CassReyes Just gonna put this here for the faint of heart:
TW:
Threats of SA/Rape TortureLiz pulled her visor off in a panic, her sister and her friends were missing, but Liz had no further information beyond that.
Her protective nature forced her to assume the worst though, so dread had filled her heart such that Liz felt faint - dread that soon became solidified with a slip of paper that was laid on her chest. Liz unfolded the paper and as her eyes skimmed through the contents her anger flared - she had reached a most terrifying stage of anger, where it burned with such intensity that she could remain entirely composed; her eyes the only gateway into the depths of her fury.
The note read as such:
We have your sister.
If you want to see her again, come to xxx-xxx-xxx at midnight.
Liz knew the exact location written in the address; having been there herself. It was a warehouse that Magnus and his gang owned, luckily Liz was smart enough to know Magnus was not involved. The gangster not only had a soft spot for Liz and Piper, but would never stoop so low as to involve kids in any of his plans, he had a code and anyone of his men that dared to break it would find themselves at the bottom of a lake.
They must be planning to pin the blame on the Magnitude Gang if I don't show up. Liz thought, folding the paper back into her pocket.
Liz walked over to the door and unlocked, almost immediately being pushed aside as Isabella pushed her way in.
"Elizabeth!" She yelled frantically, her eyes red from tears that were running down her cheeks, "My daughter! She's- "
Everything after that was incomprehensible, the woman having broken down into a sobbing mess at her missing daughter. For Isabella, her children were her world, she would do anything for them and the thought of losing one was enough to send her spiralling - like any good mother.
"Calm down." Liz said with a stony coldness, causing Isabella to flinch and become quiet - not used to the way Liz was speaking, "I'm going to deal with it. You wait here and make sure nothing happens to the boys."
Isabella wiped her tears and nodded, rushing off to stay with her sons; somehow trusting Liz who she had expected to be just as distraught as she was. Isabella knew what Piper meant to her sister and found it strange that she seemed perfectly fine.
This was because there had only been one situation like this before. Liz was typically an upbeat girl, impulsive but caring and rarely showing her anger - even in the face of injustice since she knew better than to act out. People are not so forgiving when the lower classes show their displeasure, but things were different when it came to her sister.
Liz got dressed and pulled on a jacket before heading out into the streets.
Rain hit the streets as Liz walked through them, the sun had long since set and so the moonlight was reflecting through the drops of rain in the almost abandoned streets. There were still a few hours left before the agreed upon time, but the warehouse wasn't where Liz was heading.
She made her way through the slums, weaving through all the familiar streets until she stood outside of a familiar strip club. Heading inside the show was in full swing, Seb wasn't at the bar, instead it was a gang member Liz didn't recognise.
Not wanting to waste time with all the excess crap she walked past him towards the backroom she knew Magnus would be in.
"Heya, hun! The dressing room's the other way." The bartender called out, after getting no response he stepped out from the bar and grabbed Liz by the shoulder, "Didn't ya hear me, performers are that way."
As he spun Liz around, the look in her eyes caused him to flinch back - enough for Liz to shake him off and carry on walking down the hall. It wasn't until she was at Magnus's door that he shook off the inklings of fear she had brought out and called out once again.
"Hey! You can't go in there!" He yelled, Liz ignored him again and opened the door to see a meeting going on.
Magnus and Seb, as well as the other executives that Liz was familiar with were sitting and discussing something. They all turned to look at Liz, their faces irritated and annoyed until they saw who had interrupted them.
"Ah! Sorry boss, I tried to stop her- " The bartender said, having quickly caught up with Liz, but he was cut off by Magnus.
"It's fine, she’s a friend. Basically family." The others nodded in agreement and the thug looked shocked before apologising and returning to the bar, "So what do we owe the pleasure, little Lizzy. Though we are in a meeting, so if possible, can it wait?"
"It can't." Magnus's happy easy tone dropped the instant Liz spoke - something about the cadence of her voice told him something was wrong, terribly wrong. A memory flashed through his mind and a feeling of worry began to build in his stomach.
The others looked equally uncomfortable, all being fairly close with Liz after looking after the girl during the years she was living in the slums - even if she did seem quite fearful of the fact that they were all mob bosses. They knew that Magnus considered the pair of sisters like his own daughters; while kids were off limits, they knew touching Liz and Piper would mean triple the punishment for breaking the rule.
Liz didn't speak again, pulling out the note and throwing it over to Magnus. It was silent in the room as Magnus picked up the paper, his eyes passed over the words and it seemed as though nothing had gone in, as he held the paper in his hands silently for a minute straight. But finally, he spoke - not many words, but enough for the executives to understand the depths of his anger:
"Gather everyone."
Someone had stepped over the line, taken something the boss considered special and now there was going to be hell to pay.
Piper had been the first one to wake up. She was a rather light sleeper due to her respiratory troubles, so even with the taste of drugs lingering in her mouth she woke up quite soon.
