Chapter 8: The PRISON BREAK LIVE COVERAGE

'What...what?' Pethant yawned and rolled his eyes as he rolled out of the floor mat he is sleeping on, and the first thing he saw in his bedroom is Jon, 'Master...? WHAT THE FUCK?!'

'Emergency mission, you in or you out?' Going straight to the point, Jon showed the message of summoning from the Cameraman's Association headquarters.

'What.....what time is it?' Pethant asked, glancing over to the clock before jumping into the air, 'it's 9 AM?! Why does it feel like it's 2?!'

The emergency summoning from the Cameraman's association came through just as Jon is performing his morning exercises, and the title immediately caught his attention as any title would. A prison break is occurring at Purgatory, the prison for the most dangerous superhuman criminals around the world, and allegedly one of the Ten Fingers has been sent off in order to investigate this matter. This is an unprecedented opportunity for anyone to see one of the world's strongest in action, particularly when it comes to fighting other insanely strong superpowered beings.

Jon himself isn't particularly bothered by this opportunity as the notice was sent out to all of the tier 1 cameramen of the Association, but he knew that Pethant wouldn't want to miss this chance of seeing one of the Fingers in action.

More pay isn't always a bad thing, and regardless, Pethant did prove his use in their last outing.

'Master...how did you know where I live?' As the two of them took a ride towards the Cameraman's Association for the portal out, Pethant murmured underneath his breath towards Jon, 'are you secretly...a predator?'

'No, I registered you as my intern, so the association gave me your emergency contact details way back.' Jon replied without paying much attention to it.

'Wait, the Association just gives out my attention like that...WAIT, YOU REGISTERED ME AS YOUR INTERN OFFICIALLY?!' Pethant's eyes were immediately filled with tears as he picked out Jon and gave him a massive hug, 'and here I thought I will forever be a Genos!'

Before Pethant can crush Jon's body with his bulging pectorals and biceps, Jon flickered out of his grasp effortlessly and showed Pethant the whole message. Obviously, Pethant is beyond thrilled about the chance of meeting one of the Ten Fingers, and he is preparing to take a shot worthy of being on the cover page of the S CITY TIMES, the premier superhuman publishing site.

The portal hero, Taxi, have been waiting for them there at the association, and immediately opened up the portal after Jon showed him his invitation.

'Please, enjoy the coverage.' Taxi opened up the portal with a strange smile on his face, and Jon walked through without any hesitation.

The lights of the surrounding space twists and bends before morphing back into something that makes sense, and Jon and Pethant found themselves suddenly standing in the middle of a gigantic open courtyard. This courtyard is much bigger than what Pethant initially thought prison courtyards might be with edges further than the eyes can see. There are various floating layers high above, and structures far out in the distance covered by fogs.

'Huh?' Pethant said, pointing to the various inmates in color-coded uniforms in various corners of the courtyard all surrounding the two of them, 'aren't we supposed to be portal-ed to reception or something? Why do I feel like we were thrown into the wolves?'

'Look at the fresh meat today!' One of the inmates said with a low growl as he approached the pair. He appeared to have been beatified and took the shape of a wolf that's more than three meters tall. He had a massive scar across his chest that's the shape of a lightning bolt.

'Oh boy.' Jon said, letting out a sigh. Pethant spun around and dropped the suit to his side.

'Oh boy?' Pethant asked, 'what's going on, master?'

'It is just as you said,' Jon said, looking up at one of the three floating structures overhead where the prison guards must be keeping watch, 'they have fed us to the wolves.'

'But I thought it was an emergency summon?'

'Well, what really happened with Beacon never did get published,' Jon said, 'and it looked like we ticked off someone high above, and this is where they wanted to silence us.'

'You are right, smart sidekick.' The Wolfman said, pointing his claws towards Jon.

Smart sidekick??

'We are not the first ones here, right?' Jon asked, and the Wolfman pointed his claws up towards rows of skeletons, uniforms and cameras hanging across a rope without saying a word.

'Master.' Pethant said, leaving the suit of armor to his side, 'I didn't think they would want to silence you just because you are good at taking photos. That is wrong!'

'Time for a supplementary part about lesson one.' Jon said, ignoring Pethant's sentiment, 'you know one other time you can break the Principle of Non-interference?'

'Huh?'

'In the case of self-defense.'

'Oh, makes sense.'

'Fog it up, GENERATOR.' The Wolfman said.

'As you wish, WOLFY.' Generator said, as the fog began to surround the entire area including the structures above. The prison inmates appeared to have a certain routine for performing this sort of deeds, and soon a circular opening is created with the pair standing at the center.

'Now.....who wants the first crack at the big guy?' Wolfy said, declaring to the entire courtyard as a crowd began to form from within the abyss as the silhouette of many other criminals began taking shape on the other side of the fog. Is this some sort of a one-way see-through fog? Pethant wondered as he clenched his fist.

