Chapter 04-01

“Alright, what is next boss?” Obsidian asked as the three non-incarcerated people exited the holding area. They walked towards Dick’s office.

“What’s next is that I’m going to do a couple more missions for the day and you are going to hang back and rest.” Alex said still away of the hit that she had taken from Laser-man even if she wanted to pretend that she was fine.

“You need help! You do not need to go out alone. Hell, you can’t even find your way around town.” She demanded as they walked into Alex’s office.

“I will be fine. I’m not going to go over board or get into anything too deep. You need to rest. You are drained from our fight with them. Plus, I would feel better about leaving Dick alone if you were here to keep an eye on those two.” Alex explained shaking his head and waving his hands.

“This is dumb!” She said shortly and crossed her arms like a mad teenager.

“You may think so, but you are my sidekick, not the other way around.” Alex said firmly.

Dick walked around and sat down behind his desk. Obsidian walked over and dropped into a couch with her arms still crossed huffing loudly while Alex stood proudly in the center of the room.

“Alright, the hero game is back in town. We’ve made some noise. I need to level quickly so what do you have for me?” Alex asked Dick.

“I see it. You’re serious, and you’re not going to run away. You’ve got moxie kid and I like it.” Dick said with a firm nod. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a thick cigar. He sliced off the end and brought it to his lips. With a flash of flame the end was lit and he took a long drag, “The villains in this town aren’t going to roll over. We need to send a message. I think it’s time that you show them that we aren’t going anywhere.” He said blowing out a cloud of smoke. He tapped off the ember into an ashtray.

“That’s basically what I just said.” Alex said rolling his eyes.

“Could you just, ok.” Dick said putting up his hand, “The Goldys walk around like they own the place. For all intents and purposes, they do. Send them a message. Clean up the streets around the Bureau. Twenty thugs should send a message.” Dick said.

-Clean up the Neighborhood around the Bureau

-Dick is asking you to clean up the streets around the bureau and send a message to the Goldys who act like they run the town. He thinks that the message will get across if you take out at least 20 of them.

-Accept?

-Yes | No

“Done.” Alex said with a nod.

“This is bullshit.” Obsidian hissed, “I want to level too.”

“You should still get splash experience.” Alex said pointing at her. Splash experience where point awarded for being in a group or partnership with someone or an organization. It was one of the best reasons to join a hero group. A large enough group and everyone would net a small gain all day long in addition to what they were building up on their own.

Taking down twenty Goldy thugs was going to be a rough task, but it would net him some decent experience points, and it would surely push him up a tier. They really needed the money and he needed to get stronger. Alex was seething for his first Sunday night Payout.

Standing on the small three step stoop outside of the Hero Bureau Alex took stock of the streets that he was about to turn into a battle zone. The buildings on all sides were tall the shortest being six stories. The street T’d off at either end forming a box that would control the flow of incoming enemies. There was one thing that was more important than anything else to Alex, keeping bystanders safe. The good news was that it didn’t look like there were many that would need to be considered. Most of the surrounding buildings looked to be abandoned.

Alex pulled out his phone and opened up the Vulcan app. He selected the building across the street from the Hero Bureau. It too was red, most of the buildings near were red or purple which was only one stage above red.

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­-212 Virtue Street

-Owner: NONE

-Structural Score: 23%

-Organizational Alliances: NONE

-Market Status: Foreclosed/For Sale

-Market Value: 100,000t

-Sale Price: 30,000t

Alex considered that if he could get his cashflow in order that flipping all of the buildings might be a decent source of income. For the time he pushed that thought out of his head. He had a mission and he needed to focus.

A group of Goldys rounded the corner at the end of the block and started to head towards the Hero Bureau. Alex started to walk down the steps but remembered that he could fly. He hovered up a few inches and then glided towards the center of the street. The first group was four thugs each armed with, from what Alex could see, their fists.

“Hey!” Alex yelled towards the Goldys.

The Goldys stopped joking and laughing and looked up at Alex who hovered a couple of feet off of the pavement in the center of the street. They all tensed up and began to move in his direction.

“You’re no longer welcome on these streets!” Alex yelled. He wanted to insult them, and their mothers, but it was not exactly the hero way.

