Another notice had handwaved been sent to the students to let them know to meet in the Danger Shop again today. More tables. Also a Kaidan. The tables had a wide array of stuff on them. Handcuffs, leg shackles, hinged cuffs, rope, duct tape, zip cuffs, wire. There was also a small shiny pile of standard handcuff keys, a small, square thing on keychains, and a pile of standard paper clips.

"Morning. We're once again skipping ahead in the syllabus cuz I feel like it," Jack greeted the students. "For those who don't know him, this is Commander Kaidan Alenko. He's going to demonstrate how to use the various restraints on the table and I'm going to show you how to get out of them. On the table are standard handcuff keys and zip rippers. Take one of each. The cuff key will work on most standard Earth cuffs but sometimes you'll get a weird one. I'll be showing you how to use those tools and how to use a small bit of wire, like a paperclip, to make one on the fly or make a cuff pick for one of the nonstandards."

Kaidan tried not to wince when she used his title. He waved awkwardly at the class. "What do you want to start with, Jack?"

"Eh. Start with duct tape," she said. Addressing the class again, "Duct tape is the most common thing regular people use. Rope's the second most common. I'm about to show you why every TV show or movie you've seen it used in is wrong."



Kaidan took the duct tape and pulled Jack's wrists forward. He had to make himself remember to do it wrong, to just loop the tape round and round, not adding any of the twists or knots he would have used. He made a good, solid and tight cuff and stepped back.

Jack shot him an amused look. Held her hands up and showed that they were in fact taped together pretty well. "You won't be able to pull 'em apart unless you have super strength. If you do, all bets are off and this don't apply to you," she noted. She twisted her wrists hard and squirmed them around, showing the stuff wasn't coming off. "So here's how you get out of this."

She put her fists together and pulled her elbows wide to put tension on one side of the tape. Brought a knee up and slammed her wrists down hard on her knee. The tape cuff split and ripped almost in half. "Doesn't matter how many layers of tape. Here's why." She made a gimme with her hand.

Kaidan tore off a piece of duct tape and handed it to her.

Jack held it up. "Duct tape is meant to rip. It's deliberately made weak along the sides." She demonstrated how easy it was to tear. "All the fibers run the short way. This is mostly true for packing tape as well cuz it's designed so people can rip from the edge. If you need to tie someone up.. well, don't use tape, I'm sayin'.. but if it's your only option, you want a good tear-proof packing tape with fibers going both directions. However, most of you won't be carrying that ..stuff around. So, if all you got is duct tape.." She tore the existing tape from her wrists with her teeth and held them out again for Kaidan.

Kaidan smiled wryly and demonstrated a better technique. He wrapped it around her wrists, making a few twists and going in a figure-eight for the first few times, then he taped them in a regular wrap.

"This'll mess with the tensile strength of the tape. You'll still be able to get out of it eventually but it'll be harder," Jack said. She demonstrated the same slam-on-knee technique. "You usually won't be able to use your teeth but if you can, you can start the tear that way. Usually anyone taping you like this is gonna slap a piece over your mouth too so don't count on it. You just keep slamming until it breaks." It took far longer than the last time, but eventually the tape split enough she could wriggle her hands free.

"Rope, we're not gonna demonstrate because for that you need a tool. Any sharp edge will do. If they tie you to a chair, it's usually easier to break the chair to get the ropes loose," Jack said, "If you want to learn how to properly tie someone with rope, see me after class or during teacher's hours. It'll take longer than we got today. Zip cuffs.." She moved on, "They come in two main varieties. Plastic, which is just like every other zip strip in the world only bigger and a little thicker, and the ones with a metal strip through 'em. Plastic is easy to break, you do it the same way you do duct tape. The metal ones.." She nodded to the keychains on the table, "You need a tin snips or what's called a zip ripper. The zip cuffs, they usually use behind your back." She held her hands behind her back and waited for Kaidan.

Kaidan took up a pair of standard plastic double zip cuffs. He put them over Jack's wrists and tightened them. Then he gave a small huff and over-tightened them with a muttered apology.

Jack shot him a smirk over her shoulder. "And this is what happens when you get someone who actually's trained to use 'em versus the sh..stuff your average cop will do. They don't need to be super cut-off-circulation tight, so Kaidan did 'em the correct way first until he remembered he's showing you how it's usually done, which is the wrong way." She turned around so they could see how tight the cuffs were. The skin around them was white and her hands were already darkening. "This is a lawsuit, by the way. Anyone puts you in any cuffs this tight? When you get a lawyer, you sue the sh.. heck out of them. This falls under the 'cruel and unusual' punishment clause. So. How to get out of 'em.. very similar to what you do with duct tape."

She bent forward a little bit and lifted her arms up as high as she could get them behind her. Fists tight and putting stress on the plastic by pulling them wide, she slammed them down on her ass. It took a couple tries but the cuffs snapped.

"Those are the standards. Now let's move into the non-standards.. "

She went through all of the styles of restraints and gave both the pros and cons of them. Restraints were kind of her thing, they hadn't yet built the pair she couldn't get out of. Jack went over the tips and tricks for most of them and demonstrated how to make a cuff key from a paperclip or piece of wire. She also almost nonchalantly told them all the best places to hide one so it'd be within reach and survive a cursory or even thorough pat-down.



"If you want to practice, we got plenty of stuff up here," Jack waved at the supplies, "Go ahead and pair up if you want, or come grab one of us or Peebee. We can show you how to escape."

[OCD is now up!]

[Thanks to Z for both standing Kaidan in and telling me how you get out of restraints :D There's a Kaidan thread but he's in meetings most of the day.]