NATE MERCER’S APARTMENT BUILDING, ROOFTOP. HELL’S KITCHEN, NYC

NEIGHBORHOOD: CLAIMED BY GUARDIAN: LOOPHOLE (CONTESTED)

CITY: CLAIMED BY GUARDIAN SQUAD: SEA AND SKY (CONTESTED BY MISCREANT: FIREFIST)

CURRENT PHASE POINTS: 6680

END OF PHASE ONE: 02D:9H:56M:13S

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“I… Shouldn’t we be starting this a bit lower? Like maybe on the fire escape?” I said as I looked over the edge of the roof and down

“Hey you’re the one who wanted to wait until morning to actually try using this outside. How are we supposed to hide your Secret Identity if you go flying off our fire escape?” Jon said as I backed away from the edge and tried to shake the nerves from my body. “Besides, you know it works, you were floating all over the apartment. You know as well as I do that if you want to extend the time, you gotta take the leap and just start getting that usage experience.”

We had ended up spending the entire rest of the night working on a handful of new abilities and actually learning a whole hell of a lot about the different types of abilities I could create. In fact, while passive abilities were pretty straight forward, activated abilities came in two very distinct flavors.

Whether it was simply a natural quirk of my abilities or in my own thinking, up until we started to experiment I had largely only created what the P.A.I. database referred to as Static Cost abilities. These abilities would always have variable length cooldowns but relatively low costs to my stamina. My Sting Like A Bee ability, for example, was always going to cost about 5% of my stamina to activate, regardless of just how much stamina I actually had.

But on the other side of the coin were Flexible Cost abilities. These abilities came with the benefit that they generally had either no cooldown or extremely short cooldowns. This meant that they could be used in rapid succession, but depending on just how much power I put into them, they could rapidly deplete my stamina bar and leave me unable to move or defend myself if I overdid it.

After learning all of this, and knowing that Angie had a habit of withholding information until I specifically asked for it, I asked her to go back through and mark all my prior abilities with their Stamina costs. I also made it a point of asking her to tell me about their costs moving forward as well. She had insisted she would have had I not made that request, but I liked to think I had learned my lesson when it came to her.

It took a bit of experimenting in the dojo but I managed to come up with more than a handful of abilities utilizing my new knowledge on Gravity and Thermodynamics. The majority of them ended up falling into the flexible category but a few still managed to generate with fixed costs. My second ability bar had been quickly filled up, though I did end up keeping a few of my abilities on both revolver options. Still, my new bar was largely speaking more focused on damage compared to my original bar, and it led to us dubbing my original bar as my “Stealth” loadout and my new bar as my “Fight Time” loadout. Although I was positive Jon was still brainstorming better names for them, and if he wasn’t, I’d have to.

Testing them in the dojo had been all well and good, but the place came with a severe lack of actual enemies to practice on. This was something that we could apparently upgrade the dojo to include when the safe house reached level 5, but that was still a long way off. So when the morning came around, Jon was quick to wake me. He forced me to shove a large breakfast he had picked up from Tio’s down, which did net me the Well Fed buff, and then told me to get my ass going.

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure just how much he had actually slept through the night but he assured me he’d find time to take a nap once he was sure I was getting through the day’s task without an issue. I still had 10 dens to get through, and Jon was determined to have me work through all but the hardest of them by the end of the day. And the quickest way to get between the dens… was going to be in the air.

At the far right side of my ability bar a new single slot appeared the moment we had created the ability and I looked at it as I tried to talk myself into just taking the leap.

“Personal Gravity Laws. Movement Ability. Given you’re looking at this to stall, how about I help you out just a bit. This ability allows you to shift your own relation to Gravity, allowing you to freely float within your Local Area. Additionally, with some practice you can mentally adjust the speed of which this change in your own gravity allows you to move. Now, want to know the really cool thing about your Local Area that you should already know? It moves centered directly on you! That means you’re ALWAYS in your Local Area! Now as we went over last night, that doesn’t mean you just get to fly around as much as you want. This ability drains your stamina at a rate of 5 stamina points per second while floating. For every 10 miles per hour of additional speed, the stamina drain increases by 5%. Was that enough stalling? Do you want me to go on a tangent about how much I like Codex’s butt again?”

