Freedom?

For the next three months, Wade was constantly tortured within and throughout his entire body. Each part of him felt the pain that came with each new day. He had constantly thought up ways to escape this prison and one had repeatedly appeared in his mind.

He gripped the chain around his arms tightly as Rose walked in with an expressionless face. She had tormented him for 3 months straight and he had not released any information, much less any screams after the first month.

However, Wade's body had shown how much stress he had been under to resist the pain. His hair had turned gray with a small tint of the red and silver streaks he usually had. It had also grown to the point where it hung just below his shoulders. The red and silver eyes that usually shone with determination and slyness had turned to dim and lifeless eyes that had seen much beyond belief. The tattoo that usually stood out on his skin had faded so much to the point where it couldn't be seen. His shirtless upper body displayed the scars it had earned over the last 3 months. He had looked like a person who had gone through hell and back. There was even a recent slash scar covering his left faded silver eye. The well-exercised body he had 3 months ago was nowhere to be seen as his scarred and malnourished body took over due to the lacking meals Rose had given him.

Despite his depressed look, the resolution still weaved itself into his brain. To escape, to seek his revenge, to live his life instead of wasting it in this dump of a keep. The stone floor had been dyed red with all the blood that had dripped onto it. Wade's clothes were practically dyed red and the musty smell reeking off him had attracted many flies and gnats but he didn't mind. During his military training, this had happened often and he only needed to move his neck every once in a while to get them off of him.

As he swung his neck from side to side, Rose stared on in disgust while grabbing a bucket filled to the brim with water. She threw the water onto Wade as if he was a kind of pack animal. As the water dripped from Wade's head, Rose got bored and left before calling someone in.

"His gray hair makes him look like an old man. I'd at least like to make him look like Gandalf if I'm going to whip him around all day. Dye his hair white. I have work to do. I expect his hair to meet the expected requirement when I come back. I'm sure you know what that means."

Rose gave orders to a male servant as she left the room. He bowed before starting to dye his hair white while having a face of sympathy.

"I'd like to help you if I could. Rose treats her "toys" a bit too harshly. If you need anything that isn't a big deal, just ask."

"Hairpin. The one in your pocket right now."

When Wade heard the servant offer help, he replied immediately with glee. He had never had a chance to get his hands on something that could break him out and give him a fighting chance against Rose.

"Sure. Just don't say it was me that gave you this. I already know what you're going to do. I wish you good luck. Just don't kill her. The family head is going to go insane if you kill his daughter."

The male servant shuddered as he thought about Rose's father's attitude toward his daughter's death.

"Fine. I won't kill her. I'll just cripple her for the rest of her life."

Wade accepted the man's condition before taking the hairpin and hiding it inside his palm. The chain surrounding his wrist had the lock on the backside of his wrist making it quite easy to pick. He only needed to lean his left arm left and pick it with his right arm.

As the servant finished dyeing his hair, he told him to stay still for a while as the dye integrated itself with his hair. As much as Wade didn't want the gray hair, it was needed for him to keep his cover as a captured "toy" for Rose. He decided to pick his lock at night because at night, he had the longest time to unlock his chains and stay hidden. In the day, Rose could come in any time for their daily "torture" session.

'Well. Now we wait. I must not let go of this hairpin at any cost. If I do, I'll have to wait another 3 months for another chance like this.'

He steadied himself for the torture as the male servant left. He made his eyes look lifeless once again as he clenched his fist in determination. He had gained many new skills in 3 months. He had perfected his fake sleep technique as well as being able to fake a broken man's attitude, eyes, and body posture. He had also trained his body to know where every single attack that came toward him was. He wanted to be able to move his body efficiently so he could relieve the pain he was dealt, even by a little bit.

He had also learned how to wield many new weapons just by observing Rose when she had used them on his body. The instinct he had trained to the limit was able to identify which weapon was being used against him, the place where it aimed, and the power it held. Although it didn't seem like these skills held much use when he was in captivity, they certainly held a lot of power when he was out. As he waited for Rose to come back, he clenched his hand even tighter while for the first time in 3 months, a small fire was ignited in his soul and the feeling of adrenaline rushed throughout his entire body.

After a few hours, Rose had come back with frustration plastered all over her face. It seemed something that had not gone right and Wade laughed inwardly. Karma had favored him in this hand.

"Shit. Pedro is going to gain another factory to produce his weapons if we don't up to our offer for the land. We're going to be forced out of the weapons market if he gets it though. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

She shook her head as she stared at Wade's almost lifeless body. He never released any satisfying grunts or screams when she tortured him now. The only thing pleasing to the eyes was his mostly dyed white hair.

"I guess I'll go torture the other important prisoners for now. Eventually, he'll tell me the information he possesses."

She murmured under her breath as she slammed the giant wooden door behind her.

'So there are other prisoners. I wonder how many connections and advantages for the future I'll get if I release them.' thought Wade as he glanced around carefully.

'This was it. The moment of truth.'

He started picking the locks on his chains with the hairpin as his hands slightly trembled from excitement.

