Eli sat up on his bed, leaning back against the wall separating them. He nodded gently, even though he knew all too well she couldn't see it. "I know…We'll get out of here. We'll find a way out," He promised softly, pausing before he continued, "They're bringing us food soon. Maybe we can get out using that to our advantage." He had no semblance of a plan, as his hunger was taking up most of his focus, but he was sure an idea would occur once he had food in his system.
"Right," Farah agreed, but her voice still sounded strange no matter how short she talked for. It was an odd pitch, slightly strangled. Though she couldn't see it, blueish-purplish bruises were forming in the shape of fingers around her throat. "Eli. You… didn't see what he did." Her fingers trembled as she gripped the bars of her cell to pull herself up. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on bringing her emotions back to a manageable level. Unmanageable emotions led to chaotic and unreliable magic.
"No…I didn't see, but he told me he paralyzed you," Eli admitted, staring at the wall across from him, "But you're better now, right?" He didn't wait long for an answer, as the beginnings of a plan were forming in his mind. "Farah…can you do whatever you did to the guard originally? To whoever brings us food? If you can bring them close enough to the cages…I could try to grab keys from them and get the doors open, then we can be out of here." It was barely a plan, more a hopeful idea if anything, but he was proud of himself for even thinking while the need for food was so intense.
Farah's fingers trembled at the thought of using her magic again with the threat of paralysis hovering over her head. "Eli… I don't want that to happen again," she whispered. "I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move, and…" She felt the panic rising in her chest again when she started remembering it, so she stopped talking quickly. "I can't do that again. It was terrifying, E."
Eli's plan dropped from his mind and he asked, hoping he had heard her wrong, "But you can still use your powers…right? We need them to get us out. Otherwise, we're stuck." His words weren't exactly pleading, but it was clear he didn't want to think that they were stuck where they were. His stomach growled again and he sighed, closing his eyes. The worst part of being stuck in the cage was definitely going to be eating only when the man decided to give them food.
Farah – very, very hesitantly – used her magic to manipulate a small rock to hover in the air for a second. She quickly released it, letting it clatter to the ground. "Yes," she whispered. "I can still use my powers." She heard his stomach growl, and it seemed to make her realize how hungry she was as well. "Did he say when he would feed us?" she asked softly.
(Decided to just have the food come, if you want me to change it, I definitely can)
He sighed lightly in relief but didn't press the issue much further. "He said the food was going to be brought soon…back when he first paralyzed you. I hope it's not too much longer." Almost on command, a guard came into view, with two metal trays in hand. He was stone-faced as he approached their cages and slid the trays through a small hole in the bottom of the bars that Eli previously didn't notice. It was only big enough for the tray to slip through, no use for escape. Hurridly, Eli stood and got to his tray, outrage passing over his face when he saw the amount he was given. In his eyes, it was a measly amount; a scoop of something that looked vaguely like beans, a lump of unidentifiable meat, and a hard disk that looked like a hard-packed cracker. There was no silverware in sight. "What is this?" Eli questioned, scowling at the soldier.
"Food," He grunted, with no change of face. "If you don't like it, too bad."
(Nope, that's perfect!)
Farah flinched away at the tray passed under her door. It scraped the floor, making Farah cover her ears. Slowly, she approached it and observed the food-like contents. She found herself suddenly feeling immensely hungry, and she picked up the cracker-like object. Slowly she took a bite of it. The food was tasteless, but she knew it was food, so she took another small bite.
“Your sister doesn’t seem to have a problem with it,” the guard pointed out with a smug grin. He approached the bars of Farah's cell and looked down at her. She quickly looked away.
"This isn't enough." Eli protested as the guard walked to his sister's cell. He scowled at the faint view of the guard that he had. "I need more if I'm going to have energy for anything."
"As I said. Too bad." The guard scoffed, not even looking back at Eli, "You're lucky you're getting anything."
Eli bit back a string of curse words and scowled at the tray before leaning down and grabbing it. His stomach growled, and he knew he couldn't refuse the food, but he hated everything about the meal and the food they were offered. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he eyed the food, finally grabbing what looked like a cracker and scooping up a tiny bit of the unidentified meat onto it. Then, with immense hesitation, he took a bite. It didn't surprise him that there was no flavor, but it did make the meal even more unappetizing.
The guard walked back in front of Eli's cell and smirked at him. "That's right. You eat what we give you here, or you don't eat at all. It's your choi–"
Suddenly, the guard slammed into the bars of Eli's cell, pushed and held by some unseen force. In her cell, Farah had risen to her feet, and her eyes were glowing with the use of her magic. "E, now," she said shortly, looking out around them in case anyone else was coming. "Your plan from earlier."
Eli's eyes widened when he saw the guard slam against his cell, but he wasted no time. With unnatural speed, he set his tray on his bed and rushed to the guard, reaching through the bars to search for keys. His stomach twisted in argument as he used his powers without food, but he did his best to ignore it, pulling out a ring of keys from the guard's pocket.
