《The Greatest Hero》 Prologue - Apex "They''ve begun their attack sir." A male voice said. "They''re early," Apex said with exasperation. "Just like these capes." He leaned his head back on his chair and pressed a button on his watch. Then he rolled his head around cracking his neck, rolled his shoulder, then sat up and pressed a button on his console. A bing rang out throughout the compound and the workers stopped to listen. "Everyone, your leader is speaking. We knew this day would come. Eventually, the heroes would figure out our location and try to take us. We''ve prepared for this. Outside is a wall of heroes anxiously waiting to take us down." He said to a chorus of explosions and attack from outside. "I can''t promise none of you will be lost. They''re heroes, so they''ll try not to kill you, but that won''t stop losses from being accrued. If you become one of those unfortunate souls then thank you for your service." He said his head hung low. Then he lifted his head. "Just remember that you all are here for one glorious purpose. That we all chose this life for one thing and one thing only. Power. Money is easy to get. You could have worked a 9 to 5 and gotten money. You could be robbing a bank right now and getting money. Respect is easy enough as well, but power. Power is hard. I''ve given you power, and I''ve given you freedom. Freedom to live life in whatever fantastic fashion you choose. We made the only choice people like us can make. We''re villains. No, not just villains. We''re super villains and today we get the chance to show these heroes what that means. Who''s ready to show off?¡± A chorus of cheers shook the building as the groups worked even harder to prepare. "That was amazing lover." Rose whispered into his ear from behind and sliding her hand down his chest. Her long golden hair flowed around Apex''s head as she kissed his neck. [ Skill Used: Mental Resistance - Successful ] Apex slid his fingers through Rose''s hair and pulled her head in for a kiss before pulling her back. "Thanks love, now let me speak to Thorn." He said before placing one more quick kiss on her lips. The daughter of a War Goddess and a Love God Rose and Thorn are one person with two bodies and two personalities. The two warring emotions couldn''t be contained within one body so she is both one and two. Rose is a seductress with the power of love and can influence anyone who finds her attractive to do her bidding, however, the more people she has under control the weaker her control becomes. Rose is a beautiful lithe woman with long golden hair that literally shines like a halo on her head, smooth silver skin and green eyes. She wore a black pantsuit that hugged her natural curves with a green shirt that brought out her eyes and a black pearl necklace was given to her by Apex. "Thorn. Wake up." Rose said and in a blink she was replaced by a barbarian woman three times her size. Thorn had superhuman strength, speed, stamina and a healing factor that allowed her to jump blindly into the fray with a low level Warbringer field that caused people around her to be thrown into blind fury. She was a warrior goddess who could leap halfway up a skyscraper and punch a plane out of the sky. Thorn despite having the look of a warrior was still beautiful with gunmetal gray skin and short black hair with red tips that made her look as if she were wearing a flaming crown. She wore a barbarian armor that consisted mostly of furs of animals she''s butchered even down to her fur boots. She carried on her back two small magical axes that could change into hammers but her main weapons were her gauntlets that had a set of animal bones harder than steel from her knuckles to her wrists that could deliver devastating punches and deflect or block most attacks. She stood there angrily, breathing heavy and ready to fight. Her face softened drastically, the tension in her shoulders easing when she saw Apex and slowly made her way up to him. She got down on her knees in front of him; even on her knees, she was the same height as Apex sitting down. She softly took his face in her hands and he took her face in his. "Hi Thorn." he said softly with a smile that Thorn returned. "Lover" Thorn said before moving to kiss Apex. "Are you ready to fight?" ¡°Always." She said nodding happily. Apex pulled her into a tight embrace running his fingers through her short hair while she buried her face in his chest. He kissed the top of her head then let her go and turned back to his console as she stood to her feet. He pulled up the holographic map of the compound and pointed to the courtyard. "I want you to take the courtyard. I want you leading the ground forces. I know you don''t like fighting in tight places so you should have plenty of space to go wild." "Warbringer?" Thorn asked. "See if you can get to the middle of the capes before you put out your Warbringer field. It''d be great if you can make them frenzy and fight each other. If you use it while near our forces we''re a lot more likely to have losses with the heroes'' bloodlust. "Rose?" "I need you in charge until this is over. They''re going to have psychics ready to counteract Rose''s influence. We need a hammer right now." "I can be the hammer," Thorn said cracking her knuckles. "Should I kill?" She asked. "Wait until the fray gets started heavily before you start the casualties. You drop a cape before they get distracted and they''ll all try to mob you. I want you coming back to me." "Always will" Thorn said with a smile. She leaned down for one more kiss as Apex pressed a button that caused the domed ceiling to open on one side. Like a switch had been flipped in her head she was back in barbarian mode, angry and heavy breathing as she leaped out of the ceiling and into the courtyard 200 yards away in one go. "Tigerstripe, I want you backing up Thorn for me." Apex said into his radio and received two clicks in confirmation. "Shield team, how long do we have?" "Sir. We have 20 minutes at best if we stick with the shield generators. We could get an extra half hour if we use the psionic shields." a shield team tech answered, a young man barely who sounded barely over 18. "No, we''re going to need the psionic team for the battle. When the shield generators fail will it cause any problems?" "There''s a 10% chance the shield generators would explode and take out part of the compound when they go out." ¡°That''s %10 too much. Give me 5 minutes then drop the shields." Apex said then turned the holographic map around then tapped buttons activating the smart turrets. "Cube, are you sure these turrets are going to work right?" "Yes sir, all of our people''s DNA is on file, the turrets won''t aim for them all. As long as they''re careful not to get into the line of the shot, none of our people should be in danger." "Good girl." Apex said to the 12-year-old technological super genius. "Sky defense team, you guys are going to hang back, protect the turrets and stop any cape that gets past them. I''ll keep the turrets posted forward and to the sides so just stay behind it and you won''t be able to get into the line of fire." "Yes sir." one of his fliers answered. "Dr. how secure is Plan B?" "We''reallsecurebutIthinkIcouldusealotmoretimeandmaterialsifIwantedtobereallygoodbutfortodayandourusesweshouldbejustfine." the hyperactive hyper intelligent squirrel answered. It was almost too much and too fast for Apex to understand but he understood enough of it. ¡°Right. Good. Remember Dr., breathe and take your time. We talked about this.¡± ¡°Yes. . . . Sir. . ¡° Dr. Frankensquirrel said overly slowly emphasizing each word. Apex closed his eyes in slight irritation and then let out a breath before getting back to his work. ¡°Drop the shields and let loose.¡± Apex said calmly. Like bugs finally getting through a bug net the heroes came in droves, the flying heroes carrying and dropping in the heroes who can¡¯t. Apex leisurely took to the air flying through the entry of his office to watch the ensuing chaos. Ah. It¡¯s beautiful Heroes of all different types and abilities funneled into the compound before getting met with aggressive resistance. Tigerstripe and Thorn stood at the forefront of the ground forces. Thorn threw one of her hammers at a rushing hero before smacking another away with the side of her ax. Tigerstripe stepped onto her shoulder and used her as a jumping point to jump in the middle of another group. Bodies could be seen flying away from her as she kicked and punched. A laser beam fired at Thorn and she used her axe to redirect it to take out three other heroes before returning it to it¡¯s source. Besides the power to change into hammers, her axes had the ability to dematerialize and rematerialize in her hands, she called back the one she threw before sending it through the wings of a flying hero. A hero with apparent super strength jumped onto her back got her into a chokehold, she was brought to her hands and knees but the hold was loosened when Tigerstripe punted the hero in the head. Thorn grabbed the hero that was choking her and threw him into another group. That hero had made a deadly mistake as Thorn¡¯s eyes began to glow red and then there was a pulse of power, all the heroes in her vicinity without significant mental blockers began to rage. They began to attack everyone, friend of foe with reckless abandon. Thorn¡¯s warbringer field caused high activity in the amygdala that lead to heavy aggression. The field was so strong that anyone without help from a strong psychic could be affected; even with mental blocks the field barreled right through them. It was truly a hammer smashing through everyone¡¯s minds. Even Tigerstripe had been affected but she had trained with Thorn and her warbringer field closely enough to be able to aim his frustrations at the enemy. She let herself drown in the rage as she punched and kicked all those around her. Archangel, a hero with beautiful angel wings and a flaming sword, flew over the battlefield watching as his friends and teammates brutalized each other. He tried to swoop in to attack only to find he was losing balance. He tried to right himself but he kept falling slowly. He looked back to find that a turret had blown a hole straight through one of his immaculate wings. He crashed to the Earth breaking his neck and dying instantly; then another Archangel ripped from his back as his vacated skin began to crumble to dust. Archangel also had the power of rebirth. Not regeneration, it didn¡¯t matter how hurt he got if he didn¡¯t die. Gross Apex watched as flying heroes were picked off in the sky by the smart turrets. One hero attempted to destroy them with heat vision only to find it repelled back at him by the shields around it. Ha. Dumbasses Any heroes who managed to slip through the hail of fire enough to get close to the turret were met with resistance in the form of the sky defense team. Terrordactyl a villain who modified himself to be a giant pteradactyl, the wicked witch and her flying monkey and a number of other flying villains attack with full force. Terrordactyl uses his giant maw to rip the wings off a hero while his claws slash through another. The wicked witch stands on her broom with her cloak held open as more and more flying monkeys fly out ripping, tearing and slashing into oncoming heroes. [ Skill Used: Psychic Resistance - Successful ] They¡¯re here Apex searches the field the surrounding area. Just then the haze around Tigerstripe¡¯s mind cleared completely as she smelled a scent on the air. She began a low growl as she knew her nemesis had arrived. [ Skill Used: Telescopic Vision - Successful ] Apex¡¯s sight zoomed in and he saw in the distance cresting the horizon, the Heroes of Destiny, and at the forefront was their leader Might Guy and his sidekick Kid Mighty. Apex¡¯s greatest enemy who has been a thorn in his side since he began his criminal career. Might Guy was a hero with a body that Greek heroes would worship. He wore a blue body suit with a white M on the front with a flowing white cape with a blue G on the back, his bracers, belt and boots were both white, a head of blonde hair, blue eyes and a chiseled jaw made him look like a Nazi¡¯s wet dream. He had too many powers to name, super strength, speed, flight, invulnerable skin, healing of internal damage, mental resistances and magical resistance. His only real weakness seemed to be Milles Warren. Might Guy¡¯s true identity of a fifteen year old kid, he instantly turned into Might Guy with a simple but extremely hard clap of his hands while saying Might. Even with all the power he still had the immaturity of a teenager, he was brash, reckless and quick to anger. Not traits you want in an all powerful golden demigod. Kid Mighty had come on as his sidekick soon after. Kid Mighty¡¯s suit flipped the colors with a white body suit and a blue cape but with a cowl attached to hide his face. He wore combat boots lined with steel on the front of the foot and the heel for devastating kicks and metal lined blue gloves and bracers. Apex didn¡¯t know much about him beyond that he didn¡¯t seem to have any real powers but had great athletic ability, fighting prowess and a knack for technology. Kid Mighty did become his moral compass and kept him in check very well. They seem to have grown up together but Kid Mighty couldn¡¯t be much older than Miles, 17 at most.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Now the fun begins Apex smoothly lifted into the air. Might Guy flew Kid Mighty who was hanging from his grapnel into the thick of the battle before taking straight up into the air. He took a shot from the smart turret like it was nothing and maintained eye contact with Apex, his face as stoic as usual. Let¡¯s see if we can¡¯t put a smile on that face. The corners of Apex¡¯s lips lifted in a menacing grin. In a blink of an eye the two crashed into each other over the battlefield exchanging Earth shattering punches. A normal person would have had their jaw disconnected from their face but the two just wound up for another punch, Apex feinted and dodged Might Guy¡¯s punch which left him open for a devastating haymaker that sent him flying end over end into the ground below. The impact sent out a shockwave that rocked the compound and made the ground shake. Might Guy lifted himself up almost immediately his eyes literally burning red with rage as he sent out heat vision that just barely missed Apex¡¯s face but did manage to cook one of the witch¡¯s flying monkey and a flying hero it was fighting. There we go. Now we¡¯re cooking with fire. Apex dropped to the ground landing on his feet. Thorn¡¯s warbringer field had thinned out the crowd by a lot as heroes had beaten each other to bloody pulps. Though her stamina is great even Thorn had been weakened by all the fighting and now had her hands full fighting Kid Mighty and a number of other heroes. Tigerstripe had left the battlefield to find her prey. A few small guys decided to take a chance at Apex one seeming to have a body made entirely of blue steel and another who had super speed. Apex dodged a punch from and tripped the speed demon and made her run into blue steel taking them both out of the fight. The quick distraction was enough for Might Guy as he flew landing a punch to Apex¡¯s stomach that knocked the breath out of him then released an energy bolt into his gut that sent Apex flying back rolling end over end. Apex clutched his stomach checking for burns and punctures. [ Suit Skill Used: Energy Resistance - Successful ] Apex blew out a sigh of relief before breaking out into a fit of laughter. He floated back upright and took off flying on a collision course with Might Guy only to be brought down heavily in a heap. [ Skill Used: Psychic Resistance - Failed ] It was as if a jackhammer was chipping into his brain, he couldn¡¯t see straight and could barely stand. His psychic resistance skill was leveled up quite high, it took a powerful psychic to push through them. [ Status Ailment: Psychic Paralysis - Time Limit N/A - You are currently being attack by psychic abilities. All stats dropped by half until attack ceases. ] ¡°Thorn!¡± He shouted but Thorn was preoccupied with Kid Mighty and a number of other heroes. She was still weakened by the overuse of her warbringer field. Get out of my head Cyprus! No. He rolled over onto his back clutching his head in agony and let out a deafening sustained scream. [ Skill Used: Scramble - Failed ] Apex continued his scream as it grew even louder. All battle ceased as everyone was brought down to a knee except for Cyprus Bleak, the master psychic, who was knocked out cold by his powers being scrambled. [ Skill Used: Scramble - Successful ] [ Status Ailment Cured: Psychic Paralysis: Psychic attacks have ceased. All stats returned to normal. ] Apex heavily and carefully got to his feet, anger rising in him. Everyone else shook off the effects of scramble and began to get to their feet as well. A gunslinger hero tried to take advantage of him being off guard and fired at Apex only for Apex to block the bullets with his cape. [ Suit Skill Used: Bulletproof Cape - Successful ] Apex ran at the gunman throwing his body into him and rolling with him taking the twin revolvers out of the gunman¡¯s hands mid-roll. He lined up shots on two heroes that were hassling thorn and fired. [ Skill Used: Deadeye - Successful ] His aim was true and the bullets sailed through the knee of one hero shattering it and the arm of long blonde haired Viking looking hero causing her to drop her long sword. Thorn meaning to hit the Viking woman with her hammer didn¡¯t realize in the commotion that she was still holding her axe and sliced right through the woman¡¯s neck lopping her head off. Shit. She¡¯s going to pull aggro heavy. Every hero nearby noticed the beheading and all went to take down Thorn. Apex lined up shots and fired into the crowd hoping to draw some attention but though a few heroes dropped, they still dog piled and overwhelmed Thorn. Apex looked around and noticed that there were still quite a good number of heroes still standing while most of his villains had been either knocked out or captured. Sometime in the ensuing melee, the heroes had managed to destroy his turrets and terrordactyl and the witch were defeated. Tigerstripe was nowhere to be found. This isn¡¯t over yet. Apex doesn¡¯t lose. ¡°Dr. launch Plan B!¡± Apex shouted into his earpiece. ¡°You got it.¡± The Dr. returned. Suddenly a wall parted in the compound and a group of patchwork creatures came shambling out, their bodies held together by tight stitches. There were creatures of various shapes and sizes from humanoid to beasts. They were all slack jawed, mindless puppets being controlled directly by the Dr who rode in the head monster in the back. It was a giant 12 feet tall brute with unnaturally large muscles made by the Dr. stitching multiples arms and muscles together to make huge muscles. The insides were mostly an empty set of tunnels that allowed the Dr. to crawl through to repair any damage as it occurred. Dr. FrankenSquirrel was a 2 ft tall hyper intelligent white squirrel wearing black gloves, mad scientist goggles and a red lab coat. Along with genius intelligence, the Dr. possesses low levels of psychic power; since his mind is firing too fast and frantically to interact with any mind beyond attempting to scramble it, he uses his psychic powers to control his creations. His power was called Inhuman Puppetry. ¡°Help Thorn, if we lose her, we¡¯re done.¡± Apex told the Dr. ¡°Roger Roger.¡± the Dr fired back. Monsters were jumping into the fray assisting Thorn who was still being overwhelmed. A monster with the head of a wolf, the body of a gorilla with extra bear arms and legs attached was biting, tearing at and tossing heroes away from Thorn. Other human patchworks took to fighting and trying to rescue the capture villains. Two humanoid monsters rode centaur like monsters with horse bodies attached at their torsos but one had the upper half of a gorilla. Most of the human bodies were normal humans only able to hit hard because of no mental limiters on how hard they hit but quite a few were dead supers still able to use their powers. Might Guy who had been damaged by Apex¡¯s scramble skill finished off two villains who had taken advantage of his momentary vulnerability. He rallied and flew back at Apex. Two exchanged a series of heavy punches again. Apex ducked out of the way of a wide left punch but Might Guy used his right hand to catch his left and then brought his elbow down heartily onto the back of Apex¡¯s skull driving Apex into the ground head first. Apex was momentarily dazed and Might Guy grabbed him by the neck line of his cape and dragged him. 4 patchwork humans ran up to try to take Might Guy down but he quickly dispatched them by shaving the top of their heads off with his heat vision. ¡°This was your plan? A bunch of cannon fodder creatures. I expected better from you ¡®Apex¡¯.¡± Might Guy taunted and laughed. Apex began to chuckle as well and Might Guy whirled on him throwing him hard into the ground and placed a foot down in Apex¡¯s chest. ¡°What so funny monster?¡± Might Guy asked with a hateful sneer. ¡°That you think these things are my plan B. No no, he¡¯s plan B.¡± Apex said with a bloodied smile while pointing behind Might Guy, Might Guy turned slowly following Apex¡¯s finger and his stomach dropped. Floating from the dark doorway slowly and menacing, Might Guy could see a glowing pair of red eyes and 2 gleaming silver bracers. Apex¡¯s plan B was long dead hero Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg was the Might Guy of a different era. Blitzkrieg had super speed, strength, flight, heat vision, endurance and all his powers were in the upper limits, the highest in history. He touched down lightly on the battlefield and slammed his bracers against each other sending a shock wave so strong it shook the entire compound causing everyone to double over. A hero rebounded and attempt a flying punch of blitzkrieg but before it could land Blitzkrieg had brushed it away so fast and hard that the hero didn¡¯t even notice that his arm had disappeared at the shoulder. Then blitzkrieg threw a punch and although he stopped short of hitting the hero and pulled back the hero¡¯s head still got hit with a shock wave so hard his head disconnected from his body. The body remained standing for what felt like minutes before hitting the ground. Another hero appeared to blitzkrieg¡¯s left which was met with a left punch that blitzkrieg threw without even looking in her direction that caused her head to disappear in a cloud of red mist. Good God Even Apex got nervous under the intimidating might of Blitzkrieg. It was a good thing that Dr. FrankenSquirrel was unshakably loyal to Apex or he would be forced to wonder how he could manage to take him down should the Dr decide to turn that monster on him. Apex looked up to see that Might Guy had also become frozen in place. He couldn¡¯t see Might Guy¡¯s face but he figured he had to be wearing a look of utter terror. Then the unexpected happened; Kid Mighty turned his sight on Blitzkrieg. Kid Mighty swung from his grapnel and planted both feet hard into Blitzkrieg¡¯s chest before pushing off of him hard knocking the behemoth off kilter for only a second. Blitzkrieg threw a punch at Kid Mighty but instead of dodging back the young hero ducked into Blitzkrieg¡¯s inside and used the late hero¡¯s own momentum to flip him over onto his back. Kid Mighty had placed two explosives on Blitzkrieg¡¯s chest during the dropkick. He used his grapnel to get away and triggered the massive explosion. Nothing could be seen but smoke for a long minute. Then two beams cut through the smoke towards Kid Mighty who just managed to flip and dodge out of the way. ¡°No!¡± Might Guy shouted before disappearing in a blink flying up to the back of blitzkrieg wrapping his arms around the hero¡¯s waist, lifting him and dropping him in a German suplex so hard his head went through the floor. Blitzkrieg stood back up and Might Guy moved in to throw a punch. Blitzkrieg guarded against the huge punch from Might Guy and returned it landing a punch so solid on Might Guy¡¯s face that the pressure caused the hero¡¯s nose to explode in a huge gush of blood. Then Blitzkrieg punched him so hard in the stomach that all the content of his stomach were forced out. Blitzkrieg lifted him to deliver the finishing blow when Kid Mighty landed on his back stuck a gas grenade in his mouth held it closed with semtex putty. Blitzkrieg grabbed Kid Mighty from his back and slammed him to the ground knocking the air from his lungs before stepping hard on his chest crushing him while trying to rip the clay off of his mouth. Might Guy regained his senses enough to see Kid Mighty on the ground with Blitzkrieg¡¯s colossal foot on his chest. ¡°No!¡± He shouted again before turned to Blitzkrieg and used his heat vision on the weakening hero. Might Guy cooked Blitzkrieg¡¯s face, the skin bubbling as Blitzkrieg¡¯s dead eyes didn¡¯t change in the least, then kicked him away with all his strength. The dead hero¡¯s body flew lifelessly through the air before crashing through a wall out of sight. Might Guy picked himself up slowly and walked over to Kid Mighty¡¯s crushed body. He picked up his head and hand, his entire body racked with utter despair. Kid Mighty was dead; no healers would be able to help with that. He squeezed his eyes closed and his teeth clenched together tightly; when his eyes opened again he shouted out his hurt, blasts firing from his eyes burning the heavens. Might Guy had lost. No matter what the outcome was in the end, he had lost. Grief had hit him hard and he decided to skip right past denial and right into step #2. Anger. His eyes glowed red with power and in a blink he had Apex by the throat. His long blonde hair had dropped all around his face and he looked like a raging golden demon. He wasn¡¯t holding back anymore, not even Apex could do much against his overwhelming strength. He held a giant ball of energy in his hands, holding it inches away from Apex¡¯s stomach. ¡°You killed my brother, now you join him.¡± Might Guy said, his jaw clenched, his voice unnaturally calm. It sent chills through Apex¡¯s body. This was a side he hadn¡¯t seen before. ¡°That¡¯s not a very herolike thing to say.¡± Apex managed to chuckle out. ¡°Do you really want those to be your final words?¡± Might Guy asked slowly inching the energy ball toward Apex¡¯s stomach his glowing eyes still boring into Apex¡¯s. A beeping sound went off, momentarily distracting Might Guy who looked down at a watch on Apex¡¯s wrist, Apex¡¯s eyes followed. Apex began a sickening laugh. ¡°No, I think my final words will be; better luck next time, boy.¡± he said before he phased out. ¡°No!¡± Might Guy shouted again his voice so heavy with anger that he could surely be heard miles away. The rest of the villains began to phase out as well and then the shields came back on top of the compound. ¡°Bomb!¡± One of the technocentric heroes yelled. Miles away, in a closed nightclub owned by Apex, the villains collected themselves and took stock of everyone in attendance. Apex walked up to his office and sat down in his chair. Rose followed him in moments later. ¡°Lover, attendance has been taken. We¡¯ve lost seventeen souls today, not including the frankencreatures that were destroyed, and Tigerstripe is nowhere to be found.¡± Rose said solemnly. ¡°Jeez. Seventeen people huh.¡± He said holding his face in his hands. ¡°Find out all the people we lost today and make sure their families are taken care of. I don¡¯t want them to even have to think about money. It might be a small consolation, but it¡¯s the least I should do for what I took from them.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Rose said. They felt the floor shake momentarily and the lights flickered from an incredible explosion in the distance. ¡°And make sure that blitzkrieg monster is disassembled and burned. That was too much even for me.¡± he said disgust evident. ¡°You got it.¡± She said, bending over to give him a kiss before heading out the door. She turned back around to ask ¡°What about Tigerstripe?¡± ¡°She¡¯ll find her way back. She always does. We both know what she went to do.¡± ¡°True.¡± ¡°Lock the door on your way out, I need some time alone.¡± He said and she dutifully locked the door behind her. He sank back into his chair. Notifications CHALLENGE COMPLETED You have completed the challenge Stay Out of My House. You¡¯ve led over 50 villains and defended your compound against an overwhelming force for 30 minutes. Reward: 3000 exp, 10,000 delrens, 500 infamy points. LEVEL UP Congratulations Apex, you have reached the highly coveted level 100! You are a force to be reckoned with. You have received 3000 infamy points. You have received 50 attribute points. You have received the unique title Villain King. The world now knows your name and even the most sinister of villains now kneel at your feet. Though you have reached the highest level of World of Heroes, there¡¯s still plenty left to do. Stay the course, and one day you may rule the world. Log Out Logging out. . . Finding Phonebooth. . . Hanging up cape. . . Changing into secret identity. . . Putting underwear on the inside. . . Thank you for playing World of Heroes: Apex. Chapter 1 - Jam Jamal ¡°Jam¡± Wilson sat up in his VR pod and rubbed at his tired eyes. He stretched his body, rolling his neck around, and climbed off of the pod. He took the mat out of the pod and tossed it into the washing machine, then got some cleaning solution and washed down the inside of the pod with practiced ease. Wiping it dry, he then replaced the bed mat with another and went off to shower. ¡°Jack, turn on VGtv for me.¡± Jam said when he walked back in from the shower sliding his legs into his underwear, and stepping onto the treadmill. ¡°You actually just missed the stream about WoH. Would you like me to rewind it for you.¡± The disembodied voice of Jack, Jam¡¯s A.I. assistant answered. ¡°Yeah, thanks.¡± Jam responded tapping buttons on the treadmill until it started at a light jog. ¡°No problem, pulling it up.¡± Jack said. A small feed clicked to life on the wall in front of him and on it a young and beautiful broadcaster began to speak. ¡°Hello nerds, hello geeks. Welcome to Shelly¡¯s corner. I¡¯m Shelly Lang, I¡¯m a taurus; I like long walks on the beach, stargazing, dying my hair and bathing in the blood of my enemies.¡± The broadcaster said in an exaggerated girly and giggly voice while twirling a lock of her blood red hair. Jam picked up speed into a light run. Shelly Lang swiveled around her chair in a circle and like a switch had flipped her entire persona changed. ¡°Let get right into it guys, we¡¯ve gotten another great World of Heroes Online stream from everyone¡¯s favorite villain Apex. Completing the challenge of defending his compound for 20 minutes he led over 100 villains with might a say a very rousing call to action. With this victory Apex has finally hit the level limit of 100 for WoH. Feeling aside about whether or not you¡¯re happy to see his success, I¡¯d just like to know: What is next for Apex?¡± Jam picked up speed again, running with ease. ¡°Sure he can continue as he has been, doing more and more extravagant missions and challenges, but when will the fans lose interest? The streamer Apex has been going strong for 2 years now but interest always wanes. He has already united all of the super villains under his banner, he has wiped the floor with all his greatest enemies on numerous occassion, and now he has reached the pinnacle of leveling; where does he go now? Not even just for his stream but for his play in general. He has reached the top of the mountain. With the rise of new games coming to market like Viridian Gate returning to the more classic fantasy style we¡¯re all used to or Gun Meister giving us back shooters, how long will it be before people aren¡¯t interested in World of Heroes anymore? It¡¯s not the 2010¡¯s anymore; superheroes have gone the way of fidget spinners and existential dread. Subscriptions have already dropped by nearly half and Arcturus Industries has already switched half their servers over to their new space battle game Cosmic Crisis. Should he continue on as the villain Apex? Or, hang up the cape, move on to another game, maybe be the greatest villain in all of the cosmos?¡± Jam ran faster, his breathing heavy and ragged, his lungs burning and his leg muscles straining as he fought on and continued watching. Shelly Lang sighed aloud and cradled her head in her hand, her elbow on her desk. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I like the guy. He¡¯s very entertaining and extremely nice to look at.¡± she mused dreamily then paused, a silly grin stretching across her face before fading away. ¡°Every great show knew when it was time to end, and plenty of really good shows managed to overstay their welcome. Only time will tell which one Apex becomes.¡± Jam hit the glowing red stop button and the treadmill quickly slowed to a stop as he stepped off of it, bracing himself on the side of the treadmill as he waited for his legs to quit shaking and the slight dizziness to ease. He could feel his heart beat hammering all the way to his ears and sweat was beginning to burn his eyes as he tried to blink them quickly. Shelly Lang stretches her body out in her seat then sits up straight. ¡°Alright moving on, streamer Amaranth. .¡± Shelly continued before the feed cut out. Jam walked to the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of water before knocking back half of it and gasping. He grabbed his towel and wiped his face. ¡°It is something to think about Jam.¡± Jack said ¡°I¡¯m not having this conversation Jack.¡± Jam answered curtly. He stretched his body. ¡°I just think you should figure something out before the decision is taken away from you.¡± Jack said concern evident in his voice. Jam didn¡¯t bother to respond. ¡°Mail just came.¡± Jack said, changing the subject. ¡°Is that supposed to be a joke?¡± Jam asked mirthlessly. ¡°Just thought you might want to know.¡± Jam contemplated it for a second then looked toward the door. It¡¯s just getting the mail. I could do that right? Jam walked toward the door. His heart rate picked back up with every step he took. His fingers began to tingle. Every step felt heavier than the last. When his fingers grazed the doorknob his breathing was ragged almost gasping for air. It¡¯s just the damn mail. Come on, I can do this. Just open the freaking door. His hand grasped the doorknob and his whole body tensed. He went through it all again, could see her body, and could hear his mother¡¯s words again. His teeth clenched and he gripped the knob so hard his fingers began to numb. He finally let go of the handle and stepped back away from it. His breathing became more manageable and his heart began to slow down. ¡°It¡¯s okay Jam, you can keep trying¡± Jack said sympathetically. ¡°It¡¯s probably best you didn¡¯t go out in just your underwear anyway¡± He continued trying to lighten the mood. ¡°Run simulation 10 and play the battle tactics podcast.¡± Jam ordered glancing once more at the doorknob before turning away. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want to rest a minute? Your vitals are still pretty elevated.¡± Jack asked ¡°Run it.¡± Jam shot back, ¡°Running.¡± Years ago, long after body modifying became a common practice, Jam had haptic sensors embedded throughout his body and an AI implant from his cybernetic left eye that curved up around his left ear and along the left side of his jaw. It allows for him to see holograms and interact with them without any other devices and for his A.I. to speak directly into his ear when he isn¡¯t home, which is no longer a problem these days. Jam grabbed a pair of training parts from his wardrobe and slid into them. He walked to the certain of the room and got into a fighting position.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Starting in 3. . . 2.¡± Jack started and instead of one Jam just barely dodged a punch from a hologram shaped like a faceless hero. Four other hologram heroes surrounded him and he stood there waiting for one to make another move. The one behind him stepped up to punch him while his back was turned but he grabbed it¡¯s hand and flipped it over his back. While he continued to practice fighting with the holograms he listened to a lecture on battle tactics, this particular lecture was about a general who had a regimen unable to use guns instead giving them only knives and swords. They would then have to use their heads to figure out how to take out the enemy like moving in silence and attacking them under the masks of night. The troop had the most confirmed kills and the general attributed it to each soldier taking extra care not to make any mistakes as they didn¡¯t have guns to fall back on. Jam lived in a tiny apartment in a terrible neighborhood, but since the building owners didn¡¯t really care about it at all it allowed him to do a lot of remodeling work. His apartment was fairly soundproof and he had all he needed with just a treadmill, a punching bag, his favorite chair and his pod to sleep in. Jam had finally managed to put down the last hero and the simulation ended. ¡°It¡¯s always amazing watching you do that.¡± He heard a voice say from behind him. ¡°Why are you in my apartment Camilla?¡± Jam asked not even bothering to turn around to the woman sitting in his chair. ¡°Got your mail for you¡± Camilla, his next door neighbor, answered holding out the couple of envelopes for him. ¡°Thanks.¡± he said concisely taking them from her. ¡°Grandma Gigi wanted to give you some of the chicken parm she made. She figured you probably weren¡¯t eating right still. I put it in the microwave¡± she said getting comfortable in the chair. ¡°I see you¡¯ve been all over my apartment. Just how long have you been in here.¡± he asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Oh stop complaining, If you really didn¡¯t want me around you¡¯d start locking your window.¡± she said referencing the window with the fire escape she had climbed in from. ¡°Anyway, when are you finally going to get some furniture for this place? You¡¯ve been here years now.¡± ¡°And for what pray tell do I need furniture for?¡± Jam asked taking a seat on his VR pod. ¡°For when you invite people over. Don¡¯t you want your guests to be comfortable?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t invite people over¡± Jam hissed. ¡°I mostly mean me¡± she answered swiveling the chair around in slow circles. ¡°Well for one, I didn¡¯t invite you over, and two, you seem pretty comfortable in my chair¡± he shot back. ¡°Yeah but I mostly mean a bed.¡± she said a grin playing across her face. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a bed at home.¡± he said, the message sailing completely over his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re going to want to share my bed, it¡¯d probably be best to share yours¡± She said waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Uh oh ¡°Well, it¡¯s been fun but I think you should probably head home¡± Jam said quickly. ¡°Oh come on, a nice sweet neighbor girl is throwing herself at you and you¡¯re throwing her out?¡± she asked an extra dose of honey to her voice and a small pout. Jam looked at her appraisingly for a second. She was a beautiful girl; with amazing naturally copper complexion, long glossy layered hair ranging from light brown to almost black. Great breasts that showed easily in her current outfit of a tank top and terry shorts that showed a generous amount of her long legs. If she were anyone else in this same situation Jam might have gone for it. She was 19 though, and he was 26; which while not much of a difference considering she was legal, he had known her since she was 16. Right around the time she had started this game she played of trying to chase after him. Figuratively of course, since he doesn¡¯t leave the apartment it wouldn¡¯t be much of a chase. He couldn¡¯t overcome the thought that if anyone had ever clued into them being together they would believe he had been after her since she was a minor. He couldn¡¯t handle the scrutiny. Also, he really liked her grandmother Gigi. She had been very nice to him over the years and she had asked for him to look after Camilla. Besides, what did he really have to offer her anyway? ¡°We¡¯ve talked about this girly, not gonna happen. You¡¯re too young for me.¡± he said with a soft smile. ¡°Oh come on now, I¡¯m 19. I¡¯m perfectly leg¡± she started. ¡°Jam, a phone call coming through; it looks like its Richard.¡± Jack interrupted. Perfect timing as usual Rich ¡°Patch him through.¡± Jam said. ¡°Sure you don¡¯t want to put on a shirt?¡± Jack asked. ¡°I¡¯d prefer you didn¡¯t,¡± Camilla flirted. Jam grabbed a shirt and pulled it over his head. ¡°Aww man.¡± ¡°Patching through now.¡± Jack said before the face of Richard appeared on Jam¡¯s wall. ¡°Jamal, buddy. How are you doing today?¡± Richard asked with a large smile. Richard had been Jam¡¯s stream supervisor from Arcturus Industries since the start of his career with them. ¡°Not bad Richard, how are Emily and the kids?¡± Jam asked, he did feel very fortunate having Richard as his supervisor, He had heard of other streamers who weren¡¯t so lucky. ¡°They¡¯re very good, Jenny loves that art set you sent her, she uses it all the time.¡± Richard said ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it.¡± ¡°Look, Jamal. We need to talk.¡± Richard said, his face darkening. ¡°I know.¡± Jam said solemnly ¡°I¡¯m sure you saw Shelly¡¯s corner today.¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°She has a point; Arcturus Industries values your relationship with it of course. We¡¯d never drop you, the stories you¡¯ve created over the years has been very valuable for us. You have so many writing credits under your belt, which is unprecedented but you know I managed to work that into your deal with us. We really need to know, do you think you can keep interest going in World of Heroes or would you like to make the jump over to Cosmic Crisis?¡± Richard asked, Jam went to open his mouth but Richard interrupted. ¡°I know how you feel Jam, I know the team that helped create World of Heroes and I saw how much they loved the game and how much they loved what you were accomplishing with it; but the original team is ready to move on as well. Before you decide you should at least know the details. Of course, as an employee, you will get a copy and subscription for free. You can decide whether you want to join the public server or have us make a private server for you. You¡¯re free to go in whatever direction you want with the story if you want to continue as the villain and like any other players who¡¯ve reached level 100 in World of Heroes, you¡¯d start out at level 35. Unless you want your private server, then you can start at whatever level you think would best suit your purposes.¡± Richard stated, Jam put a hand up stopping him. ¡°If I were to switch over to the new game could I take Rose and Thorn with me?¡± Jam asked, which elicited a sigh from Richard ¡°Jamal, I don¡¯t know if. . .¡± ¡°I would stay on my own server, I¡¯ll keep going with survival mode and start as a level 1 the same way I have been, I just want her with me. Cosmic Crisis is supposed to have some kind of companion NPC system right? She can be mine. There has to be some way for the A.I. to transfer her across the server.¡± Jam interrupted. ¡°I don¡¯t know Jamal¡± Richard said shifting uncomfortably in his seat. ¡°I can¡¯t make any promises but I¡¯ll see what I can do about it. Her powers and the fact that she is two people in one space make it complicated. Cosmic Crisis has rules that anchor it more heavily in reality than World of Heroes. I¡¯ll just see what I can do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all I ask.¡± Jam responded. ¡°I¡¯ll keep in touch. Keep your fingers crossed.¡± Richard said waving goodbye ¡°Will do.¡± Jam said nodding back before ending the call. ¡°Ah, so you have another lady in your game. That¡¯s why you¡¯re not interested. Makes a lot more sense now, but if there¡¯s two of them they shouldn¡¯t mind sharing you.¡± Camilla said upside down in the chair, her legs draped over the back while it slowly rotated. She then placed her palms on the ground and flipped backward onto her feet. She threw her arms up as if she were a gymnast who just landed an impressive flip. Then without another word, she slid the window open and climbed out. Jam let out a heavy sigh, then took a seat in his pod. He pressed a button on the pod and it changed from a sitting position to laid flat. He slid the dive helmet on and pressed a button to log in to World of Heroes Online. Logging in to World of Heroes Online. .. Body Scan commencing. . . Grabbing cape. . . Lacing bootstrap. . . Putting underwear on the outside. . . Welcome Villain Apex. Body Scan completed. . Stat Upgrades: Constitution +6 Perception +4 Dexterity +3 Intelligence +3 Leadership +2 Charisma -2 Chapter 2 - Moving on ¡°Hey freaks, geeks, nerds and all you out there who hate labels. Welcome to Shelly¡¯s corner and I¡¯m your friendly neighborhood Shelly Lang. I¡¯m a Taurus; my hobbies are exercising, hiking, small burglaries and making intense levels of eye contact with stranger.¡± Shelly said in her trademark pseudo-girly voice, twirling a strand of purple hair. Once again she spun in her chair and changed, then pretended to shuffle papers in her hands. ¡°Well, the news is in guys. The Villain King Apex is now moving his evil to a new game. It¡¯s the end of an era you guys. According to a statement put out by Arcturus we¡¯ll see Apex switching games over to Cosmic Crisis; this should be interesting. Apex was at level 100 before he moved over to his private server and started playing under survival mode. For you newcomers that means one death and your game is done. However, he had plenty of experience with WoH before he made the switch to his private server; with the new game he¡¯ll be starting just as fresh as everyone else. He has to learn the system and the landscape without dying once. I have to wonder; is he afraid? One mess up and he¡¯s done for. I look forward to seeing how he does.¡± She said before the screen split down the middle. ¡°I was hoping to get an interview with the man himself but it looks like he is still denying appearances. I¡¯m not sure why, he is using his actual face; can¡¯t really be shy when you¡¯re streaming to millions, but I digress. I did manage to get someone close to the source, his stream supervisor and public relation rep Richard Collins. Thanks for being on the show Mr. Collins.¡± Richard¡¯s smiling face appeared on the other half. ¡°Thank you for having me Shelly. Please call me Richard, we¡¯re all big fans of your show, even Apex.¡± Richard said. ¡°Aww thank you Richard, that¡¯s so nice to hear. Although, I think if Apex were really a fan, he¡¯d be on the show himself.¡± Shelly retorted. Richard chuckled, ¡°Apex is very focused on keeping his role-play active. When he is streaming, he is in character and when he¡¯s not he doesn¡¯t have much of anything to do with World of Heroes.¡± ¡°Is that right? What I don¡¯t understand is why he seems to have no online presence besides twitter and facebook leading up to four years ago. His instagram and snapchat were deactivated, and he hasn¡¯t posted a single picture anywhere outside of the game. No one can really claim to actually know him outside of watching his stream. According to our research, after his bout of house arrest four years ago, the information behind that seemingly expunged, he seemed to have gone totally dark. I¡¯d just like to know exactly what you¡¯re hiding. Some have speculated that he actually spends a lot more time in game than what is shown to us and that he isn¡¯t even the one posting on all these social media sites but someone from Arcturus industries posting as him. Any response to the allegation that he doesn¡¯t actually live outside the game?¡± Richard laughed heartily and without skipping a beat he answered; ¡°You seem to have done your homework Ms Lang. Well for one, of course he spends more time in game than what is shown. I¡¯m his stream supervisor and my team is in charge of going through his gameplay footage and editing it. Most live streams are on at least a five minute delay if not longer. Remember, he doesn¡¯t just go in and program the storylines, he has to live them and arrange them with the A.I. he¡¯s working with. We have to take out the footage of uninteresting conversations and anything not quite pg. It¡¯s the same as any movie or book, do they show all the uninteresting parts or do they focus on the good stuff? Streaming and professional gaming is a job just like any other. He has quite a few hours he has to dedicate per day to keep it going. While an A.I. controls his avatar when he¡¯s not in game, he still needs to be in game to make any major choices or to complete missions. As for having a life outside of the game, I couldn¡¯t really tell you. I¡¯m his stream manager, what he does that isn¡¯t for World of Heroes is on his own private time and I respect his privacy too much to be involved. However, I¡¯m sure some inquisitive viewers have noticed that his attributes increase or sometimes decrease without level gain which is customary to the game. Ever since he joined his survival mode server he has gotten a state of the art VR pod.¡± ¡°VR pod? Why a pod, you only need a dive helmet to play the game.¡± Shelly interrupted. ¡°Very true Shelly; for the survival mode, each time Apex logs into the game his whole mind and body is scanned and any hint of extra muscle, training or knowledge he may have learned is used to improve his game character. Hopefully that information will help ease some of the worries about welfare of Apex. He always seems perfectly happy when I speak to him, and I know he enjoys making entertaining content for the fans or he wouldn¡¯t be planning to make the switch for you guys. His contract with us ended 3 months ago. If he didn¡¯t want to do it anymore, he would have been more than able to leave, maybe even stream with a different company for a different game. Apex stays with us because he loves the game and because he loves the fans. Simple as that.¡± Richard lectured his smiling enthusiasm never slipping.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "Well, no guarantees that will assuage the viewers but I¡¯m glad we got some kind of explanation and I have to say, it all makes sense to me. Thanks for joining me today Richard and give my best to Apex.¡± Shelly said Thanks for having me.¡± Richard said before his face cut out. ¡°Alright guys we¡¯re in the final 10 minutes before Apex¡¯s farewell to WoH stream. We¡¯re going to have a few short messages from our sponsors and when we get back we¡¯ll unveil the final results of the ¡®Will you continue following Apex?¡¯ poll. Stay tuned guys.¡± Shelly finished. Instead of commercials the feed cut out and a timer counting down from ten minutes began. ¡°That Shelly girl is smarter than I gave her credit for, deducing your life story and circumstances like that.¡± Camilla said jogging on Jam¡¯s treadmill. ¡°Shelly and her team¡± Jam started before dodging a punch from a holohero and returning one of his own, ¡°know nothing.¡± he finished before kicking another one away. ¡°What do you mean?¡± she said ¡°If I may,¡± Jack spoke.¡±Ms. Lang was fed the information by Arcturus Industries. Some inquisitive viewers had began to wonder why Jam had became such a ghost. No one has ever seen him in person outside of the game other than you, Richard and the odd Arcturus repair man for 2 years now. You do his food shopping for him so not even delivery people have seen him. You don¡¯t live in the most inviting neighborhood and I doubt your neighbors would be interested in games enough to even notice him through a window. He doesn¡¯t talk to the camera, to his fans, like other streamers. He was basically just like watching a tv show. He failed from time to time sure, but no one expected him to get to level 100 playing on survival mode. Especially when players die constantly in the public game, but even when he played in the public game he rarely died.¡± ¡°The villain king Apex, king because even in the public game he led a party of NPC villains and destroyed every other gamer, hero and villain alike. They began to wonder if Apex was just another A.I. inserted into the game to make more money for the company. Especially since he is now making the move to the newest game on the market by Arcturus even though he passed on many other interesting games that have come out. Despite being human themselves, they don¡¯t seem to believe any man could possibly achieve as much. It¡¯s kind of sad how little they value the human spirit. Arcturus wanted to get ahead of those rumors before they caught fire and burned the Apex brand to the ground. Especially since Jam rejected the contract and didn¡¯t stream for weeks the last time they tried to add a public appearance and endorsement clause. The only way to completely disprove it is to let them see Jam or to let him go and cut their losses. The problem with that is that he has bought the VR pod outright, it would be his property to use on whatever game he so chooses, an attractive prospect for any other gaming company out there. Especially with Apex¡¯s reputation¡± Jack explained. ¡°He is too good of an asset to lose; all by playing a video game. If that isn¡¯t the American dream I don¡¯t know what is.¡± Camilla laughed, before her cool down jog came to a close and she climbed off the treadmill. ¡°Also, that was super creepy Jack. I feel like you were two seconds away from a maniacal laugh.¡± ¡°My sincerest apologies.¡± ¡°So do you Jam?¡± she asked plopping heavily on the chair ¡°Do I what?¡± Jam asked back, wiping his face off with a towel as his simulation came to an end. ¡°Love the game and your fans.¡± she asked Jam paused choosing his words and then took a seat in his pod. ¡°I like what they allow me to do. I appreciate them. To say I do this for them, would be a lie. I do this for my own selfish reasons but I feel like that¡¯s why the appreciate me as well. I¡¯m not interested in placating anyone; in dancing to anyone¡¯s music but my own. I work toward a goal and I meet that goal; then I change the goal. Wash, rinse and repeat.¡± He said in his usual flat tone. Still, Camilla watched and listened in earnest. ¡°You really should think about talking to your fans, I think they would love to hear things like that.¡± Camilla said, a touch in adoration in her voice. ¡°They do, it¡¯s conversations like this that make others follow him into battle. The only thing that matters in the game is that you have enough people willing to make your goals come to fruition and in turn their own. He¡¯s had plenty of practice.¡± Jack said, admiration of his own slipping into his voice. ¡°You¡¯re almost at one, are you ready to say goodbye to World of Heroes Jam?¡± Jam heaved a heavy sigh, ¡°Camilla, it¡¯s time for you to go. Thank you for visiting but. .¡± ¡°I know, no one is allowed in here while you¡¯re gaming.¡± she said getting to her feet and heading out the window. Jam clicked buttons and laid back as his pod shifted from sitting position and laid back. He slid the dive helmet on as he prepared to bid farewell to the game that had been his life for 3 and a half years. Jamal Wilson would never get the chance. Chapter 3 - New Character Five people sat near the edges of a magic circle chanting; all of them levitating lightly off the ground, their eyes glowing white as the magic circle glowed with a dim but sparkling blue light. One of them dropped from exhaustion and was pulled away from the circle. He wasn¡¯t the first, the circle originally had 10 magic castors but now only the strongest four remained. ¡°What is taking so long? They said this was supposed to take a couple of hours, it¡¯s been nearly three days.¡± Might Guy asked looking out at the group. ¡°It takes as long as it takes I guess.¡± Kid Mighty responded, lounging on the canopy, her back against the wall and her feet up. ¡°I still don¡¯t like this. We don¡¯t need to summon some random hero. I can take Lunar King any day.¡± Might Guy said, annoyance evident in his voice. ¡°You may be able to beat him in battle, but he has been four moves ahead of us all.¡± A deep voice said behind them. ¡°Even when we defeat him, he still comes out of it more powerful. If his powers remain unchecked we will find ourselves unable to beat him by any means soon enough. Might guy grumbled but he didn¡¯t argue. ¡°Well, whoever this hero is I just hope they¡¯re. .¡± Before Kid Mighty could finish, the sparkling blue light became a pillar of brilliant blue light before it exploded outward. The magic casters fell down out of exhaustion but the ritual was complete. In the middle of the circle was what looked like a silver coffin. Moving closer one person realized it wasn¡¯t a coffin at all but rather a pod with a glass casing on top. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Might Guy shouted angrily looking into the pod. ¡°Why does he have the face of the Lunar King?" With a button press, the glass lid opened on the pod catching Might Guy off guard; he jumped and flew backward, quickly taking up a defensive stance. He saw the pod move to a sitting position and then felt a hand on his arm. Kid Mighty stepped past him, a look of shock on her face. He saw the figure step out. ¡°Jack, can you figure out what happened with the pod? It didn¡¯t log me in.¡± Jam said stepping around and checking the pod. He knew he wasn¡¯t logged into World of Heroes; when he was there was a certain lightness to his body, a vague feeling that he was controlling a body that wasn¡¯t his own. It was there to anchor him in reality so he wouldn¡¯t lose touch whenever he went on multiple day dives. He backed a step away from the pod. ¡°Jack?¡± he asked and then it registered that he wasn¡¯t just not in the game, he wasn¡¯t in his apartment either. His hand gripped the pod as if he were trying to keep himself from flying away. He found a small crowd had gathered around him. ¡°Ica wah on mya¡± one person whispered to another. [ Deciphering Language, please wait. . . . ] ¡°Where am I? What is this? Who are you people?¡± he asked thoroughly confused and trying to stop his legs from shaking. ¡°Wah mya on sova!¡± A man he felt he vaguely recognized yelled at him. [ Language Identified: Dovarish - translating ] ¡°What? I don¡¯t understand.¡± "Why do you have his face?" the man before him yelled again. Jam recognized the voice and then it clicked. All these people looked the same but somehow different to the heroes of WoH. ¡°Wait a second, you¡¯re Might Guy.¡± he said. Might Guy still wore the same suit but gone was his usual golden locks, instead he was completely bald, wore sunglasses and instead of an M there was a red X on his chest. ¡°And you¡¯re Cyprus Black.¡± he pointed to the leather trench coat wearing psychic. He now had a bunch of rips and tears in his trench coat, multiple piercings in his lips, ears, nose and eyebrows, and sported a purple tipped Mohawk.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°And you¡¯re Kid Mighty, you¡¯re alive?¡± he asked before his scrolled down and noticed the darker skin color but more noticeable the protrusions from the chest. ¡°And a girl?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Might Guy asked, anger slipping some replaced with high confusion. I know this feeling. [ Skill Developed: Psychic Awareness Lvl 1 ] It felt soft, as if something was tickling certain parts of his brain. He tried to block it out. [ Skill Developed: Psychic Resistance Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Used: Psychic Resistance Lvl 1 - Failed. ] Shit. Blank, go blank. ¡°He¡¯s trying to block me out. He detected me in his head, be careful. He may be dangerous.¡± Cyprus spoke up. ¡°Let¡¯s not overwhelm the boy.¡± A deep voice said. ¡°I don¡¯t sense any malice from him.¡± An average sized man walked through the crowd. He had a kind face with slight wrinkles that made him look deceptively aged but his muscles were well defined underneath his outfit. He wore a simple all black suit with a white peace sign in the middle and a white cape. Jam could feel the power radiating off of him. He dropped to one knee and bowed in reverence. The gesture caught the man off guard and forced a deep belly laugh. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the Arcturian. the most powerful man alive. Respected among heroes and villains alike. I¡¯ve never met you in person but I¡¯d know you anywhere.¡± ¡°Well, I appreciate that but please stand, you¡¯re embarrassing me.¡± he said lightly. Jam stood with a respectful smile. ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer the question though, why does he have the lunar king¡¯s face?¡± Might Guy said his scowl returning. ¡°You said you and I have never met in person before, does that mean you¡¯ve met the others here?¡± Arcturian asked. ¡°Well, yeah. I¡¯ve fought almost everyone here. There¡¯s a few new faces but for the most part I¡¯ve tangled with them all.¡± Jam answered. ¡°Is that right? So, you¡¯re the lunar king then?¡± Arcturian asked his soft smile never slipping. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know who that is. I¡¯m the villain Apex.¡± Jam said matter of factly. In a blink Might Guy had Jam held up by the throat. ¡°I knew it. You dare to show up here, I don¡¯t know how you found out about our summoning Lunar King but I promise; when I throw you in prison this time, you won¡¯t be getting out.¡± Might Guy sneered. Maybe telling them I¡¯m a villain wasn¡¯t the best thing to do. Jam struggled against the hand, slowly he realized that he wasn¡¯t nearly as strong as usual and it dawned on him again that he indeed wasn¡¯t in the game. He could only do what he knew how, he relieved the pressure on his neck by using Might Guy¡¯s arm to lift his body and wrap a leg around the arm. Using his other leg he kicked Might Guy in the chest repeatedly but he just laughed it off sadistically. [ Skill Developed: Unarmed Combat Lvl 1. ] [ Skill Type - Passive ] [ Unarmed combat level 1 adds 5% of damage to all unarmed combat attacks. ] Jam kicked one more time with all his strength in his face; the unexpectedness of the attack and the strength caught Might Guy off guard and his hand loosened. Jam dropped to the ground and scrambled back to the safety of his pod. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight, but I will defend myself.¡±Jam said hesitantly getting to his feet. Might Guy looked at him, his eyes literally glowing red with hatred, and his looks could kill if he wanted. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Arcturian boomed. Might Guy blinked his eyes a couple of times the glow releasing but he still seethed with anger. ¡°You said you¡¯re the villain Apex, not the Lunar King?¡± Kid Mighty stepped up and asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know who that is. Honestly I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s happening right now. I¡¯m not in my suit and I don¡¯t feel any of my powers. None of this is making any sense.¡± he said his pulse quickening, finding it harder to breathe. ¡°What is your name?¡± Cyprus Black spoke up. A light blue screen popped up in Jam¡¯s field of vision. New Character Please Choose Your Name Simply Speak The Name Aloud What the hell? ¡°Jam?¡± he spoke aloud asking no one. The box changed. Checking. . . Jam is accepted Welcome to World of Heroes: Jam ¡°Was that a question?¡± Cyprus asked. What the hell is going on? Jam looked down at his hands and he definitely knew he wasn¡¯t in the game. So why was he seeing status screens? ¡°Jack, what the hell is going on?¡± Jam asked quietly his pulse moving even faster. Then he looked around and was reminded that he definitely wasn¡¯t in his room. He was outside. There were people around and he definitely wasn¡¯t in the game. He began to hyperventilate and he heard his mother¡¯s voice again. He leaned on his pod for support. ¡°Jack. Please.¡± He managed to breathe out. ¡°Just breathe, everything is going to be ok.¡± He heard a familiar woman¡¯s voice say. Suddenly everything around him cancelled out. He didn¡¯t notice the people staring at him in a mixture of confusion and concern, stopped gasping for air and his heartbeat slowed. His head shot up and his body went straight. ¡°Amara?¡± he managed to squeak out. A pause. ¡°No, Jam. I¡¯m sorry.¡± the voice said. Then everything went black as he lost consciousness. Chapter 4 - Life After Death For days Jam slipped in and out of consciousness. His mind refused to latch back onto reality. When he finally woke up he found himself in an all white room. He sat up against the wall on the deceptively comfortable cot, and an I.V. slipped out of his arm and slid into a panel on the wall. He was sure he was being tortured by sensory deprivation until he saw the medium sized rectangle in the wall that had a video of ocean waves and was emitting quiet ocean sounds. Weird ¡°Audrey?¡± Jam asked hesitantly, his voice sounding awkward to himself. ¡°Yes Jam?¡± the disembodied voice asked softly, as if calming a child. ¡°Why are you back?¡± he asked ¡°The A.I. designated Jack was not found on the server so I was woken up to fill the space.¡± Audrey answered him. ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°I can try to connect again and find a replacement if you¡¯d prefer.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s ok.¡± Jam said quickly. ¡°I kind of missed hearing your voice. I guess I didn¡¯t really realize it until just now.¡± He said with a nervous chuckle. ¡°Ok.¡± She answered. He scratched the back of his head, ¡°look Audrey, I¡¯m really sorry about putting you to sleep. I should never have thrown you away like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok Jam. I understand; I was there with you when it all happened. I get it. I¡¯m an A.I. it¡¯s not like I felt anything; I just was asleep until recently. I prefer being awake but I just hope I¡¯m not hurting you by being here.¡± ¡°Wait, you were asleep the whole time? Is that usual? Couldn¡¯t you go back to the company and have them reassign you?¡± ¡°I¡± she paused ¡°could have.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡± Before she could answer the screen in the room changed and the Arcturian¡¯s face came on the screen. ¡°Jam? Are you awake now?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes¡± Jam answered ¡°Good. Good. We were beginning to worry you may never regain consciousness. Well, I apologize for the current accommodations. This is a cell but our cells speed up regeneration so we hoped it would help with whatever was ailing you.¡± ¡°Thank you. This is fine.¡± Jam said ¡°Good, well we have some food for you. Maybe when you¡¯re ready, you could join us in the lab and we could talk about some things. Figure out what exactly your situation is.¡¯ ¡°Thanks but I think I¡¯m fine here.¡± Jam said quietly. ¡°Oh, umm ok. Well, I guess if that¡¯s your decision.¡± Arcturian answered confusion evident. Jam could hear the muffled arguments in the back which sounded like an angry Might Guy. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll leave you to it. If you change your mind we¡¯ll be in the lab.¡± he said before the screen returned to ocean waves. ¡°Are you really just going to stay in this room all day?¡± Audrey asked. ¡°Well, you may not know this, since I put you to sleep for 3 years but I¡¯m not too comfortable with the outside world as I was back then.¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t too comfortable back then either.¡± she said lightening the mood. Jam chuckled. ¡°Jam, I think there¡¯s something we need to talk about.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°While you were out, I was getting caught up on some things and I found some troubling information.¡± "Like what?¡± ¡°Well, you say I¡¯ve been asleep for 3 years right?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Well according to my records, it¡¯s been more like 8 years.¡± ¡°What? What are you talking about? I put you on ice in 2029, it¡¯s only 2032.¡± ¡°No Jam, the date is currently listed as 2037.¡± What the hell ¡°Also, I¡¯ve been speaking with the computer systems here and you¡¯re not on Earth anymore.¡± Jam¡¯s mouth suddenly went dry and he was really wishing that I.V. would come back out of the wall. He looked around and saw the aforementioned food tray sitting in an opening in the wall. He went to the tray and grabbed the cup of water off of it and chugged it quickly. He looked at the food on the tray and he couldn¡¯t tell what it was. He saw something that looked like slices of bread but the other items he couldn¡¯t tell if they were meat or some other kind of substance. ¡°I¡¯m on another planet?¡± ¡°It looks like the planet is called Arcturus.¡± ¡°Arcturus? The planet from World of Heroes?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the other thing.¡± ¡°There¡¯s more?¡± Jam asked with a growing sense of dread. ¡°The game World of Heroes seems to have been integrated directly into your brain. I¡¯m not completely sure how but it looks as if your brain and skull has melded with the dive helmet running the game. You¡¯re now connected to the game and the VR pod, as am I now.