[center][h3]Barney Rynsburger[/h3][/center]

The moment that Spindle managed the capture Nick's shadow, the whole thing was a wrap. Everyone with even an ounce of strength to spare joined the assault to lay the hurting down, and none more so than Lorenzo. Despite his complaints about insufficient weaponry, the punkish stranger who sprinted in out of the blue smacked the monster silly with that pipe of his, fighting like he had something to prove. Barney didn't look that gift horse in the mouth, though; with his and Dakota's energy depleted, they needed every strong hand they could get. Besides, if it turned out that the guy spent any more time in this cognitive hellscape than his group, a profound need to vent some pent-up aggression seemed rather understandable.

If Lorenzo expected to actually take this abomination down, however, he was mistaken. Whether through reflection on his own awakening or just solid intuition, Barney knew that nobody's efforts mattered in this confrontation quite so much as Nick's. If Spindle's rushed explanations were to be believed, after all, this was [i]his[/i] dark side. The shadow within his own heart, locked up and away from the outside world. Its questions were Nick's to answer, it challenges were his to overcome, and its existence was his to destroy. This thing, he'd realized, seemed to everything wrong with himself, the personfication of the hatred and disgust and anguish deep within, and it needed to go. The young man had already manifested new equipment, the warlike clothes and weaponry that seemingly symbolizes his will to fight, and now, with extreme prejudice, Nick went all the way. With his warhammer he caved in his shadow's cranium in an explosive burst of sticky, chunky tar.

As the remains of its head splattered across the walls of Nick's house, the shadow collapsed in on itself. It sagged and melted like a giant gummy bear left too long in the sun, a defeated and shapeless mass. As it wallowed downward Barney could see Nick behind it, although what exactly the other guy held in his hand, Barney couldn't quite tell. Either way, he could only watch as his new acquaintance crushed the object in his fist. Blue flames swirled outward, washing over Nick before flaring up behind him in a geyser of brilliant light. When it faded, Barney saw nothing at first, but realized after a moment that something stood behind Nick after all--something [i]enormous[/i]. Its features and details eluded him completely, other than its poncho and hat, which left the elongated entity so unsettlingly obscure that an inadvertent shiver went down Barney's spine. It seemed more like an actual vengeful spirit than either of the more animalistic Persona's he'd seen so far, but when Nick gave his command, the Dark Watcher complied. It pulverized the remnants of Nick's shadow with a single, unceremonious blow, then disappeared. With it went the barrier of accursed energy all around the makeshift battlefield, leaving the junkyard of lost property worse for wear but finally at peace.

Barney and Dakota moved together to help Nick up, one Persona user under each of their new comrade's arms. "Tell me about it. This stuff takes a lot outta you," the bearded cleric groaned, his own fatigue only worsened by the brief but furious encounter. Nevertheless, he managed to put on a reassuring smile as he clapped a hand on Nick's shoulder. "That aside, you did it, man! Beat the hell outta that freaky thing and got your own Persona. You're one of us now." Saying it like he represented some long-standing, reputable organization was a bit disingenuous, since the Persona-wielding coalition of Rhett & Rynsburger only came into being a few minutes ago, but to Barney it still felt like he'd gained a new brother in arms. Sure, this guy might technically be a stranger to him, but misery makes strange bedfellows, and what they'd already been through seemed like more than enough to plant the seed of a beautiful friendship forged in fire. After going through his own awakening, and hearing snippets of the conflict inherent to Nick's, it sounded like both could use a friend right now.

When a blue glow caught his eye, Barney turned to see Spindle sitting on an overturned wardrobe nearby, arms crossed and a look of approval on her smiling face. "Nice job, fellas! That's one more Persona in the books. Every one y'all get makes it that much more likely you're gettin' outta here in one piece." The police girl turned her attention to Lorenzo, the man of mystery who'd crashed the party at the perfect time. "Howdy! Wasn't tryin' to forget about you or nothin'. Call me Spindle. I reckon you fell through the cracks sometime earlier, huh? Well, I'll be darned. Musta taken a whole lotta gumption to get around by yourself. Still, you oughta buddy up with us for now. More the merrier, right?"

