Maniac’s Mayhem-Chapter Thirty-Six:  No One Left Behind

Maniac’s Mayhem-Chapter Thirty-Six:  No One Left Behind

"Do not underestimate the malice within a human's heart"
-Isaac Netero
My nose fills with smoke as I enter the brothel. A stream of messages pops up in my vision, telling me I am in an area with extremely toxic air. I mute the messages from my air filter and walk further inside.
Despite the area, I found it less dilapidated than anticipated. The lounge with the bar looks nice. Not too chic and expensive, but also not cheap and broken down.
This instead raises all my alarm bells. In places like this, in this area, that means they cater to a specific group of clients. The rich fucks with twisted morals and kinks that needed a quiet place that would not question them, but also a place that looked nice enough that they would not feel that out of place.
One look at the prices tells me exactly what type it is. I briefly debate how much trouble we would get into if I just let Maniac cut everyone down, but quickly dismiss the thought. We are here to rescue my sister; hunting down gangsters can wait until after that.
I walk up to the bar. Behind it stands an old woman with facial tattoos and piercings galore, to the point that it makes you wonder what would happen if you introduced a magnet to the mix. She wipes down the counter while conversing with a middle-aged man at the bar.
“Hello sir, what can I get you?” the woman asks as I walk up to the bar.
“Uhm, I have an appointment under the name Peter Cantor,” I say, giving the woman a smile.
“I see. Would you like anything to drink?” she says, raising a bottle of something.
I shake my head. “No, that's fine.”
The man at the bar laughs, and sneers at me, “Don’t be so nervous, boy. You bought a bitch for an hour; you got to show confidence that you own her.” His eyes narrow. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re a virgin or something?”
I shake my head. “No, it is just my first time being in a place like this. I usually have girls come to my penthouse, but I thought visiting a place like this might be fun for once.” I make a show of looking around, “It’s quite novel.”
The man looks slightly annoyed at that before turning away with a huff. We stay in silence for a bit longer until a redhead girl in a bathrobe walks in and stands next to me, almost leaning into me.
“Hi Peter, I am Madison. I will be your companion for the next couple of hours.” She says, as she drapes herself against me, “Do you want something to drink?” She points at the bar.
“Nah, I'm fine, but if you want something, feel free to get it.” I gesture at the bottles behind the bar.
Madison, or I guess Angela, looks at the bartender and says. “Erica, my usual, please.”
The bartender pours some yellowish liquid from a bottle into a glass. Angela picks up the glass, taking a sip before smiling.
“I shall take you to my room, then, so we can start having some fun,” she says, offering her hand.
I take her hand, and she leads me further inside the building. The halls beyond look just as fake fancy as the rest, with some fake plastic plants in fancy vases and the heavy smell of perfume in the air. We stop at one of the many doors, and she lets me inside.
The room is brightly lit, which I find somewhat surprising. I always thought these rooms were supposed to be dark and dingy. There is an enormous bed taking up the centre of the room with what looks like clean sheets. There is a small bar in the corner and another, smaller doorway leading to an attached bathroom.
As soon as I am inside, I start up my programs, scanning for any cameras or listening devices. Crushing any I can find all the way back to the servers storing their data. Just because I am feeling especially vengeful, I upload some daemons that make it impossible to recover any data from the servers. Then I turn back to Angela.
Angela has taken off her bathrobe, revealing red, lacy underwear that would have been sexy given different circumstances. She has moved uncomfortably close, and just before I can get in some words, she puts her arms around my neck and leans in for a kiss. I quickly raise my hand and cover her mouth in a panic.
Angela stops, her eyes going wide. “I am sorry, I didn't realise you didn't want to be kissed.” she shrinks into herself, making her somehow feel smaller than me even though she is a full head taller.
“It’s alright; don’t worry about it.” I say with the gentlest tone I can muster as I slowly get closer.
She looks back at me, and I still see a lot of fear in her eyes. “Then what would you like me to do?”
“Nothing. I guess. This isn't what I came here for.”
Angela shivers as tears appear in her eyes. “Please, I have a child that still needs me.” She begs.
“No! Yes, I know, that isn't why I'm here. Fuck, I would never do anything like that to my sister.” I say, desperately wanting to get everything out there.
Angela looks at me with a frown. “I don’t have a brother. I am an only child. I think you might have the wrong person.” She intones.
“I am usually a lot better at this, with more charm and stuff, but I have been feeling off lately.” I sigh, then drop the disguise. “Sorry, let’s try this once more. Hello, my name is Evelin Vance. It is good to finally meet you, sister.” I smile as brightly as I can, as I look at her.
Angela instantly starts to tear up and slump down. I get closer to her, crouching down to look her in the eyes. She looks back at me, staring for a long time into my eyes. “You can’t be here.” she says.
“Why not? I am here to help. Please let me help you” I plead..
