The Onyx Lair jutted out of the ground like the tip of a spear. It was a black monument that stood at over a hundred metres tall— about the height of a small skyscraper— with ten violet crack-like streaks cutting across its surface and marking where each floor began and ended from the outside.

The entrance to the Dungeon was a tall archway that was about five metres in height and width. Gang members of the Onyx Lair Crew poured out to meet the group of officers outside. They carried with them rifles— ones stolen from The Evergreen Gun Range— and more crude weapons like machetes and axes. The officers raised their own weaponry, carefully aiming at them but not firing just yet.

Jeremy stepped forward with a megaphone in hand and shouted something at them.

Trace Taylor could barely make out the words, although she didn’t care enough to pay attention to it. Right now, her focus was sneaking around the ruins of the factory that girdled the Onyx Lair to enter it from the opposite side. Samuel Diaz and Elizabeth Evergreen followed after her, their weapons warily raised in the off chance they ran into a lurking patrol of the gang members.

“Remember, get in, find Janus, and get out while avoiding all unnecessary fighting,” the redhead said to her two companions. “There’s only three of us, and we can’t take on their whole gang.”

“Says you.” Liz flexed an arm. “I bet I could take on a hundred of these jerks without breaking a sweat.”

“Maybe you can, but Sam can’t. He’s not even level 15, Liz.”

“Who cares about him.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m level 20, and you’re level 18. We’ve got this, Trace.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks for the assurance. I sure feel welcomed here. You’re welcome for the help, by the way.”

“Shut up, both of you— do you hear that?” Trace narrowed her eyes.

A soft thrumming cut its way through the silence. It came from down a shadowed hallway— a hum or a tune from a song. And it sounded like it was coming… closer.

“Hide!” she snapped.

They scrambled for any cover they could find. It was a factory, and they’d been in a large room filled with assembly lines. The redhead stuffed herself in one of the inactive machines. Sam found his own hiding spot, but Liz joined her.

“Hey, this is my hiding spot, get your own!”

“Come on, Trace. We’re besties! Learn to share a little, will you?”

“If we’re found out—”

Trace snapped her mouth shut, her lips clenching like a fist. Three figures emerged from the shadows. Two men— one with a mohawk and the other with braided hair— and a girl ambled down the corridor as another blast reverberated through the empty factory.

“Yo, what is that?” the first man asked, pausing the music he was playing on his phone.

“Probably some stray monsters again,” the second man said. A sadistic grin spread across his face as he shoved the woman forward. “Let’s just get this bitch back to the Dungeon. I can’t wait to have some fun with her.”

They continued towards the Onyx Lair, ignoring the fighting in the distance, and entering the next hallway. Trace’s eyes widened when she realised what was going on. The ropes binding the girl’s hands and the duct tape muffling her mouth was clue enough.

“Those bastards…” The redhead gritted her teeth as she exited her hiding spot. Sam and Liz joined her as her face contorted into a scowl. “Fucking arseholes.”

“Why aren’t we doing anything about it, then?” Liz said, crossing her arms. “We can easily win this fight! Did you even take a look at them? They were barely Sam’s level! They were weak.”

Sam stared at her. “Alright, am I just here to be your punching bag, Liz?”

“I dunno. Are you?”

“If we try to stop them,” Trace said, ignoring their back and forth, “we run the risk of alerting the rest of the Onyx Lair Crew of our presence here. Do we want to do that?”

Liz raised her shoulders in a shrug. “I’m always down for some fighting.”

Trace turned to Sam, uncertain. His eyes flickered, and he nodded. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

There was a few seconds of deliberation for the redhead. One which led to the only logical conclusion for her in this moment. “Let’s get those bastards first. Free the girl. Then find Janus.”

* * *

“Man, I don’t know why you listen to that,” the man with the mohawk said. “I hear the artist is a flat-Earther. Why would you support a conspiracy nut like her?”

The man with braided hair paused the song. “I just like the music, dude. I don’t care what she does with her own free time.”

“I just… don’t you think it’s unethical to support a celebrity who uses her platform to spread harmful misinformation? This is why everyone hates each other these days, man.”

“We’re literally killing people and raping women, and you’re talking about ethics? We lost that shit when those aliens showed up.” He gestured at the girl behind them.

She stared at the ground, not meeting either of their gazes.

“That’s unrelated and you know it.” The man with the mohawk crossed his arms.

“How the fuck is that unrelated, dude?!”

“It’s just… we’re a product of our environment, man. You can’t blame us for doing bad things, you know?”

“Fine, then how about this for an answer: what if she has a point?”

“You think she has a— you think the Earth is flat?!”

“Look, I’m just saying, if aliens are real, you don’t know what else is real, alright? The Earth could be flat and we wouldn’t know any better. No one believed that aliens were real before all of this.”

“I did.”

There was a pause. The two men stared at each other.

“Wait, if you believed in that shit, why are you lecturing me about this?”

“I was right, man. It’s just not the same—”

“What the fuck are they on about?!”

Trace Taylor had been following the two men for about a minute now, and she sorely wished she hadn’t been listening to a single thing they said. She was pretty sure she lost brain cells from that conversation— and she didn’t even partake in it.

“It’s pretty dumb, but not gonna lie, hella entertaining too,” Liz whispered from her left.

“Where is Sam? He better hurry up before my IQ hits zero.”

As a Ranger with a vast array of tools, Sam said he’d be able to restrict their movements before they could even react. And Trace and Liz would swoop in to defeat them while they were trapped.

“Listen, if the Earth turns out to actually be flat—” the man with braided hair started.

But a glint caught his eye. An arrow shot out of the darkness ahead. It landed between him and the man with the mohawk.

“The hell is that?”

