Seasons Beatings Part 4

Even in the belly of the beast, I guess it only tracks that Eternus would somehow still try to be the most terrifying guy in the room. So with no cards left to play, I again tried to go for broke and choose honesty.

"Well, you see Eternus, the thing is-."

"You know what, never mind, we'll talk later. If we survive this, that is," he said dismissively.

On that note, a hint of annoyance got left on the tip of my tongue. Realizing that we at least had little time to rest, we spent the next few minutes debating and preparing as Eternus dusted off his now scrapyard-laden cloak while Port scavenged out the fresh parts lying around. We all engaged in our theories and strategies over our current captor. I started first.

"Are there takers on who the heck this Nefario person is? Cause I've got nothing right now."

"Unfortunately no, but I'm honestly surprised we didn't get a "Nefario" sooner," Gum said as she started to do basic exercises while ripping off small pieces of her jumpsuit.

"What makes you say that?"

"No matter how lucky we got at Robin Financial, let's make one thing clear, we've made waves Ricochet. We beat Omna and made away with cash that supposedly belonged to the "king" of the Lower Levels. Even Damage said that he made us infamous across the Lower levels after Robin Financial during his campaign against us. Eternus killing him that way also probably made the rumors even more concrete. We may have laid low for these past couple of months, but that doesn't change what we did. We have a reputation now, and the more we rise, the more challenges will come, the less secrecy we can have. That said I've never heard of this Nefario before. Which is surprising made doubly sure to double-check after the fiasco with the Monarchy," Gum said seriously.

"Well, whoever they are, one thing's clear, they have some serious machinery at their disposal. If they're serious about all, they say, then they're building top-tier tech out of junk. I couldn't build half this shit if I tried, but they're making it look easy. So don't whether to be jealous or impressed," Port said as she started dissecting the arms of my robot.

"All things considered though they seem, different from Damage. If they wanted us dead, then they would've done it by now while we were asleep. I think they're telling the truth about this whole trail thing," Fury said in a quieter tone.

"Either way, it doesn't matter now; this Nefario prick holds all the cards, so we play their game for now. They said they needed time to prepare, so let's not give them that. Instead, hit 'em hard and hit them fast enough, and maybe we can bargain. That's all we got right now," Eternus said adamantly.

That sentence alone was enough to put everything into perspective for us, upping our morale and rallying us together. But I think those words were able to help me most of all. Even while training, there was always this weight of expectation on my shoulders. And I've never been the hardest worker.

Now that the secret was out and about, there was nothing I could do. This means I'll have to act before I think, which is somewhat my specialty. With that, my aching wounds started to ease up a little bit as I got a little more serious.

With that, the rest of us got in full gear, arming ourselves with any useful slag we could find. Our prison outfits were decorated with robotic legs, metal shards, and improvised shields like some special event. Though Port was the only one worth noting, as, in that short span, she managed to modify the two arms of her bot into spinning stun batons with a small battery pack to power it.

After that, we then decided to step into the next room. To match the stale white room we had before, this one was all black, so black we didn't even know where it ended or where it began. It just felt like it went on forever. An alien feeling once again peaked as the door closed around us. Again, I grew a sense of prickling fear with darkness all around us, hoping to mitigate.

"Port, I don't suppose you managed to steal a light from that robot?"

When silence was the only thing that answered me back, I looked back anxiously only to see nothing and sense nothing. After that next thing I knew, the room managed to bust out into another shimmering light that blinded my entire line of sight.