"Well, good morning to you, too", he says with no real struggle, in fact, his body looks like it has recovered from the worst of it, "Would you mind not pointing that at me?"

      "Shut up", Baldy says, "The Boss is here, now".

     The Boss is the person from before. The line person that made an entire room full of people shut their mouths. 

     "No, no, no", he says, "I'm not just, the boss---the names Adam. What's yours?"

     "...Alonso".

     Adam smiles, " That's a nice name, sounds classy", his smile slowly disappears, "I've heard that you've been giving my guys a bit of trouble, is that true?"

     "...Yes".

     "It's good that you answered honestly", Adam reveals a shiv that he was hiding behind his back, "If you didn't things could've been much worse for you".

     At this moment Alonso realizes three things: they need to escape as quickly as possible, he needs to watch his actions around this man, and that Adam is much more dangerous beyond his appearance. 

     "Come with me", Adam slides the shiv into his pocket, "Oh, I guess you won't be able to. Is Paul back yet, he's the only one that can unlock him".

     "No, sir", Baldy politely responds, "Paul is out on his rounds, he won't be back for a while".

     Adam nods, "I see", he looks at the lock.

     Alonso's swollen feet twitch at the reference to any sort of freedom. Maybe, this is my chance.

     Adam smiles at the obvious train of thought the child must be having. He wipes away the small amount of drool that had accumulated at the edge of his lips. 

     "Hey, bring me an ax," Adam looks at Baldy.

     Baldy gives his boss a nod and excitedly rushes off to find the biggest ax possible. 

     "You seem to be in better shape than yesterday", he says, "Amazing what a good night's sleep can do, right?"

     "I told him that, too!"

     Alonso looks at Marco who excitedly responds, his eyes almost seem to grow out of his skull when he looks at the boss.

     "Sorry Marco, I wasn't talking to you", Adam then re-focuses on Alonso, "We'll get you out of those chains shortly, just sit tight, okay?"

     Baldy comes back, extremely out of breath, with an ax that is more than qualified to break through the lock. The ax almost reaches the roof, almost.

     "This is more than what I had in mind, but this works", he looks at Alonso, "I promise you I have good aim. All I need you to do is try to push your ankles apart from each other as much as you can. Easy, right?"

      Adam's smile and the glare in his eyes tell a different story. 

     On the outside, Alonso looks as calm as can be, or at least he tries to. Little does he know what the others are seeing is a scared little boy on the verge of peeing his pants. When Adam raises the ax far above his head Alonso suddenly remembers something. A memory that feels much more important than it is---a memory that he shouldn't have forgotten.

     The image of a young woman holding a baby in front of a mirror. Said, baby grasps at her hairs so tightly that the woman scowls. She seems to scold the youngling, but soon after she kisses him on the cheek.

     Adam swings the ax with all his might, the amount of force he swings seems much more than necessary and the direction the ax flies looks much higher than the locks on the chains.

     Move!

     Alonso immediately rolls to the side and slams his back onto the cage. The ax buries deep into the concrete, small pieces of it fly all around the cage, and the sound that is produced shrieks into the filthy air. Although not obvious, the place where the ax lands aren't near where Alonso's ankles were at all.

     "How dare you move!"

     Baldy steps forward to lay the thunder on the kid, but the arm of a very entertained person stops him. Adam laughs and holds the ax out to him.

     "No way!" he shouts, "You actually dodged!"

     Alonso grips the iron bars to keep himself on his toes, "Y-you weren't aiming for the lock at all!"

     "Bingo! There was no way I was going to get that lock off without hurting you. You noticed that too, right? I'm going to assume that's the reason you moved".

     "I-I just felt the urge to dodge", Alonso says.

     I can't believe I really thought he was going to free me. And he's right, my legs are too tightly wrapped together, no way he was going to get the lock like this. C'mon man, do better! Think smarter, like...like Isabella.

     "Sorry, you'll have to wait until Paul gets back for those chains to come off", Adam lowers himself, "for now I'll carry you around. Not a problem, right?"

     "...It'll be a bit uncomfortable", Alonso slowly says, "But I'll be fine".

     Adam smiles, "Honesty is the best policy, keep at it", he edges the shive once more. With everything said he picks up the little boy and throws him over his shoulder. Alonso winces but doesn't dare to make a scene out of it. He bites his lip and deals with the pain in his chest.

     Damn, guess that sleep didn't help as much as I thought it would, Alonso looks at the other prisoners as he's lifted out...we'll see 'bout ya'll.

     "How has your stay with us been so far?"

     "...Utterly terrible", Alonso says while looking at Baldy, "That dude right there is the main reason for it---actually, all of you are the reason for my unbearable stay. Seriously, what the hell are you guys doing capturing all of these people. Don't ya'll have better things to do?"

     "Hey, kid", Adam says, "Honesty really is the best policy, but---don't overdo it".

     Instantly, Alonso feels cold rush travel down his spine. His body freezes for a split-second and sweat begins to form on his palms. 

     I really don't know how to act around this guy. He seems to like honesty but doesn't like unnecessary comments. 

     "Yes sir", is all Alonso says.

     They travel the rest of the way in silence. They exit the prison room and enter what must be the main lobby. Alonso eyes the dried blood on the wooden floor. He scowls as he remembers the events from the day before.

     "If you don't mind me asking", Alonso carefully says, "What do you guys do here?"

     "That should be obvious enough", Adam says, "But well, sure I'll tell you what's going on. This establishment of ours is a proud auction house for all sorts of things. People, jewelry, and many other goods. Since we're in the Northern Mound the authorities wouldn't dare check this place out so most of the time we're safe from any sort of persecution. So, what do you think?"

     "Huh? What do you mean?"

     "I mean, do you think we're terrible people for what we do for a living? Do you want to kill us?"

     Oh man, Alonso thinks, this isn't good. What to say? What to say? If I just say something random he might end me...but, from what it looks like he's only scolded me when I went too far. But what's too far? Arghh! Hell if I know!

     Alonso sighs, "Yeah, I think all of you deserve to die for what ya'll do. Will I be the one doing the killing? Nah, I'm too scared to do anything scary like that".

     Adam stops in his tracks.

     Ah crap, I think I've done it now. 

     Then, the boss snickers, "Yeah, I think so too".

     With that, Adam pushes open a door and---

     ***