Chapter 031: Lost In The Big City 03: Fight Back!

Below the city, two guards carefully walked down the prison's moist and spiraling stairs with torches dimly lighting the way. One guard carried Shelly's unconscious body while the other walked in front dangling rusty keys.

"I hate that crazy b*tch Taka so damn much!" Rye, the guard carrying Shelly wrinkled his brows in frustration. "If she wasn't so damn tall and barbaric, I'd knock some sense into her."

"I know right! She's just a psycho broad who likes beating people close to death." Grant, the second guard agreed, tossing up the keys in the sir. "I swear to the Gods, it turns her on."

"The Captain should've never accepted her in our division." Rye clicked his teeth bitterly. "One day I'll crush that pride of hers and make her lick my boots for bossing me around." 

"Haha! Keep dreaming pal. You wouldn't have the guts to fight her." Grant mocked his friend, snickering. "She'd slice off all your fingers and feed it to you with a grin on her face."

Rye's body suddenly trembled from a chill shooting through him. "Ugh! I just thought back to that time I saw her break every finger of those drug dealers even after they told her who helped them smuggle it in the city, but turns out it was one of our guards and she beat the mana out of him. The dude could barely breathe because he was choking on his own blood."

"Oh please, that's nothing compared to that time she broke every limb of that illegal slave merchant and scrubbed the dirt with his face for prostituting those kids." Grant covered his mouth as his lunch felt like making a reappearance. "His face looked like bloody swiss cheese with mud."

"She's like a crazed God of Justice." Rye sighed, reconsidering his thought of one day fighting her.

"Yup. I even saw her grinning while bashing someone's face in. I'm just thankful it wasn't me." Grant shook his head and sighed before saying, "and then there's this unlucky girl."

"Yeah, poor thing had the snot beaten outta her and ended up being sent here." Rye repositioned Shelly on his shoulders to ease the stiffness. "But she's gotta be missing a few brain cells to try and piss Taka off when she was holding back, which is already rare."

"She's got more guts than me." Grant stopped in front of some rusting steel bars and fumbled through the clump of keys. "But it's a shame that Taka's not done with torturing her yet."

"And it's all because she stole from the Captain." Rye also stopped at the steel bars. "But hey, what if it isn't this girl and Taka arrested the wrong person?"

"Oh, it's definitely possible." Grant slid the key into the lock but had to give it a jerk for the prison cell to be opened. "But so what if it's not her? Are you gonna tell Sargent Taka that she made a mistake? I guess you don't value your life as much as I thought."

"Yeah, you're right. It's not our fault." Rye looked slightly off to the side as he lied to himself. "We're just following orders."

"CREAK!!! CLANG!!!" The rusty bars swung open, letting the guards enter the dark cell.

In walked Rye, placing Shelly on the cold stone floor. Her arms were bound by handcuff chains and hair strands spread across her sleeping face. Rye stepped out and Grant immediately locked the cell.  

"Ah dammit! My shoulders are killing me." Rye swung his arm in a circle while walking away from the cell. "You're carrying the next person that comes down here."

"Only if you beat me in rock paper scissors. That's the rule man." Grant started to walk away but stopped and slightly turned around and spoke to the other person in the cell. "Hey, sh*t-face! Taka said not to leave any bruises or you're dead."

"Oh come on, is that how you should speak to a friend?" An eerie-voiced man spoke from the darkness of the cell. "You know those words hurt my feelings, Grant buddy."

"Tsk! I'm not your damn friend you piece of sh*t" Grant snapped back in anger.

"Come on pal. Don't be like that, call me by my real name." A slender man with flaky skin, wide crazy eyes, and long, dirty hair stepped forward and pressed his head against the steel bars with a hand in his shaggy pants and the other fondling his nipple. "I wanna hear you say it for me. I'll help you. Ca-li-ban. Ca-li-ban. Come on say-"

"Go f*cking kill yourself, you sick bastard. Taka should've chopped off your head instead of your balls." Grant's eyes quickly shifted from Caliban and he wasted no more time to leave. "Your mother should've killed you at birth."