“No, no, we’re good,” I said as I shook my head and tried to shake the nerves off once more. Though I hadn’t realized it, mostly given to my own stupid lax attitude about really learning the intricacies of the stats, on top of helping me hit harder, my Strength stat also was directly tied into increasing my Stamina just as Toughness increased my Health.

That meant that the 500 points of base Stamina that every Augment had plus the 12 points I had in Strength, left me with 1700 points of Stamina. With the Well Fed buff, my stamina capped out at 2125 points. The longest I could stay afloat, just hanging in mid-air would have been just a bit over 7 minutes, so any flight I made, unless I used a Stamina Injector, had to be shorter than that due to the added drainage from increasing my speed. Unfortunately, that baseline was about as far as my math was going to be taking me, especially since I didn't have a speedometer in my interface... yet.

I looked down over the edge of the building again and found myself instinctively wanting to retreat back toward the ground to start from there. Apparently, some self-preservation instincts were hard to get past. Either that or I had a fear of heights that I simply wasn’t aware of.

“For Axio’s sake just jump already!” Angie moaned.

“I’m with her, let’s go Loophole, we’re burning daylight,” Jon agreed and I just sighed.

“Ok… you can do this,” I said to myself under my breath, trying to block them out as I focused on the task at hand. I turned and took a few steps back from the edge of the roof.

While I didn’t have to make a running start, I knew it was definitely the literal leap of faith I needed to just outright trust the ability. I shook my arms out once more, let out a slow, steady breath and took one final step back... and then I ran for it. I darted right for the ledge, stepping onto it and launching myself upwards. I activated the ability the moment my foot was off the ground and concentrated as I quickly rose higher into the air above the neighboring roofs.

“New Achievement! 250 Feet Up! Trust me, we were really tempted to go with a corny “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane” sorta joke for the name of this one, but I think it really limits this achievement to you lucky Augments that get to fly instead of anyone who can jump, or teleport, or do any other sort of special way to get 250 feet up into the air. So this Achievement is for exactly what it says. You’ve used your power to go 250 feet above the ground! Good for you, maybe now you won't be so damn slow. This is a Silver level achievement. Reward: You have received a C:Tier loot box.”

It wasn’t natural and knowing how gravity worked and that the ability should work, wasn’t the same as immediately moving through the air with grace. There may have been a bit more flailing than necessary as I swirled upward into the air. My Stamina was already starting to tick down and without an active timer in my interface, I was going to have to make sure to keep an eye on it to prevent a sudden freefall.

After taking about ten seconds to stabilize and find a bit of control over my new ability, I let out a breath and felt my smile return to me. I had done it... I was flying.

“Now that is one hell of a view,” Jon said with a whistle. “Okay, turn toward the north, we’re gonna start at the top corner of Hell’s Kitchen and work our way around to knock all of these dens out and get your point total up and over that 10,000 hump. There’s a bronze den and a silver den to the Northwest. They actually look pretty close to the cruise terminal over there. I’ll guide you in when you get closer, so get a-”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Before he could finish I launched myself forward, maybe faster than I needed too. I had oriented myself to head north, but that didn’t mean I had to immediately make a b-line for my destination as the sudden freedom that came with the ability to fly hit me. While I certainly did need to get as much usage experience on my movement ability as possible to help it level up, a sudden animalistic-like joy came over me as I rapidly picked up speed.

“WOOOOOOOOOO.”

I couldn’t help myself and I let out a loud, exhilarated whoop as the wind roared past me, filling my ears. Whether it was the warping of gravity around my body or some minor filter ahead of my eyes, I was able to see clearly and I pushed myself to go faster. My stomach dropped with every burst of speed, and I darted left and right, testing my control and letting my whole body lean into every turn. It was a strange balance between tension and freedom, each adjustment to my flight seeming to ripple through the gravity around me, like I was tugging on invisible threads holding me aloft. I knew Jon had wanted me to focus and get to work, but I really couldn’t help myself.

