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Tommy and the two girls carefully and silently slunk through the back alleys. they'd been drawn a rough map by the mother who was more than happy to help them overthrow the lord. Tommy put up a closed fist and the two stopped immediately. A roving patrol passed them and their hiding spot as they watched on. Certain they had passed, Tommy and the girls continued. While it was slow progress, they soon found themselves gazing upon the manor.

The manor itself was more a walled mansion than a castle, with many roving guard patrols around the walls with likely countless more in the courtyards. Tommy was unsure whether or not the guards had been told to be on the lookout for their group, Needless to say, they would be as soon as the first shots were fired. The only thing separating them from a few guards idly standing and a small guardpost by the gate was a quick jaunt across the street.

Tommy gathered the girls for a very quick powwow.

"Alright, seeing as there's no civilian presence in the area, I plan to throw a concussion grenade at the three guards. Then Silvia you lay down fire as me and Lucy bound across the street. As soon as we are set at the guardhouse we'll cover for you to cross."

The girls nodded to the plan but Tommy put a hand on their shoulders, "I'm sorry I have to ask you, girls, to do this, some of them might be innocent guards, after all, But at the end of the day evil prevails when good men fail to act. That's a saying from where I'm from; they didn't object to the harsh changes and continued their posts as the lord's personal guards, making them complicit. You guys going to be ok with this?"

Silvia nodded with a neutral expression, having already been exposed to the horrors of this world in her slavery at human hands, she felt no loss.

Lucy thought about it for a few moments before replying, "While your logic may not hold up to a grand tribunal, I agree that something must be done. This town was so beautiful in the past. I hope to help return it to that glory."

Tommy gave each of them a pat on the shoulder and a smile. He carefully checked the straps on Lucy's helmet one last time and noticed Silvia place a hand on her head and look disappointed. He fixed that by giving her a soft head pat, making her tail wag slowly. Turning around he saw Lucy pouting.

"I'll make it up to you later ok?" He promised her prompting her to respond with a satisfied nod.

The girls got ready as he prepped a concussion grenade. While it wouldn't be able to fully utilize its potential, the concussive blast would still cause major damage and plenty of disorientation to the defenders.

Counting down from three on his fingers to the girls, he threw the grenade at the three guards. Two of the guards stopped and looked at the grenade stupified while the third readied his sword in preparation for an attack.

Unfortunately, even with his 6th sense kicking in it didn't stop the grenade from detonating and throwing him to the ground with severe internal injuries. The other two guards faced similar injuries and were left groaning bleeding heaps on the ground.

Tommy and Lucy stood from their crouched position and charged towards the guard shack. As they were halfway across the street a head poked out the door cautiously, going wide-eyed before being torn to pieces by a three-round burst from Silvia. Tommy made it to the guardhouse and immediately prepped and threw another grenade in. Only one more man exited and he took two to the chest from Lucy before a loud crumpf was heard from within.

Pushing in carefully Tommy saw two more guards laying in a crumpled heap. Returning outside, he posted up watching the street as lucy covered his back. Silvia then sprinted across the street and rejoined the formation.

"Alright, we're gonna push the courtyard, cover me!" Tomy yelled as he pushed in the heavy gate.

Turning the corner he saw a good 10 or so guards streaming from the main entrance to the building. He hit the deck and picked a target firing two rounds to the upper torso. By the time the man hit the ground Silvia's SAW started barking into the crowd followed by small bursts of automatic fire from Lucy. Killing one more target the group from the door lay sprawled out on the floor.

Tommy then spotted the shine of a guard's helmet from behind the bush off to their direct right.

"Contacts to our right, engage!"

Tommy picked the man off as Silvia suppressed the hedgerow with bursts. Two men stumbled and fell back onto the ground, while what had to be 20-30 men stood from behind low walls and foliage and charged at Tommy's group letting out a warcry.

The girls need not be told what to do as Silvia bipoded to a low wall followed by Lucy bracing her rifle next to Silvia. Tommy shifted his prone to be laying on his right side. He aimed down his sights and started picking targets. He quickly switched from one target to the next four times easily dropping the charging men weighed down by heavy medieval armor. Silvia's fire had claimed a good 10 or so on her own with Lucy hitting three men herself.

