#I also knew about and was braced for there being a lot of horrific assault

[neversetyoufree]

I've been using my down time at work to do a lot of reading lately, and a big part of that has been making my way through the works that VnC references, just for the fun of it.

I was going to start The Song of Roland a few days ago, but when I first looked at it, I just did not have the patience to deal with the sheer ~righteousness~ and pomp of a story about a bunch of eleventh century catholic knights.

HOWEVER, after making my way through a solid 80 pages of de Sade, I have to admit, those righteous catholic knights ended up looking pretty god damn appealing.

[akwardlyuncool]

Gully (20219) - Review

TW/CW: Trigger Warnings are vital to those who need them, so even though they can feel too revealing at times, it is better to air on the side of caution. That being said, here they are:

Underage alcohol and drug abuse.

Police Brutality

Suicidal-Ideation

Sexual Assault of a minor.

PS: I did not know Amber Herd was in this movie prior to watching it, but I figured I’d let y’all know in case you didn’t feel comfortable consuming anything she’s apart of.

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This is what happens when you have three teenage boys, who have seen and been through some really horrific things and decide to take the chaotic nature of their violent video games out into the real world. 

I had heard nothing about this movie prior to watching it. It had just showed up on my Hulu one day and I thought it looked good, so I saved it for later viewing. See I was going to watch Love Don’t Cost A Thing, but I remembered Gully being a thing and decided to watch something new. Part of me thinks I should have just stuck with the romantic comedy because 40 minutes into this movie I had to full on stop cause my anxiety was on such high alert. It was so much, seemingly very fast, and my body did not like it all too well.

Part of Gully is set in simulation, meaning that several scenes border between real life and a video game. The video game is like Grand Theft Auto, but of the boys “minds.” The movie is primarily set in real life, but often pulls up these graphic video game scenes I think to break up the real world violence that is taking place. That being said, the movie is hella violent regardless of if it’s a Sim or an actual human. This is where I feel the movie gets very messy, a little confusing and overall just too much. Visually there was a lot happening on screen pretty frequently as the major violence was taking place and for me that didn’t sit well. I guess I just needed some breathing room as those things were happening.

With how much brutality was shown in the film, I was often bracing myself for certain characters to, for lack of nicer words, be murdered. You just never knew which way things were going to go. There’s also a lot of trauma being worked through and mental disabilities to navigate and it’s always a guessing game for how people are going to react at any given moment when dealing with those things.

Although the movie itself was very erratic and confusing at times, the cast did a really good job with what they were given. Very high quality performances in that regard. Yes I did cry! If you watch this movie and you don’t cry or at least get a tightness in your chest, we did not see the same movie. I know a lot of people really didn’t like it, depending on where I saw the commentary from, but that doesn’t mean you are immune to heavy ish, especially when they are happening to teenagers. 

So I’ll say this, if you are emotionally tired of seeing Black youth being brutalized, even in a fictional setting and even if they are sometimes being brutal themselves, (product of their environment) give this one a pass. You do not have to sit through all that trauma because someone on Twitter was talking about how it’s a “must see.” Now if you feel you can handle it, than I suggest watching it with self-care practices in place. Not everybody is gonna need all that, but being prepared doesn’t hurt. I didn’t completely hate the movie, but I can see why people did and think they have some great points. Either way, if you do decide to put this one on, be kind to yourself.

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Bonus Thoughts  (SPOILERS INCLUDED.)

Question: What happened to Jesse’s mother?

I feel like the movie is based on his presumed abduction, but they never say what happened to his mother. Like how does he just end up in this dudes place for a good chunk of his life? Or is Jesse just living on his own and Mr. Charlie, is just popping in to check on him every once in a while? Maybe the answer was told in the movie and I just missed it, but that is why I think the movie fails in a lot of ways.

The knowledge of the abuse happened shortly before I had to stop watching and was the main reason I needed to take a break. Like several others, I wondered why this story was being told. There’s someone who’s going to feel connected to this story in ways that absolutely break my being, but is knowing that someone out there might feel that connection really enough for them to say let tell it? I’m not so sure it is. I didn’t hate the movie, but I always wonder when it comes to abuse stories, that are set in fiction, why and where it comes from. These opinions also come from not knowing anything about the story or the writers or anyone involved in that side of things.

Another Question: Where are the cops?

I don’t mean that in a sarcastic way. Like I mentioned earlier, there is so much violence and crime in this movie and the police never feel like they’re actually around, until way after the fact, even though sirens are blasting all the time. Maybe that was just to show the lack of adequate response times by police in Black neighborhoods, but it was still wild to see.  

Another thought real quick... Calvin had some mental disabilities going on with him for sure, but he was also dealing with a lot of trauma that was partially, in my opinion, unchecked, which I feel contributed to his violent behavior in a lot of ways. That being said, it hurt me the he was murdered. Regardless of what he did, I just wanted him to hopefully the better in life.

[sending-the-message]

My friend has been living in an alternate reality - (Part 11) by Mr_Outlaw_

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

ENTRY 34:

It’s been really quiet around here after the drone incident. Everybody seemed a bit confused at first. Although Smoker tried explaining the nature of Neo-Civitus to them, they didn’t seem to want to believe him. It took a few other people with knowledge of the place to finally convince everybody that this was not good news. Smoker also went on to explain that the drones meant they could be coming in weeks… or years. In other words, we could never anticipate their arrival. I asked him why they’d even be interested in this place at all.

“Resources. Colonization” He told me. “Most likely resources, though.”

He seemed incredibly worried as he told me this, but I couldn’t understand why. I mean, if the only thing that they were after were some resources, then we’d just let them take it, right? No problems there.

“No.” He said sternly. “They don’t work like that. You see, nobody likes giving up their shit to an invading force, right? But nobody would ever even bother fighting back if they knew what kind of power Neo-Civitus has. Problem is… most people just don’t. That’s why they always retaliate at first. The battle never lasts very long.

He sighed, pausing for a bit before continuing. “Here’s the thing with Neo-Civitus… there’s never any paperwork with them. No deals, no negotiations, nothing. Wherever they go, they eliminate the native population, no questions asked. It’s just simpler that way. Besides… most islands that they land on are incredibly hostile, anyways. There’s no risks being taken with them.”

However, even as everybody started to prepare for the oncoming assault, Smoker just scoffed at them. “There’s no point.” He explained. “Once they land, we’re all dead. It's hopeless.”

“So what are you going to do? Just give up, let ‘em kill you?” I asked him.

He furrowed his brow. “Nah… I’ll be long gone before they arrive. There’s a lot of dignified ways to die. But fighting a pointless battle… that just ain’t one of them. I’ll have a better chance out there as opposed to staying here.”

Carrying nothing but a small sack of rations, one rifle and a few knives, he left just a few days later. He didn’t tell us where he was going. But... I'm pretty sure that he wasn't sure himself. Before his departure, he asked me if I wanted to join him. Despite the grim reality that seemed to be waiting for me, I declined his offer. I suppose that there was just a small part of me that thought he was bullshitting about this whole thing. But in retrospect, that didn’t make any sense. I guess I just didn’t want to deal with the horrors out there on this island. I guess I’m just taking my chances.

But… Kunz did eventually recover yesterday. So I guess that’s good news.

ENTRY 35:

A few more months have passed. At this point, we’ve prepared to the best of our abilities. However… Smoker’s words still linger for me.

“There’s no point”.

What if he’s right? Hell, why would he be lying? He left for fuck’s sake.

What’s worse is that nobody’s really explained it to Jolan yet. She’s confused as to why everybody’s so tense these days. She knows that we might have to fight some people sooner or later, but she has no idea what the scale of it just might be. I should break the news to her but… I really don’t want to.

ENTRY 36:

A few more months have passed, but we’ve finally come up with something. Smoker said that they’re most likely coming here for resources, right? Well this place is filled to the brim with zombies and other shit. That’ll pose a nuisance for sure. Not the ideal area to harvest/mine. You see, the creatures here are mostly attracted to sound. The more we make, the more congested the ground below us seems to be. So here’s the plan:

We’ve stockpiled plenty of food already, enough to last us months. We’ll start creating a lot of noise and draw a massive crowd of them over. The idea here is that once Neo-Civitus sees this, they’ll deem the effort to not be worth it and just leave us alone. It might work… actually I have no idea. It’s worth a shot, at least.