"Where the hell am I?" Piper mumbled as she began to wake up.
Piper looked around groggily, taking in the scenery. She found she couldn't really move, her body bound to a chair with rope in the middle of an abandoned warehouse; on her left and right were Bailey and Jess respectively.
As she frantically began to pull herself free Piper heard something behind her followed quickly by the movement of a chair and the echoes of footsteps heading towards her. Piper tried to swivel and see who it was, but she couldn't fully turn because of the rope. However, it didn't take long before she was able to see the kidnapper herself.
"Aah!" Piper yelped, someone having grabbed her by the hair and roughly yanked so that she was forced to look up. Now in her line of sight was a large man, with muscles just as large - he had a rugged face with a large scar running from the bottom of his right eye to the middle of his cheek; his crooked smile widened when he heard Piper yell out, grinning as he had caused her pain.
"Heya, ashy. You have a nice nap?" He mocked, enjoying the resentful grin given to him by the filthy slumdrat he had captured.
"Who the hell are you?! What do you want with us!?" Piper called out angrily, only causing the man to grin wider at her pathetic attempt to be assertive.
"We don't want a slumrat like you, the boss just needs you to control your sister." The man said, releasing Piper's hair roughly, "Your sisters pissed some people off, she shouldn't have; now you're gonna help us make sure she pays them off."
Piper began to despair; once again she was holding her sister back. Tears welled up in Piper's eyes causing the kidnapper to well up with glee.
That's it! That's it you filthy whore! He was elated by the sight Piper despairing. There was nothing more arousing to him than watching the filthy and disgusting lower classes wallow in despair and pain. Ah! I can feel it! Just a bit more.
"Even when she's done grovelling for forgiveness, we're gonna make sure she works off her debts." He jeered, "If you're lucky you might even get to see her once or twice a year."
Piper began to fall even deeper into the pits of her own self-loathing, beginning to think that it would be best for her to die right now - they had made the mistake of not gagging her, she could put an end to the plan right in that moment. As she prepared to bite through her own tongue, the thought of her sister came to mind, the words of love she had repeated without end; could she kill herself?
Could she do it, even knowing she would never be able to see Elizabeth again? Drive her sister to despair from her death, even if it was the only way to protect her?
I can't... Piper was scared, she wanted her sister so badly, but she knew that she was only spelling out her doom. Bailey and Jess began to stir, panicking just as Piper had - yelling out; but Grimes (the kidnapper) ignored them as there was a more delicious prey right in front of him.
He walked around to Piper's front, grabbing her face tightly and lifting it up as if to inspect her.
"But by the looks of ya, you'll be pretty busy too." He grinned evilly, "I'm sure one of those big shots in the upper cities would love to get ahold of you."
He laughed as Jess and Bailey yelled obscenities at him, all he wanted was to look at the filthy slum rat in front of him falling further into despair, taking sadistic glee in her descent into hell.
His 2 colleagues continued playing cards, not caring what happened to a couple of city-z slum rats, so long as he didn't cross the line and ruin the client's plan he could do whatever he pleased.
Right as Grimes's elation was reaching its peak he lifted his victim's head up higher, hoping to further see just how much his words had taken effect, but instead his eyes were met with ones of great resolution - angering him greatly as she had cut off his fun.
However, before he could start talking again, Piper opened her mouth wide and bit hard onto his fingers; she refused to let go even as blood gushed into her mouth. Grimes screamed in pain, not used to being in any pain due to how long he had been in the business.
Eventually, he regained his wits and reared his arm back to punch Piper in the face; knocking her chair over. If before he was angry, now he was furious. Grimes bent over and picked up the chair.
"You think you can do whatever you want?! There're consequences for your actions whore!" He screamed, punching Piper all over her body as she continued to glare at him, "Stop looking at me like that!"
Grimes was going red in the face from anger; if there was nothing he loved more that watching low class scum suffering, then the thing he hated most was them thinking they were anything less than shit beneath his boots.
"STOP! STOP!" Jess and Bailey called out, blood falling from Piper's face as Grimes continued to slap her around, "YOU'RE GONNA KILL HER!"
Grimes stopped hitting Piper for a moment, looking down at the other 2 with a cruel, macabre grin.
"So?" He said, Bailey and Jess flinched, shocking how devoid his voice was of emotion - he really didn't care if she died, "This is city-z; you think anyone's gonna care if a few rats like you die?"
Bailey and Jess went silent in horror, but as Grimes reared up to punch again the warehouse door slid open, screeching all the way. Grimes turned to look behind him, his manic grin widening even further as he laid eyes on a figure obscured by shadows.
"You're early, Smokey." Grimes said, emphasising the word Smokey, "You're sister and I were just getting acquainted. Haha."
