Discovery!
The crew was resting, Hiro-Shu had arrived a little while ago and was currently in the middle of adjusting to the change in air pressure. It had already been a few minutes and he was having trouble, Enma suppose he wanted to be extra careful in case he needed to use his vessel powers. He was just being extra cautious. Right now they were awaiting both Hiro-Shu to finish adjusting to the pressure and Mikoto's return. Enma already knew that Lily wasn't here so he set out to find and located the cameras using the upmost stealth. Although stealth wasn't his strong suit he was smart enough to be able to find all of the cameras between their current location and the stairs. There was only one. He just hoped Mikoto was exercising the same caution as the rest of the crew.
"I'm back," shouted Mikoto as the small dog barreled into the room and came in next to the rest of the crew. With their fearless captain back at their side the crew decided now would be their best time to head out. They wouldn't have any time to waste now. They would be wasting enough time on each floor separately they would have to move quickly each and every time to get out of here correctly. Wasting time traveling to the next to floor would be an absolute no-no. Mikoto took lead. His speed was once more the key to this mission. He would be checking out each and every prison cell at his incredible speed. Following him would be Sage and Zesiro. This was the first group and their objective would be to map out the entire western side. Meanwhile running opposite of them was Maria, Rosa, and Ridley their side was the eastern. Hiro-Shu and Enma's goal was simple. They would be finding and securing the stairs. With the smallest floor being completed having a radius of only one mile the next floor would be twice as big extending two miles in all directions. "Our goal is simple," roared Mikoto as the crew reached the top step of the stairs, "find and rescue Lily! And come back alive!"
As they reached the final step a wave of heat hit them, instantly creating a thin film of sweat on all of their brows. They were taken back by the sight. All of the prisoners on this floor had chains attached to their wrists and ankles. The chains came together and went through a loop attached to the metal basin in front of them preventing them from running. The chains they wore were made of metal and turned red hot due to the roaring flames in front of them. Despite the obvious pain they were probably in each and every prisoner were set to work, a large metal hammer in their hand and they pounded away at the items in the metal basins in front of them. They were all doing metalwork, forging new weapons at a steady almost hypnotic pace.
"They are letting the prisoner handle weapons?" brought up Zesiro, the heat was the most severe for him. He felt like he could use a good soaking after this, he was starting to begin to sweat an incredible amount moreso than the rest of the crew. The crew didn't quite understand it as well, they were prisoners and yet all of them had a brand new weapon in front of them. When they finished with one they dropped their completed weapon into one of the carts, heaved up another burning slab of metal, threw into the basin, and started work on another. The crew was amazed at the efficiency whenever a cart was filled up a guard wearing a fire proof suit would come by and move the cart away and offer each prisoner a refill of their own little canteens. It was a labor camp, the weapons were for the guards, and the prisoners having come down this far already in this prison already had their spirits crushed. From what the crew could see every so often there would be a sparkle of hope in the prisoner's eyes as they lifted the weapon into the air and thought of rebelling, but a guard was always close by and would bring their metal, burning whips into their back and remind them of their place. The prisoner would turn around and return the sword back to the cart, giving up almost immediately.
The crew was starting to feel their own spirits get crushed as they looked on. Enma recalled the words of one of the prisoners on the floor beneath them. All newbies were given the grand tour. They would be chained up and lead like dogs from the bottom floor and up and up and up, all newbies would see this sight for themselves. See their future and probably become crushed. The first attack on their spirits was that tour and sadly the crew would be getting every bit of that tour as well.
"I don't see Lily," quivered Rosa once more. If anyone was going to break on this crew chances were Rosa would be first. She would be stuck arriving on every floor, witnessing every torture and immediately imagining Lily in one of those positions, doing the work, getting struck by the iron whip, having her little eyes fill-up with hope. Rosa would be experiencing those visions for another three floors. "I guess…I guess that means she's on a higher floor, right?" Her voice sounded deprived of hope, like she was begging for another crewmember's insight for another crewmember to offer her hand and pull her out of the dark pit. The crew, however, could say nothing. They were frozen in silence at the sight, their own spirits starting to waver.
"We'll get her out," offered Mikoto immediately taking a step forward towards one of the guards. He pushed the sleeves on his shirt up higher and revealed his lean, yet muscular arm. "We'll get them all out of here." He was immediately yanked back by Zesiro.
