In This Country Act 01 Ch. 02

*****Hey Reader(s), I hope you like the first chapter because this next one is hot and ready. I know there wasn't a sex scene in the last chapter but that's because I want to make this as realistic as possible. Those scenes are coming (he he) but I'm trying a more believable approach. Again, just send me a request to get a PowerPoint of all the characters, plot, timeline, and setting. I'm saying this because the timing is different if you're used to your days and time a certain way (you know, if you're in the northern hemisphere). And also as a last minute note, I won't be posting the heroes and villains active in the chapters, so if you want to know who they are, send me an email and I'll send you the PowerPoint. So, I hope you're ready because here's the second chapter. - DM23*****

*****Special thanks to Decal_last for proofreading this story. *****

Arc One: Brutal Beauty

Chapter Two: Fight or Flight Response

"Can everyone hear me?" Cherry's transmitter beeped.

"I can hear you," Cherry said along with the other heroes' acknowledgements.

"Good because I got some bad news," the Commander reported. "Cape Cavon Prison Facility just issued a code red. They need any and every hand available so get your asses there pronto."

The transmitter beeped off as Cherry registered what the Commander said. A code red meant a mass prison breakout had occurred and the crooks and criminals of every kind were most likely escaping. Looking up, she could already see Hyper flying above her and Jasper not too far behind her.

I guess I better make my way there too, Cherry thought. Before anything, she popped her joints, relieving any tension in her body. Once finished, she took off in a sprint outside the city of Treilarch and built up the energy inside of her. Then, once the energy was almost about to spill out of her, she vanished.

Miles ahead, Cherry reappeared in the city of Soasha, still in a dash to get to Cape Cavon. For anyone trying to keep their eyes on her, they had to spot her real quick because after the next few steps she took, Cherry disappeared from the area without a trace as fast as she appeared. And they only get two chances because she mostly covered a city in two jumps. A few miles ahead, she reappeared in Hehimora. After those cities were Strushi, then Mitopry, Tillington, and finally Cape Cavon.

It was a mess. Houses and buildings were partially ruined or fully destroyed, vehicles were on fire, and people were hiding in fear. Up ahead, Cherry could see Hyper and Jasper apprehending the small number of escaped criminals they found, but strangely enough, that was it. Only a handful of criminals were terrorizing the city.

That's strange, she thought as she teleported around the city. There should be a whole lot more criminals out on the street now. For a brief moment, she teleported around the city for a bit, checking other hiding spots for the escaped crooks, before going up to the prison facility on the hill. Once she arrived, Cherry got a good look at the prison facility . . . and its new cavernous entrance.

"Did they tell you anything useful?" she asked Osprey, who was already at the scene.

"What's there to ask?" Osprey shook his head.

Together, they entered the building through its new entrance and began to investigate the building. There were Committee members bustling to and fro past them, some leaning against the walls, and others lying on the floor. There were even a few guys who needed assistance pulling other Committee members out of a large crevice in the ground.

"Asphalt?" Osprey guessed.

"Asphalt," Cherry confirmed.

"Nah, it was my side bitch, the tooth fairy," a prisoner near them grumbled.

"Do you think this is funny?" Cherry glared at the prisoner.

"Uh . . . yeah," the prisoner shrugged. "You should've seen it. The guards are on duty, right, doing their job. Then the cell doors break and things get out of control real fast. The guards do what they can but that's when the big motherfucker shows up and starts kicking ass as if he owns they place. And since the Committee can't fight him, anyone who's dumb enough to put two and two together knows to follow the big motherfucker."

"Then why didn't you join with them?" Osprey asked.

"Because I'm not dumb, bitch," the prisoner smirked. "Out there, I have to work to eat. Here, all I have to do is be good, be quiet, and they'll take care of me themselves. You know what I mean, Harry?"

"Preach it Mark," another prisoner, Harry, agreed. "I got a side bitch on the outside who doesn't know how to make a fucking sandwich, much less do some real cooking. But here, I can get a two or three star meal three times a day, every day. I'd be a moron to give this up."