The remaining men realized their grave error and scrambled to cover. Tommy spotted two men try to duck behind a wall. He shot the first man twice in the back and shot the other man in the upper thigh. The man fell to the ground out of Tommy's line of sight.

Checking the bottom left of the visor the counter read eleven rounds left in his magazine. He took the magazine out of the rifle and whisked it away to the storage ability. Just as quickly as it had gone a fresh PMAG appeared in his hand. He put it back in the rifle satisfied that the counter now read 31.

The remaining guards were all behind cover waiting in ambush should Tommy's small group decide to move forward.

"Alright here's the deal, Silvia, keep providing cover, Lucy you'll push around their hard left, I'll push their hard right. Do it carefully and try not to get seen right away. The goal is to either trap them in a killbox or force them to run into Silvia's killbox. Sound good?"

The two nodded and Silvia moved to a better position as Lucy started maneuvering around their left. Tommy immediately began moving around their right careful not to be spotted immediately. He waited in place once he'd arrived for a few minutes realizing he should've let Lucy know to fire on his mark. Hoping she'd be in place and fire on his lead, he leaned around the corner of the decorative wall and picked a target.

He chose the man who looked to be providing aid for the previously thighshot man. No geneva conventions here saying not to engage medics. He did not, however, that instead of using bandages the guard hovered his hands over the wound emitting a dim green light. Tommy assumed him a mage and therefore was deadset on his targeting. Taking one last quick look and seeing another six men hiding behind similar cover he fired two rounds into the mage, putting him and his fancy magic to the ground.

With the healing spell interrupted, any pain relief the original victim had felt was now gone as he screamed out in agony at the wound in his thigh. Tommy ended his suffering with one to the brain box before transitioning to another target. The men scrambled to find better cover but only ended up wandering into the other two waiting ambushes. Expending his mag into his targets he heard both Lucy and Silvia's guns bark. With his targets dead he did a quick magswap before pushing up.

He waved his hands making sure Lucy didn't think him a target as he regrouped with her. She had killed 4 targets herself while pushing the remainder into Silvia's waiting gun. She finished reloading her magazine as he got set with her.

"Good shit Lucy, that was good shit. Let's get Silvia back with us and move for the manor proper."

Once again waving his arms making sure Silvia didn't engage him, he stood out of cover and beckoned her over. She ran up to him showing no sign of the heavy equipment hampering her in any way.

"What's your ammo situation Sil?"

She blushed lightly at the nickname before responding, "I spent two 30 round mags and one 100 rounder. I've just popped my remaining full 100 rounder into the gun." she replied.

Tommy nodded as the girls finished getting their equipment ready, "Alrighty, let's double-time it to the manor."

The girls formed a wedge on him as they ran the short distance to the entrance. When he tried the door he found it to be locked. Tommy smiled mischievously getting to make something go bang. He pulled the fold-up charges from storage as well as the clacker. The explosive was folded into fourths like a monopoly board. He set it up properly and set it on the door, clicking the buttons on the edges to secure it properly. The clacker was wirelessly connected to the explosive automatically through his thoughts thanks to some funky magic stuff courtesy of their resident goddess.

The two girls stacked up behind him as he clicked the firing device. A boom followed and the door shattered inwards, painting a defender in wooden shards. Tommy gunned down said defender easily and quickly got his bearings.

They were in a grand entryway with dual staircases leading to the second floor. Doorways led from both the right and left of the entry. Tommy gestured the girls follow him to the right entry and they quickly stacked up before pushing in. Luckily, the small sitting room was void of presence. There was one more room up ahead and the trio repeated the same process to the same result.

Tommy was glad there was no bloodshed as this room was a grand library. With the cost to create books pre-printing press it would be a tragedy to turn this room into a battleground. There was a door on the left wall leading to the rest of the first floor, but Tommy decided to double back and check the other side of the entryway.

