Chapters Getting the Band Together
It is just like any other night in Alcatraz. It's storming rather heavily outside, as usual. Moans and screams are occasionally heard from the other inmates of the prison. Not Fancy Pants though, he usually just sits in his cell staring out at the city through the iron bars.
Fancy Pants is an upper class caucasian man in his mid-40's, who has curly, deep blue hair, and a pair of glasses. He used to have a moustache to go with his hair, but he chose to shave it to avoid people recognizing him. He dons a worn out gray beret, with a black jacket. Along with a pair of khaki prison pants, and a light-blue button up prison shirt.
"How are you hold'n up?" a passing guard asks him.
Fancy Pants doesn't seem to reply, he just keeps staring at window, like he's focusing on something.
"How are you holding up?" the guard asks again, stopping to make sure Fancy Pants had hears him.
Fancy Pants gives the same answer to him. Deciding it's not worth asking again, the guard makes his way to the barracks. Then he hears Fancy Pants say something under his breath.
"I used to have it all..."
"What was that?" the guard asks, making sure the prisoner is actually alright, but Fancy, again gives him no response. Dropping the subject the guard continues to the barracks for some sleep before the night shift came back around.
Seeing that the guard had passed his cell, Fancy Pants continued to stare out the window into the distance. What the guard didn't realize is that he actually saw something far out in the distance. It was a message in Morse code. From what Fancy Pants could tell the message had read,
You have a week to prepare an escape plan for you and three companions, no more, no less. If you are late we will leave.
Deciding to listen to the message he started thinking of a plan and who to recruit. Only the best of the best would do, and he just so happened to know exactly who those people were...
It was dinner time in the prison. Vinyl was sitting on her cot taping her foot to an old song she had in her head. Vinyl was a moderately sized caucasion woman approaching her 30's. She had spiky, two toned blue hair, and blood red eyes. The other inmates used to pick on her for having red eyes, and one day a passing guard felt bad for her and gave her pair of sunglasses. They had black rims, and deep purple lenses.She wore those with a white undershirt with khaki prison pants.
After a while the guard came by and delivered her "dinner", as most called it. It was mostly slush and cold mashed potatoes. Most got sick if they ate the slush and started rambling about seeing dead people, so Vinyl decided to not eat the mush and stick with the cold mashed potatoes. What she didn't expect to find was a letter inside her food.
Dear Ms. Scratch,
If you're interested in, as you youngsters put it,"busting out of this place", simply send back the letter with the guard who should still be there-
Looking up, Vinyl confirmed her suspicion. Seeing the guard, in fact, was still there, she continued the letter.
-if not I'm sorry and I'll have him back there immediately. You have until tomorrow's eve to reply.
Best Wishes,
~A friend
Slightly baffled by the letter in general, she thought about things like "Is this real life?", "What if it's a hoax?", and most importantly, "What if it isn't?". Choosing her decision, she wrote back,
"Sure, I'm game. What are we doing, and when am I going to kick a guard's ass?"
Meanwhile on the other side of the prison, Octavia was laying on her cot playing with her hair when she hear a guard cough to announce his presence. Octavia looked at the guard,
"Well? What is it?"
The guard just stood there and handed her the letter. He almost looked scarred of Octavia, as he should be. Octavia was a slim caucasian woman who had just recently turned 30. She had long, silky, raven black hair, with beautiful mulberry eyes. The inmates were scarred of her the moment she arrived. The guards wheeled her in on an upright gurney, they had the straps tied down tight, they had a muzzle on her face. So one can see why the others still fear her.
She took the letter from him and read,
Dear Ms. Philharmonica,
How are you doing today? Not that it matters of course, just thought I'd ask. I am recruiting the top masterminds of our prison for nothing other than a prison break. With your experience in the Italian Mafia, I thought you'd be a great asset to my plan. If you'r interested just write me a quick conformation letter and send it back with the guard.
Sincerely,
~A friend
Snapping back to reality, Octavia quickly replied,
When and where?
Writing the short letter to the unknown acquaintance gave her goosebumps all over. She almost got giddy, almost. Saying his goodbyes, the guard left, leaving Octavia to her thoughts.
