Retaliation

Retaliation is the tenth chapter in Journey.

Chapter Ten: Retaliation
Trent kept pacing back and forth with worry lines all over his face. He looked over at Phy, who was leaning against tree resting peacefully.

“It’s been over an hour,” Trent informed Phy. “Shouldn’t your friends have left by now?”

With his eyes still closed, Phy muttered, “They should have…but it seems that we will have to wait a little bit longer.”

“Why can’t we just go in there and get them out?”

“The answer to that is simple Trent my boy! We just have to wait for the golden time to go break in and get them out.”

Trent looked confusedly at the relaxed Phy before turning back to look up at the towering City Hall. “At the very least, I hope your friends are alright.”

“I’m sure there okay…besides if there were in trouble, I’m sure we will see a sign.” “What do you mean about a sign?”

Phy grinned. “Don’t worry…even you will be able to tell once we see the sign.”

Greed wiped the sweat from his face as he faced the person who closed the door behind them. The figure wore a black robe and their face was covered up by a mask that resembled a green goblin.

“So you’ve come here to take me out,” Greed nervously asked?

The figure shook its head to gesture saying no.

“If you’re not here to eliminate me…then what is your purpose here? I demand to know,” Greed yelled.

The figure began to speak, with its voice sounding like a blurred telephone recording. “Release the kids and bring them to me or you will then face the full extent of The Remnant’s wrath.”

Greed laughed, but still couldn’t mask his nervousness. “That’s a good joke. So tell me…which one are you? I doubt your Gluttony unless he finally decided to go on a diet.”

The figure turned and started to walk away. “What do you want Greed,” it asked?

“That’s easy. I want everything so I can finally satisfy my hungry avarice,” Greed said, grabbing his stomach in the process.

“Well then I suppose your way of thinking will clash with Red’s.”

Greed yelled, “Whose is Red?”

But the figure exited the room and vanished around a corner. Greed slumped into a chair. “I thought that was him but thanks to my luck it wasn’t. But who is Red?”

In a location completely irrelevant to the current scenario, Mabel was relaxing in a rocking chair, knitting what appeared to be a sweater. She was humming merrily when there was a knock on the door. “It’s unlocked,” she called as she set down her knitting supplies.

The door opened and the image of a grinning ACTN entered the house. “Hello Mabel,” he said merrily. “I thought I dropped by since it must be so lonely since your kids all left about a month ago.”

“You’re so sweet…but I think you just came to visit me since you’re bored of looking at normal girls when you gaze upon a real woman.”

ACTN’s eyes started to twitch. “Um giving the choice between death or you…I’d embrace death with open arms.”

His response resulted with a slap to the face. “How could you break an old ladies heart like that,” she whined as he sat down on the couch, rubbing his sore face.

“Yeah I’m sorry,” he half-heartedly responded. “So have you heard anything from the kids?” “As a matter of fact, I recently received a letter from Izumi a few days ago,” Mabel said as she handed the letter to ACTN.

ACTN quickly read the letter. “Whoa. The runts made it all the way to Easthollow. I’m actually impressed since I figured that they would give up within a week.”

“You’ve trained with those boys for seven years and you still don’t understand them,” Mabel questioned? “I figured that you of all people would be the one to best connect with Hotaru…especially after the incident.”

ACTN’s face darkened. “He told you about that,” he asked?

“No…I found out about through other means. A lady like me has a right to know every detail in this small community.”

“Eh sure? But you know how nasty things would’ve turned out for him if I hadn’t stepped in.”

“I know and I’m grateful for you helping him. It’s just…I wish that life would give all of those boys a break,” Mabel sadly remarked.

“Well that’s the cool thing about Hotaru,” ACTN beamed. “Since he’s gone through some tough shit…he won’t stand by and let anyone else suffer like him and his brother!”

“Hey you old bastard,” Hotaru yelled in Alfred’s face. “Let us go and I promise to go easy on you!”

Alfred simply wiped the spit off of his face. “Now behave like a good civilized guest…and shut your mouth.”

He moved on to exit the spacious underground room and left. “Being told to shut up by an old man,” Akio teased. “That’s got to be a new low in your life.”

“Oh shut up Akio,” Hotaru snapped back.

“Don’t tell me to shut up runt,” Akio yelled back.

As the two bickered, Satoru said “Guys save the arguing for later. We need to think of some way to get out of here.”

Tsuyoshi shook his chains. “Well I suppose Hotaru could burn through this rope.”

“He can’t because look,” Satoru nodded at Hotaru’s arm, where a glowing pink bracelet was attached to his wrist. “I’ve learned about that from our teacher. It blocks the energy that Elementalists need to use their element.”

“So you mean we are trapped in here,” Tsuyoshi wailed.

Suddenly, Izumi’s chains fell to the floor causing the bickering duo to stop and all four boys stared as Izumi rubbed her wrists. “What,” she innocently asked?

“How the heck did you do that Izumi,” Tsuyoshi asked?

“Simple. Greed didn’t realize that I was also an Elementalist,” she answered as she twirled a metallic object in the air. “I borrowed a fork and I was able to change its structure into a key.”

“Holy crap Izumi you’re an angel,” Hotaru said as she unlocked his chains.

His praise caused her to blush. “Save the praising for later,” Akio said as everyone chains fell down. “We have some unfinished business with Greed.”

However the sound of muttering filled the cavernous room. Hotaru lit a fire in his hands and in the sudden light, the group was shocked to see about 30 other people chained. They all had even worse clothing than the folks outside.

Hotaru walked over to them. “Wait a sec…are you guys the slaves that Greed mentioned?”

A girl perched her head up, “That man saved us. This is the best we can do to repay him.”

An old man added, “We will give up our lives to work for him.”

Hotaru stared down as others began to say similar things. “That’s it then…you want to spend your entire life just to work to someone who doesn’t even respect you.”

Another girl shifted on the ground. “Well I always wanted to be a dancer…but I can’t now.”

Hotaru began to shake. He then snapped his fingers and in a flash, a fire made its way around the room, burning up the chains. “You lives are meaningless if your only exist to serve others. So get the hell out of here and live your lives to the fullest!”

The freed slaves blinked and tentatively got to their feet. “Do we really have the right to be happy?”

“Of course you do! Now get out of here,” Hotaru yelled, pointing at the door. The freed slaves ran off breaking through the door using sheer force.

“Nice idea Hotaru,” Tsuyoshi said. “Using the slaves as a distraction.

“I meant everything I said,” Hotaru responded. “Come on. Let’s go find Greed and teach him a lesson for messing with these people’s lives,” He added as he cracked his hands.

Trivia
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