Chapter Text
She thought it a miracle that she woke up at all. What little strength was left after dragging herself into that cart was wasted trying to stop bleeding out so quickly or throw up as it started to spin, being able to see Josh overpower Dabadoo's army but then foolishly try to eat the sceptre and everything went white.
A light clanking sound could be heard and Kylie jolted awake. How the fuck was she not dead?
Better question: why the fuck was she in a prison cell?
"Rise and shine, you disgusting little thing!" the guard shouted, one of Syringeon's Givanium assistants. "Of all the units you could have been placed in, you just had to be put where I was stationed…I can't even stand to look at you."
Well, the feeling was mutual there.
Her clothes were covered in blood, ripped from where that thing's teeth had sunk in to her flesh but she could stand and walk just fine, it didn't feel like she was still bleeding. Raised more questions about what the hell had happened to her, or to everyone else.
Or even just her bag.
"OPEN IT UP!"
The guard turned back to her. "Head downstairs to where the line is, go get your ID card once you're outside, and don't make any sudden moves 'cause I'm watching you…"
From what she could see, the rest of the cells had been mostly emptied, everyone lined up at the door, just more of the nameless Givanium who filed out into a courtyard space and then all went off to different places.
A chain-link fence surrounded them, a tall watchtower looming over the rest of the buildings nearby, everything was so…lifeless and grey. It added to the unsettling feeling she had because she still didn't know where everyone else was or why she'd even been put here.
Between the basketball court and what looked like a mining area was the building for IDs and inside was just a photographer who told her to sit. "Then take your card and proceed to the work station. I hope they work you to death."
She looked like shit, as expected.
"Wow, humans really are ugly," the station guard said as they checked the ID. "Head right in and the supervisor will fill you in on what needs to be done."
In the corner was Stinger Flynn, smaller than she'd ever seen him and trying to break open a rock bigger than himself with the world's tiniest pickaxe, it was almost laughable if it wasn't so cruel but she was relieved he was alive, at least.
"Oh…it's you," he said. "I would say this is the consequences of your antics but speaking truthfully, this is rather unexpected, and my own fault."
"What happened?" she asked.
"After the Sheriff brought you in…the Surgeon refused to operate, so the Devil stitched up your wounds and replaced your blood with Givanium, just a small amount. It has been used before when injuries would occur and it kept you alive while you recovered, you were put in a room with the Jester and myself. There was a mural of some of us, but I noticed…an odd detail, and when I-"
"ENOUGH CHATTING!" the supervisor yelled. "BACK TO WORK!"
"…now, the Surgeon runs everything. I am…it is good you did not die."
"YOU! HUMAN! GRAB A PICKAXE AND GET TO WORK! THOSE ROCKS AIN'T GONNA MINE THEMSELVES!"
Flynn had went back to it and so Kylie did as she was told, more questions rising but she sure as shit wasn't going to voice them at the moment. Besides, this thing wasn't too heavy and she needed to hit something, this worked perfectly for it.
"Alright, human, you're done!" he called out again after about ten rocks or so. "I went easy on you since it's your first day but tomorrow, it's double the work. Be back here tomorrow at the same time, and after tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that…NOW! Hand in this paper and get back to your cell!"
She was NOT going to cry, not in front of these fucking creepy things. She didn't want to cry at all but it just looked like this was it, she would die here in a prison surrounded by failed experiments abandoned thousands of feet underground, and what about Ike? Was he even alive anymore?
Those kinds of nasty thoughts plagued her mind the whole walk to the next building, but then she found another familiar face.
"Hey! It's you!" Bittergiggle loudly whispered. He had a small scar in his chest from the whole star-throw incident but aside from that, he looked well. "I've been so worried, it's so quiet here, lonely…are you okay?"
"Fine," she lied, wiping at her eyes, "I can't believe this shit, why did he do this to us?"
"I know. I couldn't believe it either, it all happened so fast. Do you…do you think there's any way we can get out of here? There has to be, right? They- he can't just leave us here, he wouldn't do that!"
"You'd be surprised. But I'm working on it, I promise," she took his hand when he reached through the bars, "I promise I'll find a way."
In the meantime, they were all safe and alive. Bittergiggle and Banbaleena, Nabnab and Nabnaleena, even Opila and Tarta, so it was just Josh, Banban and Toadster unaccounted for.
The guard at the desk wordlessly accepted her work slip so with a small wave goodbye to the jester, she headed back out and over to her own cell block.
