Kaleb walked out to his backyard with Daivor riding on his shoulder. As he did Daivor had him hastily draw a Protection Rune on the barrel of his gun. The Rune would help the barrel withstand the magic he would channel through it. He would Imprint the Rune later after he gave it a few practice shots.
He sat Daivor down on a nearby table and looked around for a decent target. The ground had worked for a standard bullet but he didn’t want to freeze or burn the grass in his backyard. Also, the Magic would be amplified, so he didn’t want the Magic to go out of control somehow. He was looking up at the darkening sky, wondering about just firing his gun into the air when he heard a loud scream.
“Somebody, help us!”
Kaleb glanced down at Daivor who was looking back up at him. The scream had been clearly audible and seemed to come from the street behind Kaleb’s house. Daivor had a worried look on his face as another cry for help echoed. Kaleb just sighed and jogged toward the noise.
“I’ll go look. It’s probably just some random mugger. I guess my new Magic gun will see action without proper testing. You go back inside.”
Daivor shouted after him. “Just be careful, boss. The gun will take a few seconds to fire.”
Kaleb raised his hand in acknowledgment as he kept jogging toward the screams. He was guessing it was another small incident like the one after his trip to Galveston. The petty criminals were still out in full force. Kaleb wondered how long it would be until the big villains would come out of the woodwork.
As he jogged around the house opposite his own, he took stock of his weapons. He had his lab coat, his new gun, and his every present rail launcher and Shocky 2.0 in his metal arm. It wasn’t too bad of a selection, but if anything went bad, he would have to rely on his Hand-to-Hand skills. Maybe I need a utility belt or maybe I should sew a bunch of pockets into my lab coat. Kaleb thought as he entered the glow of a nearby street lamp.
Once he made it to the sidewalk finding the people in need of help was relatively easy. It was a young couple across the street and about four houses over. They were huddled underneath a streetlight as what looked like a hairy shirtless man accosted them. As Kaleb jogged closer, he thought he could hear growling. The couple seemed to be ok although the young woman was using her purse as a weapon to keep the small hairy man at bay while her date had wrapped himself around the streetlight, terrified.
“Ow! Listen you stupid NPC just hand over the purse and I won’t use my claws to rip you and your boyfriend apart.” Kaleb heard the smaller man say as he easily avoided a swing from the frightened woman.
Oh, great his a player. Kaleb thought as he approached the whole scene. As he got closer the woman looked up to see him approaching. But apparently the sight of a six-foot lizard man wasn’t as comforting as Kaleb would have hoped. The woman screamed louder and swung her purse around erratically. The woman’s reaction made the hairy man turn to face Kaleb who almost recoiled in shock.
The small shirtless man looked like a werewolf that had stopped transforming halfway through. His arms were elongated and his hands were large with sharp claws, and he had the hair. But his nose was halfway between a snout and a regular human nose. Plus the hair was patchy and thinned out in some areas. Kaleb saw the shorter man’s eyes bulge at seeing him, but the short player steeled himself and barked out.
“Back off, asshat! These two are mine! This game is already hard enough for a solo villain without some other jag-off trying to take what’s mine.”
Kaleb approached slowly and tried to placate the obviously angry player. “Ha! Been a rough start for you, huh?”
The werewolf-man snorted through its deformed nose. “You don’t even know the half of it. My mutation sucks, equipment prices are sky high, and joining one of the bigger villain factions is like applying for a corporate job.”
“Why not start your own group?” Kaleb asked idly as he got closer to the werewolf player and his victims.
“Ha! You know anyone who's looking for a half-werewolf? Besides finding other villains is a pain in the ass. It was easy after the Tutorial Event but since then, it’s been a bitch.”
Kaleb nodded solemnly as he rubbed his chin. He now stood in front of the smaller player. “Yeah, I see your point. Have you tried Under-Town?”
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Kaleb saw the players left pointed ear twitch.
“What’s Under-Town?”
“Ha! Oh my friend, it’s the land of milk and honey for people like you and me.” Kaleb said as he drifted around trying to place himself between the mini-werewolf and the couple.
As he moved though the werewolf caught sight of the couple which seemed to remind him of what he had been doing. The werewolf swept forward, surprising Kaleb with how fast he could move. Kaleb stuck his arm out in the werewolf's path bringing him up short. As the werewolf player turned to snarl something at Kaleb, his beady black eyes caught on the metal communicator Kaleb was wearing.
The villain player’s eyes seemed to turn yellow as he yelled a question at Kaleb. “You’re a damn HERO?!”
