[CHAPTER 12]
As Leo stepped closer to the strange ad wall he noticed that the bottom did not quite meet with the floor and the transition from plastic base to glass screen was oddly fuzzy rather than the usual clean line of a mass-produced tool of capitalism. Lastly, he noticed that the screen was missing the subtle glow that most screens had.
Leo noticed all this in the split second between when he stepped within three feet of the ad wall and when said ad wall decided it wanted to try its hand at being a facehugger. Luckily, Leo was already on edge and had his new weapon ready and promptly filled the rambunctious signage full of alien crystal.
Target Eliminated!
Reward - 25 Points
“Holy shit! I thought you said we shouldn’t have to worry about Nines yet?” he exclaimed while sidestepping the flying corpse. Once it was dead it had reverted to what looked like a loose pile of silvery leaves and floppy flesh.
“Well shit. I was never the one in charge of spotting Nines while in the game. Plus in there they only ever turned into basic stuff, never something with multiple materials and definitely nothing with words. Is there any way for me to spot them easier?”
“Do it. I can’t afford to get ambushed again.”
Leo waited for a moment for the box. “Umm, Aegys, did your teleportation stop working?”
Leo thought about it and felt his attention be nudged towards something glowing on the ground on the other side of where the Nine was. It wasn’t enough that he couldn’t ignore it, but if he thought about it then it was very clear. Moving closer to the glow he saw that there seemed to be some drag marks that led to the Model Nine, and if he followed them backwards they led to the southern stairwell.
“Nice! Do I need to have a specific target in mind, or just a general idea?”
“Perfect, this is just what I need.” Leo continued his walk down the hall while looking into various shops for survivors and keeping an eye out for Antithesis. His new upgrade would periodically highlight something that was a result of a passing Antithesis or recent human activity, but he saw neither. He began to round the hallway towards the western stairs when he felt his attention get grabbed almost physically as his new upgrade pointed him towards one of the larger shops in the stadium.
Known as “The Nexus” it was a shop aimed at providing high level gear styled after whoever was playing at the time. Leo spotted some mesh helmets and some jerseys in black, red, and green. There was also a small section that was purple. As he followed the signs shown by the Predators Gaze, Leo noted that his team's section seemed almost fully stocked.
Focusing back on the task at hand, he tracked the footprints, shoved clothing racks, and toppled shelves that were shown to him which led to a locked door with an employees only sign on it. Leo was trying to think of a way to figure out if there were people inside without repeating his experience with Syl when he heard something that gave him pause.
Going as still as possible he strained his ears to make sure he wasn’t going crazy. A second later he heard it again, the sound of a cough followed by some shushing. Leave it to a group of people to be loud while trying to be quiet. Leo glanced around to confirm that there were no Antithesis around that he could see before he sidled up to the door with pistol in hand and knocked on the door in the notorious five-knock pattern.
Any ambient noise that may have been coming from behind the door stopped. A few moments passed before someone called through the door, “Who is it? You better not be one of them plants.”
“If I was a plant, then I probably wouldn’t have knocked in the first place.” Leo chuckled as he heard the sputtering from the otherside. “I’m a Samurai. I’m here to get you all to the shelter down in the basement, we already secured the entrance and the surrounding hallway.”
As soon as he finished, the door was pulled open to reveal a heavy-set man wearing a lanyard that identified him as Nexus staff. “A Samurai? Finally, we have been stuck here for hours. We have some people who were injured in the evacuation. The best we could do is use some of the jerseys on the shelves to try and bandage them.”
“Those jerseys will come out of your paycheck Evan!” came a nasally voice from the back.
“Oh go hug a Five Gary, at least then you’d be useful!” The heavy-set man, Evan apparently, turned back to Leo. “As I was saying, it's good that you’re here. We have a bunch of injured people that need help. By the way, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before, what's your name?” he asked while ushering Leo into the back room, closing the door behind them.
“It’s Leo, I just became a Samurai a few hours ago so I don’t have a Samurai name yet.”
Evan looked closer at Leo’s face. “Wait a minute, Leo from the Myths? Holy shit! I barely recognize you! I was hoping I would get to meet you after the game today so you could sign my jersey!” At that, Evan lifted up his work shirt to show he was wearing a fan jersey with Leo’s gamer tag, Phoenix, on the front.
Leo was shocked at the scene in front of him. A large, six foot man was standing in front of a small crowd of people while pulling the front of his shirt up high enough for Leo to see ‘Phoenix’ spelled out on his upper chest. “You want an autograph. From me? Why?”
“Why not? You and your team are one of the best up-and-coming rookie teams in the history of Samurai Rush! Once I get this signed I’ll be able to hang it on my wall and show it off! Even more so now that you’re a Samurai!” Evans' excitement was infectious and caused a small smile to break through Leo's shock.
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“Tell you what, let me take care of those injured people you said you have and then we can see about getting you an autograph. Where are they?” he asked.
Evan pulled his shirt back down before turning to lead Leo further into the storage room. Finally getting a chance to look around Leo noticed a lot of shelving was shoved along the walls to open up the middle and boxes were stacked for use as seats or even tables in some cases.
