The bartender stood next to the door to Madam Silvers office. "This is Madam Silvers office, but I should warn you against this. She has her Catchers and they are all very strong." He attempted to dissuade Nero one last time.
"I thought you said you couldn't take me here?"
"Yeah, but I wanted to see what you were going to do." It was true that he shouldn't have come and not wearing only a polka dot speedo. The way Nero was so willing to step into the fire scared him and i ticked him. He had to see what he would do. Even if he failed that would be okay he was sure it would be worth seeing. He had to see it from the bottom of his heart.
Everyone here avoided it. The feeling that even if they failed it would be okay. That believing was good enough. They couldn't do reach for it. Madam Silvers was most skilled at squashing those feelings. Reaping their self esteem until whittled down to hopelessness. Nero was a manifestation of what his heart truly wished for. Wished it could have done the moment he arrived here. Before the girth of his heart had been hollowed out.
"Thank you, but I have to do this for a friend." Nero took a step back and lunged foot first at the door kicking it wide open. Diego, Zil, Elle, and Viola glowed weapons and prepared to attack, then the door swung and hit the wall then swung back and slams itself closed.
"You could have used the handle." The man looked on to Nero. Can this man really show him what he needed to see so badly. It had to be him, the only other person he believed in was Elle but her teeth were shaved down and she could not bare them any longer. He had to do it. This burned so bright and fearlessly. If only he could get through the door he could burn it all down. From the depths of what remained of his heart he yelled. "Again!"
"I was trying to be dramatic. Uhhh, okay fine." Nero opened the door slowly. "Miss Lady girl Silvers?" He called into the room meekly.
"Who the hell are you?"
Nero looked around the room and spots Elle.
"Elle!" He looked around and saw an older woman with shinning silver hair sitting up at a desk across from everyone else. He looked to Elle, "Is that old lady, Misses Silvers?"
Elle looked over to Nero. "Why are you, here?" Seeing Nero made it all crystal clear. She didn't trust him. The only person she cared about or who cared about her was Imani. Everyone else had disappointed her in the past and what made Nero any different. Unless there was something in it for them they would betray you. They would pretend to listen, pretend to understand. She realized Nero was here to betray her just like everyone else.
Nero walked into the room and past all the Catchers and stands in front of Silvers' desk. "I will not leave until you let all of your attendants go. Especially Elle, she's coming with me. She's my friend."
"What?" Elle asked befuddled.
"We're friends." Nero gave her a thumbs up.
"No we are not."
"Yes we are." Nero repeated not giving Elle any room to debate. It was a fact he wasn't willing to concede. Even if it was one sided.
Madam Silvers was sure that this was an absurd proposition. "Why would I let all of my attendants go?"
"Because they don't belong to you."
"I'm sorry to tell you this but they do belong to me."
"Nope. They're free."
"I don't understand. How are they free if I have to let them go?"
"They are free. Even with your invisible chains wrapped tightly around their necks. They may believe they are not free but that is an illusion. They are and will always be free. I'm asking you to let them go."
"So, they are already free, but they need my permission to leave."
"No it seems you still don't understand. Let's use Elle as an example. She and Imani left the springs, right?"
"She snuck out."
"Life is full of obstacles, that's not the point. The point is, she left, and she never needed your permission to leave."
"Okay yes she left and I suppose she always could have left. Given the assumption that sneaking out is a shameless and widely accepted form of departure. But that is always an option. If they are free why don't they all sneak out." The catchers look at each other in confusion.
"I'm glad you asked. Physical barriers can make a person believe they are not free, but the most powerful are the psychological barriers. You can accomplish the latter by dehumanization, which leads to self-depreciation. These barriers cause a person to doubt their freedom, it doesn't denounce its existence."
"Why would I let them go if I'm doing such a great job making them believe they aren't free."
"So that you can acknowledge your own freedom."
"How am I not free? I own this business and all of the proceeds come to me. I live like royalty and even have my own guards that do whatever I say."
