Tala felt good to step outside the hotel by herself for a change, feeling a breeze bringing in salt ocean air. But then the police sirens a block away brought her around, and she scurried to cross the street to the deli.

Looking first through the window for traces of violence, Tala stood by the store entrance, but then as there were only people in suits and women all dressed up, she entered and waited her turn to order a fresh garlic bagel with cream cheese and smoked ham.

“Sys, any new missions I should know about?” she asked in the meantime, staring at her phone and checking local news.

[Missions: Return to your hotel room.

Mission Level: 0

Time Allotment: 7 minutes]

“Well, I can do that,” she said and grabbed the bagel.

[Mission Accepted]

“Keep the change,” she said, leaving a hundred dollar bill to a young woman at the cashier, turning around to run back to the hotel before she could register her reaction.

She gobbled down the bagel and was not too excited to see that she got only 50 Agents Marks as a reward, no new special abilities given.

“Maybe they're upset I did not take other 'stay home' missions. But it does not matter. I still have four special abilities to pick through, and before I do that, I better think about them now.

For one, if I'm to survive this apocalypse, then I better get stronger.

The fastest way would be to raise my special abilities. And that means doing the missions. Those special abilities... But how do they really work?

She needed to go someplace and test it. But suddenly that presented a problem in itself. If she was to break something inside their room maybe the management would give them a hard time.

So, she went out of the room, walking around till she found a small utility room all the way on the far side of the corridor.

But the door was locked, so after wandering around, she decided to go back to her room and find something to break over there.

She stared at the bathroom counter that looked very sturdy.

“Well, if I break something, they can just charge me later when we check out. I'll pay for it. Why not? And... if they come up and say why am I making all the noise, I'll just play dumb and say I did not hear anything.”

She set the sight on its edge, tapping it first gently with the hammer, then raising it all the way in the air and slamming it hard.

The sink-holding utility did not budge. She tried again, and other than a small indentation in its top, there was no other damage.

"Okay... so, that's who I am right now."

"Let's see what I can do if I hit Level one. Give me Level 1 of Blacksmith's strike, sys."

[Blacksmith's strike, Level 1 is being assigned to you.

Please permit a few minutes for the ability to properly intergrade inside you.]

She had four levels free, and gambling one to see if it was useless or not did not seem too bad.

"Maybe three other ones I can use for something else. But let's see what Level 1 can do," she said, and not wanting to wait, she hit the side of the vanity, noting that the damage was clearly visible now.

"Damn, that's good. But... not that impressive. So.... okay, let's see the difference between the one and two. System, upgrade Blacksmith's Strike to Level 2, please."

[Blacksmith's strike, Level 2 is being assigned to you.

Please permit a few minutes for the ability to properly intergrade inside you.]

Again not wanting to wait any time, she hit the vanity again. With level two, a single strike made a loud bang that chopped the edge off.

"Shit," she said, surprised at her own power.

And then she started to feel different. It was like a mild and tickling energy started to flow from her belly to her hands, legs, and straight into her head, making her feel lightheaded. She waited for the feeling to subside and then hit the vanity again.

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And she did not even swing the hammer the hardest she could. She brought it on top of the counter, hitting it right in the middle. The bang was so loud it scared her. And then, she found she made a hole inside the top. "Holly shit!!"

Just to make sure it was not a fluke, she tried again, not even going that hard, picking the other side of the counter. For a second she thought the hammer must have slipped her hand as it went all the way down, but then she noticed the edge of the sturdy counter she hit being chipped off, the piece of wood lying on the floor.

"Shit. So, this is how it works!! And it’s awesome! So awesome!!! Shit, all I'm saying, nobody better upset me now." She felt how good the hammer set in her hand, feeling its power. "Heck, nobody better even looks at me the wrong way."

Feeling powerful and invincible, Tala decided on the whim what to do. She'd run to the bank. Ten minutes there and ten minutes back.

