Realistic or Modern Bastard's Tale

[Corvid15]

Shisa followed after Jesse at his waving, pulling out a small bag she had prepared earlier. A powder made from different types of nettles, including a single leaf of a nettle she needed to find more of. Gympie Gympie, the moonlighter bush, or the suicide bush. The Bonse Speakers protected this plant, as in the wrong hands it was the ultimate torture weapon. There were tales of animals killing themselves after touching it, of an unfortunate man who used the leaves to wipe his private parts, and decided to shoot himself in the head. Only the highest ranking members were allowed to use it, and Shisa had been in charge of taking care of the plant back in the tribe.

The Elders said it came from an almost mythical place, one which Shisa doubted actually existed. The Land Below, they called it. A living hell, a place that was only populated by the worst criminals of thw world. Where every animal, plant, and even the land itself tried to kill you. Where during one time of the year, birds would attack anything in sight. Where animals that were from the pits of hell lived. How the plant got here, no one knows. But the Land Below most certainly didn't exist, it was just a story.

Shisa handed a small pouch of the stuff to Jesse.

"Mix of powdered nettles. If we need a distraction, throw it at someone and dont breathe it. It won't kill them, except for the pain has been known to drive men and animals mad and kill themselves."

"So, what's the plan? Get in, release the prisoners, get out. Any papers or plans to steal, targets to kill?"

 

[Obsidian]

Along with the new rifle, Ethan looted whatever bullets the dead sniper had, as well as taking the noble's black cap as his own; the visor would be useful on those hot sunny days in Culrud. Now ready, Ethan would turn to Shaun. "We should split up." He says, "We can cover more ground that way. Jesse and the others won't take long. Don't wait for me, get what you can and meet up with the others once you're done."

With that, Ethan headed out, in search of something of use in this noble base. And he would walk through much, from lounges and bunkhouses to dining halls and training facilities. But none of this mattered, the odd bit of half eaten food or a few poorly maintained training guns weren't of interest, Ethan had something more in mind. The only thing that is truly of value in this sun-blasted wasteland.

Soon, however, Ethan would find himself in a building, the entry hall lined with piles and piles of black mineral. Charcoal. There was loads of it, more than Ethan had ever seen, piled up against the walls in cloth sacks in great mounds. Moving from the entry hall, Ethan would walk down a corridor opposite to the building's entrance doors. But his presence would be heard by a guard, who jumps out from a doorway to attack, though Ethan manages to grab his pistols and shoots the noble down, putting a bullet in his head for good measure. Then Ethan continued down the corridor until he came to the doorway the noble jumped out of, and there, turning into the following room, he would come across something quite unexpected.

In that room stood a great machine, one with huge tanks and pipes, pipes that would run between the tanks as well as up through the ceiling above, this machine simply nothing like Ethan had ever seen before. Below the machine sat a set of tables, covered in spreads of paper and piles of books, and in front of those tables stood a gathering of men, in roughed-up overalls covered in black patches of dirt. Likely from the charcoal.

"Please, don't attack us!" One of the men called out, holding his hands up and cowering with the others, clearly civilians spooked by all the fighting, "We'll do whatever you want, just please, spare us! We are not with the nobles, I swear!"

Ethan, however, couldn't care for their grovelling. What he cared for was the machine, which appears to be incomplete if the missing panels of metal coverings were anything to go by. Plus, the metal of the machine was clean, newly forged steel, folded into precise curvatures. Remarkable craftsmanship.

"What is this machine?" Ethan asked, staring at it for a few moments, before lowering his gaze to the gathering of men, "What does it do?"

"W-Well... I-It's..." The man muttered, looking up at Ethan to reveal he was an older man with white hair and bread, lowering his shaking hands cautiously, "T-This is a... steam engine. In times long past, a steam engine could use a fuel, in our case charcoal, to burn in fire and produce heat to boil water, generating steam. That steam would build in pressure until it can move machinery. This particular steam engine is built to provide electricity. A great deal of electricity."

