The Misfits:

It was evening. Everyone had been fed, and the Misfits were in their holiday chalet. They were back to sitting on the floor since there still weren’t sufficient chairs.

Alice and Drayden had been very particular at placing the desks over the area of the floor where the blood stains could still, faintly, be seen.

Nobody wanted to sit on old blood stains of murdered people.

"OK, everyone, we still can't have a four-way talk about consequences. Instead, we must keep discussing various management issues," said Bronsen.

"I hate to say this, but in killing all the leaders of now three groups of slaves, we are responsible for their well-being. Wait, we didn't kill the two blues from the big boat; they managed to kill themselves. But, anyway. " said Cassy.

"I agree. They are so pathetically hopeless without the Blues bossing them around," said Alice.

"Also, when we bring all of these freshly inactivated slaves back to Manifestoria, what the hell are they going to say about it?" said Drayden.

"Trying to feed and house so many, all at once, and trying to work out how to make them productive, is going to give Eleanor a head-splitting headache," said Bronsen.

"That's assuming that she is still alive and that Manifestoria has not been turned into a slave colony," said Cassy.

"Yeah, cheer me up, will you?" said Bronsen.

"It could be possible!" said Cassy.

"Whoa! No arguing in a committee meeting!" said Drayden, "Save that for our pairs."

A snort of derision from Cassy, then silence from everyone else.

"If no one objects, I can list the things we must consider..." said Bronsen.

Nobody objected.

"Right. First, we have no choice but to wait a week for the Order Lock to expire on the new slaves, then another week or so for them to get used to being free."

"Next, we have to plan on getting everybody to Manifestoria. And, we have to plan what to do if we get there and it's a bloody slave colony."

"Can we kill all of the ranking slaves, as we have already done, and then wait for the Order Lock to expire?" said Alice.

Her expression was not very encouraging about this possibility.

After a brief discussion, the group consensus was:

"Nope. Too many slaves, they will be too prepared, and they will undoubtedly all be loaded up with orders to attack on sight," said Alice in summary.

"How depressing," said Bronsen, "OK, let's consider the other possibility; Eleanor is still queen. How are we going to help Eleanor introduce over a hundred slaves to a free society?"

"I don't know. Remember that, as far as we know, anyone can do an Ashrend. They need two collars and a person they don't mind killing." said Drayden.

"Well, in that case, we must ensure every slave is sufficiently protected... Oh, wait..." said Alice.

"That's right, Alice, my dear. Remember, they had to supply a rotating shift of about a dozen guards to protect our original measly four slaves. How will they keep track of this mob?" said Bronsen.

"Not to mention, with that many slaves wandering around, there's bound to be some that accidentally or deliberately wander off and get lost or separated from the main group. And there's bound to be an occasional member of the public that knows about Ashrends and has the lousy morals to even think of doing one," said Drayden.

Bronsen put his hands to his head and mussed up his perfectly combed hair.

"This is getting more complicated the more we think about it!"

Ding! For the low, low price of 20,000 points, you may collectively purchase the unique skill [Destroy a Slave Collar Worn by a Slave Without Killing them]. Also, you still get 100 points for destroying a collar when you do.

This means you can recoup your initial investment after freeing only 200 slaves!

"Hey, we can now destroy slavery!" said Cassy.

"Err, Cassy, how many slaves are there?" said Drayden.

Ding! There are currently 62,237,872 slaves in Felixerra.

"Thanks, System san, for destroying my hope," said Cassy.

"But look on the bright side! We can remove all collars from our slaves, which means when we arrive at Manifestoria, they don't have to worry about so many in-active slaves running around," said Bronsen.

"Course, Eleanor will now have to worry about having all those untrained people running around, without jobs and mostly without any social skills," said Drayden.

"OK, I get your drift. But at least it's a start, wouldn't you agree?" said Bronsen.

"But, wait, we only have a few thousand points left, and they are locked!" said Alice.

"But! We have the spare collars!" said Cassy.

"Ooh, that's right," said Alice.

Ding! All locked points have been unlocked.

"OK, everyone! Let's destroy..."

Bronsen worked it out in his head.

"Forty-five or so collars each!"

Since they were using thermal lances, which was their fastest method, they first took the collars outside.

"Everyone, is it OK to touch a collar with our hands?" said Cassy.

"I suppose so. Although I still think they are creepy to hold." Alice said.

They picked up the collars by their grappling hooks and took them out. No skin contact involved!

After a gleeful ten minutes, they had over 20,000 points on their collective statuses.

Ding! Ability [Destroy a Slave Collar Worn by a Slave Without Killing them] has been added for the bargain price of 20,000 points!

