"She doesn't look okay to me," I muttered, hoping that our guards didn't think much of me talking - I still was playing my role. I wasn't causing any sort of problem; I was just making an innocent comment that was soon to be followed with a question. "Do you not like being locked up?"
I turned my attention back to my lap and didn't offer a response. It bugged me that I couldn't say more to her, but I knew that an argument would only make them more wary of me - for now, I'd just stay quiet and try to tune out Kirux crying beside me.
Megara shuddered once more and closed her eyes, resting her head against the back of the carriage for the rest of the ride. Kirux's sobs and the odd clanking sounds of whatever moved the carriage assured her of where she was, and where she wasn't.
Fidel watched the others helplessly. The horrible feeling of not being able to help overtook him as his gaze flicked between Megara and Kirux.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The carriage came to a sudden halt and the formerly stoic androids whirred to life. They grabbed each member of the group, individually wrestling them out of the carriage with far more force than necessary.
Above them, a dark castle stretched into the dark sky, its towers like the jagged peaks of merciless mountains, waiting to claim their lives.
Inside they were taken, still in chains, through winding halls and down spiraling staircases to a place where barred cells stood, filled at random with tired or unconscious figures, more grime than human.
They were tossed into cells of their own, two to a cell.
Fidel was glad to end up with Kirux, then he panicked at the thought of the other two stuck together.
Still, he turned to the crying man and opened his arms, and invitation.
Kirux gladly took the opportunity, darting over to Fidel and wrapping his arms around him as he sobbed into his shoulder. He was so scared. He hadn't ever been thrown in jail before! He didn't even know what he had done.
xXx
"Oh, great," I said, looking over at my cellmate - I was stuck with the girl I had possessed. Giving the best impression of a robotic frown, I got to my feet and sat down beside the cell's bars - trying to look as miserable and downcast as a robot possibly could.
I heard sobbing from the next cell over, but I managed to keep my focus on the floor.
"I might," I said. "I haven't tried it."
I fell back into silence.
This was going to be a long wait if a guard or someone else didn't come over to us soon.
Spoiler! :
Skull's plan is to possess one of the guards - or anyone who comes close enough to their cell for him to reach - and then let the four of them out. I was originally thinking he'd just possess another robot, but it might be fun for him to possess some random person from the world instead. Do you have any thoughts on who?
Ive been working on a native resident, actually, just in case we needed someone for plot reasons. He’s completely illiterate, has one super-strength imbued metal arm while the rest of him is malnourished and scrawny. Let’s say he’s been arrested for trespassing or something. Do you want him to be someone either of us can control whenever? I don’t really have a backstory or anything for him, just a name, Jacob Myers, so it could be fun to back and forth collaborate on building him up. If you don’t want to write for him, though, you don’t have to.
A prisoner was being led down the central hall, his shaggy brown hair covering his face as he bowed his head, whimpering please to the unrelenting androids who dragged him along.
I'm okay with you writing him! I might write little reactions for him, but I'm good with you developing him - I could make another character later on that I could write more for when Skull inevitably possesses someone else.
...Also, I totally forgot that keyblades can unlock locked things until the end of this post.
There.
The opportunity I had been waiting for. A new prisoner was being brought down into the cells, and the robots dragging him along didn't care that he was getting a little too close to the other prisoners. I followed suit with some of the prisoners and reached out a hand, but my target was only on his foot. I took a metaphorical deep breath right as my fingers touched the tip of his shoe.
There was a moment of panic - his, not mine - as I abruptly took control of his body with my own body slumping up against the wall of my cell. But the prisoner was only a jumping point. I concentrated and took a deep breath again, switching from the prisoner to one of the guards.
Controlling the robot was easy compared to the girl and the prisoner. I let go of the prisoner, taking a step back as the other android dragging him realized that its former ally had gone rogue. I grabbed the android and chucked it into the nearest wall, listening to the satisfying clang as it was dented by the impact.
But robots were apparently meant for more than that, so I had to dodge another attack as it lunged for me. Behind me, I heard a click as one of the cell doors swung open. Confusion flickered across my face as I glanced back towards the cells - Kirux had gotten to his feet, and was holding a gigantic key out towards the open door. He slipped over to the cell my body was in.
He held out the key.
There was a glowing light, and then the door swung open.
The key disappeared. Kirux rushed inside, picking my body up and slinging it over one of his shoulders with ease. Just how strong was this guy? I saw him extend a hand towards Megara before I turned back to the struggle at hand.
Struck by sudden inspiration, I focused all of my energy into the robot's neck and bent it. Its eyes glowed one last time before going dark - I had killed my foe.
The defeated robot fell to the ground with a crash.
