Hero Time III

Gresh/Saurian, which is different from Saur-Lord.

Gresh watched as the guards ran out of the room, leaving the prisoners behind. A while ago, the guards, along with Stend, had pulled out the Outsider and taken him somewhere.

But not before the Outsider had brought his unbroken arm behind his back and signaled to them.

The Outsider, in the time they had known him, had been odd. When Gresh had first seen him, he'd dismissed him. With a broken arm, what good was he? Gresh had already worked on establishing his rank. As a slave, the only thing worse than simply being a slave was being the weakest one. He had known this, and thus had taken steps to ensure he would not be the one on the bottom of the pecking order.

So, he had continued to do it with the Outsider. For all the Outsider's impressive build, his broken arm had slowed him down. He had not responded to any of Gresh's displays, only taking them. Still, something in his eyes had been defiant. Unbroken.

So Gresh had kept pushing until he tried to push the Outsider aside to steal his food.

Then the Outsider had smashed his head into the floor with a single arm and told him in no uncertain terms to stop.

Gresh was not a man of deep thought and introspection, but he did understand violence. So when the Outsider had offered his food afterward, he knew the gesture for what it was.

Dominance. The Outsider had a broken arm and yet would fight. He took food but did not need to hoard it. He was strong in the way Gresh's mother had been, the matriarch of his family, standing above their petty squabbling, but coming down with a strong blow when her intervention was needed.

So Gresh had watched him. And when the Outsider demanded all listen to him, he had seen all his fellow slaves follow.

Even the Neu-Deustchlander, who hated the Outsider, bowed to him. The Rock Woman, the strongest being in the room, even stronger than the guards, had listened to the Outsider.

The Outsider was a tyrant of some kind. He took the people around him and forced them to become his army. And when they fought on the battlefield, he had stolen the first kill with the sort of eager greed only a tyrant would show. He was a fierce warrior, killing without mercy (Gresh had not seen the look of anguish when the Outsider killed his opponents, only the blood that sprayed.)

Gresh had tried, one last time, to demand something from the Outsider in battle. To stop stealing his kills. And what had the Outsider said?

"Then go get some more!"

Inspiring! If one steals from you, then why despair!? You had already gained that which was stolen! You know you are capable of obtaining it. If it is stolen, then a man of the Outsider's caliber would simply gain it once more! Gain and gain, until any slight against you, was a bump in the road!

To be so uncaring of any other, to dominate so easily, to fight like a demon and yet impart such wisdom!

And then, while he was pulled out, he had flashed those signals. Among the ones he taught them in case of their necessity, had been 'attack, retreat, wait, defend, flank'.

When he had been pulled out, he had flashed two signals. First, 'wait' the symbol a simple hand clenched in a fist. Then, 'attack', the middle finger extended like the blade of a deity, followed by wait again.

Wait to attack. That was what that sequence meant. Even as he was dragged away, the Outsider had a plan to attack.

Gresh knew the Outsider now, saw his eyes as Stend had tortured him. The Outsider had most likely even planned for the torture, had planned for the pain to follow!

So Gresh waited. And when the first explosions began, he was gratified.

"You think it's him," the stone person, Demi the Outsider had named her, asked Gresh.

"Of course it is!" Gresh said to the larger being. "He told us his plan."

"Wait, attack, wait?" the Neu-Deutschlander asked skeptically in an accented version of the common language of the Savage Land. "I'm pretty sure that's not the same as 'I'm about to start blowing things up.'"

"Will he be okay?" the Aerian with a single wing asked softly.

"He's dead," one of the gladiators they'd fought, the Raptor who the Outsider had stabbed, said snidely. "Probably killed in style, the prick."

"You're a prick!" Gresh said, quite proud of the incredible turn around he had made with the insult. "And the Outsider is alive. After all, he helped us defeat you."

"It was a tie," the Anklyo they had also fought said, quirking a scaled eyebrow. "And honestly, it wasn't like there was anything personal. You all fought well," he gave a nod to the Aerian with the single wing, who nodded back with a sad smile on her blue face. "But do you think he's alive, coming back to us, and somehow causing explosions? I know of no weapon that can do such a thing."

The Anklyo's calm assessment pierced through where simple stubbornness had not. For a moment, Gresh's faith faltered.

Then, an explosion came from nearby. Some guards shouted. Another explosion. A scream of pain, and someone joking about babies whining.

The next explosion came from the doorway, followed by a guard tossed into the room wrapped up in a ball of green goo. Everyone stared at the Saur-Lord guard. The T-Rex Saur-Lord stared back at them helplessly.

"I… I don't understand what's happening," he said in wide-eyed confusion.

"You got your ass kicked by cuteness," someone quipped.

