Jonas headed the group, and it was a mark of how respected he was among the fighters and slaves because they followed him without panic and kept quiet. Luckily, the hallways of the Hurts gang were large enough to fit a group of their size, and they didn't have much difficulty traversing past the barracks and toward the main lobby.

As their footsteps echoed off the stone hallways, Jonas considered sending men to secure the other rooms of the Hurts gang, but he knew that it could be any minute that gang leadership returned, and he wanted to make sure he had all his forces ready for that moment. It was a bit of a gamble, but he knew there wasn't time to waste trying to take out each guard.

"Get ready," Jonas whispered to Johnson, and they stopped at the bend of the hallway that led into the main foyer, where two guards were usually on watch duty outside the exit door. Johnson nodded, and the two of them turned the corner. The guards weren't shocked at seeing them, but the noises of forty-or-so people caught their attention and made their expressions change from arrogance to confusion, then to panic.

"What are you doing, Ariel?" Jonas charged forward and swung at one of them, and Johnson leaped and kicked the other. The two guards were no match, and by the time the last of their riot turned the corner, both were down and unconscious.

"Through these doors is our way out," Jonas turned to stare at his nearest followers. "You need to be prepared to fight for your life. Are you guys ready?" He nodded toward the members of his crew.

"I'm still wondering about Ahmed, Yuki, and the others, but I guess we'll find out what happened soon enough," said Simon.

"Very soon," Jonas pushed open the metal doors that led to the entrance hall, and he finally saw the path to freedom. The room looked like a grand entrance chamber, only instead of being fancy like a castle, it smelled like swamp water, and mossy stone covered the walls, floors, and ceilings. At the end of the room was a massive metal door made from reinforced metal and an electronic keypad mounted on the side. Jonas knew that beyond that door led to Little Wrath City.

"There it is, boys," Ralph stepped forward and pointed at the door. "You smell that? That's freedom," and there were murmurs of excitement heard from behind.

"Does anyone have the password?" A blue-collar fighter asked. "None of us are breaking that door."

"No, we don't," Jonas stepped forward, turned around, and faced the crowd of fighters and slaves who had finally poured into the room. "Listen up! We've been planning this escape for months. Although there have been some setbacks, we're now feet from breaking free of this place," as his voice carried through the room, there were excited nods from the antsy members of the riot. "We don't have the password to get through that door, but we don't need it because, in less than five minutes, they'll open the door for us. Howard Hurts, Thomas Vale, and the rest of the top-fives will come through that door, and we need to be ready for one last push for freedom. It won't come easy, but with all of us, plus Ahmed and Yotama Yuki: we'll handle anything."

"Hell yeah," Jaden tried to amp up the crowd. "We got over forty people, and they'll have what? Five?"

"Exactly. We got the numbers, and we only need to take them by surprise, and we're gone," Pete was the next to speak up.

"Fuck Howard Hurts, and fuck this gang!" Johnson screamed. "I'm getting the fuck out of here! Who's with me?" The crowd was bloodthirsty and excited, and their cheers boomed across the room. However, the noise died when the sound of scraping metal came from the other side of the room. Jonas' heart lurched, and he turned his head to witness the opening of the electronic door.

Howard Hurts came into view, and a large group of people trailed behind him. What Jonas first noticed about him wasn't his slicked hair or his fancy suit, but the angry expression he wore and the aura he was giving off was filled with murderous intent and powerful Sin, so much so that Jonas could feel it across the room. When he saw the entrance room filled with escaped slaves, a vein in his forehead began throbbing and was dangerously close to exploding. He marched forward to allow the rest of his party to enter the room.

A few moments passed while Howard fumed and glared at all the slaves. Among the people who had entered the room, Jonas recognized the first few: Ahmed, Yuki, Xiao Lin, and Garth. However, there were also a bunch of new faces that Jonas had never seen, and he assumed they were the Presidents and Vice Presidents of other gangs. After those other gang leaders entered, men wearing scrubs followed behind them, and Jonas recognized a few. Bannji Balewa, Michael Davis, and Rodney White were just a few opponents known by face.

With each new person entering the room, Jonas' heart sank just a bit more because it seemed like Howard had anticipated their escape attempt and had enough time to assemble a force. However, why did he look so angry, and why hadn't he made a move much sooner?

“Garth, you are such an asshole. You knew this was happening the whole time, yet you thought it prudent to tell us only twenty minutes ago. Everything could have gone very badly if you hadn't come clean,” Thomas Vale stared wide-eyed at the scene, and his words made the expression on Howard's face grow even uglier while some of the men behind them wore smirks full of schadenfreude.

"I tried to tell you," Garth wore an innocent smile. "I only just remembered that something like this was going to happen. Wow, it's lucky I told you to bring the other top-fives with us to the VIP box to watch Pretty's fight. Who knows what would've happened if you two came by yourselves? It looks like their escape plan might have worked," as Garth spoke, Jonas' brain whirled to life, and he could finally see why and how everything was happening as it was.

Garth was an agent of Chaos. He hadn't wanted Jonas' escape plan to go too smoothly, so he convinced Howard to bring the rest of the top-fives to watch the fight. However, Garth also wanted the escape plan to happen without being shut down too early, so he only told Howard about it just minutes before.

Jonas didn't know how he felt about the change in plans. Sure, there were at least ten fighters on Howard Hurt's side: numerous top-fives and gang leaders. However, the fact that Garth hadn't snitched on them until the last minute meant their plan was still viable, and their element of surprise had paid off. Howard Hurts exhaled a breath, swallowed his anger, and finally spoke.

"Indeed, Garth pulled a little prank on me. He's just like that sometimes. What's important is that he told us, and we're here and ready to end this nonsense. Thankfully, our neighbors so graciously offered their help."

