Escape From Underworld Battle Arena [plot]

Alicia half-listened to the conversation around her and gave an exaggerated sigh. "If no one's going to test anything, then I'll do it."
Her preening, which was nowhere near done, had caused several feathers to fall out, collecting on the floor beneath her. She chose a small pattern one (AKA it had some structure and wasn't just a down feather) and picked it up, holding it like a pencil. She aimed at the opposite was and tried to 'charge' it with momentum using her semblance. However, she felt a weird blockage, like trying to sneeze but not being able to, only in her core, strange as it sounded. When she threw the feather, instead of speeding forward like a dart, it travelled barely a foot before it was caught by it's own light weight and drag and floated gently to the floor again.
Frowning, Alicia snapped her fingers angrily. "Well, one of you was right, Semblances don't work in here. I have no way of knowing if it's the collar or not, though."
Caught up in some emotion between ire and disappointment, she glanced around the room to the others trying to find a way out. One guy had tried burning through the wall or something, and Alicia had very nearly chastised him for using fire in such close quarters. Oh, and now it sounded like another guy was warning them against trying to escape.
Turning to the guy (Tiru), Alicia raised an eyebrow and chided, "No turning back? Just try to break the bars, dumbass, If there's a chance to get out, then I don't think anyone wants to be on here longer than they have to be." Besides, she was not looking forward to whatever might happen when their kidnappers returned.

Tiru glared daggers at the girl before shaking his head. "Sensing a bit of hostility there. Don't really appreciate it."She has a point. But if this somehow works and we get out, we keep moving or we're fried. The grey wolf then shifted his gaze to Matthias, motioning toward the door with Boreal. "Let's get to work. I'm ready when you are." With that, the grey wolf drew and shifted Aurora into SMG mode with his free hand, keeping both guns trained on the bars.

"I tried breaking the bars" Jacob snarled, turning to Alicia "or did you miss that while you were busy preening your feathers, while the rest of us were trying to figure out what to do" Jacob stowed his weapon and stalked forwards "whatever this is, we're here together, so either help or keep you damn mouth shut." He held his stern glare on Alicia for a few moments before turning back to the rest of the group "Any idea how we got here in the first place?" he asked.

Ignoring Tiru's attempt at retaliation, Alicia glared right back at Jacob. "Hey, you tried breaking them with your brute of a weapon, smartass," she snapped, "Those two suggested freezing them or using dust fire. There's more than one way to skin a cat, genius, force doesn't always work. Or did that not penetrate your thick skull?" She glowered at him. "And this preening is an alternative to freaking out, and I know you wouldn't want to see that." Her tone carried a definite threat to it, and she reached back to briefly touch Hiljainen.
Huffing, she brought the weapon out from behind her and set in on her lap, leaving her preening for later. Her fingers ran over the fletchings of the arrows in her thigh quiver thoughtfully, rubbing over the dyed ends, colour-coded based on type. She had considered using her explosive arrows, but brushed the thought away immediately. Explosives weren't exactly good for close-quarters.

"Watch your tongue Fang. Even without my semblance I could beat seven kinds of crap out of you" he snarled, undeterred by Alicia's threat or the weapon that was now in her grip. He wasn't going to back down, not to her of all people. He tightened his grip on Jernulv "there's more than one way to pluck a chicken too" he added with a menacing grin, lifting his axe pointedly.

"Now now, save it for the matches..."

Almost out of nowhere, a deep and almost mysterious sounding voice spoke. Off at the corner of the room, a person was sitting there, his all black clothing making it look like he was just a shadow and completely went over everyone's view unnoticed until he spoke.

The man looked like he had recently robbed a priest, wearing a black dress shirt and black pants. he was tall and lengthy, but fairly bony compared to most healthy men. His face looked like it was chiseled from marble and about as pale as it too. His long, greasy black hair hung over his face unkept. On his hands were a pair of leather gloves with long shards of metal in the shape of pointed fingernails on each finger tip and thumb. On his head were a pair of pointed cat ears.

"You kids these days are too stupid and rash," he stated bluntly.

