“Remember when we saved Heddy and Chandra, the girl on fire in… er… top lane?” Dayana said.

“I thought rangers get different names. That sounds like a normal person’s name?” Ledge said.

“No idea how she got that,” Dayana shrugged.

“Which one is Chandra again?” Jayde sat down with a thud.

“The one that fights with the flaming sword,” Dayana said.

“Narrow it down.”

“The best one possible. She gets Heddy’s best work. All the Kansas survivors do?”

“You’d think she’d show some appreciation for the people that saved them,” Jayde said.

“We get a discount,” Hayden said.

“Thirty percent… that’s it!” Jayde huffed.

Up on the screen Neckbeard jammed his fist and arm into the flesheater’s open mouth.

The eater tried to bite down but Neckbeard’s coat sleeve was proof against his teeth.

“Some help!” Neckbeard called out.

The ground rumbled.

Swan Princess blasted the eater with spells, but the behemoth-type flesheater was more effective.

She kicked Neckbeard in the side of his head.

Miraculously, she appeared to have pulled her kick.

Ranger Neckbeard is knocked out, the referee’s voice broke in, Flesheater Randall, Flesheater Sarah, move away from Ranger Neckbeard.

Prim was surprised by the two eaters actually complying. She had been ready to throw everything she had at the pair to stop them from taking a bite out of Neckbeard. She had seen replays of the Meat Parade’s first match and a few of them had taken chunks out of their unfortunate opponents.

The fighting continued as Flesheater Randall killed a few creeps in passing before he entered the pathway into Prim’s side of the jungle between the middle and bottom lane.

A pair of slaver kingdom mages slowly floated down from the air to pick up the unconscious Neckbeard to take him back to base for his penalty and revival.

Wichita and Tuxedo Cake were about to get ganked. Plus the flesheater mage was probably down at bottom lane too.

She sent a fireball flying in their direction to explode high in the sky over the bottom side jungle hoping that her teammates would understand the warning for what it was.

The match ebbed and flowed for the next fifteen minutes.

Both sides scored knockouts.

Both sides disabled a few towers.

Both sides found themselves meeting in force at the big monster’s lair located in the middle of the upper side of the river between top and middle lane.

“Damn, they had the same idea,” Chandra whispered.

“It’s the meta,” Neckbeard said.

“What the fuck is your nerd speak?” Wichita frowned.

Tuxedo Cake murmured either agreement or disagreement.

To what question?

Only he knew.

“I’ve got another idea,” Swan Princess whispered. “Let them have the big monster. We’ve got the inside track. Let’s go straight up the middle, bypass the towers and take out their base.”

“That won’t work. By the time they do that they’ll have killed the big guy, gotten the bonus gold and strengthened their creeps. Then they can rush back to defend,” Neckbeard said.

“This whole thing is just similar to your old games. My idea takes advantage of reality to cheat it,” Swan Princess said.

“I think I know what you’re thinking about,” Neckbeard mused, “but wouldn’t you rather save that for a more important match?”

“If we lose here then we’re pretty much out and I don’t want to go out to the fucking Meat Parade. I owe them for my dad and brother,” Wichita said.

Tuxedo Cake nodded.

“Listen, we’ve got most of our gear and they have to have used up a good chunk of whatever they ate beforehand,” Neckbeard said. “We can take them in the team fight. I mean, it looks like some of them can barely hold together a partial transformation.”

The Meat Parade decided at that moment to seize the initiative.

“Michael, focus on the black mage!” the dark-skinned beauty of a cannibal barked. “I’ve got the white one!”

An arrow that hit with the strength of a cannonball shattered Wichita’s hastily cast magic shield.

Tuxedo Cake appeared in front of her in a flash to take what was left of the arrow on his tower shield.

The impact still knocked the two of them back a good five feet into the ankle0 deep waters of the slow-moving river.

The flesheater mage sent a snarling monster of nausea-inducing yellow light swimming through the air like a shark straight for Swan Princess.

She countered by clasping her hands together and thrusting them forward with the index fingers pointed.

An expanding orb of swirling darkness shot out and into the light monster’s gaping jaws.