“And who is going to stop us?” The closest Thug asked.

“I am!” Alex didn’t wait for them to come to him. He had to make a statement. He blasted through the air as fast as his flight ability would take him. Using just a little bit of his super strength his fist landed in the center of the first thug’s face. The thug crumpled to the ground in a heap and did not move.

From his left Alex ducked under an incoming fist but was caught in his right side with a solid kick. He reacted as fast as he could grabbing the leg. He lifted the thug into the air and smashed him down onto the ground. With a kick he sent the thug tumbling end over end to land on top of the first one.

He drew back as a fist flew towards his face. Quickly his hand shot up and deflected a second punch to glance it off harmlessly. He threw his own punch at the thug, but he was fast. The thug ducked under the punch and uppercut Alex in the gut. Alex stumbled back and grabbed ahold of his stomach.

“Not bad!” Alex said whipping sweat from his brow.

Fists balled tightly Alex rand at the last two thugs from the first group. They all three moved in a blur as they ducked his punches and attempted to land their own. Alex got lucky and caught onto their pattern. He lifted his leg and stomped down on the chest of the left thug. He dropped to the ground.

The thug yelled in a rage and ran straight at Alex. Alex ducked down and to the left to avoid a fist, then wove to the right. He jumped back using his flight to get a few extra feet. The thug was relentless tearing after him. He lunged himself off of the ground at Alex. This move caught Alex off guard. They both crashed to the ground and the thug ended up on top. He balled his fists and began to punch Alex in the face.

Alex used his flight to pick them both up off the pavement. He was only able to lift them a couple of feet, but he had a plan. In a swift singular motion, Alex flipped over in the air and threw the thug down using his super strength. The thug smashed into the ground with a crunching sound and did not move.

“I win!” Alex said hovering down and landing softly on the ground.

-You’ve Made it through a Wave

-Wave 1 Complete

-Defeated 4x Goldy Thugs

-740xp (185 Each)

-+4 Hero Points

-+2 Hero Tier (-45 Until Next Tier)

Alex clenched his fists. Health serums would have been helpful to keep himself going, but he hadn’t had the foresight to buy any. He was mentally kicking himself when the next group appeared on the street three rounding the corner from the left and three from the right. They had most likely been notified by the first group.

“I’m not afraid of you.” Alex yelled with pride.

The thugs on both sides had come with weapons this time. They had crowbars and baseball bats. That was alright because Alex had his own crowbar.

“You should be.” One of the thugs yelled in retort.

“This crowbar,” Alex said brandishing his weapon, “I took it off one of your fallen brothers.” There was a chime in his ear from his phone. He knew without looking that he had gotten a villainous point. He looked down at the little notification that solidified when his eyes focused on it.

-Villainous Banter

-Intimidation through Fear

-+1 Villainous Point(2)

“It was a slip up.” He said out loud which seemed to only confuse the incoming thugs.

The attack began with a couple of thugs trying to smash in Alex’s skull at the same time. He ducked down and lunged back so that their weapons a baseball bat and a crowbar would smash into each other. Alex slashed his crowbar down onto the shoulder of the thug to his right. With a twist he thrusted the curved end of the weapon into the chest of the thug on his left.

They fell away but their buddies were right behind them. Alex bent back as a baseball bat swung right at his face. He watched as the bat flew by only missing by a hair. Alex reached up and grabbed the bat, but something smashed into his knee. His legs crumpled and he fell to the pavement.

Pain radiated through his knee as the four thugs rounded him. They looked down at him all lifting their respective weapons in unison. Alex attempted to lift himself but one of the thugs put his foot onto Alex’s chest and pushed him back down.

His eyes clenched Alex prepared for the incoming attack and inevitable death, but it did not come. He opened his eyes as Obsidian smashed into the group with her shoulder knocking them all back. She tucked and rolled to one side bouncing back onto her feet. She threw her fists out to the side.

Alex got back to his feet and shot her a look that was confusingly somewhere in between angry for disobeying and thankful she showed up to save his ass. Her return look was that of understanding.

“You ready?” Alex asked.

“Let’s do this!” Obsidian growled.