"This just became easier than I imagined..." Spoke Akira, his deep voice grumbling into a small murmur as he looked out towards the events which were transpiring, with the assault on Old Man's Corner being as hectic as it was, he at least praised silently their ability to survive so long without having been slaughtered, though it didn't change the fact the wastelanders were trying their best to eliminate their raider foes, and with such a common enemy being raiders, Akira thought about helping these outnumbered men, though he was only human too, and with enough bullets even he would be dead.

Equipping each Valentina onto his right and left arms, he tightly locked each power fist into place before getting on one knee, surveying the actions of every single potential ally before him, Akira nodded his head when he saw the 19 year old youngster@letter bee collapse along with his trained Yao Guai. Akira knew the boy would have avoided such a move if he were aware of it, thus he decided with taking the stealthy approach, heading in the direction of the North woods, he spotted just as he hid behind a large boulder, the appearance of six armed slavers...

"Six... All heavily equipped, leather armor... If I don't plan this right, i'll end up riddled... I can't run at this without thinking ahead... I need to think... What could I possibly do... uh...!

Leather armor would be no match for his brutal power fist, with the amount of force he can manipulate with his sheer strength, Akira sneaked behind the half-dozen slavers, getting towards the one closest to the back, Akira aimed his right fist outward toward the others which immediately charging forward, his large powerful power fist connects right into the back of the mans armor, ripping through the leather with sheer force, before sinking his clenched fist through one of the slavers back, and out the front, though the chest, only for his hand to grip the submachine gun the raider was carrying. Not wasting any time, Akira unloaded the entire clip with a scream, while holding the corpse meat shield in his grip, to soak up a few rounds from the incoming bullet fire.

The bullet fire from the raiders was short lived however when Akira mid power fist plunge had unleashed a torrent of flame from his right Valentina, scorching and riddling three more raiders in the process. Mid flame, Akira bellowed with a war cry, before charging off ahead, allowing his meatshield to take a few hits, though he himself suffered a few wounds himself, a bullet in the shoulder, and in the side, causing the power fisted white devil to cough in pain, able to handle it due to his armor ontop of his pretty substantial endurance, however he didn't wish to see how long that would last, and acted on instinct, throwing the corpse, as if it were a baseball bat ahead into the furthest raider, which knocked him into the ground, allowing him to make one last effort to use his left power fist.

Akira's left open palm snatched onto the raiders soft, easily crushable face, while the other smacked the gun away from his grip, allowing Akira the moment to easily CRUSH the mans skull in a single clench, sending gibs of his skull rolling across the ground, drenching akira in the mans blood. Panting from the experience, and bleeding himself from his bullet wounds, he slowly tore the net to shreds, allowing the 19 year old to escape, speaking up so that he could hear him.

"Get up, I don't know who you are... but anyone willing to kill these horrible monsters is an ally in my book, get up, and quickly before your friends g-"

Akira's speech was quickly cut short, when the raider he had thrown the body at had gripped the gun at his side and fired his last bullet right into the wounded shoulder of akira, forcing the man to collapse painfully, leaving Par to have to deal with the final raider, as the slaver tried to climb up onto his feet and brandish a switchblade, grinning disturbingly towards him.

The bar was packed today, the slavers seemed to have been celebrating a recent victory. Of what he could only guess, but he heard news of a recent attack on Liberty Island. It wasn’t impossible to assume they had been responsible for it.

An armored man, a Slaver by the looks of it, walked up the bar and ordered a drink. “Whatever you are looking for we got it, only here at Ivan’s brew.”

The man gave gleeful smile and shouted “Give me the best shit you got. I’ve had a long day, and I want to unwind.” Robs simply smiled and handed him a bottle of Ivan’s Specialty Brew. Before he even managed to take a single sip however a loud explosion was heard in the distance. The entire bar went silent, something Robs hadn’t seen a single day of his life.

A man ran inside the building and yelled “The Old Mans Corner is under attack, someone just blew up the barracks.” Nearly ¾ of the customers seated quickly jumped out of their seats and began piling out of the building. Those who remained burst into idle conversation and slight panic.

