I looked at my cards, trying to keep my best poker face as my only two friends in Valor city Super max sat with me. The flush I was staring at would likely lose the two paperclips and the cigarette butt I had bet this hand on. 

"So, how was y'alls day?" Keith drawled out in his thick accent.

Apparently it was called a southern accent, but I didn't know much of the history of it. 

"Same as every day" the woman next to him spat back, a scowl on her face. 

Emma was always in a bad mood. 

Many inmates had found it strange that the super max was for both genders, but apparently Architect only thought he'd need one hole to stick the super powered criminals that ended up in his city. 

"It's boring, this damn place never changes" Emma continued, her gruff voice hardly fit her small frame. Like a Rat Terrier with the bark of a pitbull. "Same shitty people trying to stab you, same shitty food, same shitty clothes" she whined.

"I hear Conway got released today" I offered up for conversation. 

"No way, they let Whirlwind go?" Keith asked, I noticed the slight smile on Keith's face when he glanced to the cards in his hand,

"Course they let him go, he's been here forty damn years" Emma threw in, her one good eye hardly gave anything away. 

I missed my power sometimes, but I was probably the only person here that thought so. It had been a fascinating experience, as I interacted with other people without being able to read their emotions. Though, at times like this, I desperately wished I could get a peek. Maybe i'd stop losing every hand so far. 

It didn't matter, I had a collar on now.

I set my cards down on the table with the others, wincing as Emma pulled her fresh winnings towards her, adding to her pile of junk. 

Keith Braggard, the embodiment of tall, dark and caring. had been here the longest out of us three. He was a Strongman with some weird side effects, and honestly didn't belong here. From what I've heard, he was only here because he accidentally hurt some people when his powers manifested. He was probably one of the kindest people in prison. 

On the other bench sat Emma Crawl, the small attitude riddled Symbiat I had managed to befriend. She had been taking into custody when her, and a group of outsiders had been caught liberating foodstocks from an outer wall farm. But she was one hell of a brawler when she was needed.

And then there was me, which completed our little trio 

That was what made up our small circle, and even if we didn't all fit together perfectly, I trusted both of them with my life by now. 

Thick as thieves, as they said before the end happened. 

I sighed as I drew an even worse hand, and folded after a quick peek. 

"Is icepick still after you?" Keith asked me, as he pushed a broken toothpick into the pile. 

The way Emma stared at the object told me that she already had plans for it.

I nodded. “Yeah. hes still pissed about his fucked up nose” i told them. 

Ice pick had been trying to gut me after I broke his nose last week, which I didn't think was very fair, considering he started the fight anyway. 

"I swear, I'll drown the fucker in his ow-" Emma started to speak, but was cut off as the alarms blared loudly. The warning klaxons went off with a sudden screech, the whole rec room going silent as forty inmates began looking around. A combination of worried and excited expressions showed on their faces. 

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Return to your cell immediately" a chorus of monotone voices echoed out as our collars gave us instructions. The devices would give us five minutes before shocking us. 

Several inmates started standing up, and began heading towards the exit immediately, the rec room door was opening slowly. 

Then we felt the shuddering blast tear through the room. A half moment later we heard the blast as it shook the solid hardcrete building.

"What the fuck what that?" The Mad Jester yelled from across the room, his long purple hair flying around as he swiveled his head. Other inmates were echoing his same thoughts, some of them began rushing towards the rec room door

“Return to your cells immediately” the collar repeated. 

The wall across from us suddenly cracked, stun dust falling towards the ground as The Mad Jester started running, several of his Goons getting up with him.

I stood up, along with Emma and Keith, as we got ready to run somewhere safer.

The wall burst inward, a man in a blue and white suit sailing through the wall, some of jester’s crew getting crushed by the hardcrete shrapnel that blasted from the new hole/

Emperor, a Strongman cape came to a skidding halt on the floor, got up and leaped back through the hole he had made in a well trained move. He was gone In just a second.

"What the fuck!?" Jester asked even louder. As he ran with his remaining goons, the three of us were about to join the rush away from the hole.

