Akiol's eyes opened slowly. His vision slightly blurry. He blinked a few times to fix this.
Taking a look at his surroundings he realized their predicament. They were in a room made of concrete. Their arms were shackled to the wall. Their legs chained to the same wall.
Akiol tested his confinement. The chain connected to the cuffs around his ankles was about two-three inches long. The chains were thick and well welded. Akiol still gave a quick kick to test the bolts on the wall, but it didn't even shake.
However it seemed like the cuffs around his ankles had a weak spot at the lock. Perhaps the lock wasn't too secure?
Akiol couldn't look at it, as he messed with it he failed to loosen the lock even a little. After further testing he realized it was the same for his arms.
He was able to see the lock that kept his arms in captivity, yet it didn't look like much. There wasn't anything to see. Looking at the others' he couldn't quite grasp what it was.
The noise he made awoke the others. Slowly everyone came to their senses. Akiol saw three somewhat familiar faces, he assumed they were Rebecca's friends.
Those three slightly panicked when they awoke. All it took was some acceptance for them to quiet down a little.
Rebecca looked over to Akiol's party and sighed, "I'm sorry, I got you all into this."
Wrock also tested his constraints as he responded, "No worries."
A creak was heard. A metal door swung open, the hinges were obviously not greased. When the door closed Akiol immediately realized that the sound failed to echo throughout the room. Which didn't seem right.
A man walked into view, dressed in a suit that fit perfectly. He took a casual glance at everyone, "It seems all my troubles have been captured."
Akiol's eyes narrowed, their voice was soothing. Such a voice was dangerous.
They continued, "Did you have fun? Was messing with our operations worth it?"
Rebecca spat, "Your horrid operations deserved it."
"Oh Rebecca, it's merely business. Yet you interfered, making me lose quite a lot."
Rebecca smirked but didn't say anything else.
The man looked over to Akiol, "And you, you're quite something aren't you? Some how managed to cause so much trouble despite being affected by the side effects of the drug. Just what are you exactly?"
Akiol replied casually, "An ordinary guy who is quite capable at self defense."
"Well it doesn't matter what you say. They will find out."
The man looked at a watch hidden under the sleeve of his suit. After confirming something he looked back at the group, "Are you all aware of what you did?"
Wrock spoke up, "I think I'm innocent."
The man looked over, "Indeed, you six are. However someone requested your appearance. Consider it misfortune that you were caught up in this."
The man continued with what he was going to say, "A loss of fifty-million US dollars. That's quite the price."
Rebecca interrupted, "Bull, there is no way that's true."
The man held up a finger, "But there is. We lost trust with future clients, even losing some of our current."
"Ha, since you are unsure of how prosperous your 'business' was going to be you can come up with whatever number you want."
"One hundred clients, that's how many we lost."
"You'd have to charge an exorbitant price to lose as much as you claim."
The man nodded, "You would be correct, but our services are targeted to a specific audience. After all that was the profit we lost recently, not in the future. Are you now aware of how much damage you caused? You don't think you can just fool around and not be punished? Some kids need to be corrected!"
"Someone failed to do that to you as a kid."
The man shook his head as he paced, "Tsk tsk tsk, you see there is something quite crucial about this whole situation. A certain number of you are not needed."
The man walked over to Ocava, "A certain group not part of the transaction. Expendables if you will."
Rebecca jerked forward, "Don't you dare!"
The man gripped Ocava's neck, "Oh but I do! I said you needed to be taught a lesson right?!"
Rebecca yelled, "Let her go!"
Ocava struggled fruitlessly under the man's grasp. As her face turned pale the man let go, "A lesson needs to be taught! A lesson you will never forget!"
The man pulled out a pistol and pointed it to Otion's head, "I think I need to set an example! I think these 'expendables' would be the perfect example!"
Wrock struggled to free himself, he couldn't let someone die!
Otion felt his heartbeat accelerate. His eyes showed clear fear. Everything in his vision began to slow. He saw the man pull the trigger slowly. A thought ran through his head, 'This... is how I die?'
. . .
In Travis' timeline the player named Opportunity was solo. Not a single hint of her ever being in a group was shown.
She was always cold and distant, hardly ever speaking. Making everyone believe she was the arrogant type.
Yet it seemed that wasn't the case.
. . .
"Charlie!"
The man lifted the pistol, "This is for the damage you caused us!"
Ocava's eyes filled with tears as she saw the pistol pointed towards her forehead, "Please!"