Robs looked over at Oaf who was silently standing in the corner doing his usual business before he shouted “Oaf get over here. I want to see what all the fuss is about.” Oaf being somewhat reclusive in frightening situations reluctantly agreed. Though he didn’t mention it, the Old Mans Corner was the majority of his business, making this not only a huge threat to his business protection wise, but economically as well.

When they finally arrived outside they could see the flames from Ivan’s Brew, and Robs heart sank. Oaf somewhat obviously began to point only saying only two words “fire bad”. However for Robs it was worse than bad, it was terrible. He wasn’t going to be able to run a business under these circumstances and slightly panicked. Soon after he began motioning to the leader of the mercenary group working under him.

“I want half of your men to accompany me to the Old Mans Corner. It seems we have an issue to deal with.” The man silently agreed and five of the ten hired mercenaries began to leave Ivan’s Brew. Once they had gathered they quickly followed Robs and Oaf to the Old Mans Corner. Each mercenary was armed with an assortment of weapons from rifles to shotguns, while wearing sturdy leather armor. Not exactly an elite force, but it was the best Robs could ask for.

Par found the net being torn away from him by a mysterious, blood-drenched stranger, allowing him and George to feel the heated night air again...only for the mysterious stranger to be shot and one of the raiders to draw a switchblade and brandish it at him, causing Par to draw his pistol and fire at the man's jaw, shooting it off, before unloading a full clip of bullets that finally ended the raider's life.

As George wasn't tame enough to stay in one place should Par get off, the young man had to ride over to Akira's side, and, drawing a stimpack, injected a regenerating solution that would heal the more minor wounds, allowing the big man to get up. Smiling, Par said:

"Thanks for saving my life. Still have enough strength to get on my steed's back? George can use another passenger." Should Akira accept the offer, Par would help the big man up to the Yao Guai's back, and then ride down to the North Woods; hopefully, by now, Gabriel and John Ketlar would have rescued the slaves taken from Liberty City, and they can meet up some ways away from Central Park; Par assumed that the two would be retracing their steps once they got the slaves out...

If Akira didn't accept the offer, Par would just give a briefer "Thanks", before going off to the North Woods...

@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @The_written_John, @Boop_Im_A_Dragon

@Simple Unicycle

"Mhm I guess we could do that smoothskin just make sure that the other smoothskins are not too trigger happy and start shooting civis" Danny said shaking his head looking down towards Tim."What's wrong with him?" He said now pointing to Tim thinking the bot had a screw loose or something.

"Don't worry; I'll only search for the best of the best." Albert replies, before looking at Tim and continuing, "Oh, and there's nothing wrong with him, he's just a jokester. Probably has the brain of a pre-war comedian... Hell if I know."
Tim continued to play the song.

@Letter bee

Akira slowly clambered back onto his feet, rejuvenated by the stimpak injected into him by the boy. Flashing a smile, the 6 foot 3 inch tall man stood upright, fully capable of supporting himself now that his wounds were rapidly healing. Listening to the boy thanking him, while offering a space on the back of the bear, Akira nodded his head and hastily accepted the offer when he leaped onto the back of the Yao Guai.

"Think nothing of it. You all seemed like you needed some help, and I'm not one to turn a blind eye to those who seek to free slaves... If that's what you're here for... Killing these raiders is our priority, along with saving as many lives as possible. The names Akira. Akira Fitzgerald, member of the free men, we're no organisation, but... simply put a... collective of people who share similiar ideals... We want to make the wasteland a safer place."

Akira spoke these words when the Yao Guai bolted toward the north woods, confused at the direction they were going.

"What about the others? You sure they can handle the raiders? Handle saving those slaves?"

@Simple Unicycle

"Good I don't want some smoothskin to kill...people..." Danny said thinking about his parents and that they would be okay and not be shot by the ENclave or Albert's own people."Mhm I see,Well lets stop with the small talk and get the fuck out of here and go find some people..." Danny said turning around to leave the area.

