Kaleb closed the book as he felt the train slowing down. He had gone through several Runes and looked over the pros and cons of layering Runes. He had just finished reading about how certain materials from magical creatures could hold Enchantments better. Meanwhile, complex technologies took longer to enchant and it wouldn’t hold the Enchantment as well.
Kaleb picked up his bag and started for the exit as the train came to a stop at the Galveston platform. As he stepped off the train and looked around, he saw that the platform was just as empty as the one in Austin. A few chairs, a ticket seller, and the odd person standing around waiting for the train were the only things around. As he got to the road in front of the train station Farrah brought his attention to a nearby man dressed in black.
“1 o’clock. I think he is here for you.”
Kaleb had seen the man in black standing in front of a black sedan with a sign in his hand. But, he figured that the man was here for someone else. Kaleb read the man’s sign and smiled at seeing his name written on the small white sign. Kaleb approached the man and asked.
“Guess you are here for me?”
The man gave Kaleb a lingering look before he pulled out a small silver device. “Hold still, please.” The man asked.
Kaleb did as he was told as the man scanned him with the device from top to bottom. He had to blink rapidly as the scanner cast a wide blue light across his vision. After he finished scanning Kaleb, the man looked over the read-out on the device before nodding to himself. The man stepped to the side and held the back door of the sedan open.
“Mr. Nova is waiting for us. So if you would please step into the car.” The man said in his monotone voice again.
Kaleb looked the man over before he stepped into the car. The man looked as nondescript as they came. Black suit, black sunglasses, brown hair, average height. Kaleb didn’t think he could pick the guy out of a line-up if he needed too. The man gave an impatient cough before Kaleb shrugged his shoulders and got in the car. As the man closed Kaleb’s door and rounded the car toward the diver seat Kaleb asked his Handler.
“So did you tell them I was coming?”
“No, but I’m not surprised he knew. He is a legacy hero, he has friends everywhere.” Farrah answered.
Kaleb just nodded as his driver entered the car and started the engine. They pulled out into the mid-morning traffic. Kaleb hadn’t been to Galveston too many times, but he figured they were heading down to Jamaica Beach given their direction. Kaleb looked out the window as the drove through Galveston, the streets were filled with cars and people were out and about. The quiet streets suddenly exploded into action as a man crashed through a glass enclosure on the side of the road.
The man was tall, muscular and seemed to be carrying an ATM under his arm. The man dashed down the sidewalk just ahead of Kaleb’s car. Kaleb was just about to do something when a woman with yellow scales on her body tripped the running man and stepped on his struggling form. Kaleb expected the man to toss the smaller woman off, but she held him down with one foot as Kaleb’s car drove on by.
All the while Kaleb’s driver didn’t stop driving and as he looked around Kaleb noticed that neither did the other drivers. They all just drove on, ignoring the short interplay between the robber and the Super. A little while more down the road Kaleb saw several SPPD cars heading back the way they came. Kaleb held his communicator up and asked.
“That happen often here?”
Farrah laughed as she answered him. “Not just here, random events are part of the game. Try walking down the street next time you are in downtown Austin.”
“I drove up and down Austin the other day.” Kaleb said.
“They are not always as overt as that. Sometimes it’s a mugging in an alleyway, a purse-snatcher in a park, or a car thief in a parking lot. They are like random mobs in a fantasy game, something for players to raise their skills or earn money.” Farrah explained.
Kaleb nodded as he watched buildings and restaurants pass by his window. He could just make out the Gulf behind some buildings. After 15 minutes of driving the buildings fell away, making way for houses and storage units. Kaleb twisted his head in confusion when they passed through Jamaica Beach and continued west. Turning to his driver he asked.
“Uhh, where are we headed?”
The driver met Kaleb’s eye in the rear-view mirror. “Mr. Nova has an estate on the west end of the island.”
Kaleb tried to clarify. “And is that where we are going?”
“No.” The driver said without preamble.
“Oookay.” Kaleb said as he glanced out the window.
