Raven had lost all coherence. Seeing the girl he loved killed, his friend shot and left for dead, and a woman he cared about dragged off to be raped, he was screaming wildly. He slammed his body against the gate, trying to escape, oblivious to the pain. Most of the bandits nearby, the courtyard bandits not attached to a clan, had already made themselves scarce. They wouldn’t get involved directly with the actions of a big clan like Cock and Balls. Since the shooting had started, they didn’t want to be involved in the crosshairs. This gave us a brief period where no one was watching us.

With Raven screaming, I was feeling just as panicked. I had just witnessed someone I knew die, and others I knew get hurt. Whether the Fire Ravens were bandits or not, they had never done me any wrong. Now, they were dying, and it was my fault. I desperately went to my Perco. It had previously been my lifeblood, allowing me to do feats one would call impossible. There had to be some function on it that could make all of this go away.

My fingers clicked through useless feature after useless feature. I could barely think as I clicked buttons, but it was to no avail. A Perco may make me the god of technology in this world, but I was brought down by something as ridiculous as a steel cage. I screamed out as well, feeling every bit as hopeless as Raven. I lunged for the bars, my hand reaching out for that damned key on the keychain. I reached through the bar for it, but unless an army could grow twenty feet long, it was impossible.

I reached out helplessly until my shoulder hurt, only finally collapsing down into a lying position, my hand still outstretched through the bar and lying on the ground. Tears formed in my eyes and I closed them in defeat. In the end, I was truly useless. I was going to die here. As I gave up, the sounds of Raven grew increasingly distant.

I started to think about everything I had left behind and lost. I hadn’t managed to get my family out of debt yet. They were likely going to end up taken advantage of by that scum lender. As for Katarina and Kiera, their fates were likely worse. I didn’t even want to think about what was happening to Feather as I laid there.

Clink.

I felt something metal land on my hand. One eye opened. Lying in my hand was the key. I stared at it for a solid second, trying to process what I was seeing. Then, through my hazy vision, I made out a little creature sitting on its butt in front of my hand. It was looking at me innocently while panting like some kind of dog. That creature was none other than the murder dragon. It had somehow seen me reaching for the keys, realized what I wanted, and fetched it for me.

I went to close my hands around the key when the murder dragon lunged for it and grabbed it with his teeth. I bolted up.

“Hey!”

“Grrr!”

It growled as it tried to yank the key away. This bastard was trying to play tug-a-war with me! I was at the moment of despair and had finally found a smattering of home, and now this little beast was trying to take that away from me.

“Don’t you dare!” I stood up, and the murder dragon’s small feet left the ground as it hung, still clinging to the back of the key and unwilling to let go.

The murder dragon’s eyes met mine. Its sharp teeth were still clamped on. Even though it was in the air, it gave no signs of letting go. Screw it. With the murder dragon hanging on like an oversized keychain, I found the key and shoved it into the hole, turning it with a click. When I shoved open the door and let go of the key, it also let go, falling back to its feet with a thump. The cage was exceptionally creaky, and Raven’s shouts had already grown hoarse, so as soon as I pushed open the gate his eyes had darted to me.

Our eyes met for a moment. I didn’t hesitate long before I reached and pulled the key out of the door. The murder dragon jumped up and I was shocked at how high it could reach. I pulled the key out of its direction and then tossed it into Raven’s cage. The murder dragon didn’t seem interested in taking it from him. Instead, it just stood by my feet and watched as he looked at it, and then slowly lifted it. I didn’t say any cliché line like we were even. I knew that after everything, this was a small repayment.

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I turned away from him, looking toward the quickest direction out of here. I had to escape while I had the chance. I didn’t have the strength to save Kiera or Katarina. All I had the power to do was be a punching bag. I had done enough. If Raven tried to save Feather and his friends, that was one him. If he died in the process, it was just bad luck. It had nothing to do with me. I had my own problems to deal with.

That’s what I was thinking, but when the time came, my feet didn’t move. I really should go, but Feather, Hunter, and Husk all needed help. If I left them and they died, it would just be more blood on my hands, right? I spun around to see that Raven was standing there, watching me uneasily. Our eyes met. I gave him a small nod, and he nodded back. Although we hadn’t said anything, we didn’t need to.