Alicia's feathers bristled and she stood up, her posture condescending and threatening despite her small stature. She took a breath to retaliate, but before anything else could be said, a deep voice interrupted them from the corner. Her head whipped around to face him, looking for a second like it may have turned too far, but that was not the case.
He sat there as if he'd been there the whole time, but no, he couldn't have been, the cell was too small and Alicia would have noticed. She definitely did not like the idea of someone who could sneak up on her.
"Hey, where the hell did you come from?" she demanded, stepping up close to the newcomer, "What do you mean, 'matches'?" Her eyes narrowed, then widened, filled with newfound fury. "Are you the #^$%er that dropped us in here?!" She whipped out Hiljainen from behind her, holding one of the blades near his throat.

"I wouldn't do that," the man deadpanned.
'
Suddenly Alicia would feel a prick in her neck and then her collar would let loose a surge of electricity across her body. The electricity covered her completely and it would feel like thirteen tazers pressed against her at once. If that wasn't enough, the earlier prick was injecting something into her body that caused her nerves and muscles to go numb. Even her tongue would feel like it was melting and her body would feel like it was devoid of bones.

Jacob took a step forwards, pointing to the stranger with Jernulv
"Cut that out!" he roared "or I swear to god!" he raised Jernulv and lined up for a solid strike. He knew he'd probably suffer the same fate as Alicia, but even though she was White Fang, he didn't intend to just stand and watch.

"Don't look at me," the stranger comment. He lifted up his chin and tapped a metallic fingernail against the metal collar around his neck, although it notably thinner than the ones everyone else had. "Did I mention you're all foolish and stupid kids? You jump the gun far too quickly. By the way, you should treat your girlfriend there. Right about now she should collapse and start foaming at the mouth."

Alicia dropped to her knees, a strangled sound between a gasp and a whimper escaping her throat as her muscles tightened beyond their capability, making her limbs lock and spasm. Her jaw clamped down on the inside of her cheek, and she tasted blood. For a moment, her wings spasmed wildly, probably managing to hit many of the people in the room, along with brushing against the hot bars, and thus singing the tips of her flight feathers. Her cheek was pressed to the metal floor, her body curling up and twitching. The pain was unlike anything she'd ever felt. She'd been shot and cut and hit with very heavy things, but never electrocuted, and it was enough for tears to flow freely. Blood started seeping through her lips from the gaping wound she was chewing inside her cheek.
At the same time, her muscles were going oddly numb, and she felt like she was melting. Her vision blurred, but she did not fall unconscious, despite her hoping.

Matthias jumped to his feet. "The sooner we get out of here the better," he muttered. As he approached the bars, he suddenly stopped and turned around to face the group as two members began to argue. This is why I don't work with kids. He chuckled slightly as another person made his 'entrance.' This just keeps getting better and better. He tried to look on with apathy, but Alicia's attitude made him snap."Back off, bird brain. He's stuck in here just like us. Now, before we do this, I would like to make one thing clear. When we get out of this cell, which we most certainly will, you kids are listening to that silver haired woman and me. I won't be taking orders from children. Are we clear?" he sternly addressed the group. Without waiting for a response he continued. "Good.  Mysterious, creepy dude in the all black outfit? I have a feeling you can handle yourself. Oh, and you? Bird girl?" he added pointing to Alicia. "Watch your tone. I've hardly heard anything from you and you're already getting on my nerves." He glanced over at Jacob. "That goes for you, as well, big guy." Almost immediately, the mysterious man made his move, and Alicia fell to the ground in spasms. Stupid kid. Ignoring the girl, he readied his right gauntlet and put on his goggles once more as he knelt by the bars. "Stand back. If it breaks, there will be shrapnel," he warned as he fired a chilling blast of ice onto the bars, making a square outline as he went. He finished his outline and lept away. "Whenever you're ready!" he called out to Tiru, completely ignoring Alicia once more.

The ice turned to steam immediately before it could even freeze over the bars. Suddenly Matthias's collar sent a surge of electricity through his body right after he felt the prick of an injection needle into his neck.

"You kids never learn," the man sighed and rolled his eyes.

Nero turned away from the bars when he heard the old man speak. He did not notice him earlier, which was unsettling given that his semblance would have alerted him to his presence. However, after watching Matthias's collar shock, Nero realized that it must have been the collar that prevented him from noticing the old man. Narrowing his eyes, he approached the old man in the corner and spoke to him in a sort of respectful tone, born from their presumably similar past experiences. "Old one, how long have you been in here, fighting?"