They all looked at the door. Then they looked down.

A yellow insect stood there, balanced on a green ball. It waved at them. "Sup guys. Told you I'd come back."

"...Outsider?" Gresh asked, the insane idea popping into his head.

"No way that's-" the Neu-Deutschlander said.

"Oh good, we all speak the same language," the bug said. "First, German Guy? You're an asshole."

"W-What!?" the Neu-Deuschlander said before something registered. "German guy!? My name is Dietrich!"

"Sorry, had to get that off my chest," the insect said apologetically. "I'm sure you're a nice guy, man. I'll help you escape this place, don't worry."

German guy opened and closed his mouth, as if unable to understand what was happening.

"Gresh, Demi, everyone who wants to escape and get free?" the Outsider said in this impossible new form. "I can turn into superpower beings, but that power was gone for a bit. It's back. Now let's kick some ass."

Then it kicked the ball it was standing on at the cage door. The ball exploded, shattering the lock and hinges, letting the door fall to the ground.

"Follow me!" the Outsider spun and rushed out. Gresh immediately moved to follow.

But not before giving the Anklyo a smug look. "I told you!"

The Anklyo gave him a befuddled look. "Told m- You can't take credit for this! No one in their right mind would accept bugs with exploding goo as a possibility!"

Gresh, clearly the wiser of the two, simply followed the Outsider. Demi and the others followed quickly, not wishing to be left behind.

As they left, the Aerian with one wing asked Demi, "So he can just become a bug now?"

"It is the Savage Land, sweetie," Demi said kindly. "A Chicken God is running around out there."

"...At least he is cute, I suppose."

Through the hallways, they saw evidence of the Outsiders passing. Strands of green hung about the walls, guards were wrapped up in balls or attached to the walls, and doors had been torn apart. Oddly enough, the disgusting smell and debris that had once filled the place were entirely gone. Now everything smelled almost like the tea that Gresh's grandfather had enjoyed, a hint of spice and warmth to it, but still fresh, and the floors were almost sparkling.

"This way!" the Outsider said in front of them, scuttling his way through the halls on a ball of green goo (later the Outsider would inform Gresh they were highly concentrated plasma). "We should be almost there!"

"Where are we headed?" Demi asked.

"The kitchens!" the Outsider squeaked.

"Is this the time to eat?" the Raptor Saur-Lord grumbled.

"It is for my partner-in-crime," the Outsider said.

Down the hall, a pair of Saur-Lords came running towards them, swords raised. Without missing a beat, the Outsider hopped off the ball he'd been rolling and tossed it forward, the ball exploding and sending the pair flying.

"Down here," the Outsider made another ball and sped forward atop it, somehow outpacing all of them. He led them for a few moments more before a loud sound came from down the hallway. The group came running around the corner, only for all of them to stop in shock at the sight before them.

First, was the human, a man tall, well-built, with some sort of animal fur about his shoulders so that it appeared he was wearing its face as a vest. The man smiled at them, panning his eyes across the group before stopping on Gresh. For just a moment, Gresh felt as though a blade had been pressed to his throat before the man looked at the Outsider and grinned just a bit. He raised the knife in his hand, then stabbed down into the Bronto he'd been holding down with a single hand, an impossible feat of strength for a human. The blade slid into the struggling Saur-Lords eye, slicing deep into the brain and ending its fight.

"Dial! You are alive!"

The other man was even stranger. Made entirely of metal, it towered over them all, it's body built with a very stout strength. The man was holding a pair of Anklyo's by their throats, the two Saur-Lords trying to stab him, only for their blades to bounce off his metal skin without a scratch.

"Mahmoud…" the metal man said softly, tossing the Anklyo's aside to step forward.

"X, Kraven!" the Outsider said with glee. "Where the hell did you guys come from!?"

"Shiny," Demi blurted out, staring at the metal man, X, with avid interest.

"I came the instant you were pronounced missing," X said. "Are you well?"

"Weirdly, I think I made a psychological breakthrough," the Outsider said. "But that doesn't matter now. I want to share all the fuzzy feeling man, but we have business."

"Understood, sir," X kneeled to the Outsider, further proving to Gresh that the Outsider was clearly the leader of whatever nation he came from. "What are your orders?"

"Take the arena," the Outsider's eyes narrowed. "This place is the slavers' center of power. We make it ours, we force them to come on our turf. Lock it down, make them show up."

"A sound plan," Kraven said with a smile. "But they will know this place well."

"They will," the Outsider looked around. "But they don't know my allies, my powers, or how fucking pissed I am. Call in the boys, X. I made two promises. One to a dragon, and one to myself," Gresh reveled in the look of anger in those insectoid eyes. "I intend to keep them both."