51ST AND 8TH. HELL’S KITCHEN, NYC
NEIGHBORHOOD: UNCLAIMED.
CITY: CLAIMED BY SQUAD THE PARAGONS OF JUSTICE
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“You do realize this mask makes me look like I’M the criminal, right?”
“Is it my fault the only thing you had in your apartment to disguise your identity with was a ski mask? That sounds like a real you problem. The Secret Identity protocol is a requirement that can only be disregarded in extremely specific situations. For all regular activity, if you wish to use your powers outside of a safe room, your identity must be disguised at a minimum by a mask.”
“Okay, then where do all of the other Augments get their costumes from? I always assumed if there was a tailor making super suits they’d be advertising the shit out of that,” I asked. Though Angie had proven she was happy to respond when I asked her questions out loud, she had pointed out attempting to speak to her in public would reveal more information than the “NPC public” was allowed to know. It was a bit odd vocalizing my thoughts inward but it came surprisingly naturally.
“Tailors do exist, but not quite in the way you are thinking. The majority of the items you will actively use will be received through loot boxes along with several other vendors. These will be available to you after you complete your tutorial mission, now please, how long are you going to stall?”
I was standing outside of a small bank on the corner of a street several blocks away from my apartment, feeling my heart pounding as I waited to make my move.
“Oh I’m sorry, I don’t want to just burst in there without a plan! Like I said, I’m the one who’s going to look like a criminal if I go in before there’s actually something happening in there!” I shot back. “Not to mention, isn’t it kind of weird that I’m just like… waiting for a crime that you apparently already know is going to happen?”
“I think you already know the answer to that. Besides, the NPCs will quickly realize you aren’t a threat when you start taking down the robbers as they show up, though you can technically still change your mind and rob the bank instead until you register completion of your mission.”
“Why do I get the feeling you want me to rob this bank?” I asked, hearing the sudden sound of screeching tires as a large van came to a comical stop outside of the bank. There must have been at least a dozen men in leather jackets with a snake on the back who jumped out and rushed for the bank door. “Okay, what the hell, do you guys have some sort of dimensional bullshit? How are that many people fitting into that car?”
In response to my curiosity, the van was highlighted in my vision and a stat box popped up.
“By selecting any item in your field of view, from players to NPCs to that random piece of paper by that trash can over there, you can see its viewable stats. For living creatures and other Augments, if they are not in your party you will only be able to view publicly accessible information. Vehicles and other items in the regular world are readily scannable, though some conditions may apply, and you will never see anything other than a name and basic description for sentient NPCs. Usable items must be held in order to get all of the details.”
The van’s stat box filled out and Angie “helpfully” narrated it for me. There had to be a way to turn that off…
“There isn't, so don't waste your time hoping for it. Now, this is a 2021 Volkswagen Caddy! This is a vehicle controlled by the Hell’s Kitchen Vipers. This illegally obtained vehicle has been enhanced with the Clown Car feature.”
“Clown Car! This feature can only be applied to two axle, enclosed vehicles. When applied, increase the passenger capacity by 10 times the available seating originally within the vehicle. So yes, Augment, this is some sort of dimensional bullshit. Just wait till you see how your inventory works.”
“I really… really want to know how the hell any of this works. I mean, they invented this literal world changing technology and it’s being used for… this. I mean, is this really the best use? Can’t we just have superpowers without all the weird video game stuff?” I said as I mentally waved away the Caddy’s description box. So far, it was getting noticeably easier for me to utilize the heads-up display and in all the craziness I could at least appreciate that.
“Okay Elon. You can’t just come into a decade old system, make changes to something that’s working just fine and call yourself a visionary,” Angie’s voice became noticeably snarkier but I found myself unsurprised by how quickly she changed the conversation. “Now I’d really recommend getting in there Augment, if you are worried that you are not going to be able to perform, which I know is a common problem amongst you fleshbags, you shouldn’t be. The augmentation process comes with a set of built in movements and basic fighting skills that will feel natural to you as you utilize them. Now quit. stalling. That gang isn’t exactly non-violent.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going,” I muttered, this time out loud as I quickly sprinted across the street. There were already cop sirens in the distance, echoing off the tall buildings amongst the sound of honking horns and the general ambient noise that made up New York. A timer popped into the top right of my vision labeled Time Until Police Arrive: 8 Minutes and 37 seconds.
While I still wasn’t exactly sure what Local Area Manipulation was, I was smart enough to at least have some sort of circular logic, and if Angie was telling the truth, I should just innately know how to do some of the things. My Water Into Wine ability seemed to be the best place to start as I considered the possibilities.