"Interesting." Ethan would muse, finding himself drawn in with the gathering of men, looking over at their spreads of paper, each one having drawings on them much like what Shaun showed Ethan earlier. These were designs, plans to show how to build this steam engine, and how it all works. And thanks to Shaun's reading lessons, Ethan could understand more of it than he otherwise would. "This could be built again..." Ethan says, a smirk on his face, before looking to the old white-haired man again, "...somewhere else. Right?"

"W-Well, yes it could be." The man says, now his hands down, "But this particular steam engine- already took years of planning, finding the right materials, forging parts, assembling it here where... it was thought to be safe."

"I see." Ethan muttered to himself, looking back up at this marvellous machine with genuine disappointment, then looking down at the plans and the books, before an idea came to him. "You said you were not with the nobles." Ethan says, looking back to the old man, "Say if you could escape this place. Tonight. What then?"

"Then we would be on the run from the nobles for the rest of our lives." The old man said, his voice pained at the thought of freedom, "'sides, what is it to you, anyway? You're... not what we would expect from a tribal."

"That is because I am not a tribal." Ethan says, taking off his mask, "This is a strategy, of sorts. But the nobles think and that's all that matters. And my friends and I are attacking this base. You could try to run while all the choas is going on."

"Love to, kid. Really." The old man said, relaxing somewhat, "But the nobles would hunt us down and kill us for leaving. Even if we somehow got away from them, there's all manner of raiders and cannibals out there, not to mention the wildlife. We're not warriors, and we can't wander the wastes out there. We'd need a safe place to go, somewhere the nobles couldn't get to us. But there isn't anywhere like that."

"I know of one place." Ethan said, "Somewhere close by, somewhere even the nobles never ventured to after all this time. Could be a good place to hide."

"Where?" The old man asked, to which Ethan answered, "Mount Evans, the Observatory up there."

"Mount Evans?" The old man said in disbelief, "There's nothing up there, kid. Just blasted nothingness and rock."

"Exactly." Ethan grinned, "No one would ever suspect you would go all the way up there. Besides, this base is under 'attack' by tribals, right? The nobles would think you were taken by us. By the time the nobles learn better, you will all already be long gone up Mount Evans. Just be sure to cover your tracks and move quickly."

"Well, I-I... I don't know, kid." The old man says, uncertain, "It's risky."

"Well, if it helps, I'll be taking your plans and your books." Ethan says, turning back to the tables as he gathers up the spreads of schematics and picks a few choice books, stuffing them into his backpack, and then he looks back to the men with a smile, "So, unless you want to explain why they are missing when more nobles show up, you should get going, shouldn't you?"

The assembled men were shocked, more out of the gall of Ethan than anything else, but it was clear that these men, even if they outnumbered Ethan, weren't about to risk their necks trying to take him down. His plethora of weapons intimidated them, and the fact he took down their guard. The old man gave Ethan a hard stare, before realising they had few choices. Not that Ethan cared to wait for an answer, he was heading off the moment he stopped talking, weapons in hand and moving on swiftly, leaving the men to their deliberations.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

While Ethan went in one direction looking for trouble, Shaun decided what he wanted to do. He left the boy to loot and went to a very familiar building, the Laboratories for the Nobility. Walking down towards the building a small group of Nobility soldiers wearing no armour ran out into the street towards him. They hadn't noticed him yet but they were on their way to the guardhouse, these were clearly emergency reservists. Shaun couldn't be bothered to use his Negev, so he drew his shotgun from his coat holster(with dramatic flair as always) and blasted a hurricane of glassy shrapnel in their direction, dropping or killing all of them.

"Pathetic..." He muttered, passing the groaning survivors.

The front door was unlocked and unguarded due to the chaos around the town. Shaun walked in unaccosted and roamed his way down the passageways, snagging a couple of clean room Hazmat suits into his duffel bag. Eventually he reached the biochemistry section and could see men behind a glass door working on something. Shaun shot through the wall length window, killing one of the scientists.

He then turned on another, bashing them down with his shotgun, before racking it and killing him at point blank range.

He recognised the last man, another scholar from the expidition. He was holding a small knife in a very shakes hand.
"Peter, where is the Nerve agent..." Shaun demanded, calling the man by name.

