Part 4. Kill Master's Mercy
(The Crushing Pit, following the forming of Ironheade)
(With an 'e' at the end to show that they're not fooling around))
(Eddie's point of view)
Lars Headed back to Bladehenge, taking several dozen of our newly liberated headbangers with him.
I stayed behind with a headbanger named Jack and a few others that were, like Jack, mechanics. They were used to maintain the workings of the now shut down Gyre.
I figured I should try to teach 'em to build and maintain cars. I wanted to use this place to build some transportation for our new army.
I brought the druid plow in to show 'em how a car is put together.
After that we examined the car parts that they dug up. Man, I don't know how long they were down here, but they still look like they were in great shape and repairable.
I assembled a car with the parts I found, fixing then as I went, and, after filling the tank with some raw moonshine I found, got it to run. Drove it around the pit a few times, then let Jack and his friends try it, After quite a bit of driver's ed by yours truly.
Not sure how long I was down there teaching the mechanics how to build and drive these cars and trucks we've been diggin up and putting back together.
Must've been a dew days… Maybe a week.
We've even managed to unearth a dozen or so really big buses. Mangus showed up while we were digging up one the larger buses. Took quite an interest in it, so I spent a day teaching him how to drive.
Eventually I decided to head back to Bladehenge. Made my way up to the entrance, summoned the druid plow, hopped in and was on my way…
While listening to Megadeth's 'High Speed Drift'.
Met a few groups of headbangers out on patrol. Well that's what they're telling me.
Along the way I noticed this stone ramp and ahead of it was this swarm of…
Are those silver bugs?
Something tells me that I should try jumping through those. So I hit the nitro, raced up the ramp, and flew through the swarm of silver bugs. Is it just me or did I hear some cheering. Came across a few more ramps and did the same stunt again…
Still kept hearing that cheering. I wonder…
Anyway it wasn't long before I arrived at Bladehenge and parked next to a truck I help build a few days ago. Kinda looked like a 6X6 cargo truck with a 1939 ford truck cab and grill powered by a V8 hot rod engine. Shortly after I entered through the north gate, I saw Lars and Lita talking with a few of the headbanger mechanics that I was teaching driving to back at the pit.
"I see you guys already met Lars and Lita." I said to the headbangers as I showed 'em Lars and Lita.
"Yeah, dude." One of them replied. "We were in another part of the pit when we heard that Mittens kicked it. Just came here yesterday."
Then I noticed that…
"Ophelia?" Was nowhere to be seen. "Hey, Lars, where is? Where's ol' Ophs anyway?"
"I'm afraid that she left for the Pleasure Tower while we were freeing the Headbangers." Lars answered. "Lita told me she sneaked out during the night."
"There's a good chance she's probably impaled by now." Lita added.
"FUCK!" I swore. "We told her to wait! Which way is the Pleasure Tower, you two!?" I asked. "We gotta go…"
But before I could finish, we heard a whinny of a raptor elk coming from the north gate. We headed to the gateway to see that Ophelia had just returned. She was panting heavily and slumped forward on the saddle, her face showed that she was in a lotta pain. Not to mention she was clutching her left side and there was blood running down her leg. She looked like she was about to fall off.
"Uh oh." I started to run towards her
"OPHELIA!" Lars yelled as ran past me and caught her just as she slipped off the saddle. He layed her on the ground as Lita took the reins of the raptor elk.
"Oh no! You didn't try to free the girls too did you?" Lars asked.
"No…" Ophelia moaned shaking her head. "They're...They're already free… Ngh."
Lars picked her up off the ground. "We have to take her to the Kill Master." He stated.
"Lars no." Lita stepped in front of him blocking his way. "Lionwhyte knows about us now. We have to lay low." She warned.
"Out of my way." Lars replied and pushed past Lita.
Lita looked at me. "You have to stop him, please." She begged.
"Stop him, I'm gonna give him a lift.' I replied. "But first…"
I called out to Lars. "Hey Lars hold on. How far is it to this Kill Master dude?"
