The ride up the elevator was slow and boring. Having to go up to Level C from what was apparently Level X, that was an entire 21 floors of waiting, and these levels were vast in order to hold larger than life prisoners as well. This prison really did hold everything, Calico Cat thought, from low level crooks with psychic powers to freaking Kaiju the size of Big Ben.
If she had known about this going in, she'd definitely have picked a different approach. But she had picked her bed, and now she had to lie in it. As the elevator started pulling closer to C-Level though she started to notice the vibes changing a bit in the air around her.
"Wow... this feels as cool as that walk-in freezer. Is it a heating malfunction?"
By the time Calico made it to C-Level, it certainly felt eerie. None of the prisoners were making any sounds as she passed by. Rather, they just stared at her blankly as if they were waiting for something to happen. The floor felt a bit slippery, but there didn't seem to be any water on the ground, much less a wet floor sign. Even the air seemed a bit odd, as a faint humming could be heard all around the level.
Slowly approaching the Frost Witch's cell, Calico broke off a frozen link from the end of the rack and raised it to the bars of the cage. It was only after she saw what was inside that she dropped the sausage on the ground.
There was nothing in there, except four different collars on the floor. The cell itself didn't appear damaged whatsoever, but there was frost lining the floors and walls of the cage. Touching the steel door to the side of the room, it unexpectedly slipped forth unlocked, feeling like it weighed nothing at all. That absolutely wasn't a good sign, as according to the website, the doors were supposed to be gravimetrically locked, raising it's weight to that of a neutron star when locked to ensure not even a god could get out.
But weighing like this? This door was either broken internally or unlocked, and neither was a good sign for her.
"Shit... Is someone else already instigating a jail break? Damn it, I need to get out of here before-"
*BWOOARP!*
A massive belch went out across the intercom, as the air started to become even more chilled down in C-Level. Midway between tearing off the chef's uniform so she could make a break for it, Calico Cat froze completely as she waited for whatever the hell was going on. The intercom was silent for an agonizing ten seconds after that burp, and the air was tense with suspense at what she was expecting next.
And then she heard the intercom start to speak out.
"Ugh, that was too much frosting... damn guards trying to keep me locked down. Now where's that damn- oh, my gut's already pushing it. Fuck it, look you know the drill. Power Surge finally got to the power supply of this damn place, and has depowered all the doors. It's all thanks to him that it's time for the big jail break. Remember, if you need those power-nullifying collars off the best thing to do is to get a key off the guards. And if you're not as- *bwoarp* seductive as I am, just slam them against the door."
"Good luck to all of you, and to those that escape I'll see you at the Lemon Lounge tonight!"
With the voice cutting out, the alarms blared twice before those too were shorted out. A crowd of criminals poured out from the cages, the entire building shaking from the tens of thousands of rogues breaking free all at once. Calico was pushed to and fro as these prisoners passed her by, her gut in pain as she was bruised all over.
C Level continued to get colder, and even with her winter uniform she was starting to feel like her skin was freezing in her bundles of wool. Regretting not keeping on that extra layer of clothing, she leaped high upward and bounced off the heads of various people, getting past the crowd of criminals as best as she could before a fight inevitably broke out between the guards and the criminals. One-sided or not, Calico didn't stay around, leaping off the rather tall head of a Criminal named "Moonflower" to grab onto the edge of a vent entrance close to the ceiling.
"Huff... huff... well this got out of hand quickly."
Pulling out her phone, she immediately called Multiplicity to see how it was going on her end.
"Sally, you there? Things have really gone to-"
"Is that what her name is?" That absolutely wasn't Sally's voice. Rather it kind of sounded like... Pendragon? Jet Boomerang? It was a male voice at least, so it narrowed out half of the Round Table at least. "She refused to give out any information about herself, but now that we got a name we can run a background search and put her behind bars. I don't know who-"
Hanging up almost immediately, Calico slammed against the floor. Now some hero was in the building? She did not have the time to break Sally out from some superpowered individual, not when she had to try to find Madame Clockwork amongst all this chaos. Besides, while Sally wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, she did have that drive in her to be free that she knew would let her break free... eventually.
Continuing to crawl through the vents, Calico kicked open a set of bars to open up access to the elevator shaft. Waiting for the elevator to get close, she climbed on top of the roof as it descended before slowly climbing up the side of the accessway with some suction cups she pulled out from a side pocket on her suit. Madame Clockwork was most likely on the floor above, as Levels C and below were labeled for criminals with powers capable of killing a person, while A and B were for those who's powers simply made them harder to catch.
"Of course you had to go to London..." Calico said, complaining to herself. "You had to listen to one of Sally's inane ideas, and find your way into the biggest prison break London has ever seen. Should've gone to that fucking art show in Japan instead. The heroes there only go after obviously monstrous criminals, not those who just have a fucking suit and athletic skills. Ugh... At least those of us without powers aren't gonna be noticed that easily.
By the time she made it to B Level, Calico climbed back into the vents before sliding out and rolling onto the floor. Here, it was only slightly warmer than what it was below. She could only assume that meant that Frost Witch had just gotten here, or that there were other ice-themed villains in this prison. Just as things were the floor below, there were prisoners fighting guards, but unlike down there the fighting was dying down due to the majority of the latter running further down rather than providing reinforcements.
Blending with the crowd of prisoners, Calico did her best to dodge all of the gunshots and kept her ears out for what these jailbreakers were saying. Unfortunately... they were all very unhelpful in what she was looking for.
"Come on, just a bit farther! And then we'll really be able to cause some chaos!"
"Hey, you thinking on taking that Frost Witch's offer? It's free food, even if it's from her."
"What? No! Have you seen that bitch? She'd probably eat everything at that table, that whale... Ugh, and she used to be so thin and beautiful when she first came in here. What could have changed?"
Cringing at the misogyny and body-shaming that she was overhearing, Calico's eyes turned away from the crowd and towards looking at the cells. Almost all of the doors here were swung wide open, so it was quick to rule out where she wasn't. The moment she saw a opened door, she broke through the crowd and made a mad dash for the cell.
Unfortunately, it wasn't who she was looking for. Just some slumbering Atlantean man who missed the memo on the jailbreak. Right as she was about to turn away however, she felt a poke on her back.
"You were hoping it was me, weren't you?"
Slowly turning around, Calico took a few steps back as she saw Madame Clockwork in the flesh. Still wearing the collar that was locking her telepathy, she looked... a tiny bit wider than in the pictures? She didn't exactly have a potbelly yet, but the definition on her abs were definitely gone. And her hips jutted out a bit wider.
"I... I came to try to break you out." Calico admitted, leaning against the bars. "Me and my friend... we thought- well, you can probably put it together."
"We? You had someone else help you get in here? Hmph, I suppose I'll find out later. Decided to challenge myself you see..." Pointing to the collar, Madame Clockwork smiled a bit. "I've never had time where I couldn't see into the future, so I wanted to see how far I could get before I needed it again."
"Uh... does this happen often?"
"Oh absolutely. These prison breaks happen once every three to four months. Usually half of them are subdued, but I don't intend to be one of those people. Now, follow. I wouldn't want someone who thought they could save me get caught. Not when they can make a useful pawn.
Without a word, Calico Cat took to following her. With the alarms starting to sound once more, it was clear that they were running out of time. They needed to get out, and get out fast before someone from the Round Table managed to corner them. At the very least, there was one edge Calico Cat had over the more experienced villain.
Namely, she was better at getting them out of sight.
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