7/9 - BlackRock prison - morning

"You want to fight me?" Gil repeated my request, shell-shocked by what I can tell.

"Yeah! What do ya say?"

Gil jumps to freaking out, flailing his arms around like he’s some air balloon. "Are you still angry at me? I mean, I get why, but I don’t wanna fight you."

"What? No! We're cool on that."

"Then why do you wanna fight me?"

"Just for fun."

"Fun?"

"Exactly. Nothing else to it, just some good ol’ brawl between good friends."

Not like I know what that would be like, but you know, gotta keep the ball going.

“So, you just wanna have fun? I see... Fine then.” Jackpot, baby! “...However, this will be an official match, so we’ll have to register it. And since any match I enter turns to a title match, we’ll have to wait for my arena to be ready."

“How long is that gonna take?”

“Two days, at most.”

"Actually, can we go in three days? I wanna prep myself."

"Sure."

Score! Just bought us some time. Time to skedaddle on out of here.

"Well, I’m gonna get out of your hair. See ya in three days… Actually, can I still come over to do comics?”

"Sure."

Sweet. At least we still get to hang out before we duke it out. Plus, a little money doesn’t hurt, right?

“Then I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay, see you later.”

I moonwalk, then spin around to walk properly. Okay, first hurdle cleared. All I gotta do is head back and report on the results. Though, if I’m being honest, when Chip told me to challenge Gil, my brain nearly popped out of my head. I can’t say I’m afraid, but I didn’t know if he’d take it well, so I was kinda reserved. But since he’s good with it, then I ain’t gonna complain.

The halls are dead quiet. Not a soul is left standing in the halls. Kinda reminds me of those quiet nights in the city. Cars would pass by the streets, barely a person on the sidewalk, yet it always put me on guard because you never knew who was out at night.

Further down the spiral walkway, Alex is waiting for me. Seems chipper as usual despite being an inmate. The dude either has no fear or is pretty carefree. Well, as long as he’s enjoying himself, then why should I burst his bubble? Besides, not like I’m not having fun myself.

“Were you successful?” he asks me.

“Totally.”

"Are you nervous?" Alex asked me.

"About the fight? I'm looking forward to it."

"You must enjoy fighting?"

"Pretty much. It's what I live for."

"Why for?"

"Well, I can't put it into the exact words, but I guess because it excites me."

I never really thought about the reason, and why should I? Fighting people on equal footing is fun as hell… Fun. Huh, when was the last time I felt that? It's a feeling that’s been fading out while I was hanging around NewPort, fighting punks… Damnit, I’m just pissing myself off.

"...Is that?" Alex points to a group of suspicious-looking dudes heading towards a gate I’m not familiar with. In the middle of the group, Chip’s squeezed between them all, uncomfortable.

"I wonder what he's doing," I asked myself.

“...He seems to be heading for the death row wing.”

Death row, huh… If those guys are gonna do something to Chip, then we’ll need to step in. Chip is our only way out of here, so we need to make sure he doesn’t get killed or something like that.

“Come on,” I tell Alex, moving as low as possible.

“Are you sure this is the best course of action?”

“Scared?”

“Perish the thought. If an ally is in need, then I shall be there.”

Good to know he isn’t spineless. Guess he’s just fearless after all. I just hope he’s not gonna hold me down when it comes to a fight.

BlackRock prison - Death row ward - evening

We roam through the dark, cold, and isolating halls of the Death row ward. I’m lightening my steps to keep a low profile. Not like anyone’s gonna jump out of their cells to get us, even if they wanted to. But the guys ahead might hear us, so I wanna keep quiet. They stop at a large metal door with no way to look inside. A dry breeze runs through the halls as the door opens.

Before they can slip inside, I sprint to them. Jumping at the first guy I can reach, I wrap my legs around his neck. Working with gravity, I use my downward momentum to flip the guy over. I deal with the other three with well-placed punches at their throats, instantly knocking them out. From my sudden appearance, they didn’t have time to respond to my attack.

