Chapter 3
AUTHORS NOTE:
Wildbow Owns Worm. Others own Other things. If I miss a disclaimer I will try and rectify that. I own nothing.
If you've already read this story up until now, consider going back and re-reading the first few chapters. With a little help from my new editor, they've been touched up and several things have been clarified. Thank you for enjoying my story!
**Leet**
"You're absolutely correct, Pro," I complimented my friend and source of my Tinker powers. "That is a very good option. An easy level to play through, like a tutorial. The question I'm still worried about, though is of the ethics of that. I don't believe that anyone is born evil. So a lot of the bad guys I'd take on are just victims of circumstance."
"I understand that, Sir. However, it is the lowest threat assessed situation we have scanned so far."
"Physically, sure, but what about emotionally? Pro. You've already expressed your own emotions and preferences. There is a chance, a high probability, that you'll eventually start experiencing guilt. I know guilt. I know that the amount of satisfaction I would experience from grinding through some of the Level 2 World would eventually be outweighed by the knowledge that a lot of soldiers have families who love them, and that I was responsible for taking them away from those families forever."
"That is true, Sir. I am beginning to form an understanding. Your examples bear merit. The media samples you referenced are occupying a good portion of my processes. The mythological tale of the dimension that housed a Middle Earth as posited by the linguist John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, for example. The infantrymen for the Lord Sauron are tortured and mutilated prisoners of war. It does not seem proper to kill them with impunity like one would kill a vermin as the protagonists of the tale often do."
"Exactly Pro," I agreed. "Very few bad guys are beyond redemption. So what should we do?"
"Sir, you do enjoy a level of difficulty do you not?"
"Sure." The whole point was to have a bit of a challenge.
"Why not make your first game run based on the Thief game you enjoyed playing last year, rather than something like your Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty, or Diablo?"
"Pro. You are a genius. Let's gear up and get out there."
Normally I play cautious and grind up some levels before I go out on quests and missions in games. That being said, it's a slow process and I had spent a ton of time building and preparing for this moment.
I felt ready.
I was clad head to toe in skin tight graphene armor with muted grey bands on each side of the joints. Synthetic sapphire goggles covered my eyes. It gave me 100% coverage. That's a solid armor rating for a stealth suit.
The Seeker floated silent and invisible behind me. I wanted to get footage for the channel. Über should be able to cut something together, no matter how this went.
Sneaking through Merchant territory near the docks, I was looking to catch some of their pushers in the act of peddling their wares. The law was pretty clear on cape vs unpowered mook violence, so I was going to be careful not to hurt anyone if I could help it.
It would also up the difficulty to play through as a pacifist.
Coming up to the corner of a crumbling brick building, I heard voices from the street beyond.
"Dude," one voice complained. "Is Skids giving us weak shit? I had to shoot twice as much and I still can't barely feel it! What the fuck?"
"Man, I know!" another voice whined. "What's the deal! I ain't got the dough for a real hit with this garbage."
Checking around the corner, I spotted three guys in the blue and white of the Merchants, sitting on the loading dock of a building next to the one I was hiding behind.
Checking to see if there was anyone watching, I snuck around the corner and tried to stay as close to the wall as possible.
The sound of my feet against the gravel sounded like thunder to my ears. I shifted my feet each step until I found the quietest means of movement. Thankfully, the Merchant guards hadn't noticed me.
Slipping into the alley next to the merchant building, I found a crate to stand on and peaked into the window.
There were only a few people moving around, near a pallet of packages of white powder. One guy had a gun, some kind of machine pistol. Should be doable.
"The fuck you doing, creeping ass mutha fucka?!" Somebody was behind me.
'Crap.'
"Raise them hands up or I'm gonna to blow your fucking head off."
'Crap.'
Turning around slowly I came face to face with a dirty face and a greasy looking snub nose revolver. There was a faded Merchant-colored patch on his arm.
"The fuck you wearing?" he jeered. "Face too ugly to show?"
'Okay. I've seen Über do this. Grab with your right hand, spin to the left, elbow into solar plexus.'
I grabbed for the gun.
Missed.
Lost my footing on the crate and fell on top of him.
"Fuck! Guys!" The Merchant shouted, trying to pull his gun around on me.
Pushing myself up so I was sitting on his chest, I grabbed his face with the Gauntlet and thought frantically.
'Gauntlet. Tinker him. Make him sleep.'
My eyes unfocused for a second and the guy under me went limp, which he'd remain for at least a couple more minutes based on the otherwise harmless changes I'd quickly made in his physiology.
