'Get Emily back? Why would I ca- no there's no time, I need to leave now'
Corvo crumples up the note in his hand and throws it behind him without a care. He grabs the key all the while his heart beats in a forgotten emotion he hasn't felt in such a long time… hope.
After Opening the cell door Corvo is greeted by other cells, filled with men dressed in thug like clothes, menacing scowls plastered on their faces.
This doesn't intimidate Corvo though. He knows how powerless these people truely are.
He walks ahead to a desk with a sword and some coins placed on top of it as indicated by the note, quickly grabbing the sword before moving onto his first target.
But as he moves to the doorway into the next room corvo comes to a dilemma.
'Do I spare them or just kill them for what they have done to me'
Yes, these are the guards who not only allowed his tortcher to go on Unimpeded without complaint but also took pleasure in it.
Humiliating him in his times of total weakness, bullying him and not even taking a moment to question if this is really okay.
You could argue that they were just doing their jobs under the mad lord regents order… but Corvo knew different, he had seen the looks in their eyes.
'Ive come to a decision.'
Crouching low to avoid drawing the attention of the other guards in the accompanying room, he makes his way directly behind the first target.
'No witnesses.'
With that thought he pounces with the stealth of a leopard, jamming his sword into the throat of his enemy.
"Guh-."
The guard goes to release his final breath in a pained groan, but is denied even that from the anger plagued corvo. His corpse is swiftly dragged away from sight and back into corvos previous home to not alert the other guards on duty.
Throwing the dead man onto the floor with less care than a sack of potatoes, Corvo takes a moment just to look and memorise what he had just five with such ease. To take responsibility for a deed he knows is wrong, willingly carrying the weight of this sin on his shoulders for the foreseeable future.
'How would mum think of me, knowing ive just killed someone with barely a blink of remorse.'
But he knows there is a time limit and he shouldn't loiter around to wait for the other guard to get suspicious.
Bending his knee to the ground, Corvo quickly removes the corpses trousers and sword belt to put on himself.
After taking a moment to get dressed in a recently departeds clothes, his fine apparel consists of a guards trousers in a size slightly too small for him, a sword strapped to his waist, a pouch of money connected to the belt, aswell as nothing to cover his gruesomely scared torso, leaving it out for the world to see… if they could catch sight of him.
…
A short amount of time later corvo stands in a shadowy corner with two looted corpses piled on top of one another, who if looking closely can be seen to have to stab wounds on tbe back of their knecks. Appearing to have been taking out swiftly and silently.
Sheathing his sword, Corvo looks around the pillar he is hidden behind, checing for any guards in his view.
Seeing that the coast was clear he heads towards the end of the room to a metal doorframe that leads to a barren room full only of pipes, but to the eyes of someone 'proficient' in free running it's merely another set of steps up to the railing above.
But as he walks past a board full of equipment a certain piece catches his attention.
"Oho, look who we have here." A gravely voice escapes Corvos mouth, the only real words spoken from him in months.
Picking up what he had his eyes on, Corvo brings the flintlock looking pistol close to his eyes. On closer inspection it is actually appears to be some sort of chemical pistol as seen by the glowing blue colour on the chamber, which he can only assume is whale oil.
'Nice'
After finishing his moment of appreciating the weapons style and craftsmanship, he finally holsters it on his hip, next to the blade.
Now just to make sure, Corvo heads over to the door to the side of the pipes and twists the handle to check if it really is locked as was in the game.
'Great. Now let's tackle this little obstacle course… silently. And take this body for a test drive before the mission really starts.'
Standing back at the doorframe corvo gives himself some room for a runnning start and Jumps up to reach the first ledge he has for leverage.
Reaching the ledge, Corvo pulls himself up with visible ease. Something not common in someone who has barely moved in months.
But corvo doesn't really think much on it after his initial surprise, chalking it up to his unique body and climbs the rest of the way up to reach the room at the top.
When corvo actually reaches the top and is about to breath a sigh of relief, he flinches back at the shout of a guard outside the room he's occuping.
