III: The Soldier and the Fairy Queen: Red Eve

Four Months Ago- The Raft Prison

Tatiana climbed in the shadowy rafters of the hallway. She touched her earpiece and whispered, "Steven?"

A response came promptly, "Yes?"

Tatiana smiled and watched the guards patrolling, their dark uniforms appearing out of place against the white walls. "Do you wish to go in with guns blazing?"

"Just stick with the plan."

"Yes, sir, Captain, sir!" Tatiana flicked her earpiece again and hummed to the music that came on. "You're gonna grow up, you're gonna get old, all that glitter don't turn to gold." Tatiana swung her rifle around and aimed. The forehead of the stationary man at the end of the hallway came into her sights, and she pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the wall above the man's head and Tatiana clicked her tongue. She jumped down to the white tile floor. "But until then just have your fun, boy, run, run, run, run, run!" She hid behind a corner and fired repeatedly in the men's direction, emptying two magazines. She listened, and no noise came to her ears.

She whistled and walked down the bright hallway, sauntering in between bodies. She opened the steel door at the end of the hallway. The was another pristine, clean hallway. With another door at the end. Luckily, it was unguarded, which meant that Steven's distraction had been sucessful. "Looking back, oh, we had some fun, boy, run, run, run, run, run."

She tried to open the door, but it didn't budge. She yanked and she heard a crunching sound and a whine before it swung open. "I run until I hit that wall, yeah, I learned my lesson, count my blessin's, up to the rising sun."

She looked at the room before her. It was dark and every surface was covered in screens. Only three people were still in the room, and they sat hunched over the screens, talking in hushed voices. Tatiana cleared her throat and three pairs of eyes were on her immediately. "How are you all doing?"

She could have heard a pin drop. "Not well? Okay, that is fine. But before we get started I must say--."

The person closest to her, a woman with blonde hair, lifted a handgun and fired. At Tatiana. The audacity. The bullet whizzed past Tatiana's shoulder. The woman had a knife lodged in her throat before she had lowered the gun.

Tatiana swung her rifle back onto her back and pulled two more knives from her belt. "How rude. I was about to say--," Tatiana was interrupted by one of the men firing at her. These people were obviously not trained to handle their weapons very well. Tatiana dropped behind one of the tables and looked around for an escape route. Her eyes found a bright red lever on the wall. A bullet had already busted the plastic casing. She threw her heaviest knife at the button and the fire alarm went off.

"Come out with your hands up," one of the men yelled above the alarm.

Tatiana felt her face flush, but kept silent. She leapt up and threw another knife in the direction of the man's voice. The man dropped, spraying blood all over the coffee mug and laptop behind him. She grabbed one more blade and let it fly at the other man, who looked rather pale. When he was on the floor, she gathered her knives, wiping the blood on her pants and sticking them back in their sheaths. She tapped her earpiece, "Steven, status?" She peered into the bloodied coffee mug, spit, and continued on.

"I'm almost to the cells. Did you trip the fire alarm?"

Tatiana scrambled up the stairs, "Yes. Apologies. I will meet you there." She pressed open what she hoped to be that last door and saw a marvellous sight. Steven was standing in front of Samuel's glass cell. "Finally! This is a place of endless hallways."

A woman sat on the cot in her cell. She appeared young. She looked at Tatiana and tilted her head, yelling over the noise, "Who's she?"

Tatiana smiled and curtsied demurely, "The stuff of nightmares. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Wanda." She walked up to Steven and gestured to the jailed people, "So, are we going to break them out or not? Because I can come back later if we are not."