Haven Uprising

I Make Friends In A Fucking Prison

It looked like a school canteen from the dark ages.
I'd never seen a prison cafeteria before, but I really didn't like it.
Everything was grey.
The walls were grey, the rough concrete floor, the tables, the dome-like celing and even the food.
Like, I wasn't eating that shit.

I sat at a pretty empty table in a corner, Tia on my other side shielding me from everyone.
Every single person there looked young, and bore the remnants of what looked like a pride outfit.
There were an odd few who didn't and just wore normal clothes.
How many people had the syndicate taken?

Soldiers guarded the exits into other parts which, from the outside, looked like hospital rooms. Not wards, just small, cramped rooms where you talked to evil doctors who made you feel helpless to avoid what they were going to do to you.

"Autumn you okay?"Tia asked, snapping me out of thinking.
"Not really,"I replied,"We're stuck in a prison with a transphobic homophobic dictator without out powers and we have no idea how we're going to get out."
I didn't say that it was my fault. It was and I knew it, but if I said it aloud, she'd disagree.
Tia nodded,"It is pretty depressing."

Someone sat down on the other side of the table, opposite Tia.
They looked small- really small like they couldn't be much older than thirteen. They had pink hair and light skin with a few odd freckles dotted across their cheeks. They had a build similar to mine, but wore the tattered remnants of what looked like they'd been a vest, pink hoodie and pink shorts. She really had a thing for pink.

"Hey. You guys look new,"she greeted.
"Hi, and well I guess we kinda are,"Tia replied,"How old are you?"
"Thirteen and a bit,"They replied,"I'm Ellie and I could kinda need some friends around here."
"Celestia,"Tia replied,"And sure, if you want to? Pronouns?"
"She or they; I don't really mind."
"Okay cool, me too."

"What about them?"Ellie asked, gesturing vaguely at me leaning on Tia's arm.
"I'm Autumn,"I replied,"I use she pronouns too."
"We're girlfriends,"Tia clarified.
"Awww,"Ellie responded,"You're really cute together."

And that made things awkward.
"So how did you get here?"Tia asked,"I mean it's not often you find a thirteen year old in prison."
"Oh there was this really complicated thing where they tried to arrest a lot of people for no reason,"Ellie began, waving her hands around in description,"So I released everyone I could then someone hit me in the face with this massive cannon and I woke up here."
"That's pretty brave,"I complimented quietly,"How did you even manage to do that?"
"Well I had my powers at the time and I may have killed a few people but... Y'know,"She pulled her hair back, showing the plastic thing on her neck.
"Just out of curiosity what were your powers?"Tia asked.
"Oh I could turn into this demon thing,"She replied nonchalantly.
Which was pretty big. Like a Demon-demon? With horns?
"You killed people?"I asked, the faintest ember of anger glowing.
"They're part of the syndicate, they had it coming,"She shot back smiling.
"Maybe so but that's not for you to decide,"Tia added, and I was thankful that she'd agreed with me here.
Ellie dropped her tone to barely more than a whisper, the anger clear on her face,"One of them tried to rape me. What would you do then?"
They WHAT

I saw Tia's eyes widen in horror, before she went quiet.
"Then they deserved it,"I responded,"But most of the other soldiers were just following orders."
Ellie nodded.

"That's still terrible though,"Tia remarked,"I mean for a thirteen year old to almost-"
"I know,"Ellie growled back,"I was there."

We were interrupted by someone more familiar arriving.
"I'm sorry you had to endure Nicol,"They apologized quietly, sitting in front of me,"He's just kind of got worse recently."
It was the person from the room in the beginning, that mad science asshole had yelled at for no reason. Pinkamena was their name right? And finally I could see that her hair was actually blue.
How close they were to me kind of freaked me out, but Tia squeezed me lightly, kissing me on the forehead. I was really glad that she was here. Not in prison, just... With me.

"Don't you work for Vindicator or whatever their name is?"Ellie asked, glancing down at Pinkamena's pretty obvious clothing. They wore all black, with a syndicate symbol on the front.
"Kind of,"They replied, kind of embarrassed. Oddly enough I seemed to trust them. At least more than I would if they were being openly mean,"I'm Pinkamena but you can call me Pinkie and I use she and her pronouns."
"Like the horse from my little pony?"Tia asked.
"Says the person named after princess Celestia,"I retorted, laughing.
"We'll excuse me, its not my fault my dads were bronies,"Tia giggled back.

"So Pinkie,"Ellie began, a small smile on her face,"Why should we trust you?"
"Because the Syndicate is mean, they just beat up everyone who disagrees with them,"She replied, looking a lot less happy now,"The only reason I got into this in the first place is because I was with Nicol at the time, but then he started being mean too, so I don't really like him any more."
"That's a good reason,"Tia assured her.
"I think I just keep liking the wrong people,"Pinkie continued,"I'm a terrible judge of character."
"Mood,"Ellie agreed,"A lot of my friends are pretty questionable people, like you should see the amount of fetishists... I mean its not like I'm innocent either though-"
"What have you done that could  be on that level of questionability?"Tia asked her, wearing a confused smile.
Ellie's face flushed a bit,"I may slightly own a few sex toys bu-"
"Anyway,"I interrupted, Ellie looking grateful,"Pinkie do you know about these?"I showed the plastic neck thing.
"Oh!"She exclaimed,"Yeah, I picked up this weird glove off the floor and figured out that it stops people's powers from working, so I gave it in and Vindicator said I did great. Then they made these, which do something similar, and like I don't know how?"
"Wait you found the glove?"Tia asked, surprised.
Pinkie nodded,"Although they put one of them on me too. I don't know why,"She replied, wiping her eyes,"This is all my fault."
"Hey, no it's not,"I assured her,"We know this is Vindicator's fault. All of this, right?"
Everyone around me nodded in agreement.
"Can I ask something weird?"Pinkie asked abruptly.
"Go ahead,"Ellie confirmed.
"If any of you end up being able to escape can you take me with you?"
"Okay,"Tia returned,"I mean if. If we can save everyone else."
I nodded.
"Thank you!!"Pinkie responded, in a way that reminded me of an anime.

Then, it seemed like everything was going to be okay.
Like we'd all escape together, and me and Tia would be able to hug and kiss in private again.
Like this could all be over soon.

And then the soldiers came and ruined all of that.