"Our goal is stealth," brought up Zesiro as he looked on at the scene and felt a slight pull at his heart strings as he faced a similar conundrum and desire. They were being treated worse than slaves on this floor. He felt like he should be rushing up to them at a moment's notice trying to break them out, but he knew it was true their goal was to stealthily move through the floors and rescue Lily not lead a rebellion, "besides," shook Zesiro as he swallowed loudly, being consumed in his own dark thoughts, "none of these pirates would be of any use to us now." The pirates on this floor already had their spirits crushed, they were already starting to surrender to the prison's manipulative, controlling hold. Chances are they wouldn't be able to take two steps without a guard's say so. That was just how much they were under their thumb. "Let's just find Lily and get out!" Zesiro swiftly turned at his heels and began to walk away. The rest of the crew followed his lead, leaving Mikoto and Rosa standing there and watching the scene unfold before their eyes. Neither one quite felt the desire to just leave these men for dead…they felt like they should help, but they knew deep down that they couldn't. Soon even they turned around and started their search.
None of the crew fully believed that they would find Lily on this floor. They were still holding out hope that she would be on one of the higher floors, that her spirit was still fully intact. Their inspection of the cells seemed to prove that to be true. There was neither hide nor hair of a little girl named Lily. Every so often one of the prisoners would see the crew passing back, inspecting the cells and immediately jump free from their spot on their ground and leap towards their metal bars. They would clutch the burning metal in their heads due to the welling sense of freedom. This scene caused each Infinity Pirate to paused, believing they found the one man whose spirits had not been fully crushed yet even in this abysmal location. However, soon after this enlightening sight the sound of a whip across another prisoner's back returned even these spirited prisoners back to status quo, a quivering shell of a human in the corner. The crew would then journey on, their spirits sinking further down into the pits of despair. They would hang their heads between their shoulders in dejection.
Suddenly the sirens blared. All of the guards reacted to the noise, turning their heads to the ceiling and awaiting their orders. Meanwhile the prisoners that were outside of their cells immediately through their bodies downwards and onto the ground. All of the Den-Den Mushi's suddenly cut on and Taisho's voice filled the entire prison in an instant, every nook and cranny quickly became aware that the Warden was speaking. "We have intruders!" he shouted into the Den-Den Mushi's and all of them shared his furious face with the prison. "According to our cameras the intruders are none other than the Infinity Pirates themselves including the infamous 'Kid Coyote' Mikoto!" The guards immediately went into an uproar at this news as they began talking amongst themselves, "in extreme cases like this on top of your paycheck, I'm allowed to offer an incentive by the World Government. The incentive is the same amount as the pirate's current bounty!" The guards immediately let loose a loud whoop. They were shocked by the news, it meant great things they could barely hold it in any longer! They were starting to get riled up at the news several of them grabbed their weapons and immediately went in search of the intruders. Mikoto's bounty was high enough already to illicit such a response, but after his victory over Trevor they all knew it was going to rise again! Who knows, but it was possible that due to his attack on the prison it may just go up another couple millions! It made them all smile with maddening glee at the prospect of that bounty.
"I wonder if we should just turn Mikoto in…we could use the extra cash," brought up Ridley with a shrug. Despite the fact that it was obviously a joke Maria and Rosa both glared daggers at him. Ridley laughed and waved them off, he didn't particularly about their opinions anyways. Besides he was right…they were broke the promise of an award was too good to pass up. They needed some way to make money. Too bad they didn't get paid Trevor's bounty for taking him down, Ridley estimated it would probably be above 200 million due to the damage and strife he caused for the Marines. Mikoto's probably didn't shoot up that high. He was stronger than Trevor, but so far Mikoto hasn't really proven himself to be a huge thorn in the Marines' side. The worse he's done is attacked a couple of their Marine bases and humiliated them. If Ridley had to guess it was probably just above 100 million right now, possibly more after this raid was done.
Mikoto's group didn't seem to take this news as seriously. "Hah!" laughed Mikoto as he jumped up, "now we can finally stop being sneaky and wage a direct assault!" Zesiro lifted his sword up into the air, in agreement. Ordinarily it seemed like Zesiro would've preferred to take the cautious approach, but ever since they finished off at the URA, Zesiro seems to have become more primal and willing to jump in with both feet. He drew his swords and without hesitation sliced straight through all of the cell bars on two of the cells. He quickly sheathed his sword and waved the crew forward. Sage hesitated as she wasn't quite sure what to think of this, but nonetheless her two partners were now out of control.
Mikoto rushed forward at his top speed towards the first guard he saw. Mikoto jumped into the air and transformed into his hybrid form, he swung his entire body around in mid-air and without missing a beat, smashed his heel into one of the guard's face sending him tumbling back. Mikoto landed well and leapt forward throwing his entire body weight behind his right hand and blew a straight right into the guard's gut. The guard's body bent in one direction as he felt himself go weak in the knees before collapsing.