After stacking up at the entry he carefully packed and saw the glint of a sword out of the corner of his eye. He shouldered his M16 and drew his pistol and bayonet for the tight confrontation. He turned the corner and bashed the waiting swordsman in the face knocking him over, before shooting him in the head. There were two other guards in the room but they were quickly put down by Lucy and Silvia.

"Conference room clear..." Tommy spoke to himself before they went back to the entryway.

Like the library, the conference room had a door leading deeper into the first floor, but Tommy decided to go through the entryway instead. pushing through the center of the entryway to the doorway they found a hallway slitting the two sides of the first floor. Creating a T-junction from the doorway.

After checking left and right to assure the hallway was clear, he pushed up to the first door he saw. Grasping the handle he slowly and quietly pushed in, finding himself in a pantry void of life. From the pantry was a doorway that lead to the kitchen.

Carefully creeping he went into the kitchen when he heard a shuffling.

"Put your hands up!" He yelled at the figure behind a counter.

The figure very slowly rose from behind the counter but hid one hand behind his back.

"I said HANDS!" Tommy spoke.

The man brought his other hand around and in it was a knife. The man tried to rush forward but Tommy shot him with the M18 putting him down. Upon closer inspection, he appeared to be a chef of some sort. Tommy shook his head slowly sad that the man didn't just put it down and surrender.

With the kitchen and pantry clear, they continued moving down the hallway to the remaining two unchecked rooms. Stacking up at the most immediate door, he listened carefully. He heard shushed whispers from within and raised his weapon.

He kicked in the door and immediately screamed to see their hands.

"Please don't hurt us we are just servants!" a cry came from within.

Inside were a few women in conservative maid outfits shakily hiding behind bunks.

"We aren't here to hurt you, just let me see your hands so I know you won't hurt us, ok?" the three women showed their hands and Tommy nodded.

The room was a shabby bunk area, much less well maintained than the rest of the manor.

"Is this the servants' quarters?"

One girl stepped forward and nodded.

"The head maid and most of the culinary staff ran from the backdoors when the loud commotion started, but we got locked in here since we are mere slaves." the young woman stated still visibly shaking.

Tommy's demeanor softened and he nodded, "Alright. Stay in here for me ok? I'll leave the door cracked so you know I'm not locking you in here. When we're done here, I'll come back here and you'll be free. I swear on my rifle."

His confident but warm tone calmed the girls down and they nodded, retreating back to the bunks. Tommy kept his word and left the door slightly propped open as he returned to the hallway. Silvia and Lucy rejoined him as he returned.

"Servant's quarters. Looks like the rest of the servants escaped through the back. Be sure you're still checking targets, but I think we might be clear as far as civvies go. We have one more room to go and then we'll push upstairs to clear out that corrupt lord."

They returned to the entry and began creeping up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, they found a similar hallway to that of the first floor splitting the second into two sections. Tommy gestured the girls to follow him as he moved to the left.

They stacked on the door once again, and Tommy kicked it in after discovering it to be locked. Moving in he found an empty bathing room clear of presence. He nodded back to the girls before they went back to the main hallway. They proceeded across the hallway to the first set of doors and pushed in after finding it unlocked. The room appeared to be a rather lavish guest bedroom once again empty of any and all presence.

Continuing down the hallway they found all the guest bedrooms to be empty, leaving just one more room to the right of the entryway. They stacked on the room before Tommy did one last countdown on his fingers. When his last finger dropped, he kicked in the door and they stormed the room.

"HANDS! HANDS LET ME SEE YOUR FUCKING HANDS!"

The four guards did not comply and instead attacked the group. They had been waiting at the door and tackled Tommy as well as Silvia. Lucy shot the other two who were charging and turned her gun to the lord.

Meanwhile, Tommy was fighting the guard for grip of the sword. Kicking the guard in the chest he drew his own blade and plunged it into said guard's throat over and over again before kicking the bleeding corpse to the floor.

Standing up covered in blood he looked over to see Silvia easily overpower her assailent with beastman strength before beating his head in with the ultimax in a scene that would give Spec Ops the Line players PTSD before rising to stare down the Lord.