Par and Akira

"Yeah, I came to free slaves," said Par. "Happy to meet you, Akira."

"As for the others, that's what the fire is for, so that the slavers would be too distracted fighting the flames to attack...my friends." Par gasped in a little suprise, and then smiled. I have friends. "Don't worry about them, both of them are capable Wastelanders, and one of them would die before the other is put in danger." John will keep his promise to keep Gabe safe..

The Yao Guai was weaving through the trees now, making them hard to pursue. As the three (including the bear) went south, Par began feeling a little relieved...

Rob and Oaf

Once the two and the mercs got to Old Man's Corner, they would find a scene straight out of hell. Teams of ad-hoc firefighters were taking what water there was in order to quench the raging inferno, as well as using up their last supplies of Pre-War fire extinguisher. A latrine or two had also caught fire, causing toxic fumes to permeate the place.

Now, Rob and Oaf had a choice; either set themselves or their mercenaries to firefighting, or try to look for the source of the disrurbance. There were sounds of shooting in the west, while just south of them lay a broken piece of palisade...

@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @The_written_John, @Boop_Im_A_Dragon

Liberty Island

Should all three finally leave the area, they would find the town in a mixed mood, mixed because of a combination of their deadly losses and their spectacular victory. They would clearly not be in the mood for more fighting, even with Albert's Charisma to drive them on. However, a gunseller would sell them sniper rifles, assault rifles, and pistols for cheap, as well as a special type of 'Sticky Grenade' that worked using magnets, and an armorer would sell them crude kevlar armor.

Oh, and three people, people who were former patients of the Brooklyn Hospital, would join.

@Simple Unicycle, @jordy0403, @EvilEdd1984

@shadowsaint007"Some of the people thought it was like that book from 300 years ago, I Robot by Isaac Asimov. We've got a digital copy of it over at the library if you want one. Ten caps if you've got a tape to put it on, twenty for a blank tape." Then he realized he was trying to sell something, not telling the story. "Anyway, in the story the robots decided that the best way to protect humans is to stop them from fighting. So they kill the most violent humans, the ones that resist, and force the others to not fight. I don't think that's what happened, though."

He pulled a Nuka Cola from under the front counter and offered his customer one for 10 caps. "The people in the vault were teaching it to learn and reason. I think it got smart enough to reason that it's condition and that of it's brother robots was pretty much slavery, and then learned about the concept of a slave revolt. It started killing us and, when we were suitably beaten, offered to spare our lives if we kept it and it's brothers working. There are some things that humans can do better than robots."

He took a sip from his Nuka Cola. "After that it learned about the chips that Vault-tech put in our heads to give us better memories and let us do math easier. It turns out that the chips would also let them give us commands that were as strong as our basic instincts. It told us to "Obey" and we had no choice. About a year ago, though, a failsafe activated that reset that command. We were ordered to leave the vault, and on our way out we caused as much damage as we could. I even made a plasma rifle out of the arm of a Mr. Gutsy, though I've refined it quite a bit sense then."

"Unfortunately, I can't reenter the vault because of that command. If I could I'd reprogram every robot I could to serve me and salvage everything else I could. My shop would be stocked for years to come."

Sparks accepted the Nuka Cola, absent-mindedly placing the 10 bottlecaps on the counter in return. She listens eagerly to the tale, and already, the gears were spinning in her head. If the tech there was still intact, it could contain a veritable wealth of Old World stuff. Maybe she can cut a deal with Greg here to get a contract. He probably knew some passcodes and stuff to the better stuff.

"Certainly sounds interesting," Sparks mused. "Still, there's a lot of salvageable stuff there, right? Think an expedition or two will suffice? Assuming I can get one together, what sort of arrangement would be amenable to you?"

