They slipped back out of the room and continued through the hall. There were a few side tunnels branching off to other areas of the mountain, but they stayed on the main path. It slowly expanded, depositing them on a small plateau a few minutes later. A large bridge held aloft by metal beams spanned a cavern and led up to an iron gate built into a sheer wall.

Small barred windows covered the wall in orderly rows, but there didn’t seem to be any guards in the area. There wasn’t much in the way of anything to hide behind, so the three ducked back into the hall.

“Looks like a clear shot to the prison,” Silver said. “Now we just have to find some bald, tan skinned guy called Jonas.”

“You appear to have skipped the part where we actually get inside,” Angel said. “We’ll have to cross a fair bit of open land, and anyone looking down at us from the prison would see us.”

“I don’t see any guard posts up there,” Lilian said. “But Angel is right. We don’t have a good way to sneak past the bridge. One person taking a glance out would spell the end for any stealth. Angel is just too easily recognizable with his arm.”

“We could take the lights out again,” Silver suggested. “But that might be a bit obvious as well. I can’t imagine they suffer complete blackouts too often, so some of them might start thinking.”

“I’ll go in myself,” Lilian decided. “There’s no other way we can breach that wall without giving ourselves away. You two should stay here and try to figure out a way for us to escape. I’ll keep an eye out for one on the other side of the prison if we have no choice, but it should be a last resort.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Angel said with a frown. “If something goes wrong, you’ll be on your own. We’ll be too far to help.”

“I can handle myself,” Lilian said. “I’ve been infiltrating groups for hundreds of years without getting detected. The Reawakening will be no exception.”

Angel nodded reluctantly.

“While you’re there, keep an eye out for a hat,” Silver said.

Lilian let out a small snort of laughter. “No promises. I’ll be back in an hour or two, either with Jonas or a horde of guards on my heels. I’ll meet you in the room that we hid in a few minutes ago.”

She headed back out of the tunnel and toward the entrance of the prison, leaving Angel and Silver watching her.

“So, escape plan,” Silver said, rubbing his hands together. “Kind of hard to set one of those up when you can’t explore the area. What do you say we find a few unlucky guards, off them, and steal their clothes? There’s no uniform, but they still dress pretty similar.”

“There’s no way that would work,” Angel said. He thought about it for a moment, then rubbed his forehead. “Okay, it probably honestly would. The guards are completely incompetent. But that’s not going to get us all the way out. Guards aren’t just roaming around randomly, so someone might stop us.”

“There should be some sort of vehicle somewhere around here,” Silver said. “The tunnel was certainly large enough for them. What if we steal uniforms, then run into one of those and make off with it. They won’t be able to see our faces if we play it right.”

“That could work,” Angel said with a slow nod. “We’ll have to kill an extra guard for Jonas, but it’s the better than anything I can think of right now. If we play it right, it’ll just look like the rebellion attacked. But now we need to figure out where to get a vehicle.”

“I need to figure out where we’ll get a vehicle,” Silver corrected, adjusting the Reawakening mask on his face. “You’re good in a fight and for utility, but you aren’t going to pass off as a Reawakening member if we run into someone while I’m exploring.”

Angel pressed his lips together. “Damn it, I know. But what if you get caught?”

“You’ll hear a lot of screaming,” Silver said. “These worthless fools won’t take me down easily, so you’ll have more than enough time to figure out where I am. While I’m looking around, you should just hide out in the room and see if any guards are unlucky enough to walk into it. I’ll avoid killing anyone for as long as possible to avoid setting them on alert. Hopefully they don’t find those first few blokes in the cabinet and guardhouse.”

Angel grunted in agreement. “Be careful. I’ll be waiting in the room for two hours at the most. Then I’m coming after you and Lilian.”

They slipped back into the hall. Angel headed back for the original room they’d hid in while Silver broke off, walking down a side tunnel. He kept his body at an angle to try and hide his metal arm from any initial glances.

No guards stood in his way on the way back, and he was able to reach the room without any confrontations. Angel pulled the door shut behind him and let out a relieved breath. He then took up position behind the door and settled down to wait.

Time dragged by agonizingly slowly. Angel was tempted to throw the door open and go find a few guards just so he had something to do. Instead, he remained in position, counting down the seconds in his head as he waited for something to happen.

A little over an hour had passed and Angel was an inch from pacing around the room when the doorknob rattled. He stiffened, taking a step back and raising his hand. The door swung open and a man walked in.

He closed the door behind him with a click and started to turn. Angel’s metal fist crashed into his face with a sickening crunch and the man spun, dead before he could register the Seeker’s presence.

Angel caught the guard and dragged him to the far corner of the room. He stripped him of his clothes and pulled them on. The pants were too tight and his arm looked incredibly bulky under the shirt, but it was still better than what he’d had before. With the mask added in, he figured it might fool someone from far away.

Another guard entered the room half an hour later. He met the same fate as his predecessor and joined him on the pile in the room’s corner. Angel was midway through pulling the clothes off the man when the door opened once more.

He spun, raising his hand, but stopped before he accidentally blasted Silver into the next life. The bandit had returned with a new, triangular hat perched atop his head.

“Jumpy, are we?” Silver asked, closing the door behind him. He’d already changed into a Reawakening garb and it fit him even worse than it fit Angel.

“You look like you’re about to apply for a job at a shady bar that serves lonely noblewomen,” Angel said.

“It’s not my fault all of these morons have horrible fashion sense,” Silve replied. “At least there was a hat lying around. Unfortunately, it’s small and pretty pathetic. I’ll need to find a better one soon.”

“Was it really just lying around?”

“Well, it might have been on someone’s head when I first spotted it,” Silver admitted. “But he also happened to be wearing some clothes that I needed, so I got what some would refer to as a two for one deal.”

“Congratulations,” Angel said dryly. “I’m sure this hat will last at least a few hours before you blow it up. Did you find any vehicles?”

“A whole hangar,” Silver confirmed. “All in the place we blacked out. Their power is back, by the way. I didn’t get too deep into it, but I did lift the keys to a tank. I’ve never driven one before, but it can’t be worse than a chopper. It’s about a ten minute walk from here if you don’t get lost looking for a hat.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to control ourselves. Are there a lot of guards in the way?”

“A few, but not enough to cause any real difficulty. We can just walk past most of them and then hightail it if things go south. I found a tunnel that leads right over to the gate so we don’t have to go overground, so that’ll make things easier.”

“Then all we’ve got left to do is wait for Lilian and hope that things go well on her end.”