Lightforge and Gray Guardian had spent the afternoon wandering the streets, looking for crafting parts. More specifically, a scanner that could identify other people. And it seemed that they might have found one on the inside of an abandoned store. The only obstacle was a group of guards who were pretending to hang out and play dice in a back alley. It wasn't terribly convincing.
The heroes were standing just around a corner, trying to come up with a plan. Gray Guardian was the more reticent of the two, and he wanted to be thorough.
"What do we do? Neither of us is really a big hitter. Are you sure you want to fight them alone?"
"Why not? You need as much XP as you can get, and we'll get more without the others around to take part of it. Besides, there's no way these guys are that tough."
"Uh huh. What makes you so sure of that? You're shockingly confident for someone who's almost died as much as you have."
Lightforge laughed at the accusatory tone that the healer had taken on. It was a fair point, he supposed. With a pair of deaths and more near misses, he should have felt the same way as his companion. But he simply didn't. Their experience in the dungeon had emboldened him, and he explained why.
"This is still the newbie area of the game. The trouble with leveling has nothing to do with the enemies being strong. There just aren't enough to go around."
"A dungeon boss just TPK'ed us a few days ago."
"A dungeon boss that was probably designed to be one of the strongest enemies in this entire section of the map. None of the NPCs around here even have powers! We can do this."
"Alright, let's get this over with."
"Cool. Now, I've got a really cool idea that we should try."
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The thugs standing guard by the back door were bored. The game of dice was not their best attempt at a clever ruse; it was just their only source of amusement while they were stuck outside. Guard duty only got exciting when punches were thrown over accusations of cheating at the game.
That was how Amos liked it. Over the course of his long and industrious career, he'd held a wide variety of job titles, such as thug, enforcer, crony, meatshield, minion, henchman, and muscle. He'd been doing the work, in one form or another, since he was in grade school. Of course, back then he'd done it for clout, to be the toughest kid around.
That had been stupid, plain and simple. He'd been a teenager before he'd realized that some bullies would actually pay him for his skull-cracking services. He'd never looked back after that, just moved up the ladder to larger and larger bullies. And the bigger they were, the better they tended to pay.
He'd learned a lot from his time in the underworld. The most important lesson was to know his place. He didn't have any powers; he was a strictly vanilla bruiser. If his current job put him in the line of fire of people who did have power, it was time to turn around and walk away. That was above his pay grade, and no amount of money would make it worth it.
So he was concerned when a pair of costumed figures came strolling around the corner. They'd peeked earlier, but now they were striding towards the thugs with conviction in their eyes. Amos groaned and tried to evaluate them. One was covered from head to toe in a cloak that hid every part of them. And the other…
The other looked like a mountain man. Close to seven feet tall, dark hair and beard, and arms larger than most people's legs. If that wasn't enough, the giant was wearing some sort of armor that draped along his front.
The others tried to ignore the approaching capes. Amos knew better; he knew the look in their eyes. Playing dumb wasn't going to work on these two. Their only shot was to surprise the pair. Silently he signaled to the others, and they reluctantly nodded. He was the head guard, and he wasn't making a request.
As one the thugs leaped to their feet, weapons drawn. The alleyway rang with the sound of gunfire as the guards unloaded their guns at the approaching capes. Even with increased durability, bullets had a way of cutting down the unsuspecting.
Amos's eyes widened in horror as he watched a sphere of glowing white energy pop into existence around the approaching heroes. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the shining surface and they continued walking at an even pace. The giant man raised a hand and glowing energy knives formed in the air outside the force field. The knives snapped forward with inhuman speed, burying themselves in the arms and legs of the guards.
Amos took in the sight and said the only thing that came to mind, "Well, [BLEEP]."
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Between Gray Guardian's barrier and Lightforge's daggers, the guards were just as easy pickings as the gadgeteer had expected. After the first volley, the thugs' leader stopped shooting at them. After the second he tossed his gun aside and put his hands up in surrender. The guards around him were surprised, some still shooting even as they gawked in disbelief.
The heroes were just as surprised, and Gray wisely chose to keep the barrier surrounding them just in case. Following their leader's example, the thugs stopped shooting and tossed aside their weapons. Well, most of them did, a few lowered them but kept them handy. None put their arms up, but they didn't try to fight anymore either.
Lightforge pointed at the leader and asked, "You're surrendering just like that? Why?"
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The man shrugged like it was obvious. He motioned to the members of his group that were still standing and said, "I'm not an idiot. I'm just hired help, and no one's paying me enough to make me tangle with powers like yours. The place is all yours, as far as I'm concerned. Can we go, or are you going to arrest us?"
Lightforge blinked and shared a long, silent look with his partner, completely gobsmacked. This was not how confrontations with henchmen were supposed to go. The baddies were supposed to throw themselves at the heroes and go down swinging, even when they were hopelessly outmatched. They were supposed to shoot all their bullets and then throw the gun when it didn't work.
Eventually Lightforge said, "Well, you did shoot at us. That's enough to go to jail right there."
The lead thug shrugged and said, "That's fair, though I would like to point out that no one got hurt, and nothing was significantly damaged. You could argue for a reduced sentence on our behalf."
