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

The young men and their mysterious guide huddled in what little shelter the parked trucks provided them for what felt like an eternity, trying to rebuild their collective stamina as best they could. Now more than ever Barney counted his blessings that these pit-faced prison guards seemed pretty lacking in the perception department. Maybe it was the lack of eyes? Whenever one walked by the spot where he, Dakota, Nick, Caelum, Vincent, and Spindle were hiding he held his breath, but not once did a sentry turn its yawning cavity his way. If they were real people the would-be escapees would have been caught long ago, no doubt about it. Still, he couldn’t count himself too fortunate until he and the others were finally out of this despicable place. [i]If only[/i], he thought, [i]there was a clear way forward[/i].

After a few minutes, a hushed whisper from Spindle broke the tense silence that had settled over the group like a weighted blanket. “Odradek’s tellin’ me we got non-Shadows nearby!” she told them, trying not to sound too excited. Despite her efforts to keep her cool, however, her hope shone bright on her features. “Comin’ up from underground, right over there!”

She directed her new acquaintances’ attention across the dirt road to the south, which looped in a parabolic arc to the southeast to serve as the dividing line between the jailhouses and the Proving Grounds on the prison’s right side. Her extended finger pointed out a cleared section of land that appeared to be in the preliminary stages of construction, so early in the process that little was done beyond some digging and laying of foundations. Those who could get a line of sight watched until a set of hands broke through the loose soil, then a second, until enough ground had been shifted to allow a familiar trio to pry themselves free from the clutches of the earth. Barney’s eyes went wide as a big smile sprang to his bearded face unbidden. “It’s them!” he whispered, for though they were bruised and bloody, scoured by claw marks and scraped by stone, dirtied and disquieted, he recognized Alina, Jin, and Harriette–the people that he feared had been lost, found. Even better, he realized from the military-style clothes that Harriette now wore that she must have undergone an awakening of her own.

Filled with elation, he turned to the others. “They made it, God bless! We’re all gonna make it!” When he glanced at Spindle he found her smiling despite herself, but the police girl put a finger to her lips. “Shush, shush! Hold yer horses, don’t give us away! Lemme I’ll handle this.” Moving with deliberate slowness, she held her hand out beneath the truck. A flicker of blue flame brought forth her persona Odradek on the ground, and after a moment it sent one of its threads out like a snake. It slithered across the open ground to where the underground trio kept a low profile among construction materials and waved to get their attention. From there, the simple act of following it with their gaze would be enough to bring their eyes to where the others hid.

Spindle’s voice reached Harriete, Jin, and Alina through the thread. “Howdy, folks!” she whispered. “My name’s Spindle, and I’ve come to help get y’all outta this here prison. Now listen up, ‘cause I jus’ had a finger-lickin’ good idea. There ain’t a fart’s chance in the wind we get out either by force or by runnin’, but I reckon we can make the river do the work for us.” The police girl glanced between her compatriots to make sure they were listening, too. “It flows from the waterfall, right? Gotta lead somewhere, an’ anywhere’s better’n here. Fallin’ don’t hurt none in the Metaverse, so if we jump in before any o’ them guards grab us we’ll be sittin’ pretty. Whaddya say?”

The two groups did not, unfortunately, get long to mull the idea over. A sudden rumbling from underground cut the conversation short, and just a moment later the earth itself erupted a few hundred feet away from the construction site. A cloud of dust flew into the air alongside chunks of dirt and stone, all thrown up by a massive geyser pitch-black curse energy wreathed in red. Then a woman’s resounding voice, amplified and slightly warped, echoed throughout the prison from the rupture. [b]”HARRIEEEEEEEEEEEETTE!”[/b] Like clockwork, Pondwater's splendorous golden beacon locked on to the disturbance from the courthouse, its gaze more baleful than ever. [b]”Where are you, sweet-thing?”[/b] the woman’s voice continued without pause. As the rubble and darkness cleared away, they revealed a beautiful horned woman in glamorous decoration and attire, dreadfully familiar to the few who only just escaped her. Around her gathered a number of vicious-looking imps, as well as a handful of [url=https://i.imgur.com/aJzdt2k.png]bizarre starfish[/url] whose sea-blue peepers swept the premises. [b]”I just want to talk~”[/b]

[b]”Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, your Deploriousness!”[/b] The voice of Pondwater boomed, thick with distortion. As his eyelight narrowed, guards from all around dropped whatever they were doing and began to converge on the unwelcome guests. [b]”Crawl back into your hole. The inmates are aaaall MINE!”[/b]

Fighting broke out instantly, and with it came a wave of chaos, sweeping over the entire Prison of Indictment. A sudden burst of white light drew Barney’s attention back in the direction he came, and he looked in time to see a handful of guards thrown like ragdolls away from the door to the nearest jailhouse. Now that he got a good look at the building’s front it struck him as rather odd, sporting a whole lot of sandstone and oddly archaic decor, from beast-headed statues to carved glyphs. From its door stalked a [url=https://i.imgur.com/eeZvYg5.png]young woman[/url] in black and gold, strutting beneath a halo of radiant light. Unlike before, however, he knew this girl, though act of recognition led straight to bewilderment. [i]”Kirsty!?”[/i] he exclaimed, taken aback.

Spindle whistled, her brows raised over eyes wide with fear. “Whoo-wee! All the Warlords’re comin’ out to play!” She stood up, prompting the others to do the same. “Bout time we made a run for it. C’mon!”

She set off at a sprint for the canyon as fast as her build allowed, leaving it up for Barney, Vincent, Caelum, Jin, Harrietee, Dakota, Alina, Nick, and Lorenzo to follow. Without even a hint of stopping she ran straight off the cliff’s edge, summoning Odradek like a glider over her to slow her fall. Barney shot past her, yelling and flailing the whole way down, until he hit the rapids with a mighty splash. A moment later he bobbed to the surface, holding onto his hat, and when the current picked him up he practically flew downstream.