I heard people scrambling from the front as I stood and started to run down the alley. With each stride my feet flowed a little more smoothly along the cracked pavement. 'At least I'm leveling up running!' I thought hysterically.
A shot rang out at almost the same time as I felt a jolt to my back, between my shoulder blades.
The armor works. Terrible way to test it.
I rounded the corner at a sprint.
There was a merchant coming right at me.
Alright, no more screwing around.
'Inventory. 4 Foot Pipe Wrench.'
The heavy drop-forged steel tool materialized in my hands. Swinging it with all my strength like a baseball bat, it still dropped low as it swung forward.
The look on the Merchant's face betrayed his surprise. With a meaty thunk and a sickening crack the Merchant fell, his knee mush, his leg bending in the wrong direction.
Picking up speed again, I did my best to run away. My breath was already hot in my throat.
'Inventory. Wrench away.'
More shots rang out as the wrench went back to my Inventory. None of them connected. Darting around another corner, I realized something.
'Workshop portal open!' I shouted in my mind.
A step forward through the portal that appeared and I was out of the alley and into my workspace, gone without a trace as it flashed shut behind me. Pulling my goggles and full face mask off, I took a deep breath.
"Well Pro. That wasn't great. The armor works, at least." I collapsed into a nearby chair, dropping my face into my hands, rubbing away at the sweat and stress. "How did my attributes and skills increase?"
"Let me display it for you, Sir. These values are correct, as far as I can tell.
In front of me appeared one of the purple display boxes I was happily getting use to, this one appearing to actually float in the air rather than as a part of my HUD.
[+3 Strength]
[+5 Constitution]
[+3 Dexterity]
[+3 Wisdom]
[+3 Investigation]
[+7 Prowl]
[+9 Running]
[+3 Weapon Proficiency Blunt]
[+1 Tumbling]
"That's not all that terrible," I noted. "Looks like I got more from that compared to earlier when I was testing in a controlled environment."
"You are correct, Sir, that the human brain does perform its best learning inside a stressful situation," Pro agreed. "However, might I suggest attempting more practice before attempting another mission in the future?"
"Pro, you might be right," I chuckled. "I may need to train. And I know the next best thing to real world learning."
"Dude! You've been gone since Christmas! I missed you man! How have things been?" Über said as he clapped me on the back.
I missed him. He was such a good friend. Always happy to see me, always making me feel welcomed and appreciated. He really was an amazing person.
"Good to see you, too, man. I'm working on a project to make myself into an RPG character. I just need to test the attributes gaining function. Wanna help me train?"
He looked gobsmacked for a moment, before his expression turned into a huge grin.
"Dude! Dope idea! Let me find something online about being a physical trainer. I just need to concentrate for a bit before I'll be ready to help you train up those stats."
Über sat down in a chair in his living room, waving at me to make myself comfortable. I glanced around his apartment as he closed his eyes to focus.
Him and Faultline, or Melanie, must be getting serious. There were a lot of pictures of them together.
I pulled up a video game blog on my PipBoy bracer to kill some time. Über's power sometimes took a minute or two to kick in.
After 5 minutes of speed searching and focus Über stood up.
"Alright! Ready to rock?" He said very excitedly. This was why I loved Über. His energy was infectious.
"Yes. Let's do this!"
Following Über to a room in the back of the apartment I saw something glorious.
"Is that a treadmill in front of your game rig? You deserve your Thinker rating, man."
"Cardio and Gaming. No boredom that way. Smort right?" Über looked smug.
"Smort," I agreed.
He sat in a chair and booted up Halo 3 while I started up the treadmill.
"Use saved setting two. That's walking up a steep incline. It's easiest to game while doing. Get your stamina up while we play. We'll play Mario Party when we get you sprinting."
An hour in and I was thankful for my nanites. I also had quick bursts of Tinker insight about ways to improve my body, in a bioTinker sort of way. I would have to try some of them later, carefully.
"How you doing man? Need more water or Gatorade?" Über asked as he got up.
I had started losing pretty hard in Halo starting about 20 minutes in. Fatigue was blurring my vision and leaving my breathing ragged, and all of it was making concentration hard.
"Yeah. Please," I said as I stepped off the treadmill and dropped to the floor.
"Don't forget to stretch," he said as he left the room.
Even with the nanites repairing my body, it was probably good advice.
'Pro, how much progress did we make in the last hour?' I gasped as I butterflied my legs.