"About half a days ride as the crow flies." Lars replied.
"We need to get that bleeding stopped first or she ain't gonna make it." I replied. "I know some first aid. Get me a bowl, some strips of cloth and something to disinfect 'em with. Moonshine'll do."
The headbangers brought over some strips of cloth and a jug of moonshine and a bowl.
I poured the moonshine into the bowl, and placed the cloth strips in to get 'em disinfected. Also I poured some 'shine on my hands to clean and disinfect 'em. I pulled Ophelia's shirt back to have a look at the wound…
Oh man! That doesn't look good, pretty deep looking too. Doesn't look like there's any thing stuck in there. Okay, I took a large strip out of the bowl, folded it to cover the wound.
"Okay, you two hold her still." I ordered two of the headbangers. "Ophelia, this is gonna sting a bit." I warned Ophelia.
The headbangers held her still as I began to dress the wound.
"AAAAAH!" Ophelia yelled.
I kept the bandage pressed down as I wound a long strip around her waist to keep it still. Once that was done and the bleeding was stopped, I immediately crafted a stretcher from a couple of chrome plated poles and an animal hide large enough to put Ophelia on. Then I had two headbangers put her on the stretcher and load her on the truck.
"You two make sure she stays steady." I said and I climbed into the cab.
"Got it." One of the headbangers replied.
Lars and Lita joined me in the cab. "Lita? You're coming with?" I asked as I started up the truck.
"If I can't stop you two from from going, I can, at least stop you two from getting killed." Lita answered.
Then a group of headbangers came running towards us. "We heard Ophelia was in trouble!" One of 'em shouted.
"We're here to help!" Said another.
"We're not going all the way, though!" Said a third.
"He's afraid of the Kill Master." Said a fourth.
"Are you guys really going to see the Kill Master?" A fifth one asked.
"Yeah we are!" I answered. "Hop in the back!" I thumbed back to the cargo box where Ophelia and her two stretcher bearers were. "Plenty of room." Something tells me we're gonna need all the help we can get. They all climbed aboard and we set off north, following Lars's directions, towards Mt. Thunderhorn…
(The base of Mt. Thunderhorn, a long slow drive later)
We parked the truck at the gateway to the trail leading up the mountain that's shaped like the head of a bearded giant. We got out and unloaded Ophelia from the back of the truck. "Edward! How is she?" Lars asked as I examined her.
"Not good." I replied. "She's fading." Oh man, she must be bleeding internally.
"As I said earlier, we need to take her to the Kill Master." Lars stated as he looked up the trail.
"Kill Master?" I asked. "I've been meaning to ask, but what kinda name is that for a healer? If that's what he is."
"Do not fear him." Lars replied. "He chooses that name. to scare off intruders."
"Oh."
Lars continues. "And to protect his flock of giant spiders." Wait what!? Giant spiders!?
"He is a powerful healer." Lars declared.
"Alright, Let's take Ophelia to him right now!" I said.
"Agreed, Edward, we must hurry." Lars nodded. Then we got back aboard the truck and started up the trail...
(BGM; Believer, by Ozzy Osbourne)
As we slowly approached the first turn, a group of hairbangers suddenly appeared. They immediately set up a shield wall that blocked the road from one side to the other and they were waving their axes and swords and spears.
One of 'en stepped forward. "By order of General Lionwhyte! Anyone not with the Hair Metal Militia or the Tainted Coil is hereby forbidden to see the Kill Master." He declared. "All you grease bag trespassers are to turn back now or be put to death!"
"Oh, shit. They've been practicing." I said I got out of the truck. "And I don't think they're gonna let us pass without a fight."
"Agreed, Edward." Lars drew out Battle Cry and Lita was twirling her Halberd. "Let's not disappoint them."
Most of the headbangers jumped out of the back of the truck and formed up on us, weapons and shields ready.
"Right then." I got Clementine ready. "Let's do it!"