The other 2 men who worked with Grimes stood up as Liz stared at them from across the warehouse. Grimes loosened his grip on the ropes binding Piper, allowing her chair to clatter to the floor as he and the other men approached, throwing a box down in front of Liz who had begun walking into the building.
"Sign this and you can begin earning the right to see your sister." Grimes mocked, at this point it was like shooting fish in a barrel. The supposed big shot who had been getting in his employer's way nonstop was now too scared to even speak. At least that's what he thought.
Liz did not even look at the contract, her eyes raising to look directly into Grime's - the man flinching for the first time in years, infuriating him beyond belief.
"Hah!? You wanna end up like your sister?!" He yelled out, his temper getting the better of him as always, "You should be grovelling you bitc- "
"You shouldn't have walked away from your hostages." Liz interrupted him, but before Grimes could even get angry at a slum rat talking over him, he felt a punch rock into the side of his head. The force knocked the large man onto his side, blood spitting from his mouth.
"FUCK!" He screamed, but before he could push himself back to his feet, a large combat boot was crushing into the back of his hand, "AAAAAAAH!"
The foot had broken his hand, he had never been in such pain - even his scar had not hurt this bad when he received it. This was Grimes's real character, he was a pathetic loser who enjoyed trampling others, but could not handle it himself. Looking up, Grimes saw a man even larger than he was, tattoos running down his forearms, exposed as a white dress shirt had been rolled up to reveal them. He looked down at Grimes like looking at filth, anger that could not be described written clear as day.
"Wrap this up." He called out, allowing Grimes to see nearly a hundred burly men watching the perimeter of the warehouse, "We'll figure this out quick."
That was the last thing Grimes heard before the boot came crashing down on his head, forcing his consciousness to slip away.
Grimes woke up, his head aching terribly and his hand still stinging in pain. But as he tried to stand up he found himself immobile, completely tied to a chair with steel chains. Looking around the room he saw one person staring at him from the shadows. Just as he was about to start begging to be let loose, terrified as memories of what had happened to him came rushing back, the figure stood up and all of Grimes's fear came rushing back.
"Plea- Oh. Haha!" He grinned, "It's just the little insect who broke the rules."
"You think you're gonna get away with this shit!? Do you have any idea who I'm working for." He yelled out, increasingly confident.
A pathetic brat like this will probably be pissing herself in fear soon. He mocked in his head. Stupid move to leave me alone with her.
Grimes's speciality was manipulating and breaking people - normally he would act as a torturer to get information out of people; but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to head into city-z and rough up some of the mud grubs living there.
"Yeah." Liz said, her voice dry and compassionless, "The other two squealed pretty easy. We got all the info we need."
"Huh?" He did not expect such a calm response, nor that she knew who ordered the kidnapping and that she still hadn't released him, "Then... Then you better let me go!"
His voice had become slightly less shaky, his confidence thinning as uncertainty ran through him.
"Why?" Liz asked, her voice like a brick wall.
"Because if you don't, you'll end up dead on the streets! The Kim family will make sure of it!" He called out, if the ones who hired him were already known then there was no point in hiding it; the better plan was to use it as leverage.
"It's like you said though." Liz muttered, cutting through the silence that had fallen after Grimes's rant; fully revealing herself from the shadows she had been walking through. As she came into full view, Grimes felt dread build up inside him.
Her eyes... He thought, beginning to tremble. The girl in front of him was not who he thought she'd be; those were not the eyes of a young and naive girl, they were the eyes of stone cold killer, the type of eyes that would watch the blood drain from a body and feel nothing - no anger, or sadness or even joy, just and absolute void of emotions.
"This is city-z." Liz said, leaning in close to whisper directly in Grimes's ear, "No one's gonna care if a few rats are found dead in the streets."
Before Grimes could even retort, begging for mercy, he felt an impact crash into the side of his head. Liz had picked up an item from a table next to Grimes, one he had not seen, and hit him across the side of the head with it. Back and forth, Liz swung a crowbar and bashed it into Grimes's head, the man desperately trying to beg her to stop.
She moved from his head, picking up a hammer to begin crushing bones over his entire body - taking a vice and placing it over his wrists before slowly twisting until the bones became dust between the metal.
This went on for hours, Liz ceaselessly beating and torturing Grimes until he was a snivelling, bleeding mess.
"Please..." He muttered, his mouth full of blood after having all of his teeth removed, "Please stop..."
Liz looked at him, she had done every possible horrible thing she could think of to him - his punishment for what he had done to her sister and felt she should end things.
"Ok." For a moment Grimes held out hope, even with all the injuries he had suffered, with modern medicine he could be fully healed - after that he could make sure that bitch suffered just as much as him, no, tenfold! But as Grimes looked up, a meagre flicker of hope in his eyes, he realised that wasn't going to happen.
The moment he raised his head, he began gagging as the metallic barrel of a gun was shoved into the back of his mouth - with one last pleading look, Grimes begged for his life, but he was met with apathy; Liz seeing nothing but filth.