The man pulled the trigger with no remorse, the loud sound made everyone's ears ring. He shouted, "This is to make sure you understand what you did!"
Rebecca screamed as she tried to free herself, "Elli!"
The man pointed the gun to Oranjay, "And this is so that you will never do it again."
"Don't!!!"
The pistol fired, and the man looked at the mess with disgust. The pistol held only three bullets, so he tossed it aside. Upon looking at his bloody suit he sighed, "This was quite expensive as well."
Rebecca turned limp, tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't do anything!
Wrock cursed himself, the limit of strength in this world! If he had an inkling of his previous strength the metal would have hardly been an obstacle!
The party was quiet, they weren't scared or frightened. Death was common where they came from. This didn't mean they would take it lightly however.
The man straightened his tie, "I feel much more relieved now. The rest of you sleep well, who knows where you will wake up next."
The man began to walk away. Yet stopped when he heard Akiol ask, "Do you believe in Karma?"
The man laughed lightly, "Of course not, if it existed I wouldn't have made it this far."
"Do you believe in right and wrong?"
"What's with the questions?"
The man was intrigued and walked up to Akiol, "Let me give you some helpful knowledge. Good and bad? Right and wrong? It's merely based around our morals. Morals don't keep people alive. If there is anything I learned on this world, it's that the mighty stand above the rest. The strong prey on the weak."
"That's where I disagree, the strong may stand above all. But preying on those weaker than them? It's entirely a power trip."
"Oh? I suppose anyone who stands at the bottom of the food chain will say such things. Those who stand at the top are well aware of the cruel reality."
"Then would you be considered weak?"
"Pardon?"
"Would this be considered preying on the weak? Or would it be considered protecting the weak?"
"I don't think I understand. You don't think you're some hero of justice, do you? This isn't a game James, this is the real world."
"I certainly don't think of myself as a Hero."
"Then stay here, you're a normal human James. Didn't you say that yourself?"
"Even the most innocent lie every once and awhile."
"What?"
Clang~
One of the constraints on Akiol's arms popped off. He swiftly moved and grabbed the throat of the man, "I don't think of myself as a Hero. I won't spout nonsense words on how I won't stoop low enough to not kill."
The man grabbed the arm of Akiol and struggled, "H-How?"
"It's as you said, the strong prey on the weak right? Does this still count?"
"T-The drug-! The side- effect!"
Akiol continued, "Wealth? Numbers? Connections? I've seen countless claim that this is strength. Yet these kingdoms all fell the same way!"
The man panicked as he tried to free his throat, "You. . . can't!"
"Can't what?"
"Kill me!"
"Or else what? Your organization is going to hunt me down? You act like that hasn't already happened."
The man turned desperate, "P- Plea. . . se."
"May the afterlife judge your sins and give you a fair punishment for your actions."
Akiol crushed the throat of the man and let him drop. As he did a wave of pain flooded his senses. It was so great he nearly passed out.
How did Akiol break free? The human brain limits the true strength the muscles could output. If this limiter was removed then humans could possess incredible strength, but would severely damage themselves. The ways to remove this limiter are mostly unknown by the world, for a good reason.
Akiol had his own version, removing his limit to break free. A last ditch effort technique taught to him as the Hero. Something to rely on during a do or die scenario. Since his body had higher strength than an ordinary human, the effects were greater. In return the side effects were greater.
Akiol's right arm muscles were almost completely torn. His bone was fractured in several places. His arm was dislocated at the shoulder. Still he couldn't just stop just yet.
Now having a part of his body free Akiol was finally able to see how the lock worked. It was like a latch, placed in a way that no matter how flexible or strong you were, you wouldn't be able to open once you were put in captivity.
Akiol grit his teeth and swung his arm to the latch. Grabbing on to it he pulled with all his might, groaning in pain. Before he blacked out the latch opened and he was able to free his arm.
He gasped and collapsed to the floor. His vision blurred. Yet still he struggled, after freeing his legs he stumbled over to Wrock.
All he had to do was open a single latch with his other arm. He did that successfully and Wrock quickly freed himself.
He picked up the collapsing Akiol, "I'd scold you for using that technique, but we both know what you did."
Akiol murmured, "It's what I do, I leave the rest. . . to you."
Wrock hurriedly freed Yielya first to check on Akiol. He then moved to free the others.
Yielya inspected Akiol's arm. She gently brushed his hair, "You went a little far this time."
Akiol did not hear this, for he blacked out.