It didn't take long for Ricardia to realize she'd miscalculated the situation. Her cell cluster wasn't the only one in the prison complex. Running through the hallways and encountering room after identical room, she felt as though she'd been trapped in a horrible maze, one that endlessly repeated itself.

Finding the exit would be no easy task, she realized, and so working with the other prisoners may be more beneficial then she had thought.

So when she approached yet another cell cluster, she called for attention, rather than ignore the group that was slowly freeing themselves.

Each cluster seemed to have about three or four prisoners within, and this one was no different. Two men and a woman stared blankly back at her. Draped in old, faded clothing, their bodies seemed to tilt and waver, as though they stood in a strong wind.

"Follow me!" She called out to them in Standard, hoping they'd understand. "Let's look for the exit together."

They just stared at her blankly. The man seemed to possess the most vitality out of the three of them, so she focused her effort on him.

"Do you want to be captured again?" She asked. "We need to use our numbers to our advantage."

"There's no point," he finally mumbled. "It's not like this shithole is any better on the outside."

Ricardia paused, confused for a moment - but then it hit her.

Onyx, she realized. That's where all these people are from. They must have been pulled off the street at some point, just like her. But while the hacker had targeted her out of revenge, she was sure the others' situations were vastly different. What kind of person do you have to be, she wondered, so that no one will miss you when you're gone?

The answer stood in front of her: the outcasts, and dregs - the ones at the very bottom. Their Factors were what probably made them targets, but unlike her, being off-planet made them useless.

Ricardia needed to fire these people up - and fast. With the Purists' protective lenses, she wasn't sure if her Factor would act as any sort of advantage either. Sticking together would be to their benefit.

"How long have you been here?" she continued, pushing him further. "Sitting on your ass, hoping someone would save you from your... pathetic existence?"

The woman shifted uneasily, but the man scowled - she'd struck a nerve. "Nothing we could've done," he grunted.

"But now there is." She jerked her head backwards, towards the passageways. "Somewhere out there is an exit, but we're only gonna get there by working together." She kept her voice level, calm - the same tone she used back on Caedum during ritual events. She tried to exude authority, to jolt something in these people to listen to her.

"This is our one shot," she added, "to get out of here, to start over."

There was a beat of silence. Then another. And finally, the man lumbered towards her. After a moment, the woman followed, trailing behind.

"Alright," he said, cracking his knuckles lazily. "Let's give it one last go." There was a forced nonchalance in his words, but she could see the sudden gleam of fire in his eyes. It was a rage she could understand; a feeling that simmered within herself, just below the surface.

His brows furrowed then, as if he'd just remembered something. "I don't know about you, but I have a Factor. Won't be useful though, since we're not planet-side."

Ricardia nodded in understanding, but she gave nothing away. Unless the Factor was a basic Body-type, like gills, or a tail, going off-planet severely weakened its effects... for most people, at least. Although Ricardia's Factor was also within the Body-type grouping, it shared more qualities with the other categories.

It meant that the prisoners were floored when Ricardia held up a hand glowing with far more power than she should've been capable of. She laughed, watching surprise cross across features.

"Don't worry," Ricardia said, letting it fade, "we've got each other's backs."

The man nodded, and now there was a wary sort of respect in his expression. "What do we do now?"

"We gather the others," she answered, "and form a unified front."

...

Ricardia learned that the man's name was Jacobi and the two women called themselves Priya and Helva. The latter name was a common one, hailing from Ferrus itself; Ricardia wondered what had ultimately drawn the woman to a life in Onyx. Even if she had gathered the courage to ask, there wasn't the time.

They passed from cluster to cluster, rallying each prisoner they came across. Some refused to follow, either too beaten down to yearn for freedom, or convinced the entire situation was some sort of trap. Many more, however, followed, until Ricardia and Jacobi had a force that numbered around twenty.

With every new addition, she felt a resounding pulse of hope, saw it reflected in the brightening expression of those around her.

They moved through the space methodically, eliminating hallway after hallway as a source of an exit until finally, they turned a corner and came to a shuddering stop.

They'd reached the final cluster. Directly across from them, inset into the wall, was a huge, armored entryway. Beyond that, Ricardia guessed, was freedom.

But standing in the center of the room, blocking their escape, was a crowd of Purists, weapons sparking. Heart racing, Ricardia glanced at the floor before them, where two prisoners lay on the floor, motionless. Likely the unlucky souls who had been imprisoned in this cluster's cells.

"Oh, shit," Jacobi managed to gasp, but he held his ground. Around them, the other prisoners shook, brimming with nervous energy. But nobody turned and ran, and for that, she was grateful.

There's nowhere else to go, she thought, they realize that.

"Stand down," one of the Purists called out. "You won't be harmed."

"There's more of us," Jacobi murmured.

"Yes, but they have weapons," Ricardia hissed.

"Don't make a decision you'll regret," the Purist spoke up again, taking a step forward. The prisoners around Ricardia bristled in response. Her mind raced, desperately seeking a solution, but it was someone else who made the first move.

A woman, someone Ricardia had never caught the name of, suddenly screamed, throwing out curses at the Purists in a language Ricardia didn't recognize. Then, to everyone's shock, she threw herself clear of the group, hurtling toward the Purists.

For a moment, there was absolute stillness on both sides, as if no one was sure how to react. And then reality rushed into the vacuum.

With a sudden, horrible burst of motion, a Purist jerked their staff upwards, nailing the woman in the torso. She screamed, an ear-splitting spike of noise that burrowed into every corner of Ricardia's head, and jerked violently as electricity coursed through her.

But momentum still carried her forward, and she collided with the cultist. They both fell backwards, disrupting the group's formation. To her side, Jacobi's face stretched into a wicked grin at the chaos.

He gave a shout of his own; one that hinted at long, stretched out days of frustration, and loneliness, and pain, and charged forward. Ricardia took a deep breath, pushing away the logical parts of her, and bellowed right alongside him.

The words didn't matter; a jumble of Standard and Caedish curses tumbled from her mouth like a flood, but the message was universal.

They'd just seen one of her own cut down, and yet another was willing to step up and fight for his freedom.

The Purists, still off-balance from the incapacitated woman now tangled in their midst, shouted in alarm at the sudden approach of Jacobi. Stun-guns were raised, staffs lifted, and it shouldn't have taken them more than a moment to take him out as well.

But like a rising wave before the shore, a wall of ferocity came crashing right behind him. Ricardia and the others, with nothing but their hands and almost all with diluted Factors, threw themselves at the Purists with no mercy.

There was nothing but the sound of pounding feet, of her own heartbeat, as Ricardia was swept along with the tide. But the fear she was expecting didn't surface - instead, hot eagerness flowed through her veins. It was almost a relief to finally take things into her own hands.

After a hanging moment of eternity, the two sides finally slammed together in a cacophony of screams and battered flesh.