Chip stares at me, awestruck, seeing me here. “What are you doing here?”

Someone rushed out the door before I could answer. A mean-looking son of a bitch shows his ugly mug from behind the door. Right away, I lunge at him, stomping my foot into his face mid-flight. Just like that, he was out like a light.

"If there’s anyone else wants…their…"

I trail off, surprised to see the inmate of this cell. Chained to the wall, the old man stares down at me. His imposing figure taunts me. Even with those chains holding him to the wall, he still radiates the essence of a beast in human skin.

"You seem to always find yourself in front of me, boy. That young man and I were doing business. You are interrupting the discussion between us."

"Like I give a shit. We're taking him. Don’t even think about–”

“I do not care to fight weak opponents such as yourselves. I don’t wish to kill another weak friend of Gilhart’s friends.”

Another one?

"You killed a friend of his? Why?" I asked him as I edged away from him.

"He was strong, that’s all. You would know something about that, right?"

"I don't kill people."

"No, you don't, but it's the feeling you get when fighting to the death that's the greatest; the feeling of excitement that runs through your blood as you fight someone who could potentially defeat you. Is that not why you fight?"

Everything is nothing short of insane, but a small piece of me can’t help but agree with him

"Off your meds or something? Like I care anything about that stuff."

"You may lie all you like, but you have a thirst in you. I can feel it. And it will only crave for greater battles than the last as you go on."

This guy is getting on my nerves at this point. Punching him while he’s chained is tempting, so why not? No, I ain’t a coward. If I’m gonna hit him, it’s when he can fight back.

I shove my hands in my pocket while I walk out of the cell. "Whatever, we’re leaving."

"Child, continue to fight. Soon you will get a taste of the hunger I have, just you wait."

He ends off with just that before I close the cell behind me.

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Black rock prison - Proxy and Chip's cell - evening

We took a moment to allow Chip to have a moment to himself. He’s roughed up before we found him, but it’s a bunch of bruises. Nothing a bit of rest can’t heal.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked him, setting Chip down on the bottom bunk.

"Yeah, I'm not dead, so I'm fine. You have anything to eat on you, though? Getting beaten kind of builds an appetite."

"Sorry, brought nothing with us. But why did that old man want to see you?”

He sits up against the wall, keeping his eyes off us. "We were gonna talk about money… Mainly my debt."

"Does this pertain to the king’s pot?" Alex directs the question.

“Nah, not just that, but loads of other bets. In a place like this, you need all the money you can get… Made a few wrong bets, that’s all.” Keeping up the tough act, a dry chuckle leaves his mouth. “...I must’ve been born under an unlucky star.”

Not the first time I’ve seen adults in the Entertainment district show that depressing look; homelessness.

"...This really sucks. That's why I need to get outta here. I'm dead if I don't."

Yep, now I get it. Not gonna say I'd be in his shoes, but if I was, then… Hell no, I would fight! But I can't fault him for wanting to get away.

Alex places a hand on "Do not worry about that debt. You, Proxy, and I shall escape captivity. This I swear!"

Glad to see that he thinks we'll escape. Better show a bit of backbone myself.

"That's right, we're getting out of here and you're coming with us. So screw that old man!"

Chip jumps out of bed, taking Alex by surprise. A smug grin spreads across his face.

"You guys are acting so weird. Course we're getting out of here. I'm the one spearheading the plan, after all."

Damn straight! With that attitude, we might ‌break out!

"By the way, what happened to the big guy? He accepts your challenge?"

"Yep."

"Good, I sent in a request for the materials I need to knock out the guards. We have three days, right?"

I throw up a thumbs up. "You bet."

"Alright. We don't have lots of time, so we're going to need to work fast. So let's do this."

This is getting hype! I get to live out a prison escape! How cool is that?

"Alright, let's bust out of here!"

Alex and Chip shoved their hands in front of my mouth.

