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Prisoners understand prisoners, Guards understand guards, Intruders understand intruders, right? Is that how it goes? You’re going to find out. You’ll be talking with this person. At worst, you’ll be ready to face them in simpler terms. You’ll let the group know.
“I think I’ll try to talk this out.” You say. “Can’t assure the painting doesn’t get damaged otherwise.”
“You cannot be serious...” Hubbard doesn’t know enough about your antics to take you seriously.
“I am. Talking worked before, did it not?” You rub your previous victory in his face. “Violence is not always the answer.”
Hubbard sighs, but all he can do is depend on you. He has grown wiser to not risk his safety. The prisoner wails but doesn’t do much more.
“You’re not asking enough questions then.” Odetta desires blood through the phone. You feel like she has never been this violent before, but you aren’t sure if violence has been a barrier for her. What you know is she isn’t this emotionally driven, at least, not this anxious. She doesn’t want you to fuck this up.
“Haven’t I won a little bit of your trust?” Your gut instinct brought her to this moment after all!
“You’re always ready to cash in even the faintest bit of good faith you’ve earned, huh?” Spooky feels forced to accept.
“All I hear is that you trust me on this one.” You wiggle your eyebrows.
“Do it. Even if I don’t want to, I’ll have your goddamn back...” Odetta will make sure you’ll be on the winning side. It’s oddly reassuring for you.
You step out of the cell to confront the intruder. The scene isn’t much different than it was when you entered. The old guard has his hands raised in a gesture to calm down the assailant, but it’s not doing much. Both know it’s pointless, but neither is aggressive enough to escalate the situation. The other guard who warned you all about the intruder is nowhere to be seen.
The Intruder is a woman in a formal suit, it’s as pristine as it is bright — she’s also sporting a traditional hat of considerable size, similar to what people wear at folk festivals around the city during some holidays. She’s eye-catching, confident that she doesn’t need a change of wardrobe to sneak in here. No notes on the eyepatch, you don’t get it. She has many bags around her belt, you can’t tell what they have. You cannot help but feel she’s lucky that your team disabled security. Regardless, she’s carrying a depleted guy around your age, he’s the embodiment of no stamina. And both are carrying dark flames.
“But would you look at that? Another one! Hello!” The woman smiles from ear to ear. “I want to go in there, so step aside unless you’re willing to do business.”
“M-Madam, please, the people within these borders are here for good reason. I vouch for this…” The poor old guard pleads.