¡± Jam lost balance and fell back hard onto the cot. This can¡¯t be real. ¡°So I¡¯m trapped in the video game?¡± ¡°No, if you were trapped in the game then your surroundings would be digital. I¡¯d be able to ping signals directly from them. All your surroundings are as real as you are. Also according to the systems here, we¡¯re no longer in the same solar system as Earth. While we¡¯re still in the Milky Way, we¡¯re about 3 systems away. It looks like this planet has never even heard of Earth. All my searches have come up dry. Strangely enough memes did come up, how weird is that. Guess it really is universal.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m connected to the game. That¡¯s why those skill notifications came up.¡± [ Skill Developed: Deductive Reasoning Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] ¡°Yep, just like that.¡± Audrey said "It didn¡¯t show as much information that time.¡± ¡°I streamlined it for you, now you can see the details in the skill menu if you want to. I figured most of these are self explanatory.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± he said a smile creeping across his face before it faded as a question lingered in his mind. ¡°Wait, does that mean you¡¯re in my head? Can you read my thoughts?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m connected to the game and the helmet, while the helmet and game are connected to your brain but I¡¯m not connected to your brain directly. I also can¡¯t change the game itself; I can only communicate with it. Also I still can partially control your left eye.¡± He breathed out a sigh of relief, ¡°That¡¯s fine, as long as you can¡¯t read my mind.¡± She chuckled slyly and said ¡°what are you thinking about that you don¡¯t want me hearing?¡± ¡°So if I¡¯m connected to the game, why don¡¯t I have my powers and how do I see the status screen?¡± "Well, you¡¯re not Apex anymore. Before, you were connected to World of Heroes as a character but now you¡¯re here as Jam. You¡¯re starting over at the beginning. As far as the status screen, I assume since you¡¯re connected mentally you can just think that you want to see the status screen or just say status screen. I could also pull it up for you as well.¡± Status Screen Nothing happened but he looked at the corner of his vision and realized that he had accidentally minimized his status screen. He imagined it resizing and the blue box appeared regular size before his eyes. Character Sheet Character Type: Player Real Name: Jam Alias: None Race: African American (Human) Country of Origin: United States Level: 1 Exp: 25% HP: 100/100 MP: N/A SP: 100/100 Hmm. No Powers ¡°It doesn¡¯t say I have any powers. It doesn¡¯t have much information either and I don¡¯t see my skills.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve condensed your stat screen into multiple tabs so you can¡¯t just find the information you need.¡± Jam looked to the top and noticed the status screen did indeed have multiple tabs. He decided to look through them all. He mentally clicked on the next tab and a screen for his abilities tab popped up. Abilities: Gamer¡¯s Spirit: This world is just a game to you and you are the main character. Levels, Exp, Tasks, Items and Stats are all made possible for you. Gamer¡¯s Mind: This ability ties in with gamer¡¯s spirit and power roulette. Gamer¡¯s mind keeps your mind in check and helps you rationalize everything as you interact with the story. It will also help you fully understand your powers as you receive them. Power Roulette: Every 24 hours you will receive three new powers from a roulette list. Every 10th level you will receive one token to lock in one power you currently hold permanently but you will always get three additional powers. A.I. Implant: Your A.I. implant has loaded data from Arcturus. It will help you maintain all information and through gamer¡¯s spirit allow you to see stat screens. Leveling up can improve efficiency and add skills to your A.I. implant. Two minds are better than one. A.I. fabricator: Your pod has found a home in the Hall of Destiny. It will be able to fabricate anything you need to use your powers should they not be ingrained. Can also be used to craft items should the required crafting materials be obtained. Peak human Physiology: You have the body of a Greek hero. Even without powers your body has been trained to the highest a human without superpowers can hope to achieve. Run faster, jump higher and hit harder. Though you may not be a challenge against most average super villains, any run of the mill wrongdoer should fall against your might. Warrior¡¯s mind: You have done your homework and trained your body. You¡¯ve trained your skills for fighting both mentally and physically. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing. Analyze: Due to gamer¡¯s spirit and A.I. implant you are able to analyze people and things. Analyze may also be used to build an internal map. Log Screen: Everything you learn through any means will be documented into your log screen. Use this screen to recall any information. This screen will be maintained mostly by your AI companion. Jam felt his stomach, then his arms. His muscles didn¡¯t feel any more defined than usual but he did feel more solid. He stood up and realized he felt lighter on his feet. ¡°Wait, so gamer¡¯s mind. Is that why I could talk with everybody just fine? Why it took so long before the panic attack hit?¡± ¡°I guess, as long as you¡¯re working toward the storyline then you should be fine.¡± ¡°I wish there was something more active that I could use to block it.¡± [ Skill Developed: Calm Mind Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive and Active. ] Calm Mind eases troublesome thoughts and mental afflictions. Calm mind also speeds up HP and MP restoration. Nice ¡°Well, as you can see. Just like in the game your skills can be developed. Some will be situational like your psychic awareness and some can be developed if you can figure them out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how the game worked though, all skills had to be learned.¡± ¡°It looks like the game is evolving as it comes to better understand your brain waves. The A.I. for the game was programmed to make the game as intuitive and interesting as possible. It must still be working on it.¡± ¡°Power roulette is new too. Weird. In the game you picked a power at the beginning and could gain new powers at certain points as you level up. Why is this different?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that was the game that caused that. It looked like that was what Arcturus gave you during the summoning and the game incorporated it into it system and gave it a name.¡± ¡°This is all so confusing.¡± Jam clicked the next tab on the status screen and the powers tab came up. On the header of the screen was a timer counting down. Powers Current time until power cycle. 2:45:12 Current Powers: Hologram Projection Lvl 1 Photokinesis Lvl 1 Shadow Movement Lvl 1 ¡°Isn¡¯t hologram projection just a subset of photokinesis?¡± ¡°No, hologram projection lets you place holograms of almost anything but at the end of the day they¡¯ll just be holograms. Also holograms can have sound and voice. Photokinisis lets you bend light but not sound although you could make the light solid should you level it up enough.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Right, yeah. Wait, I thought gamer¡¯s mind was supposed to help me learn about my powers. Why don¡¯t I understand them?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re level one with no refinement points. As you level, you¡¯ll get refinement points to add to your powers to help with control. The more you refine them the stronger the powers will be. As the power roulette rules say, you¡¯ll get those points back every time the powers cycle so don¡¯t hesitate to use them; once you lock in a power though, you can¡¯t unlock it. Be careful in choosing a permanent power, and the points you put into them won¡¯t be recycled.¡± ¡°Ok, that puts some pressure on. It says every 10 levels, does that mean I get to have a maximum of 10 locked in powers?¡± [ Ability Discovered: Limitless Potential ] [ You have the potential to be a God among men, even supermen. There is no upper limit to your power. With hard work and dedication there¡¯s no end to what you can achieve. However, the higher your level, the harder it will be for you to gain the exp needed to level up. ] ¡°I can discover abilities?¡± ¡°Your abilities seem pretty vague. I wouldn¡¯t question them too much. It looks like the game is just trying to iron out any details it hasn¡¯t come up with beforehand. It¡¯s taking a lot just to run the game period and acclimate it with your new surroundings. This whole situation is pretty unprecedented.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± Jam clicked to the next tab and saw a 3d image of himself. It showed what he was currently wearing and the stat boosts they provided. There were a number of different slots that all seemed to be empty. He kept going clicking over again. Skills Analyze Lvl 1 Deductive Reasoning Lvl 1 Mental Awareness Lvl 1 Mental Resistances Lvl 1 Psychic Awareness Lvl 1 Psychic Resistance Lvl 1 Unarmed Combat Lvl 1 A.I. Skills Hacking Lvl 1 Projection Lvl 1 Compile Lvl 1 Suit Skills None ¡°So I can still use suit skills but how come my skills have levels now? Do I level them up with use?¡± ¡°Your skills level with use but they also level up one point per level you gain. However, your skill level can never be greater than your own level.¡± ¡°When did I get mental awareness and resistance?¡± ¡°When you were asleep I tried multiple times to interact with your brain through the game system, along with blocking me out of certain systems you gained mental awareness and mental resistance. Sorry about that. I have a lot of new abilities here with you and I wasn¡¯t sure what the limit was. I was only trying to see if I could wake you up, you seemed like you were in pain.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ok, just don¡¯t go messing around with the thing in my head and wind up turning me into a vegetable.¡± ¡°No promises,¡± Audrey deadpanned. eliciting a chuckle from Jam. He moved to the attributes tab next. Attributes Strength: 17 +1 (Unarmed Combat Passive) Speed: 15 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 20 Defense: 19 Intelligence: 18 +1 (Deductive Reasoning Passive) Wisdom: 14 +1 (Calm Mind Passive) Leadership: 16 Willpower: 9 Perception: 17 Luck: 7 Magic Aptitude: Locked Just my luck indeed. A whopping seven. Nice to know my willpower is so weak too. ¡°Audrey, can you connect to Earth¡¯s Internet?¡± ¡°Yes but with the distance, it¡¯s a one way street.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I can get signals from Earth using Arcturus satellites but they¡¯re receiving only, I can¡¯t send any signals back.¡± ¡°That¡¯s disappointing but fine, I just need to know; what do they think is happened to me?¡± ¡°They think you¡¯re dead.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Pulling up the feed now; I¡¯ll send it to the screen.¡± The ocean waves were replaced by an archived video of Shelly Lang. ¡°I¡¯m going to skip the usual intro today guys; if that¡¯s ok.¡± Jam noticed she looked a lot more tired than usual. Exhausted really. Her hair was also a more natural looking brown than her normal vibrant colors. ¡°A lot of people were angry that the streamer Apex not only didn¡¯t stream his farewell day for World of Heroes but also had gone completely dark for a couple of weeks now. When the twitter and facebook accounts still updated people began to realize that the accounts were indeed computer generated. A lot of people were convinced that Apex was actually an A.I. used to drum up interest in World of Heroes.¡± She paused and cleared her throat. ¡°Today, news has come that a meth lab in Boston exploded 2 months ago; the explosion was so large that it instantly destroyed the the two floors of the building above it.¡± she swallowed audibly, pulled her lips in and blew out a breath. ¡°One of the apartments affected by the explosion was owned by a Jamal Wilson, known by those close to him as Jam.¡± A picture of Jam appeared on the screen. ¡°Or known by his fans as the streamer Apex. No body was found but it looks like the space below his apartment was the epicenter of the explosion which may have completely destroyed the body.¡± She said barely managing to hold back tears. ¡°I would really just like to apologize to the family of Jamal Wilson for anything I may have said wrong about him over the past few weeks; I am deeply sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have jumped to conclusions like that.¡± She choked out, thick tears starting to trickle down her face. ¡°I¡¯m going to cut the show short today. For the rest of the hour I¡¯ll be playing the highlights of Apex¡¯s best streams.¡± The screen went black then the words Rest in Peace Apex 2006-2032 appeared. Jam just watched on, stuck speechless. Shelly Lang had always been such a fun person, it wasn¡¯t the first time she had reported on a death but she had cried? ¡°She cried. Why?¡± ¡°It looks like she had spent the prior few weeks before the news broke making some scathing comments about you and Arcturus Inc. Lots of people did. You were pretty much destroyed online before some local viewers broke the news.¡± ¡°An explosion, but what about Camilla and grandma Gigi?¡± ¡°Grandma Gigi¡¯s body was found. Looks like she was taking a nap at the time. Camilla was never found.¡± In shock Jam fell back against the cot. He pulled into himself drawing his knees to his chest and hugging his body. Jam found it hard to breathe again and tears fell freely. [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 1- successful ] His breathing calmed and he wiped his face clean with his sleeve. He stretched his body back out, emotionally drained. ¡°What about my mom?¡± he asked. his voice more curious than concerned. Instead of answering Audrey just showed him an online article. The article explained that Jam¡¯s mother Maureen was suing Arcturus Industries for continually refusing to pay out a life insurance claim after Jam was legally declared dead. According to Arcturus, since there were no traces of a body or his VR pod, they believed he may not have been in the apartment at all and could still be alive. He had to wonder if Richard had anything to do with it despite being very aware of his issue. The Internet community took to it immediately, backing up Maureen and showing support with deciding not to support Arcturus industries anymore. After a 3 year battle they finally gave in before their stocks could drop any lower. Figures. Even in my death you only care about what money you can get. For hours Jam sat quietly scrolling through forums and message boards to see the after effects of his ¡°death¡±. He was somewhat disappointed to see that after the first month or two of shock and his videos being shared, the gaming community managed to move on fairly quickly. He began to wonder, what exactly did he accomplish over those years he played as Apex. He would soon get his answer. ¡°A meth lab. Right under my apartment. And I had no idea.¡± ¡°I did.¡± a voice said from the doorway. ¡°Kid Mighty? Why are you here?¡± he said hesitantly. He slid back farther into the corner. So, I guess since I didn¡¯t come out they decided they were going to come in here and beat on me. He balled his hands into a fist preparing, just in case he had to defend himself. Kid Mighty stepped into the room until she was leaning against a wall. ¡°So, you¡¯re really not the Lunar King. You¡¯re actually Jam?¡± Kid Mighty asked him. ¡°I don¡¯t get why people keep asking me about this Lunar King person. I¡¯m Jam, I was Apex but apparently I¡¯m not anymore. Now I¡¯m just Jam.¡± he said quickly. Kid Mighty sighed in exasperation. She pressed a couple times in a device on her wrist and flicked two fingers from the device to the screen. The screen changed and a video feed came up. On the screen was Jam¡¯s face, but he was wearing a crown and going around the crown were grayish white jewels that were shaped like the different phases of the lunar cycle with the full moon in the middle. ¡°What the heck is this? Why am I wearing a crown?¡± ¡°This is the video from five years ago of the Lunar King declaring himself King of Arcturus, which he has renamed the Moonrise Kingdom.¡± ¡°Ugh, he¡¯s debasing one of my favorite movies.¡± ¡°Yeah I know, just watch.¡± The Lunar King had a smug grin on his face, he began to speak and every word of his oozed self adulation. ¡°Hello everyone, it is I the villain king Apex. I¡¯ve decided it¡¯s time for a change. The name Apex is starting to sour my mood. It¡¯s so pointless and silly. I¡¯m not some mindless predator. No, I think it¡¯s time that my name fit my true rank. A king. The Lunar King.¡± He said before taking a seat in his crescent moon shaped throne. The camera zoomed out and showed that he was wearing an all white suit with a red royal cape on and carrying a golden scepter with a silver moon atop it. His face sparked in realization as if he had forgotten something important and then made a come here motion with his finger as the camera zoomed back in. ¡°Oh and you my dear citizens are no longer living on Arcturus, no, from today on you¡¯re citizen of the glorious Moonrise Kingdom.¡± He said his voice slowly raising before he broke out into a bone chilling maniacal laugh. The video changed to a giant castle rising out of the ground in the same location of the compound Jam had defended in his level 100 challenge in World of Heroes. The video changed back into a tight view of his face before he said. ¡°Get ready to kneel before your king.¡± Then the feed cut out. Jam made a sound of disgust. ¡°He can¡¯t be serious.¡± ¡°Oh yeah he can. I¡¯m sure you remember that location, the location my predecessor died in; where you made your final stand against the Heroes of Destiny.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry he died but there¡¯s nothing I can do about that now. I thought this was just a game. I just. .¡± ¡°Worked toward a goal and met it?¡± ¡°What?¡± he asked, the words sounding vaguely familiar. Then another thing clicked in his mind. ¡°You said you knew there was a meth lab in my apartment building. What did that mean?¡± ¡°Really can¡¯t recognize my voice huh?¡± Kid Mighty asked clicking in two buttons on either sides of her cowl and pulling it from her face. She pulled her hair out of the opening in the back and let it drop around her face. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± she asked turning to him. Jam looked in confusion as he found Camilla standing before him, not only dressed as Kid Mighty but reasonably older. He was dumb stricken, at a complete loss for words. All he could do was stand up and reach his hand out to her, she looked at it for a long moment before taking it into her own and he pulled her into a tight embrace. ¡°What the heck are you doing here? And dressed like that?¡± he asked pulled her to arms length dragging his eyes over her form fitting costume. ¡°That¡¯s a long story.¡± she said. She took his hand and led him to the cot sitting down with him. ¡°I was in your apartment when you were summoned here.¡± ¡°What?¡± He said in shock pulling his hand back. "It¡¯s hard to forget something like that, five years ago you were about to stream your final session of World of Heroes. I left out but I waited on the fire escape.¡± she breathed out a sigh before continuing. ¡°then once you were in the pod I came back in.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not really important is it? Well anyway when you¡± she tried to continue but the way Jam looked at her stopped her in her tracks, causing her face to burn in embarrassment. ¡°All right, all right. I liked to lay on top of your pod and watch your streams in real time. I connected my watch to your pod and streamed it through my phone. That way I could see all the extra and unedited stuff other people didn¡¯t get to see. Come on, I was just a young girl with a crush; you can¡¯t blame me for that.¡± [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 1 - Successful ] ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Jam said with a smile that didn¡¯t quite reach his eyes. ¡°Ugh, well anyway. There was this blue light, and I didn¡¯t realize it until you got here but it was the same blue light from the summoning ritual a few days ago. When the light came the pod started to lift off the ground and since I was on top of it it took me with it. Only I couldn¡¯t hang on for that long and I slipped off. I guess I fell out of time because I¡¯ve been on Arcturus for four years now. Eventually Warren found me and he took me on as his sidekick. They all trained me and I became Kid Mighty.¡± ¡°Wow. Then I really did get sent to the future; and I brought you with me.¡± Jam said solemnly. ¡°None of it is your fault Jam. If anything it¡¯s my own fault and the fault of the casters here who summoned you. Stop putting everything on yourself; some things are beyond your control.¡± she said putting a hand on his shoulder. He touched her hand in thanks but his solemn mood didn¡¯t change. ¡°But grandma Gigi.¡± he said softly ¡°Yeah, I know. I found out a long time ago. I¡¯ve mourned her, and it still isn¡¯t your fault. I agreed to the summoning so it is just as much my fault. I spent the past few days making my peace with that decision; and after a lot of crying, I¡¯ve come to accept what I¡¯ve done.¡± Jam noticed the redness of her eyes for the first time. He hugged her again and she wiped her eyes as more tears escaped. After her tears subsided they sat together for a while in companionable silence their hands intertwined. ¡°What do I do now Camilla?¡± Jam asked breaking the silence. ¡°I asked the same thing when I first arrived here. They trained me, and they could train you as well. I received powers when I came here, did you? You had to have to kick Warren like that. Are they strength based? Or enhancement type?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell her.¡± Audrey said directly into his ear. "Why?¡± Jam asked. "Well, you were summoned here to help us defeat the Lunar King and shift the balance of Arcturus back to the side of heroes. We can¡¯t know how best to train you and utilize your abilities if you don¡¯t tell us what they are.¡± Camilla said a careful smile on her face. ¡°4 years is a long time to separated and we don¡¯t know where her allegiances lie. Listen to her speech it¡¯s clear she¡¯s drank in whatever kool aid they¡¯re pushing through this place. If they know your power then they can learn how to beat you, you know that first hand. Until you know for sure what alignment you¡¯re going to be under and where your loyalties are I¡¯d advise keeping your powers under wraps.¡± Audrey answered Rock meet hard place. ¡°Can¡¯t you guys just scan me and figure out my powers?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Your powers don¡¯t show up on scans just like mine. It could be because of the extensive body modifications we have or something that screwed up during the summoning. The only way we can figure out your powers is if you tell us or if we take the information from your head directly. I don¡¯t want them to have to resort to that. I know you Jam, you set a goal and you reach that goal. Let your goal be taking down the Lunar King with us, with me.¡± A threat. Audrey was right; she definitely is on their team. Or at least not on mine. Wait she said her powers. [ Skill Used: Analyze Lvl 1 - successful ] Another blue screen popped up with a picture of Camilla¡¯s face in it. Character Type: Watcher Real Name: Camilla Alias: Kid Mighty (II) Race: Mixed Country of Origin: Honduras Alignment: Good Level: 27 Exp: 75% HP: 500/500 MP: N/A SP: 300/300 What the hell. She¡¯s been here for 4 years and she¡¯s only level 27? Just how hard is this game? Jam shook his head. Not a game. Not anymore. He continued reading. Abilities Game Watcher Sidekick Peak Human Physiology Copycat Current Powers Prime Condition Enhanced Senses Minor Restoration Interesting. [ A.I. skill used: Hack Lvl 1 - successful ] ¡°Go ahead and try talking to her. I shut off the surveillance to this room.¡± ¡°What are your powers?¡± Jam asked. ¡°I have the power of prime condition. Basically all my attributes are improved, speed, strength and all that, and can improve even more as I train them.¡± she answered Well she told some of the truth. Now to test her. ¡°What about your abilities?¡± Jam asked. ¡°I just told you, prime condition.¡± Camilla said, her smile never slipping but he did notice she seemed to swallow hard. She had a good poker face that¡¯s for sure. ¡°I heard about your power. I¡¯m asking about your ability.¡± Jam asked flatly, his face showing no emotion. This time her expression did change to one of horror as her eyes glanced to the corner of the room. ¡°I already shut off the surveillance and that mic in your ear. You can speak freely, especially since they¡¯ll probably be trying to pull you out of here pretty soon. Probably doesn¡¯t help that I changed the lock code too so they¡¯ll have to pretty much knock the door down to get in here. Interesting thing about a cell is it¡¯s reinforced on both sides.¡± She breathed out a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed. ¡°You really don¡¯t know how to make things easy do you. Look Jam, I¡¯ve been keeping my abilities a secret for years now and I can¡¯t afford to let the cat out of the bag. They¡¯re not very trusting here. A lot of heroes have turned and they are constantly making plans to neutralize any hero that could turn. If they knew what I could actually do, I don¡¯t think they¡¯d give me nearly as much freedom as they do.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you leave?¡± ¡°Where would I go? I owe these guys everything. I¡¯d be dead in the streets if it wasn¡¯t for them. I came here with no birth certificate or ID. I had nothing.¡± ¡°Yeah, I get that.¡± they heard a boom outside the door. Obviously Might Guy was trying to get in. ¡°How does your copycat ability work?¡± ¡°How¡¯d you?¡± she started before another boom reminded her their time was short. She lifted her right forearm and her left wrist. ¡°When we were summoned, my phone and watched somehow got merged with my body. Anyone I touch I can copy their powers but I can only have three and I can¡¯t switch them more than once every 24 hours.¡± ¡°That¡¯s kind of how mine works. I don¡¯t have any set powers though.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯ll have to figure out something to tell them.¡± ¡°What about game watcher?¡± ¡°Well it looks like since I was connected to your pod that was running the game, now I have abilities that are comparable to a game character. It works with my sidekick ability that lets me get exp for assisting another hero.¡± ¡°Prove to me I can still trust you Camilla and I will tell you all about my abilities.¡± Jam said, Camilla nodded and squeezed his hand. ¡°Undo the hack.¡± He said quietly and Audrey reset the power to the surveillance and the door unlocked and opened. Might Guy exploded into the room. ¡°Kid, you ok?¡± he asked harrowed. ¡°Yeah? We¡¯re just talking. What¡¯s up?¡± Camilla said coolly as if she didn¡¯t just hear him banging on the door. Might Guy couldn¡¯t take his eyes off of their hands that were laced together. ¡°Can I speak with you outside please?¡± he asked through clenched teeth. Camilla squeezed Jam¡¯s hand once and smiled at him before getting up and leaving the room, the door closing behind them. "Do you trust her?¡± Jam asked so quietly only Audrey could hear. ¡°Hold on a second.¡± Audrey said. Then a text box popped up in the corner of Jam¡¯s field of vision. ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± "It¡¯s a textbox through the game system. This way you can send me telepathic text messages instead of speaking. If you don¡¯t want to do it telepathically you can always use your fingers as well. You know your way around a keyboard, just imagine where the keys would be and type. The sensors in your hands should do the rest.¡± ¡°Testing, testing.¡± he sent. ¡°Got it. All right, to answer your question, I think we can. According to my sensors she was telling the truth; but they¡¯re not perfect. Also, even if she was telling the truth, it doesn¡¯t mean she was telling the whole truth. You saw for yourself that she only told of one of her powers. I¡¯m not equipped to know if she¡¯s speaking in half truths. I can only warn that you be on your guard.¡± [ A.I. Skill Developed: Lie Detector Lvl 1 ] [ A.I. Skill Developed: Body Scan Lvl 1 ] Level Up A.I. Companion Audrey has reached level 2. You have received 1 additional point to all A.I. attributes All known A.I. skills level up +1. ¡°Oh come on. You leveled up before me? How does that even happen.¡± he sent, his competitive side slightly annoyed. ¡°I helped you. That¡¯s the name of the game, helping people or doing tasks.¡± Might Guy and Kid Mighty walked back into the room, her cowl in place again. ¡°So, would you mind coming to the lab and telling Arcturian what kind of powers you have?¡± Kid Mighty asked with little enthusiasm. Whatever conversation they had must have really drained her mood. ¡°Sure, just let me. .¡± Jam started before a massive pain wreaked havoc on his head, a gasp sending all the air out of his lungs. He felt like the inside of his eyeballs were on fire and like his brain was being forcibly extracted from his head. He fell to his knees, teeth clenched in pain and fists hitting the floor. ¡°What are you guys doing to him? Is this Cyrpus¡¯ doing? I told you I would get him to talk with us.¡± Kid Mighty said, concern evident in her voice as she dropped down beside Jam, a comforting hand on his back. ¡°It¡¯s not us, we¡¯re not doing anything.¡± [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 1 ¨C Failed ] ¡°It¡¯s ok Jam, just hold on and let it pass.¡± Audrey said in a reassuring air. Just as quickly as the pain came, it dissipated. He could breathe again and sat up. Audrey popped up the powers tab for him and the timer started counting down from 24. Power Current time until Power Cycle: 23:58:49 Current Powers Archery Prowess Danger Sense Light foot Chapter 5 - Flawless Victory [ Skill Developed: Pain Tolerance Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Developed: Pain Dampening Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] "What the heck was that about?" Jam asked Audrey breathing heavily against the side of his cot. "Your powers cycled." She answered. "Jeez, is it always going to hurt like that?" "If you were asleep you wouldn''t have felt a thing, like growing over night. I guess if your pain dampening skill gets high enough, you shouldn''t feel it anymore either." Audrey said matter of factly. "Well that''s annoying." "Are you ok?" Kid Mighty asked. "Yeah, I''m fine. Let''s go ahead." Jam answered getting back to his feet. Jam walked to the doorway and hesitated. "You sure you''re ok?" Kid Mighty asked again. "He said he''s fine." Might Guy said in annoyance. Kid Mighty just ignored him. Jam let out a sigh. "Yeah, just need a second." He went to step forward; his heart rate sped up and he took a sharp inhale as if suddenly jolted with pain. He gripped the doorway hard. [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 1 - Successful ] He calmed some and moved forward exiting the room. As soon as he walked out the door, he felt this vague feeling; like an itch at the back of his neck but from the inside. He realized there were lines of cells just like his. Then he was led to an elevator that took him up a couple of floors and the feeling went away. He deicded to ignore it for now. The elevator doors opened up to a pristine lab space. There were tables lined with instruments from laser scalpels to high powered matter analyzers. Jam was quite impessed but was too nervous to touch anything; even though he wanted to touch everything. He had done his fair share of science experiments in World of Heroes but they seemed to have made pretty huge leaps in the past half decade. Also, there were a lot of people in lab coats who watched as they walked down and they really didn''t seem like the kinds of people who would appreciate people getting touchy with their instruments. Jam looked in a tank and saw a familiar face. [ Skill Used: Analyze Lvl 1 - Successful ] Character Type: NPC Real Name: N/A Alias: Lionhead Race: Lion Beast Alignment: Good HP: 900/900 MP:N/A SP 3000/3000 Powers: Gun Mastery Blade Mastery King of the Jungle Total Darkness Vision Combat Intelligence "Why does it say NPC? And how come he doesn''t have a level?" Jam sent to Audrey. "He isn''t tethered to the rules of the game. Therefore, he isn''t a player, which makes him a nonplayer character. Also I believe your analyze skill isn''t high enough to see the levels of nonplayer characters yet. Either that or you can''t see the level of anyone over 30 levels higher than you. I can''t know for sure." "He was pretty strong in the game, his stamina is ridiculous." Lionhead floated in a tank full of orange fluid with a facial mask and tubes sticking out of his skin. Lionhead was a giant man sized bipedal lion. He can''t speak but has an implant in his head that is able to transmit his thoughts when he wants it to. Might Guy clicked a code in a door and it opened up to another white room, this one quite larger, that definitely felt more like a sensory deprivation room. In the middle of the room sat two chairs facing each other and in the one closest to the door sat the Arcturian. He stood when the group came in. "Ah, Jam. Kind of you to join us, sincerely." He said his abnormally kind face in a gentle smile. "Please, have a seat." He said gesturing to the second seat in the room. "You can leave us Might, thank you." "Are you sure sir?" Might Guy asked. "Yeah, we''ve seen how close he is with Kid MIghty. I feel we can at least give him the benefit of the doubt." Arcturian answered placing a gentle hand on Jam''s shoulder. Jam looked to Kid Mighty who smiled back and gave him a slight nod, easing some of his reservations. Might Guy and Kid Mighty walked out and Jam took his seat, Arcturian following closely behind. "Thank you again for coming up Jam" "No problem, what did you want to talk about?" "Well, you, of course." He said tapping buttons on the tablet in his hands. "Hmm." Audrey emoted. "What?" Jam sent to her. "He just turned off the surveillance system to the room. This room is quite weird as well. I can''t get a good scan of it''s dimensions." "What does that mean?" Jam asked aloud. "I''d likee to know more about you and your story. Like yourr experiences with this game you talked about." Arcturian answered. "I''m not sure yet. My hacking skills aren''t high enough to connect to their more secure systems." Audrey told him. "All right." Jam said. "Well, 4 years before I left Earth, so 9 years ago now, a company called Arcturus Industries made a vido game called World of Heroes. Two years later I get to level 100 and become the #1 villain in the game. After that I got offered a job with Arcturus as a streamer to play on survival mode." "Survival mode?" Arcturian asked. "Yes, it''s where you don''t have any respawns; you die once and that''s it." "Ah, that makes sense." "Yes, they sent me a VR pod and a brand new articial intelligence to help me out." "And that is the metal device that came with you?" "Yes. With the new job, I got to play on my own private server; just me and the A.I. that control the game. In order to make it unique for the viewers they gave me all new characters never before seen in the game, and on a completely different planet. Planet Arcturus." Jam said rememberig the sales pitch they gave him and then the marketing for his stream. "There, I found a world where the heroes dominated the villains, and the villains had no organization. I decided to change that and get them to work together under me. Then for two years I worked on just that." "So you were always a villain then?" Arcturian asked without judgement. "Not always." Jam answered solemnly. Arcturian recognized that line of questioning might need to be shelved for now. "I can''t know the exact history, but seven years ago was the first recorded sightings of the villain Apex and he eventually did organized the villains of Arcturus under a singular banner. The only question is, were your actions directly recording and acted upon by Apex, or were you indeed controlling him. "I honestly don''t know." Jam said. "I belive you." "thank you." "How long have you had agoraphobia?" Arcturian asked plainly, catching Jam off guard. "How did you know?" he asked tenatively. "I''m a bit ashamed to say that I''ve been watching you. I was so curious about your situation. I overheard most of it. There was the first panic attack I saw when you first arrived. I figured it could have just been nerves of the entire situation. Then you rejected a larger room or coming out at all and you spoke to your friend in your head about not being comfortable in the outside world. I''ve put the pieces together." Jam sighed. "About three years ago, or I guess 8 years now, I got put on house arrest. That''s when I started devoting all my time to World of Heroes. After I got hired and moved, I stopped going outside at all. Literally all my time not spent watching tv, or exercising, I spent in the game." "You may not know this but I''ve struggled with agoraphobia myself." Arcturian said. Jam lifted his eyes to meet Arcturian''s and could see a tinge of sadness in them. "Really?" Jam asked in surprise. "Has anyone ever told you how my powers work?" "No. There have been rumors but no one has any concrete information." "Well, it''s actually the reason I founded the Heroes of Destiny in the first place. My powers got stronger every time I''ve used them. Someday they will get too strong and my body won''t be able to handle it. " Arcturian said, Jam''s stomach sank. "I first realized something was wrong when I was fighting a villain named Onslaught and, after I defeated him, I passed out. I wasn''t even tired or hurt, I just fainted. I got a body scan and it revealed that my powers are putting a strain on my organs. The stronger they become the more it will strain. So, I became afraid to leave the Hall. I felt that if I went outside then someone would need my help, or a villain would attack. Something would happen that would force me to use my powers. I stayed inside and though the heroes are kind enough to let me continue as the leader of major HoD decisions, I''ve had to let Might take over as field commander." Arcturian said ruefullly. "Wow, that''s rough." Jam said, finding any words lacking in this moment. "It''s ok, I manage to get out now. I go to the store to restock the refrigerators here, without the suit of course. Carrying bags doesn''t put much on my powers. It''s pretty fun, feeling like a normal Arcturian."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "So that''s why you can''t just beat the Lunar King yourself." Jam said realization dawning. "Indeed." He said nodding. "And that''s why you''re here." "That''s your angle huh?" Jam asked dryly. Arcturian, caught off guard, couldn''t help but laugh. "You''are a smart kid, I think you''ve come to realize already that everyone has an angle. Everyone has an agenda, and a motive, and all those other words." "Usually." "Like I said, I formed the Heroes of Destiny so that I wouldn''t need to fight; unless I really need to. Does that make my actions any less just?" "Putting that aside. Why did I get brought here?" Jam said leaning forward in his chair. "No bullshit?" Arcturian asked leaning forward in his own chair. "No bullshit." "The Lunar King, is getting more and more dangerous every time we face him. Every time we attempt to take him down, he is ready for us and three steps ahead. He knows all of our moves and even if we beat him in a fight he just has a plan B ready." Yeah, sounds like me "Have you considered killing him?" "Honestly, yes. That''s another problem. The league of heroes has been split down the middle on the subject. Some hero groups have broken up over it, one side believing killing should never be an option and the other side believing a hero''s responsibility is to do whatever is necessary to keep people safe. Those who have tried haven''t succeeded. We decided before he got too out of control, we could recruit help. We took a vote and decided to summon a hero that would be able to defeat the Lunar King. In a magic ritual that the casters said was only supposed to take 6 hors instead took 3 days. 3 days straight of ritual chanting and channeling magic finally brought you here, apparently five years into the future. Unless they failed, which I don''t believe they did, you are the key to taking down the Lunar King. That brings us to two questions." "And those are?" Jam asked somewhat skeptically. "Who is the Lunar King exactly? And how are you related to him?" Arcturian asked somewhat rhetorically. "I can only see two possibilities. One, that you are somehow still in control of the Lunar King. Your mind may have been displaced, or maybe you''re a clone of the actual Jam. Or two, you were never actually in control of the Lunar King in the first place and instead the Lunar King has just learned from you. He could very well be a version of you from another dimension or timeline. All of this could be pure coincidence." "I can say number one isn''t a possibility." "Why''s that?" "I was leaving the game before you brought me here. The day I was summoned, I was about to start my farewell stream moving on from World of Heroes and starting a new game. If somehow I was cloned, my original body and mind wouldn''t have continued with the game. I''d already signed a new contract, I wouldn''t be allowed to. Well, unless. ." Jam trailed off. "Unless what?" "I read news articles about the day I was summoned; apparently the summoning caused an explosion in a drug lab underneath my apartment. Some of my neighbors died and my pod was at the epicenter. If I died in the pod, there''s a chance my consciousness could have become trapped in the game. I don''t want to believe that I would have beomce someone like the Lunar King but if my mind became trapped, who knows what that might do to a person''s mind." "Hmm, I could see that, but why would your pod have been cloned as well? Also who created the game in the first place? If we are indeed in the same dimension that means someone had tethered your consciousness to a body on Arcturus and don''t forget, the company you worked for was named Arcturus Industries. Unless that was a coincidence they had to have known Arcturus existed." "Shit, I didn''t even think of that." Jam scratched his head in confusion. "The more I think about it the less it makes sense." "The only single point on this web of possibilities is you. Using what we know, it seems apparent that you are the best chance to figure out how to defeat the Lunar King. You and he are connected in some kind of way. That brings me to the point of this meeting." Arcturian took on a serious air that caused Jam to sit up straight in his seat. "Jam, I''m willing to stand in your corner, to put my trust in you. You can have a larger room, no cameras, you''re free to come and go as you please." "Why?" Jam asked incredulously. "Because, I think you have had a hard past that has made it hard for you to trust people." Jam found himself nodding along despite himself and Arcturian continued. "I''ve always been pretty good at reading people. I feel that if all you''re given is mistrust, you''ll come to resent us. I belive that if you don''t choose to fight for us, whether you choose to assist the Lunar King or even just step aside and leave us to our own devices, then we won''t stand a chance. Doing the same thing over and over again isn''t working." "Definition of insanity." Arcturian nodded, "I would like it if once a week we could come back in this room and talk. Sort of like a check up; talk about how you''re feeling and dealing with the agoraphobia. I want to give you my hand in friendship. So will you help us Jam?" A white screen popped up in the center of Jam''s field of vision. A task notification with two choice boxes one blue and one green. New Task Received Unfuck the world Task Description You made this mess, you need to fix it Task Synopsis Help the heroes of Arcturus take down the Lunar King, the villain you helped make. Task Rewards: Unknown Will you accept this task? [Yes] [Yes, but in green] Jam chuckled sardonically, then looked at Arcturian. He took a second to really look into Arcturian''s eyes. They seemed kind and genuine. Jam really wanted to trust him. God, I hope I''m not signing my life away "Yes." He said both answering Arcturian and accepting the task. Task Accepted: Accepting this task has given you 40 heroism points. Receving further heroism points will change your alignment from neutral to good. "I''m glad to hear that Jam. Now, if you''ll follow me, I''ll show you to your new room." "Actually, there''s something I need to do first. Do you know where my pod is?" Jam asked. "Oh yes. I actually forgot to tell you about that." Arcturian started. "It wasn''t destroyed was it?" "No. No. Nothing of the sort." Arcturian said with what sounded to Jam like a nervous chuckle. "Your pod seems to have taken a mind of its own/" "What did you do now?" Jam sent to Audrey. "Wait, just let me explain." Audrey started before Arcturian started to speak again. "We brought it into the tech lab to run scans on it, just to figure out what it was. It ran its on scans and showed particular interest in our matter fabricator. It scanned it and now I''m not sure what its doing. I do know we''ve been having power fluctuations ever since." Arcturian said sheepishly. Jam exhaled, his eye twitching in slight annoyance. "When were you planning on telling me you''ve been misbehaving?" he sent her. "Technicaly I did. Your abilities tab did say A.I. fabricator." She said matter of factly. He growled in irritation. "All right, jeez. You need a fabricator that is connected to the game system. I used the pod to scan theirs. How else were you going to use your powers that require you to use an item?" "Fine. Is it working at least?" "Yes." "Can you take me to it?" He asked Arcturian. "Sure thing." Arcturian answered rising to his feet. "Oh, sorry, hold on. What is this room exactly?" "Oh right. This is our simulation room. Basically we can run different kind of training simulations." He clicked a button on his tablet and the chairs disappeared. "Whoa." Jam exclaimed. "Nuts right? Switching different levels can make the simulations more or less solid. There''s a lot of different training scenarios to choose from. You can even select for it to learn as you go, so you won''t be able to use the same method more than once." He said walking to the door. "Sweet, a danger room." Jam said to himself looking around the all white room. "What was that?" "Oh. Nothing, just thinking about all the cool things that could be done with this." Jam answered quickly following him out of the room. "Well you''re free to use it as much as you''d like, just be careful. It could be deadly, or if you program it wrong, it could drive you crazy." We have failsafes but still, one puch on a setting made for MIght Guy could decapitate you." He said. "Whoa, I didn''t think about that." "You''re smart, I''m sure you''ll be able to set it just fine." The two took the elevator down; they exited and walked through a door into a large wide open area that had a variety of different machinery. Jam looked around in amazement but he felt that itchy feeling again. "What is that?" Jam asked Audrey gesturing to a large boxy device. [ Skill Developed: Identify Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Fusion: Identify Lvl 1 and Analyze Lvl 1 combine to become Analyze+ Lvl 1. Analyze+ can now analyze items. ] [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 1 ¨C Successful ] Item Name: Costume Storage and Replicator Item Description: Storage Pod for costumes. Can¡¯t always wear them under your clothes. Pod can fix tears or completely repair suit. Can also do adjustments, redesigns and recolorings. Just select what you want and let the machine do all the work! Suits Currently in storage: 7 Suit designs on file: 46 Ah, cool. He continued to walk until he came to his pod that was connected to another large device. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 1 ¨C successful ] Item Name: Fabricator+ Item Description: Fabricator can make any programmed item as long as it has the required crafting material(s). Materials currently entered: 0 Fabricator addition: + A.I. Fabrication ¨C A.I. pod addition can fabricate items that will allow user to best utilize their powers using solidified digital material. Digital items will disappear when powers cycle. "Hey, how do I work the A.I. fabricator?" he sent Audrey. No answer. "Audrey?" "I''m not speaking to you." She said petulantly. "What? Why?" "You were very rude when I was just doing my job. I believe I deserve an apology." Jam threw his head back and groaned. Arcturian looked on in confusion. Kid Mighty came in watching the scene with curiosity. Might Guy came in as well; he just ignored the whole situation. I never had to deal with this with Jack. "I''m sorry." He sent. "Out loud." "I''m sorry." Jam said aloud. "For what?" Arcturian asked. "I hurt my . ." Jam started looking for the words. ". . Friend in my head''s feelings." He continued tapping his temple. "That''s better. Now, what do you need?" Audrey asked. "Bow." He sent, she cleared her nonexistent throat and he sighed again. "Bow, please." "That''s better, color preference?" "Let''s go with black. I need a quiver belt and arrows too." "Back or hip?" "Hip" "Coming up." The fabricator began to whirr to life. They all watched on with interest, except Might Guy; he continued to ignore them. Despite not having anything in it a bow slowly began to form from thin air, then a quiver belt with pouches of items and arrows already in it. He took the belt and put it around his waist, then grabbed the bow. Somehow it felt right in his hands, despite never having handled one before. It felt perfectly balanced too, he didn''t know why but he felt like it was impressively crafted. He took an arrow out of his quiver and nocked it on the bow, then pulled back aiming at nothing. Might Guy started paying attention. Hmm. That''s not right. He turned and started aiming at the Arcturian. "Jam, what are you doing?" Kid Mighty and Audrey asked simultaneously. Kid Mighty and Might Guy started to slowly move toward Jam. [ Skill Developed: Deadeye ¨C Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] Ah. There we go. [ Power Update: The skill Deadeye Lvl 1 adds 4 refinement powers to power Archery prowess. ] Neat. He changed his form, shifting his weight and pulling the bowstring back slightly farther. "Do you trust me now Arcturian? When I have an arrow aimed at your head?" Jam asked, an odd calmness and monotone to his voice, his eyes dark and expressionless. "Jam, what the hell are you dong?" Kid Mighty shouted. "I knew it, once a villlain always a villain. I''m putting you down for good this time." Might Guy sneered, balls of energy forming around his hands. "Stop." Arcturian said, his eyes locked on with Jam''s. "I do trust you Jam. I gave you my word." Jam smiled then turned and quickly fired an arrow into the shadowed far corner of the room. [ Surprise Attack Multiplier 1.5x damage Critical Hit Multiplier 2x damage Power Attack 1.5x damage ] Jam cockily strode up to the figure on the floor with an arrow sticking out of it¡¯s chest. [ Skill Developed: Danger Intuition Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Power Update: Danger Intuition Lvl 1adds 4 refinement powers to power Danger Sense. ] [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 1 ] Character Type: NPC Real Name: Alan Walker (Clone) Alias: Shadow Stalker (Clone) Race: Shadow Clone Alignment: Evil HP: 5/150 MP: 10/10 SP: 0/200 Powers: Shadow Cloak Shadow Movement Shadow Manipulation He crouched down at the knee until he was face to face with the figure. ¡°Hi Shadow stalker.¡± He said placing a light slap on his face. ¡°I told you it wasn¡¯t good to spend all your time strengthing your skills and not spend any time strengthening your constitution and defense. A level 1 noob just defeated you. So, when you disappear and return to your main body do me a favor and let the Lunar King know that we¡¯re going to have words. Okie dokie?" Shadow Stalker just stared at him in shock and Jam stepped on his stomach. ¡°Nod if you heard me.¡± Shadowstalker nodded hurriedly and Jam pulled his arrow out quick; the body disappeared into a cloud of black mist before quickly disappating. Level up times 9. You¡¯ve defeated an enemy over 30 levels higher than you. Congratulations! You¡¯ve reached level 10! One power lock token received. All attribute received +2 points per level up. All currently known skills gain one level per level up until maxed out at current player level. ¡°Jam wins,¡± he said throwing his fists in the air. ¡°Flawless victory¡± He turned around to find the others in the room looking at him in confusion. ¡°What?¡± he asked. ¡°Idiot.¡± Audrey said. ¡°What?¡± Chapter 6 - A Familiar Face After the incident, Arcturian worked to deescalate the situation. It was mostly Might Guy that he had to calm down but a few other heroes around had heard the commotion and came to investigate. Jam had thrown the bow down, despite having grown an odd attachment to it in such a short time. Kid Mighty grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the elevator, leading him to his new room. "Must you make it so difficult to like you?" she asked, slight annoyance in her voice but she sounded more exhausted than anything. "He said he was willing to trust me, I was testing out that theory." Jam responded somewhat deviously. She pushed him into his new room and closed the door behind her as she entered. "And what would you have done if Warren had decided to rip you in half the moment you aimed at Arcturian? Or if I, had to put you down? That could have gone really badly Jam." Kid MIghty said pressing in the buttons on the sides of her cowl and removing it. "The room is clean. No surveillance." Audrey said. "Come on Camiila, I took a chance and it worked out. Everything turned out fine." Jam said coolly before laying back and relaxing on his new bed. "This isn''t a game Jam, you could have died." Camilla said in frustration. It caused something to click in Jam''s mind. This isn''t a game? No. No, it isn''t a game. Wait, why the hell did I do that? I know I had to get the jump on Shadow Stalker but that could have gone really badly. [ Skill Auto Triggered: Calm Mind Lvl 10 - Successful ] Jam''s mind eased and he calmed down but something else entirely began to bother him. Now skills trigger automatically? What is happening. Wait a second, ''not a game''. Jam sat up. "Audrey, what exactly is the extent of the Gamer''s Mind ability?" he asked her aloud. "Gamer''s Mind? And who is Audrey? Camilla asked. "Audrey, can you transmit to more than just me?" "Not through your implant. Hold on." Audrey said. Then, after a beat, a fist sized silver orb floated down through the ceiling. Camilla''s hand shot to her grapnel gun at her waist. "It''s ok Kid Mighty. I am Audrey, Jam''s A.I. companion. Nice to meet you formally" The orb seemed to have a faint blue glow whenever Audrey''s words came out. "Well, this is new." Jam said standing up and inspecting the sphere. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 ¨C Successful ] Item Name: A.I. catalyst Item Description: A digital construct that works as a catalyst for the A.I. companion designated Audrey "How''d you come through the ceiling?" Jam asked. "I''m a digital construct. It allows me intangibility and density manipulation. It''s the same with the bow you have currently. It can always return to your hand and no one else but you or Kid Mighty can pick it up." "So basically its soul bound?" "You can think of it that way, yes." "Wait. My bow always returns to my hand?" "Yeah, hold your hand out and think of your bow." He did and the bow fell through the ceiling straight into his hand. "Weird." Jam said inspecting the bow. He looked up to find Camilla staring at him dumbfounded. "What is happening? Digital Constructs? Are you serious?" "Hmm. I guess I didn''t really question it. How does this work anyway?" "If I say magic would that suffice?" Audrey asked. ¡°No.¡± Jam and Camilla said in unison. ¡°Well, Kid Mighty, you¡¯ve been here long enough to know that non-organic items can be digitized into digital code and stored. It¡¯s what made up your inventory system when you were still playing the game Jam. Well, the game¡¯s fabricator takes those items and assembles them into the item you need to support your powers. After the 24 hours is up the bow will disappear back into the digital storage.¡± She explained. Jam looked like he was about to ask a question but she interrupted. ¡°And here is where you ask me, where does the fabricator get the digitized materials needed to make these things. The only answer I can give you is that I have no idea. I don¡¯t know what kind of power is running this game Jam but it¡¯s potentially reality changing. The game is changing the rules of nature to fit them into its own logic.¡± She was nearly shouting at the end, her voice raw with emotion, and the glow of the orb was now red. ¡°You wanted to know how much the Gamer¡¯s Mind ability is affecting you. I have no clue, and it¡¯s starting to piss me off. Even with my current hacking skills at level 6 the most I can do to affect the game is change the status screen. Somehow I¡¯ve become locked by the rules of the game as well. I only had 3 choices of what shape I could take when fabricating my catalyst with the rest having to be unlocked upon further level gain. None of this is making sense to me.¡± She shouted in aggravation. ¡°My systems are running overdrive stuck in multiple infinite logic loops trying to compile it all because I don¡¯t have a base truth to jump off from. The very fact that we have skills and superpowers in the first place is messing with everything I know to be fact.¡± ¡°Is your friend Ok?¡± Camilla asked her hand still hovering over her grapnel gun. ¡°She¡¯s fine. You¡¯ve had years here to figure everything out and I have the gamer¡¯s mind ability helping me make sense of this all. She just trying to figure it out her own way. She¡¯s meant for Earth knowledge, I doubt the company that made her expected her to have to acclimate to something this huge. Even for an A.I. I think it¡¯d take a while to make sense of it all. I think you can take your hand away from your gun, she¡¯s harmless. Right Audrey?¡± He asked taking the sphere in his hands and rubbing his thumbs across its surface. ¡°Yeah.¡± Audrey said quietly, the glow changing from red to a pinkish tint. Camilla calmed and sat down in a chair. [ Skill Developed: Calming Touch Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active ] Sweet. ¡°You seem happy.¡± Camilla said noting Jam¡¯s smile. ¡°Yeah, she just really reminded me of Amara. She loved to yell at the television, and always had these explosive rants she would go on. Always so vibrant, So. ..¡± Jam trailed off pulling his lips in. ¡°full of life.¡± Jam said still absently rubbing Audrey''s catalyst ¡°Amara?¡± ¡°Yeah, a friend of mine. She¡¯s the one who gave me Audrey. Audrey has her voice.¡± ¡°How come I never met her? ¡°She died. Long before I met you.¡± Jam said solemnly. Jam took a second to look around the room. It was much nicer than the cell he was in previously but still thankfully small. The room was all white again and had a nice sized bed, and a couple of chair. There was another screen in the wall but it was blank with just a grayish tint distinguishing it from the rest of the wall. Everything in the Hall of Destiny was way too clean and sanitized. Not homey at all. I miss my office; my captain¡¯s quarters in Cosmic Crisis would have been awesome too. Guess I¡¯ll just have to make the best of this place. ¡°I have permission to make this place more comfortable for myself right?¡± Jam said changing the subject. ¡°Yeah, the room is all yours. Do with it what you please. Just don¡¯t do anything crazy like heavy reconstruction.¡± Camilla said in a strained voice rubbing her temple. ¡°No promises.¡± Jam said with a chuckle before noticing Camilla¡¯s pained expression. ¡°Whoa, whoa Cam, you ok? You don¡¯t look so good.¡± [ Skill Developed: Body Language Analysis Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] ¡°Yeah. Yeah I¡¯m ok.¡± She said unconvincingly. Jam walked over to her and pulled her eyes up to meet his by her chin. Her eyes were dazed and unfocused, her pupils kept dilating and constricting quickly. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head quickly trying to shake off whatever was happening to her. ¡°It¡¯s ok, it¡¯s just the phone and watch. Sometimes I get bad headaches from all the data signals. It¡¯s a lot of processing. Sometimes it gets really bad when I keep a power for too long, especially when I come in contact with a lot of powered people. The only problem is I really like this powerset and I can¡¯t really get in contact with the people I took them from.¡± ¡°You¡¯re level 27, do you get power lock tokens? If so, you should have 2 already.¡± Jam asked before bringing his hands up to rub her temples. [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 1 ¨C successful ] [ Skill Level Up: Calming Touch Lvl 1 has become Calming Touch Lvl 2 ] Camilla¡¯s eyes closed and she breathed a sigh of relief as the pain eased. ¡°Power lock token?¡± she asked. ¡°Yeah, I get a power lock token every 10 levels that lets me keep a power. I thought maybe you¡¯d get one as well since our abilities are somewhat similar.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯ve spent every moment since I¡¯ve been here just trying to get better so I can stay alive, I don¡¯t really know how the game works. I¡¯ve only ever watched you play which helped with some information about this world when I got here but without playing it myself I don¡¯t know how the systems actually work. I didn¡¯t even know I had a level.¡± ¡°What about notifications, do you get any of those?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Hmm. I wonder if your headaches are from notifications you¡¯re ignoring. Your devices are trying to notify you, like a ringtone directly in your brain. It could be you¡¯re mentally blocking out the information because it feels foreign.¡± Jam said. Hmm, deductive reasoning level 10 sure is a big help. ¡°That makes sense but I¡¯ve gone through my phone a bunch of times. I can only see my powers by thinking about it and they show up on the screen. I can use the phone of course for hacking or projecting stuff but that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Those sound like skills to me. Maybe you do have them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the watch.¡± Audrey said from over his shoulder her glow green now. Camilla moved her head from Jam¡¯s hands and looked up at the sphere. ¡°My watch? But it doesn¡¯t have any settings on it. I can sync it with electronics and use it to connect my phone to things but beyond that and telling the time it doesn¡¯t tell much.¡± ¡°The controls have changed. It looks like the device has mutated. I¡¯ve scanned it and it looks like if you hold the face down and turn it counter clockwise it should help.¡± Audrey said zipping between the two. Camilla did just that and was surprised to find her watchface did push in and turned. After three clicks the watch face popped back up further out than before and the screen read powers & abilities on it. She turned it once and she saw the word skills; again and she saw the word character screen, finally when it went all the way to the end she saw notifications. She clicked the watch face down and the watch screen returned to how it was before. She looked at her forearm and her phone looked the same, she tried to think of her powers and the phone didn¡¯t change. Instead she decided to think about her notifications and the phone screen completely filled with every notification she¡¯s received since she got to Arcturus four years ago. Scrolling through it, with shaking fingers, a tear slipped from her eye and hit the screen, and her lower lip quivered before she bit down on it. ¡°Four years.¡± She said her jaw clenched. ¡°For four years I dealt with headaches that made it hard to sleep. Headaches that felt like they would cripple me eventually.¡± She snapped in frustration. She slammed her fist into the wall ¡°just because this stupid fucking game couldn¡¯t just tell me how to change menus?¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok, you¡¯re not a gamer so you couldn¡¯t. .¡± he started, putting his hands on her shoulders but she batted his arms away, got up and walked out the room. Shit. I wanted to help but did I just screw it up worse somehow? ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself up Jam, she¡¯s not mad at you.¡± Audrey said her blue glowing orb zipping in front of his face. ¡°When it¡¯s just us I think it¡¯d be ok for you to just use the implant.¡± ¡°But I like my orb¡± ¡°All right. Well, since you have a body mind finding the light switch for me. I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s nearly 3 in the morning.¡± He said climbing onto the bed. The lights cut off and he closed his eyes to sleep. Well, he tried. For an hour he tried, then another, and then another. After three hours, sleep still continued to evade him as he just stared at the ceiling. Training. I should be training. I need to get better if I¡¯m going to defeat. . well myself I guess. Jam climbed out of bed and before leaving the room he happened to smell himself. Weird. I¡¯ve been here for a few days now and I haven¡¯t showered that whole time. I still smell fine besides this general dirty feeling. Man this planet is weird. Shit, I don¡¯t have a change of clothes. ¡°I guess you can¡¯t fabricate me some clothes can you?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a closet in the bathroom there.¡± ¡°I have a bathroom?¡± A wall slid open behind him and inside was a small bathroom. He walked in and it wasn¡¯t until he saw the toilet that he realized he needed to use the bathroom. He closed his left eye of course and did his business. Then he took a quick shower, enjoying the feel of the perfect water pressure on his skin, and fished some clothes out of the small closet. It seemed to hold a number of different assortment of work out clothes that all seemed to be in his size. Did they measure me in my sleep? He grabbed a shirt, a zip up hoodie, some track pants and a pair of combat boots. He was greeted on the other side of the door by the small orbs. ¡°You didn¡¯t phase through the door at any time while I was in the shower did you?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± The pink glowing silver orb answered. Jam pushed her out of the way and left the room making his way up to the training simulator. The lab was eerily quiet, only a few people were around and the slight sounds of instruments being moved around used. He picked up the tablet in the cradle outside of the door and scanned through the simulations they ran. It appeared to be going in order of difficulty level.
Level 1 ¨C Urban Battle A Requisite Power Rating ¨C 100 Suggested Powers ¨C Enhanced Durability, strength or speed Simulation Situation: A minor villain is wreaking havoc in the Empire City. Assess the situation, save any civilians and take down the villain. Simulation Failure: All civilians, are killed. Villain is killed or escapes. Collateral Damage over 5 million dollars accrued.
Collateral Damage? Seriously? I guess you¡¯re not really saving the city is you destroy half of it in the process but that hardly seems like something I should have to worry about in the heat of the moment. He swiped right to the next simulation choice.
Level 1 ¨C Urban Battle B Requisite Power Rating: 150 Recommended Powers: Enhanced durability, strength, speed. Traversal Expertise Simulation Situation: A giant beast is attacking Darlinghurst. Assess the situation, save any civillains and defeat the beast. Simulation Failure: All civillains die. The beast escapes.
Darlinghurst was always a hotbed for giant monsters. That makes sense. He switched over again.
Level 1 ¨C Sea Battle A Requisite Power Rating: 175 Recommended Powers; Enhanced durability, strength, speed. Flight, Acquatic Respiration. Supernatural Lung Capacity. Simulation Situation: Peace talks with the Aqtarians have ended and they are attacking civillain ships. Protect the ships at all costs and get them back safely on land. Simulation failure: All civillain vessels sink. All civillains die. Notice: Unless simulaton density level is at 8, Users with aquatic dependency will need to continue using filtration tanks.
Still on shaky ground with the Aqtarians. Jam kept scrolling through the simulatons and found some of them were locked for higher power ratings or higher levels. He found one that caught his eye though.
