Chapter 09
Road Trip!
After my discussion with Daniel, I went to find Alara. She was down in the junkyard. There was an army of dogs surrounding her that were being restrained by wooden cords. I counted fifteen that were struggling to get free.
“Regan. Darling. Do me a favor and tame these for me,” she said as she petted a growling dog that was snapping at her. I just shook my head at the sight. Moving forward, I took a few minutes to reprogram each dog. She’d captured a few high-level ones. They were more along the lines of wolves rather than dogs at this point.
“Alara, Love. We’re going to head out on a trip tomorrow. The airship is almost ready,” I said moving over to her.
“Wonderful! What’s it like where we’re going?” she asked jumping up and wrapping her arms around my neck, I swung around in a circle from the momentum.
“From the name, I assume cold with snow,” I said. Her enthusiasm noticeably dropped.
“Do we have to?” she asked giving me puppy dog eyes and a pout.
“Unfortunately. We have to get a few things from up there. I know you hate the snow and cold, but do you mind going with me?” I asked giving her little kisses on her cheeks.
“Oh. You know I can’t say no to you. Fine. I’ll go with you, but next time, we better go someplace warm!”
“Deal.”
I set her down and she started baby-talking to the over dozen mechanical dogs surrounding us. I left her and went back up to the airship. There were a few systems that still needed some fine tuning. We only had so much fuel to make it to our destination. I wanted to be sure we’d actually make it there.
Daniel popped into existence next to me. “Hey Boss. I got my wife moved. She was excited that I found her a place with a workshop. She was a high-level member of the Tailor's guild, too bad it disbanded a few days ago.”
“What happened?”
“Admins used something to close all branches. Luckily, no one died, but it put a lot of NPCs out of business.”
“Great. Ah. I have something for you.” I handed him a small ball that had a few clamps and a camera. It latched itself to his shoulder, and a small screen opened on my glasses that showed a video feed of myself.
“You don’t have to always keep this on, but I wanted to record some data from your teleport ability. As to that affect, I need you to head to out and gather some more current information on the uranium supply. With the current situation of the world, I doubt a resource like that will be left untapped for long.”
“You got it.”
There was a ripple in space as he vanished. I was pretty sure that his ability changed how he appeared and disappeared randomly. It was never the same for long. I moved to another section that still needed some repairs while I watched the movie that was Daniel teleporting around. He appeared in a city where he asked several people questions about the material. It eventually led him to a seemingly desolate little mining town.
I paused what I was doing as it seemed something was going on in the town. It was early morning and people were having a celebration of some sort. Daniel moved over to a nearby passersby.
“Excuse me. What’s going on? A festival?” he asked the man.
“No. Something much better. Last night two individuals rescued our children and miners from an evil that was in the mine. Thanks to them we can actually do our jobs.”
“Really? Are they around?”
“Yeah. That’s them over there next to the truck.”
“Thank you.” Daniel floated over to the man and girl that were inspecting their truck.
“I’m telling you this was definitely a villain’s truck. Only a villain would put this level of weaponry into a mode of transportation.” The girl said smacking her hand on the hood of the vehicle. She was almost purple personified.
“Nah, I’ve met plenty of heroes that would use something like this. Back in the day they were all the rage,” the man said shaking his head. He reminded me of robin from an old comic book from Earth.
“Hey! You guys mind helping me out?” Daniel called as he approached the two. They reacted by getting into fighting stances. I couldn’t help but think they were a bit jumpy.
“Who are you?!” the man asked glaring at Daniel. “Wait. You’re a player?”
“Yep. And the sky is blue. Not sure if the world is round, hold on a second.” Daniel vanished, and the image jumped to a view of the planet from space. I spun the camera around and found that Daniel was standing on a satellite. He didn’t stay for long and popped back down to the two. “Yep. Its round.”
The man seemed to groan and relaxed his stance. “What do you want?”
“My boss is in the market for some uranium. If you're doing missions in this area, you should have an idea of the market.”
“I don’t think hooking some stranger up with uranium is a safe idea.” The girl said.
“Yeah, your boss? He a good guy?” The man asked.
“I’ve only known him for about a day. Can’t say. Hooked me and my wife in though so he’s alright in my books,” Daniel said while he slowly rotated in midair.
“Alright, but is he a villain or a hero?” The man asked, “Look what is your name?”
“Daniel Warp. Teleporter extraordinaire. Here’s my card,” Daniel said handing a business card to the man. “You? Since you want to be on a first name basis after just meeting.”
“I like to know who I’m pointing towards potentially volatile resource towards.” The man looked at the card, “Teleportation services huh. My name is Aether, and this is Obsidian.”
“My boss needs it to power his weapon of mass destruction,” Daniel said with a straight face that lasted a total of five seconds.