"Psst! Hey, you!"
Oh great, one of the inmates. At this point, she just wanted to be alone. "What?"
"Don't go in yet. The boss wants to talk to you, now come with me."
He walked away without another word, as if he just expected her to follow, which…she did, to be fair, but out of genuine curiosity. It wouldn't be Syringeon if he didn't even want to save her and as she'd noted before, some of them weren't in the cells and further still, this could help with the whole 'need to get the fuck out of here' thing.
But when she walked into the small building and saw the very villain who set his minion onto her, tried to kill her, she felt like storming back out almost immediately. Especially because Josh was there too, lying on his side and silently writhing in pain.
"Hello again, human," Sir Dabadoo seemed to grin. "Or should I call you Syringeon's puppet, or the provoker of gorillas, maybe even the survivor of impossible odds? You are…a very interesting case."
"You tried to fucking kill me," Kylie snapped back.
"And half of my body is still numb because of you and your doing, so we can call it even. But…I do apologise, I forget that humans are much more fragile, my intention was just to injure you, perhaps poison you with Givanium and use you against the Surgeon before eventually ending you myself, but this is the present now."
"Yeah, prison for us both."
He gestured towards her and she flinched. "You remind me of myself, that rush of betrayal you are feeling right now, the same that burned through me the moment I came out of that pouch? But this changes tonight, we are getting out of here."
She shook her head. "Why would you involve me in your escape?"
"Luck is clearly on your side, we definitely need that. There's the two of us and my friend out there, if you want to break out the others then you're on your own for that."
"I don't fucking trust you because again, you tried to fucking kill me. Josh beat you up because Syringeon made him do that, I was a bit busy dying and getting thrown around in a cart that was filling with my fucking blood."
"And as you can see, the gorilla is paying the price for that and for eating the sceptre," Dabadoo motioned to him.
She had heard enough. "I'd rather die here than help you, I mean that."
"What about your brother?"
Oh. He had not just went there.
A small thud. "We only looked through it, everything's still there. You dug up quite a lot of information about us all, it's quite flattering even if the reports themselves are…well, the opposite. It's yours, though, so here. Help me or not, you can have it back."
There was more than reports in her bag, it was her necklace and knife she wanted back on her person, but the first thing she saw was that photo of Ike. Talk about emotional blackmail.
"Fine. Whatever."
He told her to go back to her cell and sleep, that their escape plan would go into motion the next day. She only saw the gas when it was too late.
…
"Well, well, well."
The Sheriff stood before them, her and Dabadoo and his useless accomplice, all with hands tied behind their backs and for the first time, she found herself terrified of Toadster as he spoke. "Meet your new warden, you cockroaches. You thought you could just simply escape my prison, didn't you? I've been enforcing the law for all my life, you fools! And as such, I know my way around criminals a little too well. They say everyone has a price, the price for your friend here just happened to be a strawberry lollipop."
"I'm sorry, guys. It was an offer I couldn't refuse," the traitor sobbed.
Toadster faced her now and she flinched at the intense gaze. "Everything started to fall apart the moment you showed up, ex-partner. Bittergiggle, the queen, the invasion of the Naughty Ones? The singular common factor has never been more clear."
He moved on to the Givanium thing. "For once, I'm on the right side of history, and now justice will be served."
It was instant, right between the eyes and he keeled over.
"And to repurposing, they go," the Sheriff came back to her. "Now, I'll do what I should've done from the beginning. It'll at least make me satisfied if nothin' else."
She couldn't look at him anymore, it hurt too much, and hung her head so he wouldn't see her cry, just shut her eyes and waited to die. If she was going to be killed here after all, she would have preferred to have just bled out. Why would he help to save her only to do this?
Or maybe he was always going to kill her, in his own twisted fucking plan.
Well, the beeping then heard coming from the gate was a good indicator it wasn't going to work out, right before the truck drove in.
Alarms blared. Toadster had been knocked down along with Dabadoo, Kylie was unharmed and even better, her hands were freed. She bolted to the vehicle and climbed into the back, just her and a couple other now former inmates with a getaway driver who warned them all to hold on tight.
It was a fast, bumpy ride but they were getting away, they were doing it, they-
"LANDMINES AHEAD!"
They were going to fucking die, weren't they?
"MAYDAY! WE'VE FALLEN OFF THE BRIDGE!"
She was falling into darkness and all it took was a hit to the head before that was all she could see once more, going down, down, down.