"Say, System, how many people have accumulated 20,000 points at once?" said Drayden.

Ding! In the last millenium, zero. Not even close.

"So, that's why nobody else has gotten this ability. It's too expensive," said Drayden.

"Anyway, let's go and free some slaves!" said Alice.

"Shouldn't we wait until it's morning? Right now, they are either settling in for the night or already sleeping," said Bronsen.

"OK, OK. I get the message."

"I have a question," said Drayden, "How do we use our skill to destroy a collar?"

Ding! By touching any part of your body to any part of the slave's body or their collar. No further action is required. Of course, this means putting a collar onto any Misfit is now impossible.

Cassy started laughing before managing to say:

"Any part of your body? To any part of the slave's body? You poor boys, it would have been such a great pickup line; I can see it now. You sidle up to an innocent young female slave and say, 'Want to touch bodies? - It'll remove your collar.'"

Alice looked scandalised. Bronsen looked concerned. And Drayden giggled along with Cassy.

After a while, Cassy calmed down.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell anyone that part. Maybe we should act as if we had to touch the collar with our hands directly," said Drayden.

Questioning looks from everyone else until Bronsen finally got it.

"Ahh, it's the principle of not fully telling anyone about how powerful our abilities are, isn't it?"

"That's right. You never know."

They settled into a comfortable silence. That slowly became not quite so comfortable. The Misfits needed to do something they were extremely poor at doing; they had to make a choice, even if it was only for one night.

Finally, someone did so. Cassy reached out, grabbed Drayden and hoisted him up.

"How about we touch bodies, hmm?"

"Ah, sure! I don’t mind doing it again," said Drayden.

Alice shrugged and picked up Bronsen in the same manner.

"This method of picking up a boy could be fun."

Having nothing else to do and a lot to think about, they retired.

Cassy and Drayden:

"Let's have some fun without discussing anything heavy, shall we? We need to wait for a four-way discussion first to clear the air," said Cassy.

Drayden was more than happy to agree. They lay down, but it wasn't till an hour or so later that they finally got to sleep.

Alice and Bronsen:

“It's so tiring dealing with this jealousy thing. So let's keep on pretending for the time being that the problem doesn't exist, OK?” said Alice.

"Fine!"

They also took some time to get to sleep.

Bronsen:

After waking up and enjoying each other’s company the following day, the couple got ready for another day.

Making love to Alice is lovely! Although, I wouldn't mind some more with Cassy...

He caught a glimpse of Alice, staring off into space and making a little sigh.

"Say, Alice, were you just thinking of Drayden then?"

"What! No way! I'm not a perv like you are!"

"My, that's the first time you've ever used that word. I caught you by surprise, didn't I?"

"I, I, well, OK, maybe, I was. Only a little bit! Now shut up about it!"

They left the room, and Bronsen was still giggling to himself when the other two came out.

Drayden:

Drayden was also enjoying Cassy's company. Finally:

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Ahh, that was the best!" he said.

"Oh, you're saying Alice isn't as good as I am?"

Drayden rapidly decided this was a topic for total, brutal, honesty - and complete equality.

"No, no, I mean, you're both the best! Truly!"

"Admit it, you're fantasising about getting with Alice again, right?"

"Oooh, you bet I am. But then, you have some thoughts about Bronsen, correct?"

"Maybe."

They went through the door and saw Bronsen coming out.

I wonder what he's giggling about?

Bronsen:

"Shall we have breakfast with everyone else, then after it is finished, we grab Frannie and Reggie and take them to our cabin? We can say we need to discuss the meal arrangements or something?"

Drayden and Cassy said: "Sure, no problem."

Alice looked slightly hesitant.

Crap, I know what she's thinking.

"Does anyone have anything extra to add?"

Alice nodded to Bronsen before saying she was OK with it.

Until we settle into our new relationship, I had better be extra careful about consulting with her. Also, with everyone else, of course.

Frannie:

Discussing the meal arrangements? What is there to discuss? The fishers get a fresh crocigator every day, and we turn it into stew and then serve it with plenty of grey goop.

They probably want me to become friends with Reggie.

I don't know. I think they are trying to be nice to me, but it's been so long since anything nice happened to me; I'm just not sure it's possible.

Looking resigned, she entered the cabin. She stood apart from Reggie.

Come to think about it, Reggie also looks uncomfortable.

Cassy walked right up to Frannie, reached out with her hand to touch her collar, and said

"Let's try this!"

Her slave collar, a constant companion for one and a half decades, constantly overriding her feelings, continually pushing her to do what she was ordered, utterly indifferent to her well-being, stuck with her until she died.

