Aikin didn’t respond, as another guard burst in, alerted by the commotion.
“Put your hands up!”
The guard tackled Aikin to the ground, struggling to press a taser against his chest. 401 pulled the arm off another droid and quickly smacked the guard’s head with the exposed wire, shocking and knocking him out.
“You’ll need that taser.” 401 suggested.
Aikin nodded and snatched the still-active taser from the guard’s hand.
“Where’s the nearest exit?” 401 asked.
“If I remember correctly, the nearest one should be about 5 cell blocks away.”
“We’ll need to take a stealthy approach. You’re not exactly the best fighter, y’know.”
401 started to move, but stopped almost instantly when her tires whirred loudly.
“Drat… these make too much noise. You’re gonna have to carry me.”
Aikin shook his head furiously. “I am NOT carrying you! Do you know how heavy those things are?! What if you possessed that pebble again?”
“I will be of no help if I’m stuck possessing an inanimate pebble until we get my body back. You have muscles, don’t you? Or do I have to do everything here?”
“Fine, fine.”
Aikin picked up the android with some effort and trudged slowly through the hallway. The other prisoners stared wistfully and longingly at the newly freed prisoner, perhaps wishing for freedom of their own. Eventually, the duo made it to the end of the block and stopped at seeing rows of active security droids. He whispered to 401, “What do we do?”
“...Set me down and act as if I’m leading you. Hopefully, their systems won’t be alerted.”
401 ejected a pair of cuffs from her back plate. “Put these on and act unnoticeable. Walk behind me.”
Aikin put them on and stood behind her.
401 warned him, “And if you mess this up, we’re done for. We have no fighting chance this way.”
He gulped nervously. 401 ignored him. They slowly progressed through the block. The robots didn’t react.
Eventually, they reached the end of the block, but one of the prisoners yelled out.
“They’re escaping!!”
Aikin whipped his head around. “Why’d you do that?!”
The prisoner glared at Aikin through the bars as the droids activated one by one and swarmed the duo.
“If I can’t escape, no one can.”
“Better make use of that taser!”
Aikin neutralizes the bots, grabs 401, and runs toward the exit. The yell of the other prisoner faded until they couldn’t hear it anymore.
“...That was close,” 401 remarked.
Aikin stood against a tree, trying to recover his breath. “We…desperately need…some fighting power,” he managed.