There was still three hours before midnight, more than enough time for Happy's plan. As he took a step towards the door, all four of the kids jumped up abruptly. Observing their stances, he noticed that they looked as if they were going to lunge at him if he moved another muscle.
"...I'm just going to the bathroom." Happy said, holding his hands up. He flashed a quick smile as well, hoping to ease the tension.
The angry girl who seemed to be the leader simply sighed and nodded at one of the boys.
"I don't need any help using the bathroom, if that's what you're thinking."
The boy who had been chosen to escort him remained silent and gave him an exasperated stare. Happy just shrugged and followed the boy out of the room.
The bait has been cast.
As the two turned right into a lit hallway, Happy made sure that there were a sizeable amout of robot students close by him. It was extremely important that there were alot of eyes on him during the incident in order to catch that thing's attention.
Slipping the glass shard he had gotten from the bathroom into his hand, he reared back and smashed it into the boy's neck. The gravely injured boy clawed at his throat, unable to scream because of the fluid filling his jugular. Blood sprayed out in all directions, painting Happy's face a crimson red. Yanking the shard out, the former terrorist stomped on the boy's knee, causing him to collapse onto the ground.
"...help...p-please..." the bleeding boy choked out.
Ignoring the boy, Happy kept on the onslaught showing no remorse. Just in case he had a particularly high vitality stat, he plunged the shard into the boy's spine. Ripping out the makeshift knife, he impaled the body four more times, Traitor making his attacks a little more vicious.
[Matthew O'Conner (NPC) has been slain.]
[TRAIT ACQUIRED]
[POTENTIAL ABILITY UNLOCKED]
Wiping his dirtied hands onto his pants, Happy pulled the bottom of his shirt up in order to wipe the sticky blood off his face. But to his surprise, the dried blood simply crumbled away into nothingness without any intervention.
I guess they wanted to keep it rated under 18+.
He would check the notifications from the system later, the most important part was coming up soon. The corpse laid below him with multiple stabbing wounds visible along the spinal region and an expression of horror and despair frozen on it's face. Happy lifted his head and observed the robot students. Instead of ignoring him like before, they now surrounded Happy in a circle, pointing at him. It was a little unnerving, even for the former terrorist.
"John Smith, I know you're there. I've been waiting for you."
The mob of robot students parted, revealing the forgettable student who had showed him the way to the bathroom. Happy could feel it in his bones, this particular robot student was not like the others. The biggest giveaway was that he was the only one with a name tag given by the system.
"Or should I call you the control monster instead...?"
"..."
The transparent screen above John's head shimmered and warped, turning into a dark red color. The Possessor. It was a fitting name, though it was a little too on the nose for Happy's tastes.
The apathetic expression on the Possesor's face remained the same, even after being exposed. However, when it tilted it's head to observe the dead body, the quickest flash of emotion appeared on it's face. It was anger.
Happy crossed his arms and nodded his head slightly, his predictions had been correct. It seemed that the monster had no animosity towards him.
"It seems you have a vendetta against those students, am I correct?"
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The monster in human's clothing slightly tilted it's head.
"I'm already well aware of your weakness. But ... I have a proposal."
Happy's mouth smiled kindly. However, his eyes remained cold. Monsters and people, they were one in the same to Happy. Both usable, both controllable.
"Me and you... we share a common enemy. Why don't we work together?"
----------------------------------------
Three hours later, the angry girl's plan had started. Happy squinted his eyes, observing the metal box in front of him. There was a faded yellow sticker with a lightning bolt design printed onto it. According to the group's information, this was apparently one of the five generators powering the school building, the four other kids had split up in order to destroy the rest. Or that was what they claimed they were going to do. Staring down at the bucket filled with tapwater in his right hand, Happy swung it in a arc, sending the liquid flying all over the electrical components.
BOOM
[POTENTIAL ABILITY UNLOCKED]
The lights flickered off as the metal box released an incredibly loud zapping sound of electrical currents. Shortly after it turned back on, but Happy wasn't too surprised. He had already figured out the angry girl's plan the second he saw the unequal water distribution in the buckets. There was no actual way to turn off the power all at once, if there were they would have done it a long time ago. That left the group with only one way of escaping the school, using Happy as bait for the monster. Unfortunately for them, they were dealing with the man who rose to the top of the most notorious crime syndicate.
Happy covered his mouth as he yawned. Turning around, he exited the dusty generator room. He wasn't pressed for time, it was promised that there would be a signal. Since there was nothing to do, he opened up his status screen to check the new notifications.
First, he decided to claim his new trait.
Murderer: Most NPCs with the GOOD alignment will automatically have negative impressions of you.
There will be work for you in Hell.
...Useless...
Scrolling up, he decided to check the new potential abilities as well.
[ABILITY: CON MAN (RANK: F)]
[CLAIM?]
[ABILITY: ELECTRICITY (RANK: B)]
[CLAIM?]
[ABILITY: POWERLESS (RANK: E)]
[CLAIM?]
Happy compared the two new choices. He had obviously gotten the electric powers from what he did to the generator, and the ability itself seemed self explanatory. The rank was decently high as well, but it wasn't enough.
Well if I get nothing better ... this one will do.
However, Powerless confused Happy. Had he gotten potential in it because he had killed Matthew without any abilities? And what did it even do? However, the sound of metal lockers being destroyed and lights being smashed cut off his train of thought.
Theres the signal.
Happy got up and streched, lifting his arms and wrapping them around his head, then clasping them together behind his back. Deep down, he was a little worried. If his suspicions were correct, at least one of the kids in the group had an ability. He also wasn't completely sure the Possesor wouldn't betray him too.
Happy calmed himself and pulled out the glass shard he had used to kill one of the boys. He slowly walked towards the sounds of fighting, arriving quickly would only harm him. It would be best he let them tire each other out first. Checking his clothes, he suddenly felt a little bare. The flimsy pieces of cloth and fabric that were his shirt and pants would not provide any protection at all. Happy sighed, silently wishing his vitality stat was higher than an E.
As the sounds grew louder, he contemplated the most pressing issue concerning him at the moment. Why was he in the VRMMO his ex-wife created? Did she steal his dead body's brain and transplant it into a computer? Was this actually the afterlife? Happy lifted his hand and massaged his temples. He would find the answers later, now was not the time
Turning right, he sneaked up and observed the scene from behind a concrete pillar. He noticed the crumpled corpse of the other boy, his head was dented in and his eyeballs had exploded out of their sockets. Next to the corpse was the sad girl, the lower half of her body was crushed. She was dragging herself towards a wall using her arms, leaving behind a trail of fresh blood, sort of like a crayon. Noticing the benches and open space, Happy assumed that they were in the lobby of the school. The group had been intercepted before they could reach the exit.
The main event was the angry girl fighting an opponent. As Happy expected, the angry girl had an ability, a strong one in fact. She was holding off her attacker using a gigantic hammer that was the color of deep crimson. Looking closely, Happy noticed little droplets of red liquid fell from the weapon each time she blocked a heavy attack.
So her ability is transforming blood... that's why there were bruises on her body.
The angry girl's attacker was the boy he had killed with a shard of glass. Well actually, it was the Possessor controlling the corpse of the boy. Happy observed the fight carefully, he would have to time it just right so he could swoop in and steal the kill.
However, something unexpected happened. The sad girl, who Happy had thought already died, activated her ability. It was a soft, glowing arrow of light. Happy lunged at the girl, but it was too late. With her dying breath, she pointed the arrow upwards.
The main light shattered, leaving everyone in the pitch dark.