"This is going to be fun..."
"They can't keep me in here! It's filthy and disgusting!"
Rarity had been put into her cell not two hours ago, and wasn't liking it at all. She was in put in your average cell with a stone floor, walls, and ceiling. There was a cot hanging from two chains, and a toilet too. Being used to living in nice hotels and mansions, she wasn't liking her new "house".
Rarity was an hourglass shaped caucasian woman in her mid-30's. She had magnificent, violet hair styled with a curl on the end. She wore a blue prison button up, that was now slightly untucked due her rather frantic day. She was in Canterlot having her morning coffee when the royal guard came and arrested her. She tried to not make a scene, but who doesn't notice the royal guard?
"I have a message for Lady Rarity."
"That would be me."
"Here you go miss."
As oblivious as the guard was, he at least had manners, unlike the guards who put her in her cell in the first place. If Rarity hadn't spoken up, the guard would've missed her cell, she even had her hand outside the bars. After analyzing the guard, Rarity read the letter.
Dear Miss Rarity,
It seems we meet again. If the circumstances were different, this would be more enjoyable, but I digress. The reason I wrote you this letter is to ask if you would like to escape from Alcatraz with me and my allies. If so write a quick acceptance letter and send it with the guard.
Best Wishes,
~A friend
Happy to be leaving this horrible place so soon Rarity anxiously wrote back and sent the letter with the guard.
I will be there.
Once the guard was out of earshot, Rarity asked herself;
"What did I just get myself into?"
After Fancy Pants sent out his last letter, he finally allowed himself to relax. Now he got to play "The Waiting Game". Tired, he lay on his cot which, lucky for him, has a nice view of the main land. As he lay there, he began to think of alternates in case the notorious criminals have thrown in the towel.
"Time Turner, would be a nice replacement- Oh, who am I kidding, the fool calls himself "The Doctor" all the time and claims he has a time machine, but when he describes it it sounds like a British phone booth, he even gave it a name, the T.A.R.D.I.S. if I remember correctly."
Fancy Pants thought to himself. After various attempts at thinking of good replacements, he finds there are none. There is no one who can match their skill, no one is even close. Giving up, Fancy Pants went to sleep.
Waking up from his rather short sleep, he got out of bed and felt, off, like something bad is about to happen. Then he heard a woman moan in agony. Looking to see the source of the noise, he saw Vinyl's cell. A guard approached the cell and while he searched for the correct key he tells her,
"Damn it Scratch, it better be real this time."
Once the guard found the correct key, he proceeded to unlock the door and go inside. Once the guard was inside, Fancy Pants heard the sound of stabbing,and then saw the corpse fall outside followed by a bloodied Vinyl Scratch.
"About time Scratch."
Was all Fancy Pants told her as she proceeded to unlock their allies cages. Once the crew was free of their cells, Octavia distributed the revolvers among themselves. Then from the corpse came a moan, not an angry, or agitated moan. A moan of despair.
"AHH! Oh, it was just a dream. How silly of me, thinking of such preposterous things such as zombies."
Tugging at his magic collar with a slight frown, he spoke.
"I wish these blasted things weren't so tight."
With that, Fancy Pants again fell asleep.
The next morning arrived sooner than Fancy Pants would've liked, but you get what you get. Getting out of his cot, he looked out through his barred window, taking in the sight of the morning and breathing in the fresh air. For some reason, he feels, happy. Not bouncing off the walls happy, but at peace would be a better term. He was about to go through his morning stretches when a guard approached his cell with four letters folded in his hands.
"Moment of truth."
Fancy Pants told himself, thus taking the letters from the guard and reading them. Upon doing so, a grin began to form on his face, not an evil grin, just a happy grin. He was happy for he had the three most experienced criminals of his time helping him escape from Alcatraz.
As Rarity lay in her cot, thoughts raced through her mind like,Why did he choose me, and not some more experienced criminal mastermind? , and How did he know what I did? Locking those questions in the back of her mind, a tear began to form in the corner of her eye. Then she began to mumble to herself.
"I wish I could change the past, but I jus- I just can't. What's done is done, you can't change that Rarity, no matter how hard you try, you never will."