“An arrow. But it looks like whoever shot it has bad aim—”

And there was a click. The arrow blasted open, firing a net towards the pair. They tried to leap out of the way but were already caught in the threads.

“Now!” Trace yelled.

She and Liz made a break for the two men, weapons already drawn. The man with the mohawk struggled in the net, but the man with braided hair whipped out a dagger and started cutting his way out.

Trace halted her charge as she took aim at the dagger. She pulled the trigger, and a bang resounded throughout the room. The man with braided hair yelped as she shot the dagger out of his hand. He glanced over at her.

“Watch it, you fucking bitch! You could’ve shot my hand off—”

And Liz struck him across the face. She didn’t even need to use her Obsidian Longswod. A single punch knocked him flying, unconscious but still wrapped in the net.

“Take that, jerk! That’s for messing up my home!”

Unfortunately, that also freed the man with the mohawk. He squeezed his fists, turning a burning gaze towards Liz.

“You’re going to regret doing that.” He took a single step towards her.

And Trace shot out his left kneecap. He screamed and rolled on the ground, grabbing his knee.

“YOU STUPID WH—”

Somehow, he bit through the pain to shout obscenities at the redhead. She fixed that real quick by pistol-whipping him on the back of the head. He lay there, knocked out.

“That was… pretty easy,” Trace said, taking in the sight of the two fallen men.

“Told ya.” Liz sheathed her sword.

“They were level 10 and level 11.” Sam appeared from the corridor ahead, shaking his head. “And we got the drop on them. Of course they didn’t stand a chance. Come on, help me tie them up.”

The redhead eyed the crimson stain growing on the ground. “What about the bleeding? Won’t he bleed to death?”

Sam pulled out some rope and a pair of manacles. “He’ll be fine. He’s a Warrior. He has a higher vitality so he’ll recover without any treatment… I think.”

“Good enough for me.” She shrugged. But she didn’t get to work helping Sam. Instead, she turned around, facing the girl as she sat against the wall, cowering away from the trio. “What about her?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Liz scoffed and walked up to the woman. Her mouth was taped over, and she had robes tied around her hands and feet. “We free her, of course.” The Swordsmaiden cut her bindings free as Trace removed the tape from her mouth.

“It’s fine— we’re here to help,” the redhead said softly. The tape came off pretty easily, leaving no red marks behind, oddly enough. “What’s your name?”

“A-Audrey…” the girl replied.

“Audrey,” she repeated the name. To be perfectly honest, Trace didn’t know what to say in this situation. Her mind moved on autopilot, and she asked the questions that only made sense at the moment. “Are you alright, Audrey? Did they hurt you?”

“N-not yet.”

“That’s good,” Trace sighed in relief.

Liz finally cut the last of the loose ropes and helped the girl to her feet. “You good? Can you walk?”

“I can,” Audrey said as she stood up. But she hesitated, glancing between the two best friends.

“What’s the matter? We won’t hurt you,” the redhead reassured her.

“N-no, that’s not it. I… thank you. For saving me. I just thought I was going to be… to be…” She sniffled, and Trace pursed her lips.

Should Trace hug her? Should Trace try to comfort the girl?

Audrey looked like she was around 18 or 19 years old. Or at least, Trace hoped she was 18 or 19 years old. Not that it made it any better. This was terrible, no matter the age. But at least it was stopped before the worst could happen.

“Are you…” Audrey started, regaining her composure. “Are you here to save the other women?”

Trace blinked. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘other women’?”

* * *

“Of fucking course!” Trace threw her hands in the air, shouting. Her voice was apparently quite loud since she roused the man with the mohawk.

“Hgnh… wha?…”

She heard his grousing and marched over to where he was tied up. “Go back to sleep, you psychotic fuck!” It took a few hits, but he eventually fell unconscious again.

Sam rubbed his chin as she did that. “So, the Onyx Lair Crew has been abducting and raping dozens of women for the past few weeks, and you think they’re keeping the women somewhere in the Dungeon?”

“That’s right,” Audrey said, hugging her knees. “They took my mum a week ago. They said they’d spare me if she didn’t put up a fight. But they lied, of course. Of course they did.”

Hearing that made Trace’s blood boil. Even though the man with the mohawk was already unconscious, she struck him on the back of the head one more time purely out of anger.

“Fucking bastards,” she whispered.

Audrey looked over at her. “Why don’t you just kill them?” the girl asked.

The redhead glanced up. “Pardon?”

“Why don’t you kill those rapists?” Audrey repeated her question. And that was when Trace noticed she was glaring right at the two men and not the redhead.

Before Trace could answer— or even think of an answer— Sam spoke out.

“Because we’ve already got them tied up,” he said, gesturing at their manacles. “They won’t be able to harm anyone else like this.”

“R-right,” the redhead agreed with him.

“I see.” Audrey leant back against the wall, looking towards the ceiling. “Are you going to save the other women?”

“We shall. But first, we need to get you out of here safely.” Trace turned to Sam. “Can you help bring her to Jeremy and the others? Liz and I will continue on for now.”

“Wait, alone?”

“I just said I’d be going with Liz. That’s not alone.”

“Right, but it’ll be just the two of you in there.” He gave her a worried look.

But Liz patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Sam. With your level, it’s not like you’ll be much help to us, anyways!”

Sam brushed her hand aside, pressing his lips together in a thin line. “Just stay safe, the both of you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“We will.” Trace nodded at him. “And thank you.”

He reached over to help Audrey up, but Trace proffered the girl a hand first.

“O-oh, th—” Before Audrey could say anything, the redhead hugged her. She was taken aback.

But Trace whispered into her ears. “I promise you, we’ll break your mother out. And we’ll make sure to break the face of that bastard Janus, too.”

The girl’s eyes fluttered. Tears slowly streamed down her face as she hugged Trace back. “Thank you.”