Peggy arrived at work early the next morning. As soon as she walked through the prison doors she made a beeline for the staff quarters, Seabury to be more exact. When she saw him seated rather stiffly on the couch with his head buried in his phone she sighed with relief, making her way over and sitting beside him.

"Sam," she muttered, catching his attention.
"Wha- Vice Gov- Peggy," he jolted, turning his phone off and leaving it face down on his leg.
"Are you okay?" She asked with genuine worry filling her eyes. Seabury nodded firmly and gave her a small smile.
"I'm fine, really, just remember what I said last night." Seabury muttered, patting her knee before standing up and walking towards the staff lockers. He was almost there when a government security team began filtering into the room.

Seabury glanced around nervously, Peggy shooting up from her seat on the couch with her hands balled into tight fists. ((Or Tigfgvfhg))
"What are they doing here?" She exclaimed, gesturing towards the men parading around the room in all black with fancy government badges pinned to their breast pockets, dogs trained to sniff out illicit substances darting ahead excitedly. "As Vice Governor I should at least be alerted before a drug raid!"
"Why? Do you have something to hide Miss Schuyler?" Jefferson snickered, making his way into the room.
"What? Of course not! None of our staff does! If anyone it's y-" she began to say before Jefferson shot her a look that basically screamed 'I fucking dare you'. She bit the inside of her cheek, brows still furrowed angrily.

"Alright, so why'd you call the raid then huh?" Peggy asked suspiciously, popping her hip and resting her hand on it. Jefferson straightened up with a sinister grin.
"I have reason to believe contraband is being distributed among inmates, sourced by one of our staff members." He replied smoothly, making eye contact with at least 6 different officers who all shared the same worried expression.
"Well we all know that's bullshi-" Peggy began to scoff before Seabury's hand rest on her shoulder. She flinched and turned backwards to face him, following his train of sight to the staff lockers.

One dog was growling at the lockers, one paw clawing at it persistently. A government officer gave the dog a treat and lifted it out of the way while another identified the locker owner.
"Margarita Schuyler, can you please come and unlock your locker," the officer requested. She advanced forward calmly. Peggy knew she was in the clear, unless someone had planted drugs in her locker.

She opened it and her possessions were removed from the locker and shaken through thoroughly, until the officers were confident she was drug free. The dog was put back down and it began scraping at Peggy's locker again.

"The one above?" One officer suggested. They removed the dog once more and read out the name.
"Samuel Seabury, can you please come and unlock your locker," the officer asked in a monotone voice. Peggy's eyes widened to the size of saucers as Seabury gulped nervously, advancing forward to his locker and beginning to twist the code on it. As soon as the locker was opened he was pushed out of the way and two officers began shovelling through his possessions.

They're not going to find anything, not Seabury. He wouldn't- SLAP. Peggy's train of thought was frozen when a plastic bag filled with chopped marijuana was thrown to the floor out of Seabury's locker, followed by numerous other, smaller, bags that looked to be for distribution. Seabury's face fell and he stumbled backwards, leaning on the lockers for support.

"N-no, that's not mine, this has been staged! I'm being framed!" Seabury shouted as he was pushed up against the lockers and cuffed.
"You have the right to remain silent Seabury," Jefferson ordered with a smug look on his face.

"Sam..." Peggy muttered, reaching out a hand towards him, but pulling it back when he shot her a helpless frown.
"I knew it, I knew something was going on," Jefferson sighed to nobody in particular, crossing his arms. "But the head of correctional officers? Whaaaat?" He shook his head, biting his lip to keep himself from smirking. Peggy glared at him with eyes of fire and he shut up, squinting at her in return.

"Don't believe anything Jefferson tells you about me."
Peggy watched Seabury being dragged out of the staff quarters. He was almost out when Jefferson grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and pulled him close, whipping his head to the side at how sharp the movement was.

"Charles and Peggy can't protect you in there," he hissed under his breath, nodding towards the main prison grounds. Seabury's eyes widened and he tried to protest but he was shoved out of the room. Peggy watched helplessly, unable to say anything right now. She knew Samuel had been framed, and she knew Jefferson started it. She just didn't have any proof.

---

Alex stumbled backwards into his cell wall, watching in horror as the government officer's arm swept along his shelf, knocking down all his books with a firm string of thuds.
"HEY! Have some fucking respect and decency," Alex spat at the officer sharply.
"You're a criminal." The officer remarked with a bored expression ushering Alex and John out of the cell.
"A criminal with basic human RIGHTS." Alex shot back, turning to John with a tired expression. "Do they do this often?" He questioned with a frown.

"We got four last year," John muttered with an annoyed expression, his arms crossed as he was leant against the wall outside Alex's cell.
"Please move out into the yard to be checked off for rub-down searches." One officer called out from outside the cell block.
"Kinky," Alex muttered, earning a stifled laugh from John. The two boys sighed and walked out to the yard together, joining the line that had formed of inmates waiting to go up.

"These make me so uncomfortable," John muttered with a frown, latching onto Alex's arm. Alex shot him a sympathetic glance and placed his hand over John's, rubbing his knuckles with his thumb soothingly.
"It should be over fairly quickly, look at how they're flying through these," Alex pointed out optimistically, prisoners ahead of them simply stripping off head wear and jackets, emptying their pockets and being briefly patted down. John nodded and stood a little straighter. He felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around to see Lafayette.