That slave collar, which, without warning, disintegrated into a pile of coarse sand and fell onto her tunic, then onto the floor.

Ding! Slave collar has been removed, courtesy of the Misfits.

What? What? What?

She stood there, a blank look on her face. She brushed the coarse grains off her shoulders and felt her neck.

It's gone. Gone. Just like that, it's gone.

By the Voice, it's gone.

She put her head in her hands, sank onto her knees onto the floor, and began to cry.

It's really gone!

But what if the slavers put one back on?

No! I'll go with the Misfits!

No! I don't want it back!

It's really gone!

She kept on crying. Cassy knelt next to her and patted her back.

Reggie:

Cassy removed Frannie's collar? But that's impossible without killing the slave!

At this point, Alice stepped in front of Reggie.

"All I have to do is put my hand on your collar -"

His collar also disappeared, leaving coarse sand everywhere.

Oh, my collar is gone.

I don't know what to think.

He stood there, shocked and silent, patting his neck where the collar once had been.

Drayden:

Ha ah! It worked.

Reggie looks shocked silly, and Frannie is having an epic cry out.

He remembered his and Cassy's little cry fest.

Yes, there's plenty of crying around the Misfits.

And there's a heap of sand on the floor; we must sweep it out again.

More chores to do.

Perhaps we can order a slave to do it? No, shutup Drayden, that's a bad joke.

And we have just gained 200 points! We'll be getting a lot more!

But what do we do with the points? We can't give them away and have maxed out all our stats, so we can't use them ourselves.

Ding! For the real low, totally a bargain price of only 1000 points, you may collectively purchase the unique skill [Transfer Points from the Misfits Status to Someone else's].

Drayden clapped his hand to his mouth to prevent him from laughing out loud. He didn't want to disrespect Frannie's and Reggie's moments.

He looked around.

Yep, the other three have also gotten the same message.

We are short of almost 1000 points, perhaps...

Bronsen nodded to Drayden, then disappeared into the spare room they used to store all the slave collars.

Drayden noticed that his free points were going up. And up. It dropped as soon as it exceeded the 1000 point threshold, and a new ability appeared in his status list. But the points kept on going up again, up to about 3000.

Bronsen reappeared with a smug face.

The Misfits waited patiently until Frannie and Reggie regained some composure.

"And now, for our next miracle!" said Bronsen.

Alice rolled her eyes at this.

"Wait, we need to ask System-san how to use our new ability," said Drayden.

Ding! By touching any part of your body to any part of the recipient's body and then wishing to increase their physical and combat abilities to a certain percentage. To max them out, set the percentage value to 100%.

That's nice, we increase their capabilities, but it's totally under our control how much.

"Shall we max them out?" said Bronsen.

" Frannie is already maxed out," said Cassy.

"Whatever, then let's do Reggie's," said Bronsen.

Frannie and Reggie were starting to look puzzled.

"Never mind! If I do this..." said Bronsen as he touched Reggie's hand.

Yep, our collective status free points went down by 413 points. He didn't have very high abilities, did he?

"Oh," said Reggie.

I think he has exceeded his capacity for new things today.

Drayden gave Bronsen a meaningful look. Fortunately, Bronsen understood.

"How about you go outside and, maybe, walk around, but don't tell anyone else about this? We intend doing the same to the whole lot of you; we merely need to discuss a few things first," said Bronsen.

Still looking dazed and stunned, the two left the cabin. Inside, the Misfits hastily swept aside the sand and sat down on the floor.

"I suppose nobody has any complaints about Reggie now being equal to us in physical abilities?" said Bronsen.

"Nyah, I'm sure he's OK. But giving everyone else maxed-out abilities might not be a good idea. Not until we get to know them better." said Alice.

The others nodded in agreement.

"We must give the ones back in Manifestoria maxed-out abilities," said Cassy.

"Well, we have about a thousand slave collars here," said Alice.

Using pencil and paper, they spent ten minutes furiously calculating the numbers.

"We have more than sufficient to give every slave here a good boost, without maxing them out, and to max out the ones we know in Manifestoria." said Alice, "In fact, since we get 100 points every time we free a slave, why not give that 100 points straight back to them?"

"Can we do that? Can we specify that only a hundred points are to be transferred to bring up all points in an even manner?" said Drayden.

Ding! Yes, you can.

"Then, in that case, let's do it! And, you realise, this should make Eleanor much more amenable to us dumping a whole crowd of ex-slaves onto them," said Bronsen.

