Note: This ficlet was written for mid-childan-puella-magi, in response to the prompt: If you are still doing the ficlet thing - Narutostuck Jade, Feferi, Aradia - salvage. It is a scene from midway through the rebellion. I think the team are about thirteen years old. :)
General content warning for dystopia, ninja violence and, you know, child soldiers and stuff. (500 words exactly)
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"There reelly is no way to salvage this, is there?" Feferi asked rhetorically as Aradia held the painted Anbu operative slightly out-of-step with normal time.
Jade shook her head, still finessing her way through the traps and chakra-reinforced locks on the cell gate. "Not without also killing the target and blaming both deaths on a failed prison break. And that would just cause new problems."
Feferi glanced over her shoulder toward the emaciated wreck of a troll locked in the Uchuukage's private dungeon, and sighed. It was shameful that someone who'd come so close to killing the Lady once upon a time had let himself get so run down. Hadn't he ever heard of cooperation and compartmentalization, or even going out with a bang when he'd realized he wasn't getting rescued anytime soon? She had no idea what the Sufferer and Lionclaw saw in him.
"They wouldn't believe it anywave. He couldn't even kill himself right now," she said. "We'll have to notify the Demoness so the rest of Abyss can make it look like we went rogue on our own."
"I'll send a raven once we're out," Aradia said, just as Jade made a muffled noise of triumph and shoved the gate sideways into the wall until only a few bars stuck out like an abandoned construction project.
Feferi stepped forward and ran her hands over the target, checking to see if he could be moved as-is or whether they'd need to burn time healing him first. Luck was on their side; he'd probably survive without any immediate work. She made passing note of several badly healed skull fractures putting pressure on his brain, the utter wreck of his digestive system, and the residue of long-term genjutsu manipulation soaked into his chakra coils. Somebody would have to fix that eventually. It might even be her, depending on what the rebellion decided to do with her team now that their cover was blown.
(Something about him seemed naggingly familiar -- had her team ever dealt with another four-horned target? -- but Feferi shoved that distraction aside for later. She was an Abyssal operative. She would never break mission discipline over something so trivial.)
"We're good," she said, and heaved the too-thin body up and over her shoulders. "Clean up and let's go."
Aradia positioned herself behind the time-trapped Anbu, hands raised, and snapped his neck the moment she released her jutsu. Jade shoved the corpse into the wall (a dead giveaway of their responsibility in the long term, but useful for causing confusion in the short term) and pulled the gate back across the cell mouth, its bars only slightly contaminated with the stone they'd been phased into without Jade's active attention keeping both objects separate. Feferi cast a temporary illusion into the depths of the cell, just enough to make careless eyes think the target was huddled in the far corner.
"Stairwell is clear," Aradia called softly down the corridor. "Ninety seconds until the next patrol."
[Fic] "Narutostuck: Riptide" - Homestuck/Naruto
General content warning for dystopia, ninja violence and, you know, child soldiers and stuff. (500 words exactly)
---------------
"There reelly is no way to salvage this, is there?" Feferi asked rhetorically as Aradia held the painted Anbu operative slightly out-of-step with normal time.
Jade shook her head, still finessing her way through the traps and chakra-reinforced locks on the cell gate. "Not without also killing the target and blaming both deaths on a failed prison break. And that would just cause new problems."
Feferi glanced over her shoulder toward the emaciated wreck of a troll locked in the Uchuukage's private dungeon, and sighed. It was shameful that someone who'd come so close to killing the Lady once upon a time had let himself get so run down. Hadn't he ever heard of cooperation and compartmentalization, or even going out with a bang when he'd realized he wasn't getting rescued anytime soon? She had no idea what the Sufferer and Lionclaw saw in him.
"They wouldn't believe it anywave. He couldn't even kill himself right now," she said. "We'll have to notify the Demoness so the rest of Abyss can make it look like we went rogue on our own."
"I'll send a raven once we're out," Aradia said, just as Jade made a muffled noise of triumph and shoved the gate sideways into the wall until only a few bars stuck out like an abandoned construction project.
Feferi stepped forward and ran her hands over the target, checking to see if he could be moved as-is or whether they'd need to burn time healing him first. Luck was on their side; he'd probably survive without any immediate work. She made passing note of several badly healed skull fractures putting pressure on his brain, the utter wreck of his digestive system, and the residue of long-term genjutsu manipulation soaked into his chakra coils. Somebody would have to fix that eventually. It might even be her, depending on what the rebellion decided to do with her team now that their cover was blown.
(Something about him seemed naggingly familiar -- had her team ever dealt with another four-horned target? -- but Feferi shoved that distraction aside for later. She was an Abyssal operative. She would never break mission discipline over something so trivial.)
"We're good," she said, and heaved the too-thin body up and over her shoulders. "Clean up and let's go."
Aradia positioned herself behind the time-trapped Anbu, hands raised, and snapped his neck the moment she released her jutsu. Jade shoved the corpse into the wall (a dead giveaway of their responsibility in the long term, but useful for causing confusion in the short term) and pulled the gate back across the cell mouth, its bars only slightly contaminated with the stone they'd been phased into without Jade's active attention keeping both objects separate. Feferi cast a temporary illusion into the depths of the cell, just enough to make careless eyes think the target was huddled in the far corner.
"Stairwell is clear," Aradia called softly down the corridor. "Ninety seconds until the next patrol."
They were gone in twenty.