This entire ambush was not going the way David had planned. They were certain that this group should have been easy to subdue. Their identifies had shown that their levels were, for the most part lower than David’s group. They had more people too. Their lot should have been David’s.
To say David was livid was an understatement. He had been preoccupied for nearly the entire duration of their conflict, but he had seen at least two of his companions fall already. There were likely more dead if the sudden reinforcements were any indication. Things were not looking good.
David had been absolutely demolishing everyone that came his way so far. That wasn’t enough. His team had let him down. They were weak and David was angry. His reserves were running dangerously low, but he couldn’t stop now. The only thing left to do was end them all. If he survived this, then he would definitely complete the quest. There had to be extra rewards and he wanted them. Now, the only thing he had to do was remove the obstacles in front of him. That was all he saw. Not people, not their families, just impediments to the beginning of his legend.
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Cameron, Sophia, and Ethan grouped up. They faced off against the much stronger David and his sidekick. It was going to be tricky. David was a physical fighter, but none of them wanted to get close enough to the Chrono for fear of a repeat of what had happened to Alex. None of them were sure if he was well. He had fallen on the other side, behind their enemies, so none of them would be able to check on him for a while. They just had to do their part and hope for the best.
While they surveyed their foes, they began to feel more and more uneasy. Davis’s face began to change into a shade of red none of them had ever seen on a human before. Veins began to bulge from his neck and forehead with such ferocity, it looked like snakes had taken up residence in his skin and were now trying to break free. They weren’t alone in their distress. The man next to David looked like he wanted to get as far from the man as he could. This indicated that this was not an isolated event. Perhaps David had had a similar look before throwing the man out that window.
In plain English, David was pissed and the three people across from him were going to be his outlet.
“This guy is probably the type of guy that beats his wife for looking him in the eye or for putting on the wrong dress. Not exactly a good role model for the rest of his team. No wonder they were so misguided,” Sophia said.
“Well let’s show him what it’s like to be on the other side of a beating,” Cameron replied.
It seemed the pot had boiled over, as both sides exploded into action. David charged straight for Cameron with the Chrono right on his tail. Cameron ducked the initial salvo, opting to instead decommission the support. Sophia, donning her wolf form, and Ethan attempted to divert some attention their way after seeing Cameron’s plan. David had initially turned to face Cameron again when he was bombarded by attacks. A chuck of his arm removed by razor sharp teeth and a punch in the face. Both attacks landed simultaneously, leaving David slightly dazed.
This pause, gave Cameron the space he needed to pursue the time mage. The Chrono, obviously not as used to combat as Cameron was, attempted to land his hands on Cameron. Cameron kept his space knowing full well what could happen if he did reach him. Cameron needed to land a decisive blow while remaining out of reach. Luckily, he had played sports in high school. He could throw pretty well and was confident in hitting the man from a distance. Cameron grabbed a handful of rubble and hurled it straight at him. Before he had a chance to react the sudden barrage, Cameron began charging forward. The projectiles were both an attack and a distraction. Many of the projectiles either missed entirely or were somehow projected straight back at their point of origin. Their point of origin being Cameron.
He mostly just tanked the damage, choosing to maintain his current course of action. A few of the stones still landed, opening scarlet wounds across the man’s body. He recoiled at their impact giving Cameron the opening he desired. He charged forward at the still unaware man, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Literally. The man blinked and when his eyes opened again, all he saw was a fist.
Cameron’s attack landed a downward angle, crashing the man into the ground. When the dust settled, the man lay unmoving. Having dispatched his opponent with expert speed, Cameron rejoined his allies. The two others were mostly holding their own but he could tell that it was an uphill battle. They just couldn’t compete with the sheer difference in stats and power. None of them were really that close to his level, but what David didn’t realize was that their team was not reliant on one person’s strength. They relied on each other. David was obviously in it for himself and himself only. He had stunted the growth of his team for his own personal development. It made David a force to be reckoned with, but just him. The rest of the team was strong still, but mostly glass cannons or supports. The only powerhouse was David.
With the only other teammate removed, David attacked with added vigor. He, no doubt, felt backed into a corner. With the numbers against him, the trio didn’t know what he would do. He was already a wildcard, but now, he would be extremely unpredictable.
“We need to be careful,” Ethan said, straight to the point.
“I think it would be good if I took to the skies. I can pick my moments and cause a little chaos. I’m not going to be much use in a fight with that monster,” Sophia said.
