1.13 Breakout Part 7

I shove the section of solid metal wall aside as I get to my feet. The thing slammed me  into the wall.

“Everybody out!” I yell as I realise how bad the situation is.

Somebody let all of the prisoners out. Every single last one and the power restrainers won’t keep their power neutralised for long.

And the person to blame is without doubt Glenn Bateson.  I should have known, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it without any proof or evidence of wrongdoing.

How would have that gone? Hey, I think is prison officer I just met isn’t to be trusted because I think he might be a bad guy. Let’s arrest him and throw him into one of the cells.

But that would explain why a chuck of the wall just flew into me.

All of the country’s native supervillains, Vengeance, Vistorix and a rogue superpowered prison officer scattered between the ground level and the two walkways versus me, Treves and the other officer on the tour.

I can take them. Or hold them off long enough for someone else to arrive.

“Hey Janelle,” I say into my League communicator, “We got a breakout here at Blackguard. Officer Bateson just released all of the inmates.”

“I understand,” comes the swift reply, “Informing all relevant authorities.”

“Don’t bother calling for help,” Bateson tells me as several more chucks of the wall hover around him, “I’m jamming all signals in or out. No one will hear you.”

Now there is a trick up my sleeve. If they don’t realise that I have already called for help and their jamming is actually affecting me, then I might be able to catch them off guard.

Both Treves and the other guard have drawn their stun guns, but they’ll do little against the freed prisoners.

At least the crowd of reporters are heading back out. No idiots hanging around to get some footage.

Target priority first. Who are the biggest threats and which ones to use spyders on and which to use missiles on?

Black Death’s touch won’t affect me through the Sentinel armour while Gaia’s Vengeance doesn’t have any vegetation to work with. Hall’s lightning and Avenger’s fire are also useless.

With high amounts of metal in Blackguard, Bateson and Forsworn could be pretty dangerous as well. The rest also have the potential to cause some trouble for me, but I can probably take them if I play if smart.

But Vistorix, along with Gravilord and Edison, is the most dangerous with a very real chance of beating me. The three of them are easily the biggest threats of the assorted supervillains.

Two missile for each of the Mad sisters and the last two for Vistorix. Electro-spyders will take care of Edison and Gravilord. The rest I should be able to take.

I open fire with all of my missiles and electro-spyders as I activate the rocket pack. I zoom straight at Bateson.

I crash into the rogue prison officer and we both slam into the other wall that has mostly been stripped away by Bateson.

I hear something cracking and huff of breath from Bateson before I pull away. Bateson starts to drop to his knees, but before he can collapse into a heap on the floor, I slug him one in the face.

Not too hard, just enough to break a jaw. That combined with the ribs I probably just broke will keep Bateson out of the fight.

I spin back around to face the rest of the supervillains. Both Mad sisters are transformed, but only Mad Cat is down with Mad Dog shaking off the effects the missiles that caught her. It seems that her missiles were intercepted by Forsworn and Avenger judging by how those two are on the ground.

I should have expected teamwork from Vengeance. They were a successful team back when they were ‘heroes’.

Gravilord is also out while Edison is staggered. It seems that he was able to catch two of the three spyders I sent at him in his temporal field.

Vistorix is getting back to his feet after being blown onto his back.

Time to thin the herd. I grab one of the chucks of metal that were floating around Bateson and lob it at Mad Dog before reactivating my rocket pack and flying up at Nightmare.

Best to take Vengeance out of the fight.

The metal takes out of the stunned Mad Dog and knocks her off the walkway while Nightmare is better prepared for me. He shapeshifts out of the way, but I still catch him with a kick that sends him flying.

I unleash a flurry of low-power laser shots at the other villains to scatter them. Edison is still busy dealing with the electro-spyders. That leaves only White Lord or Redmund McNamara as main threats until Vistorix or a member of Vengeance recovers.

I launch myself at White Lord, ignoring Hall’s crackling lightning. My armour can more than handle bit of lightning.

White Lord attempts to dodge, but even with his enhanced speed, I’m still faster in the Sentinel armour. I catch his arm and yank it out of the socket before tossing White Lord into a wall.

I feel something ding against me and somebody yelp in pain. I turn around to find Gaia’s Vengeance clutching her fist in pain.

I punch her in the gut, kick her knee before finishing her off with a backhanded slap that knocks her aside.

I spare a glance at Treves and his officer. The two of them are covering the door and have even taken out Black Death with their stun guns.

I turn to take on Vistorix only to find his fist coming straight at me.