And like that, Liz pulled the trigger; blowing the back of his head out of his skull - destroying his brain stem, killing him instantly.
Liz sighed, placing the gun back down and wiping blood from her hands. She felt cathartic.
Liz did not enjoy killing, but there was nothing she wouldn't do for Piper - and the moment she saw what that bastard had done to her precious little sister, she couldn't just let him get away. She had asked Magnus to be allowed to be the one to deal with Grimes; the other 2 having already spilled the necessary information - Magnus knew the only way to appease Liz's fury was to allow her access to Grimes; and he didn't care what happened to scum like him, knowing what Liz would do to him.
The state Elizabeth was in was one Magnus had only seen 1 time. In the first few days the pair of sisters had arrived in the slums, one of his new recruits thought themselves king of the world and had attacked the 2 young girls.
Magnus had received the report, sending Seb to deal with the bastard who laid his hands on a pair of children. But instead Seb returned with 2 unconscious girls; Magnus was angry at first, until Seb described what he had seen. The smaller of the 2 was unconscious with a black eye when he arrived, but the older sister seemed to have gone feral, beating the thug bloody with a plank of wood. The recruit was already dead by the time they arrived, so there was nothing that could be done.
It was at this point that Liz and Piper had first caught Magnus's attention and one of the only times Magnus had seen Liz angry. From there he began looking out for the pair for reasons no one but he really knew.
He never gave the money, but Liz never paid full price in stores he owned; her previous employers always found themselves in unfortunate circumstances when Liz was mistreated; and the unaffiliated thugs of the slums knew better than to show hostility to the girls.
Liz cleaned herself up and walked through the place Magnus had taken them to, a large building his gang owned that was fully equipped for a number of purposes.
Eventually, Liz found herself walking into a room where Piper and Jess were staying. Piper was currently being treated for a couple broken bones, but she was still conscious; Jess and Bailey were fine and Bailey was currently with her mother. Magnus was already in the room, talking to Piper.
Liz sat down and looked at her unconscious sister with regret.
If only I had been more careful. Liz thought, tears welling up.
"This isn't your fault." Magnus said, already knowing what Liz was thinking, "The egos of the scum up-top can't allow for any of us to succeed. The fact that you did must infuriate them."
"He's right." Jess chimed in, clearly knowing from firsthand experience how terrible that kind of person was.
Liz only sighed, there was little to nothing she could do either way. The Kim family were one of the most powerful in not only the country, but the world; they had sunk their claws into the politics of almost every city and held large shares in most companies around the world. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that the Kim family was one of the groups that ran the world.
The main culprit was Golden Monarch, or Godwyn Kim; the current heir to the family and eldest of 3 children.
He was widely known to be exceptional; the talent and pride of the Kim family. Compared to him, his younger sister and brother were lacklustre - it had always been a sore point for Aurelia, Liz's school bully, since compared to her brother she was pretty much average (and even that was likely more credit that was due).
"It's a shame, but the Kim family is too far reaching to fight back." Jess sighed, knowing full well how powerful Liz's enemies were, "You just don't have the facilities to take them down - you'd need just as much influence, but that isn't possible."
Like lightning crashing down from a blue sky, a thought came to Liz: What if I could gain influence like that?!
The greatest asset for all people right now was undeniably ELO. The currency exchange rate alone had risen to the point that just the one million gold she had earned from world achievements would be worth just under 100 million in real world money; and now she had what was essentially a money factory: A territory full of people to tax!.
Liz had everything she needed to grow an empire of dominance.
She had the land, the capital and the final piece was falling into place right in front of her: Magnus's people.
She knew that with just ELO she would never be able to rise to a position equal to the Kim's, but that wasn't what she was really after either. All she needed was presence enough that even the patriarch of the Kim family couldn't just eliminate her. She knew that some time would have been bought after their last attempt to control her failed as they couldn't risk their underhanded dealings being exposed; so, in that time Liz needed to become untouchable.
"You're looking better kid, you cooking up a plan?" Magnus asked, just glad that Liz was looking happier.
"Hey, uncle, how are you getting on in ELO?" She asked, confusing Jess and Magnus at the sudden change in topic.
"... Uh, pretty good." Magnus responded, not entirely sure where Liz was going with this, "But the money we're making isn't anything all that special; we've been able to barely keep up with the day 1 players since all my guys are trained in fighting, but I'm not sure how long that'll keep up."
"I think I have a way to solve both problems then." Liz said with a grin, "A way that you can make a real payday through ELO and I can't get enough influence that the Kims can't just wipe me off the map."
Jess and Magnus looked at Liz with confusion, but realisation slowly built within Jess:
"Let's start a guild together."
CassReyes Hey, thanks for reading.
I always feel there's not enough New Earth content, but I still never find the time to add it in - so here's the good stuff!
As usual: Link to patreon for chapters 3 days early and a few chapters ahead.
