They didn’t have to wait long to find out. A few minutes after Silver got back, the door creaked open. A hand poked into it, giving them a thumbs up before a Reawakening member stepped inside followed by a veritable giant of a man. He had heavy bags under his eyes and wore tattered rags.

“I found him,” the Reawakening member who could have only been Lilian said. She’d ditched her leather clothes for her own uniform, so there was no real way to know for sure aside from the fact that she had Jonas in her wake.

“You know, your power is pretty terrifying,” Silver said. “You barely ever use it, but it’s hard reminding my brain that you’re Lilian when you look, sound, and smell like one of these idiot guards.”

“I’d be happy to discuss how scary I am later,” Lilian said. “The prison break wasn’t as clean as I would have liked. There wasn’t a lot of noise, but it won’t be long until they find the trail of corpses we left in our wake.”

“Unnoticed, I hope?” Angel asked, grabbing a set of clothes and tossing it to Jonas.

“Nobody saw me, that’s for sure,” Lilian said. “Mind should still be in the dark.

The huge man raised an eyebrow and waved the outfit around like a flag.

“I’m not going to fit into this,” he rumbled.

“Maybe we can convince the other guards that you’re a new experiment. They’re better than rags.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Jonas said, but he pulled the clothes on regardless. Several pops rang out as buttons popped off the shirt and waistband of his pants. They all pointedly ignored it.

The shirt barely went a quarter of the way down his chest, and his pants were so short that they weren’t much better than underwear.

“Maybe you can flex your pecs and blind them all for a few moments,” Silver suggested with a smirk, pulling the door open and glancing around before heading out into the hallway.

Jonas’ lip curled, but Angel couldn’t tell if it was amusement or annoyance. They all followed after Silver, moving swiftly but quietly. Angel positioned himself behind Jonas, hoping the man might block him from view if any Reawakening members happened to stumble across them.

Silver turned a corner. There was a garbled gasp followed by a thud as a guard crumpled to the ground.

“Hurry now,” Silver said. “We might want to start picking up the pace. We’re about halfway to the hangar.”

They increased their pace, breaking into a jog. Another unlucky guard stepped out of the room and into their path. Silver’s blade danced out, severing the man’s head before he could react.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit sexist?” Silver asked as they wove through the halls.

“What are you talking about?” Lilian asked.

“The guards. They’re all dudes. What if a woman wanted to get stabbed instead? She couldn’t get hired.”

“They’re clones, Silver,” Lilian pointed out. “Of course they’re all the same.”

“I think Silver is just peeved that he couldn’t find a woman’s hat. They’re bigger than men’s ones,” Angel said.

“Guilty,” Silver admitted.

“You’re all awfully casual about all of this,” Jonas said. “Are you professional prison breakers or something? I would have thought that you’d be a little tenser. We’re escaping from a heavily guarded elite prison.”

“Bah. These fools are anything but elite, and the prison is running on a barebones crew at best,” Silver said. “I don’t know what it was before the Reawakening showed up, but standards are lower than you’re used to.”

He turned down another corridor and held up a hand, indicating for the others to stop when they reached a door. Silver drew his blade and stepped inside. A second later, he pushed it open. Four men laid on the ground, blood pooling out of savage wounds on their necks.

“The hangar is just over here,” Silver said, stepping over one of them and pushing another door open. “This is where things get fun.”

Dozens of vehicles were laid out in a large, flat area. There were cars, tanks, bikes, and what Angel was pretty sure was just a trebuchet scattered throughout the room. There were a dozen Reawakening members pacing around the room and inspecting the vehicles.

“Quickly now,” Silver said out of the corner of his mouth, approaching a sandtank near the back of the room. It was sleek, with a large Magitech cannon at its top above a glass cockpit. The tank’s treads were covered in runes and sleek machinery covered its externals, shielded by plates that emerged from above the treads to keep sand from getting kicked up. A guard stood with his back to them, inspecting the open cockpit.

Silver slipped up beside the man, pulling his sword across his throat and muffling his surprised gasp. He lowered the man to the ground and hopped into the tank. The others piled in after him. It was a tight fit, especially with Jonas.

“Could you try being a little less fat?” Silver asked irritably. He slotted a small key into the tank, twisting it. Lilian reached up and grabbed the glass cover, pulling it down over them. It clicked into place and the tank rumbled to life.

Blue smoke started to pour out of a valve poking out of the front righthand side of the tank. Several guards turned and started toward them.

“Hey, what are you doing?” one man called.

Silver pulled a lever. The tank rumbled. He clicked his tongue and pressed several buttons, then pushed the lever back and pulled it once more.

The rumble turned into a purr. With a lurch, the tank started forward, accompanied by a horrible grinding noise. Several guards cried out, diving out of the way before they got run over.

“Shit,” Silver said, grabbing another lever and pushing it down. The grinding noise vanished. “I forgot to release the break.”

“Just go!” Angel hissed, ducking down below the glass to minimize what the Reawakening could see of him.

A loud crunch filled the air and the tank shuddered, rising up and then slamming back down into the ground, nearly throwing Angel from his seat. It steadily started to accelerate.

“What was that?” Angel asked.

“A car, I think,” Silver replied. Angel caught a glimpse of a motorbike moments before it vanished beneath the tank treads, turned to scrap metal.

Blasts of red energy sailed through the air as the Reawakening drew guns and started to fire on them. A few of the energy attacks struck the tank, but they didn’t seem to do much more than singe it.

“Since when did they have guns?” Angel asked.

“Those are ours,” Jonas growled. “Bastards took them.”

“Typical,” Silver muttered. “Damn thieves. Real scum, those people are.”

Cavern walls blurred past them as Silver shot away from the prison and made his way toward the main gate at the tunnel. Loud, blaring horns rang out all around them as the Reawakening finally started to set off the alarms.

“They’re closing the gate,” Silver said, licking his lips. “This is going to be a bumpy one. Hold onto something.”

They didn’t get a chance to respond. A violent shriek filled Angel’s ears and the entire tank shook as it slammed into the gate, blowing through it in a shower of metal. The cockpit shattered, sending glass flying everywhere. Angel held onto the bottom of his seat with enough force to warp the metal under his grip.

“Would you look at that. It worked!” Silver exclaimed over the wind howling past them. He held his hat to his head with one hand while he steered with the other. Bright sunlight washed over them as they shot out onto the city streets, mowing down a dozen market stalls in the process.

“We need to ditch this tank as fast as possible,” Lilian said. “The trail we’re leaving behind is too easy to follow.”

Silver nodded, jerking the wheel to the side and yanking several levers. The tank spun, screeching through the streets and demolishing part of a house before it finally skidded to a stop. They staggered to their feet, brushing glass and dust out of their clothes.

“Stick to flying choppers,” Angel advised as they scrambled to the ground and darted away from the tank.

“I’d like to see you do better,” Silver snapped.

“This way,” Jonas said, darting down an alley. “We need to get underground.”

Jonas led them down two more alleys that were so tight that he could barely fit through them, then stopped before a large circular plate on the ground. He heaved it up and jerked his chin toward the hole.

“Go. It’s the city’s freshwater channels.”

They slipped inside and he jumped in after them, letting the metal plate slam back into place with a bang. Silence fell over the group, broken only by the rush of running water and heavy breathing as they caught their breath. Angel’s eyepiece flipped down, lighting the canal up with faint orange light.

“Well,” Silver said, pulling his mask off and adjusting his hat. “That was fun.”