Grit felt like the world switched to slow motion at the very moment that the car launched off the end of the road and directly into The Pit. The back of his brain started analyzing things, like it always did. He recognized the cells built into the side of The Pit, going all the way around in an enormous circle. The diameter of the hole was much larger than he had assumed. There was a shocking burst of sadness from missing Tango. At this moment he would’ve taken him back in either dog or pangolin form. He also vaguely realized that Cassia was screaming, which seemed both appropriate and quite surprising.
The front of his brain, however, was much more concerned about his personal safety in the moment. Thorn had just launched their vehicle over the side of an enormous pit and, for a moment, the car seemed to hang in space. Then the bottom fell out and they started plummeting into the blackness of the prison below. Grit thought his stomach might come floating out through his mouth. The car fell for what seemed like an hour, though the logic in the back of his brain kicked in just enough to tell him it must have only been seconds. Just as he began to accept that Thorn had indeed led them to their deaths, there was a sudden lurch that threw him forward against his seatbelt, causing the fabric to dig into this collarbone. The lurch stopped, and Grit fell back against his seat, then realized that the falling sensation had disappeared. Thorn grinned sideways at Cassia, then twisted around to look at Grit.
“That was fun, huh?” he asked. Grit could only grunt in reply, and Cassia groaned loudly in the front seat.
“I’m starting to think that every Thorn in every universe is some level of insane,” she said, looking a little sick. Grit wanted to ask her if her healing ability worked on the inside, but Thorn had already started talking.
“In a minute we’re going to land on the most secure holding cell that the IPF has in the entire multiverse,” he said. “To my knowledge, no one has tried to break someone out by going in through the roof. So here’s hoping they aren’t ready for that. If they are…well, get ready for some action.”
“I’m sorry, the roof?” Cassia asked. “This place is just a giant pit, open to the sky. It doesn’t have a roof.”
“It’s not the roof of The Pit, it’s the roof of the cell,” Grit said, suddenly realizing what Thorn was talking about. “The most secure cell in this place would be in the center of the giant pit, way down at the bottom.” Thorn inclined his head at him in the rearview mirror.
“Exactly,” he said. “Grit, could you hand me that laser cutter?”
Grit looked around the backseat and noticed, for the first time, that there was a large device on the ground behind the driver’s seat. He picked it up, noticing its surprising weight, and passed it forward to Thorn.
“Going in through the roof?” he asked, and Thorn nodded again.
“Won’t we be sitting ducks?” Cassia asked. She was staring out the window apprehensively, even though there was nothing to see but the very faint outlines of the cells in the side of the pit.
“The IPF knows we launched ourselves in here,” Thorn said in reply. “But I’m banking on the fact that they don’t think we can land directly on top of the cell we need.” He paused for a moment and frowned.
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure that we actually can,” he said. “But we have a better shot than any other random insane person who dropped their car in here.”
“Thanks for the encouraging words,” Cassia said dryly, still staring out her window. Grit felt similarly, but he kept it to himself. There was a dinging noise from the car, and Thorn perked up.
“Destination approaching,” said the computerized voice. A moment later they landed with a surprisingly soft thump. Thorn smiled.
“No IPF presence that I can see,” he said. “Let’s go!” He threw open his door and hauled the laser cutter out with him. Grit and Cassia followed. Almost immediately, bright lights lit up the entire roof top, illuminating the many IPF guards surrounding the three of them, weapons at the ready.
“Ok, so maybe there is some IPF presence,” Thorn admitted belatedly.
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Grit sat with Cassia and Thorn in a cell, deep in the bowels of The Pit. They had been hauled off the roof of the Eldest’s cell and marched along a circular passageway before being shoved through an unmarked door and told to wait. That had been roughly an hour ago, by Grit’s count. There was a dim view out the small, dirty window of The Pit, but the darkness outside made it difficult to see anything of importance. The cot they were all sitting on was the only furniture in the cell.
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“Can the IPF just keep us here indefinitely?” Cassia asked. Thorn stood up and stretched, and didn’t reply at first. Eventually he shrugged.
“They probably can if they want to,” he said. “Who’s going to come looking for us?” His question was met with silence. Thorn started pacing the small room.
“The IPF is the biggest governing force that spans the multiverse,” Thorn said. “They essentially have a monopoly on interversal policing.” He stopped speaking, though he continued walking back and forth.