"I got it," He said simply, leaving the guard and slipping to the door of his cell. Eli's hands shook for a few moments as he steadied his erratic hunger and searched for the right key, then he was unlocking the door, shoving it open with little grace. "Farah," He said softly as he turned to his sister's cell, fumbling with the keys until he found the one for her door, "We have to hurry. Now." The door swung open and he stepped away from it, new determination on his face.
Farah heard the commotion, unable to see if her work had been successful until she heard the door to Eli's cell creak open. Then, he appeared in front of her cell, and after a moment, he opened the door. Farah stepped out, the bruises on her neck now visible to him as she took a flying leap into his arms. "Eli!" she cried into his shoulder, hugging him tightly and wrapped her legs around his abdomen. "Run," she whispered in his ear.
(I'm thinking this is like their "Get Help." Like, their signature move. Farah wraps around him and Eli just runs.)
(Ooo yess)
He had no time to look over his sister's condition before she was flying into his arms and instinctively he caught her. Barely, he caught sight of her bruises, but he paid them no mind as he quickly steadied himself and took off towards the nearest door. Again, his stomach twisted with the use of his powers, and he hissed but didn't slow for more than a second. They had to get out. There was no time to stop and eat, no matter how much of his power was simply running on his willpower.
Eli scaled the nearest staircase he could find, sliding to the stop when he saw two guards stationed at the top. "Farah, help?" He whispered fiercely, eyes wide. The guards turned to him, and before he had time to see if his sister heard him, he was rushing forward, toward the door they were guarding. They raised their weapons, but he didn't stop. When they reached the door, he didn't slow in the slightest, simply turning his body and slamming into the door with his shoulder to protect Farah. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs and he gasped, but the door flew open and he stumbled forward, clearly out of breath as he tried to recover his speed.
Farah buried her face in his shoulder and listened to the wind whipping by her ears as he sped through the halls. Over the whistling, she thought she heard him say her name, but he didn't even give her time to react before she felt the impact of him shouldering open the door.
"E?" she asked worriedly as he staggered out the other side. "Take a minute. Breathe. I got this – let me go," Farah hissed. She fell from his arms and used her magic to shove the two guards down the stairs violently. When she recoiled her magic back, she heard footsteps coming from the opposite hallway. Farah lowered herself to the ground and pressed her palm flat against the floor.
She looked up as the guards rounded the corner, guns raised. Seeing her, they fired, but with her magic, Farah stopped the bullets and made them hit the ground before her harmlessly. She smirked and looked at the men through her lashes. "My turn."
Her powers sent a shockwave through the floor, blowing them all back at once and knocking most of them unconscious as their heads hit the floor for their landing. Farah glanced over at Eli. "Was that enough time?"
He set her down without question, breathing heavier than he ever did when using his speed. A side effect of his dwindling powers. Leaning forward, he propped his hands on his knees, forcing himself to slow his breathing, or to even just get it under control.
The time it took Farah to deal with the guards seemed all too short, but he nodded and stood up straight. Instinctively, he held his arms out for her, motioning for her to hurry up. "Thank you," He said softly. As he held his arms out for her, he heard the sound of people running down the hall, and he turned to glance at the commotion, frowning in annoyance when he saw more guards coming from the direction they had to go. No alarms were going off sounding their escape, but Eli figured word had gotten out. Meaning they had to leave soon. Before the man with controls on their cuffs caught up to them and stopped their escape.
“Of course,” Farah replied, taking her turn to catch her breath slightly. “I may despise your guts at times, but you’re still my brother.” She stuck her tongue out and prepared to let him lift her into his arms again, but then she saw the guards.
“Dammit! People like us just can’t catch a break, can we?” Farah muttered. Her eyes glowed again, and she used her magic to blow the entire battalion backwards as she turned to Eli again. “Shall we?” she asked, jumping into his arms. With the big of extra time she’d given him, she expected him to be able to carry her out and to their freedom again.
Eli hid the sheer exhaustion he felt as she jumped back into his arms, willing it to go away until they were safe. As he shifted her so he could run, an alarm finally sounded and he sighed before glancing at his sister and mustering up a grin. The alarm was blaring and faint red lights lit up in the building, which to Eli seemed a little over the top as he rolled his eyes. Then, he was off, and though Farah wouldn't be able to notice it well, he was moving at a slower pace. Getting tired wasn't something that came with super speed, but he felt sluggish as his legs moved. Still, he made a beeline for the next door, pausing for a moment's hesitation as they neared a crossroad but then he was off again, following his gut instinct to go straight.
The path was far from clear though, and Eli could hear the running of guards down the hallway behind them though he didn't stop. Not even as another group of guards came from their path ahead, Eli simply ran towards them and shoved them out of his way; using his shoulder to block the blow from Farah as he did.
