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230am {Level 5 airducts}

V and two other prisoners had gathered above the cafeteria vents. The tight metal tunnel hummed loudly and rang through his pointed ears. A chill was felt alongside the hush of the industrial sized air conditioner. Everything vibrated as V crawled through the cramped space, his teeth shaking as his maw pressed into the chilly metal. The two prisoners that accompanied him were W and U.

W was a fox with watchful emerald eyes and fur that mirrored the familiar silver of the moon. She frequently worked construction outside and had been put into solitary for an incident with a pickaxe. U was the largest of their group, he too worked construction alongside W. U was a Tiger of few words their black and white stripes looked as noble as his gold colored eyes. V had not found out much about either prisoner since being here. Each prisoner was assigned a letter upon admittance to the prison. Whenever V had approached a guard to ask about it, they always used the excuse that it was easier to remember their names. V had done his best to keep ahold of his own name in his first week. Recent escape plans had since occupied his mind with more important knowledge. Not being one to keep a journal V found himself in the odd position of being part of an escape attempt. The escape had involved the complicated process of leaving false dummies of themselves behind. By now V had been made aware of the rounds the guards did to make sure inmates were still in cells. It just so happens that W was just above where the vent could be tampered with and removed. V, W, and U had previously examined the route of the vents in their moving from place to place. To save money on cleaning and maintenance staff it was up to the prisoners to keep the place running and functional. This optioned for some of them to steal tools of varying kinds. Within his first month V found himself with a secret compartment in his desk with which he could hide important items.

W had swiped a screwdriver from her workstation, it made unscrewing the vent covers a much easier task. The tools they gave to the prisoners were not always the highest quality, and they were constantly breaking. W's screwdriver would finally break upon removing the final screw in the vent cover that hung over the cafeteria. The team would move about the vents allowing the U shift to the adjacent side of the vent before removing the cover. U had hidden a snake like binding of sheets in blankets all throughout his prisoner jumpsuit. U would motion V and W to shift down the rope while after he dangled the improvised ladder. W would be the first to decent, the lithe fox showed little problems descending the line. V felt awkward as he shifted down the awkward line of knotted fabric, his decent offering little sound. The cafeteria tables would greet his feet as he touched down. The next step would prove the most awkward and time consuming. V and W would take care as to not make noise whilst shifting the tables out of the "drop zone". V had prepared for this drop. the insides of his jumpsuit had been stuffed with as many pillows as he could find. With the addition of the rope ladder unknotted the drop area would be cushioned with a fine wad of padding. Without hesitation U shifted his weight out of the opening and made the lengthy drop to the pillow mound below. It was not the most graceful landing, upon landing U would make a light tumble and bump his head against the unforgiving floor. Upon helping their comrade up, the group would be on the move again. It felt like an easy run as they bounded through the cafeteria corridor and past the med bay. It made V feel nervous at how well this plan was going, their next turn bringing them to the stairs leading to the 4th level.

Level 4 was mainly dedicated to storage, exercise, and recreation. What was normally a bright festive area, now appeared to be dark, quiet, and bleak. V stared about the dimly lit area which was normally lively with prisoner activity. It was a quick moment of appreciation, as V was greeted by a firm smack to his head. W put a finger over her lips as she pointed towards U, who was already moving about the area to get to the next set of stairs. V was still not used to the way W's voice would sometimes ring out in his head, the telepathic connection she made often made him unsure if his thoughts were his own. Right now, it was clear he needed to move. With a firm nod, V began to follow keeping his body low and his steps light. It had been sometime since he had had some free time and it felt tempted to make use of the pool they passed. A grin formed in V's muzzle as he brushed the simple wish off, his vision trailing towards W's shifty form. The agile fox seemed to move just as fluidly as the water, no movement felt wasted as she followed just behind U. The well-built Tiger had stopped in front of the kitchen's storage locker. Despite his size he appeared to be struggling with opening the sliding door. W was quick to move and help U with his struggle and slowly the door creaked open. U nodded his head to signal V to slip inside, to which he moved without hesitation. As the door shut behind him any remaining life would disappear. V could not even see his paw in front of his face. Everything felt cold in this room, as it should as it was the freezer where rations were stored. There was a moment of silence before V acted his paw sticking into the pockets of his uniform to extract a lighter. One of the guards had tossed it due to the fluid being nearly gone, but he could work with this. V gave the flint a few test flicks to make sure sparks could still fly. He even got the flame to appear once, in that moment he would put his hand upon the flame. The connection would not burn him, in fact the flame transferred to the palm of V's paw. V stared at the small flame as it danced over the surface of his hand. If he concentrated enough, he managed to make the flame grow enough to provide enough light. At this point V would attempt to find the switch that would open the door from the other side. It was a button that workers pressed when loading cargo. V felt himself shiver as he pawed about the dark room for the door activator. Here in the dark he for once felt thankful for his ability. Even if it was why he was here in the first place, the bitter irony held a bitter pit in his chest. Maybe it was because he was hungry and couldn't think straight.