John dropped his hold on Alex and grabbed him in a tight hug, the 100th of it's kind since yesterday.

"HERCULES!" Lafayette yelled, his voice hoarse and cracking. Seabury and Eaker grabbed him, pulling him back gently from the prison entrance where Hercules was being wheeled out on a stretcher by a team of paramedics. Lafayette surged forward, ripping himself from their grasp and running after the stretcher before being caught again. "RETIREZ-VOUS DE MOI!" Lafayette screamed, flinging his fists around but being held tightly by the two officers.
"Slot him," Dolley Payne yelled sternly from behind them.
"NON!" Lafayette yelled with fear stricken eyes as he was dragged backwards.

"Let him go! Jesus!" Alex cut in, diving forward with John beside him. Lafayette was dropped by the officers and he fell to his knees, grabbing Alex's arm and keeling over, his breaths sharp and uneven. John and Alex shared a concerned glance with Seabury and each other before turning back to their friend. They still didn't know what had happened to Hercules but it must've been pretty bad to have Laf in this state.

"Je- Je ne peux p-pas respirer," Lafayette coughed, his breaths becoming more ragged as he clutched onto Alex's arm, John rubbing circles in his back. John shot Lafayette a concerned look, unsure of what he said but assuming it was something about his respiratory system. Alex opened his mouth to say something but yelped in shock as Lafayette collapsed onto him, rolling and slamming into the ground limply.

"Shit did he just pass out?" John exclaimed, grabbing Lafayette's hand as officers rushed over.
"What does it look like, Laurens?" Seabury snapped, ushering the boys away as the officers lifted him up carefully, preparing to move to the medical ward.

Lafayette wasn't out long because almost immediately as he was lifted up, his eyes shot open and his ragged breaths returned, his entire body shaking in the officer's hold.
"W-where is Hercules?" He gasped, eyes darting around the room frantically and fists shaking. "OÙ EST-IL!" He screamed again, thrashing in the officer's arms as he was dragged away.

Alex turned to John who had an expression of pure fear painted across his features. He quickly jumped forward and wrapped his arms around John, not saying another word.

"Are you okay?" John asked into Lafayette's shirt, pulling away slowly. Lafayette refused to meet John's gaze, shaking his head 'no'.
"Next," a stern voice ordered from ahead. John turned to face the front of the line, still holding Lafayette's arm, as Alex stepped up for his search.

"Do you have anything on you which is unauthorised or may cause an injury?" The officer asked in a firm monotone, just as every other government officer performing these searches asked beside him.
"No sir," Alex replied curtly.
"Please empty your pockets and untie your hair," the officer ordered, lifting a small metal detector and spinning it in his hand. Alex proceeded to turn his empty pockets inside out, then untie his hair and shake it out a little with his hand. The officer began the rub down, stopping at Alex's stomach. Alex hissed as the officer's hand pressed against his bullet wound.
"Please lift your shirt," the officer ordered, stepping back. Alex lifted it and glared at the officer.
"Got shot," he muttered before the officer nodded in approval and he moved his shirt back down. The whole process was over almost as quickly as it started. Alex moved out of the way and John stepped up in his place.

He obeyed the same orders Alex had, untying his hair, turning out his pockets and slipping off his jacket, but as the rub down search began, the officer stopped and took a step back.
"Please remove your shirt," the officer ordered. John tensed a little but nodded and tugged it over his head, two others still underneath it. The officer rolled his eyes and took the shirt from him. "Please remove your next shirt," he sighed, holding his hand out.

"Hey this isn't a strip search," Alex cut in. The officer shot Alex a sharp glare, turning back to John. He lifted his radio to his mouth, clicking it on.
"Requesting a strip search on station 2, inmate is wearing too many layers of clothing, rub down search results are inconclusive, over."

John, Alex and Lafayette's eyes all widened and John stepped back a little, squeezing his hands into tight fists.
"Hey, he doesn't have anything on him, if anyone needs to be stripped it's the guys who are actually drug-addicts," Alex defended, pointing over at Thomas Conway's group who were huddled at the end of the yard. Lafayette seemed to flinch at Alex's words and Alex noticed, a confused expression sweeping his features. John pressed his lips into a thin line, widening his eyes and urging Alex to shut up.

"I mean, nobody needs to be strip searched, it's just unnecessary," he quickly cut over himself. The officer turned and ignored Alex, grabbing his radio again.
"Request removed, over," he muttered into it before turning it off. He turned back to John, holding out his hand expectantly. "Shirt,"

John reluctantly pulled off his second shirt, leaving him in a loose white tank top. Alex hadn't seen John is so little clothing in a while and honestly he was enjoying it, but not too much knowing how uncomfortable John was. John squeezed his eyes shut and bit the inside of his cheek while the officer performed the rub down. He finished and John snatched up his clothes, darting to Alex's side.

Alex held John's garments while he quickly redressed himself, muttering a string of profanities under his breath. Once John was finished they turned to Lafayette right as he was being ordered to untie his hair.

"Jefferson?" Alex exclaimed, his eyes sparking wide with horror.
"What? Non!" Lafayette snapped back, pulling his hair back up into a bun. Alex sighed and John laughed at his reaction. Lafayette was not impressed.

A/N
*Alex to John* you can strip search me tonight bby g