"You guys are acting like children," Cherry shook her head. "All you're doing is wasting people's tax money. You either can't, or won't, do anything for yourselves out in the real world so you think rotting away in a small, dinky cell is the best course to live your life. Well, fine, go ahead. Society doesn't need you assholes."

Before they could respond, Cherry and Osprey moved on, going on to see other parts of the prison facility were wrecked. Along the way, they saw more prisoners in their cells. Most were criminals that had tried to escape, but there were those who had chosen to stay, a few with the same reason as the previous prisoners, but a few others who stayed because they were to get out the legal way.

And then, as they entered the cafeteria, they saw it . . . a huge crater was in the center of the prison. The origin of all the cracks began from the crater, like a spider's web, reaching across the floor, going up the walls and down the hallways to the cells outside the cafeteria.

"Damn, that's a hole," they heard Jasper say as he and Hyper stepped in behind them.

"Yeah, I can't believe we missed it," Cherry replied blandly.

"I thought I heard voices," they heard the Commander say as he came in the cafeteria from the Control Room in the cafeteria. The control tower was at the back of the cafeteria, along the wall outside the kitchen; there was also a giant hole busted in the window of the Control Room.

"Did anyone else arrive?" Hyper asked.

"Yeah, Ghost is working to get the Control Room back up and running," Commander Shinobay reported. "Swift and Zipper will be here in a moment; they were the first to arrive and helped put most of the criminals back behind bars."

"What about Crystal?" Osprey asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Commander Shinobay said. "She'll show up in a moment, though, so let's get to work. General Miller will be arriving here shortly to debrief what happened, although you can already guess who showed up and made an impromptu visit."

"He wasn't the only one," General Miller stomped into the cafeteria with Swift and Zipper behind him.

"General Miller," Commander Shinobay greeted. "Sorry we're late."

"We rang the alarm late, so it's not your fault," General Miller replied. "I thought we could contain the situation, but I don't think I handled the situation well."

"We'll take care of it from here," Osprey reassured him.

"Good, because you're going to want to know who you're up against," the general nodded.

He had them sit around a table where the cracks didn't reach towards and pulled out a tablet. He tapped on the tablet every so often, entering passwords, opening apps, and entered more passwords before turning the tablet towards them.

"This is the camera system that we have running through the prison facility," General Miller began in a hushed tone. "Camera Out is the obvious, external cameras that you saw throughout the facility. The prisoners think that if they're outside the cameras, then they can get away with anything. That would be true if we didn't have Camera In, the subtle cameras that none of them know about. The Control Room handles Camera Out. This tablet handles Camera In."

"What does this have -," Jasper began.

"Quiet," Cherry whispered.

"I'm showing this to you for a reason so that you have better knowledge of who attacked us," General Miller answered Jasper's unfinished question as he played Camera Out.

It showed the inside of the Control Room and the guards on duty at the time. They were looking over the cameras to determine what the main cause of a gang fight during the lunch hour the day before when they heard a loud THUMP reverberate from the ceiling, freezing their progress.

"Do you think -," the first guard began to ask.

"It's nothing," the second guard interrupted, getting back to work.

"That something alright," the first guard replied. "We're not supposed to get sounds like that."

"Forget about it," the second guard rolled his eyes.

"I can't forget about something that JUST happened," the first guard said, looking at his partner suspiciously.

"You're starting to sound irritating," the second guard frowned.

Part of the ceiling above them cracked intensely, just then, before breaking under pressure and allowed a gaping hole for none other than Asphalt to drop in. The first guard immediately began firing at the villain but, shockingly, it was the second guard who shot the first guard, not killing him, but critically wounding him.

"You're too early," the second guard said. "Dr. Genie probably won't like that."

"I'll deal with that when the time comes," Asphalt shrugged. "Did you find out where Target and Acrobat were held?"

"Yeah, they're in the isolation cells on the lower levels," the guard reported.

"What about their tech?" Asphalt asked.

"Weapons storage," the guard informed.

"I'll get our mates, you get their gear," Asphalt ordered.

"What should I do?" A voice behind them asked.