"H-how do you know my name, and why th-."
Shaun fires a round into the ceiling, before shouting "Tell me!"

The man clearly shat himself, dropping the knife. He gestured to a cabinet full of familiar yellow glass phials, and several notepads filled with Formulae otherwise incomprehensible to anybody who wasn't him or these men. Shaun stacked these pads by the cabinet before lighting fire to them, and flipping the incinerator switch on the hazardous material cupboard.

"No! What have you done you savage?! It took years to get that!" Peter screamed at him.

Shaun replied "We never should've made it back at all, let alone with this vile concoction..." and slipped off his mask to reveal his face briefly.
The man's face fell, shocked and still thoroughly terrified. "We did what we had to Shaun! Please, surely you agree we needed it!"

"Had I known what effect it had, I'd've let everyone die in that frozen tomb. Even myself." Shaun says, Shooting the man in the chest sending him flying into a shelving unit, knocking more beakers and test equipment to the floor.

Shaun left the building with a lighter heart. He hadn't destroyed all of the agent no, or killed everyone capable of making more for the Nobility. But at least that would be the last Marcelo or Santos would see of that recipie for a long while.
Once he got outside, Shaun ran back to the guardhouse and waited for them others to return.

 

[Mewmewcatfish]

-----Within the Bank’s Vault----

The swing came from the left this time, the punch just as mean as the first twenty. Rose spit out blood onto the floor, her hands tied above her head uncomfortably. She groaned, leaning her neck to the right, eyeing the guards set up by the door, the table full of surgical tools, and her useless fucking axes that were set into the hands of her captors.

She was careless this time, not able to just walk away from the opportunity of blowing up one more group. She got half of them though. That’s probably why these punches were so heavy. Filled with rage. Her captor, some nitwit named Herman, (which let’s be fair was insult enough) was taking his time with her torture. He smiled, “How about now, Ms. Rose? Huh..still not gonna tell me where you are hiding our ammunition?”

Rose lifted up her nose taking a sniff as she leaned forward, “Ya know what Herman, I am not sure where they are, but a good place to start would be THAT GAPING ASSHOLE YOU HAVE, and I’m not talking about the one on your face…”

She got a fresh punch straight into her nose for that one, her arms searing with pain as she was swung back. She let out a garbled gasp as she tried to compose herself. Herman walked over to the table taking out a small scalpel and walking over, “You know, you’re quite funny for an old bitch. Stupid, but funny. I’m not really a funny guy. I’m a bit more on the serious side.”

She grit her teeth, narrowing her eyes as he came closer, grabbing her shirt and pulling her forward, as he continued, “Ya see. I can sit here making a joke in response, but I prefer to let my actions talk for me.”

Rose prepared herself as he brought the scalpel to her cheek, digging in deep as she tried to repress a scream. She managed to keep her lips shut, but tears fell down her cheek in response to the excruciating pain. He cut a deep-set joker like scar up to her ear, the muscles in her face twitching at the assault. Aside from the pain, she could feel her skin warm, the blood falling down her cheek onto the pool of blood already beneath her. When he pulled away with a smile, she re-set herself, a deep-set rage filling her eyes, as she spoke seriously, “The only joke in this room Herman... is the one in your pants.”

She paused, watching his smile die, “You better hope, I never get free from these bonds either.. child, because like the other Nobility assholes who find their way in my path, I will take fucking pleasure in killing you.”

Herman, took a step forward, his hand lifting again as Rose prepared for another round of pain. The screams no longer able to be contained.

 

[Lexico]

It was the smell of death all over. Sound of death whizzing closer. Men who were running or crawling minutes earlier were dead. Machine guns which were thirsty for their blood had stopped. There were still sounds of gun shots further away. Ears were filled and sounds were partially inaudible. Dusts were yet to settle.

Aurora was thinking of life. She was thinking about her dream life with Mos. They had always dreamed of living all alone in greenish jungles. A life of love. And to live that life, she had to cross the path of death.

