Axel was getting a little impatient. He had been laying on the cliff side for the past hour waiting for his target to show himself out in the open. Normally, he could wait a better portion of the day without complaint but today was a special occasion. Today was his sister's birthday and he only had forty-five minutes until he had to be at her place.
Just when he was going to call it quits, the person he had been waiting for this entire time had walked out of the basement door. It was an old style basement panel doors. Made of wood with two metal handles laying almost horizontally with the ground but with a slight angle. As the doors opened upward, he saw his target. It was a man or appeared what used to be a man. His right arm was completely mechanical covered with articifial human skin. Patches of skin missing showing the inner components. Half of his face was covered in a metal sheet with tiny bolts and grooves along the edges. Where one of the eyes was supposed to be was a blue light. Probably one of the eye implants that enhanced his sight in some fashion. Lastly, there was a blue orb in the middle of his chest. Axel was able to recognize this orb as the power source keeping all the mechanical parts working. Most of the time, people will have some form of protection to cover up the power core from outside harm. Axel wasnt sure why he didnt have anything protecting it but wouldnt let this chance slip by.
Axel steadied his Ion rifle on his left forarm and the cliffs face. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, he prepares to take the shot while steadying his aim. Seconds before he takes the shot, he hears a voice in the back of his head.
"Target is 761 yards away. Pretty short if i say so myself. You should have found a different locatin further away. Now we cant brag about how we took him out from so far away!" This voice belonged to the AI that Axel had installed a few years back. Over time she started to manifest her own personality. It always confused him why she ended up being the type that wanted to brag about their feats, considering that he was nothing like that and prefered to take a modest approach.
"If we were further away, our chances of taking him out with one shot would have gone down. Besides, im in a hurry today and dont have the luxury of taking my time." Thought Axel.
The exchange only took a few milliseconds to happen, which in turn didnt distart him from what he was doing. The AI did a quick overlay to project distance, humidity, energy level, and multiple other statistics that could effect the shot. After that was a couple angles layed out in front of Axel for higher probabily of hitting the target. Taking into account how Axel wanted this done as fast as possible, he took the shot that would end everything the quickest.
Taking his final aim, he pulled the trigger and watched as the streak of Ionic energy steaked across the distance. When it finally arrived, it struck the target right about the power core. Now most people would have aimed for the power core itself but that would only result in destorying the power core and only the target. However, if you aim for the area right above the power core by about 7 centimeters, then you will hit where energy from the body is filtered through the power core. Much like how a heart will recycle old blood and pump out new blood. Except when there is a mass of Ionic energy being forced through the intake of the power core, this leads to a melt down of the power core.
Now why would Axel take the riskier shot when he could have just killed the target with an easier shot. Its actually really simple. If by only taking out the target, then the bodygaurds would instantly be able to tell where the shot came from and they would then engage further delaying him. This way when the core explodes, it will also take out all the body gaurds and the vehicle that is waiting for them.
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That is exactly how it happened to. The power core started to make a high pitched whirling sound. Right when it seemed like the sound would shatter glass, it got really quiet for about 2 seconds before being followed by a huge explosion. Axel didnt expect the explosion to be as big as it was. The target must have been using a falty core to begin with and already had a bunch of waste energy just sitting in the core.
From the explosion, the 3 bodygaurds around the target were vaporized instantly. This was followed by a chain reaction of explosions with the house and the vehicle. Everything was erased from existance. Axel was quiet happy with this outcome. Now he just needed to rush back to turn in the bounty.
...
Axel was pretty happy with the bonus for also taking out all the gaurds as well. Axel looked up to the right hand side of outlay and a menu option popped up. On the top of the menu were the words "Xandria Online". This was the hottest vrmmo in the entire world for the past 5 years.
Axel stuck his hand out and poked out into the air with one finger to select the logout option.
Axel woke up with a helmet on with a visor covering the top half of his face. He took the helmet off and brown hair about neck length came tumbling down. What really stood out about him though is his purple eyes. Doctors had told him that it was a genetic defect that was very rare. If he remembers correctly, its only 1 in every 500,000,000 people have it or something around that. Axel still had the young look but had what looked like the beginning of a beard covering his face. He was by no definition of the word average looking. He had never had any issue with suiters of the opposite sex. But he never had time for it. Most of his time was spent taking care of his younger sister.
He placed the helmet to the side and swung his legs around in order to get up. Only when he was in the sitting position and looked up, he saw two people in his room with him.
One of them was sitting in his desk chair while the second guy was standing behind and to the left side of the guy in the chair. The man in the chair was wearing an old style italian grey suite with a white button up and a red tie. The man behind him was wearing a black suite, of noticably lower quality, with a black tie.
The man says "So you have finally woken up. For a minute i was worried that i was going to be late to your sister's birthday."
"What are you doing here, Damien. And who said you were comming to my sister's birthday. Ive told you multiple times to stay away from my sister." replied Axel.
"Oh, I remember. That is actually why I am here." said Damien. He waved at the man that was standing behind him as his sentence trailed off. The man behind him took out what looked like a pistol and aimed it at Axel. Without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger and a red beam came out splashing into Axel calf.
"AHHH, you son of a bitch!" explained Axel. Agony was written all over his face. He couldnt put any weight on his leg at all. He tried to stand up but only colapsed after trying.
"You see Axel, I am quiet tired of you interfering with my plans with your sister. So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, I will get rid of the nuisance that is you. With you out of the way, there will be no one else to get in my way of obtaining Robin. She will be stricken with so much grief that she will turn to the first person that show her compasion. That is when I'll come in to console her. She will finally be mine and the annoyance that is you will be gone for good! Hahahahahha!" Damien started to laugh very much like those old villians in old classic movies.
Axel had a face stricken with fear, wrath, and helplessness. He feared for his sister if he couldnt stop this. He hated Damien for taking such extreme measures and he felt helpless for having no way out of this situtation.
Axel looked up with a distorted face and said "I'll never let you get away with this Damien. I swear I'll destory you if it's the last thing i do!"
"Hahahaha, it's far too late for that Axel. Finish him off!" Damien turned to his henchman and said.
The henchman brought the pistol back up and for the last time pulled the trigger.
Axel saw a flash of light and then complete darkness.
He started to notice some ambient light comming throught the darkness. Almost like the light is being blocked by something.
That was when Axel's eyelids shot open and he shot himself up. He was laying in his bed which was now soaked from his cold sweat. He swiveled his head around frantically taking in his surroundings.
"Huh!"