After those words, something in her mind, clicked. Something she said triggered the dam to open and let the waterworks flow. She sat there for several hours crying and repeating the same phrase over and over again. One she could say a thousand times over and it wouldn't matter.
"I'm sorry."
Laying in her cot, Vinyl lit a cigarette and stuck it in the corner of her mouth, taking occasional whiffs only to release the smoke in rings. Stopping at her cell, a guard greeted Vinyl.
"The warden needs to see you"
He then unlocked the cell and handcuffed Vinyl to prevent any "unfortunate accidents". Upon entering the room, the warden gestured for Vinyl to take her seat. Upon doing so, the warden dismissed the guard.
"I can handle it from here."
Then waved the guard to continue his work. Turning to face Vinyl the warden ask,
"Would you mind telling me about yourself?"
"Can you repeat that?" Vinyl replied, surprised by the question.
"I ask you to tell me about your self." The warden said, hoping to get some information from the former mobster.
"Well, people say that everyone is known by the company they keep, I guess that's why they call me a mobster. I wanted bosses like Octavia Philharmonica to know my name. She built an entire empire on gambling, prostitution, and booze right under your noses. Octavia rarely got her hands dirty though, that was my job. Ice 'em, burn 'em, as long as it made the head lines. Then there were the "money handlers", like Fancy Pants. If you could get past the greasy smile and the feeling that you were being conned out of your very soul, Fancy was your man. Filthy Rich, he was the only guy who could cheat a cheater and get away with it. He had a hot wife too, to bad she sold him up the river. He died back in '98, I think. Yeah, a shame too, he still owed me twenty bucks. So there's my story, anything else you wanted?"
Not sure what to say to that, the warden simply shook his head and motioned for one of his personal guards to take Vinyl back to her cell. After a couple of minutes, one of the warden's guards spoke,
"Are you okay?"
Yes I'm fine just, wasn't expecting all that information so quickly from her is all."
The warden assured his guard, upon hearing this, the guard dropped the subject and left the office in dead silence.
Enjoying a decent cup of tea, Octavia sat down on her cot and watched the guards pass by as they checked on the other inmates.
"How's it going, Philharmonica?" One of the guards ask.
"It's going rather swell, considering where I am. How's you boy doing?"
"He's doing alright, he just turned seven a couple of weeks ago. Man, time flies when your a parent doesn't it?"
The guard ask. Not knowing how to answer that Octavia just stares blankly at him for a while, before the guard took the hint.
"Okay, I guess I'll go now. Night."
Making the final adjustments to his plan Fancy Pants would've jumped for joy, but considering how tired he was, and the time he decided against it. Proud of his work of genius he quickly pulled three sheets of paper and a pen from under his cot and wrote,
The Gang's All Here.
~A friend
P.S. You'll know when it happens.
Signaling one of his undercover guards he told him.
"Take these to Ms. Rarity, Ms. Scratch, and Ms. Philharmonica and answer any questions they might have. Got it?"
The guard responded by nodding his head and walking away to fulfill his task.
Thursday morning came quicker than anyone could have imagined. The guards were making their rounds around the prison, talking to any prisoners they just so happened to like, and such. Fancy Pants waited in anticipation for this evening for that marked the beginning of the "break-out". The guards came back with Vinyl's, Octavia's, and Rarity's conformation notes making Fancy's day even better than it already was. Signaling one of his guards Fancy asked.
"You all know what to do right?"
"Yes,sir. We'll begin the prison break at nine o' clock sharp, so be ready."
"Will do." Fancy Pants replied happily.
"Now to play my favorite game of all, The Waiting Game."
In her cell, Rarity ran the plan through her mind constantly.
"What did he mean when he said "I'll know when it happens." stupid Fancy Pants always being cryptic with secret stuff."
Rarity whispered to herself. Not noticing the guard just outside her cell.
"You're lucky it's me who heard you and not an actual guard." the fake guard told Rarity, catching her by surprise.
"Good heavens! You can't go around scarring people like that, you'll end up giving someone a heart attack," Rarity scolded the fake guard, "Well since you're here do you have news about tonight?" Rarity asked.
