Chapter VIII: Afraid of the Dark

Tom breaks free from his confinement.

The bag was removed from my head and I looked around my prison. It was exactly what I had hoped it would be. There was a barred window, which served as the only light source. The concrete walls were grey and lifeless, red-orange stains left on them from previous prisoners that were held here. I was being held by both arms, one soldier on each side of me, as well as one pinning down my legs from behind and another standing in front of me. I sadly realized my hat was on the other side of the door. I was in the center of the room, and I could watch the door be locked from the outside, cutting me off from my precious hat. Other than that, it was perfect. I smirked from beneath my mask. The man in front of me spoke while cracking his knuckles.

"Listen up, s**t stain, you're going to tell us exactly who you are and what you want, right now!" He barked at me. I replied without lifting my head.
"I'm your secret lover, here to make your wildest dreams come true, big boy." I said in a snarky tone. The man punched me in the stomach. In reality, I'd been hit much harder, but I coughed hard to add to the effect. 

"You're a funny guy," he said with a smirk, reaching for the bottom of my mask. "Let's see how funny you are without your mas-"

"Touch it and you die a slow and agonizing death." I cut the man off, again not acknowledging him at all. He was infuriated. 

"Oh yeah, s**t-breath? Watch me!" He shouted in anger, taking hold of my mask firmly. the second he did so, an arrow blurred through the barred window and sprouted out of his groin. He fell to the ground, releasing my mask while bellowing in agony. I whistled.

"Whew, I bet that hurts like a m**********r, don't it?" I smirked. "Guess you should've listened." The guards on my flanks pushed me down onto the ground, pinning my arms behind my back and pressing my face against the ground. the man behind me placed his knee on my lower back, pressing me more into the ground. 

"A little higher, masseuse," I said in a cocky tone. The man ground he knee harder into my back. the glove on my right hand started to smolder. The door flew open, and two guards ran inside, M-21 assault rifles at the ready. 

"The hell is going on!?" They shouted, most likely in response to the screaming. 

"It's a party!" I shouted. The men all looked confused. "Let me light the fireworks!" I said in a lower tone, right before releasing the laser I had been charging inside of my robotic hand. It hit the man on top of me square in the face, leaving a quarter-sized hole right where his nose- and everything behind it- used to be. I detached my metallic arm at the elbow,, and swung my now-free stub to smack the man that was holding my right arm in the face. At that same instant, two arrows sprouted from the necks of the men at the doorway, and they dropped their guns and fell to their knees, gurgling and clutching at their throats. The man on my left, in disarray from the abruptness of the attack, loosened his grip just enough to allow me to turn backwards towards him and headbutt him in the nose. He reeled backwards, letting me flop onto my back.

I quickly reattached my arm and pushed off the ground with my hands just as the man I had stub-punched recovered and slammed his fist into the ground where my head was just a moment before. I landed on my feet and immediately roundhouse kicked the man in the side of the head, sending him flying into the wall on the other side of the hallway, through the open door. I then turned to the man I had head-butted and jammed my heel into his neck, silencing him permanently. I quickly checked my arm, and found that I still had my swords. It seems they didn't know nearly as much about me as they thought they did. I smirked again. Good. 

I scooped up an M-21 and  my hat as I ran out the door, putting a few round into the head of the soldier who was slumped against the wall from my kick, just in case he wanted to get back up. I turned right, trying to remember how they had led me here. Two guards rounded the corner suddenly. I jumped and pushed off the wall, kicking one of them square in the temple and shooting the other in the head. I switched the rifle off of automatic and put a round into both of their heads again. I wanted to make sure they died quickly, before they could make any kind of call for backup. I continued running towards where I assumed I had entered the building. I flung open a door and, just my luck, found at least thirty armed soldiers gearing up in the armory. I shut the door behind me, charging up my laser cutter with a weak, dispersed charge around my palm. I lowered the tone of my voice to a growl. 

"Are you afraid of the dark?" I said in a menacing tone. I slammed my open palm onto the light control beside the door, releasing all of the energy I had in my arm. I wouldn't be able to use it as anything other than a normal arm for about a day, but the energy was enough to completely fry the circuit breaker for the entire floor. I growled again, now concealed in the pitch black room.

"You should be."