Dan
Under armed escort yet again, Dan was brought through the dark hallways of the Kodak building until they stopped at a set of metal doors. The two doors slowly parted from each other as Dan saw the rows of weapon racks decorating the walls and middle aisle of the room.
“You get the bare minimum,” a Kodak agent said behind him. “So don’t go shopping around. Get a basic rifle and pistol and we can get going.”
Dan gave a sideways glance to the asshole ebhind him and entered into Kodak’s miserable armory. The lighting was barely any better compared to the hallways. While the lights weren’t flickering, the overall low brightness was still a nuisance to his eyes. Dan saw the familiar blue spinning icon in the center of his vision that disappeared then spat out text in front of him.
Objective: Aid Kodak forces in investigating cult activity. Find the suspected cult master and eliminate him.
Secret objective: Find a way to escape.
Dan walked along the weapon racks on the walls and found the familiar CMA-40 assault rifles. He didn’t have much of a problem using such a rifle back in Amethyst, if only because pickings were slim in his circumstances.
“That’s far enough,” the Kodak agent said. “You get one rifle and pistol. No grenades. Get your shit and we get going.”
Dan narrowed his eyes at agent but kept his mouth shut. He grabbed the CMA rifle from the rack along with a few spare mags. He looked down at the same rack and saw the Ravager pistol. As he grabbed the handgun, he heard more footstpes out in the hallway.
“We’re taking another one for the hunt,” another Kodak agent said.
“You can’t be serious,” Dan’s escorter said.
“Don’t argue. Judith’s orders,” he replied. Dan heard somebody getting shoved and another agent came into view at the doorway.
He widened his eyes at seeing the familiar silver coat with scale patterns along the arms along with the matching silver coler scheme for the visored helmet and suit underneath the coat.
“Holy shit, is that you Li?” Dan said.
Li’s helmet faced in the direction of the asshole who shoved him. He turned his head and spotted Dan.
“For better or worse,” the stealth specialist said. “I see your day is going just as well as mine.”
Li stepped into the armory and walked past Dan to the weapon rack next to his. Dan got a closer look at the stealth specialist’s armor and saw the crack in Li’s helmet visor.
“How are you feeling? The last time I saw you, you got your ass knocked out by Rachel’s teammate in the tournament and Judith was carrying you like a sack of garbage,” Dan said.
“I’ve had worse days, though this day comes pretty close,” Li said, keeping the same dry and deadpan tone. “They healed me from my injuries and they kept me locked up in a cell. One meal and two bathroom breaks a day. Though my trash talk to some of the guards reduced that bathroom trip down to one a day. Luckily, they don’t give me enough food and water for that limit to be torturous.”
Dan took a brief scan of Li’s stats and his eyes widened at his recent level up.
Agent: Li “Arctic” Phantom
Age: 21 M
Shard: Alpha Corporation (formerly Spec Ops Hellhound)
Rank: Tier 2 | Level 25
Strength: 27
Agility: 35
Endurance: 28
Intelligence: 30
Supernatural: 1
Healing Factor: n/a
Reflex: Superior +
“Holy shit, so you’re finally a tier two at last,” Dan said, beaming with pride for his teammate. Considering their current circumstances, he figured they could use as much encouragement. “So how does it feel?”
Li grabbed a pistol and an older ZK-77 rifle from the weapon rack. He inspected the rifle then turned his helmet toward Dan. “I’m not sure. I can’t quite differentiate between my injuries sustained from the Combat Games and the natural growing pains of my body transitioning from the tier increase. But Kodak certainly took note of it. They had to swap out the basic guards for more experienced full-fledged agents to keep an eye on me. That’s something at least.”
If Li was stronger and officially considered superhuman from his rank increase, then breaking out of this place and escaping might be possible if they both worked together.
“So Li, what have you been up to these past few months? You know, outside of the routine of prison life.”
“I could ask you the same thing. I recently heard of your recent attempt to break out. Six guards dead and some headaches. Solid effort, but you know just as well as I do that we’re considered high level assets. They wouldn’t let us out that easily.”
“Yeah I could certainly feel the VIP treatment while I was sitting in a cell that smelled like piss,” Dan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Things on my end weren’t nearly as riveting,” Li said. “I was mostly left alone in my cell, so I got some time to meditate. The voice you call Overlord would pop into my head from time to time, but I didn’t allow anyone or anything to invade my peace. After a while, Overlord got the hint and left me to my own devices. It’s a good thing he’s more obsessed with you.”
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Dan clenched his fist, struggling to hold himself back from accidentally crushing the rifle in his hand. It didn’t sit well with him that Overlord also popped into the heads of his teammates, filling their heads with promises of power and embracing bloodshed.
“So what did our friendly disembodied evil voice say to you?” Dan said.
“Overlord provided me some decent advice on the nature of corrosia energy,” Li said, placing a pistol onto the side of his silver coat. “I’ve been practicing gathering my energy. I can tell it’s meant for something else other than the death step. Of course, it never develops into anything thanks to the collar they put on my neck. At best, I could produce a neat little light show in my cell from the whirling energies in my palm.”
Dan scanned the room and saw large rifles on the wall across from him. His mind instantly flashed to the heist where he took on a tier two Kodak agent who fired a strange rifle that shot out giant nails. The blinding pain from having one of the nails puncturing his shoulder sent a shudder through him. The oversized and bulky rifle and the serrated dual bayonets were no joke.
