Liz, Bell, and Jill stared at the door and then looked at each other.
*Knock Knock Knock Knock*
Liz barely heard someone talking through the door. "Yo..on't..Jus...Dow..."
"Mistress, do we have rope here?" Bell asked in a hushed tone.
Liz looked over to Bell with concern. "Jill has some in her closet and probably a few other things to help."
Jill gave Liz a flabbergasted expression. "How do you know that Sis?!"
"It's been your habit for years to keep stuff like that in your closet." Liz shifted her chair behind the corner out of the line of sight of the door.
"Miss Jill grab a weapon they're not the neighbors and they aren't waiting for an answer." Bell rushed passed Liz towards the door across from Liz's room.
Jill grabbed a cast iron pan and got close to the door. "The door is made of solid wood that I barricaded, what can they-"
*Thump* The door shifted in its frame but didn't show signs of damage on the inside. "You Dumb ass you missed the doorknob! Hit...ain...don't mi...s time."
Liz and Jill looked at each other. "Sis, get it out."
*Clang* The doorknob shook before it fell out letting Liz hear them clearly. "Are you sure they live here? I expected them to scream when I hit the door.
Liz pressed a button
*Thump-Crack* The door and the frame were holding up to whatever it was getting hit with but the deadbolt was a different story and a loud crack came from it. "Yeah I saw two beauties looking at us from this room I counted the windows and it was here."
Liz pressed a button and one of her armrests popped open revealing a taser and several cartridges for the said taser. 'This is insane.'
*Snap* The deadbolt snapped and the door slammed the boards cracking them. "Just one more man. Should we give them to Butcher to get on his good side?"
*Thump* The door broke the boards and pushed against the heavy box. "That's a great idea but we're gonna have to test them first hahaha!"
*Crash* The door pushed the box out of the way and made a hole in the wall. "Let's find them. I've been pent up ever since I got locked in hell."
A short man wearing a black hoodie and jeans walked in waving a pistol around with his head turned back to the door. "You'll have to wait your turn since there's only tw-" *CLANG*
Jill dropped the pan and slipped the pistol out of the man's hand as he dropped like a bag of bricks moaning. "Leave before you lose your kneecaps."
"Wow she's feisty, she'll be fun." Two men approached Jill fearlessly.
The one who spoke was a tall bald man with card tattoos and was wearing a grey tank top, and green cargo pants with a holster at his hip that held a small revolver. "I call dibs on this one."
The other was of average height and had long black hair tied in a ponytail wearing a tuxedo t-shirt with shorts and holding a sledgehammer. "Alright, he lost his turn anyway."
"Fine then tank top." Jill backed up passed the hallway while aiming at a knee and pulled the trigger. *Click*
"Oh wow, she tried! good thing we never gave him bullets." Tank top gloated and looked around the room.
"But where's the other one?" The shorter one peaked around the corner and got socked in the face.
The man tumbled back at the punch falling on their table he held his face as blood flowed from his nose. "Fuck! You bitch?!"
"Your fault for getting that close." Liz backed her chair up as he picked his sledgehammer up. 'I hit him that hard?'
"There's a third one and she's a cripple. Ow!" The man cussed as two small spikes were in bedded into his right arm that had a wire connecting it to the taser in Liz's hand.
"Payment for the door." Liz flicked a switch on the taser making the wire spark. *Zzzt*
The man yelled and fell to the floor spasming as soon as it stopped and he screamed and tried to jump at Liz. "I'll break your hand for that!"
*Clunk* Liz turned the switch back on, sending him on another round of electrotherapy. "Yeah, this can go for thirty minutes tux."
Liz turned and saw that Bell was back with a baton, multiple sets of rope, chains, and locks. "What took you so long?"
Bell tossed the locks aside and wrapped the chains that were at least 4 meters long around her neck like a scarf. "The rope was covered with these, Mistress."
"Can you tie him up please?" Liz flipped the switch off.
Tux ripped the spikes out and glared at Liz with bloodshot eyes. "What do you expect her to dACK!"
Bell turned Tux around and pinned him against the wall then proceeded to tie his arms behind his back and his feet and knees together in the span of 10 seconds. "
Tank top pulled the revolver out and pointed it at Bell. "Untie him."
Bell looked away from Tux and walked towards Tank top. "I don't listen to instructions to those who are not my Mistress and her sister."
"What? You will die if you don't listen to me!" Tank top cocked the gun in an attempt to intimidate Bell but was met with a hollow stare and backed out of the apartment.
"You will now be restrained and resisting will be met with forced restraining." Bell unwrapped the chain around her neck and held it in both hands as she approached Tank top.
