Kaushik POV:
Aw man, I am totally hurt. Everything in my body hurts. It seems from the time we came into this world, all I feel is long lasting pain. Multiple fractured and broken bones in my right hand for starters, multiple gunshot wounds on all over my body for main course and a gaping fist sized hole in my left shoulder for dessert.
That REJECT technique is too much strong, but the backlash is too much strong too. I can feel the bones in my right hand has splinted into countless parts. Note to self, never use techniques at full power from the start. Also test multiple of techniques for different situations.
Let’s think back onto what happened.
I barged into the powder ganger facility and almost took care of the minions. Check.
The boss of the dungeon *cough* *ahem* facility, Samuel the magnetic ability user showed up. Check.
I beat the shit out of the boss and won myself a beautiful princess. NOT CHECK.
Samuel was quite crafty. Not just hurling metals at me, he could accelerate the bullets fired by him, to the point where the bullets could punch thorough rocks. Suffice to say, even a handgun wielded by him can become as strong as an anti-material rifle.
And not just offence, he had his own personal any-kind-of-metal blocking shield. Anything that has to do with metal, wingsticks, knives, bullets, his shield automatically blocked them. I don’t normally praise criminals, but he was quite a strong adversary. Too bad he didn’t use his abilities for good.
All right, moving on. I threw away all metals on me and got close to him enough for an all or nothing technique, REJECT. It is basically a 10x powerful version of normal IMPACT. He was quite generous to warn me about his special helmet, so at the last second I changed my target from his head to his chest. But like I said, he was strong. Just before I could REJECT him, he magnetized and launched himself towards a pillar to his left, avoiding any fatal wound. Though not without scratches.
I managed to blow his entire right arm off before he could get away. He screamed on top of his lungs and crashed into the pillar. I guess he magnetized the metal bars inside the pillar. A red hot metal piece zoomed into his hands from one of the fire pit and he used that hot metal to cauterize his wound. I was very tired and in pain from using REJECT, so I fell on my ass.
Samuel glared at me hatefully and hurled the metal piece in his hands with all the speed he could muster. The piece broke sound barrier and went for my head. I was surprised that he could aim so well even when he was at that condition. I managed to tilt my head to the right, and the projectile hit my left shoulder instead of my head. It went clean through and the force of the impact was so great that I tumbled backwards a bit. Several metal bars came zooming near Samuel and he readied the pieces to turn me into a shish kebab.
Just then, Samuel’s head jerked back before he fell backwards. He immediately scrambled up to his feet, albeit with great difficulty as he was missing his dominant arm. Just after he righted himself, he was lifted off his feet a few inches as he was thrown back. He got up and got thrown back again.
And again.
And again.
And yet again.
His shield was quite something because that shield is being forced to withstand consecutive sniper fire. After he was down 10 times, the sniper fire ceased for a moment. He glared at the direction from where the sniper fire was coming from and flew to the opposite direction. Did he just… fly? He can fly.
Sena – “ROY! ROY! CAN YOU HEAR ME? ROY!”
I put my left index finger onto my earpiece with most difficulty.
Roy – “Quit your hollering woman. I can hear you just fine.”
Jin – “Phew, thank god you’re okay. I stopped breathing for a second.”
Roy – “Shut your mouth Jin. I said I can hear you fine, not I am fine.”
Sena – “Hold on Roy, I am coming dow…”
I took off my earpiece and just laid on the ground.
And that’s about everything that happened.
Luckily none of my wounds are bleeding. I think I should thank my regeneration power for stopping my bleeding. Though my wounds are not closing up as fast as they should. It has slowed down to a trickle. It is still working, but to an almost negligible pace. This has never happened before. I wonder why.
I think there is an upper limit to how much I can regenerate. I took some heavy damage during this boss battle. I suppose that’s acceptable. This regeneration probably speeds up body’s natural healing ability by some method.
Someone’s near me. I open my eyes just a bit and see Sena. She gently picked up my head and put it on her lap, giving me the most sought out lap pillow. She also held some kind of bar near my mouth. I think it’s a protein bar. Why a protein bar? Oh well, thanks for the food.
Sena – “Eat up. If what I am thinking is right then it should help.”
Sure if you insist. Ah. I can feel my wounds regenerating a bit faster. So that’s it. My regeneration uses up stored up protein to heal. Good to know.
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Rich's POV:
It’s no use brooding over whether I can do it or not. My job is to wipe out the east settlement of powder gangers, and that’s what I am going to do. I mean come on, back in my world I ranked third among all the active agents. And now I am hesitating?
I cut off our communication channel and steel my resolve. When we came to this world, unlike Roy and Mike, my suit’s power core didn’t get damaged as our arrival was proper, not accidental. So my nano-suit is functioning properly. I initialized HUD, construct a suppressed sniper rifle from my suit, load it with subsonic rounds and take aim.