You would think something like that would be good news, a sudden hole appearing in the wall, a sure shot to freedom, right? 

Unfortunately, we each were "equipped" with a collar, one that suppressed powers, tracked us, could incapacitate us, and if needed, could explode and kill us. 

So, there was a super power brawl happening on our lawn and we were effectively normal humans, not paragons. 

This was bad. 

I grabbed Emma by the wrist and started towards the door that led deeper into the prison. 

"We gotta get somewhere safe!" i ordered my two friends.

I could see other inmates moving towards the door aswell, having the same idea. 

The lights flickered, then shut off, the door to the rec room locking down suddenly as it lost power. 

We could feel an electric tingle in the air. Still running towards the now tightly packed doorway, I could see Jester throwing punches like a wild animal as he tried to escape. 

Just as I realized I could see the waves of fear emanating from every other convict, the world exploded into white. 

I heard the boom a heart beat later. 

The three of us froze, standing in shock as we stood there, feeling our power filling us again, and I could see the eagerness and anticipation fill the room as everyone realized what was going on. 

Several small fights broke out, powers activating suddenly, and violence broke out. 

Jester’s Wild dash became a desperate fight for survival as the very angry people around him turned energy and powerful blows against him.

We changed direction, the three of us sprinting towards the hole that was made. Without the collars on, this place was going to turn into a bloodbath quickly. 

We hauled ass to the open wall, and climbed over the rubble. Getting a view of what was happening. 

The yard was in chaos. 

Gigawatt, Crater, and Horsepower were brawling with what was left of a cape team, the charred remains of Emperor were laying twenty feet away from us, Roadblock, Jitter, and Prometheus were trying to hold back the Villains

Roadblock, in his Armored Mechsuit was brawling with Horsepower. While Prometheus and Jitter kept Crater and Gigawatt distracted.

I could hear the sounds of other inmates coming behind us, so we snapped out of the pause and started running again. The three of us huffed as we broke into a sprint, Keith staying behind us to absorb any attacks. 

I could see a lance of ice sailing towards Prometheus as several convicts joined the fight.

Our feet beat the Hardcrete as we ran across the field, the heavy duty fence separating us from freedom, but we sprinted for it all the same. 

Behind us, prison guards, as well as the wardens joined the battle in the yard. 

If Ares, the warden's leader, was getting involved, it was going to get real ugly, real fast.

Ares was A-class shifter, and called his shifted form the “war god”

We ran even faster.  

The three of us got to the fence, one convict flying over head as he made his break for it. 

I looked behind us, I could see dozens of inmates charging across the open field, some towards us, some towards the fight, and others towards alternate means of escape. 

I also noticed the seven men in street clothes sneaking into the prison, taking note of the detail as we mustered an escape. 

"Keith, we need through this fence, now!" I called out, as I saw horsepower sail through the air and land concerningly close to us. 

"On it" he replied, grabbing the metal wire and pulling hard. 

I could see the heavy duty wire bending, giving way as I felt a spike of intent from behind him. 

I ducked, a stun baton going over my head as a group of prison guards arrived. 

Most of them moved to intercept the group of convicts behind us, but they stalled when a bright red blast of energy practically vaporized one of the guards. 

But one was on top of me, the Valiant woman held her baton tight as she moved in for a second blow. 

I didn't want to hurt her, I just wanted my freedom and to get away from this hell hole before I was vaporized too. 

I grabbed her wrist, and twisted, using a side step to twist her around.

She used an elbow to break the throw, and landed a glancing blow with her fist as we broke away. 

She was better than I had expected. 

She came at me again, this time I raised a foot and tapped her thigh, arresting her momentum and then rotated, setting one foot down and slamming the other into her armored gut as I spun. 

This time she went down, skidding a few inches across the hardcrete as she hit the ground.

"Emma! Sam! Quit screwing around and get through!" Keith ordered. 

I nodded and ran through the newly made opening, Emma following behind me, and Keith coming in last. 

We ran like our lives depended on it, and made our way down as far and as fast as we could.