The man opened the door, and under the flash of a thunderbolt, the silhouette of a group of individuals appeared at the threshold; they clearly hadn't come for dinner.
"Welcome to our humble ho..."
PAAAAMMM!!!
The father had just taken a punch to the face, breaking his nose, from which blood now poured. Then, the man who had struck him exclaimed:
"Hey, we've been waiting forever behind this damn door! Is that how you treat your guests? You're gonna regret it, jerk. We're gonna teach you some manners."
It seemed the man who spoke was the leader of this little group, whose members looked like real thugs; the kind of people you'd generally want to avoid. Fortunately, another person, a bald man wearing large round glasses and a white coat with "Dr. Brant" written on it, intervened:
"Now, now, calm down, gentlemen. I'm sure he didn't mean it and feels terribly sorry..."
Upon hearing this, the little girl's father quickly responded:
"I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience; please, come in."
"You see, Mr. Majita, I told you, this young man is quite charming."
"Pfff... Alright, fine, just this once."
The group entered the house. Meanwhile, the little girl, frightened, asked her mother:
"Mom, who are these people? Why did they hit Dad?"
"I don't know, darling."
"Mom, they're scaring me."
The young woman took her daughter in her arms and said:
"Don't be afraid, sweetheart, Mom is here."
"Alright, we don't have all day. Go get the girl so we can finish this."
"O-okay, right away."
The girl's father walked toward her and his wife, then said to his wife:
"Marie, give her to me."
"Absolutely not! Who are these men, and what do they want with her? What have you done?"
"I'll explain everything later, but for now, you need to hand her over without making a fuss."
"No, I refuse. I'll never give my daughter to these thugs!"
"Hohoho... Looks like she's got more guts than you."
"N-no, wait, she didn't mean what she said, she..."
"Shut up, idiot! Anyway, she seems to have more balls than you. Is this the little blonde girl?"
"Y-yes."
"Good. Alright guys, go grab her."
Two men then lunged at the little girl and her mother to separate them, despite their resistance. But it wasn't enough; the two men were far too strong. Even after being separated, the young woman continued to struggle and scream. Frustrated, the leader of the gang, Majita, shouted:
"Raaaahhh, shut this crazy woman up!"
Following Majita's order, one of the men holding the mother pulled out a knife and placed it at her throat.
"Shut up, or I'll slit you open!"
"No, wait, she's my wife, please don't hurt her!"
"Then go calm her down, idiot!"
The little girl's father hurried to his wife to try and calm her down, while another man brought the girl over to Majita and the doctor, who had remained at the back. Once they reached them, the little girl, with tears in her eyes, pleaded with the leader:
"Please don't hurt my daddy or mommy; please, mister."
"Oh, but you see, sweetie, that depends on you. Behave, and we'll see."
He then turned to the doctor and said:
"Doctor, proceed with the verification."
The doctor took out a small device and passed it over the girl from top to bottom twice before saying:
"I'm certain; it's her!"
"Alright, guys, we've got what we need. Let's go!"
The men took the little girl and were about to leave when...
"W-wait... and the payment?"
"Huh, what payment?"
"W-well, the agreed price... I give you the Elementalist, and you give me 50,000 tôks."
"Ohhhh, that payment..."
Seeing that the man remembered, the girl's father, hopeful, responded with a smile:
"Yes, exactly..."
"P-hahahahahahaha... are you stupid or just pretending?"
The hope he had just regained immediately turned to disbelief, and he could only exclaim:
"What?!"
The leader of the bandits, visibly amused by the situation, replied, "Let me explain... Why would I pay for something I can get for free?"
Shocked by this revelation, the father responded, "No, you can't do that! We had a deal!"
"I'm not going to lose sleep over it."
Seized by anger, the little girl's father charged at the leader of the bandits, "RAAAAAAHHHHH, you'll pay for this!"
"Hmph... I see you've grown some courage, but if you wanted to impress me, you should've grown a pair!"
Paaaam!!!
Unfortunately, the girl's father was knocked down with a swift kick. Majita, the leader, then ordered his men, "Tie him up!"
Now it was the mother's turn to try and save her daughter, but she too was quickly subdued.
Then the bandit leader sighed and said, "Pfaaahhhh... And here I thought I could leave without any trouble. Well, since you all seem to love our company so much, I guess we'll stay a little longer. And looking closer at you, you're quite a beautiful woman. I'm sure you and my men can show us a good time, right?!"
At these words, Dr. Brant responded, "Do as you wish, but I won't be part of this. I have work to do."
"Of course, Doctor, go ahead."
"Alright boys, strip her down properly!"
"Ahahahaha, at your orders, boss."
"Hahahaha, with pleasure, boss."
"No! Let me go! I don't want this, no, no, NOOOOOOO!"
Meanwhile, the little girl was also enduring her own form of torture at the hands of the mad scientist, who was extracting the lightning energy from her. The pain caused by this extraction process was excruciating; to the point that the little girl's screams of pain seemed to tear at her vocal cords:
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"