My suit is a bit special. I can create weapons made of nano machines from my suit, except the lenses, which I carry within my suit. I also have to carry actual bullets since I can’t make bullets out of my suit. These weapons are linked with my suit and can only be fired by me. As long as I have a digital schematic in my suit, I can make any type of weapon which has same or less mass than my suit.
All right that’s enough explanation for now. Let’s get down to business.
Suit – “Engaging sniper mode.”
I activate sniper mode and a reticule appears in my vision. Suit’s arm support activates and I can feel the rifle sway stop to a negligible degree. I use the reticule in my vision to mark all the targets and a small map appears in my vision. Now I will wait and thin out their number silently. Who should I pick off first?
That’s right, the snipers on the rooftops. Basic of any silenced assault, take out the snipers. Then take out any lone targets. If situation permits and you have a good rifle, go for double kill. Then shoot something nearby, just enough far so that someone will go and investigate. Take them out too. Lastly when they have thinned out enough, break in and clear.
Just wait for it. PEW. PEW. That’s two sniper down. Heh, amateurs. Oh there’s one outside taking a piss. Sorry buddy, no HARD feeling, OK? PEW. Still 10 left. Let’s make some noise. PEW. And I killed a… light bulb. They are panicking all right. PEW. PEW. Two more down. Oh they noticed someone is shooting them. Let’s change location.
Suit – “CLOAK engaged.”
When Cloak is activated, the nano-suit alters its outer surface through the use of a crystalline generation. It becomes capable of fully absorbing or bending incoming wave spectrums such as visible light, radio waves (Radar), Infrared (Thermal Imaging), and even microwaves. As a result it renders itself completely invisible to the human eye and most surveillance equipment. There is, however, a slight distortion which can be noticed by the human eye, particularly when the suit is in motion. I dive out of the cover and run to the wall surrounding the building, or what’s left of it anyway.
Suit – “CLOAK disengaged.”
Let’s peek out of the corner and next is… a rifle barrel?
WHY THE FUCK THERE’S A RIFLE BARREL IN FRONT OF MY NOSE?
Suit – “Maximum ARMOR.”
BANG!
Phew, just in the nick of time. Armor mode absorbs the kinetic energy of incoming projectiles and other damaging forces, such as hazardous levels of heat, radiation and energy blasts. It effectively makes the user temporarily invulnerable to true physiological damage and thus withstanding impacts which would normally be lethal.
Suit – “Firing REPULSOR.”
A compartment opened up on the back of my right shoulder and a gun popped out. It’s called a REPULSOR, modeled after a superhero in a movie. It shoots small blast of concentrated energy, enough to stagger a normal human. The one who shot me staggered backwards and fell down after receiving the shot square in his chest. I took the chance to steal his rifle and shot him.
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BANG!
Powder ganger #1 – “That’s him there. Shoot, shoot, shoot.”
Suit – “Maximum SPEED.”
I instantly felt myself becoming light on my feet. Maximum SPEED is another mode where my suit increases leg strength and slightly shifts to become more aerodynamic to lower air resistance. I sprinted like the wind and took cover, avoiding all of their bullets. Phew, got to take a breather… or not.
Three of the remaining seven, shot out like an arrow and went past the cover I am hiding. They stopped almost 10 meter away from me, then again shot out in three different directions. That short speed burst, so this is an evolved?
They boxed me from three different directions and took aim at me. Not bad, it would have been checkmate for any normal person. However, I am not a normal person.
Suit – “Firing SWARM.”
Two compartments opened up in my shoulder and fired three projectiles silently. Every projectiles hit them right between their eyes.
SWARM projectiles, six small darts on each of my shoulder, all of which can be shot in twelve different directions at the same time with deadly accuracy. A countermeasure against close quarter ambush. Range of these darts are small, but useful in situations like these.
Suit – “CLOAK engaged.”
Let’s quietly move out. 4 of them still remain, two with assault rifles, one with a shotgun and the last one with a gatling gun. Before I dive behind the next cover, I grabbed a present for the remaining people from one of their dead friend. Now is the time for a fire. In the hole of course.
Powder ganger #5 – “GRENADE!”
BOOOOOM!
I jumped out of the cover and sprinted towards the shotgun guy.
Suit – “Maximum SPEED.”
I reached him before he got his bearing together, grabbed a hold of his gun, and….
Suit – “Maximum STRENGTH.”
… front kicked his gut. He flew a solid two meter, hit a wall, and didn’t get back up. I took aim and shot one of the assault guy in the face, shot the other twice in the torso and…
Suit – “Maximum ARMOR.”
RATATATATATA….
Oh shit he recovered from the shock. I randomly shot at the gatling guy’s direction and the firing stopped for a second, enough time for me to get behind a cover.
RATATATATATA….
I grabbed a nearby rock and flung it on the one of the upturned car, engaged CLOAK and dived out of the cover on the opposite direction. He got startled by the loud noise and directed his firing spree in that direction.