I'll leave a note to Chitto, but knowing him, he'd probably be like ten hours inside the pool till his skin does not start peeling off his body. Testing her new rucksack, it fitted perfectly on her back. Just to be safe, she decided to put the hammer inside, in the side inner side pocket for a quick and easy grab.

Outside the police sirens met her again, and she saw a patrol car speeding over the intersection. There was also a fire truck that could be heard in the distance.

“This is not a coincidence. Should I run back to the hotel?”

[New Mission Updates]

She thought she knew what the mission was but she decided to ignore it and ran across the street.

“I need to see this before shit hits the fan... What if in the safe was something more than just the money? Was the guy who asked them to come here their benefactor or... something more sinister?"

The closer and closer she got to the bank, the more and more eager she became to see what was inside. She needed answers, and she hoped there would be some inside.

Inside the bank, she approached the first clerk and told him what she was there for. He took her passport and disappeared to the manager's room, and after a few minutes came back to take her to the back office room. There a polite older gentleman asked her if she wanted anything to drink and as Tala declined, she noticed to her surprise that the bank had her picture and the copy of her passport in their files, displayed on the man's screen.

Whoever Howey's boss was, he really worked fast, Tala thought remembering that she got her passport less than two days ago.

Then, a security officer came and led her downstairs, passed another security guard and when she thought she was done with the security, they entered a vault through the thickest metallic doors she ever saw.

“Your first time here? The security guard asked her, seeing how wide-eyed Tala became, looking at the inside of a huge white-lid vault.

Tala just nodded her head.

She expected to be led to a small deposit box, but the man showed her to a side corridor taking her deeper inside the vault. “It's the second door to your right, ma'am,” he said. “Just enter the security password on the keyboard, and the door will open automatically.”

A minute later she stared at the room that was not more than ten feet deep with four feet across. It looked even smaller as there were half a dozen large black leather cases inside. As she walked inside, she felt the air conditioning pick up. There was a smaller box, about a quarter the size of the bigger ones.

It drew her attention as it had a little note on top of it. It said, “Tala, this is for you.”

She opened it swiftly.

First, she saw money. A deep pile of bundles of 100-dollar bills. And then dark glass cylinders filled with gold coins. The sight made her whistle.

"Unreal," escaped her mouth as she weighted one of the coins in the palm of her hand, feeling it, admiring it, guessing how much it could be worth.

There was a cigar holder, and she opened it up. But instead of a cigar, it held an injection, one with the blue dot and another one with the red one.

A note left for her explained it a bit. She read it swiflty.

Tala, if you are here it must be because I am not. Help yourself with anything and everything you may find useful. Sorry in the end I did not meet you. But in the end, it would not have made a difference.

If you ever see Trono again, tell him I'm sorry, sorry for everything,

Bear.

PS

Use the blue dot injection only if you're close to dying. The red one only if there is no way to recuperate your energy.

PSS

Don't trust anyone. Hope you survive.

“Shit,” she cursed, realizing the severity of the situation, realizing that things were going to go wrong sooner or later.

She wanted to open the other box, but they were locked and she could not find the key. She even turned the box that was left for her upside down, dropping everything there was inside, shocked to see a handgun inside a caring belt. But there was no key for the other boxes.

“Mystery by itself. Maybe for some other time,” she said as she started to take dollar packs and throw them inside her backpack, deciding to leave some there as there just was not enough room in her backpack.

She looked at the gun for only a second and said, “Yeah, might as well,” as she lifted it up and carefully placed it inside her bag.

Then, grabbing the cigar folder with injections inside, she shoved them in her front pocket and exited swiftly, noting that the door closed automatically as she left.

Not thrilled over what she found, she contemplated sitting down quietly inside her hotel room to think about everything she knew so far. And make the plans for the future.

Lost in her own thoughts, she entered her hotel's elevator, and not suspecting anything pressed for her floor.

Just before the elevator door opened, she heard screaming, then realized it was Chitto screaming.

“Shit, shit, shit!” she cursed herself, grabbed the hammer from the backpack and ran down the corridor.