Kenny
The Griffon felt as he was prodded along by the drones both behind him and at his sides, pushed forward through an abandoned swim area toward an empty pool, the Unicorn ghoul he had talked to mere moments earlier alongside him. He looked around to see nothing but cheering and shouting raiders, excited for the violent entertainment they oh-so-hungrily craved.
Well, all but one exception.
He saw a half-dragon, half-Unicorn, his neck bound with a metal collar that was connected to a chain, which in and itself was being held onto by a female raider, armed with a sniper rifle and wearing a helmet that covered her whole face, with multiple eye holes punched into the metal. The hybrid himself had his head downcast, though he didn't seem bereft of hope or will; Kenny could only guess is was merely an act of subserviance and obedience to keep his captor satisfied. The same poor lad that... whoever she was, had worked alongside. Now that he had a closer look at the individual, the Griffon immediately noticed his lack of accessorization, barring the Pipbuck locked to his right foreleg. It wasn't too much of a surprise, really- depriving a prisoner of any means of escape was just common sense, after all.
The raider removed her helmet and proceeded to kiss him lustfully, and while he returned it with gusto, the look in his eyes betrayed this; they had no passionate spark or excitement to them, simply a bland, non-devoted slate, proving that his own kiss was also a facade, only serving the purpose of satisfying his mistress.
He felt sympathy for him. Although he could not pretend to know what he was suffering through, and would suffer through for a good while, he still experienced empathy for the young stallion's plight- and remorse that he was powerless to help.
'I'm going to die here. There will be nobody to save others from the torment that raiders dispense... nobody else willing to help them, to give them hope.'
Although he likely would never say it aloud, he agreed with his fellow prisoner on one thing... too few people in these cold, dark times cared for more than just themselves- too many with potential to do good being converted, manipulated, into the selfish and false ideals of nihilism and sadism.
They were both lead to the edge of the pool. The raiders checked the cuff around his wings before shoving him down into the tile pit. The broken-horned Unicorn followed soon after, thrown into the blood-ridden hole alongside him. He felt a couple of things being thrown onto his head; he opened his eyes to see a plastic syringe filled with Dash and a pill of Buck; the drugs he always carried around with him, and frequently used.
Either they thought he was too weak for a good fight on his own or they had a modicum of mercy, but either way, he was grateful for the gift.
Sitting up, he plunged the syringe into a vein in his arm, and popped the pill into his mouth. Almost immediately, time seemed to slow down, and he felt his strength increase tenfold; he felt as powerful as he always did out in the field, where he could always take them come a combat scenario.
He noticed the ghoul at his left looking at him in shock, and he turned his head toward her.
"Yes?"
"You can take that stuff... and survive it at your age?"
He snickered grimly. "A good combination between balefire radiation enhancing my metabolism and body functions, and having used the crap for most of my life."
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlestallions!"
They both turned to the source of the noise to see that a drone, clad in a cape and wearing an iron helmet with a T-shaped cut-out akin to a visor, perched on a lifeguard tower overseeing the makeshift arena. Although his cape obscured most of his body, he seemed to have orange wave-patterns curling around his chest, from what little of his body was seen.
"We have come here today to witness a fight, for a moment of entertainment, of relief, from our hard work and duties to the Wretched Hive. ARE YOU ENTERTAINED?!"
The entire crowd shouted "Yes!" in unison.
"You're... you're kidding, right?"
"Also yes!"
"Well then, in that case, let's get this match going! And our first contender to enter the ring is none other than Kelly!"
An enthusiastic female drone shoved her way to the front of the crowd, wearing a metal cap locked onto her forehead with a couple of horns jutting out of them, covered in orange eyes and carrying a huge gatling turret with her telekinesis, cackling madly as she loaded a belt of bullets into the clip. Speedily pulling over a syringe filled with Med-X, she plunged it into her jugular artery, filling herself up with the painkiller and leaping into the battlefield, machine turret trained on them.
