Andrew - Voltage Vipers Member
“Hurry up Peng, or I’ll leave you behind,” He called out to the big oaf behind him.
“Peng is coming! Please hold the door, Andrew!”
He ignored his words and watched the big oaf dash as fast as he could, just barely grasping the elevator door as they almost completely closed. When the large man stepped in, the entire elevator swayed.
“Did you install new chrome or something? It’s like you gained over a hundred pounds since yesterday.”
“No, don’t be so mean, Andrew. Peng may have eaten a little too much recently…”
“I’m pretty sensitive about these things you— Oh never mind, why do I bother with you? The leader is waiting,” He sighed as he pressed the button.
When the door opened, Peng rushed out for some reason, crashing into a pair of mother and daughter.
“Watch yourself! Peng is part of the Voltage Vipers. Are you messing with Peng?” The big oaf got enraged at the little girl he bumped into.
Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes as her mother embraced her from behind.
“Please, we’re—”
Why do I put up with his stupid shit…If only he weren’t my childhood friend.
“Let’s go, Peng, leave it. You already caused enough of a mess for us. We haven’t even explained to the leader about it yet. Don’t start new shit.”
“Yes, Andrew. Peng is sorry.” He turned back and bowed to Andrew.
He had been like this since we were little, and I promised his parents I would look after him too.
Oh, the folly of youth.
The pair proceeded to cross the lobby of the megabuilding. Once they turned a few corners, the entire area’s vibe changed. The section of the building was Voltage Vipers’ territory, where few outsiders dared to enter.
They passed by dozens of members of the gang, who either nodded in acknowledgment of them or stared at the duo coldly. He had grown used to it though, as factional strife was an inevitable part of gang life, no matter which gang it was.
The duo headed further in until they got to the end of the hallway, where the room with one of the best views on this floor was. The two guards outside waved them in, where they found a spacious apartment with large windows on three sides of the room. They could see the beautiful view of NLA’s nighttime landscape from here.
By one of the windows was a commercial-sized bar that stood out sorely.
It was entirely out of place as it was inside a luxurious apartment, and Andrew would’ve gawked at the sight if he hadn’t been here before.
He approached the bar and took a seat with Peng. The bartender continued to clean the glass in his hand as if he didn’t notice them at all.
The two sat in silence for a few moments until they heard footsteps coming down the stairs nearby. Slowly climbing down the spiral staircase, was a man with spiky red hair, fashioned in a matching red suit.
He wore sunglasses that hid his eyes, but Andrew could tell he was staring at them the entire way down.
“If it isn’t Andrew and his pet, Peng. You finally decided to show yourself, eh?”
“Apologies sir, we had to lie low to ensure no one followed us.”
He sat down a distance away, and the bartender immediately readied a drink for him.
“I took you kids in because I thought you would be useful. Are you proving yourself useful?”
“Yes, we—”
“Yes? Forgot what I taught you already? Only a dog who knows how to listen to instructions is useful. What in the world were you two doing, being so high profile with your acts of violence?! Didn’t I tell you to keep things quiet?”
“But sir…They tried to stab us in the back first.”
“So you two saw red and chased them down around town, then? Right into a busy intersection. You two really have no self-control like the animals that you are. Enough, you kids are—”
Suddenly, the lights to the entire place went off.
“What the hell is going on?” The leader cried out.
From the soft glow in each of their eyes, Andrew could tell their night vision kicked in. His optics were bargain bin outdated models, so it didn’t have any fancy colored night vision, but it did the trick.
The bartender had pulled out a menacing-looking shotgun while the other three all stood up and cautiously looked toward the door.
“Martin, get some people to see what’s going on!”
The bartender nodded. “They’re on it, sir. Lights should be back soon—”
Immediately following his words, gunshots rang out in the distance, and everyone visibly tensed.
“Sir, get back in your room for now.”
“Fine, you better fix this quickly.”
As the leader briskly climbed the stairs back to his room, the bartender’s eyes fell on Andrew and Peng. “You two, go help guard the door.”
Andrew nodded, “Let’s go.” he poked Peng with his elbow.
The bartender followed them cautiously from behind as they made their way to the door. Just as they opened the door, the duo found the two guards that were posted outside collapsed on the ground. Andrew quickly slammed the door back closed.
“What are you doing?! We should go out and check the situation,” The man yelled while lifting his shotgun at them.
“Are you serious? We didn’t even hear any fighting and your guards got taken out…This is some corpo spec op shit. We need to hold out somewhere secure while you call for reinforcements!”
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“...” He said nothing, but he could tell he was hesitating from his expression, “Come on, you want to live too, right?”
“Fine, we’ll go protect the leader. I already called some of our men. They’re on their way.”
To the leader’s displeasure, the three of them barged into his room and slammed the door shut. It was an armored door that could stop most firearms, which gave them all some peace of mind.
Not long after they closed the door, they heard the sound of a metallic impact with tremendous force. Having realized how close the danger was, everyone in the room had a solemn expression. The exception was Peng; he was the same as always, but Andrew made sure he stayed quiet by placing a hand over his mouth.
There were a few moments of silence and the group almost relaxed, but then the door to the room clicked with the sound of someone attempting to open the door, only to be stopped by the lock. They all readied their weapons and aimed at the door.
The worst happened when they heard the metal groan. Someone with unnatural strength was on the other side, and they were trying to open it with brute force. Shortly after what sounded to be the handle breaking off, the door clicked unlocked, allowing the door to be swung wide open.