CassReyes Just gonna put this here for the faint of heart:
TW:
Threats of SA/Rape TortureLiz pulled her visor off in a panic, her sister and her friends were missing, but Liz had no further information beyond that.
Her protective nature forced her to assume the worst though, so dread had filled her heart such that Liz felt faint - dread that soon became solidified with a slip of paper that was laid on her chest. Liz unfolded the paper and as her eyes skimmed through the contents her anger flared - she had reached a most terrifying stage of anger, where it burned with such intensity that she could remain entirely composed; her eyes the only gateway into the depths of her fury.
The note read as such:
We have your sister.
If you want to see her again, come to xxx-xxx-xxx at midnight.
Liz knew the exact location written in the address; having been there herself. It was a warehouse that Magnus and his gang owned, luckily Liz was smart enough to know Magnus was not involved. The gangster not only had a soft spot for Liz and Piper, but would never stoop so low as to involve kids in any of his plans, he had a code and anyone of his men that dared to break it would find themselves at the bottom of a lake.
They must be planning to pin the blame on the Magnitude Gang if I don't show up. Liz thought, folding the paper back into her pocket.
Liz walked over to the door and unlocked, almost immediately being pushed aside as Isabella pushed her way in.
"Elizabeth!" She yelled frantically, her eyes red from tears that were running down her cheeks, "My daughter! She's- "
Everything after that was incomprehensible, the woman having broken down into a sobbing mess at her missing daughter. For Isabella, her children were her world, she would do anything for them and the thought of losing one was enough to send her spiralling - like any good mother.
"Calm down." Liz said with a stony coldness, causing Isabella to flinch and become quiet - not used to the way Liz was speaking, "I'm going to deal with it. You wait here and make sure nothing happens to the boys."
Isabella wiped her tears and nodded, rushing off to stay with her sons; somehow trusting Liz who she had expected to be just as distraught as she was. Isabella knew what Piper meant to her sister and found it strange that she seemed perfectly fine.
This was because there had only been one situation like this before. Liz was typically an upbeat girl, impulsive but caring and rarely showing her anger - even in the face of injustice since she knew better than to act out. People are not so forgiving when the lower classes show their displeasure, but things were different when it came to her sister.
Liz got dressed and pulled on a jacket before heading out into the streets.
Rain hit the streets as Liz walked through them, the sun had long since set and so the moonlight was reflecting through the drops of rain in the almost abandoned streets. There were still a few hours left before the agreed upon time, but the warehouse wasn't where Liz was heading.
She made her way through the slums, weaving through all the familiar streets until she stood outside of a familiar strip club. Heading inside the show was in full swing, Seb wasn't at the bar, instead it was a gang member Liz didn't recognise.
Not wanting to waste time with all the excess crap she walked past him towards the backroom she knew Magnus would be in.
"Heya, hun! The dressing room's the other way." The bartender called out, after getting no response he stepped out from the bar and grabbed Liz by the shoulder, "Didn't ya hear me, performers are that way."
As he spun Liz around, the look in her eyes caused him to flinch back - enough for Liz to shake him off and carry on walking down the hall. It wasn't until she was at Magnus's door that he shook off the inklings of fear she had brought out and called out once again.
"Hey! You can't go in there!" He yelled, Liz ignored him again and opened the door to see a meeting going on.
Magnus and Seb, as well as the other executives that Liz was familiar with were sitting and discussing something. They all turned to look at Liz, their faces irritated and annoyed until they saw who had interrupted them.
"Ah! Sorry boss, I tried to stop her- " The bartender said, having quickly caught up with Liz, but he was cut off by Magnus.
"It's fine, she’s a friend. Basically family." The others nodded in agreement and the thug looked shocked before apologising and returning to the bar, "So what do we owe the pleasure, little Lizzy. Though we are in a meeting, so if possible, can it wait?"
"It can't." Magnus's happy easy tone dropped the instant Liz spoke - something about the cadence of her voice told him something was wrong, terribly wrong. A memory flashed through his mind and a feeling of worry began to build in his stomach.
The others looked equally uncomfortable, all being fairly close with Liz after looking after the girl during the years she was living in the slums - even if she did seem quite fearful of the fact that they were all mob bosses. They knew that Magnus considered the pair of sisters like his own daughters; while kids were off limits, they knew touching Liz and Piper would mean triple the punishment for breaking the rule.
Liz didn't speak again, pulling out the note and throwing it over to Magnus. It was silent in the room as Magnus picked up the paper, his eyes passed over the words and it seemed as though nothing had gone in, as he held the paper in his hands silently for a minute straight. But finally, he spoke - not many words, but enough for the executives to understand the depths of his anger:
"Gather everyone."
Someone had stepped over the line, taken something the boss considered special and now there was going to be hell to pay.
Piper had been the first one to wake up. She was a rather light sleeper due to her respiratory troubles, so even with the taste of drugs lingering in her mouth she woke up quite soon.
