Escape, Pt.2
Shaad groaned loudly, his annoyance and laziness both reaching a peak at the conundrum facing him. "Fi~ne, I guess I'll just have to find another way." 'God, I hope this works.' After a few seconds of irritable dialogue with himself about how nothing was going as planned, Shaad finally turned his attention back to the people in the cell. "So, between you and me, where do they keep the weakest fighters?"
Many of the men were hesitant. From what they'd seen, Shaad wasn't exactly in one piece mentally; they figured it better to take their chances as slaves than be executed for assisting an intruder. The old man that knew him already, though, held no such worries, almost immediately answering, "That way; in the cells closest to where they keep Vega holed up."
Shaad looked in the direction the old man indicated and started heading that way, thinking out loud, "Well, that's convenient."
Once there, Shaad looked to his left and right. To each side there was a cramped cell with about 5 more men then it could uncomfortably fit. It was difficult to make out the individual people, but Shaad recognized one of the men in the cage to his left. He turned that way and assessed the door and lock as well as the bars of the cell. All anyone saw was him gripping the handles of both swords before a crosscut sliced through the front side of the cell. The overflow of people literally fell forward as the bars and door fell to the ground in four equal quadrants.
Using one of his swords, Shaad pointed to the fighter he recognized: a thin man with little muscle definition that he'd watched barely win a fight when he attended the illicit event with Raine their first week on the island. "Yea, you'll do."
The slim fighter simply stood there as Shaad circled him like a shark in the water. After a couple of laps around, Shaad finally stopped, tapping the explosive collar with his sword.
"Stand still now."
Shaad sliced at the collar and not a second later, a large explosion engulfed the both of them. Many of the prisoners fell to their rear, mouths agape, at the close up explosion. When the smoke cleared, only one man was left standing, the other a charred corpse on the ground.
"Don't worry. I'm okay," Shaad declared, looking at the nervous faces around him. "Okay, who's next?"
Thinking this madman meant to kill them all, a contingent of the enslaved fighters revolted against him with naught but their bare hands only to be effortlessly slain without even coming close to endangering Shaad. Having just watched five of their brethren be killed in the blink of an eye, no one dared step forward. So, Shaad just picked one. "You'll do," he said, pointing to an overweight man that didn't look particularly skilled at anything other than throwing his sizable weight around. The man didn't move an inch so Shaad loathingly went to him.
"Same thing; stay still."
Again the result was the same. So, when Shaad asked for a third volunteer, the fighters were clamoring not to be chosen, pushing one another towards the seemingly psychotic youth. Shaad looked down at the man that fell at his feet. "No need to thank me; I'm gonna free all of you." A collective silence fell on the area as they inwardly hoped for Sangre's group to hurry back.
Steadying his hands with a deep breath, Shaad again sliced the volatile collar. The result was only slightly better (or worse, depending on perspective) as Shaad successfully cut the explosive and connection at the front, but just missed the one in back and the man suffered third degree burns all along his back that would surely kill him slowly and painfully.
All Shaad had to do was turn to them this time to incite panic among the freed prisoners designated the weakest. When the person that would be next landed before him, Shaad glared at the shorter man with a scowl. The unfortunate man was shaking like a leaf, and the way Shaad was looking at him certainly didn't make it any better. "Either be still so I can successfully free you, or I'll kill you and then free you." Shaad was growing increasingly frustrated as the lingering threat of Tazz's forces and reinforcements undoubtedly drew nearer, and logic was obviously suffering for it. He needed progress. . . and now. But, this man's shaky constitution was definitely not helping. "Calm down, all of you! I have to cut two explosives, detonating wire, and an electrical circuit board from three separate points simultaneously! Omelet. . . crack eggs. . . etc! You get the point! . . Now, stop fucking shaking!" The sheer intensity in Shaad's voice stilled the nervous man as Shaad steadied his breathing and went through what he needed to do in his head.
The air was still and the helpless men watched with bated breath. Eyes closed and hands covered ears as the onlookers anticipated another loud bang. But, it never came. Instead their bodies instinctively shook as two pieces of metal bounced on the ground. The fighters slowly opened their eyes to see that somehow the man was still alive. His collar cleanly cut in two at his feet.
Shaad was hit or miss with the next few as he perfected his technique and timing. After clearing only two cells worth of people, Shaad was already breathing heavily. Pushing his body so extensively was taking a toll, but he wasn't near finished. While Shaad tried to recover just a fraction of his spent energy, the freed fighters did what they could to open the remaining cells. Brute force and makeshift tools proved effective with their combined efforts and after half an hour every cell was open. All except for one that is. But, that one could wait.
