Angel stared up at the power lines hanging far above them. He glanced back down at the gate, making sure they were out of their line of sight before aiming his palm about halfway up the wall and firing the grappling hook.

It whizzed through the air and thunked into stone. He gave it a sharp tug, then started to scale the wall. When he reached the point his hook had struck, he dug his fingers into the stone around the barb before retracting it.

Swapping his grip to his free hand, Angel aimed up at the ceiling and fired the hook one more time. He clambered up the rest of the way, then switched hands once more and called on the Star Fragment.

A faint crackle of purple lightning arced off his arm, twirling past his fingers and into the power line. There was a sharp pop and a rush of energy flooded through his body. Steam hissed from his arm and the energy faded just seconds before every light in the tunnel blinked out.

Angel rappelled as far as his line would let him – about halfway – then dropped to the ground the rest of the way, letting his magically strengthened muscles absorb the fall. He grunted as pain flashed through his legs, but the damage was so minor that it was already starting to heal by the time he stood.

“Good job,” Silver whispered. “How long do we have?”

“I don’t know,” Angel replied. “But we probably shouldn’t stick around and wait to find out. They’re going to want to figure out what happened.”

“Just stick to the righthand wall and move until we’re at the wall,” Lilian instructed from somewhere off to his side. Angel nodded, then realized she couldn’t see him and whispered his agreement.

He found the wall with his hand and crept forward, staying as silent as possible. A few conversations broke darkness from the wall above them, giving him an approximate location of how far they were.

It took a few minutes to reach the wall. Angel bumped into Lilian and Silver bumped into him a moment later. They didn’t need to say anything – nor did they dare risk it. A slight clatter was all Angel heard as Lilian started up the wall.

He waited a few seconds to give her some room, then dug his hands into the stone to their side and started to climb. By bracing his feet against the wall, he managed to essentially walk up the wall without even damaging it.

Lilian’s hand found him in the darkness, pulling him over the wall’s edge before he could mistakenly miss it and fall. They both waited for Silver, pulling him over when he reached the top, and continued creeping along the top of the battlement.

The power lines Angel had cut clearly powered more than just the lamps in the tunnel. It was pitch black all the way up until a large gate in the distance that was lit by two large torches.

He didn’t risk saying anything. None of them knew how far they were from any Reawakening members, and accidentally alerting Mind that the power failure had been an assault rather than a mistake was the last thing he wanted to do.

They all crept along the edge of the wall. Lilian stopped Angel, then nudged him with her foot. Angel scooted forward until he felt the edge of the wall. He knelt, grabbing it and finding purchase in the stone before starting to descend.

He reached the bottom of the wall, then moved to make room for the others while sweeping the area with his foot to make sure he didn’t accidentally fall off something. While Angel was pretty sure he was at the base of the wall, he wasn’t about to bet on it.

Lilian and Silver both got down shortly after he did, and they continued toward the torchlight. They passed by the sound of several angry guards complaining about the power, but the darkness in the cave was so absolute that they weren’t spotted.

“I think we’ve left them behind,” Silver said in a low whisper once they’d gotten close enough to the torches to regain the faintest amount of visibility. Angel could just barely make his hand out if he held it right in front of his nose.

“And now we need to figure out how to get through the gate,” Angel said. The gate in question was built into the stone wall of the cave, and he was willing to bet it led right into the prison. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any way to get inside without passing through it.

“I don’t see any guards outside, but they could be inside somewhere,” Silver muttered. “We need to get someone inside and check.”

“Then it’s my turn,” Lilian said. Her body rippled, shifting into a perfect replica of the Reawakening guards. With her stolen mask, the only part that didn’t fit about her was her clothes.

Luckily, it didn’t look the Reawakening had a strict dress code. Lilian’s traveling leathers were more than close enough to what they wore so they could just come off as tight and badly fitted.

“I’ll find a way to clear the path if I can,” Lilian said. “If it doesn’t seem reasonable, I’ll head back out and we’ll have to escape before the lights come back.”

Angel and Silver ducked behind a pitifully small stone outcropping that did little to actually block them from sight. It would have been useless without the dim lighting. Lilian strode up to the gate and pulled it open confidently.

She headed inside, closing it behind her. Almost an hour passed, leaving Angel nothing to do but twiddle his thumbs. He alternated between glancing back at the sheer darkness behind them and straining his ears for any traces of noise.

A subtle click caught his ear and the door swung open. Angel exchanged a glance with Silver. They both slipped out from the cover of the rock and walked over to the door, pulling their masks on as they went. Neither of them looked like a Reawakening clone, but the masks would buy a second or two.

Behind it was a small room with a dozen cabinets and a hallway leading deeper into the mountain. Lilian stood at the side of the room, beside a cabinet that hung slightly askew. The tip of a boot poked out from within it.

Lilian pushed the cabinet shut with her heel, then jerked her chin toward the hall. Angel and Silver followed after her, passing closed doors and sparse halls with only one or two guards seated at massive tables meant to hold an entire garrison.

“Where is everyone?” Silver whispered. “This is some of the worst security I’ve seen in my life.”

“Maybe they’ve all simultaneously gone on vacation,” Angel suggested.

Lilian turned back to look at them, and Angel got the sense she was glaring behind her mask. They fell silent and continued the rest of the walk in silence. The air grew damp and heavy with the smell of mold as they descended deeper into the mountain.

Faint torches lined the halls, but the majority of them had burned through and blackened. They turned into a small room and Lilian pulled the door shut behind them.

“It looks like the prison is just beyond this hall,” Lilian said. “I didn’t want to go any farther in case the lights behind us went on while you were caught under them. Have you considered just how we’re going to get out of here?”

“We’ll wing that, I think,” Angel decided. “There’s sure to be another exit somewhere, and it doesn’t look like there are even that many guards here in the first place. Did you find anything about that?”

“Most of the guards are scattered around the city,” Lilian said. “I got one of the guards to take me to the control room – he’s the one I left in the cabinet, so he won’t be telling anyone. The rebellion is putting a lot of pressure on them, so they have to constantly patrol key points like the guns and mansion to keep the rebellion from gaining too much.”

“That’s good news. The prison might not be too heavily guarded, then,” Angel said. “So all we have to do is break in, figure out where our target is, free him, and then escape without getting recognized. Easy.”

“Yeah. Easy,” Silver said, not sounding too convinced. He rubbed his head. “You think they’ve got a hat somewhere? I’m in need of a new one.”