"Haaaa! Too bad I was Mama's favorite." Then Caliban suddenly licked the rusty bars while talking to himself. "Ahhh, I wanna taste Mama again and have her beat me like old times. Ugh! Mama! I've been a really bad boy-"

"Argh! Hm!" The sounds of Shelly's unconscious moaning got the attention of Caliban.

"Oh my, what a tasty-looking treat they left me." Caliban went to his knees, inching closer to Shelly while saliva ran down his bearded chin. "I've never had a redhead before…. Uh no, I'm falling in love."

On the other hand, Shelly was on the brink of waking up from a nightmare of being attacked by the brutish Taka several times. In the dream, she imagined having to run away from the vicious Taka but every time she was killed in a way worse than before.

"Argh! Hm! Ugh! Stop... That tickles." Shelly slowly regained consciousness while flat on the cold stone ground but her mind felt murky and her vision blurry. "I said stop."

Looking around her surroundings, the first thing she saw was the figure of someone in the dark. The figure soon became clearer until she could clearly make out what it was.

"AHHHH!!!" 

Shelly saw the terrifying, naked scarred body of a strange man who had her foot stuffed down his throat.

"Hhm! So yummy!" Caliban's tongue wrapped and twisted around Shelly's toes, plastering saliva. "They taste so-"

"SLAM!!!"

Shelly's other foot went crashing into Caliban's face, breaking his nose and knocking his head backward. Shelly wasted no time and scrambled to her feet and yelled.

"Help! Help me! Somebody, Help me!" Shelly pulled against the bars with all her might but it was to no avail. 

She was trapped there, her hands bound together by chains, no one coming to rescue her. Shelly was locked in this dark cage with a monster who had malicious intentions aimed at her.

"Please, somebody help-"

"I hate it when women are loud!" Caliban's arms wrapped around Shelly's neck tightly as he held her in a chokehold. "You were so much more beautiful sleeping."

"Let… me… go!" 

Shelly clawed at Caliban's arms and tried wiggling to escape, but she only felt herself start to lose consciousness again. This time the stakes were higher. If she passed out or made him pin her down then only the gods in heaven could hope for a better fate than what would tragically follow.

"What did I do to deserve this bad luck? Am I cursed?" Shelly's thoughts ran through her mind as she gasped for air. "On my first day here, I get the crap beat out of me and now I'm struggling against a creep in some underground prison…. I hate this crappy luck of mine!"

Shelly's nails sank deep into Caliban's arms, her teeth clamped shut, eyes reddened, her body coursing with adrenaline, and a face bubbling with rage as she quickly crouched, positioning Caliban's head above hers in an instant. 

"SLAM!!!" 

Shelly launched herself upwards as hard as she could, smashing her head into Caliban's chin. A small piece of his tongue and blood went flying through the air. He stumbled backward before falling.

"THUD!!!" Caliban's body hit the ground.

"AHHH!!! It hurts!" Shelly fell to her knee, clamping the top of her head with tears hanging off her eyelids. "It hurts so damn much!"

Shelly struggled to her feet,  recovering herself but soon heard Caliban standing to his feet. She hoped he would've been down for at least thirty seconds.

"You b*tch! I'll kill you!" Caliban charged at Shelly blinded with rage. 

"Crap! Crap! I need more time to-"

"SLAM!!!" 

Before Shelly knew it she was pinned to the floor. The frantic maniac pinned her down with his fist cocked back. In response, Shelly put up her arms up to shield her head 

"Bam!" His first punch hit her arms and so did the second, third and fourth. "Bam! Bam! Bam!"

Caliban raised both hands in the air, clamping them together like a club to plunge them down at Shelly. But being desperate to survive she took the opportunity to arrow her knee straight to his manhood. 

"GAHH!!!" Caliban screamed out in pain while grabbing his genitals. "You wrench, I'll–."

"Whap!"

Shelly swung her arm, hitting him across the face with the handcuff metal, and knocking him to the floor next to her. Before Caliban could get to his knees, she lodged her knee onto his upper back, pressing into his spine and pinning him onto the ground. Shelly then wrapped the chain around his neck tight and pulled on them from behind. 