ENTRY 37:

It’s going to happen soon. A few hours ago, about three more drones flew over. Two seemed to be mapping out the forests and surrounding areas while the 3rd hovered around where we were. We didn’t bother shooting it down this time. We wanted it to see the hordes of undead piled at the base of our towers. We wanted to convince them to call everything off right there. They left about five minutes after they came, so that’s probably good news. Now we just wait and see.

ENTRY 38:

I don’t know how long it’s been since that last entry. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t even know where I am. Fuck…

It was about a week since we sighted those three drones when they finally came. Now… I don’t know what I was expecting. What the hell anybody was expecting, for that matter. We were prepared to come face to face with the fucking cavalry. An army, if you will. But no. It was a single goddamn aircraft. I could barely comprehend what it even looked like. It was futuristic, but not in the traditional sense of the word. It was alien. Otherworldly. Not big, but beyond functional. It nearly resembled some kind of pod and moved with such smoothness you’d think that it was being controlled remotely.

As the shiny vehicle descended onto the shore about a quarter mile away from us, it started getting swarmed. It just sat there for maybe about five minutes. At that point, it had become buried underneath a pile of undead flesh. We were optimistic for a second. We couldn’t fathom how they were getting out of that. But then we witnessed the solution.

The sound was sharp at first, gradually devolving into a low hum. The pod emitted a light so bright that we all had to avert our eyes for a few seconds. When we returned our perception to the shore, we all went into a collective shock. The zombies had been cleared out. But that’s an understatement. They were eviscerated. No limbs, no bones, nothing. Just a red mist lingering in the air around it. We didn’t even know how to react. The undead that had been surrounding our towers started trudging their way over to the shore, attracted by the noise.

The doors to the space-age machine opened up. Out stepped three figures. Just three. That was it. They looked to be wearing some kind of armor. But they weren’t the massive, clunky kind that the guards at the prison had. Like the ship that they came in, it was advanced beyond our comprehension. They were sleek, black suits that seemed to bend and twist perfectly with every subtle movement they made. Their helmets resembled futuristic gas-masks, with two large circular eye holes that glowed with a menacing shade of red. The rifles they were carrying looked compact and deadly. They were also a very strange color – a dark bluish-green that seemed reflect every source of light that bounced off of it.

They walked for about five seconds before ascending into the air. It looked so seamless. Their boots didn’t even seem to have any thrusters, so it was unclear how this was possible. As they floated towards us, they dropped tiny blue orbs onto the ground below. As soon as they landed, every zombie within our perceivable vicinity appeared to start being electrocuted. Albeit, not for long. They dropped in seconds. As the stench of burning rotten flesh filled the air, the super-soldiers descended onto our towers. One landed just a few feet away from me. I saw what I assumed to be his name and position etched onto the barrel of his weapon – CPT. RIZZER. I caught of a glimpse of his suit up close. It was more intricate than I initially thought. It looked more like an EXO-skeleton than anything. It was outfitted with pistols and Tasers, amongst other things. There was writing on his chest. In big white letters, it read:

“NEO-CIVITUS: RECON DIV. 34”

He was also larger than any human I’d ever seen before. Larger than the Warden, even. He must have been around 9 feet tall.

They didn’t move at first, seemingly just observing us. At this point, I was holding onto Jolan tight. I also exchanged glances with Kunz, Lauren and Kagenori. It was almost a silent acknowledgement. We’d been through so much together. If these were our last moments alive, we wanted to make sure that we recognized this. I wasn't even prepared for what happened next.

Before I even had time to react, I looked in front of me to see the barrel of Rizzer’s weapon aimed directly at me. Or so I thought it was. I closed my eyes, bracing for bullets that were surely about to penetrate my skin. I heard the harsh automatic buzz of the rifle, but I felt no pain. Instead, I only heard screaming from all around me. And warm liquid soaking into the side of my shirt. I knew what it was. I looked down at Jolan’s limp upper body. Apparently, the rounds were so strong that they had cut her in half. Without being given even a second of time to grief, I felt a sharp, numbing sensation in my thigh. It eventually started to make its way up through my hips and then into my shoulder. I fell to the floor, hitting my head hard as I did. While I could still feel everything above my neck, everything below that seemed to be out of commission. I couldn’t even turn away from the horrific sights in front of me. They were killing en masse - women, the elderly, even children, without remorse.

A few minutes later, they picked up the ones they deemed fit enough to survive and tossed us onto a single tower. Everybody else seemed to be affected by the paralyzing agent as well. I could see Kunz and Kagenori out of the corners of my eyes… but no Lauren. We watched as the three soldiers walked around on the ground, planting what looked like small charges into the dirt. By this time, more zombies had wandered their way into the settlement area, but the soldiers didn’t even seem to acknowledge them. The creatures would bite and scratch against their armor, but it would do less than nothing. Eventually, the soldiers stepped back and one of them projected a hologram out of his wrist. I couldn’t tell what exactly he was looking at, but I had an idea. He pressed some virtual buttons before holding up five fingers. Once they were all down, a mind-jolting explosion echoed through the air. Bits of dirt and zombie entrails flew everywhere, pelting us in the face.

When the smoke cleared, we looked back down to see an enormous black pit in place of what was once solid ground. However, as I looked at it even closer, I realized that it wasn’t empty space. It was bubbling. It was liquid. The first thought that popped into my head was oil. That was a good a guess as any, after all. Soon after, one of the soldiers flew back up to the tower we were involuntarily sitting in. It was Rizzer again. He took out a large syringe-looking device filled with dark-red liquid.

“Don’t squirm. This’ll hurt a lot.”

He injected it into a few guys sitting around me before I finally felt the needle plunge into my forearm. What followed was an intense burning sensation that seemed to last forever. However, I seemed to be gaining the feeling back into my limbs as well. A few of us tried escaping, but were shot down without hesitation. The rest of us just sat tight. After he had finished up with everybody, he addressed us directly.

“You have two options here. Die… or do manual labor. Seems pretty obvious to me. You guys might be pissed right now… but let me tell you that I do not give a fuck. These things happen.”

As it turns out, we were forced to pump the dark liquid through tubes connected to this elaborate looking machine and then transfer them into metal barrels and then finally load them onto a larger aircraft that would come around once a week. However, the liquid itself was a lot less viscous than oil. It also seemed to be bubbling indefinitely. Safe to say, I had no idea what it was. I still don’t.

The only good thing that came out of this was that the soldiers had set up a moderate sized electric barrier around our settlement as to stop any additional creatures from interfering with our work. However, we also weren’t getting out. They also provided us with food. Unsurprisingly, they were just more energy bars. However... these at least tasted decent. Other than that though… it was absolute hell. It was prison all over again. By the time the first month had expired, almost half of us had committed suicide. In an apparent attempt to combat this, one of the soldiers announced that once we’d finished up, we would be given a place to stay in Neo-Civitus. Most of us seemed to buy it, because worker morale skyrocketed right after he’d said that. However… I didn’t. I’d always been good at reading people. And they were full of shit. They weren’t planning on taking us back with them. They were going to waste us as soon as they’d gotten enough of that damn liquid. That was the only outcome that could have been waiting for us.

I don’t know why I didn’t just end it myself. Blind hope, I suppose. But it was also something else. By all odds, I should’ve been dead at that point. Everybody around me seemed to be biting the dust, but I was still alive somehow. I shouldn’t have been. I still shouldn’t be. Something must have been working in my favor. Whether it was some kind of divine intervention or just dumb luck was irrelevant. It was doing the job for me. This train of thought kept me going. Somehow, I was getting out of this alive.

Turns out… I was right.

I don’t know how much time had gone by when it happened. Must have months, at the very least. Or a year. I don’t really know.

One day, we were working away when we started to feel the ground rumbling beneath our feet. We looked at the crater of liquid. At that point, we’d depleted a considerable amount of it. It must have been at least a few meters lower than when we started. The rumbling only got more severe. The Soldiers themselves didn’t seem to know what was going on. Eventually, it got to the point where we could barely stand up. The soldiers lifted into the sky, trying to make sense of it. The ground finally settled a few minutes later. All was still again. Without knowing what else to do, they just instructed us to go back to pumping. However, as soon as we flipped on the machine again, the ground beneath us started cracking.

