Chapter Text
Sigma tugged the dark hood further over his ears as he ducked through the weaving corridors of the prison. His quiet footsteps went unnoticed under the dreadful wail of alarms shrieking from every corner of the building. Each new hallway was flooded with the security system’s red light, turning the cold grey twisting pathways a deep crimson. A barely comprehensible map was stretched between his gloved hands as he darted into another offshooting corridor, this one housing a collection of assorted mid level risk inmates.
As he hurried past rows of steel prison cells, curious inmates shouted words that landed on deaf ears, their fingers itching through steel bars to grasp at the flaps of his cloak. He nimbly raced past them without a second glance, none able to draw his attention from the one critical task at hand.
Breaking Nikolai Gogol out of this high security prison.
Three entire weeks had passed since Sigma had last laid eyes on Nikolai. The two of them had been peering between the curtains of a hotel room window on the ground floor, gawking at the number of government ability users approaching the building. In the moment, Sigma had been thrown into a panic, determining that the situation was futile and that their capture had always been inevitable–might as well have been right then and there–
Yet while he had panicked, Nikolai had remained level headed. An emergency getaway plan, he'd said in swift reassurance, though rather erratically. At least one of them would be caught–that was certain, but that left room for the other to fly free. Then without further explanation, Nikolai had thrust his prized Overcoat into Sigma’s hands, urging that the manager get a head start. Perplexed, Sigma barely had time to process the extent of Nikolai’s plan before the other man had roughly shoved him toward the back door.
"I’ll be waiting for you, Sig. Come get me,” he’d laughed, heartily patting Sigma’s shoulder. Then, whirling around, he’d enthusiastically bounced across the room to throw open the front door and confront the officers speedily converging on their location.
Sigma had barely managed to piece together Nikolai's words in full, even as he fled through the building, sticking to the shadows and blending in with the crowds of bewildered hotel guests as officers swarmed the area. In a rushed daze, he’d pickpocketed an older squat gentleman of his keys and wallet, then hastily snuck past the perimeter of officers outside and into the back parking lot, quickly tracking down the soon-to-be stolen car. From there onwards, he’d been untraceable, having vanished from the town before the police even had the chance to start looking for him.
Thus in his invisibility over the past three weeks, Sigma had been worming his way into various government agencies and police forces, utilizing his ability to gradually pinpoint Nikolai’s exact location. After discovering the prison he’d been sent to, Sigma then moved onto the prison’s employees, unearthing all of the building’s weak points, blind spots and acquiring a map of the facility's cleverly designed twisting architecture. He even managed to swipe a set of keys off one of the high-risk inmate security guards.
Now, in the culmination of his efforts, he was racing through the blindingly red corridors of this accursed prison, actively struggling to make sense of the blueprint map in his hands. Reading the damn thing had proved astonishingly difficult.
The emergency protocols had already been set off earlier, which evacuated the personnel from the building. His path was clear of any man-shaped obstacles, reducing the chances of him winding up in a fight with security to zero. Nonetheless appreciative of the staff’s vacancy, his biggest obstacle persisted in his poor ability to comprehend the bizarre map of the prison’s incomprehensible layout.
This particular prison was specially constructed to house dangerous inmates and rogue ability users, the dizzying labyrinth of corridors converging towards a panopticonal center. The inmates’ level of risk increased the further inward Sigma traversed, the nonsensical connecting pathways serving as agents of confusion for anyone trying to break out or...coincidentally trying to break in.
Sigma paused at a four way intersection, gaze feverishly flipping between the map and the three possible directions laid before him. His finger traced the lines of the map before he uncertainly came to a decision and darted down the righthand path. Apprehension began to take root in depths of his mind as he passed row after row after row of seemingly endless rows of cell blocks. Soon, his doubts bubbled to the surface–was he even headed in the right direction? Bile rose in his throat and he determinedly bit down on the inside of his cheek, heart racing.
What if I can’t find him? This place is an utter nightmare!
This prison heist was supposed to be quick, god damnit–ten minutes in, ten minutes out, at the very most. Time seemed to crawl achingly slower in here and Sigma felt as though hours had passed since he’d first stepped foot inside the building.
