After failing with two cars, Dan successfully hotwired and took control of the third vehicle. Or more accurately, he hacked the vehicle. The first two were outdated cars that didn’t have their own built-in computers.
The third car had a computer that his HUD hacked and gained control of, allowing Dan easy access, similar to the Kodak jeep. He hopped into the vehicle and pressed his foot on the gas pedal. Thanks to his enhancements and increased stats, driving was less tense, as if it was a video game. It also helped that he didn’t have Kate chasing him. Now, it was he who was doing the chasing.
Dan followed the yellow chevrons on the road that led him towards Kate. He had to get to them before Allen was lost to the enemy forever. Allen wasn’t just a teammate and friend, but probably their only hope of completing this mission and walking away alive. If their numbers dropped even further, Dan didn’t want to think of his odds of survival.
He sped down the roads, making abrupt swerves and turns. Dan performed his first drift on the road just before his turn and somehow didn’t crash.
The yellow arrow floating ahead that signaled Kate and Allen’s position now said four hundred meters.
Almost there, Dan thought.
In that moment, he didn’t care what opposition he would face. He was going to make sure Kate got a dose of payback for chasing him and hurting and killing his teammates.
Dan continued speeding down the dark rain-soaked streets. The glowing signs and banners in the dark rushed past him in a discolored blur as he drifted around corners. The rush of driving a speeding vehicle without fear of the authorities pulling him over was one he hadn’t had the luxury of experiencing. Until now.
He was in enemy territory, outnumbered and outgunned. But right now, he enjoyed whatever he could in the moment. His heart raced and he let the rush overtake him. The yellow arrow now said a hundred meters. Dan was getting closer to his enemy.
Reaching for his pistol, he kept one hand the wheel and got himself ready to take the shot. He needed to separate Kate and Allen to prevent her from using Allen as a meat shield.
The blue icon hovered ahead, and Dan quickly saw both a red and green outline rushing towards him. He aimed his pistol at Kate through the windshield and hammered the trigger. It would have been his lucky day if he scored a headshot on that traitor, but Kate was already moving quickly. Her red outline blurred into the darkness as she backed off.
Just for good measure, Dan opened the car door and stepped out. He reached into his coat and grabbed another explosive block and hurled it in Kate’s direction. The last moment Dan saw her was through the small plaza, but he couldn’t see her red outline anymore. He turned to Allen’s unconscious body while grabbing the detonator in one of his pockets. Dan pressed the button, blowing up the entire lot.
Dan didn’t have time to look at the explosion, only casting a quick glance over his shoulder as he struggled to haul Allen into the backseat. Even with having considered his larger stature, Allen was heavier than he’d expected.
Calculating safest spot to drop off injured comrade…
Two hundred meters east. Setting waypoint.
Dan shoved Allen into the backseat and slammed the door. He made his way back to the driver’s seat and slammed his foot onto the gas. Following the yellow chevrons on the road, his HUD led him to a dark building without any lights or other activity. Dan hoped it was abandoned and that Allen would get the time he needed to recover. For the big man to be knocked out like this, his injuries had to be extensive.
Slowing his vehicle, Dan parked his car outside the building. It was three stories with a shop at the bottom floor. He went to the backseat and dragged Allen out as quickly as he could. Dan grabbed the doorknob of the entrance and found it locked, but Dan didn’t care. He didn’t have time for this shit and simply twisted the knob until it broke. He pushed the door open and dragged his teammate inside. He continued until he reached the cashier’s counter in the back.
Dan crouched down and moved his arms underneath Allen’s body. He put all his strength into slowly lifting his teammate off the floor and placing him on the counter. Then, Dan pushed Allen until he fell to the other side.
“Fuck, sorry about that, dude,” Dan whispered.
He hopped over the counter and landed beside Allen’s feet. He crouched down and rummaged through Allen’s coat, checking every pocket. He would never stoop so low as to loot a teammate, but he needed to find any healing stims. Hopefully, he could find two, one for himself and one for Allen to speed up his recovery process.
After another thirty seconds of looking through the numerous pockets, Dan found a pouch that contained two syringes.
Dan let out a relieved sigh. “Nice. Thank you, Ben.”
He shoved one healing stim into his coat while he held the other one, ready to inject Allen. The problem was that Dan had no clue where Allen’s injuries were since he didn’t possess X-ray vision like Ben. His HUD chimed in.
In the event an agent’s injuries are unknown, the safest bet is to inject a healing stim into the agent’s neck.