Each of the heroes got a good look at the new villain that accompanied Asphalt. Most of them only had one description they could come up with, which was DISGUSTING. From the flawless look of his face, his body design, and his wings, they had a revolting look on their face as they watched him move about. The only ones who reacted differently were Cherry and Osprey, both of whom were already studying the villain for weaknesses that could be exploited and making note of his movements.

"You get to do the honors of breaking the crooks out," Asphalt said, tossing the new villain a set of keys that had a cell number on each. "And get rid of the cameras while you're at it."

They got to work, each with their own task to complete. Asphalt quickly destroyed the screens and computers before he leapt out of the Control Room and landed on the ground, creating a massive crater and digging his way down to the isolation cells. The bug villain flew out the same whole and began to use the numbered keys to unlock the appropriate cells.

As for the guards, his body shivered briefly before a smoky apparition left his body, taking shape of a human and solidified into the villain Carbon. He grabbed the weapons and blasted the camera before leaving.

"And this is Camera In," General Miller stated solemnly.

It was chaos. Complete anarchy had taken over as guards struggled with everything they had to keep criminals at bay. They had no idea how the crooks escaped, but they couldn't dwell on that at the moment since the situation was getting worse by the second. The radios were down so the only help they'll get were the guards who heard a commotion going on and the ones who might see a convict out of their cell.

Fortunately, word spread quickly and the guards flew down the hallways, batons at the ready and guns charged to fire. They fired at the wave of crooks, not with bullets like other countries use, but with solar powered energized projectiles (or SPEP). The wave began to collapse over itself as the crooks in the front fought to get to the back and the crooks at the back pushed them away.

"We did it," one of the guards stated.

"Don't get your hopes up," an officer glared. "It's only a matter of time before -."

"WEAPONS!" the guards heard amidst the crowd. "WE GOT WEAPONS!"

"YEEEAAAHHH!" the violent crowd yelled so loud the walls shook.

"Damn it," the guards gulped.

"PASS THEM TO THE FRONT!" the guards heard. "PASS THE WEAPONS TO THE FRONT!"

"GET THOSE GUNS UP HERE!" the criminals at the front yelled.

"FIRE!" the officer yelled. "PUT DOWN AS MANY AS YOU CAN!"

"YES SIR!" the guards yelled.

"MAKE THE MOTHERFUCKERS PAY!" a criminal yelled.

What commenced could only be described as a massive shooting battle. The guards were exceedingly small in number, and less armed, but they were still able to stand their ground. Most of it was due to discipline and a resistance to pain, but there were some shots that missed wide and narrowly, which resulted in their defiant successful stand against the criminals.

Suddenly, amidst the yelling, screaming, and shots firing, multiple doors opened somewhere in the facility. Heavy footsteps thundered down the hallways, demanding what the hell is going on and for things to get under control. And then the guards saw them: Sergeant Banks, his Committee members, and bigger amount of weapons.

"YEEEAAAHHH!" the guards yelled, their moral high with enthusiasm. "WE GOT REINFORCEMENTS!"

"Sergeant Banks, I'm transferring order to you, sir," the officer declared.

The criminals cursed their luck that they were caught at ends with the Cavalanchee Correctional Committee. They knew that once the Committee arrived, their chances of escape were basically reduced to zero. But they were so close, so close. The only thing they need right now is something, anything to swing the momentum back in their favor.

"MEN, GET YOUR SHIELDS UP!" Sergeant Banks' voice boomed. "CREATE A WALL OF PASSAGE THAT WON'T BREAK!"

"YES, SERGEANT BANKS!" the Committee members and the guards yelled.

"WE AIN'T STAYING HERE, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" the mob of criminals roared. "WE'RE LEAVING WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

"OVER OUR DEAD BODIES!" the law of men declared.

"QUIET!" another booming voice declared. "SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!"

The silenced wave parted as Asphalt stepped out from the criminals, followed by Carbon, Acrobat, Target, and the new bug villain. Sergeant Banks stared down the geokinetic villain, knowing that only one of them was going to walk out of the prison facility as the victor. But his strategy wasn't going to make it easier for them.