"All of you, line up," Shaad demanded of the newly released fighters. After stringing together a run of 20 with no casualties, Shaad was feeling confident as well as worn out. I'm going to take care of all of you at once. So stand back to back with equal space between each person." Shaad directed and waited as they all got in position. Surveying the line that extended further than he could see, the young pirate estimated how much time and energy such a task would take. Doing some light leg stretches, he ordered, "Stand completely still for five, six seconds. Hell, don't even breathe if you can help it."
Shaad pulled out the last toothpick he had left and placed it in his mouth, rolling it with his tongue for only a moment before letting it fall out. Before the long toothpick hit the ground, Shaad was already a quarter of the way down the line, flawless in that stretch. As he passed the seven second mark, he was just coming to the three quarter point. At just under ten seconds, it took Shaad almost twice as long as he'd projected to free every prisoner in that line from the oppressive collars around their necks.
And, if not for being so preoccupied with their own situation, the entire group would've seen Shaad trip up and stagger forward, almost collapsing from exhaustion, as soon as he slowed enough to be more than a strong, slicing wind. He moved unevenly on his feet as he drunkenly tried to turn around, completely losing his balance as he could finally look upon his own handiwork, and fell backwards. The only thing that stopped him from hitting the ground was a strong, muscled frame with about fifty pounds and half a foot on him catching his collapsing body.
'Damn.' Shaad scolded himself for showing such weakness and expending himself so much for strangers. His heart momentarily sank before he looked up at the man holding him up. Thankfully, it wasn't the reinforcements he'd expected to see. It was the old man, the hint of a smile stretching his bushy, white beard.
The old man could tell Shaad was doing all he could to put up a strong front, and respected the young man's pride. As opposed to using his large hands to right the rookie pirate, he simply let his own chest and arm prop the youngster up.
"It's gon' take sum time for them to adjust to being free; you got a minute."
"I'm fine. The only thing that hurts is. . . everything. . . So, this is the extent of my capabilities," Shaad questioned.
Shaad still had energy to spare, but his body wasn't anywhere near strong enough to be pushed like that and he was feeling the effects as his entire body was basically dead weight at the moment. The old man smirked as Shaad struggled to stand on shaky legs before addressing the crowd of men.
"That one dead man ain't my fault. I said not to breathe if you could help it; he couldn't help it, but tried anyway."
The old man's smirk grew wider listening to Shaad's defiance. Shaad had kicked the man in question aside as soon as he knew there was a problem, preventing it from affecting anyone else. They were all too thankful for that to blame the life of one (or almost a dozen) on their saviour. Yet, Shaad still inexplicably felt the need to defend himself; he felt a level of responsibility for taking longer than he'd said even if ten seconds was no time at all.
"I am, however, going to need something else from you all." All murmuring immediately ceased. He had their undivided attention. "How would you all like some payback against Sangre's men." The gathered men released a collective roar that shook the area. "Good; there'll be quite a few coming this way. I need you all to keep them off me for a bit."
Funny thing about stripping someone's life away from them without taking away their will to live: give them control of their life back and they're willing to put it on the line for the person they're most thankful to. With adrenaline and excitement running high, the rowdy fighters stormed past Shaad, picking up weapons and tools from the training grounds and ready to fight the world.
Once they were all past, Shaad quietly spoke to the old man behind him. "So, about how many men did I just free?"
"Just south of 200 after your uh. . . cuts."
"There was a learning curve. I thought I did pretty well." That comment earned a boisterous, hearty laugh from the old man, and he slapped Shaad roughly on the back.
The overenthusiastic pat caused Shaad to stumble, but he'd recovered enough to remain upright.
"You think they stand a chance," he questioned seriously.
"Depends on how many there are."
"Yea. . . Luckily, I don't need 'em to survive."
With a grumble and a shrug of his shoulders, Shaad paced back to the very first cells he'd opened. Between them was a metal grate securely in the ground.
As Shaad squatted down and wrapped a hand around one of the bars, he heard the old man behind him. "Vega may like you, kid, but that don't mean he won't kill you."
Shaad didn't respond, the veins on his arm bulging as he ripped the grate cover straight out of the ground and pried open the thick sheet metal plate that lay beneath it. Underneath was a deep pit burrowed into the ground some 20/25 feet deep.
At the bottom of it, Vega sat, calm and unchained. He focused on the shadow that was Shaad as light invaded the dark space. Shaad let out a whistle at the sight before he spoke to Vega from the rim of the deep hole.
"I once saw a marine use a technique that could get him out of there no problem. . . Granted, he was easily shot down, so. . . yeah."
