Amanda screamed as she fell into the pit. Needles pierced her skin, and she screamed again, at the forced reminder of her days as a druggie. This wasn't a happy day for her. I sat at the edge of the pit, eating spoons of sugar, enjoying the sight.
"You can do it Amanda! I believe in you." I said, cheering. This sugar was great. I loved the flavour of it. A bit of tangy oldness, but when I was this hungry, it tasted as good as popcorn.
Daniel kneeled down by me.
"This is cruel."
I nodded. "You know why I'm doing it."
He shook his head. "She said it was a lie. She's not his apprentice." Oh, they'd been chatting.
I should make sure he didn't go over to the dark side"Regardless, after this is over- I saw you, you know cameras. Want a job?"
He looked surprised. "A job?" I nodded. "Yeah, we need a technical expert. You seem smart." I remember he'd known the camera model. Someone who knew little things like that would be great for break ins. That had probably been why he'd been bored with the camera. He knew all that.
"Oh I… yes. I'd like that. I hadn't expected that."
I saw Obi wandering around the pit. Gus was pacing back and forth near me, conflicted.
Mental pressure on gamer's mind increasing. Mental collapse in two minutes.
Laura laura. I could feel her mind seeking to come out. I didn't want her to snap my gamer's mind. I sighed, and let down my barriers.
Memories flashed by my mind. Laura had been a thief. She stole from pharmacies and hospitals, getting insulin for her sister. Kayla. Her sister.
Just go to Canada, I thought back at her. You can buy it cheap there.
Ignoring my dismissive comments, the flashes continued, anxiety trying to overwhelm my rock hard wisdom.
While here, she had read through medical books. Sometimes she'd needed extra cash, and had gotten greedy and had looked for things to sell. One of them was a medicine that could cure a local herb that would cause lung bleeding and dizziness.
Oh crap. That book I'd seen. On herbal medicines. And doggo had been injected with something, roughly. And if she could poison people once, she could poison people again. The nerve gas was a lie.
Oh shit. That had been what she had been planning to do with me. I looked at my legs, and quickly pulled them out. She couldn't get to me.
But she'd been talking to people. I looked at Daniel. Et tu, Brutus?
And Gus rammed a syringe into my shoulder.
You have been poisoned by a massive dose of poison! Poison maniac perk broken. Every minute, you gain an additional +10% debuff to all stats.
Oh yes reputation scores. I wasn't the only one who could turn people."Obi's a traitor, be ready-!" I shouted, as I saw Jonas falling to the ground and saw Obi rammed a syringe into Xavier.
Serial killer speed perk activated!
I lashed out at Gus, a bit unsteady, and missed as he kicked me into the pit. My stats were going down. I grabbed at the edge with one hand, stopping my fall.
I quickly willed myself up the gamer's body perk, and felt my muscles grow strong again.
Killing instinct perk activated! Desire for life perk activated!
Oh hey Amanda. I reached to pull myself up, as I heard the smack of a bat, as Xavier whacked Obi back.
Drug fueled strength perk activated.
Obi stepped back, arm scratched and bruised, the hit harder than he expected.
Gus went to stamp on my hand. I held on, even as I felt some of my hand bones crack. He went to kick again, and was slammed out of the way by Addison ramming my knife into his side. The two fell down to the ground.
Daniel held a hand out. "I'm with you." He said, a little uncertain. I took his hand, and pulled myself up.
I glanced at my leadership perk. It granted people a +3 stat now, along with 11 HP, and a 10% reduction in stamina loss and stat debuffs.
I turned it on. "Let's crush the traitors!" I called out.
As Amanda yanked herself out of the pit, cure in hand, she took a needle and charged at me.
She was stronger, faster, charged up on perks. She had some insane buffs, as a consequence of being Jigsaw's apprentice, and had beaten an experienced and dangerous dirty cop, Daniel's father, in canon. I was pretty strong, but had shit combat stats and wasn't really a threat to anyone. But I had one thing she didn't. A very good dog.
Doggo, buffed and augmented charged at her, and bit into her leg.
Poison Maniac activated!
She screeched with pain, and I took the earth in my hand, and tossed it at her face, willing it to fill her nostrils and force it's way into her.
Earth control succeeded! Earth control levels up! Earth control levels up!
And I kicked at her legs. She fell back into the needle pit, and screamed.
Gus had overpowered Addison. He was on top of her hitting her head into the ground.
"You fucking whore!" He said. I took the glass of sugar in my head, and slammed it into his head, knocking him away, shards of glass slicing into his face, even as his side leaked blood.
As Amanda came out of the pit, still covered in needles she kicked Doggo aside, and hit me with a punch that left my head wringing. She tossed the key to the dazed Gus. "Get your cure!" She ordered. He scrambled up, going to the steel door to unlock it, and she faced me.
"You remind me of someone. I hated that person." She pulled a needle out of her arm, and came at me.
I was mostly ignoring the stats for now because I wasn't doing that well. I'd taken a pretty hard hit, and was dazed, and was level 1, and she had taken 22 damage out of her 450 health. She was doing fine. But again, she was missing something key.
Cure bit into her wounded leg again, tenacious and angry. As she turned to handle doggo, I charged her. She resisted me, somehow, and pushed back till Jonas came to my aid, revived by my leadership power. We slammed her back into the pit, our mass and strength telling against her smaller form.
She, I saw, grabbed the edge, and would be back soon.