Asphalt's plan was simple: get the villains out with as many criminals as possible. Sergeant Banks' plan was complex: hold the last defensive exit as much as possible until the heroes arrive . . . who, for some strange reason, haven't been responding to his calls.

"Going somewhere?" Sergeant Banks rhetorically asked.

"You're in my way," Asphalt smirked.

"Too bad, I don't feel like moving," the sergeant glared.

"Oh I'll make you feel like it in a moment," Asphalt chuckled, stomping his foot like a bull. "What time is it?"

"A little after eleven," Carbon answered.

"They're late," Asphalt frowned.

"Who's late?" Sergeant Banks demanded to know.

"Reinforcements," Asphalt grinned.

Quieter than earlier, everyone was able to here a vehicle driving and as it got closer to the prison facility, coming to determine the course of this battle. Since there were on guards outside due to the commotion inside, the vehicle was able to make its way around the facility before stopping on the other side of the where the Committee members were.

And suddenly they knew.

The Committee members knew.

They knew whoever was on the other side of the wall wasn't on their side, because the heroes would have gone through the entrance. As that thought ran through their heads, the wall was blown in, knocking a few of them down and the villainess known as Replica stepped in through the hole.

"Ooh, so the party's already started," she said, looking over everyone in the hallway. "You wouldn't mind if I joined, right?"

Of course it was rhetorical because before she had even finished asking her question, she was replicating herself to fill the hallways to block the Committee members from retreating to get a better holding point.

"Do you feel like moving now?" Asphalt asked, chuckling evilly with all the other criminals.

"M-Men, remind me w-w-what the Committee's Commitment is?" Sergeant Banks inquired.

"Citizens are the treasure of Cavalanchee," the Committee members, and guards, began to recite. "To become a part of the Cavalanchee Correctional Committee is to DENY being a part of that treasure, to BECOME the rag that cleans the dirty treasures that are criminals so that, ONE DAY, they will be put on display again."

"So what's our motto?" Sergeant Banks shook with defiance.

"CITIZENS NEED PROTECTION, CRIMINALS NEED CORRECTION!" the guards declared.

"Is that your final answer?" Asphalt sneered. "I might have been able to stop them from hurting you guys too much, but if you say that, I can't guarantee you won't suffer a broken bone or two now."

"We don't have a choice," Sergeant Banks growled. "Even if we have to put our bodies on the line, we will do everything we can to stop you."

"Don't expect us to go easy on you," Asphalt replied as he started to advance towards the Committee members and guards.

"Stop the video," Commander Shinobay muttered.

The video was immediately paused, freezing the image of Asphalt and Sergeant Banks about to clash and the Committee firing at both the escaping convicts and Replica's replicas. Their defiant stand put their lives on the line even though they probably knew that help wasn't coming.

"How were they able to shut off the radios?" Osprey inquired.

"How did you guys get the radios back on?" Cherry asked just as fast.

"The Control Room handles all radio contact between the Committee and you guys," General Miller informed. "When Asphalt destroyed the Control Room, the radios went down immediately. The guards that were already in the Control Room had to leave, get an old computer, return without being seen, and hook up an old operating computer up to a different screen."

"How many got away?" the Commander asked.

"About sixty percent," General Miller answered.

"Are you rounding up or down?" Osprey asked right after.

"Down," the General sighed.

"Shit, so how many were brought back?" Jasper questioned.

"Thirty percent, rounding up," General Miller answered.

"What did the last ten percent do?" Swift asked.

"They chose to stay," General Miller answered.

"Why?" Zipper said.

"Some of them ended up enjoying their time in prison so they decided to stay," General Miller shrugged.

"That's a lot of some people," Osprey responded, confused.

"No, some of them enjoyed their time," General Miller repeated. "The rest didn't enjoy their time. The only reason they stayed is because their life would be in danger if and when they did leave the prison."

"Gangs, right?" Cherry guessed.

"Gangs, the Committee, and Crystal," General Miller informed.

"Crystal is feared?" Zipper laughed.