Tiru paused as he watched Alicia and Matthias fall to the ground, one by one. Well. That went to hell quicker than I hoped. He wanted so badly to turn to the man in black and tear him a new one, but if he tried, he would suffer the same fate. Dejectedly, the wolf shifted the Dancing Lights into their blade form and sheathed them, turning his back to the man in black, shaking his head. Getting out of here is going to be much more difficult than I thought. Sighing, Tiru then leaned against one of the cell walls. He saw one of his still standing cellmates walk over to the man in black.

"Old one, how long have you been in here, fighting?"

"And to add onto his question, how can we help them?" he asked simply, motioning to Matthias and Alicia. "I'd really prefer to have living cellmates instead of dead ones."

"Bit quick to assume I'm old, aren't ya?" the man replied gruffly. "I'm only forty kid, and I've been down here for about twenty years. One of the crowd favorite veterans. Oh, and uh, those two should be fine after... give or take five minutes. Although some CPR will do them good seeing as even their lungs are numb."

Matthias dropped like a sack of potatoes as he was shocked by the collar. Even more insulting; it's a shock collar. As he finished his thought, he began convulsing violently on the floor as the voltage pulsed through his body. In his writhing, he only caused more damage as his head waved around wildly. Slowly, black rings began to encompass his vision. The wolf faunus could hear voices, but could no longer make out what they were saying. By now, he could no longer think straight and began to have visions of a girl. Bianca? His mouth opened as if to speak, but nothing came out.

Tiru eventually got off of the wall, walking back toward the man in black. "Well. I assume that you've been here a really long time. That doesn't give me much hope." Tiru glanced back at Matthias and Alicia, shaking his head. "What are the fights here like, MIB?" he asked, hoping to understand a bit more about the situation.

"You know, it's common courtesy to at least ask names," the man replied grumpily, frowning unpleasantly.

Tiru mirrored the man's expression as he spoke. "Yeah. I get that. But I doubt that any of us are on those terms right now. Last time I checked, I was pretty sure that 'Getting the **** Out of Here' ranked higher than 'Proper Manners' on the priority list." the grey wolf deadpanned, before shaking his head. Granted, I aint gonna get anywhere with this guy by being a dick... After a moment of silence, Tiru spoke up again. "... What do people call you around here?"

"Around here they call me Smiles," the man said with the sternest frown on his face.

Tiru chuckled slightly at the man's response. "I can see why." he deadpanned, pausing a bit before continuing. "Imma still call you MIB, though. Fits a lot better." Tiru grinned before holding out his hand. "Name's Tiru."

Smile smirks and takes Tiru's hand, shaking it firmly. "A pleasure," he said smiling, showing his teeth, each of which were plated with a pointed blade, giving him a silver smile of razor sharp fangs.

Tiru paused a bit after the handshake, fixated on the man's metal teeth. "NOW I can see why you're called 'Smiles'..." he blurted out absentmindedly before shaking his head and pulling his hand back. "Anyway... Yeah. What are the fights here like? Just for a heads-up." he asked somewhat nervously, glancing from his face to the bars and back.

The smile disappeared from the man's face just as quickly as it appeared. He lifted up a gloved hand and started scratching the back of his cat ears lightly with a metal fingernail.

"Hmmm, that's a good question," Smiles sighed. "They like to mix things up with the fights so you never know what to expect. But generally it's one against one. There are also tag team fights and sometimes chaotic skirmishes. All the same, you'll be able to use your semblance in the arena. No jammers there. Keeps things more entertaining. You better be ready to fight. If you refuse to fight, they off ya with this nice little pieces of jewelry here."

Smiles tapped a metal finger nail against the metal collar around his neck, resulting in a tink tink tink.

"If you win, it's your decision whether to land a death blow or let the bloke live. You gain more sponsors going with the former though. Rich bastards just love a good death match."

Alicia groaned as the electric pain faded, and the numbness set in. She had tried to stop the sound, but apparently what her body did wasn't her choice anymore. Blood from her cheek and tongue was starting to drip down the side of her face, and her eyes slid closed. It's an odd feeling, having literally everything in your body numbed, and Alicia almost preferred the shocks. At least then she knew she wasn't melting.
She vaguely hoped that someone would glance down and help her, especially since she could smell something burning and had a nagging feeling that it was her feathers against the hot bars.

Tiru sighed, tugging a bit at the collar. "So it's explosive, too. Pleasant." he said, rolling his eyes. "Do you know when the next fight is going to be? Or are the fights randomized." he asked, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Alicia began to stir. As he spoke, he hooked his left foot under her arm and dragged her away from the bars.