The light lost to the darkness as the orb exploded into pitch-black shadow.

Neckbeard took out a pocket watch and clicked it a few times waving it vaguely in Chandra’s direction. “You’ve got ten seconds of Haste.” He drew a gnarled twig from an underarm holster and sent a dart of fire at the charging behemoth-type. “Take the fast one. I’ll keep the other two busy. Remember—”

“I know!” Chandra snarled. “No killing!” she took of her helmet to let her long blond hair loose. It rose in the still wind as it slowly turned into fire. “They owe me!” Her sword blazed even brighter.

“Just don’t get us disqualified!” Neckbeard pleaded.

“RRAAARRRGHHHH!” Chandra dashed forward with inhuman speed. Her sword scorched the air as it arced toward Flesheater Randall’s legs.

Randall was still just a hair quicker. He leapt over the flaming blade and reached out a clawed hand for Chandra.

She whipped her flaming hair forward.

Randall yelped and pulled his hand back instinctively allowing Chandra to slice a deep, cauterized wound into his chest.

Neckbeard cursed.

Tuxedo Cake was busy shielding Wichita from the archer and Swan Princess was in the middle of her own mage duel.

Which left him with a two on one.

Two women, one of him.

Normally, that would sound like a good night.

Two flesheaters changed the equation.

The odds were against him in this two on one.

“Sorry, Chandra!” he called out.

He clicked his stopwatch and pointed it at the charging behemoth-type. “Slow down, big girl.”

The behemoth suddenly began moving at half speed.

The spell wouldn’t last more than thirty seconds at its top end and ten if the flesheater was stronger in comparison to to him, which was a good bet.

He had to deal with the more normal looking one quickly. He aimed his wand—

Bang!

Something punched him in the chest knocking the wind out of him and maybe cracking a rib or two.

The flesheater stared at him from behind the barrel of an impressive-looking revolver.

He went to tip his tricorne to the woman out of respect for an unexpected play when he realized that it was still back at the base shop.

The flesheater rolled her eyes and squeezed the trigger.

Neckbeard felt the heavy impact in his side.

At least, she wasn’t hitting spots not covered by his long coat.

It seemed that she was also sticking to the rules.

“Charlie! Knock that weirdo out of the game and help Randall!” the flesheater mage called out even as she cast a withering hail of yellow light over Swan Princess who attempted to swallow it all up with another orb of swirling darkness.

“Almost, Britt. I just need to keep him occupied until that slow spell runs out, then Sarah can smash them both,” Charlie said.

“We need to knock out at least two of them, so we can kill the big monster and push to end this stupid game!” Britt snapped.

“Michael—”

“Is keeping two pinned down all by himself and is also maybe running out of normal arrows,” Michael said.

The Swan Princess usually moved with long-limbed grace. However, all grace vanished in her frantic movements to dodge that sickly yellow light magic.

Still, she liked it when enemies talked during a fight. It meant that they were just that little bit distracted. So that they only saw her spell orb flying overhead and not the one she sent through the shallow water like a torpedo.

It reached the space between the ones called Britt and Charlie before it rose and exploded in a flash of bright light and an eardrum-breaking noise.

Spell Orb: Flashbang.

She had made that one herself.

The spell had caught the two intended targets and even briefly blinded the one called Michael.

Wichita leapt out from behind Tuxedo Cake with a furious snarl. “Lightn—”

“No!” Swan Princess and Neckbeard said in unison.

“We’re standing in water!” Neckbeard said.

“Then jump!” Wichita snapped.

“Wait—” Neckbeard tried.

“On three!” Swan Princess said. “Chandra!”

The fiery young woman was blind and deaf to everyone and everything that wasn’t the lean and agile flesheater she was trying to carve up.

“Three!” Wichita said. “Lightning Bolt!”

Bright magical lightning flash from her outstretched hands into the broad chest of the behemoth-type slowly making her way to Neckbeard.

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Neckbeard and Swan Princess had leapt out of the water.

The veins in Chandra’s neck and face grew taut as her muscles clenched involuntarily for an instant.

Tuxedo Cake lifted Wichita by the back of her collar taking her out of the water then releasing her just as the electricity coursed through his big body.

