Kev’s mom, Alicia, was pretty short, not quite 5’5”. The last time Kevin had seen her, she had carried a bit of extra weight that wasn’t uncommon for her extended family. Now, she was trimmer, thinner, but not in the “I’ve been doing great” sort of way, more in the “I haven’t been eating” sort of way. Her shorter, sandy blonde hair was streaked through with gray but was neatly brushed to the side as it almost always was, her blue eyes a match for Kev’s, who were themselves absolutely identical to Kevin’s. Her face looked haggard, the bags under her eyes making her look older than she had. Kev guessed these last few months had been trying for her. She normally wore glasses, though Kev didn’t see them on her at the moment.

“Kevin!” Alicia whisper-yelled, throwing her arms around him. He had to be careful not to hug her too hard. Kevin’s strength stat of nearly 140 would absolutely crush the older woman. She had the frail body of a woman approaching her 70s who had never much been into fitness so he would be shocked if her strength stat was currently even 3, her endurance likely even less. “Kevin.” She said again. Then she froze a moment, as if only now processing something, she leaned back a little and examined Kev’s face. “Kevin?”

Kev looked around as if he couldn’t figure out what the problem was, he raised an eyebrow and said “Yeah? You were expecting the Pope maybe?”

“No you just look so different.” Alicia said. “My handsome man. I’m so happy you are here.” She came back in for a hug.

She pulled away sharply, having a totally different realization. “Oh my god Kev you have got to get out of here. You can’t be here.” The fear and tone in her voice made Kev immediately go on high alert.

“Mom, why? Are you a prisoner here.” Kev checked her window, the deep dark outside was lessening.

“Yes. They will kill you Kev you have got to go.” Alicia said.

“No Ma. They won’t. They can try if they want. When do they normally check on you? Do they always have so many guards?” Kev asked.

“They don’t really check on any of us except if someone is hurt. They’ll feed us later in the morning.” Alicia answered.

“Then we have time. We are getting you out of here now. First, What abilities do you have?” Kev asked.

“I’m a nurse Kevin, I didn’t have a lot of points but I took what I already was. I have healing.”

“OK, good.” Kev said. “Anything else?”

“No, not really.” She said. “I had some stuff but they took it all.”

“Yeah, not really surprised. You might be lucky that you had so little, that plus the healing ability made you not worth killing.” Kev replied. “How's your heart doing?” Alicia had a heart issue that made her susceptible to easy overexertion, making any cardio, even strenuous walks, taxing a difficult.

“Surprisingly good but I’m not running anywhere.” Alicia responded.

“Did your healing let you fix it?” Kev asked.

“No, it doesn’t work as well on me as it does others.” She answered.

“Well we are going to fix that up before we try to do anything else.” Kev responded.

“Fix my heart?” Alicia said.

“Yeah, you just need another ability, and we’ll get you that today tonight.” Kev said.

“What, How? Kevin, I don't have any points.”

“I know ma’ me, I’ll sort it all out after we get you out of here, in the meantime we have to get moving, Are you doing OK?” Kev said.

“Am I OK? I only just got here a while ago. You’ve been here a whole year, is that what I heard? And look at you, a totally different man.” She came back in for a hug, she felt safe with her son, “I’m your mother, I'm supposed to ask if YOU are OK. I was so worried before I came here.” Alicia said, her face still against Kev.

“Yeah ma. I’m OK. It’s actually kind of a short story, at least until you second wavers showed up.” Kev said. “But seriously. We need to go and I don’t know how to do that without hurting some people. Are you OK with that?”

“Kev there’s a bunch of people here…” Alicia started.

Kev held up a hand forestalling objections, “Ma, you are gonna have to trust me here. I can take them. I just need to know one thing first. How many first wavers are here, do you know?”

“Um. Not many, three maybe? But that’s not what I meant. I mean there are other prisoners.” She said.

Kev ignored the second statement for the time being. “Do you know anything about their abilities?” Kev said.