1.13 Breakout Part 6

I land outside Blackguard prison. Despite everybody knowing who I am, I still have to go through the security procedures just like everybody else.

I’m a bit late, but that can’t be helped. At least I don’t have to worry about waiting for anybody.

After the third checkpoint IDs me and scans me into the system, I finally make it into the prison.

There is a large crowd waiting outside the prison, carrying either a microphone or news camera depending on their status as a reporter or cameraman.

At the front of the crowd is Chief Officer Treves, the man in charge of Blackguard Prison. Two prison officers flank him.

I bring their files up on my HUD and take in the gist of their service. Treves’ has a good record even he does have a disdain for superhumans. One of the reasons he wanted to work at Blackguard it seems. The officer on his left side has a rather bland record.

The officer on Treves’ right is a different matter. Glenn Bateson is one of the few superhuman guards at Blackguard and to say he has a less than stellar record would be an understatement.

Officer Bateson is Class 3 superhuman with some pretty strong magnetism and darkness generation abilities. In fact, the only reason he hasn’t been kicked off the force is due to the fact he is one of the rare people with superpowers.

I’m not actually sure how someone like Bateson was assign to guard Blackguard. Perhaps he volunteered or it was some sort of punishment. Either way, Bateson bears watching.

“Ah Sentinel,” says Treves as he spots me, “How nice of you to finally join us.”

“Sorry I’m a couple minutes late,” I apologise, “I had some personal business to take care of.”

Frankly, I care a lot more about Judy than I do about the press. I know which ones I would rather annoy.

“We have been waiting at least ten minutes,” disagrees Treves as I reach the group.

“ Then you all got here early because we only supposed to get started two, now three minutes ago,” I retort, “Speaking of that, we should get started.”

Treves snorts before he starts speaking to the gathered press.

“Welcome to Blackguard Prison,” says Treves, “The country’s superhuman and equivalent containment facility. Today we will be giving you a live tour on the behalf of Prime Minister Allan Morse so prove how we are able to keep our country safe from superhuman threats.”

He pauses for dramatic effect before continuing.

“We will show you and your viewers the different facilities, explain our procedures and answer any questions,” continues Treves, “We also have the Sentinel from the League of Heroes to provide his perspective on matters. Now, let’s get started.”

As much as Treves seems to dislike me and I distrust Bateson, I do have to admit I am intrigued at the idea of going on a tour around Blackguard Prison. To be honest, this is actually my first time here.

Thanks to efforts of my granddad as he was the one that created Blackguard in the first place, Blackguard is the third most secure superhuman prison in the world.

I am also pleased to note that Blackguard also has second highest successful rehabilitation rate in the world with one in seven of its prisoners being productive members of society.

The tour goes well for the first twenty minutes or so as Treves shows us the different security systems and procedures. I do have to admit they are pretty good. Nothing short of an inside job and a full scale break in or out could overwhelm the prison security.

“Hey Sentinel,” says Bateson to me as we both hang back, “Nice to meet you.”

Something about him just rubs me the wrong way, especially given his record. Don’t judge me, but this isn’t a comic book and folks like Bateson don’t end up as a jerk with a heart of gold.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bateson ends up inside one of Blackguard’s cells instead of just guarding them.

“Hello to you too,” I reply in a pleasant voice that completely disguises my true feelings about him.

Yeah, I’m an excellent liar and deceiver and while there might been considered a bad trait for superhero by many out there, it is also absolutely necessary for someone with a secret identity.

“This must seem pretty boring with all the stuff you usually do,” says Bateson casually.

“Not for me,” I reply, “For some of the other Leaguers sure, but I enjoy learning things like this. Finding out more about Blackguard in person was actually one of the main reasons I volunteered to do this.”

“You'll like this next part then,” says Bateson with a grin that puts me on edge.

Why do I get the feeling that means more than what it sounds like?

Treves leads the group into the prisoner recreational room.

“This is the room is where our inmates are allowed to relax at certain periods depending on their behaviour,” says Treves.

Even for a prison recreational room, the place seems pretty barren. But I’ll bet you ten quid that someone will complain about it being too much in three, two, one...

“Should these dangerous people really be allowed these luxuries?” demands one of the reporters.

Once again, the reporters have lived up to my low standards of them. Time to step in.

“Actually,” I begin, “A common misconception is that all of the criminals here are the worst of the worst. In reality, only a minority of these prisoners would be in maximum security. Many of them would be normal prison if it wasn’t for the fact their abilities made it possible too danger-”

I am cut off mid-speech as something large and heavy flies into me.