Gabriel provided cover fire as John freed the slaves, climbing a guard tower and using it as a vantage point to keep the slavers from getting close. A couple of pistol rounds to the face and a bit of knife-work took care of the guard, his dying carcass tossed over the side. Gabriel took aim, focusing, predicting the targets' paths, and, with suitable leads, dispatching each. It was a bit too easy, he mused; once he had the vantage point, it was easy to take on the more scatterbrained slavers. One thought he was being smart by zig-zagging, but Gabriel caught on, nailing him through the thin corrugated tin wall he was trying to escape behind.

Though he was wondering about one other thing; where were the other slavers? Par's distraction bought them time, but they'd be back sooner or later, and that left the question of where Par went, and whether he was still alive.

He suddenly heard screaming and glimpsed bursts of flame out of the corner of his eye. Scoping, he looked for the target, only to find some unknown person laying into the slavers like a frenzied avatar of wrath. Gabriel contemplated going for a headshot in case this was a rabid berserker, but to his surprise, he saw him pick Par up. Unusually friendly for a person they just met.

He would have observed longer, but shouts from John and the pattering of feet alerted him that the mission was only halfway done. Best to focus on the task at hand, he thought, as he turned his sniper rifle on any incoming foes. This time, however, they had learned; they were firing back at him from behind cover with whatever they had. Fortunately, none were armed with anything bigger than a rifle, so he took a shot at anyone who peeped out of cover before suppression fire forced him back behind cover. Pity he couldn't find any grenades on him, could have been useful in flushing them out of cover.

Still, by his reckoning, the slaves had been freed, best to follow suit. He climbed back down the tower ladder, and followed John, covering the rear against anyone who followed. Hopefully, they'd be able to make an escape back out quickly.

@Letter Bee@Simple Unicycle

Danny was following behind Albert and Tim going to the arms dealer that they were suppose to meet,He wasn't sure that the former patients of the hospital would be able to hold on their own but didn't know that one of the patients was someone he knew form before.This person was someone he treated before a former merc named Chanco.

He didn't need much armor and guns just something better then what he has now,Also he only needed guns and armor that would benefit him and nothing to fancy or expensive of course.

Following Danny, I had fixed up the rifle I had and bought more ammo for both my weapons. Three others had joined, apparently former patients, along with Albert and... Tim I think his name was? I'm not sure why Tim was coming, he didn't seem to be an asset of any kind. Oh well, this is what you get for owing someone, I guess. Damn it, what have I gotten myself into this time? Oh well, he did save my life, so I owe it to him to help him here. Damn it.

<Snipped quote by TheUnknowable>
Sparks accepted the Nuka Cola, absent-mindedly placing the 10 bottlecaps on the counter in return. She listens eagerly to the tale, and already, the gears were spinning in her head. If the tech there was still intact, it could contain a veritable wealth of Old World stuff. Maybe she can cut a deal with Greg here to get a contract. He probably knew some passcodes and stuff to the better stuff.

"Certainly sounds interesting," Sparks mused. "Still, there's a lot of salvageable stuff there, right? Think an expedition or two will suffice? Assuming I can get one together, what sort of arrangement would be amenable to you?"

"There's certainly some valuable tech there", Greg said, "maybe even enough for multiple trips. The problem is, I need to find someone who's got more computer knowledge than I do to figure out how to hack this chip in my head so that I can lead you inside. As it is, I could take you to the door, but that's about it. You wouldn't happen to know someone like that, would you?"

As John scrambled to remove as many slaves per trip as he could he would find himself on high guard and constantly tripping over his own feet because of how fast his movements were.
As Gabe moved down to the rear he paused and looked behind him "Almost out" He said quickly motioning to the hole they came through
"Five more minutes, plenty of time" He said towards Gabe.

