Into The Tainted Waters

Infiltration

"Alright, everyone out let's go!" The pilot yells over the repulsorlift engine. The door slides open revealing desert landscape with the prison far in the background. We hurry out of the craft and watch it take off back to Alharis. "Let's get moving" Caoimhe says walking forwards to the prison. We all lag slightly behind, readying our nerves for what is to come. "Couldn't have landed us any further away?" Nate asks sarcastically. "Any closer and the artillery system in the prison would have shot us down" Caoimhe responds. "Oh my" Nate says jokingly.

About ten minutes later we reach a dune next to the prison. "Alright, how are we gonna get a guard over here?" I ask. Taylor stands up and looks at the ground a few yards away from the nearest patrol guard. The illusion of a man appears there, getting the attention of the guard. He points his rifle at the illusion and slowly approaches. He begins to yell something in Arabic, but Taylor makes the illusion back away on top of the dune. The guard follows until he reaches the top. He attempts to grab the illusion but falls through and down the dune to our feet. "Oh shit" He says in Arabic. Nate stabs him in the throat, ending his life.

"Alright Charlyse, work your magic" I tell her. Charlyse studies the guard and in the blink of an eye, she transforms her body to match his. "Do I look good" she says still using her voice. "Well, a bit feminine but who knows, maybe he was just like that" Nate chuckles. "Oh wait, this better" she says, with her voice changing mid sentence. "Better, now remember to only speak Arabic" I inform her. "Right" she confirms. "Taylor, can you run some interference with the other guards so I can get back into position" Charlyse asks Taylor. "Of course love" She responds. Taylor stands up and makes the illusion of several dogs near the other guards, forcing them to lose focus over here.

Charlyse quickly gets into the guards patrol line and watches to see when there's an opening. As we await the signal, Taylor injects a bit of medication. "You good?" I ask her. "Yeah, never better" she responds with a smile. Charlyse shines a piece of glass over to us, signalling that we can move onward. We race towards the prison wall, narrowly making it to the shadowed part. "Oh I hope the guards are stupid enough to remain facing outwards" Viktoria whispers. "According to the prison schematics, there is a hidden entrance somewhere along this wall" Caoimhe tells us "Everyone fan out".

We begin to scour the ground for any sign of a door. A few minutes pass by and nothing is found. "Dammit, was it this wall or another?" Caoimhe asks herself. "Shhh, there's a guard approaching" Nate beckons at us. At that moment, a guard rounds the corner and immediately raises his weapon at us. He picks up his radio to warn the rest of the prison but, Nate was faster with his dagger blinking. "Holy shit that was close" Taylor mutters. "Hey, I found something over here" Viktoria says quietly. We gather to her to find a trapdoor in the sand. "Alright, this is it, we ready" Caoimhe asks us. "Let's go" I say.

We signal Charlyse to follow us down the hatch. One after another we file down the door to come to the prison's generator room. "How funny do you think it would be to cut off all the power" Nate asks rhetorically. "No, we're only here for four people, we can't set the whole place loose" Taylor says to him. "Alright, guess that's a missed opportunity then" he says dejectedly. We walk through to the next room to find three guards playing a card game.

I motion my head to Nate and Viktoria to get into position. Nate then blinks his dagger into a guards head and blinks himself right on top of it. The other two guards raise their sidearms at him but Viktoria bursts water at them, knocking the weapons out of their hands. She then rushes in and slices one guard's head off while Nate slices the other's throat. "You guys work well together oddly" Caoimhe observes. "I mean, we practice a lot and stuff ya know" Nate says slightly in defense.

"Guys, we still don't know where we are going" Charlyse says. "Is there some sort of prison directory?" Taylor asks. "There should be, let's check the guards" Caoimhe replies. We search the guard's bodies and find a book of prisoner names. "Alright let's see here" Nate says holding the book. "There's a whole nother section of the prison labeled 'special holding cells', and it has the names of the people we are looking for" he says. "Where is it" I ask him. "Underground, so we're in luck right" he smiles.

"Well, there is only one other door in this room so, let's continue" I say making my way to the door. "So we might not even need my genius plan, great" Nate says quietly. I open the door to come to a rotunda with signs leading to each hall. "There it is" Viktoria says pointing at the 'special holding cells' sign. We walk down that hallway and come to a very wide room with cells implanted in the walls. Oddly there were no guards.

"Alright, fan out and search for our targets" Caoimhe orders. We go around the room, checking for the people we came here for. I come across a female with many tribal markings all over her. "Boudica?" I ask. "You here to kill me?" she responds in an accent I've never heard before. "No, no we're here to extract you" I tell her. "In that case yes, I am Boudica, now hurry up and release me" she barks. Viktoria comes across Nazameti singing to himself. "Mr. Nazameti?" She asks him. "Yes, that is me" he responds in a beautiful voice. "We are here to rescue you" she tells him. "The console in the middle controls our cells, as well as our collars that restrict our powers" he says tugging at the tight implement around his neck.

Taylor and Charlyse both come across John Tate. "Hey, you Tate?" Taylor asks him. "Do you have any idea who you are using that tone with" he says angrily. "I am inferno incarnate and I could destroy this entire place in seconds" he barks. "Then do it" Taylor tells him. He stays quiet. Caoimhe walks up to the cell containing our last target. "Wake up, it's time to go" she tells him. "Caoimhe, is that you? Well, I thought you would have been executed by the Council" he says standing up and walking to the bars. "Yeah well, i'm still here" she says. "Oh you do still remember me right" he says in a thick accent that I've never heard before. "Yes Kisen" she tells him with a scowl on his face. "Then you also remember not heading my warnings about Arkyn" he says coldly. "Yes I do" she responds. "You know, it's been awhile since I've had any food right" he says. "What are you say-" she says but is stopped by him Kisen grabbing onto her. "You will make an excellent meal!" He yells. I spring to action to save Caoimhe but, am I too late?