He looked for somewhere to jump out of the car in case the creepy driver guy got creepier. He had brought his gear and armor, but it was sitting in the bag at his feet. All he had for protection was his lab coat. He did still have his Cybar pistol in his holster and his spike launcher as weapons though. If this was a set-up, he’d have to move fast.
As Kaleb pondered his choices and pretended to enjoy the view out his window, he felt a sharp sting in his chest. Looking down, he saw a small dart with a yellow fletching, he could just make out a clear tube that would hold liquid. Liquid that had now been injected into his bloodstream. As he looked upward in a daze he saw his driver, facing backwards and forwards at the same time.
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The backward facing driver held a small gun toward Kaleb while the other driver drove the car. Kaleb tried to draw his gun but his arms felt like they were submerged in cement. He fired his spike launcher, hoping to hit something important. The spike tore through the undercarriage of the car and hit the pavement below. He fired another shot before he felt another prick of pain in his chest.
Kaleb tried to shout to Farrah to let someone know what was happening. But, his mouth wouldn’t work and his eyes were slowly growing heavy. He felt his body slip sideways on the backseat as his eyes closed. He’s final thought was I will be pissed if I die again.
Kaleb floated in the black void for a few minutes more going over what could have happened. At best, this was part of Obadiah Nova’s test and at worst there was still a price on his head. He didn’t have long to wait as he felt his consciousness slipping back into his avatar already. He jolted awake with an intense pressure in his chest. He scanned the room as he panted against the pain, but it was completely dark except for the large light fixture above his head casting a large cone of light
He took stock of his body next. His chest was screaming in pain and someone tied his arms to a wooden chair. Testing his bonds he realized his metal arm had been disabled somehow. He didn’t have his Cybar pistol and his bag along with his communicator were gone. The yellow dart had been replaced with a different dart, this one had blue fletching. Probably something to wake me up. Kaleb though as he struggled against his bonds with his right arm.
Luckily the ropes weren’t too tight. He had one wrapped several times around his chest and the back of the chair while two more ropes bound his arms to the back legs of the chair. They tied his legs in a similar fashion to the front legs of the chair. He had a little wiggle room he could work with but he wasn’t sure if anyone was watching him. Figuring that it really didn’t matter if someone was watching, he gripped the back leg of the chair and stood into weird crouching turtle walk with the chair on his back.
He took several deep breaths before he fell sideways as hard as he could, hoping his metal arm would take most of the impact. The side of his chest slammed into his metal arm as the chair creaked but remained intact. Kaleb stayed sideways on the ground sucking in air through his teeth as pain flared up and down his chest. His bruised ribs weren’t helping his situation at all and his stupid decision probably made things worse. After a few more minutes of him whimpering on the floor he rolled to his feet and wobbled around the room for a better solution.
He almost laughed to himself as he left the cone of light and tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness. He had brought a flashlight this time, and it was in his bag. He shook his head amused as his eyes slowly got used to the darkness. Thankfully, the light helped a little and he could see that he was in a stone room with one door. A door that was suspiciously left open, hobbling over he could just make out a hallway beyond the door.
Kaleb took more deep breaths and twisted his body so that chair was facing the door frame. He exhaled slowly as he jerked his body to the side and slammed the back chair leg against the door frame. The sudden jolt hurt, but not as bad as slamming himself to the ground. Unfortunately, the chair leg remained intact, it took three more tries before he was rewarded with a loud crack as the chair leg broke off.
The ropes around his arm fell away, and he worked on freeing his metal arm and legs. Once he was free and ready to look around the lights came on almost blinding him. He shaded his eyes as he tried to take in the room. He had been right; the room was an empty stone room. But, in all four corners of the room were small omnidirectional cameras. Kaleb gave a camera a jaunty wave before he yanked the blue dart out of his chest. He waited a while to see if his audience would introduce themselves but after several minutes of silence he figured he would find out later.
