Roll call snapped into place like it always did—lines straight, heads forward, tension thick enough to feel in the air. Kaine stood where he usually did, right in the middle of it all. Same spot. Same posture. Same blank expression. If someone didn't know better, they'd think he'd already accepted this place. That he'd settled into the routine like everyone else.
They'd be wrong. Around him, the usual dynamics played out. Bobby stood just off to the side, trying to look casual while very obviously keeping an eye on everything. Sam looked half-asleep, arms folded, already done with the day before it even started. And Nate? Nate was practically glued to Kaine's side. Not touching him, not obviously shielding—but positioned just right. Anyone trying to get a clear look at Kaine would have to go through him first. Subtle. Protective. A little unnecessary.
Kaine ignored it. He also ignored the twenty or so prisoners scattered across the yard who kept staring at him. Some openly, some pretending not to. Word had spread. Purple armband. Two weeks in. Still alive. That alone made him interesting. Still not worth reacting to.
"THAO TRAN!!" The head guard's voice cut across the yard like a gunshot. Everyone stiffened slightly. Silence followed. A beat. Then— "DO NOT TEST OUR PATIENCE! PRISONER THAO TRAN!!" Nothing. And just like that, the mood shifted. Kaine felt it instantly. Not fear—not yet—but tension snapping tight, like something had just gone wrong in a system that wasn't supposed to fail. The head guard's hand moved to his belt. A click. A pause.
"PREVENTIVE MEASURES," he barked into his radio. "A PRISONER IS MISSING FOR ROLLCALL."That was all it took. Everything broke. Guards moved fast—really fast. Lines collapsed as prisoners were shoved back, voices overlapping into noise, orders flying from every direction. More boots, more weapons, more bodies pouring into the yard from every entrance. Lockdown. Immediate. Controlled chaos.
Kaine didn't resist as he was pushed back with the others. Didn't speak. Didn't react. Just moved with it, letting the system carry him where it wanted. Because this?
This was part of it.
Cells slammed open, then shut again as guards began checking one by one. Glances. Faster judgments. They weren't expecting to find her—they were confirming she wasn't somewhere obvious. When they reached Kaine's cell, two guards stepped up. One peered through the small opening. Inside—A body. Slumped against the wall. Breathing slowly. Steady. Unmoving.
"Clear," the guard muttered, already turning away. They didn't go in. Didn't touch it.
Didn't check. If they had? If they'd taken even one extra step, they would've realized that "body" didn't breathe quite right. Didn't feel right. Didn't have anything human beneath the surface. Because it wasn't. Just a shell. A decoy. A perfectly shaped lie created by the Spider-Man suit's disguise module.And Kaine? Kaine wasn't there. He stood a few corridors away, already moving. Dressed in standard guard armour. Helmet on.
Weapons strapped. Every detail accounted for. He walked like them. Same pace. Same posture. No hesitation. Just another guard responding to lockdown. Inside the helmet, his eyes were calm. Focused.
"Thao Tran," he thought, moving past a group of rushing soldiers without breaking stride. "Female. Likely South Korean. Intangibility. Invisibility." A ghost. Useful. Very useful. "If she's at full strength," he continued internally, "there's no scenario where she gets caught." Which meant—She hadn't been. This wasn't a failure. This was an opening. Kaine turned a corner, adjusting his path slightly as two guards passed by without a second glance. "Step one," he thought, "was proving the system could be disrupted." Done. Perfectly. "Step two…" He kept walking. "…is making sure it never recovers."
Somewhere behind him, alarms were still echoing. Cells were still being checked. Guards were still scrambling to fix something they didn't understand that had already been broken. And Kaine? Kaine was already ahead of them.
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[Auther: It'll make sense soon, just take it in.]