Charlie couldn't believe it. One minute he as chilling with his comrades in the bunker, watching news in the terminal, and a completely different place in another.
He was tied to a chair with a pitch black rope, with his mouth taped; and a dim lighting came from above him(show how much he can see the smell of the place or his other experience). He was even expecting it with mirth when he heard something different than music…
He heard some muffled voices around him; and slowly tilted and craned his neck in all the directions he could, and saw a sight under the dim light that was both surprising and dreadful at the same time.
There were dozens of captives in the same condition as him; and he even recognized many of the captives; some were even his comrades he had from the navy: mark and cyclops( the one eyed); some people from the western quadrant. And thing in common among the people he recognized what that all of them were from western quadrant of the capital and everyone were related to the military in some way; maybe all of the people were. Charlie thought to himself in wonder.
Charlie noticed that they were in some kind of music hall with a stage. But this wasn't a normal music hall; the curtain that covered the stage had some patches of dried blood in it; the floor creaking under his boots was also covered in blood and grime; then there was a mixture of smell in the air; the smell of perfume, sweat, and blood that he was quite used to.
His current kidnapper was following the old tropes in horror and crime thrillers with a slight spin to it. Dim lighting? cliche, a crowd of captives? cliche. no creepy music in the background? Damn.
But the one thing he was he hoping to find wasn't present in this place; Mana. And that made all the difference between getting out of here alive or donate some of his blood into the floors below him. The lack of mana also confirmed another thing for him; this hall was in an another dimension or a domain created by someone; but there to get out of here was to either kill the creator of his domain which wasn't going to be easy, destroy the dimension spatial attacks, which he didn't have, or find that anchor if this is was a different dimension.
But he would have to follow the 'when-you-are-in-a-strange-place-without-your-knowledge' protocol.
Well, doesn't matter what it was actually called. Charlie thought with a shrug. 'So the first protocol: Examine yourself, and your stuffs thoroughly until no stones are left unturned.'
Load the goods, sailors! We're goin' on a trip 'round the world! And who you be?
First-mate charlie Underwood, Captain!
Move yer ass then, sailor; Inspect the ship;— make her ready!
Charlie checked his mana circulation, sign for any drugs, and some signs for foreign mana signatures. But everything was normal except that he didn't have his spatial card and neither his enchanted items. His captives were either confident in themselves or stupid enough to not even restrict someone's mana flow. But charlie knew that they were former as capturing a fourth-stage warrior(Rank B) like him without his knowledge was a difficult task. Although he didn't bother to think about the identities of his enemies; — It wouldn't be surprising if someone from his long list of enemies or friends had done this; and the others just a collateral damage.
Everything's normal, Captain. We're good to go!
Great work, officer Charlie. All hands on deck!
'Second protocol: Search for any allies around you. If there are none then find some scapegoats instead.'
Charlie focused for any spiritual pressure around him— a method that would let him separate wheat form the chaff. However, other than mark and cyclops there were only three people who were releasing any spiritual pressure. There were two teenagers:one boy and girl who looked alike(probably twins), and were around rank D, and a tall man with blond hair wearing a military uniform two rows ahead of him was around Rank B. And all of them looked young but age was deceptive in this era; he himself was in his late thirties but looked like someone in his 20's. Anyway, he got his allies that doubled as his scapegoats; the twins, the soldier and his buddies.
We've got more shipmates captain!
Then set the sails Charlie! We're going to the distant seas.
The mattered about the allies settled— the only thing left to do was wait for their captors who hadn't made their appearance till now for some reason. But he knew that he was definitely being watched by someone. So, this was the time for the third protocol; Prepare a plan but don't depend on it.
No hostiles in sight, Captain!
Then we plan, officer! All hands off the deck!
Knowing that his captors weren't normal people, the usual tactics wouldn't work; the plan had to be something drastic. He looked at his buddies, the soldier and the twins. 'Some sacrifices have to be made', Charlie thought grimly.
He looked at Mark, then to the one-eyed fellow; both of them seemed to realize his intention, and looked at each other for some time, looked at the people around them; and then finally looked at Charlie, and nodded with determined gazes.
'Sorry, guys. It's nothing personal. Just take one for the crew.'
- - - - - -
Charlie didn't have to wait long for their captors to appear; and their entrance was as cliched as their setup for this kidnapping.
First, The lights above them turned off for sometime; then the captives started to produce muffled sounds of horror and hysteria;— Charlie even perceived the faint smell of urine from his right; and when the lights turned on again; a group of fellows with pitch black facial features appeared all around the hall. They looked humanoid, but Charlie couldn't sense any life in them like they were a bunch of robots.
'Probably a familiar…' Charlie thought to himself with knitted brows.
However, Charlie's attention was drawn to the person who had appeared on the stage with a spotlight on them;— It was a woman — as far as Charlie could tell — and had a black cloak over a navy blue suit of all things, a beaver hat on her head; over her shoulder length blonde hair, and a black mask that hid everything except her cold blue eyes that scrutinized the crowd before her.
