Chapter 9 The Next Step
I am frozen in place, stark naked, not sure what to do right at this moment, thinking furiously of how to get my clothes back.
I say “Equip Clothes”
NOTICE!Armor or Casual?
I say “Casual”
NOTICE!Please specify each casual clothing article you wish to equip
fuck really? I cringe
In the meantime I hear and see a flash. I look startled toward the flash and see Julie snapping pictures on her smart-phone.
“Really Julie???” I ask incredulously.
“Remember when I said the tables would get turned, now suffer!!!” she proclaims. A big smile, like a cat who ate a canary on her face.
Fine, I can do this and strike a body builder pose go with the flow
“Scott put some clothes on for gods sake!” Cindy says averting her gaze.
“No he is fine”, Julie smiles flashing away.
“I thought you did not want to share“ ,Cindy asks with an arched eyebrow eyeing Julie.
“You can look but you can't touch!” Julie laughs.
“Equip casual clothe pants, casual clothe shirt, casual clothe underwear from inventory” I sigh.
NOTICE!Casual clothes from inventory now equipped.
With a suddenness I am fully clothed again.
“Finally!” Cindy sounds relieved.
“awww, oh well I got my pictures now”, says Julie happily.
I being to clean up the mess, the girls jump in and help, while doing so we talk about our various profession choices.
Cindy can manipulate fire and create fire now. At a beginners level that is.
Julie can heal very light wounds, but can sustain the heal at a tremendous mana drain to her, to close up wounds by concentrating on the wound.
I explain to them my abilities, which impresses them greatly, Cindy even whistles “Wow you are a real Superman or Super Soldier now!” she states matter of fact.
“Pretty much if compared to the avg person or soldier, but keep in mind, if we are doing this others are as well and some or not going to be nice people.” I state with a serious expression.
“You are right Scott, so what do we do now?” Julie asks.
“I think we go hunting and gather supplies, gear up for the worst case scenario.” I say in thought, thinking about locations we could go to do that. There are a few places that come to mind, such as the mall or even Kart Mart, the gigantic all in one store. Again if we are thinking it, so are others, so we will not only need to move fast, but carefully.
Julie once again checks the TV to see if anything new is on, but still all channels are either off air or have the Emergency Broadcast up. The radio is the same way. Cell phone service is unavailable. Hard lines are down. Internet is offline.
BUT the power is till on, go figure. And Running water I might add, tho my water comes from a well on my property, and even if the power goes out I have a generator built in with a fuel tank attached, plus my gas and heater are on propane. So both will last a while, but will not last forever if things go dire.
We had tried our cells phones while at the mall, but gave up quickly when no connections could be made to 911 or any other location, even the people in the calling list. A total media blackout.
After the mess is all cleaned up, “Well I am going to go take a shower now”, Julie says and heads for the Bathroom.
“I think I will join you” Cindy says, “no sense in wasting hot water!”
With that both girls head out. Come to think of it a shower would be nice about now. I glance at the clock it is about 4:15 am now, almost the start of my day. I think a run will be out of the question today, maybe get an early start on our goals, we need to designate a target, plan it out and execute it.
I go and pull out a city map and grab some markers and begin high-lighting potential targets close to here. After selecting three possibles, I map the route to each one seeing if we can avoid the main roads as much as possible.
Once the routes have been selected I head to my room and grab my old marine duffle bag from under the bed. Inside I have 2 Night vision goggles, 4 sets of Camos, 2 Desert 2 Jungle, the others I had thrown out due to wear and tear and did not need as many now. 2 sets of jump boots, a Jacket, 2 utility belts. Compass, canteens and various other items to complement the combat suits, however I only grab the 2 night vision goggles.
In my room is my gun safe, I open it up and pull out the AR-15 with scope and green laser pointer. The Remington 16 Gauge Shotgun, that my old man had given me, may he rest in peace. I also Grab the Glock, and the ammo for each. For the AR, I take 5 30 round clips and begin to fill them.
Last but not least I take out a box from the floor of the Vault, and open it, inside are 10 hand grenades carefully stashed.. Even tho I have the advanced Marine Grenades, I want to save them for now and these can be used now.
Gathering all the weapons, I transport them to the living room and place them carefully on the table or against the wall. The grenades I leave in the box for transporting.
I inspect the AR-15 closer to see if I can compare damage wise vs the Advanced Marine Weapon.
ItemGood Quality AR-15
High DurabilityDamage 50-75 pts
Hmm not great compared to the Advanced Marine Weapons, but will do
Then suddenly
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NOTICE!Do you wish to take ownership of this item?
Yes or No
I answer “yes!”
NOTICE!Ownership now transferred to:
Scott Smith
Item may now be placed in inventory.