"Howard, we've been friends for so long," a massive man in a stretched suit stepped forward and laughed. He had a bald head, a pointed nose, and very mean-looking eyes, which spoke volumes about his character. "I would hate to see slaves escape. It's just the worst, isn't it?"

“A man leaves his house for five minutes, and his dogs have forgotten who feeds them. I feel for you, Howard. I feel for you," a skinny man in a suit stepped forward.

“No worries, Howard. Don Marino is always willing to extend a hand to his friends,” said the massive gang leader who led the Marino gang. “It’s our luck we brought our fighters with us, or else, who knows what might have happened? Mike's going to love a chance at revenge against Jonas Ariel."

“No, no,” Howard waved him down. “Don't worry about it, Don. I'll talk with Jonas and settle this misunderstanding."

"Whoa, whoa," said the skinny gang leader from earlier. "Does the name Von Trip not mean anything around here? If anyone is going to fight Jonas again, it's going to be my guy, Bannji," it seemed to Jonas that the other gang leaders were here to humiliate Howard more than they were there to help stop the riot. Billy Von Trip smirked, and Bannji cracked his neck and glared at Jonas.

"It seems we all want a piece of Jonas," a handsome, dark-skinned man stepped forward and clapped his hands together. "Might I suggest that my fighter, Rodney White, gets the first shot? The Black Saints gang needs to redeem its honor."

Jonas began counting fighters. Howard, Thomas, Don Marino, Billy Von Trip, the leader of the Black Saints gang, Rodney White, Michael Davis, Bannji Balewa, Garth, and Xiao Lin. That was ten people at the level of a top-five fighter or higher. There were about forty on Jonas' side, which meant about four of their members to one of Howard's.

"My fighters will be more than enough to handle this. Xiao, Garth, Yuki, and Ahmed. Take Jonas down and put an end to this bullshit escape plan. Do it now," Howard left no room for argument.

“Got it, boss,” Garth shrugged at Jonas. “Sorry, Jonas. You tried your best, but Howard's forces outnumber your own. I like the odds on this side."

“Garth, you gave me your word that you would mind your business. Does that mean nothing?” Jonas smiled at the act of cowardice.

“I’m still keeping my word,” Garth pretended to look confused. "It’s my business to listen to my boss, and my boss says to capture you. “What more can I do? I’m a slave.”

“Xiao Lin,” Jonas knew his alliance with Xiao Lin was probably over. “My deal still stands. My master and I will teach you everything you need to know about Sin,” Howard turned his head to look at Xiao Lin with some interest; the Chinese warrior shook his head defensively.

“I don’t know what deal you think you had with me,” his expression turned cold. “Anything I need to learn about Sin, I can learn it from Howard.”

“You fucking coward,” Jonas chuckled. “You can plot behind Howard’s back, but when the plan changes, you pretend to be a good little doggy. Good boy!”

“Is this true?” Howard turned his head to glare at Xiao Lin, “You’ve been plotting this escape with Jonas?”

“Not at all,” Xiao Lin quickly bowed his head to his owner. “I humored Jonas to garner information, and right when I had enough, I planned on telling you.”

“Goddamn liar,” Jonas scoffed. “He was ready to sell you out when I told him my master was a Sinner.”

“Well, we can discuss this later. In the meantime, capture Jonas!” Howard's voice boomed across the room.

The top-five fighters of the Hurts gang stepped forward, and Jonas noticed complicated expressions on Ahmed's and Yuki's faces. For a split second, he was under the impression that they were really about to try and capture him. Jonas' brain began whirling while trying to figure out if they had a better plan for later and if he should play along.

Suddenly they attacked, and Ahmed swung a kick at Garth while Yuki punched Xiao Lin as hard as she could, and they blasted both their unsuspecting targets. Jonas’ heart leaped in his chest as he realized his two friends had not let him down.

“Fight!” Jonas yelled as his body filled with Pride and his Sin Scars began to glow. “Fight now or forever be a slave!” He charged straight toward Howard Hurts.

Johnson was the first companion to follow Jonas. Simon, Pete, Ralph, and Jaden followed soon after. Simon screamed as he went running after Ahmed in the direction of Garth. Ralph went off after Yuki in the opposite direction towards Xiao Lin.

“No more slavery!” Pete screamed. “Fight the oppressors!” He and Jaden went after Jonas. Seeing so many gladiators charge toward the enemy inspired courage in the many low-ranking fighters who accompanied Jonas in his breakout. They threw caution to the wind as they filled their bodies with Sin and charged in different directions.

The dummy slaves, however, didn’t move. They seemed stuck in place, worried that their lack of strength would undoubtedly get in the way of those great Sinners who had just charged into battle, and many of them wondered whether they could sit on the sidelines and wait for a winner.

Theo could see that his fellows were struggling with the decision, and as he stepped forward to join his friends, he turned to look at them.

“I’m just a lowly slave, like you,” he looked at their bloody and scared faces. “I know I don’t have the strength to make much of a difference, but I also know that I’d rather die for freedom than live as a slave!” He turned and chased after Jonas.

“Theo, come back, you crazy bastard!” One slave yelled after him, and he hadn't wanted to join, but Theo had been the closest thing to a friend he ever had in Hell, so he ran after him.

Two slaves were enough for the entire group to be swept by their courage. Nearly twenty of them charged like a stampede in different directions, and rage-filled screams came from their bellies as they waved iron rods haphazardly in the air.

Jonas turned his head one last time, and when he did, he couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful sight, and all the people who had decided to join him filled his chest with more Pride than he had ever felt. He smiled while facing Howard head-on, then he attacked.