“You should leave. This place is dangerous. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t know how you did that face changing thing, but please do it again and get out of here.” She is clutching my arm at this point.
I smile, putting my hand on her check “Don’t worry, I am pretty thorough. They have nothing that can hurt me.” She doesn't look that convinced, so I continue. “You know those stories your parents told you to behave, or else the,” I wave my arm around, “shows up.”
She laughs, “So, are you telling me you’re the bogeyman or, like, Baba Yaga?”
I shake my head. “No, I just hold her leash.”
Angela just blinks at me before shaking her head, “What does that mean?”
“That means that you don’t have to worry about the gang anymore. However scary they are, I know scarier people. Heck, I am probably scarier than most of them.”
“And where are those people?” she asks, looking behind me as if she was expecting them to be behind me.
“Some of them are getting Tucker as we speak. Once they give me the signal that he is safe, I will trigger the fire alarm, and we will head out of here in the confusion.”
“What if they don’t react to the alarm?” She asks as she looks at me with concern.
“Then we start an actual fire,” I look at the bar, then at the bed, “Shouldn't be all that hard.”
Angela also looks at the bed. “And what after that? I betrayed Jacob’s trust, he wouldn't want me anymore.”
I pause, thinking of my brother, and even though this might not be the best time, she deserves to know. “I think he wouldn't care; you did what you had to do to defend your son.” I swallow. “Besides that, Jacob is no longer here.”
Angela blinks, then tears form in her eyes. “Of course, what was I thinking? After he helped us escape, there was no way they would let him live.”
I put my arms around her, holding her tight. “I'm sorry, but I promise you I will bring you somewhere safe, somewhere where Tucker can grow up happy.”
“Where is that?” she asks in a small voice.
“Germany, I kind of own a company there. We have a lot of abused women in our employ, so they might be able to help you better than I can.” I say, stroking her hair.
Angela breaks off her hug and looks at me, biting her lip. “It's not that simple.”
“How so? I know that this might be hard to believe, but I am not as weak as I look.” I interject.
Angela still looks worried. “What about Lamar?”
Visions of the big, black man flood into me. “You know where he is?”
Angela nods, “Yeah, he is being held at the facility as insurance if we don’t come back.” she says, hugging herself.
“Ah, well, fuck! Are they holding him at the other place, the one you go to when you aren't here?” I ask, pulling up the information on the place.
Angela nods slowly, “Yeah, at least the last time I saw him.”
“Okay, so the time frame might be tight, but I'm sure that we can grab him too. This mission might become a lot less stealthy.”
“No, you can’t. That place isn't safe; You can’t go there. Please, I can’t lose you, too,” Angela says, panicking as she grabs onto me.
I nod slowly. “I'm sorry, but I lost everything once already. I'm not going through that pain again; if there is something I can do, I will.”
Angela says nothing else, just keeps crying while clutching onto me. Luckily, we don’t really have to talk; just wait. And in the meantime, I crack all the cyber defences of the gang’s hideout; they're laughably bad.
Getting access to their computers and all their dealing is child’s play. Unfortunately, most of the cameras are on the outside, with only one set being placed on the inside in what looks like the foyer or antechamber. So, I can’t really tell what is going on inside, but at least it gives me an entry point to teleport to.
Then I get a ping from Mio with a thumbs up. I stand up, triggering the fire alarm and summoning the fire sword, using it to set the bed on fire, just for good measure.
“It’s go time.” I tell Angela, but she still seems a bit out of it. What have these bastards done to her?
I grab her by the arm and start dragging her out, using my GPS to try to make it to one of the outward - facing walls. No point in trying to be discreet when we are on a timer. We reach it without any resistance, I guess the fact that this wall has no doors means it doesn't require that many defences. I drag Angela into a side room and then walk back out, summoning my hammer.
I hit the outer wall, blasting a big hole in it, opening the room to the outside smog. This being a poorer area means that it is closer to the ground, but looking down the six - story drop still sends shivers down my mechanical spine.
I look back at Angela, who is looking at me wide-eyed but still seems in no mood to move. Okay, that might be a problem. I quickly tell my internal drug supply to pump the strength serum through my blood as I walk over.
“Angela, are you okay?”
No reaction. Well, no matter. I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder, then walk back to the hole, where I already can hear sirens blaring in the distance. Luckily for me, Eva is a fast driver, and the ambulance pulls up in front of the hole, side door already open. I jump inside, and the ambulance speeds off.
Putting Angela down quickly, I close the door before I shout at Eva. “I need to get one more person! MEet me at this spot!” I quickly send her a location.
Then I grab my mask off my wrist and put it on, feeling the cold sensation rush over me as Maniac takes over control and disappears from the ambulance.

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Chapter Thirty-Six:  No One Left Behind