Oh hell yes!
I proceed to take ownership of all weapons, mags, ammo, and the grenades as well as the Night vision goggles then place them all in my inventory. Well that solves the transporting issue. I go back to my Gun Safe and place all remaining items and ammo into my ownership and inventory as well. I also take ownership of my Sword and Dagger from the Mall and place them into the inventory.
I go to look at my wardrobe and notice my closet is open, in the back ground I hear the girls laughing and giggling from the bathroom. Man they sure are taking a long shower. Oh well I will get my turn next. When did I leave the closet door open?
Disregarding it, I go thru my wardrobe and select most of the items inside and place them in inventory as well. Then my sock drawer and under garments next. Finally my shoes. After cleaning out almost all my wearable, I nod with a satisfied smile. This is so damn convenient.
Looking at my inventory I see I have 5 presets I can choose from. Each preset has a paper doll version of myself that I can add clothing articles to to set the preset. After making a few adjustments I make my 5 selections and just about then the girls come out of the bathroom. I take a peek and see they both are wearing one of my T-shirts. No pants, legs and bare feet, wet hair,tho the shirt looked overly large on the shorter Cindy. oh wow what a sight! I catch my breath.
Both girls enter the bedroom and look at me with a smile,” Bathroom is all your Scott” Julie says.
“Ahh that felt soooo good”, purred Cindy.
“I can see that, and I guess my T-shirts fit both of you?” I asked with a smirk.
“Yes! We needed a change of clothes for now so we can wash our current ones. Scott! You did not expect us to go around naked now did you? Questions Julie, a glint of mischief in her eyes.
“Well that was one thought.....” I begin to reply, but Julie rushes over and playfully smacks me on the arm,” no of course not, me casa su casa!” I declare.
I then head to the bathroom to take my shower.
“AWW Come on!! no way, You two used up all the hot water!” I cried.
I hear from the door Julie say with a giggle,” we figured you would need a cold shower after seeing us like this”.
I very quickly take a cold shower to freshen up, brush my teeth, comb my hair. Open my inventory and select preset 1, Advanced Marine Armor. I take the helmet off, and hold it in my hand. Checking myself out in the mirror. Damn I look good I admired myself, being 18 again.
I head out of the bathroom and find the girls in the living room still in my T-Shirts.
“You girls tired?” I ask them, looking at the clock it is a little after 5 am. We had gotten home before 6:30pm last night and slept till 2 am, basically getting a full nights rest, so I was wide awake, but wanted to make sure the girls were ready too. No sense in taking two tired individuals on a dangerous trip.
“No, not at all in fact wide awake and completely alert sir!” Julie stands up and salutes me. Her chest jiggles with the motion, and I can only gaze in appreciation at them. “Eyes up here Scott” Julie motions to me and her eyes.
“Oh sorry got distracted by the view for a second” I reply with an impish grin and scratch my head.
“Yeah I am wide awake too, so what do you have planned Scoot?” Cindy asks also standing up. For some reason she is pouting.
I look at them both,” well a few things, first I made discovery on the inventory”, I then explain to them the ownership and presets and placing items inside the inventory. Julie and Cindy both look at each other and quickly put their current clothes into inventory.
Julie has a curious look on her face then says, ”Equip Preset 1”.
In a flash my T-shirt disappears and in its place Julie is dressed in some kind of outfit, that is yellow and green in various shades, very fairy like and delicate. On her head she is wearing a silver tiara, giving off the impression of princess out of a fairy tale. In her hand she holds a staff that is about 5 ft long and pure white with a blue gem attached at the top. She is also wearing green knee high soft leather boots.
"This is my Healer outfit and accessories," she point to the necklace and earrings, as well as a ring her right hand finger. All of them are stat boost and mana enhancement items.
Cindy in turn, also says “Equip Preset 1” and in a flash is in Black robes, carrying a wand instead of a staff. She too has necklace, earrings and ring on finger. On her head is golden metal band with a red gem in it. Her black shoes peek out from under the robes.
“Heh it looks like we are dressing up for a costume party” I joke.
"This is a little embarrassing to be honest” Cindy says ashamed.
"Well I always wanted to be a princess! I like it actually” Julie smiles.
“I am not really worried about looks, but more about the functionality of the equipment we have”, I say
“If it weren't for the stat enhancements this gives, me trust me I would not be wearing it,” Cindy frowns.
"Alright we need to make a trip to each of your homes and gather whatever you deem important, get it in your inventory, then we will head to our first target." I declare.
“Oh that would be great!” Julie says in excitement, clapping her hands. “change of clothes, some make up, perfume and all the other needed stuff a girls needs”.
“I agree”, Cindy smiles at that and nods to Julie.
With that we head out to begins to today's adventure.