We all stepped away on instinct. Suddenly, an enormous black creature burst of out the ground. I stumbled back, but got a better look at it in the process. It was a massive worm-like thing with slimy black flesh and sharp appendages sticking out at various angles. It burst into the air, lunging up at one of the surprised soldiers. At that point, all hell broke loose. The worm was followed by another. And then another. During the chaos, I remembered something. I had hidden the last few shards from the prison in a hidden compartment on one of the towers.

I rushed up there to look for it. I found it just as soon as the tower started collapsing. I cut myself mere moments before hitting the ground again. I looked up, witnessing the surreal scene in front of me. My fellow prisoners were mostly dead, being swallowed up by the worms at a torrid pace. I saw Kunz trying to hop over the now-broken electrical barrier before being cut open by one of their appendages. The three soldiers were throwing everything that they had at the creatures, shooting them down one-by-one. But they just kept coming up. As I was taking all of this in, something hit me from behind and flung me into a tree. As I lifted myself back up, I saw one of the soldiers being overwhelmed. The two others seemed to shout something to each other before one of them took a rectangular device off of his belt. He pressed one of the buttons on it before tossing it down onto the ground. As soon as he did this, they flew out of there, leaving their fellow soldier behind.

At first, I thought the device was going to be an explosive of sorts. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I watched as it opened up and a dark-purple light began emanating out of it. It started growing and growing, engulfing the surrounding area. I started running when I realized that it wasn’t stopping. However, as soon as I got up, I felt myself being tugged backwards. I turned around, expecting to see one of the soldiers, but there was nothing there. Just the purple void getting ever so bigger. I fell to the ground, clawing at the soil as I was sucked into an unknown fate. As the light consumed me, I felt weightless for a second. However, I couldn’t breathe. I looked around, only to see dark, vague shapes floating around me in a sea of purple nothingness. After about maybe twenty seconds, I blacked out.

I awoke an unknown amount of time later, face down in what I assumed to be sand. I groggily got up and looked around… but I could barely see in front of me. I was surrounded by what appeared to be a heavy, orange fog. It was pretty evident that I was in some sort of desert, but every other detail was obscured. I only realized that my hearing was gone when it started to come back. That’s when I heard the sounds of distant screams all around me.

Suddenly, I could make out a shape in the distance. It was hard to tell what it was, but it seemed to be getting closer to me. Getting too close. It was one of those worms that had burst out of the ground. I jumped out of the way just in time to avoid it as it lunged towards me. I scrambled backwards, as it buried into the sand. It slithered around, trying to regain its bearings before it seemed to locate me. As it tried to lunge at me again, it looked as if it was being held back by something. It tried a few more times before a heavy, guttural roar emanated from somewhere just behind it. Suddenly, the worm was dragged backwards and out of my sight. I didn’t catch a glimpse of what did it.

I got up and started running away, but I really had no idea where I was going. Hell, I didn’t know what the fuck this place even was. About every step I’d take, I’d hear these ungodly sounds coming from every angle around me. Every time I’d see a moving shape in the distance, I’d change directions. It took a while, but I finally stumbled upon a ramshackle cabin – it was the first indication that humans must exist somewhere in this place. It was old and rotting, but I was tired as hell, so I decided to go in and take refuge for a while. To my surprise, there was a bed in there, along with a pail of water in the corner. Although it was warm from the boiling temperature outside, it tasted like heaven to me.

That’s where I am right now. After writing this down, I’m going to need to pass out. I’m so tired. I don’t know how the fuck I got here. Maybe that device the soldier threw down was a teleportation mechanism of sorts? Fucking hell… then where did it take me to?

[itispossibleihaveissues]

This Night - Chapter 3

TITLE: This Night AUTHOR: Mikimoo RECIPIENT: tristen84 PAIRING: JayDick RATING: Mature WARNINGS: Off screen Non-Con, murder of innocent young people, violence SUMMARY: The Red Hood and Officer Grayson are on the same case. A small misstep has far reaching consequences for them both.

Chapter 1, 2

Gunfire echoed down the passageways, but Jason kept his pace slow and careful – no use getting them all killed if he could help it. They were close to the command center now, only a few winding corridors away.

The scuff of a boot warned him of the ambush up ahead – they weren't the only ones who were being more cautious. Jason held out an arm and Ruiz obediently stopped. Her face looked grim in the dim lights of the generator. He pointed her to the opposite wall, and she went – it was so nice to work with someone who could take and understand orders.

How to break the ambush though? They had no cover except for the angle of the intersection, and between himself and Ruiz they had a very limited amount of ammo. 

Jason crept as close as he dared, he couldn't risk looking around the corner, but without doing so he couldn't be sure if they were aware of him or not. If they weren’t, then surprise might be the only ace they had. But if they did know, and were waiting with their fingers on  triggers, any attack would be short, pointless and probably fatal.

Jason kept quiet and listened. There was shuffling, tiny scuffs, the clink of weapons against belts. Then the crackle of a radio, “Situation contained,” the barely audible, and tinny sounding voice said in Spanish.

Jason grit his teeth. Was the 'situation' Dick? And if so, what did contained mean?

“Can you get us a visual?” One of the guards replied in the same language.

“Negative, visual off line,” the crackly voice replied. Then there was just more static.

“Dammit!” Another voice said, this one in English, with an American accent, Jersey probably. “There could be dozens of them down here, why are we fighting blind? Lets get topside and then just smoke the bastards out.”

“Shut up!” the first guy said, in English.

“I didn't sign on to get picked off like this!” Jersey said.

Jason guessed he was new to this game - the waiting and watching part seemed to be getting to him.

“Get back to your place or I will shoot you!” First guy didn't seem impressed, or like he was someone to be messed with.

“Fuck you!” Jersey replied loudly, and then stepped right out into Jason's line of sight. “Shit!” he shouted and raised his weapon.

Well, there went the element of surprise. Jason shot the guy between the eyes and was running back to the relative safety of the previous passage before the body had even hit the floor.

Gunfire ricocheted down the corridor behind him. Jason shot the occasional round, just to keep them from advancing, but in truth it was a only a matter of time until they were overwhelmed, and both sides knew it.

The men arranged themselves at the opposite end of their hiding place. First guy shouted, “You are surrounded! Come quietly and I'll let you live!”

“Fuck your living!” Ruiz yelled from behind Jason, “You come at us and I'm going to kill as many as I can before I go down!”

Jason nodded, and checked his ammo again. “Took the words right out of my mouth, Officer Ruiz.” He raised his voice, “Come get us, you shitheads!”  Beside him he felt Ruiz tense and brace herself to shoot. She seemed like someone who knew what she was doing and Jason trusted her to know her business. They were out gunned, out numbered and out manoeuvred. But like Ruiz said, if he was going to die here, he was going to take down as many of these fucks as he could.

“I only have a handful of bullets left,” Ruiz whispered. “I guess you have similar issues?”

“Yeah. We can’t hope to hold them off for long, not when they’re so heavily armed. We might do best to save our bullets and see if we can get them to come to us.”

“Pretend we have run out? Sounds like our only option.”

They stopped shooting and waited. Time seemed to stretch, each breath Jason took sounded loud as a drum to his ears. A peak around the corner using the reflection in his blade, showed men creeping towards them, not long to wait now. He figured he could take out at least half of them, before one of them got a lucky shot.

Then they heard a strange clattering sound echoing up the corridor. It was hard to tell where it came from and Jason risked another quick glance at the approaching guards, they looked as confused as he was. They were starting to turn towards the sound when there was a sudden rapid shower of bullets, aimed low and striking a number of men in the legs and knees. Those that didn't fall in the first assault turned to return fire. Jason didn't know who was shooting, but they were his only chance.

“Cover me!” he shouted to Ruiz, and rolled into the center of the passageway, this might be their only hope and he was going to give it all he had. As Jason came out of his tumble he took aim and fired; all headshots - this totally counted as self-defense. He didn't see if he hit his intended targets as he was already moving, but he was aware of Ruiz in position behind him as he fetched up against the far wall.