"Weapons ready, prepared to kill, GO CRAZY!" the announcer declared, and wasting not one second, she sent a stream of bullets towards his ghoul acquaintance.
Tried to dodge she did, but she wasn't even able to move before the turret tore at her front legs, splintering bone and rending flesh and muscle, causing her to collapse, unable to move. While the drone gloated over her victory, Kenny leaped forward, tearing at her face with a claw, but she didn't even feel the attack and merely punching him in the ribs, knocking him back. Sprawled over on said back, he looked over toward... her. Although her legs were beginning to piece themselves back together slowly, she was still crippled. However, the look on her face was one of determination, denial, defiance- and what happened next, he knew, didn't amaze just him.
Her horn crackled with a green energy, for a mere instance, before she left loose with a destructive blast of malachite lightning. Although the combination of the changeling ghoul's regenerative powers and the painkillers prevented any meaningful harm, it still left a blistering scorch mark that bubbled and oozed with the drone's scarcely-preserved flesh.
Her own astonishment lasted only a second- but a second was all Kenny needed. Flipping himself back up, he punched the raider across the jaw, causing a sputter of green blood to fly free from her mouth while simultaneously dislocating her jaw. Once again, the relentless combination of painkillers and regeneration proved effective; she barely even reacted at his punch, even as it unhinged the lower jaw from the sockets, and said jaw yanked itself back into place on it's own. Revving up her turret again, she aimed at the Griffon point-blank, a sadistic smile spreading across her face.
Kenny sprinted away- if not for the hope of escape, then for the hope that the artillery unit would at least do less harm. As the gun fired away, he was able to dodge it at least partially, although it still tore through his body to a great extent. The muscle buildup provided by Buck softened the damage, but at the end of it all, he was still riddled with multiple gunshot wounds.
The Unicorn took her chance again, firing another bolt of electricity at the gladiator, and while it still did relatively nothing, it offered enough of a distraction to get in a claw-swipe at her neck. To his surprise, she actually felt as her throat was torn away, making a brief gasping sound(despite technically not needing air), but the regeneration fixed her esophagus completely.
'She's practically invincible on painkillers; we've hardly hurt her once in this fight.' he thought, his brain uttering the words cold and venomous. 'Of course, the only reason why I'm even fighting her to start with is out of a combination of me not having a choice and me wanting the satisfaction of taking as many of these jerks with me as possible.' He turned his head back toward the Unicorn ghoul he was fighting with, who's legs were still repairing themselves. 'She probably must think that she can still find a way to escape, somehow... a foolish hope. A false hope.' He returned to reality upon hearing the revving of a gatling turret, and seeing it pointed at him, once again.
He flung himself backwards just as she started firing again, and although the Dash and Buck working in conjunction prevented him from dying, he was, at this point, riddled with multiple bullet wounds and was bleeding profusely, coughing up blood in excessive quantities. Nonetheless, he still sprinted toward his opponent and tried to jab her eyes out by sticking his razor-sharp claws into them. Even as her optical organs exploded into green slush, her regeneration replaced them in due time, and even then the painkillers prevented her from reacting. This was still enough of a distraction for Kenny's ally to get a hit in, as he leapt way in time for her to deliver a blast of unstable energy- which still did nothing.
'Okay, this is just getting repetitive.' the Griffon verbally scowled, as Kelly once again prepared her machine gun.
But she didn't shoot.
She seemed to look over the edge of the pool, lowering her weapon, and soon enough, her face melted into one horror.
The other Roaches, understandably curious and confused as to why she had ceased her attack, followed her gaze... and they too fell silent in utter fear. And when something actually frightened the Wretched Hive, you knew it was bad.
He heard galloping hooves, buzzing wings, wheels turning, and wild howls and hisses that weren't that far away to begin with, and that were already coming closer and louder with each passing second.
When the rowdy din was finally upon them, they both saw a carriage speed by, and machine gun rounds went off, though not from Kelly's gun.
Raiders began falling, dead, as he heard more vehicles entering the area and witnessed anarchy take hold.