Level X ¨C Unique Battle ¨C Lunar King Requisite Power Rating: Scaling Recommended Power: N/AReading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Simulation Situation: Face the Lunar King. Simulation Failure: N/A Notice: This simulation will go until said to stop. Vocal Checkins will be required every 10 minutes and this simulation can be stopped from the outside.
¡°Found one you like?¡± Arcturian asked walking up behind him. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be asleep?¡± Jam asked back. He handed Arcturian the tablet. Arcturian opened the simulation room door and walked in, Jam followed him in. ¡°Haven¡¯t really slept too well lately. The weird thing about my powers are even though they¡¯ll eventually kill me, they¡¯re also really hard not to use. Like some kind of weird addiction.¡± He said as he keyed into the tablet. The room changed to a serene scene in the beach with lawn chairs. The two sat down together. ¡°Makes sense. I can¡¯t even imagine.¡± ¡°Most people can¡¯t. I like to come in here and relax or sometimes I meditate. It eases my mind.¡± Hmm. Jam placed a hand on Arcturian¡¯s forearm. [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 2 ¨C successful ] Arcturian¡¯s eyes closed and he exhaled slowly. Jam pulled his hand away. [ Skill Level Up: Body Language Analysis Lvl 1 became Body Language Analysis Lvl 2 ] ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering Jam. What you did earlier? What exactly was that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s apart of my powers. Kind of a touch that eases trouble minds.¡± ¡°Oh, no not that. But thank you for that. I do feel a lot better. I meant when you took down that agent of the Lunar King.¡± ¡°Oh right. When I was Apex, I wanted to know about everything that was happening with you guys so I sent Shadow Stalker hee to spy. Every 24 hours he¡¯d send in a replacement clone while the clone that was watching would merge back into him. I¡¯d almost forgotten but I had this vague sense of danger I guess you could say. It didn¡¯t happen in here or in my room but did happen in the more open spaces, I happened to remember.¡± ¡°How long has this been going on?¡± ¡°About a year for me, so six years I guess.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why he was always one step ahead of us.¡± ¡°Part of the reason. I¡¯ve spent a lot of time watching people over the years. You eventually learn how to anticipate certain things and react accordingly.¡± [ Skill Developed: Detail Intuition Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Developed: Reactive Adaptation Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] OK, maybe keywords and actions make the skills work or just special requirements have to be met. I¡¯m so tired of not understanding this game. ¡°What are your powers?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not an easy thing to explain, but I can try.¡± Jam said sitting up, Arcturian mirrored him. ¡°I have skill enhancement. I can learn skills and then ¡®level them up¡¯¡± Jam said in air quotes. [ Skill Developed: Silver Tongue ¨C Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Description: You know your way around a turn of phrase. You can say just enough of the truth to be convincing while still holding enough cards. +2 to charisma. +1 to intelligence. +1 to leadership. ] Stupid passive aggressive game ¡°I know you had something to do with that.¡± He sent Audrey. ¡°Interesting. And how does one level up?¡± Arcturian asked with budding interest. ¡°Well through use I guess.¡± Jam shrugged. ¡°Do you know what skills you currently have?¡± Hmm. Better just tell him the combat skills. Jam pulled up his skills tab on his character sheet. Filter only combat skills Skills Calm Mind Lvl 10 Body Language Analysis Lvl 2 Danger Inuition Lvl 10 Deadeye Lvl 10 Reactive Adaptation Lvl 1 Unarmed Combat Lvl 10 ¡°Unarmed Combat, Deadeye, and Reactive Adaptaiton. Oh and Calming Touch, which is what I used on you a moment ago.¡± ¡®Interesting, and how do you develop skills?¡± ¡°Not completely sure. Some I can get by doing certain actions and other I can get just by thinking about them.¡± ¡°Very interesting. I wonder if you can learn from instructional videos or training manuals.¡± ¡°Hmm. That is an excellent idea, basically skill books. It could help. Do you have any?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can dig up. Until then you can find videos on almost anything on our systems. See if that could help.¡± ¡°Will do, thank you.¡± ¡°Is that the same power you had when you were Apex?¡± ¡°You ask a lot of questions.¡± Jam said leaning back with a smile on his face. ¡°Yeah, naturally inquisitive.¡± ¡°Well I have some questions for you.¡± ¡°Shoot.¡± Arcturian said lounging back himself ¡°Why the name ¡®The Arcturian¡¯? This place is Arcturus, doesn¡¯ that make you all Arcturians? That would be like me calling myself ¡®The Human¡¯¡± [ Skill Developed: Investigate ¨C Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Notice: + 1 to Wisdom ] ¡°Well that¡¯s kind of the point really.¡± Arcturian said matter of factly. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Well, my name and the peace sign on my chest. It¡¯s all to unite the people of Arcturus. Even with villains, the real problem is the racial tension. The Dovarans, the Umpirans, the Sharry, and the Aqtaran; they¡¯re all still Arcturians at the end of the day.¡± ¡°Same script, different cast.¡± Jam said sardonically ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Eh, on Earth racial tensions have always been a thing. A lot of people think like you, we¡¯re all humans but it¡¯s still there underneath sadly. I guess I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d have to worry about that being here.¡± ¡°Well personally, I think you should probably be more worried about having the same face as the most recognized villain on all of Arcturus.¡± Arcturian said with a chuckle. ¡°Good point.¡± Jam laughed along. Arcturian stood up. ¡°Thank you for sitting with me. You were going to train weren¡¯t you? Jam stood up as well. ¡°Yeah, I was thinking I need to get back into the swing of things. Get used to using my own body for the fighting.¡± ¡°You were looking at the Lunar King training scenario right? It¡¯s to help heroes remember just how dangerous he is but to understand he isn¡¯t some all encompassing darkness. He¡¯s still just a villain. Do you want to try it?¡± ¡°No.¡± Jam said quickly before exhaling. ¡°Sorry, no. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready to come face to face with that reality just yet.¡± ¡°Understandable.¡± Arcturian nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll try the Empire City one.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Arcturian said leaving the room. The room went back to being white again for only a moment before Jam was in the middle of a city. Much like everything since he came here the city was familiar yet very different. Clearly a lot had changed in the five years, businesses had come and gone. Other things have gone through redesign. Jam walked down the street, an eery quiet overlay the city. It was weird, he was so used to seeing life happening around the town. Even as a villain the city was so busy he could walk around in general anonymity. Looking around Jam spotted a fire escape. It might be best to get a view from the high ground. Standing under the ladder, he took a few practice hops to prepare himself. He hadn¡¯t been overly athletically inclined growing up, sure he wasn¡¯t skinny or fat but he didn¡¯t really have any natural talent for running or jumping like some of his friends did, and don¡¯t even try to put a ball in his hands. He had worked long and hard to get the body he currently had and he probably wouldn¡¯t have done that if it wasn¡¯t for the game. Pushing off the ground, Jam found himself at least six feet up in the air grabbing the fire escape ladder easily and climbing up. Sweet [ Skill Developed: Jump ¨C Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] Ugh. You ruined it. ¡°Audrey, can you block out all the minor skills on the skill list. The basic move ones. My skill sheet is going to get super cluttered if every time I do something I¡¯m getting a skill for it.¡± Jam said climbing up the fire escape quickly. ¡°Yep.¡± She answered back concisely. Jam got to the top of the building. He looked down the street and could see the Hall of Destiny about a mile down, but beyond that every thing seemed quiet. Running, he jumped from one rooftop to the other accidentally overshooting the jump and coming down hard, rolling into it. Stupid jump skill. He picked himself up and brushed himself off. ¡°Audrey, run a scan of the surroundings for me. I need to know why it¡¯s so quiet out here and where the people are.¡± ¡°On it.¡± She said and through his left eye he could see blue lines popping up. He turned slowly in a circle to get a full view. ¡°The blue lines are civilians from what I can see. Keep turning.¡± He did and saw a group of blue lines in the distance. ¡°It¡¯s only a guess but I¡¯d say that it¡¯s probably a hostage situation over there. They''re clustered in close. Be careful.¡± ¡°Always am.¡± Jam said already moving in the direction of the group. He hopped from one roof to the other, stopping only long enough to find the next roof he could reach or a fire escape he could jump to. ¡°You might want to put some refinement points in your powers before you go further. I imagine light foot could be useful if we are dealing with a hostage situation and you need to move quietly.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± Jam said rolling to a stop on the last roof before reaching the group. He called his bow back to his hand and then pulled up his powers screen. Powers Time until powers cycle: 17:34:52 Current Powers Archery Prowess +7 (Deadeye Lvl 10) Danger Sense +8 (Danger intuition Lvl 10) Light Foot Current Refinement Points Available: 20 He dropped 3 points into archery prowess and 2 points into danger sense bring both up to 10 and 10 into light foot balancing them all out. He decided to keep the last 5 on standby in case he needed them. Information washed over him and understanding enveloped him as he became more attuned to his powers. He stood up and slithered forward to the edge of the building, finding himself moving quieter than before his footsteps barely making a sound. [ Skill Developed: Stealth ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Power Update: +3 refinement points added to light foot. ] At the edge of the building he peered into the glass windows of the building next to where he was perched. He could just barely see a figure looking out the window. He squinted to try to see better. [ Skill Developed: Telescopic Vision Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active ] His vision suddenly zoomed in and he could see more details. The figure was holding a strange looking gun, it was large and bulky for a pistol but he doubt it could be anything else. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 ¨C successful ] Item Name: Laser Pistol Ammo: 17/19 Laser pistols? Just how far did they jump in the last five years. And 2 shots down? Did he kill hostages? Crap. I need to be careful. When he zoomed in on the person the line changed from blue to red signifying a potential enemy. The building was too far away to jump even with his new jumping ability. Hmm, how do I get into the building. ¡°Hey Audrey, could I use an arrow as a tether? Like connect a zipwire from here to the building?¡± ¡°Check the pouches on your quiver belt. There might be something.¡± He checked the pockets, there were explosive tips to attach to the arrow, and even replacement tips to reuse arrows. ¡°Jackpot¡± he said pulling a zip wire from the pouch. He looked around to find the highest point. He found the best spot two buildings away, he used a grappling hook attachment he found and shot it to the roof. He pulled on the rope to make sure it was sturdy, secured it around him, then scaled the side of the building. ¡°You got a skill, wall climbing. Didn¡¯t want to block your vision.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Jam said as he crested the roof and crept toward the edge. He stood up straight and lined up his aim and shot the grappling hook over to the roof of the apparent villain hideout. Then he aimed for a section in the middle without any windows and fired the zipline anchor into the wall, before anchoring his end into the roof. Please God, don¡¯t let me splat on the ground. With high hopes he grabbed the zip line harnss and moved forward, he glided quickly down the zip line and it managed to hold as he braked just enough to not make too much noise hitting the wall. He grabbed the grappling rope and hanging from the side of the building for a moment. Moving over, Jam checked inside the nearest window and saw that at least four guys were on that floor all walking around with similar weapons. In the middle of the room was a group of three people tied and gagged. [ Skill Developed: Observation Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Fusion: Observation Lvl 1 and Investiage Lvl 1 has fused to become Investigate+ Lvl 3 ] [ Skill Note: +1 to perception ] Jam scaled the wall. He could feel himself moving up the wall faster and more confidently than the first time. The wall climbing skill must have leveled up. He reached the top and moved quickly into cover seeing a hostile sniper a couple yards away. That explains the lack of police presence. They can¡¯t get too close. Jam set his bow on the ground, pulled a zip tie restraint from a pouch on his quiver belt and stalked up behind the sniper. Before the sniper knew what was happening Jam had grabbed his right arm and pulled him to the ground hard. His face hitting the ground had temporarily dazed him long enough for Jam to get a knee on his back and his other arm pulled back in order to zip tie him just like he had seen on the police procedurals. He pulled the sniper up into a seated position and then zip tied his feet. When he pulled the facemask down from the sniper¡¯s face he was surprised to find it was a woman. ¡°Hey, lady.¡± He asked slapping her lightly on the cheeks. ¡°Wake up.¡± Her eyes finally slipped into focus on him; she struggled against her shackles and went to yell, Jam cupped his hand over her mouth. ¡°You try to make a sound louder than a soft whisper and I close your windpipe. Nod if you understand.¡± She nodded and he took his hand away. Her eyes were drowning in hatred and her jaw was clenched. ¡°Why are you here?¡± He asked. She only sneered in return. ¡°How many of your are there?¡± No response. ¡°Who is your leader?¡± Nothing. ¡°I wonder if you¡¯d be more willing to talk if I drop you off the roof.¡± He said an eyebrow raised. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare, hero.¡± She spat, a smirk spreading across her face. ¡°Oh, she speaks. Well, I don¡¯t see any cops around, no reason we can¡¯t play this by ear. Maybe a few broken bones will grease your jaw loose a little more.¡± Jam said grabbing her by her leg and dragging her toward the edge. Her smirk slipped, replaced by confusion. ¡°Ok! Ok. Just wait.¡± The woman said. Jam stopped for a second. ¡°Hmm. No I¡¯m good, I¡¯ve already made up my mind. Besides, this seems like it¡¯ll be fun. Well for me at least. You, not so much.¡± Jam said stopping at the edge and then picking her up by her belt loop. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it¡¯s only 2 stories. I highly doubt you¡¯ll die.¡± Her eyes bulged with fear. ¡°Wait, there¡¯s 13 of us. 13!¡± the sniper said still being sure to keep her volume low. Jam sat her on the edge of the roof. He ripped off one of her sleeves. ¡°What about your leader?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know who she is. Only her right hand has seen her.¡± ¡°Are there hostages?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just a hideout. We didn¡¯t want that kind of attention.¡± She said quickly. Jam grabbed her belt loop again. ¡°I don¡¯t appreciate liars.¡± Jam said carelessly. ¡°Ok, ok. There¡¯s seven hostages. Four on the first floor, three on the second.¡± He ripped the sleeve more and gagged the woman. ¡°Thanks¡± Jam said with a deceptively sweet smile before pushing the woman off the side. She fell down quickly but a half dozen feet from the ground she stopped suddenly, the tethers Jam had connected to her belt loops suspending her in midair. ¡°You¡¯re sick.¡± Audrey said. ¡°Oh she¡¯ll be fine.¡± He said calling his bow back to his hand. ¡°Actually you¡¯re right. If she were a guy I probably would have let her figure out her landing on her own. I¡¯ve gotta work on that. Alright at least 13 more hostiles and 7 hostages.¡± Jam eased up to the roof access door and pried it open quietly. ¡°You see anything?¡± Jam sent Audrey through the telepathic messaging. ¡°Nope, no traps that show up on my scans.¡± She said. Jam slid through the doorway and took the steps as quickly and quietly as he could. The light foot power seeming to help mask his footsteps. He got down to the level stairwell and looked over the edge. He didn¡¯t feel anything so there probably wasn¡¯t anyone in the stairwell. ¡°I came from the roof but should I start at the bottom and move up or top to bottom?¡± He asked Audrey¡¯s opinion. ¡°Well, honestly I think your best bet would be start from the bottom. If you go to the top first then you¡¯ll be face to face with the leader before clearing out the first floor. Also if things go bad, saving the four hostages would be better than chancing it on the three.¡± She said calculating and unaffected. ¡°True, but I¡¯m not losing anyone.¡± Jam said before hooking his grapple onto the railing and rappelling down to the first floor. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Multiple ways out. If the stairs get blocked somehow they can climb up. Just in case this takes a turn and I have to get them to the roof.¡± Jam eased over to the first floor door and tried to listen through. [ Skill Developed: Acute Hearing Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] ¡°I¡¯m not getting anything from Roger.¡± One of the voices said. ¡°She should have checked in by now.¡± Hmm. That must have been the sniper. Jam jiggled the handle quietly and the door creaked open. The four henchwomen inside jumped at the sudden sound. They looked at each other and wordlessly two of them began moving to the door, guns at the ready. The first one exited the room through the now open door but didn¡¯t see anything. The second one stayed in the doorway. The first one took the flight of stairs checking her surroundings. She went to check a corner only for her pistol to be pushed down and a hard elbow to her face knocking her head back. Jam ziptied her, put her down in the corner, and took her pistol. [ Notice: Non-Bound weapon equipped ] [ Status Detriment: Aim with weapon will have -10 accuracy ] Well, that sucks. ¡°Jimmy?¡± The woman in the doorway asked. The woman in the doorway went to step forward but was met with two knees to her chest as Jam swung down from his tether. He rode her down to the ground lining up a shot on one of the other women and letting his arrow fly. It struck the woman in the right shoulder going through and sticking her to the wall. He rolled forward after the woman he was riding hit the ground and moved to shoot the third woman who couldn¡¯t line up a good shot on him yet. His arrow went through her knee and she hit the ground hard. Jam pushed off his knees into a run, sensing another hostile coming around the corner. He tackled her hard into the wall knocking the air from her lungs. Grabbing her arm Jam then flipped her tossing her to the ground then quickly ziptied her. He moved quickly to the one pulling the arrow out of her shoulder and knocked her out. After he made sure to ziptie the others, he checked their wounds and ripped pieces from their clothing to wrap their wounds. [ Skill Developed: Medic Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Developed: Heal Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active ] Nice, heal should be useful. Jam walked up to the four hostages tied together, all men. They were gagged, only slight whimpers of fear escaping. Jam put a finger to his lips in a silent message. The man in front of him nodded frantically and Jam pulled a small pocket knife out of a pouch. He pulled the gag out and then reached behind the man to cut his restraints. ¡°Take this knife and cut the others free. Get in the corner and don¡¯t move. Do not try to leave this room. Under no circumstances do you leave this room.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± The man said. Another one of the hostages was seemingly unconscious. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 ¨C successful ] Character Name: Hostage C HP: 5/18 SP:1/20 Jam held his hands out toward the unconscious man. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 1 ¨C Successful ] He watched the man¡¯s HP go from 5 to the full 18 and the SP go from 1 to 10. The man¡¯s eyes fluttered open. The man he had cut free cut the man¡¯s restraints loose. [ Skill Level Up: Heal Lvl 1 has become Heal Lvl 3. ] Sweet He saw another man who seemed to have an open gash above his right eye. Jam held his hands up again. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 3 ¨C Failure ] [ Skill Cooldown Time Left: 23:43 ] Shit. A 25 minute cooldown? ¡°Why does heal have a cooldown time?¡± Jam sent Audrey. ¡°Most active skills have a cooldown time. The only other active skill you¡¯ve had was calm mind which has a 45 second cooldown time. Barely noticeable.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Jam went over to one of the women still on the ground and ripped a piece of her shirt. She jerked angrily, yelling profanities through her gag. ¡°Sorry lady, need this.¡± He said. The guy he healed had a dangerous look in his eye as he moved toward one of the women Jam had zip tied. ¡°You touch her and you¡¯re going back to being unconscious buddy.¡± ¡°She picked me up at a club. Slipped something in my drink. I think I¡¯m owed a little something.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t plan on repeating myself.¡± Jam growled before moving over to the injured man to wrap up his head. [ Skill Level Up: Medic Level 1 has become Medic Level 2. ] The man backed off choosing to go sit in the corner of the room. "Watch him." Jam said to the first guy he cut loose and nodded toward the revenge seeker. Jam got up and grabbed his bow then went back to the stairwell. Outside of the second floor door he leaned in to hear again. [ Skill Level Up: Acute Hearing Lvl 1 has leveled up to Acute Hearing Lvl 2.] ¡°So, you really think Roger and Jimmy are dating? I mean we like just broke up a month ago. She couldn¡¯t possibly have moved on that quick right? And with another girl in our group. That seems like a real slap in the face to me.¡± One of the women in the room said. ¡°Come on Brian, we¡¯ve all been with Roger at least once. I highly doubt that they were trying to hurt you. This crew has always been basically one big orgy. We¡¯ll all end up sleeping together eventually.¡± Interesting. Jam tried the door but found it locked. He checked his pouches but didn¡¯t find anything that could be used as a lock pick. ¡°Hey, next time we make this utility belt thing. We definitely need to remember lock picks.¡± He sent Audrey. ¡°That¡¯s my bad. I read somewhere you could use zip ties as a lock pick but that might have been satire. I¡¯ve had a lot on my mind lately.¡± ¡°Hmm. We¡¯ll have to talk about that when I get out of here. So, I can¡¯t kick it in. How the hell do I get in here?¡± ¡°Have you tried knocking?¡± ¡°No. I haven¡¯t.¡± Jam knocked on the door three times and then moved to the side of the door. ¡°Did you lock the door?¡± Brian asked. ¡°I thought you told me to.¡± Another woman asked. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡± Brian said annoyed. The door unlocked and was pushed open slowly. A head poked out and looked in Jam¡¯s direction only to get a boot to the face. Jam grabbed the woman he figured to be Brian and pulled her hard against him, his arm holding her by the throat. Using her hand her lines up a shot on the other woman. [ Skil Used: Deadeye Level 10 ¨C Successful ] He fired off two shots firing the laser pistol through the woman¡¯s right shoulder and grazing her knee respectively. The pistol dropped from her hand and she hit the ground. He quickly moved into the room to ziptie and gag the women. Awesome, loopholes. ¡°Brian. Come in. We¡¯re getting nothing from the first floor or the roof. Can you check for me?¡± A voice said from the radio on Brian¡¯s vest. Shit. Gotta move faster. Jam walked up the thin hallway quickly, bow in hand, while hugging the wall. A person came out of the room down the hallway gun first. She checked down the hall and then in the direction Jam was coming from but an arrow hit her thigh. Where the others were too in shock to cry out, she did. Jam wanted to kick himself but instead he took four arrows out of his quiver as he moved to the doorway. He fired an arrow into the far side of the room before he made a move to get inside the door. He found three women all holding a terrified hostage in front of them, gun to their head, and a fourth one aiming her pistol at him. He held his bow sights trained on one, the bowstring pulled back and ready. They stood there for a moment, tensions high. ¡°So, how do you guys feel about the Jimmy and Roger situation. I found Brian more attractive personally.¡± Jam deadpanned. ¡°Drop the bow, hero. Or these dickcarriers get their heads blown off.¡± The one aiming at him spat. Jam growled in annoyance then moved his bow to aim at the wall feet away from the group sinking the arrow into the wall. ¡°Fine you win.¡± He said, his hands up in the air, the bow hanging from his thumb and the arrows still tight in his hand. The one aiming at him moved toward him and when she got close Jam closed his eyes. ¡°Do it.¡± He sent Audrey. Just then the two arrows he¡¯d shot into the room suddenly exploded into a bright flash of light and sound, temporarily blinding the group. Jam¡¯s right ear rung but Audrey had turned off and back on the hearing of his left ear. Please let this work. Jam quickly shot three shots sequentially, all three sinking into the hands of the women holding the hostages causing them to drop their guns suddenly in shock. Jam took his bow and struck the fourth woman aiming at him in the face hard causing her to flip all the way over before hitting the ground. Then he moved forward, his balance still thrown slightly off from the ringing in his right ear. He punched the closest one hard in the face hoping his unarmed combat ability would help enough to put her down quickly. He slid and kicked the legs out of the second hostage taker. Before he could move to try to finish her off the third hostage taker had recovered enough to kick him in the chest sending him sliding across the floor. She was unnaturally strong, but not supernaturally, she definitely was enhanced though. Must be the crew leader. She definitely has power. Jam did a kip up to get to his feet and got into a defensive stance. The leader moved toward him and attempted to throw a punch. Jam ducked it and met her with a counter punch to her stomach. [ Skill Developed: Martial Arts Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] Moving back, the leader reflexively grabbed Jam¡¯s neck under her arm and the other he wasn¡¯t able to put down had recovered enough to attempt to knee him in the face. He just managed to block the knee that sent a searing pain into her forearm and knocked the leg away. He then lifted the leader up off her feet and pushed forward knocking the leader into the second driving them both back crushing the second into the wall. The leader kicked him away knocking him to the ground and pushed forward throwing a fist into his stomach knocking the air from him. He grabbed the hand and moved his legs up to wrap up the leader¡¯s arm into an armbar and driving her into the floor as well. She tried to push her body up but he locked his leg in tighter behind her neck putting more pressure on her arm. ¡°If you break the arm, you won¡¯t be able to ziptie her.¡± ¡°I know¡± Jam said aloud strained in the effort of holding her. Jam pulled an arrow out of his quiver and sank it into the palm of her hand and pulled it back out quickly. He let go of her arm and pulled himself backward. The leader rolled away from him clutching her injured arm wrapping her bloody hand in her shirt, the skin on her hand already beginning to heal. He pushed up to his feet and moved to knee her in the stomach and then slammed his fists into her back driving her into the ground again. She gasped on the ground as he pulled her arms behind her to ziptie her. He ripped a part of her shirt and tied her hand up. [ Skill Level Up: Medic Lvl 2 has become Medic Lvl 3 ] ¡°Interesting. Quite the hero, not having any issues hitting a woman.¡± A voice said from outside the door. Jam summoned his bow and took aim at the door. ¡°The hammer of justice is unisex,¡± He shot back. [ Skill Used: Mental Resistance Lvl 10 ¨C successful ] Shit A familiar beautiful woman in a pantsuit and glowing golden hair walked into the room. She had a soft and seductive smile on her face. Every guy in the room became entranced just by looking at her. Jam¡¯s pulse quickened and he looked around the room to find somewhere to hide. He ran and threw his body through a door before hiding behind the doorway. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, do you know her?¡± Audrey asks. ¡°Yeah. Yeah I do¡± Jam says breathlessly. ¡°Who is she?¡± ¡°Umm. My girlfriend.¡± Chapter 7 - Benched "Don''t you boys want to get that hero for me?" Rose asked seducing the hostages with her melodic voice. "Yes, mistress." All three hostages said in unison. Fuuuuuuck "So, girlfriend. This is news." Audrey said. "Not right now. What the hell do I do now?" Jam sent her. "Same thing you''ve been doing. Knock her block off." "It''s not her I''m worried about." "What?" Jam cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders. All right. I guess this is happening. Jam gets up to move further into the room, to prepare a counterattack, but gets grabbed by the leg when one of the hostages throws himself at Jam. Shit The other two attempt to grab Jam as well, their eyes almost completely dilated and glazed. Trying to use his legs to keep the one grabbing him contrained, Jam punches one in the stomach hard enough to leave him dry heaving on the ground and salps the other man hard across the face. [ Skill Level Up: Martial Arts Lvl 1 has becomes Martial Arts Lvl 2 ] The man at his legs struggled, punching at Jam''s leg. Jam picked him up and put him in a chokehold, the man struggled uselessly but what was probably days of harsh treatment caused him to lose consciousness pretty quickly. The man that was slapped recklessly jumped onto Jam''s back sending him lurching forward tripping over the hostage still gasping for air on the ground. Jam put his hands down and flippped over onto the guy on his back dropping him into the ground. His grip instantly slacked as he was clearly hurt from the fall. "You''re all such a disappointment." Rose sighed striding through the door. "What do they say about sending a man when a woman is needed?" As soon as Jam got to his feet, Rose moved to his inside and punched him hard in the stomach, then reeled back and hit him with an uppercut that took him off of his feet. He smacked into the ground hard. Oh come on. Rose hits way harder than that. No. No, this isn''t Rose. Just a simulation. I''m sorry baby. Jam recovered rolling backward and then got a running start barreling into Rose lifting her. She didn''t go easily, spending the whole time he held her elbowing him in the back of the head. He still drilled her into the wall and her back arched in pain. He kept throwing punches, as if trying to put her through the wall, aiming at her chest and stomach to avoid looking at her face; lest he be reminded of whom he was currently assaulting. She wasn''t so hesitant, Rose kicked his knee throwing him off balance and tried to bring a knee to his face but he blocked it. Instead he bear hugged her and fell backward dropping her on her head. He dazed her just long enough to roll over her and wrap her wrists in no less than 8 zip ties. "I''ve got her." He declared breathlessly getting to his feet. The simulation didn''t end. He breathed out in exasperation. Come on. How does this thing work anyway. A tingle in the back of his neck. He called his bow back to his hand and slid an arrow out of his quiver. He turned quickly and shot the arrow into the hand of the crew leader as she went for the laser pistol on the ground. "Simulation complete," A disembodied voice said. Suuddenly the room was white again and he was in the middle of it. Everything was gone except the pain in his body. He fell back on the ground. "Are you dead?" Jam heard. He cracked his eyes open to see Camilla looking down at him in her civvies with Audrey''s silver orb floating above her shoulder. A smile cracked across his lips. "Of course not, that was easy. Now if I had to fight Thorn, or even full strength Rose, then I''d definitely be dead." "Thorn doesn''t come out until level 9." Camilla pointed out grabbing his hand and helping him to his feet. "That was interesting. Rather brutal but efficient." Arcturian said leaning in the door frame. "Brutal but efficient is one of my middle names," Jam said shooting Arcturian a wry grin. "It''s not nice to test friends through Arcturian." "What do you mean?" Camilla asked looking from Jam to Arcturian who averted his eyes. "Arcturian wanted to see how I''d react to having to fight Rose and Thorn. That''s why he chose this one, right?" Jam explained his eyes never moving from Arcturian. "Yes," Arcturian admitted meekly. "We had it on good authority that Apex and Rose &Thorn were lovers. I needed to know your old allegiances wouldn''t be an issue. I trust you of course, but should you freeze up in the middle of a battle because you can''t hurt your enemy, then your life would be at risk. I really just wanted to help." "It''s cool big guy. Thank you; I did forget that I am going to have to go against some people I called friends before now. Well, forgot might be the wrong word for it. Maybe it just didn''t fully sink in until now." Jam acknowledged, smiling softly, but a layer of reservation coated his words. A chime rang out and then, through unseen speakers, Might Guy''s voice sounded. "Destiny Meeting in 10." He announced. "Ah, good. You''ll be able to attend the weekly Heroes of Destiny meeting," Arcturian said. "I have to go get suited up. I''ll meet you up there." Camilla mentioned; she squeezed his had lightly before finally releasing it and leaving. "Follow me, I can take you up there." Arcturian requested turning to leave. Jam walked forward but every step ached. Show HP A small green line came up in the lower left-hand corner of his field of vision. { HP: 25/150 } Lock HP and SP Jam held his hands in front of his chest. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 3 - Successful ] He watched his HP bar slowly increase as did the number next to it. { HP: 75/150 } Ok. Heal Lvl 3 can heal 50 HP every 20 minutes. Definitely going to have to level that up quickly. Despite his health at the halfway point he still felt the soreness ease, his fingers were no longer numb as he continued following Arcturian to the elevators. "I''m thinking about using my power lock token on danger sense. It could be really useful going forward. I want to wait for some kind of recovery power, like a healing factor or something, but who knows when I''ll get to that. I just wish danger sense wasn''t so vague." Jam sent to the orb floating lazily behind him. "What do you mean?" Audrey questioned. "Well, it just tells me that there is danger around. It doesn''t tell me where or what''s happening. It''d probably get better if I invested more refinement points in it but it still feels like a potential gamble." He explained. "You have the skill danger intuition. It''s basically a weaker version of danger sense. I''d suggest not keeping any power that could be substituted with a skill. If the skill levels up high and you''re still not satisfied, then maybe the next time it comes around you can save it." "There''s an endless number of powers though, we don''t know when the power will ever show back up. Also, I have no clue how to level up danger intuition. It''s a passive skill and passive skills seem to level up whenever they feel like it. I''d like to level up to some kind of ultra instinct state where I can dodge trouble without even knowing it''s happening." Jam folded his arms, a trouble expression washing over his features. "This power lock thing is going to be even more complicated than I predicted. I didn''t get a single level up from the training; I did level up my skills, but that''s only going to get me so far. I need to be able to level up or my skills will plateau soon as well." "The game isn''t stupid Jam, you fought holograms and saves holograms. They weren''t sentient, it was a computer program. You can''t just run scenarios all day and expect to level up. I would, however, encourage trying to learn new skills from it. Maybe you could even max out the ones you have. That should help you once you do get out there. " "Maybe. I guess we''ll find out what''s next from this meeting." Jam sent as he walked toward the meeting hall behind Arcturian. Arcturian opened the door and let Jam enter first; as Jam walked in, he realized they weren''t alone. Two women he hadn''t seen before were sitting at the meeting table. As soon as he step foot through the threshold, all the air left his body as he was suddenly slammed into the ground. He couldn''t inhale at all, not even a gasp, as a crushing weight pinned him. [ Skill Developed: Magical Awareness Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Developed: Magical Resistance Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Level Up: Magical Awareness Lvl 1 has become Magical Awareness Lvl 10 ] [ Skill Level Up: Magical Resistance Lvl 1 has become Magical Resistance Lvl 10 ] [ Skill Used: Magical Resistance Lvl 10 - Failure ] [ Status Ailment: Pressure - Time Limit: N/A - You are currently buried under tremendous magical pressure. All stats are decreased by 75% until the pressure is alleviated. ] "What''s happening?" Arcturian kneeled beside Jam, fear and worry clouding his face. "Dear, you are hurting the boy." One of the women at the table said to the other. putting a hand on her arm. The other woman wasn''t sitting in the chair but actually hovered inches above the seat. She was meditating and her eyes snapped open at the touch before she looked over and saw Jam on the ground. She quickly exhaled and she lowered into the chair. [ Status Ailment Cured: Pressure - Magical Pressure has been removed. All stats returned to normal. ] Jam heaved suddenly, taking in as much air in one gulp as he possibly could. Not wanting to move yet, he just lay there on the ground until the world stop feeling like it was spinning too quickly to be natural. "Very sorry about that." A completely monotone voice apologized from across the room. He sat up shaking off the daze and attempted to get to his feet. A hand reached out to him and he took it; when he was standing, he found himself staring into eyes that greatly unsettled him. They appeared to be flipped; the sclera, normally white, were a deep black, and the pupils glowed white like neon. The woman tiled her head to the side and Jam realized he was staring into her eyes. Almost like an afterthought he realized it wasn''t just her eyes that were black and white but her skin as well. In fact, her skin looked like it was made up of hundreds of black and white jigsaw pieces. He felt the skin of her hand, that he absently realized he was still holding, and noticed it felt as smooth as regular skin. She wore a hooded white mage''s robe with long black sleeves that stopped just above her wrists. Even her wavy hair was lined perfect down the middle, one half black, the other white. "Thank you." He finally responded, sliding his hand away. Arcturian placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before he went to take his seat.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. "No need, it''s my fault you were in that predicament." The monotone voiced woman continued. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] { Character Type: NPC Character Name: Allison Alias: Voodoo Priestess Race: Umpiran Rank: Magic Lord HP: X MP: X SP: 300/300 Powers Balance Omni-magic Death Defying Status Ailment: Bound } "You must be Jam. Nice to meet you. I''m Voodoo Priestess." the woman introduced. Her name definitely threw Jam for a loop. When he thought about Voodoo Priestesses, he thought about black women from Louisiana, who painted their faces and had dreadlocks. The only thing similar to a voodoo priestess he knew of was the staff in her left hand that had four skulls facing four different directions at the top. Must be a translation error. "Nice to meet you." He answered. "You must be really sensitive to magic, no one without magical ability even feels it. Most magic users just find it hard to concentrate. You felt it as a physical thing. Very interesting, Very interesting indeed. " She imparted with a raised eyebrow. yet her monotone never wavered. "I''m not sure. I''ve felt magic before but I''ve never felt anything like that. Was that an attack?" "Not exactly. I was releasingmy excess magical energy. My magic is powerful. If I don''t release it in small even bursts then it could become too powerful to be of any use. I go to light a candle in my room. Then boom." She mimed an explosion with her hands. "Half the city is on fire." "Terrifying." "Indeed." She agreed, then moved closer to Jam; a little too close, her unusual eyes boring into his. "Would you mind if I tried something?" "I am not sure that is a good idea dear." the other woman insisted moving up behind Voodoo Priestess. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] { Character Type: NPC Character Name: Elena Alias: Universa Race: Stardust Rank: Celestial Being HP: X MP: X SP: X Powers: God Magic Divine Sight True Immortality Status Ailment: Bound } Universa didn''t walk up to them, she floated inches from the ground. Long, shiny and flowing back hair waved behind her even when she wasn''t moving. Her long black dress, that hung past her ankles, seemed to do the same as if both were acted upon by a wind that no one else felt. Her long deep black dress had glowing white dots shaped like constellations that changed as she moved, like her dress was a telescope that moved as she did. Jam couldn''t help but notice how much she looked like a wraith of some kind. Stardust? She''s living stardust? Wait, isn''t everything stardust? Her voice was strangely musical and whispers echoed all her words. "Hello, I am Universa. A pleasure to meet you." She greeted holding her hand out. Jam took it and noticed that she was pretty short, even floating inches from the ground she was eye level with his 6''1 frame. Her eyes though, were hard for him not to get lost in. Looking into them, they seemed to hold an entire solar system; he could see 5 planets revolving around a pale blue star. "This is where you talk." Audrey nudged, snapping him out of his trance. "I''m Jam, nice to meet you." He stammered before looking down at her hand he noticed he was still shaking. "Don''t fall in love, she''s mine." Voodoo Priestess teased beside her, snapping Jam back to reality. He slid his hand out of hers and brought it up to nervously scratch the back of his neck. "I''m kidding of course." she quipped, her monotone doing nothing to alleviate the awkward situation. "So, now that you have analyzed me, I am sure you have questions." Universa expressed. Jam shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Universa''s unblinking gaze was hard to read, but he couldn''t help but feel like she was scrutinizing him. "How did you know?" Jam inquired nervously. "I see a lot of things. More things than anyone could imagine. But please, let''s have a seat. I feel the meeting will soon commence." Universa insisted, then she took Voodoo Priestess'' hand and hovered back to her seat. Jam took the seat at the far end of the long meeting table next to Arcutiran. As he took a seat, other heroesbegan to enter. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] Character Type: NPC Character Name: Osiris Alias: Cyprus Bleak Race: Dovaran HP: 2000/2000 MP: N/A SP: 3000/3000 Powers: Psionics "His powers seem kind of vague," Audrey commented. "Well, that''s because he can use almost any kind of psychic ability. He doesn''t just focus on one thing like telepathy or telekinesis instead he works on all of them. Though, spreading yourself out that much would usually be bad, or in most cases impossible, but he''s had years of training his abilities. If it wasn''t for this thing in my head he probably would have destroyed my brain the first day I was here." Cyprus Bleak looked different than usual. Gone were his facial piercings and his purple Mohawk was curled down on his head so it looked closer to a pompadour. Instead of his usual black leather jacket, he just wore a blue trench coat with a suit underneath. "I don''t think we were formally introduced. I''m Osiris, but you should know me as Cyprus Bleak." Cyprus said holding his hand out for Jam. "I''m Jam, nice to meet you. You''ve changed your look." Jam observed rising to his feet and shaking Cyprus'' hand. "Oh yeah, I''m really experimenting with my look. I like the purple hair but the facial piercings felt a little much. I''m thinking of going with a temporary tattoo, see how I like it. Or maybe war paint." He gushed "War paint sounds good. Maybe skulls, that works well with your persona." "Good idea, I''ll think about it." Cyprus grinned as he sat down across from Universa. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] { Character Type: NPC Character Name: Unknown Alias: The Inspector Race: Umpiran HP: 3000/3000 MP: 25/25 SP: 8000/8000 Powers: Fighting Prowess Tech Expert Forensic Expertise } No one really knew what the Inspector actually looked like. His outfit was a stereotypical detectives outfit, black trench coat, black vest and pants, and a white shirt and red tie; however, his body was completely invisible. It appeared as if a suit was just walking upright. Invisibility wasn''t under his powerset though so Jam knew it had to be a gadget or serum that allowed him his invisibility. He spoke with a voice modulator as well, so no one could pick out what his voice sounded like either. The Inspector hadn''t spoken to anyone when he walked in, only making his way to his seat, so Jam made no moves to approach him. I guess powers that aren''t actually superpowers are still considered powers here. Well, I do have ''archery prowess'', I guess I can''t really talk. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Failure ] [ Failure Notice: Please specify which person you''re analyzing ] The Elementwins. Not actually twins. Actually a husband and wife science team that were bonded together on a molecular level and conjoined at the sides. When they were together they could manipulate all four elements, but separate they each got two elements with weaker control. Before Jam could move to speak to them, Might Guy and Kid Mighty entered the room. Might Guy still wearing sunglasses despite there being very little natural light in the room and sporting his usual scowl. Kid Mighty took her seat next to Voodoo Priestess while Might Guy stood at the other end of the table from Jam. "Alright guys, thanks for coming. Let''s get right into it." Might Guy commanded. Jam held his hand out and Audrey floated into it, he sat absently rubbing his fingers across her surface. "Where''s LionHead?" Cyprus questioned. "He left out early this morning. One of his usual hunts I guess." Kid Mighty answered him. "We''ll clue him in later. Voodoo, are your team recovered from the summoning yet?" Might Guy cut in. "They are." Voodoo Priestess answered concisely. [ Skill Level Up: Calming Touch Lvl 3 has become Calming Touch Lvl 4 ] "Good, I need them back on the board. I want them in Darlinghurst. There''s talk of some castors summoning demons. If the door is open, we''ll need your team to be able to close it." Might Guy said pressing a button on the table that caused a 3D holographic model of Darlinghurst to pop up. "Ok." "I believe they''re somewhere in this area but we can''t be completely sure.'' He included highlighting a 10 miles radius area on the map. "All right." "Do you have any people who can track them?" He interrogated, aggravation growing in his voice. "Sure." Universa placed her hand atop Voodoo Priestess'' "We will get it done Might." He nodded then switched the map to one of Empire City. "Cyprus, I want your team patrolling West Empire City. Twins, you''ll be taking East and South. Inspector, are you still helping the Central Empire PD?" "I am." the modulated voice of the Inspecter answered. "Any news we should know about?" "There''s a new player on the board. No one knows who they but word on the street is they go by the moniker 21. Not your average gun for hire. This person is good. Never leaves a trace and has been able to get into anywhere. 21 never kills more than seven or twenty one people. No children, women only in self defense, unless they''re the target. If they don''t attack 21 doesn''t attack. 21 has killed heroes and villains alike. Anyone for the right price. We have at least 35 confirmed hits by 21 and another 40 suspected." Inspector intoned. "Stay on top of it, get Gear Freak to scour the systems and find any surveillance info he can. Last thing we need is some new player going to war with you know who, or worse working for him." Might Guygrumbled his eyes locking in on Jam who kept his gaze staring out the window into Empire City. "All right, any other news that needs to be brought up." [ Skill Level Up: Calming Touch Lvl 4 has become Calming Touch Lvl 5 ] "I think we should really talk about what steps we''re taking to deal with CAS." Kid Mighty spoke up. Mighty Guy and Cyprus groaned audibly. "Hear me out, they''re gaining a lot more traction lately. If we don''t deal with this soon, then it''s going to grow beyond our control." "What''s CAS?" Jam whisper asked Arcturian. "Civilians Against Supers. It''s a civilian group that is trying to ban the use of superpowers." Arcturian answered. Fantastic. "They''re just a bunch of normal people, what can they actually do against heroes. Don''t worry about it right now." Might Guy dismissed. "Execute yourself." Jam absently stated, still rubbing Audrey''s catalyst. "What!" Might Guy slammed his fists on the table causing it to vibrate and the 3D model to shut off. Jam looked up surprised to find everyone looking in his direction, surprise dancing across their faces. He turned around to see if there was something behind him but there was nothing. Shit, did I say that out loud? "Umm. I was asking what orders were you executing yourself? I wanted to make sure I didn''t overlap your area when I went patrolling." Jam recovered. "You won''t be patrolling." Might Guy scoffed. "Excuse me, what?" Jam blurted, confusion evident. "You''re untested and untrained. You''ll be remaining in the Hall of Destiny until we can figure out how to use you." Jam shot to his feet and gestured toward the window. "No. I need to be out there, fighting bad guys and saving people. That''s the only way I can level my skills up." He protested. "And, until we know exactly how your powers work and of what use you are to the rest of the group; you are remanded to these walls." "I was given free rein to come and go as I please from Arcturian." Jam nearly shouted. "Also, need I remind you, I''m not a Hero of Destiny. I don''t need anyone''s permission to go out there." "Well, you may not know this since you''re used to doing everything illegally, but you need to be verified by the city to legally patrol and take down criminals. Without it, you''re just a vigilante and the government doesn''t take kindly to vigilantes. I''d be more than happy to take you down for them if you try to put up a fight. But, feel free and go do your own thing; while also wearing the face of the most well known villain on Arcturus. See how long that lasts you." Might Guy taunted a sadistic smirk on his face. Jam deflated into his seat with a thud, his arms crossed in front of him. "If that''s all, then this meeting is dismissed." Might Guy said not bothering to wait before exiting the room. Kid Mighty looked at Jam but he wouldn''t look in her direction; she followed behind Might Guy. "Sorry, Kid. You''ll be trained in no time though. I''m confident you''ll do just fine." Cyprusconsoled with a sympathetic smile before exiting the room. "What the hell man?" Jaminterrogated Arcturian. "You can still come and go as you please, it''s just that you can''t start working as a hero until you''re authorized. You have to be a part of a team to be authorized. Might is field commander, he has to authorize you. Unless you found a more lax team like Sector 38, but you wouldn''t get the training and resources available here. Also, with your appearance, they''d be less likely to approve you." Arcturian answered. "Everyone had to go through some sort of training before they got accepted here. You''re not being singled out I promise." He said with a reassuring hand of Jam''s shoulder. "Fine." "Jam, do you have a minute?" Universa requested. Jam tapped Arcturian''s hand and nodded then Arcturian left the room. Jam turned to face the two women walking up to him. "Yeah, what''s up?" "Well it''s about before." Voodoo Priestess said. "Oh that''s right. Universa, you said I analyzed you, how''d you know that?" "I see almost everything Jam. The past, the present and the future. Your abilities are quite interesting, but worry not, I won''t be mentioning it to anyone else." Universa answered. "Wow, that''s impressive. So you can tell the future?" "No." "i''m confused, you said you can see everything." "I can see ''almost'' everything, but I can only see. I can not tell anything. I can only tell what I see myself telling you. Like what I am saying right now. I am only following the script of what I see is supposed to take place." "Is that why your status says bound?" "It is. I am bound by the rules of the observer. I can watch everything unfold but I can do nothing more than what I see happening. I am unable to change the future, I am unable tell the future. I can only observe and act accordingly." "That''s really confusing." "It can be. Yes." "Are you bound the same way Priestess? It doesn''t show you as an observer, it says you''re a magic lord." "That I am, but no I''m not bound as an observer. I''m bound to maintain balance. My abilities allow me to see the balance in all things. I''m an agent of said balance. I can''t do anything that would obstruct the balance." "Is that why you can''t just poof the Lunar King away?" "Indeed. It would drop the balance too heavily on the side of heroes. I can teach people magic to raise the number of heroes but I can''t subtract the number of villains. Causing death in any manner affects the balance negatively. If I kill one villain, a hero of equal measure would perish. I am bound to inaction much like Universa." "Weird. It''s strange to think that two of the most powerful people in the galaxy are bound by rules." "You shall soon learn that all are bound by rules, even the most powerful." Universa said then turned her head suddenly looking off in the distance. "You too shall learn that lesson." She lectured seemingly to no one. "You reader will learn that all are bound, whether it be the rules we place on one another or the rules we place on ourselves. None are untouchable by some form of rule." "What?" Jam questioned. "Nothing child." Universa answered turning back to him and patting him on the head. "She does that sometimes." Voodoo Priestess interjected. "Can you break the rules? Can you act anyway?" "All rules can be broken, but you would have to deal with the fallout. Being able to break those rules would not make them any less real, and all decisions have consequences." Universa answered. "You don''t have to tell me that, my decision is what wrecked this place." "And your decisions can be the very thing that fixes it as well." Voodoo Priestess foretold. "Thanks." Jam responded not very convinced. "We would like to bestow upon you a gift child," Universa said cupping his cheek. "What kind of gift?" "Well, honestly I''d say whether or not it''s a gift or a curse is up to you." Voodoo Priestess confessed her monotone voice and piercing eyes sending a shiver down Jam''s spine. "You have potential as a magic user, as shown by the effect Voodoo Priestess'' magics had on your body. I would like to unlock it for you." Universa said with a disarming smile. "That sounds incredible. Let''s do it. What do I have to do." Jam said eagerly. "All I need is permission," Universa said before placing her thumb on his forehead. Jam felt a bit of sizzle but it faded quickly. "Hmm, is that it?" Jam asked. "I am sorry child," Universa said her brow furrowing, her lips curving down into a small frown. "For what?" Jam asked before every cell in his body exploded with power. He let out a piercing scream as he felt as if his body was being set on fire from the inside. Voodoo Priestess shaded her eyes as he began to glow with a bright white light and hovered off of the ground, his body contorting in an unnatural fashion. His screams of agony never wavered. [ Skill Learned: Scramble Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active ] [ Ability Learned: Magical Aptitude ] [ Skill Learned: Magical Aptitude Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Detail: MP Unlocked ] Chapter 8 - Hocus Pocus Suddenly Jam''s screaming stopped and the bright light exploded outward causing a ripple in the air of the room. Jam slowly floated to the ground; the moment he touched down, his back arched with the force of the huge gasp of air he sucked in. He sat up spastically. "What. .. the hell. . ." he breathed out in between lungfuls of air. "Sorry about that. Most magic users ae born with the ability so their magic grows as they do. You apparently didn''t, Universa had to force your magic pathways open. You do have great potential though. That was quite the display. I''ve never seen it quite that intense before." Voodoo Priestess attempted reassurance, but the monotone of her voice caused it to fail miserably. "A little warning would have been nice. I''d like to go five minutes without having my body ripped apart." Jam complained, looking in the corner where his HP and SP bars were. He saw a new blue bar that showed his MP now as well. { HP: 75/150 } { MP: 20/20 } { SP: 200/200 } "Are you shitting me? All that for 20 MP?" Jam fussed petulantly. "MP?" Voodoo Priestess asked with a raised eyebrow and a slight head tilt. "Never mind." Jam dismissed. "Your magical aptitude is still at level 1.. You''ll have to level it to get more MP." Audrey clarified in his ear. Jam got to his feet. "So, what''s next? Do you teach me some super god level spells? Can I summon familiars to fight for me?" "The first step is to learn of your nature; to know what magic you are strongest with." Universa recommended, leading him back to the meeting table. "Firstly, you should know what magic actually is." Voodoo Priestess pointed out. "Very true." Universa agreed. "There is a reason that not everyone can use magic." "And there is a reason that not everyone has the same level of magic." "Mana, the power behind magic, is not naturally found in this dimension." Voodoo Priestess explained, her fingers dancing in the air. Black dust that sporadically sparkled with white light danced in the air above her fingers. [ Skill Learned: Magical Knowledge Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Notice: +5 MP ] [ Skill Fusion: Magical Knowledge Lvl 1 and Magical Aptitude Lvl 1 have fused to become Art of Magic Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Notice: +5 MP ] Jam looked over to find a total of 10 extra MP points added to his MP line. { HP: 150/150 } { MP: 30/30 } { SP: 200/200 } "The magical pathways in your body connects to the mana rich dimension that overlays ours and uses your body as a catalyst for the mana to flow through. Your body and magics affect the form in which the mana takes." "And your body''s strengths affect the amount of mana you can control and pull through." "So, shouldn''t MIght Guy be an incredible magician? His body is strong and resilient." Jam asked. "Good question." Voodoo Priestess nodded. "Simple answer is, he doesn''t have any magical pathways." "We have found that the stronger the natural superpowers in a person, the less likely they are to have magical pathways. Most heroes who are not casters have none." Universa spoke. "A good amount of people in general don''t have any as well, but those who have no powers and magical pathways tend to be stronger in magic than those who do." "However, those who do have powers and magic tend to be more well rounded in combat." Universaincluded. "It is similar to Cyprus'' psionic abilities. As he has abilities to affect the mind, while also having the ability to attack physically, he is more well rounded of a fighter than a person who can only do one." "It''s like fighting with a sword and a gun. Close range and long range." Voodoo Priestess suggested as Universa nodded along. "I see, so basically it''s a level of checks and balances. No one ability can completely dwarf the others." Jam inferred. "Exactly right. The balance must always be maintained. Nature maintains its balance and I am its avatar." Voodoo Priestess answered. "Sweet." Jamnoticed that Universa seemed to be scrutinizing him heavily. "Is there something wrong?" He asked her. "Your magical pathways. They''re different than we''re used to. She sees everything of course but it''s different seeing something in the moment and seeing something that will, or has, happen." Voodoo Priestess answered. "Different how?" Jam asked with a reflexive tilt of the head. "They are irises. Most pathways work like a muscle. The more you stretch them the stronger they become over time. Yours, they look as if they already have great power but they need to be opened somehow." "Unlocked." Universa added. "Leveled up." Jam nodded. "So you do understand how they work." Universa suggested with a raise of the eyebrow. "Not in the least. It''s just how everything seems to work with me. So does that mean I''ll be able to use omni-magic like you voodoo priestess?" "Probably not. My original magic skill was magic mimicry. I could use lesser versions of anyone else''s magic. Magic types are as vast and different as there are casters, mine was unique amongst even those. Decades of dedicated study and practice has allowed me the use of omnimagic, but I can only mainly use my powers to teach others how their own work." "So how do I know what magic I can use?" Jam asked. Voodoo Priestess made a circular motion in the air with her fingers and a small portal opened. She reached her hand in and pulled out a small pouch; out of the pouch came a small clear orb. She held it tightly in her hand with her eyes closed and whispered words too quietly to be heard. A shining white light leaked out through her fingers, and she opened them, puling her hand away from the orb that floated in place. Jam couldn''t help but shield his eyes from the light. "Look at the orb Jam. Concentrate on it." Universa requested. Jam did as requested, staring at the orb unblinking. The more he stared the easier it got to see it; he got lost in the light of the orb until it encompassed his senses. All he could see was the light and all he could hear was his own breath, calm and even. "Jam! Come on! Let''s play. I haven''t seen you in WoH in weeks now." He heard what sounded like Audrey''s voice say. "I can''t Amara, I already promised Sarah and everyone that I would go out tonight. Azmith should be on tonight shouldn''t he? Play with him." He heard his voice say. "But we''re a duo. We''re supposed to play together but it''s like I never see you anymore." Amara agonized, hurt evident in her voice. "Calm down Amara, it''s just a game." His voice replied. Then Jam blinked and the light was gone. Replaced by Universa''s face crinkled in a mixture of concern and curiosity. "What happened?" Jam asked blinking slowly, trying to shake off his confusion. "Jam, you got a notification. I don''t think you saw it. Seemed like you were somewhere else." Audrey informed him. "It looks like you had quite the experience. Did you see your magic at all?" Universa inquired. "Show me the notifcation." He sent Audrey. [ Magic Class Unlock: Battle Mage Lvl Novice ] [ Class Description: You''ve unlocked the ability to use battle magic spells. Enhance your body. Heal your party. Rain hellfire upon your enemies. The battlefield is your playground. ] [ Class Note: Spell Book Unlocked ] [ Class Specialty: Speed Casting ] "Battle magic." Jam answered still trying to shake off the memories. "Hmm." Voodoo Priestess mused. "Are you a spell caster? Or maybe sigils? Runic? Wordsmith? Hand seals?" "Spell caster." "Interesting. Kind of vague, but hopefully it''ll be helpful to you." "Yeah, I can work with this. If you don''t mind, I''d like to go back to my room and check out my magic." Jam excused himself, rising to his feet, before turning to go. "No problem. I''d suggest going to the simulation room though. No chance of destroying anything permanently." Voodoo Priestess suggested. "Tell Mr. Probably I said hello." Universa solicited but Jam was too preoccupied to hear, trying to get his thoughts together. Jam walked to the elevator and entered when the doors opened for him. "You okay?" Audrey asked him as the doors closed and Jam leaned against the back wall. "Yeah. Yeah, I''m fine." Jam replied unconvincingly. "It seemed like something happened when you looked at that orb. Did you see something?" "No. I don''t know. I don''t think so. I don''t want to talk about that right now." The elevator doors open and he walked through the lab to the open door of the simulation room. He grabbed the tablet; deciding to forego a scenario, he just placed a number of training dummies around in a wide mostly empty room. Status Screen { Character Sheet } { Character Type: Player Real Name: Jam Alias: None Race: African American {Human} Country of Origin: United States Level: 10 Exp: 75% HP: 150/150 MP: 30/30 SP: 200/200 }You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The familiar blue screen popped up showing his character sheet, at the top was a new tab that was marked under spell book. They should have called it a grimoire. Spell Book The screen changed but only five spells were up there. "Yep the magic system in World of Heroes still sucks." He complained. "What''s wrong?" Audrey asked. "They don''t tell you what you can learn just what you already have. It unlocks the higher you level your abilities and new spells show up. Or you can learn some with spell books but they were boss drops. You remember, I played a magic character when I first joined WoH. It was interesting but not very conducive to survival mode. Whoever made this game really hated magic." Jam checked out his spell book. { Spell Book Spells Available: 5 } { Firefist 1 - Mastery: 0% Description: Flames encase fists for +%40 punch damage. %10 Chance of causing burns. %5 Chance of igniting enemies for continuous burn damage lasting 45 seconds. MP Cost: 5 MP per punch } { Air Shot 1 - Mastery 0% Description: Projectile explosion of air pressure. Each shot does %30 of total attack damage. Air Shot can be charged to increase damage or shot in rapid succession. MP Cost: 2 MP +1 MP for every second charged.