I looked over. Gus had got the cures! He was running to the door. Addison was getting up. Obi wasn't doing well against the club, and was backing away, every strike getting Xavier a chance to take him out, a fresh spring to Xavier's step. Daniel was standing, a bit shocked.
I picked up Megatron. "Time for one last mission." I aimed him, and tossed him at Obi.
Computers levels up! He smacked into Obi's head, shattering into pieces of glass and circuitboard and cheap plastic. Xavier used the distraction, and got a solid hit on Obi, taking him down to half health and knocking out several teeth.
Amanda got out, on the other side. "Come everyone, get out!" She shouted. "We can fight them later. Daniel, come on!" Daniel stood, reluctant. She sighed, and shook her head. "Fine." Obi darted at Xavier, dodged a swing, and faked his way past him and the three of them headed off.
"Stay away, you cowards!" Shouted Addison.
You have defeated Amanda's war party! Level up!
I looked over the group. Doggo was collapsed, wounded. Jonas was fine. Daniel was fine, but useless. Addison was dazed and unsteady. Xavier was doing pretty well, some scratches but being a druglord helped. He had a higher ranked poison resistance perk than me which had handled his poisons and presumably explained how he almost survived the first film.
It wasn't enough to stop Amanda.
Ooh, fifty perk points from Gus curing himself.
My wisdom came with some benefits. I could feel a bit extra about skills, descriptions, quests. The timed quest, with an hour's timing- it didn't stop ticking when I died. And there was the 50% death debuff, which I was pretty sure I'd earn if I died. That meant a maximum of 300 points from this place, if I managed to kill Amanda, which was far from certain. I hadn't intended to do this but Amanda knew this place. She had all the buffs she could. She probably had hidden hidey holes and knew secrets and tricks. And Kayla, Laura's sister. She was a diabetic. I didn't know if each universe reset after I left, or each timeline I left was dead but I didn't intend to lose this timeline.
I needed power. I didn't have enough. Every 2 minutes, now, I'd lose 10% physical stats.
"Everyone. Accept party invitations." I sent out an invitation to everyone.
Addison looked surprised as an invitation popped up in front of her. "What the fuck is this."
"I'm a planeswalker. I travel from world to world. This is my power. I grant it to you in this time of need."
Xavier spoke. "Like that children's cards game." I nodded.
"Yes, exactly like that children's card's game. Now accept, I'm gonna heal you all."
"This is weird man..." Jonas said, but he accepted.
I tossed all of them, except Xavier who's stat block was monstrous, a desperate struggle. 208 perk points left. Xavier, who had 62 strength and 25 constitution but shitty dex of 6 and was level 5, no doubt due to steroids, got a super strength "Accept my strength. Obi is a dirty rogue, but strength is the true path to strength. You're our barbarian"
He held up his arms, which looked more muscular. "I like this."
Addison had 22 wisdom and a journeyman level observation skill called street eye. She got death's calling and outside the box, and power attack, and baseball expert. "You see all. Now, your sight is even stronger, and you have combat power. You're our ranger." "This feels… strange."
Jonas had generally shitty combat stats, but he also had a journeyman level first aid variant skill.
"Grab what you can- patch us up. You're our cleric." I hadn't really invested in the first aid skill, I had nothing there. Oh wait. I tossed him packrat. "You can carry everything."
And to Daniel. "You're our technical expert. Once trapped between two sides, now-" I looked at my level 10 unlocked computer perk list, and tossed him one. Technology enabled. It granted him a Palm TX. Wasn't that future tech? Oh well.
Doggo got… power strike as well. Oooh, he'd expended his poison on Amanda? That was nice. I added greasy skin as well, so he could gain a bit of extra weight. Zombie spit as well, and hungry for flesh and stealthy predator, so he could get a surprise attack.
"What the hell? Where did this come from? Magic?" Asked Daniel.
Xavier and Addison seemed more accepting, trying out their new powers.
Would this work? No clue.
I winced, and coughed blood. The timer. It hit two minutes. My blood coursed with a massive dose of the poison, far above what a normal human could survive. I wiped the blood from my mouth.
Time to show Amanda not to mess with Macgyver, or his friends.
Just as he is paranoid about those around him, so am I. Corona virus stalks the land, ravaging all it touches. I have been (and will be) a bit busy in the next few days as I finish prepping for self isolation.
Now the groups tear apart, and the fate of the future and his sweet sweet perk points rests on how well each team coordinates. Can Amanda motivate people and solve problems? Can she Macgyver her way out of new traps? Find out next time.
Dragonbornthesam. Giving him a free intragalatic spaceship would be a bit powerful for a horror story.
JakeWJElliot2. Haha, I liked it too. She deserves to be tossed in the pit.
Arkyong. Yep, don't mess with the pet.
Sylphi. Amanda is the one watching this one, so it's her responsibility.
IncognitoMinerals. Yeah Amanda is really unhappy right now. Hence why she's taking a more active role. I mean, as the person who knows the house, surely she is safe.
Sanas22. You don't. And fucking with the dog came back to bite her in the ankle.
Zackman2k12. I'll pick the dog name from the votes next time.
Toobad69. Should be back on schedule in a day or so. Just need to stock up before zombie plagues sweep the land.
Deus. Bye bye then.
Thorison1080. Companions are allowed in every world. You just need inventory access, and his inventory is locked because he got captured by Obi.
Frescko. A late addition, but I'll add it to the poll.
Final day or two of voting on doggo name. See Team Amanda vs Team Macgyver next time.