Jailbreak

Posted on 01 Jul 2026 @ 2:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Steven Remington & Lieutenant Ryan Collingway

1,475 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Time After Time
Location: Sherman Oaks Jail

///Jailhouse///

Ryan's meal was significantly less extravagant than Steve's. A slab of some kind of meat with a rock hard-bun and a small amount of equally rock-hard butter. The first of what promised to be many meals of fine dining in store for him.

Ryan didn't plan on staying that long. But he couldn't figure a way out, either. At least not yet. He barely ate and lay stretched on the hard bench, about to drift off. Maybe he would finally wake up from this dream.

Steve had entered the building, stood in the lobby for a few moments before proceeding as deeply into the building as possible without attracting attention. On the way, he scoped out the location of Exits and Stairwell doors from his position. Only then did he activate the tricorder EM resonance generator and things got crazy.

Suddenly, all the lights plunged off. The electrical door locks suddenly opened. For a moment, there was silence.

Ryan sat up in astonishment. He nudged the cell door further open, before stepping through. What had happened? He could barely see anything.

Ryan moved into the next room and immediately banged into something. Oh right. There was a desk. He opened up the drawers, looking for a flashlight. "Come on. Come on."

No luck. "Dammit." His hand touched something small and metallic on top of the desk. A lighter.

Ryan didn't waste anymore time. He ran.

The incandescent lights began to strobe and dim out, the coffee maker burst into flames and a fast thinking secretary doused it with the remainder of the coffee in the pot. The alarm performed death scream, then went silent, replaced by the hollering of people over the incessant off-key buzzing of the back-up alarms. The phone system blinked twice and went black. Electric IBM typewriters failed. All electronically operated locks went mad, One lock released, another wouldn't budge.

People ran every direction, stumbling over each other and furniture, trash cans, rolling desk chairs and scrambling over room dividers. Prisoners, police officers and staff mingled in the dark, jockeying about with what little light trickled from a few flashlights that remained working, sporadically.

The dispatcher lost contact with the deputies, the base station radio signal died. Police scanners became useless. Speakerphones, intercoms, answering machines, recording devices, all dark. Remote operated control panels were blank. Alarm panels failed. Motion detectors failed. Buzzers continued to sound unceasing and loud. Cameras and TV screens filled with snow. And the emergency lighting transfer circuitry failed. The elevator stopped. The electronic vehicle bay doors halted, open only half-way, and the electric gate to the patrol car parking lot locked in the closed position.

Anything electronic went dark, silent, cold, and impotent instantly. Redundant and backup systems failed. Finally the lights went out completely. There were no windows, save high on the walls in the stairwells of the three story building. Exit door signs even refused be remain aglow.

Steve was impressed and quite satisfied with himself and his trusty Science Tricorder Model D-174F. Now, to find that stairwell, because that’s where he hoped Ryan would have fled in the chaos.


///Two minutes later////

The police chief walked up to Ryan's cell with a fluttering beam of his flashlight and noticed it was empty. "Find him," he ordered Garrett. "Bring him back."

Garrett nodded, and went off to find his partner, Yarl.

The police chief studied the cell, his fury growing. He had been more than accommodating during this unexpected situation. Prioritizing the two's comfort in the holding frame.

No longer. There were ways he could keep them both alive, but in a state where they couldn't do anything. Not very pleasant ways, but it would have to be done.

"Consequences, Mister Collingway," he said to himself. "You and your friend brought this upon yourself.”


///One level below///

Even with the lighter, Ryan soon became lost. He couldn't find an exit sign. He tried one hallway, which led to a few closed offices and that was it. A door finally allowed him to enter the stairwell. The illumination from the gas burning street lights shown weakly through the high level window and provided only minimal ambient light on the stairs. It helped, but only a little. What had caused this? Shaking his head, he turned his gaze from the window ...

… just as a baton swung against his side out of nowhere. Ryan felt his ribs crack from the blow, and he fell to the ground.