Feet suddenly faltering, he paled at the revelation that he’d taken a wrong turn two intersections back. Icy fear gripped his ribs as he whirled around and fled back down the hall to backtrack, skin feverishly clammy as he swiped a glove through the sweat clinging to his cheek. His survival instincts were screaming at him to fucking leave. He’d already spent far too long in the building, and the more time he spent wandering through this place, the more likely he’d get caught. The return of the prison’s personnel was only a matter of time. Time which Sigma didn’t have. Terror rattled his thoughts as he turned another corner and dashed down the hall, cement walls suddenly warping around him in claustrophobia.
I have to get out–I have to–I can’t–I’ll be caught if I don’t and everything will have been for nothing–!
Swallowing back his fear, he focused on the important details. He couldn’t leave, not yet, he had to retrieve Nikolai first, and then they would escape together.
Furiously shoving down his rapidly rising reservations, Sigma pressed onwards with a flicker of new resolve, approaching a new sector revealed to be a janitorial hall. Finally, something other than another endless row of cursed cell blocks.
God I shouldn’t be here, his thoughts unhelpfully clamored as he jogged through the corridor, inhaling the stinging smell of cleaning chemicals. I should be back up at the casino far far away from this hell. He should have been mingling among the guests and relaxing in a soft armchair parked in front of the bay view windows instead of running in useless circles around one of the the world’s highest security prisons.
Why was he doing this?
Because you love me! Nikolai’s chirp rang out clear as day, as though he were there in corporeality, racing alongside Sigma.
The man frowned, fingers curling tighter around his map. While that was more or less the case, he wouldn’t label his motive as ‘love’ but rather a firm sense of loyalty. Yes–he could most certainly justify that loyalty warranted this accursed, failing prison heist. Definitely.
The faint sound of urgent voices floated down the corridor from up ahead and panic knifed through Sigma’s chest. His former dredge of thoughts dissipated as he inwardly cursed and stopped cold in his tracks. Personnel were returning to their posts–the faux emergency call must have been unearthed already. Panicking, he spun around in place before his eyes feverishly landed on a janitor's closet just a few feet away, the door still slightly ajar.
Hastily darting inside, Sigma silently eased the door to a close behind him. The closet was small, racks and rows of cleaning supplies lining every inch of the place. Sigma began to creep toward the back when his foot swung into a discarded bucket on the ground, the plastic loudly clattering against the hard floor. The gradually nearing voices suddenly went quiet and two distinct sets of footsteps could be heard headed toward the closet door.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck–
Sigma mentally cursed, heart pounding in his ears as he hastily stumbled toward the shadowed back wall of the room to cower behind a particularly wide rack of mops.
Just outside, the voices resumed. Keys jangled from belts as the two personnel neared the closet door. With bated breath Sigma peered intently through the darkness, every muscle in his body going still. A shock of adrenaline shot through his veins–he was ready to bolt at the first sign of being discovered.
Then, the two sets of footsteps were leisurely thundering past the door of the janitor’s closet, accompanied by a guard's muffled laughter and her companion's chatter. Nothing extraordinary became of their presence and they passed by, briskly moving on down the corridor. Gradually, their voices subsided, until the only noises left beyond the supply closet's door were the faraway shouts of excitable prison inmates.
Sigma strained as he listened for any residual footsteps, but only silence greeted him. Once he was absolutely certain that the guards had vanished from earshot, he crept from his corner of the supply closet and inched the door open, peering out into the empty red corridor.
Determining that the coast was clear, he slipped out of the supply closet and continued his route leftwards through the janitorial halls. According to his map, the high risk inmates were stationed just beyond this sector in a two story cylindrical room. If Sigma could arrive in time, the guards overseeing these special inmates wouldn’t have returned to their posts in the control tower yet, meaning that Sigma could get in, retrieve Nikolai and get out with little complication. However, if he’d already missed this slim window of absence, the chances of setting Nikolai free would quickly turn from barely probable to entirely impossible.
Sigma burst out of the janitorial sector, sucking in a deep breath of relief, clearing his senses. He was suddenly grateful for the stale air filling the rest of the prison. Rounding the corner, he nearly tripped over his own feet as he came to a sudden halt upon a blocked pathway. Excitement rocked down into his heels and he hastily folded away his map–this was it. Before him stood a thick steel door fashioned with a bar and keyhole. Inserting one of the keys from the stolen ring in his pocket, he braced himself before shoving open the heavy door with his shoulder.
