couldn't find him. When they pointed out the blood that was on both their shirts it was Raina's turn to chime in, lying that they had ran into a guard. None of them believed it but they moved their attention to a much more important discussion, what they were going to do now that they had raised some alarms. 

     Looking through the glass dome, they watched the crowds of people drinking, laughing and greeting one another. It was a sort of party Raina would found find herself at, they were filled with boring talk with old men who would do anything she asked with a single breathy laugh and a push up corset. Men were predictable and she used it to advantage as she gained intel on the human trafficking that took place in Ketterdam. From there she learnt all the ins and outs to each drop off. She had successfully intercepted many drop offs with the help of Iris and many of the girls worked for her after, thankful she and saved them from such a life. Many wanted to return to their homes and she allowed that to happen, it was up to them to decide what life they wanted, nobody else.

      A group of new guards suddenly pushed into the room, forming lines within the crowd of people. Matthias explained that they had added a new checkpoint, due to the Yellow Protocol they had accidentally initiated. At this news, they agreed they should give up and just return empty handed, there was no way past this.

     That was until Inej noticed something.

     She announced that Nina, Raina and herself could get in, with the Menagerie. Bickering was summoned from this but Raina cut them off, an idea formulating in her head as she noticed a familiar face in the crowd.

     "Wait," Raina shook her head, "I have a better way to get myself in."

     Pointing at the figure below, there she saw one of the girl's she had once freed from the grips of a brothel. Dressed in a ruby dress she smiled at the man beside her, eyes sparkling as she held onto every word she said. Raina explained that the girl offered her a favour, all she had to do was ask to trade places with her. It was risky and there was always the possibility that she would say no but she would take her chances.

     "That way I can move freely and nobody will bat an eye if I move freely," Raina finalised as the others all shot her a look, "The Menagerie girls will be under watchful eyes, if they are found with an woman in an expensive dress and pearls decorating her neck, are they going to ask questions? No, they will merely bat an eyelid and move on."

      "It's a risk, all of this plan is a risk." Kaz announced and Raina shrugged.

     "I have a feeling Iris ignored me when I said to stay at home, if anything happens she can lie and say I was her plus one," Raina revealed, swearing she had seen the familiar Zemeni woman flash past her eyes, "besides, at this point, what do we have to lose?"

Words~1092.
{edited:no}