Love is a fragile, corruptible thing. And yet I have seen it evince a curious strength. It is beyond any comprehension Love is a weakness that once in a great while triumphs over strength.
Brent Weeks, Shadow's Edge
((May see if I can convince a certain player to get an awesome screenshot of our dumb babies for this quote))
((TRIGGER WARNING!! Putting the story under the cut. This is very violent and has elements that imply selling children for sexual slavery. DO NOT READ IF YOU MIGHT BE TRIGGERED BY THIS))
“Luke, you twat, why do we have to do business in a fucking cave?”
Luke, the big Seawolf smirked as he crossed his arms. As usual the Roe wore a vest to display the vast number of scars that ran along his arms, there were plenty to match all over his body, a hard life in a hard business had seen to leave its mark. “Watch it David or I’ll knock that buck toothed scowl from your face. We are here because some asshat informed the Jackets about our little gig.”
David spat to the side, his scowl still no going away. He was not pleased to have left the nice dry Thanalan weather for a damp cave in a remote armpit of a mining village in La Noscea.”They are all urchins no one should care if some rich fucker wants to buy them to…” The Midlander paused and tilted his head, he had heard what sounded like a scraping noise near the cave entrance. “Something is off.”
Before either man could speak again there was a blood curdling scream from the cave entrance, which was followed by calls to arms by the men posted to guard the meeting.
“David head back to make sure the slaves are ready and the guards on them are alert.” Luke was off at a run before he had even finished talking. “Gods damn Yellowjackets.”
What met Luke was not a squad of the La Noscean guard, but rather one man, a red headed Seeker dressed in a dark colored long coat. And that Seeker shot the larger man a look of predatory fury, a tiger ready to unleash the hate.
As soon as the Roe came into view Vash turned a steely gaze at the man that was now simply an obstacle to be removed. Powerful legs drove him forward toward his prey, long coat trailing behind him with the sudden burst of speed, and deep in his mind Vash was glad to be doing something other than training, to be back to a bit of blade work. He closed the gap in a flash, ducking low to make his profile even smaller.
Luke was shocked, but not to the point of being petrified and he looked like he welcomed the fight as much as Vash did. A big meaty hand went to his back to pull his greatsword free in a move that would aim to cleave the Seeker in two. The blade suddenly jarred in his grip and there was the unmistakable sound of steel hitting stone. The cave was too small for his weapon…
And that was all the opening Vash needed. He brought his own weapon around from where it had been hidden under his coat. There was a mechanical whir and snap as the magitek based gunblade snapped open from it’s stored position, and no sooner had the weapon come to life than Vash drove it into the gut of the Seawolf thug, angling it upward so that the blade got closer to the heart. Now there was a wicked smile from the redhead as he pulled the trigger of the weapon sending an ultrasonic vibration down the length of the blade. Vash twisted the weapon and sliced through his enemy’s torso easily, blood spattering both himself and the cave walls.
And it was over that quick, Luke almost looked like a beat had torn into him, and in a manner of speaking one had. But Vash spared the slaver not a second thought as he continued further into the cave.
No resistance was offered until he got to a larger cavern that housed a fenced in area full of several children, and six men of various races with weapons drawn and at the ready for the intruder that was disrupting their business.
Once more Vash had no intention of waiting for his prey to come to him, and he bolted forward because to hells with the odds. But he was not a foolish man, having made a very nice living in another lifetime being a meticulous planner. His arm whipped forward and he turned his head to the side just in time for a brilliant flash of light to fill the cavern punctuated by screams of frightened children and the shouts of the surprised gangsters. A tiger on the hunt, but a prepared tiger.
As men blinked to try and clear their vision he set upon them with twin long knives, a dark dervish slicing and stabbing before they could mount a successful defense, and within moments he had felled the majority of the thugs with no real resistance at all. As he readied to pounce on the remaining men he brought up his arm to block a blow from a staff that reverberated through his limb even despite the metal bracer he wore. The staff user tried to press the attack now, having mostly recovered from the flash bombs that head led to the demise of most of his cohorts.
Vash yielded ground for as the man with the staff was joined by another thug bearing knuckle dusters as his weapon of choice, they had him on the defensive and they were intent on earning their pay and a bonus for killing this disruptor. Or so they thought. Once more his arm whipped out in a smooth almost effortless motion, this time two thin throwing blades flying through the air, each blade bearing a thin blue line that pulsed softly as they made their deadly trip. One hit the staff itself, the man manageing to block that blade, but the other embedded itself in his thigh causing the gang member to howl in pain. That sound did not last long though as both knives suddenly pulsed and electricity arched between the two blades. Every muscle in the man’s body seized up and that was all Vash needed and he launched himself like a shot from a gun, in less than a second he buried a stiletto hilt deep through the man’s eye and into his brain causing the thug to fall to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut.
The fist fighter seemed to be totally taken aback by his companion’s demise, but he still charged forward and now Vash had a bit more of his work cut out for him. Fists and knives became a flurry of activity laced through with kicks and other close combat techniques from both of the men. Blows landed one each of them, but in the end Vash managed to allow himself to take a glancing blow to his jaw so that he could spin a blade and jam it up into an exposed armpit right before his other blade drove into a wonderfully exposed throat.
“S...stay back!” David, the sole survivor from the gang was holding a short sword as he tried to get the gate to the slave pen open, a desperate attempt to get a hostage.
Vash was on him in an instant, this time a sweep of a blade disarmed David in an instant, slicing easily through the tendons in the man’s wrist. He barely had time to cry out in agony before Vash started to work him over, blow after blow landing solidly even after he fell to the ground. The last slaver’s breathing was ragged through his ruined face as Vash relented to get to his feet and move to the slave pen, his gunblade shearing through the latch on the gate.
“Get out of here, all of you. Look for the men in blue by the windmill, they will get you to safety.”
As soon all of the kids were gone two emerald colored eyes turned back to regard the man writhing in agony on the ground. “C’mere…” Vash was not even close to gentle as he took a fistful of hair to David into the slave pen. “Selling children...and you know why they are being bought…”
“I...we had to...Goliath runs the racket!” David sobbed now as he held up his hands to try and ward off any more blows. “P..please...I..um...I’ll turn myself in! You can turn me in! Don’t kill me!”
Vash was ice cold as he looked down at the blubbering gangster, weighing the option briefly. “Nah...I don’t think so.” His hand seized the man’s jaw in a vice like grip painfully squeezing it open. As soon as David’s mouth was open far enough Vash stuffed a small sphere into the opening, breaking teeth in the process. He had gotten information by giving the man a glimpse of hope, but now it was time to finish things off. The Seeker stood and backed up even as David tried to work his now ruined jaw. But he did not have to worry about his jaw for long, a whirring sound emanated from the sphere right before tiny hooks snapped out from its surface painfully locking it in place. And then the fire shard went to work, and with a dull pop a rush of heat ended David’s life in a very painful boiling of his own tissues.
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