Fists collided as Dan and Li fought each other in the arena. While Angie stood near the edge of one of the glass walls that encased the training room, the two agents had their rematch since their very first sparring session before the heist led by Michael Cynosa.
Li’s movements were as swift and graceful as ever. The numerous kills he inflicted against Kodak-Cresh at the hotel, along with killing a few tier twos had leveled him up even higher. Dan briefly checked over Li’s stats.
Agent: Li “Arctic” Phantom
Age: 21 M
Shard: Alpha Corporation (formerly Spec Ops Hellhound)
Rank: Tier 1 | Level 24
Strength: 27
Agility: 35
Endurance: 28
Intelligence: 30
Supernatural: 1
Healing Factor: n/a
Reflex: Superior +
While Dan had a slight advantage in strength, Li still outclassed him all the other main stat categories. The stealth specialist’s speed, reaction times and overall technique still gave him the advantage over Dan. And since this was just a sparring match, no supernatural abilities were allowed. It meant Dan was restricted from using his berserk or glare abilities.
Dan fell back on what he had learned from his flash training and Jane and Allen whooping his ass over and over. As expected, Li wasn’t the kind of opponent he could easily intimidate or overwhelm with brute force alone. But even as Li was proving time and time again to be his superior in hand to hand fighting, Dan was still making improvements. He had reached a point in his fighting technique where performing Krav Maga and numerous other martial arts he had learned were automatic. He wasn't slowing himself down through hesitation between choosing learned technique over the wild and undisciplined fighting style before he became an agent.
Bring both his arms up, Dan protected himself just in time against a barrage of light but fast attacks from Li. The stealth specialist gave him no room to breathe. But neither did Dan. He moved his left arm to go in for a quick jab to Li’s throat. A jab that never reached its intended target as Dan took a surprise knee to the midsection.
While Dan was still wearing his basic set of armor, the first one he received, it didn’t completely negate the impact of Li’s attack. Li puts his acrobatics to use as he quickly backpedaled from Dan and performed numerous backflips to create distance between the two.
Holy shit, Dan thought to himself.
“I never took you as a show off Li,” Dan said.
“It’s not a bad thing to glaze yourself every once in a while,” the stealth specialist said. He pointed his thumb at Angie. “Some of us do it quite a bit more than others.”
“I heard you,” Angie snapped. “Dan what the hell is taking you so long? Whoop his ass already!”
Angie being his cheerleader wasn’t exactly helping him. Even after all of his recent level ups, he hadn’t closed the gap between him and Li by that much. A good number of his stat points were allocated to his strange supernatural stat. Dan was still frustrated but also concerned about the demonic voice in his head that allocated some of his stat points for him, completely overriding his freedom to decide for himself.
“Hey Dan, I have an idea. It’s a reckless one so you’ll feel right at home,” Li said.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?”
Li straightened out his stance and lowered his arms. Both arms laid straight by Li’s sides. “Activate your berserk mode and fight me with that.”
His eyes widened at the abrupt and dangerous request. “You can’t be serious. That form is only reserved for agents much higher level than I am. That’s how I survived against Kate and Adam during the heist.”
Li’s expression didn’t change. “I’m completely serious. And don’t worry about my wellbeing. I can handle myself just fine.”
Dan had no idea what the stealth specialist was thinking. But he knew this was a genuine request from Li. He curled his fists and braced himself for the power up to his berserk state.
Berserk mode activated.
Thanks to his recent upgrade to with the alpha cell injection, Dan had a healing factor now that was already getting to work counteracting some of the strain the berserk mode put on his body. He still felt the familiar surge of adrenaline shoot throughout his entire body and the sparks of red static and electricity roiling and firing out of his body.
A strange violet-colored bar popped up in the center of his vision. Then it began to gradually drain from both ends. The bar faded but remained slightly transparent.
Dan ignored the strange HUD element and rushed forward, putting the amplifying effects of his berserk mode to use as he crossed the distance between him and Li. The edges of his vision blurred as he put all his effort into his legs.
Sorry Li. This is gonna hurt, he thought.
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Dan didn’t want to hurt his teammate too badly so instead of winding back his fist, he settled for a simple shoulder bash to knock Li down from his charge. Li stood in the same spot. He didn’t know whether the stealth specialist was stunned or he was simply too fast for him.
But Li had something up his sleeve.
As Dan twisted his body to place his left shoulder ahead of him, he swore he was mere inches away from the stealth specialist before he swiftly sidestepped out of his way. He barely had the chance to turn his head before his own momentum from the furious charge backfired on himself. Something swiped out his legs and he face planted into the cold floor of the arena. Dan tripping was immediately followed up by a sudden elbow that slammed into the back of his neck, pinning him down.
The berserk mode compensated for whatever pain Dan would have normally experienced. Li had put his entire weight into the elbow drop. The stealth specialist grabbed one of his legs and pulled it back towards Dan’s head. Doing this while also placing his weight on Dan’s back did him no favors. Not even his berserk mode could compensate for the strain placed on his body being contorted.