“No, not really. One has a fire ability, he can throw it like a flame thrower, it's terrifying. Another one is fast, really fast. But that’s all I know.” She said.

“OK. That’s fine. Do they sleep up or down?” Kev said pointing to the ceiling and then the floor.

“They sleep up. Top of the tower sort of people.”

“OK then.” Kev said. “Down we go. Are there any people you would count as allies, with the bad guys or with the other prisoners?” Kev asked.

“Not that are part of the group, only other prisoners.” She said, “Kev, can we take them with us?”

“How many are there?” Kev said, his voice a little harder than he meant to make it.

“At least 7 that I know of.” She responded.

“OK, two choices then.” Kev said. “Choice one, we try to get them now, if we are discovered I’m throwing you over my shoulder and we leave them behind, no questions asked. Choice two, I get you out of here, then I come back tomorrow and take them then. Before you ask, both are dangerous. I don’t know if I can beat the whole group in a fight, but I know that I’d fight better if I didn’t have to worry about you.”

“Can we try now? If we can at least get them out of their rooms maybe some of them can help?” Alicai said.

“Are any fighters?” Kev asked.

“No,” She responded instantly. “Mostly healers, one is a scientist of some kind and can identify things magically, the rest were going to be used to point farm.” She said.

Kev thought for a moment. Leave it to his mother to make him the hero. “Fine, but we are not dying for them, do you understand?”

Alicia nodded.

“OK, then stay behind me, stay quiet, if you need a rest let me know. We are going to clear this floor first, while I clear the floor, you get the rest ready to go. Oh and here.” Kevin tapped his ring and pulled out a bulletproof vest and a bulletproof helmet. It was the lightest one he could get from the shop and hoped it wouldn’t bog her down too much. Then he pulled out a mid-tier healing pill and a recovery pill. “Take these and put these on.” Kev said.

“What are they?” She said before she took one. As soon as she touched the healing pill she knew what it was. “Oh Kevin this is better than the ones they have.”

“I know ma’ we can talk about it later.” Kev said, “Take them. They will help keep you on your feet.” She took the pills like an old pro and put on the vest. Kev could tell even with its light weight that she was feeling it.

He pulled out one more item from his storage ring. Boiling Dragon Ginseng Booster. “OK ma’ take this too. This will make you feel stronger. The downside is that it is probably bad for your heart so we aren’t going to push it but at least you can move a little easier.”

Alicia took the oddly colored pill the same she took the other two. Seconds later her pupils dilated and she stood up straighter.

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“Good.” Kev said. Stay quiet and stay behind me. Kev tapped his armor ring and his advanced armor appeared around him. He tapped his ring and his advanced mask fell into place integrating with the helmet like it was part of the set. He removed his storage backpack from the ring and put it next to the door.

“Oh one more thing.” He tapped the ring and pulled out the buckler. “It isn’t much but if someone starts shooting it will at least cover your face.”

He handed the small shield to his mother and moved to crack the door. He gently opened the door and watched and waited as the woman walked past again. She must have been patrolling this hall of the prisoners. He used his arm to move his mother on the other side of the door. Moving one direction the woman would undoubtedly see the door was cracked, moving the other direction maybe not. Kev shut the lights off but left the door cracked. He waited. Moments later the woman was at the door having noticed it was open a crack. She hesitated, opening the door the rest of the way, which hid Alicia behind it. She reached in to flick on the lights. Kev grabbed her hand. With all the strength he could muster he pulled her into the room. She must have had some sort of strength ability because she was almost strong enough to resist the motion. Almost.

Kev pulled her arm straight as he pivoted, pulling her around his body, she lost her balance and came down hard, she let out a soft grunt as she hit the floor. Before she could respond more than that, Kev tapped his ring, pulled out his gun and put a bullet in her head. She collapsed and lay limply.

