The Earth After Rebirth

"Huh? Waynworth? Explain yourself? What the hell do you mean?" It was surprising that out of everyone there, only Wilfred and Sekani were prepared for the possibilities.

"Calm down Mister Silva," Wilfred said, "Sir Waynworth only means that they might have been so broken and brainwashed that they actually think what is happening in this mine is normal." Wilfred spelled out to them.

"You mean to say, the people we've came to save, they might..." Grey couldn't finish the sentence, the idea that he would have to kill innocent civilians, who were victims made his head spin.

Jesús was the one who gained composure much quicker than the old scholar. He had a total of two guns, one on each hand. His combat vest was adorned by various grenades, not just the particle one, there was another named 'sonic bomb' which does exactly as the name mean.

It used sound waves to attack anyone who didn't have their protective skin mask, that protected the entire skin.

"Could you please activate your skin mask, in case?"

Sekani looked at him, his eyebrow raised. Much like the particle Grenade, the sonic bomb was very dangerous. It would completely obliterate anyone with the mask into tiny pieces, which meant everyone they've came to rescue would die.

"Please hold off using that as much as possible. It would be a shame to not have a single person when we go back." Sekani advised sounding a little bit sad.

"Master is correct. We're going to people who aren't even armed. I'd say hand to hand would be okay just to knock out the crazy ones that want to fight."

Sekani nodded in agreement, the best weapons they had would probably be weapons for mining and drilling, that was about it. With their fighting skills they could handle guns, these kinds of weapons should be nothing for them.

With that argument, it was too good to be against it. Truly they were not armed, so Jesús sheathed his guns at the sides of his legs.

At that, Sekani shook his head, "what will you do when one reaches out and takes that gun away from you?"

He took out his backpack and enlarged it, putting all the grenades and a single gun so that he was left with one. He stuffed the one on his waist.

"Happy?"

"Very."

It wasn't long before they were face to face with the mouth of the mine. It wasn't anything they'd seen before, maybe Nikolai had but only in Asgard.

The mouth of the cave stood tall, a little taller than a double storey building. Being this big made them realise that these people lived inside because they'd only seen a couple of living quarters coming this way, which they assumed was a place for guards to sleep.

"Wow." It slipped Grey's mind what this was and he saw it for the natural beauty it was.

"This is something." Jesús agreed.

"Fantastical really." Sekani was also mesmerised.

Wilfred carefully put James down who was still completely out. He scouted the surrounding places and was satisfied when nothing ambushed him, the guards that guarded the entrance had heard the gunshots and ran to help.

It was completely just them in there. It was unsettling how every bit of proof about what this place truly was, were only in their cameras the trailing dead bodies told no tales.

"Let's get this over and done with." Sekani stood at the forefront. "Do the best you can not to kill the people in there, knock them out if they resist help."

"Do you think they ever rang the alarm?" Jesús wondered.

"It doesn't matter now does it?" He walked in, the cave was cold, too cold for anyone to sleep in this kind of place every single day.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Sekani left Nikolai with James outside. He was in charge of drilling a hole where they were, going with the maze would've been a lot of work with this many people they were trying to save. And so Nikolai stayed behind.

They walk for ten minutes and it was only then that they heard sounds of pickaxes hitting stone. These people were hard at work. The closer they got the louder it became, they were so close they could hear the chains clanking on their ankles.

"Wow, look at them, they're not even acknowledging that we're here."

It suddenly made sense now why they just left these workers to their devices. They looked like robots, drones that were only made for one function, hitting the stone with pickaxes. They didn't even have drills.

"Hello?" Grey moved his hand in front of another slave whom didn't even show that he could see them.

Their eyes were snuffed out of their light and the will to live. They were not unlike the children in the underground ring but theirs were much much dimmer.

It was saddening to see but Grey was also glad that they weren't going to fight these people. Though he had no idea how they would go about rehabilitation.

The farther they walked the more the fresh didn't come in and their noses started scrunching, the smell was palpable, it was putrid and disgusting. They all gagged more than they wanted to.

It was clear they didn't get time to clean themselves, not only that, they also used this place they worked and sleep in as their personal bathroom.

Sekani's eye twitched. Being from the slums wasn't enough to make him strong against the smell that wafted through the air. Jesús and Grey were basically crying.

"Attention workers." Sekani stood on a rock overseeing everyone. "I'll need everyone to turn and walk out for a quick assessment."

He never thought this would work, he was just trying anything since Wilfred saw them outside that one time and that meant to him they left the cave sometimes.

They were all pleasantly surprised when they all dropped their tools at almost the same time and turned to walk out of the door.

"That's kind of insane."

They had to wait for a long time until they saw the last person beyond the chain, she was an old lady who could barely walk but because they were bound together she was forcing herself forward.