“Lesson over,” Li said calmly.
The stealth specialist lifted his elbow off Dan’s neck and leg go of his leg, releasing him from the precarious position. Dan powered down from the berserk mode and was thankful that his healing factor reduced the aches and strain throughout his body. The violet bar popped up again in the center of his vision then disappeared. This time, he only bled out from his right eye instead of the profuse bleeding from the previous times he had used the ability. Li’s elbow drop and the pulling of his leg still left their mark on Dan as he sluggishly stood back up while rubbing the back of his neck.
“The hell? How did you do that?”
“Your berserk mode is a powerful ability. I’ve seen it in action before by Kodak agents. But it’s not an automatic ‘I win’ button.”
“Yeah, that’s understandable,” Dan said. “I didn’t immediately get folded by Kate and Adam but I still couldn’t confirm either of their deaths. Still, I don’t think I would have survived that heist if I didn’t have it.”
“True, but if you went up against someone who knew exactly how to counter it, they would show less mercy that I just did,” Li said. “It was easy to trick you into using your own power against you, securing the win.”
“I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated that higher agility stat you got,” Dan admitted.
Li folded his arms. “There’s more to the equation. A long while back, I had the pleasure of running into a hotheaded Kodak agent who also had the berserk ability. A lesson I learned from my uncle is that some agents used the ability as a crutch to make up for their lack of grace and technique. When that agent powered up to that form, he could have easily ripped my head off if given the chance.”
“And I assume you didn’t give that asshole that chance. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here today.”
The stealth specialist nodded. “Correct. That Kodak agent was powerful, but in such cramped interiors, that agent was no more dangerous than a raging bull. I already had a good grasp of my environment’s layout and my position on it, while that Kodak agent thought he could simply muscle his way to victory. I excel in cramped spaces, so it was child’s play to avoid his attacks. And I mean that in a literal sense.”
“Huh?” Dan said.
“That brief encounter happened when I was seventeen. Countering that barbarian wasn’t rocket science. Anyway, I ended the fight by using proper positioning and scoring a headshot. A berserking Kodak agent can still die from a well-placed bullet to the head. Let’s just say I earned quite the amount of bonus experience for that kill.”
“Good shit Li. You’re a beast,” Dan said, beaming with awe and pride for his teammate.
“My point is that overwhelming brute power isn't the key to solving every hairy situation you get yourself into. That charge or yours might have injured or even killed me if it connected, but good luck trying to hit me in the first place.”
“Yeah, I didn’t count on you sidestepping out of the way at the last moment as quickly as you did.”
“My agility stat helped, but my reaction times meant that I would be the quicker man in executing my moves,” Li said. “My last recorded reaction times were one-fiftieth of a second.”
Dan's mind tried to do the math on that, converting that fraction into seconds. Then his HUD spat out the number.
Li Phantom’s reaction time: 1/50 of a second = 20 milliseconds.
Average person’s reaction time: 150 - 300 milliseconds.
Li’s reaction times were well into superhuman levels of quick. Dan glanced to the side and saw Angie walking up to him.
“Wow, I thought you had him,” she said.
Li narrowed his eyes at her. “Were you not listening to the explanation I gave to Dan?”
“I guess I’m an idiot when I just assumed it was all over once Dan used his berserk ability.” Angie reached into his coat and grabbed a cloth out of her inner pocket. She held it up in front of Dan’s face.
“Thanks,” Dan said. Up close, Dan noticed something odd about Angie’s eyes. Instead of the familiar brown, her eyes were now a hot pink that glowed in the dim lighting of the arena. “The hell? Did your eye color change?”
Angie flashed him a huge grin. “Hell yeah it did. I used some of the credits from the heist and paid for an eye color change. Seven thousand credits later, I have hot pink. Like what you see?”
“You received a hundred thousand credits that could have went into buying a heavy weapon, a new set of armor with upgraded durability, or an upgrade like the aqualung. But instead, you spent it on… the color pink…” Li trailed off.
“Fuck you,” Angie snapped, pointer her finger at the stealth specialist. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You prefer sneaking around and not being seen so of course you would think aesthetics are pointless.”
“Correct,” Li said flatly. “You want to spar next?”
Angie immediately checked her attitude, probably remembering how their first sparring session went and how quickly Li knocked her flat on her ass. “Uh, I’m good. I only showed up to give Dan some moral support.”
He gave her a quick nod. “Thanks Angie. And your choice in eye color was the right one. I think pink suits you.” Of course, Dan didn’t consider himself to be great at giving compliments. Angie’s shade of hot pink was flamboyant as if the saturation and contrast were dialled up compared to her eye whites. Then there was the subtle glow in the dim lighting on top of that.
“At least one of you has good taste,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at him.
“By the way Angie, I need you to clear the arena. You’re in my way,” Dan said.
“Huh? Why?”
Dan looked back at Li and grinned underneath his mask. “Me and Li are going for another few rounds. What do you say Li?”
The stealth specialist narrowed his gaze on him. “You’re on.”