One of the chains fell to the ground with a clang.

Then another.

And another.

About half an hour later, all the chains that had shackled him had been broken.

'I'm free! After 3 and half months of pain, I'm free!'

This is what ran through Wade's mind as for the first time in forever, he stood up on his two scarred legs. After a few minutes of relishing in the feeling of freedom, he decided to plan his escape.

First, he would need a reliable weapon. Any of the torture weapons that were still sharp would do. He picked out two knives that were decently weighted, sharp, and durable. He gripped it tightly as he slowly walked toward the large doors that had hidden the sunlight from him forever.

Surprisingly, when he tried to push open the doors, it had opened slowly and what he had seen outside had exceeded his expectations.

He had thought some form of sunlight laid outside but instead, it looked like the type of security meant to keep him in. However, there were only lasers, an eye scanner, a fingerprint scanner, and a turret stationed between him and the metal door that supposedly led somewhere new.

'Hm. The lasers and turret are between me and the door while the eye scanner and fingerprint scanner are on the door to keep me out.'

He had already thought up a plan for him to get out of the torture chamber easily. He ran back inside the torture chamber and decided to gather a few spears and swords. It was time to test the capabilities of the laser. He was sure that it wasn't some sort of alarm due to the other security measures that were in place. It was probably a laser that did some sort of damage or a trigger to where the turrets on the roof fired towards.

As Wade held the sword in the middle of a laser beam, the sword slowly melted until the molten pieces fell to the ground with a satisfying SPLAT.

"So the laser is lethal but I can bypass it easily without using any of my physical capabilities."

The laser beam was only generated from one side of the wall and not the other. This meant as long as he took out the turret on the roof, he would be able to escape by sticking the various weapons he had gathered into the laser beams and allowing them to take the brunt of the laser for a few seconds so he could pass.

Now it was time to see what the turret was capable of. There were only 5 machine guns on the turret. They were all stationed in the middle of the room with each muzzle facing in a different direction. He could also tell that the turret could rotate with ease because of the unique base it had on the roof. Wade grabbed a nearby spear and threw it toward the turret with all his might. The turret noticed something was flying towards it and released a flurry of bullets at the incoming spear. Unfortunately for the turret, the spear had lodged itself in one of its muzzles and jammed it entirely. It looked like that specific muzzle wouldn't work until the spear was removed.

There was one weakness of the 5 sided turret. In between the guns on it, one could barely see exposed wires and machinery, meaning that if you broke into it, the turret would essentially be broken and could be disposed of.

Wade had noticed this with his sharp eyes and threw a spear towards it, hoping that it would pierce through the thick metal armor that the turret boasted. As the spear was about to connect with the turret, it switched to another gun and shot at the spear. But since Wade was aiming at a different target this time, the spear clattered to the ground after many bullets had been shot towards it.

'Damn it. This turret's AI is a bit too smart for me to take out easily. I'll need more spears.' thought Wade as he brought 6 more different spears from the torture room.

"Guess I'll have to jam all your guns. How will you fight then? Shooting with those ruined muzzles? Yeah, good luck doing that." Wade spoke evilly as he continued jamming the turret's guns with occasional spears clattering to the ground.

It seemed that his strength had increased along with the torture. Since parts of his body had been constantly destroyed and rebuilt, it improved various parts of his physique. It was proven by many people that doing this could potentially improve your physique entirely because your body could constantly test new types of muscle and bone structures and improve your body by a large amount entirely.

One reason that nobody used this technique was that using other various training techniques that focused on specific body parts could bring about 60% of the benefits from the constant torture that one needed to inflict on himself using this one. Another reason was that the death rate was quite high for those who used this technique. Pain is a natural sense and if you flooded yourself with pain, the mental stress inflicted onto yourself would be astronomical in size resulting in high death rates for those who couldn't take it. Rose herself had seen many of her prisoners die due to the mental stress factor and very rarely did one survive a week much less 3 months.

When Wade had successfully jammed all the guns on the turret, the turret was already hanging weakly onto a few threads connected to its base. The combined weight of the spears had made it so heavy that even if Wade hadn't jammed all the guns, it would be unable to operate.

"Whew. That was 11 spears and it's already done for? I thought it could take much more. It looked like a top-tier turret from the black market. Guess it's just one of those show-off turrets that don't work whatsoever in a typical situation."

As Wade spoke, he started using shields, swords, staffs, and even daggers to make his way across the field of lasers. Occasionally, he would need to do weird actions to save the life of the weapons he had gathered. If he used up all his weapons too early, he would be trapped in this room for who knows how long. As long as he made it to the end of the room by daylight, he would be able to proceed with his plan.

When Wade had reached the end of the laser field and reached the metal door, he sat next to it with a sigh. This was the only area where he could have some sort of piece. The lasers buzzed next to him as he stared at the only two weapons he had left. A deformed sword and dagger. He had brought a few sheaths from the torture room with him and as he slid them in, his eyes slowly closed as the exhaustion overwhelmed his senses and brought him into the escape of sleep.