She ran along with Shisa to Jesse's place. She had to shoot at a wounded machine gunner who was trying to raise his pistol at them. Shisa was giving a bag to Jesse. She saw another soldier crawling his way towards them with a rifle.

"Hey take cover," She shouted at them both and fired at the soldier. She heard him moan in agony. She had to step little closer and shoot him in the head. She had relived him of any pain.

She wanted to inflict death upon others. She wanted her dream life to come true. She stepped back as Shisa was asking Jesse about his plans. She did not inquire about Shisa's bag nor was interested about them. She paused a moment to hear from Jesse about their immediate next step. She was excited as she thought Mos was somewhere close.

 

[TheAdept]

Cautiously, Jesse opened the doors with his gun drawn in case an ambush awaited inside. What they found was a quiet entrance and lobby area that seemed like a window into the past. Aside from a few boarded up windows and a few bloody footprints, the room seemed untouched and uninhabited. In truth, screams tested the walls of vaults close by, but those walls succeeding in containing the screaming voices of the tortured.

"No need for the mask..." Came a voice as a man walked in from another room, blood spattering him "William's men have no reason to come here. They are going for the old school. The few that are left anyway."

The man eyed the group but especially Jesse with a sadistic grin, and Jesse scowled back from behind his mask. These men knew each other.

"Come for revenge, Jesse? Jesse James? Charlie's boy? Oh no I am fucked." The man mocked, as gas began to fill the area where Jesse and his team walked in and before they knew it, filled the air all around them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An hour or so later
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesse's eyes shot awake to find metal walls all around, a table with various tools including power tools, and the feeling that his hands were stuck. Upon checking his person he found he was sitting in a wooden chair and his hands each had a nail sticking them to the armrests. Not just him though. In this vault, in similar situations as Jesse, was Shisa, Aurora, and the commander. All of their gear had been confiscated and all were wearing the bare minimum.

"God, finally!" Said the man Santos "I thought you would never wake up." He said, holding one of the masks. The most convincing mask. Shisa's.
"Never thought you would willingly work with the Nobility, even if it was to get at me. But a cannibal tribal?"

"We will see you laugh when I put your ass in this chair." Jesse said with bravado, while noting mentally that his ankles were also tied to the chair at the bottom, and the chairs were all lined up, his own being at the far end.

"We will see you talk shit while I peel the skin off your face." Santos said "Or maybe you care about these people. Maybe you will break before I get to you, as I mutilate each one of these people in order. At least Charles got shot. If it were me, I would've made it so much worse." Santos walked up to the commander, who was still asleep, and woke him up quick as he began hammering nails into his legs. His screams would have woke anyone who hadn't awoke by now.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa was being kept under special watch. Her poison gloves had killed two men while they were tying her up, and a third was in bad shape after taking her gloves off. The bag of nettles had gotten a few other men who had opened it, who had immediately fallen to the ground in agony. It also got her extra security.

Waking up to the sound of Santos monologueing Shisa's blood boiled. Santos had her mask. HER MASK. She had killed countless people to earn that, hell. She killed Aurora's father for that mask. To be unmasked, infront of total strangers. They may as well have stripped her naked. But if she showed outrage over her mask, he'd break it. She took note of her situation. Hands nailed to a chair, ankles tied to it. Shisa spoke in her normal voice: a New Orleans/Louisiana accent. The Speakers were from the Heart of the Witch lands (Florida to Louisiana area), where most spiritual, majikal tribes were.

"You have me wrong... Santos, I think I was told that was your name? You discredit me, you craven, swag-bellied mammet."

She noticed the line up, if they were starting with the commander. Gods please kill him.

Shisa turned to Jesse next to her, he had never seen her face before. They would get out of this, they had to.. she couldn't die like this. Not at the hands of Nobility. She would be a disgrace for dying defenceless. Dying in a fight was noble, dying from torture was humiliating.

" You act like this, why? You think you're better than all of us? Well that's certainly not true. You like inflicting pain? Looking at you is good enough for that. "

"And besides, you may call me a cannibal. But no one would eat you. A sour, bitter, fatty, lily livered man? Not even a wild dog would eat that."