Vega, of course, gave no reply. He did stand up, though, which made Shaad silently hopeful, but there was no more than a silent stare.
"You're gonna make me come down there, aren't you," Shaad questioned. There was no response, but Shaad tiredly groaned. "Fine."
He then jumped down into the pit, Vega taking a step back in the limited space to give him room to land. The two young men each stood tall and face to face with one another, Shaad's expression stern and unyielding while Vega wore a new, unblemished and featureless white mask. Neither gave an inch, both occasionally stepping closer until they were nose to mask. They stayed like that, silent and serious, for a good minute before Shaad ultimately broke a smile and stepped back.
"Damn dude, lighten up. I want you to join my crew." Silence. "I'm serious. I'm a pirate, and I want you to be my right hand man. . . Left hand? . . . Whatever, you get what I'm saying." Silence. "Come on. . . I'm trying to break you out. Sangre's men are coming here. . . to kill me, recapture you. You're free right now. . . And, out there (on the open sea), there's no one to say otherwise." Still, silence.
The silence persisted even longer this time, Shaad's expression shifting from apprehensive to worried and back to. . . a wide smile?.
"Yea? Awesome," Shaad declared, the smile on his face threatening to tear his face in two while he extended his hand for a handshake.
Vega never broke, though. Neither his body language nor what he didn't say gave anything away. Yet, Shaad was inexplicably excited. It showed why, however, when Vega extended his own hand, gripping Shaad's forearm as Shaad returned the action and the two affirmed their new partnership.
"Need help getting out," Shaad asked as they released one another's arm.
Vega, per his usual, gave no audible reply. Instead simply bounding up the wall, jumping from one side to the other with pure leg strength until he was standing at the rim next to the old man.
"If you could do that, why'd I have to come down here?" Shaad complained, but didn't really care as all it took was a quick burst and he was able to clear the full height in one jump.
Once up top, Shaad looked between Vega, his new partner, and the old man, one of the most helpful people to this point. "What's your name, old man?"
"Nicholas."
"Well, Nick, thanks. You've been a great help and there's room on my crew if you wanna join."
"Na, kid. I'm too old for that life now. I ain't quite as spry as I once was."
Shaad accepted the rejection gracefully. Plus, there was no time to linger. The sounds of battle could already be heard raging not far off; they needed to get moving.
The trio caught up to where the freed fighters were fighting with Tazz's men in no time flat. The battle was fierce and fairly even - though a few of the fighters shined above the rest - with losses on both sides. But, it was so chaotic that all three were able to slip through without much fanfare, simply taking out one or two each to clear the path.
As they exited that fray and came to the ravine entrance, however, they were met with a more pressing danger. The reinforcements from Sangre's group were quickly approaching over the flat, open terrain. In open space, Shaad was sure at least he and Vega could get away, but once they reached the nearest city, it would be a tough ask for even them. Or, at least him considering what Big G said about Vega's agility. It seemed those same thoughts ran through Nicholas' mind as well.
"You two go ahead. I'll buy you some time."
Against 50 elites, Nicholas would be crushed. But, Shaad wasn't one to turn down such an offer or step on a man's resolve. However, he wasn't above poking fun at a friend, even in seemingly dire situations.
"I thought you didn't have it anymore, old man."
"I'm not as good as I once was. But, I'm as good once as I ever was. . . Now, go!"
"You heard him; we need to run." Vega was the first to resume moving with Shaad lagging behind for a bit.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Shaad declared, pulling a heavy chain from his pocket.
Nicholas briefly glanced at the young captain over his shoulder. "What's that?"
"This was all planned by Big G," Shaad stated with a wink, letting the gaudy pendant drop to the ground.
Nicholas only scoffed before the two went their separate ways, Nicholas to hold off the reinforcements while Shaad easily caught up with Vega.
"Our target's a merchant ship docked at port. . . Race?"
"Dammit, where are they?"
"The Mistress' Dream is about to set sail," announced an older gentleman, overweight but well dressed, as he approached the rail where Raine was looking out over the coastal city and pressing and twiddling her fingers, no doubt taking note of Tiny prowling along the docks. "If your friends aren't here in two minutes, they're getting left behind." The merchant ship's captain then replaced the cigar in his mouth and left Raine alone on the rail.
'Come on,' she silently implored, pressing a pendant tied to a dagger to her forehead, the design like flowing water in the shape of the infinity symbol with one end converging in a blade like point. 'You can make it. . . I know you can.'
A/N: I had quite a bit of fun writing this chapter. Hope it showed in a positive way. In the next chapter, the merchant ship sets sail. Will Shaad and Vega be on it, or will they need to 'secure' another way off the island?