The sector which lay beyond nearly rendered him blind. A stab of pain shot through his eyes and he raised a hand to defend against the harsh white lights of the room, which bore down on him in an impossibly oppressive stare. He blinked rapidly, the scene gradually sliding and fading into focus.
Stretched before him was an impossibly enormous circular room with a single control tower jutting up from the center in a threatening spike. A cold draft flowed through this place and Sigma squinted upwards, making out several steel-fitted glass cubes suspended in midair. Then he noted that the outer perimeter of this cylindrical sector was home to a vast number of prison cells built into the walls, which comprised two distinct floors. A panopticon.
Sigma had already obtained Nikolai’s exact whereabouts from the last person he’d used his ability on. Cell 213-B. The second floor.
Glancing to his right, a nearby narrow staircase gave way to a gray hallway curving off into the distance. Without hesitation, he immediately bounded towards the staircase, practically leaping up the steps with a sickening excitement brewing in his chest. Nikolai was close.
The second floor was identical to the first, the corridor stretching around off into the distance. Carefully moving along, Sigma took note of the interior side of this hallway, inlaid with rows of thick metal doors which were keenly observed by numerous security cameras mounted at the ceiling. His fingers curled at the sight–someone must have noticed his presence through those cameras by now–his time was running out.
He hurried towards the nearest cell door and squinted at the thin bronze plaque. 193-B. Tearing his eyes away, he hurried to the next door down. 194-B.
Good. He was in the right place.
With a sudden burst of speed, Sigma promptly took off down the corridor, cloak flapping behind him as he raced past door after door, counting the numbers which flew by in a whirl–195, 199, 204, 210…
At last, Sigma skidded to a halt in front of steel door number 213-B and keeled over, struggling to catch his shaking breath. He cast a glowering scowl over his shoulder at the security camera blinking down on him. This would have to be quick.
Directly in the center of the door lay a covered horizontal slot of six inches placed at eye level. Sigma grasped the groove of the metal and with some difficulty, slid the slot back, revealing a peek into the contents of the room. He eagerly leaned forward, gripped by half desperation and half quivering excitement, hoping to catch a glimpse of success beyond the door.
A startling pair of scarred yellow eyes gazed back at him through the bars and Sigma balked in surprise, unceremoniously flinching backwards with a curse. No sooner and he was already cautiously leaning towards the slot once more, wearing a suspicious look as his heart uncontrollably thudded against his ribs.
“Kolya? Is that you in there?”
“Ah! Is that who I think it is~?” A familiar voice jovially rang out from the opposite side of the door. Sigma gingerly lowered his dark hood, locks of frazzled hair tumbling out around his shoulders. Nikolai sucked in a mocking gasp, half muffled by the steel between them. “What? It’s Sigma? Sigma’s come to save the clown?”
“You asked me to come, moments before you got arrested,” Sigma reminded him drily, bending over and intently peering at the door’s lock with a look of puzzlement. These cell doors were impossibly thick and the only way into the rooms beyond was through a combination. Shit.
“Yes that was a thrilling gamble!" Nikolai loudly clasped his hands together. "Oh I wasn’t sure you would actually come! It’s been three weeks and I started to get worried–I’ve been so bored!”
Sigma paused his study of the lock, narrow gaze flicking upwards.
“Why would you give yourself up if you weren’t sure I’d come?”
“Because I knew you’d save me somehow of course!”
Sigma could only muster a blank stare toward the yellow eyes grinning at him through the slot.
“Oh my god, I missed your wonderful little expressions!” Nikolai chirped, reeling backwards with a frenzied series of claps, spinning away and momentarily disappearing from view. Then his muffled voice piped up once more. “Now isn't this the part where you’re supposed to open the door and I’m supposed to make a showman’s entrance? Or would it be a showman’s exit in this scenario–”
Sigma ignored Nikolai's chatter and instead focused on glaring at the coded lock with mounting frustration. The excitement in his adrenaline was beginning to boil away into trepidation. He was struggling to mask the rising panic that gripped his heart–he couldn’t open the door. During the time he’d spent collecting intel, he’d found no information indicating the use of this sort of lock, so obviously he hadn’t obtained the codes.
