Personal Involvement (Act II)

You bolted awake in the middle of the night in shock. There was a loud sound outside; a familiar, masculine voice. You stood up and look out your shabby window to find Benjamin contending with an overwhelming number of goons. From the cart nearby, you could get a sense of what was going on. You weren't going to let them take him as their next victim and prisoner. You frantically put clothing on and retrieved your daggers before flying down the stairs. When you next see him, rushing out the door of your building, the situation is ****. Benjamin struggled as best he could, but the number of goons was too many, and had his arms held behind his back, pushing him on his knees to bind and shackle him.

You drew your daggers and rushed in, showing a shocking lack of self preservation. The men hesitated between completing binding their captive and defending themselves. The rare opportunity allowed you to make sharp stabs at two of them, one into the throat and the other into the belly, killing one and dealing a probable mortal wound to the other. The flourish created great chaos, as the others came after you. With your swift reflexes, you turned one against the other. Colliding against each other, there were a few others to deal with, but it looked like you had a chance.

You knelt down to help Benjamin to his feet, and was shocked by his reaction. With his weight under him, he pushed you away with his greater size and inertia.

"What are you doing!?" He shouted "Don't worry about me, get out of here!"

Staggered physically and emotionally, you could only watch as the kidnappers, comitted to their efforts, dogpiled him before hoisting him into a cart. The two that stumbled into each other regained their footing and came after you, as the rest prepared to depart. Fighting for your own life took your attention away, and without the benefit you had before, you quickly realized the only viable option was flight. With a lump in your stomach, you ran off perpendicular to the area, keeping them from following you back into your home.

The last two kidnappers gave up the chase easy enough, their mission successful, their comrades left on the cold ground to die. You leaned on the walls as you caught your breath, trying desparately to keep your emotions inside. You slowly walked back, looking up at the high walls of the ghetto streets. Many a candlelit window was open, and with your Drow eyes, you could see every face that had watched but done nothing.

"Well, that's just great, isnt it!?" Your shouts woke a number of others not already privvy to what happened. "He did more to help fix this piss hole in a few days than any of you in your whole lives! And how do you repay him!? By letting him suffer, by letting him take the fall! So that you can stay in your ramshackle homes and hope that if you pretend it's not happening, they won't come for you!"

Exhausted, your shouting turns to low sobs "he had such high thoughts of you all, and I wanted to believe him"

You slowly trudged back to your apartment, finding Jiaghan and Dogha both waiting outside your apartment building.

"What do you want?" Despite everything, you still had more than enough energy to muster your anger at the orc. Jiaghan tried to defend her, but Dogha cut her off.

"I'm here because I want to help. She's here because she wants a hug." Your young friend did look as upset as you were, and less equipped to handle it. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here fast enough." She put her big hands on your shoulders "You're not in this alone Liz. You never have been. We'll move the Ten Hells if we need to get your boyfriend back"

"He is not" you started off, but were caught off again.

"Okay." Dogha raised her hands defensively "I'm sorry, I just figured since..." she let the thought trail off. "The important thing is we're with you. We'll get Benjamin back, I promise"