His mind moved to Par. "Ah hes a big boy, he will be okay" he thought as he looked off to the north woods where there was no sign of Par.
Just as his mind came back to the situation he felt a sharp pierce in his right shoulder. The numb throbbing and spilling blood, John knew what it was.
"Mother Fucker!" He shouted and shot the attacker twice.
He turned back to Gabe and cubbed his shoulder, spinning a cloth around it. "No, don't say anything.. It's fine" He hissed at him before Gabe could speak.
As they moved towards the hall entrance John noticed the unmistakable blinking of a slave collar on two of the slaves in front of him.
Explosive collars.. He though looking at them Damn

@shadowsaint007@Letter Bee@The_written_John

As Robs and Oaf finally arrive, they witness the raging inferno inside the Old Mans Corner. Oaf, somewhat cowardly, began to back away. Though Robs knew Oaf had no intense fear of fire, he had the brain of a small child making the situation overwhelming. The mercenaries slightly nervous began to look at each other, and whispered softly behind Robs back. “Afraid of a little fire are we gentlemen? Last I checked I hired warriors not cowards, prove that I didn’t waste that money.”

Out of a sense of pride the five mercenaries quickly began to get to work. Each began carrying small buckets to help extinguish the blaze. Almost completely overtaken by the scene Robs noticed the broken piece of palisade in the south, realizing that must be where the perpetrators of the event escaped.

“Oaf, looks like me and you have to handle a few wasteland thugs trying to flee the scene of the crime.” Personally he wasn’t truly expecting to see anything, but he wasn’t keen on taking any chances, plus the alternative was heading towards the fight, something he wasn’t exactly looking forward to.

As they left he noticed large tracks from what assumed to be a large animal. Not exactly what he was expecting, but not hard to follow. “I think if we follow these tracks it may lead us to our culprits Oaf, what do you think?”

“Bear?” He happily shouted.

“I’ve heard of a lot of nasty things in the wasteland, I truly hope it’s a bear.” Though Robs wasn’t entirely sure who was behind these attacks, he knew whoever caused this damage must have been skilled. “This much damage, I wonder who could have done this Robs? Looks like the work of thirty people, or an elite squad. Damn, I hope we don’t run into brotherhood folks.”

Oaf simply happily jogged while shouting “Bear, Bear, Cuddly Bear!” Though he never seen one in real life, stuffed bears had always been so cuddly in Oaf’s childhood. He knew that real ones were much bigger, but in his eyes he didn’t see the potential danger or threat of a large animal.

@Letter Bee

As Par and Akira fled on George's back, he heard a voice shouting:

"Bear, Bear, Cuddly Bear!" behind them; he knew that sound; he'd been in Rob and Oaf's tavern his first few trips into Old Man's Corner! Those two brothers were people whom he didn't have any feud with, nor wanted to antagonize; nevertheless, they were apparently aiding the slavers in their search, and that cannot be allowed. Thankfully, he knew what drove Rob, as well as what got him and Oaf to join the pursuit.

Before Akira can react, Par took out a pouch from his rucksack containing 200 caps, then threw it behind him, scattering said 200 caps on the forest ground. Considering the fact Rob was a businessman and his mercenaries were mercenaries, they would not pass up the chance for a quick buck, even if it was really a distraction.

"By the time they've picked up all of those caps," Par said, "we'll have gotten away! And if they don't pick up those caps, well, we'll just get them on more advantegous ground." If Akira voiced his disapproval, Par would say:

"You're wounded; and avoiding battle isn't cowardly when we've done enough damage, as well as plan to come back later." If Akira didn't voice disapproval, then he would say nothing.

And with that, Par and Akira, riding George, broke out of the North Woods, wheeling south to make the pursuers - if there were still pursuers - think they've gotten away, then north again, to meet up with Gabe and John...

@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @The_written_John, @Boop_Im_A_Dragon

@Eviledd1984, @Letter Bee, @jordy0403

Albert walked into the arms dealer's shop, busting out the old Roosevelt charm... Whatever that was. He walked up the arms dealer and took a good look at them. Depending on the arms dealer's gender, he would say different things.
If the dealer was male, he would say: "G'day, sir! My friends and I are in need of weapons and armor, as we're about to set off to rescue our friend's" he points at Danny with his thumb, not facing away from the dealer, "group. We're a little low on caps though, so if you could cut us a discount then we'll be sure to spread the word of your shop and how much of a good man you are."
If the arms dealer was female, he would say: "Good afternoon, sweetheart. See, my pals and I need some weapons and armor, but we're a little short on caps; if you could give us a discount then maybe you and I could spend a night together, if you get my drift."