Dan did what his HUD instructed him and lightly jabbed the side of Allen’s neck. He removed the empty stim and stood back up. Walking out of the shop, Dan pulled up his HUD and reviewed his current objectives.
Rescue of Allen Draco complete.
Experience rewarded.
Optional objective: kill Samantha Striker to satisfy your revenge.
Warning: pursuing these objectives will contradict orders from Jane Sunheiser. Proceed at your own risk.
As much as Dan wanted to take the car again, the explosion he triggered would attract a lot of unwanted attention. Plus, he would be in no position to defend himself in an ambush. It was best to walk the rest of the way.
Dan stuck to the shadows as best he could. He never crossed over the open streets, sticking to the alleyways and crouching low on the sidewalks. The plaza would be swarming with rebels and Kodak agents, and Kate would have most likely reported Dan’s last known position.
He reached the street where he’d intercepted Kate and Allen, and sure enough, he saw many silhouettes swarming the fires at the plaza.
He snuck into another alley and tried to find a high enough building that would offer a good position to analyze his environment. Dan found a building that was four stories high and shot the lock on the back entrance. He rushed through the place and up the stairs, making it to the third floor.
He peeked through a window, and his HUD highlighted many red outlines below. He looked across the burning plaza and saw mostly rebels and a few Kodak agents, twenty-two red outlines in total.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
One of the red outlines turned a blinking yellow. He looked and saw that agent crouch down to inspect the skid marks Dan had left when he’d intercepted Kate.
Updated objectives
Wipe out all hostile forces in this area.
Optional objective: kill Samantha Striker to satisfy your revenge.
It was her alright. Dan watched as Samantha stood back up and joined the other red silhouettes. Dan could tell a lot of the rebels were inexperienced, as many of them clumped together in groups, and the Kodak agents didn’t bother to correct their sloppy formations. The agents on the ground were probably just here looking for action.
Dan smiled beneath his mask. He had something planned for them.
He kept moving through the building until he reached the top floor. He busted open the door leading to the roof and grabbed the grenade launcher off his back. Every single red outline in front of him would die.
He crouched down and crawled slowly towards the edge of the roof. His eyes darted from side to side, watching the sloppy positions of his unaware enemy.
Up until this point, Dan had continued to surprise his opponents. He had evaded Kate during their first chase, wiped out numerous Kodak agents and looted their weapons and had just rescued Allen. And he had another surprise lined up for his enemies as he aimed his grenade launcher and fired.
The grenade soared through the air and arced downward towards a group of four rebels. In an instant, the group flew in various directions in a fiery explosion. Dan fired another two grenades, killing another five rebels and a pair of Kodak agents.
You have killed five enemies with one grenade!
Bonus experience rewarded.
By now, Dan had already wiped out the majority of the enemies in front of him. He shot another two grenades and blasted apart another half dozen enemies. Dan released the cylinder of his launcher and reloaded with another four grenades.
He looked at the plaza and saw only a handful scattered red outlines left. A few quickly vacated the area while the remaining ones, presumably Kodak agents, stayed in the fight. Dan glanced down and saw a pair of outlines crossing the street in front of him heading towards his building. Dan decided he would drop down and meet those two.
Swapping out his launcher with the ZK-77, Dan got back on his feet and leapt off the edge of the roof. In midair, he fired down at his feet and peppered one of the red outlines. Dan saw the shocked face of the other Kodak agent just before he planted his boots into his face. Dan winced at the crunch beneath his feet. The poor agent stopped moving after that.
He stood up and looked at the other agent he’d killed. The other Kodak agent was riddled with smoking bullet holes.
Dan raised his seventy-seven and tapped the trigger at the last of the scattered rebels. One shot, one kill. Dan’s rounds either blasted through their heads or shredded through their torsos.
Dan charged forward and hopped over the guardrail at the end of the road. He knew this move was pointless, but he somersaulted during his hop and landed back on the ground. He landed and released more single shots from his seventy-seven, eliminating even more rebels. He shot the last rebel, who tried running into an alley, in the head.
Only two red outlines remained. One had taken cover behind a dumpster while the other looked straight at him.
Samantha Striker.
The same Kodak agent that had talked shit about him, even to his face. The one who had chased him throughout Amethyst and made it a game to hunt him down. This was one of the few times Dan had the opportunity to confront his tormentors.
Without hesitation, he lunged at her and fired a burst of gunfire.