That didn’t exactly help tell me what else my power could do, but Angie had told me that abilities would form based on my creativity, or something to that effect at least. At the very least, my Super Luck secondary power seemed a bit easier to guess.
It was with that in mind that I rushed through the front door, time almost feeling like it slowed briefly as “Bank of America Lobby“ appeared in the location panel at the bottom of my screen. Red outlines briefly flashed over eight men as they turned their attention from the civilians cowering on the ground throughout. I focused my attention on the closest of the red outlines and a stat box popped up.
“Viper Grunt. Level 1 Biker. Hey, do you know why Bikers like to wear so much leather? Because it’s the only thing that works to hide their lack of a fashion sense and the fact that they haven’t showered in a week. These are the lowest members of the Hell’s Kitchen Vipers biker gang currently harassing the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. This is a non-sentient NPC. Negative Karmic points for killing this mob are halved.”
“Non-Sentient? Doesn’t that mean-”
“Questions later Augment,” Angie prompted just as the Grunt’s eyes lit up in recognition and the muzzle of his pistol was leveled toward me.
“Careful now fella, ain’t nobody needs to be a hero,” he said in a thick Brooklyn accent. “We got a whole bunch of hostages, why don’t you just back your way out that door before you get someone killed.”
“Before any combat begins, any good hero has the chance to talk their way out of the fight. Personally, I think this is incredibly boring. I recommend you get up there and punch that guy in his stupid bearded face.”
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“Oh yeah, because these guys look like they’re reasonable…” I thought, feeling oddly in agreement with Angie. I only had a few moments to make a decision, somehow I knew that, and the flood of information assaulting me from every angle, though it should have been overwhelming, somehow was becoming second nature. Maybe it had something to do with the augmentation process, but it was as if every time I became aware of something in my HUD, it became as easy as breathing to pull the information from.
There were still four of the men I saw come into the bank unaccounted for and I was pretty sure that any sudden sound was going to draw them into the fight. If, and that felt like a big if given that I hadn’t been in a real fight in well, ever, but IF I was going to actually do this, I was going to have to take out as many of them as I could as fast as I could.
The guns… they were the problem and an idea popped into my head that was almost dumb enough to work.
I lunged forward, mentally reaching for my Super Luck ability as all of the Viper Grunts in the space leveled their weapons at me. While it was possible that the Luck was only meant to be positive, every single example I could think of always meant luck going in both directions. Angie had said if I thought of an ability, as long as the AI deemed it was within the capabilities of my power, it should-
“New Ability! Misfire! No, Augment, this isn’t in reference to your most recent failed one night stand, you know, the one with that blonde from Bushwick? Yeah, you remember what happened. This is a Passive skill. Whenever an enemy attempts to use a firearm against you, there is a chance equal to 5% for every 1 point in difference between your and your opponent’s luck stat, minus their current level, that their weapon will misfire, causing blowback damage to the user! Affected shooters will take damage equal to twice their weapons standard damage.”
Three of the men pulled their triggers and all three of their guns exploded in their hands.
“New Achievement! Disposable Bodies! You have killed your first non-sentient mob! Don’t worry too much about these guys, we grow them in vats all over the world. It’s at least slightly more ethical than conscripting random people to throw into the meat grinder against you all. This is a Bronze Level Achievement! Reward: You have received a D:Tier Loot Box! And yes, even though you technically didn’t kill these guys, we are giving you credit for their defeat.”
“New Achievement! Passive Purveyor of Death! Are you sure Hero is the way you want to go? You put down three enemies in less than a single second using a Passive skill. Why do I have a feeling you’re going to be leaning into that overpowered luck of yours? This is a Silver Level Achievement! Reward: You have received a C:Tier Loot Box!”
Angie immediately rattled off the achievements and I mentally wished for a way to delay those during combat to avoid distractions. Unfortunately for now, I knew I just had to deal with it. I did notice that my Misfire ability didn’t appear directly next to the Water Into Wine ability, instead appearing in the first of the two slot sections of my hotbar.
With the fight still going though, I pushed the curiosity from my mind and continued my rush forward. It took me only a few moments to cover the distance to the closest Viper Grunt who had unluckily not fired his weapon. It really would be helpful if he-
“New Ability! Trigger Finger! Have you ever seen a gun laying on a table in the distance and thought to yourself, “God I wish I could fire that thing without having to move my lazy ass!”? Well now that you can control things in your local area, you can! This ability can target a single firearm at a time within the area of your control. This ability has a 1 minute cooldown.”