An alarm broke the silence, causing a red imposing light to brighten the storage area. The blaring sound echoed throughout the facility and rang aloud the icebox. V could hear U curse from the other side of the door. W growled and spat her own frustrations, her paw pounding against the door as if she were readying to open it.

"NO! Get back to your cells! I'll find a way back!"

V barked back to his allies from the other side of the sliding door, the sound of his confidants soon disappeared. V managed to find a vent upon a quick search, the fire on his palm acted as a blow torch to remove the vent cover. V moved without hesitation through the unfamiliar vent. It seemed to curve upwards towards the 3rd level. The canine cursed under his breath as it was his plan to make his way down instead of up. He now decided to smash open the nearest vent he could to make a mad break for the cells. This thought he laughed off as he knew if he were found it would be straight to solitary confinement. V eventually reached a vent cover that he could drop down, he would peek through the slats to see some guards talking in a room. It only took a couple minutes for them to search the room before leaving. Upon dropping down V took a moment to catch his breath, the cramped space of the vents made him feel claustrophobic and tight in his joints. A chill ran up V's spine as he still felt as if he had not even left the freezer.

"So, you're the new inmate huh? What exactly is your skill?"

A cool composed voice called out over the alarm, which as if by cue seemed to silence at the figures voice. V felt shocked that he hadn't noticed that someone was still there. He would not move, feeling any sudden motions might give the guard an excuse to use excessive force. V simply smiled and held his hands up in an unmenacing fashion. Yet, he would not offer a response.

"Not exactly the best at hearing eh? Do you have any weapons on you?"

V shook his head.

"Do you mind if I pat check you?"

V shook his head again, the typical response from a guard attempting to apprehend an inmate. The constituted guardsman approached, already V could notice that the spotted snow leopard had a good foot on him. A hand to hand confrontation would definitely be out of the question, V was sure they had trained from the look of the felines build.

"V huh? You can call me Victor. Did your name have a V in it too?"

Victor appeared to try and make small talk as he made the unceremonious process of padding around for any potential weapons. In this pat down, V offered little in ways of conversation. After some prying Victor managed to come up with the lighter V had picked up. A curious look crossed the felines face as they seemed to get in close for inspection. If he wasn't wrong V may have caught the feline sniffing him.

"A lighter? You do not smell like you smoke. Why would you need this?"

A pause, to which Victor smirked and shrugged as he fiddled with the flint making it spark up.

"Doesn't seem to have much fuel in it either, but perhaps you used it up when finding your way through the vents. They can be awfully dark."

V gritted his teeth as the feline let his ego show, as if he was gloating about the futility of his escape attempt. It was difficult not to let Victors words get a reaction out of V, yet the canines posture appeared to grow more and more irritated. Perhaps it was because he was starting to slouch in his hands up position.

"I hope you know that I can't just take you back to your cell. They're gonna want you to spend the rest of the night in solitary"

V gave a nod.

"Back to nodding huh? I suppose I can't influence you to tell me of your accomplices"

V responded with a rude hand gesture that gave Victor all the information he needed to know. It was enough to make the feline laugh. During their conversation V had considered ways of distracting the feline to find a way to make a quick break for it. This shifting of the eyes was met with the watchful gaze of the leopard who had up until this point showed nothing but a kind demeanor.

"Don't try it..."

The felines voice went cold again, back to the way he sounded when V had first heard his voice. Before V could so much as take a step, he felt the weight of the feline tucked into a cuped hand across his throat. The weight bent the wolfs body backwards until the back of his head hit the unforgiving metal floor. A snarl sounded from the feline as he pinned the wolf to the floor by the neck. It didn't stop him from breathing, but it was enough to make V cough aloud. Victor smirked as he felt V's continued struggles to break free from his grasp.

"Users like you are a real problem for guys like me."

V felt his vision fading and his body grow numb. And cold, he felt unbearably cold. Was he seeing his own breath. It had been difficult to focus and regain his sight after the painful pin to the floor. After a few seconds he managed to catch a glimpse of the felines grin, pools of crystalized air seemed to exhale from their breath. V could feel a chill in the felines grip, the grasp began to tighten and vision once more became a chore. The chill to his neck was the last thing he'd remember before awaking to the sound of morning bell. Yet the cell he was in was not his own, the solitary cell was much smaller and offered little to no light.