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

The longer Shaun waited, the more anxious he became, slowly more and more soldiers had reorganized themselves and pushed for the guardhouse. Eventually he ran out of Negev rounds to shoot and he was driven back out of Boulder into the wastes, the others would need to get another way out if they were still alive.

He returned to the empty Cistern to re-stock ammunition, and take some of Shisa's poison phials and her staff. Morrigan chirped as she saw him, she didnt seem to understand why he came back alone. There would be no way he could get back in through the breach now. He would have to go the other way...

The Sewers, riddled with chemicals toxic enough to gag a maggot. He had wandered around Boulder looking for a sewer entrance when he found one, a lone manhole open. Morrigan had followed him to boulder and flew over his head, as if looking for Shisa. He put on the Hazmat suit he stole from the labs and descended into the toxic nightmare...

 

[Lexico]

Aurora woke up to the pain. She saw everyone oh wait not everyone but most of them already tied and ready to be toasted. She realized the person in charge and the way he talked to Jesse mean he was the Jesse's target. Oh if she can somehow manage to loosen from the chair she can jump on the scoundrel and finish Jesse's job. She used all her strength try to move with the chair. He was closer and was torturing the commander.

 

[Obsidian]

As Ethan headed for the building's entrance, he saw that a number of nobles were outside, and he rushed for the cover of the wall by the window. From there he could spy on the nobles, they were stood around some of William's men, all of them on their knees, and one of the enemy nobles was executing them, pulling a bullet into each of their heads. Seems the attack is over, and Santos' forces are regaining control and order over Boulder. If Ethan is to get out of here, he would need a distraction, and looking around he could only see the piles of charcoal. Getting back up, Ethan headed for the engineering workshop again, finding that the engineers had already left, and he searched the workshop for anything that could start a fire; finding a flint and steel. Ethan then headed back to the entrance hall, using the flint and steel on the charcoal, until it set alight, then getting the hell out of there.

As the fire spread over the charcoal stockpiles, growing ferocious, Ethan headed back through the building, finding his way to a rear entrance at the back of the building, leading out into the alleyways of Boulder. Ethan could already hear the yelling and screams of nobles panicking over the fire, hearing the rush of bodies toward the workshop as Ethan heads towards the Bank, coming to the end of the alley with the Bank sitting just across the street. From the shadows, Ethan could see that the Bank entrance was heavily guarded, not moving even to assist with the fire, and they were simply too much for him to take on alone. He'd need to find another entrance, and so he goes, skulking around the Bank while keeping himself from being spotted, looking for another way in.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

As Ethan was skulking around the bank down an alley, a manhole in front of him began to rattle violently before flying up and to the side. A masked figure appeared dressed in white, with a hood tucked into the mask. Whoever the were seemed pretty strange looking to him.

The figure removed the mask to reveal his face, it was Shaun!
"Ethan, glad to you're still kicking," Shaun said hurriedly, as Ethan pointed his new marksman rifle at him, "They've retaken the front entrance, we can't go back that way, I came back for you and the others. I'm guessing they're still in the bank?" Shaun said.

"These sewers are the only way out, and they're inhospitable without these suits." Shaun said as he pulled himself out of the opening and be can to peel off the suit.

 

[Obsidian]

"Well, hope you have more of those suits, old man. Or only one of us is leaving Boulder alive." Ethan said, looking around to quick for nobles, "And keep your voice down. It seems that the enemy nobles have put down the last of William's men. He must have been fucking mad to think this attack would ever work. I've managed to keep most of the nobles busy for a bit but it won't last for long. The front of the Bank is too well guarded, and I've been looking for another way in."

"If Jesse got out, I didn't see him leave." Ethan added.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

"The bank's vaults are underground, and the neighbouring buildings have cellars, I've seen the drainage pipes for them from down below. We might be able to find or make a way in through one of them, we probably won't be noticed because of the fire." Shaun explained, packing the suit into his duffel and gesturing to the office building adjacent to the Bank. "That one should do, it's old by Pre-collapse standards. Security in there should be lacking..." Shaun gestured to it.

