I watched as Alexander pulled a dusty, grime-covered bottle from a dilapidated shelf behind the bar. Picking it up slowly, he examined the bottle before wiping the dust off, revealing a logo of a Greek god and a very stylized brand name, Bacchus rum of the gods.
“Bingo.” Alexander said as he began to look around, eyes landing on what looked like a once red cloth that now lay on the ground covered in pieces of broken ceiling tiles .
Reaching down he tore about a foot of cloth, pulled the cork out of the bottle of rum and stuffed a ball of fabric into the neck of the bottle, with about four inches of the cloth falling from the lip of the bottle.
I watched as he flipped the bottle over allowing the rag to soak up some of the alcohol.
“Now i just need something to… ah.” Alexander picked up a small box off the ground near his feet, as he ran his fingers over it I saw a small image of a deity holding what looked like a large tuning fork.
“Hades matches, well at least this place is sticking to a theme.” alexander muttered
Pulling out a match he attempted to strike it against the side but it was so degraded all it managed to do was ruin the match, four or five matches later I spoke up, “Alex, I don't mean to intrude but I would like to inform you that your suit was not designed to reduce friction and could assist you in lighting a match.”
For a moment, Alexander just froze then he hissed out a quiet “thanks Alastor.” as he pulled another match from the box, this time however he ran it across his forearms and it caught.
Lifting the match to the rag hanging from the bottle’s mouth, it caught with a whine.. wait that doesn't make any sense, alexander’s vision rolled as he dove behind the bar doing his best to not break the bottle in his hands.
Coming up in a kneeling position he set the bottle on the ground next to him then readied his rifle, a good thing to because the moment it was set a black wall of thick plating came into view and with a pop launched off whatever had pulled it up barely fitting thru the doorway.
Panels poped from every open edge then flashed with light each becoming a blinding spotlight, as more whining filled the air alexanders hud came to life green lines overlaing the world before him showing every detail down to the trash scattered across the floor, then five diamonds joined the screen rising from below the blinding wall.
Alexander took off vaulting the bar and running to the edge of one of the flood lights as the first of the diamonds reached his floor, a pop following the arrival of the first soldier his team not far behindt, the first barley hit the ground before Alexander shot the center of the green diamond that surrounded the soldiers head.
With the bark of his rife a black visor cracked green diamond turning red as the soldiers head snapped back before he hit the floor the second however learned from his predecessors mistake so with the pop that seemed to synchronize perfectly with the thud of the first soldiers body alexander pulled back into his cover the image of a rifle aiming in alexander's general direction came into view at the edge of his vision for less then a second before the rapid bark of an automatic rifle filled the air.
The second man appeared to back up as his green diamond moved to the other side of the armored wall as three more diamond arrived on the floor one after another, alexander ran for the bar hopping over and grabbing his home brewed molotov cocktail now outlined in green, he raised it a green ark appearing, alexander lined it up till he was satisfied and tossed it dropping behind the counter the second it left his hands.
It floated right over the top of the barricade and through the open elevator door, I watched as a green sketch of the bottle fell floor after floor headed for the first floor.
The green diamonds spread out two to a side then in unison they moved, alexander fired two shots at the left side clipping the knee of the one leading the charge on that side and suppressing that side for just long enough to turn and fire at the right side hitting the bottom point of the leading diamond causing it to turn red as the second to fall hit the ground.
Then Alexander ducked behind the bar for seemingly no reason then two of the remaining diamonds moved far faster than before the dual cracking of automatic weapons filling the air as bullets punched through the glass behind him shattering it allowing a howling gale to fill the room and crash against everything like a tsunami.
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This seems to be the opportunity Alexander needed as the moment it crashed into the soldiers there firing stopped for but a moment but it was enough he rose to one knee swapping his own rifle to automatic d firing.
A moment later two more diamonds turned red, but Alexander was already moving before they hit the floor rushing the green outline of the barricade, the last green diamond sitting still on the left side.
Alexander dove to the right side firing so quick I wasn't sure how he even knew what he was shooting at but the diamond went red and the burst of fire punching through the side of a black helmet before alexander ever hit the ground.
“30.2 seconds your combat efficacy has risen by an estimated 29.41 percent”
Breathing heavy Alexander hissed out something that sounded like “Th,Anks, Acts.” as he strode to the elevator shaft, looking down the distant glow of fire and billowing of smoke filled my screen “Alexander, I don't mean to intrude but won't escape become far more difficult in a burning building.”