"Just… give… up! You… piece of… SH*T!!!" Shelly held a tight grip on the dirty chains as she pulled tighter and tighter, refusing to let go until he was unconscious. 

"I… swear… Gah! I'm… gonna… Ack! kill… you…!" Spit bubbles started leaking out his mouth.

Caliban grabbed the chains to pull them apart, he wiggled his body to escape being pinned but his struggling bore no fruit. His strength slowly faded and so did his consciousness as he passed out with tears rolling down his face, a bloodied broken nose, and saliva foam gushing out his mouth. Shelly's palms were printed with the chains marks as she held them a while longer to be sure Caliban was out cold. Having secured her victory and adrenaline worn out, her arms wobbled before they eventually gave out and Shelly dropped to the floor.

"Haa! I… did it! Haha! I-I really did it." Shelly rose her middle fingers in the air, her face too tired to form a full smile but her heart couldn't be any more proud. "Suck on that, bad luck! I won… this… time…"

Shelly's mind was too tired to stay awake and her body gave out from fatigue and her wounds. 

Sometime later, the hurried footsteps of three persons were heard clacking down the prison's staircase. 

"Uh-ah Ca-Captain Frank, you don't need to go down there. T-Trust me, Sir." Rye's voice was littered with stuttering and face glistening with sweat.

"W-We'll carry her upstairs Captain, no worries." Grant curled his fingers as his sweaty eyebrows twitched. "Please sir, we wouldn't want your boots to get smeared with all this grime."

"What's wrong with you two?" Captain Frank, Head of the seventh division city guards, power-walked down the stairs. "I already told you that I just want to speak with the thief then let her go."

"I'm sorry sir but we're just concerned for your armor." Grant awkwardly smiled. "They don't usually ever look... this clean."

"Tsk! And what are you trying to say?!" Captain Frank stopped and menacingly stared Grant in the face. 

Despite being three stairs below him, Captain Frank still towered over him. Not to mention being in his 40's with graying hair, a large muscle-toned body, and a scar going down his neck made him even more frightening.

"Uh, ah n-n-nothing sir." Grant leaned himself backward while sinking his neck in his armor. "T-they just look… ah… extra sparkling today that's all."

"I know right. Hahaha! I spent an extra hour and a half on them." Captain Frank continued to walk while smiling to himself. "Haa…. I've gotta thank Taka the next time I see her. She's excessive at times but at least she gets things done quickly." 

Arriving at the deck of prison cells, the two guards tried to sneakily return upstairs having realized they could no longer stop their Captain from finding out Taka's secret as they were instructed by her to do.

"Hey! Where are you two going?" Captain Frank called out, frightening them. "I need one of you to open her cell for me."

"Ahh, yes Captain." Grant, being the one who had the keys, reluctantly followed while Rye shuffled his feet up the stairs.

"Lead the way then, Granty Panty. Hahaha!!!" Captain Frank laughed loudly, tapping Grant's back. 

"Yes, Captain." Grant's hands trembled and his legs wanted to run. How would he explain what his Captain was about to see?

Shortly after, Grant stopped at the cell that held Shelly and Caliban. Captain Frank, being a short distance behind, couldn't yet make out the two figures in the cell.

"Hey, there miss thief. I hope my guys weren't too–" 

Captain Frank's jolly countenance fell the moment he saw inside the cell and his arms slowly fell below his hips.

"P-P-Please Cap-Captain, le-let me explain." Grant took a step back with his palms waved in front of him. "It was Sargent Taka's orders, I swear it was all her! She intimidated us into doing this every time and told us to stay quiet about it."

"Did you just say… 'every time'?" Captain Frank's hand balled into a fist, quivering. "So you let this happen more than once?!"

Grant's face trembled while saying, "Captain I-I was just following–"

"WHAM!!!" "CRASH!!!"

Before he could utter another putrid word, the back of Captain Frank's fist swooped across his face, dislocating his jaw and sending his body crashing into a nearby cell door, bending the rusty metal. 

"Don't bullish*t me about 'following orders'?" Captain Frank wrapped his palms around the bars that caged Shelly, his outrage crushing them. "What about your damn HUMANITY?!!"