“Sure, sure.” Aether said with a nod.
“I’m just pulling your leg. It's only a few reactors. You know how people can be Lords of cities now right. He has to get power back to the city.”
“Lord? So, are you on a mission for an NPC?” Aether asked.
“Nope a player. You do know what’s going on in Axiscore, right?”
“I mean, I know shits getting crazy, but a player controlling a city? Since when are there city management systems in the game?” Aether asked.
“Wow. You’re behind the times. Alright. Short and sweet. So ever since the event, players, and I should mention the admins started this, have been killing, buying out, or otherwise finding some way to take control of cities. Especially high-level cities. I would watch your back. It generally a villainous action, but even heroes are getting in it.”
“So, what you’re saying is that Axiscore is potentially up for grabs?” Aether stroked the chin of his mask.
“If someone can manage to defeat the highest-level NPC in the game along with his almost as high-level guards and army. Axiscore is mobilizing my friend. It's not going to be neutral ground for long,” Daniel said with a snicker.
“Fantastic, I think I’ll stay up here for a while longer.” Aether said shaking his head.
“Now. About that uranium?” Daniel asked.
“Well you are a bit far north for actually purchasing uranium. They mine it here, but it needs to be refined.” Aether said.
“I want to give a snarky comment, but I know that. I want to know the best, or rather cheapest place to buy it. Thought these good folks would have said information.”
“The only place where I know they refine it and sell it openly is in Winter’s Garden. Place is also a war zone right now.” Aether said with a scoff.
“I don’t think you have to worry about my boss. Hey, how long have you played this game?” Daniel asked.
“That’s a complicated question, but I’ve got some years under my belt. Look, we are about to head farther north for a mission. If things get sticky can we give you a call?” Aether asked waving Daniel's card.
“Service charges may apply, but feel free,” Daniel said.
“Understandable, we’ve all got to make a living.” Aether opened up the driver’s door to their truck.
“I still think it belonged to a villain.” Obsidian said getting into the passenger seat.
“Will you drop it, villain or not, it’s bad ass.” Aether said.
The Games!
Daniel teleported to Winter’s Garden. I didn’t watch much more. He was nearly struck by a beam of some kind but managed to use a portal to redirect the beam back at his attacker. I shook my head and got back to work on the airship. An hour later, all system finally read green.
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Alara had made her way back inside and was sitting on my lap reading a novel she found somewhere. I disconnected from the airship control and sighed with relief. Reports from the city AI, Jane, were coming of the various issues around the city. The main one being greater communications. People really needed to communicate with the outside world.
“My Love. How about a tour of the ship? I found some interesting things while I was repairing it,” I asked her as I nuzzled her neck.
She giggled and reached up to place a hand on my cheek. “Sure. I just reached a good stopping point.”
We stood up and went over to the elevator. Moving down we passed the first floor that lets on to what I found was the deck of the airship. From there we dropped a dozen or so meters until we came to the bottom floor. A storage hold that was large enough to hold a few hundred tons on supplies.
Part of the city infrastructure had been run through it, so I'd had to reroute some of it, but thankfully, there wasn’t any sewage. A few old crates had been left in here and judging by the rotting contents in the bottles. It was some form of early drug in the game. An emblem of a hornet was present of the boxes. Most likely a gang or villain group.
Moving up to the next level, there were dozens of rooms for crew members to sleep. They were quite nice once we got some furnishings and a good cleaning crew. I’d already tasked the thugs to pick one of themselves each and to clean them out. There was also a few labs and assembly departments, both, unfortunately, stripped down by someone.
Both these floors only accounted for a fourth of the ship. Down the hall of the living quarters you get to the hangar. It was a crap ton of empty space. Whoever looted this place, didn’t leave even a bolt behind. I was still thinking about what to put in here.
A doorway appeared next to me and Daniel stepped through it. “Man, I hate it when it does the physical ones.”
“Why does your power keep... changing?” I asked unable to hold back my curiosity.
“I took a Feat that lowered the energy cost of long-distance jumps by fifty percent, but in return it randomly changes how it happens. Most of the time its fine, but when it does this, it can be annoying. You’d be surprised how hard it is to get through a door in the middle of a power fight.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” I asked.
“Only on my long-distance jumps. Short range is the standard,” he vanished from where he stood and appeared on the other side of the space then back, “disappearing with the smell of burnt ozone.”
“I guess the pro outweighs the con then,” I said turning back to the empty space.
“What you doing in here?”
“Tour!” Alara said happily as she held my hand.
“Ah. That’s nice. You should have like fighting matches or something in here. Actually, might be a bit dangerous with some supers,” Daniel said floating into the empty space.
“Why would I host a super fight match?”