All of the cannibals cried out in surprise and pain.

The behemoth-type fell to one knee.

The smell of burnt bacon filled the battleground.

“Get the murdering bastards!” Wichita snarled.

“No killing!” Neckbeard warned. He had to rush over and stop Chandra from taking Randall’s head off.

One by one ranger AR glasses flashed red accompanying the referee’s voice warning them to back away from the Meat Parade and allow them to be transported back to their base or walk, if they were still conscious and able.

“Do we take out the big monster?” Wichita said.

“How is everyone? Got enough juice left?” Neckbeard said.

“Let’s just go for it. Running back to base will take too long and we’ll head back anyways after we kill it. Then we can just rush down mid with boosted creeps and end this before they get out of the penalty box,” Swan Princess said.

“I’ve got no arguments,” Neckbeard said.

“Tuxedo, tank it. Wichita and I blast it. Chandra and Neckbeard, look for openings,” Swan Princess said.

The rangers rushed the big monster confined to its large alcove by the magic in the massive collar around its scaly neck.

Snarls and bellows clashed with bright magic and powerful Skills.

“They grow up so fast,” Jayde wiped a tear as she watched the action on the big screen.

“I wouldn’t know,” Ledge mumbled.

“You should watch, she’s doing good,” Dayana said.

“It’s taking them too long to run back to base and it’s a half-mile plus of wasted energy. Why don’t those levitating mages transport them like they do for the knocked out ones?” Hayden said.

“It’s all over!” Jayde crowed. “SwannyP and the rangers!”

On the screen the people in question rushed up the middle lane straight to the last tower before the Meat Parade’s base.

Their boosted creeps helped them make short work of the enemy creeps and the tower.

They did the same to the large statue representing the base’s life total just as the first of the Meat Parade became eligible to leave their penalty box.

“Winner! Rayna’s Rangers!” the broadcaster screamed.

“One more win and they’re in the knockout rounds!” Jayde said.

“Well…” Ledge abruptly stood. “While, I’m happy she’s okay, that was a bit too much for my old heart to listen to.”

“Almost like it’s worse letting your imagination paint the picture instead of actually watching what was happening,” Dayana chided.

“You’re probably right, but that’s okay, part of getting old is becoming stubborn. Entrenched in your ways,” Ledge nodded sagely. “Thanks for keeping me company, but I’ll need to head back before they start getting worried.”

“You’ve got five of your people watching you,” Hayden frowned.

“Yeah, I know, standard operating procedure. I thought it’d be prudent that we didn’t walk around by ourselves just in case someone became tempted and decided to slap a collar around our— my neck. I still like to pretend otherwise though,” Ledge shrugged.

“Awww… don’t worry, Ledge,” Jayde soothed. “No one would want to own you.”

“Thanks, I almost thought you were about to make me feel better,” Ledge grinned. “Good luck with your match. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I won’t be watching.”

“It was good to see you,” Hayden said. “We won’t meet until after this is all over.”

“Jeez, way to make it all ominous and shit,” Jayde said.

“It’s necessary to avoid drawing unnecessary and dangerous attention on Ledge and the Golden Eagles. They’ll be at greater risk if the wrong people suspect that there’s a greater connection between us than we said.”

“Well… Hayden, you’re right, but I’d still rather not say goodbye… seems too final and I’m planning to live way past this point. I’m still holding the same hope for you three, Prim and all the other kids that are too young for this shit,” Ledge said.

“I think you’ll be fine unless you started going on about how ‘too old for this shit’ you are,” Dayana said.

“Oh yeah, I’m definitely not remotely close to retiring,” Ledge rapped his knuckles on the table.

“That’s plastic,” Jayde said flatly.

He reached over and before she could react, knocked on her head a few times.

“See you later, girls,” Ledge waved and walked away at a brisk pace.

“Motherfucker didn’t leave any money, did he?” Jayde said.

They scanned the table.

Amidst the empty plates and glasses, the used napkins there was a glaring absence of any sort of cash or precious metals.

The waitress picked that moment to approach with a smile… and the bill.

“It’s not like we aren’t loaded,” Hayden said.

