Rontu found himself being roughly pulled from his own vehicle, two scruffy raiders throwing him into the dirt as they went inside to fetch Shen and Archie. The bright headlights from the surrounding buggies made it hard to see anything against the night sky, leaving Rontu clueless as to where they might have stopped. He chose to look down at the ground as he rose to sit on his knees. Shen shortly landed beside him, choosing to do much the same as they shared concerned glances.

Archie was walked out without any struggle, choosing to put his hands in the air with one shielding his eyes. With direction from one of the raiders, he joined Rontu and Shen on the ground. The group barely had any time to get their bearings before a pair of boots stomped up to them. A strong hand forced Rontu’s head upwards, Horn’s face appearing just a few inches in front of him. His face was scarred and he appeared to be missing a few teeth, judging by the way he spat the next few words at Rontu with a gruff lisp.

“Well, I’ll be damned! You weren’t lyin’ girl!” He said with excitement, Serratia standing behind him silently. He turned Rontu’s head from side to side, inspecting him as one would a prized animal. “What do you reckon a pair of Shutok goes for?”

Serratia didn’t respond at first, her hands shoved in the pockets of her vest. “No one is going to buy them, Horn. I mean the big guy has some meat on him but we aren’t out far enough to do business with any cannibals,” She explained.

Archie found himself growling out a response, but a knife to his throat from Horn kept him silent.

“I’m sure someone will want ‘em. You said this one is a Tao, yeah?” He indicated towards Shen by aggravatingly tapping on his forehead. A raider brought forth the intricate sword Serratia had confiscated, unsheathing it and showing off the rose inscribed into the metal. Horn let out a whistle, turning back to Shen with a devious smile. “Now that’s gotta be worth something, right? I’m sure they’ll pay us some big money to get him back.” He smirked, patting Shen on the helmet. Rontu was glad they still wore their armor, he didn’t want to see what sort of face Shen would be making.

Horn turned his attention to Rontu, scratching his chin. “And what about this one?” Serratia produced the sapphire that she had taken before she fought him, showing Horn the brilliant stone. “He can make these. The vehicle was full of them,” She answered, shaking a small bag filled with some of Rontu’s most prized treasures. This seemed to make Horn’s day, the raider boss clenching his fists as he howled at the sky. It truly was his lucky day. “Ohhh baby! I take back everything bad I ever said to you. We sell off the Tao and we keep this one, we never work a day in our lives again!”

Rontu tensed up, his heart pounding against his chest as he and Shen looked at one another. The future didn’t seem like it would bode well for either of them. One for ransom, the other a slave. In spite of their abilities, both of them felt absolutely powerless in this situation. Horn finally calmed down from his euphoric celebration, ending it off in a chuckle as he looked at Archie. A sadistic smile spread across his lips as the tension filled the air. “Well big boy, you better start your sales pitch. Tell me why I shouldn’t gut you right here and now,” All eyes turned to the trembling man, a lump forming in Rontu’s own throat as he fidgeted against the tight wires around his wrists. This wasn’t good.

Archie was sweating profusely, stammering over his explanation. “W-well you see. I’m a ch-chef…a cook! A pretty good one I gotta say! I-I owned a restaurant! Finest food in Lowlam!” He attempted to bargain, clasping his hands together and begging anyone who would listen.

Things were quiet for a moment before Horn, and in turn, the rest of the raiders save for Serratia, erupted into spiteful laughter. Rontu felt his uneasiness rising, a lump in his throat as panic began to set in.

Horn sneered at Archie, shaking his head. “Do we look like we give a damn about your fancy food? If it’s edible we eat it. You sound like your life has been a little too comfortable,” He said, pulling out a long blade from his boot and waving it in front of Archie’s face. “Not all of us are so lucky, and someday that privilege is gonna run out.” Horn preached, holding the blade towards Archie’s eyeball, fully intent on scooping it out. Archie’s blubbering and misty eyes only made the act all the more sinister.

Rontu hadn’t even realized he had moved, his head rearing back as he brought the crown of his helmet down with full force into Horn’s own. The knife was dropped into Archie’s lap, Horn falling onto his back and clutching the enormous lump that was already forming. Rontu stood to his feet shakily, his arms still bound by the razorwire. The raiders erupted into screeching chaos, many of them unsure how to help their leader as he was brutalized. Serratia was a bit taken aback herself, watching with interest as Rontu repeatedly brought his armored boot into Horn’s gut as his means of punishment. She waited perhaps longer than she should have, finally donning her own armor and quickly rushing forward.

Rontu was in the middle of delivering another rage-fueled foot into Horn’s ribs when he felt Serratia’s own kick knock his knee out from under him, sending him crumpling into the dirt as he squirmed. Serratia planted her knee on his back, tying a second set of wire around his legs in a full cocoon.

It took Horn a moment to recover, still dazed as he looked in bewilderment at the struggling Rontu. Getting to his feet, he strode over and planted his foot against the Shutok’s head and ground his heel against Rontu’s cheek. “This one’s got a lot of fight. Not what I expected!” He said, rubbing the lump on his forehead.

Rontu stared back up at him, his shoulders heaving as he breathed. “Don’t touch him again. I’m not gonna sit by and let someone who can’t fight back get hurt,” He shouted, his voice wavering. Horn smiled, stomping on Rontu’s head as Serratia held him in place. Luckily the armor merely made it so his head just shook a little with each impact. “Pretty brave words there, kid. What are you gonna do though?”

Rontu didn’t reply for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts as he realized his rashness only made the situation worse. He felt Horn’s leg stomp him once more, disrupting his train of thought. “I don’t care if my body gets shredded getting out of this wire. I don’t care what she does to me after,” He said quietly, tilting his head to look up at Horn.

“I’ll kill you.”