I. Was. Flying!

I couldn’t say for sure how flight felt to other Augments with wings or wind-like powers, or even how The First had done it, but this was like being suspended in an invisible bubble that moved with me. The gravity shift made me feel light as a feather and the more I pushed at the bonds of gravity that tried to force its will upon me, the faster I went. I dove down in a sudden swoop, just barely dodging an old fire escape, and let out another whoop as I zipped along only a few stories above the ground. Though I felt like the world should have been a blur around me, everything was crystal clear as I waved at a crowd that caught sight of me just before I darted around yet another corner and back higher into the air.

My stamina bar flashed and it snapped me out of my exhilaration as I let myself twist in the air freely. The thrill of the flight had distracted me and though I had thought I had only been flying for a few moments, the bar was nearly 75% empty. I yanked out an Enhanced Stamina Injector and jammed it into my arm mid-flight. My stamina filled back to nearly 3 quarters full as I twisted back in the air once more. A quick glance down reminded me that the ground was hundreds of feet below, and the idea of falling out of the sky hit me harder than I’d expected now that I had slowed my flight. I could hear my heart hammering in my chest, a mix of thrill and a rising, prickling anxiety as I tried to reorient myself.

As I scanned the skyline, the sprawling expanse of the city stretched in every direction. The city always felt different when looking at it from high in a building, like it was alive and breathing. But flying above it without anything beneath my feet? That was a whole other beast and one that I could easily get lost in experiencing as I looked down and around at the world.

I told myself to focus before Angie or Jon could do it for me and forced my eyes back up to the skyline, knowing full well that I was burning stamina. Luckily, New York had plenty of markers, and the cruise terminal I needed was unmistakable up ahead, gleaming in the morning light. A sense of urgency kicked in as my stamina dipped below half again. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to steady and aim straight toward the Hudson River, but I couldn’t resist one more glance at the view stretching around me. For the first time, the world felt wide open in every direction and I resolved myself to train this ability until I could fly for far, far longer.

After putting on the speed to clear the distance as quickly as I could, I slowed myself, orienting toward the terminal and looking for the tallest building I could find. There was one at the corner of a park a few blocks in from the terminal and I darted for it. As I came in for a landing, I stumbled slightly before I right myself and looking around.

“Smooth,” Angie said and I rolled my eyes.

“Least I didn’t land on my face… and no one saw that,” I said, looking around just to make sure no one was hanging out on top of the roof.

“I saw it, Loophole, that’s all that matters, though I will say it is rather nice to see you enjoying those abilities of yours for once,” Angie commented.

“Yeah, I’m kinda jealous, that looked fun as all hell so I can’t really blame you for taking it for a spin like that. Kinda wish I could see the experience progress for your abilities though, it would be nice to see how much experience that little joyride got you,” Jon said as I approached the edge of the building. My stamina slowly started to refill as I looked around, wondering if I’d spot Viper graffiti from my perch.

“Is it technically a joyride if I don’t have a vehicle?”

“Do you really want to debate semantics or do you want to beat down some bikers?”

“I can do both, it’s called multitasking,” I shot back and panned back across the area once more. Several outlines were suddenly selected as Jon did his work in the background.

There were two different spots that were highlighted and I turned my attention toward the closer of the two first. It was a small single story building on the southern side of the park that had more than a few people in it, probably taking in one of the last moderately nice weekends before New York’s winter could start to take hold. I wasn’t positive, but I thought I could make out a snake painted onto the garage door at the front of the building.

“That’s the bronze level, it doesn’t look too big on the map here and if yesterday was any indicator you can probably knock it out pretty easily, but that silver one…” Jon said, trailing off as I looked over toward the Hudson where the other location had been highlighted.