More open-mouthed gawking as the other toughs joined in on the confusion. They knew that this was the wrong way for this to go down, too. They were sharing looks and were increasingly antsy with each passing moment. One of the guards near the back began to slowly and sneakily raise their gun. He adjusted his grip, and there was a faint metallic click from somewhere within the gun's mechanisms.
Like a blur, the leader whirled around and lunged toward the offending guard, slamming his fist into the other man's stomach. The man with the gun doubled over, dropping the weapon to the ground and very nearly following it down. The leader reached out and pushed the man the rest of the way down before turning back to the heroes with a satisfied grin.
"Sorry about that, some idiots just don't have any sense. And where are my manners? You can call me Amos, and I truly hate to have met you."
"Ok… Amos. My name is Gray Guardian, and this is Lightforge. You seem pretty serious about not fighting anymore, so I guess we can all walk away."
"Thank you kindly for that, sir. But what about your rather large friend here? Does he share your opinion?"
Lightforge thought about it for a moment before grunting and easing his posture. If they didn't have to use resources fighting this group, then all the better.
"Fine. Since you're feeling so cooperative, how about you tell us what's waiting for us inside? That seems like a fair trade for letting you go."
His hopes were high, but Amos just shook his head.
“No can do. It’s one thing to know when to fold ‘em. That’s just good sense. But snitching on my employer? I’d never find a job again.”
“Even if it lands you in jail?”
“Arrested on the job? That’s like a gold star on my resume.”
“You’re… not like most henchmen, are you?”
“Nope. I’m the kind who’ll get gray hairs before the job kills me.”
“Well, I guess that’s hard to argue with. You know what, just get out of here. It’s not worth the effort.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that. Happy hunting!”
Amos turned and sauntered away, taking the other criminals with him. They walked quickly down the alleyway, and almost all of them were throwing wary glances over their shoulders as they went. They were probably expecting the heroes to come chasing after them at any moment. Amos was the exception; he kept his eyes straight ahead as he hurried away.
Lightforge shook his head at the retreating group. He looked at Gray Guardian and said, “Do you think that was the right thing to do? They are criminals, after all.”
“You’re giving them a chance to rethink things. Maybe one of them will change their lives after this.”
“I hope so. Should we get back to work?”
“Let’s do it. I feel much more confident after seeing the level of the guards.”
“I told you it wouldn’t be a problem. Let’s crack some heads.”
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The building was cleared out in less than ten minutes. The outside guards had been the highest level combatants that the criminals could acquire. The criminals inside the building were almost contemptuously weak. They had to be level 1, it was the only explanation.
The criminals were groaning on the floor, either unconscious or wishing that they were. The fight had been so quick that the inside of the abandoned store had barely been touched. The dusty shelves were lined with random items that had doubtlessly been acquired through various illegal ventures. The little gang had been using the place as a warehouse for their ill-gotten gains while they waited for a chance to sell or make use of them.
The heroes stood among the aisles, Lightforge with his tablet in hand. It was pinging rapidly now as he sorted through the items in front of him. He placed his hand on one of the items, and the pinging stopped entirely. He pulled it out and used his item scanner to identify it.
Name: Personnel Scanner
Type: Component - Scanner
Status: Damaged
Quality: Uncommon
A specialized scanner used to identify individuals and determine basic information about them.
It was perfect. Lightforge grinned at it, but the feeling didn’t last. He looked around the store at all the items that were sitting around. It was all but certain that they’d been stolen. Calling the authorities to arrest the criminals would also result in the items being returned to their rightful owners. He would probably get to keep the scanner as a reward, but there was no guarantee.
“Lightforge, what are you thinking? I’m not sure I like the look on your face.”
“Sorry, I’m just worried. This is what I need, but the cops will probably seize it.”
“It should qualify as a reward for clearing this place out.”
“I know, but look at all this stuff. I can’t identify everything at a glance, but a lot of this could be used as crafting parts. It just seems like a waste.”
“Um, that doesn’t sound very heroic.”
“I know, but is that such a bad thing? We only got into the dungeon because I haven’t been totally heroic. Maybe it’s better if I stay a little more in the middle.”
“That sounds like Circe. She’s very in favor of villains being a good thing.”
“Maybe she’s right.”
“It could be. But do you want to be that kind of person? Perks aside, is that what you want?”
Lightforge didn’t answer immediately. It wasn’t so long ago that he would have recoiled at the thought of having anything in common with Circe. When had that changed? Probably when she’d been willing to open up to him. But that hadn’t changed anything about her actions. She was still the villain that he’d met in that alleyway. Slowly, he shook his head.
“Could you call the cops? Let’s get this stuff back to their owners.”
“No problem.”
Gray walked away to make the call, and Lightforge turned to follow. He was nearly at the end of the aisle when something caught his eye. It was a silvery orb with circuit boards that shone and simply seemed different from the things around him. On impulse, he activated Inspect.
Name: Adaptable AI Core
Type: Component - AI
Status: Unknown
Quality: Rare
???
His eyes bulged at the sight. He gawked at the incredible item and studied it. He stared until he heard the sirens closing in from outside. He nearly jumped at the sound and hastily shoved the silvery orb into his inventory and walked out of the building.