The clattering intensified, and Dick-motherfucking-Grayson suddenly shot past the opening to the corridor. He was sitting on the damn swivel chair, travelling at an impressive speed and firing an Uzi at the rapidly dwindling guards.

Jason blinked. A very welcome, but also very strange sight. The chair notwithstanding, Dick firing a semi-automatic nearly short circuited Jason's brain. But it only startled him for a moment and he quickly shot at the fallen guards who looked like they might still be thinking of turning a weapon on them. Because of course Dick hadn't done the sensible thing and killed the fuckers, he had been shooting low, aiming at feet and lower legs. Stupid, impractical suicidal Bat training. Jason seriously wondered how Bruce would feel about one of his favored children getting killed for following the rules. When shooting to kill would have been the only option for survival. A part of him was morbidly curious; he wanted to see Bruce struggle with that.

But not at the expense of Dick's life, obviously.

He rushed back into the moment, his gun was almost out  of ammo and he had to focus on the now, not on his damn Bruce Issues. Dick was still wearing his nightvision-underwear goggles, so Jason used two precious bullets to shoot out the lights, leaving them in darkness. The sound of groaning and screaming from the downed men became suddenly oppressive – even though they deserved to die, the sounds of suffering was always horrific to hear. He wondered how Dick felt having caused most of it. Sometimes death seemed cleaner.

Jason jumped as he felt Ruiz grab his sleeve. “Now I can't see!” she growled, there was no heat in it though, and Jason figured she could see the practical side of the darkness.

“Hold my belt,” he told her, as he pulled what remained of his goggles down over his eye. Then he stepped forward, picking his way around the fallen men, Ruiz following close enough behind him that she trod on his heals a few times.

They reached Dick, still in his swivel chair without catching a stray bullet, which was Jason's main concern. Even through Jason's shitty night vision goggles Dick looked a state, he was sweating and bloody, and breathing a bit unsteadily. He had the nerve to grin at up at Jason when they approached.

“Hey, Jay,” he said.

“Don't 'hey Jay' me, you asshole!” Jason bit out, letting all his fear flow out in a beautiful river of rage, “I thought you were fucking dead, you piece of shit!”

“Sorry, I couldn't get the comms back online, I could only use the walkie-talkie I took off one of the men.”

So it had been Dick telling them the situation was contained, clever but still infuriating. He opened his mouth to give him what for when Ruiz jabbed the muzzle of her empty gun into his back. “Can we do this later?” She asked, incredulous frustration coloring her voice.

“I'm so glad, you're alright,” Dick told her, warmly, “I was really worried.”

“Worried? Do not give me your 'worried', Grayson!” Her grip on Jason's belt had tightened to the point of being uncomfortable and her gun was still digging into his back with her increasing frustration.

“I'm fine,” Dick told her, apparently picking up on the source of her anger.

“You are not! And what was that? Do you think you are an action movie hero?”

“My leg gave out, I didn't have much of a choice!”

“The leg you got shot in! Why did you come back, you fool!”

Jason surprised himself by laughing. “As much as I am enjoying Dick getting a tongue lashing, you had a point when you suggested we do this another time and get the hell out of dodge.”

Ruiz made an aggravated noise but fell silent.

“Which way?” Jason asked.

“We should take the east corridor, it’s longer but we just took out the group that was supposed to be covering it, so it might be safer.”

Jason grabbed the back of the swivel chair, ready to push. “You know which direction east is? I'm so turned around I can't tell my ass from my elbow.”

“Head to the left,” Dick said, “I memorized the passageways, so I think I know where we are.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I think. I've been shot and tortured and I'm running a fever! I can't be completely sure!”

Ruiz made another aggravated noise, “My three year old has better concentration that you two!” She said, conveniently forgetting her own angry tirade minutes earlier.  “Lets move.”

“Why is everyone picking on me?” Dick complained, “I've been shot, you should be nice to me.”

Jason ignored his attempt to lighten the mood, more concerned at the slight slur to Dick's words, so instead of answering he just grunted and started to push the chair. It made a lot of a noise on the concrete floor, but it was better than carrying Dick. Jason could feel his own body flagging. Too little sleep, too little food, too much action and too much adrenaline.

And the fear was still there. They had a long way to go before they found safety.

  Despite the shitty odds, they made it back to the surface, but they stepped clear of the bunker with a mixed sense of relief and apprehension. The chair would no longer be of use to them, and Dick was not in good shape, walking was going to be a struggle. What's more, they could hear sounds of pursuit picking up behind them. Three wounded people plus a slightly battered swivel chair made pretty obvious tracks, and it would be very clear where they had entered the jungle.

Without being asked, Ruiz grabbed Dick's other arm and together she and Jason hauled him off his seat. He leaned his head against Jason's shoulder for a moment, before forcing himself up and putting as much weight as he could on his leg.  He nodded and they started moving as fast as they could.

It was not very fast.

There was no way they were going make it anywhere close to the rendezvous point, that was immediately obvious. For a start, following the path was their only option, as hauling Dick through the undergrowth was not going to work. That meant that the bad guys would also have a nice clear trail to follow and could easily lay an ambush up ahead.

“Okay, Stop,” Dick said, breaking into Jason's own thoughts. “This isn't going to work.”

“Not much choice, Grayson” Ruiz growled, trying to tug him forward.

“There is. Hear me out,” Dick said, as Jason opened his mouth to speak. “We go on like this they'll catch us. We can’t reach help, and we can’t fight them. We have to be smart if we want to live.”

“I'm not going to like this am I?” Jason asked, already resigned. What ever it was, he was going to have to listen, as he was all out of other options.

“Probably not,” Dick agreed, “but it's the only possible way I can see for us to all make it.”

“Okay, hit me with your cunning plan, Dickie. I'm braced for impact.”

“You're going to have to leave me-”

Jason was expecting that. “Nope, not happening.”

“Yes, happening! I'm not asking you to leave me to die, I'm asking you to hide me and draw them away.”

When put like that, Jason could see a glimmer of sense. “Go on.”

“Lets find a spot with good cover, and I’ll hide. They’ll follow you, as you will be leaving tracks whether you want to or not. But with out me holding you back you can move faster, you can get off the path and outrun them. Then when you meet up with whoever has bought our contract, you can come back for me.”

“If anyone has bought our contract and if it’s not someone who will kill us on sight!” Jason said. But when it came down to it, Dick was right; this was the only option where they could all come out alive. And it was one he would have insisted on if he were in Dick's position.

He didn't have to like it though.

“You can’t be serious!” Ruiz burst out, suddenly, “You come back for me, a stranger, but then abandon your friend? I won't do it!”

“I don't think I can make it alone if we’re ambushed” Jason said reluctantly. He could move faster, sure, but if they were attacked having Ruiz and her extra few bullets might be essential. Leaving her with Dick served no useful purpose. “This is the best way. I don't like it any more than you do, but I know Dick, he can do this.”

Dick nodded, his bruised face looking so earnest it made Jason slightly queasy. But under that expression there was Nightwing’s steely determination.

Dick reached out and touched Ruiz on the arm, forcing her attention away from Jason.  “I can. I can look after my self. But I won’t need to – I didn’t see any signs they had hounds for tracking sent and we are too close to their base for them to think we would hide. They are going to chase you, I guarantee it.”

“If you die, Grayson, I am going to dig up your corpse and feed it to my dog!” Ruiz told him finally.

“I will do my best, Officer Ruiz, never wanted to end up as a dogs dinner.” Dick was grinning again, now he was getting his own way. But he looked like shit and Jason was honestly more concerned about leaving him to die of infection than the gang finding him.

“Lets get you hidden then,” Jason said, and using the last of his strength he picked Dick up in his arms again. Dick squawked in surprise but didn’t fight. Either because he was in too much pain, or was conserving his own strength, or because one set of tracks would be less noticeable.

When he found a good spot Jason lowered him as gently as he could. He was feeling pretty winded which did not bode well for the run through the jungle he was about to embark on.

As he pulled back Dick grabbed his hand. “Thank you for saving me, Jay. And thank you for helping save Ruiz too.”