— Points Obtained: Points 931 —

Kev grabbed her body and pushed her into the storage backpack like he had with the morankai bodies from before. Alicia closed the door a moment later. She whispered to Kev.

“She was a bad lady Kev.”

He couldn’t tell from her tone whether she was trying to convince him or convince herself. Kev thought about it for a second. He had killed The Shooter on his first day in the 7 layers. He had sort of agonized over it for a while. This woman was only the second person he’d ever hurt. He felt nothing for her. He wasn’t sure if it was because she had held his mother captive, or if it was because he had just changed so much since he came to the First Layer. Kev considered it for a moment before locking eyes with his mother.

“Let’s Go” Kev said. He tapped his ring and the pelte shield appeared in his hand. He put the storage backpack on his chest, it was a little in the way but he would need quick access.

Alicia started knocking on doors quietly and telling the people that it was time to go, the sun was starting to climb. The first was a man about Kevin’s age. He had Asian features but when he spoke he was speaking English rather than needing to be translated by the Shop into what Kev could understand. Kev tapped and pulled out his submachine gun.

“Have you ever used one of these?” he asked the man.

“No, I’m a doctor.” the man responded.

“Oh yeah? I work in logistics.” Kev said, holding out the machine gun.

The man looked shocked for a second but he took the gun. Kev handed him a low-tier healing pill next. He took it, must have identified it immediately, nodded and put it in a pocket.

While Kev had been talking to the doctor, Alicia had been busy getting two more people out. Soon all eight of them were ready to go, two looked like college girls, the way they held themselves made Kev extremely angry. Most of the rest were older than Kev and the doctor. “You,” Kev said pointing to the doctor and then to the barrel of the gun, “take up the rear, point that side towards the other guy and pull the thing, count to one and then let go. If he gets back up, do it again. Everyone ready?” Kev made eye contact with the group of people that looked decidedly scared and worried. “Good. Lets go”

Kev walked as quickly but quietly as he could until he got to the stairs. He opened the door to the stairs as quietly as he could. The snorer was still there, snoring away. Kev pulled out an arrow from his ring, he infused it with as much intermediate axe energy as he could, then drove it down into the man’s skull.

— Points Obtained: Points 754 —

He died immediately and the snoring stopped. Kev added him to the backpack with the woman. He waited and listened. They were clear. Kev motioned for the rest to enter and they did, first his mother, then the rest and the doctor at the back.

He turned and they started moving down the stairwell. Kev heard someone on the stairs below. As they went down the flight, the man noticed Kev, he raised his automatic assault rifle. He was two slow. Three rounds thwacked out from Kev’s silenced pistol. Two caught the man in the chest, which was armored, but the third hit him in his cheek left of his nose. One of the girls gasped behind Kev but the tall man in the middle silenced her with a light touch and a calming “shh.” The other guy died.

— Points Obtained: Points 803 —

The body dropped. Kev crept up to the body, picking it up easily and depositing it into the magical space that was the storage backpack. He continued on, he did not miss the look of horror on the people’s faces as they watched. The same look was on his mom’s face, but she squeezed his shoulder as they continued moving down the stairs.

The next person, Kev killed without them even knowing he was there.

— Points Obtained: Points 545 —

They continued down the stairs until there was a cry from the floors above. Kev wasn’t sure how far but he knew they needed to move. He started moving quicker, knowing they needed to get to the ground floor quickly but that was a lot of flights away. Kev looked back and could see his mother flagging. “Hold on Mom.” Kev said.

Kev was passing the 24th floor when the door flew open and a man was there bringing a weapon to bear against them. The doctor raised the sub machine gun and pulled the trigger. The ‘thwack thwack thwack thwack’ of automatic silenced gun fire sounded in the stairwell. The enemy took hit after hit but most of the bullets missed him. The gun clicked empty. Kev ran up the stairs, pushing the people too dumb to get out of his way over to reach the doctor. The man was still stirring. Kev killed him.