Kaleb gave a toothy grin down at the small werewolf as he turned to the couple. The man and woman seemed just as shocked as the werewolf. Kaleb raised his new gun as he yelled at the stupefied couple.
“You should run!”
Kaleb’s gun was only halfway up when he felt the other player shove him hard with both hands. It knocked the air from his lungs as he was thrown into the middle of the street. He quickly rolled and tried to locate the player finding him chasing after the couple and easily getting ahead of them. Kaleb jumped up and aimed his Magic gun.
He maintained the image of a fire bullet as he channeled his magic through the amplifier Daivor had made. He stayed still as he focused the Magic out of the Magic Amp and through the barrel of his gun. The barrel glowed for a few seconds before a burst of fire Magic flew from the gun. The Magical bullet collided with the player’s shoulder just as he was about to attack the couple.
The player gave a dog-like yelp and fell to the ground as Kaleb rushed forward. As he did, he tried to channel his magic into the gun again. But he found that moving and channeling was a little difficult at the moment. So instead he lowered the gun and slowed to a fast walk whistling condescendingly.
“Here boy. Come here. Come get your ass whoopin.”
The werewolf player snarled as he rolled to his feet cradling his burned shoulder. “Ha! Ha! That’s funny. You damn bastard, I’m gonna gut you like a damn fish.”
The player jumped to his feet and ignoring the couple charged straight at Kaleb. Kaleb had mixed feelings as he saw the snarling hairy torpedo charging at him. The werewolf was far faster than he was and Kaleb thought he could see the burn wound healing slowly already. He twisted to the side as the werewolf player lunged towards his midsection. The player’s clawed hands just barely missing as he sailed past.
As the player spun to reorient himself for another attack, Kaleb fired a spike down toward the werewolf’s thigh. There was a meaty thunk as the spike punched through the other players thigh muscle and smacked into the street. Kaleb jumped back as the werewolf sent a blind swipe toward him.
“OW! Fuck dude! What the hell was that!?”
Kaleb grinned as he held up his robot arm. “Just some modifications I made to my arm. Now be a good, bad guy and wait quietly until the SPPD come to get you.”
“No way, dude. I’ve heard about players going to the in-game prison. It sounds boring as hell. I’d rather you kill me, dealing with that weird death world is a lot easier than prison.”
Kaleb was curious about the words ‘death world’ but he could also see the wound on the werewolf player’s leg healing fast. So instead he aimed his spike launcher at the players other leg and prepared to fire. Unfortunately, the werewolf was faster, and he made a short one-legged hop, barreling into Kaleb’s stomach and sending them both to the ground.
Kaleb deployed his shield and threw his metal arm up as his opponent mounted him and tried to claw at his face. The other player clawed at him as Kaleb pointed his gun into the werewolf side and tried to channel his Mana. As he channeled, he mentally activated Shocky 2.0 to buy himself some time. The werewolf mutant yelped in pain as the electric shock went through him. Kaleb focused another fire bullet through the barrel of his gun and into the side of the other player.
The player gave another yelp then slumped forward, breathing hard. Kaleb was surprised he hadn’t killed the werewolf, but he hadn’t channeled this shot as long as the first. He slid out from under the werewolf player as he heard sirens approaching in the distance. The werewolf player groaned at spat up a little blood.
“Ugh! Damn it. This sucks.”
Kaleb grinned down at the other player. “You’re a resilient bastard, aren’t you?”
The player coughed loudly again. “One perk of being lycanthrope, even if I can’t get the transformation down fully.”
“Yeah, I’d work on that. You’re already a pain in the ass; I’d hate to see you at full wolf.”
“I’ll have plenty of time to figure it out in prison, I guess.”
Kaleb sighed as he looked over his clawed up metal arm. “Maybe you can start a prison gang.” Kaleb said jokingly.
Kaleb had expected the other player to laugh but instead when he looked down he found the guy smiling.
“Now that’s an idea. Maybe this prison thing won’t be so bad at all. It’s probably an easier way to meet other villain players.” said the werewolf.
“If you say so.” Kaleb said shaking his head as the SPPD van drove up.
After a brief rundown of the fight and a description of the victims, they allowed Kaleb to return home. As the officers loaded the player, named Shaggy, into their van Kaleb thought he could see the other player grinning happily. Kaleb sighed as he walked back home looking over his damaged arm. The werewolf had clawed into both it and Shocky. He thought about adding the Ifrit skin to his arm and shield as he entered his home.