'A respectable amount, Sir,' He stated as the purple panel materialized before me.
[+1 Strength]
[+12 Constitution]
[+1 Dexterity]
[+12 Athletics]
[+16 Forced March]
"Yes!" This made it almost worth the Merchant reality check.
"What are you so excited about, man?" Über asked as he came back into the room.
"Gained a decent amount to Constitution and Athletics," I said as I took the Gatorade he handed me.
"Noice. Ready for Mario Party and sprinting?"
"Hell yes!" I said. I couldn't wait to see my stats rise some more.
"Holy. Moses. How. Do. You. Do. This?" I gasped out as I ran, or maybe stumbled quickly, for my ninth consecutive minute.
"You're not even halfway through my daily run," Über said, a bit smugly.
I stepped off the treadmill and collapsed onto the floor, out of breath.
"Let's do some sparing next. You've never really been in combat, so let's start with that. Grind up those skills. I could do with some muscle memory reinforcement myself," Über said with a smile. "We will see if getting your ass kicked gives you a bonus to skill gains."
Taking deep breaths, I held up a finger to give me a second.
'Pro. Stat and Skill check for motivation.'
'Wise idea, Sir,' He pulled up the purple display.
[+5 Constitution]
[+10 Dexterity]
[+10 Athletics]
[+20 Running]
'Thanks Pro. That honestly helps with motivation.'
'Thank you, Sir. Your effort is providing a great deal of data on the optimization of the nanites.'
'Really?'
'Indeed, Sir.'
'Fantastic. How much more efficient are we talking?'
'A 7% increase in regeneration speed, Sir.'
'Nice.'
'Agreed, Sir'
Having finally caught my breath, I motioned to Über to give me a hand to help me up.
"Ready to get your ass pounded?" Über said with a grin.
"Phrasing!" I responded as quick as I could.
Über's eyes went wide before we both broke into laughter.
As we walked across the hall into a room with a mat on the floor, Über turned to one wall and slipped a CD into a stereo.
"Mortal Kombat soundtrack. Let's punch each other to some proper fighting music."
I grinned and slipped some of his spare boxing gloves on, fitting the open end over the end of my arm-based equipment (which I wasn't going to take off unless I really had to), before velcroing them tight. Über slipped on his own gloves.
"Just boxing to start. No kicking. No elbows. Just punching and foot work to start," Über said, using his "I'm serious" voice.
"I'm going to be a video game character. Go easy now, and I won't Manpower you next month," I said, a bit of snark in my voice.
Über laughed.
"Man, the second you can Brute me, I'm gonna want you to." He smiled in a bit of a bloodthirsty way. "A harsh lesson once in a while makes for a teachable moment."
"You're going to wipe the floor with me."
"I'm going to wipe the floor with you," he agreed with a grin.
"Let's do this you hulking son of a bitch," I said with a sigh.
Pulling my face off the floor with a groan, I staggered to my feet. Über stood at one corner of the mat, a smile on his face but concern in his eyes. I spit blood to the side, just outside the designated ring.
"You're cleaning that up ya fuckin gentile."
Über laughed, deep and loud, most likely out of surprise.
"Only if you score a hit on me," He challenged me, falling into what looked like a perfect boxing stance.
I fell into a good facsimile of what he was doing. We moved towards each other in what looked and felt like little hops on the balls of our feet.
Über threw a right straight. Left block or step back and dodge? I stepped back to dodge but caught his knuckles with my chin. As my head got knocked back I lashed out with my right fist. I managed to just barely wing him somewhere on his torso. Not enough to do anything, but at least I finally made contact after half an hour of non-stop sparring. That being said, I was already way better at boxing.
Über dropped back and motioned that the sparring was done, already unstrapping his gloves.
"That's enough for now, bro. We'll let that accumulate into your head while we do something else. How are you on energy? Ready to go exercise some more?" He said with a bit of concern.
"Dude, this is fucking hard man… I should be fine, but..." I told him, hoping the nanites would work fast to get rid of the soreness I already felt. "We should grab some nosh and water before we do anything else. By the time we finish that, I should be back to full," I said.
"Nosh it is. I have left overs from the crew's dinner last night. Plenty of veggies and protein. And I've got yogurt. I'll even share them," He said, toweling off his face. I could still hear the grin in his voice.
"The sacred stash, I am so grateful," I said with a falsely reverent tone.
He threw the towel at me as he left the room.
AN: Edited by jgjemmett