*** 17 Little Hell ***
Licker was `employed' as a prisoner in a forge. It got its name Little Hell from the temperatures within. Apparently, most of the complex was underground, leaving few options for air to circulate.
Even just the entrance chamber held heat like the midday sun.
When the ass raiders exited the stairs down, they rang a bell and waited. Through the hexa-glass windows they could see into the production hall below. The air moved as it rose from the white glowing substances in the massive melting pots.
Boys with numbers on their foreheads shoved carts full of scrap along inclined tracks.
A man with a light gold mohawk greeted them. He wore a hip scarf with the United Forges emblem – an anvil. Had anyone used anvils in the last hundred years?
Of course, the man was drenched in sweat. An equally sweaty slave brought Hydro-Cola for everyone and vanished again.
"I'm the chief secretary of Little Hell Forge, the name's Zero. What can I do for you young men?"
"Yo Zero," Fucker said. It felt great being taken seriously as a free citizen again. No one even knew there were chastity cages under three of the four white jock straps. (Okay, three jock straps. Savage had a pouch, of course.)
"We're looking for someone," the gang leader continued. "He's prisoner number..." Fucker looked at a paper strip. "...4ea6f7d2. We'd like to have him resign his slave contract with us."
"Hm..." Zero made. "Not sure I like the idea. I don't really have a choice if he signs, but I can demand compensation. You know that, right?"
"What would you ask for?"
They'd have to find a bigger mission soon, but buying out a single prisoner was still within the budget. Fucker felt weird seeing their funds depleted again. There had been a time when his trash punks hadn't held onto coin for more than a week. Now it felt like a loss to have an empty purse.
Maybe he had gotten used to luxury, too.
Well, there'd be jobs to do and loot to be found.
When Licker was led into the chamber, Fucker was shocked. The brutal work had let Licker seriously buff up. In addition to the muscles, the constant sweating had drained his body of fat. Licker was so lean, it looked unreal.
"Alright," Fucker whispered. "We'll keep him on a strict training schedule. I want to keep his body the way it is. I don't care how brutal the training has to be."
"Okay," Hardass whispered back. "But I've been thinking of Pisspig. He wasn't in the registry, so... We have no idea where to look."
"You could search the place."
"Ugh. I guess I should. All right, I'll do a quick swipe."
Hardass went invisible and slipped through the door into the sweltering halls of Little Hell.
In the meantime, Fucker had Licker remake his agreement – this time an official one – to join the ass raiders as slave. With all of them in nipple chains and chastity, Fucker felt like they were a lot more of a coherent unit now.
Since Licker still wore his slave collar, he only had to get Fucker re-added as owner and they could exchange stories in the anteroom, waiting for Hardass.
Instead, Zero came back. "Yo, I think that guy who can turn invisible was one of yours, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, we caught him sneaking around."
"Oh," Fucker said. "Sorry about that. We'd have asked if we had known it would be a problem."
"Yeah..." Zero rolled his eyes. "You better get him before they turn him into a prisoner."
"Oh, fuck. I'll hurry. Where is he?"
Zero pointed through the windows at a gate in the halls below. "He'll be going through the procedure for now, since the guy who applies ID tatts is out for lunch."
"Procedure?"
"Yeah, we participate in that arcology 1 trial run."
"Wait, what does that mean?"
"Mostly," Zero said, "a permanent dick cage. I don't know if you've ever seen one of those. Transparent, basically undestroyable."
Fucker had a hard time not laughing out loud. "You don't by any chance have a little chain lying around, do you?"
"You mean like the one between your nipples?"
"Yeah... kind of like that."
"We probably do. Why?"
Now Fucker couldn't hold the laughter in any longer. He took his time with rescuing Hardass.
No one said anything. For all Hardass knew, Fucker had simply been too late. A pity.
Now the ass raider punks had a collective uniform. Tatts on back and chest, chained nipples and the cages (hidden under cloth, except for the slave's). The only thing that stood out a bit was Licker's collar (and his ID) but they weren't going to change that anytime soon.
Hardass wasn't happy about his new attire. He'd learn to live with it.
Since nobody in the gang could fuck and everyone craved anal, they rested in the village next to Little Hell and found men willing to wreck the holes of five hot punk boys.
Their next stop was the place where nutcracker chief N had gotten them arrested. Fucker asked around if anyone remembered Pisspig. He had to be careful, though. After over two months it was unlikely anyone would remember his face but if he was recognized and someone asked the wrong questions he could get locked away for removing his ID.
They mostly let Hardass do the talking.
Amazingly, people had useful information. When news had reached the settlement and N had been forced to bail, he had grabbed Pisspig from the hands of his imprisoners and taken him to... wherever N was now.
Rumor had it he was re-building his gang somewhere in the mountains, but as a purely criminal organization.
Vague directions had to suffice. The ass raiders marched to Bone Mountain.
It was a difficult ascent, since the path was unmaintained. The plateau had been abandoned after the area became safe enough to leave to the local settlers.
Bone Mountain was a flat plateau on a sharply cut elevation. The only real way up was over a series of ladders. Most of them didn't exist anymore – harvested for material by locals, stolen or rusted away.
Someone had however carved little nooks into the stone, to serve as handrails at a strategic space between missing ladders. They were hard to see in the dead of night.
"Looks like someone wanted to make the place reachable again," Fucker said. "There's still some dust in the cracks, so it had to be recently."
"Do you think," Savage said from farther up, "N is trying to build a new base up there?"
"Maybe we should have asked if there was recruitment going on in the area. I hope we're not facing a new nutcracker bunch."
They reached a platform and rested.
"So what do we do if Pisspig is linked to him?" Hardass asked. "We have no scanner to re-bind. If he's not bound to either of us anymore, we can't take him away."
Fucker shrugged. "We'll have to keep N alive and take him with us. When he's taken into custody, they'll undo any slave ownerships he might have."
"I don't want to have to buy Pisspig in an auction, though. He's a strong guy who can operate vehicles and stuff. He'd be priced high."
"We'll think about it when we get there. For now, let's try to find out if we need N alive or not."
The climb continued until the punks reached the flat expanse on top. Bone Mountain greeted them with warm currents.
Light shone from the windows of the uppermost floor of the guard tower, five minutes from their position. It was an old outpost.
The ass raiders approached from the opposite side so no light could fall on them. The walls were still intact but no patrols could be seen roaming them.
"Savage," Fucker said. "Get our scout over the barrier."
The brute grabbed Hardass by the hip and threw him at the upper edge. The shadow walker held on, pulled himself over and vanished.
It was tough for the leader not to spend the waiting time fingering himself, but he had to set an example. If they started an orgy at the enemy gates, the might blow their chances.
Hardass brought word.
"There are five boys, I think. They all have some triangle shape tattooed on their neck. Couldn't see it well. No trace of N or Pisspig."
"Weapons?"
"They had big guns lying around that I could sabotage. They all still have handheld ones, though."
"We need to take them by surprise, then."
Fucker let himself be thrown onto the edge and held on. He had to build a mental map of the area to know their opportunities. A roof led to the enemy gang's resting place in front of the tower. There was an unguarded corner...
The leader formulated a plan.
Tune in next time for the series conclusion and the ass raider reunion with Pisspig... dead or alive.