I played the battle cry solo to charge up my group and we charged at the hairbangers. I ran straight at the centre of their shield wall and crashed through using the 'Power Slide'. Then I switched over to the Separator just as Lars and the others poured through the gap and started chopping up hairbangers…
We managed to slaughter half of 'em before the rest broke and ran up the trail. "You're gonna pay for this you fucking grease bags!" One of 'em shouted before he ran around the corner and out of sight.
"Okay, that enough of that." I waved back to the truck, signaling the driver to come forward. "Let's keep moving." We kept formation ahead of the truck containing Ophelia as we continued on up the mountain…
XXX
After about a couple of hours, we were soon halfway up the mountain. That was when…
"Danger ahead!" Lars shouted as we saw another group of hairbangers come charging down the trail.
"Keep 'em away from the truck!" I ordered as I chopped a hairbanger in two. Then I set two more on fire with a 'Pyro' chord. Man they really blazed up, and they roasted another three as they were thrashing about trying to put themselves out. Must be all that hairspray they were using.
"Let's send them back to Lionwhyte in a box!" Lita ran one of 'em through with her halberd. She eviscerated a second one with a swing. Blood was going all over the place.
It wasn't long before we clobbered those dudes. "We must keep going." Lars said as he decapitated a hairbanger with his sword. And ran another one through.
As we made our way around the next corner, we ran into…
A bunch of those freaky S&M demonesses wearing bird masks waiting on a ledge overlooking the trail. They were, with their long tails whipping some fat dude with a bunch of spears stuck in him and he was also dressed in really tight S&M wear, including a red gag ball. Yeesh.
Just what the fuck is with these demons and S&M? Seriously!
"Hey! HEY!" I shouted up at those demonesses. "Leave that guy alone!" Then those demonesses pull some of those spears outta that fat dude…
And aimed 'em at me! "Uh oh!" Me and my big fucking mouth!
"Stand still and be punished!" One of the demonesses shouted as she threw a spear at me. I barely manage to dodge it as it whizzed passes my head, missing it by inches. The others start pulling out spears and throwing 'em at us! We all had to duck behind some boulders and the truck to avoid getting hit!
"You are not to run when we are punishing you!"
"Round them up for punishment!"
Two of our headbangers, however were skewered clean through their hearts. Dead before they hit the ground. Dammit!
"Two have been punished, my sisters!"
"Dammit! They got us pinned down!" Lita shouted as she hid behind the truck. "Too much open ground between us and them!"
"Not to mention we don't have any ranged weapons to counter them." Lars added while he hid beside me behind a boulder.
Ranged weapon? Wait a sec, we have a ranged weapon; Clementine. I unstrapped her, then I took a quick look over the boulder to see where those demonesses are at. Had to duck down to avoid a spear in the face.
"Okay then, my turn!" I started playing on Clementine, sending shockers, pyro, and a couple of shock-bombs and roman candles. in their general direction. We all heard their screams as they were either shocked or burned to a crisp. Once things got quiet. I peered over the top of the boulder. Looks like I got 'em all. Only one left was that fat dude…
Who pulled out a spear from his body and skewers himself with it causing him to explode into big chunks of red flesh and guts covering the platform they were on in blood. What a mess.
Anyway, we continued on up the trail. We suddenly get ambushed by more hairbangers and a couple of bouncers 'bout a mile or so up the road from where we ran into those S&M demons. Me, Lars,,Lita, and the headbangers managed to kick their striped and polka-dotted spandex wearing asses…
And their butts too…
We were almost to the top when we felt the ground shake. We all had to pile onto the truck when we saw this large…
..."STAMPEDE!"…
Of raptor elks come charging full tilt down the hill at us!
We watched as the herd thundered around our truck. Some of them slammed up against the sides of the truck almost knocking it over. After a few minutes, the herd of raptor elks finished stampeding around our truck and continued thundering on down the trail. We continued onwards after we had to repair a couple of punctured tires...