"Let's go, shall we?"

 

[TheAdept]

"Fatty? Oh no! I'd hate to be a fatty." Santos mocked and turned to Shisa while blood oozed down the commander's leg "There was going to be an order to things, but since you need attention so bad, let me give you demonstration of what you're in for." He said, picking up a clamp like tool, reaching it to the back of Shisa's mouth, and pulling up a molar.


Jesse pulled his hands up along the nail and it hurt like shit. These looked like some pretty long ass nails, and each movement whether left right up or down sent immense pain. Jesse made no sound when this happened, as pain was like an old friend to him. A friend he never liked, anyway.

Santos eyed Shisa for a moment, looking all around at her body with a gaze that could be mistaken for lust. He pinched her arms and anything he could along her ribs "Oh I am going to have fun with you." He said, before turning around back to the commander and picking up a large bowie knife. In one simple move he pulled the commander's tongue out and slashed it off, leaving the man screaming and gushing blood from his mouth.

Blood leaked down the armrests as Jesse managed to pull his hands from them more and more. He felt concerning moments of numbness but before too long one hand was apart, dark and bloody nail sticking through it. He moved it around a little, deciding whether he would be able to untie his ankles.

 

[Lexico]

Aurora had started rattling her chair while there were too many things happening in the torture room. Her only hope was to hurt Santos. Maybe it would be not fatal. Not even big. But she wanted hurt him. She kept on struggling with the chair.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

A quiet banging slowly grew in the room, amid the noise of chairs rattling, Santos laughing and Shisa groaning in agony it wasn't noticed at first until it was deafening against the metal floor, walls and ceiling.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa screamed as Santos ripped a molar from her mouth. She spat in his face, a mix of saliva and blood. Shisa clenched her teeth. Santos got off on torturing others, on inflicting pain. So, she had to try not to give him what he wanted. But, she still could do somethings.

The hit to the ribs hurt, alot. Re breaking them. But, Shisa kept stone faced. Once he got close again, leaning his face close, prodding her still tender collar bone, Shisa struck. If he wanted to call her a cannibal, she would be one. She didn't manage to bite his face like she wanted, but her teeth left a scratch. She did manage though, to bite his arm, hard. She ripped out a small piece of his arm, barely anything. Shisa spat it out in disgust.

"Just like I thought. Repulsive."

If she could keep Santos busy hurting her, then he wouldn't hurt Aurora or Jesse. Sure, Aurora tried to kill her only a few days ago. But, Aurora had her reasons. She didn't deserve torture like this. She need Mos.

It hurt to talk, hell to move her jaw at all hurt. But she had to. She didn't care if she died, she just wanted Aurora to at least have someone to love. And for the plan to go smoothly.

"Orcus will come for you... the punisher of broken oaths. Betrayer. I can see him, axe ready behind your back..."

Maybe it was the drugs, maybe the pain. But she saw him. And heard a loud banging. Orcus was preparing to strike Santos down. Hopefully, they will be saved.

 

[TheAdept]

The other hand came free. God damnit FUCK it hurt. The ground, and everything else was shaking all around them, but he couldn't pay attention to anything but getting free.

Santos showed a hint of grimacing, but then just grinned at Shisa.

"Oh yes, I am disgusting. But you will taste so much better." He said, as the commander screamed behind him and he reached for a rusty saw and began walking towards Shisa, but stopped when the shaking and banging intensified. Santos said nothing, but looked all around wondering what the fuck was going on.

Jesse stood up from his chair, Santos too busy with the shaking and banging to notice, then pulled a nail out and stabbed at Santos from behind. The second the nail grazed Santos he flinched away, moving with a swiftness and purpose similar to how Jesse had been seen to. Santos grabbed a chainsaw and swung at Jesse. Jesse dodged and the chainsaw hit the wall. Sparks flew.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

With a final clang, a metal sheet fell from the wall to reveal a hole in old stonework beneath. Shaun dropped his makeshift digging tool, a metal pipe with a wide end. Shaun walked into the cell first, shotgun at the ready. This wasn't the room where the others were kept, but they were definitely close. Shaun looked round and saw a woman hanging by her wrists from the ceiling. She looked weathered definitely, but also quite energetic for how old she looked.