— Points Obtained: Points 675 —

On the one hand, he took the doctors' points. On the other hand, the man did not look like he would have wanted them.

“Count to one” Kev said, pulling the magazine out of the submachine gun and loading a fresh one.

The doctor looked shocked but nodded.

The group continued running down the stairs.

20.

They could hear boots chasing after them. “Ma, get to the lobby on the ground floor, wait for me there.”

15.

They heard shouts “They are there!” Kev ushered the rest on, trading weapons with the doctor and pushing him towards the front.

10.

They heard shots from assault rifles. Kev returned fire with his submachine gun firing three or four silenced rounds at a time.

5

Kev slowed and engaged them. Two died as he ignored the points notification.

4

He heard the 2nd floor lobby door open. He pinged and felt his mom moving across the lobby floor. Kev blocked bullets with his pelte infused to the max with basic shield energy.

3

He heard a sound like a giant bonfire as a man came around the flight of stairs and threw a fireball at Kev that was bigger than his shield.

2

Kev burst through the door, launching into the room like he was thrown by a giant as the flames chased him. He brought his gun up and empty the magazine as the man used some sort of defensive artifact to catch the bullets. The man was head to toe covered in a leather coat, long brown hair, slightly balding on top, that lay greasily down to the man’s shoulders. He was taller than Kev and maybe broader in the shoulders. He looked like he had been in a biker gang before he came to the 7 Layers.

Kev immediately tapped his ring to store his gun and brought out his Ice Axe. A perfect tool against the Flame. The man didn’t bother monologuing, or bantering or anything, which Kev found a little disappointing. He just yelled. “DIE!” As he threw two hands of fire at Kev.

Kev sent shield energy into his shield, he poured shield energy into his armor and he pushed axe energy into his blade, and in a moment of inspiration, pushed shield energy into his axe. Especially against fire, the broad bits of the ice axe kind of like little shields in their own right. He turned the axe sideways allowing the board flat of the blade to help catch the fire. Kev felt a twinge in his soul that made him smile. The fire washed over and past Kev and he stood, totally fine. He started advancing on the man who seemed totally taken aback. He balled his hands and created a dense fireball in his palm. He threw the fireball at Kev like it was a baseball, Kev could tell it was hotter than the fire blast he had just sent at him, that it carried a greater force before it ever got close.

Kev, with intermediate axe energy reinforcing the blades, and intermediate shield energy reinforcing the flats of the bits, cleaved it in two with his axe. One side of the bright orange sphere going on one side of Kev, one going to the other side. He didn’t even break stride.

The man got a panicked look on his face. The man’s eyes tracked over Kev’s shoulder, looking at the group of prisoners being freed. He lifted his arm to throw fire at the group, ignoring Kev entirely.

“That’s the problem with people like you.” Kev said. “You rely too heavily on one cheap trick.” He threw the ice axe, bit over handle, at the man as he raised his arm to attack one of Kev’s loved ones. The axe took the man in the shoulder, knocking him off balance.

Kev activated Light Heavy and leaped forward quicker than the man thought was possible, he struck the fire wielder in the chest, opposite the shoulder with the axe in it. Kev grabbed the axe and tore it out of the man, blood flying through the air, he brought the axe down and took the man’s arm. Before the man had a chance to realize he didn’t have an arm anymore, Kev put the axe in his skull without ever even learning his name.

— Points Obtained: Points 2,629 —

Kev heard more people coming down the stairs as he pulled the man into the backpack. It was a little gruesome but necessary.

“Lets go! Kev yelled and the group of 8 began to follow him. He got to the door to the street and killed a morankai that had been opening the door to investigate the flashes of light it had sensed.

— Points Obtained: Points 11 —

Kev grabbed Alicia’s hand had her grab the next person’s hand. He ushered everyone outside and started running down the street in the dark, Kev leading them away in safety. Every little bit Kev would drop their hand and kill several morankai, barely making a sound, before he would come back and lead them on.