Safe At Home?
Part Six
(Warning: language)

Nosedive forced himself to relax as he smiled slightly at the boy in front of him.  “I’m Nosedive but friends call me Dive.”

    For a moment Hades’ face lit up brightly with a smile.  “Well if we’ve decided on being friends I guess I should tell you that my real name is Maxwell.  Hades is only a nickname I’ve earned.”

    Despite himself Nosedive was curious.  “Earned?”

    Hades’ smile turned dark.  “Let’s just say that I’m like Hell on Earth, at least to my enemies.”

    Nosedive didn’t bother trying to get him to elaborate on what he’d said, he had a feeling that if Hades wanted him to know he’d tell him.  “Is there anyone else here who might be able to give us a hand if we should try and, uh, liven things up around here?”

    There was a negative shake of his head before he continued to speak quietly.  “Not a single one.  They’ve already been broken, badly.  And just a word of warning Dive, they’ll be coming for you soon enough.”

    Nosedive felt himself stiffen slightly even though he’d expected as much.  “Yah, I know.  They like to make sure that their new prisoners have no illusions about escape, just to make sure that they don’t get an overly enthused bunch of slaves trying to rebel.”

    Hades seemed to look right through him, “You’ve been in the mines before I take it?”

    He nodded slightly, trying not to think about it too much.  “But that doesn’t matter right now.  What matters is that you’ll have to try and find a weakness in the set up of this cell or the guards rotations while they take me for… training.”

    This time Hades looked at him long and hard, “You’re just going to let them take you than.  But why?”

    Nosedive shrugged slightly, “I know what to expect already and besides that I have to do my best to stick to the plan.”

    “Plan?”

    He met the blue eyes without flinching.  “I can’t tell you that Hades and if you’re like what I think you are you’ll understand why.”

    The other boy tossed his braid over his shoulder and eyed the other boy with little too no amount of surprise.  “I do understand.  If it is what I think this plan might be, it’s better not to jeopardize it.  But I do have a question about whether or not you’ll be able to handle going through what they have planned for you all over again.”

    “I’ll handle it because I have to Hades and that’s all there is to it.”

……………………………

    Duke was worried.  He hadn’t seen Nosedive since they’d managed to get caught.  It was only through pure luck that he was still with Mirage but that didn’t make him feel any better about the whole mess.  They’d easily found the three they’d come to get out.  Mirage was quietly working on explaining the plan to them as Duke kept the guards’ attention focused on him.  It was easier than any other job he’d had.  “Hey Ugly!  Did you just crawl out of a garbage can like that or did your parents toss you in?”

    Though he had to give them credit, they hadn’t let his constant insults get to them… at least not yet.  But the one guard’s twitching cheek told him that it would only be a short time before he was hauled from the cell and beaten into silence.  Oh, how he loved his work.

    Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mirage’s single to stop and did so with a bit of a sigh.  Guess he could get beaten later, course next time he’d actually be ALLOWED to hit them back.  The idea cheered him up immensely.  Slowly his made his way around the stuffed cell, moving closer to where Mirage and the other three were but doing it in a way that would mean absolutely nothing to any Draconians still watching him.  Bonelessly he flopped onto the hard soil of the floor right next to Mirage and waited as the other duck spoke quietly, just under his breath to both the team outside and Duke.

    “They’re all here.  Tucker, Dodge and Lisa.  They understand what we would like from them and agree to our conditions as long as we get them out of here in one piece.  The only unaccountable factor at this point is that Nosedive was separated from us and is now missing.  If we try to get him out as well it might not work and the mission will be a failure.”

    Before the Captain could call any shots Duke made a quick but difficult decision.  “Forget Dive.  Mission first.  If he doesn’t get out now, I’ll come back for him later.”

    Mirage looked slightly stunned but relayed what he’d said to the Captain.  “The Captain agrees with you, trying to get him out would be too risky.  First we handle the mission, then we’ll come back for him.”