“I’ll have to agree with that. Alex and I are the best suited against him and we still had a rough time. We have the numbers this time and I believe that we can come out on top,” Cameron said.
They began circling their adversary, waiting for a moment to strike. Sophia shifted to her hawk form as planned and Cameron and Ethan stood on opposite sides of David. A screech from Sophia ignited the conflict and both Cameron and Ethan charged forward. David looked around and saw the three different attacks coming in. Sophia was diving much faster than her team’s approach and therefore would arrive much sooner. She was going to hit first, but she was going to be alone. David knew it.
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Sophia was screeching through the sky. She felt the wind gliding through her feathers. She had always lived life fast and free. Right now, she felt especially free. She loved the adrenaline and nothing got it pumping like life and death situations. This entire altercation had just made her excited to start her new life.
The life of a superhero.
She was going to be able to do this everyday. The thrill was a drug and she, the addict.
The speed she was reaching on her downward descent was liberating. With each second, she got closer and closer to the brawler. Her eyes narrowed as she prepared for impact.
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Ethan and Cameron looked on with horror. She was way ahead of them. Both of them sprinted as fast as their empowered bodies could take them.
They didn’t make it in time.
David reached up and grabbed Sophia from her rapid nosedive. With a horrendous shriek, both wings were torn from her body. She started to transform back into her human form immediately, wailing. She rolled on the ground in a puddle of her own blood.
Ethan and Cameron arrived shortly after, both landing powerful blows on an unprepared David. Ethan’s servo assisted punches and Cameron’s own strength breaking bones and bruising the lowlife before them. David, unable to mount a defense was at the mercy of the men beating him. He attempted to raise his arms but Cameron reached behind him and held them back while Ethan continued the onslaught. With each landed punch, the resistance offered lessened. By the time Ethan was done, David was unrecognizable. Blood drenched both his clothes and the two men assailing him. Bits of flesh hung down exposing bones in David’s face. He went limp in Cameron’s arms and he let him drop to the ground.
Ethan went to finish the job but Cameron stepped in front of him.
“No. We don’t do this. That is a line I will not cross,” Cameron’s said resolutely.
“You may not be willing, but I am.”
“No.”
Not wanting to fight, Ethan instead moved to Sophia. She had gone mostly silent, transitioning to a quiet sob. Tears ran freely from her face. He cradled her head in his lap.
“What was I thinking?” she asked almost incoherently. “I’m so stupid. It’s all over now. My whole life is over. This has to be a nightmare. I’m going to wake up at my desk. I must have fallen asleep while reading some files. Wouldn’t be the first time. That’s got to be it. I couldn’t be a superhero. Why would I, of all people, be selected by some stupid alien superhero making machine? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Cameron and Ethan just shared glances at each other, pity written across their faces.
“Did I miss it? I always miss the cool stuff. What are you guys…,” Alex trailed off when he saw her.
“What happened?” he asked seething with barely contained rage.
They recounted the battle for Alex, away from Sophia so as to not upset her more. Instantly, Alex leapt over towards David and stomped on his head, much more resolute in his choice to end lives. Cameron had tried to grab his arms, but was too slow.
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I will never let my teammates get hurt. I won’t let anybody I care about get hurt. No matter what, Alex thought.
“Where’s that Chrono at?” Alex asked Cameron who punted to his left.
Alex returned, slumped man in tow. He tossed him to the ground. The Chrono tried to get up and Alex stepped on his back, pushing him back down.
He leaned over and whispered in the struggling man’s ear, “Fix her arms. Now!”
Cameron stepped forward.
“This is wrong! What is wrong with you guys? Why is this your first reaction?” Cameron yelled at both Alex and Ethan.
“They did this! They started all of this. We were just going to leave. They decided to try and rob us. They chose to fight us. He is going to fix this,” Alex said as he wrenched the man’s arms back. He howled in pain.
“Fine! I’ll do it. Please just let me go after this is done. I’ll give you everything I have. Just let me go. Please,” he was sobbing, snot shooting out of his nostrils.
“Geez dude. That’s nasty. Fine I will let you go if you fix this. I just want you to make this better. She doesn’t deserve this. She deserves a chance,” Alex said.
With that, Alex stepped off the man and allowed him to make his way over to Sophia. He placed his hands on her.
“Bring her arms over and place them next to her body. I need them for this to work. If it will even work at all. I haven’t ever done this before. I have mostly done healing in the other direction, by speeding up time allowing the body to heal at a faster rate. Now, I’m going to have to go in reverse. Go back in time. So, give me some space,” the Chrono said.
