Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 45. Damp dark room
The room is wet, damp, and dark. The sounds of steps both above and below echo and shake the room along with an inconsistent dripping of water from rusty pipes. Peter slowly opens his eyes to only see darkness, as well as feel that his hands and feet are both restrained by a rope. He tries to call out, but his mouth is gagged, so all he can do is shake around and let out mumbles of panic.
He tries flailing back and forth, screaming as loud as he can, becoming so confused, enraged and scared that he begins to shut down. He stops flailing, but it’s too late, and he falls to the side, still restrained to a chair. Now, lying on his side, in an unknown place, captured by unknown people, with no knowledge of what these people will do to him.
Of course, he’s horrified, but he’s almost content, about to accept his possible faith. But he hears the sound of a door open, which wakes the “want to live” part of his brain up and he begins panicking once more. He gets picked up and placed back down, then suddenly has the bag on his head ripped off, letting him get a look at his kidnapper.
Peter: “Mmmmp, MMMM!”
The always well-dressed, brown-haired, and tall, Chester Humphrey. Chester takes the gag out of Peter’s mouth, pulls out a chair, and smirks at him.
Peter: “WHAT THE HELL! You’re one of Rupert's men…the hell do you want with me!?”
Chester: “Calm down, I heard you were good at building weapons, so I wanted to see if you’d help us out.”
Peter: “HELL NO! You can go to hell because I’m never gonna help you!”
Chester: “Look, you took out Arthur before we got our muskets refined enough to use on you. So you’re gonna repay us, you’ve already made a better version of it. And if we like what you do, you could continue to work with us, without all these bells and whistles you’ve got right now.”
Peter looks around, finding various tools and plans on the tables in the room. He remembers when he had thought about this exact thing, but because of what Gray had told him, his view had changed completely.
Peter: “Okay…but I need my things. I also need to tell the people I was living with that I had gone back to my friends. Oh, and I want my invention that’s in the backyard of the cottage that Gray and the others are living in.”
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Chester: “Seems reasonable, but when I come back I want you to have drawn up somethin' or made something. And if you try leaving, you’ll be reprimanded, harshly.”
Chester walks around Peter and undoes the ropes, unbinding Peter. He then left the room, closing the iron door behind him, and locking it from the other side. Peter stands up, getting a long stretch right after.
Peter: “Well, let’s see what we’re looking at I guess.”
Peter slowly makes his way over to one of the tables, seeing a musket without any ammo in it as well as the plans beside it.
Peter: “It has been almost a year since I saw the base version of these and they haven't changed a bit. They take way too long to reload, have almost no accuracy, and hardly any range. Thanks to Gray I was able to make bullets for it, a scope, ammo magazines, and just make it better overall.”
Peter picks up the musket and begins pondering what he should do, and how he should do it.
Peter: “If I actually help them, it could be detrimental…but if I don’t they could either torture it out of me or flat out kill me…if Gray or anyone else was here they’d break out without much issue, one punch and it’s done.”
Peter begins looking around the room for anything he could use to break out, but nothing is sticking out. No vents, no elemental crystals, and no weapons of the sort.
Peter: “There are pipes running through the roof, but I don’t think I could make anything happen from it if I tamper with them…unless Gray looks for me in his astral form I’m stuck…”
Peter begins working on making the musket a bit better, but making sure it’s not such a gap in power. He sits around not doing much other than the slow progression of the rife until he sees the door begin to unlock. Behind Chester, for a brief moment, he can see a hallway with a few other gangster-looking men walking through it.
Chester: “Nice, I see you’ve progressed. We got your big block of metal you wanted as well as the rest of your things, but we didn’t find any of your weapons.”
Peter: “Well, unlucky for you, I just got into a fight that broke all of them. And I’d like to continue working on that “big block of metal” and if it’s finished I could make some for you.”
Chester: “The hell is it?”
While Peter’s talking, he continues working on the rifle, or that’s what it looks like. What he’s really doing is tightening a bolt that doesn't do anything more than make the rifle heavier. Chester lights his cigarette and sits down, blowing smoke all around the room, making sure he didn’t do anything.
Peter: “Think of it as a small train, it can move without the need of rails, and if I can make the engine not explode every time I use it, it may be able to do more than just drive.”
Chester: “By the way, until we get you a room, that bucket’s your bathroom, and we’ll give you food, water, and other necessities when you need them. And I’ll try to get you a bed.”
Peter: “Will I talk to Rupert at some point? Or am I just stuck with you?”
Chester: “Alright dick, no you won’t be speaking with him. Keep this to yourself, but taking you is my idea, we’ve got some history together already.”
Peter: “What are you talking’ about?”
Chester quickly kicks Peter over, knocking him to the ground. Peter holds his side, clinching it while groaning in pain.
Peter: “...That kick…is your leg…made of iron?...”
Chester: “Cuagulated mana, so it’s a bit abnormally tuff. That’s not what I’m getting at though, cause I’ve already hit you with it once before.”
Chester leaves the room right as Peter makes the connection, the same man who robbed them back in Meir just left the room.
Peter: “... they’ve been circling us…we figured some of this was planned out, but this whole trip may have been orchestrated to tear us apart…we aren't fighting ego-filled anarchists, we’re fighting people much smarter. This is some mastermind stuff, and the others have no idea…please look for me with your astral form Gray, it’s the only chance I’ve got.”
End of Chapter Forty-five