Shaun thought she looked familiar but couldn't put his finger on it...then he headed groaning at his feet. Half a tonne of armoured wall plate had fallen on an interrogator.

"Need a hand there?" He asked the woman, who seemed to be barely conscious.

 

[Corvid15]

"Kill me, torture me. Whatever you do, it is what I deserve for the atrocities I have done in my life. Dying by the hands of an enemy is shameful, but by their hands in battle is honorable. So, I will keep fighting."

The banging rattled Shisa in her chair, rattled her teeth, which made them hurt even more. But, she still kept a stone faced expression.

"Jesse, let him. He can do whatever he wants to me. His time is almost up anyway. The executioner is at the whetstone."

 

[TheAdept]

Neither Jesse or Santos were paying any attention to Shisa. They couldn't even be bothered to speak, with them both so focused on ending the other's life. Santos continued swinging, and managed to gash Jesse on the forearm. Jesse maintained a silent focus, and simply picked up the bowie knife Santos had used to cut the commander's tongue off.

Santos swung down at Jesse recklessly and Jesse simply side stepped. The bowie knife was jammed into Santos eye, and evidently Santos had gotten soft, if only a little, over the past years. Santos screamed and began swinging wildly in front of him. He knocked over a cart of tools, sending the smaller tools flying. Jesse only stood back watching Santos for an opening.

But then, the chainsaw stopped. Santos revved and revved, trying to get the machine to start. A panic set in.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

Shaun helped the woman off the bindings and gently set her down in the cellar next door. He then moved closer to the cell door and peered out. There was two other doors and a set of marble stone stairs leading up to the bank lobby.

Shaun gestured for Ethan to follow him and moved into the hall, carefully sliding up to the door across from the and peered through the door's keyhole. He could see little, but could almost make out a figure or more in the dark room, curled up on the floor. He carefully opened the door, as to not startle whomever was inside or be ambushed.

 

[TheAdept]

Jesse took this moment to look over other options. He had a bowie knife, but there was so much else here. Scalpels and various other medical equipment lay scatter on the ground. A box of nails was on another cart. There were some bear traps in a corner, and a power drill on a table. Oh, and there was blood. Blood from the people held in this room now. Old blood caked and set by others.

As Santos seemed to get lucky and the chainsaw weakly started, a bear trap fell on his head and clamped on his arms. The chainsaw was then dropped to the floor as the drill went into his spine.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

As the door opened fully, a single deshevelled man could be seen lying in the fetal position. A couple others are padlocked to shackles against walls.

As they stepped in, two men appeared from behind the door, their hands bound but struggling to tackle and grab his knife. These men weren't Santos, but William's men. They still had their tacky outfits on. Shaun headbutted one, the victims head snapping back causing them to reel into the other man sending them both to the floor.

"Relax jackasses we are here to bust you out!" Shaun hissed at them.

 

[Obsidian]

"Let's go." Ethan said, "But let's be quiet about this, though. We don't want to draw all the nobles to us."

Ethan headed into the office building first, making sure that the coast was clear, but there was no one in the office building. Everyone not guarding the walls or the Bank must be dealing with the fire right now. Ethan led Shaun down to the basement before letting Shaun take the lead, and then watching as Shaun pulls out some kind of tool before using it against a wall, the noise that would come from it beyond deafening. By the time Shaun was done, Ethan could hardly hear a thing, taking several minutes before being able to hear anything at all.

"So much for being fucking quiet." Ethan griped, following Shaun out of the cell down the corridor, "Let's hurry up and find Jesse before~"

Just then, a noble appeared from the stairs leading up to the lobby, and Ethan managed to raise his rifle before shooting him in the head. But then two more appeared in the corridor, with third shooting blind from around the corner at the stairs. Ethan was forced into the cell that Shaun opened, using the wall and cell door as cover, managing to shoot one noble to the floor before being forced back, the heat from the nobles getting too strong.