Dans quietly got up after Mark had done his best to fix her up. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, so there was no danger in bleeding out to death. With her leftover hand, she started searching through the desks, probably trying to figure out how to work the cell doors. Mark rested on the chair with his eyes closed. It seemed like he went through a lot today.

I decided to break the silence with Dans. "Why'd they decide to take your hand? Weren’t you supposed to be executed?”

“I’m not sure why they decided to spare me. But like I said before, they took my hand because I attacked the Emperor.”

“Sure. Hand, no biggie. Whatever. So the guards just let you waltz on over here after they took your hand?”

“No, I took care of them.”

“You… took care of them?”

“Yes, I incapacitated them. There were a few stragglers who joined the fight later, but they weren’t a big deal.”

I furrowed my brows. “You’re that good at fighting?” 

“They’re guards. They have no real experience in fighting.”

Guards? No experience fighting? What? “Okay, back up for a sec. What do you mean guards have no experience? They’re guards!”

“Most guards are usually the children of nobility who were unsuccessful in their advancement to the high council. They don’t need any training. They usually don’t even like fighting. Now, a soldier’s a different story, but they don’t do menial tasks like guarding.”

High council? What even is that? “How do you know all this?”

“My father was… No, it doesn’t matter.”

“Um, okay…” Sheesh. Secretive, aren’t we? “So, I was just curious. How many guards did you beat up?”

“Mel, I’m not going to stand there counting all the guards I took down.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Just give me a rough estimate.”

“Not sure.” Dans seemed to ponder for a few seconds. “Around fifteen?”

“Huh?” So that’s where all the guards were? I shook my head in disbelief. “And you attacked them after you lost your hand? You could’ve probably broken free from the very beginning with that kind of skill. Are you… just… nevermind.”

“I… I didn’t know my brother was still alive…" 

I let out a long sigh. “I don’t get it. Seriously, you just gave up hope just like that? Never thought your brother might be alive?” 

“The Emperor never lies. I didn’t think he would—”

“But he did lie! He’s not a god! And your brother was alive! Dans, he doesn’t respect you. Why can’t you see that?

“It doesn’t matter. I attacked my Emperor, Mel. Someone who I had sworn loyalty to.” 

“So what? Who cares about loyalty when your life's on the line?”

“You don’t understand. I broke my own vow.”

Your own vow, you say… Is it really that big of a deal, Dans? “Alright, so you gave up. Is that what you’re telling me? For your stupi-I mean, broken vow?”

“I thought my brother—”

“Okay, listen up, Dans. Your brother’s important to you. I know. And Mark probably does too. But we came here to save you. And we’re helping you save your brother right now. Am I—Is Mark a nobody to you? He’s sitting there sleeping right now because he went through so much to get to you. Why is your first thought to die? Aren’t you the one being selfish? There are other people out there who care for you too.”

“No, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine. Just… don’t give up, please. Live. If you feel like dying, live. If not for yourself, at least for the others in your life. Because he’s”—I pointed at Mark—“here for you… And now, so am I.” 

“I, um…” Dans looked over to the side and smiled. “Thank you, Mel.”

That was kinda embarrassing. I paused for a moment before I cleared my throat. “Let me help.” I walked over to where Dans was and started looking around the room with her.  

Whatever the case was, we had to focus on one thing at a time. Dans didn’t seem like she’d leave without her brother, so helping her would be the fastest way out.

I had initially ignored what looked like a touchscreen keyboard below the numerous security monitors because of how many buttons there were, but I realized that was dumb of me. These buttons probably controlled everything. I just didn’t know how to operate it. 

I called out to Dans. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

“Perhaps, but I’m trying to find some kind of list of prisoners.”

“Oh, just check that binder over there. It has a list of people.”

“Thank you.” She headed over to the binder I had initially given up looking through.

I looked at the buttons. There were over twenty buttons on the screen, but only two buttons were highlighted in a red outline. It was the buttons that read, Open and Release. 

Damn, the UI’s so simple even a toddler could figure this out, I thought. Why didn’t I see this before? I pressed on the release button. A new list of buttons popped up. 

It was a prisoner list! These were all the prisoners and their cell numbers, but there were over a hundred prisoners from the looks of it. How was I supposed to find Darrell in here?

“I found it!” Dans exclaimed. “Darrell’s in the dungeon! He’s… he’s below us? But that’s where I came from. I could’ve sworn I didn’t see him there…”

So, she missed him. Huh. I got back to the screen. Darrell was really just an afterthought. I wanted to figure out what these buttons really did. 

I hadn’t realized initially, but at the very top of the list of prisoners, there was a button that read, All. That couldn’t be someone’s name, could it? I pressed it. Suddenly, all the prisoners on the screen were highlighted and the word, Confirm, conveniently appeared at the bottom.

Heh, so that’s what this does. I smiled mischievously. Gotta thank the guards for being so spoiled. 

I glimpsed behind me. Mark was still sleeping and Dans was still in a rush to find more information probably about the dungeon or whatever they called the downstairs area. I looked back at the confirm button. And without a second thought, I pressed it.  

I waited in silence for a few seconds, but I didn’t notice anything. Nothing seemed to have happened. Confused, I looked up at the monitors to see if I could notice any kind of change. 

Oh, I see. The collars had fallen off. They weren’t dying anymore. Some of the prisoners looked around, bewildered by the sudden release of their collars. 

I looked back at the screen. The list of prisoners was gone and it was back to the home screen, but this time, the button that had Release written on it was grayed out. The only remaining button still highlighted in red was the one that read, Open. When I tapped it, the same prisoner list popped open. I smirked. I repeated the process from before, and when the confirm button popped up, I hovered my finger over it. If I were to deduce what was about to happen, only one word would fit the bill—chaos. Plus, this’ll be a good distraction. 

I pressed the button.

A sudden blaring siren scared the living daylights out of me. I jumped at the sound of the alarm. Dans and Mark abruptly looked around the room, trying to find the source of the sound, but what they didn’t know was that the source was everywhere. When I looked up at the monitors, I saw the glass panes in front of each of the cells had all disappeared. They were now all unofficially free. 

Some of the prisoners who still had strength in them, started walking out into the hallway and towards the door I had initially entered with Mark. They were clearly intent on leaving. And the alarms were clearly blaring because I had opened their cell doors. 

Mark and Dans both glared at me.

“What?” I shrugged.

Dans tried to yell over the siren. “What did you do?!” 

“Uh, nothing. I just opened some doors.”

“You what?!”

Mark chimed in, “There’s no time for this, we're getting caught if we stay here!”

Dans looked up at the monitors. “Did you release all the prisoners?!”

“Uh, maybe?”

She let out an angry groan. “Why, Mel?”

“Come on now. Don’t be like that.” I smiled. “We got a brother to find, remember?”

Mark scratched the back of his head before he left the room. He called out from down the stairs. “At least he’s right about that, Cap’n. Let’s go.” 

Dans stomped up to me with a finger pointed towards my chest. “You’re not off the hook, young man.” Then she followed Mark out. “We go down to the dungeons. Follow.”

“Yes, mam.” I followed her out. The fun was just beginning.