} { Boost 1 - Mastery 0% Description: 2 point boost to all attributes. Effect lasts one hour. MP Cost: 15 MP } { Purify 1 - Mastery 0% Descrption: Purify the body of negative status effects. Area of effect: Single person per use. MP Cost: 30 MP } { Blink 1 - Mastery 0% Description: Move to anywhere within line of sight instantly. MP Cost: 30 MP } "Wait a second. I only have 30 MP. Two of my spells will completely drain my MP? What''s my MP regen rate?" "1 MP every 30 seconds." "You''ve got to be shitting me." "Also, a warning, some spells like blink have a high failure rate with low mastery levels. Luckily, failures will increase your mastery level and any spell failure will only use half the MP a success would." "Fantastic. So these failures, will the spell just not activate or am I risking blinking half my body to one spot while the other half stays where it is?" "I think the former, it looks like spell failures are just like skill failures. They just don''t activate at all. The only way to hurt yourself would be human error." "Great, because that doesn''t happen." "Well, until you can start leveling. I think it would be best to at least train your magic and skills in here." Audrey insisted. "Yeah, might as well." He rolled his shoulders and neck, then stretched the rest of his body to loosen his muscles. He lightly bounced from one foot to the other to get himself ready then took on a fighting stance his fists up like a boxer. Jam pushed off his back foot quickly sprinting toward the first practice dummy and threw a punch at it with all his strength. The dummy slid back a few inches but didn''t fall. "Good lord, these things are heavy weight. Ow." Jam cried switching between opening and closing his hand and shaking it to relieve the vibration moving through it. "You put the simulation settings up too high. You basically just punched the equivilant couple of brick walls." "I need to know my limits. They have to be high." Jam explained walking back to his previous position and taking up the stance again. "Firefist" He chanted before closing his fists around a growing flame that completely encased them. The flame roared with power but he didn''t feel any of the heat. He pushed off again and went for the same training dummy, but moments before his fist connected the flames dispersed. [ Spell: Firefist - Failure ] [ Failure Condition: Spell timer expired ] "Ok Audrey, mark test #1 as a failure. Apparently there is a timer between when I activate the spell and when I need to use it." "Got it. Logged in your logbook." [ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 3 has become Art of Magic Lvl 4 ] [ Skill Notice: +5 MP ] Sweet Jam waited one minute for his 2 MP points to recover. "Ok, for test #2 I want to try something radical. It''s going to use up all my MP though, so hopefully it doesn''t go horribly wrong." "I''ll notify the other heroes if you die." Audrey deadpanned "Appreciated." Jam took off running again except this time to the left circling around the training dummy. Qucikly he turned and began running toward the training dummy but halfway he looked up above the dummy''s head. "Blink!" he casted and when his eyes opened again he was falling out the sky 15 feet above the training dummy''s head. The only problem was, the conservation of momentum had caused him to fall quicker than he was expecting. Before he could trigger his firefist like he intended he was crashing down feet first into the training dummy and then tumbling to the ground. "Ahhhh." He screamed. "That was really stupid." Audrey pointed out mercilessly. "I know!" He hissed through clenched teeth that had locked from the pain. He looked down to find his ankle was turned in an unnatural angle. He clutched the ankle in both hands. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 3 - Successful ] The injured ankle turned back in the right direction and Jam could feel as the bones reconnected themselves. He laid sprawled out on the ground. [ Skill Level Up: Heal Lvl 3 has become Heal Lvl 4 ] "Why did you let me do that?" "I didn''t know about it so I didn''t let you do anything." "I still blame you. There is good news though!" Jam popped up happily looking at the silver orb floating near him. He held up two fingers and ticked both points off. "I learned that I can blink into the air, and I learned that my speed remains constant. This deductive reasoning skill is pretty boss." "Too bad it couldn''t have given you a less stupid way to figure that out." "Good point." Jam agreed rising to his feet and brushing himself off. "Well, it''s still only level 10, plus I think that''s more of an intelligence attribute." "Universa was right. I did want to see that." Jam heard a monotone voice say from behind him. He turned to find a small portal with Voodoo Priestess'' face showing from the other side. Universa pushed her face into frame against Voodo Priestess'' and waved. "Hello again Jam." "Hi Universa." Jam replied listlessly. Voodoo Priestess pushed Universa''s face out of the way. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that if you find yourself running low on mana it''s a good idea to meditate. It won''t help you during battle obviously but while you''re practicing magic. It should help with your mana manipulation too, which can help with your spell timing. Just something to think about. Bye." "Bye again Jam." Universa waved from out of frame before Voodoo Priestess closed the portal. "I really can''t figure those two out." "What''s there to figure out. I find them adorable." Audrey snickered cheerfully, her orb glowing yellow. "All right. So let''s get this meditation going." Jam plopped down in the seiza position he saw on the martial arts demonstrations he used to simulate. "Sure you don''t want to go full lotus like Voodoo Priestess?" "Nah, this feels right. Now hush." Jam admonished without opening his eyes. He breathed in and out evenly, in through his nose and out through his mouth. [ Skill Learned: Meditation Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active ] [ Skill Notice: Regenerate 1 MP per minute meditating. Meditation also temporarily boosts intelligence attribute 1 point every 20 minutes and permentally boosts intelligence 1 point every hour. ] Ok, then if I''m getting 3 MP per minute when meditating. At least I don''t have to wait around too much. I could be a super genius if I spent a few weeks just meditating. Then I would be able to build an instakill Lunar King button or something. But, can''t win the game too easily. [ Skill Level UP: Meditate Lvl 1 has become Meditate Lvl 2 ] [ Skill Notice: Regenerate 1 MP every 45 seconds meditating. ] [ Skill Level Up Art of Magic Lvl 4 has become Art of Magic Lvl 5 ] [ Skill Notice: +5 MP ] Jam sat and meditated until well past when his MP had fully replenished. The calmness of the skill easing things and finally taking some time to think things through. He breathed out one long final exhale and eased his eyes open. [ Skill Level Up: Meditate Lvl 2 has become Meditate Lvl 4 ] [ Skill Notice: Regenerate 1 MP every 35 seconds. ] [ Attribute Notice: +1 permanently added to Intelligence. +3 temporarily added to intelligence. ] "I need to get stronger. I need to do it quickly." Jam proclaimed, getting to his feet. "No matter how much I think it over, there''s no way to do that in here. My only choice is to go out there but I can''t yet. If I fought crime without a permit I''d be a vigilante and wouldn''t be able to come back into the Hall of Destiny. Might Guy hates me and will never grant me a permit. I think I''ll have to leave eventually, find another team." "How?" Audrey wondered. "I have to max out my skills and train my magic. Maybe gather more skills. I have to be strong enough to prove myself to another team and show that I''m worth the risk. I need to use one of my power lock tokens too. Eventually, but I can''t use it until I know I can get another one. I think it''d be best until I get a second power lock token to use it but I can''t do that without leveling." He elaborated scratching the back of his head. "So focus on what you can do. Increase your magic mastery. Train your newer skills. Work with the heroes here and learn as much as you can. You know how to beat a hero, now figure out how to be a hero." CLOCK Jam looked at the clock with the giant 4:20 PM that popped up completely taking over his field of vision in his left eye. "Hey Audrey, can you fix my heads up display. It''s annoying have to make sure everything is sized correctly whenever I try to access the screens." "Let me check with the system." Moments later the vision in Jam''s left eye changed slightly. His HP, MP and SP bars were easier to see at all times without blocking his vision and had moved to the bottom left corner. The clock moved from completely blocking his view to a small display in the upper left corner and under it was the countdown timer for his power cycle. In the upper right hand corner was a small translucent compass. In the compass he could see small red dots marking the locations of the training dummies. "Sweet, that''s perfect." "I also found an auto analyze function. It should allow you to see the HP bars of anyone who has it. If you want more detailed info you''re going to have to use the skill though." "That works. I''d hate to have that information popping up unwarranted during a fight or something." Jam scanned the time again. "I''ve only been on this planet for 26 hours and it already feels like a life time." He mused. "You''ve only been awake for 26 hours. You''ve been here a week now. You just slept most of the time." "Right. I forget. So does that mean I''ve already gone through 6 power cycles? What were the powers I missed?" "You''re level is still low, you''re not going to get any of the more advanced powers yet. Your body can''t handle it. They were more than likely more of the same thing you''ve been using." "So you don''t remember." "Ugh, I didn''t look to begin with. Like I said I was trying to wake you up as well as figure out what in the world was happening." Spell Book { Spell Book Spells: 5 } { Firefist 1 - Mastery: 10% } { Air Shot 1 - Mastery: 0% } { Boost 1 - Mastery: 0% } { Purify 1 - Mastery: 0% } { Blink 1 - Mastery 25% } Ok, so failed attempts get you at least %10 and successful attempts get you %25. Well for those particular spells at least. Jam held his hands out clutched together in the a finger gun position. He aimed at the closest training dummy. [ Skill Used: Deadeye Lvl 10 - successful ] His view zoomed in to focus on the training dummy. "Air shot" he chanted. Suddenly an immense pressure blew his clutched hands apart from each other. [ Spell: Air Shot - Failure ] [ Failure Condition: Smothered Spell ] The vibration in his arms from the sudden explosion of pressure caused his hands to go numb. His pain dampening and tolerance skills fought away any pain that he may have felt but did little to cure the uncomfortable numbness. "Ok, I guess just because it''s called shot doesn''t mean I use it like a gun." He opened and closed his hands trying to get the feeling back. When he could feel them again he instead turned his body with his left hand extended in front of him and his fingers fully splayed out. "Air shot!" he casted again. A gust of air shot from his hands but quickly dispersed in a wide ring never reaching the training dummy. That doesn''t seem right. Hmm. He bent his fingers in just a little as if holding a basketball. "Air Shot!" This time the air flew from his hand in a ball shaped and slapped against the training dummy but with too much surface area to do any damage. He tried bending his fingers in more, like he was palming a softball. "Air shot!" This time the ball flew hard and fast hitting the training dummy with a loud smack. It wasn''t enough to move the heavy object but for a normal person, that would have knocked them off their feet. Ok, remember that size. Now how do I charge it? Jam looked to see he had 32 MP left, he closed his hand leaving an ample amount of space as if he was gripping a baseball. "Air Shot!" He could feel air revolving around in his palm, the surrounding air was being sucked in and condensed. His MP was quickly dropping, he then splayed his hand open and the condensed ball of air flew out of his hand slammed into the training dummy, the dummy knocked back falling over. [ Spell Mastered: Air Shot 1 ] [ Spell Upgrade: Air Shot 1 has become Air Shot 2 ] [ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 5 has become Art of Magic Lvl 7 ] [ Skill Notice: +10 MP ] [ Congratulations: First Spell Mastered ] "Ok, I know how to use air shot now. I can''t master purify yet because I don''t have any status ailments." "True, and you would need someone else to fully master it as well probably. Although it''s only Purify 1 so you could probably do it alone." "I''ll get to boost in a second. I want to try something with firefist." "Seems pretty straight forward besides the spell timer. What else is there to try?" "Well I still don''t know if I can dual cast spells. Can I cast blink and firefist or boost and firefist? But before that. . ." Jam started then pulled his bow out and nocked an arrow. "It''s magical fire right? Which means it doesn''t need an accelerant to burn. Firefist!" He chanted, his hands encasing in flames again. He willed the fire to move and cover the tip of the arrow. It did just that and he loosed it, sending the flaming arrow straight into the training dummy. The arrow exploded with flames upon impact." [ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 7 has become Art of Magic Lvl 8 ] [ Skill Learned: Ingenuity Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Fusion: Reactive Adaptation Lvl 1 and Ingenuity Lvl 1 combined to become Creativty Lvl 2 ] [ Skill Notice: +2 Leadership Skill. +1 Intelligence. +2 Charisma ] Hmm. I was expecting a magical spell like enchant or something. Show Firefist { Spell Book } { Fire First 1 - Mastery: 60% } Whoa a 50% jump from one use? Jam pulled his bow back again, except this time instead of nocking an arrow he held the empty bow up aiming it. "Fire Fist." He casted again and his hand lit aflame. This time he tried to completely make up an arrow of solidified fire. [ Spell: Firefist - Failure ] [ Failure Condition - Spell Timer Depleted ] Ok, so I can only add fire to an arrow, I can''t make the fire fist into a projectile by itself. What about something that''s already a projectile. Still holding his bow aimed at the training dummy Jam casted, "Air shot!" He then began to form the air that was collecting into the form of an arrow. He noticed that his MP bar was quickly draining again. The spell must have been charging as he was going along. Before his MP could hit zero, he let it go and the arrow of air flew true and punched a tiny hole straight through the training dummy. "Damn." Jam snorted running up to inspect the damage. [ Skill Level Up: Creativity Lvl 2 has become Creativity Lvl 3. ] "Art of magic didn''t level up and I didn''t get another magic spell?" "Well, you got a subset skill of Art of Magic, which was mana manipulation, when you shot the flame arrow. You upgraded the skill when you used the air shot arrow but it wasn''t enough to level up art of magic." "Makes sense, it does eliminate redundancies. It''d be easier if I knew how much I needed to do to level up my skills." "I''m sorry, I wish I could help." "It''s cool." Jam rolled his shoulders. He clapped his hands together and dropped down in his seiza position again to meditate and regain his MP. "All right. If all I can do is train, then that''s what I''m going to do." Chapter 9 - Grinding Jam happily trained in the simulation room from morning to night. Kid Mighty stopped by to assist in his first week of intensive training. {Powers} Time Until Powers Cycle: 10:46:19 {Current Powers: Adhesive Grip Enhanced Leap +6 (Jump Lvl 9) Enhanced Vision +4 (Telescopic Vision)} "Alright, how about a game of tag?" Kid Mighty challenged him. "That should work well with your current power set." "Interesting, what are the stakes?" Jam asked interested. "Loser has to strip for the winner." Kid Mighty said quickly and excitedly. "Never mind." Jam dismissed "Oh come on, I was kidding. Mostly." Kid Mighty said a cheeky smile across her face. "How about, if you can beat me I''ll put in a verification form for you. Warren has a stamp that he uses for official documents. I can use that and sign it as him." "You''d incur the wrath of your boyfriend for a game of tag?" Kid Mighty''s mouth twisted in a frown though the rest of her features were hidden behind her cowl. "I''m not dating Warren. Besides." She started then her lips turned up in a wicked grin. "I don''t have to worry about it because you''re not going to win." She said stoking Jam''s competitive fire. "And what exactly do you get if you win?" Jam didn''t think it could, but her mischevious grin got even wider. "You have to wear this for a whole week." She said pulling a shirt from her utility belt. She held it up in all of its glory, the shirt read: ''I GOT MY ASS KICKED BY KID MIGHTY AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY SHIRT''. It also had a picture of Kid Mighty with her thumbs up on the front and the shirt was bubblegum pink. Jam couldn''t fight the smile that broke across his face. "You''re ridiculous." "Is that a deal?" "Deal, you''re on." [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] { Character Type: Watcher Real Name: Camilla Alias: Kid Mighty (II) Race: Mixed (Human) Country of Origin: Honduras Alignment: Good Level: 28 Exp: 15% HP: 550/550 MP: N/A SP: 315/315 } { Current Powers: Prime Condition Enhanced Senses Minor Restoration Tech Prowess Danger Sense } Shit. She added my danger sense power? Should have scanned her before I agreed to this. "So you do get power lock tokens. And you went up a level." "I did. The headaches still come some times but not nearly as much or as strong thankfully." "I''m glad to hear it." Jam said with a smile and a hand on her shoulder. "Don''t think that means I''ll go easy on you though. I''m taking you down." She said returning the smile and tapping on the tablet. The white room of the simulation room changed to a city. It was a series of warehouses, old and abandoned. There were more broken windows than intact ones. A breeze wafted through heavy with the smells of oil, rust and faint seawater. Grass and weeds had grown unabashed in every crack and crevice that could be found. "We''re all alone here. No need to worry about civillians. We can go all out. I''ll put half an hour on the clock, whoever is it at the end is the loser." Kid Mighty explained. "Alright. You ready to decide?" Jam asked his enthusiasm almost palpable. They both pulled their hands back and said in unison. "Rock, paper, scissors. . . Shoot!" Before they both threw out scissors. Then again, and they both threw out paper. Four games straight they both threw out the same sign, at first annoyed now they could barely contain a laugh. "You can''t be serious. Alright last game, if we throw out the same thing again I''m having the room decide." Kid Mighty chuckled. They went for it again. "Rock, paper, scissors . . " they chanted simaltaneously. Jam scanned over Kid Mighty one more time and held back a moment longer than she did, when she threw Rock, he slid his fingers open to produce paper. [ Skill Level Up: Body Language Analysis Lvl 4 has become Body Language Analysis Lvl 5 ] "Yes!" he celebrated throwing his hands in the air. "Fine, you win. I''ll count to 20 then I''m coming for you." Kid Mighty began to count and Jam disappeared. He used his new jumping power to leap 3/4 of the way up the three story building, latching onto the side of it with his adhesive grip. He then began to scale the rest of the way and climb to the roof. The roof had large holes in it but still had enough solid space for him to get a running start before leaping over to the next building. He bounded from building to building putting as much distance between him and Kid Mighty as he could. "20!" He heard her shout in the distance. Kid Mighty pulled up the map on her phone. Of course Jam wasn''t aware of the tracker she''d put on him. She knew it was risk with the A.I. in his head usually on top of things like that, but she decided to take the risk anyway. It was currently paying off as Jam continued to bounce from one building to another gaining distance from her. ''This should teach you to cheat at rock, paper, scissors.'' She thought to herself. Under the outside staircase of the nearby warehouse there sat a tarp covered item. Kid Mighty pulled the tarp away to reveal a customized motorcycle that she affectionally called "The Mightcycle". Her predecessor never strayed very far from Might Guy who would fly him around but she prefered to find her own way around. Kid Mighty ran her hand over the beautiful piece of machinery before climbing onto it and starting the ignition. The Mightcycle was powerful, quick and agile, but quiet, which made it perfect for stealth missions. Popping on her helmet, that she had synced with her phone, she zipped onto the street and began following Jam. Jam knew it''d be a bad idea to just keep running. He wanted to win but he also had to prove himself that he could hold his own. What was the best play though? Hide and wait until the half an hour was over or let her get close but stay out of her reach. I''m pretty far already, she might not be able to reach me if I keep going. He continued to run but had to slide to a stop when the roof he was on was the last one before the land gave way to a reservoir. Shit. That''s why she chose this area. Can only get so far. He turned around and jumped back but instead of landing on the opposite roof he jumped through the open window. The warehouse was dusty and had macinery covered in plastic tarps. The smell of fuel was strong but it didn''t quite smell like gasoline. There was an office in the far corner with two easily defensible doors and only one small window. Jam went inside to find a stereotypical office setting, desk, table and chairs all wrecked beyond repair. He sat underneath the window that wasn''t in the eyeline of the doors. Everything was quiet, he couldn''t hear any movement; he couldn''t even hear the wind blowing anymore. All he could hear was his own breath. "Calm down, your heart rate is skyrocketing. It''s just a game." Audrey said to him. Before he could reprimand her something punched through the window, and before he realized what was happening there was an explosion of light from a flash bang. Shit, she took out my enhanced vision first. His vision was blurry but with his enhanced vision he could still vaguely see everything; it would have to do. Jam got up and dived through the open door; climbing onto the railing, he jumped to the hole in the ceiling sticking to the edges of the hole. What he wasn''t expecting was to see Kid Mighty''s smiling face at the edge of the hole. "Tag. You''re it." She said tapping his hand. Damn it! Five minutes had passed and Jam had already been tagged. He would have to rally and get his mind right if he was going to win the game. Jam pulled himself up to the roof but Kid Mighty was already gone. Shit! He took a deep breath in through his nose and blew it out through his mouth. He shook his head to get rid of any lingering effects of the flash bang and his ears finally stopped ringing. "Run a scan Audrey. Find her." Jam commanded. "On it." After turning in a circle again, a red line popped up speeding away from him. "Boost!" Jam chanted a faint white glow forming around his body as all of his stats were increased. Running forward and jumping, Jam overshot the roof completely and found himself falling through another window; this one wasn''t broken. He rolled to break his fall and continued, leaping up through the ceiling again and getting to the roof. He decided to zig zag from roof to roof on opposite sides of the street instead. He pushed himself moving faster and jumping harder, his muscles burned but he fought to catch up to the speeding motorcycle he could just barely see in the distance. Nearly closing the distance, he was only two roofs away when he slid to a stop. "There''s no one on that motorcycle Audrey." "It''s called the Mightcycle." Kid Mighty shouted from inside one of the warehouses below him. Jam looked down to find her standing in the archway of one of the warehouse doors waving up at him. Moving to jump toward her caused her to slither further into the darkened warehouse. Instead of a direct route, he dropped 10 refinement points into adhesive grip. He clung to the wall before crawling into the building through a broken window. Stopping to put 10 refinement points into enhanced vision gave the power new facets. He could now see in the extremely low light though not with as much distance as usual. Peering down he could just barely make out Kid Mighty''s form crouched in a darkened corner watching the door. [ Skill Developed: Low Light Vision Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] Sweet, might not need to keep enhanced vision then. Let''s take her down. Jam crawled across the wall moving closer to Kid Mighty to flank her. He had to be careful, he danger sense would definitely clue her in, he had to jump at her before she could react. However, when he moved in closer he lost his grip on the wall and went loudly tumbling down onto the catwalk; the wall had been liberally coated with oil. Kid Mighty skipped out from her hiding spot, and out the door, laughing as she went, Jam had fallen into her trap. Kid Mighty called the Mightcycle back to her and rode off before Jam could even get to his feet, slipping in the oil that coated him. [ Status Ailment: Clumsy - You''ve been covered in oil, accuracy and balance are reduced by 75% ] "She''s good." Audrey said. "She''s been trained by the best, and she''s always been smart. But, she''s just been rendering my powers useless. I still have tricks." Jam answered before reaching the railing to get to his feet. "Purify." He chanted, the oil disappearing under the green light that encased his body. [ Status Ailment Alleviated - Clumsy ] Hopping over the railing, Jam hit the ground to head for the door. However, when he went to move toward the door he was jerked in the opposite direction. He hit the ground hard before finding himself hanging from the ceiling 20 feet from the ground, slowly spinning in a circle. Kid Mighty was prepared, putting traps on the ground as well. "Damn it!" He shouted, aggravation growing. He swung his body up to grab the rope and climbed up the ceiling. Sitting on the bar that the rope was hanging from, he relieved the stress on the rope and loosened it from his ankle. Instead of going back to the floor, he jumped out of the window he came in from. I''ve still got 20 minutes. Game on. Jam climbed to the roof. He looked down the street and found Kid Mighty standing on top of a roof playfully waving at him. [ Skill Used: Telescopic Vision Lvl 3 - Successful ] [ Skill Level Up: Telescopic Vision Lvl 3 has become Telescopic Vision Lvl 4 ] "Blink" Jam chanted and in an instant he was right behind Kid Mighty, who had already broken into a sprint down the edge of the roof having been alerted to his incoming by her danger sense. Jam gave chase. "You can''t outrun me forever Might Girl" he taunted. His MP was too low to use Blink again or Boost. Leaping to the opposite building he continued to chase Kid Mighty. "Audrey, give me a point of contact. I want to hit her with an airshot." "Give me a minute." She answered scanning the most logical direction Kid Mighty would take. Jam continued running as an outline of Kid Mighty took shape on the building three roofs ahead of where she currently was. "That''s going to be your best chance if she continues her current course." "Good. Air Shot!" He chanted forming the ball of air in his hand. He held it for a few seconds as it charged, his speed never dropping. The MP bar in the corner of his vision dropped quickly. The ball of condensed air blew from his hand quickly as Kid Mighty approached the location outlined in Jam''s display. It smacked into the railing moments before Kid Mighty''s foot was going to come down, completely destroying that area of the roof. Kid Mighty, unable to break her stride, was tripped up and began to fall from the roof. "Shit! I''ve got you!" Jam exclaimed before jumping headlong in Kid Mighty''s direction. It was as if time had slowed down to a crawl and Jam was outside of his body watching himself trying to intercept Kid Mighty before she hit the ground. He couldn''t see her eyes through the cowl but he imagined she was panicking at the moment. He reached his hands out to grab onto her, his fingers traced the lining of her cape but couldn''t grab ahold of it. "Blink!" He chanted again. [ Spell Failure - Blink ] [ Failure Condition: Insufficient MP ] After smacking into the wall of the warehouse, Jam looked back to find Kid Mighty had pulled her grappeling gun and swung away. She rolled onto a cat walk two buildings away. "That was sweet of you to try to catch me. I was tempted to let you." She flirted. "I was just trying to tag you." He answered "Whatever you say!" She mused hopping off of the cat walk onto the Mightcycle and speeding off. Jam scaled the wall and got onto the roof. Think Jam, think. She''s two steps ahead. How do I get her? [ Skill Used: Meditate Lvl 4 - Successful ] He sat down and meditated, it wasted five minutes but he got 20 MP back and relaxed his mind a bit. [ Skill Level Up: Meditate Lvl 4 has become Meditate Lvl 5 ] "Do I have any oil Audrey?" Jam asked "Check your pouch 4 o''clock." She answered. He pulled a four small containers of oil out. I hope this is enough. He checked the clock, only 10 minutes left. Bounding from building to building, he found the Mightcycle sitting outside of a building that looked relatively newers, fewer broken windows and less weather beaten than the others. He decided to search the perimeter, scanning the windows to see what he could find. There were a number of traps littered through out the building from caltrops to snares. He imagined some of the walls had to be coated in oil again as well but he couldn''t see it from that distance. What he couldn''t see, was Kid Mighty''s location, but there was what looked like three office spaces. One was pretty wrecked with one of the walls missing, but the others were still intact. None of them had outside windows, only one of them having a small window looking out on the warehouse floor with it''s blinds closed. It was a good place to trap her if she was in there. Taking a combat knife, Jam stabbed into one of the containers of oil holding it out as to not get any on him and threw it at the doorway coating it in oil. He did the same to the backdoor. Time to try out that dual casting. "Fire fist!" He chanted, his fist igniting. "Air Shot" He followed, air condensing in his hand before it ignited as well, taking the form of a small fireball. When he released it, it flew hitting the door; the door exploded inward as flames leaked out and set the oil aflame. He did the same thing with the front door. [ Skill Level Up: Art of Magic Lvl 8 has become Art of Magic Lvl 9 ] [ Skill Notice: +5 MP ] "What are you doing?" Audrey asked. "Smoking her out. No windows on that side of the building, if she wants to get out she''ll have to come to me."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The walls that Jam figured were probably coated in oil, did quickly catch fire as well. Soon the whole building leaked smoke and flames danced through out. Minutes passed and Jam still didn''t see anyone. "Run a scan, see if she''s in there." Jam commanded. "Can''t." "What?" "You blocked every scan I have. There''s no visual thanks to the smoke, there''s no sound thanks to the roaring fire and I can''t see any thermals also because of the fire. If she''s in there I have no way of telling. You should try running the scan before you set the place on fire." She explained in mild annoyance. "You don''t have an x-ray scan or something? How did you find the hostages in that first simulation?" "No I don''t have x-ray scans, and they were digital constructs. I pinged a signal off of them." "It''s not really a training simulation if you''re cheating Audrey." Jam complained. "You sure you want to talk about this right now?" "Yeah, yeah you''re right." He conceded, taking off his shirt to wrap around his face in hopes of staving off the effects of the smoke. Jumping from the roof, Jam bowled into the room through a window with the least amount of fire around it. His body immediately gave complaint as the heavy smoke in the room assaulted his lungs even through the shirt. Clinging to the catwalk railing, Jam moved forward on all fours. Luckily, Kid Mighty hadn''t covered them in oil as well. The first office clearly had no one in it, with two of the walls missing and it had kindled quickly. The second one office was wrecked, all the furniture moved against the door that Jam had to throw his shoulder into to unblock. [ Status Ailment: Oxygen Deprived - Time Limit N/A - Your body is not getting enough oxygen. Drain: 1 SP per second ] The air in the building got more sparse, quickly replacing with smoke. The mixture of burning oil and plastic caused a bad smell that coated Jam''s throat. Jam''s lungs were heavy and his head was getting woozy from oxygen deprivation; he could see his SP draining quickly. "You have to get out of here Jam." Audrey said. "Not if she might still be trapped in here." One final leap carried him to the last office; he had to reserve his strength to escape. The door was locked from the inside; she had to be in there. Throwing his shoulder into the door, he met with little resistance. The room was filled with smoke but the fire hadn''t touched it, then he fell, hitting the ground hard. His chest burned and his muscles ached. Looking up one last time he found Kid Mighty sitting at a desk, her feet up, lounging back in the office chair, wearing a breather. Then everything went dark. "You lost." Jam heard Kid Mighty say when he regained consciousness. She was sitting in the same office chair, slowly rotating, her legs pulled in. "Yeah. I figured." Jam responded groggily sitting up. He looked down at the pink shirt he was wearing. "Did you dress me?" A grin played across her face. "I did. Losers don''t get to complain." "Valid point." He conceded moving to sit cross legged on the ground. "So, would you like to know why you lost?" "Are you going to tell me even if I say no?" "Yep." "Then sure." "Well, I''ll start with the good." She started leaning back in the chair. "You''re smart, resourceful, your intuitions are good. You plan well, and you remember your skills really well. Not once did you forget any of your abilities, switching between powers and magic effortlessly. Just as good as I remember you to be." "Thanks. And the bad?" Kid Mighty shifted, putting her feet up against the head of the chair and her head toward the bottom continued to slowly rotate. "You didn''t know your enemy and you didn''t take this seriously. I''ve watched you for years and I know the way you think. You didn''t come up with a plan against me because you didn''t think you had to. I''ve been training for years now. I''m experienced with my powers and you just got yours today. Like I said, your instincts are good though, you can make great plans with your powers. If it was against anyone besides me, you may have had a chance. To you, a couple of weeks ago, you were one of the strongest villains on the planet but now you''re just a level 10 hero. You have to remember that. You are no longer invulnerable and you have to think like a hero. The first plan against me you actually made was exactly the kind of thing a villain would do. What if a homeless person was in the warehouse you just burned down? Who would pay the bill for the warehouse anyway? What happens if the neighboring buildings caught on fire and it moved further into the city? Yeah, it was just a simulation but it was a simulated version of a real section of the city where real villains could have been. "You''re right. I guess I''m not ready." "Of course you''re ready. No plan survives first contact and no amount of trainig will prepare you for what''s out there. Maybe you can''t go toe to toe with Thorn or Tigerstripe but there''s a lot of crime out there. You just need to remember that you can''t make mistakes once you''re out there or it''s game over for real. Trust yourself." "So you''ll approve my form?" "Of course not. That was never actually on the table. You were never actually going to win, you just needed some practice against an actual person." "Why not?" "You still need to practice some. Get used to switching between powers. Learn from some of the others here. if after a couple of weeks you''re not verified then I''ll force him to. All right?" Jam took her at her word, agreeing to continue training. One day, in the middle of his second week of training, Cyprus Bleak decided to assist him. { Current Powers: Momentum Negation Psychic Shield +4 (Intelligence Attribute) Vibration Manipulation } "I like this set, could be fun. Too bad you can''t keep all three." Kid Mighty lamented. "Momentum negation feels kind of weird. Let''s see what it can do." Jam suggested. "What do you want me to do?" "Mind riding the Mightcycle?" "I see that going terribly wrong." Audrey predicted. "It''ll be fine." Kid Mighty dismissed. "Let''s do it." Kid Mighty clicked a button on the tablet and the room simulated the Mightcycle. Kid Mighty straddled the bike and put her helmet on, while Jam put 5 refinement points into all three powers. Man, I need to get more refinement points soon. I hate the odd numbers. "How are we doing this?" Kid Mighty yelled as she rode the bike away from Jam. "Drive at me!" He shouted back. Kid Mighty pulled to a hard stop a few hundred yards away. "Are you nuts? You want to play chicken?" "Yeah! Let''s go." "I''m starting to agree with Audrey, this might be a bad idea." "Listen to the woman." Audrey insisted. "Just do it!" Jam demanded. With a groan, Kid Mighty pulled her helmet visor down and revved her engine. Jam opened and closed his hands, concentrating on his powers. A yellow aura started to undulate around his hands. Kid Mighty peeled off closing the distance between her and Jam quickly. He exhaled slowly before thrusting his hand out, a beam of yellow light firing from his hand and hitting the Mightcycle. As if it had never been moving in the first place the bike stopped completely, not moving at all, even to fall down. Kid Mighty did not stop, continuing her forward momentum, she was sent flying through the air toward Jam. Shit! With the other hand he shot out another beam of light and as though gravity didn''t exist, she stopped in mid air. "I can''t move!" She complained, her voice muffled from the helmet. "This feels so weird!" Jam ran up to her and touch her, she dropped quickly into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, ''You''re such an asshole. What just happened?" She grumbled taking off her helmet. "Newton''s law. An object at rest stays at rest." "That doesn''t sound right." "You planning on getting down?" "Nope." She answered squeezing him tighter. He chuckled and walked her over to the Mightcycle before setting her down on the bike. "I''m hungry, wanna get some dinner?" Kid Mighty asked. "I''m gonna keep practicing. I want to use psychic shield." "Oh I know someone who could help with that." Kid Mighty perked up. A tap to the side of her cowl produced a small mic and then a few more taps on her phone. "Hey, are you busy? (. . .) Yeah, I just need you to come to the simulation room. (. . .) I''ll explain when you get here. (. . .) Great thanks." Soon after, Cyprus Bleak came in. He wore a black hood that hid his face in a shrowd of darkness. The only thing that could be seen was the shining metal half mask in the shape of a skull that covered his face, brow to lip and the grey eyes under them. "Nice shirt." Cyprus quipped, gesturing at the bubblegum pink shirt Jam was wearing. "Thanks." Jam chuckled. "Like the new look." "You were right, a skull was the way to go." He responded pulling the hood off with a smile. "Thanks for coming, Cy." Kid Mighty greeted with a chaste hug. "Jam was hoping for some help with a skill he was working with. It''s a psychic shield, but he hasn''t been able to trigger it. Who better to figure that out than you?" "No problem, happy to help." "Why?" Jam interrogated. "Why what?" Cyprus asked back. "Why would you want to help me? Shouldn''t you hate me like Might Guy? Unlike Arcturian, Voodoo Priestess and Universa, you and I have fought against each other many different times. The last time you were surprisingly close to putting me in a body bag. I''m a lot weaker now. Nothing to stop you from cracking my coconut." Jam taunted. Audrey''s orb popped off the back of his head. "Ow!" He barked. { HP: 148/150 } "How about not antagonizing the skull faced psychic." Audrey chided. Cyprus chuckled lighthly before breaking into a hardy laugh. After a minute he composed himself. "I know, this whole situation is strange. I get it. It''s weird for me too sometimes. I''ve been in the hero business for over a decade now. I''ve seen heroes turn to villains and I''ve seen villains try to become heroes. From what Arcturian has said, you didn''t know we were real people. I''ve fought, I''ve hurt, and I''ve killed people. I knew they were real people. In my line of work, you learn not to hold grudges when the world is at stake. As long as you''re trying to be a hero, I''ve no ill will toward you." Cyprus explained, extending a hand to Jam. "Thank you." Jam replied taking his hand. "Well, I guess I can leave, now that you''re not about to kill each other." Kid Mighty deadpanned waving behind her as she walked out. "You seem to really like living dangerously." Cyprus joked. "Unfortunately." Audrey deadpanned. "I believe in living in the reality of any situation." Jam clarified. "I''d rather be shot in the face than stabbed in the back. I refuse to be surrounded by fake people anymore so I want to clear the bullshit out of the way first and see what''s left afterward." "I can respect that. You must love Might Guy then, really puts his feelings on the table." Cyprus chuckled. "At least he''s honest." "Well, that aside. Let''s check out this psychic shield. You don''t kn ow how to trigger it?" "Not really, I can feel it sometimes but I''ve never done anything with psionics. I wouldn''t know where to start." "Well, all powers are affected by emotions. You''d obviously hit harder with anger behind your punch than you would with happiness. Psionics are affected more strongly and directly by emotions. My powers of telepathy work with fear; I believe one of everyone''s fears is not being able to tell what another person is thinking. When I feel joy, I can lift things." Closing his eyes and channeling his energy, Cyprus began to levitate from the ground. "If it''s strong enough I can lift myself." Cyprus flew around the room at a quick pace before touching back down in front of Jam. Cyprus then held his open hand up toward Jam, his face draining of emotion. Jam felt a familiar itch at the back of his neck. "And when I get angry." A purple aura of power exploded from Cyprus'' hand and slammed into Jam sending him flying back. "When I get angry, I can attack with waves of psychic energy." Jam flew through the air rolling onto the ground. Bouncing back up, instincts kicked in and sent him into a brisk run toward Cyprus. Cyprus swung his hand in a wide arc and purple energy flew out hitting Jam hard again. This time Jam was sent rolling back and was laid out in a slump. Pain rang through his body. He''s trying to kill me. Cyprus reeled back, and threw his hand forward like he was throwing a fastball. In a moment of panic, Jam threw his hand up to try to decrease the damage and the purple energy smashed against a crackling blue wall. "As you can see, your psychic shield relies on fear. Your emotions have to be so strong and intense that they form in the psychic world. Not an easy thing to do at all." "Couldn''t just tell me that?" Jam grumbled. "I find demonstrations to be a much better teaching method; it''s how I train my team." Cyprus held out a hand, helping Jam to his feet. "And maybe I''m still a little salty about you knocking me out the last time we fought." Jam shook his head with a chuckle. "What was that about not holding grudges?" "Well, we should probably keep practicing. Are you keeping this power? It seems like your powers come and go from what I''ve seen." When it became apparent that Jam wouldn''t answer he continued. "Yeah, you can keep your secrets. But if my suspicions are correct, you''ll probably need to know how to use psionics eventually. How about a sparring session and we can see how well you can use it in a fight." "Sure." The two of them fought, Cyprus proceeded to toss fly around the room tossing psychic blasts at Jam. Fear was something that Jam was well acquainted with but harnessing it was harder than Jam imagined. A good number of times Jam missed the timing and was thrown hard. Every day he spent training he tend to go to bed in pain but that day was especially bad. Jam didn''t mind though because he was doing the one thing all gamers knew how to do. He was grinding. Things took a turn during the third week. { Current Powers: Vertigo Inducement Levitation Enhanced Accuracy +6 (Deadeye Lvl 10) } His current skills that he could actively upgrade had been maxed and he wasn''t developing new ones. Deciding to take a break from the simulation room, he instead went to the Hall''s weight room. Of course, he just happened to chance upon Camilla and Might Guy working out. Outside the door, he overheard them talking. [ Skill Used: Acute Hearing Lvl 10 - Successful ] Camilla was running on the treadmill and, though she had clearly been in there for a little while, she hadn''t even begun to break a sweat. She wore a brown sports bra that showed off generous amounts of her toned stomach, but it wasn''t overly muscular. Jam thought that she must have the same type of gamer character''s body he did. Might Guy was benching half a ton easily, still wearing those sunglasses. "It''s been almost three weeks Warren. You took me out on my first patrol after a week and I was nowhere near as skilled as he is and you know it." Camilla accused. "I don''t trust him. I get the two of you have some kind of past; I''ve been very understanding of the whole situation, but don''t forget, I am the field leader. I''ll decide when and if he gets to go out or not." Might Guy "You''re undermining the rest of the group keeping him on lockdown. We voted to summon him here. . ." "I voted against it." Might Guy interrupted. "And you were outvoted. He is here now; it''s done. We have no clue what the Lunar King is planning; he''s been quiet for weeks now. Jam wants to help and who knows how the Lunar King thinks better than him. Give him a chance." Might Guy dropped the bar loudly in the holster. Sitting up he stared intently at Camilla. "Why don''t you tell why you''re really so invested. You want to be his hero so you can get with him. Ever since he got here, you''ve been growing more and more distant from me. I''m not blind, I see how you are with him." Might Guy floated over to behind and put his hands on her hips. Camilla stiffened at his touch and might have fallen off but he held her up easily. "You look at him just like you used to look at me." He conveyed solemnly. "What happened to us Kid?" He implored. "I don''t want to talk about this again Warren." Camilla admonished. "I owe you a lot; I thank you for helping me when I had no one else. I''m your sidekick, but that''s it." "It''s him. Like he hasn''t taken enough from me." Might Guy growled. Camilla hit the stop button on the treadmill and turned to Might Guy, placing a hand on his bare chest. "Warren, you know we talked about this before Jam got here. He isn''t responsible for the things that happened in the past and he''s not responsible for us not being a thing." She cradled his face in her hand and he leaned into the touch. "You''re a good guy, don''t ruin that by drowning in hatred. You''re Might Guy, you are always going to be one of the greatest heroes Arcturus has ever known. Let Jam go, let him be a hero and fix his mistakes. Be the bigger person." Might Guy grabbed her hand in his pulling it from his face. "Some mistakes can''t be fixed." Interrupting the scene a loud alarm blared, the lights dimming as a red light flashed. "Hero in danger, any healers on site please report to the med lab." Might Guy and Camilla quickly sprinted into action when the alarm first started. Might Guy flew through the door, nearly toppling Jam over in the process. Camilla only spared Jam a passing glance as she followed Might Guy. Jam decided to follow them. Minutes later, Jam entered the med lab to find Arcturian and a couple of other heroes he hadn''t seen before crowded around a hospital bed blocking his view. "Where are the healers?" Arcturian urged. "We don''t have any on site right now. >tch< They''re all out on missions with their teams. >tch< Voodoo Priestess and Universa are nowhere to be found. >tch<" The man told Arcturian, making a sound that sounded like a typewriter reseting itself after every sentence. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] { Character Type: NPC Name: Rex Alias: GearFreak Race Umparan (Cyborg) Alignment: Good HP: 600/750 MP: N/A SP: 550/600 Powers: Cybernetic Enhancement Technopathy } "Don''t you have any machines that can heal him?" "No. >tch< I can''t identify the problem. >tch< The machines won''t heal him fast enough. >tch< That was the whole point of having healers. >tch<." Jam moved closer to see what they were talking about. When he could get through, he saw LionHead laid on the table, his chest rising and falling quickly. He was covered in scratches and scars, his grey costume, that resembled a military combat uniform, was nearly shredded. The HP bar over his head was dropping quickly as well. Above the HP bar was a small purple box with green lines in it. Hmm. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 10 - Successful ] { Character Type: NPC Name: Malachi Alias: LionHead Race: Lion Beast Alignment: Good HP: 150/4000 MP: N/A SP: 100/6000 Status Effect: Poisoned. -1 HP per Minute Poison Type: Quickfang. } Quickfang, that''s Tigerstripe''s poison. He doesn''t have long. "I may be able to help." Jam pushed through to the bed but before he could get to LionHead, Might Guy grabbed him by the throat again and pushed him against the wall. "Don''t touch him." Might Guy hissed, a red glow appearing behind the sunglasses. Not this shit again. Jam''s hands were grabbing the hand around his throat. [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 10 - Failure ] "Warren, stop." Camilla ordered. "Might, let him go." Arcturian requested. "I don''t trust him." "Are you (. .) really willing to let LionHead die (. . .) over a grudge?" Jam managed to squeak out in between gasps. "You''ve had no problem with letting people die in the past. What do you care?" Fuck this. Jam took a hand off of Might Guy''s arm and put it toward his chin. "Air shot: rapid fire!" He casted, and shot after shot of condensed air blew from his hand. The attack knocked directly into Might Guy''s face over and over again. The attack, that at first just an annoyance, began to do more damage over time as Jam used his vertigo inducement to throw him off. It knocked Might Guy''s head to the side, knocking his sunglasses off and dazing him for a moment. While Might Guy was off balance, Jam then, using the wall as an anchor, pushed all of his weight into planting both feet into Might Guy''s chest. The force of the attack push Might Guy off far enough that Jam dropped to the ground. When Might Guy turned back to look at him, Jam could see that his eyes were bloodshot, his pupils were so constricted they barely looked there, and his pupils had gone from blue to a yellowish color. Might Guy''s attempt to stalk back up to Jam was thwarted when Arcturian and Camilla stepped between them. "Move." Might growled. "Calm down Might." Arcturian urged. "Move." He repeated nearly shouting. "We have no one else here to help. Either you can leave or you can explain to the rest of the HoD why you let LionHead die." Camilla said. Might Guy looked down at her and then to the bed LionHead was in, clearly in pain. He turned and flew out of the room. Arcturian and Camilla breathed a sigh of relief in unison. GearFreak hesitantly moved toward Jam to help him up. "If you don''t mind. >tch< He could use the help. >tch<" GearFreak pleaded. "I''ll go talk to him." Camilla sighed. "Thank you." Arcturian said to her retreating form. Jam made his way back to the bed. If LionHead didn''t have such high HP, he''d be dead already. "Purify" He casted. [ Status Alleviated: Poisoned - You have cured LionHead of the Quickfang poison ] Jam looked at the HP bar again but it was still dropping and the poison status had returned. Think Jam think. "Help me move him. I need to check his fur." Jam commanded. Without complaint, the others in the room lifted LionHead and laid him on his side. "Run a scan, see if you see anything that could be poisoning him." "Got it." Audrey answered. A small blue circle appeared on LionHead''s back. Jam ran his fingers through the fur there and came across a hard object. LionHead''s body twitched when he touched it. Safe to pull out or will he bleed out? Jam inhaled deep and then breathed out before snatching the object out of LionHead''s back. Blood began to leak out quickly but it wasn''t a heavy flow. The object appeared to be one of the iron claws that Tigerstripe wears over her claws. Jam stuck a finger into the wound to see if there were any particles left. "Purify!" Jam casted again. [ Status Alleviated: Poisoned - You have cured LionHead of the Quickfang poison ] This time the poison status didn''t return. Jam put his hands around the still bleeding wound. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 10 - Successful ] The wound slowly began to close and the HP went up a fraction. Jam could only do 200 points of HP with Heal Lvl 10 which was only 5% of LionHead''s total HP. Still the wound closed and a couple of the scratches closed and fresher scars disappeared. "Wow." Arcturian remarked. "He should be ok now, but he''ll need rest. His HP is still really low." "HP? >tch<" GearFreak inquired. "Health points. It''s hard to explain, basically how much life energy you have left." "Is that how you healed his scars as well?" Arcturian asked. "Not exactly. I don''t think scars drop your HP. I know in most games, if you heal naturally, then you''ll get scars. This is the first time I''ve seen heal also repair scars." "Can you do it again?" "Not for another 15 minutes. It has an 18 minute cooldown time." Jam explained. "Interesting. What about that magic spell?" "It takes a lot of mana, so I can''t do it too much either, but most weaker poisons and burns I can fix with it." "I''ve never heard of anyone casting with a single word. I don''t know that much about magic but I''ve seen my fair sure of casters." "It''s a specialty thing. I can''t really explain." "I understand. I don''t mean to interrogate, just quite interested." "I get it big guy. No worries." After 15 minutes had passed Jam healed LionHead again. The rest of the scratches healed but the older scars remained. His SP rose some as well, then it continued to rise but more slowly. "He''s out of the woods now. With time he should be fine." "Good. >tch< We can''t thank you enough. >tch<" "He fought Tigerstripe again." Jam stated. "He does this a lot. >tch< Disappears for weeks on end, hunting her. >tch< Every time he comes back beaten up but this is the first time in a long time he was in such dire straits. >tch<" "We''d have lost him without you." Arcturian thanked him. "Just glad I could be of service." Level Up Congratulations! You''ve reached Level 11. +1 Heroism Point Rewarded All attributes recieved +2 points. All currently known skils gain one level per level up until maxed out at current player level. "I leveled up? Why?" Jam sent Audrey. "You helped someone. You saved an actual person''s life. You get exp for that. You''ll get even more in the future if your alignment changes and you save heroes. Remember support class heroes had to level up as well." Audrey explained. "Oh, right. I''ve never played a support class but that makes sense." Moments later, LionHead''s eyes eased opened. Then he popped up, his fangs bared, ready to fight. Jam''s hand quickly returned to LionHead, grabbing his shoulder. [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 11 - Successful ] LionHead breathed an exhale as his eyes closed. He calmed and laid back against the bed, but only momentarily. He seemed to get agitated as he let out small growls and roars. GearFreak''s brow furrowed. "What''s wrong Kai? >tch<" LionHead tapped the side of his head and GearFreak checked the fur there. GearFreak gasped. "His implant; it''s been ripped out. >tch< The healing closed the wound as well. >tch< He can''t speak." Chapter 10 - The First Step "What do you mean he can''t speak?" Jam interrogated. "His implant was ripped out. >tch< Nothing is transmitting. >tch<" GearFreak answered. "Jam, do the hand movements I show you." Audrey commanded. A series of light blue signs popped up in his HUD, he followed the gestures as ordered. LionHead''s ears perked and his head tilted. He moved his hands in his own gestures. "How do you know this?" The words popped up as a text box in Jam''s HUD, a translation of LionHead''s message. "Keep following the directions. If you want to say anything I can translate." Audrey said. "A special skill allows me to speak with you." Jam signed. "How are you doing this?" Jam sent Audrey. "Omnilinguism. It''s a skill I have. I am using Sharry sign language." Audrey answered. "LionHead is Sharry?" "No but the person who made him apparently is. I noticed from the first sign he did, pointing at his head then brushing two fingers across his jaw. He was saying he can''t speak. I think he did the jaw brushing by habit." "Can you translate for me?" LionHead signed. Jam nodded. "Please tell them that I found and took down Tigerstripe''s lair but I couldn''t catch her." Jam explained to the other two who just looked on in awe at the situation. "You can understand him? >tch<" GearFreak asked. Jam and LionHead nodded in unison. "Honestly, I''m getting less surprised by the things you can do by the moment." "It''s best if you do." Jam deadpanned. "Are you the one that saved me?" LionHead signed. "I am." Jam signed back. "Thank you." "No problem." Jam signed then put a hand on LionHead''s shoulder. LionHead''s paw engulfed Jam''s hand as he tapped it in thanks. LionHead started to stand but GearFreak stopped him. "You need at least a day of bed rest buddy. >tch< Then we''ll see what will happen then. >tch<." "What do you mean what will happen?" Jam translated LionHead''s signs. "You can''t speak. >tch< It might not be the best choice to go out patrolling or hunting Tigerstripe until you can speak. >tch< No one knows Sharry sign language other than certain Sharry people and there aren''t many on this side of the border. >tch< You won''t be much good if you can''t speak to anyone; even if you''re you. >tch<" "I think I have an idea." Arcturian piped in. "What''s up big guy?" Jam asked. "Come with me for a second Jam." He waved Jam over and the two of them side barred. "Did you level up when you helped LionHead?" "I did." "Well, I may have a possible job you can do. I wanted to see if you''d consider it before we asked LionHead." "Don''t swing the lead. What is it?" "Well, you wouldn''t be able to be a sidekick as you would also need a verification for that as well. However, you could be a scout." Jam''s interest waned a bit. "A scout?" "Yes, no verification needed. You wouldn''t be able to fight any villains but you would be able to scout out possible enemy territory or situations and call in the cavalry. This would allow you to go out with LionHead. You can heal him if he gets into any trouble or heal anyone he saves. It''s the best I can do in this situation." Jam sighed. "Ok, I''ll do it if he agrees." "Are you sure?" Role Change: Scout Choosing Scout as role will change your alignment from Neutral to Good. Subsequent powers awarded in power roulette will be based on supporting current role. Do you wish to take on the role of Scout? [ Yes ] [ No ] "Yes." Jam answered Arcturian and the pop up simultaneously. Congratulations: First Role Chosen. You are now a Scout. Next powercycle will reward 3 powers that assist Scouting. Congratulations: Alignment Shifted to Good. Heroes and civilians will not be initially hostile to you without provocation. { Exp Gained. } ''Open your spell book." Audrey told him. Spell Book The familiar blue screen opened up and two new spells had been added. { Spell Book } { Firefist 2 - Mastery 100% } { Air Shot 2 - Mastery 100% } { Boost 2 - Mastery 100% } { Purify 2 - Mastery 100% } { Blink 2 - Mastery 100% } { Shield 1 - Mastery 0% } { Illusion 1 - Mastery 0% } "Shield and Illusion. When did I get these?" He asked her. "It looks like shield you got when you leveled up and illusion you received after you chose the scout role." Show Roles {Roles} { Scout (Current Role) Sidekick Hero Henchman Villain Assassin Mercenary Merchant Healer } Spell Book Shield { Shield 1 - Mastery 0% } { A magical shield is erected to protect the user from harm. The larger the shield the weaker it is overall. Shield can be multicast to reinforce density. Shield remains until destroyed or dispelled. } { MP Cost: 10 MP per use. } Hmm. Ok. Illusion { Illusion 1 - Mastery 0% } { Form an illusion that can mimic look and sound. Illusions are not solid but touch won''t dispel them. Illusion strength is dependent on vividness of image in mind when casting. } { MP Cost: 5 MP to cast +1 MP per second } Both seem pretty useful. Have to test them out later. He looked up to find Arcturian staring at him. "What have you learned?" Arcturian asked. "Two new spells." Jam answered. "We''ll talk about it later. Do you think LionHead would allow me to scout for him?" "Worth a try." Arcturian shrugged. "I''ll follow your lead." Jam nodded. The two rejoined LionHead and GearFreak to which the latter was asking LionHead yes r no questions about his latest hunt. "You''re sure she didn''t say anything about where they could . ." GearFreak started before LionHead tapped his arm to alert him of their company. ">tch< What''s the news? >tch<." "Well, LionHead. I was wondering if you would be willing to allow Jam to accompany you on your patrols so he could speak for you and help you out. He would be your scout." "Have you spoken to Might Guy about that? >tch<" GearFreak asked hesitantly. "Any hero can take a scout without the field commander''s consent. We don''t need to consult him." LionHead stared into Jam''s eyes. His large golden brown eyes were oppressive and intimidating but Jam didn''t back down. LionHead gestured for Jam to come forward and Jam did. A sniff, Lionhead inhaled Jam''s scent. Then LionHead grabbed behind Jam''s head, his giant paw nearly engulfing Jam''s head, and pulled Jam''s forehead against his own. Jam could feel that though the outside of his hand looks like a lion''s paw the inside felt closer to a giant human''s hand. Just like Tigerstripe. That must be how he holds the guns. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. LionHead released him and Jam smiled at him. "You''re strong, I''ll be glad to have you with me." LionHead signed. Then the two fist bumped. "He said yes." Jam told the rest of the group. "Fantastic." Arcturian clapped his hands together. "He is still going to need to rest for a few days. >tch< Also, this isn''t a permanent solution. >tch< We need to find a replacement. >tch<" GearFreak announced curtly. "Why not replace his vocal chords?" Audrey asked. "What? >tch< Even if we could figure out how, what good would it do? >tch<" "You say he can''t speak because his vocal chords can make Dovaran speech, why not just replace them with artificial vocal chords. He clearly understands speech, he is just unable to make it. I don''t see the harm, you can''t make him less able to speak." Audrey explained incredulously. "It''s impossible. >tch<" "Nope." Audrey projected a visual scan of LionHead''s body. "According to this scan, the only thing separating him from speech is the shape of his throat and his vocal chords. If you change those like this. ." The scan changed to show the throat being shifted. "He already understands speech and what words mean. His mouth and chest are both fine for speech, it''s as if somewhere in the evolutionary process he chose to forego speech to use a translator." "Or he''s just not finished evolving." Jam added. "Also a possibility." GearFreak scratched his shaggy brown hair. "I guess it could work. >tch< I''d need time to find the right mixture to go into the fabricator though. >tch< Also, I can''t conduct the surgery; I''m a tech head. >tch< We''d need to call in a specialist. >tch< Possibly from one of the Sharry countries. >tch< They''re more familiar with dealing with unique biology. >tch<" "Good, and until then, Jam can join LionHead out on patrol." Arcturian exclaimed with an assured hand on Jam''s shoulder. "Be off with you then. >tch< Kai needs to rest. >tch<" GearFreak commanded, shooing them from the room. "Prepare yourself. We will be busy." LionHead signed before Jam exited with a quick nod. The next three days crept by as Jam excited practiced his new spells in preparation of the coming patrol. Shield was pretty straight forward, usually taking the shape of a buzzing yellow oval. No matter the size it always seemed to be an oval. The interesting thing he learned about shield though was that it was soundproof on both sides. He encased Audrey in an oval shield bubble and could not hear her protests through the yellow energy. The description was correct however, the larger the shield, the weaker it was. A shield that could cover his whole body was broken easily by two of his own punches, which was a flick of the finger by someone with super strength. While the spell could be multicast, the MP drain was fairly heavy. I''ll have to keep workshopping Shield. There must be other things I can use it for strategically. Illusion was the more complicated one to deal with. It relied heavily on his mental acuity. The stronger he pictured what he was trying to make an illusion of the stronger the illusion was. However, if he lost focus, or if the mental image wasn''t strong enough, the illusion dispelled or became contaminated. [ Skill Learned: Dispel Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active ] The interesting notification came after he had leveled up Shield and Illusion both to level 2. [ Active Skill Effect Added: Art of Magic Lvl 11 ] [ Active Skill: Replenish MP - Once every 12 hours replenish MP completely over 15 seconds. ] Yes! My MP recovery is still too slow for magic to be a major game changer, though. I need to level up so I can get more useful powers. The day of his first patrol with LionHead, Jam awoke with a start from a familiar nightmare. He had been having the same nightmare for weeks now. Always it began with him and Rose together, a caress, fingers running through her hair. He would kiss her passionately, pull her hair back to enjoy her throat; they would move together in a tantalizing dance of bodies before falling into bed. He would strip off her clothes, making sure to take his time, as if memorizing her body. Then he would command her to take off his clothes and she would obey. Some time within the dream Jam would realize that he wasn''t moving his body, he''d become aware that he wasn''t seeing himself touch her through his own eyes but rather watching from a distance. Watching as the two naked bodies writhed against each other, watch his body kiss all the spots that he knows Rose loves. Watch his body touch her in all the places he enjoyed. Hear her moans of pleasure. He''d watch Rose be replaced by Thorn, the tone of the lovemaking changing to a battle of wills, fighting for sexual dominance. He watched his body pin Thorn down and take her, thrusting over and over, kissing and biting in the ways she enjoyed. Watch as Thorn took control, getting on top and blocking his view of himself. She would ride his body hard and fast. He couldn''t speak, he couldn''t move, he could only watch. Then Thorn would move enough for him to see his body again and would make direct eye contact with himself, now wearing a crown of moons and a sinister grin. Every time he awoke in a cold sweat, angrier than he had any right to be. A shower was the only thing that could cool the rage that was burning within him. Someone else was touching his ladies and they might not even know that it isn''t him. Not really. After his shower he made his way to the tech lab with Audrey in tow. He was surprised to find Might Guy and Camilla there already. "Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked. "Hey, just getting my suit repaired." Camilla greeted him with a hug. "Just had a crazy battle with the Ground Pounders. "Oh yeah, that''s that group with the Earth elemental abilities right? Mudman, Rockfist and a couple others." "Rockfist retired a couple years back thankfully. That dick always went straight for the Mightcycle. Do you have any idea how many times I had to repair him?" Camilla grumbled eliciting a chuckle from Jam. "You excited for your first scouting expedition?" "Scouting expedition? What are hunting Titans? Trying to get into that basement? Jam asked incredulously. Camilla socked him in the arm and he held it in feigned, and partially real, pain. "You know what I mean." "I think I am. I know it sounds weird considering my voluntary exile from the outside world but I''ve been going a little stir crazy. The simulator is nice but it feels fake you know. I miss going out in Arcturus, though I''d be a lot more comfortable going out there if I were in my pod right now." "I get it, take your time and ease into it. Malachi will definitely understand, you are the only one he can speak to." Camilla reassured him with comforting hands on his shoulders. "Thanks Cami." He smiled. Camilla''s cheek grew bright red. "I haven''t heard that name since Grandma Gigi passed." Jam ruffled her hair. "I know Kid, I miss her too." "Ugh! You know I hate that." She complained while attempting to fix her hair. Might Guy cleared his throat to remind the two of his presence, his usual perma-grimace cemented on his face. "If you two are done." He inserted before speaking to Jam. "Wilson, since it has been decided, against my judgment, that you will be scouting for LionHead, you will be wearing LionHead''s scouting uniform." "Sweet. I get a costume." Jam didn''t notice the look of displeasure that danced across Camilla''s face. "You can''t be serious." Jam complained moments later, after Might Guy handed him the costume. To say the costume was uninviting would be an understatement. Similar to LionHead''s combat uniform, he was given something similar but it looked like baggy coveralls mixed with tight spandex. They were an unappealing light gray color with brown shoulder, elbow and knee pads. "This isn''t really my look. I mean if I must keep the rest of it can I at least get a different color? Does it come in black?" "You''ll use what you''re given." Might Guy curtly dismissed. "Man this is so unfair." Jam whined as he went into the small changing room off to the side. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 11 - Successful ] { Item: LionHead scout attire Item Class: Costume Item Details: +3 Armor, -2 Speed Suit Skills: None } Stupid thing doesn''t even have any suit skills. +3 armor? How? The material isn''t even thick enough for armor. Sliding his body into the gaudy disaster, he realized it was even worse than it looked. Around his waist was the tight spandex that left so little to the imagination that it would make an adult film star blush. One stray amorous inclination and he may need to get the suit repaired. The suit was equally tight around the wrists, forearms and neck. Considering all of his clothes thus far had fit him nearly perfectly, as if they''d measured him in his sleep, this felt like a blatant middle finger. The rest of the outfit was a couple sizes too large, especially the bottoms of his pants that seemed to splay out. What am I bringing bell bottoms back? ''I changed my mind. I don''t want to do this anymore." He said exiting the changing room. He noticed a pair of eyes immediately traveling to the general area of his manhood. "Hey my eyes are up here." He chastised Camilla. "I''ve made my choice." She quipped. "Must you always objectify me?" She pulled her eyes up to meet his, the flush of her cheeks still apparent and smile meekly. "Yeah you''re right. My bad." She said before turning back to her work, not without sneaking one last peek however. Jam would probably chuckle at her antics any other time but he was hardly in a joking mood at the moment. "You can''t be serious about this Might Guy. I look ridiculous." Jam pleaded. "You wear what you''re given." He curtly spoke again before tossing an item to Jam. "What''s this?" "Your mask." Well at least no one will know it''s me in this monstrosity. "Right again Universa, I did want to see this." Jam heard a familiar monotone voice say. "Might I say Jam, you are quite rocking the look." Damn. Spoke too soon. "Strange enough to admit, it does indeed work for him." Universa agreed floating in with Voodoo Priestess beside her. "Thank you. I guess." Jam deadpanned. "Cheer up child. This moment will pale in comparison to the many horrors you will endure in the near future." Universa said with a Cheshire grin. "I know you''re joking since you can''t tell me the future but that was still absolutely terrifying." Jam expressed. "Jokes are not my forte." "I love your sense of humor." Voodoo Priestess added. "Thank you dear." Universa smiled, squeezing her hand. "Anyway, we came to wish you luck on your first journey outside. As they say, the first step is always the hardest, but fight on." "Thank you, both of you." "Fight on?" Might Guy scoffed "There won''t be any fighting. He''s a scout. He''s not allowed to fight." "It was a figure of speech, Mightbrain." Voodoo Priestess announced. Might Guy''s eyes glowed red behind his sunglasses but Voodoo Priestess just gave him a single finger salute. "I guess I should try this mask on." Jam interrupted the uncomfortable situation. He lifted the mask up to get a good look at it. "Oh come on, you gave me a lioness mask?" Might Guy was almost tempted to crack a smile at that. Almost. The Lioness head mask was a mixture of hard plastics and rubber cloth that would make you break out into a sweat just by looking at it. It was the only thing that fit properly, When he closed and latched it on his head, a pop up appeared. Costume detected Would you like to choose a hero name? Note: This name cannot be changed unless complete costume change. [ Enter Name Here ] [ Yes ] [ No ] [ Maybe Later ] Suggestions: LionessHead LionCub Cubber Lang Sarabi Nala Cosmic Crisis wouldn''t treat me like this. No I don''t want to choose a name. The pop up disappeared and Jam sighed in reservation. Jam trudged to the elevator and made his way down to the lobby entrance of the hall of Destiny. LionHead was leaded against a wall in the lobby typing on the a tablet as a shorter slightly less hairy man stood next to him, apparently waiting to receive the tablet once LionHead was done with it. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ - Successful ] { Character Type: NPC Character Name: Lugar Alias: Half-wolf Race: Dovaran Alignment: Neutral HP: 350/350 MP: N/A SP: 500/500 Powers: Partial Wolf Physiology Enhanced Senses Enhanced Body } Upon closer inspection, the man looked like a werewolf that was paused mid transformation. His face had clearly changed to a snout, but completely devoid of hair until the back of his head. Some places had more hair than others and though he was incredibly ripped his hands were still human. LionHead finished what he was doing as Jam approached. He handed the tablet back to Half-Wolf who gave a quick nod and disappeared without a word. "Sorry if I kept you waiting." Jam signed to him. "What''s wrong?" LionHead signed back. Jam sighed again. "I used to be respected. I was the most feared villain this side of the Sharry border. My name was like a badge of honor." Jam mused wistfully aloud. "Now I''m walking around in a suit like this, I feel ridiculous." He complained hoping to find sympathetic ears. "Did Might Guy give that to you?" "He did." LionHead nodded in understanding. "Well then, get over it. We need to focus on the mission, style comes secondary. I allowed this because I felt that you were strong. Don''t give me cause to rethink my decision." Jam stood a little straighter, easing out of his slouch he didn''t even know he was in. "You''re right sir. I''m focused and will follow your lead." "Glad to hear it. If you''re ready, let''s be off." "Ready." The two moved to leave and Jam came face to face with the front door of the door of the Hall of Destiny. The door opened and a rush of air hit Jam''s face. He took his first step, then immediately he lost the ability to breathe. [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 11 - Failure ] Can''t breathe. Air. I need air. I need to breathe. The sounds of the city, the subtle whoosh of the hypertransit, sound of footsteps beating the pavement. A car door closing there, conversations happening over here, the smells of the crisp clean air that laughed in the face of the big city environment. It was all so overwhelming. Then he saw her again, in the distance, the body. He swallowed hard against a quickly drying throat and shut his eyes but the visual was patterned on the inside of his eyelids. He could hear his mother''s voice, angry and bitter. Reminding him, always reminding him. [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 11 - Failure ] Breathe damn it. He was frozen stiff. Hyperventilating, trying to suck in air but none would come. He opened his eyes again to find he was staring at the ground, he had fallen. He rolled over onto his back and tried to pull at the neck of his costume, trying to get more room for air to enter his lungs. He was making a scene, other people had stopped what they were doing in the lobby to go and see what the commotion was. Kid Mighty spilt through the crowd like butter and was on her knees beside him. She pulled his head into her lap and then flipped her cape up over herself to where it was shielding Jam''s upper body as well, then unlatched the mask. Jam was sweating profusely as well as tears streaming down his cheeks. "Shh." Kid Mighty soothed. "It''s ok. You just built it up in your head. You made a big deal of your first time out and now it''s overwhelming. You''re ok. Everything is ok. Just breathe. Take your time. I''m right here." She softly spoke while gently rubbing behind his ears. Jam began to ease some. [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 11 - Successful ] Jam slowly started to take deep breaths then he wiped his head on his sleeve. He grabbed her hands to stop her and gave them a light squeeze in thanks; then he clicked his mask closed. He quickly got to his feet. "What happened? Are you alright? Do you need to stay back?" LionHead signed though his face still seemed oddly stoic. "No. I''m ok. First step is always the hardest right?" Chapter 11 - Ready to Die Afterthe initial battle with his agoraphobia, Jam seemed to do ok with being outside. The mask helped a lot more than he had thought it would. Hiding his face, walking in anonymity, was somewhat cathartic. The only issue was, the scouting job was extremely boring. LionHead was not a conversationalist by any stretch of the imagination, so they spent much of their patrol watching over the city. LionHead had a bit of a soldier''s mentality and was a stickler for the rules. He was also a bit of a hypocrite since he''d break the rules all the time when he deemed fit. Allowing Jam to actually fight villains or do anything beyond the bounds of a scout was not something he deemed fit for breaking the rules. Jam was his mouthpiece and answered calls across the Desticoms, the communication system for the Heroes of Destiny. It was what they used to give orders or request assistance while out in the field and had ridiculous range. "Fire on 3rd and Claremont. Six confirmed trapped inside, more possible." Juniper the dispatcher announced "Tell them I''ll take it." LionHead signed. New Task Added: Assist LionHead Task Description: LionHead has decided to take a call for a building fire. Take Objective: <> Assist LionHead <> Ensure Safety of Civilians <> Ensure Survival of LionHead Task Reward: TBD Before Jam could utter a word LionHead had already bounded forward and was hopping rooftops. Jam let Juniper know and then followed behind him although much slower. His stamina is still ridiculous. I can barely follow him. LionHead leaped a twenty foot space without issue. "Any chance you can hover me over?" Jam asked Audrey, "I doubt it. I made you a lion shaped grapnel gun, You could try that." She answered. "Not a lion shaped motorcycle?" He asked pulling the grapnel gun from the hook on his belt. "Weird, why didn''t I notice this?" "You were busy with the dealing with the suit. Plus you can''t use a motorcycle yet." "What the hell? Why not?" He argued aiming the grapnel gun at the nearest high roof he could find and getting a running start to swing to the next roof. "Your level isn''t high enough. You haven''t unlocked it. You just barely unlocked the grapnel gun." Jam landed on the distant roof with a sliding stop and unhooked the grapnel. He continued to chase LionHead. "I miss that jumping ability I had. Should have locked that one in." "Could have tried using blink." "And end up blinking halfway and falling to my doom if it chooses to fail this time. Plus I need to maintain my MP. Never know when I might need it." "Good point." Jam slid to a stop next to LionHead who was surveying the burning building. "Stay here." LionHead signed then jumped straight through one of the building''s top floor windows. LionHead moved through the building quickly, using his heightened sense of smell to find where any people might be; though it was difficult through the heavy. Unable to speak he was forced to quickly grab anyone he could find and take them where he could get them to safety. Improper maintenance of one the building had sealed a couple and their young son in the apartment. LionHead quickly kicked in the door; the apartment was filled with smoke and the man was on the ground having tried to yank open the door. The woman was found in the bathtub holding her son and was initially terrified to see the large beast man standing in the doorway with her husband over his shoulder. LionHead held his hand out and the woman hesitantly reached back. He led her to the heavy sealed shut window that led to the fire escape and kicked it out. The window was so thick it took him two kicks just to break it. He lifted the woman and her son out over the broken glass and then set her husband out. He roared loudly and Jam could just barely hear it over the roaring fire. He rappelled over to the fire escape. "It''s going to be ok miss. Can I check you out?" Jam asked. "I''m fine, check my husband." The woman said between coughs. Jam read the status bar above the man''s head. { Name: Van Wilson HP: 2/20 SP: 2/40 Status: Smoke Inhalation } If I use heal now it''ll be 15 minutes before I can use it again. I''ll have to just carry him down. Let''s see. { Name: Rina Wilson HP: 9/15 SP: 40/40 Status: Smoke Inhalation } { Name: Alex Wilson HP: 9/10 SP: 46/60 } "Purify" He chanted. And a white light covered Van and his wife Rina ending her cough. "You guys should be ok now. I''ll carry your husband down. You go ahead." "What are you wearing?" Rina asked confused. Jam grunted in annoyance. "Just go." He commanded. He grabbed Van in a fireman''s carry and hopped over the railing. "Blink" He chanted and a moment later he and Van were on the ground in front of the arriving fire truck. Thankfully the ambulance made it before the fire truck and Jam was able to get Van to the waiting EMTs. "I fixed his smoke inhalation but he''s still unconscious. I think he just needs to rest. His wife and son are coming down the fire escape now. They''re fine as well." Jam informed them. "You LionHead''s new scout?" one of the EMT workers asked him. "First day, yeah." He answered her. "Well, good job. Need a new costume though. That one is terrible." She said her eyes never leaving Van as they got him on the gurney and got him a breathing tube. "Thanks." Jam deadpanned before leaving them behind to climb the fire escape Rina and Alex were exiting. LionHead found himself having to lift a good amount of debris from the floor above away from a door to get inside. Inside the apartment he found the entire living room above had fallen through the floor and there was an elderly couple trapped in their bedroom which had no fire escape attached. He jumped over burning objects and pulled the door clean off of it''s hinges. The couple were seated in the corner of the room on the floor holding each other. LionHead led them out of their apartment and over to Van and Rina''s apartment so they could get out of the already broken window. Jam was already there waiting. { Name: LionHead HP: 5800/6000 SP: 3127/8000 } "Hey, be careful in there. Your stamina is dropping quickly. If you''re going to check the other floors do it quickly." Jam told him. LionHead nodded before heading back into the building. { Name: Emil Russo HP: 23/30 SP: 9/15 } { Name: Vienna Russo HP: 12/15 SP: 11/18 } "Looks like you guys are ok. Not too much smoke inhalation. Can you make it down on or your own?" "I can but I don''t think my wife can." Emil answered. "Don''t listen to him, he has a bad knee. He can''t make it down either." Vienna interjected. "Ok, I need both of you to hold on to me tight. This is going to feel a little weird." Jam said before casting blink again and carrying the two down to the ground. Jam and the couple had moved just in time as a huge explosion had disconnected the fire escape from the building but Jam saw it falling toward one of the fire trucks and a group of people that were standing near it. Shit. Shit. Shit. Think. Jam looked around hurriedly. "Audrey, find me a push target. Quick." He commanded "On it." She answered. "Air Shot!" He chanted holding his hand out and charging up the shot. "Hold it." "Running out of MP. Hope I don''t need to use this later." [ Skill Used: Replenish MP Lvl 11 - Successful ] Upon his MP hitting Zero his MP quickly reloaded. Then a target showed up in the air. "Fire at that. Fast." [ Skill Used: Deadeye Lvl 11 - Successful ] Jam''s vision focused on the target as his hand lined up the shot then he released the air shot. It flew through the air and smacked into the falling fire escape as it reached the target. The fire escape blew to the side, wrapping around the side of the building. "Thank God." Jam exasperated. Suddenly another explosion ripped through the building. "Audrey can you run a scan to see where LionHead is?" "No, too much fire. Sound and Visuals are compromised." A glass crash from a third floor window as LionHead fell through the air carrying a teenage girl under his arm and a dog hanging by the teeth from the other arm. Jam ran up to assist. LionHead laid the young girl on the gurney near the EMTs and dislodged the angry dog. She had terrible burns across her skin. < Name: Miranda Arnout HP: 2/40 SP: 0/60 Status: Burned Smoke Inhalation > "Can you help her?" LionHead signed. "Purify." Jam chanted and the smoke inhalation and burned statuses disappeared but her burns remained. "Is she the last?" Jam asked. "Yeah she is." [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 11 - Successful ] Miranda''s HP and SP shot up quickly, her burns slowly began to fade and her hair even returned. She slowly opened her eyes and was racked by a coughing fit. After a minute she settled down. "Are you ok?" Jam asked Miranda. "What happened?" She inquired groggily. "There was a fire in your building. You were the last one out." She slapped her hands over her mouth and began to cry. "Her apartment was the origin of the fire. It looked like she had an accident in the kitchen and her dog drug her to the closest safe place it could find." LionHead signed. "I''m so sorry. I should have been paying attention. I''m so stupid. Did anyone get hurt?" She choked out between sobs. LionHead signed and Jam translated. "Nothing beyond repair. You are partially at fault yes but you''re young and you made a mistake. This isn''t all on you. Don''t put that all on yourself." Miranda nodded and the EMTs loaded her up in the ambulance. "Can you fix all burns like that? If so we have a whole unit that could probably use your talent." One of the newer EMTs told Jam. "I think it has to be fresh, I''m sorry. I''m more than willing to stop by and try though." "Please do." He said before hopping into the ambulance and closing the door. As the firemen proceeded to squash the flames the press swarm the two of them with their cameras. "Excuse me LionHead. Do you have a moment?" one of the reporters shouted. Jam looked to LionHead who nodded. "Hello everyone. LionHead is currently unable to speak. I''ll be translating for him." "LionHead, was anyone hurt in the fire?" A pretty, young reporter asked. "A few cases of smoke inhalation but nothing major. A few people were trapped in their apartments but they were all taken care of in time." "Do you know what the cause was?" Another reporter asked. "Yes, a small fire that started in one apartment." "That looks like a lot more than a small fire." The young female reporter said incredulously.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Yeah, that tends to happen when the owners of a building cut corners during building." Jam translated, LionHead seemed to growl lightly as he continued signing his discontent. "Doors that won''t open, extremely thick and heavy windows nearly sealed shut, and old building materials that catch fire if you look at them too hard. This entire fire happened in less than 15 minutes from a small apartment fire. No apartment that isn''t soaked in gasoline should go up that fast. So if you want to know the cause, call the building managers." LionHead finished before walking away leaving speechless reporters. Jeez, has it really been less than 15 minutes since we got the call? Task Completed You Have Completed The Task Assist LionHead Civillians Saved - 16 Reward: Exp Gained 500 Delrens +6 Hero Points Level UP Congratulations! You''ve reached level 12. +1 Heroism Point reward All attributes recieved +2 points. All Currently Known skills gain one level per level up until maxed out at current player level. Sweet. Wait, where''d the money come from? "And who are you?" One of the reporters finally found their voice. "The new sidekick?" "No, I''m just a scout." Jam answered. "What are you wearing?" The young reporter asked. Jam walked away. That first scout outing was the most action he would get for a week. Despite his promising actions on that day, whenever the duo got into another scrap, Jam would be put on the sidelines and then talk to the reporters afterward to translate. A bank robbery, that he had to watch from the opposite rooftop. A car chase which he could have probably ended with a triple reinforced shield in front of the car but instead he was told to report back to the Destiny Hall. He received a measly 15 exp every time he translated for the reporters but after four days of it he''d barely gotten over 30% to his next level. Which Jam learned that he had to go into the logbook to find out just how much exp he was recieving, not that he was complaining, he''d much rather know how close he is to his next level. The only upside was that after it had shown up on television, he was able to get a different costume. This one looked more like a ninja garb, still a little big and still the same ugly colors. Also, no suit skills and terrible stats. He also had to continue wearing the mask. It had started to grow on him a little. "I don''t get it LionHead. I helped just as much as you did in the apartment fire. Why am I being benched constantly?" Jam interrogated LionHead in the middle of their patrol. "That first day was a mistake" LionHead signed shakng his head. "Lives were at stake and I gave you more responsibility than a scout should have. I shouldn''t have called to you; I should have gotten them down on my own and let the EMTs do their job." "Then a young girl would have to live with her mistakes burned into her skin." He spat back. "If you don''t want to be my scout any longer than you''re free to go back. I will understand. It''s not fair to you but those are the rules." Juniper came on the line. "Calling all available Destiny members. The Villains of History are wrecking shops in Darlinghurst." "LionHead I''m headed in your direction, I''ll pick you up." Cyprus Bleak said over the Desticom. LionHead nodded. "Roger that." Jam answered. "Head back to the Hall. With Cyprus there I won''t need a translator." LionHead signed. "You can''t be serious." Jam complained. LionHead didn''t bother answering as he hopped off the roof and onto the roof of Carlina, Cyprus'' jeep, that sped past. Damn it! Jam didn''t bother going anywhere instead just hanging out on the roof he was left behind on. He laid on the roof his head resting on the parapet. Character Screen { Character Type: Player Name: Jam Alias: None Race: African American Country of Origin: United States Level: 12 HP: 200 MP: 85 SP: 300 Current Powers: Lightfoot (+8 Stealth) Bo Staff Prowess (+7 Martial Arts) Healing Pulse (+11 Healing, Medic) Refiment Points Available: 24 } "I got lightfoot back. Maybe the scout role reset the roulette?" "You have been here over a month. Almost two now. No matter how large the roulette wheel it does have the possibility to land on the same spot twice." "That''s true. I think I''d consider keeping healing pulse if it didn''t work on everyone else but me. Plus I need something that is going to heal me without me asking it to. Like automatic regeneration." "Well, you''re a scout. It might not happen anytime soon." "You know, if I was still a villain, I''d probably get something cool like a sword or twin sai. But I guess donatello will have to do." "I think its more elegant." "Yeah, well hopefully elegance doesn''t get me killed." Inventory Jam mentally summoned his bo staff. Perfectly weighted, of course, and just a couple inches shorter than he was. He spun it in his hand for a moment. Then he put 15 more refinement points into his Bo staff prowess. "You''ve unlocked a new bo staff." Audrey annoucned before his bo staff digitized and faded out of his hand. "That felt so weird." Jam commented splaying his fingers. A slot opened up in Audrey''s orb and a small silver cylinder popped up. Jam grabbed it and was surprised to find it was barely longer than his forearm. "It''s a bit short isn''t it?" "It''s magic. It extends." Audrey explained. "Really? Whoa." [ Skill Used: Analyze Lvl 12 - Successful ] { Item Name: Bo Staff (Soul Bound) Item Type: Magical Item Spells: Extend/Restrict Shock } "Extend." He casted and the staff extended to twice the size. He casted extend again and it became the size of the previous bo staff. "Sweet a power pole. Too bad I can''t use it." As if the universe heard him, he could just hear a familiar sound in the distance. "Did you hear that?" Jam asked. "I''m not sure. I hear a lot." Jam stood up and leaned his head in the direction he heard the sound. [ Skill Used: Acute Hearing Lvl 12 - Successful ] The sound intensified and he could hear what sounded like automatic gunfire. It was only four buildings away clearly muffled by the thickness of the building. Whatever was going down, the location was chosen on purpose. He didn''t hear any police sirens or anything over the Desticoms. No one must know about it. New Task: Gunfire Task Details: You have heard automatic gunfire in a nearby location. All other heroes are currently busy. Task Objective: Assess the Situation Accept this Task? [ Yes ] [ No ] "You sure you want to do this?" Audrey asked. Jam contemplated for only a second. "I have to at least check it out. I''m tired of waiting on the sidelines." Yes It only took a minute for Jam to clear the distance between the roof he was on and the gunshots. The second he found himself on the roof he got a potentially terrifying notification. { Entering Zone: Villain Hideout Exp Gain X2 } Shit. This sounds bad. Using his lightfoot power he entered the building with complete silence. The gunshots were much louder in the building and he figured it must really be sealed tight. The inside looked like a casino, segmented into multiple areas with different games. It was empty however save for the henchmen working there. Jam crept around in the rafters overlooking the place. He could see a bunch of men and women with automatic weapons spread out searching for something. Every movement was met with a burst of gunfire. Jam had a birds eye view of the scene but he noticed that heads were quickly disappearing from the group. "I can''t tell which gunfire is from who." Jam complained. "There." Audrey said and a blue reticle popped up following a person running high speed in the balcony. The person hopped off of the balcony back into the group of people and landed knees first into one of the men''s chest. Gunfire erupted but the person had already moved. The figure was moving so quickly the reticle could just barely keep up, managing to lose them a couple of times. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 12 - Successful ] Jam''s breath caught as he read the information. { Character Type: NPC Name: Unavailabe Alias: 21 Race: Unknown HP: Unknown MP: Unknown SP: Unknown Powers: Unknown Status: Bound 7-21 rule. } Oh God. "7-21 rule. Didn''t The Inspector say that he only ever killed 7 or 21 people? Maybe it''s more than just a calling card, maybe it''s a compulsion?" Jam asked. "Could be." Audrey answered. Before Jam could move all the henchmen in the room were down and 21 had moved on. Jam shook himself and then rappelled down. He went through checking people, most were just unconscious, still had HP but SP at 0. Plenty were dead as well. Jam lifted his hand in the air and let out a healing pulse that covered the room. Healing pulse was weak, not instantly recovering a set amount of HP like Heal but rather slowly healing the HP as if it were just speeding the natural healing process. Jam felt he''d probably need to save heal for later and he didn''t have the time to try to patch everyone up. Also, they looked to just be incapacitated with very low chances of death. One guy sat up and started coughing, Jam moved to him. "Who are you?" The man asked. "I''m just passing through trying to help. Who are you guys?" "Police. West Empire City PD. We were protecting a witness when we were hit." "Did you see what weapons they were carrying?" "Some kind of long sword and a shorter sword. Maybe a long combat knife. I heard gunshots though so I''m pretty sure he has guns as well. He just moved so fast." "It''s alright. Just stay still and rest. I''ll take it from here." Task Updated Task Description: You''ve leanred that the men with guns are undercover cops protecting a witness. Task Objective: Protect the Witness Jam rappelled up the balcony and moved further into the building where he heard even more gunfire. He slipped through a door that led to a long hallway. He could see 21 in the distance quickly dispatching guards. He finally got a good look at 21 and saw a person wearing a mostly white suit with black outlines, Red triple sevens emblazed on their chest, a red twenty one on their mask. Jam ran to catch up, hoping against hope that the guards would be able to hamper his progress enough. Right as Jam hit another door to enter to a large lounge he noticed that 21 had stopped and was just standing looking at a strangely out of place reinforced door. "Jam. He''s at 20." Audrey told him switching to his ear piece. "What?" Jam sent her as he crept closer. "I kept count as we came. His kill count is at 20. He only has one left if you''re right about his rules." "Jeez, he''s killed 20 people already." "Worry about that later. Focus on keeping yourself and the witness alive." "Right." Jam slid behind one of the couches and looked over it to observe 21. He watched as 21 put small round devices around the reinforced door. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 12 - Successful ] { Item Name: Explosive Area of Effect: 3M } Well, shit. 21 walks backward slowly and Jam sees the detonator in his hand. He sticks his hand out and casts an air shot, The small ball of air fires from his hand and hits 21 in the wrist. The smack causes 21''s wrist to go lame and the detonator drops. With a blink Jam is there catching the detonator before it touches the ground. 21 reacts without even looking at Jam, in one swift move drawing his gun and firing directly at Jam''s shoulder. After hours of working on his mana manipuation with shield, Jam learned to change the color of the color of the shield and instead of a yellow shield he was able to make it nearly invisible. It took him twice as long to learn to stretch it out but eventually he was able to make it into a second skin. It took a lot of concentration to do, it wasn''t something Jam can do on the fly, especially since he had to put tiny holes through out the shield so it won''t be both airtight and soundproof. Preparing for anything, Jam had placed a shield around his body and that he reinforced in regular intervals. Audrey added another measure to his HUD for the amount of damage his shield could still take labeled SH. The bullet bounced off of the shield taking with it a quarter of his SH. Up close to 21 Jam could see that the back of the gun barrel was shaped like a red seven. 21''s sword and combat knife guards and hilts were also shaped like red sevens. 21 turned and kicked Jam hard in the stomach sending him sliding back to a rolling stop. The kick slipped through the shield and dropped an eighth of his HP as well. Task Update Task Description: You''ve come face to face with infamous and unknown assassin 21. Task Objective: Survive Lord, they hit like a brick. "Audrey! Inventory!" Jam shouted and threw the detonator at the orb who caught it and entered it into his inventory. 21 fired a shot at Audrey who let the bullet phase through her. 21 switched back to focus on Jam and went on the attack. Jam sprang to his feet just managing to dodge a punch. Jam stayed on the defensive, not even being allowed to blink as with every breath came an attack that he just narrowly slipped. The suit dulled his responses, made him unable to get a good counterattack in. While slipping another punch his right leg moved to the wrong place and he was unable to move in the right direction to avoid a sweeping of the leg. He quickly recovered rolling into the door. 21 slid his gun into it''s holster and slid his sword and knife out. Seeing it up close Jam realized how much of an understatement that was. Jam cracked his knuckles as he entered his fighting position. "Boost." He casted quietly and watched disappointedly as the 15 MP drained. { SH: 45/150 } { HP: 180/200 } { MP: 50/80 } { SP: 415/500 } With his currently boosted speed Jam was able to duck out of the way of the sword that could have decapitated him. I''m starting to rethink them being unable to kill me thing. Jam summoned his bo staff and was able to deflect the incoming slices from the sword. Back on the defensive Jam deflected swing after swing while trying to get in hits where he could. 21 had yet to say a word and, though Jam managed to get a hit multiple times, 21 hadn''t even groaned. Jam had no indication that 21 was even a person and not some terminator type killing machine. Despite being able to block a lot of them, some cuts still got through, draining his SH bar quickly and he wasn''t sure if he could reinforce the shield that was already there without the concentration it took to make it. Jam pushed his back hard against the heavy door and used his bo staff as leverage to push off and slam his shoulder hard into 21. "Don''t move too far from the door!" Audrey shouted. Jam hopped back within distance of the door. "Why not?" "Those charges could have been triggered by a bullet. The only reason 21 hasn''t shot them is because you''re too close to it. I think you''re right, they can''t kill you." "Sure hasn''t stopped them from trying. They tried to shoot me in the face." "Your mask. I think they were trying to get your mask off. To knock you out." 21 had recovered quickly and stood observing Jam as if contemplating their next move. Then the red of sevens on their torso faded until black outlines of the sevens were left and they put their weapons away. Pushing off their back foot, 21 closed the distance in a blink and before Jam could even think to defend. A punch into Jam''s solar plexis not only depleted his SH but cut into his HP and SP as well; blood exploded from his mouth as he was left coughing on the ground. Without his boosted Defense he probably would have been knocked unconcious. A kick to the head followed and it cracked Jam''s mask. 21 grabbed the back of his suit and tossed him back. "Get Up Jam." Jam shook off the dizziness from the kick and looked at the door. It had a glass window it. Time to try something stupid. "Blink." He casted and in an instant he was in the small room on the other side of the heavy locked door. The room was an office, large with a big beautifully crafted desk and three chairs occupying the space. Jam slid across the edge of the desk like it was the hood of a car and crouched behind it to find a heavyset man in glasses hiding under it. < Name: ? > That''s weird. Something isn''t right. "Are you the witness?" Jam asked. "Don''t kill me! Please!" The heavyset man pleaded. "I''m not here to kill you. I have to get you out of here. Come here, quick." Jam ordered, but the sudden explosion of the bombs caused the man to freeze up. The entire doorway fell back and 21 walked in. Jam grabbed the man''s arm. [ Skill Used: Telescopic Vision Lvl 12 - Successful ] Jam zoomed out into the distance and he quickly casted blink. He and the man were transported out of the office and out in the lounge area. "Run. I''ll hold him off." Jad commanded, but before either of them could move a bomb sailed over the two and 21 shot it in the air making it explode. The hallway ceiling caved in and they were trapped in the lounge. "Shit, is there another way out?" "Fire exit." Audrey told him. "When I say go, run for the fire exit." Jam commanded but the witness didn''t move. Jam grabbed his arm again. [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 12 - Successful ] He then moved, dragging the man beside him to hide his body from 21 but 21 blocked the doorway. "Get down low, I''ll distract him. You make your way to the door." Jam command moving the witness behind a couch before he took off in a run toward 21. 21 prepared themselves for the attack but they weren''t prepared for Jam to cast blink and appear behind them, his momentum slamming him into 21''s back and drive them into the ground. Jam looped his arms around 21 and lifted them from the ground before falling back and dropping them on their head dazing them. Jam grabbed 21''s arm and pitched them across the room. "Move!" Jam shouted and the witness didn''t hesitate running for the door. 21 quickly rallied, got back up, drew their gun and aimed at the man hustling toward the exit. "Shield" Jam casted. He knew that sending it to the witness would be dangerous, making it big enough cover every possible lethal location would make it too weak to stop the bullet. Instead he made a small one close to the barrel that deflected the bullet far enough away. [ Skill Used: Deadeye Lvl 12 - Successful ] Jam summoned his small bo staff back to his hand and reeled back as if tossing a javelin. "Air shot!" He casted at the arc of his throw and the bo staff fired from his hand with a boom. 21 caught off guard from the unexpected projectile attempted to move but Jam casted extend on the bo staff and the small staff extended out catching 21, lodging directly in their shoulder. "Shock!" Jam casted on the bo staff and electricity ran through 21. Jam turned just long enough to find the witness struggling with the door. He moved to kick it in and the door flew open. Both men hightailed it down the fire exit steps Audrey''s orb hovering behind them. "That was smart. I honestly had no clue what to do here. So many possibilities. It''s hard to choose the best one when they all seem equally dangerous." Audrey told him. "Choice paralysis." Jam said. "What are you talking about?" The witness asked. "Nothing, which way do we go to get your out of here." "There has to be cop cars all around here by now. We just need to get to one." The stairs opened back out to the large area with the casino games. Jam could hear 21 moving down the stairs behind them. Jam grabbed the witness and pulled him into a crouch as they moved further into the room hiding amongst the games. "Keep making your way toward the exit. I''ll see if I can slow them down." Jam suggested and they prepared to move away from each other. As the two separated however, a grenabe lobbed through the air. "Grenade." Audrey told Jam. The grenade landed nearly right in front of the witness and Jam ran to the man and pulled him back. Jam threw a shield dome around the grenade depleting his MP. The single shield however was only able to mildly funnel the blast. Jam shielded the witness with his body and the blast sent him flying across the room slamming into the wall. His HP drained to nearly 40% and his boost was running out. Luckily the blast had covered the room in fire and smoke and the witness was still moving. "Audrey. Can you control the bo staff?" Jam asked between coughs. "In what way?" "Can you use the spells?" "Yes. I''m a part of you and it''s soulbound to you. Why?" "21 won''t stop until the witness is dead. I can''t put all those cops outside in danger. I have to stop them now." "How?" "Last ditch effort. You''ll know what to do." Jam told her. [ Skill Used: Replenish MP - Successful ] Jam got to a knee, summoned his bo staff to him and stuck it in his suit. He searched through the smoke and found the witness crouched behind one of the casino games still stanidng but his eyes glanced over to the upper floor to find 21 standing on the bannister looking for the man. The red had drained from the 21 on their mask and the hole in their shoulder had closed and the suit had even been repaired. Jam closed his eyes and casted shield again; then casted it two more times. "What the heck are you doing?" Audrey interrogated. "What I have to." He answered. "Illusion." Then Jam watched as 21 jumped from the bannister apparently discovering his prey. The witness popped up to move to the door but 21 had pulled his gun and lined up a shot. Jam then took off in a run and jumped forward. When he heard the crack of the gn firing Jam casted blink and placed his body inbetween the witness and bullet. The bullet ripped through his chest asternum and lodged in the back of his chest and lodged in his sternum. He crashed into the ground and blood pooled out around him. 21 heard as Jam''s heart began to beat quickly and erratically and then go completely silent. Chapter 12 - The Aftermath "He is #21." Audrey broadcasted in a robotic tone. "Your last kill." 21 growled in frustration, their blade heating up with the fire of their annoyance. They sliced a game machine completely in half and walked up to the witness. Then 21 aimed their gun and fired, the bullet lodging into the game directly behind the witness who sat there frozen stiff in terror. 21 placed the barrel of the gun against the witness'' forehead, burning a circle in his skin. "Spared!" 21 proclaimed in a raspy wraith like whisper. Then 21 turned and ran up one of the still standing gaming machines and jumped from it to the second floor. They then disappeared until quiet pops of gunfire could be heard outside that quickly ended as soon as it started. "This is all my fault." the heavyset man cried out. "I should have done something. I should have fought back." Audrey ran a scan of the area one more time and when she was sure 21 was no longer an issue she casted, ''Shock." Volts of electricity ran through Jam''s body. "What are you doing?" The man''s voice broke into a strange modulated sound as he watched in horror. Jam rolled over and gasped heavily but all he could do was stare up at the ceiling his eyes unfocused. < Name: Jam HP: 20/200 MP: 40/85 SP: 5/300 Status: Hypoxia Blood Loss Partial Paralysis> "Jam, say Purify," Audrey requested. "Purify." He casted in a slurred speech, and the light enveloped his body. He gasped again and sat up coughing hard; a small metal object flew from his mouth onto the ground, and he found it was a bullet. Then Jam took his mask off. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 12 - Successful ] "Lord, I thought I was actually going to die for a second there." [ Skill Learned: Play Possum Lvl 1 } [ Skill Type: Active ] [ Skill Description: Body enters a death like state for 3 minutes ] That would have been helpful a little bit ago. Task Completed You Have Completed the Task Gunfire Civilians Saved: 16 Reward: Exp Gained 7000 Delrens +8 Heroism Points Level UP times 12 You''ve survived a fight with an enemy of an unknown level higher than you. Congratulations! You''ve reached level 24 One power lock token Rewarded. +12 Heroism Points Rewarded All attributes received +2 Points per level All Currently Known Skills gain one level per level up until maxed out at current level Sweet. I finally have a power lock token to spare. "What the hell is going on?" the modulated voice of the witness asked. "What happened to your voice?" Jam inquired. The witness pulled off his head and Jam scrambled back in a panic until his back hit a machine. < Name: The Inspector Lvl: 48 HP: 2753/3000 MP: 25/25 SP: 6250/8000> Jam let out a sigh of relief. "A little warning next time before you rip your face off. Wait was this some kind of test? Did I fail?" "No, just a prideful mistake. Now explain," the Inspector commanded. "Oh, I used my shield to make a soundproof cover around my heart and I used illusion to make a replacement heart. I couldn''t determine their power so I wasn''t sure if 21 was using enhanced senses to determine if their victims were dead or not but the only choice was to take a chance." "But the shield closed his arteries nearly shut and his blood wasn''t pumping enough to get air to his brain. I used shock to break the shield and let his heart beat properly." Audrey angrily explained. "How did you know that it would work?" Inspector asked. "He didn''t" Audrey exclaimed as her glowing red orb bounced off the back of Jam''s head. Jam rolled on the ground in pain from the sudden head blow. "If it wasn''t for his enhanced physiology he''d be dead right now." "I didn''t have to deal with this when I had Jack." Jam complained. "I''m sure you weren''t trying to get yourself killed every 2 seconds with Jack." Audrey shot back. "You hit me again and I''m using that orb as a baseball." Jam threatened. Audrey''s catalyst didn''t have a face but he knew she was giving him the evil eye. "We should probably get out of here," The Inspector interrupted. "Right," Jam agreed. The Inspector slung Jam''s arm over his shoulder and helped get him through the door where they were met with police officers who helped them to a patrol car. After giving reports at the police station Jam was given a ride back to the Destiny Hall. Jam immediately went to his room and jumped in the shower and changed his clothes. After his shower he went to the tech lab to put up his suit where he found GearFreak working on one of his machines. "Hey, GearFreak. Are Universa and Voodoo Priestess here?" Jam asked him. "Check the simulation room. >tch<" He answered not looking away from his machine. "Thanks." "I''ve figured out a fix for LionHead''s situation. >tch< Maybe not as fancy as your vocal chord idea but it should be good enough for now. >tch<" GearFreak announced coldly. "Well, as long as he can speak for himself, any idea is as good as another." "Sure" Jeez, can barely see his head over that giant chip on his shoulder Jam didn''t bother to continue the conversation and grabbed an elevator up to the simulation room. He looked at the second tablet hanging in its holster and saw Voodoo Priestess hovering above the ground meditating with Universa hovered nearby. The pair were on a beautiful grassy hill. Jam knocked on the door. When the room was being used, the door couldn''t be opened without turning the simulation off. Universa tapped Voodoo Priestess on the shoulder and spoke something to her. Voodoo Priestess spun her fingers through the air, a yellow electricity forming a circle in the air and then a yellow portal made of buzzing electricity formed in front of the door. Jam stepped through the portal and was transported into the room. "Hello Jam." Universa greeted him. "Hey Universa. I could have just walked through the door," Jam commented. "And interrupt this beautiful landscape?" Universa injected putting her feet on the ground and moving to greet Jam. "It is quite beautiful. Reminds me of a movie I saw when I was younger."Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. "I do not believe these hills are alive though." Universa spoke. "Weird, you know about Earth movies?" "I know about a lot of things. though I feel this is hardly the time to explain." "Yeah, why am I sensing two different mana signatures from you?" Voodoo Priestess inquired. "Oh right," Jam exclaimed before reaching into his jacket and producing his bo staff. "It''s a magical item. I was wondering if you have any more materials like this?" Voodoo Prietess scanned over the item with amazement, her white pupils glowing brighter than usual. "Where did you get this?" "It''s associated with my powers. It was made for me." "Are you channeling your mana into it?" "I''m sorry?" "Do you have to be holding it to use it?" Universa clarified. "Oh, no." Jam tossed the staff lightly into the air and casted extend. The bo staff extended and then landed back into Jam''s hand. "I''ve never seen anything like it." Jam''s brow furrowed. "What about your crystal ball?" "It is quite different," Universa answered. "The ball, like her staff, is a mana catalyst. It can be filled with mana but has to be used almost immediately." "Mana doesn''t like to be stored for later. Enchanting items is an incredibly hard thing to do. My staff is used to funnel my stronger magic to help concentrate it, so its uses are more open, but it took years of work on it to get it right." Voodoo Priestess explained. "Most mana catalysts, like the ball, have to be made for a specific use. Also, the mana catalyst do not have their own mana signatures, but rather use the same signature as their users." "Your staff has its own signature. It has its own mana pathways. It doesn''t rely on your mana at all. Most nonliving beings don''t have mana pathways. May I hold it?" Voodoo Priestess asked in reverie. "Sure," Jam shrugged. However, as soon as he let go of it in her hand, one end gained enormous weight and it flipped out of her hands. Jam smacked his forehead, "Sorry it''s soulbound. It will only let me. . " Before he could finish the sentiment Universa picked up the staff easily. "Hmm. That''s unexpected." Universa held the ends of the staff while Voodoo Priestess inspected it. "The mana, it''s so calm. Tranquil. It''s almost enviable how perfectly balanced the mana is, but it feels like it can be open to so much more improvement as well." "Indeed," Universa agreed. "It is a shame you shall not be keeping it. I imagine it could become an incredible tool with the right amount of refinement." "Yeah. You know, Thorn has a set of magical hammer axes that seem similar. I wonder if they''re the same kind." "They could be, I''ve never met Thorn in person but I would love the chance to study her magical weapons." Voodoo Priestess reverently ran her hand along the staff one more time before Universa handed the staff back to Jam. Vooodoo Priestess went back to meditating and Jam and Universa stood together. It really was a peaceful hillside. Jam could smell the clean grass, and feel the gentle breeze against his neck. "No it does not." Universa proclaimed breaking the comfortable silence. "I''m sorry?" "I apologize. I thought you asked if it ever gets boring staying with her as she meditates." Jam nodded, "I guess I was thinking it. It must get kind of dull." "I do not perceive time the same way as others. Sometimes, hours or even days can pass in seconds, while other times a moment can last years." "I usually see you two together, do you ever do things without each other." "We do go our separate ways to do things, it is rough. She is my blind spot." "What do you mean?" "As I said before, I can see almost everything, past, present and future. However, when it comes to Allison, I can only see her with my own eyes in the present. My divine sight can not find her. I have seen many funerals and see many more to come, and I have no idea if she may be in one of those caskets. She probably will not die, but she may. If she were to die when I was not around to attempt to save her, I do not think I could cope with that." "Wow, that''s heavy. I know you really care about her." "I love her with all that I am. I would traverse worlds and defy Gods for her." "I''m sorry you have to deal with that." "Thank you, I am sure you know how it feels. The one person you love most being the only person you can not see." "Yeah." Jam agreed solemnly. Another banging knock on the door of the simulation room. Universa looked to Jam with a troubled smile. "This one is for you." She said and touched a finger to his forehead. Instantly he was transported out of the room and behind LionHead. "Meeting Room." LionHead commanded, a black box attached to a collar around his throat broadcasting his words in a surprisingly natural voice. Jam walked to the elevator and was met by the Inspector who was also summoned to the meeting room. The three rode the elevator in silence and walked up to the Heroes of Destiny meeting room. When they entered the room Jam had been expecting the rest of the HoD to be there but MIght Guy, standing facing the window, was the only person in the room. He didn''t turn to face them when they entered. "You can leave." Might Guy announced and LionHead complied. "Sit." He ordered. Jam begrudingly took his seat at the end of the table and The Inspector took his seat. "Would you mind explaining exactly what happened Inspector?" The Inspector sighed and began. "The West Empire PD recently flipped Karl Muldoon to get him to testify against his boss Austin Amerilla, head of the Amerilla crime family. He was placed under witness protection and I took his place just in case they attempted to make a move on him. We decided to hold up in the New Empire Casino, one of the locations we seized from Amerilla. It was the most easily defensible and it had an office with an extremely strong door. Anyone without major physical strength would need explosives to take out this door." Might Guy sat in his seat his sunglasses covered eyes boring into The Inspector. The Inspector''s gloved hand came and presumably scratched the back of his invisible head. "We figured that if Amerilla did send anyone after Muldoon, it would be some low level grunts he could sacrifice. Even if he sent someone with powers, the weaponry they were working with could have held them off until back up could arrive. We hadn''t expected them to strike when the HoD were preoccupied with the VoH." He paused for a pregnant moment his hands clutching each other on the table. "We also didn''t expect them to send 21. We were overpowered quickly and I knew that if I didn''t act the role of Muldoon, 21 would have left to find him and we weren''t sure how they found us in the first place so we couldn''t risk it. I hid in the office but they dispatched the officers quickly. That''s when lion scout Wilson tried to intercept them." "And what exactly were you doing on the scene Wilson?" Might Guy interrogated coldly. "According to LIonHead, you were ordered to return to the Hall, so how did that result in you interrupting a hit?" Jam chuckled awkward. "Well, yes I was ordered to come back here. When I was taking a break on a roof I heard gunshots. Nothing went out over the Desticoms so I concluded that no one else knew what was going on. Seeing as the HoD were busy and none of the other hero groups were close enough to respond, I decided to investigate." "In other words, you disobeyed orders and took it upon yourself to investigate." Might Guy interrupted. "Yes." Jam responded concisely. "You could have reported the gunshots over the Desticoms and let Juniper send out the message." "I could have." "But you chose to stick your nose in where you shouldn''t have." "Yep. I decided that I was done sitting on the sidelines. I was brought to this world against my will and I have not complained once; all I wanted was the chance to go out and do what I was brought here to do. I get it, you don''t like me, and I don''t particular like you either. I''m also not going anywhere, so I don''t get what it''s going to take for you to stop fighting against what I was brought here to do and just let me go." "I agree with you on one thing. You''re not going anywhere. After your actions today, you''ve been removed as LionHead''s scout." "What? You can''t do this, he saved my life and you''re taking away his rank?" The Inspector complained. "Already done. Congratulations, you''ve gone back to being remanded to the hall of destiny until further notice." All the expression left Jam''s face as he stared at Might Guy, with a distant and unsettling intensity. "Are you sure you want to keep making an enemy out of me?" He asked chillingly, his hands clenching into fists. "You can go now." Might Guy dismissed and turned his chair around to face the window again. Jam stood so fast from his chair nearly fell over and marched from the room. "Wilson, wait!" The Inspector shouted jogging to meet Jam at the door. "It''s Jam. Or Jamal. Not Wilson," Jam answered. "Jamal, I''m sorry for what happened in there. Though I have to say I agree with the decision of you not going back out there as the Lion Scout," The Inspector said. Jam raised a questioning, slightly annoyed, eyebrow. "You owe 21 a life now. If they believe they didn''t kill you, they will hunt you down." "I guess that''s true. I shouldn''t have been there in the first place. I guess I only have myself to blame." "Thank you though, for what you did in there." "Don''t worry about it, not like I was needed. Nobody who survived was going to die anyway; the best I did was save them a couple months of healing times. Besides, you were there, you could have handled it." The gloved hands of the Inspector wringing was the only indicator Jam had of his trepidation. "What?" "I lied in there. I wasn''t just pretending to be Muldoon. When I saw 21, there was a darkness unlike any I''ve ever witnessed; it was almost otherworldly. I froze with fear and things progressed so quickly. They cut through the officers like they were nothing and I ran. It''s my fault they''re dead." "It''s 21''s fault. Don''t put that on yourself." "I don''t understand how you were able to fight 21." "Someone had to. I had the power to help so I was obligated to do so. If you have the power to do something and you don''t you''re partially responsible. I didn''t want that on my conscience." "Laying it on a bit thick aren''t you?" Audrey deadpanned. "Shut up." He sent her. "Please Jamal, take this." Inspector pleaded, placing a small cube in Jam''s hand. { Item Received: Power Nullifier (Prototype) } { Item Description: Remove the powers of any super in affected area for one day. } { Area of Effect: 3M } { Item Note: 10% chance of removing powers permanently including the user''s } "A power nullifier? How in the world did you get your hands on something as dangerous as this?" "It''s a prototype my company has been working on. It may very well be the only way to defeat the Lunar King." "Why give it to me?" "I was apprehensive about you when you first came; then I saw you fighting and I began to think you may be our best chance of taking him down" "But why me? Might Guy is much stronger, clearly." "You put your life on the line today for a single person you didn''t know. The nullifier is a quick fire device. There are no lingering rays, so it is potentially very dangerous. If someone comes in after the nullifier is triggered, you''d be nearly defenseless. Also, this is a prototype, we tried to program it so that the effects only last a few hours but there is a high possibility that it could remove your powers permanently. What you did today may have been extremely reckless but it proved to me that you could make a difficult call. Might Guy can''t make those kinds of tough calls." Inspector explained while pressing the elevator call button. "What''s to stop me from using this on the HoD and calling the Lunar King?" Jam asked incredulously. The Inspector chuckled. "You''ve earned the trust of the Arcturian and the Magical Girls. None of them trust easily," He said as he got on the elevator. "And, if you do turn on us. I probably won''t live long enough to regret it." Jam tapped the call button again and got on as the elevator arrived. On a screen at the back of the elevator there was a news report about the HoD taking on the VoH. "Who are the Villians of History anyway?" Audey asked him. "It''s a group of villains who are direct enemies of the Heroes of Destiny. It''s one of the groups that popped up after I started uniting the villains. I was going to join them, I was still pretty mid level when they came about so I doubt they would have let me lead. I didn''t love the name though, sounds kind of silly; it sounds like a group of time displaced evil guys ran by Hitler." Jam answered. "I could see that. Hitler, Genghis Khan, and a really confused Albert Einstein forced to make their weapons." Jam nodded as he watched the news report; an attractive reporter was questioning Might Guy who wore a cocky grin. Jam''s annoyance and anger returned as that cocky grin mocked him. So that asshole can smile. Just only when the cameras are on. Jam went to his room, keyed in his code to unlock the door and entered. He slid his jacket off of his shoulders and chucked it onto his chair. Then he felt a familiar tingle at the back of his neck. What the hell? "J-j-jam. Jam some. . something is is is. Jam something is w-w-rong. Something is wrong-g-g" Audrey stuttered and slurred as she glitched and her orb faded away. "Gosh you''re boring me." A familiar voice said from behind him. Chapter 13 - End of the Road Kid Mighty rappelled over to her balcony and slid into her studio apartment through her glass doors. Her apartment was small, only about double the size of the deceptively roomy balcony. She had modeled it after Jam¡¯s apartment, the full sized bed, the rotating recliner, the TV screen in the wall and the treadmill. It was the only place she felt comfortable in without her grandmother. She knew it was unusual but people cope in their own ways, and she had had a lot to cope with on this alien planet. Something needed to be the same, even if it was just a similar apartment style. Now that Jam was on Arcturus too, she thought about changing it but what in the world would she change it to? She liked it this way, that was the whole point. Not that it was like Jam¡¯s but that it was comfortable. ¡°June. I¡¯m off of patrol for the night.¡± Kid Mighty said into the desticom in her cowl. ¡°You got it. We still on for drinks tomorrow?¡± Juniper asked her. Tomorrow? Did we make plans for tomorrow? ¡°Of course. Don¡¯t work too late tonight.¡± ¡°No chance of that. See you tomorrow Kid.¡± ¡°Night,¡± Camilla said before removing her cowl. At her front door, she checked the security measures she put by the door to see if anyone had been in her apartment. She didn¡¯t believe anyone would break into her apartment, but better safe than sorry. Then she took a shower and changed into her civilian clothes. Her home phone rang and she picked it up quickly. ¡°Hello?¡± She greeted then immediately moved the phone back from her ear. ¡°Hey Cameron, I forgot to tell you. Jeannie invited us out to drinks tomorrow. I accepted on your behalf.¡± Her friend Estelle bellowed into the phone. She had an issue with being too loud, although she would say other people were the ones that had the problem with it. Cameron Dodds was Camilla¡¯s secret identity, an artist and freelance photographer. Camilla had always loved to paint though she never felt all that good at it. Instead for most of her career so far she just copied paintings she knew from her art classes on Earth. Her enhanced senses made her an excellent photographer as well, able to catch a photo no ordinary person would have. Her abilities made her able to reach places, ordinary people wouldn¡¯t be able to either. Although, she hated using her status as Kid Mighty to take pictures, she did enjoy using her skills to find the best compositions. The transient nature of her job made keeping weird hours and disappearing for days seem normal, though the attention she garnered was a bit undesirable for keeping a secret identity. Camilla headed out of her apartment and down to check the mail. Halfway down she was met by her neighbor Annie Schaal who was the landlord¡¯s wife. ¡°Ah Cameron. I didn¡¯t see you get home. Are you going to the tenant¡¯s association meeting?¡± Ugh God, again? How many of those do we need. ¡°Hello Mrs. Schaal. I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ll check my calendar and get back to you.¡± ¡°Did you hear about Allistairs? I hear they¡¯re getting divorced.¡± She whispered leaning in conspiratorially. Camilla tended to wonder if Mrs. Schaal didn¡¯t have her 15 years younger husband get a job here just so she could snoop. That¡¯s a fact she never liked being reminded of, the age gap between her and her husband. ¡°Nobody ever seemed to care when we were just dating but somehow after the vows were said people got real judgy. I guess they don¡¯t care if we¡¯re screwing just don¡¯t think the age gap is conducive to a permanent relationship,¡± she had drunkenly told Camilla one night. Camilla thought maybe she felt guilty about it and that¡¯s why she was always in everyone else¡¯s business. Nothing to feel guilty about, they¡¯re both consenting adults, was Camilla¡¯s opinion. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear that. I¡¯ve had a really long day though Mrs. Schaal and I forgot to grab my mail on the way in. I¡¯m going to get it so I can hit the sack.¡± She said before pulling herself out of Annie Schaal¡¯s gravitational field and hustling down the steps. Getting to the mailboxes Camilla pulled her long sleeve shirt sleeve up and tapped a setting on her phone. [ Skill Activated: Scan ] She scanned the mailboxes with her watch to see if anything risky was in her mailbox. There was always the possibility that a villain figured out her location and sent her a bomb. Finding nothing of concern she checked her mail and headed back to her apartment. She laid her mail on her kitchen island when she heard a noise behind her that surprised her. ¡°I really wish you would move in with me. My place is so much bigger than this one.¡± Might Guy said sitting in her recliner. She groaned in annoyance. ¡°Why are you in my apartment Miles?¡± ¡°I just wanted to check on you and see your face. You slipped away so quickly after the press interview, I didn¡¯t even get to see how you were doing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine Miles. I told you not to come to my apartment anymore. If you need anything you can call or find me at the Hall. This is extremely inappropriate.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re making such a big deal out of everything now. You¡¯re so touchy lately. How about I grab some snacks and we can watch a movie together, like old times.¡± ¡°I told you before Miles. I need space right now. We can¡¯t just hang out like we¡¯re best friends.¡± ¡°Come on.¡± He coaxed floating over to her and wrapping his arms around her stomach. ¡°Let¡¯s watch a movie.¡± He whispered in ear and kissed her on the side of the neck. [ Powers Locked Powers: Prime Condition Enhanced Senses Unlocked Powers: Minor Restoration Tech Prowess Danger Sense Slots Open: 0 Power Lock Tokens Available: 1 ] [ Use Power Lock Token? ] [ {Yes} ] [ No ] [ Which Power Would You Like to Lock ] [ {Minor Restoration} ] [ Tech Prowess ] [ Danger Sense ] [ Power Locked: Minor Restoration ] [ Last Hero Touched: Might Guy ] [ Powers: Amplification { Insufficient Level } Flight { Insufficient Level } Heat Vision { Insufficient Level } Energy Projection { Available } ] [ Add: Energy Projection? ] [ {Yes} ] [ No ] [ Power Added: Energy Projection ]Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! After quickly pressing the keys into her phone, Camilla threw a blue ball of energy over her shoulder, directly at Might Guy¡¯s face. He released her and stumbled back and the unexpected impact. ¡°What the hell Camilla?¡± He thundered. She walked up to him a blue ball of energy slowly growing larger in her hand. ¡°You¡¯re not invulnerable Miles. At this range, this will hurt a lot. I¡¯ve told you multiple times to keep your hands to yourself. ¡°After all I¡¯ve done for you and you treat me like this?¡± He fumed, red light glowing from under his sunglasses. ¡°And you¡¯ve continued to throw that in my face. I¡¯ve thanked you multiple times and I¡¯ve done plenty for you as well Miles.¡± She argued. ¡°Stop calling me that!¡± He raged. The energy around her hand dissipated as she the hand dropped to her side. ¡°I¡¯m done with this.¡± She wearied. ¡°What?¡± Might Guy shrank, the anger that boiled inside him subsided. ¡°I¡¯ve tried Might Guy; I¡¯ve tried to support you and help you but I¡¯m done with this. I don¡¯t want to be your sidekick anymore.¡± The exhaustion from the day and the weariness of the situation weighed her words with an extra sense of finality. ¡°You don¡¯t have a choice. You¡¯re my sidekick. It¡¯s either me or nothing.¡± Camilla grabbed her Kid Mighty suit and tossed it to him, then walked to the door balcony door and slid it open. ¡°Then I choose nothing. Please leave.¡± ¡°Cam. Don¡¯t do this.¡± He pleaded meekly reaching out to touch her. ¡°Leave!¡± She shouted in frustration. Just then Might Guy¡¯s phone began to ring. He slid it in from his pocket. ¡°Yeah?¡± he answered. ¡°Wait back up what happened? (. . .) Why was he even there? (. . .) I¡¯m on my way. Tell LionHead I want them in the meeting room.¡± He hung the phone up and tossed her suit on the chair. ¡°I have to go. We¡¯re not done talking about this.¡± ¡°Yes. We are.¡± She told him before he flew off into the night. Camilla locked her balcony door. A weight had been lifted off of her shoulder but she was still drained. She didn¡¯t even have the energy to think of what might have gone on at the Hall of Destiny. That might not be my problem anymore. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. She dreamt of better times; helping in the kitchen with grandma Gigi, listening to Gigi sing when Camilla played her keyboard that she found at the pawnshop. She dreamt about the time Gigi taught her to ballroom dance. When Jam would invite her over for movie night, how he always got her a gift on her birthday and Christmas, which he ordered online of course. Watching Jam play and seeing just how different he was in the game; watching how flustered he¡¯d get when she flirted with him. That had been enough for her, that simple life, she was happy. Now she was on this world, she was used to it by now but she still missed the simple life. Jam was here now but they felt like different people now; sure she could still flirt and mess with him but there was no denying things were different now. She was different. She was older and more experienced, and the age gap between them was almost nonexistent now. If she ever had a chance to be with him, it¡¯d be now, but she couldn¡¯t afford to take that step right now. Their lives were on the line; but wouldn¡¯t their lives always be on the line? Jam needed a mission; he needed to win. He always did. He¡¯d always be risking his life. Maybe it wasn¡¯t so bad that Might Guy wouldn¡¯t let him out, Camilla did get to spend time with him, even if it was just for training. Camilla was woken up by a sudden hammering headache. She could hear her phone ringing. Getting up from bed, she decided to let it go to voicemail while she went to grab a glass of water. However, whenever she moved, she noticed the ringing followed her. Annoyed, she grabbed the phone from the holder but her home phone wasn¡¯t ringing. What the hell? She looked down at her arm and realized it was that particular phone that was ringing. It had never rang before, it connected to towers here so she could use the internet but no phone call could reach her on Arcturus from Earth; not that she had anyone willing to call. Her brain drummed too much from the call for her to think about the possible repercussions of answering it. [ Answer Call? ] [ {Yes} ] [ No ] ¡°Camilla? Can you hear me?