"Where the hell am I?" Piper mumbled as she began to wake up.
Piper looked around groggily, taking in the scenery. She found she couldn't really move, her body bound to a chair with rope in the middle of an abandoned warehouse; on her left and right were Bailey and Jess respectively.
As she frantically began to pull herself free Piper heard something behind her followed quickly by the movement of a chair and the echoes of footsteps heading towards her. Piper tried to swivel and see who it was, but she couldn't fully turn because of the rope. However, it didn't take long before she was able to see the kidnapper herself.
"Aah!" Piper yelped, someone having grabbed her by the hair and roughly yanked so that she was forced to look up. Now in her line of sight was a large man, with muscles just as large - he had a rugged face with a large scar running from the bottom of his right eye to the middle of his cheek; his crooked smile widened when he heard Piper yell out, grinning as he had caused her pain.
"Heya, ashy. You have a nice nap?" He mocked, enjoying the resentful grin given to him by the filthy slumdrat he had captured.
"Who the hell are you?! What do you want with us!?" Piper called out angrily, only causing the man to grin wider at her pathetic attempt to be assertive.
"We don't want a slumrat like you, the boss just needs you to control your sister." The man said, releasing Piper's hair roughly, "Your sisters pissed some people off, she shouldn't have; now you're gonna help us make sure she pays them off."
Piper began to despair; once again she was holding her sister back. Tears welled up in Piper's eyes causing the kidnapper to well up with glee.
That's it! That's it you filthy whore! He was elated by the sight Piper despairing. There was nothing more arousing to him than watching the filthy and disgusting lower classes wallow in despair and pain. Ah! I can feel it! Just a bit more.
"Even when she's done grovelling for forgiveness, we're gonna make sure she works off her debts." He jeered, "If you're lucky you might even get to see her once or twice a year."
Piper began to fall even deeper into the pits of her own self-loathing, beginning to think that it would be best for her to die right now - they had made the mistake of not gagging her, she could put an end to the plan right in that moment. As she prepared to bite through her own tongue, the thought of her sister came to mind, the words of love she had repeated without end; could she kill herself?
Could she do it, even knowing she would never be able to see Elizabeth again? Drive her sister to despair from her death, even if it was the only way to protect her?
I can't... Piper was scared, she wanted her sister so badly, but she knew that she was only spelling out her doom. Bailey and Jess began to stir, panicking just as Piper had - yelling out; but Grimes (the kidnapper) ignored them as there was a more delicious prey right in front of him.
He walked around to Piper's front, grabbing her face tightly and lifting it up as if to inspect her.
"But by the looks of ya, you'll be pretty busy too." He grinned evilly, "I'm sure one of those big shots in the upper cities would love to get ahold of you."
He laughed as Jess and Bailey yelled obscenities at him, all he wanted was to look at the filthy slum rat in front of him falling further into despair, taking sadistic glee in her descent into hell.
His 2 colleagues continued playing cards, not caring what happened to a couple of city-z slum rats, so long as he didn't cross the line and ruin the client's plan he could do whatever he pleased.
Right as Grimes's elation was reaching its peak he lifted his victim's head up higher, hoping to further see just how much his words had taken effect, but instead his eyes were met with ones of great resolution - angering him greatly as she had cut off his fun.
However, before he could start talking again, Piper opened her mouth wide and bit hard onto his fingers; she refused to let go even as blood gushed into her mouth. Grimes screamed in pain, not used to being in any pain due to how long he had been in the business.
Eventually, he regained his wits and reared his arm back to punch Piper in the face; knocking her chair over. If before he was angry, now he was furious. Grimes bent over and picked up the chair.
"You think you can do whatever you want?! There're consequences for your actions whore!" He screamed, punching Piper all over her body as she continued to glare at him, "Stop looking at me like that!"
Grimes was going red in the face from anger; if there was nothing he loved more that watching low class scum suffering, then the thing he hated most was them thinking they were anything less than shit beneath his boots.
"STOP! STOP!" Jess and Bailey called out, blood falling from Piper's face as Grimes continued to slap her around, "YOU'RE GONNA KILL HER!"
Grimes stopped hitting Piper for a moment, looking down at the other 2 with a cruel, macabre grin.
"So?" He said, Bailey and Jess flinched, shocking how devoid his voice was of emotion - he really didn't care if she died, "This is city-z; you think anyone's gonna care if a few rats like you die?"
Bailey and Jess went silent in horror, but as Grimes reared up to punch again the warehouse door slid open, screeching all the way. Grimes turned to look behind him, his manic grin widening even further as he laid eyes on a figure obscured by shadows.
"You're early, Smokey." Grimes said, emphasising the word Smokey, "You're sister and I were just getting acquainted. Haha."