He exited the room while checking his spike launcher to find it empty. A large metal door had been removed and placed against the far wall of the hallway across from Kaleb’s doorway. He guessed that the door had been attached to his room but someone took it off. Looking left and right down the hallway he saw that several similar metal doors dotted the hallway walls into more stone rooms.
The whole hallway looked like something you would find in a prison or an asylum. But judging from the dirt and grime Kaleb estimated that this place hadn’t been used for a long time. Kaleb continued to scan his metal arm as he walked down the hallway. Thankfully, he could see a stairway at one end while the other way ended in a stone wall with a small metal window placed near the ceiling.
He couldn’t find anything on the outside of his metal arm that had made it stop working. He would need to take off the arm to get a better look at the insides and the socket connections. He climbed the stone stairs slowly listening intently for any sounds. As he came to the first floor landing, he found the stairs to the second floor blocked with large pieces of garbage and pieces of metal. So he entered the door on the landing he was on.
As he pushed open the door a sudden voice echoed out into the stairwell.
“…. repeat.”
Kaleb cracked the door slowly as he looked into the out into the first floor. The floor was just one large room with the remnants of what looked like office cubicles everywhere. He didn’t see any movement, so he crept into the large room and navigated his way around the detritus of the office cubicles. Halfway through the room the voice spoke again.
“Greetings professor.” Said an older male voice.
Kaleb twisted around trying to find the voice as it continued. “I am Obadiah Nova and this is your second test.”
Kaleb moved a wheel-less office chair out of his way and moved toward the voice.
“I don’t know how long you took to get out of the first room, but I’m sure it impressed me. I am recording this as a way to introduce you to this environment and to go over what this test will entail.” Obadiah said sounding closer.
Kaleb relaxed a little at the information that the voice was a recording and as he rounded a cubicle, he finally saw the source of the voice. It was a laptop sitting on a desk and next to the laptop was his bag along with a spray bottle and a red health potion. Kaleb moved closer as Obadiah continued to talk from the laptop.
“Now this test requires you to make your way to the exit. There are no monsters or magical creatures of any kind. Since you are here, then your combat abilities have proven to be adequate. Instead, this test is for your problem-solving abilities.” Obadiah smiled wickedly on the laptop video.
It stunned Kaleb how young Obadiah looked. He was Roy’s grandfather, but the man on the screen barely looked 40. There was light graying in his brown hair and wrinkles were visible in the corners of Obadiah’s eyes but he still didn’t scream grandpa. Kaleb took out his equipment and armor as he listened.
“This building is an old SPPD prison facility I have modified as a training facility for the government. There are 5 levels above this one each with various traps and puzzles that get more difficult.”
Kaleb finished gearing up, and he looked over at the two bottles. He was curious but Obadiah explained before he could investigate himself.
“On the desk beside your bag of equipment are two bottles. One is a spray bottle that will dissolve the various viscoelastic polymers gunking up the inside of your arm. The other is a moderate health potion that will heal up those injured ribs of yours enough for you to complete the course in record time. And I expect record times Professor. The clock will start when you enter the next floor.”
Kaleb hurriedly detached his arm and drank the health potion. He did a quick but thorough search of his arm as Obadiah mentioned that his message would repeat. The soreness left his body as the health potion went to work. He found various gears in and around his arm with black gunk smeared along them. He quickly sprayed down his arm and reattached it as Obadiah’s message repeated.
Kaleb wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t gotten his communicator back. If he had, he would have pestered Farrah for help at every opportunity. He tested his metal arm a little as he moved toward the stairs at the opposite side of the room from where he entered. The arm was loosening up more and more as the liquid in the spray bottle worked through its gears. As he got to the stairwell, he stopped and checked over his equipment one last time.
His Sun Gun and Cybar pistol where holstered and primed, his armor was dented but still good and ready, his headband was recording, and his laser pen cutter was back in his pocket. He still kind of missed his sword but his guns had proven way more useful. It was another thing for the pile of jobs-for-later that he was building. Finished going over his equipment Kaleb took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before climbing up the dark stairs.