Nosedive shrunk back into the shadows as he watched the others discuss their mission after Admiral Mallard had left.  No one had asked him his opinion of the mission.
     “Hey Dive?”
     He looked up through his blond bangs to see Duke and the others watching him.  “Yah Duke?”
     “What do you think?”
     He noticed the inattentive glances the others were passing his way but tried to ignore them and answer Duke.  “It seems solid.”
     Before the others could speak Duke’s eyebrow rose as he continued.  “But?”
     “But it would make more sense to let Mirage, you and me do the undercover work.  Instead of Mirage, you and Captain Grimlock.”
     Breeze sneered at him, “And why is that kid?”
     Nosedive just managed to swallow a snide come back.  “Because, the Draconians group prisoners together in similar age groups.  Mirage and Duke can pass for younger and I can pass for older.  At any rate, one of us is bound to end up with the people we need to break out.  Breeze is needed for cover fire and so is Ash and, should anything go wrong, the Captain will be needed to order to form a rescue mission or to abort the whole thing altogether.”
     Again Duke beat anyone else to the punch.  “Do you think you can handle going back to the mines?”
     Despite himself he laughed bitterly as he pushed away from the wall.  “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop others from going through what I did, Duke.  I’ll be fine.  After all, they couldn’t break me then, they won’t break me now.”
……………………….
     Getting caught had been easy but the three of them had been split up.  For a split second Nosedive had experienced a wave of panic that had shaken him for a moment.  But he quickly suppressed it and focused on trying to locate any of the three people they were there to break out.
     The Draconian guard stopped him in front of a stall as another scrambled to open the cell door.  Then as it was opened he was shoved roughly into the cage, handcuffs and chains still on his wrists and ankles.  Resisting the urge to pick a fight he laid still until the door slid closed and the guards, laughing, had left.
     Moving slowly he sat up and scanned the crowded, dirty room he was in.  The looks on the faces of the others, was enough to make anger boil inside him.  They looked broken,… no hope ignited any of their faces. They looked defeated.
     Worse yet, he was with the wrong age group.  They were all about fifteen to twenty years of age.  And vaguely he remembered what it’s been like to grow up in the mines.
     Getting to his feet he looked at them all, trying to find a flicker of something, anything that would indicate there was some hope.
     His eyes met with another’s, his blue eyes cold but defiant.  He was about fifteen-years-old, with long chestnut hair pulled back in a braid and there were several obvious bruises and cuts that stood out all over his feathers but if there was someone he could count on in a pinch he felt certain it was him.
     But before he could move to go speak to him the other was next to him.  His voice low as he looked up at Nosedive, “They call me Hades.”