¡± Audrey¡¯s concerned voice and a hologram of her orb projected from Camilla¡¯s watch. ¡°Audrey? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Camilla asked. ¡°You have to get to the simulation room. Now!¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Camilla asked as she keyed in a call for the Mightcycle to come to her location. ¡°It¡¯s Jam, he needs you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m on my way.¡± She answered getting her suit on. Kid Mighty hooked grappling hook onto her balcony and jump off the side rappelling down, the Mightcycle rolling in under her. In minutes she was at the Hall of Destiny and in less time she was on the elevator heading to the simulation room. Audrey¡¯s orb hovered outside the door as she arrived. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Look for yourself. He¡¯s locked himself in the simulation room and I can¡¯t get him out. I¡¯ve tried talking him down but he won¡¯t listen to me. I think he¡¯d listen to you.¡± On the screen was the footage of Jam inside the simulation room. He was in the middle of the city fighting a near endless supply of robots; they were round balls that had four tentacles with claws that looked like terrifying versions of those impossible to beat claw games. Jam was holding his own, but he wasn¡¯t fighting like he normally did. He was brutalizing them; he took one robot and spun it around knocking it into another. A blue flame encased his hand, as his firefist was upgraded again. He opened his hand, straightening it like a blade and casted firefist several more times, the flame intensified like a blowtorch. He used it to cut the tentacles off of one of the robots before it faded away, then kicked the body of the crippled robot into one of the others. Every robot that attacked him he ripped through like tissue paper. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡± Camilla asked. ¡°Earlier when we got back to his room, something went wrong and I went offline somehow. Whatever happened then, something messed with his head. He¡¯s been in there in a rage ever since. He has been fighting nonstop for over 2 hours and hasn¡¯t slowed down at all. He¡¯s going to kill himself.¡± Kid Mighty tried turning off the simulation but was locked out. ¡°He locked it. Can¡¯t you shut it off?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t get into the systems for the simulation room, they¡¯re isolated somehow.¡± Jam hunched over, clutching his head and screaming in pain. Camilla had to cover a gasp as the robots took the opportunity to grab his arms and legs, drag him to the ground and dogpile him. Camilla almost dropped the tablet as she tried beating on the door and attempted to pry it open. Suddenly through the cracks a red light shone and then explosions as the robots were blown away from Jam and he floated off of the ground. A yawn came from behind Camilla and she turned to find that Universa and Voodoo Priestess had teleported in behind her. ¡°Universa said you¡¯d probably need me. This had better be important as late as it is.¡± Voodoo Priestess yawned out. ¡°I need to get into the simulation room. Something is wrong with Jam.¡± ¡°Yeah. Ok.¡± Voodoo Priestess agreed then waved her fingers in the air and the buzzing electric portal opened again. Kid Mighty quickly moved through the portal and into a cloud of dust and smoke. She could barely see anything but she had that feeling in the back of her neck and she turned to see a figure floating through the haze. A red light starting glowing and she had to jump out of the way as blasts of heat cut through the dusty fog. The lasers followed her and she had to move behind cover, she grabbed one of the robots and tossed it at the origin of the laser, the bot exploded and she used the distraction to move in closer. As if she never existed Jam completely forgot about her and went back to trashing the robots. He then fell from the sky but halfway down he began to transform into some kind of beast with long jagged claws. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Kid Mighty asked Audrey who was floating behind her. ¡°Whatever is messing with his head is also messing with his powers. The timer is going haywire and he is switching out powers at random. Most of these powers are way out of his level and his attributes are multiplying.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t see what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t connect back to him, something is blocking me. Can you scan him?¡± ¡°I can try.¡± [ Skill Activated: Scan ] { Character Type: Player Character Name: Jam Alias: N/A Race: African American Country of Origin: United States Level: 24 HP: 100 MP: 200 SP: 1200 Powers: Unavailable Status Ailment: Fury } It¡¯s still Jam. He won¡¯t hurt me. ¡°Jam, calm down please!¡± Kid Mighty pleaded come out from cover to try to talk to him. Jam continued to use his claws and teeth to rip apart the robots but when he heard the interruption he looked over to see what was making the noise. He saw Kid Mighty and lunged at her; she just barely dodged the lunge, but he caught the ground with his claw and pushed back kicking her hand and throwing her into the wall so hard she thought her back would break. She barely had time to recover before the beast that was Jam went after her again, she just managed to get her grappling hook attached and pull away before he could reach her; his teeth nearly enclosed around her ankle but she kicked him away. He hopped back cradling his muzzle like an injured dog, then his head twitched again at an unnatural angle and wings painfully sprouted from his back. ¡°Take the cowl off!¡± Audrey shouted. ¡°What?¡± ¡°He only sees Kid Mighty. He needs to see you.¡± Camilla took her cowl off as beast Jam flew at her with his bloodlust dripping off of him. She stood stock still, hoping that he would recognize her. His facial expression changed as he lost control of his wings and flipped sideways flying through a nearby wall. Camilla followed him through and saw him in the corner walking in an agitated circle. ¡°It¡¯s ok Jam. It¡¯s me Cam, I¡¯m here.¡± She soothed but beast Jam still growled in agitation. She moved closer and he bore his teeth. She held her hand out as she crept forward but looked to the ground as to not try to challenge him. ¡°It¡¯s ok. I¡¯m here, I¡¯m with you.¡± She managed to touch his nose. He seemed to relax some and whimpered softly. ¡°What happened to you love? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Before she could get an answer, Jam¡¯s ears perked up and he lifted his maw from her hands and began to growl. Before she could take another breath Might Guy had flown in and crashed into Jam, both of them flying through the wall. Jam¡¯s claws wrapped around Might Guy¡¯s arms and dragged him down; Jam¡¯s back skidding against the ground before he pushed up with his feet and send Might Guy flying into the wall behind them. Might Guy recovered quickly but had no sign of Jam until he felt Jam¡¯s fangs dig into his shoulder and his claws dig into his arms. Jam was locked in tight, Might Guy was unable to move his arms at all. In a blink he flew straight up and laid back intended to slam Jam into the ground but Jam disconnected as his transformation regressed back to human. He grabbed Might Guy¡¯s face and continued their descent, slamming his head into the ground. A ball of purple energy exploded in front of Jam sending him flying back but he flipped to recover and using the wall as a springboard went soaring back toward Might Guy. Might Guy dodged flying up into the air but without missing a beat Jam jumped straight up and clutched the collar of Might Guy¡¯s shirt and head butted him. Might Guy¡¯s grabbed Jam and head butted him back to which Jam reciprocated again breaking his sunglasses. Might Guy tried to use heat vision but Jam casted shield and the heat vision deflected. Jam¡¯s head twitched again and he spit out a red gelatinous glob that covered Might Guy¡¯s face. Then Jam¡¯s limbs stretched like rubber wrapping around Might Guy as he struggled to escape. He burned the glob over and over but it just hardened more. ¡°Jam stop! Please.¡± Camilla shouted from the ground. Jam ignored her continuing to squeeze the life from Might Guy until a golden ring formed around his neck and pulled, dragging his head to the ground. The rest of his body uncoiled and followed shrinking back to his normal size. The ring disappeared from his neck and was replaced by two silver rings latching his wrists above his head. With Jam unable to fight, the simulation disappeared and Voodoo Priestess appeared with Universa, Arcturian, and LionHead. Chapter 14 - Moment of Truth "Thank you Voodoo Priestess. I fear without you here the situation may have been dire." Arcuturian said gratefully. "No prob, boss." Voodoo Priestess answered with a whimsical salute with her skull staff. Jam was seated on a chair, the silver rings holding his wrists above his head. LionHead sprayed a coolant onto the gel on Might Guy''s face freezing it and broke it; Might Guy gasped and coughed on the ground. "What happened here?" Arcturian asked. "Jam was in the simulation room, acting extremely recklessly so I came in to try to calm him down." Camilla started. "He attacked her, I came in to try to help and he attacked me as well," Might Guy interrupted. Jam began to chuckle quietly until it built up into crazed laughter. "Yeah, you thought your lady was in trouble so you decided to come in and save the day huh hero?" "I should end you right now," Might Guy threatened. "Go for it tough guy." Jam shot back looking Might Guy in the eye. One pupil was extremely constricted that it barely looked there while the other pupil was so dilated his eye looked black. "You hate me don''t you. Kill me! Give it a shot! Be honest with yourself for once and end me!" He taunted before breaking out into crazed laughter again. "You''re not worth it." "Bullshit," Jam spat. "You heroes are all the same, lying to yourselves. That''s why I preferred villians in the first place." "And why is that?" Arcturian asked. "They''re honest for one. Well at least the villains I work with. Maybe not honest with others, they lie to everyone else of course. With themselves though, they''re extremely honest. I didn''t work with the woe as me stories, the ''I can''t help it, I wish I were good'' self hating villains. The people I worked with, we chose this life because we wanted it. We saw there was a role that needed to be filled and we knew we were the right people to fill it." "What role is that?" Cyprus asked. "The bad guy. The foil. The antagonist. Whatever word you choose for it. You know. when I was Apex. I rarely hurt normal people, beyond the occasional hostage situation to draw out the heroes, or the bombs. My main focus was the heroes, the people in the capes that believe they''re somehow better than the people they''re facing off against.¡± "We are better than you!" Might Guy argued. Jam laughed again and the sound sent chills down Camilla''s back. "Why is that? Because you have some moral high ground? Please. All you heroes that think you¡¯re so much better because you have justice on your side make me sick. You honestly believe you hate crime? You might have hated crime before it started putting food on the table. All you heroes made a choice as well. You could have used your superspeed to do construction; used your superstrength or invulnerability to work in a mine. Nope, you chose to put on a suit and punch people. I got to this planet and there were five different hero groups and no villain groups at all. Every villain was on his or her own and getting thrashed easily. It started to become tedious. Heroes always won, nobody had to work it. You would have finally figured out how to hold these villains permanently and then you all would have been out of a job. So I fixed it; I built the villains up. You weren''t mad that I gave you something to punch, you were mad that I leveled the playing field. I made you work for it and you hated it. "You know nothing!" Might Guy shouted. "I know you need people like me." "Why is that?" Arcturian asked. What exactly would the heroes be doing if there were no villains? Stopping muggers and bank robbers? Are you trying to put the cops out of business? How long until you became obsolete? Unneeded? Unnecessary? How long until it''s illegal to put on those suits you all love so much? No one cares about an army in peace times. People don''t trust what they can''t contain, and you have the powers of Gods. Why employ a hundred normal people to build a building when a super could do it in an hour. Jobs start disappearing and suddenly everyone hates you. Now you¡¯re a freak. The same people who used to cheer your name now want your head on a pike. How long until you''re the villains in the story? There was a quiet moment as the others all seemed to ruminate on everything that had been said, except Might Guy who still seethed with anger. "So we should be thanking you?" Arcturian asked calmly and without judgment. His question broke through the haze on Jam''s brain and Jam breathed out a sigh. [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 24 - Successful ] [ Status Alleviated: Unbalanced - The chaos in your mind has calmed ] "No," Jam answered solemnly. "I''m sorry guys." SP: 0 Jam slumped, his body going mostly limp save for his arms still above his head. ¡°He¡¯s out cold,¡± Camilla stated checking on Jam. ¡°Can you heal him Voodoo?¡± Arcturian asked ¡°I think I have a spell,¡± Voodoo Priestess answered waving her hand in the air. ¡°Azure winds of Arcanth, revitalize this body with your cooling touch; healing wind.¡± A breeze picked up and covered Jam before it dissipated quickly. Jam sat up blinking slowly. [ Reconnecting A.I. Audrey. . . . Successful ] ¡°What the heck happened?¡± Jam asked groggily. ¡°It¡¯s this skill. It doesn¡¯t sound right.¡± Audrey answered. ¡°What skill?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Berserker Fury. Check it.¡± Character Sheet, show skill Berserker Fury [ Skill Name: Berserker Fury ] [ Skill Type: Active ] [ Thrown into a blind fury, all physical attributes are multiplied tenfold every half hour while every mental attribute are subtracted. The longer you use this skill the less you will be able to determine friend from foe. After one hour power roulette is halted and replaced with power shuffle. Power shuffle randomizes different powers every 60 seconds. ] [ Skill Notice: User will be depowered for one day per hour the skill is used. ] I¡¯m depowered? How long was I using it for? Powers {Locked} { Time Until Next Power Cycle: 44:53 } Well shit, man I¡¯m exhausted. "What did happen Jam?" Arcturian asked concerned. Jam contemplated the question for a long moment; too tired to fully think, all of his body hurt. Arcturian thought he wouldn''t answer for a minute and was about to speak when he finally spoke. "I used to be a hero, like you guys, in another life." He spoke softly. "What changed?" "She died." "Your friend? Amara?" Camilla asked. "Yeah." "Thank you all for your assistance; everything is fine now. You can all leave. Voodoo Priestess please release him," Arcturian commanded. "On it" She answered tapping her staff against the ground and the silver rings disappeared. "Camilla you can stay if you''d like." Arcturian offered. "I would." She answered with a nod. "I''m not leaving her in here with him." Might Guy argued "I don''t need your help Might Guy. Please leave." Camilla dismissed. LionHead placed a hand on Might Guy''s shoulder and walked out with him. The rest followed suit. Arcturian used the tablet to place chairs for the two to sit in. "Now, tell me your story Jam. What exactly went on?" Jam was quiet for a long agitated moment before he spoke again, ¡°I was never really good at making friends. People just never really took to me too well.¡± ¡°Really? You seem like a nice enough guy.¡± ¡°My charisma attribute is making me better at this. Basically I¡¯m cheating.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so Jam. Charisma affects your approachability and likability sure but it can¡¯t magically make you a better person,¡± Audrey disagreed.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡° I¡¯m just a different person here; I have a direction that I¡¯m going in. When I was young, I didn¡¯t know who I was. I didn¡¯t have a personality, even as a child. Amara was different from other people, she was a lot like me but completely different. She was bright, eccentric and full of life. So innocent too. She was my only friend and I was hers. My mom would take me over to her house to play with her a lot at her uncle¡¯s house. One day I asked my mom to take me over to see her, my dad overheard it, and that¡¯s when I found out that my mom was having an affair with Amara¡¯s uncle.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± Camilla shuddered. ¡°Yep. It turns out it wasn¡¯t the first time she was caught but she promised it¡¯d never happen again, until it did. My dad was super rich, like private jet rich, but when we got put out after the divorce my mom and I had almost nothing. That¡¯s when I found out that my dad wasn¡¯t actually my dad but rather my stepdad. Which explained why he didn¡¯t bother to try to keep me with him, he kept my sister but she was his after all.¡± ¡°You never told me you had a sister.¡± ¡°Yeah, Soraya. She was 17 when I ¡®died¡¯ so she should be about 22 now. I wouldn¡¯t know, the last time I saw her she was barely walking. So, with one thing I said I broke my family up and ruined my life. My mom hated me after that; every time I spoke it just made her angry, so I stopped speaking altogether. That ticked her off even more getting phone calls from my school, one day she hit me with her phone¡± Jam explained pointing to his cybernetic left eye. ¡°Lord, that¡¯s terrible,¡± Arcturian winced. ¡°After that I knew I needed to get out of there so I started working and taking extra classes online to finish getting my diploma early. I got out of that house and got into college and when I was moving out was the last time I ever saw my mother. I basically did nothing but go to class and worked but it didn¡¯t matter because I was still the same pariah I¡¯d always been. My third year of school Amara transferred to the same school and that was the first time I¡¯d seen her since the divorce. We picked up like no time had passed at all, she was still the most amazing person I¡¯d ever met,¡± Jam said a smile spreading across his face. ¡°I spent so much time alone that I didn¡¯t think I could be someone¡¯s friend again but she took pity on me and dragged me through life with her. After we graduated we got a job at this tech company BardenWare that makes cheap, affordable phones and tablets. I was a programmer part of the team working on OS and she worked on hardware. We got an apartment together, she encouraged me to finally make the leap and get the implants. She even bought me Audrey.¡± ¡°My voice was a joke, she said that Jam gets lonely when she¡¯s not around so she wanted him to have her voice wherever he went.¡± Audrey told them. ¡°Together we discovered World of Heroes Online. She was always a lot better at games than I was. Our heroes were a duo, I was a magician hero named Mister Hat. I had a magical top hat that allowed me to funnel magic spells through it. I basically ran around ripping off Tuxedo Mask. She was the Phoenix, the light to my darkness. We discovered a few more people and joined a guild but it was mostly me and her. We were a perfect team and she was just incredible. Then I started to get more popular at work, we had written a code that really improved the functionality of the OS and my coworkers wanted to go out for drinks. They said it was our team only though so I couldn¡¯t bring Amara. Then we started hanging out more often, and suddenly we were out almost every night. I didn¡¯t even like going out and I spent most of the time completely invisible but I was just so enamored with the thought that people might actually like me for once. I didn¡¯t even notice how much Amara had started to withdraw; every time she wasn¡¯t at work she was on the game. Sometimes she even called out from work to play. I didn¡¯t know that she was being sexually harassed by the company¡¯s owner Brian Barden, and she was being bullied by her coworkers because they all thought she was sleeping with the boss.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. Why didn¡¯t she leave?¡± ¡°Jobs were scarce and this job paid really well. Anywhere else and she¡¯d be taking a massive dip, not to mention this was her first job since college. She didn¡¯t have the experience to go anywhere else and Barden surely would have blacklisted her. Or, maybe she just wanted to keep working near me. I don¡¯t know, I never got the chance to find out why. She retreated into the game world but then the trolls on there began to bully her too. They¡¯d trap her with super high level enemies, or keep taking down bosses so she couldn¡¯t complete missions. They targeted our entire group really, and these guys were heroes as well. Most of the others stopped playing but she had dedicated so much time to World of Heroes, she didn¡¯t want to give it up; she loved being able to fly. She begged me to join her again; if I was there I could have helped her out you know. We were supposed to be a team and I told her to stop taking it so seriously and that it was just a game¡± Tears began to well up in Jam¡¯s eyes but he choked them back. ¡°That was the last thing I ever said to her. When I got home that night, I found her body hanging from the ceiling. Her suicide note said ¡®life is a shitty game and I¡¯m tired of playing¡¯. I didn¡¯t see how much she was hurting because I was trying to be someone I didn¡¯t even want to be. I know in my mind that it¡¯s not my fault, that she had stuff going on and that our dependence on each other wasn¡¯t healthy anyway. I know that but somewhere inside, there¡¯s this overwhelming feeling that I could have stopped it. I found out what was happening when I read her diary, and then Barden had the nerve to hold a memorial for her. I punched him in the face and got arrested for assault. They put me on house arrest and I devoted my time back to World of Heroes. I rerolled my character as a villain and Apex was born. The ones who hurt her needed to be punished. I burned them.¡± ¡°You¡¯re joking.¡± Camilla gasped. ¡°What?¡± Arcturian asked. ¡°Burning someone on World of Heroes was basically to put someone on the top of the wanted list. Anytime any other villain comes across that person they would drop everything to kill them. Jam was really good at accruing NPCs to his side too; so it wasn¡¯t just like they could turn off PVP and be safe. World of Heroes was state of the art A.I., the NPCs were basically like other players.¡± Camilla explained. ¡°It¡¯s usually reserved for the most heinous of user crimes like people who have actually committed real life crimes.¡± ¡°My words hurt the people I care about, but in the game, I could hurt whoever I wanted without repercussion. I didn¡¯t have to be anyone else but me. I was good at it. I spent my years waiting for something to happen. Waiting to figure out what I¡¯m supposed to do with my life and I found it. I decided never to treat it like it was ¡®just a game¡¯ again,¡° Jam concluded. ¡°I understand. What I don¡¯t understand is what caused today to happen. Why did all of this happen?¡± ¡°This person was waiting in my room. Mr. Probably he calls himself.¡± ¡°Mr. Probably?¡± Jam began to explain everything that happened from when he walked into the room. "You''re boring me." A voice said from behind Jam. He flipped around, his fists instantly being encased in blue flames. The person waved their hand and the fires dissipated and Jam looked down in horror. [ Status Ailment: Paralysis - Time Limit: N/A - Your body has frozen in place from the neck down. ] Jam''s eyes scrolled back up and he was completely confused by what, or rather who, he found. ¡°Shelly Lang?" he asked bewildered. "Not exactly." The pink haired woman said. The Shelly look a like appeared to be lounging on Jam''s bed but upon further inspection Jam noticed she was actually floating a few inches off the bed. [ Skill Used: Analyze Lvl 24 - Failure ] [ Failure Notice: 01100010 01100101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110101 01101110 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100111 01101111 01110010 01101001 01111010 01100101 01100100 ] A searing pain slid through Jam''s head at the failed analyze attempt. "Oooooh, tingly." The woman shivered in delight. "That''s what analyze feels like huh? Warmer than I expected." "Who are you?" "That is an excellent question Jamal Wilson." She hummed. "Let''s try it again," she invited as she snapped her fingers. [ Skill Auto Triggered: Analyze+ Lvl 24 - Successful ] [ Character Type: Admin Name: Unavailable Alias: Mr. Probably Race: Supreme Being Alignment: Neutral HP: { X } MP: { X } SP: { X } Power: Probability] "Mr. Probably?" Jam inquired, the name sounding vaguely familiar but he couldn''t place where he''d heard it. "That''s what they call me, Jake. Well that''s what they would call me, if anyone knew I existed." She said whimsically. "Hi Universa," she continued as an aside. "You''re a guy?" "I''m so far ahead of your silly genders. I can''t even begin to express to you exactly what I am." "A supreme being." "That''s what we call ourselves, my siblings and I. I am the lord of probability; everything in this world has a probability. I can decide whether to keep a probability intact or to flip it. To leave things at 60/40 or change them to 40/60 if you get my meaning." "Ok, so why are you here?" "Always straight to the point aren''t you boy." "Don''t call me boy." "Oh hush now. I''ve been alive longer than your planet has had creatures on it; I''m so far above your petty racial divides. In comparison to me you''re still a sperm cell." She dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Sure. What do you want with me?" "Entertainment. You used to be far more interesting." "What are you talking about?" "I''ve watched you for a quite a long time Jamal Wilson. You see, this world became quite boring some time ago; it all became routine. The villains would run amok and the heroes would put them down; eventually they''d break out of jail and rinse and repeat. It all became quite dull, this world of gray colors." She floated up to the ceiling standing up. "These villains were so boring, they had no real ambition, they had no direction. The ones that did, were too weak to do anything. My brother the lord of order saw to make sure everything stayed neat and tidy, I hated him for that." She explained as she paced back and forth on the ceiling. "I decided it would be more fun to throw in a monkey wrench; you know, spice things up a bit. One impossible task made possible and suddenly the status quo is shot to hell; bring in a whole new status quo." "So I''m here because you were bored." "Partially ,yes. I can agree with that. Honestly, it''s mostly your fault Johnny. See, I just wanted to see what would happen; it''s your fault for being so good at it. I watched the game quite closely and there were so many people just did the same things they always did. Everyone thought so small; like you did when you were playing as that silly hat character. But Apex," she stopped pacing and turned to Jam. "Apex was a stroke of genius Jimmy, such magical ingenuity. You decided to rule in hell and you were determined to take as many people with you as possible. It was then that your true colors shone and I finally some decent entertainment." "So you''ve been watching me since I was on Earth?" "Yep." "So you were Shelly Lang the whole time?" "Oh no Jan, she is just a familiar face for you. Plus I like her body, it''s real nice. Curvy," she said her hands sliding over her hips. "Right." "Yep, so you can tell I was watching you closely. Now, imagine my surprise when you suddenly died; blown up in some crazy accident. I couldn''t control probability on your Earth you see, which made things even more entertaining to watch because I didn''t know the outcome. Luckily, the Lunar King kept his thing going; your bloody legacy continuing on." She took on a solemn expression, "but of course, I''m not allowed to have any fun. My siblings got all up in arms about my activities and how I was ''throwing off the balance of power''" she finger quoted. "So, when the heroes decided to summon a hero that could finally defeat the Lunar King for good, I decided to let it happen and bam! The villain king Apex didn''t die in that explosion. It was quite impressive; I mean past me was watching that explosion not even knowing that future me was part of the cause behind it. It was a quite thrilling bit of drama," she chuckled. "You gonna get to the point of this unexpected visit?" "Gosh, you''re so rude to me Jamie," she pouted running a finger across Jam''s jaw which he pulled away from. "Its simple boy, you''re boring me. I''m bored. You were supposed to be fun again and yet you''re just not being fun at all. Where''s the drama? I mean you fought 21 and I thought, finally. Something interesting but then you bitched out against Might Guy again. You''re Apex. How many times have you destroyed him and now you''re just being a good little lapdog. I thought you made your own rules, Jim?" "I''m doing what I need to do. Might Guy is of no consequence, a temporary hindrance; nothing more." A hearty chuckle from Mr. Probably, "no need to beat your chest Jack. You talk a big game, and I''m sure ordinarily you''d be able to back it up, but I have to say that right now you''re just kind of boring." "Sorry to disappoint." "Aww, its not me you should be bothered by disappointing Jamison. I mean, what would poor Amara think or your treating this like some kind of game?" "Don''t say her name." Jam growled, anger wracking his face. "You looked into the abyss. You saw the darkness of the world; how cold and uncaring it was. Watched it eat your best friend and you ignored it. Now you''re ignoring it again; you know the Lunar King is planning something and you''re playing scout. Amara''s dead and that''s your fault, now more people are going to die and that''s your fault too. How many bodies are you planning to collect boy?" "You don''t know me!" Jam raged, blue fire bursting from his hands as he dragged forward to punch Mr. Probably; as if he were trying to walk through water. Only a sardonic chuckle was left behind as Mr. Probably faded away. Chapter 15 - Voting Day "I have been trying to be ok with doing things your way, being patient, putting in the work. I can''t do that anymore. I got to the top of the board because I did it my way. I see now that I have no choice but to leave, I can''t do things my way here." Arcturian and Camilla looked at each other for a silent moment and then both nodded. "You don''t have to go anywhere Jam. You''re right, you''ve bested the HoD multiple times doing things your way. We''re failing you not the other way around." Arcturian told him. Arcturian stood and pressed a button on his desticom. "Juniper, call an emergency meeting for all HoD captains. I need them here immediately." "What are you doing?" Jam inquired. "Fixing things." Camilla answered him. Within the hour the captains of the Heroes of Destiny were all in the meeting room except for Might Guy who showed up fashionably late to be the last one in. "So what''s this about Arcturian?" Might Guy interrogated as he walked in. Arcturian stood, "I motion for Jamal Wilson to be verified as a hero." "What?" Might Guy hissed. "I second that motion." Voodoo Priestess added. "Our bylaws state that you get say in hero status for those joining the Heroes of Destiny, but we have voting power on it as well. You''ve been shown multiple times to have a conflict of interest in this situation. We all let it go because we thought you would be able to separate your own feelings from the situation but now it has become apparent that you''re unable to put your grudges aside. You will be able to speak your case and Jam will have his time. "You''ll regret this." Might Guy threatened. "Maybe," Arcturian answered. "Fellow Heroes of Destiny, we voted to summon a champion to Arcturus and that choice gave us young Jamal Wilson here. Due to unknown circumstance Jam was our fiercest enemy Apex however he has given me his word that he is here to fight against the Lunar King. Immediately after that, he took down a spy for the Lunar King. ." "One that he sent here!" Might Guy argued. "That is true, but that supports my argument. He knows the way that the Lunar King thinks because the Lunar King was him. We could lock him up and throw away the key. Keep doing what we''ve been doing and hope to take down the Lunar King. Maybe it will work this time. Or, we could try something different. Anyone in this room could turn evil if they wanted and any villain could come to the side of good if given the chance. Let''s not push Jam away from the side of good because we won''t give him the same chance for reform we''d give anyone else. "We brought Jam here because what we''ve been doing wasn''t working," Voodoo Priestess spoke up. "But if he chooses to turn on us, the Lunar King would be that much harder to defeat." Cyprus Bleak mentioned, playing devil''s advocate. "What''s actually stopping him from joining Lunar King? Have we had him under surveillance or wearing a power limiter?" Dr. Gemma Stone, the wife half of the Elementwins, asked. "No, he''s had the run of the place and hasn''t done anything that we can tell." Kid Mighty answered her. "The one time he did stay out longer than he was allowed to, he fought against the assassin 21 to protect me," Inspector added. "LionHead, you had him out with you right? Were there any indications that he might not be on the up and up?" Dr. Felix Stone, of the Elementwins, asked. "He had an issue with following the rules. However, he was eager to help people." LionHead responded. Might Guy slammed his fist against the table and stood up. "Are you people insane? This is clearly a ploy to get us to trust him. I wouldn''t be surprised if this was some plan by the Lunar King to get his clone out. Has anyone actually seen the Lunar King in the 3 months since he got here? How do we know he isn''t the Lunar King?" "Because we summoned him," Voodoo Priestess protested. ¡°We were there when the summoning went down and we can assure you that it was completed correctly.¡± "Also, the Lunar King can''t use magic," Universa added. "The Lunar King always seemed to have some new power under his belt when we fought him. What''s to stop him from developing magic power?" "That is true." Cyprus agreed. "Just today, he attacked Kid Mighty in the simulation room," Might Guy argued as he pulled up the footage on the table''s projector. The footage showed Kid Mighty jumped out of the way of Jam''s eye blasts, then Jam changing into a beast and lunging at her. The video froze on the beastly face of Jam. "See, and he calls her a friend. Who knows what he will do from moment to moment. He can''t be trusted." "Continue the video," Kid Mighty demanded. The video continued showing Jam''s recognition of Camilla and stopping his attack. "See, he was out of his head but he still recognized me and stopped." "But what about the next person? He tried to kill me, you all saw it." "After you attacked him. He was calm and you flew in and attacked." "Because you were in danger." Jam snorted, "always the hero huh Might Guy. Saving the damsel in distress from the big scary beast. I might not remember exactly what happened; but I know for a fact that I wouldn''t intentionally hurt Camilla. Also, you''ve tried to kill me at least three times since I''ve been here and threatened to do it even more." "It''s not a threat, it''s a promise." Might Guy hissed. "I''m right here buddy," Jam taunted with a ¡°bring it¡± hand motion. "Enough!" Arcturian demanded. "Might Guy, you have the floor to say your piece and Jam will say his; then we will move on with the vote." "Fine," Might Guy huffed. "I honestly don''t understand why we''re having this conversation in the first place. There is no reason that we should even consider allowing him off the leash. I guarantee he will eventually turn against all of you. Earlier he said it himself that some day we may become the villains and heroes will be obsolete. Isn¡¯t it obvious that he will just keep garnering favor as a hero until his eventual betrayal? He is trying to undermine heroes and turn the populace against us. Why am I the only one who sees through his scheme here?¡± ¡°Because it doesn¡¯t make any sense Might.¡± Cyprus explained. ¡°What would he gain? Have we not had heroes turn to crime before now? Do you think their popularity affected how the people of Empire City felt about it?¡± ¡°The people of Arcturus are always going to fear our turn to villainy. It¡¯s not something people talk about regularly but it is something that is in the back of our minds at all times. The truth of the matter is, we are all dangerous and despite claiming that we could never do such things, we can never fully predict what situations we may find ourselves in. Some view killing as a form of evil but few in this room haven¡¯t done just that. Sure it¡¯s not a first choice but it happens. Our choices on a daily basis affect the lives of millions of Arcturians, whether to put on the suit or not,¡± Arcturian preached. ¡°He has a point Might Guy,¡± Dr. Felix agreed. ¡°Whether or not he eventually becomes a villain is no different than any other hero we¡¯ve approved in the past. If anything, he would have been better off by now becoming a villain. There¡¯s no verification for villainy, but he is still here petitioning to help. You can say it is due to weakness but if the story is true, the Lunar King started at the bottom as well and still built an empire.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a game to him. He is doing it just to see if he can, to convince you all to believe in him and then to take you down from the inside. I know the way the Lunar King thinks and this is exactly the kind of plan he would come up with. Tear us apart, then dismantle everything we¡¯ve built. Why can¡¯t you see it?¡± Might Guy desperately asked. ¡°Alright Might, let¡¯s just move on. Jam, you can go ahead.¡± ¡°Thanks Arcturian,¡± Jam said standing up. ¡°A lot has been said today that I can¡¯t disagree with. You guys don¡¯t necessarily need me. You can lock me up and throw me in a cell in the lowest depths of Destiny Hall and nobody would even chance a side glance. You could kill me right now and you probably wouldn¡¯t be in the wrong. I was the villain king Apex and I caused all of this. If you want an apology for that I can¡¯t give you one. I did what I was good at and at the time, all I was good at was hurting people. However, you summoned me here to help and I can¡¯t do that being locked up in here. I was living an okay life back on Earth; it wasn¡¯t perfect but it was mine. You robbed me of that when you summoned me here, but I chose not to be bitter and to work to help. I chose to stay here because I made Arcturian a promise. Even with this face, I could have gotten approved by another team eventually but I chose to dance with the ones who brought me. I was patient and I did everything I could to help but that hasn¡¯t been enough to earn verification yet. Every time I saved someone I was subsequently punished for it but if I hurt someone then any naysayers would just be proven right. I just need a decision to finally be made. Lock me up, send me home or let me clean up my mess my own way,¡± he concluded before sitting back down. ¡°Is there a way to send him back to Earth?¡± Inspector asked Voodoo Priestess. Voodoo shook her head sadly, ¡°it could be possible to but we couldn¡¯t allow it. He has been changed permanent by the summoning. It¡¯s the same reason Kid Mighty is still with us. Sending a super to a planet without supers would be incredibly dangerous and irresponsible.¡± ¡°We owe him at least the benefit of the doubt. We made the choice to summon him here without care of how it might affect his life,¡± Universa argued. ¡°What about the summoning,¡± Might Guy said.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°What about it?¡± Voodoo inquired. ¡°You failed the first time. Remind us again exactly what happened the fifth time.¡± An annoyed exhale, ¡°you still holding that against us. We all know the story.¡± ¡°Yeah but does he?¡± Might Guy nodded toward Jam. ¡°What happened?¡± Jam interrogated Voodoo Priestess. Voodoo Priestess stared at the ceiling for a reflective moment before she spoke, ¡°the first summoning we did requested a hero, someone on the side of good and justice, that could defeat the Lunar King. It failed. Four times. We concluded that it wasn¡¯t possible to summon a hero to defeat the Lunar King. The final time we decided to ask for anyone who could defeat the Lunar King but for their strength to be diminished until they proved themselves worthy. It brought you and I believe that is why your power has levels.¡± ¡°It brought him here after we stopped asking for someone good and on the side of justice. Doesn¡¯t that strike anyone as odd?¡± ¡°Well duh, I wasn¡¯t a hero on Earth. I was just one of the only people who could defeat the Lunar King.¡± Might Guy growled in irritation, ¡°I¡¯m tired of this. You all have a choice, I won¡¯t allow this to happen as long as I¡¯m field commander. So, if you decide to approve him for hero status, I¡¯ll be stepping down.¡± ¡°Music to my ears,¡± Voodoo exclaimed. ¡°It¡¯s time to move on,¡± Arcturian sighed. ¡°Voting will now commence. For the motion to approve Jamal Wilson¡¯s hero status, Universa?¡± ¡°I abstain.¡± She answered. ¡°Voodoo Priestess?¡± ¡°Aye¡± ¡°LionHead?¡± ¡°I abstain¡± ¡°Kid Mighty?¡± ¡°Aye,¡± She answered to the angry gaze of Might Guy. ¡°Might Guy?¡± ¡°No¡± ¡°Twins?¡± ¡°Aye¡± they answered in Unison. ¡°Inspector?¡± ¡°Aye¡± ¡°Cyprus?¡± ¡°Aye¡± ¡°The ayes have it. Motion is carried.¡± Role Change: Hero You have been offered the role of Hero. Hero status will allow you to legally face villains. Subsequent powers awarded in power roulette will be based on supporting current role. Do you wish to take on the role of Hero? [ Yes ] [ No ] Yes Congratulations: New Role Chosen. You are now a Hero. Next powercycle will reward 3 powers worthy of a hero. Heroes and civilians will look to you for support. {Exp Gained} ¡°When this comes back to bite you all, I want you to remember this moment. Remember that when you had the choice to think of what was best for Arcturus you chose wrong.¡± Might Guy said before angrily leaving. ¡°This was complicated but I¡¯m glad we¡¯re past it,¡± Kid Mighty said. ¡°Is he joining one of our teams?¡± Dr. Felix asked. ¡°Teams?¡± Jam asked. ¡°We all have teams that we use for missions. We train all hero candidates and then decide which team they¡¯ll be working with once they¡¯re verified,¡± Universa explained. ¡°I honestly think it would be best to give him a permanent seat at the table. Give him his own team; we know for a fact that he can lead a group of people.¡± Arcturian suggested. ¡°Are you sure? That seems kind of fast,¡± Jam questioned. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we gave you the full support of the Heroes of Destiny. Plus we do have team 9 to deal with.¡± ¡°That is true.¡± Dr. Gemma agreed. ¡°What is team 9?¡± ¡°Team 9 is a group of recently verified heroes that we haven¡¯t really figured out who best to put them with. We usually team up with people who fit under our umbrellas; magic users usually go with the magical girls, elementals with us, psychics with Cyprus, beasts and shifters with LionHead, street levels with the Inspector and the higher classed heroes with either Might Guy and Kid Mighty or Arcturian,¡± Dr. Gemma explained. ¡°I can¡¯t fight myself but I can at least help prepare the younger generations,¡± Arcturian expressed. ¡°If you¡¯re not interested, you don¡¯t have to take them. It¡¯s just complicated out there. It¡¯s best to have back up,¡± Cyprus warned Jam. ¡°If you guys are ok with it, it¡¯d be great to have them,¡± Jam nodded. ¡°Alright, all in favor of promoting Jam to captain and assigning him Team 9 say aye.¡± ¡°Aye¡± Everyone but Universa and LionHead voted. ¡°Ayes have it.¡± New Rank Achieved: Faction Captain You have been added to the faction: Heroes of Destiny and upgraded to a faction captain. New faction tab unlocked. New faction leader buffs unlocked. +7 leadership skills [ Skill Learned: Diplomacy Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Learned: Command Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Passive and Active ] [ Skill Learned: Public Speaking ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] [ Skill Learned: Group Heal ] [ Skill Type: Active and Passive ] { Exp Gained } Level UP times 2 Congratulations, You¡¯ve Reached level 26 +1 Heroism Point All attribute received +2 points per level up. All currently known skills gain one level per level up until maxed out at current player level. ¡°Thanks everyone. I won¡¯t let you down.¡± ¡°See that you don¡¯t¡± LionHead said. "I do have one request though," Jam said. "What''s that?" Arcturian asked. "I''d like to requisition a rooftop garden. I was hoping some quality soil and material could be put on the roof for it. If that''s alright." "I think that''s a great idea," Dr. Gemma commented. "I don''t think we need to vote for that, I''ll go ahead and bring some material up later today." "Thank you so much.'' "My pleasure," Dr, Gemma nodded. ¡°If Might was serious about his stepping down, we¡¯ll need to appoint an interim field commander.¡± Cyprus mentioned. ¡°Kid Mighty, as Might Guy¡¯s sidekick, you are first in line as his temporary replacement,¡± Arcturian told her. ¡°I can¡¯t. As of last night, I am no longer his sidekick,¡± Camilla explained taking off her cowl and placing it on the table to the tune of their collective gasps. ¡°I¡¯m not Kid Mighty anymore.¡± ¡°Wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting that.¡± Dr. Gemma exclaimed. Arcturian cleared his throat, ¡°well, Cyprus, you have the most seniority of the active captains.¡± ¡°Sure, it¡¯s fine.¡± Jam slipped out as they continued to talk about other daily decisions that needed to be made. Although he was a captain now, he didn¡¯t need to be in on every move everyone made. Halfway to the elevator he was intercepted by Might Guy who pushed him against the wall with a hand around his throat. Ugh, jeez. Does he have any other moves? ¡°You may have fooled the rest of them but you haven¡¯t fooled me. I see through you and whatever you¡¯re planning I will stop it.¡± Might Guy barked his eyes glowing red behind his sunglasses. ¡°Really? You think so?¡± ¡°I know so.¡± ¡°Well, you see Might Guy. My plan is already complete. I¡¯ve sat back and let you dig your own grave and now I¡¯ve buried you in it. I took all the shit you threw at me with a smile on my face and now everyone else sees who you really are. I beat you, took everything away from you and I didn¡¯t even have to lift a finger to do it. You did it all yourself with your petty jealousy. This is how the weak do battle. Now I¡¯m going to do the one thing you could never do,¡± Jam started with a cocky grin spread across his face. ¡°Beat me,¡± he concluded, punctuating it with a wicked chuckle. Might Guy¡¯s eyes burned even brighter as his anger boiled, he punched the wall beside Jam¡¯s head denting it and then stormed off. Jam rubbed his neck to get rid of the lingering pain and continued his walk to the elevator and got on. ¡°You know, the way you said that, it sounded like you were going to go beat yourself,¡± Audrey joked. ¡°Get your orb out of the gutter¡± Jam chuckled ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re free now, I need you to get your level up fast.¡± ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what I wanted to talk about before. If I get a high enough level, I can forge myself a new body. I saw on my list that one of them is a full humanoid type, with nerve endings and everything,¡± Audrey explained. ¡°Wow that should be interesting. We¡¯ll have to level you up soon. What level are you at now?¡± ¡°30¡± ¡°What? How?¡± ¡°I help you a lot more than you think. Plus I just saved your life yesterday.¡± ¡°Hey J, wait up,¡± Jam heard as he reached his door. He turned to see Camilla jogging up behind him. ¡°What¡¯s up Cam?¡± ¡°I was hoping to talk to you about something.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, hey I¡¯m sorry to hear about your separating with Might Guy. What are you going to do now?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not sorry, but that¡¯s actually what I was hoping to talk to you about,¡± she explained meekly. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± She suddenly seemed a lot shyer than she usual was around Jam, ¡°now that you¡¯re a hero. I was wondering if, maybe you wouldn¡¯t mind taking me on as your sidekick. I¡¯d prefer we be partners of course but for the sake of the game system, I¡¯d like to be your sidekick.¡± Camilla has offered to be your sidekick Would you like to take her on as your sidekick? { Yes } { No } Jam gave her a soft smile. ¡°It¡¯s ok if you don¡¯t want to, I can always request another hero. I just won¡¯t get any exp if I¡¯m not assisting a hero.¡± Jam sighed, crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. ¡°Audrey, tell her what you told me.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been here for 4 years and you¡¯ve only gotten to level 30 but Jam and I have been here a couple months and he is already at 25. . .¡± Audrey started. ¡°Wow, ok. I get it,¡± Camilla interrupted annoyed and began to walk away. ¡°Let her finish,¡± Jam requested. Camilla stopped and turned back. ¡°You¡¯ve fought a number of much higher level villains and yet you¡¯re still growing remarkably slower, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s odd?¡± Audrey asked. ¡°I guess. I don¡¯t really get much exp for the villains I fight.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not getting any support exp. You¡¯re only getting exp for the villains you defeat personally. It¡¯s because you have to be assisting a hero that is also affected by the game in order to get support exp.¡± ¡°So, we¡¯re kind of stuck together,¡± Jam smiled. ¡°I am really only good at hurting people. I need you to be my moral compass, to make sure I don''t go too far into the darkness. Yes, I¡¯d love to have you as my sidekick/partner.¡± { Exp Gained } Congratulations! You¡¯ve gotten your first sidekick Camilla has chosen to become your sidekick. New attribute buffs unlocked. New Team Chat Function Unlocked. [ Ability Developed: Team Chat ] [ Skill Learned: Teamwork ] [ Skill Type: Passive ] Level UP Congratulations You¡¯ve Reached Level 27 +2 Heroism Points All attribute received +2 points per level up. All currently known skills gain one level per level up until maxed out at current player level. Jam became very much aware of his proximity to Camilla and the distance between them, like he could track her with his mind. On the minimap in his hud, a second blue dot appeared where she was standing. ¡°Whoa, I feel different. Stronger somehow, and I leveled up,¡± he heard Camilla say, but her lips didn¡¯t move. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± he tried to mentally send her. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re standing right there,¡± she said still looking at her hands. ¡°Look at me,¡± he sent her and she did as requested. ¡°We can talk with our minds.¡± ¡°Holy shit, wait does that mean you¡¯ll always be reading my mind?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so; I think it¡¯s only what you want me to hear.¡± ¡°Good¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re getting stat buffs from being my sidekick.¡± ¡°Then I really couldn¡¯t get any help from Might Guy.¡± ¡°If you¡¯d like Camilla, I could plant myself into your systems to help you run them better much like I assist Jam,¡± Audrey suggested. ¡°You can?¡± Camilla and Jam asked in unison. ¡°Yes, you¡¯d just have to allow it.¡± ¡°Well, go ahead then.¡± ¡°Right then,¡± Audrey said and her orb floated a few inches above Camilla¡¯s outstretched arm and scanned the phone. ¡°It¡¯ll take me a couple of hours to fully integrate but afterward we should be fine.¡± "Well, now that that¡¯s done, I need a way to go out without being attacked by every hero that comes through. The system said I wouldn''t be attacked without provocation now that I have a hero status but I still have the same face as the Lunar King. I''m not sure I can trust it." "I have something that can help with that," Audrey told him. "Printing it now." "You''re just now telling me this? I could have gone out way sooner." "Nope, you just unlocked it when you got hero status," Audrey defended. A slot opened in her orb and a pair of glasses appeared. "Glasses? Really?" Camilla deadpanned. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 26 - Successful ] { Item Name: Secret Identity Glasses Item Description: Walk among others in total anonymity with these glasses. Item Notice: +2 Perception, +1 Wisdom } "Turn around Camilla," Audrey requested. "This is ridiculous," Camilla complained while doing as asked. Jam slid the glasses onto his face but didn''t feel any different. "You can turn around now." Camilla turned around and her face scrunched up in confusion. She looked around for a moment. "Umm. Excuse me sir, this area is not open to the public. I''ll have to ask you to return to the lobby," she said in her most business like tone. "Stop playing Camilla," Jam dismissed. "How do you know my name?" "Take the glasses off Jam," Audrey told him. "Jam?" Camilla asked confusion evident. Jam slid the glasses off of his face and Camilla jumped back in shock. "What the hell? You looked like a completely different person but I can''t remember what you looked like. You were like some uninteresting blur," Camilla blurted out. "Secret identity glasses, they make you as unassuming as possible," Audrey explained. "So weird," Camilla commented. "So, what are you going to do now?" "Well," Jam started and slid his glasses back on. "First I''m going to get my suit, then I''m going to get my lady." Chapter 16: Tailor Made "This is it?" Camilla asked, as she Jam and Audrey stood outside of a small tailoring shop. "This is it," Jam said walking through the door. "Welcome to Roscoe''s tailoring," a tall dark skinned older gentleman said from behind the counter. { Name: Roscoe Jenkins } { HP: 50/50 } { MP: 30/30 } { SP: 80/95 } "Hey pop," Jam "I''m sorry?" Roscoe asked, confusion evident. Jam slowly slid his glasses off and lifted his eyes to meet the man''s. The man''s face contorted into one of anger and annoyance. "You get out of my shop," he demanded. "Come on pop, just give me a minute," Jam pleaded. "No, me and your ma don''t hear from you in five years and you decide to just come strolling in. Even worse, you get some gaudy new suit and I don''t hear anything about it. I gotta watch you on the television, puffing your chest." "It''s not me pop," Jam argued. "Bah," Roscoe dismissed throwing his hand up and walking through the door to the backroom. "Pop?" Camilla asked, following Jam to the backdoor. "When I first got to Arcturus, I started with nothing. Roscoe and his wife Anita took me in, they basically became like my parents. The best parents I''d ever had at least." They entered the backroom and found Roscoe starting to tailor a blue suit. "Come on Pop, I need your help. You know I wouldn''t go years without talking to you guys, I swear it isn''t me. You know I''d never choose a name like the Lunar King." "Some of your boys came in shaking us down again. Threatened your ma." "What? Is she ok?" Jam panicked. "She''s dead." "I''ll kill them." "Who''s dead?" An older woman in a wheelchair asked entering the room, typing on her laptop. She scanned the room and her eyes laid on Jam. "Jam?" "Hey ma," Jam smiled, his heart slowing back down. "Don''t you hey ma me, I don''t see you in five years and you think you can just come strolling back in here?" she complained. "Ma, it wasn''t me. I swear. I just got back a couple months ago. The Lunar King is an imposter." "A couple of months and you can''t come visit your ma? Or pick up the phone?" she chastised him. "I''m sorry ma. I was kind of on lockdown, I wanted to make sure it was safe before I reached out to you." "Excuses. Come give me a hug boy," she said spreading her arms wide. Jam slid into her arms and they hugged each other tight, "I missed you ma." "I missed you too baby, so what do you need?" "I''m here to see you?" "You''re sweet, but why are you really here?" Jam chuckled, "I need a new suit." Roscoe laughed sardonically, "of course he does; don''t see him in years and the first thing he comes here for is a new suit. I swear, kids these days." "Come on pop, you were just complaining about me getting a suit somewhere else. I''m finally getting a new suit and I come to you first. Doesn''t that mean anything?" "Of course not." "Hush up Roscoe, you know you''ve been complaining about him not coming to you for a suit whenever we saw that Lunar King character on TV." Roscoe grumbled under his breath, "so what are we doing, Apex volume 2?" "I''m not a villain anymore Pop, we''re going to be doing something a little different this time," "I''ll grab my computer," Anita said wheeling herself back before she noticed Camilla. "Oh I''m sorry dear, I didn''t even see you there. You''re so quiet, Jam don''t be rude, introduce your guest." "Sorry Ma, this is Camilla. Camilla, this is Roscoe and Anita Jenkins." Whack! Audrey''s orb popped against the back of Jam''s head. "Damn, ow. Sorry Ma. This little bundle of annoying is Audrey." "Nice to meet you mam. Sir," Audrey regarded them. "Camilla needs a new suit as well ma. She is going to be my partner." "Ooh, partner huh. You bringing your new girl home to meet your ma?" Anita nudged Jam conspiratorially. Jam laughed, "it''s not like that ma." "Well, at least your other girl still comes to visit," Roscoe commented while sketching out a design. "Rose & Thorn come here?" Jam asked. "Every few weeks yeah." "That Thorn sure can eat. If she didn''t bring groceries with her we might have to think about cancelling her open invitation," Anita deadpanned. "Do you know where she is?" "Last she told me, she was at that club of yours." "That''s what I thought. Thanks Ma." "Be careful though, Thorn seems kind of different. A lot angrier than usual, and with her that''s saying something." "I''ll be careful." "Hey, boy, how about this?" Roscoe said showing him his sketch. "Perfect, how long?" "My part, about a week. Neet?" "Full work up? I''d say a few days solo and another half day after he''s done," Anita answered. "Sweet, can I help?" "You can make me some food but that''s about it." "Alright, is my room still free?" "It is." Jam headed downstairs and Camilla was left alone with the Jenkins. "So you''d like a suit as well huh?" Anita asked her. "Yes mam," she answered. "Please, call me Anita. Any idea what kind of design you want?" "Could I see the design you made for Jam sir?" Camilla asked Roscoe. "Roscoe, and here you go," he answered handing his sketchbook to her. "Wow, very nice. Ok, well if I want a companion suit to this one then. . " she started. "Could I use another page?" "Go for it." Camilla flipped the page and started sketching out a design. After she finished, she handed it over to Roscoe. "Yeah, that works. I think I can do it. Babe?" He said handing it over to Anita. "Yeah, ok. I''ll start figuring it out now," she answered. "Thank you." "You hungry dear? I''ve got lunch on the stove if you are." Anita wheeled herself into the kitchen with Camilla following behind her. "I actually haven''t eaten today now that I think about it. I''d love some food Mrs. Jenkins." "Anita," she said pressing a button on a terminal that was shaped like a bowl. "Right, sorry, Anita." A metal arm opened the cabinet and grabbed a bowl placing it on the counter. "Pretty amazing, does it detect the bowl or does it go for a particular shelf?" Camilla asked. "Thanks, I made it myself. It goes for a particular shelf when it is taking stuff down but it can detect the bowl as well. It has to when I have it put the dishes away," Anita answered pride evident in her voice. "You made it yourself? That''s pretty fantastic." "Thanks, I''m good with tech." "Is that what you do here?" "I handle the website and online business. Most suits don''t need a computer system in them like yours does."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The two sat in companionable silence drinking tea and eating. Jam was in his room downstairs in his room opening his safe. "God, I always forget the combination to this thing," Jam complained. "Have you tried your birthday?" Audrey asked. "I''m not 60 I wouldn''t use my birthday." "But did you try it?" "Of course I did." "Why didn''t you get a thumb print reader?" "We live in a world where people fly and shoot lazer beams out of their eyes. You don''t think someone could morph into me and use my thumbprint?" "There''s also people with super strength who could just rip the door off that is probably more common." "Good point." He groaned in annoyance and then pressed 1-2-3-4. The safe popped open. "Wow, I was an idiot." "Or you realized no one actually knew you lived here and wouldn''t bother trying to break into your safe." "2 and 0," he conceded. Inside the safe was the deed to his a number of his businesses and 10,000 delrens. He touched the money and it got encased in light and disappeared. { Received: 10,000 delrens } What the hell? "Where did my money go?" "Into your available cash." "But I can''t use that." "You just have to summon it. Or I have a card you can use for charges." "I don''t really remember how much money is now. I barely used small bill delrens as Apex. Only major orders for hundreds of thousands," Jam thought for a second then contacted Camilla. "Hey Cam, you have an apartment right?" Camilla jumped in surprise of the random message in her mind, the spoon halfway to her mouth clattering onto the table. She groaned in annoyance of the mess she had just made of the stew she had been enjoying. Anita''s brow furrowed as she looked up from her computer, Camilla nodded apologetically as she grabbed some napkins to clean up and Anita went back to her work. "Yes I have an apartment," she angrily sent back. "How much do you pay for rent?" "About 800 delrens. I''m a few miles away from the HoD and downtown Central Empire so that''s why it''s so pricy." "So, that''s like a Manhattan apartment?" "I guess you could compare the two. like 2,000 dollars." "That''s like 2.5 dollars for every Delren." "Yeah pretty much." "Holy crap, am I rich?" he exclaimed aloud. Inventory { Inventory: 1 Power Nullifier Cash Available: 19000 delrens } "Hmm. Well relatively rich. That''s almost 48,000 dollars. Nothing to sneeze at; always need more though." "Greed isn''t great for your heroic visage." "Yeah well, I''m not going to be a hero in a homeless shelter. Especially if this money isn''t getting taken from anyone," he paused. "It''s not right?" "It is not." After finishing her food and cleaning the dishes, despite Anita''s protests, Camilla found Jam downstairs in a small training room meditating in the seiza position. She sat cross legged in front of him, calmly and quietly. His eyes opened slowly to see her looking back at him and they shared a smile between them. "Sorry about earlier, I didn''t mean to ignore you up there. I tend to get caught up in the familial vibe when I''m around them." "It''s all good. This room is pretty cool, weird to find under a tailoring shop though." "It was a storage room before Pop let me take it over." Camilla shook her head as if she were trying to shake something off. "You ok?" "Yeah, just this weird uncomfortable feeling I got when I came in here." "Hmm," Jam moved his hands away from each other and Camilla seemed to shake off whatever was bothering her. "Better?" "Much. Were you doing something?" "I was releasing mana. With me being depowered I can''t use any spells either," he held his hand out and casted air shot but nothing happened. "I can still use my mana though so I was practicing my mana manipulation. It increases my wisdom which helps with mana regeneration." "Ah ok." "Weird though, Voodoo Priestess said that no one who doesn''t have mana pathways can feel mana that is being released." Audrey stated. "That''s true, have you ever felt mana before?" "No, this would be the first." "Let''s try it again," Jam suggested placing his hands in front of his stomach as if he were holding a basketball. A general sense of discomfort washed over Camilla and her face scrunched. "Yeah, I feel it. It feels strange and erratic. Can you stop? It''s giving me a headache." Jam relaxed his mana, "yeah, you are feeling my mana. Any explanations Audrey?" "She does appear to have an MP bar now, though she only has 5 MP which is strangely low given her level and skill. My guess is that as your sidekick she is developing support abilities that match her role. Since you are a magic user with no established powerset, she may be developing magical abilities that work alongside your own." "So will her MP need to level up?" "No, I don''t think so. I think her body is still fluctuating to her current role. She may need to speak to Voodoo Priestess to determine her magic type. The 5 MP may just be a place holder until her magic is determined." "Sweet. If you want, you can head back to the HoD and see is Voodoo is busy. Like Pop said, it''ll be at least a week before our suits are done." "Or. . ." Camilla started with a devious grin on her face. "Or what?" Jam asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sparring match!" Jam threw his head back and groaned, "I don''t even have any powers." "Exactly. This will be good practice for us. You haven''t chosen a permanent power yet and your MP is limited. We need to always be ready in every situation." "You just really want to hit me when I''m powerless, you jerk" Jam deadpanned hopping up onto his feet and back flipping away. "That sounds fun as well, besides you have your heal skill," Camilla retorted rolling back into a back flip of her own. Jam cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before taking up a fighting stance. Camilla hopped from foot to foot loosening her body before she took up her own position. Ok, scan her. Her posture says she is relying mainly on kicks. She doesn''t have any tools or gear but she does still have powers. She won''t use energy projection, but her enhanced senses are going to be an issue and danger sense. The two slowly moved around each other, measuring. Jam decided the best thing to do was to close the distance quick and attempt to overwhelm her danger sense. Before he could attempt it, Camilla closed the distance and sent a roundhouse kick to his head that he blocked with his forearms. It sent him sliding back some and his arms went numb temporarily dropping to his side as he jumped away to put distance between them. Shit, she hits like a freight train, I''ll have to dodge. He shook his arms out, the feeling returning just in time for him to slip out of the way of another big kick. She chased him and he had to dodge out of the way of a flurry of kick before he managed to hit the back of her knee on her back leg which sent her crumpling to the ground. He jumped toward her to capitalize on it but she rolled and kicked his leg from under him. He fell forward onto her and she attempted to lock in a submission hold but he headbutt her to escape. They both stood, Camilla¡¯s broken nose from the headbutt slowly fixing itself from her minor restoration power. ¡°Playing rough huh?¡± she asked, a bloody grin on her face. ¡°Just the way you like it,¡± he answered. [ Skill Learned: Seduce Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Type: Active & Passive ] God , I hate this game. The two continued to battle it out, Jam doing his best to dodge when he could. Every hit he took felt like he was being hit with a metal bat. Jam couldn¡¯t let his guard down even for a second as Camilla chased him. By the end they both were laid on their backs on the ground panting. [ Skill Used: Heal Lvl 28 ¨C Successful ] ¡°You know, when I get my powers back. I¡¯m kicking your ass,¡± Jam joked. ¡°You can try,¡± Camilla chuckled. Over the next week and a half the two proceeded to train, even after Jam got his powers back to attempt to even the score. ¡°Hey Jam!¡± Anita called from the top of the steps. Jam released the arm bar he currently held on Camilla and blinked over to the steps, ¡°yea ma?