“True,” Jayde echoed.

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Dayana sighed.

“The owner is probably going to want a picture and an autograph,” Hayden grimaced.

“Just think of where he’ll be in about two months,” Jayde said. “That’s what I do whenever I get an urge to punch one of these slavers.”

----------------------------------------

Key Biscayne was a small island a few miles southeast from mainland Miami.

It wasn’t part of the Florida Keys despite having the word in its name.

Cal wasn’t sure what was up with that.

Key Biscayne wasn’t that far away from the actual Florida Keys.

Maybe it had something to do the Florida Keys being part of one single coral archipelago. That was what he had learned as part of his research into the region.

Ultimately, the names of the places didn’t matter to him.

In time, those would be forgotten or altered by whomever was around, assuming there was anyone left after he had dismantled the slaver kingdom.

That was a looming problem that he had consistently pushed to the back of his mind despite several warnings from his sister and brother about having a plan for after.

He agreed.

History had repeatedly shown that everyone had a plan for before and during, but tended to fall short for the after.

It was like the dog chasing the car. All well and good until the former actually caught the latter. Then what?

An answer to be shelved for another day as he flew down from the night sky toward a resort hotel.

A quick psychic scan confirmed what he had picked up a few miles back.

There wasn’t a lot of mental activity on the key. Mostly soldiers, enslaved and free, patrolling the road leading from the mainland to the island as well as the grounds of the resort.

A handful of enslaved with a single slavemaster were stationed inside the main hotel building while a few more did rounds through the other buildings.

Jake’s tablet had highlighted this place as one of the multiple locations in and around Miami that emitted a similar energy signature that the king’s so-called castle had in much greater intensity.

Cal already had a suspicion on what he’d find inside. Had confirmed it on the flight over.

Now, he needed to learn why exactly there were hundreds of enslaved people kept in comas at these sites.

Surveillance cameras and equipment suddenly found themselves moving to keep him out of view as he opened a window into the hotel and floated inside.

He touched nothing physically.

The nearest room’s door opened with a thought.

Inside he found two beds.

Two people.

Unconscious.

Collared.

They were hooked up to medical life support. An IV that fed them nutrients and a mask over their face that helped them breathe. Several tubes were connected to their midsection and pelvic area. He assumed those were to put food inside and to take waste out.

Warily, he touched their minds. Light as feather. He didn’t want to trigger the collars’ defensive mechanisms. Didn’t want to accidentally make them explode or shred the enslaved people’s minds.

Not that there was anything inside their thoughts. Not that they had any thoughts.

Their minds were completely blank. No evidence of activity.

He was struck by the thought that he truly had no idea who these two people were.

The silence was deafening.

He withdrew from their emptiness and floated the medical chart attached to the closest bed to his face.

Neat handwriting marked a regular and perfectly followed schedule of checking the equipment, the enslaved’s condition, turning them to avoid the formation of bedsores and treatment for any found.

Nothing to give a clue as to their purpose.

He pulled the smartphone Jake had given him from his pocket and tapped and swiped until he activated what he needed. He scanned the room and quickly located the same energy flowing from the collars down through the floor.

Using the phone he saw the same energy flowing from the rooms on this floor and even down from above. All heading lower.

He floated out into the hallway and made his way down the stairs and to the first floor.

Surveillance cameras and what looked like magic-powered mirrors that served the same function were nudged aside to keep them from capturing his presence.

He came across an enslaved worker pushing a cart toward the elevators and let the young man pass before continuing to follow the energy trail leading toward the front lobby.

The slavemaster sitting in one of the back offices twirled his control rod and debated calling one of his enslaved over to perform her duties. He decided against it. She had work to do and he had already gotten talked to about keeping work and pleasure separate.

Disgusted, Cal planted a subtle thought in the man’s brain.

The slavemaster suddenly realized that he didn’t feel like doing anything sexual to his enslaved. At least for awhile.

The temptation to make it permanent lingered, but Cal let it go.

Wouldn’t that make him just like them?

Did different motives matter in the moral and ethical sense?

Collars took away free will.

Permanently altering someone’s mind did the same.

