Chapter 14 - Together Once More

At the military base, Gavin finally makes it over to where the prison area should be, which he finds strange that there's no one keeping guard. He then stands in front of the heavily locked, near-invincible metal gate, as he looks for a way to unlock it.

"What the hell... This thing has like, 5 locks, a passcode, handprint requirement, and two keycard and ID requirements... Perfect."

Gavin says to himself with a sly smile, as he pulls out his multitool,

"Finally, I get to use this... Looks like I didn't waste money after all."

He jokes to himself about the multitool, as he begins to unlock the locks, which are somehow just normal locks, despite being in such a high-security place. He then moves on to the ID and key card requirements,

"Damn, two for each... Absolute perfection."

He says with a seemingly satisfied tone, as he then pulls out the ID and key cards he took from the soldiers and the security guard, as he quickly finishes dealing with those locks.

"And done... Now two more problems... Handprint and passcode, hmm..."

Gavin says to himself, as he decides to start with the passcode,

"Alright, so it looks like it's 4 digits, I guess we'll have to go trial and error, assuming that those soldiers don't get here by then..."

He continues talking to himself as he begins to think,

"Alright, let's start with the easy, most obvious ones... 1234?"

He says to himself as a joke, since there's no way that such a simple code could be used in a place like this...

BEEP

The passcode turns green, as it is accepted,

"...What."

Gavin's stares at the screen in shock, disbelief and confusion,

"What the actual hell?"

He asks himself, wondering how this military base is still up like this.

Gavin then just shakes his head, as he moves on to the last thing in his way, the handprint,

"Damn, where am I gonna get someone's handprint..."

Gavin thinks to himself, as he rubs his chin, thinking of what to do to deal with this. When he suddenly remembered,

"What a goddamn minute, I'm wearing someone else's uniform... And it has their gloves!"

Gavin says with realization, as he then removes the gloves, turning it inside out to where the hand mark was as he begins to apply the glove over and over to the scanner, praying it eventually gets accepted and it doesn't go into a suspicion lock. When eventually,

BEEP

Once again, the scanner turns green as the handprint is accepted, as the heavy door finally opens.

Gavin sighs in relief, as he falls to his knees, happy that he finally made it through,

"Yes... finally. Courtney, don't you worry any longer, I'm on my way..."

Gavin says with a determined tone as he enters the gateway, shutting it close in case anyone manages to get back.

He then runs through the hallway, as he reaches a corridor, holding doors which seem to be leading to multiple other hallways. Gavin then begins making his way through the hall, checking each door just in case,

"Courtney! Courtney!"

Gavin yells through the different doorways leading to the different corridors, hoping to get a reply.

Meanwhile, Courtney continues sobbing in her cell, hoping that Gavin will finally make his way to her, when suddenly, she hears a faint, but familiar voice, shouting in the halls...

"Courtney! Courtney!"

It can barely be heard, but can be heard just enough to be understood. Courtney immediately tries to go towards the voice, but once again can't, as she's chained to the wall, with no way to break free. Courtney continues to pull, as she starts to scream back,

"I'm here, I'm here!"

She yells back in reply, as her voice echoes through the halls.

The sound continues to bounce off the dark walls of each hallway, as it goes through the awfully quiet hallways of the prison, eventually reaching Gavin. Gavin also hears the voice, as he begins to chase after it,

"Courtney! It's me, Gavin, I'm here to save you, just hold on!"

Gavin yells as he starts to run through the halls,

"Gavin? Gavin! Come here quickly! I'm here, just follow my voice!"

Courtney yells back, as she begins to guide Gavin through the halls with her voice.

Gavin starts to run to different doorways, screaming through each one,

"Courtney!!"

He yells each time as he then waits for an answer,

"I'm here!"

Courtney would reply, as Gavin would notice it's not there, as he leaves to continue following the voice.

They continue the same process over and over again, until eventually, Gavin hears one of Courtney's replies in one of the doorways,

"I'm here, I'm here!"

She yells, as Gavin struggles to unlock the door with his multitool, before just giving it up and busting it down himself. He then looks to see a long, empty hallway of darkness, holding more doors that lead to the cells of different prisoners and criminals,

"Courtney, are you here!?"

Gavin yells through the hall as he once again waits for a reply,

"Yes, I'm here!"

She replies, as Gavin quickly goes over to the cell where the voice is heard,

"Courtney! Oh, I'm so glad... I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

He says to her reassuringly as he begins to unlock the cell door,

"Yes... Open it... Free me..."

The voice replies, as it suddenly starts to distort into a more deep and creepy one, as Gavin starts to realize that something is wrong,

"C-Courtney...?"

Gavin asks as he stops unlocking the door to wait for a reply, as a man inside the cell door starts to growl angrily,

"WHY DID YOU STOP!? C'MON, UNLOCK THE DOOR AND FREE ME!"

The man inside shouts, causing Gavin to get scared and fall back, as the man starts to laugh.