The other 2 men who worked with Grimes stood up as Liz stared at them from across the warehouse. Grimes loosened his grip on the ropes binding Piper, allowing her chair to clatter to the floor as he and the other men approached, throwing a box down in front of Liz who had begun walking into the building.
"Sign this and you can begin earning the right to see your sister." Grimes mocked, at this point it was like shooting fish in a barrel. The supposed big shot who had been getting in his employer's way nonstop was now too scared to even speak. At least that's what he thought.
Liz did not even look at the contract, her eyes raising to look directly into Grime's - the man flinching for the first time in years, infuriating him beyond belief.
"Hah!? You wanna end up like your sister?!" He yelled out, his temper getting the better of him as always, "You should be grovelling you bitc- "
"You shouldn't have walked away from your hostages." Liz interrupted him, but before Grimes could even get angry at a slum rat talking over him, he felt a punch rock into the side of his head. The force knocked the large man onto his side, blood spitting from his mouth.
"FUCK!" He screamed, but before he could push himself back to his feet, a large combat boot was crushing into the back of his hand, "AAAAAAAH!"
The foot had broken his hand, he had never been in such pain - even his scar had not hurt this bad when he received it. This was Grimes's real character, he was a pathetic loser who enjoyed trampling others, but could not handle it himself. Looking up, Grimes saw a man even larger than he was, tattoos running down his forearms, exposed as a white dress shirt had been rolled up to reveal them. He looked down at Grimes like looking at filth, anger that could not be described written clear as day.
"Wrap this up." He called out, allowing Grimes to see nearly a hundred burly men watching the perimeter of the warehouse, "We'll figure this out quick."
That was the last thing Grimes heard before the boot came crashing down on his head, forcing his consciousness to slip away.
Grimes woke up, his head aching terribly and his hand still stinging in pain. But as he tried to stand up he found himself immobile, completely tied to a chair with steel chains. Looking around the room he saw one person staring at him from the shadows. Just as he was about to start begging to be let loose, terrified as memories of what had happened to him came rushing back, the figure stood up and all of Grimes's fear came rushing back.
"Plea- Oh. Haha!" He grinned, "It's just the little insect who broke the rules."
"You think you're gonna get away with this shit!? Do you have any idea who I'm working for." He yelled out, increasingly confident.
A pathetic brat like this will probably be pissing herself in fear soon. He mocked in his head. Stupid move to leave me alone with her.
Grimes's speciality was manipulating and breaking people - normally he would act as a torturer to get information out of people; but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to head into city-z and rough up some of the mud grubs living there.
"Yeah." Liz said, her voice dry and compassionless, "The other two squealed pretty easy. We got all the info we need."
"Huh?" He did not expect such a calm response, nor that she knew who ordered the kidnapping and that she still hadn't released him, "Then... Then you better let me go!"
His voice had become slightly less shaky, his confidence thinning as uncertainty ran through him.
"Why?" Liz asked, her voice like a brick wall.
"Because if you don't, you'll end up dead on the streets! The Kim family will make sure of it!" He called out, if the ones who hired him were already known then there was no point in hiding it; the better plan was to use it as leverage.
"It's like you said though." Liz muttered, cutting through the silence that had fallen after Grimes's rant; fully revealing herself from the shadows she had been walking through. As she came into full view, Grimes felt dread build up inside him.
Her eyes... He thought, beginning to tremble. The girl in front of him was not who he thought she'd be; those were not the eyes of a young and naive girl, they were the eyes of stone cold killer, the type of eyes that would watch the blood drain from a body and feel nothing - no anger, or sadness or even joy, just and absolute void of emotions.
"This is city-z." Liz said, leaning in close to whisper directly in Grimes's ear, "No one's gonna care if a few rats are found dead in the streets."
Before Grimes could even retort, begging for mercy, he felt an impact crash into the side of his head. Liz had picked up an item from a table next to Grimes, one he had not seen, and hit him across the side of the head with it. Back and forth, Liz swung a crowbar and bashed it into Grimes's head, the man desperately trying to beg her to stop.
She moved from his head, picking up a hammer to begin crushing bones over his entire body - taking a vice and placing it over his wrists before slowly twisting until the bones became dust between the metal.
This went on for hours, Liz ceaselessly beating and torturing Grimes until he was a snivelling, bleeding mess.
"Please..." He muttered, his mouth full of blood after having all of his teeth removed, "Please stop..."
Liz looked at him, she had done every possible horrible thing she could think of to him - his punishment for what he had done to her sister and felt she should end things.
"Ok." For a moment Grimes held out hope, even with all the injuries he had suffered, with modern medicine he could be fully healed - after that he could make sure that bitch suffered just as much as him, no, tenfold! But as Grimes looked up, a meagre flicker of hope in his eyes, he realised that wasn't going to happen.
The moment he raised his head, he began gagging as the metallic barrel of a gun was shoved into the back of his mouth - with one last pleading look, Grimes begged for his life, but he was met with apathy; Liz seeing nothing but filth.