Jason squeezed his fingers, and then withdrew his hand to start poking though his pack – a good excuse to order his thoughts that were a little tangled. “Yeah, well you started it, with shooting me into the river,” he said at last.

He handed Dick one of his water bottles and a couple of energy bars. “I don’t know how long it will take, so be sparing with the water.”

“Yes mother.”

“I’m serious, Dick.”

“I know.”

Jason also gave him the Wayne Tech tablet. Hopefully they could use the Merc’s gear to track the tablet back to this spot – that should save some time – and Jason was too exhausted to be completely sure he would remember the way back after more running and fighting.

Finally he handed over his secondary weapon. “There’s only a couple of bullets left in this one, don’t waste them.”

Dick looked at it doubtfully, but he nodded. “Take care, Jay. Stay safe.”

“You too.”

It was fucking hard to walk away, but he did, and he didn’t look back.

[constanzemachiavelli]

Assault on Fort Sudval (Lord of War, Part IV)

“No fucking way!” Tanef was reading through Shirra's message. “They want us to storm a fort with just auxiliary forces? It is clear that they just want to wipe us out so that mercenaries don't take all the glory in the great battle that's going to take place. This is ridiculous and when we get out of that situation I will punch that Maximilliam in the nose!”

    She rode besides Thurn in a slow trot. He listened to the small rant Tanef had upon reading the message.

    She had woken up a few hours ago and was as energetic as ever. She assessed the situation fully – a war has been declared by Amelgalia towards Reval. It was caused by some provocations about use of river waters by local peasantry, but it was clear that Amelgalia simply wanted to enforce dominance on their northern rival. They were ready to go to war for the smallest provocation.

    Now, they called all the levies and mercenaries and went to war. Tanef's band, The Endeavour, was also called and their small band of 100 men had mobilized. A skeleton crew of 10 men were left behind but the rest 87 with Shirra as their temporary captain went on and joined the grand host. They would be heading for fort Sudwal at the southern border of Reval. There they were ordered to storm it within 5 days of arrival. Thurn, Tanef and Loth now had to race there and take over command over their band before a bad decision was made in their absence. Hopefully the commanders there won't initiate an assault before their arrival.

    They rode westwards now, backtracking where they came from in the wilderness. They rode quickly, as time was not to be wasted. They even skipped a night of sleep to get there faster. They were sleepless, tired and anxious to see what would happen. It would take 2 more days to get there.

    They slept through the night to the second day. Tanef once more stayed awake for the night, even though the sleeplessness was taking a toll on her as well. She was laying on her back in the grass and looking up at the skies. It has been 3 years since she left her subterranean home and came to this world, but she still was amazed by the sky. It wasn't as big of a spectacle as before, but it still amazed her. She liked to look at the stars in the night and imagine flying in the sky among them. They can't be that far away, right? She would never allow anyone to take this spectacle away from her.

    She didn't even miss her home. It was miserable living alone and almost impoverished, even though she lived in the wealthy elvish district. She was the only one remaining in her clan's house after the great schism and everyone leaving. She still wonders what happened, why did everyone leave and started killing each other? Was it really only because they defeated their rivals?

    Before she knew it, she was asleep, lost in her thoughts.

    She dreamed, but the dreams were... weird. They weren't like usual dreams, where her mind flew wild. It was... like a lecture. A flow of information pulsed through her visions in sleep. It felt like something important was told... about.. about different worlds and.. her...

    She was woken awake by Thurn. The sun was rising over the horizon and everyone was waking.

    “You fell asleep after all, huh?” Thurn said, laughingly.

    Tanef sat up and shook her head. What was that dream about? She had no idea and it was lost now. Whatever it was, it seemed important and wass trying to tell her something.

    She stood up and picked her things and they all went on their way northwards. That day, in the afternoon, they finally reached the borders of Reval. They saw the banners of the golden lion of Amelgalia on the red background flying high from the border outpost, similar but smaller than Tanef's fort. It just made her worry more about fort Sudwal, as her own fort was nothing but a small outpost in comparison to real fortifications.

    It was more wooded than to the south, it seemed very likely to get ambushed . But, once they met up with the guards at the outpost and solved the problem with rogue mercenaries following the great host of Amelgalia,, it was explained that Reval still hadn;'t managed to mobilize their own forces. Even though it would make sense to just strike the heart of the enemy right now, Maximillian wasn't interested in a siege. He wanted a battle, a decisive battle where the might of Amelgalia would be proven and imposed on Reval.

    They continued riding on their way. As the night set, they passed by the camp of the main Amelgalian host. The three decided to stay the night among these soldiers and possibly get in touch with general Maximillian himself.

    They entered the camp and, after having a confrontation with the guards again about who they were, they figured out while talking to the other soldiers where they could possibly set their own tents to sleep in. After that was done being set up, they started mingling with everyone there.

    The camp was bustling with activity, soldiers talking, drilling and sharpening their weapons. The sun was already setting but everyone was still preparing for the big confrontation they were being told about. They had all kinds of emotions about the upcoming – fear and excitement, horror and yearning for battle.

    There were many fireplaces sprinkled all around the camp, if Tanef had to guess, she'd say there were around 5000 people in the camp. Some of the men were preparing meals for the evening already, and the smell of alcohol was slowly rising up. Tanef was not interested in any of this and wanted to see the general. She asked around some soldiers where she could find his tent and they showed directions.

    They walked towards it and saw fancier tents cropping up, clearly influential knights who are also seeking glory just like this general. It seemed awfully silent, though, but lots of noise was coming up at the end of it. They saw a grander tent, something a general would have, and some men had exited it, laughing loudly and walking awkwardly... as if they were drunk.

    Tanef had bad suspicions and braced herself. The closer she got, the stench of alcohol got stronger and her fears were growing higher and higher. She reached the tent, the entrance was covered by cloth you would need to pull away to enter. Inside she heard laughter, yelling, incoherent speech and even a bottle smashing against something. And the stench... it was awfully strong. She entered and she saw...

    ...chaos. Utter and complete chaos. Men were laying on the ground drunk beyond comprehension and pissed pants, people riding on each others backs to mimic jousting, everyone covered in filth and alcohol and just... chaos. Tanef saw no hope in the leadership of this army. All she could see was complete failure to actually defeat Reval. The hubris and incompetence this display of pathetic degeneracy showed her what she feared about Amelgalia the whole time – they are blinded by their own greed and pride. And throwing such a party in the middle of a campaign? Insanity!

    Tanef backed off, got some deep breathes in and calmed herself down. She felt bile forming up at the back of her throat, the stench making her physically sick.

     She entered back into the tent and said loudly: “Who here is General Maximillian?”

    The people in the tent laughed and pointed to the right end of the tent, where a man with long blonde hair was laying on a chair, almost sliding off, and asleep, supposedly drunk. Tanef spat on the ground in disgust and left the tent.

    Tanef was seriously done at that point. She couldn't stomach it at all. She stomped angrily away back to her companions, interacting with the soldiers. She found Thurn and Loth talking happily with them and sat besides her companions. For the remainder of the night they exchanged conversations with various people, talking about life back home, their loved ones and the war itself. Tanef knew how demoralizing it would be to reveal their leadership as incompetent to the soldiers so she kept silent. She kept her worries to herself.

    And the night fell and they all three went to their tents and went to sleep, hoping to reach the siege camp the next day.

    “Thurn... you were taught warfare and strategy as the kel of Amelgalia, right?” Tanef asked, riding northwards with her companions.

    “Of course! We were expected to lead armies and issue orders, and properly assess the situations for the right kind of action.” Thurn responded. “Why do you ask? ”

    Tanef was silent at first but then said: “It's just that... I think that the general might need some help with your advice. My impression with him was... lacking, if I had to say.”

    “You think he is incapable of leading the army?” Thurn asked.

    “Yeah, that's what I think. His... strategy... seemed horrific to me. It's all about one decisive battle. I think he might be underestimating his opponents.” Tanef answered.

    “Well... I didn't meet this man so I can't say anything about it. What about his subordinates? How did they seem to you? They should be able to straighten up the general in case he makes a mistake.” Thurn said enthusiastically.