"I will put a bullet in your head if you take another step." Tank top watched as Bell didn't even stop and pulled the trigger. *BANG*
Bell kept walking with only a skid mark on her cheek. "Oh wow, he actually tried. Good thing I'm bulletproof."
Liz looked over and saw a hole in the wall close to Jill. "Bell disarm him before we get shot."
"It will be done in a moment Mistress." Bell took another step and shot forward much faster than you would expect from someone carrying a large chain.
Tank top tried to pull the trigger again but got hit in the hand with the chain and was pinned to the ground faster before he knew what happened. "What the hell are you?!"
Bell did the same thing she did to Tux to Tank top and the last one who tried to get up but was promptly pushed back down and tied up. "Mistress you or Jill don't know anything about carpentry right?"
Liz looked at the destruction of their front door and shook her head. "No, and I don't think we can get a new one right now as well."
Jill walked over to Tank top and picked up the revolver. "We could ask someone at a station for advice."
Liz scratched her head and looked at her hand seeing some hair in between her fingers fell out. "Station?"
Jill made the criminals get up and snapped her fingers. "Right you didn't hear but the police and military have set up stations to get food and report criminal locations."
Bell stared at the three tied-up criminals that Jill was forcing to walk out of the apartment and then looked at Liz. "Mistress I suggest you come with us so you're not unattended."
Liz looked at the front door that didn't even have a doorknob now. "Yeah, I don't like being alone... Here at least."
"Oh yeah, give me a minute to do something."
Liz grabbed the wires and spikes of the taser and examined them before placing them back in.
Bell tilted her head at Liz's actions. "Aren't the darts for tasers not reusable?"
"The one I bought her can, well if the darts aren't completely ruined." Jill chimed in from the hall outside.
Bell and the criminals took the elevator followed by Jill and Liz because there wasn't enough room to go all at once.
Jill was holding the back of Liz's chair as the elevator went down. "I didn't get to ask earlier but how did your raid on the logging mill go?"
Liz watched the numbers tick down on the screen above the elevator door. "It went perfectly... A bit too perfect for my taste."
"What do you mean? And stop acting so dramatic." Jill tapped Liz on the head.
Liz swatted away Jill's hand gently. "I think the next ones will be much harder since we can't use the gasoline again and I feel uneasy about the next ones."
Jill nodded and then remembered something. "And what happened to the person you cleared the mill for... Sarah, I think?"
Liz smiled. "Sarah is hibernating in an egg because she is a special-grade phoenix."
Jill chuckled at the normalcy in Liz's tone. "She turned into an egg? Did someone get mad about it?"
Liz laughed at the question. "No, they were only supportive, in fact, they're building the fire for Sarah while this is going on."
Jill listened to Liz's laugh and felt tears forming. "You like being there don't you?"
Liz stopped for a moment. "Yeah I do but you say it like I won't come back?"
"Why would you want to come back to this?" Jill laid her head on the headrest and started crying.
Liz was baffled at her sister's mood swing. "Sister you know I haven't given up because of a bad relationship right? Although men trying to flirt with me is terrifying now."
Jill took a shuddering breath and looked back up. "I know, I do... I just wish I-" *Ding*
Jill and Liz looked forward as the doors to the elevator opened showing Bell waiting with the three tied-up criminals. "Is something wrong Miss Jill?"
Jill rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. "No, of course not."
"Miss Jill your-" Liz shook her head and Bell didn't speak about it further.
Liz looked the criminals over and they had their heads down like they were scolded by their mothers. "Bell what did you do to them?"
"I punished them for trying to run as the doors open is all Mistress." Bell's voice made the men flinch.
"Nothing stopping us then." Liz was pushed out into the sidewalk and looked around to remind herself how different this place is from Moonfall.
The towering streamlined buildings surrounded them only leaving a tiny bit of the sky visible through the bridges connecting the building on the seemingly random floors making them feel like they were in a massive structure rather than outside.
Liz lowered her gaze down to the lower floors. "But why?!"
The lowest three floors' windows of her block were either cracked or broken leaving a coating of glass on the ground.
The stores on the on-ground were all broken into and what was in it was thrown out such as clothes, shelves, and mannequins from clothing stores and molding pastries, chairs, and tables, from cafés.
Liz was pushed over the glass making it a bumpy and noisy ride. "So how far is the nearest station?"
"3 kilometers, Mistress. They spaced them 6 kilometers apart so it wouldn't be as dangerous to go out and get food." Bell's head was on a swivel to make sure they weren't attacked.
Liz was doing the same but stopped and blinked. "Wait there's one left."
The one store that wasn't broken into seemed to have bulletproof glass instead of normal windows filled with bullets and marks, the sign was ripped off and on the ground nearby but it was still readable. [Utopia's farm]