"Hahahaha! You really thought I was your little girlfriend?"

The prisoner says with a grin as he chuckles,

"Hehe, I am everyone, boy..."

The man says with a shifted voice, now sounding like Courtney, as Gavin crawls back in fear.

"Even if you don't find your girlfriend, I can easily be an... asset, to you, if you help me escape."

The man says suggestively, as Gavin only shows a face of disgust,

"Oh, hell no."

Gavin simply replies, as the prisoner gets annoyed.

"Oh, come on. I'm your girlfriend! I'm you, I'm that shitty general who locked us all in here, I'm that one soldier who led me to this cell, hell, I'm even Johnny Sins!"

The man says as he continues to shift his voice into multiple different people.

It seems that the man has a voice mimicking power, with the power to replicate anyone's voice perfectly, as long as he's heard of them before. The man continues to cackle as he makes fun of the boy,

"Listen, boy... Here in this prison, we criminals, we're dangerous... Of course... And we will take any chance to escape, especially from this hellhole. I'm just reminding you that prison is not a good place to be..."

The man says to Gavin, as all the other criminals also cheer and laugh, as Gavin starts to panic in fear. He quickly gets up and begins to run, as the other criminals reach their hands out to try and catch and grab Gavin,

"That's right boy! Run, run away, run from the place you'll never be able to escape! Especially once they find you, intruder."

The criminal says in Courtney's voice, as he laughs like a demon at the running Gavin.

Gavin eventually makes it out of there, closing the door shut as he falls to the floor, panting heavily in fear, panic and exhaustion. The cheers and cackles of all the criminals can still be heard from behind the door...

"Gavin, are you there!? Where are you!"

Courtney continues to call for Gavin, now a bit concerned, as Gavin snaps back into reality. He wipes off some sweat, before taking a deep breath and going back to what he was doing, as he runs through the halls, shouting,

"Don't worry, I'm still here, Courtney!"

Meanwhile, the military soldiers all around the base had finished clearing and checking the entire base, as they all stand outside, confused, still unable to find the intruder.

"Where the hell is this guy!?"

They all ask each other in confusion and frustration,

"Yeah, we've checked all over, we even cleared the more unchecked areas like the vents and the pipelines."

Another soldier says as they begin to panic.

Suddenly, a huge meteorite looking object crashes outside the base, causing a huge explosion. All of the soldiers immediately come out to check on it, as they point their guns at it, before immediately putting them away, as they salute in fear, as the general has finally arrived. The general walks towards the military base, as his body starts to reform from a blob of lava back into his human form,

"Where is he!?"

The general shouts, asking angrily as he looks around at the crowd of soldiers, who're all already looking very nervous and scared as they look at each other,

"So!?"

He general continues yelling angrily at the crowd of soldiers,

"We don't know sir..."

A soldier firmly replies, finally breaking the silence between the soldiers, as they immediately look at him, making way for the general to the soldier who said it, as he gulps in fear,

"What...?"

The general replies, asking him with a low, serious tone,

"Did I hear that right?"

He says as he starts to walk slowly towards the soldier, each heavy step burning the grass below as he does.

The soldier then starts to tremble as the general makes his way towards him, but he continues to try standing his ground as he continues to explain,

"Well, sir, general, sir... We've tried countlessly searching every inch, nook and cranny of the facility, but he's nowhere to be found!"

The soldier exclaims, as the general stands in front of him, looking down at him as he attempts to intimidate him, but the soldier just continues standing his ground and keeping his stoicism, pissing the general off even more.

"What do you mean, you don't know... Are you talking back against me?"

The general asks him angrily, his rage building up each second,

"Wha-, n-no sir! I'm just trying to say-"

The soldier tries to explain but the general cuts him off,

"You dare talk back against me. Lie to me, disrespect, ME!"

The general shouts angrily at the soldier as they argue,

"B-but sir!"

The soldier tries to exclaim once more, but the general then puts his hand over his head,

"SILENCE!"

The lava general shouts as he uses Aura Release, knocking down every soldier around him and paralyzing the soldier he's currently talking to, as he then crushes the soldier's head with only his hand, killing the poor guy.

The general then scoffs, as he wipes away the blood from his hands,

"Ugh, disgusting... You see men, this is what happens to those who dares to lie to me, disrespect me, and talk back against ME!"

The lava general shouts at all the men, warning them as they only stand there in silence,

"Now then... Tell me, where, Is, THAT, INTRUDER!?"

The general continues to shout, asking one more time to all of the men, who only continue to stand there in silence out of fear, which only pisses off the general even more.

"Oh, so that's how it is... FINE THEN!"

The general says in frustration as he scoffs, turning away as he decides to hold back for once. He then stomps away into the building, deciding to find the intruder himself,

"Now then... I'll need one of you guys to accompany me inside, are any of you able to do that?"

He asks the soldiers, but yet, they still decide to stay silent, which finally pops the last nerve on the general's head.