Although Lorenzo's arrival served to further stuff Barney's head with questions, he figured that they could get to the bottom of the situation later. Right now, they had more practical concerns. "More company's great and all, but we're still not out of the woods yet. Do you know where we need to go, Miss Spindle?"

The police girl nodded. "Uh huh. The entrance to the prison. It ain't so well guarded, so as long as we mosey right along the walls, we might be able to slip past." She pointed north through the junkyard, where its miscellaneous heaps thinned and finally came to a stop against another length of chain-link fence. "I'm gonna stay low with y'all so the guard towers don't spot me. Once you got your breath, let's get a move on."

In short order the seven set off along Spindle's prescribed path. With all of them tired from all the action that the Prison of Indictment put them through and three exhausted by their awakenings to boot, they moved slowly and cautiously. Barney could walk well enough by pacing himself and didn't think that reaching the jail's entrance would be an issue, but any run-ins with guards could spell disaster for the group. None of those who met Pondwater face to face could forget the others who disappeared during or after the mad dash through the Proving Grounds, either. Even for their eye in the sky there had been no further sightings of Alina, Harriette, Jin, or Mila. Barney wanted to believe that they could make it on their own, especially after finding out Lorenzo apparently did just that, but this 'cognitive world' was honestly ridiculous. If not for a whole lot of help and a serious streak of luck, he probably wouldn't be around, either. Still, whatever the odds might be, Barney kept an eye out for any sign of the four whenever he scanned his surroundings for guards.

After a good while and a couple close calls, Barney, Dakota, Nick, Caelum, Vincent, Lorenzo, and Spindle reached the prison entrance. Throughout the journey Barney had wondered why exactly the police girl would conclude that their best chance of escape lay at what was probably the prison's most-guarded area, but seeing it for himself explained a lot. Instead of a rode with gates, the great walls bordered a large chasm in the ground, its sheer walls extending a good fifty feet downward to the surface of the river in its depths. As the canyon went further into the prison it got shallower, creating a multi-tiered series of rapids and low waterfalls that spilled outward from an immense reflecting pool at ground level, which appeared to go all the way to the dreadful courthouse in the place's center. The whole spectacle confused Barney until his stealthy procession got closer, nearing the guard booth on the near side of the chasm. Then, a fresh wave of despicable symbolism became clear to him. A bridge crossed the reflecting pool right at the edge of the first waterfall, and a number of shadows crouched atop it, twice as large as any seen so far and wielding huge, shiny fishing rods. Dressed to the nines in flashy, formal attire and wearing big, toothy smiles on their otherwise featureless black faces, the creatures baited their hooks with certificates and degrees before casting their lures into the water below. When Barney looked down, he saw people down in the water, seemingly normal except for the belts, chains, and other such restraints that bound them, forcing them to twist their bodies to swim in a sickeningly fishlike fashion. As Barney looked on, aghast, the people attempted to launch themselves upstream in order to get at the shadows' bait, and the moment any of them happened to grab onto a hook, the shadow whisked the victim up out of the river and into a waiting cage the size of a cargo container to flop and squirm among the rest of its catch.

"Eugh." Barney shudder, trying to shut out the appalling scene on the basis of it not being real. He and the others had taken refuge behind a couple parked vehicles not too far from either the chasm edge or the guard booth, but a couple sentries stood in their way both in and outside the checkpoint. Many more hung around the chasm railing, spectators who would come running at the first sign of trouble. Even if it was neither intended nor expected that prisoners would pass this way, security remained tighter than anyone would have liked. "What now?" he asked. "Are we gonna try to sneak through 'em? Distract 'em? What about the others? They're still in here somewhere. We can't just leave 'em, right?"

Spindle's face betrayed her uncertainty. "...I know," she murmured, pointedly keeping her voice down. "I don't wanna leave 'em, but we ain't exactly fit to scour the place. I wanna say just hunker down here for a bit while I fly up to try an' find 'em, but if we get caught, our goose is cooked." She tried to take stock of all the guards watching the fishing jamboree, but only managed to come up with 'too many to count'. Her Odradek could disable a couple enemies, but based on her testimony couldn't do much against a horde of the things, and the other Persona users couldn't fight right now either. Barney took deep breaths, trying to think of something. This was quite the pickle.