"Yes, ma'am. That's actually the reason why I'm here, to inform you that the break begins at nine o' clock sharp so be ready."
"Thank you, miss..."
"Heartstrings, Lyra Heartstrings." she told her.
"Wait, the Lyra Heartstrings, the exquisite lyrist if I might add." Rarity asked.
"The one and only, and before you ask, I'm a good friend of Fancy Pants. Now if that's all your questions I'll be on my way." Lyra said.
"That will be all, 'till we meet again Miss Heartstrings, it's been a pleasure to speak with you." Rarity told her.
"Likewise."
And with that she was off, leaving Rarity to her thoughts once more.
It was 8:55 pm on Friday evening, and Fancy Pants could barely contain himself. He was sitting on his cot, bouncing his legs constantly to attempt to rid himself of the anticipation that was building in his chest. He sat there for a while like that, he began to go over his plan in his mind.
"First, the fireworks will go off as a warning. Then, my guards will let us out of our cells. Finally, if Heartstrings was correct a boat should be waiting for us then-"
Fancy Pants lost his train of thought when the sound of fireworks came blasting from the dock.
"It's showtime."
Rarity was pacing back and forth in her cell to pass the time, to no avail of coarse. She was about to give up on her plan for passing time when a pair of Fancy's guards approached her cell. She could tell they were Fancy's for she had seen them before.
"Long time no see, huh?" One of the guards asked sarcastically.
"Well I'm absolutely enjoying it here, the rooms are so nice." Rarity replied catching the guard's sarcasm.
"I'm sure the beds sleep beautifully." the other guard added, gaining a small chuckle from the group.
While the second guard unlocked Rarity's cell the first guard told her,
"Well, we've been sent to escort you to the evacuation zone, so if you don't mind following us, we'll get you there."
"Then lead the way gentlemen." Rarity told the guards.
On their way to the docks the guards began to update Rarity on what had been going on while she was gone.
"From what we hear, people are scarred to even look in your boutique's window in fear of being shot." the first guard stated rather bluntly.
"So I assume I got the cover page, huh?" Rarity asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh yeah, you made first page all right. "BLUEBLOOD SAVED FROM ASSASINATION!"
"That bad huh?" Rarity asked again knowing the answer.
"Oh yeah." the second guard replied.
"Nothing moving and getting a new name can't solve, right?" Rarity asked jokingly. Receiving a good hearted laugh from both guards.
"Oh, you have no idea!" both guards said in syncopation.
Looking ahead the two guards saw figures standing at the end of the corridor, thus causing them to regain their composure.
"Halt!" the second guard yelled, "What's your business here?" the first guard asked.
When the figures turned around all Rarity could see was the figures silhouette and their red, glowing eyes.
"What are those?" Rarity asked with fear in her voice.
"If we knew we'd tell you ourselves." the guards replied with their guns raised at the figures. The guards were carrying the standard police sidearm, and a baton.
Turning to face the noise the figures let out a agonizing scream and charged towards the guards at breath taking speeds. Before the guards could unload a clip into them they were upon them, pouncing on them and mauling their faces.
Rarity, fearing for her life turned and ran as fast as she could, but right before she reached the corner one of them was upon her. Before it got a chance to harm Rarity a gunshot was heard and the creature's head was gone leaving blood on Rarity's clothes.
Turning to face her savior, she saw it was none other than Octavia Philharmonica.
"Get up, we need to leave before more find us!" Octavia whispered.
Deciding it was smart to follow the one with the gun, Rarity followed.
Ten Minutes Earlier
Octavia was in her cell, of coarse waiting for nine o' clock to roll around was whistleing an old song she had in her head.
.
She whistled that song that song for several minutes, until a guard approached her cell.
"The warden wishes to speak with you. If you would please follow me ma'am." the guard insisted.
"Very well." was all Octavia told him.
The guard them proceeded to open her cell and lead her to the warden's office.
"The warden wishes to speak to you privately so I will be outside." said the guard.
"Thank you." was all Octavia said to him.
Upon entering the office she noticed the warden had his own personal gun cabinet, hopefully full of guns and ammunition, it would help during the prison break.