"We can also grant points as bribery to the higher-ups in the other countries next to Manifestoria to get them to donate resources to look after the slaves," said Drayden.

"We're the Misfits! We don't bribe! We provide fair exchange!" said Bronsen.

"Sure, sure," said Cassy.

"First, let's dump all of the collars onto the floor, and we have a race to see who can destroy the most!" said Bronsen.

A couple of minutes of laughter later:

Alice, her hand a blur of motion, touched the last remaining collar - and it didn't do anything.

"Huh?"

This allowed Cassy the opportunity to grab it, narrowly beating Drayden. It disintegrated into coarse sand.

"Why didn't it turn to sand when I touched it?" said Alice.

"That's strange - wait! Maybe that's a collar of one of the blues that you, amen, terminated?" said Bronsen.

"So... I can't get the points for it, so System-san didn't destroy it, just to allow someone else to get the points?"

There was no comment from System-san.

"Anyway! I got the last!" said Cassy.

"Ha! But I got the most!" said Drayden.

"Rubbish! I got the most," said Cassy.

"Hey! It's too early in the morning for foreplay," said Bronsen.

"Oh, shall we have The Discussion now?" said Alice.

There was a guilty silence as they realised that there were many slaves to be freed today.

"Maybe not. Let's do our work first," said Bronsen.

So, first off, they swept a pile of sand out of the cabin.

Bronsen:

Four Misfits stood in a row at the head of the hall. In front of them was every slave on the island, apart from the new ones still sitting in their yacht. Also, Frannie and Reggie were nowhere in sight.

All of a sudden, I'm getting nervous.

A moment's reflection.

Right. I, that is we, will be making another tremendous change to the lives of a hundred or more people, without any discussion and without their consent.

We really are responsible for this lot.

How, exactly, should we do this? We should have discussed this beforehand.

Lowering his voice, he whispered to the others.

"Hey friends, how about we stand at the door, and as the people pass through, we free them and get them outside so that the ones inside don't realise what's happening?"

They nodded in agreement.

They look serious.

So the Misfits moved to the door. Bronsen and Alice stood inside while Cassy and Drayden were outside.

"OK, everybody, we have arranged something, so if you could all file outside, please!" said Bronsen, in his best leadership voice.

Even without their collars being active, they were still mostly quiet and obedient. So they did exactly as told.

Hestia:

I wonder what the Misfits are going to do this time?

Like all the others, she formed up in a neat line. She happened to end up in the middle. She looked ahead.

I can't see what's happening past Bronsen and Alice. And isn't it getting kind of noisy outside? There's even some shouting and loud voices.

Very strange.

"Hi, Hestia. You will like the next part," said Bronsen as he guided her through, but without touching her.

The next part?

She took another step and was next to Cassy. Who smiled at her and reached out and touched her collar.

Ding! Slave collar has been removed, courtesy of the Misfits.

Huh?

"Hi there! If you can move on, make way for the others?" said Drayden, who gently took her hand and guided her outwards.

What? Is my collar gone? How is that possible? And what is all of this sand doing here?

She looked down at her body, the sand dropping onto the ground. Then she looked up and at the other slaves.

Oh, by the Voice, They don't have collars!

She touched her neck.

I don't have a collar!

She bumped into one of the other women she knew from the ship crew. They hung onto each other in sheer amazement.

"Hestia! My collar's gone!" said the woman.

"So is mine!" said Hestia.

She looks so strange without it. Everybody seems so strange without their collars.

Does this mean we are no longer enslaved?

Hestia began to hyperventilate and sat down on the ground. This dragged the other woman down, so they sat there, hugging each other and trying to comprehend what was happening.

Note, this was the first time Hestia had ever hugged any slave apart from her sister and mother and her babies.

Naturally, rapes don't count.

Bronsen:

The last slave passed through and was freed. Bronsen and Alice joined the other two outside and looked at what they had wrought.

The formerly enslaved people were agitated.

Some were standing there, blank looks on their faces. Others were crying, a couple were shouting, and some were mumbling to themselves. Here and there, pairs of freed slaves hugged each other. About a third were on the ground, sitting still or lying; there was even one slave who was rocking back and forward in anguish.

Without conscious thought, the four Misfits lined up and held each other's hands.

"Oh, wow." said Cassy, "We have profoundly changed the lives of all of them, haven't we?"

"Yeah. And we really, really need to take responsibility for any troubles they might have," said Alice.

"Not to mention, once this gets out, the slave emperor is going to be freaking out," said Drayden.

"And every nation on this side of the Ring will take notice of us," said Cassy.