The lord stood there and snarled at them.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM!!! YOU FILTHY PEASANTS DARE BESEIGE THE MANOR OF ME, BARON JARPWLEIL!!!" containing himself he continued in a low sincere tone, "Even if you begged for a quick death it would not help as I've already sent word to the capital. Soon a military response of elites will be here to put you down painfully. It would be in your best interests to use those magic staffs of yours to kill yourselves now, for a quick death shall not be granted to thee."

"Shut the fuck up I don't care," Tommy responded before bashing the man's lights out with a swift strike of his rifle butt, "Look around, there's gotta be plenty of evidence or ill gotten gains here somewhere," Tommy instructed as he kept the Baron at gunpoint.

Lucy and Silvia scoured the room. Checking the desk in the corner Lucy quickly stumbled upon paperwork detailing the sale of the children.

"Jesus, this bastard kept a fucking bill of sale! You know what, I think I know how to properly deal with this man. Take a look about for any stashes real quick, then we're going to take this man to his 'trial'."

Silvia returned from her search after detecting an anomaly in the floorboards. After pulling it up she discovered a holding bag. Peeking inside she found a large quantity of gold and silver. Tommy smiled and patted her head after her report.

Going to the drapes, Tommy used his bayonet to crudely cut one-off. He used the heavy cloth to carefully bind the Baron's hands before dragging him. The trio left the room and went back to the hall, going down the stairs and none-so-carefully dragging the unconscious Baron down the stairs. They dragged the man from the manor out past the gates to a large gathered crowd.

Tommy threw the man to the ground where he began to stir and spoke out, holding up the bill of sale.

"Citizens of Hirane! Today I drag your sorry corrupt excuse of a Baron out to face public trial! This man has collaborated with the bandits of this city, employing them within the city guard as well as his personal guard, ignoring public safety and standards, and selling your children!"

This claim brought a loud gasp from the crowd, who grew rowdy demanding more information. Tommy read off the description of the sold children on the bill of sale. He saw multiple women crying being consoled by their husbands, many a man standing calm with a look of pure fatherly rage. Collectively the crowd roared in anguish and rage.

"Somebody bring me a fucking rope! This monster pays today!!!" Tommy yelled spurring on the crowd.

He did not have to wait long before one citizen returned with a worn rope that would be plenty uncomfortable as a leash, let alone a noose. Tommy tied it around the Baron's head and finished right as the Baron woke.

"What are you imbeciles doing!! Stop these bastards!!" seeing the looks of rage from the citizens, he continued to rage, "STOP HIM, I ORDER IT! I AM THE RIGHTFUL BARON OF THIS TOWN!! YOU PEASANTS WILL FOLLOW MY ORDERS!"

The townspeople began to spit at him and kick at him. Tommy had to break up the crowd otherwise the mob interfere with the hanging.

"Calm yourselves! We will deal with this man as a civilized society should!" He began dragging the man to a tree in the town square.

The crowd silently followed him and watched as Tommy threw the rope over the tree.

"Would the affected families who wish to convey this man's sentence please step forward?" Tommy somberly asked.

Multiple people, some with tears running down their faces, all with pure anger and malice stepped forward and grabbed the rope Tommy offered them.

"Unhand me this instant! You dare to do this to a nobleman of the Shulkat Confederacy!" he bellowed to the crowd.

Tommy bashed the man's jaw emphasizing each word he spoke, causing sickening cracking and breaking noises, "Shut. The fuck. Up."

The Barrons's jaw was a broken bleeding mess. Tommy turned to the leadman holding the rope and nodded to the grieving father. The man and all the others holding the rope combined their strength and pulled. The Baron rose from the ground clawing pathetically at the noose with his legs dangling aimlessly. His face went blue as he was starved of oxygen. The ropemen looked on with merciless resolve as slowly, the Baron stopped kicking and clawing, finally ceasing his existence.

Tommy tied the rope off the base of the tree, allowing the Baron to hang publically to feed the crows as a result of his action. Some yelled victorious while others looked on with grim neutrality, others still mourning the loss of their children. Suddenly, the crowd all kneeled in front of Tommy, with the man who had led the ropemen kneeling in front of him, simply saying:

"My liege."