Megara took Kirux’s offered hand without really thinking and let him help her to her feet. Forgetting her own lies, she signed “Thank you,” back to him, more to keep him from having another breakdown than anything, and rushed out of the cell.
The death of the robotic guard had apparently set off some kind of alarm, as more of his kind flooded the area from all sides.
Megara took out her third weapon, another dagger that had been built into the corset and gone unnoticed by whoever had taken her more obvious weapons, and readied it. Fidel was beside her -well, more behind her really- looking panicked and ready to flee. So she would clear a path for him.
She glanced at the others, the ones who appeared capable of fighting -surprisingly, that included Kirux. His strength didn’t go unnoticed by her- looking for confirmation that they were on the same page.
"Oh, come on!" I muttered, watching as more guards entered the cell area. If Kirux hadn't freed our group, I might have been able to convince them that something other than me had happened to the fallen robot, but there was no way I could convince them now.
There was a loud crash as Kirux knocked one down with his key. For someone who was using a good chunk of strength to carry a robot, he was surprisingly fast. It wasn't long before he reached me and-
-wait a second.
Why was he pointing his key at me?
"Kirux, wait," I said, in a monotone voice that was even less my own than the one I had been using in my actual body. Giving a frown he couldn't see, I took a step back into the robot guard behind me. "I'm not one of them - it's me, Skull."
Kirux replied by widening his eyes in shock.
The guard I bumped into turned.
It tried to attack me, but I beat it to it - I touched it and switched bodies again, getting all the way over to the prisoner I had momentarily possessed. I didn't know anything about him, but I did know that I couldn't leave him surrounded by a bunch of emotionless robot guards.
I grabbed onto his wrist.
"Come with me," I said, somewhat knowing how terrifying my voice was when it said that command.
The man stared at me from behind his shaggy hair.
"I'm not one of them," I said, already dragging him over to where Kirux was with my body. "It's a long story, so just trust me and my questionable group of allies."
Megara has already downed two more of the cumbersome guards via exposed wires. The design flaw was almost insulting in its simplicity, but she wasn’t going to complain as she ducked a grab for her neck and slashed between the shifting plates that made up the androids chest. It shuddered and fell, nearly crushing her in the process.
She didn’t know what body Skull was currently treating as his own, so she focused on the others, specifically Fidel. The healer didn’t appear to have any idea how to defend himself, or any particular reflexes to speak of. She might have acted like she didn’t care about her injuries, but she didn’t fancy them getting worse. She was a much better fighter at full strength, after all. So she dragged him along through the path she carved through the enemy ranks.
Meanwhile, the prisoner stared wide eyed at Skull, unbelieving. Even without him saying a word, his thoughts were clear. This is a trick. This is a trick. This is a trick.
I could have tried proving it to him - I could have jumped back into his body, jumped into another body or just brought up what had gone down only a minute or two before. But I didn't like lingering in the middle of a swarm of guards that were bound to notice me any minute, so I beat them to when it came to making my presence known.
I picked up the prisoner bridal style.
"Guess we're doing things the hard way, then," I said as nonchalantly as I could in my current monotone voice. I pushed past the guards and made my way to Kirux's side - who once again pointed his key at me.
"It's me again," I said. "Skull."
Relief washed over Kirux's face, and he went back to whacking the robots down. Pushing past more guards - though Kirux did the majority of the pushing - we made our way to Megara and Fidel.
The prisoner kicked and fought uselessly against Skull’s -literally- iron grip. His frailness made his fighting comically pointless until he swung his metal arm back to take a swing at Skull and backhanded one of the guards, denting its face.
Fidel stood as out of the way of Megara’s blade as he could manage. He didn’t imagine she would care much if she accidentally slashed his throat in the chaos. He was unaware, of course, that she was taking special care not to hit him, or to let anyone else near him, as she led the way back toward the stairs, then stood aside when Kirux came up beside her.
He wasn’t a terribly tactful fighter, but he didn’t have to be. That strange looking blade of his combined with his definitely supernatural strength made quick work of their robotic foes. Much quicker work than an unsupernatually powered individual like Megara could manage. So she let him take the lead, lowering herself, grudgingly, to body guard duty for Fidel and ensuring that none of those closing in from behind could get past her.
Kirux gave me - and my prisoner, since that was what he essentially was at this point - a worried, nervous glance as he moved ahead of Fidel and Megara. I lingered between them and him, hoping that the guy in my arms wouldn't try swinging his apparently overpowered fist at me.
"It's not what it looks like," I blurted, feeling the need to prove my moral integrity to Kirux. "This is a rescue, not a kidnapping - he might not have wanted me to take him, but I know I wouldn't want to be stuck down there with a bunch of robot guards."
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