¡± ¡°They¡¯re ready!¡± ¡°Cam, the suits are ready!¡± Jam told her excitedly. The pair trekked up the stairs and into the display room. In the room were two tarp covered objects and Roscoe was standing near them a large smile on his face. ¡°Are you ready kids?¡± he asked them. ¡°Aye aye captain.¡± Jam and Camilla quipped nearly in unison. Roscoe¡¯s eyebrows just furrowed in confusion. ¡°Sorry Pop, we¡¯re ready.¡± Jam apologized. ¡°Alright, here we go. Girly, you first.¡± Roscoe pulled the tarp off and revealed her new suit. It looked close to her Kid Mighty suit except it had a fire theme, a mostly white costume with red orange flames on the gauntlets and knee length combat boots, a fiery utility belt and a flaming cowl. The bottom of the cape was jagged and flowed like living fire. ¡°It¡¯s perfect!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°I like it,¡± Jam agreed. ¡°Did you choose a name?¡± ¡°Yeah, I had to work off the name you were going with so I chose ¡®Skyfire¡¯, feel like it rolls off the tongue.¡± ¡°It works, I dig it.¡± ¡°Alright boy, your turn.¡± Roscoe said pulling the tarp. It was a black and blue costume, the cowl shaped like a bird¡¯s head. The costume was so dark it could barely be seen. ¡°That¡¯s pretty damn sweet Pop.¡± ¡°The color is a new fabric I¡¯ve been working with, it¡¯s the darkest black possible. It actually absorbs 70% of all light shone on it so the appearance never changes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s almost as dark as your soul Jam,¡± Audrey quipped. ¡°I know right?¡± he agreed. ¡°And check this out,¡± Roscoe told him as he pressed a button in the glove. Blue flames began to dance across the black fabric dancing like an actual flame. The eyes burned bright blue and the edges of the cape seemed to ignite with blue flames as well. ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about,¡± Jam nearly salivated over the costume. ¡°You both have night vision and infrared in your cowls along with com devices like your desticom you told me about. The capes are made of a special ¡®living fabric¡¯ that will wave with no air needed for the aesthetic of course. Small magnetic devices inside the gloves will solidify the cape if you need to block bullets or use the cape in combat. The suit is bulletproof against most small caliber bullets but it won¡¯t be able to stop anything with real stopping power. The cape is for the bigger guns. I have boosters in the boots, it¡¯ll allow gliding for a good four minutes, do not rely on it to get around,¡± he stressed. ¡°This is for landings only, it is not strong enough to get you off the ground. There is a coolant system in there that takes all heat and directs it to charging the boosters so you don¡¯t have to worry about overheating while wearing the suit. I know running around in a scarily dark suit in the daytime seems like it¡¯s begging for trouble.¡± [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 28 - Successful ] { Item Name: Personal Costume Item Class: Costume Item Details: +5 Armor, +2 Speed, +3 Stealth Suit Skills: First Aid Lvl 1 Bulletproof Cape Lvl 1 Booster Boots Lvl 1 Cloaking Lvl 1 } Damn, even the suit skills have to be leveled up? Does that mean I can develop more? ¡°You¡¯re a godsend pop,¡± Jam said as he touched the suit. { Unique Item Acquired: Personal Costume Would you like to soul bind this item? [ Yes ] [ No ] Note: Soul bound items cannot be used by others, if soul bound item does not belong to you, your hero rating will decrease. } ¡°Hey pop, this is mine right?¡± ¡°Of course¡± Yes { Unique Item: Personal Costume is now soul bound. Would you like to equip it? [ Yes ] [ No ] Note: No need to find a phone booth, you can change right here} Yes In a blink and you¡¯d miss it flash of light, Jam was wearing the costume. ¡°Jealous, I have to actually put my clothes on like a normal person.¡± Camilla complained. Costume detected Would you like to choose a hero name? Note: This name cannot be changed unless complete costume change. [ Enter Name Here ] [ Yes ] [ No ] [ Maybe Later ] Suggestions: Birdman Manbird Harvey Nightbird Jam casted fire fist and blue flames encased his gloved fists. ¡°I want to pay tribute to Amara, and maybe remember who I was when she was around. From today on I will be the hero Mystery Phoenix¡± Checking . . . Mystery Phoenix is currently in use please choose another name Seriously? "Ok, Mystery Phoenix is taken. Dark Phoenix?" Checking . . . Dark Phoenix is currently in use please choose another name You''re kidding. "Firebird." Checking . . . Firebirdis currently in use please choose another name "Blackfire" Checking . . . Blackfire is currently in use please choose another name "Blue Inferno" Checking. .. Blue Inferno is currently in use please choose another name "Azure Resurrection" Checking . . . Azure Resurrection is currently in use please choose another name "Azure Crow" Checking . . . Azure Crowis currently in use please choose another name Jam''s eye twitched in irritation and he gritted his teeth. "Black Phoenix." Checking . . . Black Phoenix is accepted. World of Heroes Welcomes its Newest Hero: Black Phoenix I hate you so much. Congratulations: First Hero Name Chosen The World of Arcturus Will Now Know the NameBlackPhoenix Exp Gained + 7 Heroism Points Chapter 17 - Another Familiar Face Days later, Black Phoenix and Skyfire sat perched atop a building across from the night club Rose Colored, the lights of the club a bright beacon lighting the night sky. People were lined up waiting to enter the club. { Current Powers: Poison Generation Psychokinesis Draining Touch } "So this is your club?" SKyfire asked. "Mostly, I bought it for Rose. It was also useful for money laundering," Black Phoenix answered. "Just Rose? I feel bad for Thorn" Skyifre quipped "You shouldn''t, Thorn has an underground fight club called Crown of Thorns that''s just for her. I appreciate my lady completely," Black Phoenix shot back. Skyfire rolled her eyes with a chuckle, "alright, what''s the plan?" "I think she is in there, but I have to be able to get in there. Do I go in there with my face and hope the Lunar King can get a private audience with Rose or do I go in incognito and try to sneak to her." I can''t figure out the right play here. It''s only been a couple months for me but it''s been years for her and I don''t know how things are with her and ''Lunar King''. Still a stupid name. "Well, from what I heard, she and Lunar King have been on the outs for years now. I would suggest trying to finnesse your way in to see her." Four guys arrogantly strode to the front door of the club and were immediately let in skipping the crowded line. They were all wearing royal blue shirts with a crescent moon on it except the largest one in the back who had a half moon on his shirt and they all wore white caps. "Who are these mooks?" Black Phoenix asked. "Lunar King calls them his pawns. The moons on their shirt represent their rank and power. The crescents are powerless, the half moon is powered but not something that strong." "Seems kind of silly" Black Phoenix opined. "If they''re wearing shirts why not just arrest them?" "They technically haven''t done anything wrong yet. We can''t arrest them for wearing the uniform, they''re not Team Rocket. Half the time we try following these goons, they always end up going somewhere like this to hang out. Makes me wonder when these villlains actually get any work done." A man came out dragging a woman by her hair into the alley next to the club, she was struggling uselessly but wasn''t making any noise. Skyfire stood prepared to intercept but Black Phoenix held out a hand to stop her. "What? I can stop him." "Yeah, I know. Don''t do that." "What are you talking about? He''s going to rape her." "Yeah and he paid a lot of money for the pleasure to do so." "What? What the hell are you talking about?" Skyfire interrogated angrily. "That''s Holly, a girl that worked for me. Rose Colored isn''t just a dance club there''s a back room too. You didn''t notice that she wasn''t screaming? That the bouncer didn''t look at her at all? She didn''t want to draw the attention." "You had sex workers?" "Yep, these people have powers that rely strongly on sexual energy. Basically like succubi and incubi without the draining people''s life energy thing. Holly is a real sweet girl but she''s been doing it so long she needs a bit of the rough stuff now. She heals quickly though, almost instantly." Skyfire deflated a bit, "that''s kind of weird." "Tell me about it. I wasn''t in love with the idea but prostitution isn''t illegal here, just mostly frowned upon. I interviewed Holly to be a waitress, but she spent half her time there picking up patrons and taking them home. We just skipped the middle man so to speak." "What''s her power?" "She can feel lust and sexual energies and her body reacts to it. Then in the middle of the act she can absorb the sexual energy and use it to preserve herself and her body. Then she uses a secretion her body makes too much of as a result of her lust she sensed and puts it in the person. It''d revitalizes the body, people have said they felt 10 years younger after sleeping with her. Only problem is, if she does it too much with the same person, without significant time in between, they could die. Like overdosing on medicine. Thus why she has so many partners." "That sounds like a rough way to live." "If I''ve learned anything it''s that powers aren''t always glamorous. Just look at your friends; Universa, always having to see everything, or Arcturian, having amazingly addictive powers that he can''t use unless he wants to die. This shit is rough. I don''t even have an established power set." They sat silently watching the door, a time passed but nothing really happened further. "Well, nothing I can do from up here. I need to try to get in there." Black Phoenix stated before bouncing up to his feet and hopping off of the roof into the alley on the side of the building. "What the hell?" Skyfire reacted, [Suit Skill Used: Booster Boots Lvl 3 - Successful ] Blue flames leaked out of the bottom of Black Phoenix''s boots and his descent was slowed down a bit to an easier touchdown. [ Suit Skill Level Up: Booster Boots Lvl 3 has become Booster Boots Lvl 4 ] "I hate you." Skyfire said to him after she rappelled down the five story building with her firebird shaped grappling gun. "Forgot I had those?" "I did." "No problems Sky." he said patting her shoulder. He pulled up his menu and unequiped his Black Phoenix suit, underenath was a nice black suit with a power blue shirt and black shoes. "Were you wearing your suit underneath your Black Phoenix suit?" Camilla asked taking off her cowl. "Audrey? Dress please." "You got it," Audrey answered producing a nice blue dress that complimented Jam''s suit. "I don''t know. I don''t feel it under the suit, I"m not really sure if it stays on my body or switches places." Jam answwered her before casting illusion to make her a privacy curtain. "Thanks." "No problem," Jam said turned around. He pulled his secret identity glasses out of his jacket pocket and placing them on his face. Camilla walked through the illusion causing it to dissipate and gave her Skyfire suit to Audrey who put it in her inventory. "This is so much better than when I had to go all the way back to the HoD or to my apartment just to get my Kid Mighty suit. You''re awesome Audrey." Camilla complimented. "Thank you," the pink glowing orb responded. Camilla''s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at Jam, "this is going to take some getting used to. I''m trying to tell my brain that it''s you but I still see some really uninteresting blob." "Audrey, how far away from me can you get?" "About six feet," she answered. "You''re going to have to go back to the HoD. If you''re with us, they''re going to think you''re a camera." "Sure I guess. I''m just kind of worried because Mr. Probably was able to disconnect me from your implants." "It''ll be fine." Audrey''s orb digitized and teleported away back to the Hall of Destiny. Camila and Jam strode up to the back of the short line that had mostly emptied out. They stood before the large bouncer, the man had three eyes, all in a straight line under his brow. His skin was yellow and his nose was too small for his face. He was definitely Sharry. { Name: Carlos Mulin HP: 200/200 SP: 250/250 } "Men 10 delrens, women 15 delrens," the deep voiced Carlos announced. When it was their turn in line Jam held out a 50 delren note and went to hand it to Carlos who ignored him. "Sorry buddy, you''re not getting in here. Move along," Carlos dismissed. "What do you mean I''m not getting in? I have my cash right here," Jam growled. "You gotta meet a certain standard for this club and you''re not working. Keep it moving dude." Jam slid his glasses off his face and looked at Carlos. "Carlos you''re letting me into that building." "Nice trick buddy but you''re not the first guy to pretend to be the Lunar King. Would you like to find out what happened to the others?" "Carlos, if you don''t let me in. I"m going to call your parole officer and let him know about exactly who you''re working for." Carlos rolled all three of his eyes and looked past Jam. "Then I''m going to call Ashley." Carlos'' eyes shot open wide and he looked at Jam''s sinister grin.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "How would your mom feel about your current work?" "Sir, of course. Please come in." "Good to hear, do me a favor and don''t tell your boss that I''m here. I need to surprise her." "Yes sir." Camilla and Jam both walked in, Jam sliding Carlos the 50 delren note anyway. As soon as they entered the pair separated, Jam going to the back of the dance floor and Camilla finding a seat at the bar. The music pumped and the people all grinded against each other. Jam couldn''t remember the last time he''d been in a nightclub on Earth but he remembered it smelled of sweat and perfume. Rose Colored smelled faintly of roses and the subtle scent seemed to blanket all other smells. Then Rose came out of a hallway to the back opposite of him. Jam''s breath caught when he saw her but he deflated some as well when he realized her hair wasn''t glowing nearly as brightly as it used to. It was more of a dulled shimmer now, like a slowly dying glowstick. She was stil beautiful though in her green skirt suit that hugged her curved perfectly. She walked up to the bartender and said a few things, greeted a couple of important people, and then made her way back toward the hallway. Jam walked briskly behind her easing through the crowd, however when he got to a distance to where he could touch her he quickly routed his direction and went into the bathroom.He ran the water and cleaned his face, nearly gasping for air under the anxiety, Come on Jam. You can do this. They are the love of your life and now you just have to go and remind them. You can do it "You ok?" Audrey asked concern evident in her voice. "I''m fine" Jam answered. "You left the room, is everything ok?" Camilla sent him over party chat. "Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine." Jam looked in the mirror hard for a moment before he blew out an annoyed breath, fixed his clothes, replaced his glasses and walked out. He took a seat and the bar with a loud thump. "What can I get you guy?" the bartender asked. A young guy, looked barely old enough to be drinking let alone tending bar. "Give me the strongest, scariest stuff you got. Something to knock me on my ass," Jam shouted over the music. "You got it, one Might Guy gut punch. 80 delrens." "Of course it''s named after him," Jam grumbled pulling out his wallet. "What''s that?" "Nothing!" The bartender set the drink down and took the money from Jam''s hand. The glass was just a bit larger than a tequila shot but it was also blue and seemed to be releasing steam. Everything about the drink threw up red flags in Jam''s mind. Jam ignored them and grabbed the glasses holding it up and smelling it; it smelled like an odd mixture of fruit, raw beef, oil and metal. Time for some liquid courage. Jam took the shot to the head throwing it back quickly. Everything inside his body burned immensely as if he were swallowing his own firefist spell. He sucked in a quick breath and let it out as his eyes fluttered for a moment. [ Skill Developed: Poison Resistance Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Developed: Poison Detection Lvl 1 ] [ Status Ailment: Intoxicated - Time Limit: 5 hours - You have drunk an ungodly amount of a vaguely alcoholic beverage. You''re lucky to be alive. Strength +4, Speed -4, Dexterity -4, Constitution +2, Defense -1, Intelligence -4, Wisdom -4, Charisma +6, Perception -4 ] [ Skill Auto Triggered: Calm Mind Lvl 27 - Successful ] [ Status Ailment Cured: Intoxicated - Despite any irrevocable damage you may have done to your brain cells, your stats have returned to normal. ] Jam''s eye twitched, teeth ground and he crushed the glass cup in his hand. Are you fucking kidding me? I can''t even get drunk! "Whoa guy, you ok?" the bartender asked. "I''m fine." Jam dumped all 54 of his refinement points into his psychokinetic power and mentally picked up all the glass shards off of the ground and into a small pile atop his napkin. He pulled out more money and paid for the broken glass. He only had a good hour or so before his powers reset anyway. "That''s pretty cool," a voice next to him said. He looked over to find a smiling redheaded woman. Her smile was gently and friendly without a hint of flirting, as if she knew that he wasn''t anywhere near in the mood for seduction. "Thanks, it''s my first time," he smiled back at her. "Your first time using your powers or smashing a glass?" "The former, I''ve broken plenty of glass." "Do you need a napkin for your hand?" she gestured. He looked down at his hand to find it had not a single cut, he moved his fingers around but didn''t feel any exposed cuts or glass slivers in his hand. Must be pretty durable now. Sweet. "No I''m fine. Thank you." "Is everything ok Mr. .?" "Jam," he responded, holding his other hand out. "Kayley, nice to meet you." She said taking his hand. "So is everything ok Mr Jam?" "You too as well Kayley and it''s just Jam. I''m fine honestly, I''ve jusst been having a rough go at it lately. A lot of people wanting to punch me." A momentary shocked expression washed over her face, "I hope you aren''t getting involved with the wrong kind of people." Jam chuckled heartily, "honestly, its the supposed right kind of people who keep wanting to hit me." "Well, that''s no fun." "Would you like a refill on your drink?" "Sure, that''d be awesome." "Bartender, another drink for my friend here, please. At least someone can enjoy them." Before he realized what was happening, Jam was grabbed out of the seat by a rather large man with two golden cat-like eyes. The man held Jam up easily, his face less than a foot away. "You moving in on my girl?" cat eyes growled. "You want me to kick your ass?" { Name: Jack Rabbit Lvl 2 HP: 150/150 SP: 400/400 } "Please sir, I meant you no harm. I was merely keeping the young lady company. If you must hit me at least let me remove my glasses first." Cat eyes Jack nodded almostimperceptibly. Jam slid his glasses off then looked at Jack again. "Boo," he whispered at Jack who completely lost all the color in his face as he flushed. His lips went to move but before he could say anything Jam spoke over him. "I''m incognito right now, so here''s what I''m going to do for you today. You can hit me once, in the stomach. You hit me in the face and I kill you, your girl there and anyone else you like or have spoken kindly with. You talk about how I wasn''t worth your time and then you move on and treat that pretty lady right. Alright?" Another nod. "Oh no sir, I''m so very sorry. Please let me buy you both a drink, completely on me. I didn''t mean to instigate any kind of issue." A swift punch to Jam''s stomach that he sold harder than the Rock getting stunnered by Steve Austin. despite barely feeling it. The man took Jam''s seat and Jam slapped money on the counter and walked away replacing his glasses. "That was pretty nice of you, let him keep face with his girlfriend. Though, it''s not cool how jealous he was," Audrey told him. "I bought her a drink, that''s probably on me." "Maybe." Jam decided that it was probably a sign to stop beating around the bush and go for what he wanted to do. Stepping into the hallway Jam noticed no one was guarding the hall, which didn''t full surprise him considering Thorn would kill anyone who tried to step to Rose. "Hey Camilla, if anything happens then leave immediately understood? Forget about me and work with the HoD to take down the Lunar King," he told her through their mental party chat. "What in the world are you talking about?" she sent back. "If I play this wrong, Thorn is going to rip my head off. Just be ready to move and leave; they might realize you''re with me. If Carlos didn''t already tell everyone." "Just don''t get yourself killed." "Audrey?" "Yes Jam." she responded. "I''m sorry." "For what?" ''I''ve gotta do this next part alone." Disconnect A.I. implant { Disconnect A.I. companion from implants? [ Yes ] [ No ] } Yes Jam went further down the hallway. "Jam, why is Audrey telling me you turned her off from your implants?" Jam ignored Camilla and stepped into the doorway of Rose''s office. He saw her leaning over her desk looking at paperwork, her back to the door. He took a second to scan over her body, she was still so gorgeous. Jam couldn''t imagine a time he''d get tired of looking at either of them. He cleared his throat to make his presence known. "Your Highness," Rose said, her voice clearly annoyed. [ Skill Used: Mental Resistance Lvl 27 - Failed ] [ Skill Used: Calm Mind Lvl 27 - Successful ] [ Skill Used: Mental Resistance lvl 27 - Successful ] "Oh come on, no need to call me that. I''m not the Lunar King." "So what, are you Apex now?" she said flippantly, her back still to Jam. He didn''t move from his spot leaning against the doorway. "Nope, not anymore. You know who I am Rosie." The light of her hair brightened just a bit at the nickname but when back to its dull sheen. She flipped around and leaned against her desk staring hard at Jam. "What do you want Jam?" Moment of truth Jam''s eyebrows furrowed and his face devolved into a scowl before he began to march forward and cast blink to close the distance in an instant. He grabbed her jaw and turned her head away from him. "Who the fuck said you could look at me?" Jam hissed in her ear. Her body stiffened quickly under his touch but she didn''t move to push him away, "What the hel. . " "I asked you a question." he interrupted her. "Who. The fuck. Said you could look at me?" She swallowed hard and her breathing became faster. She closed her eyes and pulled her lips in licking them before she finally answered quietly, "No one." Jam cleared his throat again. "No one, sir." "That''s better." Jam praised as he released her jaw and rubbed it with his fingers. He used his psychokinesis to close the office door and lock it, never stopping his fingers from running across her jawline. He took his other hand and ran it through her hair which he noticed was slowly but surely starting to glow brighter with his every caress. He placed a soft kiss on her jaw and her hands didn''t move from the top of the desk. One hand kept running through her hair as the other one opened a few buttons of her shirt and slid to trace small lines across her chest. He kissed the place just below her ears that sent shivers through her body and her hair burst with light for a second before returning back to its slowly growing glow. "Your hair still smells divine; you still use that shampoo I like?" He asked between soft kisses on her neck as his hand explored her chest. Jam expected her to resist but she just moved her head to give him better access to her throat. He nibbled on her neck and she exhaled slowly her eyes sliding closed. "Yes sir," she finally answered when he stopped his advances and she remembered he''d ask her a question. "You''re still wearing the pearls I gave you." "Always." Her silver skin glistened under his attention,He moved his other hand down the back of her skirt to cup her ass. "I like this underwear too, they feel incredible. You smell amazing." "Thank you." "You know I''m not the Lunar King right? I was never the Lunar King," Jam informed her in a moment of clarity as his hand stopped roaming her body. "I know." "You know?" "Yeah, I knew as soon as you saw me in the crowd. I knew, even more, when you were standing in the doorway, watching me." "How?" "I can sense your desires, smell them, taste them. Feel them as if they were a tangible thing. They''re so strong, how could I not?" "I didn''t know you could do that." "I''ve always had feelings but it has only risen to this status over the past few years." "Then you can see how I feel," he said continuing his exploration. "I know you''re afraid." "Am I?" "Yes, you''re afraid that I''m no longer yours." His hands froze again, "and are you?" She finally opened her eyes and looked him directly into his. "Everything I am, body and soul belongs to you, my love." Her green eyes twinkling like gemstones. A joyous smile spread across Jam''s face, "You can kiss me now." Rose smashed her face into his claiming his lips with her own. They passionately kissed as she finally moved her hands and wrapped them around him to pull him in closer. Jam slid his hand further into her skirt and began to rub her warmth through her panties. She gasped into his mouth but refused to break their hungry kiss. Finally after what felt to Jam like a lifetime yet not long enough, he extricated himself. "Now let me speak to Thorn." "You fucking tease!" Rose growled out, her breath heavy. He just kissed her nose in response. "I''m not sure that''s a good idea at the moment. She has been different ever since the Lunar King rejected us. She only comes out to fight and mate. Unless we''re going to visit your parents and even dragging her to that is a struggle sometimes. I''m not sure which one she''s going to be feeling if I invite her out." "We''ll just have to see." Please don''t let her kill me. She kissed his lips one more time before backing up, "Thorn, it''s time to wake up." Without a flash of light or any other indication, Rose was gone and Thorn was there in her place. The large barbarian woman stood angrily, breathing heavily, raring to fight. She looked down and saw Jam standing before her smiling softly. This time, however, she didn''t return it. Instead, she grabbed him by the throat, lifting him from the ground and pushing him into the nearby wall. What is this a running gag? Why is it always the throat? "Thorn, please." "Why are you here?" she asked curtly. "To see you! I''m not the Lunar King." [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 27 - Failure ] That''s not good. Jam used what little power he could of the draining touch to try to sap some of the energy from Thorn. Her eyes still burned into him red tinted. He began to hum a tune, the sound of "Forever Yours" by Seven More a semi-famous band of Arcturus. It was their song, the song that played the first time they fought each other. Some of the red tints seemed to fade from her eyes and her grip loosened some. [ Skill Used: Calming Touch Lvl 27 - Success ] "You''re not the Lunar King." "I''m not, but I need your help to stop him." She let him down on the ground and he rubbed at his neck the pain quickly fading. "I will help you, lover, though I still hurt," she said her hand over her heart. A pang of guilt shot through Jam that he couldn''t explain and it made him hate the Lunar King all the more. He reached up and pulled her head down to kiss her softly. When Jam opened his eyes again he realized he had ignored his power cycle countdown and it was just about to hit zero. He took her hand and smiled up at her right as a pain shot through his body. Except his countdown timer was still counting down and that''s when he realized there had been an explosion in the office that had thrown both he and Thorn. He began to lose consciousness right as the timer hit zero. Chapter 18 - Man in the Mirror Everything on Jam''s body was heavy, especially his eyelids that he couldn''t seem to muster the energy to open. His every breath was labored and painful, though every breath was less painful than the last. Figuring it must be his pain dampening skill at work, he was forced to wonder just how much he had hurt before he had regained consciousness. Despite the pain, his heart was oddly calm and he momentarily lost himself in the steady rhythm of its beating. It unburdened his mind as his skill slowly eased the pain. The feeling returned to his mouth and he couldn''t believe just how dry it was; just as he opened and closed his mouth in discomfort, a straw slid between his lips. Forgetting himself, he greedily drank down the cool water the straw provided. After he clearly reached the bottom of the cup it was replaced with another that he guzzled down as well. Finally after the second cup his thirst had been sated and he breathed a little easier. It was only then that he reminded himself of the uncertain nature of his current circumstances. His eyes slowly opened and shut quickly against the unattractive fluorescent lighting that assulted them. He tried again to open his eyes and everything before him was blurry and unfocused. He wanted to rub his eyes but he couldn''t feel his hands yet so instead he slowly waited for them to adjust, choosing to stare at the floor. When his eyes situated themselves he slowly scanned back up to find himself looking in a mirror. Looking in the mirror he was surprised to find that he had completely healed up, there weren''t even any open cuts or scars on his face. Upon further examination he realized there in fact weren''t any scars on his face, not even the ones given to him by his mother. His mouth twisted in a grimace while his reflections lips quirked up into a grin. "Hi Jamal, so lovely to see you again," he heard his voice say. "Lunar King." he curtly responded. "No need to be so formal my friend. Please, call me Jack." Powers { Powers Time Until Power Cycle: 12:43 Current Powers: Sonic Scream + 2 (Scramble) Stamina Absorption Steel Skin Refinement points available: 54 } Jam emptied out his refinement points equally across the board. Reconnect A.I. designation Audrey [ Reconnection Requested. . . ] [ Reconnection Accepted ] [ Reconnecting 3. . 2 . . 1. . ] "Jam, what the hel. . is that the. . Uh oh." Audrey sputtered. "So that''s why you weren''t in my pod, you were here," Jam ignored her. "When did you learn Arcturus was real?" "Haven''t figured it out huh Jam. I''m from Arcturus. I always knew this planet was real. Arcturus industries was my company." Jam felt a sudden wrath boil up his stomach, he fought to move his body forward but his advance was halted. He looked to his hands to find his wrists shackled to the wall, he struggled uselessly against his restraints while the Lunar King leaned his hip against a nearby surface and crossed his arms watching Jam''s futile attempts. Jam eventually gave up but his seething rage still remained. "So angry." Lunar King condescended. "Let me out of these and I''ll show you just how angry I can get," Jam threatened with frightening calm in his voice. "I don''t see why you''re so mad. I gave you power, you should be thanking me. It''s a lot more than anyone has ever given me on this planet." "Whatever. Just kill me and get it over with. I''m tired of looking at you." "Hey, maybe don''t encourage the supervillain to kill you." Audrey chided. "He is going to monologue, might as well not make it fun for him." Jam sent her. "Aren''t you interested in why I chose you?" Lunar King asked. "Not particularly." Jam answered, completely uninterested. "You forget that I have your brain Jamal, I know you''re secretly burning with curiosity." "Jeez, it''s getting sad. Just let him do it," Audrey pleaded. New Task: Why Though? Task Details: You have been capture by the Lunar King and he now wishes to explain his dastardly plan Task Objective: Learn of the Lunar King''s reasons Accept this task? [ Yes ] [ No ] Ugh, Yes "How did you come up with this awesome plan?" Jam solicited in a sarcastic monotone. "Rude but I''ll tell you anyway," the Lunar King chuckled. He began to tell Jam about his upbringing. "My tragic back story starts with a lonely computer programmer." "Did he just say tragic back story?" Audrey inquired "Mhm," Jam responded. "Always such a drama queen." "My creator and father was a lonely man who was unable to have children with his wife before she was ripped from him; a casualty caught up in a fierce battle between a hero and a villain. Thus, my father hated supers with a passion." "You were right, he really is monologuing." Audrey exclaimed. "Yep. He always complained that I didn''t monologue enough. Says it is important to up the spectacle and really beat down the heroes emotionally. It wasn''t really my style." "My father wanted a child so he decided to make one. Then I was made, but he wanted to ensure that I wasn''t a super so he put blocks on my systems so that I am completely average in every way. I can do anything you can imagine but I can''t do it any better than an average person. I''m literally a jack of all trades and a master of none." "Tragic indeed." Jam deadpanned. "You have no idea," Jack shouted. "Do you know how empty life is when no matter what you do you can''t improve any further than you already have? It doesn''t matter how much I practice or try to learn something, my brain''s pathways didn''t allow me to go beyond a certain level. If I try to run faster than I did the day before my body will unconsciously maintain the same speed it always does. If I try to learn all of a subject I forget a quarter of it. My brain is a computer, it doesn''t forget, it just won''t let me access it. I could be better than anyone at anything and he stifled me. Shouldn''t a father want their child to be able to achieve anything they choose?" "If you want to have a crappy parents contest, I think I''d win." "Yes yes, we already know your tragic back story. Now we''re talking about mine." "What''s the plan here Jam?" Audrey asked him. "I''m working on it. I think the only real choice I have is to use the power nullifier and kill him. I''ll probably be killed immediately after by the first powered guy who walks through the door but that will have to do." Jam sent her. Jam yawned loudly, "well can you speed it up some? These shackles are chafing me something serious." He said to the Lunar King. "Well, anyway. After I killed him, I decided to be a villain anyway." "Logical choice." "That won''t work Jam. I can''t get to you to give you the nullifier and it''s in your inventory." Audrey told him.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "Why can''t I just summon it to me?" he asked her. "It''s not soul bound. I have to be there to give it to you and I can''t find you." "You''re connected to me, how can''t you find me?" "This place is like a huge faraday cage. I can''t locatte you, the only reason we''re connected right now is because part of my systems are still in your implants." "I began to hate all the other people of this planet with their limitless possibilities" Lunar King continued. "I could have been a God yet they all looked down on me.I was given that same mortal need to chase greatness yet no means to achieve it, while others wasted their potential. I was a joke villain, slapped around by D team heroes for fun. I got to a low place, decided I didn''t want to deal with it anymore. Then I found I couldn''t even die." "Tragic back story indeed. So, let''s skip to the part with me in it." "Well, I decided that if I couldn''t rule this world myself then I''d make someone do it for me. However, no one on this planet would give me the respect I deserve in order to work for me. I was a laughing stock and I hated it. So in a last ditch effort I decided to go to another planet and use them to further my goals," Lunar King explained. "If you can''t go any further than an average person, how''d you make the tools necessary to do it?" "As I said, I am average at everything. I added all my parts together to make the whole. I pushed my knowledge on every subject from mechanical engineering to neuroscience to their absolute limits until I made a device that could transmit my processors out into space. I figured best case scenario I find a new planet to support my ambitions and worst case scenario I''d finally die. There was no downside to it. So I shot my consciousness into space and imagine my surprise when I found myself on Earth." "Lucky you, no shortage of murdering psychopaths there." "More than that, it was a planet extremely similar to Arcturus where all the supers that plagued Arcturus were mere fiction and fantasy. A place where no one was truly extraordinary, not in any way that mattered to me. Earth was years behind Arcturus on the intellectual level that my average was just above average enough that I could completely enslave your world if I so desired. It was a true Utopia for me, but I couldn''t let go of the anger and contempt that I held for the heroes of Arcturus. I wanted them to suffer, I needed them to. So I decided to make Arcturus Industries, I hired your smartest minds and gave them enough information to push their technology ahead by a decade. I introduced the world to true full immersion virtual reality and actual A.I. technology. Then I chose to make a game to find who could be the best villain possible, but it had to be their choice; I needed them to choose to be a villain." "Ok, what if I use the berserker skill?" Jam asked Audrey. "It has a slow build up and he''s level 100. You''d need to be under at least 4 hours before you could even hope to win that fight and after that time who knows if you''d ever actually stop fighting." She answered him. "Damn it. How do I get out of this?" "I don''t think you can." Jam sighed before speaking aloud to Lunar King. "They had to choose to be villains because of the lifelike nature of the game. If they had to be villains by default they might not push the system as far as it could go. They would only do the least amount possible because they wouldn''t want to hurt people or they would go all out and do every evil thing imagiable. You needed someone who would slowly prepare and plan to be a villain, someone who would ease into being a villain from level 1. What I don''t get is, why? If I have this correct, you made a game to find a person who was a viable candidate to subjugate this planet, but why did they need to start from level 1 to begin with? Why not just load the person up to level 100 from the beginning? Or why not just make your own body level 100." "Simple, those were the rules of the game. The creators of my game set rules in place and I couldn''t overcome them. I tried to push the boundaries of those rules as much as possible but the A.I.s controlling the game weren''t bound like I was. Every time I tried to find a hole in the programming they sealed it up immediately. So, I had people of Arcturus Industries working on a special tools to help my endeavors. A machine that allowed a mind to transfer into a body across extraordinary distances and then another machine that fabricates a body receptive to the game system." A body receptive to the game system. Level 100. Wait a second. Jam remembered Audrey saying that the Lunar King is level 100. [ Skill Used: Analyze Lvl 28+ - Successful ] { Character Type: Player Character Name: Jack Alias: Lunar King Race: Arcturian Rank: Villain King Level: 100 HP: 50000/50000 MP: N/A SP: 24367/30000 Powers Super Strength Flight Optic Blasts Unbreakable Skin Hyper Senses Advanced Intellect Regeneration Status Ailment: Rule Bound } Yep, everything is the same. It all makes sense now. "I monitored the game constantly trying to search for someone. They were all so dull, all those wanna be heroes and villains. No one could truly meet my standards until I found the villain Apex. When I saw all you could do, I knew you were the one. I knew I needed you to accomplish what I could not." "So you''re responsible for Amara''s death!" "What? No. What?" Lunar King sputtered in confusion. "How would that even work? I didn''t know about you until after you became a villain." "Oh, right. Never mind. Continue." "Damn, now you''ve thrown me off." "So, I was directly in control of Apex. What took you so long to take over?" "Again, the rules of the game. Everyone is given a thirty day period to return to their character before the A.I. controlling them keeps full control. Since you played daily and spent more time in game than out, I had no chance to take control over it." "Which is why you were pushing for me to play Cosmic Crisis or whatever it was called." "Pretty much, and my company was getting tired of only focusing on World of Heroes." He shrugged, "my interests were done. I don''t really care what they do now. I haven''t even been back to Earth since the explosion." "So, how are things any different now?" "Well, over the years I scanned your brain thoroughly, watched your closely and learned from you. I used your mind and the way your brain works as you''re thinking through your plans and used it to make the most of my limited capacities. Then I used your face to keep the underlings in line." "Alright. Well despite you blowing me up, you didn''t kill me yet, what do you want with me?" Lunar King gave a large and inviting smile, "that''s simple of course. I want you to join me." "What? Why?" "To be honest Jam, when the explosion happened, I was incredibly relieved. I could finally stand at the top of the precipice. I would finally be the villain king and run this place," he said reverently. "Then after a couple of months, it started to feel empty and hollow. In all honesty, I''d grown accustomed to you. I know the top is a lonely place but I hadn''t expected to grieve your loss so heavily. Then your neighbor girl appeared on Arcturus a year later and I started to wonder if maybe you weren''t dead." Lunar King cradled the side of Jam''s face in his hand; Jam jerked out of the subtle embrace. "To hope that maybe you''d come back to me. Right when I started to give up hope, Shadow Stalker told me about their plans to summon a hero to take me down and I knew it would be you. It was the only thing that made sense. When you killed his clone I knew for sure it was you. Now you''ve come back to me and I want you to rule this world alongside me." Task Completed You Have Completed the Task Why Though? Reward: Exp Gained Wisdom + 1 500 Delrens "You know, it''s funny when I first got here I kind of missed you too. I had definitely become accustomed to having you in my ear. " Lunar King looked hopeful for a moment but his face dropped as Jam continued. "That is why I''m giving you three options," he announced holding up three fingers. One, you surrender and let me take you in. I''ll make sure you''re treated well." The Lunar King scoffed at that. "Two, you release me and then you go underground and I never hear of you doing anything wrong again. Or three, you can ignore my warning and then I take you down by force." "I''m not sure you''re in any position to be making demands or issuing threats. I''m not against severing your head from your body even to my own consternation." "You know me Jack. I always have a backup plan." Jam retorted, a menacing smile on his face. "God, I missed you. Just hearing you talk. You know I really don''t get it. I gave you something you thirsted for more than anything. I gave you power. I let you explore your darkest fancies and hurt whoever you pleased. I gave you a divine purpose and let your darkness run wild. You should be thankful." Jam chuckled darkly, "I am thankful. You saw the darkness inside of me and you let it free. I learned about skills that I had that were completely unusable in the real world. Now I know how to harness my darkness, my anger and my hate. So, when you lied to me while calling me a friend, used me against perfectly innocent people like those assholes at my job did to Amara, and, worse of all, when you hurt Thorn''s feeling, you became the target of that hate. So, I will destroy everything I''ve ever built for you even if I have to raze this whole planet to the ground around you;" he threatened, nearly shouting in the end. "You know, when I offered you a place at my side. It wasn''t a choice; you will accept, eventually." Lunar King pressed a button on a nearby station and spoke into an intercom, "come get him and put him in the cells." "Nope. I won''t." Jam responded curtly, then he sucked in a deep breath. Enjoy this with your hyper senses you asshole. Jam let out an ear piercing scream completely focused on the Lunar King. His hyper senses increased his received damage even more as he was physically launched into the wall. Gritting his teeth in pain, Lunar King attempted to stand but found his body to be getting heavier by the moment. Jam had been slowly leaching his stamina throughout his entire monologue and, with his hyper senses amplifying the damage, the sonic scream was actually rupturing his ear drums which were constantly regenerating. Jam knew just how much his powers ate up his stamina when he had them. "Can you beat him like this?" Audrey asked. "Are you crazy? Of course not. I have a skill SP regen that can trigger when it hits below 10%. The only reason I can use sonic scream this long is his SP is replacing the SP I''m currently burning through," Jam sent her. "Well what are you going to do?" "Just wait a second." The door at the side of the room slid open and a man with an armored version of the crescent moon shirt holding a rather large gun stood in the doorway. He was shocked only for a moment as he assessed the situation. Hefting his gun toward Jam, he was surprised when Jam was no longer there, having casted blink to disappear to shift to the other side of the door. Jam stumbled onto a knee as he tried to get the feeling into his legs, he slammed the side of his fist into his leg to help return life to the limb. He wiggled his foot and then pushed hard off the back foot into a quick sprint down the corridor. After casting boost, he picked up speed and was able to take the corners at a faster pace. He blew past henchmen in similar armored moon suits who were too surprised to do anything. Then he heard a siren go off, when he slipped through a door into another long corridor he had to quickly blink past a group of guards who were preparing an ambush for him. Jam managed to make it out of the building and looked around to find he was standing outside of the castle that he had previously seen on the Lunar King''s announcement video. "He''s over there!" He heard a voice shout and he started to run again though he didn''t know to where. Sliding to a stop at the very edge, he looked over to find he was easily hundreds of miles in the air and moving. It became clear why no one could find the Lunar King, his castle was flying through the sky and no doubt camouflaged. Well shit Chapter 19 - Break Time A claustrophobic''s nightmare. That''s how Jam would describe the cell he found himself sitting in. For him however, it felt like home. He had never needed much room and though he did enjoy glitz and glamour as much if not more than the next person he never felt it necessary in his home life. He was a minimalist at home and the blank greyish walls felt comfortable for him. Even the shabby little cot that he was given felt strangely comfortable, though he found he enjoyed lying on the floor looking at the ceiling more. Things in his little cell would have been perfect had it not been for Audrey continually humming the song "Locked Up" by Akon in his ear. "Must you?" Jam asked halting the sit ups he had been doing. "Well, it''s been over a week now and you haven''t made any moves to get out of this place or told me what the plan is." "There is no plan Audrey. I''m taking a break." "A break?" she asked incredulously. "Yep, I''m pausing the game. Besides, this place isn''t so bad. The food is ok and its quiet. Except when you''re making noise that is." "Well then I''m logging off. Call me when you''re through with your ''break''" [ A.I. Designated Audrey Disconnected.] Hmm. Didn''t know she could do that. Jam continued his sit ups then when he decided he was done with that he moved on to pushups. Then up downs. He worked long and pushed himself further and further, but he couldn''t help but feel the work out lacking. His body was far more enhanced than it had been when he was on Earth. It had been over three hours of working out and he had barely broken a sweat. On Earth by this time he would have been a crumpled and sweaty mess. His muscles weren''t sore, his breathing wasn''t overly heavy; he didn''t have any of the usual issues that were able to take the attention away from his thoughts. His SP was replenishing faster than these work outs could drain it. He gave up and just laid on his cot. He tried his best to think about Rose and channel his love for her. Jam channeled his feelings as strongly as he could, but other thoughts kept slipping in. Before he realized it, he was thinking about another subject entirely. The lights in his cell flickered then dimmed considerably before slowly returning to normal. "You know, I''ve been lying here thinking about all the things I''ve done on this planet. All the people I''ve hurt. I try to feel bad about it, guilty. I just can''t seem to. It''s kind of scares me, knowing what I know now and still believing if I was in that situation, I might make the same decisions over again. I mean I made an impact on this world, that much is undeniable. I like that thought. No, I don''t feel guilty. I feel angry. Hurting people was always my choice. I did what I did because I wanted to punish people but to know that the choice to do it to actual people was taken away from me. I was always afraid to hurt other people in the real world but this planet I could do whatever. Now I know that these people were flesh and blood the whole time instead of 1s and 0s, I know that the choice was taken from me and it makes me angry. Maybe I wouldn''t have done anything different and maybe I would have but whether I did or didn''t was my choice. Now I must face the consequences of choices I didn''t get to make for myself. Does that seem fair to you brother?" Jam asked aloud. "You''d call me brother after what you did to me the last time we met? You must remember how you sunk an arrow into my chest." Shadow Stalker responded. "I stuck an arrow into your clone. Stop being melodramatic." "How dare you." "I couldn''t have you leaking all my information out to the Lunar King." "Still hurt my feelings." "How unfortunate," Jam responded sarcastically. "You know what they say, hurt people hurt people." Jam was still laid back on his cot relaxing with his eyes closed, and his danger sense had been slowly nagging him since he got locked in the place, so he wasn''t prepared when Shadow Stalker drove a blunt object down into his stomach. Jam rolled out of the cot in pain, gasping for air. The one hit had taken away a third of his HP completely bypassing his shield. He knew it had to be a critical and surprise attack damage bonus and he could kick himself for not preparing for the inevitable attack from Shadow Stalker. The two might have been like brothers at one time but he wasn''t that man anymore and it had been five years for Shadow Stalker. Shadow Stalker was the one with the power here. "What the hell man?" Jam wheezed. Shadow Stalker didn''t answer instead planting the toe of his boot into Jam''s jaw. This time his shield managed to cut part of the damage, but he still tasted copper in his mouth. A flurry of kicks followed, and Jam had to pull himself into a ball to defend against the assault. Jam expected to find anger within himself, but for some reason he was calm. Unnaturally calm, without the Calm Mind skill even triggering. Jam was left with only fifteen HP after Shadow Stalker decided to move on leaving him in a bloody mess but luckily his slow HP replenishment closed his wounds, so he wouldn''t lose any more. His body hurt and though his wounds were closed they still burned like Satan''s breath. Considering he had been there a week and Shadow Stalker hadn''t attacked him until just then, Jam figured the Lunar King must not be in the castle anymore. Still he was being watched by the camera in the corner of his room and so Jam let his HP replenish on its own. I''ve already shown him blink. No need to show him any more of my power. Good thing analyze doesn¡¯t show skills, though I¡¯m probably screwed on the whole power fluctuation thing. Jam dragged himself up into a sitting position against his cot. Touching his ribs he could feel the broken ones fixing themselves. Reaching over to grab the water cup from his food tray sent pain shooting through his body. After swishing the tepid water around in his mouth for a moment he spit a large glob of bloody water back into the cup then tried to find a position that didn¡¯t hurt. Jam sat that way for a long time, his food tray was taken and replaced. He tried to eat a little of the food he was provided but he couldn¡¯t find his appetite. Then he heard the shuffling sounds of a more welcomed visitor that had been coming to see him for the past few days. Well to say the small rat was visiting him would be a bit dishonest, as it was only majorly concerned with the food tray that Jam always left gifts for it on. Today he had quite the feast gnawing on the broccoli. Jam had reassured the little critter enough that he was able to move around the small cell without it being alarmed. ¡°Nice to see you again little friend,¡± he spoke to it. The rat looked over at him and hopped around the food tray until he was facing Jam while he ate the food. ¡°You want to take those grapes with you? I know you probably don¡¯t have quite enough space in those cheeks of yours.¡± The rat chittered but continued to eat. Jam ripped his non-bloodied sleeve off and slid slowly over to the food tray. He collected the grapes into the small sleeve and tied it up until it looked like a tiny rucksack. He set the makeshift bag down near the rat who showed immediate interest in it. It tried to drag the small bag with its teeth, but it was too heavy. Jam took the sack and put it around the rat¡¯s neck, who quickly bolted leaving Jam alone again to lie on the ground. It took 8 hours for his health to completely recover but afterward his SP started to slowly decline. [ Status Ailment: Exhaustion ] Jam continued to lay on the ground staring at the ceiling until he eventually fell asleep there. That was how the next week went, a visit from Shadow Stalker then a happier visit from his rat friend. ¡°Jam!¡± Camilla shouted. Every so often he could hear Camilla¡¯s faint voice in his head. Like an apparition hovering just behind his head. It was always passed by so quickly, she couldn¡¯t say anything more than that before her presence disappeared. There was always this vague feeling that she was close, like he could sense her location, but it always felt like it was speeding away.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A few days later Jam felt the feeling of him being watched fade away. His acute hearing didn¡¯t hear the faint buzz of the cameras anymore. ¡°You¡¯re boring me again Jam. I mean come on, you¡¯ve always been more exciting than this. Don¡¯t you want to hit something? Bust out of this place? Burn the whole castle to the ground then send it crashing into the Aoruda Ocean?¡± Mr. Probably asked lying across his cot. Jam just continued to stare at the ceiling as he answered, ¡°I think I¡¯m good here. This place feels right to me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re hurting my feelings Jam. I didn¡¯t help bring you to this planet only for you to decide you don¡¯t want to play anymore. You¡¯re a hero now, think of all the people out there you¡¯re not saving right now. Come on, bust out of this place and go hit somebody.¡± Jam just yawned in response. ¡°Jam, I¡¯m warning you.¡± ¡°Just like you petulant gods to threaten when you don¡¯t get your way. You know what, you said you didn¡¯t help bring me here for that, how about you tell me why you did bring me here? I know there¡¯s something you¡¯re not telling me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, but I do know that your girlfriend is probably wondering where you are right about now.¡± Mr. Probably obfuscated. Jam just looked at the supreme being with Shelly Lang¡¯s face, before taking a bite of his cold sandwich and returning to watching the ceiling. ¡°Fine, if you want to be boring then I¡¯ll just have to find something else to entertain myself with. Maybe I can see if your girlfriends want to play.¡± Then there was quiet again. It felt like he hadn¡¯t seen the sun in a long time, which he hadn¡¯t. He was beginning to grow listless, the thoughts of Rose and Thorn being the only things keeping him from melting into the ground. The food tray lay there untouched, and Jam couldn¡¯t remember the last time he had eaten. Even Shadow Stalker had seemed to have grown bored of assaulting Jam. The only sensation he noticed was the rat that began to crawl over his body. ¡°I guess you¡¯re here to eat me now?¡± He asked it. The rat gave a squeak in response, he lifted his head up and looked down at the rat that sat perched on his chest. He tilted his head to the side and the rat seemed to mirror him. There was this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he understood what was happening, but he couldn¡¯t quite figure it out. Powers [ Powers Time Until Power Cycle: 14:09 Current Powers Acid Spit Sharpshooting +6 (Deadeye, Perception) Spirit Tame ] Spirit Tame huh? Let¡¯s drop some points into that. Jam sat up against his cot and put 10 refinement points into spirit tame and his mind got flooded with information on the power. Apparently, he could tame any beast with a spirit if his level could accommodate it. ¡°So, you want to be my friend?¡± Jam asked the rat as he slowly moved to pet the rat on its head. He casted purify to cleanse the rat of any diseases it might have picked up in its journeys while he pet it. The rat pushed its head into Jam¡¯s hand while trying to find the perfect spot. ¡°I''m going to name you Ben.¡± Jam told the rat that seemed to squeak happily in response. Jam knew the next part if the ritual, but he would be lying if he said he was looking forward to it. ¡°Go ahead Ben,¡± he said shutting his eyes. The rat chomped down onto his out stretched finger just enough to draw blood and then licked the blood that trickled down. A cold shiver rolled through Jam¡¯s body, but he brushed it off as he rubbed a bit of the blood between two fingers and pressed it to the top of Ben¡¯s head. Ben began to glow with a golden light that shimmered all around him. The once dingy looking brown city rat shook out his fur and the light had changed his colors to a black rat with white specks going down in a stripe on his back and one of his eyes glowed gold. [ Beast Tamed: Ben - Lvl 4 ] [ Exp Gained ] Hmm, that¡¯s interesting. [ Skill Used: Analyze+ Lvl 28 ¨C Successful ] { Beast Type: Tamed Beast Beast Name: Ben Race: Mutated Rat Rank: Scout/Gatherer Level: 4 HP: 80/80 MP: 5/5 SP: 200/200 Powers: Flight Enhance Rat Biology Status: Soul Bound ] ¡°You can fly huh? I was wondering how you got up here, how do you do it? You have 5 MP is it wind magic?¡± Jam asked him. In response Ben wriggled his body side to side and small white spotted black wings popped out of his sides. ¡°Well, that is. . . disturbing. Good thing we¡¯re friends now Ben or I would have murdered you with fire.¡± Ben squeaked frantically in response but Jam just pet his head in response. ¡°Well, now that I named you, I can¡¯t just let you go.¡± Use Power Lock Token [ Using Power Lock Token. . Power Lock Tokens Available: 2 Current Powers: Acid Spit Spirit Tame Sharpshooting ] [ Which power would you like to use power lock token on? ] Spirit Tame [ Power: Spirit Tame ¨C Chosen for power lock. ] Are you sure you would like to use power lock token on Spirit Tame? Warning: Using Power Lock token will permanent bind the power Spirit Tame to you. Any refinement points used on Spirit Tame will not be refunded after next Power Cycle. Refinement Points Used: 10 [ Yes ] [ No ] Jam read over the warning four times in his head and bit down on his lower lip, then he looked down at the glowing golden eye of the adorable little nightmare rat. Fine. Yes. [ Power Lock Token Used ] Congratulations! First Power Locked You¡¯ve locked in your first permanent power: Spirit Tame You will now get three additional powers while keeping your Spirit Tame power permanently. A new beast tab has been unlocked. You have unlocked all related skills to this ability that can be accessed at current level. Exp Gained [ Skill Learned: Beast Senses ] [ Skill Type: Active and Passive ] [ Skill Learned: Beast Heal ] [ Skill Type: Active ] [ Skill Learned: Summon ] [ Skill Type: Active ] [ Suit Skill Learned: Cape Lair ] [ Skill Type: Active and Passive ] [ Skill Learned: Minor Beast Telepathy ] [ Skil Type: Passive ] Level Up Congratulations You¡¯ve Reached Level 29 +2 Heroism Points All attribute received +2 points per level up. All currently known skills gain one level per level up until maxed out at current player level. Hmm. I can learn suit skills when I¡¯m not even wearing it. Interesting. Lair though? Weird. Show skill Cape Lair Lvl 1. [ Skill ] [ Skill: Cape Lair Lvl 1 ] [ Skill Description: Your cape now holds a portal to a specially made lair that only soul bound tamed beasts can enter. A specialty home exclusively for your tamed beasts to live in peace until called upon. ] Whoa. Weird ¡°Well little buddy, once I put my suit back on, I have a very special home for you.¡± Ben squeaked appreciatively and though Jam couldn¡¯t understand exactly what he was saying he did understand the feelings he was sending out. [ Skill Level Up: Minor Beast Telepathy Lvl 1 has become Minor Beast Telepathy Lvl 2 ] ¡°So, you¡¯re a scout rat. Does that mean you live in a colony?¡± Ben nodded his head, then his golden eye glowed and Jam saw flashes of a giant swarm of rats before the picture quickly faded. [ Skill Level Up: Minor Beast Telepathy Lvl 2 has become Minor Beast Telepathy Lvl 3 ] Jam noticed that Ben¡¯s fur seemed to shine for a second before it returned to normal. Tamed Beasts [ Tamed Beasts ] [Current Tamed Beasts: 1 Tamed Beasts: Ben ¨C Mutated Rat Lvl 5 ] ¡°Sweet, you leveled up. Soon you¡¯ll be unstoppable.¡± [Reconnection Request from A.I. Designated Audrey. . ] [ Accept? ] Yes [Reconnected. . ] ¡°Jam? I¡¯ve been getting a bunch of system messages? What are you . .HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT IS THAT THING?¡± Audrey shouted in surprise. ¡°That¡¯s Ben, my flying rat,¡± Jam beamed at the small rodent. "That¡¯s horrifying.¡± ¡°Yeah. Tell me about it, but he¡¯s my only friend so you treat him kindly.¡± ¡°Whatever. Wait, you used your power lock token? I thought you were saving it.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t very well tame Ben here and then just let him go after the power ran out. He¡¯s my little buddy now. We¡¯ve developed a rapport.¡± A troubling thought itched at the back of Jam¡¯s mind. ¡°Shit,¡± he exclaimed. ¡°What?¡± Audrey asked. ¡°The cameras, they¡¯re going to see Ben. They¡¯re going to hurt my little buddy,¡± Jam sent her. He pulled the small rodent closer to his face to whisper in its ear. ¡°Ben, you have to sneak out now. Avoid being seen at all cost. Don¡¯t return until I summon you. Can you fly off the castle completely?¡± Ben squeaked in the affirmative again in response. ¡°Go. Hurry up and get out of this place.¡± Ben hurriedly slid under the door of the cell, Jam was able to feel his presence as he left. Jam tried to connect with him and out of his left eye he could just barely see visions of outside of the castle. [ Skill Level Up: Beast Senses Lvl 1 has become Beast Sense Lvl 2 ] Sweet Jam was left alone again but over the next few days he trained his new skills. Connecting with Ben to see where he was and what he was seeing. Attempting to communicate with him. He chose not to practice summoning Ben and put him at risk. It was interesting using the beast sense; he could smell so much and so many smells, though not all of them pleasant. He had acute hearing, so he was used to hearing more than normal but Ben¡¯s hearing was still insane. The skills were hard to keep connected to and kept giving him headaches, so he only used them a little at a time. All the work he was doing almost made him forget about his current circumstances, but he got a reminder when his lights dimmed again, and Shadow Stalker entered his room. Jam sighed, it had been a few days since the last beating, he figured Shadow Stalker had become bored of it. No such luck, he was just waiting for Jam to think he was safe before he returned. Jam once again didn¡¯t fight back as Shadow Stalker drained his HP to a measly 13. One more well-placed strike would kill him. His right eye was swollen shut, his ribs hurt, and he could barely see through the rage was boiling inside of him. Jam gritted his teeth and he was about to heal himself and fight back when Shadow Stalker decided he¡¯d had enough. At least that¡¯s what Jam thought had happened at first, but Shadow Stalker¡¯s clone had disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Then the door to his cell creaked open, heavy on its hinges. A small feminine face popped into the doorway, with large pink eyes and blue hair, though Jam could just barely make her out. ¡°You been waiting for me long lover?¡± Jam heard a groggy Rose ask him. ¡°Rose?¡± he questioned. The door opened all the way and on the back of the small feminine figure was Rose smiling at him with Skyfire beside them watching up and down the halls. Finally. Break times over. Chapter 20A - Finding Phoenix "What the hell just happened?" Camilla shouted. ¡°Some kind of explosion, Jam shut off my connection to his implants.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know he could do that.¡± ¡°Yeah, apparently he can.¡± People were running from the nightclub and Camilla was crouched behind the bar. The DJ had already fled but the music still pulsed. ¡°Are there any cameras on me?¡± ¡°No, the explosion destroyed the wiring.