"Well, what do you know," Yarl said, turning on a flashlight. "Surprise does work very well in a fight."

Yarl swung at him again. Ryan shifted to the left, narrowly avoiding a blow to his skull.

"We could do this the easy way, kid," Yarl said with a shrug. "Or you can go back to your cell with a few broken bones. Truth be told, I don't mind that."

"You're such a dick," Ryan snarled. As Yarl moved to swing at him again, Ryan lunged at him, hurling both of them against the wall. The baton and the flashlight went flying. Yarl's hands scrambled at his face, looking for purchase. Ryan punched him in the side. Yarl stomped on Ryan’s leg, forcing him to one knee. Ryan delivered a punch to Yarl's groin in response. Yarl grabbed him, and they both went down.

The flashlight rolled in front of him. Ryan crawled forwards towards it. Yarl started to crawl on him. Ryan kicked him away and grabbed the flashlight first. He swung wide, hitting Yarl in the head. Yarl was out cold.

Breathing hard, Ryan stood and eyed Yarl's gun, but didn't take it. He couldn't take it. He couldn't use the raygun earlier at the library, because there was a slight chance it could kill someone on a different setting. He wasn't a killer.

Suddenly, hands grabbed him by the neck and hurled him backwards. Ryan was not ready in the slightest as Garrett slammed his knee into Ryan's chest, pinning him to the ground. Hands clenched tighter at his neck. Suddenly his brain was denied oxygen. "Get off me...." he whispered. He tried to fight back, but was rapidly losing strength as stars exploded in his eyes. Garrett swatted his hands away.

"Stop resisting!" Garrett snapped, looking for his handcuffs as Ryan gasped for air.

The stairwell door opened and Steve stood, surveying the scene for half a second before hollering, “Ryan …duck.”

"What?" In his surprise Garrett loosened his grip on Ryan, permitting him to breathe.

Ryan didn’t hesitate. Steve directed the tricorder at Garrett’s figure. Every electronic device on the deputy’s duty belt failed simultaneously. The radio began the continuous ear-piercing screech of feedback from the mic on his shoulder, the flashlight strobed wildly. Garrett flinched and reached instinctively for the malfunctioning equipment, giving Ryan the chance to scramble out of the fray.

“Time to go!” said Steve, picking up the flashlight from the floor, and the two dove down the stairs to the main level and exited through an unlocked, open side door into the darkness.


///Outside Police Station////

They ran, until Ryan couldn't.

He genuinely tried. His lungs were burning from when Garrett tried to choke him out. But his rib was worse. He didn't know how bad it was. They ran for a good fifteen minutes before everything in him wanted to give out.

"Wait." Ryan coughed. "Please." Despite everything, his mind was racing as they stopped in an alleyway. He leaned against a trash bin, gripping his side. "How did you do that?" he asked. "How did everything just....shut down like that?”

“Long story, but we have a new friend,” Steve panted, holding up the Walkman which hung around his neck on its strap. "How you doing? You’re hurt. What’s up?”

Ryan shook his head. "I won't slow us down," he said firmly, suddenly overwhelmed by an irrational need to prove himself. Vulnerability had no place in that state.

He paused. "Thank you. For coming after me." He wasn't sure that Steve would, though that wasn't a reflection on his friend. Once again, feelings he couldn't quite explain were leading his thoughts. The feeling that friends had let him down before, mostly. He sighed. He needed to clear his head. "Can I have a look at that?" He indicated the Walkman.

“The magic is inside it. It’s not your everyday, run of the mill Walkman. It’s kinda souped up, like the rayguns. But there’s more. Let’s get somewhere safer and I’ll explain everything… … well, what I can,” Steve said. “How can I help you move?”

"I can walk," Ryan assured him, but grudgingly had to admit this was a problem. "Just...slowly."

Lieutenant Commander Steve Remington
Chief Science Officer
USS Arawyn

Lieutenant Ryan Collingway
Chief Engineering Officer
USA Arawyn

 

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