The cruise terminal was often filled with, well, cruise ships. Luckily my vision wasn’t highlighting one of those floating hotels, though I still found myself almost laughing in surprise at what had been highlighted. On the far end of the terminal, there was a yacht that would have looked giant if it hadn’t been sitting in a line of massive cruise ships.

“The bikers have a yacht… Why do the bikers have a yacht?”

“Well that’s rude of you Loophole, everyone enjoys a nice day on the water, and is it really their fault that the boat they stole was a giant yacht?”

“Um… yes… yes it is their fault,” I replied with a sigh. “I get Axio wants to set up stakes for us but couldn’t you guys buy a yacht like you rented out the one building for the den?”

“Would it make you feel better if you knew the yacht they stole came from a businessman who treated his workers really poorly?” Angie asked as I searched for another building closer to the yacht that I could move to.

“Is that who they stole it from?” I asked.

“Do you want to feel better or not? Because I was lying when I said he rents out those buildings, and I kinda feel like I need you to feel better about something,” Angie said before she burst into a giggle fit.

“You know, I’m starting to think you like Angie’s craziness more than you let on, otherwise you really wouldn't engage and take her bait as often as you do,” Jon said and Angie laughed even harder.

“That’s what I’ve been saying!”

“Okay so I’m gonna go and take some aggression out on the bikers that stole that yacht, anyone got a problem with that?” I asked. The cooldown on my stamina injectors had expired and I knew if I shot right for the yacht, I could land on it before I burned through that much of my stamina. If I did get thrown right into a fight, I was relatively confident I could handle it, but I’d at least have the injector off of cooldown if I needed it.

“I think that’s the best choice, it’ll let you really flex and try out some of those new abilities,” Jon agreed letting us move on. That didn't surprise me since he had been the one really pushing me to stop slacking. “I think you have another minute before your stamina is fully refilled, so go ahead and call it in first, that’s Pier 94 if they need to know the exact spot.”

At this point, calling in the dens was becoming routine, and the dispatch officer was quick to take down the details. I mentioned the nearby bronze den as well, though the officer informed me I would need to either call that one in separately when I am preparing to assault it or inform the officers who arrive to clean up the Silver den once I was finished with it.

With that all done and my stamina bar replenished, I turned my attention back toward the yacht. It was almost surprising how little I was thinking about it this time as I pushed off from the ledge and reactivated my flight once again. The worry and trepidation of my first flight was already a thing of the past, though maybe I did make it a point to keep my attention directly on the yacht instead of looking straight down.

I threw all the force into it that I could and cut through the sky once more. I could feel the anticipation of the fight already starting to build up and I eyed my new abilities expectantly. There really was something innately thrilling about it that I had a hard time denying and I was ready to put things into action.

As I approached the yacht, I could see the back of the ship had several layered opened decks, each with a handful of people wandering about. I took the time to highlight them, ensuring that they were in fact bikers before I made my next move. The largest grouping of them were on the rear, lowest most deck. I could make out seven of them wandering around the platform and at least a few more on each of the three levels above it. The grunts at the rear of the ship were each level 5 and a few of them were armed with what looked like assault rifles. None of them had their eyes on the sky and I felt a smirk tug at the corner of my lips as I eyed the first of the abilities on my new bar.

“Earthbound Impact. Level 1 Activated Ability. While utilizing Personal Gravity Laws activate this ability to rapidly descend to the ground, increasing in speed by 1 mile per hour per foot dropped up to a maximum of 150 miles per hour. Before impact your personal gravity will be completely reversed to lessen impact upon yourself. All enemies and the environment within your local area will be affected by an immense gravitational force and will take damage equal to the speed traveling at impact times 10. This ability has a 10 minute cooldown and costs 15% of your Stamina.”

“Geronimo?” Jon asked and I chuckled lightly as I set my eyes on the large grouping on the lowest deck.

“Geronimo,” I agreed and I activated the ability, plummeting toward my enemies.