Scene 14: Subjugation

Kargas, along with some of his finest fighters exited their hover car, decently disguised with citizen apparel, but still with bulletproof vests underneath, and two of Kargas’s thugs carrying a large duffel bag along with them, looking alike to the ones that would carry money. They entered the pyramid-esc shaped executive center of Crescendurn, and walked through the main hall into the middle of a giant room, with managers and desks before them, and a hexagonal tiled floor. The two mobsters let down the bag to produce face-covering masks and more than enough firearms for the group. As soon as the guns were shown, guards in the room reacting vigilantly, but not quite fast enough, as Kargas’s thugs had already taken out guns and were mass-murdering guards in the executive center, with no mercy among them.

As it turned out, Kargas brought a whole platoon with him, some of which entered the center later and in different places as him, but a large number with him. Kargas’s goal in this raid was to kill Victor, Nexactus’s new leader, and supposed that he would be in the executive center if anywhere. One thing that Kargas noticed about the center was how poorly defended it was, at least compared to other Nexactus controlled areas. Did he catch the corporation off guard, or did they pull their troops back to lure him in, and then kill him? These questions made Kargas instantly reject the idea of underestimating his opponent, and kept his mind focused until it was all and done.

Kargas ran out of ammunition fairly quickly, switching to a revolver instead, his favored sidearm. Kargas took no prisoners, blasting holes though the heads of innocent managers and civilians there, as he himself was already knee-deep in brass. Kargas was ruthless, to say the least, and cleared most of the rooms in the floor before proceeding to a huge metal door, where he placed a mortar next to. Two separate mortar rounds were fired into the door before it blew open, broken and unable to function. Behind it was a long hallway with statues to both sides, and a squadron of Nexactus robots, armed with machine guns, in the middle. Kargas instantly knew what to do. He commanded for cover fire, and then rushed in through a side door with his Null blade in hands, slashing through the robots’ legs. Since the robots were taller than Kargas at a staggering eight feet tall, he managed to do this quite easily. While Kargas didn’t cause robots to lose any limbs, but stunned them, and as Kargas walked back through the side door, his thugs tore through the menacing machines with their bullets.

One final room was remaining, with only one cowering manager in the center. Since Kargas was sure there weren’t any guards there, so he walked in with purpose and passion, pointing a revolver at the manager and yelling: “Where is your sleazy little bitch that you call Victor?!” “Tell me or I’ll see how scared your face looks with a pound of lead sunken inside it!” Realizing that he was yelling at a man in Mandarin, a language he didn’t seem to understand, Kargas pulled out a crumpled picture of Victor, showed it to the manager, and then placing it on the desk in front of him, before slicing it in two with his Null Blade, clearly getting his intentions across.

The manager then did something peculiar, pointing his finger in the air straight above him, signifying that Victor was… up. Was this to say that Victor was in space, on a plane? Kargas could not tell. After a short episeode of anger and fear, the manager drew a crude picture of a moon on the back of one of the page halves, signifying that Victor was on the moon… somehow. Finally, Kargas understood, which was actually very grim news for the manager. After getting the information he needed, Kargas decapitated the manager with his Null blade, using the sliced pieces of paper to clean off the blood.

Kargas and his thugs eventually left the Executive Center in hover cars, making a speedy getaway, and would simply drive-by the troops deployed to stop them in true mafia fashion, and terrifying citizens of the metropolis. This didn’t mean they were invincible, though, and if they got too arrogant, then they would almost certainly be picked off. Luckily for them, they didn’t, and managed to not stay there too long.

Scene 15: Rescue

As Stavikk left the stone structure through the portal, the masked figure reappeared at the opposite end of the platform, seated against one of the benches, and looking straight at Ralph. Disturbingly, the figure removed the mask to reveal Stavikk’s face underneath. Ralph was taken aback. Was this masked figure some sort of shape shifter, or did Stavikk have a very exceptional disguising ability? Stavikk, looking around, said: “Help! I’m trapped by people who I’ve never seen before.” “They’re definitely not Nexactus, Ralph, but they’re just as well armed”. “Ok, but where are you, generally?”, Ralph inquired. “The yellow wastes”, replied Stavikk.”Just make sure to look for a city in ruins, and you’ll find me there”. “God damn it, you’re in Shallowstone?” suggested Ralph. “No, what… oh… no”, Stavikk replied. “Them too”? “I’m afraid so, friend.”, said Ralph. “But right now, I need to find you, and if I can’t, you’re gonna die, and it’s going to be my fault”.