    Duke was slightly shocked by the inclusive ‘we’ and he must have let it show because the gray duck tried to explain.

    “We might not think much of him Duke but he is part of the team and we never leave a team member behind, especially in the mines.  I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone, not even a Draconian.”

    Duke leaned back, “You know, we may be surprised.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Nosedive might just get out on his own.”

    Mirage shook his head, “If it’ll help any, you can think that but the chances of anyone, even an experienced war veteran escaping the mines on their own just isn’t possible.”

……………………..

    Nosedive’s arms were grasped roughly just below the armpits by the two guards and he was yanked to his feet and dragged towards the cell door.  He noticed the flash of anger in Hades’ eyes but he quickly concealed it somehow managing to pull off the look of despair and hopelessness that the rest of the prisoners were wearing.  No one tried to stop them as they dragged him out of the cell but Nosedive wasn’t at all surprised.

    He let his body sag and made it that much harder for the guards to maneuver him.  It wasn’t a ploy to prevent the inevitable, but he did need the time to get the keys off of the guard’s belt and hide them somewhere on him.  Luckily the two barely paid attention to him.  He had to bend his arm in a very uncomfortable way to reach the hook on the larger soldier’s belt but he forced the slight throb to the back of his mind as he carefully worked on the metal ring using a pair of very tiny wire cutters on it.  If the cutters had been larger he wouldn’t have bothered with the keys because he could have just used them to cut the chains.  Unfortunately a pair of wire cutters that size would have been impossible to carry let alone hide.

    He felt the ring give and he gently eased the keys off of the belt and went completely limp.  The action brought him to the ground and caused both guards to stumble and it gave him just enough of a distraction to slide the keys into a small compartment in the heel of his boot before either of the two Draconians recovered.  When they did he received not one but two blows to the back that would leave some very nice bruises.

    “ON YOUR FEET YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SKIN!”

    Nosedive complied not because of the name, he’d been called far worse in his life, and not because of the hits, he’d had much more painful things happen to him than those two love taps.  No he got up because the sooner he got this whole thing over with the sooner he could get back to the cell and Hades.  When he did he’d be able to come up with some way to hook up with Duke and the others and get out of here.  The only catch was he had to do it in the next two days or Hades and himself would be solely on their own in trying to get out of the mines… unless they managed to find someone else who would risk the Draconian’s wraith for freedom, but that was a very slim chance.  That much he was certain of.

    He was lead down the hallway and brought into a dimly lit room and thrown into a wooden chair.  Another Draconian came forward and undid his chains and clipping the restraints of the chair over his wrists and ankles plus another over his neck.  The new metal cuffs dug into his skin but he remained still, waiting.  Very slowly another Draconian, one similar in looks to Wraith, came out of the shadows pulling a rolling table with medical-like instruments scattered on it’s surface.  He flashed a cold smile at Nosedive before picking up a razor and fiddling with it slightly.

    Without a word he moved forward and sliced his shirt and jacket off, revealing his smooth chest.  Then ever so slowly he brought the blade down so that it was hovering just above his feathers.  “This is just a taste of what you will experience if you disobey us or try to escape.  If you do as you’re told you will never see me again, if not…”  The Draconian’s smile grew larger and even colder as he let the blade sink into Nosedive’s chest.  “Well, I do SO love my job so it would always be nice to see you again.  Though I think you’ll feel otherwise.”

……………………

    By the time the Draconian had finished with him Nosedive was beyond feeling anything.  He barely remembered the trip back to the cell but he did remember jerking away from Hades concerned and gentle hands.  He gave his new ally a shade of his usual smile.  “Sorry Hades.  I just need to rest for a little while.  Wake me up in an hour or so and we’ll get started on what we need to do.  Okay?”

    The other boy didn’t look happy about what he’d said but nodded consent and Nosedive closed his eyes and retreated from the pain that had taken over his body.