"Anyone there?! *sigh* those idiots better not be slacking off again."
'Fuck. That made me jump.'
Quickly he loots the vials of sokolov health potions as well as loose coin and billets before opening the door, straight to the sight of a guards back.
Quickly unsheathing his sword, corvo positions himself behind his unsuspecting enemy and plunges his blade into the guards collar bone and through his heart.
The man stiffens up instantly as the lights leaves his eyes. The corpse almost falls to the ground, which would have causing a Louis noise if not for corvo catching the body and throwing him off the balcony to the guard pile, nullifying the act of stopping its fall in the process.
Looking down he checks the key in his hand, concluding its use is for the gate opposite him.
Using the key, Corvo makes his way through another room with only a single guard to neutralise, then to the lord regents room… the room his tortcher was conducted in.
Closing the door behind him, waves of repressed memories and emotions assault his mind, which are swiftly pushed further back into tbe corner, saving himself from a mentel breakdown, but only causing further damage to his mind and just delaying the inevitable.
Walking through he catches sight of one of those audiograph players, probably build by anton sokolov and is overcome by curiousity so he decides to play it.
"AHHHHHH- NOOOOO…ahhHHHH STOP PLEASE.. IM BEGGI-."
*Crashhh*
The audio quickly stopped playing and all of the sudden had a sword jammed through it, Corvo himself conveniently missing his sword, it sparking with excess electricity from the machine.
Corvo himself with his hands tightly gripping his face, nails digging in his forehead to the point of bleeding while breathing heavily in what can only be seen as pain.
He is paralysed in that position for serval minutes but eventually regains his calms, if that is what you can call that.
He stares at the broken machine with a fire burning inside his glaring eyes and emotionally frozen face.
'THAT FUCKER… AHHHHHHH. I swear I will rip him apart.'
With new fuel to the fire he hastens himself to hurry along.
Quickly grabbing the sword on the desk as his became unusable for some time. Time corvo didn't have.
Going into the next room and twisting open the safes wheel he collects the bomb stored inside and storms outside, only to find another guard lingering by the gate of the next area, apparently lost in thought.
"Ah man, forgot I owe the fucker money. Should I just scrap this shift and leave. No, I've done that multipl-."
The words of the guard is interrupted by a pair of calloused hands gripping tightly around his throat, almost instantly choking the life out of him.
Looking at the man in front of him, the guard nearly pisses and shits himself out of fear not only from the approaching coldness of death, but the heat of rage coming from his agresssors eyes that despite his silence, screams out his pain and the pain he will dish out in return.
Corvo eventually releases the man as hr has his final convulsions in its death throes, clarity finally returing to his eyes as he comes back to the present.
Looking down, some remorse fills his eyes as he stares at the sight of the man with soiled trousers and despair lingering in those dead glassy eyes.
'Ive … never liked hurting people. I am ready to give my enemy's a swift death, but I don't want to tortcher them… I don't want to push what was done to me onto others.'
Taking a moment to memorise what he did to this man corvo walks away to his next target with a heavier wieght on his shoulders.
He quickly takes him out quickly, hides his body and moves onto the next room.
But what greets his sight is a room packed with guards that will take a lot of time, and alot of noise to neutralise that will bring the prison down onto him.
So corvo dose the next best thing.
Waiting for the opportunity for the guards to be distracted, he climbs up another set of thick pipes that run all the way to the room past the big mechanical door at the end.
Reaching the top of a large pipe he started making his way to the end of the room but Corvo picks up parts of the guards conversation.
"Corvos execution is tomorrow right?"
"Yeah, but everything has to be set up today.
"If I'm being honest, I can't wait to see his head roll…"
Hearing this only hardened his resolve and conviction to do what has to be done and to finally rid himself of this place
Tuning out the conversation to solely focous on not making any noise, one wrong step could bring the whole prison down on him aswell.
Corvo quickly made it to the opening leading to the next room. Jumping onto another pipe below after crossing the threshold of the room and quickly positioning himself above another guard.