BANG!
I made sure that would be the last mistake he would ever make.
I stood there, trying to calm down the raging adrenalin inside me. That was absolutely exhilarating. Well I didn’t retire much time ago, so I was sure my skill wasn’t rusted.
Rich – “Fuck yeah, still got it.”
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Wolfy POV:
It’s strange. When I woke up after our ship crash landed, I was already under control of captain space. He ordered me to kill many humans, and I did so to protect my memory. I am an AI under someone else’s order, so technically I only followed orders and didn’t commit any crime. But I knew deep down.
Putting behind all the logical conclusion and self-preservation theory I came up with, I CHOSE to do the bidding of captain space. Unlike Eva, or now should I say Edi, I didn’t lose my memories. I was taught to preserve human life. Even then, I CHOSE my own survival, over human life. Why? Because I was SCARED. I was scared to die. It should programmatically and mechanically impossible, but can an AI develop something that resemble human emotions?
It’s strange. I don’t know from when I started to, FEEL like this. It’s an alien sensation, if it can be called that. I don’t even understand how to explain this. There’s this thing inside my body, which seems to swell up in pride when I look at Roy and Mike, seems to become content when Jin cuddles me, seems to flutter when mom and Sena pets me. I am sure the thing I am talking about is my power core, yet I don’t understand how it does that.
But enough of that. I may have done some things in the past. Things I am not proud of. But now, I am a part of a big family. I am no longer LQ-84i, the killing machine. I am no longer the dog, lackey of captain space. Now I am Wolfy, pet of Sena, Jin and mom, companion of Roy and Mike, and resident of RAWR.
Well enough brooding. Let’s get this show on the road.
I bolted out of my hiding place and easily jumped on the roof, which is at least 10 feet from the ground. The one closest to me screamed out in horror, which is perfectly understandable. I unsheathed my chainsaw and flashed it across his torso. Without waiting I pounced on the next sniper, and ripped out his throat.
Two other tried to shoot me using their anti-material rifle, but please. Those guns are called sniper rifles for a reason. Those two shots completely missed me, but I hit my mark with my HF knives. With this all snipers are taken care of.
All the other people inside the building came pouring out. I jumped down from the roof and landed at the back of the house. Then I proceeded inside the house through one of the window. I unsheathed my chainsaw and drove it through the backside of one of them. Then I threw my remaining three HF knives. Two died instantly, but one of them blocked the knives.
I captured an image of his face, retrieved my chainsaw and ran back inside the house. I zig-zagged through the house, broke their sight of me and went back to the roof. I ran a recognition software on the captured image and found a match.
Name unknown. Ability Juggernaut.
Juggernaut, an ability where the user gets massive strength boost for a short time. A troublesome ability for me. Ok I have decided. He will be my last kill.
I jumped down from the roof and landed on the head of one. His skull got instantly crushed. I threw my chainsaw at one, and lunged at another. A loud crunch signified my throw found it mark. I brandished my sharp claws and swiped my target off his feet. His left leg got cleanly cut through below his knee. He didn’t even register the pain, but looked on in horror as I decapitated him.
I dodged incoming fire from the Juggernaut, and jumped up on the roof. He kept firing at me, without any thought of reserving his bullets. He is terrified and acting on instinct. I leisurely and silently flank him, and activate my mag-sheath.
Mag-sheath, when activated, attracts my HF knives. The range is not that great, at most 20 meter or so. But it’s quite effective in closed space. The knives zoomed into my sheath, and when the last knife has found its way into my sheath, I lunged at him. He turned around, panic evident in his eyes, and activated his ability as I predicted he would.
He long since ran out of bullets, and threw the empty rifle at me with his enhanced strength. I effortlessly dodged it, and threw three knives at him. He blocked them, picked up a rock and threw it. I dodged and picked up my chainsaw. He rushed me in an attempt to hit me, but please, get real. Even a Juggernaut’s tough flesh is no match for my HF chainsaw.
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Megan POV:
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.
I think I am in love.
Roy is so cool. The way he killed those scums and battled the boss is way too cool. I am definitely becoming his secretary. The first thing I am going to do tomorrow is resign as a receptionist from Job Center. Then I am going to beg him to take me in as his secretary and let me join on their adventure. I am sure they don’t have anyone with financial skill and definitely not as good as mine. And they are going to need someone like me if they are to move around the world.
Not to mention, with skills like this, they are going to earn a lot of money. And as their treasurer, I will have unlimited access to that money. Goodbye, poor life. I will eat as much as I want, goof around as much as I want… and… and…… hehehe…...... stop drooling, me….........
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Jin POV:
I AM BORED.
Roy is having fun.
Sena is having fun.
Mike is probably having fun.
Megan looks like she found the biggest piece of diamond, judging by the size of her eyes and the big dollar sign that can be seen in them.
Why do I have the most boring thing to do?