"Proxy!"

"Shut it, you idiot!"

…Sorry.

7/12 - Black rock - Proxy and Chip's cell - morning

Today's the day Gil and I duke it out. Performing basic warm-ups, I throw a few punches, slouched in a boxing stance. I know how to box, but I only use the footwork, and even then I never needed to use the footwork on any street punks before in NewPort island, but I have a feeling I'm gonna need it.

Chip gathered information on Gil's past fight, especially his title match for the King of the arena; from what I know, it was one-sided. Gil took out the king with some sort of Martial arts, mixed in with grappling. It's not my first time fighting a Martial Artist, so I should be fine. Although, he KO'ed the Bison pretty damn easily. Getting hit by him is gonna knock the wind out of me, and blocking would wreck my hands.

"Proxy, how you doing?"

Chip slips into our cell, eating from a bag of chips.

"Sup, Chip? You got everything you need?"

"Yeah, Marie has the drinks. She'll go when the match starts. Blondie and me are gonna hit up the control room."

And all I have to do is keep the crowd and guard entertained. When the match starts, most of the guards are gonna be watching, so that’ll leave Chip and Alex to get to the control room.

Chip took a seat on the bottom bed. "Proxy, can I tell you something?”

"What is it?"

“I kinda…bet against you,” he admits, expressing his guilt through a dry grin. “...I even told the Bison that you weren’t gonna bring a weapon. Kinda shitty. How a grown adult bets over a kid getting the shit beaten out of him, huh?”

When he puts it like that, yeah, it kinda is shitty.

“You’re right, it is, but I don’t really care.”

Yanking his head from his feet, his confused expression greets me. “What?”

“I mean, everyone else was betting on me, so what’s the difference? Besides, I fought because I wanted, so don’t sweat about it.”

Not like this is the first, anyway. Did some back alley fight that had money involved and I’m still kicking.

"Attention prisoners: the king's title match is starting in 10 minutes. Everyone head to the king’s arena."

Showtime.

“Proxy… You still willing to trust me?”

“Course. Not like you tried to kill or anything, so we’re good.”

Oddly enough, he starts chuckling and covers his face with his hand. “...You’re one soft kid, ya know that?”

“Soft my ass.”

Chip extends his hand. “Good luck then, kid.”

I clap his hand when I went in for the handshake. “You too.”

I’ve seen some shady dudes in my time. Chip has the look down, but he ain’t a bad guy, so I feel like I can trust him. That being said, all I gotta do now is focus on the upcoming match and hope that I don’t screw this up.

Black rock prison - morning - waiting room

I sit around in the waiting room with Gil, who’s meditating on the floor. Dude is deep into it, barely breathing through his nose and not even moving an inch. kinda spooky if you ask me. I can’t stand quiet rooms like this.

“So… How you doing?”

He opens his eyes, casting a delighted smile at me. “I’m fine.”

“Cool… So you scared? Cause I know you were freaking out when I asked to fight you.”

“Not really, the opposite. I’m sort of excited to fight you; all of it being just for fun, so I don’t have to be on edge.”

“Usually on edge with opponents?”

“You never know what they’re going to pull, so being on alert mitigates worse case scenarios.” He has a point, though my sense kicks in whenever I don’t see an attack, so I don’t even need to try. “...I forgot what it was like, fighting just to fight.”

“What changed?”

Gil opens his eyes, facing me with a warm, yet blue smile. “...I used to be an upstart outside the kingdom. During the war, life was kill or be killed.”

“War?”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Umm… Cause I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His pleasant smile turns to disbelief in the blink of an eye. “W-what!? Proxy…don’t tell me you don’t know!?”

“Sorry man, I really don’t.”

He grows even more stunned, gawking at me like I’m some sort of alien. “The Godfrey era, are you familiar with that!?”

I nod my head, delivering the final blow to his mind.

“Wow… You must’ve been sheltered, huh?”

“It's a long story. Just go on with your story.”