The lava general then screams angrily as he throws a tantrum, as he then throws a lava attack at one of the soldiers, hitting them right in the head as their face is melted while they burn an agonizing death.

"I said... WILL ANYONE COME WITH ME INSIDE!? Any more defiance, and I WILL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU ALIVE!"

The lava general yells angrily once more at all the men, as they quickly stand straight and salute,

"SIR, YES, SIR!"

All the soldiers reply in unison out of fear, as they switch back to their default setting and immediately follow the general's instructions in fear.

Dozens of soldiers then follow behind the general, as they enter the military base once again, to find the intruder.

Meanwhile, back at the prison area, Gavin continues to follow Courtney's voice,

"Courtney, you still there?"

Gavin continues to call through each door,

"Yes, Gavin, you're almost here! I can hear you getting closer."

Courtney replies, as Gavin goes ahead and continues to follow the voice down the hall. Until eventually, Gavin arrives at the last door,

"This has to be it... It just has to be..."

He says to himself, panting out of exhaustion after running and calling for so long.

As Gavin opens the door, he once again goes through the dark hall, where various different criminals and prisoners sit in their cell, glaring at him as he passes by.

"Courtney!"

Gavin shouts one more time...

"Gavin! Is that you?"

Courtney's voice can be heard loud and clear right at the end of the hall,

"Courtney!"

Gavin shouts, a hopeful smile slowly showing on his face as he starts to run,

"Gavin!"

Courtney shouts back, tearing up in joy as she smiles happily. She gets as close as she can to the bars, hoping to reach out to Gavin as she finally sees Gavin running up to her cell.

Gavin finally arrives at Courtney's cell, as he falls to his knees in front of the bars, seeing his poor girlfriend in such a horrible condition. Meanwhile, Courtney also tries to get as close to the bars as she can, hoping to get as close as she can to Gavin,

"Courtney, baby! Oh, you poor thing... I thought I'd never see you again..."

Gavin begins to tear up, as he reaches in through the bars to cup Courtney's cheek, caressing her face gently as he wipes her tears,

"Yeah... sniffles Me too..."

Courtney replies as she begins to sob heavily, crying as she finally saw her boyfriend for the first time in a long, agonizing time...

"I've waited for you, Gavin... It's been a month, but I knew you'd come for me someday, so I kept waiting. And I'm so, so glad I did..."

Courtney says with a smile on her face, sniffling as her tears slowly vanish,

"I miss you so much, Gavin... I love you... so much..."

She says softly as she once again begins to sob.

Gavin then gets up, as he looks for the cell door, quickly unlocking the triple locked cell with the handprint, the multitool, and the key card, as Gavin enters the cell and goes to hugs Courtney tightly,

"There, there, I'm here now, my love... Don't you worry..."

Gavin tells Courtney with a soft, reassuring voice as he holds her tightly. Courtney's face is buried in his chest as she sobs all of her pain out, as Gavin continues to hold her, giving her soft, gentle, affectionate kisses on her head.

After a bit, Gavin goes ahead and focuses his attention to the chains on Courtney's wrists,

"Now c'mon... Let's get you out of here, shall we?"

Gavin says with a smile, as he begins to unlock the chains and shackles keeping Courtney's powers sealed,

"Okay... let's do this."

Courtney says with confidence, as she's then finally freed, finally capable of using her powers once again, as she regenerates herself, before blasting away the cell bars and door,

"Finally... I feel so free, after so long!"

Courtney says excitedly in a moment of satisfaction, feeling great after finally getting her powers back, no longer feeling like the trapped weakling that she just was and once was. Gavin stands there, watching her with a proud smile as she becomes happy again for the first time in a while.

The other prisoners around them are shocked and in awe, as they watch Courtney escape for the first time,

"Woah... She did it, she actually did it, the first prisoner to escape here, ever!"

A prisoner suddenly cheers, as all the other prisoners around them cheer as well.

Courtney and Gavin then walk out of the cell, as all the prisoners around them applaud them and cheer for them, when suddenly, the door at the end of the hall can be heard opening, as the sounds of men rushing in can be heard. And there they appear, a dozen men, pointing their guns at Gavin and Courtney,

"Freeze! Put your hands in the air, and don't move, or we will fire!"

The soldier in the front of the group apprehends them, as Gavin and Courtney follow as planned.

All the prisoners around them start to boo the soldiers, as they throw whatever they have at them,

"Silence!"

Another soldier shouts as they fire their guns at a few of them, injuring or even killing a few as they do.

"Now, back to you guys... Y'all better stand down, try anything funny and we will fire!"

The soldier at the front warns them once again, as Gavin and Courtney only look at each other and give each other a sly grin,

"You know what to do..."

Gavin says to Courtney, as she only smiles excitedly,

"Hell yeah..."

Courtney replies, as they both turn back to the soldiers, preparing for one hell of a jailbreak.