Farah winced at the sound of the alarm. "Took them long enough," she muttered as she held close to Eli. The air whipped past her ears as he ran with her, and she clung to him desperately. One time, long ago, had been a lesson enough when she'd accidentally fallen from his grip. "Do you know where you're going?" she asked, speaking almost directly into his ear to be heard. She jolted when he slammed into the soldiers and muttered under her breath, "Dammit, Eli."
However, it appeared that at the end of the hallway, the doors to the outside were just ahead. And standing in front of them was a single person. Farah tensed immediately at his face and what he was holding in his hand. "Eli," she whispered shakily and held him tighter.
Eli closed his eyes as he hit the soldiers, sending most of them stumbling out of the way with the speed he was traveling at. A moment later they opened and he met the eyes of the man at the top of the stairs. He didn't dare stop for a second, glaring daggers at the man as a triumphant smile passed over his face. There was no way the man would dare stand in his way at the speed he was running at. "It'll be alright Farah," He whispered, running towards the doors with no hesitation as he hurriedly gave her instructions, "He's going to go for my powers. As soon as I'm down you need to run. Don't look back, get out of the building. I'll buy you time."
Farah's eyes widened, and she lifted her head to look up at him worriedly. "Eli, no, you can't. You don't know what it does to you. It's horrible. And besides, I can't leave you here!"
The man watched as Eli and Farah came closer. He dialed a specific command into the gadget in his hand, and he pressed the button without a second of hesitation. The control caused Eli's cuffs to blink red, and the same thing that had happened to Farah earlier happened to Eli now.
“Not a chance I’m leaving you here. You can bust me out once you’re safe.” He whispered to her, “Were almost there. Get ready to run.”
Eli watched the man fiddle with the gadget, and he put on an exhausting burst of speed, getting just close enough as he pressed the button. Instantly, he felt the effects. His speed was replaced with blinding numb pain, radiating from the cuffs. It made him stumble and collapse, dropping Farah from his arms and slamming with his excess speed right into the man. He cried out in pain at the feeling coursing through him, and even in pain he searched for his sister, hoping she had listened.
Farah debated over and over again in her mind if she should bring Eli with her or just escape alone. She still had her cuffs on too, and who knew what the man had plans for? "Fine," she hissed back, "but you keep your ass safe in the meantime, you hear m–"
She gasped as Eli came to a sudden halt and collapsed into the man. She fell from his arms and hit the floor harder than she expected to. When she scrambled to her feet, she had a brush burn on her cheek that she had no idea where it came from during the fall, but it hurt like hell.
The sound of her brother crying out in pain spurred her forward, and she located the doors just in front of her. Farah instantly headed toward them as fast as she could, but just before she got there, someone else slammed into her from behind, tackling her to the floor. It was another woman, and she had Farah's arms pinned behind her back in a few seconds despite Farah's writhing and lashing out.
"Let me go!" Farah snarled.
"Not a chance," the woman shot back, tying Farah's wrists together tightly with a ziptie.
Eli couldn't move, and he could only gasp from the paralyzing pain he felt. His eyes darted towards the door, and thought he couldn't show it, his hope collapsed when he saw Farah being taken out by a guard.
The man he had ran into stumbled back with the weight of Eli falling onto him, falling over as well but quickly shoving him off before getting to his own feet. "Such a shame…I thought you would've tried to escape in a much more exciting way than just going out the front door," The man said, brushing himself off and nudging Eli's limp body with the toe of his boot, "Oh well. You won't get a second chance. Once the cuffs wear off I'll have a…celebration…arranged, for your wonderful shot at trying to leave."
Eli felt two guards approach him and haul him to his feet, even though his legs wouldn't support any of his weight. He hung between the two of them as they drug him back away from the doors, barely able to see Farah as he was drug away.
Farah writhed and struggled under the other female. "Let me go!" she demanded, tugging in a vain attempt to free her wrists from the bond.
"Like hell, I will," the other girl shot back, rising to her feet and yanking Farah up with her by her collar. "Come on," she snapped, pulling Farah off towards the way she and Eli had come from.
Once it was clear that fighting was futile, Farah willingly cooperated. She couldn't risk getting separated from Eli, even though the chance of it happening now was tremendously high.
"Back where they were," the man's chilling voice ordered. "In their cells. And make sure they eat. We can't have starving lab rats."
"You're going to regret coming near us," Farah snarled over her shoulder, letting her anger get the best of her.
A dangerous glint passed through the man's eyes. "I'm sure I will, Farah."
Eli didn't remember much of the trip back to the cells, though he was well aware of the lack of respect the guards treated him with as they drug him along. The stairs were the worst, but seeing as he couldn't do anything thanks to his cuffs, there was no way for him to complain. All he could do was mentally apologize to Farah for not getting to the door fast enough, not doing anything to help her escape.
The guards set him on the cold concrete of his cell floor and faintly he heard the lock of the cell click shut behind him. He hoped Farah would be brought back to the cell next to him, but with the stunt they had pulled, it didn't seem likely. Still, he listened for any sign of her footsteps, waiting for the chance to move again.