XXX
As we drove up to a turn I noticed another group of spear throwing demonesses and their fat pincushion boy toy. "Gross disgusting mutants." I said as I got out of the cab. "Wait right here everybody, I'll go take care of…"
But I was suddenly interrupted by. "There they are! Get those traitors!" A squad of hairbangers rushing down the hill at us.
And, wouldn't you know it, it alerted those demonesses. "Intruders! Punish them, my sisters!" They started throwing spears at the truck!
"Take care of those demons, Edward!" Lars vaulted out of the back of the truck along with Lita and the headbangers. "We'll deal with the harbingers!"
As Lars and the crew fought the loyalists. I took out the demonesses with some pyro and shock bombs. Once that was done, you guessed it, the fat dude self destructed.
When all was said and done, we lost another three headbangers, one to the militia and two to those demonesses. Including me, Lars, Lita, and Ophelia we were now down to seven. Not only that, one of the spears punctured the truck's engine block. I'm afraid that's it for our ride. Looks like we're walking the rest of the way.
XXX
As we carried Ophelia on up the hill, we had to avoid another stampede, and we ran into two more groups of those demonesses…
And by the time we were done, well, we lost all of our headbangers. But we finally reached the top of the Thunderhorn.
"How's Ophelia holding up?" I asked Lars as he and Lita now carried her stretcher.
"Still breathing." Lars answered. But I don't know how much longer."
"I hope this is all worth it." Lita added. "We lost ten good men getting up here."
Don't remind me. "I know. We need to find some way to better protect our dudes from those demonesses. Maybe better armor and spear-proof shields."
"Or maybe… A team of counter shooters… nngh." Ophelia moaned.
"Take it easy, Ophelia." I replied. "Let's see about getting you healed first."
We entered a cave that looked like a mouth beneath a huge mustache.
I had my axe out just in case. Once our eyes adjusted to the gloom. We saw a temple carved into the rock. In the centre of the temple was an altar surrounded by speakers. On both sides of the temple, I saw all those biker dudes sitting on couches and looking us over. Well they're human. There were numerous silver webs on the ceiling above us with many of the strings leading down the skull and this guitar like instrument on top.
As Lars placed Ophelia on the altar I looked up at the big animal skull at the back centre of the temple. Resting on the seat above it smoking a cigarette…
Oh my god! That… That can't fucking be! Lemmy Kilmister!? But he died! A few years ago! How?
He looked down on us. "Ah what the hell?" Oh fuck me, he even sounds like Lemmy!
"Noble Kill Master. This woman…" Lars began to address, um, Lemmy's ghost?
"Didn't you see the signs, Lars?" 'Lemmy' interrupted. "We don't like visitors up here."
"I know, Kill Master." Lars replied. "But she's dying."
"Yeah, So what's her excuse?" 'Lemmy' replied.
Then Lars got down on his knee, head held low. "I beg of you, heal this woman who only wanted to free her sisters from the grip of general Lionwhyte."
"Oh you're fighting Lionwhyte?" 'Lemmy" adjusted his cowboy hat. "Why didn't you say so? I hate that bastard. Especially since he posted his goons on my mountain. Not to mention taking some of my guys to serve as his personal healers. Not to mention my crops of spider strings"
"We fought them on our way up here." Lars stated. "We lost many good men to get here. Mostly to those demonesses."
"You mean the 'punishing parties'?" 'Lemmy' asked. "You managed to get rid of them too? Color me impressed."
"He did." Lars looked at me. "His guitar has powerful magic abilities that enabled him to strike down the demonesses with lightning and fire."
"Well well." 'Lemmy' looked at me. "But first thing's first…" He got up, cracked his knuckles and rubbed his hands together as he walked up to this big guitar like instrument. Well, that's how I can best describe that thing. "Let's see now…"
And he starts playing…
It sounded like he was playing a really big bass guitar. We all felt and heard the deep bass tones of that instrument as they resonated throughout the cave. The speakers surrounding Ophelia were thrumming and vibrating to the notes.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"People are pissing me off, for one." 'Lemmy' replied as he continued to play.
