Chapter 24: Another abduction

15 minutes later after the battle started: black eyes, swollen face, and lips, bruises all over the body, Safo Nur was not in a good shape. His stance became more and more open, with each hit he received. The silver metal floor was dyed red by his blood.

His opponent however was fresh as a cookie could be. His fan club was cheering him, asking him to make certain types of hits, for fun.

"Now jabs. Show us your jabs, son. I'm so proud of him." Father dough was sobbing, he raised a strong kid. He was sure that his son will survive on AXIS, maybe someday even could lead the gang on negative Stages.

Rest shared his feelings, they cheered and motivated him as if they were some cheerleader girls.

Safo, however, wasn't in an enviable condition. His vision was blurred, as well as his thoughts, the world was spinning in front of his eyes. He felt like throwing up any second.

Luna was persuading him to give up and come back with the team, all for no vail. Safo ignored her completely and dashed right into another fist.

"He is not trying to kill me, so I can come up with something. I have no idea what though." Safo Nur was the only one who supported himself. He desperately needed to win, at least one fight.

"Once more, fuc* those fiction novels. They made fights sound easy, injuries are just words. It is so much worse in real life. I don't feel any muscle on my face, only one big pain epicenter. I can't even punch him, if I move my ribs are cracking more. Why is it so hard? I didn't even touch him once." Safo Nur tried his best to analyze the battle in between catching punches.

Little chocolate chip cookie enjoyed the fight the most, he finally showed his father that he was an adult already. His thick rocky slime was agile allowing him to strike from unexpected angles. Making his assaults impossible to dodge or predict.

"Alright my boy, stop, stop for a second. This kid held good, he didn't give up on his droid friend. We can count it as a win. You will have your chance next time. Let's get going now." Little dough creature was dumbstruck by his father's words.

"He won? What? He didn't hit me once."

"I said we are going now!"

"Yes, little guy, let's go. We have some stuff to do, anyway."

"Yeah, this miserable thing doesn't deserve to be killed by you."

They quickly grabbed him and retreated from the place.

"Did I win? All because I didn't give up? They were trying to kill me. Why did they … wait." And just as he thought, a hot tigress with disc-blades, a giant green lion with knives hovering above him, and a war droid stood at the end of the street.

"Of course."

{"I'm so happy they came."}

The next 6 hours Safo spent in the medical capsule recovering from his multiple injuries.

Kutch went to bring new clothing, while O'rmon stood guarding the door to Safo's medical ward.

The next day, the owner of the droid came to visit and to express his gratitude towards Safo Nur. It was an old grey-furred cat-man.

"Wow, is this a Khajiit?" Safo Nur had a feeling that he spoke with that wondering merchant somewhere near Whiterun.

"No one ever even looked at my droid when something like that happened before. I came personally to thank you, oh brave savior." Khahiit's name was Sotuv, he couldn't stop thanking Safo Nur.

Sotuv had not enough money to buy a license to trade on higher Stages so he stuck on Stage 10. He was from the merchant planet where nearly everyone was a merchant. Surviving in such a competitive environment was a tough task, therefore he planned to save money to buy an upper Stage license. But regular robberies made his life unbearable.

He bought a droid to make business on AXIS for his safety, with that he saved his life but not money. Droids couldn't do anything against unarmed people, so he used to give his money to robbers.

Safo offered him to trade with New Tenga, he hid the fact about being the King though. Sotuv was glad to make several trading routes. They exchanged ID numbers for future cooperation.

That night Sotuv treated the team in a fancy restaurant. It was almost midnight, happy with their newly established friendship and future partnership they went to their hotels.

"One sec, I gotta pee. I'll catch up." Safo Nur went to the restroom before exiting the restaurant. He opened the door to the restroom and bumped into a slim hirsute individual.

"Excuse me."

Tzzztzzztz

"What? Again?"

…

"My head...oh, my head."

{"You woke up! What happened? Someone attacked you?"} Luna wasn't watching him all the time and missed the part when a fluffy person zapped him with some electric device.

"Yeah, someone kidnapped me, again."

Safo Nur woke up in an empty metal room, tied up to a chair. Some tape-like thing restricted his movements. He didn't feel any pain on his skin but his moves were restricted. After 10-15 minutes the door opened.

"Good morning sir, are you feeling well? I hope it isn't very uncomfortable for an important person like you."

"Who are? What do you want?" Safo Nur played his confident role once more.

"It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is, who are you? Where are you from? You have 2 Psiora mercenaries and a droid guarding you. Meaning that you are not ordinary trash that visits Stage 10.

You're currently at Stage -8, I think a clever boy like yourself can calculate your chances to survive. Your bodyguards wouldn't find you here. So tell me, who are you boy?"

Slim person's voice was too deep for his fragile frame. His tone boomed in an empty, metal room. He had no closes, his long, black fur-hair covered him head to toe.

"You made a mistake, kind man. I don't have any value, those guys are my bosses, I work on their ship. Cooking, cleaning mostly. They own me, I don't cost anything. Just a servant. I'm sorry, I wasted your time." Kutch prepared him to tell like that to anybody who asks about their relations.

A hairy stick moved slowly, step by step he got his slim figure closer to Safo Nur. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he drew an electric stick that Safo used to carry and hit Safo's stomach with the power of electricity.

Safo's body jolted in convulsions as if it was possessed by some demon. When the slim man stopped, Safo was half unconscious, his mouth wide open drooling, saliva dripped on his clothes, fingers stiffened twisted, his eyeballs were rolling back into head getting white.

The baton poked an eye to return his consciousness to where he was.

"Please... stop sir. I'm nobody." Safo mumbled almost inaudibly.

"No, no. You can go to sleep again. You must tell me who you are. And even if you are not some noble person I will lure your friends using you. You interrupted my trash from earning money, you know. That was rude of you." The loud stern voice gave an accurate impression that the sadistic personality of a slim man was in ecstasy.

Electric interrogation repeated several times with breaks to keep Safo conscious.

"I... I was so... proud. That I didn't use my ability back there... O'rmon doesn't like when I use it. I didn't want to upset her."

{"Safo, please use it, use it. He is a bad guy, you can't take him lightly."}

"What? What are you talking about, mister? Are you ready to tell me about yourself?"

"Tell me, do you have people who love you? Who will miss you?" Safo Nur slowly raised his head, with a belligerent look in his eyes.

"Huh? Ha aha hahaha. Are you threatening me, boy? Take it!" The slim body came close with the burst of anger and was about to resume electric torture.

Safo Nur looked straight and did a short exhale. The ball of flame, brightening the darkroom flew from Safo's mouth and landed on the hirsute body.

In an instant, with a sizzling sound, all fur disappeared turning into stinky smoke.

Naked, very slim, like bathroom pipes, hands, and legs could be seen standing in front of Safo Nur's chair. His torso and head were the double size of his hands but still surprisingly thin for a body that had a brutal voice. He couldn't move for a moment, when he snapped out from his shock he swung the baton once again.

By that time Safo made sure to released heat from his hand and got rid of the tape that bound him. In a flash, Safo Nur grabbed the neck of a slim man, it was so thin that he was scared that he could kill him unintendedly.

"Look!" Safo Nur issued a strong flame towards the door, which became a glowing red metal afterward. "If you will not obey, I will do the same with this hand." He shook the neck of the pipeman, letting him know that he was serious.

"Now, lead the way out, please."

"Guards, kill hi..."