“Just get it done,” Alex said.
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After about an hour of struggling, Sophia laid on the ground unconscious. Her chest heaved in slow rhythmic motions. Her coerced healer had passed out moments ago and was unceremoniously dragged away from the group.
The three men stood watch, waiting for a change. Sophia’s arms had been reattached, but none of them knew if the operation had worked at all. For all they knew, her arms would hang by her side lifeless for the rest of her life.
“I don’t feel good about any of this. There is so much blood everywhere. You both said that you killed someone on their team. I thought we were all on the same page. I thought that I had found some kindred spirits with you. Both of you. I had made mental plans to form a team in Hillcrest with all of you and to fight this stuff. Now, I’m not sure. Do you feel any remorse at all?” Cameron asked both of them.
“No,” they said resolutely and in unison causing Cameron to take a step back in shock.
“I had some reservations with the bouncer back there. I hesitated. I didn’t want to kill someone, but I also couldn’t leave him there. What if he had come back again at an inopportune time? He did last time and it left you all alone against David. You could have died while I was preoccupied. That made the decision easy. If it was any one of us, or him, I would pick him every time. Same with David. There was no way I was going to let him walk. I just reacted quicker because of what he did. The end result would have been the same,” Alex said.
“I agree with Alex,” Ethan said in response.
“I just don’t think I can work like that. I feel like we need to be pushed to a higher standard. We are heroes now. We are the people that others will look to when they are at their lowest. There is a certain mantle that we need to uphold. How can we sit there and say we fight for justice, if we also commit terrible acts? It’s wrong. It’s murder.”
Cameron paced back and forth, talking to himself as much as to the two men in front of him. He looked like he was going to tear his hair out of his skull.
Suddenly a woman called from across the plaza they were currently in.
“Give me everything you have, or I will kill her.”
It took them a second to realize what was happening. They recognized the woman from the illusion earlier, though that felt like days had passed and not only a few hours. Beside her, a barely conscious Lila, was held up by her shirt with blood dripping from her eyes and ears. She looked horrid. Alex made a move forward, but the woman just waved her finger as Lila began to scream out in pain. He stepped back.
“I don’t know how much longer she can last. I did a number on her already. I made sure to rest up while the rest of you were busy. I can keep this up all day now, so don’t try anything stupid.
Alex shared glances with each of them before, shedding the various items he had collected over the last month. He sneakily retracted his armor into the storage ring provided by the item, while pretending to place it down into the pile.
Suddenly a pile was made of all of their quest items and they looked at their status to see that everything was at zero. It felt like the last month of struggle had been truly for nothing.
“I am going to move forward. I will collect the items I need for the quest and then I will leave. I will leave your friend once I feel I have moved a safe distance away. Don’t follow me or I will end her,” the woman said.
They all nodded and started to walk back to show that they had no intention of trying anything against her. Once they were far enough away, she started moving towards the pile. She began grabbing the different objects required by the quest, seemingly at random. Alex counted out the items in anticipation. None of them knew what would happen once they collected all of the items needed.
Three items left. Then two. Then one.
As soon as the last item was picked up, the woman got a blank look on her face and she looked like she was reading something. She smiled and a portal appeared in front of her, she stepped through it as quickly as it had appeared. Once she passed all the way through, the portal winked out of existence. They all ran to Lila’s side. She weakly rose, with the help of Alex and Cameron.
“I’m sorry guys. I feel like I let you down. I couldn’t beat her,” she said to no one in particular.
“We’re just glad that you’re ok. Plus, I think there’s enough here for all of us to finish the quest still,” Alex said.
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A few hours passed. The Chrono was relieved of all of his quest items and dismissed from the group. They rounded up the quest items from David’s group and waited for Sophia and Lila to recover from their injuries.
Fortunately, they both ended up being fine. Sophia’s arms worked as if nothing had happened and Lila was fine aside from a massive headache.
“That could’ve gone worse. I’m glad all of us are ok,” Alex said to the group.
“Thanks. All of you. I don’t think I’d be here if it weren’t for you,” Sophia said with uncharacteristic timidity. She was too busy drawing symbols unknown to any civilization with her feet, to look any of them in the eye.
“I’ll have to agree with that sentiment,” Lila said.
“I think that all of us owe each other our lives. All of us were probably going to die alone. I’m glad that I met you all,” Alex said placatingly.
