76 What She Can Do...

Lydis moved along the rooftops quickly. The small gaps between each house was only about four feet apart so she managed to jump between them with ease. Having memorized where the prison was, Lydis didn't waste any time.

About five minutes later, Lydis stood on the house adjacent to the prison, a wide road separating them. She couldn't jump the distance as it was well over twenty wide feet.

From the tracks and indents made by constant wear, Lydis realized that the road led to the train. It must be a road where the goods in the cars were unloaded and sent out from. Having a prison close to there didn't make any sense as an escapee could board the nearby train. Well, Lydis guessed that with the cramp space of Caratas and the ever-growing population, the people managing Caratas couldn't be too picky about where they built it.

The road was bare and deserted. Aside from the occasional resident crossing to get to their homes, there weren't any people around at all. As she was observing, a group of men rounded the corner, rowdy and drunk. They laughed and pushed each other playfully.

"Noo~oohh, y-you're, aamayshing." *hic*

A man with his shirt loosened leaned on his friend, his face flushed.

*hic* "Yaknow? Itsh my pleashure… budyy~!" The men patted each other playfully.

The three people behind them were wasted as well. Two less drunk men carried their passed out friend between them, one arm over each shoulder.

"Hehe…" *hic* "I win~ I win~"

"Oh, wait," The man on the left nearest to the wall let go if his friend and leaned against the wall. Heaving, the man barfed profusely down the side. The two men in front heard this and began laughing hysterically.

*hic* "…e's puking!"

"Ha ha, er," The man with the loosened shirt leaned against the wall as well, barf erupting from his mouth like a geyser.

His friend saw this and with slow realization, began to laugh.

"N-no wayy~." *hic* "…king too?" *hic*

Lydis watched as the bumbling men clamored together and began to piss on against the wall. Thankfully, Lydis was upwind from the men otherwise she'd have to smell the disgusting combination.

What she didn't expect was that one of the pissing men turned around sharply. Ducking just in time, Lydis hid from view.

"It's clear."

"Go, now."

The men stopped pissing and placed small bombs against the wall. Another searched through the barf and picked up more bombs. Lining them in a circle, the man with a loosened shirt knocked on the wall rhythmically.

Lydis peeked up slowly, her muscles tense in case she got discovered. Noticing their weird actions, Lydis thought that the men were drawing on the wall with their puke but the wobbling and drunk behavior from before had disappeared. Now they moved swiftly and quickly. She might've mistaken them for a new group if they didn't have the exact same clothes.

"Is she good inside?"

"Yeah."

"Blow it."

The men moved to the side and pressed themselves against the wall. All at once the small bombs exploded together. Fragments of the metal wall flew outwards, but the bombs had pierced the wall. Moving quickly, one member used a blade to cut into a few parts where the bombs had been spread too far apart.

"Quick, move aside!" One man grabbed the one holding the knife and pulled him away from the crashing wall. On the inside of the wall, a person had violently kicked the center, their dark green slyphir tearing the final threads holding it in place. Falling a meter away, the chunk of wall skidded for a moment before stopping.

"Surprise."

A figure stood in the jagged opening, one leg standing against the bit of wall that remained. Her arms were wrapped together in bindings but her legs remained free. Having buzzed her hair, Haven didn't look like herself but Lydis knew that it was her.

The alarms blared loudly. Their screeching sirens startling Lydis. Thinking back to her last encounter with Hal, it looked like he was planning something but this, the drunk act, somehow acquiring explosives capable of piercing the prison walls, and convincing Haven out of her self-punishment, what had he done while she slept?

"Let's go."

The man who Lydis had assumed was passed out drunk, reached for Haven's hand. Through a small interaction, Haven managed to pull the wig off the man, revealing Hal under the shaggy brow mess. Lydis felt that it might've been Hal but this confirmed it.

Why was he so determined to break Haven out? Out of friendship? Because she was once his teacher? Or was there another reason?

Lydis didn't have time to ponder Hal's actions since the alarms were drawing guards from every direction. She didn't want to be caught and questioned; she wasn't even supposed to be out at that moment. Although she needed to focus on leaving the area, some part of Lydis was glad that Hal had broken haven out of prison.

Hal's group began to run but Haven sensed something. Turning around, she stared at the rooftop of a building adjacent to her prison. Whatever it was, Haven smiled warmly. She didn't know why but it felt like she'd received a small push of encouragement.

"Haven, we should go."

"Yeah."

Lydis was breathing raggedly. Why were these people so sensitive to her? When she saw Haven turning around, Lydis had pressed herself against the rooftop quickly. If it wasn't for Nova's advice on tracking and being able to read someone's body movements, she might've been caught already.

Below her the guards shouted orders. There were about twenty of them, four were heavily armed and had different uniforms compared to the rest. It was the four who came with the Central representative to arrest Haven.

Splitting into four teams of five, the guards dispersed. Each team went in different directions leaving the representative alone. The Central representative lifted her wrist and began to type furiously into the communicator. Lydis was pretty sure she was calling for backup. Since she came out here to help Haven, she might as well do something.

She took Ui out of her pocket.

"Ui, do you have any more muscle relaxants, enough to immobilize an adult?"

The small robot stirred and without a word, ejected a small needle syringe onto Lydis's hand. The needle-vial would automatically inject the fluid once it pierced flesh.

"I'm sorry for bothering you Ui, thank you." Lydis replaced Ui into her pocket and clasped the opening shut to prevent Ui from falling out. Making her way down the side of the building. Lydis had already confirmed where most of the cameras were watching.

As most of them were focused on the road, all Lydis had to do was get the Central representative into an alley and dispose of her quickly. To approach her, Lydis would need a good cover. She took a nearby piece of scrap metal and sliced her left arm, just deep enough to bleed a lot of blood without being fatal.

Moving onto the road, it was time to act.