“Meaning what, exactly?” Grit asked. Thorn nodded, as if he’d simply been waiting for someone to prompt him to continue.
“Meaning that they can get away with things like locking up some random individuals in a prison far outside the Initial Hundred universes,” Thorn answered. “However, they also like to try and put on a good front. Just because they are the current superpower of interversal policing, doesn’t mean they always will be. Especially with more and more universes discovering interversal jumping.”
“Which means there is some risk to keeping us here,” Cassia interjected. “Because if word does get out that they just disappeared a few people, it’s going to look really bad for them.” Thorn nodded at her as he walked.
“Precisely. Right now they’re weighing the pros and cons of what to do with us. I assume they’ll be done with that shortly. Which means we can sit here and wait for our fate. Or we can try to get out.”
Grit looked at Thorn in surprise, then shared a look with Cassia. Maybe this man actually was insane. After a moment, Cassia couldn’t take it anymore.
“And how do you suggest we get out of here?” she demanded. “We’re in an enormous pit on Earth-211! Didn’t you tell us yourself that this was the most secure prison that the IPF has?”
Thorn smiled at her, and finally stopped pacing. He stood in the center of the room with a mischievous look on his face.
“I did say that,” he acknowledged. “But the IPF has very little information on Pathfinders, and therefore they were quite willing to simply ignore mine.” Grit perked up at this, and by the way Cassia’s eyes widened, she had forgotten about the ship as well.
“Can the ship pick locks?” she asked, trying to keep up her frustrated facade, though the revelation about the Pathfinder had obviously depleted some of her frustration.
“It can do better than that,” Thorn said. He looked at Grit, who was sitting closest to the dirty window.
“Grit, I’d suggest you move away from that side of the room. I believe it could be dangerous over there.” Grit looked from Thorn to the window and back again, then decided that he probably should take that advice. He scrambled over to the other side of the room, next to Cassia, and Thorn joined them.
“I don’t know exactly when we’ll get out,” Thorn admitted. “Only that the Pathfinder was told to - ” His words were cut off by an explosion outside of their cell. The wall seemed to crumble inward, revealing Thorn’s car hovering outside of the cell.
“That’s our ride!” Thorn called, racing across the small room and yanking open the driver’s door. “Hop in!”
Grit glanced at Cassia, who shrugged at him, so he ran after Thorn and threw himself into the backseat. Cassia landed in the passenger seat shortly after. Through the windshield, Grit saw the door to the cell fly open and multiple IPF officers rush in.
“Good timing, my friend,” Thorn said fondly, patting the dashboard of the car as if it were a pet. He pushed a button, then pulled up on the steering wheel, and the car quickly turned around and darted forward into the darkness. Within seconds they had arrived back at the roof of the cell from which they had been arrested earlier.
“Wait, why are we here again?” Cassia asked, sounding somewhat frantic. “Won’t they just come get us again?” Thorn chuckled.
“They will inevitably try,” he answered. “But I put the car to work while we were being locked up.” He stepped out of the vehicle without saying more, and Grit and Cassia reluctantly followed him.
“See there?” Thorn said, extending his arm proudly towards the roof of the cell below them. Grit squinted through the darkness. Sure enough, he could see a small outline of a circle that seemed maybe just wide enough for one of them to fit through. Thorn stepped back, and then stomped his foot down inside the outline. There was a crash, and the entire circle fell through to the cell floor below.
“Voila!” Thorn said, gesturing towards the new hole as if he were a magician who had just performed a sleight of hand. Grit couldn’t see her do it, but he could tell by her posture that Cassia had rolled her eyes at him.
“A touch dramatic, don’t you think?” she said sarcastically, but then she knelt down and peered through the hole. Thorn and Grit joined her. The cell below was lit by a single bulb, secured beneath heavy plastic. There was a tiny cot in one corner, with a figure sitting in it. Grit leaned forward to look around Cassia, whose whole body had tensed next to him.
“Ah,” whispered Thorn. “Even I didn’t see this one coming.” Grit shifted on his knees, finally finding enough room to get a good look in the room. He squinted at the figure on the bed, who suddenly looked straight up at the three of them. Grit’s mouth fell open in shock. The thin figure on the cot, the Eldest who was somehow supposed to be an integral cog to fixing the very fabric of the multiverse, was a child.