They all placed a finger on the trigger, ready to fire, but no one came in. Even after a full minute, nothing changed.
The bartender, Martin, seemed to have gotten impatient and made his way to peek outside. He didn’t make it halfway when Andrew heard a soft hiss from behind him. He rapidly turned and witnessed the leader falling to the ground with a bullet hole in his forehead.
“We surrender! Don’t hurt us!” He yelled and quickly forced Peng to throw their weapons away and kneeled on the ground with him.
“What are you two doing, you stupid—”
The bartender, Martin, frantically scanned the room as he reprimanded the two until he suddenly found several new bullet wounds in his body as well and collapsed.
“Andrew, let Peng up—”
“Shut up. Whoever is out there, we mean no harm. Please don’t shoot.”
He didn’t hear a response, which made him fear for the worst, but he kept trying.
“Please, we’ll do anything if you let us go.”
In response to his pleas, the door closed shut, drawing their attention. In front of the door, a silhouette of a person suddenly came into existence. It was blurry and they could see through it, but there was definitely the outline of someone there.
“Are you two kids the dumbasses who were having a gunfight at a busy intersection earlier?”
Is this what it is about? Did we accidentally get someone important caught up as collateral damage? Shit…Mom, how do I get out of this one?
----------------------------------------
Status
Level:
17
EXP:
560/1700
Musculoskeletal:
211
Neural Reflex:
65
Visuomotor Coordination:
87
Endurance:
59
Sensory Perception:
127
Upgrade Points:
2
Upgrades:
* Stealth +7
* Hacking +3
* Cybernetic Engineering +10
* Stealth Technology +10
* Software Engineering +6
Enhancements:
SAID: Zenitech Sebastien v2
Bio-Coprocessor: SocialCorp Lightning II
Optics: Mirage Tech Clear-Sights mk.12
Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3
Cyberarm (Right): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3
Auditory: SocialCorp Echo IV
Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump 5
Miscellaneous: HSU Custom Shade
Thorne quickly returned to Elevate City after his condition stabilized, along with the rest of the group who came to visit. It took him a full month to learn how to use his new body.
In the meantime, I focused on preparing the expansion of our transportation business and leveling up the system. I gained a lot of experience points dealing with some gang called Voltage Vipers, but otherwise, it was difficult to further attain experience points.
Things returned to normal because we soon found out about several mysterious deaths of ‘Desire Corp’ executives. It seemed like whoever had saved me before had done a thorough job at it. They had sent an anonymous video and data to reassure us that whoever had targeted me was rooted out.
That meant I shouldn’t be targeted by anyone anymore except for my saviors themselves, who were apparently watching me. However, there was nothing we could do about it for now. We just needed to grow strong enough, so we weren’t at anyone’s mercy.
That was why Claire handled all the paperwork for me back in our head office recently, allowing me to focus on hunting down harvesters and violent gang members.
We hired quite a few more people and were training them on a rotation with our more experienced crew. While the new security we hired would have to be trained to fit in with our system, the other positions shouldn’t take as long to onboard.
With all the new personnel we hired, we needed to expand our equipment as well. Most importantly, the vehicles for our transportation business. Which was why I headed to the dealership with Vin today.
“Did we really have to come? I thought you were just going to lease the same models we’re already using,” Vin said.
“You’re probably right. We don’t have that much liquidity left after paying compensation for the deceased guards, but it doesn’t hurt to check out our options while I have the chance. Plus, I may buy one to tinker around with.”
Reflecting on how I can improve my safety, I decided to make use of my stealth technology expertise to mod the cars I used. Out in the wasteland where you couldn’t physically see anything, if you could fool the sensors, you’re basically undetectable. I would need to experiment around first to get the hang of working with vehicles, though.
“Suit yourself. Just make sure to buy the vehicles for us when you have the funds to spare. We can’t customize the vehicles while we lease them, and there are other restrictions as well.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. Just the premium they add to the insurance is a reminder enough.”
We entered the showroom that had several electric vehicles, like our Vanguards, on display. There were other types of models as well, luxury cars with a myriad of safety features, transport trucks, and even tanks as well. The common denominator for this dealership was how all the vehicles were specialized for the terrain of the wasteland.
My next upgrade would come in handy if I wanted to improve the performance of our cars, so I was here to study the various options out in the market.
With a small fee, we were allowed to test-drive most models. I took the chance to examine their internals for future reference.
A lot of the vehicles were better than the budget Vanguards we used. They had various features that helped them traverse the wasteland easier, faster, and with more comfort. They had better battery capacity and efficiency, allowing improved driving range. Some even had efficient solar recharging that worked in the wasteland’s sandstorm for long-distance trips.
“You should get this one, Rollo. It’ll fit you.” Vin pointed at one of the luxury models.
“With that price tag, I’d rather get a few more Vanguards or other military-class vehicles. Way more bang for the buck.”
“Come on. You’re the boss, aren’t you? This car has way more defensive features to help you survive and get away from the heat.”
“I—”
“Hold on, I’m getting a call from my assistant.” Vin held out a hand.
Can’t believe he finally got one, though it is probably my fault for pushing so many responsibilities for the NLA’s branch of the company onto him.
The call only lasted a dozen or so seconds.
“Rollo, it seems like the Wells clan wants to talk about the request you made of them.”
“Hmm, about time. Let’s go meet them tomorrow.”