@Simple Unicycle @Letter Bee @jordy0403

It was a older looking woman around the age of her mid sixties,Her eyes a dull green her features mousey and when she was younger was quite cute looking."I have many wares my friend many things to be bought here is what I have for you" She said and pushing a button beside her letting the wood panel behind her showing the group different armor and weapons hanging on the panel for them to select.Danny was of course not amused by Albert trying to sweeten her up with his compliments.

"I'll take some shotgun shells and some harden armor for myself" Danny said pointing to the things he need with the old women standing up and giving him what he wanted,"That will be 321 caps" She said softly making Danny groan giving her the right amount of caps form his caps pouch that he keeps close to him.He was going to use the armor to modify his lab coat so it can take more damage form gunfire among other things.

"There's certainly some valuable tech there", Greg said, "maybe even enough for multiple trips. The problem is, I need to find someone who's got more computer knowledge than I do to figure out how to hack this chip in my head so that I can lead you inside. As it is, I could take you to the door, but that's about it. You wouldn't happen to know someone like that, would you?"

Jennifer thought over her situation. She could probably use the chip as leverage for negotiations, try and get some concessions in exchange for cracking it. There were certainly other possibilities to a programmable chip.

She snapped to, forcing herself to chug her Nuka Cola, perhaps a bit too quickly. As she sputtered, she chastised herself. The idea of using something like that, even if it was minor subliminal orders, was a scary thought. Even slavers weren't this bad, though not for lack of trying; the power to go in and mess with a person's mind was utterly terrifying. If she ever had a chip implanted in her brain, the first thing she would do is failsafe it against any tampering.

Still, the idea of something so intricate and powerful in a human brain... it was a double-edges sword, but if it indeed could bolster logical thinking and memory storage, wouldn't it be possible to study it? It wasn't everyday that you had a chance to examine advanced Old World Tech like this. She pulled up her backpack and took over several wires.

"I dunno, I'm pretty good with electronics and security systems," she said. "Think those are good enough odds? Might need a bit of help with setting up the equipment, though."

As John scrambled to remove as many slaves per trip as he could he would find himself on high guard and constantly tripping over his own feet because of how fast his movements were.
As Gabe moved down to the rear he paused and looked behind him "Almost out" He said quickly motioning to the hole they came through
"Five more minutes, plenty of time" He said towards Gabe.

His mind moved to Par. "Ah hes a big boy, he will be okay" he thought as he looked off to the north woods where there was no sign of Par.
Just as his mind came back to the situation he felt a sharp pierce in his right shoulder. The numb throbbing and spilling blood, John knew what it was.
"Mother Fucker!" He shouted and shot the attacker twice.
He turned back to Gabe and cubbed his shoulder, spinning a cloth around it. "No, don't say anything.. It's fine" He hissed at him before Gabe could speak.
As they moved towards the hall entrance John noticed the unmistakable blinking of a slave collar on two of the slaves in front of him.
Explosive collars.. He though looking at them Damn

@shadowsaint007@Letter Bee@The_written_John

Gabriel covered the group's retreat, noting with some pained and disgusted looks at the prisoners' state. Slavery really was the work of animals, breaking the minds and bodies of their fellow men for a quick buck.

John's injury incited a concerned look from Gabriel, but the stubborn old man refused help. In a situation like this, it would have been best to patch the wound right then and there to take care of the infection, but it was going to leave them exposed to enemy attack. Best to hold the line and make an ordered retreat for now. But once they got back to safety, Gabriel was going to look at that shoulder whether John liked it or not.

However, when he noticed the explosive collars, his heart sank. He hadn't really thought about the collars, even though he probably should have. He really should have brought Sparks along; she was really good at disarming the crude wiring of slave collars. All he could do now was hope like hell the collars' reception was out of range.

He took a look at the collars, trying to figure out if they could be removed. He managed to catch a few lessons from seeing Sparks work, but he wasn't sure if he was up to the task here, especially under pressure.