What Zesiro was doing was quite possibly just as risky. He ignored the guards, leaving them to his furry friend and instead set his sights on the prisoner's bars. With a series of fluid cuts from his upper arm he brought his blades slicing through the jail cells again and again with proficient mastery. The prisoners weren't exactly jumping out of their cells, but every one out of twenty would shamble out in hopes of freedom. The rest of them just cowered into their cells further afraid of incurring the wrath of their seemingly inhospitable Warden and Vice Warden. There wasn't nearly enough to be considered a small army as a matter of fact it appeared that the guards still outnumbered them. Soon enough the guards came charging out for the escaped prisoners, newly forged weapons in hands and all of these were dressed in fire-proof suit another distinct advantage they had over the Infinity Pirates. The incredible heat of this floor wouldn't affect them.
The group had all drawn their guns and aimed at the invading pirates, "stop or we'll have to shoot!" They all knew that the bounty of a pirate normally decreases if they return him dead, so they wanted to preserve Mikoto at the very least. They eyed up the opposition. Zesiro and Mikoto had both stopped and were returning the favor.
"Go ahead," laughed Mikoto as he leaned forward. He kicked off and vanished. The next time they saw him was within the very same second as he clothes lined four of their guys down to ground, two on each arm. He stood back up and looked over at them; the four guys on the ground were completely unconscious. He turned around to face the rest of the guards. "I'm faster than any of your guns," he boasted. The guards immediately turned inwards all of them aiming their guns at Mikoto. Which was a horrible mistake. The instant their guns left him, Zesiro came charging in. The guards stood no chance, they were being throw into the air by his two blades in a matter of seconds. Mikoto smiled as he looked over his shoulder at his trusty nakama. The two of them immediately set off, getting caught up more in the fact that this was a raid on an enemy base than the fact that they were supposed to be rescuing someone.
The other group was fairing similarly. Whenever one of the guards got cocky enough to try and fight them, Maria immediately took them down. Her kicks sailed in from above, the rocketed into the air and then with an immediate shift in her weight she brought them right back down with the force to cleave a guard's sword in two. She wasn't letting any of them off the hook that easily, shifting her weight and throwing her fist forward, she slammed her own metal fist forward and into the guard's face, ruining his front teeth with incredible force.
The rest of her group seemed to be facing similar ease. Rosa was too distracted looking out for poor little Lily that she wasn't even focusing on the fight, despite this none of the guard's full-bodied thrusts or wild slashes even drew close to her hair. When one finally did manage to draw close and snap Rosa out of her stupor, he soon regretted it. She brought her full wrath upon him. She ducked beneath and using the pent-up power of her legs as well as her arms, brought her sword swinging upwards. The speed and ferocity of her snapping arm was enough to cleave through bone when combined with her sword. However, she still had her sword sheathed so rather than cutting his head clean off, the sheath smashed into his chin and through his head back, nearly snapping his neck in one fluid motion. "Don't bother me while I'm looking for Lily!"
Ridley was probably having the easiest time. He was much better when he was outnumbered. His loud and obnoxious fighting style easily leant itself to taking on multiple opponents. He strummed away at his guitar sending wave after wave of sound forward. The guards were basically frozen in space from the sound, several of them were gripping their ears and writhing in pain as they tried to come to terms of the incredible noise level. As soon as they were paused with their hands over their ears, Ridley moved in and swung his guitar at them. The strength of his swing was definitely a bit better than usual, but he looked kind of depressed at it.
The guards were quickly taken care of although based on what they noticed, these was just a bunch of small-fry. The stronger guards would probably be posted higher up to keep an eye on the prisoners will full spirit and hope rather than these guys who had already given in. They started to begin to leave, however, despite his usual rambunctious and take charge attitude Ridley was dragging his feet a little bit. He needed to get stronger.
What is the Torture?
I have a bunch of crap to do to prepare for the real world soon...like doctor's visits and getting new shoes and buying school books and working...and a whole bunch of other things I don't want to do! Anyways, here is the story that took my blood, sweat and tears (oh, so many tears) to get out. Anyways...this floor was just to show you just how badly the prisoner's spirits had been broken, even with weapons in their hands they still can't muster the strength or willpower to attack the guards. It was designed by Labyrinth-Designer.
Also, I didn't mention this yet in this story, but I did over in Iron Hammer. I got two new stories up and under Future Works one of them is Iron Hammer Versus Infinity Pirates. So, yeah...thought I'd just try to rally up some cheers for that.
Another important thing to do! Ba da da DAAAAAA! This story just got its 100th favorite...which is actually kind of, sort of depressing considering how long its been going on for...