Jumping off the piping onto the ground behind him, but as he was falling corvo plunged his blade diagonally into the man's neck. The only sound created by his fall was a small sound of his feet slapping the concrete floor.
Bringing the corpse down to the floor gently, going unnoticed by the final guard in this room.
'One more. Then I only have to plant the bomb and leave this god forsaken place'
Taking a quick breath, he vaults the railing to his right, ending it into a high jump. This time aiming straight for the guard himself and almost tackling him into the ground whe aiming his blade to fall onto the man's skull.
Getting up from the ground he pulls his blade from the man's brain and leans onto a piece of metal next to him.
*exhale*
A heavy breath corvo didn't know he was holding was finally released from his chest.
This whole process since leaving his cell has only taken about 10-15 minutes, but to corvo that felt like an eternity compared to his usual routine, though he also felt like it passed in a mere moment. A peculiarity on a humans perception of time.
Finishing his quick break, he knows that there is not much time left, it could be any second that someone finds his cell empty. So corvo grabs the two corpses throwing them in the large dumpster in the corner, grabs any money he can scrounge up as well as any health potions, then quickly plants the bomb, taking cover behind tbe dumpster.
..5
..4
..3
..2
..1
….
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*
A large explosion rips open the metal door that once blocked Corvos exit, but it's sound traveled far and wide finally letting the prison know of an escape.
Running through the now large hole in the wall, corvo is quickly forced to as he comes face to face with a massive drop into a body of water.
"Woaahoho… do I really have to jump from this, I'm not really a fan of heights.
As corvo takes a moment to rethink his live choices a grating noise of metal rubbing against metal could be heard behind him
… the doors were opening
"SOMEONES ESCAPED!!"
"GET THEM!?!"
… the guards are coming.
There's no time to think, he needs to leave and now is a time of action.
Taking a deep breath to steel his will, Corvo takes the plunge straight off the building down into the cold waters below.
——
Two groups of guardsmen rush to different posts. One rush outside, checking the waters of any prisoners taking the seas to escape. Another look across the bridge, only finding that it too was ripped apart by the explosion.
"Sir, what should we do?" A fairly young guard in his early adulthood question his superiors, never having experienced an emergency of this magnitude.
"Leave a few men stationed here and another few below. I want another group of you to check the cells to make sure any prisoner escaped, finally Take the rest of the men and relocate to the ends of the sewers in case whoever set the explosive used that way to escape."
The older more experienced superiors gave orders to the guards around him, who promptly stand at attention and salute.
" " YES SIR!"."
The group of guards quickly disperse, leaving the officer on his lonesome.
"As for me, I will have to bite the bullet and report to the lord regent. I hope he doesn't kill me for This in anger…. Sighhhh, I miss the empress."
The lone guard walks off with a depressed expression covering his face and a sag in his shoulders.
——
In the maze like sewers, one man could be seen slowly making his way up a chain to reach another section. A place where he was promise equipment would be.
Yes this man is the former lord protected, Corvo (Luke) Attano.
One could see if they look closely would be Moldy sewage water stuck on him with the accompanying smell that pierced his nose constantly.
Making it to the top, he just sits there for a moment, breathing heavily. After having run and swam as fast as he could through the sea and through the sewers corvo was definitely tired.
"Ughhhh. I've been rotting in a prison for 6 months and the first chance I get to wash is sewage water. They better have a bath ready for me, or once I get the mark… I swear I'm gonna."
Finishing his sentence with a 'menacing' shake of the fist.
Letting out a snort at his own stupid actions corvo gets to he feet and looks around to take note of his surroundings.
To the left is a set of stairs leading to a couple of corpses, an unknown box and a gate leading further inside the sewer. But on the stairs is a suspicious trip wire, that if he can remember right instead of tripping you up, it sends a bomb straight to the noggin.
'Unlike the game I dout I'll just take a little bit of damage from an explosive crossbow bolt.'