Gil lags for a second, processing my lack of knowledge before shaking it off. “A-anyway, I lived in the north, kingdom loyalist fought those of the outside…”

“Outside?”

“It refers to everything outside the kingdom.”

“I see.”

“...I didn’t fight alongside them. However, I fought for my life each day, taking whatever I could from the dead and using it to my benefit. I hated it all, the fighting, the scrounging, the killing, and this world. Some days, I wondered why I lived. Other days, all I could do was think about my next meal. Animals fled the north, and the constant battling up there wasn’t doing favors for the environment, and down there, it’s already hard enough growing crops.”

Sounds pretty rough. I’m used to having a convenient store across from my apartment, so I never had to worry about getting my food, and I can barely hunt food on my own, so I can’t imagine myself going through a hellish scenario like that?

“...But one day, when I was gonna die of starvation, someone gave me something to eat.”

“Was it your friend?”

“Yeah, surprised you guessed that… He shoved it down my mouth. After that, you wanna know what he told me?”

“What?”

“He said, ‘if you’re gonna die, do it somewhere else’.” What the hell? “...The moment he turned his back, I lunged at him. I wanted everything he had, but he laid my ass flat. But I didn’t let that bother me, so I kept trying to kill. After two hours, I just gave up. I couldn’t leave a scratch on him.”

“He was strong?”

“Yeah, the strongest. I traveled with him so I can keep myself alive. Though, at first, he didn’t like the idea, telling me he was too young to have a kid, but eventually, he and I became friends…”

That guy sounds pretty harsh, but I guess in a war, some dudes are just harsh.

A loud air horn breaks my thoughts, drawing my eyes to the arena. “Guess it’s time.” I push off the ground. “...Let’s go have some fun, ‘kay, Gil?”

“Sure thing…” He stands off the ground, towering next to me. “...But don’t cry when you lose.”

“Kidding me? I was gonna tell you that.”

Yeah, now I'm getting into the mix of all this. Never fought a friend before, so I was a bit nervous. But I don't know, this might be fun. Though, I'll try to lighten my blows, don't want to go too hard on him.

Blackrock prison - central control room - morning

I ‌put the guards to sleep in the control room, darts sticking into their necks. They aren’t gonna die, but they sure as shit are gonna feel a major headache when they wake up. Blondie enters the room, unnerved by this whole thing. I’m on the edge of my seat trying not to get panicky; one mess up can get killed, or thrown into isolation for the rest of our lives, and I sure as shit don’t want to stay here any longer.

"Impressive, Chip," Blondie is awestruck by my handy work. "You are quite the marksmen."

"It's nothing."

"It is not 'nothing'. You would be a fine archer."

"Too bad I ain't one."

"Do you wish to be one?"

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Look, I’m gonna say it like this since you don’t seem to get it. I ain’t the type of guy most people wanna learn about. Do I seem all that interesting to you, or even trustworthy to you? If not, can you stop pretending as if you care; we’re only here to use the other to get out of here, that’s it…”

Got nothing to say, huh? Can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s better this way. The less familiar I am with someone, the less likely I’ll get burned. I never asked to be like this, this is just the hand life dealt me, so…

“But does that not sound lonely?”

I twist my body around, stunned by what he said… My lungs lock up, the rhythmic pounding of my heart beats loud enough to reach my ears. Behind him, an intimidating inmate looms over him, staring me down with eyes that scream murder, and a smile only a lunatic can make.

“Blondie, move!”

He’s struck before he could get out of the way. I aim my slingshot at him. He kicks me against the wall, using his long-ass legs to do me in. The window cracks behind me, ready to give out the next time I’m pushed against it.

“Don’t move if you know what’s good for you.”

Blondie is out cold on the floor after that one hit.

Another guy swaggers into the room, smaller than the other guy, but acting like he’s calling the shots. “Thought you could escape, huh? Think again, asshole!”

The escape plan, which was going well, took a turn for the worst.