As soon as Evan turned around though, a man was in his face shouting at him, though he had to stand on his toes to get close. “You would just love to get us all killed wouldn’t you? Opening the door just because you heard a knock and assumed it was a human. What if it was an Antithesis? We would all be dead! Not to mention you handing out the merchandise just so people could bleed all over it! For free! You should have at least made them pay for it! Mark my words Evan, you’ll be fired for this! I’ll make sure you never get a job anywhere in this city!”
Leo stepped between the two and stared at the man, anger flashing in his eyes. “Gary I assume?”
“That’s Mr. Vice Assistant Manager Gary to you kid. I can’t believe you would wander in here dressed like that, pretending you’re a Samurai. You’re just a low tier rookie player in the tournament. No way someone like you became a Samurai.” Gary was red in the face from all his yelling.
Leo was getting rather sick of this guy's attitude. ‘Aegys, what are the chances I can remove the heat from just his clothing?’
‘How long will it take to make the changes? Also, what are the chances his clothes shatter off his body?’
Leo mentally smirked.‘Perfect.’
The whole exchange only took a few milliseconds before Leo felt something fill his left hand. “Nice to meet you. What seems to be the problem here?” Leo held out his hand while he smiled at Gary.
Gary settled down a bit at being acknowledged, the red in his face receding a bit and a self-satisfied smile stretching across his face. He reached for Leo’s hand. “Finally, you have some sense. Since I’m in cha…” Whatever he was about to say was cut off as a violent shiver racked his body. A moment later all the clothing on his body shattered and fell off his body, leaving Gary standing in his birthday suit.
“Ooh, it seems like it got a little cold here. Here, use this to cover up.”
‘Aegys, get him some clothes please.’
New Purchase: Phoenix Jumpsuit
Points reduced to - 1855
Leo held out his hands and a box appeared in them while some people in the crowd laughed quietly. Gary took it robotically and opened it. Inside was a jumpsuit in various shades of red, orange, and yellow. As he held it up, he saw that the back had a Phoenix design on the back with the word ‘Phoenix’ across the shoulders.
“I am a Samurai, and now I’m in charge. Consider yourself lucky I don’t charge you for the clothes.” Leo moved past Gary over to an area where he saw some people who had various jerseys and a few bandages wrapped around them.
‘Aegys, what’s the best move here? Do I just buy Nano-Regen and Hemo-Restore for all of them?’
‘Do it.’
New Purchase: Handheld Medical Scanner
Points reduced to - 1805
Leo opened the box at his feet and pulled out what looked like an old barcode scanner.
Pointing it at the person who seemed the most injured Leo got a pop-up in his HUD once he pulled the trigger.
Medical Scan Category Medical Scan Results NAME Stephanie Smith AGE 25 STATUS Bleeding, Lacerations, Punctured Liver RECOMMENDED TREATMENT Hemo-Restore, Woundstop, Nano-Regenerative Suite
Name: Stephanie Smith
Age: 25
Status: Bleeding, Lacerations, Punctured Liver
Recommend: Hemo-Restore, Woundstop, Nano-Regenerative Suite
“Huh, neat. Aegys, if you would be so kind as to buy whatever they need and label the boxes in the order they need to go in along with directions?”
As the boxes appeared next to the person he scanned, Leo pointed at a girl who was watching him from nearby.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
She looked at him with wide eyes. “T…Tori sir.”
“Please, just Leo. I need you to come over here and administer these to Stephanie here. They are pretty simple but they also have directions listed on the lid of the boxes.”
Tori nodded before shuffling over and opening the first box. As she did Leo turned to Evan. “Evan, I’m going to scan all these people and get them recovering. I need you to pick some people to help administer the treatment.”
“No problem boss!” Evan immediately turned to pick a few others to help while Leo scanned all the injured.
The whole process took about 45 minutes to get them all scanned and then to get all the treatments applied.
New Purchase: Various Medical Supplies
Points reduced to - 300
Leo looked around from where he sat while the last of the injured people got treated. He saw more than a few people looking at him with newfound hope. “Evan, how is the food situation here?”
“We don’t have any food at all. This was never meant to be a shelter, just storage for the shop.”
Leo nodded. ‘Aegys, get enough food and water for all of them. Leave me 100 points at minimum.’
New Purchase: Emergency Rations x94
Points reduced to - 112
Two large boxes appeared on either side of him. “Evan, there is food in both of these boxes. Get one pack passed out to everyone here and make sure those that were injured get theirs first. I need to call the shelter and let them know what’s going on.”
With that, Leo stepped away from the building crowd and back towards the door to the main shop. Before he called Kat he realized the door was only bolted with a deadbolt. He set his hard-light bulwark against the wall before calling.
“Kat, I found a group of survivors at The Nexus. I fixed up their injuries but it will be an hour or so before they are in any shape to move. We are safe for now and I’ll let you know when we head out.”
The response came almost immediately, “Sounds good. Just make sure you don’t try saying hello to any more Model Fours and get back here safely.”
Leo just chuckled as he settled down to wait.