Then on the right is a small tunnel with another trip wire and a piece of suspicious machinery with a bolt sticking out of it. Carrying on is a mattress with two more corpses on top of it. These ones seemingly a couple by the hand interlocked and leaning into each other.
Looking at the pair memories flood Corvos mind as he's hit with waves of nostalgia.
'Ah, jassamine. How I long for you touch once more.'
As these thoughts flow through Corvos, actually Luke's mind, he catches them and his expression turns bitter.
'I'm slipping, I can feel it. My indentity keeps getting mixed up or just forgotten. This needs to stop, lest I really lose myself in them.'
Deciding to shelve these thoughts for when he was safe, Corvo started moving on.
Heading for the small tunnel and ducking under the wire, Corvo grabs his sword from its sheath and hits its end on top of the machine, breaking the top apart.
Grabbing the ammunition then ripping it apart and m pocketing tbe scrap it till he finds it sufficiently disarmed.
Climbing the box the machine is resting on then over the railing corvo comes face to face with another one, so he repeats the disarming process, earning himself 2 incendiary bolts which he safely packs onto one of the ammunition pouches attached to his sword belt.
Jumping down and taking a final glance at the corpses, Corvo turns away making his was over to the equipment.
Opening the box a letter first catches his attention, which he promptly reads.
(TO THE LORD PROTECTOR
Greetings, Corvo. Or should I say Lord Protector, as you were known before that title was wrongfully taken From you.
We are servants of the Empire and of the true Empress, a group of loyalists who want very much to meet you.
Take these weapons, crafted for you of the Finest materials in the lsles, and meet with our man, Samuel, near where these tunnels spill into Wrenhaven River.
All haste and luck. We share a common purpose. )
"More bullshit. Next."
Crumpling up this letter aswell and throwing hit behind him, Corvo observes the master pieces that will accompany him till the end of this story.
With shaking hands and a smile threatening to break out on a eternal stoic face, Corvo picks up what can only been seen to the untrained eye as a sword hilt. Turns it around in his hand Corvo eventually figure it out, throw it up in a flip, a short blade pops out of the hilt transforming into a proper blade.
"Nice"
Giving the blade a nod of appreciation that all men could understand.
He moves onto the other piece of equipment.
A mechanical crossbow that will be the bread and butter in times of stealth.
"Double nice."
Taking one last moment to appreciate his equipment, Corvo decides he actually needs to stop wasting time now. So unsheathing his old sword and discarding it he attaches his new sword on his right side and his crossbow next to the pistol.
Using his key to enter the next area he swiftly loots the safe and machine before entering the drop into the next room.
Standing on a rock structure at the entrance to the new room what greets Corvos eyes is the floor covered mostly in water and floors built over it. Tucked away in the corner by the entrance is two guards chatting away.
"He won't get past me sir." One guard states confidently to his colleague next to him.
"Do you even know who we're hunting here?don't even try to take him on along." The other responds mockingly to the first but with a stern undertone to his voice.
"But what if no one from the squad is around? What then?" He respond back innocently, obviously inexperienced in his work.
"Then try to make allot of noise when you die, knock something over if you can. Hahaha"
The other continues to mock, clearly finding himself hilarious as he turns to walk off.
Though not for long as from above a crossbow bolt comes flying silently and it hits the first guard to speak straight in the head, killing him instantly.
The noise from the body hitting the ground alerts the second guard into turning around. Seeing the situation he goes to shout for other guards to come to him, but is silenced by Corvos new blade stabbing right through his collar bone.
'Now ive delt with them I should be able to swim undetected to the exiting path. Also with the added benefit of the water being a bit cleaner to so it should wash off the sewage smell.'
Making his plan to get out the sewers, Corvo quickly loots the corpses for there coin and bullets before diving into the water.
Swimming with a fish like grace Corvo makes it past the guards still stationed there and to the exit, where he instantly starts sprinting off with his existing stamina once he reached land, straight out of the sewers.
And into the real world once more.
——
Word count: 3,460.