Chapter 14 - Springing into Action

We were running down the hall way, trying to get to the Mess Hall as fast as possible. We had to pay attention though, we didn't want Vice-Warden Russel to notice us, so we can launch a surprise attack on him.

We finally got to the stairs, just above the hall, and we could see the action that was unfolding. All the folks I brainwashed were waving around tables, chairs, and other stuff from around the cafeteria, and were using them to gently leave a dent on the skulls of many others. Some guards included. This was truly a mess.

In the midst of the chaos, I noticed a familiar man approaching from the side. With his usual annoying smug, yet cold expression, he sent some shivers down my spine. Vice-Warden Russel finally made an entry.

I signaled the others, to put on the pieces of fabric that we found, around our faces, like a makeshift mask. This was a necessity if we really wanted to fight him. And we really, and I mean REALLY wanted to. Especially I wanted to. To be fair, it was mostly me.

Seeing him walk around like he owns the place was enough to make me want to bash in that stupid face of his. He'll get what he earned though. For sure.

We waited, until he got to the door, at which point I waved an okay to Francis and Meda to knock out the guards accompanying him. I looked back at our target, and noticed that half of the guards were already down, and Meda was just jumping down.

What had happened-- Francis. In the blink of an eye, he was already down there, knocking out the guards left and right. I could see a wicked smile on his face, but that wasn't really the thing that took most of my attention. As she was jumping, I could feel an even worse aura coming from Meda. Killing intent. The Pride of a Lioness, it was. Even though I couldn't pinpoint the direction of her anger, I knew it was on Francis.

That's what happens when you outpace a Huntress. I hoped she wouldn't jump on him, but that was their problem to work out. Once most of the guards were down, which mind you, took about a second or two, our man, Russel turned around to assess the situation. He probably did not expect this, guessing from his confused expression. This was my sign to go.

I ran down the stairs, like the pleb I was, with Baulder following me. At that point, Russel knew full well what was going on- a coup. As we were rushing down towards him, I could see he was hesitating. The Inspector was right. He doesn't want others to see him use his [Power]. That was great news for us.

"Hey, Russel!" I shouted, "You didn't see this coming, eh?"

With that, I manifested my [Temptation] as my new ability. [Greed Binder]. Two long and thin purple ropes emmited out of both of my palms. I grabbed onto the root of both, and started flailing them around. I could hear my friend and guard behind me truning into hard wood, as he was crackling everytime he'd take a step. We somehow evolved, it felt like. Meda was half-transformed, in a human-beast hybrid form, while Francis was disappearing and reappearing, as they were fighting the guards. They were seemingly pouring out of nowhere.

"999, what a surprise, as always," he said, while fixating his eyes on my new ability, "You've recruited some allies, haven't you?"

His right arm was on his belt, slightly behind his back. I knew what he was doing. That's the place where all the guards have their guns. I had to somehow protect myself. I looked behind me, and saw that Baulder's transformation was almost fully done.

"Baulder!" I exclaimed. He nodded, and I jumped up, using my left Binder to latch myself onto his back. This way I could still use one arm. He charged straight at the Vice-Warden, but we still had about ten to fifteen meters between us.

I had to think quick to figure out a way to disarm him. I don't want Baulder to be shot, even though he's really durable, this was our first fight today, and we still had to get out of this prison somehow. We couldn't afford any casualties.

I quickly aimed at his arm, extending my Greed Binder all the way to his suspicious right arm. Although he seemed to notice it, he didn't move out of it's way. But, the thing he didn't think about was my next step.

Instead of pulling on his arm, to quickly disarm him, I used the extended rope to jump on him, releasing my other arm, that I could now use freely to bind him with it. Without a second of hesitation, I had him in another one of those tight full-body bindings, that Francis taught me. He looked at me, put up his thumb, and mimiced the word 'Nice!' with his mouth.

"You're a clever little fucker, aren't you, Dan Atys?" he unusually called me by my actual name, "You know, I heard a lot about you," he said in a suggestive voice.

"From your daughter, Claire, I assume," I replied with a grin. Now that I knew about it, I had nothing holding me back.

"So you knew," he said, with a weird mixture of disappointment, and pride, "My little babygirl told me a lot about you. Particularly about how low of a scum you are," he explained.

"Sorry Russel, but you might be confusing me for Claire. She's the scummier one," I taunted.

"You watch your mouth, scum," he exclaimed in rage. I guess he has a soft spot. Good.

"Why, you'll be vomiting up some poison, if I don't?" I taunted him even more.

"How the-!" he seemed even more suprised now.

"I have my aces up my sleeve," I explained, "You thought I'd attack you without knowing more about you?"

"I certainly didn't think you'd know me this well."

"Question: did you skip my trial because your little girl asked you to? Becuase I'm just a lowly scum?" I asked. I wanted the answer to that, to justify my actions coming from now.

"Yeah. Exactly the reason," he said, to my pleasure, "If my daughter says you're garbage, then you are."

"Woah, talk about corruption..." Francis reacted.

His fight was really one sided. Anyone who'd attack him would just fly away in an instant. These guards didn't pose him much of a threat. Same goes for Meda. She was slashing up all the guards that would come her way, resulting in a huge pile of corpses under her feet.

Baulder on the other hand, seemed to be slightly preoccupied to pay attention to us. Another beast of a man was standing in front of him, witha gigantic battleaxe. I recognized this guy as inmate number 325, Joe 'Sto' Statman, also known as Bossman. The very same guy we dealt with a few months ago. I guess he had a grudge against us.

He'd unleash an uncoordinated barrage of slashing and chopping Baulder, which he could mostly dodge, or block without an issue, but he wasn't too much of a fighter himself. He was a beast when it came to defense, but attacking an opponent didn't really seem like his style of fighting.

As he was trying to defend himself, and sort of wear down his attacker, I started to feel a pull on my neck. Before I even noticed it, I was in the air, falling downwards with an insurmountable force.

THUMP

I was on the ground, right in front of Russel, facing him, on my back. He had a smug expression, and he was rolling his shoulder. He looked at me, and he was visually pleased to see me in pain.

"You thought you had the upper hand, didn't you," he said.

"I technically did- being above you," I managed to get out a half-assed taunt.

"Very funny," he said, entirely unimpressed, "It's time I retaliated."

With that, he opened up his mouth. I knew what this meant. I didn't know how much he would open his mouth.

When I said 'opened' I meant he managed to create a gaping hole, about five-six times the size a normal human would be able to do. From within, I noticed two pipes sort of emerging from where his salive glands are supposed to be, just below his tongue.

"This is the end of your stupid little escapades. Sleep well," he said with a lisp.

With that, a huge amount of green gas started to pour out, directed in my direction. Was this really the end?

Am I gonna die here, without even getting out of here?

I saw Meda turn around, rushing towards me, but she wouldn't make it.

And Francis- he just smiled.