"Is she dead?" Lita asked just as 'Lemmy' stopped playing.
"Not yet but soon." 'Lemmy' answered. "Sorry, but these are the heaviest strings I got."
"Can't your spiders spin new strings?" Lars desperately asked. "Thicker strings!?"
"My little darlings here?" 'Lemmy' said as several of those silver spiders scuttled about. "No."
Then he looks up at this big spider exoskeleton mounted above his couch. "The Metal Queen who shed hide here once belonged to, is big enough to spin the kind of strings you need. But we don't go into her lair anymore. Lest she bite us in half, suck out our innards like a milkshake, and lay her eggs in our eye sockets."
*shudder*
"And she used to be a lot nicer too. Not too sure what happened to get her this pissed at us." 'Lemmy' finished.
"I'm going!" Lars declared. Then he turned around to go down the trail only to…
Be blocked by Lita. "Then you'll both be dead. And what good is that?" She said, a tone of worry on her voice.
"I've got to get those strings, Lita." Lars sternly replied.
"No, Lars!" Lita placed her hand on his shoulder. "Listen, you have to let her go."
Lars just glared back. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"What!?" Lita gasped.
Me? I just cautiously backed away. I had a feeling that I know this was going to…
And I was right; Lars and Lita started arguing and I didn't want to be caught up in a sibling spat.
Lars: "Sometimes I think you love to see her gone."
Lita: "Well this isn't the first time her adventures have gotten us into trouble."
Personally I'd rather walk into a spider's nest then get involved in this family squabble.
Lars" She is fighting for the future of our people."
Lita: "I think she's just trying to make up for her past."
Lars: "What past?"
Lita: "You heard the same rumors I did."
Lars: "And what of it? That was a long time ago."
Lita: "Her parents were Tear Drinkers, Lars. I mean eww."
Lars: "What of it?"
Lita: "Which means she's probably one too."
Lars: "I will not hear another word."
Lita; "She can't be trusted, brother!"
Lars; "Lower your voice."
Their arguing soon became incoherent, And I couldn't make out anything more they were saying. But from what I heard, there's something fishy about Ophelia's past. Worry about that later.
"So, um, anybody want to come with me to the lair of the Metal Queen?" I asked the nearby biker dudes. "Anybody?" No reply. "'Cause that's where I'm headed. Alone."
I summoned the Druid Plow, loaded the Separator and Clementine in the rumble seat, and was about to hop in and take off when…
"Do you know where her lair is to, buddy?" 'Lemmy, with a bass guitar and a sledge hammer strapped to his back ' said as he casually approached. "You look like you're not from around here, aren't you."
"Um. Not really actually." I replied.
"I see." 'Lemmy' stroked his mustache. "Ah well I guess I should come with. Those two back there…" He thumbs back towards the still arguing Lars and Lita. "Are kinda getting' on my nerves."
"But shouldn't you be…"
"Taking care of her? Don't worry 'bout that." 'Lemmy' replied. "My Thunderhogs'll keep the beat goin' keep her stable till we get back. If we get back." I looked back and saw one of those biker, I mean, thunderhogs playing away on that bass instrument. "So let's get going, um… What's your name anyway?"
"Eddie Riggs." I answered.
"Kill Master." 'Lemmy' uh, I mean Kill Master put his hammer and bass guitar in the rumble seat and hopped into the passenger seat. "Well That's what everyone calls me these days."
I hopped into the driver's seat, put the Druid Plow in gear and we headed back down the mountain. Next stop; the Metal Queen's lair..
Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna have eggs laid in my eye sockets before this is over? *shudder*
End Part 4
Authors Notes:
...Ian Fraser 'Lemmy' Kilmister…
Lead singer/bassist,
Motörhead
...1945-2015...
Next chapter, Eddie and the Kill Master discuss the latter's resemblance to the late Lemmy Kilmister as they drive to the Metal Queen's lair. Then they enter said lair to find the essential strings…
And knock some sense into the now berserk Metal Queen.