"Well, we have gone and kicked the ant hill real hard. And the ants are soon going to be swarming all over everywhere!" said Bronsen.

"Is that a figurative or literal swarming?" said Alice.

"I think, once the slave emperor hears about this, it will be literally," said Bronsen.

"What now?" said Cassy.

"Two of us go and immediately free the slaves on the yacht and bring them back. Then we need to get the hell out of this place, so we need to get the ship crew working again and get the ship ready for launch. Oh, and also, we need to take as much food and, I suppose, all the barrels of Marmalade that we can fit. If we're going to be imposing all of this on Eleanor, we can at least bring enough food to keep the slaves, oops, I mean new citizens, fed for a while."

The others agreed. Nobody, not even Alice, complained about his unilateral decision-making.

Alice:

It was evening, and they were now back in their accommodation, sitting on the floor in the front room. All the newly freed citizens were in their sleeping quarters, settling in for the night.

That was all so stressful.

"I didn't expect their reaction to being freed would be so - exhausting," she said.

"I'd say. It was much more extreme than when they got out of Order Lock," said Cassy.

"More importantly, do you think they are getting used to us leading them around?" said Bronsen.

"Well, to you leading them around," said Drayden, "Not that I'm complaining."

It's fine; he is doing a good job.

"I still want to have a discussion about things, but unfortunately, we don't have the time, do we?" she said.

"No, we don't. And, since we are the Heroes and will be dying one way or another in the not-too-distant future, perhaps we don't need to concentrate all that much on that topic?" said Cassy.

"I suppose so. Just keep pretending nothing is wrong?" said Alice.

"Sure!" said Cassy.

Bronsen waited for a gap in the conversation, then spoke out.

"I attempted to get the ship crew vested in organising our escape from this Island."

"You made progress?" said Drayden.

"Yes. Some. A day or two's time, and we might be able to start packing the boat with food."

"I suppose we can help that along by moving all of those barrels of Marmalade to the dock. Just the thing for our maxed-out strengths," said Cassy.

There was now a long, awkward silence. The Misfits had to make a choice.

Purely by chance, three people looked at Alice.

"Well, what, you want me to decide?" she said.

They all nodded.

She chewed her lower lip. Ran her hand through her hair.

Why are they getting me to make the decision?

I know perfectly well, don't I?

I've had Bronsen for the last two nights, and Drayden is looking pretty good right now...

"OK, OK, I'll take Drayden tonight."

There was a big smile from Drayden.

"My, doesn't he look like the cat that got the creamed carnary!" said Cassy.

"You bet I do. Hmm, I quite like the contrast of my white skin against Alice's black skin..."

Two girls promptly whacked him across his back with their tails.

"Am I supposed to say 'ouch' here?" said Drayden.

Bronsen got in fast before more violence happened: "Actually, I'm kind of happy, too!"

Alice turned her nose up at all of this production and looked away, then, after a moment, looked back.

"That does raise the question - I'm not sure that I want to sleep on the blanket that, you know, Cassy and Drayden were, err..."

"Banging each other like crazy last night?" said Cassy.

No reply from Alice except a strained expression.

"No problem!" said Drayden, "We will set out two blankets in each room. So, in my room, I have a blanket on the floor for Cassy and me and another one on the other side for Alice and me. Ta-da, problem solved!"

"Yeah, and similarly for my room," said Bronsen.

Two girls looked deep into each other's eyes and came to an unspoken but very definite conclusion. They then turned to the two boys.

The social temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.

The two boys, not being stupid, rapidly determined what was wrong.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, I forgot!" said Drayden, "I meant that we have two blankets in Cassy's room, one each for Bronsen and me."

"Yes! Yes!" said Bronsen, "And, of course, in Alice's room, there are two, one each for me and Drayden."

"Oh, is that what you actually meant to say?" said Alice with a cloyingly sweet voice.

"Definitely! Definitely!" said Draden.

Bronsen nodded his head with this.

Cassy giggled like mad for a minute before managing to calm down.

"How about he give the boys some face and make it that the left side of the room is always Bronsen's while the right side is Drayden's?"

"OK, that's fine by me," said Alice.

The boys, not daring to add anything more in case it blew up in their faces, kept on nodding their heads.

Accordingly, Alice ended up being all alone with Drayden that night.

There was some time before they finally managed to get to sleep.

We won't be lasting much longer on this Ringworld, and there's no sign that we will be reincarnated to this place again.

So, I think I'll keep pretending there's nothing wrong. Nope, those jealous, intrusive thoughts about what Cassy might be doing with Bronsen don't exist. Nope, there's nothing to see here. So, go to sleep, Alice, now!