But what spooked Charlie was her massive spiritual aura which was close to A-rank; and covered the whole hall making some people faint on the spot. But he would never judge someone by their spiritual alone. The woman could be an awakened mage, a magic warrior or an awakened warrior and Charlie—who was a pure warrior in the B-rank could get decimated by her by thinking that she was an A-ranker and he had a chance to win…
'Spiritual aura isn't the sum of your paths, whether it may be soul-mind path, mind-body path, or soul-body path. It's just a rough measure of your rank form E to S. And don't ask about the SS-rank. It's out of our reach.' Charlie's senior had once said to him after Charlie had lost a duel in a miserable way.
The woman looked at everyone with faint amusement in her eyes;— her gaze pausing on Charlie for sometime; and she did a dramatic bow in all of the directions, and even behind her for some reason.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen~ I'm your host and your friend Ayumi~ " The woman, Ayumi addressed the captured people;— her voice was sweet, and melodious as if she was really addressing an audience of a famous TV show instead of a crowd of people tied, and gagged;— looking at her with anger and terror. But mostly terror.
"I hope that our hospitality was to your liking~ I know all of you are impatient for the start of the show~ I know you do.
"Fufu, You guys are anxious, and unable to move from your seats… Aren't you?"
'Ayumi…The get-up— the shadow familiar— is she…?' Charlie thought to himself with narrowed eyes paid attention to her hands; —especially her finger; and there it was!— a missing pinkie in her left hand.
Charlie would have gave a loud laugh of exasperation if not for the damn tape; he resorted to cursing his fate in his mind for now.
'Fuck me sideways! My first kidnapper after retiring had to be a bloody fucking finger of all people; — who also happens to be the lunatic Ayumi?' Charlie shouted in his mind in a wild rage.
Charlie remembered the particular quirk of every bloodyfinger; they never acted alone, and that meant at least another bloodyfinger was somewhere; which also confirmed that this kidnapping wasn't done for just him alone. The bloody-fingers would never move for an insignificant person like him; — No, the bloodyfingers; a group of lunatic like Ayumi — were under Sokketein; one of the leviathans of the criminal world; they weren't the puny narwhal nor the killer whale; — No, they were a school of bloodthirsty sperm whales, and poor little Charlie was just another tiny shark for them.
His thoughts, however, weren't shared with others as well; So they were looking at the woman like she was some kind of retard even though they may still be fearful of her.
'If only these fuckers knew who they are dealing with… and how doomed they are…' Charlie thought with some misgivings, and a slight malice.
Relay the Intel to our brothers, Officer charlie!
There's no point in that, Captain…
"Aw… I see that some of you are displeased…" Ayumi said while dropping her head. But as if it was a lie she immediately raised her head, and continued,"Well, I can't make everyone happy can I?~ so let's get the show on the road~" She finished while clapping her hands like a child.
"Let me tell you the rules of the show first. Everyone who is highlighted by the spotlight will have to come up to the stage and turn into a performer; and anyone protests will get punished~"
Then all the lights turned off, and ten spotlights moved around the hall for sometime; and abruptly stopped after sometime. Two spotlights had fell on the twins, while eight were on other rows. The people lighted by the spotlights got free of the bindings.
"Okay~ we've got our performers!" Ayumi shouted at the top of her lungs and beckoned for the freed captives to come towards her.
The freed captives— much to the dismay of the woman— Instead started to hurl curses and threats at Ayumi, but Charlie noticed that the twins were at the very back of the crowd;— acting like they were scared, but Charlie easily detected killing intent from them, and he knew that woman had as well.
'Well, well; we've got amateurs here…' Charlie thought to himself ready for the 'show' to start.
"Who are you people?! Why have you captured so many of us?" A short man with a port belly shouted, "Do you know who we are? You better let us go!"
Charlie recognized the poor guy, he used to boast about his position as a clerk in the army's administrative department, the guys he used to order around.
"You fools are going to jail for this! Do you know who my father is?" A young fellow with freckles wearing fancy clothes said. This kid was one of the local bullies in Charlie's neighbor hood, and this kid's 'bullying' was different from a common people's. No, according to the definition for 'bullying' in Charlie's dictionary, it could as get far as murder.
'Well, boy whoever ya maybe, your clout ain't gonna work on this women.' Charlie gloated in his mind, and kept eye on the woman who was just staring at the crowd with mirth in her eyes.
"Ah… boys, it seems our friends need to be escorted here." Ayumi said while looking at the shadow familiars who easily rounded up the mob consisting of mundane people;— whose teeth were for eating the high grade beast meat, not for showing it to other. Of course, the twins had 'acted' frightened, but let the shadow familiars take them near the stage.
While Charlie was watching the 'performers' move towards the bloody stage he felt a gaze directed on him; and tilting his head to the side he saw his comrades looking at him determined eyes that glimmered like embers in the gloom.that made him look away for sometime while closing his eyes, but he had accept the reality;— So, he opened them and nodded towards them. 'You're a piece of shit Charlie…' he cursed himself.
Then he watched as the twins were brought before Ayumi who had a mischievous gleam in her eyes; — the woman had already expected for things to get hairy.
Charlie also looked forward to whatever that was going to happen. 'Well, go on my allies…' he cheered his five allies.