After a moment, Alexander spoke his breathing returned to normal “I wouldn't worry about it after all Ide guess i'm about fifty five floors up if I counted the floors right.”
“Given the age,structure,and materials used in the construction of this building I estimate the fire reaching you in 20 minutes.” the moment acts finished speaking a timer appeared in the top right hand corner of alexander HUD reading nineteen minutes, fifty four seconds
“Well that might be an issue.'' Alexander said as a bright light of flame at the end of the shaft flashed then appeared to reach upward as tho it hungered for the top floor causing the timer in the top right to drop by three minutes.
“Acts why did my timer just drop” the tone in alexander's voice sounded like a mix of aggravation and terror , “The time provided was an estimate that cannot account for outliers such as unknown debris, dust accumulation,and the ventilation of a unknown space.”
Alexander had smacked into his helmet obviously forgetting his head was fully covered as he smacked his own cameras and jerked his head back from the surprise of a third of his vision becoming a zoomed in version of his own hand.
“Understood acts.” a dejected alexander said, moving away from the shaft walking towards a nearby doorway its small black sign cementing how bad the situation truly was, as he strode towards the thing that had gotten him killed more times than anything else, the place he lovingly referred to as the death shaft, However most people would just call it a stairwell.
Alexander flew down flight after flight of stairs, weapons stowed with no sign of enemy combatants probably thanks to the currently burning bottom floors, I would have stayed to watch what happened next if it weren't for the buzzing that currency filled my interior jacket pocket.
Turning away from the screen I reached one gloved hand into my coat, the leather creaking as I pulled the cheap flip phone out, the caller ID visible on the small exterior scene, Blackwood.
Flipping it open I answered “Hello Miss blackwood.” , for a moment the line buzzed, then a click “Hello alastor while it's always a pleasure, I unfortunately have to cut straight to business, your time table has been moved up due to shall we say, confidential reasons and I will be needing the enchanters crown by tomorrow morning.”
My form tightened and I swore I felt a strand snap “Miss blackwood while I understand that in the business world, and especially your area of expertise it can be precarious but if we are to have any future dealings I would prefer a heads up if at all possible.”
“Future dealings Mr.Lamont, you might have just made my day.” with that she hung up making no promises of any future warnings about changes in schedule.
Closing the phone I slid it into my coat and turned back to the screen where alexander was running…. up the exterior of the hotel, reaching up I was about to press one the key to ask him how he was running up the building until a city skyline came into view past the roof of the hotel.
I watched as Alexanders speed increased right before he leaped over a section of glass that was probably another lobby, he landed hard but didn't stop he rolled and came to on his feet pace increasing once again, as he reached the next section of glass he jumped watching as the ground he was about to land on became to steep so when he rolled he didn't come to his feet but rather a laying on his back sliding to the edge as the hotel made contact with the street below screen going black.
[Simulation complete mission success] flashed across the screen in red, “Well done alex, store your gear and let's meet in the dining room, I have news from Miss blackwood.” there was no verbal response but I appeared in the dinning room a few moments later which was all the confirmation I needed.
Fifteen minutes later I was joined by a smiling Alexander. “Alastor please tell me you saw me run down the side of a burning building like some action hero.” This was not how I expected Alexander to react. He had mopped over pretty much every training sim we had run, but it was probably for the best.
“I did catch the end of the session however due to the call from miss blackwood I missed everything between then and your first fight.” alexander oddly enough seemed to brighten at that “Oh i'll have to tell you about it, but before that what did blackwood call about that warranted a ‘meeting’.”
I decided it was best to cut straight to business as we didn't have time for anything else “she has moved up our timetable and we will have to retrieve the crown tonight and meet her first thing tomorrow at the latest.”
Alexanders earlier glow didn’t dim as expected but rather grew “Alright then we were planning on doing this tomorrow night anyway what’s a few hours sooner.” that was unexpected “You understand alex that you will have to prep then gear up with no down time after all if you programs estimations of how this will go are correct then we will have to get start in the next two hours.”
At my words alexander just nodded “Yeah I know my suite and weapons are all set and not gonna lie i'm excited to finally do my first real villain job, even is as a contracted henchmen.” alexander's behavior was odd but expectable after all i can't remember how many new villain loans i had approved then saw the outcome of there shenanigans on the news, after all there were two kinds of villains that the guild actually feared, the new an hungry and the old monsters.
“Alright then Alex, let's review the information we have then the plan and escape route provided by miss blackwood as well as what you need to do once you reach the safe house where I will be waiting for you.”