    “I... think they might just be feeding his hubris.” Tanef said, remembering the charade she saw in the tent.

    “Really? Now I am having worries as well.” he answered.

    “Did you hear anything about Hornhrug?” Loth asked from behind.

    “No... he might have found a different realm to serve under, or maybe he isn't a fighter at all!” Thurn told Loth. “But I do also wonder what he might be doing since he left us.”

    They kept riding for most of the day, exchanging a few more topics along the way. They kept riding through similarly wooded areas as before and eventually reached a checkpoint, guarded by soldiers, but these seemed different from Amelgalian ones, yet they still bore the banner of Amelgalia on the side of the road.   

    “No one is allowed to pass here. There is a siege going on and we are not allowed to let any people pass through, lest they help our enemy.” the soldier said, wearing some well worn, but also well maintained armour. A mercenary, probably.

    “Captain Tanef from The Endeavour. We are here to join the siege.” she said.

    “Ah, the Endeavour! We were told that someone from that band would be coming here. Apologies, captain. We are letting you and your companions through.” the guard said.

    “Thank you and thank you for your work making sure the siege is not disturbed.” Tanef answered and rode on her way. Thurn and Loth nodded their heads to the guard and followed Tanef.

    Not soon after this small exchange, they arrived in the camp, surrounding the fort. At first glance, it was clearly bigger than Fort Havyn. At further glance, it was full of garrison, steel helmeted heads shining behind the portcullis. The camp was set around 700 yards away from the walls, well behind what a crossbow can shoot at. There were some siege engines set up, some ballistae, but Tanef thought that they would be useless against this fortification – the walls were too high and the garrison was way too protected by the granulation.

    She found her own band in the camp – at the east side of the fort. Shirra was nearby and welcomed her 3 friends. She explained that the situation among the other mercenary commanders was dire – no one wanted to assault the fort, because they knew it would take grave casualties to do that. The fort had 300 men inside and protected a notable road junction through the woods, and with it in the way, the army can't progress any further. In a way, similar to Fort Havyn. But this one was square shaped, with two towers at opposite edges – south west and north east. The mercenaries had 500 men in total.

    It was a difficult situation, Tanef thought. None of the commanders wanted to send their forces first into the battle, the first ones would be killed off immediately. A battering ram and ladders to scale the walls were prepared already, but no one wanted to be the ones to take charge.It was a very difficult position to be in right now.

    A day passed, the deadline for the attack was about to come and they would all need to come up with a plan for the attack soon or be punished by their masters. Tanef walked around the camp, passed by the ballistae and thought to herself. “We need to get people in to cause chaos among their lines.” She had a silly idea “What if we had catapults shoot our people behind their lines..” She laughed by herself... but then had a realization – the ballistae can only shoot over the towers, they can't hit the men at all. But they can shoot over them.

    She called up her band and told them the plan.   

    “This is madness! You can't be serious, Tanef” Shirra said.

    “I am completely serious. I promise, this will work out!” she responded.

    “I... I can't agree to this plan, sorry” Thurn said.

    “Come on, this is going to work out. But we need to coordinate this with others!” Tanef said and left the meeting.

    “Should we follow her plan?” Shirra asked the rest.

    “I really don't want to. She has been kind of weird lately, maybe it's just a phase.” Thurn said.

    “But what if she does follow through? What if we have to follow and she fails?” Shirra said, worried and paranoid.

    “I am sure she won't fail, but the plan is madness. She is stronger than all of us combined, but it still will be difficult to pull off.” Thurn responded.

    Tanef stormed back into the meeting; “Alright, so everyone is assuming their positions now and we are going NOW!”

    Horns sounded around the camps as forces were assembled to launch an assault. The attack would take place on the south with the ram aiming for the gate, while the ladders would mass on the eastern corner, opposite of the tower on the west corner. A movable wall of wooden palisades were prepared for the archers and crossbowmen to clear the path for the men with ram and ladders to establish contact with the places they needed to be at.

    Meanwhile, Tanef would borrow the otherwise useless ballistae and go to the western corner, where the tower was. The tower had no roof, but acted as a small castle within thea fort, where it would be difficult to get in. But Tanef had an idea to crack it immediately and cause a proper distraction for the rest of her forces, who would take control of the ram and ladders under the cover of their allied arrows and bolts.

    The horns sounded and an assault was launched, the archers took place behind the palisades that were established already and exchanged shots with the enemy on the walls. They were moving step by step closer, people with ladders and the ram standing to be ready to move in. The ram was almost like a building on wheels – it had a roof for the men manning it and a ram in the centre, they were defended against the enemy from up, but given enough force, the roof would be penetrated if not covered by allied fire.

    At the same time, Tanef was ordering the ballistae engineers to move closer, so the shot could be made. The ballistae were stronger than a crossbow and could shoot further, but the engineers were still scared. It took all Tanef could muster with her speech skills to finally convince them of moving closer, and maybe a bit of persuasion with the help of a blade. They established themselves 500 yards from the tower.

    She prepared her swords, a curved scimitar with no significant qualities in her left, and a black, runed shortsword in her right. She had found this sword 3 years ago in an adventure with Thurn in a hellish world. This sword... is making her more enduring in the midst of a battle and she doesn't know why, but she thinks it might be because the sword is feeding the blood of her victims back to her.

    She prepared herself and stood on top of a ballistae. She counted down from 3 for the engineers, who were aiming them way above the tower. She braced herself and...

    ...jumped and caught one of the bolts flying towards the towar. She spun while holding and soon reached the tower. It didn't fly above it, instead it punctured the wall and hung in there, stuck. The defenders looked down, because they saw what had happened and wondered if the madman who pulled down that stunt is still hanging there. But Tanef was quicker and swung herself above and chopped off 2 of the heads that were looking down and landed on top of the tower. She didn't wait for the shock to pass and went on a rampage to kill all the defenders on top of that tower, slashing and hacking everyone she saw.

    Thurn was looking from below near where the assault took place. He saw how Tanef smashed against the tower and swung herself up. He even faintly heard through the chaos happening right there for him the screams of horror on top of the tower. “She must have done that, then” he taught to himself, “I guess it's part of our plan now.”

    He ordered the ladders and ram to be brought onwards. The ram was slowly pushed towards the gate, while the men with ladders, numbering 15, got into their positions with a column of first wavers behind them. Thurn came in front, with his great sword, swung it above his head and pointed towards the walls. “Onwards!” he shouted and the men ran to the walls under the covering fire of their archers and crossbowmen, who already had suffered some casualties.

    The ladder men ran and got into their positions quickly, holding their ladders against the wall while staying under them to keep them up. Unfortunately some of them were shot down but most still managed to get there. The soldiers followed soon afterwards, jumping on the ladders and climbing up with swords and axes in their hands. The defenders threw everything they had at them – arrows, bolts and stones. Many died, but many more reached the top fought their way on the battlements and pushed ahead, with Thurn being one of those leading the attack. The walls were slowly being breached, even though some ladders were pushed down. The battering ram was reaching the gate and threatening to ram it.

    Meanwhile, more and more men were drawn away from the east and called to defend the west side, where a rampaging Tanef was plowing through the enemies. She was covered in blood by that point, and with an unrelenting ruthlessness against her foes. She moved down from the tower and entered the lower level, fighting down the stairs and reaching the bottom, where enemies from all sides were throwing themselves at her.

    Tanef exited the tower building and moved on towards the wall, moving northwards, away from where the assault was taking place. She was running on the wall, slashing through every enemy in her way and deflecting arrows and bolts with just a swing of her arm, knocking them off with an ability she discovered she had 3 years ago.

    It made her project a... thing with just her mind. It manifested physically and yet was invisible. She made it to project sharp objects to puncture enemies, or blunt forces to knock objects away, just like she was doing it right now. But if she used it too much, she raqn in the possibility of falling unconscious from overexerting herself.

    In the southeastern edge, though, Thurn was leading a charge through the thick enemy lines on the walls. He was moving west along the wall, with the fire of the enemy archers subsiding as he was too close to not be able to avoid shooting their own men. He was hacking through with his blessed blade, which had been given to him upon his becoming of kel. It had become damaged, though, from the blood of the hellish creatures back in that realm. Nevertheless, it was still a fearsome weapon in his hand that could hardly be countered due to his almost inhuman strength.