"Oh, I see you've noticed the gun cabinet. Well since I honestly don't trust you enough to open it, I can draw your attention to the gun I have mounted on the wall if you want something to see." said the warden while pointing to the far wall.
Following his fingers she laid her eyes on an old AK-47 with a dark wood stock and grip.
"That's quite a nice gun you have there." Octavia said with empathy.
"A nice gun,it is." the warden added.
"Now, if you don't mind me asking, why did you call me here?" Octavia asked.
Before the warden could answer a gunshots rung from outside the door along with pained screams. Going to get his shotgun the warden walked to his cabinet, unlocked it, grabbed his gun, then re-locked it. With his gun aimed at the door the pair heard the gunshots die out only to be replaced by pounding on the door.
"Get behind me!" yelled the warden.
"Gladly." Octavia agreed, grabbing the hunting knife off the top of the wardens desk.
"Wait, these aren't your friends?" the warden asked confused.
"I wish-" was all Octavia had time to say before the door was broke down thus letting in what appeared to be three... things. Octavia couldn't describe them, the had glowing, red eyes and vintage prison wear, along with...
""HOLY SHIT IS THAT RAZOR WIRE! THESE ARE SOME TOUGH ASS MOTHERFUCKERS!
The creature began to mutilate the warden's face and before Octavia could acquire a weapon the warden was already dead. Grabbing the hunting knife from the first creature's skull she stabbed it in the chest then pushed it out the window before it could harm her. The only thing on her mind at that point was.
"I'm glad we're on the second story."
Current Time
Vinyl was in her cell smoking a cigarette when she heard the sound of fireworks.
"Guess that's my cue." Vinyl said, to no one in particular.
"You'd be right about that at least." Lyra commented, while approaching Vinyl's cell.
"Guessing you're here to let me out?" Vinyl asked, hoping she was correct in her assumption.
"Yep!" Was all Lyra told her, then proceeded to search for the key.
Several minutes later, Vinyl asked,
"How long does it take to find a key, Heartstrings?" with anticipation clear in her voice.
"Just a moment long- AHA! Here it is!"
Lyra cheered, clearly happy to have finally found the right key. Just as she placed the key in the keyhole, she heard a noise.
"Who's there?"
Lyra asked with authority, but you could tell she was scarred by her eyes, they were shaking all over the place. Vinyl, growing impatient cleared her throat, gaining the former lyrist's attention, along with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry Vinyl, just heard something."
"Yeah I hear something too, fireworks, A.K.A, my cue!"
Vinyl yelled, now frustrated with the lyrist for taking so long to unlock the cage.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming." Lyra said with worry.
As she went to unlock the cell, the sound of fast footsteps could be heard approaching the pair, but before Lyra could finish unlocking Vinyl's cell a blur tackled her to the ground, and began to maul her face.
"What the fuck!"
Vinyl yelled, surprised by the sudden appearance. Upon hearing her, it turned around and lunged at her only to be stopped by the cells metal bars. It had glowing red eyes, and appeared to be in a psychotic frenzy.It yelled constantly, most things it said couldn't be understood, but occasionally it would yell "SAM!" or something of the sort. It doned vintage prison wear, with black and white stripes. Around its body it had what appeared to be razor wire. Backing into a corner, Vinyl found herself trapped. Seeing one option she did what she did best; killed stuff.
She approached the frenzied human as cautiously as she could, then once she was close enough she pounced on the human's arm, grabbed it in both hands. Then she firmly placed her feet on the metal bars, and began to pull. The first few seconds the creature swiped at her ankles, then as she pulled harder it turned sideways. Feeling the muscle about to give she jerked the ligament one final time, then the arm was ripped from the frenzied human's body, splattering blood all over her pants and cell.
Falling back, Vinyl crawled her way back into the corner of her cell, and simply waited for the beast to die. Several minutes later the human died from blood loss, and Vinyl proceeded to open her cell with the key that was luckfully still in the keyhole. Upon exiting her cell she looked at Lyra, who now had her face mauled to shreds and had blood everywhere. Running towards the sound of the fireworks Vinyl muttered to herself.
"This ain't right, something weird is going on here."