Then, he turned around and kicked Jon directly in the torso and sent him flying into the fog, 'Save yourself, MASTER! You are faster than me! Run away!'

'Oh?! We have a brave hero on the scene today.' Wolfy said teasingly.

'I hate heroes.' Generator chimed in, 'but who doesn't...right, chat?'

'Yeah, leave your comments in the fucking chat, and this fight is brought to you by the dirty shitbags in the world above, as well as the Underworld Cleaning Association, where we clean up the shits from above! If you have just tuned in today, we have a pair of unfortunate cameramen that have seen something naughty. I am Wolfy the Wolfman, and with me, as always is Generator, the foggy dude.'

'I make everywhere else foggy, but my mind is always clear.'

'Sure is, partner.' Wolfy said, slamming his paw into the ground and said, 'now now...from my expert opinion of Wolf's eyeball, this one is about tier 4 and above. Who wants a first crack?

What is with this world and streaming?!

'You want a piece of me?!' Pethant said before pointing his finger in the direction of Wolfy, 'come and get fucked!'

'Oh?! We have a fiery one today....' Wolfy said, 'then shouldn't we get someone to cool him down? Kelvin, wanna take the first crack at it?'

A figure emerged from the fog, and he is dressed in a white uniform. He appeared to be a well-dressed human with short white hair and a beautiful face. A rather strange look for someone that is in the world's most dangerous prison.

'Our first butcher of the day...Kelvin, the man that named himself after the only temperature scale that makes sense...Did I read that out correctly?'

'Yes, you brute. Even I am surprised.' Generator carried on with some banter, and Wolfy lets out an earnest laugh. If not for their prison uniforms, Pethant would have thought they are just a pair of old buds commentating over some evening entertainment.

Regardless, he needed to buy time for his master to get away. Master was adamant that he didn't engage in violence against Beacon, and that he just somehow became unstable after fleeing the scenes of destruction. Just because the two of them were there when things happened, now the talented cameraman such as his master is getting punished...

Pethant never wanted to bring any danger to Jon, especially when all he wanted to learn from him is his photography and videography skills. However, it doesn't look like he is going to get the chance anymore.

Please be safe, my master. Pethant said as he pulled out his very own tactics of buying time, 'Why does only he get an intro? I want an intro too!'

'Oh, the meat is speaking something....'

'He wants an intro, Wolfy.' Generator said, 'might as well grant him his last wish.'

'I want you to say this before every flight I took.' Pethant said, pumping his fist and slamming his chest like a wild gorilla, 'I am Pethant, a strong guy who likes spicy pork bowl, and I am a professional cameraman!'

'Shit yeah whatever...On the chopping board is Pethant, a guy who likes spicy pork bowl and is now officially a dead cameraman. Blablablabla...Kelvin, you may start now. Chat's been waiting for long enough....' Wolfy said, tilting his head uninterestingly to the side, 'show us your killing arts.'

'Here I come, respectable opponent.' Kelvin said, as he entered into a combat stance before the ground next to him began to chill as shards of ice started to form around his body. Then, a thin layer of ice sheets formed an armor around his entire body, making himself look like an ice sculpture in the process. Then, a spike of ice formed itself into a lance in his right hand.

Lunging deep down, Kelvin accelerated his body and charged towards Pethant, his feet gliding over the ground like a speed skater.

'What was the last thing the master said....' Pethant scratched his head as he tried to recall what has transpired shortly before he kicked Jon to save his life, 'right.....the thing about self-defense...'

Turning around to point towards the camera in the middle of the suit of armor on the ground, Pethant made his disclaimer.

'This is for self-defense, by the way.'

Then, he took a single step forward and pulled his right fist back. Energy is stored all through his muscles, tendons and connective tissue as the bow in his body is pulled tight. Then, all of that energy is released through his fist, as a small vortex of air formed alongside his knuckles.

The fist crashed head-on with the tip of the lance, and a shock wave went off due to the high amount of energy carried by two of the combatants in the fight. The impact happened visually before the sound was registered almost as if the universe has held its breath, waiting to see what has happened.

The lance appeared...much shorter? No...it was Pethant's fist that pushed back and compressed the lance into a much shorter and fatter version of itself.....instead of having the hardness and sharpness of icy cliff faces that stood for millennia, the weapon was instead turned into soft-serve ice cream!

Kelvin's forward momentum didn't give him any time to react before the fist rammed into his face, shattering first the face shields before cracking through his nose, smashing across his cheekbone and punching the bones back into the back of his brain and airway.

His body flicked around Pethant's fist as dust of ice rained over Pethant's body. He struggled for a moment before the movement seized.

'You forgot to mention something, WOLFMAN.' Pethant said, raising his fist with Kelvin's body still sticking to his knuckles due to the ice, 'I am a STRONG guy who likes spicy pork bowl.'

'However, I am fancying some wolf meat today.'