The Grunt’s eyes briefly lit up in confusion as his gun went off… and misfired back into his face, dropping him to the ground with shrapnel sticking out of his cheek and blood beginning to pool on the ground around him.
“The fuck is goin’ on out there?!” A husky, still heavily accented voice called into the room, briefly drawing the attention of the last four grunts. One of the guards went to shout for help and I instinctively pushed to silence the room.
“New Ability! Mute Button! Look at you Augment, you’re really getting used to those abilities of yours with how quickly you’re coming up with stuff. For a time equal to 5 seconds for every point of Intelligence that you have, silence ALL noise coming into and leaving your local area! It’d be so quiet you could hear a mouse fucking… you know, if you could hear anything at all! You can disable this ability early. This ability has a 10 minute cooldown.”
I could see the civilians screaming as they took in the death that was quickly filling the room, but it was exactly as the ability described. It was as if the sound had been literally muted and the moment of shock that passed over the guards gave me time to get up close to a guard that was blocking the singular entrance into the teller area of the bank.
“Please work,” I found myself muttering inaudibly as I threw the biggest punch I could, hoping beyond hope that I could get lucky and hit something vital.
“New Ability!!! Sting Like a Bee! You know how in most video games bosses and a lot of enemies have weak spots? Well that’s because you humans have A LOT of weak spots and oftentimes translate those into video games! Personally, I think it’s a bit silly but nobody asked me. When you activate this ability, you gain a 2% chance (increasing by 2% for every 1 point of Luck you have) for your next 3 Unarmed Strikes to strike Weak Spots and inflict an additional 25% damage! Additional effects may also occur depending on the location struck! This ability has a 30 second duration and a 2 minute and 30 second cooldown.”
That wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for, but a 22% chance was better than nothing, and as long as these guys were at least mostly human, I could increase those odds by actively aiming for spots that I knew were vital. My knuckles collided silently with the Viper Grunt’s temple and simultaneously he crumpled to the ground and his gun went flying. Directly over the Grunt’s body a spinning KO symbol hovered.
“New Achievement! Non-Lethal Blow! Now that’s more heroic. You have removed an enemy from a fight without killing them. That’s really not all that exciting, but you can pretend they got thrown in a jail somewhere and ignore anyone who looks like them if we decide to reuse them in a future mission. This is a Bronze Level Achievement. Reward: You have received a C:Tier Loot Box!”
I skipped backwards as another Grunt charged, his attack going wide and he stumbled forward. Without even thinking, I moved, jumping forward as my knee came up and collided with the Grunt’s exposed chin. Teeth actually went flying from his mouth as he was launched backward into yet another Grunt, knocking the two of them into a heap on the ground with dual KO symbols floating above their heads.
“Neeeeew Ability! Misfortune Abound! You know, when we said you had Super Luck, we didn’t exactly think you’d be using it to make everyone else just so, so unlucky. Oh well, it’s hilarious so we’re gonna keep going with it! This is a Passive ability. While in combat, cause all enemies within your local area to have a chance equal to 1% for every 1 point of Luck you have minus their current level for something… bad to happen to them. Yes, we know, bad is pretty subjective, but if you need an example just look at that guy who just got slammed to the ground by the flying toothless wonder. That’s what happened to him.”
“-the fuck!?!” The sound returned to the room all at once as screams threatened to overwhelm me. I wasn’t sure if it was one of the Grunts or if it had been the hostages, but I didn’t have time for it to matter. I turned to find my next target only to find a massive fist barreling right for me. I didn’t have time to dodge and the strike landed directly in my chest, sending me actually flying backwards and into the nearest wall.
It occurred to me that this was somehow the first time I had been hit since this started and a red bar appeared at the top of my vision, about a quarter of it fading away as I tried to catch my breath. The grunt that attacked me was noticeably bigger than the others and unlike them, his gun wasn’t out, instead opting to crack his knuckles as he slowly walked toward me.
“Now, me an’ my boys here were just trying to make a withdrawal to cover some pizza and beer for the night, but you just had to go an’ stick your nose into it,” the large man said, practically glaring as he towered over me. “Who da fuck are you even supposed to be? The Amazin’ Ski Mask?”
“Viper Brute. Level 3 Biker. Sure, you might be laying those grunts out like they’re… well mindless disposable grunts and strictly speaking that’s because they are, but this guy isn’t going to be so easy. Actually, the way he’s looking at you… yeah, it looks like he’s actually going to be quite hard… In the Hell’s Kitchen Vipers, you can look at Brutes as those employees that have been around for a year, so they think they have seniority and act all superior, but really they are really just Grunts with mileage. Oh well, this one’s about to put some mileage on you Augment, good luck.”