Samantha had already ducked before Dan pulled the trigger. After the dodge, she was on her feet and dashed towards him. Dan forgot that even though the gap had shortened, Samantha still outranked him and held the speed advantage. She closed the distance between them and slapped the seventy-seven out of Dan’s hands. She drew her pistol, but Dan grabbed her wrist and she fired a shot into the sky.
He twisted her arm and forced her to let go of the handgun.
“You’re not as tough without a team behind you,” Dan said. “You had all the time in the world to chase me after I wrecked your crew a little while ago. Did I scare you? Did you bite off more than you could chew hunting me down like it was playtime?”
A low growl left Samantha’s clenched teeth, but she didn’t say a word.
Dan continued on. “You left your pals to die by my hand. You had every advantage over me except the high ground. I think there were five or six of you against one of me. You even had a guy with a grenade launcher. So what happened?”
During the struggle, Dan stepped his foot in between Samantha’s legs and then pulled it into her back foot, tripping her. He brought his fist down, but she raised both forearms and blocked the attack.
“I’ll tell you,” Dan said, smiling. “You choked. You all had so much fun chasing and hunting me that when I grew some balls and fought back, you just couldn’t handle it. You’re not fighters. You and the rest of your comrades are bullies. And bullies crumble when the tides shift. You’re trash, Samantha.”
Dan was knocked off his feet from a kick to the ass. He rolled a few times along the pavement before rolling again to narrowly avoid a stomp from the agent.
“Trash?” Samantha shouted. “Who the fuck are you? You think you’re hot shit all because you got lucky and survived when you had no right to?”
He looked at her, then glanced around at the carnage he had caused to this plaza. He spotted the scattered corpses of Kodak agents and rebels on the parking lot. Dan pointed his thumb at the graveyard he’d created.
“I think I am. Just ask all your buddies over there.”
Dan regretted his verbal jab as Samantha rushed and kicked him across the face. He rolled across the pavement. If he had been lower-leveled, that kick would have snapped his neck. Instead, Dan rubbed his jaw and was pissed off.
He slowly got back on his feet. In the time it took for him to stand, Dan was shocked that Samantha didn’t press her attack. She simply stood there staring at him.
“How the fuck did you survive that? You’re nothing but a tier zero, the reports said so! You should have died from that kick!”
Dan caressed his jaw. “You know, you really are a shitty leader. Even if you did walk away from this, the fact that this many of your people died around you isn’t a win. If I was your boss, I’d question your ability to keep cool under pressure.”
His statement gave Samantha heartburn. Both her eyes looked like they would pop out of her sockets.
“I feel so terrible for your teammates. Maybe I wouldn’t have killed them so easily if they weren’t being led by an incompetent idiot like you. And another thing, you could have easily pressed the attack by now and ended this fight. Is your will to fight that fragile?”
That set her off. Samantha charged at him like a rabid animal. Dan scrutinized her while also putting his hand on the handle of his knife. He noticed that after disarming her, she had no other weapons.
Dan met her charge. He put as much as he could into his shoulder and shoved her. Surprisingly, it worked, as Dan’s head also smashed into her nose.
Samantha was knocked flat on her ass. Dan slammed down his boot onto her stomach and put his full weight on her. He stepped on her thigh with his other foot and stood on top of her.
“One last thing before I let you go. I’ve spend my whole life trying to survive in this world. I’ve either picked fights, or just run away from gangsters and other sick fucks who would treat people like me as prey. But deep down, I know those assholes aren’t fighters. Nothing but criminals who took advantage of those weaker than them. No matter what kind of fancy equipment or powers you have, Samantha, I’m a stronger person that you’ll ever be.”
She had no means to attack Dan with him standing on her. Before she could open her mouth, Dan brought down his knife and sunk his blade into her throat. She twitched and convulsed for a few seconds before going limp.
You have killed Samantha Striker. Optional objective completed!
You have killed 27 enemies. Experience rewarded.
Congratulations!
You have leveled up twice.
You are now Tier 1 | Level 12
You have earned 10 stat points.
In that moment, Dan didn’t feel triumphant. The light rain still pelted him, the burning fires of the plaza still gave his surroundings a flickering orange shade. He felt as if something heavy had lifted off of his shoulders. The resentment towards Samantha herself for treating him like prey. All of his darkest memories of being chased by the degenerates of his home town. His lungs could take in more air. He’d shed some weight.
It was freeing. Dan had the power in his hands to liberate himself from the oppression he had always felt during his childhood.
Dan saw something his peripheral and saw a lone rebel up close, pointing a rifle at him. He slowly turned his head and stared her down.
“Don’t you fucking move,” she said frantically.