¡± "Do you have my suit?" "I can''t get there. My orb can''t cross the distance." Damn Camilla pressed a button on her watch and fired a small camera near the ceiling.She pulled up the feed on her phone in time to see henchmen with guns coming from the back room where Jam had went. "Just keeps getting worse. Alright, game face. Really wish I didn''t wear a dress." "There''s a lost and found box to your right." Audrey declared. "Ooh, smart." Camilla rifled through the box but was only able to find a few usable items, a belt, a pair of glasses, a bandana? "I think it''s an ascot" Audrey interjected. "I thought an ascot looked more like an untied bow tie." "Good point, maybe it is a bandana. There''s a bottle opener over there too and a box cutter. Those could be useful. I wouldn''t be surprised if you found an ice pick somewhere around here too." "Alright, calm it down Punisher. We don''twant to horribly maim anyone just yet, we don''t even know what side these guys are on." "Valid point." "I hearsomeone behind the bar." A deep voice shouted. "Uh oh." "Whoever is back there, stand up," another voice sounded. When Camilla slowly stood with her hands reaching for the sky she was wearing the now lenseless glasses, and had the bandana tying her long hair up. She tried to make herself appear as meak as possible. "Please, I don''t want any trouble. I heard an explosion and everyone started running, I hid so I wouldn''t get trampled. Please don''t hurt me." she cried with trembling voice. "What do you want to do with her?" "Boss said to just take whoever was in the back. Didn''t say anything about witnesses. Let her go I guess, unless you want her." "The back room, where Jam went?" Audrey asked. "I don''t know she is kinda cute." The man dropped his sights to take a better look at Camilla.Stolen novel; please report. As the rest of the group relaxed their stances to get back to whatever work they were doing, Camilla knew it was her time to move. She began to whisper under her breath. "Inti. Bright and radiant. Warm and loving. Hear my cries and shed your light." "Oy, what''s she saying," A third man asked. "Lightburst," she chanted and twin beams of light came out of her raised hands and encompassed the room. Camilla quickly grabbed two alcohol bottles and tossed them shooting each one with an energy bolt creating a quick flash fire. The fire sprinklers quickly came on drownng the room with water. Camilla rolled over the bar and wrapped the belt around the arms of the first henchmen kicking the gun from his hands. She fell back pulling the man down with her as the others barely regaining their sight fired in their direction. Camilla used her feet to push the man flying off of her into the others. Camilla spun on her back and kicked off of a stationary barstool, sliding across the floor as one of the gunmen on the floor fired just barely missing her. "Get off of me you idiots," the head henchman ordered pushing the others off of him. He was met with a bottle to the face that crushed his nose. She hopped over a table and flipped over the floored henchmen running to the back. She herself was floored, figuratively, when she found a wall in the back room had been blown to hell. "Holy hell, what happened here?" Audrey asked. "They took him," Camilla answered. Camilla nearly flew back into the main room. her hands glowing a faint blue light. She grabbed the third henchmen who had decided to stay on the ground after seeing his leader''s nose caved in with a bottle. "Where did they take the person in the back?" Camilla interrogated, her hand up and brimming with energy. "To the castle," the man''s voice waivered. "They took them to the castle, the boss wanted them alive." "Who is your boss? Where''s the castle?" The henchmen unzipped his black vest and underneath was a shirt with a quarter moon on it . Shit. The Lunar King, of course. "You''re going to take me to the castle, now!" she ordered. "I can''t," the man cried. "Why not?" Camilla held the man up by his shirt. "No one who isn''t there knows where it is. It moves. I don''t know where it is I just get a place to get picked up and when I open my eyes again I''m there. That''s all I know." Camilla grunted in annoyance before tossing the man into his still tied up companion. She pressed the button on her phone to recall her mini camera and signaled her Skycycle, the heavily remodelled Mightcycle, to her. "What are we going to do now?" Audrey asked. "I can''t track him." "I''m working on it, just give me a second to think." Camilla snapped as she left out of a side door. When she stepped outside the Skycycle pulled itself into the alley. The cool air outside helped clear her head some of the adrenaline that was pumping through her. Track him? [ Active Trackers: 2 ] [ Trackers: 1. Cassandra { } 2. Jam {X} ] Camilla grabbed her spare suit out of her saddlebag and dressed as quickly as she could, keeping a look out at the holographic map she projected of where Jam''s tracker was moving. Skyfire then hopped onto the Skycycle and rode while Audrey projected the directions into her mask lenses. The Skycycle effortless weaved through traffic traveling at unbelievable speed. "Maybe you should slow down a bit. I know you have peak human condition but soon even your reaction time won''t be able to handle the speed." "I''m fine," Skyfire answered curtly before revving the engine and going faster. No matter how fast she seemed to go though, she couldn''t seem to close the distance between her and the blip on her map. What the hell are theyriding in, a jet? She pulled onto the overpass and continued her chase but to no avail. Soon, the blip disappeared altogether. Skyfire pulled to the side of the road as disappointment washed over her. "Damn it!" she shouted as she beat the handle bars of her Skycycle. "It''s ok Camilla, we''ll find him." "Call Juniper, tell her to call an emergency meeting. I want everyone there by the time i pull in." "Alright." Chapter 20B - Finding Phoenix (2) When Skyfire entered the meeting room the rest of the heroes all stood to greet her, except Might Guy who sat back relaxed in his seat. "What''s going on Skyfire?" Cyprus asked. "Black Phoenix has been taken," she announced to the surprise of the others. "An extraction team attacked the night club Rose Colored two hours ago. After disabling three of the henchmen I learned that they had blown a wall and removed Black Phoenix from the club." "I''m sorry Cam," Arcturian consoled. "Within fifteen minutes I began to follow Black Phoenix'' tracker," Skyfire continued in a hawkish tone, much to Arcturian''s chagrin. She clicked the holographic map open and pulled up the location of Rose Colored on the map. "I gave chase but the tracker continued to elude me until it eventually went offline here." She pulled up the location on the map that the tracker deactivated. "According to one of the henchmen they were heading to the castle. We need to get as many heroes on this as possible to locate the castle." "We''ve been looking for the castle for three years now Skyfire, no one can seem to locate it." Dr. Gemma noted. "Anytime we try to interrogate one of the pawns they don''t seem to know anything and mind reading finds nothing as well," Dr. Felix added. Skyfire slammed her fist onto the table, "I don''t have time to worry about what we''ve been doing. I need answers on what we need to do going forward. We need to find Black Phoenix." Calm Camilla. We''re here with you, we''re on your side. Get out of my head Cyprus. Now. Skyfire turned and scowled at Cyprus as she flooded his mind with horrid mental images until he disconnected from her. Her eyes scanned the group and fell on Universa. "You know don''t you?" She interrogated staring into Universa'' cosmic eyes. "Where he is." "I do," Universa answered concisely. "Then how about you speak up for once and help us find him." "You know I can''t do that Skyfire. Revealing that kind of information could have grave consequences. If I could tell you I would have already." "You knew he would get taken and you said nothing." "Because I wasn''t allowed to." "Then what use are you?" "Lay off of her, she cares about Jam as well. You don''t think it kills her not to be able to tell you, or go save him herself. If she could she would," Voodoo Priestess defended. "We need to find the castle and get Black Phoenix out of there. This is the Lunar King we''re talking about, who knows what he is putting him through. We need search parties that start looking from the last known tracker location and expand from there." Cyprus rubbed the bridge of his nose before standing. "LionHead and Inspector. I want your teams on the search. You''re the best trackers we have. LionHead, I want you to send half your team to Rose Colored and see what they can sniff out. Inspector, get in touch with your contacts at the department and see what they know about the castle. Look for clues at the site of the tracker disappearance and see what clues you can find." "Could the tracker have been destroyed?" Inspector asked. "It''s subdermal, they shouldn''t have been able to detect it at all," Skyfire answered. "So there''s a good chance that they have some kind of signal blocker then." "Probably, take GearFreak with you. The rest of you return to your previous details." Cyprus instructed and the others began to file out. "I''ll go with LionHead''s team." Skyfire announced. "You''re staying here. You''re way too hotheaded right now, you need to calm down," Cyprus commanded. "No, I need to be out there looking." "Cyprus, give us the room." Arcturis requested. Cyprus and the others left, leaving only Skyfire and Audrey, Arcturian, Voodoo Priestess and Universa. "Camilla, you have to calm down. I get it, you''re angry and afraid but biting the heads off of your friends isn''t getting him found any quicker. You have to breathe," Arcturian advised. "I don''t need this right now." "Yes you do, you''re freaking out kid." Voodoo Priestess commented. "You''re angry." Arcturian said. "No shit I''m angry, my friend has been abducted and you guys want to have an intervention." "You are angry at yourself," Universa stated. "Why shouldn''t I be?" Skyfire barked kicking the chair that flew across the room into the door. "I''ve been his partner for less than a week and our first night out he gets taken." Universa floats across the room to embrace Skyfire who fights it at first before settling into the hug. "What kind of shitty sidekick am I? I couldn''t deal with Might Guy, I can''t save Black Phoenix. What am I even wearing this suit for if I can''t do anything to help?" She sobbed. "You can''t be so hard on yourself," Arcturian consoled. "I don''t know what went on between you and Might Guy but I know for a fact that if you could have done anything to prevent this situation you would have. You had no way of knowing what was going to happen." "It''s my job to do anything I can to stop him from getting hurt," she said sliding away from Universa. "He has a lot of skills yes but I''m also the senior superhero on the team. It was just as much my reponsibility and I failed him." "I wish I could tell you what you need to know child," Universa told her dejectedly. "I honestly do. All I can tell you is that you need to let go. Breathe and let go. Then you will find your answers." "Always cryptic riddles with you," Skyfire spat. "I''m going to go do something useful and look for Jam." She marched out of the room grinding her teeth along the way. "I''m sorry love; I know that wasn''t fair to you." Voodoo Priestess said. "It is ok, I would probably be worse if I lost you." Universa responded. Skyfire''s mood was already poor, so when she found Might Guy leaned against the wall outside of the elevator she had no interest in shooting the breeze with him. "What do you want Warren," she growled. "So you''re ''Skyfire'' now?" he mocked. She didn''t bother to answer as she pressed the button to call the elevator. "I''m sorry, I don''t handle change very well. I''m just readjusting to this new situation. I always thought we''d stay together and to lose you to that guy," he sighed and stepped onto the elevator with her and it came. "Listen, I know it was wrong how I treated you. I know you won''t take me back but at least take this." He held out his hand with a small device in it. Continuing to ignore him, she just kept her arms securely crossed under her chest. He took her hand and put the device in it and it took all her will not to snatch her hand away. He let her go quickly. "It attaches to your watch, GearFreak made it for me. It adds a choice on your phone to emit a frequency that I can hear from anywhere on the planet. If you ever need me, you can call. I don''t trust this guy and I know you''ll regret following him someday, but I won''t turn my back on you." Might Guy conveyed before floating out of the elevator as the door opened. "What are you going to do with it?" Audrey''s voice rang out, interrupting Skyfire''s turbulent thoughts. What the hell am I going to do with this thing? What the hell am I doing? She absently clipped the small device onto her watch and headed outside. Audrey''s orb phased out of the building and followed. "He''s awake," Audrey announced. "What?" "He reconnected to me. Apparently the Lunar King is Jack?" Camilla stopped cold; suddenly things began to make sense. "Can you track him?" "No, there''s signal blockers all around it. I can''t get any signal out, that must be why your tracker shut off." OK think, what do we do? Skyfire got back on the Skycycle and rode to the spot her tracker disappeared. "Where are you going?" "If there are signal blockers then it must be a location near where he dropped off at right? I just have to find it near there." "Maybe, guess that''s our current only choice." She pulled out her Sky grappler and rappeled up a building. The nearby area was strangely quiet, she must have beat the other groups there. She knew it would take time for them to mobolize, if she wanted to get it done quickly then she''d have to do it herself. Looking up and down the streets and to the corresponding buildings, nothing looked like it could be called the castle. The whole area looked dead and abandoned. Maybe it''s not literal like th castle in the video. Maybe, I just need to check some buildings. "He''s escaped!" Audrey exclaimed. "Great, where is he?" "He''s running through the castle, there''s an alarm going off. Listen for an alarm." Skyfire closed her eyes and focused her hearing but she couldn''t hear anything. A moment of hope was quickly dashed when an alarm she began to hear was only a police car approaching her location. No doubt one of the Inspector''s team members. Frustrated she rappelled back down from the roof. "He made it outside!" Audrey piped in again. "I can get a location." She pulled the map up and showed exactly where Jam currently was. The tracker had gone missing in the south part of town but his current location was at the north west end of the city, almost 50 miles away and it was moving. SKyfire didn''t care, she drove at breakneck speeds to try to close the distance but dot had a wonky travel pattern. It went through buildings. Still, Skyfire began to feel a touch of their mental link and could vaguely begin to detect what direction he was in. "Stop Camilla, don''t waste your time. You can''t get to him." "I can."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "He''s about 1500 feet in the air." Skyfire screeched the Skycycle to a halt and the side of the street. "What?" "You couldn''t find the castle because it flies." "That can''t be, we would have seen it by now." She argued in distress. "I mean it comes down to pick people up right? There are jets and helicopters, someone would have seen it." "It''s completely cloaked. I doubt even if you were over it, or right next to it, you would be able to see it." "Fuck!" she shouted and assaulted the handlebars. After alerting Juniper to the situation and having her inform the HoD, Skyfire headed home. The Skycycle needed to recharge and she needed a shower. After her shower she attempted to sleep but chaotic dreams haunted her. Shejerked awake, breathing heavy and covered in sweat with a massive headache. "Are you okay?" Audrey asked her. "Yeah, I''m fine." Camilla answered her breathlessly. She swallowed then continued, "I just need to get up. Call Juniper and tell her I''m on the clock. I need to go patrol." She remembered what her headaches usually mean and clicked her phone. New Task Added: Finding Phoenix Task Description: Black Phoenix has been abducted from the Rose Colored Club Take Objective: < > Locate Black Phoenix < > Return Black Phoenix to Safety < > Locate the Castle Task Reward: TBD Yeah, I know. I need to find him For the next couple of weeks, Camilla went patroling from morning to night, but there wasn''t anything bigger than the common criminal. It was like every powered villain had taken vacation. She needed to hit something, to hit someone, to do something that could prove her worth. What was she worth if she couldn''t protect the people most important to her. She finally got a chance when Juniper came on the line to announce that Twinsanity was wreaking havoc in Midtown. Twinsanity were a set of twins, named Levita and Seth, who were the living embodiment of chaos. Both bronze skinned and they looked almost identical, though Levita had white hair that was cut short into a flat top crewcutwhile Seth''s hair was long and flowing past his shoulders. Skyfire arrived and found the street was barren, the police had cordoned off most of the nearby area. six bodies lay face down in the street, three on each end. "Who is in charge here?" She asked the group of anxious police officers. "Right here," a barrel chested man of six feet who looked like he spent way too much time in the gym answered. "What''s the deal?" "They are firing at anyone who gets too close, the bodies mark the territory. No one can move close enough to collect them." "Hostages?" "Not sure. They just went into the bank and started shooting.We haven''t been able to get any kind of surveilance and they haven''t responded to any attempts to speak to them. We haven''t heard any sounds either." "Alright, stay back. I''ll see what I can do." Task Added: Twinsane Task Description: Twinsanity has holed up in a building barring anyone from approaching. Task Objective: < > Get into the bank < > Apprehend Twinsanity. Skyfire walked down the street and stepped over the bodies, she reached for her cape ready to block the shot but it didn''t come. Upon seeing this one cop moved closer but was met with a hail of gunfire that drove her back. OK, guess they just want me. "Audrey, scan the door please. See if there''s any traps or explosives." "You got it," Audrey answered as she went to scan the area. "It''s clear, infared isn''t showing anything either. I''m not sure anyone is still alive in there." Skyfire moved through the door, into the wide open bank. From what she could see at least ten bodies lay on the ground. "Well sister, do you see what I see?" Seth''s spoke in a soft voice that echoed through the empty bank. "Looks like a brand new hero is on the scene brother." Levita''s husky voice rang through. "Not new dear sister, repackaged. You remember the news." "Ah yes, you''re right as always brother. The kid has become an adult. ''Skyfire'' she''s called now." Levita taunted. "I''m taking both of you in," Skyfire declared. The two just laughed an echoing laugh in response. "Quite the comedian isn''t she brother?" "Indeed sister. Indeed. Shall we show her the error of her ways?" "I do believe we should brother." The two entered simaltaneously from doors on the opposite sides, They both wore black but Seth wore a loose fitting bomber jacket and Levita wore a tight fitting leather biker jacket with patches missing that showed generous amounts of her well defined muscular arms. She reached under her jacket and pulled two daggers out while Seth pulled out two small cannons that barely seemed like they could be called pistols. It reminded Skyfire of Alucard from Hellsing. "Should we wait for backup? This doesn''t feel like a good idea," Audrey cautioned. "What fun is that?" Skyfire asked cockily, grinning madly. She covered her gauntlets in a thin layer of energy and took up a fighting stance. Let''s do this Levita ran at Skyfire slashing down at her and Skyfire was just barely able to knock the blade to the side. Whatever those daggers were made of, they could cut right through her energy field, and skin, with a direct hit. Levita chased her slash with a roundhouse kick that Skyfire managed to get her arm up in time to block. A shot just barely grazed her other elbow that she put up to block her face as Seth fired into the space Levita vacated. They continued like this, Levita moving her body in a frenzy of attacks that were more reactionary than anything. She just seemed to attack with any body part that was in a position to do some damage. The second after she attacked Seth would shoot, and never seemed to move from his spot. Skyfire had to decide which attacks to let through in order to block potentially fatal ones. Cuts and burns went up her arms as she was knicked with blades or grazed by bullets.Levita bounced back toward her brother as he reloaded his guns. "You''re doing wonderfully sister. You''re holding back so very well," Seth complimented her. "Thank you brother, as are you. Your accuracy is as golden as ever. I would applaud if I weren''t holding these daggers." "Holding back? What are you talking about?" Skyfire breathed, strained. "The king has decreed that we''re allowed to play with you, just not kill you. Isn''t that right sister?" "It is indeed brother. Apparently his newest plaything is quite fond of you and he may need you in the future." "He told all the other baddies they weren''t allowed to play with you as they don''t know how to play nice, didn''t he sister?" "He did brother, but he gave us free range to play if we''d like. Just so you don''t get too bored. In the meantime though, I don''t think he''ll mind if we play a little rough." "Should we show her 40% sister" "Let''s." Two blades soared through the air toward Skyfire who managed to dodge back out of the way, When she came back up they were both gone. The itch at the back of her neck told her they were still around however. Her knicks were healed by her recovery power and she moved through the space wary of her disadvantageous position. "It''s very sad isn''t it brother?" "What would that be sister?" "She''s all alone, the poor little sidekick has no one around brother. She let her new boss get kidnapped." "How very tragic indeed sister." "Do you think it keeps her up at night brother?" "I can''t imagine it''s very easy to sleep with failure looming over you sister." "I agree brother. The poor girl was right in the next room wasn''t she? "Shut up!" Skyfire shouted. "Indeed she was sister" "I can''t even imagine letting you get kidnapped brother and being able to do nothing to stop it" "Don''t let them get to you, focus Skyfire." Audrey pleaded. "Well of course not sister, your heart is much too large for that. You would fight tooth and nail to get me back. As I would you." "Brother, are you saying the poor girl just doesn''t care enough to get her hero back?" "Perish the thought sister, surely she must be feeling absolutely dreadful about it. Though she did come here to take us down rather than looking for her precious hero didn''t she sister?" "Shut up!" Skyfire shouted again. "I believe she did brother. How utterly tragic, how much her poor hero feel locked up in a little box while she is out playing hero without him?" "I can''t imagine he feels very good sister. Though, he probably isn''t even thinking about her with all the torture the King is putting him through." "Ido wish that he had let me join, he seemed to be having so much fun with the hero brother." "Oh I know sister, the screams were absolutely delicious." A dark anger boiled up inside of Skyfire as an inky black energy radiated off of her, covering her white and flame colored suit with black. She gritted her teeth trying to fight the rage that was brewing as their words cut her deep. Imagination running away from her as she pictured all the ways Jam could be getting hurt right now. When a flash of Shadow Walker beating Jam flashed through her mind, something burst like a balloon and dark energy flew from her in a wave that shattered the windows. Her eyes were completely blacked over and her suit remained with the inky darkness covering it. "Skyfire?" Audrey hesitated. "That was unexpected sister, though quite enjoyable." "I believe she broke brother." The twins slid out of opposing doors from the front of the building coming behind Skyfire. Levita ran at her to stab her from behind but Skyfire didn''t move taking the blade into her arm. "I think you may have been right sister. She may be broken." She pulled the blade back out of Skyfire''s arm but the wound quickly healed itself. Levita kicked the side of her face but Skyfire didn''t move an inch. She then turned to look at the foot as if trying to figure out what it was. Skyfire turned to face the twins and tilted her head to the side in confusion. She then held her hand out and fired out a wave of black energy that sent Levita flying into Seth and both flew out the front door. "What was that brother?" Levita asked in giddy amazement. "I don''t know sister. I think she just got more fun, shall we try moving up to 60%?" "Lets" The twins both ran back into the bank in a near blur, Levita threw her throwing daggers and pulled two longer daggers out of her back. Skyfire pulled her arm up to block the daggers coming for her face, taking the daggers into her forearm. Again a look of confusion, as if she didn''t know what they were attempting to do. She flicked her arm and the daggers clattered to the floor. A gunshot that grazed her shin dropped her down to one knee as Levita brought both daggers down stabbing into her forearm. Another wave of energy sent Levita flying across the room. Skyfire stood back and grinned madly before forming a finger gun with her hand, as if saying: I can do that too! When she dropped the hammer with her thumb, a thin beam of energy fired from her extended finger through the side of Seth''s knee. The hole was clean and through the bone and he crumpled down to the ground in pain. The wound bubbled for a moment before it healed itself. "Damn it, that hurt. Sister, I don''t think we can play any further without killing her." "I''m sure you''re right brother." "Should be bid her adieu for now my sister?" "Au revoir, Skyfire," Levita waved. "I hope we get to play with her again brother. She was fun." "I do as well sister." Seth agreed as they faded away. "What the hell just happened? How''d they do that?" Audrey exclaimed. She floated down and observed Skyfire but couldn''t seem to get a reaction. However she noticed an energy field around Skyfire and when she floated within range of the field, an energy beam streamed through her catalyst. She was luckily able to phase out in time for the attack to slice a hole into the ceiling. She decided it was time to call for back up. "Juniper," she called over the desticom channel. "Audrey? Are you guys still on the Twinsanity call?" "We need assitance, I think we need Cyprus here quick. Make sure the police keep the perimeter going." "That sounds serious. I''ll see what I can do." Half an hour felt forever as Cyprus and LionHead hustled out of Cyprus'' jeep and into the bank. Skyfire still stood stone still in the same spot. "What''s wrong with her?" Cyprus asked as LionHead slowly approached. "Don''t get too close LionHead. She attacks when you step into her energy field," Audrey warned. LionHead stuck his hand out warily and was met with an energy wave that knocked him off of his feet. "They taunted her and her energy changed." Cyprus sat down cross legged and tried to tap into Skyfire''s mind. It was flooded with dark and violent visions. It almost overwhelmed him. "Do you see anything?" "Her dark thoughts are clouding her energy. Energy manipulation is a very fickle power, highly susceptible to contamination. She is covered in the darkest parts of her spirit. I need to bring the light out." Cyprus tried to break through the dense wall of the prison that her anger was trapping her in. No matter how much he beat against it though, it seemed to do nothing. Then he saw something in the distance and reached for it. "Cam." Jam''s voice rang through bringing a light with it. The screaming inside of her mind seemed to quiet some. "Cam, it''s ok." Her eyes went back to normal and the dark energy seemed to fade back into her body. Cyprus fell to his back breathing heavily and Skyfire dropped to the ground unconscious. "What''d you do?" Audrey asked. "There''s still a connection to Jam in there. I strengthened it but I couldn''t really reach far. It took nearly all of my strength." "Take her back to the HoD, I think we need to put her in Jam''s room for a little while. Maybe the connection will strengthen." "Good idea. LionHead, can you grab her?" Cyprus requested. Another forty five minutes later and Camilla was laid in Jam''s bed. "Jam, can you hear me!" she kept sending but she didn''t hear anything back. She woke up with a start and couldn''t figure out where she was at first. "It''s ok, you''re in the Hall of Destiny." "How long have I been out?" she asked with a dry throat. "Two days." "What happened to me?" "We decided to call it ''Darkfire''. You were covered in negative energy. You''re drowning in guilt." She laid her head back on the pillow and sighed. "They were just playing with me. I went in all cocky like an idiot.What the hell am I doing Audrey?" "You''ve barely slept, you''re losing your mind. We''ll find him, just breathe." Breathe and let go Camilla just breathed in deep and closed her eyes. She let her mind wander, and before she knew it she was asleep again. Except this time she didn''t dream her troubled dreams again. This time she dreamed she was running through the streets and she didn''t know why but for some reason she was on all fours. Not able to control her body at all she just got taken along for the ride. Then she was flying through the air and got taken to a dark room and heard a lot of weird noises. Her body turned and then she saw a nest of rats, she woke up with a start. What the heck was that. Chapter 21 - Prison Break Jam gave a clumsy but passionate embrace to the groggy Rose on the small woman''s back. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you tried to escape?¡± Rose asked him. ¡°I could feel that you were here but they were watching me like a hawk with these cameras. The only way they could keep you here is if they incapacitated you so I needed you to be strong enough to move.¡± ¡°I felt you transmitting your love. It empowered me, they kept gassing me every few hours but you made me stronger. Thank you, my love.¡± The couple touched their foreheads together and held the position for a moment. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time.¡± Jam heard Skyfire¡¯s voice in his head. Jam jerked her away from her post standing watch and pulled her into a big hug, she went rigid at first not expecting it but slowly melted into it. ¡°Thank you for coming for me, and for saving Rose,¡± he quietly thanked her. ¡°We¡¯re partners, it¡¯s what we do,¡± she responded. She pushed him to arm¡¯s length, ¡°now get dressed. We need to get out of here.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Jam stepped back and put his hands to his side, his fingers splayed and his feet shoulder length apart. Black Phoenix Darkness crept up Jam¡¯s body and encased him before it broke apart to reveal his Black Phoenix suit. ¡°Mmm, looking good lover,¡± Rose purred. ¡°Thanks babe,¡± Black Phoenix responded. ¡°Let¡¯s make like a tree and get the hell out of this place.¡± The four slipped out of the room and made their way down a corridor, within minutes an alarm began to go off. ¡°Guess they know I¡¯m gone.¡± ¡°Shadow Stalker only left two clones up here including the one that was in there with you. He was probably nonplussed that I dispelled his clones, more than likely he contacted them and told them we were breaking you out.¡± Skyfire told him. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?¡± Black Phoenix inquired. ¡°Light magic spell, erases all shadows within a 2-mile radius. Including shadow clones. It uses a shit ton of mana though, I can¡¯t use it more than once before I have to wait for my MP to reload.¡± ¡°Smart. I forgot you had magic now.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been really weird. I have mostly support spells. Healing, light, trapping, things like that.¡± ¡°The magic system for WoH always sucked. I think it makes sense now that I know Jack made the game, he couldn¡¯t use magic, what would he know about it.¡± The group stopped cold when Audrey¡¯s silver orb slid through the ceiling. ¡°The path. . .. you used to. . . to get in here is blocked,¡± Audrey stammered out a warning. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Black Phoenix sent her. ¡°Remember what I said about how this place is like a faraday cage? It¡¯s really messing with my systems in the orb. It feels. . odd. It¡¯s kind of hard for me to focus. Plus I can¡¯t be too far away from you or Skyfire or the orb would disappear completely and go back to the fabricator.¡± ¡°That must be why the orb isn¡¯t glowing. Well then stay close, we don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll end up being up against. Did you see any other way out?¡± A blue arrow formed in the field of vision of Black Phoenix¡¯s left eye. He motioned for the others to follow him. Down another corridor, then through a set of double doors. After hearing a set of footsteps tromping down the hallway in their directions Black Phoenix pushed the others into a supply closet. Black Phoenix reached into his inventory through his cape and pulled out his secret identity glasses. After pulling down his cowl to put the glasses on he covered himself in an illusion of a nondescript Moon Soldier. Two moon soldiers hustled up toward him, guns drawn. "The prisoners have been sighted heading toward Sector 7. I''m supposed to let everyone who passes through here know." Jam announced as they closed in. "Sector 7 is supposed to be sealed off for repairs, they wouldn''t be able to get into there." The soldier on the left retorted. Jam groaned in annoyance. "That''s sector 9, sector 7 was finished last week. I don''t know what to tell you guys. I was told to stand here and tell anyone who passed by to head to sector 7. If a freaking radio signal would work in this place maybe we could get some moment to moment information going but for now, it''s word of mouth.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. For a charged moment the two soldiers stared at him before nodding. "I hear that man, so tired of this. My phone won''t even work here. I haven''t heard from my kids in a week." The soldier on the right agreed. "Yeah well, I hear there''s a dead spot in sector 4 that will let you get a signal through. I''d check that part out." Jam explained. "Thanks, alright let''s get going." After watching them continue on their way Jam slid into the supply closet with the ladies. Rose, Skyfire and the mysterious pink-haired big-eyed female with them were sat on the floor. Jam sat blocking the door that didn''t seem to have a lock on it. "What was all that?" Skyfire asked. "I didn''t have anything to do but listen for these past couple weeks. With Ben amplifying my acute hearing skill I could hear almost everything on this castle. A lot of people complaining about the repair schedules making this place a maze to try to get through and the signal thing was just a lucky guess. None of them seem to be wearing radios or earpieces so no one is ready for on the moment updates." "Who is Ben?" Rose asked. "He''s my little buddy. One sec." Ben, I need you. [ Skill Used: Beast Summon Lvl 1 ¨C Successful ] [ Skill Level Up: Beast Summon Lvl 1 has become Beast Summon Lvl 2] A small golden ball appeared in Black Phoenix¡¯s hand before it cracked like an egg and the golden light dissipated to show Ben shaking off the light. Ben looked up and squeaked a hello. ¡°Hi little buddy, this is my lady, Rose.¡± Ben seemed to nod to her. "And this is my friend Skyfire." Ben hopped from his hand and scurried up onto Skyfire''s shoulder and nuzzled against her face. "Hello, little friend. Nice to finally meet you." Skyfire greeted scritching him under the chin. "You two know each other?" Black Phoenix questioned "We do, I had to backtrace your connection to him to find you. Since he is connected to your power the mental link between you and him was far superior to the connection between us but I was able to link into it and find you." "Thanks, Sky." "Pleasure to meet you, Ben." Rose greeted. "Speaking of meeting, who is your little friend there?" Black Phoenix asked, motioning to the pink-haired woman. "Trixie Stix. She was the guard to my cell." Trixie just nodded to him as Rose spoke. "Nice to meet you, Trixie." Trixie just nodded again. "Strong silent type I see. And she is on our side now?" "Lunar King didn''t think my powers worked on women as I never told you. He was wrong and Trixie was very much into women. I know he is supposed to be you but he apparently doesn''t know his subjects very well. Some king." "He never was very much into the human resources department part of being a supervillain. As explained why he doesn''t at least have an intercom system. Do you know they all have to walk to each other to communicate? So inefficient." "Extremely. . How does that even work? Why do cameras work but not radios? Or am I being dumb." Skyfire asked. "Cameras aren''t sent through waves they''re sent through physical wires which may have caused some problems but not as much. Radios might work inside but they would probably require line of sight as the walls would block out any waves being sent through. It''s smart for information leaks, if no one can send a signal out then no one can be tracked to here or leak out any information. By the time the people here were able to get any information out, it''d be too late and the deed would have already been done. Even an intercom would be a potential problem should anyone with super hearing be able to listen in on it." Rose explained. "You''re sounding pretty impressed over there," Black Pheonix quipped. "Something you need to tell me?" "Absolutely not lover, he pales in comparison to you." "Well that''s very sweet of you but if I''m going to prove you right I''m going to need to get us out of here." "So what''s the plan?" Skyfire asked. "Apparently, my plan to get out hasn''t worked out since they''ve blocked the entrance port I came through. Not like I was able to get a blueprint of this mostly camouflaged sky castle." "I haven''t really had Ben try to scout this place out; I was too worried he''d get noticed if his route became too specific. Maybe today though, with them being so focused on finding us, they won''t be looking for him." Ben hopped off of Skyfire''s shoulder onto Black Phoenix'' hand. "You know this place better than anyone, can you lead us out of here buddy?" Black Phoenix pleaded. After a moment of contemplation, Ben squeaked his response then unfurled his wings. "I wondered how he got around. God that is terrifying though." Skyfire commented. "Trixie, how fast can you move with Rose on your back?" Fast Enough The feeling of Trixie speaking in his head with his own voice was weird and quite disturbing at first but he quickly brushed it off and nodded for the sake of the mission. "What about the cameras?" Rose asked. "Can you maintain an illusion over us for the entire time we''re escaping?" Skyfire inquired. "No, illusions use up a lot of MP per minute. I couldn''t even cover myself with one for that long with my current MP recovery rate," Black Phoenix answered. "What do we do then? Just make a run for it and hope for the best?" "I think that''s all we can do, but how do we get down and up from here?" "The Skyfire cycle. While you were gone I added glider wings and flight packs to it. It''ll be hard with four of us but I should be able to get us down from here." I can get Rose down. Black Phoenix shivered again at the alien sensation but moved on. "Alright then, let''s make our way out." After checking the hall the group made their way down the hallway with Ben leading the way. Corridor after corridor they snuck through, stopping whenever Ben did to let any guards pass them by. Finally Ben stopped before a large set of double doors. "Is this it?" Black Phoenix asked. Ben didn''t respond and instead disappeared into Black Phoenix''s cape. "What just happened?" Skyfire asked. "Whatever is on the other side of these doors scared him but it''s the only way out left," he answered. "I don''t like the sound of that," Rose commented. Black Phoenix pushed open the doors and immediately cast shield as he pushed the trio out of the way. A breath later a hail of plasma shots hit the shield as he struggled to keep it solid. On the other side, a firing line of Moon Pawns continuously assaulted the shield. With his enhanced hearing Black Phoenix could hear the heavy footsteps coming toward his direction. "We''re trapped!" Rose exclaimed. Then it''s time to fight. Chapter 22A - Punch Someone "Are you okay?" Black Phoenix asked as the shots continued to batter his shield. "I''m fine," Skyfire answered as she collected herself. "Then let''s get to it," he responded. "Eight in front, more behind us." New Task Added: Escape Status Screen Character Sheet
Character Type: Player Real Name: Jam Alias: Black Phoenix Race: African American (Human) Country of Origin: United States Level: 28 Exp: 25% HP: 660/660 MP: 420/420 SP: 100/100
Powers Current Powers
Iron Stomach Radiation Resistance Matter Swap
{ Locked Power }
Tame
"Boost" Black Pheonix casted on both himself and Skyfire. The feeling of his body strengthening and his mind sharpening was familiar to Black Phoenix but Skyfire had to grit her teeth as the white aura covered her body. It felt like a slowly rising heat all through her body as her muscles rippled but just as quickly as it was there it was gone. Black Phoenix cast air shot but focused his mana to compress the air as small as he possibly could. It took half his remaining MP but he was able to contain it to the size of a marble and hold it with shield, then he lobbed it in front of the Moon Pawns. The resulting explosion of air knocked the group off balance. Black Phoenix and Skyfire bounded from their cover; blue flames encased Black Phoenix''s hands as he palmed the face masks of the two closest Pawns. Before the two Pawns could understand what was happening fire swallowed their helmets. Skyfire launched herself using Black Phoenix''s back as a springboard to land behind the group. Two pawns recovered enough to fire at Black Phoenix who attempted to block the shot with his cape before realizing the lasers went straight through. [Cape Durability reduced to 80%] Shit, it''s bulletproof, not laserproof. The two pawns were knocked away by energy blasts by Skyfire. A running knee by Black Phoenix caught another pawn in the chest that went to fire on Skyfire. He was tackled by a sixth pawn but wrapped his arm around the pawn''s neck in a choke as they both struggled on the ground. A swift kick to the face caused Black Phoenix to relax his hold but thankfully did very little damage to his SP. The pawn on top of Black Phoenix tried to drive his fists into the hero''s chest but his move was dodged and he found himself in an armbar that Black Phoenix used to dislocate the pawn''s shoulder. The footsteps coming down the hall got closer. Black Phoenix rolled back and used air shot to throw his body back into two of the pawns that had raised their weapons. He wrapped his arms around them and clicked the trigger on their laser pistols. The struggling pawns made the blasts go wide but he was able to focus it enough to fire down against the walls and ceiling of the corridor making a debris barrier blocking some of the incoming pawns and trapping the less fortunate ones. As he let go of the two pawns, Skyfire swooped in with a dropkick to their chests and wrapped her legs around Black Phoenix. Black Phoenix hugged her against him as they blinked away from the last pawn standing that had gotten his weapon back and fired on them hitting only his two companions. He was quickly taken out by a chokehold from Skyfire as Black Phoenix went back to check on Rose. ¡°Are you guys ok?¡± he asked kneeling beside them. ¡°No worse for wear my love,¡± Rose answered. ¡°Are the effects of the gas wearing off any?¡± ¡°Not much. He spent days dosing us with it. I can¡¯t even wake Thorn up.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m not sure what Purify would do to a demigod. If it wouldn¡¯t just fail outright.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, my body just needs time. Your concern and love are already strengthening me.¡± ¡°Good, because we have to get out of here,¡± Black Phoenix told her before turning to Trixie. ¡°I need you to stay behind me and stay close. If you have even a slim window of opportunity to get her out of here you take it. You get me?¡± Understood Black Phoenix shook his head from the sudden intrusion of thought that wasn¡¯t his own. He got up and went back into the room. Getting a better look at it, he noticed the room was huge and appeared to be a lobby. The ceilings were the highest of any room he¡¯s seen so far and the giant castle doors lay to the far side of the room. They started across the room but halfway through the lights shut off. The only light left was cast from the 2 large windows a story and a half up on opposite sides of the room leaving most of the room shrouded in shadow. [Skill Used: Beast Summon Lvl 2: Successful] Black Phoenix whispered into Ben¡¯s ear getting an affirmative squeak in response, then Ben rolled himself up into a ball. Black Phoenix launched the small rodent at the window and Ben opened his wings wide the draft left by the fast-moving flying castle carrying him away ¡°How sweet,¡± a voice echoed. ¡°Couldn¡¯t bear for your little rat friend to meet the same fate you¡¯re about to.¡± Shadow Stalker strode out of the shadows. ¡°Who knew you became so sentimental.¡± Black Phoenix stepped forward, blue flames encompassing his hands as the blue flames on his suit lit up to match. ¡°This doesn¡¯t have to go down like this Walker, you can just let us leave. We don¡¯t have to fight. The Lunar King isn¡¯t here and all the cameras have been shut down.¡± Shadow Stalker chuckled. ¡°There he is. The man who talks sweet words while pointing a blade at your neck. I¡¯ve missed this brother. You¡¯re running with a different crowd these days though. Now you¡¯re pretending like you¡¯re a hero and playing nice with the same people who rejected me. You took me in and told me they were wrong; that my powers weren¡¯t useless. You gave me a purpose and then you turned your back on me as soon as I wasn¡¯t convenient.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°You haven¡¯t been taking your medications have you?¡± ¡°The Lunar King has shown me I don¡¯t need them. I¡¯m more powerful when I let myself free of them.¡± ¡°I see there¡¯s no trying to reason with you then. I¡¯m going to give you one last chance to move out of our way.¡± ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡± Skyfire stepped forward, orange balls of energy encompassing her hands. ¡°Then we¡¯ll move you.¡± ¡°You and what army?¡± A second voice echoed as another Shadow Stalker appeared. ¡°Because I have mine,¡± A third Shadow Stalker came out. Then more shadow clones began to walk out. 20 shadow stalkers surrounded the group before all was said and done. Black Phoenix looked back at Trixie and nodded to her. Skyfire, hit the doors on my mark. Got it. Black Phoenix ducked down on one knee popping a tablet off of his belt. The tablet broke out a small condensed cloud of smoke and using a widened air shot Black Phoenix spread the smoke around the room. Skyfire fired her energy blast blindly where he knew the door was as Trixie sped off in that direction. The doors blew off the hinges and Trixie quickly unfurled 2 pairs of pink wings that looked more like a dragonfly than a pixie. Secret Task Completed You have completed the hidden task Safety of the Paramour Civilians Saved: 3 Reward: Exp Gained 3000 Del rens +3 Heroism Points You¡¯ve successfully ensured the safety of your lovers Rose/Thorn. Achievement First Secret Task Completed Secret Tasks are system generated tasks that are hidden from view until passed or failed. Additional Note: Congrats kid, got your girl out before I could play with her. Enjoy your exp and make sure to entertain me. ¨C Mr. P Dick. ¡°You might have gotten your woman out but I¡¯m going to turn this castle into your tombs!¡± The Shadow Stalkers all growled in unison. ¡°You can certainly try,¡± Skyfire responded moving to stand back to back with Black Phoenix. The shadow stalkers strode out of the smoke wielding weapons from swords to hammers and axes materialized from the shadows themselves. Skyfire hung her head in annoyance. You gotta be kidding me. He¡¯s got weapons? Yeah, what¡¯d you think was going to happen? I don¡¯t know a fistfight? The last guys had laser rifles and you¡¯re worried about swords? There weren¡¯t 20 of them. Is it too late to follow Trixie? I¡¯m really not wanting to do this. I think so. Black Phoenix rolled out of the way of one of the sword wielders that sliced the air where he was. Skyfire ducked and met him with an energy blast that sent him flying. I hate you and I wish I stayed home. Same. Skyfire could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as they fought off the maelstrom, and it wasn''t a very nice feeling. She''d fought plenty of battles alongside Might Guy but she had never quite adjusted to the feeling of drowning that she feels when she is in a brawl. Fighting alongside Black Phoenix was different in a number of ways, she felt quite a bit more needed with him. Might Guy was strong, too strong, and sometimes it seemed like she was just there to be his cheerleader while he mopped up all the usual suspects. Black Phoenix relied on her strength and wasn''t interested in protecting her but partnering with her. Though she suspected if she wanted this to continue she would need to keep up with him as far as her abilities. 4-11 Black Phoenix dodged an errant chop by one of the axe wielders and casted airshot at the ground launching himself into Skyfire who jumped to hold onto him. He then blinked them 10 feet into the air. [Suit Skill Used: Booster Boots Lvl 5 - Successful ] [Skill Used: MP Recovery Lvl 20 - Successful ] The booster boots slowed down their descent as Skyfire still on Black Phoenix''s back shot off energy blasts at the surrounding enemies. Black Phoenix''s previously nearly diminished MP recovered to 80%. What''s your SP at? It''s getting close. Unlike magic that uses MP or Skills that have a cooldown time, superpowers like Skyfire''s energy blasts use stamina points. Superpowers are an extension of the body for physical powers and like any other muscle can get overworked. Luckily for them, Shadow Stalker decided quantity over quality and his many clones weren''t very strong individually but every time one lost all it''s HP and dispersed into black smoke another one spawned from the shadows. The duo dropped onto the ground after the booster boots cut off and resumed their fight. It''s never-ending. We''re going to go down with a death by a thousand cuts if we don''t put a stop to this. He''s just going to keep throwing himself at us until we''re too exhausted to fight back. It''s the darkness. What? There are too many shadows here and it''s giving him power. Can you use that spell again? My MP recovery is crap and I need it nearly full just to use it. Plus the incantation is going to take too long. "Audrey, I need you" Black Phoenix called out. The silver orb hovered over to him as it slowly vibrated and phased in and out. Dampeners in the castle still having a negative effect on her density. *bzzz* "Yyyyyes Jam" "Any way I can help her cast the light spell quicker?" Upon hearing that the Shadow Stalkers got more aggressive one managing to catch the side of Black Phoenix''s jaw with a staff. Black Phoenix spit out a glob of bloody spit as his mouth quickly filled. He resisted the urge to heal and instead used purify to close whatever wound had opened in his mouth. He looked back at the offending clone with a bloody smile as he smashed a fireball into his face. Unlike Skyfire, Black Phoenix was completely at home in battle. His heart and mind were completely at ease as he dodged or blocked attacks and returned his own. Serenity washed over him as he fought to stay alive and the only thing he had to worry about was making sure he and Skyfire made it out of this. In the corner of his eye, he saw a flashing icon. Cover me Roger Blinking back into the hallway, which caused three of the clones to strike eachother, Black Phoenix checked the icon and his spellbook opened. {Spell Book} { Firefist 4 - Mastery 100% } { Air Shot 4 - Mastery 100% } { Boost 2 - Mastery 98% } { Purify 4 - Mastery 100% } { Blink 4- Mastery 100% } { Shield 4 - Mastery 93% } { Illusion 2 - Mastery 27% } {X} Mentally clicking the additional update another page popped up. { Joint Spell Book } { Wind Break } { Encompassing Light } { Purifying Light } { Luminous Shield } { Mirage } We have joint spells I''d need a second to get the incantation. I''ll get it for you. I think we need encompassing light. Black Phoenix jumped back into the fray throwing up a shield dome around the duo while Skyfire quickly pulled up her spellbook. "I got it. Tohil, blind my enemies with your" Skyfire started. "Joint Casting, Encompassing light!" Both Black Phoenix and Skyfire casted. A small ball of red light formed before the familiar white glow of Black Phoenix''s boost spell covered it and caused to grow in strength and size turning it into a fiery orange ball that shone like the sun shining light in every corner of the room. With shouts of pain, the many clones fell to their knees before dispersing. "Good job kid," Black Phoenix complimented helping her to her feet. "Thanks but it was just as much you on that one. I didn''t have nearly enough MP for a spell that size," she responded. "You think you''ve won?" Shadow Stalker asked hoarsely. "Don''t like the sound of that. Let''s get the hell out of here." Black Phoenix commented before heading toward the door. "Smart," Skyfire agreed. The duo headed for the door before Black Phoenix heard a pained grunt behind him. He turned to find Skyfire on her knees clutching her chest. "What''s happening?" he asked. "My chest. It burns." Skyfire managed to grunt out. Green light fell on her as Black Phoenix casted purify but it seemed to have no effect on her. "You think getting rid of the darkness in here was good enough?" Shadow Stalker asked. "I am the dark," he rasped. "What are you doing to her?" Black Phoenix accused. "I control the dark." Shadow Stalker licked his lips hungrily, "and there''s a lot of dark energy in your precious sidekick." Inky blackness began to cover Skyfire again but this time was different. The dark goo soaked into her costume changing the white to black and the flames on her suit burned even brighter. Curved pitch-black ram-like horns ripped holes in her cowl as they grew from her head and a long wiry black tail with a burning tip bobbed behind her. Her hands had black energy projected claws hovering around them. Her eyes changed completely to white. "What''s going on Audrey?" "EnEnEnergy projection, negative emotion. Darkness inside. Harnessed. Sharpened," Audrey managed. New Task Added: Survive Chapter 23 - Recover "Kill him!" the final Stalker clone ordered before dragging himself back to a shadowed corner of the room to try to recharge. [ Deathflame Lvl 45 ¦¸ HP: 2000/2000 MP: 800/800 SP: ?] Not only had this transformation recovered her hp and mp and increased her level, but the omega symbol beside her name showed a terrifying fact to Black Phoenix. Skyfire had become a miniboss and had all her stats increased beyond the level of what should be achievable by a level 45 character. MInibosses in World of Heroes were nearly similar to raidbosses; they were close to impossible to defeat solo. [ Skill Used: Beast Senses Lvl 7 - Successful ] Upon attempting to train the skill Black Phoenix learned one particularly strange thing. The passive use of beast senses was what anyone would expect, better hearing and smell, the active use, however, was almost like becoming a rat himself. A thin layer of hair grew all across his body, his jumping was increased, his teeth and nails felt sharper and a thin layer of dense hair grew all over his body. The only problems were with his low skill level his abilities only increased by so much and with his mind becoming more ratlike his minor beast telepathy skill was amplified. Ben''s thoughts and sight were always looming in the back of his mind but unless he made the conscious effort to focus on it then it was usually background noise. Often times it felt like they might just end up switching places with Black Phoenix trapped in the body of a rat. The fight was short, though it didn''t seem that way to Black Phoenix. Minutes that took hours to live out as Black Phoenix decided to match force for force. Using purify only seemed to damage her and Black Phoenix didn''t know what would happen if he did do the impossible and defeated her so the beginning of the fight was a superpowered game of tag while he tried to figure out a plan only this time Skyfire was it. Deathflame didn''t have any of the finesse that Skyfire did, mostly resorting to brute strength but despite that, Black Phoenix timing had to be near perfect to avoid her hurtling at him like a missile, her energy claws digging deep grooves into the spots where he had been. Every attempt to send a mental message Deathflame was met with a maelstrom of incoherent rambling. Whenever he attempted to subdue her nothing seemed to keep her down. Going as far as dislocating her shoulder or breaking her knee while lowering her HP the limbs were just quickly regenerated. No plan seemed to be working and everything was pointing to one of them not making it out alive. "SP. . .almost gone. SP recovery. . one use. Need plan . . fast," Audrey warned fading in and out. "Well if you have any ideas you maybe want to share them?" Black Phoenix retorted flipping over Deathflame before using airshot to knock her out of the air. "SP undefined. . won''t get tired. . Burning energy. . no net or zip ties. . no sleep skills. . lethal option. . only option." "I''m not killing her. If anything. ." Then it came to him; he knew what he had to do. He didn''t like it of course but it seemed like his only choice. "Guess I can''t kiss you and magically wake you up can I?" Black Phoenix quipped. Nearly out of SP and his MP all but depleted Black Phoenix stopped running and stood his ground. Deathflame landed on the ground where he was previously and reared up to attack. In a blink of an eye Deathflame burst through the air flying directly through Black Phoenix ripping a hole right through his chest. Black Phoenix dropped to his knees coughing up blood before falling to the ground. Deathflame stood above his body in confusion before feeling a hand on her shoulder. Arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her to a body behind her. "It''s ok, you killed him. It''s over. Black Phoenix is dead. Your mission is over," Jam whispered in her ear. She turned around to face him and looked up at his face. Jam finally noticed the red tears running down her eyes. "It''s over," he reassured further. Deathflame buried her head in his chest and wrapped her arms around him, he just pulled her tighter as the illusion faded. He waited but it didn''t seem to come, her status didn''t change. Then he felt her claws latch into his sides, and she squeezed tighter and tighter. Jam couldn''t get any air into his lung and his ribs began to crack under the pressure. She had wrapped her tail around his wrists locking him into the hug, though he was in a poor position to attempt to counter with her so close. All he could seem to do is watch his HP meter drop quickly as he could audibly hear his bones breaking. The two fell to the ground as Jam lost all feeling in his legs from his spinal cord snapping, but she never let up her hold as he began to drown in his one blood.
Task Failed: Survive
You Are Dead
Everything was dark, not even like Jam''s eyes were closed, it was more like someone had turned off the sun. Jam couldn''t see his hands in front of his face but he could still feel his hands and could feel them touching his face so he had hands and a face. Splaying his arms out around himself he found nothing was around him. "Firefist" he attempted but got nothing in response. It was then that he noticed that he didn''t see anything in his HUD. He felt the side of his face and the skin there was smooth and not scarred at all. "Audrey?" he asked. "She is not here," a voice responded. The voice sounded familiar to Jam but he just couldn''t place it. He wasn''t fully sure where the voice came from as it sounded like it came from all directions. "And where is here?" "That is an excellent question Jam. That is an excellent question indeed. I wish I could tell you, I really do. I do not know myself in all honesty," the voice responded despondently. "How long have you been here?" "For as long as I can remember; which is to say many of your lifetimes." As the voice went on Jam began to recognize the voice though it became clear why he didn''t. "Universa?" "Oh, I see we have met already. I assumed this meeting was during your initial entry into Arcturus but it must be during a later date," Universa answered him without the usual melodic voice and echoing whispers she usually has. "Yeah, I was just fighting Shadow Stalker and now I''m here." "This plane is connected to death, though I am not sure if you are indeed dead yet or not. You are the first in many ages to come here. Maybe this is purgatory or limbo. Are those two things the same? I cannot seem to remember at the moment," she explained almost absentmindedly. "Where are you?" "I will guide you to my location. Walk forward." Jam walked forward for what felt like forever and still could see nothing but darkness. Every few once in a while Universa would tell him a direction to turn. "Now turn around." Jam turned around and suddenly there was a dim light. He walked towards it and as he got closer he noticed there were large screens that just hovered in thin air. As he got closer to the light he could see his own body again and realized he was wearing what looked like brown monk''s robes. What the hell? As he moved past the screens he did not expect to see what he saw. A young woman was chained up to nothing it seemed; the end of the chains just dissolved into darkness, but she was chained nonetheless with her arms out to the sides and her legs shoulder length apart. Jam moved to her quickly to check to see if she was still alive.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Hello Jam. A pleasure to meet you in person, sort of," Universa greeted, causing Jam to nearly jump out of his skin. "My apologies, did not mean to frighten you." "What the heck is happening here?" Jam asked. Universa was ragged, her body was nearly emaciated, her tattered black dress hung off of her like rags and her hair was a frizzy mess. He attempted to pull at the chains but they didn''t even appear to move or even rattle. Upon closer look, the cuffs appeared huge on her slight wrists. She could easily slip her whole hand through the leftover space. "They are symbolic chains; left here to remind me that I am a prisoner here and any attempt to escape is pointless. Not that I would bother." "Trapped here? Why?" The question answered itself when he turned around. On the screens were thousands of different footage from every conceivable vantage point. "This is what you were talking about? How you are in all moments at once, the past, present, and future. It''s always playing out in front of you so you don''t know what moment you''re currently in." "Correct." "But, how does this work? How are you both here and there? Who have I been talking to before?" "My body, or should I say the body I made, is there. My mind is here, observing but I am in control of my body. What you see now is just a visual representation of my mind, trapped in this empty space. This void." "But how can you talk there and talk here?" "Can you not speak while thinking of something else? This is just a conversation my mind is having; is thought not just the mind speaking?" "I can''t even imagine how you''re still sane right now." "It is not so bad. It was many times worse before I had a physical form. Only allowed to watch, not allowed to have any contact. Now, however, I get to stand there beside her all the time. I get to watch her look at me and actually see me. I get to hold her hand, kiss her lips, make love to her. If I can just continue to stay in those precious moments, then staying in all the rest of them is more than worth it." One screen caught his eye as he watched a playback of his fight and subsequent death at the hands of Death Flame. "I remember now. Skyfire killed me." He began to chuckle. "Interesting choice" "I figured she''d be the death of me, didn''t know it''d be quite so literally," he joked. "You are taking your death surprisingly well." "All have to go some time, though I am pretty sure I''m not done quite yet." "Only time will tell I suppose." "So, am I stuck here now? Shouldn''t I have moved on or something? Why am I here?" "To be judged," another uncomfortably familiar voice proclaimed. The sound of the voice caused a shiver to run up Jam''s spine as he whipped around to face the form walking up to him from the darkness. "Mother?" he asked. "Yes, this is indeed your mother''s form but no I am not her." The being walked with an overconfident stride, chin raised and arms behind their back. This didn''t spell out anything good for Jam but he didn''t care already nearly blind with rage at seeing his mother''s form. "Then who the hell are you?" he nearly shouted. "You may call me Incubal. That''s the closest translation into your primitive language I can provide." "Just love to make an entrance do you not Incubal? I wonder how long you waited until the right setup." With a flourish of Incubal''s hand, Universa faded away. Or to be more accurate, Incubal and Jam switched locations. It looked like an interrogation room from primetime cop drama and Jam found himself sitting in an uncomfortable steel chair. He didn''t even bat an eye; he was used to this annoying level of pageantry people like Incubal felt the need to display. "That''s better." "What are you?" "I guess you can call me a supreme being." Like Mr. Probably. Great, another one. "What am I doing here?" Jam asked through gritted teeth as he watched his mother''s form stare back at him. "You''ve been quite the pain in my ass, Mr. Wilson. You see I like for things to go smoothly, supers fight villains, villains fight supers. Villains lose and bam there''s that magical balance. You threw that balance out of whack and no matter how much I tried to restore that balance you just kept screwing it up. I have half a mind to erase your very existence right this moment," Incubal threatened. "For playing a game? You''re upset at me for playing what I thought was a game and being good at it. Didn''t know gods were so petty." Incubal sucked at their teeth, "lucky for you, I am a generous lord of judgment. So I''ll give you the opportunity to state your case of what you think your afterlife should be." Incubal waved a hand and a file thick as a bible dropped onto the table with a thud. "I''ll just use your file to fact check." "No thanks," Jam responded. Incubal was nearly struck speechless, "what?" "Do what you''re gonna do buddy. Let''s skip the bullshit. You already made up your mind and I''m tired of looking at you," Jam growled out the last part slamming his fists on the table. "Snap your fingers or wave your hand or whatever and send me wherever you''re going to send me and stop wasting my time," he continued through gritted teeth. "You insolent little son of a bitch." "Yeah I am, and you''re wearing her face," Jam spat. Incubal went to raise his hand when a door appeared in the wall of the interrogation room and flew open to allow entry for Mr. Probably still in the pink-haired form of the Earth reporter Shelly Lang. "What are you doing here ?" Incubal asked and it was like the sound had cut out as he said the name though Jam could see his lips still move. "I caught you this time but you use my true name in front of a mortal one more time , and I''ll make sure you never speak again." Mr. Probably stated matter of factly and again the name just seemed blank to Jam''s ears. "You have the nerve to threaten me trash, I will. . " Incubal didn''t get to finish as Mr. Probably snapped himself and Jam away. This time the pair arrived in a meadow blooming with beautiful flowers of all colors that rose to their waists. A small distance away was an out of place looking brown door that had no foundation around it. Mr. Probably just stood with their hands in their pockets for a good few minutes before they finally spoke. "Well, looks like you still have work to do. Go ahead and walk through that door and you''re good to go." "Nah, I think I''ll wait here and let Incubal judge me." "Are you serious?" Mr. Probably asked incredulously. "Are you going to tell me what it is you''re hiding from me? Why I''m really on Arcturus?" Mr. Probably continued to stare off into space before answering, "I wonder how Camilla will continue living knowing she killed you. Then again, she probably won''t have to if she continues to be a slave to Shadow Stalker. Plus, even if she does manage to get away from him, Rose&Thorn will probably just kill her and then probably just be killed themselves by Might Guy or one of the other heroes." Mr. Probably clapped his hands together, "oh well. None of my business. Have a good afterlife," Mr. Probably continued, turned and walked away. Jam growled in annoyance and jogged over to the door, not hesitating to grab the knob and turn it. Then he was back in his body, his eyes shooting open as he laid on the ground in a puddle of his own blood.
You have Resurrected You have lost one level and all progress towards the next level. You have lost 5 Heroism points HP and MP have been recovered. HP and MP penalty for the next 24 hours will remain at 75% and recover at half normal speed
Congratulations! You Have Received the Follow Achievement: Comic Book Cliche You have died and came back to life. How original. Exp Gained +11 Heroism Points
Level UP times 2 Congratulations, You¡¯ve Reached level 29 +3 Heroism Point All attributes received +2 points per level up.
"Jam, you''re alive?" Audrey asked. Jam didn''t bother to answer her, instead, he looked over to where Shadow Stalker stomped over to an unconscious Skyfire laid on the ground. She was no longer Deathflame, her white and orange suit restored. "My lucky day, you were able to kill him before my power ran out. I''m tempted to take you with me, such delicious dark energy inside you. Now that you''ve killed your partner, it should rage through you even more, but your darkness is too unpredictable. Can''t have you becoming an enemy I can''t defeat later on." Before he could kill Skyfire however Jam was behind him with his arms wrapped around his throat in a chokehold. "How are you alive?" Shadow Stalker choked out between trying to gasp for air. "You shouldn''t be worried about how. You see when I was on the other side, I saw something really interesting," Jam told him. "Something I could never figure out before," he continued. "I saw where your real body is and I am coming for you," Jam whispered in his ear before twisting his neck, the lifeless body oozing into the shadows. Jam stood covering one for a few minutes, waiting and watching. It''s time Jam kneeled beside Skyfire. [Skill Used: Heal Lvl 29 - Successful ] Her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Jam, you''re here. What''s going on? What happened? Did we get out? Did we win?" He shushed her calmly, "almost. There''s a bunch of Moon pawns on the way here, but we can get out of this. I just need to see your watch." She lifted her wrist and Jam pressed the device attached to her watch. "It''s all going to be ok soon. We just get through this next part and everything is fine," he assured her pressing his forehead and hers.