And like that, Liz pulled the trigger; blowing the back of his head out of his skull - destroying his brain stem, killing him instantly.
Liz sighed, placing the gun back down and wiping blood from her hands. She felt cathartic.
Liz did not enjoy killing, but there was nothing she wouldn't do for Piper - and the moment she saw what that bastard had done to her precious little sister, she couldn't just let him get away. She had asked Magnus to be allowed to be the one to deal with Grimes; the other 2 having already spilled the necessary information - Magnus knew the only way to appease Liz's fury was to allow her access to Grimes; and he didn't care what happened to scum like him, knowing what Liz would do to him.
The state Elizabeth was in was one Magnus had only seen 1 time. In the first few days the pair of sisters had arrived in the slums, one of his new recruits thought themselves king of the world and had attacked the 2 young girls.
Magnus had received the report, sending Seb to deal with the bastard who laid his hands on a pair of children. But instead Seb returned with 2 unconscious girls; Magnus was angry at first, until Seb described what he had seen. The smaller of the 2 was unconscious with a black eye when he arrived, but the older sister seemed to have gone feral, beating the thug bloody with a plank of wood. The recruit was already dead by the time they arrived, so there was nothing that could be done.
It was at this point that Liz and Piper had first caught Magnus's attention and one of the only times Magnus had seen Liz angry. From there he began looking out for the pair for reasons no one but he really knew.
He never gave the money, but Liz never paid full price in stores he owned; her previous employers always found themselves in unfortunate circumstances when Liz was mistreated; and the unaffiliated thugs of the slums knew better than to show hostility to the girls.
Liz cleaned herself up and walked through the place Magnus had taken them to, a large building his gang owned that was fully equipped for a number of purposes.
Eventually, Liz found herself walking into a room where Piper and Jess were staying. Piper was currently being treated for a couple broken bones, but she was still conscious; Jess and Bailey were fine and Bailey was currently with her mother. Magnus was already in the room, talking to Piper.
Liz sat down and looked at her unconscious sister with regret.
If only I had been more careful. Liz thought, tears welling up.
"This isn't your fault." Magnus said, already knowing what Liz was thinking, "The egos of the scum up-top can't allow for any of us to succeed. The fact that you did must infuriate them."
"He's right." Jess chimed in, clearly knowing from firsthand experience how terrible that kind of person was.
Liz only sighed, there was little to nothing she could do either way. The Kim family were one of the most powerful in not only the country, but the world; they had sunk their claws into the politics of almost every city and held large shares in most companies around the world. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that the Kim family was one of the groups that ran the world.
The main culprit was Golden Monarch, or Godwyn Kim; the current heir to the family and eldest of 3 children.
He was widely known to be exceptional; the talent and pride of the Kim family. Compared to him, his younger sister and brother were lacklustre - it had always been a sore point for Aurelia, Liz's school bully, since compared to her brother she was pretty much average (and even that was likely more credit that was due).
"It's a shame, but the Kim family is too far reaching to fight back." Jess sighed, knowing full well how powerful Liz's enemies were, "You just don't have the facilities to take them down - you'd need just as much influence, but that isn't possible."
Like lightning crashing down from a blue sky, a thought came to Liz: What if I could gain influence like that?!
The greatest asset for all people right now was undeniably ELO. The currency exchange rate alone had risen to the point that just the one million gold she had earned from world achievements would be worth just under 100 million in real world money; and now she had what was essentially a money factory: A territory full of people to tax!.
Liz had everything she needed to grow an empire of dominance.
She had the land, the capital and the final piece was falling into place right in front of her: Magnus's people.
She knew that with just ELO she would never be able to rise to a position equal to the Kim's, but that wasn't what she was really after either. All she needed was presence enough that even the patriarch of the Kim family couldn't just eliminate her. She knew that some time would have been bought after their last attempt to control her failed as they couldn't risk their underhanded dealings being exposed; so, in that time Liz needed to become untouchable.
"You're looking better kid, you cooking up a plan?" Magnus asked, just glad that Liz was looking happier.
"Hey, uncle, how are you getting on in ELO?" She asked, confusing Jess and Magnus at the sudden change in topic.
"... Uh, pretty good." Magnus responded, not entirely sure where Liz was going with this, "But the money we're making isn't anything all that special; we've been able to barely keep up with the day 1 players since all my guys are trained in fighting, but I'm not sure how long that'll keep up."
"I think I have a way to solve both problems then." Liz said with a grin, "A way that you can make a real payday through ELO and I can't get enough influence that the Kims can't just wipe me off the map."
Jess and Magnus looked at Liz with confusion, but realisation slowly built within Jess:
"Let's start a guild together."
CassReyes Hey, thanks for reading.
I always feel there's not enough New Earth content, but I still never find the time to add it in - so here's the good stuff!
As usual: Link to patreon for chapters 3 days early and a few chapters ahead.