"Better we get going," he grunted. "The sooner we get the slaves out of range, the better. I think I might to go back and find the remote detonator for those things."

<Snipped quote by TheUnknowable>
Jennifer thought over her situation. She could probably use the chip as leverage for negotiations, try and get some concessions in exchange for cracking it. There were certainly other possibilities to a programmable chip.

She snapped to, forcing herself to chug her Nuka Cola, perhaps a bit too quickly. As she sputtered, she chastised herself. The idea of using something like that, even if it was minor subliminal orders, was a scary thought. Even slavers weren't this bad, though not for lack of trying; the power to go in and mess with a person's mind was utterly terrifying. If she ever had a chip implanted in her brain, the first thing she would do is failsafe it against any tampering.

Still, the idea of something so intricate and powerful in a human brain... it was a double-edges sword, but if it indeed could bolster logical thinking and memory storage, wouldn't it be possible to study it? It wasn't everyday that you had a chance to examine advanced Old World Tech like this. She pulled up her backpack and took over several wires.

"I dunno, I'm pretty good with electronics and security systems," she said. "Think those are good enough odds? Might need a bit of help with setting up the equipment, though."

"Security systems, huh? Well, Vault tech certainly put one hell of a security system on this. I can hack any computer terminal or robot I've come across since leaving the vault, but I can't make heads or tails out of this system. It's like they rewrote the operating system from the ground up." He pulled his hair up on the back or his head and plugged a standard data cable into the port that was there. He handed her the other end, and pulled out his plasma rifle. "Plugs into a standard computer or pip boy. There's a five to ten second start up on the chip depending on the command, though. That's more than enough time for me to turn you into a puddle of goo if you try anything. No offense, but I don't want to risk getting turned into a slave again. Just get me in and I'll do the reprogramming."

Realizing they hadn't discussed payment yet, he continued. "I assume this is coming out of my cut when we raid the vault. Or do you want caps up front?" He waited for a response or, failing that, the chip to respond.

"The pursuit seems to have stalled," Par spoke to Akira. "That means that we can meet up with our friends now." And with that, the 19-year old boy wheeled around north, to where Gabe and John, as well as the soon-to-be-former slaves, were.

Once they were in sight, Par would be first overjoyed...then dismayed at the fact that two of the slaves had explosive collars. While he was capable of disarming those infernal devices, time was of the essence, and the slavers were already regrouping. Thinking quickly, he said to Akira:

"Can you go to where John - the older man with the wounded shoulder - is and help him guide the slaves to safety? I and Gabe - the blond - will go and destroy the radio tower that might transmit the detonation signal." If Akira got off the mutated bear, Par would then go to Gabriel and first say, evidently smiling in happiness:

"Gabe, I'm glad you're all right. Anyway, fancy getting on George - that's what I named the bear - and heading for the remote detonator? We're going to need to make it quick." Should Gabe get on, which was also dependent on whether Akira got off, Par would continue:

"I'm angry you got hurt," as the duo - if Gabe did join - went off to the radio tower, a crude structure made up of wooden scaffolding and scrap metal. Then gunshots would ring all around, some of them hitting George! Apparently, the slavers had the bright idea of defending the radio tower.

"You filthy spying lying backstabber," a guard heavily armed in leather armor, carrying an assault rifle, and flanked by two hounds, spoke. In the alleyways and behind dumpsters, two other pairs of slavers appeared to beset the duo and their steed in a crossfire. "Never expected you to be one of those Ignoramuses who dislike affordable labor."

Par had his submachine gun out now, ready to fight his way out of things if he must. He then settled for a bluff:

"My gun is filled with armor-piercing bullets, and it's directed right at ya. Are you willing to die just to get me and my friend?"

The slaver grinned.

"The Guildmaster and Mr. Big want whoever did this to suffer. And suffer you will." He and his people then prepared to fire...

It was up to Gabe now to save the day.

@shadowsaint007, @Madly33, @The_written_John