“It was done once. A few years ago. A super put together an Olympics of sorts. He never told anyone this, but every fight netted him experience based on the level of the combatants.”
“And how do you know?” I asked with a narrow eye.
“Was a customer. He had to leave the game for real world stuff, but he left me the secret to his rise of power since we were friends and I don’t treat NPCs like dirt.”
I glanced to Alara and she nodded. She usually had a nose for lying. It took quite a bit of skill to fool her. She’d had a lot of practice after all.
“Interesting.” I said then had an idea. We were heading to a relatively populated area, and with the change in the world people would be looking for a way to blow of some stress. “Excuse me.” Reaching forward to touch Daniel’s shoulder, I focused my power and sure enough the schematics of the suit entered my mind. With my construction ability, I could build it with a bit of effort. A few levels would help though. “How expensive was your suit?”
“Funny story there, so I had a job to extract this client. He’s in an area that allows for people to teleport in but not out. Nasty trap. He dies, I die, we all die. I resolve to get this baby made, curtesy of my lovely wife by the way.”
“And. How much?”
“Oh! Thirty million thread.”
“Really. Damn that’s expensive.”
“There were cheaper models, but I wanted perfect nullification of nullification fields,” Daniel said with a laugh.
“What is it love?” Alara asked.
“Let’s do it! Let’s host an Olympics,” I said with a grin. This is supposed to be a vacation, right? Well, let’s watch some games.”
“Sure! Sounds like fun. I want to participate!” Alara said bouncing on her feet.
“Really. I agree that the profit is worth it, but in this dangerous time?” Daniel asked.
“Don’t worry. I just need to make a quick stop and I’ll be able to host these games without an issue.”
Acquisition
“Daniel. Take me over to the hero bureau.” I said. We had no time to lose.
“Sure.” He placed a hand my shoulder, it wasn’t a second later and we appeared in front of the bureau. I nodded to him and walked in. It was empty with only a few people moving in the lobby. They were all NPCs and looked quite young.
I made my way over to the desk. “Hello. I have a favor,” I said.
“City Lord! Sure. What do you need?”
“I would like to see your holding cells.”
“I can’t! As your ranked as a villain I cannot allow you back there,” the man said crossing his arms adamantly.
“Don’t worry. I just want to check out the security. I can’t have some villains getting out and challenging me, can I?” I said.
“Old man. I vouch for him,” Daniel said from behind me.
“Mister Warp. A pleasure to see you in our city.” The old man looked from Daniel then back to me then back and forth several times. “If Mister Warp vouches for you then go ahead.”
“Thanks!” I said dropping a needle on the desk and moving towards the back area. Of the hall of two dozen cells, half were occupied. I made my way to the first empty cell. “Daniel. Do you know what the power dampener is in here?”
“The few times I’ve upgraded a cell, it was this box right here that changed.” He pointed to a box on the outside of the cell that was pulsing.
I placed my hand on it. I worried that my power wouldn’t work if it got dampened and I would have to take it apart manually, but thankfully, it seemed to be a targeted affect. I studied the box for a few minutes until I was sure I had the construction and technology needed down perfectly.
I removed my hand from the box and motioned for us to leave. The whole time we were in the cell block, there were cat calls and rude gestures being made at us. It was a pity. I was never one to question the origins of a person as long as they were useful. These villains were just trash.
I nodded to the old man as we left. Once back on the steps to the building, Daniel teleported us back to the airship. Alara was sitting on the railing kicking her feet, obviously bored. She smiled when we reappeared and jumped on me. I found her strength stat was higher than mine when she nearly sent us tumbling down the side of the hanger.
“Sorry. Love,” she said with a snicker.
“It's alright.” We straighten up. I looked around for a good spot and decide at the direct center of the hanger. “Love. Would you mind making me a bridge to that spot?”
She nodded and placed her hand on the railing. Vines grew from her palm and spread along the rail. When the base was strong enough, the vines shot out crossing the room. They connected with the railing on the other side of the space. When the vines were thick enough, they hardened enough for us to walk.
“There you go,” she said holding out her hand.
I smiled at the gesture, knowing what she wanted. “Thanks.” I bent down and gave her a kiss. I remembered we had a guest when I heard someone clear their throat. I broke away from her, which awarded me a pout from Alara.
“PDA, bro,” Daniel said.
“Feel free to bring your wife and make out with her,” I said with a laugh.
Chance Encounter
“Daniel. What do you think is the best way to get the word out about such a game?” I asked as I moved across the bridge. Once I reached the center on the hanger, I pulled some matter out and started to fuse it together into the device I wanted to make. I wanted a power dampening field, but I didn’t want it to blanket the entire area.
“I would say offer it as an optional mission, but without access to the network it would be hard to do that,” Daniel replied. He was currently upside down and didn’t seem bothered by it.