    The southern wall was soon cleared up from the enemy and joined the forces in the east to help storm the second tower. It was smaller than the other one, but it was where the commander of the fort was. Some men moved down to the courtyard and fought and pacified the men down there and opened the gate, pushed the battering ram aside (which was pretty useless after all) and got a flood of men inside.

    The commander, seeing that the fort had fallen, was ready to take out the white flag and surrender, but before he could do that, a dripping and covered in red Tanef smashed open the door to the tower entrance on the west side and went on an onslaught inside, with men screaming in terror. Quickly, she reached the second level of the tower, the top, and slaughtered everyone there. She found the commander crouching down in a corner, hiding, but it was useless, as Tanef had seen him and crossed her sword around the neck and decapitated him in one easy stroke.

    The mercenaries were celebrating their victory at the fort. They had taken way less casualties than they expected they would take. They were celebrating by drinking and dancing, and singing. The corpses were cleaned out and the prisoners assembled in a small prison camp. In total, they captured about 100 enemy soldiers, while around 200 were killed, including the commander.

    Tanef was all talk in the celebrations. It was talked about how she launched herself on top of the tower, some even making up stories about how she winded up the ballistae with her own hands or that she stood on top of the bolt instead of grabbing onto it.

    The Endeavour was hit quite badly, though. It lost 32 men and only 68 remained. It could have been more, though, if not for the stunt Tanef pulled off and got many soldiers drawn away from the ladder landings.

    The legend Tanef was making herself was in the making now and many more stories of her heroism will come in the future.

[jeanplaisance]

The Goon Squad 2

For your listening enjoyment while reading this short story about the audacious endeavors of a select group of dysfunctional individuals, please use the following playlist for your selection of background music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-WzMovyzUA&list=PLWhQLCK89W8BDlgoZ-Rcp75q2WSjKRhGn

In the middle of a wasteland, the squad had set up a small encampment under the umbrella of an acacia tree’s foliage complete with a campfire pit and a tent large enough for the three of them, excluding the Gimp who preferred to endure the elements. It was here they had settled just outside of the ruins of a large city, a brief distance away from the shattered remnants of a highway.

“Leslie!! The Gimp is acting weird!” called out the Kid.

Leslie, without stopping his knitting, mocked, “Oh if I had a dong for every time I heard that…” With some pull and strain, the Kid managed to drag the Gimp out from behind the tent and into Leslie’s line of sight. He had equipped himself with a harness and was harassing the kid in a dog-like manner as if he wanted to be walked.

“Oh! Go find Fred! The Gimp wants to go somewhere. Why didn’t you just say so?” The Kid grimaced, as if to suggest that this question somehow stupid. Meanwhile, the gimp was nodding furiously to indicate that Leslie’s interpretation was correct. The kid groaned, bracing himself for the humiliation that was the cart.

The Goon Squad may be lacking in most classical faculties that one would consider necessary to proper human conduct, but they well understood energy preservation when it came to long distance travel in the wastes of society… Needless to say, fighting dudes on the beach was not conservative in any capacity. And thus, the gang all squeezed into a shopping cart hooked to the Gimp via harness and they began their uncomfortable, bumpy journey into the city. The Gimp gave no consideration to pot holes, believing them to build character, especially for a vehicle with no cushioning or shock support. Bumps were no factor in Leslie’s knitting abilities, and he proceeded unhindered.

You might picture that this group was recklessly barreling down the highways, speeding recklessly on the downward slope of overpasses, blazing through intersections and doing wheelies in parking lots. However, the Gimp is an obedient creature at heart. He obeys traffic laws. He stays in his lane, signals when appropriate, yields to oncoming traffic, and comes to a full stop at stop signs. He is fully concerned with the safety of his passengers, understanding that while he likes abuse, he should not assert that on others. He would obey the speed limit as well, but he will never reach speeds that mattered. Not with that attitude, at least.

Most of the city was desolate. Stores had been stripped of any and all supplies long ago, becoming operational bases to local bandits. Yet, one stood unphased by the catastrophe that struck. Sitting under an exceptionally high overpass, there was the Mega Mini Mart. Like a mini mart, it had only simple supplies, but unlike a mini mart, those supplies were in abundance. Where a mini mart might have cough drops, deodorant, band-aids, and cat food, the Mega Mini Mart had cough drops, deodorant, band-aids, cat food, deodorant, cat food, cough drops, band-aids, band-aids, band-aids, deodorant, cat food, cough drops, and deodorant.You see the difference? This is not to be confused with the Mini Mega Mart, which was a miniature scale model of the mega mart next door which has excellent variety in the products it offers. Its primary customers were ants and was run by fruit flies. Yet, everybody knew that the fruit flies were a front and the store was actually operated by yellow jackets in an effort to oppress ants through price gouging conventional living goods. At any rate, I digress.

True to its name, most everything about the store was plus sized. The sliding glass doors were at least three stories high, and centered above them read:

M E G A

M  I  N  I

M A R T

Which took up the next few floors worth of advertising space. The Goon Squad approached the doors, and like any other mart, the doors automatically opened and welcomed them in.

The inside was no different in concept and was truly a civil engineering masterpiece. The aisles towered far above, lined with countless shelves of the same product in abundance, but all neatly faced on the shelves for the image of a perfect consistency. Classic supermarket stocking technique. It was as if no warehouse supplied this store and the store was the warehouse itself, but trust me: you don’t want to know about the Mega Mini Mart warehouse.

Accompanying the squad’s fruitless effort of following the aimless Gimp around was the constant, overbearing presence of terrible, easy listening grocery store music belonging to a long lost period of humanity. It played unrelentingly, adding an uncanny feeling to the mysterious absence of anybody else in the store. And so, they wandered.

After about 30 minutes though of walking up and down aisles, and even going in circles, the Kid had to put his foot down on the Gimp, figuratively. “Okay guys. That’s enough. Stop.” They listened for once. “What are we doing? Where is the Gimp taking us?”

Fred shrugged. “I don’t know. He just kinda figures it out. It’s hard for a guy who can’t read, but he finds what he’s looking for.” The Kid leaned in, surprised. “He can’t read?” Looking over to the Gimp, he could see it plainly spelled out on the Gimp’s face that he couldn’t read. Not because he looked like an idiot, but because there was nowhere on his mask for him to see out of. The Kid startled at this revelation. Turning back to Fred and Leslie, he pointed back at the Gimp in shock, “Wait, how does he get around like that? He brought us here! He stopped at stop signs!”

Leslie and Fred shrugged. “The Gimp works in mysterious ways.”

Putting their faith in the Gimp, they finally came conveniently to a shelf of baby powder on the first floor of Aisle 147. There is pain, and then there’s inconvenience and the Gimp was starting to chafe. How he had come to find this went unquestioned, quelling all disbelief from the Kid. From here though, it was simply about navigating to the front of the store and checking out. A simple task. Straightforward.

Yet, the mysterious absence of people was finally answered. With half a hundred check out lines, they were all closed except for Register 1. All the people were waiting in line to checkout. Their arms tired from their groceries, as they so boldly skipped out on a basket like so many fools before, underestimating just how many items they would find they truly needed. It was horrific as they shifted their weight, trying to relieve their sore arms from carrying these groceries. And the line. The merciless line! It extended all the way from the front of the register to the tabloids at the end of the checkout. Rather than seeking alternatives, the squad resolved to endure this test of patience.

Oddly enough, the checkout was normally sized, meaning there was roughly four people in line besides the squad. By this time, Leslie had finished his knitting, producing a nice blue woolen cap for the Kid who accepted it graciously, but was embarrassed to be wearing it in public.

There they stood, waiting in line, with their single container of baby powder inching its way forward slowly across the conveyor belt to the register. Past the register was the exit, guarded by two large men in berets and sunglasses, armed with assault rifles. They stood like statues at attention.

Beep. The attendant placed the baby powder over by the bags at the end of the checkout.

“That’ll be 37 dong, sir,” said the register attendant.

Fred leaned over the counter, incredulously. “37 dong? For some baby powder? You can’t be serious.”