The two of us spun and ran over to Hunter and Husk. I grabbed Husk while Raven started untying Hunter. As I grabbed him and tried to turn him over, he let out a roar and pushed up, throwing me back. I lifted my hands and shouted.

“Woah! Woah! I’m helping!”

He had raised a knife in his hand, looking like he was seconds from leaping at me. As his furious eyes snapped to mine, realizing crossed his face. He then glanced over at Raven still helping Husk. The fury dropped instantly.

“Newbie?”

I took a breath and ran to help him undo his restraints. It looked like he had his own plans. He pretended to be hurt or unconscious, and when the time came he’d cut his way out. Well, I can’t say it was better than my plan. At least he had a knife. Speaking of which, once Raven untied Hunter, he didn’t race into the building to save Feather like I might have done. While Husk bandaged his wound, he went to the dead men on the ground and started looting them. He ripped off the clothing of someone who looked to be about his size.

I realized I was standing there in my underwear too. I quickly finished freeing Husk and then ran over to another body to do the same. I didn’t like the idea of putting on the bloody clothing of a dead man, but it had many advantages. Here I was, about to run off into the wasteland naked. I really had been dumb.

Once Raven was dressed and had even found a sidearm, the bruised and battered Husk turned to him. “What’s the plan, boss?”

“We get Feather, and then we get out of here.” He declared.

“And him?” Hunter asked, using Husk to help himself stand up.

He could barely do so and was limping. These men were not in a condition to do some hard fighting or fleeing.

Raven looked at me but his expression was unreadable. “We’ll worry about that once we escape.”

I finished dressing and even managed to find a small blade. It wasn’t anything like the blade I had before. This was just a rusty thing, barely more than a shard of metal wrapped with a sheet. However, at that moment, I would have taken anything. Once I was ready, I nodded to the three men, and they turned in the direction they had taken Feather.

“They escaped!” A shout came from the tents.

A moment a gun went off. Raven cursed and started running for cover. The other men leaped down, even injuring themselves. I stumbled back and ran as someone or possibly multiple people started firing at me. I was falling back toward the building Ascension lived in. Even though I was farther away than the other guys, I was out in the open and this seemed to excite the raiders who were gathering. Not only did I fail to save Feather, but now I was going to get gunned down trying to escape.

I tried to get to cover, but they were toying with me. Every direction I turned, a bullet would fly, dinging off the ground right where I was about to step. This caused me to grow disorientated and my foot caught a piece of lifted concrete and I fell back hard. I could hear chuckles as more men started to appear. Had the Cock and Ball returned? As I turned around, backing up on my butt, I could see that I wasn’t so lucky.

The men had already overtaken the three of us and they were all on the ground. One man, however, was approaching me with a grin on his face. That man was none other than Krux, the man who had tortured me. That bastard’s stun baton hung from his back and he held a rifle in his hands. He had been the one focusing on me.

“Look what we have here.” He chuckled.

“You…” I tried to crawl back, but I found myself so terrified that I couldn’t move. “You don’t… they want me alive.”

“That was when you were in a cage…” He laughed. “However, how can Ascension blame me for shooting some wastelander wandering by our camp? It’s their fault for failing to keep their prisoners in prison.”

I realized that he wasn’t playing anymore. He did intend to take the opportunity to kill me. He lifted his rifle, aiming it at my head. His finger started to pull the trigger, and my eyes closed.

Boom!

A massive thud sounded in front of me. My eyes popped open in shock. Standing right in front of me was the mech armor. It was Chief. He must have heard the commotion and watched. Now, he had acted to protect me. I didn’t know how I felt. Should I feel glad that I was alive? I would just end up back in prison, or even worse.

There was a clicking sound, and the back of the suit started to open. I stared in wide-eyed wonder as the suit opened up. A body then fell out the back. It was a skeleton. As it fell at my feet, it shattered into a million pieces. I stared at the scene, not even able to understand what I was looking at.

“Hey, idiot!” A distinctly female voice suddenly snapped, catching my attention. “If you want to live, put yourself inside me!”

I tilted my head. “Eh?”