Could one excuse it if it was turning a bad person into a good one?

Could he?

Well… he decided that it would be a moot point if all went according to his plans.

In less than two months, there would be no collars, no enslaved, no slaver kingdom.

He floated above the fine marble tiles in the opulent front lobby and down a hallway.

The signs said that he’d find the restaurant and bar, the pool, the gym, several conference rooms and one large conference hall.

The energy trail led him right to the latter.

He pushed the doors to the conference hall open with a thought.

The smartphone’s screen suddenly shattered.

Fortunately, he didn’t need it anymore.

There, in the middle of the conference hall was a machine.

It roiled with an unpleasant feeling energy.

It sucked in the energy coming from the enslaved’s collars through small intakes near the bottom and sent a concentrated stream from the large glassy sphere set in the middle up through the high roof and beyond.

It was hard to grasp and visualize it with his nonphysical senses.

Power.

It felt like power.

A part of it similar to how he perceived magic through his many extra-sensory perception abilities.

“Where are you going?” he whispered.

An unpleasant revelation suddenly struck him like inspiration.

This energy felt like the one he picked up from the Slaver King as the man had fought the brave Rebel Champion.

He needed more to confirm the hypothesis.

He had asked Bennett to scout more of these types of places.

There was a cluster of them in the northern part of the city.

If they all contained the same thing then he’d have his answer.

If they all led to the king’s castle where the energy was the strongest.

Was this some kind of satellite control unit? he thought as he floated closer to the machine fixing every aspect of its appearance into perfect memory to describe it to Jake later. Then… what’s the point of keeping enslaved in comas? There are almost three hundred of them in this one building alone.

The childish urge to break it filled him.

Instead, he decided a question and answer session was in order.

He completed a circuit around the device then floated to the office for a chat with the slavemaster.

“Who—”

The slaver managed to blurt out before Cal seized him in an invisible grip.

The man’s eyes widened with fear.

His glance darted to the control rod on his desk.

“Listen, all those things running through your cesspool of a brain on how you can get out of this… none of them will work. I’ve been through this hotel. There are exactly 10 people within screaming distance. Well, not counting the hundreds of enslaved you’ve got in the rooms. So… what the fuck is up with that?”

The man mumbled something unintelligible.

“Right, my bad, Bro. Before I unseal your mouth, don’t forget that the nearest patrol is quite far away.”

“Don’t hurt me!” the slaver blubbered as soon as Cal unsealed his mouth.

“That’s what I should do, but I’ve got a greater good thing to take care of first.”

“Then, I’m not saying shit. Stupid to tell me you won’t hurt me. My dad’s a noble! I’m a noble! I’ll have our men fuck you up!” the slaver’s voice progressively grew louder as he grew bolder.

“You’re floating in an invisible grasp. Why don’t I just break every bone in your body… or not…” Cal mused. “Hmm… how about I make your greatest fear a reality?” he forced the slaver to stare into his eyes. “That’s your greatest fear? The same thing you do to your enslaved on a daily basis? Fine… don’t answer me and I’ll make you do things with that control rod.”

The slaver eyed the object in question as it floated off the desk and slowly moved to his back.

“How about I record it and show it to everyone you know? They’ll see you taking a rod up—”

“Okay, okay! Wait! What do you want!” the slaver pleaded.

“What are you doing to them?”

“What? To who?”

“The enslaved in the rooms. Why are you keeping them in comas?”

“I don’t know! All I’m supposed to do is make sure they stay alive! They don’t tell me anything!”

Unfortunately that was the truth.

There would be no answers tonight.

“Listen, you’re a waste of a life. Rapist, slaver and half a dozen other shitty things. You’ve made me disgust myself just in briefly touching the level of filth you occupy. Like, dipping my toe in sewer water, where there’s more piss and shit than actual water. Still… you get a temporary reprieve, but I promise you will be held accountable for your choices. Not tonight, but soon,” he snapped his fingers and put the slaver to sleep. He erased the last few minutes from the man’s brain and quietly floated out and back into the dark sky.

There were several more sites he needed to investigate.

He hoped that he’d find more knowledgeable people to interrogate.