"You still haven't achieved freedom, you just haven't realized it."
"Explain how I'm not free."
"You are apart of a system that convinces people they are not free. Since you're not at the top of that pyramid, in some way, its happening to you too."
"Do you mean the Peace Corps?"
"Exactly!"
"You called?" In the doorway stands Captain Enyo. Distracted by Nero's explanation, nobody noticed The Peace Corps fill the doorway. Everyone looked towards the door except Nero.
"Yes, but I told you to meet at my suite." Madam Silvers quickly got up and addresses Captain Enyo.
"I'm sorry. I was there and you weren't so I thought I'd meet you at your office. Did I interrupt your meeting?"
"It's nothing important."
"But you did need to have all of your Catchers here? And one new face that I cant see."
"Yes exactly this young man and I were discussing..."
"She was getting ready to remove barriers for herself and all of her attendants."
"Nero!" Elle whispered.
"I'm not going to move until she lets all of her attendants go. Tell her Elle."
"Tell her what?" Elle asked Nero in a hushed voice.
"Who is he?" Captain Enyo asked.
"I'm Elle's friend. Tell her what you told me."
"I won't."
Nero turned away from Madam Silvers and stared at Elle. "Why are you here?!"
"What?"
"We are supposed to be rescuing Imani and escaping right now!" Elle looked at Madam Silvers, surprised Nero said her plan out loud.
"Why would you say that?"
"I tried to do it the easy way but I guess we're going to have to do it the hard way. Are you the Catchers?" Nero looks over to the Catchers standing behind Elle and Glowed his staff.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
"We said we were going to get you and Imani out of here. You weren't lying. You meant every word! Why are you here?"
"I don't trust you!"
"That's not true!"
"Yes it is. Nobody would do this for a complete stranger. I cant believe you! What do you want from me?"
"This is touching but we are here to kill everyone in this room. I guess it will be faster if we kill them first." Captain Enyo Glowed a pair of chains and swung them at Elle.
Nero used his staff to block the chains then lunged at Captain Enyo catching him straight in the chest sending him flying back though the door. Nero stepped in between Elle and the Peace Corps. "How long did it take you to give up this time?"
"What are you talking about?"
"While we were still talking in the room, when I went to sleep, or when we split up? Either way, you started doubting yourself, not me or Frides. Stop giving up on yourself!"
"Stop!" Her lip quivered. Elle had been doubting Nero but doubting herself. She couldn't believe she was worthy of true friends. People that just cared about her and wanted her to succeed for her own happiness. "I'm stupid and I don't understand anything. I'm not worth anything. The more time you spend with me the more and more I'll disappoint you. The more I'll fail. Fail to accomplish anything, the more I'll fail to meet your expectations."
"I don't have any expectations! What are your expectations? Strive for those. Do what you want! Be who you want to be and measure yourself to that, and only that. I will rely on you and you will rely on me. I'll fail and you'll fail, but..." Nero had raised his voice miraculously halting everyone around him. "But we'll try our best with all of the right intentions, and damn it, we might fail but we'll do it together. What do you think it means to live. Only the living get s to keep failing. To Fail is to learn, stupid."
"What if I cant believe in myself? Did you just call me stupid?" No one had called her stupid to her face. People had condescended and implied but never said it outright. On one hand it infuriated her but it also felt different. He was chiding her. Letting her know that it was temporary and could be fixed. She could transcend it in a way she never thought possible. She wasn't stupid she was being stupid.
"I'm the stupidest. I've made countless mistakes. I'm the worst at planning and I'm the most stubborn asshole you'll ever meet. So, just try and try and keep trying. Celebrate your wins and learn your shortcomings and accept the things you can't change. One day you will look back and see how far you've come and smile an awkward angst filled grin."
Her eyes watered. The thought, just the thought of it, lifted weight upon weights off her shoulders. Did a day like that exist for her? She could never imagine it if it did. She wanted so badly not to feel it. The pain and loneliness that she felt, when she turned back would only be a memory. It was so meaningless, there was no lesson to be learned, nothing to take away except abandonment and anguish. Along with all of the hardships that followed. "I'd like to smile like that."