“Then I guess you’re going to be busy,” I said turning a grin at him.
“It’s a good thing all my feats are geared towards constant teleportation or I would be sucking down energy drugs like crazy,” Daniel said.
“Very good. Post the ad in as many cities as possible. For brigders and NPCs. I want the largest possible turnout. Of both heroes and villains. Pour enough oil and you can keep any fires from burning,” I said thinking about how big I wanted this to be.
“Or blow up half the city,” Daniel said with a smirk.
“Win-win,” I said with a shrug.
“Anything else while I’m out?”
“Find the leader of Winter’s Garden and inform them of our intent. I don’t think anyone would appreciate an armed airship flying into their airspace during this time of unrest.”
“I agree, but what if they say no?”
I thought about the various options I had to work with. My hope was the leader would agree without any issue, maybe a cut of the profits or something along those lines. If they gave a straight-out refusal, then we would have to improvise. I stopped working on the power inhibitor and pulled a few more matter blocks out. I would have to convert more later. I was running low.
I concentrated on explosives. At the heart of the device it was rather simple. If I was going for low level of destruction, I didn’t need it to be too complicated. With the added points to my powers, I was able to convert the matter into more violate chemicals. Maybe, after quite a few levels, I would be able to create uranium, but that was something to check out in the future.
With a grin, I created some C4. I would have Daniel place it in strategic locations and if the leadership doesn’t like my deal then boom. I decided I would go with him this time to do the negotiations. I created several pounds of the stuff. It was almost one to one with my matter blocks and they didn’t change much in the conversion.
“Alright. Teleport us to Winter’s Garden. Outside the town hall if you know where it is,” I said.
“Sure, but it’s a long jump don’t blame me if you get sick,” Daniel said grabbing my shoulder. With a pop, the ground dropped from under us and we fell feet first. The fall was only a few feet and we landed on a sidewalk outside a nice-looking government building. People passing by only gave a passing glance to two people appearing from thin air.
“Teleport around the city and place these. It's our bargaining chip,” I said handing the C4 over to him. I placed a denotator that was linked to Smith, in each chunk.
“Sure. You don’t feel sick?” Daniel asked surprised.
“Trade secret,” I said placing a finger over my lips. I couldn’t tell him that I used to teleport on an almost daily basis back on Murgin. I didn’t want to freak him out. I had too many needs for him to make a run for it right now.
“You’re the boss,” he said disappearing.
“Now. For the fun part.”
I made my way up the stairs to the building. It appeared quite busy, as people both dressed normally and as supers were making their way to and from the building. There was also quite a bit of security. But given that this was a villain city almost right next to a hero city, I was sure they had plenty of concerns.
I nodded to the guard as I entered the building. Noise was the main theme of the interior. Shouting the most common. What looked like soldiers were rushing around while people in suits were being escorted. I found one of the soldiers that was standing in the corner more as a guard than an escort it appeared.
“Excuse me. I can see that you are a little busy, but I need to talk to your leader,” I said once I was next to him.
“We don’t have time for you. Go away,” the guard said with a shooing gesture.
I stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder. “I need to discuss an operation with your boss. Now. Are you going to take me to them, or do I need to make my own path?”
The guard winced in pain before he nodded. I released his shoulder then gesture for him to lead on. I knew this was a little heavy handed for a city, but I was technically a villain. I needed to play the part.
The guard signaled someone who came and took his spot. He led me down the hall of the left wing then turned at the end to an empty wall. He placed his hand on the wall and a scanner read his credentials. Next, he placed his face next to the wall and a scanner popped out to check his face. When it turned green, the wall popped out and slid in revealing a staircase heading down.
I whistled. You always have to appreciate a good secret lair. I followed the guard down the stairwell that had to be a hundred and then some meters down. As we reached the landing, an almost military setup unfolded in front of me. There was a logo of an upside-down triangle with two-pointed lines going from the center to the top.
“Smith. Identify,” I said quietly.
An information readout appeared on my glasses that informed me that they were the Cold Collective. The name was all he was able to gather. I started to wonder what I was really walking into. I had Smith send a message to Daniel that I might need extraction.
“Ma’am! I have a super here that needs to see you about the operation!” the guard called outside of a room with an open door. I looked past him and saw a gorgeous woman. Nothing compared to Alara, but by mortal standards she would rate quite highly. She was dressed in a super suit that would have one think Hero, but I was getting complete villain vibes from her.
“Super? All our supers are on assignment. Who are you?” the woman asked with a raised eyebrow.
The guard reacted by swinging his laser rifle at me, but I was faster chopping the back of his neck and managing to knock him out. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” I said with a grin. “Hi. I’m Regan.”