“Have you tried the Mini Mega Mart next door instead?” repeated the attendant.

“Have you tried an asskicking?” Fred was his wit’s end, but conceded. Fred stuffed his hand in his pocket, but followed up with a quick pat down when he realized he’d forgotten something. “Oh shit, I forgot my wallet.” They all met eyes, except the Gimp who can’t fucking see. “Quick, Kid, give me some dong from your purse.”

“What?!” He exclaimed defensively. “Also, it’s a satchel!”

“Purse, satchel, whatever. I know you’re holding out on us.” He gestured to fork it over.

“Awww, c���mon, Fred! I found it! Why do I have to spend it on the Gimp?”

Fred sighed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes with great vigor. “How many times do I have to tell you, THE GIMP IS A VALUED MEMBER OF THIS FAMILY AND GOD HELP ME IF YOU-”

Fishing out some bills from his purse, the Kid forked over a handful of bills to Fred, clearly displeased. “FINE! TAKE THE STUPID DONG!”

The register attendant was completely unphased by this display.

“Let’s see... “ Fred flipped through the dong. He paused at the end, and then thumbed through it again. He stared off into space for a moment nodding, before he thumbed through it again. Leslie leaned over his shoulder and whispered into his ear. “You have 35 dong.”

Fred turned to him, “I knew that. I was getting there. I was just…  making sure.”

“That means we’re two dong short,” Leslie continued.

Again, they were at a crossroads, waiting each other out. Fred eventually caved, and took off his shoe, pulling two additional bills out of it, crumpled from being stuffed into the tip. The flustered Fred tossed the money carelessly across the counter to the register attendant who proceeded as if this was merely an everyday situation. Yet for some reason, Fred made no move to pick up the baby powder, simply staring at the attendant instead.

“Uhh… can I help you, sir? There are other customers waiting.” The attendant pointed down the checkout, where a short, balding man with curly hair was standing with some box mac and cheese.

Fred sat there bouncing his leg, now giving stink eye to the attendant. Leslie approached him, gently placing his hand on his shoulder, “Fred, is there a problem?”

After a moment of strained silence, Fred finally spoke. “You son of a bitch.”

“Sir, is there a problem?” asked the attendant.

“Look, just bag the fucking baby powder.”

“Sir, that’s not in my job description. The customers typically-”

“I did not just pay 37 dong to bag my own baby powder. Are you fucking with me?”

“Sir, that’s not in my-”

“Yeah, you said that already. I heard you. Just bag the powder kid.”

The pair of armed guards had abandoned their post and were now approaching the register in light of the scene that Fred was making. Leslie and the Kid were growing anxious now, pleading with Fred to abandon his pride. He didn’t even need a bag. Just pick it up and take it with him.

“It’s about the principle of the matter now! Just because the vietnamese took over the world, this guy thinks good ol’ human decency is now out the window and we’re living in some kind of post-apocalyptic nightmare where a guy has to bag his own groceries!”

The attendant was picking up his phone and getting ready to dial. “Sir, I am going to have to call my manager if you continue making a scene. Sir, just-”

It was too late. Fred had jumped into the counter, and was trying to grab the phone from the attendant from the other side. “You let me speak to your manager!” One of the guard’s aimed down his sights… and fired.

Everybody flinched from the shot, and when they opened their eyes… they found a man dying on the floor. He coughed and sputtered, but through his pain, uttered his dying words. “Daryl, I know things between us never could have worked out, but…” He turned over and looked up at Fred, whom he had taken the bullet for. It was the balding man from behind them in line. Upon seeing Fred’s face, he collapsed back into the floor. “Oh for fuck’s sake…  I thought you were my ex Daryl from behind. Who the fuck else would wear shorts with juicy written on the back… ?” He trailed off as he passed away.

The squad stared in horror at the armed guards, anticipating the worst.

“Hey bro, toss me some more ammo,” whispered one guard to another.

“What do you mean toss you some more? You only fired one shot!” The other was whisper yelling back.

“Yeah, but that was all I had. Now c’mon!”

“... I don’t got any.”

“What the fuck do you mean you don’t got any?!”

“I thought you had us covered.”

“What?!”

“I didn’t wanna sound dumb, but I didn’t find none.”

“Al, we’re guards!”

However, their argument was cut short because a fight broke out immediately. The Gimp, Leslie, and Fred had taken the opportunity during their arguing to rush the guards, taking them by surprise! With a single devastating back handed bitch slap, the Gimp felled one of the guards, devolving their squabble into a wrestling match on the ground. Fred assisted by kicking and stomping, hitting friend and foe alike. Leslie and his guard were pulling each other around the floor by each other’s shirt collar, scratching at one another’s face and pulling hair.

The Kid took no part in the abuse of the store staff, beet red with embarrassment at the display before him.

The fight was swinging ever further into the Goon Squad’s favor when it was interrupted by the flash of lights turning on somewhere in the darkness above near the monolithic store’s ceiling. The fight ceased and everybody turned to find the silhouette of a man standing proudly on the railing of a cat walk far above. In a graceful sweep, he leapt from the catwalks and in perfect form, dropped the entirety of six stories to deliver a single devastating elbow drop onto the Gimp, defeating him immediately. Rising was a man in laced boots and trunks with wrist cuffs on and a luchadore mask. Along his trunks read, “THE MAN-AGER” and countless tick marks designating numerous customers defeated.

He called out in a booming voice of showmanship, “Who dares to harass my staff?! Speak now, for I have arrived!”

Fred answered his call with a weak right hook, to which the manager dodged. Grabbing Fred by the shoulder and hip, he lifted him above, threw him on the floor, and defeated him instantly with another flying elbow drop. He rose once more.

Leslie came in with one of his famous flying drop kicks, “YEET, B-” But he was cut short! The Man-ager side stepped Leslie as he dropped helplessly to the floor, opening himself up to yet another devastating flying elbow drop. Yet to The Man-ager’s surprise, Leslie had blocked the blow to his ribs with his arm.

Standing once more, The Man-ager was grinning. “Hoho! A worthy foe! A mere elbow drop isn’t sufficient for the likes of you, but we’ll see how you feel about my Muay Thai Body Obliterator.”

I apologize for the interruption, but I cannot describe this move to you. So far, these stories have been rather tame and I would not want to pain any readers with the details the likes of which are involved with the Muay Thai Body Obliterator. I assure you though, that the Muay Thai Body Obliterator is a devastating move that has been banned in all forms of martial arts contests for its lethality and striking disregard for the sanctity of human life. I regret to inform you, that Leslie is the one who must endure such a technique, but fret not! Leslie’s a tough ol’ bird with plenty to live for. He has no time for dying.

The exit was now thoroughly demolished and the setting sun’s light was now pouring onto the shattered tile floor of the Mega Mini Mart. The Squad had been defeated, save for the Kid, who refused to participate in the fight with the staff. Though unconscious, nobody paid with their life. The Man-ager was now wandering from one to another checking up on each person. He straightened himself and turned his focus to the Kid.

“Hey, I sure do appreciate your staying outta cahoots with these here hooligans. Doesn’t do my heart much good to have to hurt folks like this.”

“Oh, no problem! I’m sorry you had to do this. I can take it from here and get them out of your hair,” offered the Kid.

But The Man-ager just laughed and shook his head. “Oh no, that’s not quite how this works I’m afraid.”

The Kid froze. “What do you mean? Surely you want to get rid of us.”

“These fellas have caused me a bit of property damage and I do believe I am in my right to be seeking reparations. I have been in need of some overnight stockers to help me out with runnin’ this operation...”

This was not part of his plan. In his mind, by staying out of the fight, he was demonstrating good will, he was going to apologize on behalf of the others, and everybody would be on their way. This wasn’t the first time things had gotten a little out of hand. Suddenly, however, he was the only one going on his way from this fiasco.

“I don’t need to remind you, but we are closing in 15 minutes.” With that, The Man-ager tossed up the unconscious Gimp over his shoulder, and began making his way over to Fred as well.

“Wait-”

“Unless you would like to join them, I would suggest you take your groceries and see yourself out.”

The Kid was left standing out in front of the Mega Mini Mart, a wool cap on his head and baby powder in his hand, and the sun was now setting.