“It’s been an honor,” said Ethan.
“Well, it looks like this is it. We should all meet up when we get back,” Sophia said.
“Yeah! We could make our own team when we get back. We should start brainstorming team names. Oh and we need some hero names as well and…” Alex went on but was interrupted by Cameron.
“No. I can’t work with you guys. I still can’t reconcile with what you did. You killed people and you don’t even feel like it was wrong.”
“You’re still on that? I think you need to grow up. There was no way we could let them go. We let the Chrono go only because he was no longer a threat to us,” Alex argued.
“I let the Chrono live and he was the one who ended up saving Sophia’s arms. It is wrong to kill. Period. If I had killed him, Sophia might not have her arms. She might even be dead right now. I will still consider each of you my friends, but I will not work with you if you think that’s ok. I can’t justify that behavior and I don’t want to be associated with it.”
“I’m not going to apologize if that’s what you’re looking for. I don’t think I was wrong to do what I did. What were we going to do? Leave them? They would just heal and come back to Hillcrest to kill us later or wait for us to let our guards down and kill us here. You know, like they were already planning on doing. They were bad people. Who knows what they would do once they got back to Earth. We all got lucky running into each other. We are all good people. This entire encounter just proves that not all people who have been awakened are good. There are going to be some rotten apples back on Earth after all of this. We need to sort it all out. So no, I’m not going to apologize and I’m not going to change. I will do the same thing once we get back,” Alex said.
“Well, we will just have to disagree then. I’m sorry. I won’t work with you. I’m not going to change my mind. I wish you all the best,” Cameron reiterated.
With that, he picked up his quest items, read his prompt and left them with a nod and a wave.
“That was super awkward. I would love to work with any of you. If you can get over the fact that I killed a bad person. Well, two bad people. And probably more bad people later. I will be killing bad people.” Alex said decisively. “So, if that’s ok with you, you’ve got a friend in me.”
“Not a problem with me,” Sophia reassured.
“Fine by me,” said Ethan.
“I mean if there’s no other way, then I guess it’s ok. You’re not just going to try to justify killing people whenever you get the chance, right?” Lila asked with a slight frown on her face.
“Yes,” Alex responded.
“Yes you are going to start killing people, or you’re not going to?” she asked with even more worry in her voice.
“Not. You asked if I was not going to. So I said yes. I’m not going to just start killing people all the time. Don’t worry.”
“Ok. You could have said more than one word as your answer. That was needlessly confusing.”
“I just answered your question. You are the one who asked a confusing question.”
Lila just rolled her eyes in response. She said her goodbyes, grabbed all of her questions items, and stepped through her own portal.
Alex put on his symbiotic armor. Luckily, the woman didn’t take it. He had grown accustomed to it. It was extremely comfortable and cupped his body in all the right places. It was like it had been perfectly tailored to his body. He would have been sad if it had been taken. He picked up the remaining items and read the prompt that appeared.
Advanced Morathian weapon blueprints recovered- 5/5
Advanced Morathian armor blueprints recovered- 5/5
Advanced Morathian weapons recovered- 3/3
Advanced Morathian armor recovered- 3/3
Quest completed. Rewards to be distributed:
Forge upgraded with higher functionality.
Polyglot skill-understand and be able to read the languages of the multiverse.
Equipment requisition slip-retain ownership of one item acquired during tutorial.
Item upgrade-upgrade item received through equipment requisition.
New rank gained.
Title given: Private (+10 all stats, +10% all stats)
That was pretty nice. He dismissed the rewards panel. That title looked really good. It also appeared that was his rank.
I guess I just finished the space equivalent of boot camp. Fitting that my rank is private. I’m glad there aren’t alien Drill Sergeants. That wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience.
He cycled through his other notifications. One in particular stuck out.
Punishments to be distributed:
Punishments? What the heck is that about?
“Did you guys get punishments as well?” he asked the two remaining awakened.
They stood silently for a second, while they checked their own notifications.
“What!?” Sophia screamed.
“I have received punishments as well,” Ethan said.
Alex looked through the notification again. He had skimmed it mostly as he had with a lot of the other notifications. He went back into the description above to see what he had missed.
You have damaged Starbound Coalition property and will therefore receive punishments according to Coalition law.
Offenses:
Awakened slain (2)
Punishments to be distributed:
Tour of duty-awakened will pay for damages with use of abilities on the frontlines. Due to multiple offenses, tour will be extended.