"You'll laugh in its face. Now tell her."
Elle wiped her persistent tears away. Madam Silvers had been thrown by Nero's blatant attack on Captain Enyo and had not taken her eyes off of him since. When Elles red eyes fell on her, she processed everything Nero said in an instant and met the resolute expression.
"Madam Silvers, I am free and you cant make me do anything." Elle Glowed a crossbow.
Marcel Glowed two double edged Roman gladius swords and Laurel Glowed a curved falchion.
"What are you guys waiting for!" Madam Silvers screamed at the other Catchers. "Kill them now!" The Catchers leapt towards Marcel and Larel. Diego rushed Marcel forcing him outside the door. Larel attempts to attack Diego from behind but in the nick of time he dodged a devastating palm strike from Zil that left a whole in the wall where he would have been.
"We have to go and find Frides." Nero told Elle
"Where is Frides and Urs?"
"I don't know. They should be rescuing Imani."
"Uhhh. You need to follow the plan!"
"But I wanted to talk to Madam Silvers."
"She's not going to let anyone go."
"What if we just kill her?"
"I'm right here." Madam Silvers got out of her seat.
Elle looks at her. "Maybe."
Madam Silvers ran out of the room through the backdoor.
"Come on." Elle turned to Nero and he was gone.
Nero had been forced into the fray and was fighting the Peace Corps member Marcel with Diego.
"What are you doing?" Elle yelled at him. Diego is slumped over.
"He looked like he could use some help."
"Madam Silvers is getting away. We need to get out of here and get Imani."
"Isn't he also your friend?"
"What?" Elle looked at Diego.
"He's the guy that came to get you and you went with him. Doesn't that make him your friend?"
"I don't know, yes, maybe."
"Okay I'll help him get out of here and you go and kill Madam Silvers and save Imani."
"They're apart of the Peace Corps, How are you going to get away?"
"I'll be fine don't worry about me. We'll meet at the crossroad."
"Are you sure?" Elle hesitates.
"You don't know this yet but I'm going to be your leader. You can trust me." Nero gave Elle a thumbs up and Elle ran after Madam Silvers.
"You think you can take me. I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to catch up to that girl and kill her too."
"You don't have a.." Before he could get it out he was hit with Captain Enyo's chains and went flying.
"No, I'm going to kill him." Captain Enyo walked towards Diego and wraps his chains around his neck. "First I'm going to squeeze the life out of this one. Marcel, Go and kill Madam Silvers and the girl."
Nero pulled himself up only in time to see Marcel run by him. He turns and looked at the chains around Diego and threw his staff at Captain Enyo face catching him off guard. Diego took advantage of the moment elbowing Enyo in the side.
"Hey Goat guy!" Diego looked over to Nero. "Go help Elle!"
"Got it!" Diego ran past Nero, followed by links of chains. Nero glows another staff and smacked them down.
"I'm going to make you regret swinging those chains at my friend."
Viola used a white glowed Rapier. She lunged at Captain Enyo. He stepped aside and wrapped his hand in the chains and backhanded her sending her crashing back towards Zil. "Larel, kill them." In the middle of his sentence he swing his arm sending his chains at Nero again.
Nero blocks them and ran towards him. He blocked Captains Enyo's chains and closed in on him. Captain Enyo covered his hands with the Chains and blocks Nero's attack with his fist and slugged Nero with his other hand making him crash through the wall next to him and into the springs.
Nero rolled out of the rubble and into the sand. The patrons enjoying the festivities around the Glow Stone froze and the music stopped playing. Captain Enyo stepped out in full Peace Corps garb and the group let out an audible gasp. Nero looked around and smirked. "Sorry, guys. This establishment is now closed. Grab your shit and leave."
"Retainers!" The patrons rushed away and the attendants rushed towards the exit.
O BE CONTINUED...
Thanks for reading!