His teeth nervously sank into his lip as his mind raced to form another solution. All of this–all of this work couldn't have been for nothing. Nikolai was right there, Sigma was so close to completing this mission–he couldn’t fail now–he–
Stay calm. He furiously raked his fingers through his bangs. The room seemed to suddenly spin, tunneling his vision around the impervious taunting lock beneath his hands. His mind continued to desperately grasp at scraps of threads to spin some other way, but nothing seemed to stick.
“What’s taking so long?” Nikolai drawled impatiently.
“I...I..." Sigma started, unwilling to admit his foolish oversight. "I don’t have the code to unlock the door…” he begrudgingly forced out, bracing for a reaction.
Nikolai fell silent for a single moment. Then he burst into uproarious laughter, which surged from beyond the door and echoed raucously down the corridor.
“You spent three weeks preparing for my rescue but forgot to find the codes to the door!?” he cackled gleefully.
“Actually, I didn’t think I’d get this far,” Sigma muttered hotly, albeit with truth. Frustrated, he sucked in a shaking breath and ran both hands through his hair, struggling to ignore the weight of his heart sinking in dismay.
This had been his duty, a purpose assigned to him–and he'd...he was–
No, he would find a way. They would find a way.
He glanced back up at the clown’s bemused expression peering down at him through the bars of the slot.
“Can’t you use your ability at all?” he asked incredulously, voice pitched by a kind of determined desperation.
“Not unless you’ve got the Overcoat just hanging around somewhere,” Nikolai replied, shrugging. Realization punched Sigma through the chest and he seized, heart flooding with a delirious hope that uncontrollably surged through his system–god he could have kissed Nikolai through the bars right then and there.
“As a matter of fact–” Sigma hastily shoved a hand into the depths of his cloak, grasping the neatly folded bundle of white cloth tucked to his chest.
“Aw don’t tell me–” Nikolai began, his eyes growing wide in excitement. Sigma whisked out the Overcoat, proudly shaking it out and brandishing the white rippling fabric for Nikolai to behold.
“Oh! You’ve outdone yourself!” Nikolai hollered, his hand flying to his forehead as he reeled backwards in mock astonishment. Sigma ignored his theatrics and instead cast his gaze around the empty corridor, chided by sudden haste. They hadn't much time.
“We need to hurry. How do I open the door?” Sigma hissed frantically, leaning towards the slot.
“It’s quite simple actually, you’re not opening the door!”
“Then how–”
“Use the Overcoat, dummy! I’m within thirty meters, which means I can control it.”
Sigma’s gaze flickered down to stare at the daunting black folds of the Overcoat. He was gripped by a newfound unease, mind uncontrollably whirling in a million ways this could go wrong. “Yes but what if I go through and end up in your cell without the coat?“ he started uncertainly. "Or I get lost? Or–"
“Oh shhh–shush shush." Nikolai flapped a hand . "No buts. You figure it out, cookie.”
Sigma started in outrage, bristling with desperation. "How am I supposed to–“
A shout echoed down the corridor and Sigma's voice immediately died in alarm. Dread filled his body–he'd been spotted over the security cameras.
“Tell me how to use the coat!” he snapped, patience wearing thin as the sound of numerous footsteps were rapidly echoing closer.
“A good magician never reveals his tricks…” Nikolai lamented.
“Nikolai–“ Sigma warned darkly, fists balling.
“What?”
“Nikolai.”
“At least say please?” Nikolai pleaded.
“Overcoat. Now...please.”
“Well then, since you asked so nicely...Simply fall right into it!"
"And?" Sigma prompted.
"Keep a good hold onto it when you go through, otherwise you'll leave it behind and be stuck in here with me."
"Anything else I should know?" Sigma's struggled to keep his voice steady as he swung the coat around his shoulders in preparation.
"Nope! Just try not to hit the telephone pole in there on your way down!"
Entirely unsure if that one was a joke, Sigma gripped the edges of the fabric. He absolutely despised the idea of willingly throwing himself into a pocket dimension but he trusted Nikolai well enough, and would admittedly rather risk himself in the clown's hands than be caught by a bunch of armed prison guards. Knuckles turning white, he sucked in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut, rigidly toppling backward into the rippling depths of the Overcoat.