“Okay”. It’s a city that looks partially destroyed, sort of resembling a smaller Crescendurn that’s in the yellow wastes, that’s all I know”. “Just look for a helicopter crash site, but you might also find some other unpleasant sights”. “If you find that crash site, you’ve essentially found me”. “You were my friend, too, you know”, said a voice from behind, Ralph discovering it to be Olivia Osgood. “You saved the life of a dying man, and helped fend off the troupe that would’ve came for me next”. “Wherever you are, you deserve to be free, Smokecutter”. “Thank you, but I’m running out of time”. “Find me, I fear they’ll kill… me…”. Stavikk started to wince in pain as sparks flew from the jet-black robes, blood seeping from underneath, and dripping onto the stone floor. Stavikk then put the mask back on; the bleeding stopped, and then opened a portal from the other end of the platform. Ralph ran and jumped through the portal, waking up as he lunged forward, jolted with shock, and possessed an incredibly fast heartbeat.

Ralph got on his motorbike to set out once more, leaving his camp behind, to find Stavikk, and get him out of whatever horrible dungeon he was in. In his dreams, he too saw the masked figure, and seemingly was with Stavikk, so he knew the mutant outlaw was alive. Ralph didn’t know about any of the other Guerillas, and if they were still alive, but he didn’t have time to find out. He needed to find Stavikk fast, or else Stavikk too would join their ranks.

Ralph arrived near an abandoned warehouse by motorbike, his tires screeching to a halt, seeing flashing sparks under the garage door, sporting a red sickle spray-painted onto it. Ralph hopped off of the motorbike, carefully observing the sounds going on inside. Shouting, and wincing noises from Stavikk could be heard clearly from the outside of the warehouse. The garage door was opened just enough, that Ralph was able to throw a stun grenade under it, stunning the mobsters inside. With that opportunity caught, Ralph approached a locked door, and used his double-barreled shotgun to blow the lock open, then shot the nearest enemy in sight, killing him instantly.

Ralph then took time to reload. At this point, the mobsters inside started to grab their bearings, the stun effect starting to wear off. They shot blindly, their bullets tearing through the thin metal walls. Ralph, his shotgun reloaded, decided to rush in, and went straight to the nearest cover of a concrete barrier after shooting one of the mobsters, however a bullet fired from one of them hitting him in the face. Luckily, his biker helmet caught the bullet, but the force however remained. This fatigued Ralph, but he was still able to get to cover successfully. Ralph shot the second shot out of his shotgun, hitting one of the last mobsters in the stomach and chest, dooming him to die of blood loss.

One mobster remained, shooting wildly with his submachine gun, leaving countless holes in the barrier. Ralph used his last viable option, throwing his machete at the last enemy. Unfortunately, two bullets hit him in the arm as he tried to throw the machete, causing him to drop it and causing excruciating pain. The mobster then rushed towards Ralph, intent on finishing off the invader.

The mobster, amazingly, was then clubbed over the head with the stock of the shotgun, causing a small concussion and stunning him temporarily. To knock him out cold, though, Ralph hit him over the head a second time with all his force imaginable, even though he suffered the weakness of his left arm. Ralph finally took his machete and beheaded the last mobster, his head rolling off to one side after losing the connection with the neck.

Ralph then saw Stavikk, with a bag over his head and a body covered in scars, and sweat dripping down all over him. Ralph felt the compulsion to pay his friend back for freeing him from the Gulag, and looked around to see of anything that could potentially free the scarred mutant from the chains keeping him to the black iron cross. Ralph then saw a buzz saw, and used it to cut through the chains like butter. Stavikk, finally freed from this terrible disposition, took off the bag from his head, and gave his old friend a hug, the least he could do to repay him for saving his life.

Both of them had difficulty walking out, Stavikk exhausted and weakened, and Ralph in horrible pain due to the bullets in the arm. Ralph opened the garage door by using the switch on the perpendicular wall on the left side from where he was, and the two of them drove off on the motorbike. As Stavikk drove down the highway, he saw the city’s name on a scratched-up, rusted billboard, “Bleakford”. Stavikk decidedly sped up, partially in panic with the intent of never visiting this city again.