Prison Break

When Sparrow and Piper broke off from the main group within the prison, it was with the strict instructions to free any prisoner that seemed like they would be willing to help with the jailbreak. The dark hallways opened into several large cells, some huge pits dug into the ground to hold their enormous captives. Each one was freed, locks picked and doors broken, grateful enough to not pick a fight with their saviours. Piper was already scanning the hall to her left when she felt Sparrow back up into her from the right.

"Holy shit," he whispered, awe and fear equal in his voice. She hurried to peer around him and what she saw left her jaw hanging open too. 

"Is that her?" she hissed, eyes wide. 

"Who else could it be?" Sparrow shot back, his voice shaking.

Ahead of them in the next prison pit, a large, black Acro lay with a heavy metal collar around her neck. If not from her immense size, she was recognisable from the bright red striped across her snout, matching the red tips of her crested feathers. The cryptid of Isla Kela, the Acro only referred to as 'her' was in the hands of the court, trapped in one of their metal contraptions.

"What do we do?" Sparrow asked nervously, his voice just loud enough to make his sister shush him. It was too late, with a sharp inhale the Acro's red eye snapped open and locked onto them. A deep rumble came from somewhere in that enormous chest, making both raptors shrink back. She didn't move, just stared at the raptors staring at her. 

"If we let you go, will you help us out?" Piper called into the dark, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. The Acro didn't respond, she stared right at them like Piper hadn't spoken at all.

"Well what the fuck does that mean?" Sparrow hissed and she shushed him.

"If we can set her loose then nothing would be able to stop us from finding and freeing Cath," Piper said slowly. A look of horror dawned on Sparrow's face.

"I mean- maybe! Sure, let's just set the place on fire then, that'd be just as dangerous!" he yelped. Piper gestured at him to quiet down but the Acro seemed unbothered by his sudden volume. This was a good sign, surely? Her apathy towards them had to indicate a willingness to cooperate. Her mind made up, Piper used the sharp blade she had commandeered from the floor and cracked open the lock like she had with every other pit. The Acro's eyes moved at last to follow her across the room, watching her clamber down into the pit to where the chain was pinning the collar to the ground. She stopped, suddenly losing her nerve and looking back up to the Acro, an individual she had only ever heard of in spooky sleepover stories. 

"I'm going to break the collar," she said slowly, even if she couldn't be understood she figured the talking was sufficient as a sign of peace. She raised the blade and the Acro's pupil constricted, bracing to lunge but the steel came down on more metal with a loud clanging. Piper kept striking the loop of the chain until she felt it give under the sword's edge, cracking and catching the blade within the crack. The raptor gritted her teeth and pulled back on the blade, leaning hard on it under the pressure forcing the metal ring to crack open further. She was flung back by the effort and landed on her back in the damp dirt, hurrying to get to her feet and try again. Instead, she was met with the sight of Her moving, raising her head from the ground before whipping her massive jaws to the side and snapping the last of the ring that still held on. 

She was free, she realised quickly. The combined efforts of herself and the little raptor had broken the chain and granted her a path out of this hell. She rose to her feet with great effort, feeling muscles stretch that hadn't been stretched in days. The filth of the ground clung to her as she stood and the metal was still heavy and unyielding, but she was free. The little raptor scurried back out of the pit, watching her carefully. She was hungry of course, but the raptor would have been barely a morsel and the thought of turning on someone who had taken the risk to free her didn't sit right with her. Instead, she watched and let the little raptor run back outside of the cell. The door was broken too, she realised, her way was entirely clear thanks to that little creature. She considered herself a peaceful creature most of the time, but being restrained against her will had caused anger to bubble within her. She was ready to unleash true hell unto her captors.

"Run! Run! Go!" Piper screamed, followed by the loud crashing of brick as the Acro bulldozed the wall like it was made of stacked logs. Sparrow squeaked in fear and ran as commanded, tearing down the hallway and trying to outpace the large Acro coming up behind him. The siblings ducked to the side into a narrower hallway, but the Acro didn't spare them a second glance, all the commotion had summoned an Iguanodon guard from deep within the prison. It shouted something at her, but she had never learned the language of these other dinosaurs. Words were meaningless against the injustice of her capture and from the surprise on its face she saw it had never fought anything quite like her before.

She swung her head into the Iguanodon's face, feeling bone break under the force and opening her jaws. She sunk her teeth into its skull as it reeled from the impact and with a swift motion she dislocated the head from the neck. The large herbivore dropped to the ground lifeless and she swept the blood from her teeth with her tongue. She was hungry after days of starvation but a different hunger demanded to be fed. She heard loud shouts from the end of the hall, another target. She charged, roaring loud enough to make the glass windows rattle in their frames and the Iggy held out some form of weapon to halt her momentum. She seized the spear and broke the wooden handle with one single snap of her jaws. The splinters felt satisfying instead of painful, like it was proof of the damage she was inflicting. The Iggy's eyes were wide and panicked as she followed the line of the spear back to its wielder. It raised up onto its hind legs and she felt something sharp jab into her chest but it had already allowed her too close. Her body collided against it at full force and knocked it backwards into the wall. Pinned where it was, it could do nothing but accept the bladed teeth tearing into the flesh of its throat. It struggled like all prey did but it slumped in her grasp eventually and she felt the sharp pain of whatever had stabbed her sliding out from the muscles of her chest. She could see her blood dripping but it was lost in the sea of blood from her enemy. 

She lifted her head, trying to smell another foe over the cloying scent of blood in her nose but if another Iggy was waiting its markers eluded her. She would have to dig deeper to sate this hunger. She passed the small raptor once more as she paced the halls, it was joined by one that looked similar but even with their natural pack inclinations the two only watched her wide-eyed as she passed them by. She imagined she must be quite a sight as she enacted her revenge, it wasn't often that she had to let loose like this and she hated to admit she enjoyed it. With a final glance at her little friends, she turned the corner and headed deeper into the prison.

"She's every bit as scary as I thought she'd be," Sparrow whimpered, though he couldn't help but sound impressed at the same time.