Li caught on to Dan’s admiration of the strange guns. “Nail guns huh? I heard of those. Kodak insists that nails have greater stopping power and raw damage to flesh. Specifically, I heard Kodak likes using them against Church agents, especially cult masters.”
Dan saw another silhouette at the doorway and immediately tensed up. Judith glanced at the two agents who escorted him to the armory. “You two can leave now,” she said. Both agents exchanged glances with each other before walking away.
As Judith stepped into the armory toward him and Li, Dan got the chance to look closely at her armor. Instead of the spikes along her upper arms and shoulders of a typical Kodak agent, she had strange black centipedes in a spiral patterns along her upper arms. It was a strange part of her armor that almost appeared ornate, which was uncharacteristic of Kodak. The front of her torso had the same centipede art as he saw from Ada.
Speaking of Ada, her and another agent with similar centipede markings stood at the doorway behind Judith.
Dan performed a brief scan of the other agent.
Agent: Natalia Bane
Age: 20 F
Shard: Kodak-Cresh (Bloodknight)
Rank: Tier 2 | Level 38
Strength: 50
Agility: 54
Endurance: 45
Intelligence: 36
Healing Factor: n/a
Supernatural: Practitioner
Natalia was not only higher level than Ada, but her supernatural was higher as well. Dan recalled that the rankings for the supernatural stat were acolyte, practitioner, cult master, zenith and transcendent, in order from lowest to highest.
“Relax,” Judith said. “I’m the reason why you and your teammate are still alive instead of being dissected in a lab somewhere.”
Dan scoffed. “That’s hardly comforting since you’re the one who kidnapped us and blew the shit out of the tournament facilities. You killed a bunch of our friends.”
Judith crossed her arms and tilted her head. “You’re still standing right? Don’t you value that?”
“There’s no getting through to a Kodak agent, Dan,” Li said bitterly. “They’re all the same.”
This drew a chuckle from the senior agent. “Your friend doesn’t like me very much, does he?”
“You’re pretty hard to like,” Dan responded.
“Wow, I come in here to check on you both and this is the reception I get? You’re breaking my heart boys,” Judith made a heart gesture using both her hands. Dan cringed on the inside from her attempts at being warm and friendly. “I honestly thought you would have liked to know more about that voice inside your heads.”
Dan and Li exchanged quick glances then stared back at Judith.
“Come on,” she said. “I know Overlord because I also hear him inside mine.”
Judith raised her palm and began gathering energy. Whisps of violet energy whirled around her fingers before dissipating. “Just a demonstration. Wouldn’t want to reveal all of my tricks this early.”
Dan couldn’t see Li’s reaction through his cracked helmet, but he saw the clenched fist and his other hand hovering over his pistol on the side of his coat. Back at the final round of the Combat Games, Judith had completely nullified his glare ability.
Judith obviously had a level of proficiency in these magic abilities far above himself and his teammates. But because his HUD only gave him an error message for Judith’s stats, he had no accurate idea how strong she was.
“If you both agree to join me after this mission is over, I can bring you up to new heights and fulfil you in ways my sister can’t.”
“Your sister? The hell do you mean?” Dan asked.
“You haven’t seen the resemblance I have with your squad leader?” Judith said. “Well, I’m not surprised you’ve never heard of me before our first meeting. Jane never did look up to me.”
“No way…” Li said.
Judith ignored the shock from both of them and continued. “Jane could never be your ideal mentor, not with these new abilities in the mix. Only I can build you both up to be the most powerful agents this world has ever seen.”
The older sister of Jane slowly closed the distance between them and she wrapped her arms around both Dan and Li, embracing them.
“I’m the only one who can unlock both of your hidden potentials,” she said. “I’m the only master you both should answer to.”
“Fuck that,” Li seethed. “You think I would ever take lessons from a Kodak agent? My job is hunting down vermin like you.”
Judith pulled back and simply chuckled at Li. “Wow how spicy. You can put up the bravado all you want to. It doesn’t change the fact that eventually, you’ll both recognize how necessary I am to unlocking the secrets of your own power.”
She turned her back on them and paused at her two underlings. “Wrap it up in here and meet everyone outside.”
Judith turned on her heel and walked down the dimly lit hall while Natalia followed behind her. Curiously, Ada stayed behind and looked up at Dan. She quietly sauntered over.
She stood in front of Dan while looking directly into his eyes.
“You got a problem?” Dan said.
“No,” she said. Her voice was surprisingly calm. She didn’t have the same arrogance or edge of most female Kodak agents he encountered. “I-I wanted to apologize about our fight earlier. I hope you aren’t hurt too bad.”
Dan blinked twice at her and gave Li a sideways glance. Li simply kept his helmet facing Ada, equally confused and on guard.
“I’ve never heard of a Kodak agent giving an apology and being sincere about it,” Li said. “As if the world hasn’t gone crazy enough.”
“Well, I’m still alive and breathing. Thanks for asking… I guess?” Dan watched Ada for any signs of maliciousness or some upcoming punchline about skinning him alive or ripping him apart.
Meeting Ada’s eyes, her irises were silver that stood out from the blood red sclera. It was oddly striking, beautiful even. Examining her face, her narrow eyelids, soft cheekbones and small nose strongly hinted at Chinese or Korean descent.
Ada gave him a curt nod and walked past him. She grabbed a basic black katana from one of the weapon racks and walked out past him and out of the armory in hurried fashion.
She paused at the doorway and glanced back at him over her shoulder. In the dim lighting, Dan couldn’t make out her facial expression toward him. She turned her head and then left.
“Well, this is going to be an interesting day,” Dan muttered.
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