Caged Lion

Forty-eight hours went by, and Leo knew he couldn't wait any longer. Sticking his hand in the mine cart, Leo absorbed all of the trapped mana. It was more than the crystal, but barely filled up Leo's core more than two percent.

Leo quickly activated his mana sense to see his route to escape. The tunnel he arrived in was completely gone. He looked up and knew he had to make it to a tube above him.

"Metal Control!" Leo crushed the minecart into giant blades that shot towards the ceiling of where Leo was standing. The metal scrapes acted like a drill that went straight upward. A sixty-foot hole was pierced in mere minutes.

Climbing to the top of the hole, Leo looked down to not see a single soul in sight. The upper tunnel was quiet. Leo walked down it realizing miners haven't been down it in a bit. Coming to the end of the tunnel, everyone was gathered in front of the foreman's office.

*Smack*

A scavenger smacked the foreman kneeling on the ground. "We told you to return to mining."

"But we need to recover the bodies..." Foreman responded and spat out a bit of blood from his mouth.

"No, the boss said to get back to work." The scavenger activated the foreman's collar, and the miner collapsed from the pain.

Another scavenger stepped forward and said, "Whos the next in charge?"

"What if I said it was me?" responded Shia stepping out of the crowd to see if the foreman is ok. She had been assisting in the search sense Leo never returned. The young man had become a son to her, and she had a feeling he was waiting for her to rescue him.

The scavengers looked at Shia and said, "We know the boss treats you well, but if you push things, we will drag you away and let him deal with you."

"Come, try if you can," Shia said with a look of determination.

All of the miners stepped in front of her and shouted at the scavengers.

"Leave her out of this." "You will have to go through us first." "Let us find our comrades."

Seeing the miners start to get riled up, the scavengers activated their collars, and they all dropped like flies. The only one still standing was Shia.

"Take her away," commanded one of the men. Two scavengers walked up and dragged her away, kicking and screaming.

Mule was hiding behind a bunch of rocks with another hauler boy. "Shh, stay quiet, or they will punish us too," Mule said to the little boy.

The small boy couldn't hold it in and was about to cry when a finer was pressed to his lips. "Don't cry. I will take care of things from here."

The two looked up and saw a man who they thought was lost. Mule's eyes sparkled with joy, and he almost cried tears of joy.

"Leo..." whispered Mule. He then watched the tall man walk towards the fallen miners and scavengers.

"Who the fuck are you?" yelled one of the scavengers.

"He the one we found in the demon beast's gut."

"Where have you been?" asked the scavenger that electrocuted the mass of miners.

Leo gave them a menacing look. He looked down and seeing all the injured miners pissed him off. He gazed into the scavenger's eyes, telling him with that single look he would kill him.

Scared the scavenger yelled, "keep looking at me like that, and I will put you down."

"I dare you to try," responded Leo.

"You did this to yourself!" The scavenger pressed the button for Leo's collar.

Before it could shock him, Leo used the last bit of mana to metal control the collar off and shot it towards the man. The collar clicked and clamped onto the scavenger's neck. Since he pressed the button, the collar activated shocking the man. The man collapsed to the ground, shocked and twitching.

"The miner got his collar off."

"The rule to kill any man that tries to escape."

"Fire at him!"

Several shouts from the scavengers caused them to unholster their weapons, and they started to shoot at Leo. Leo leaped behind a shack, grabbing a pickaxe. Blasters shot up the shed.

A flying pickaxe flew across the area and planted itself inside a scavengers skull. Leo darted out from the shack and attacked the closest man. He kicked the gun away and punched the scavenger in the gut, incapacitating him. Leo took out each man with a punch or kick.

The last remaining scavenger called in to signal the alarm. A loud screeching siren belted out across the pit and fort. The entire base was alerted to an enemy within the fort.

Leo walked over to the man holding the communication device. "Now, why did you have to go and do that?" asked Leo angrily.

"Shia will pay the price for you rebelling. I hope you know this."

"If a single hair is harmed on her. I will raze this place."

Leo punched the man knocking him into the wall, shattering his bones. The man wailed in pain before passing out.

The entire fort was racing to find this enemy, but not a trace worry flashed across his face. He was about to let the scavengers know what happens when a caged lion breaks free from its captors.

"Shia, please be safe. I'm coming for you." Leo leaped up to the next platform and began to head towards the boss' building.