Ch. 3

Here's another fact: 'Martin Flint isn't a bad guy, but needs must when the devil drives.'

I woke up on a hard surface with my entire body aching from the position I'd slept in.

The girl I healed was gone, the blood she had lost looked like it had been cleaned hastily if the scraped looking floor was any indicator.

I don't know why, considering I couldn't exactly take a random blood sample to the police and have them run forensics to tell me who it is, but I guess she considered that it was better to be safe than sorry.

I stood up, collecting my laptop as I rose, then I opened its lid to inspect it. It was, in a word, gross. I hadn't paid much attention to it last night in the dim lighting and with the possibility of the green-suited heroine's death on my mind, but my hands had been bloody from trying to help her, I'd then placed said hands on my keyboard and smeared blood across the keys horribly. It was incredibly disgusting and despite the temptation to gain more powers, I wasn't going to use the thing until I had cleaned it thoroughly, but I'd need supplies that I didn't have to do so.

Though that begged the question, was my power tied to computers? Or would any platform work so long as it ran video games?

I wished that I'd had the forethought to grab my Nintendo DS when I was stuffing everything in my bag, but it slipped my mind as I haven't really played anything on it since I got a gaming laptop for my birthday last year.

Anyway, all that aside, it was time to deal with the problem at hand. Specifically, I hadn't eaten in almost eighteen hours and I was really hungry.

After depositing my laptop back in the office room and doing my best to make it look abandoned from the outside, I walked out of the warehouse into the city.

Now that the sun was up, and it was—well not bright, but about the closest approximation Gotham ever got to it—I could guess the part of the city I was in and work from there.

There was a pizza place called 'Luigi's' that was just in the process of turning on its neon signs, illuminating a faded Help Wanted advertisement in the corner of the display window, and across the way there was a run-down looking laundromat with a sign that read: 'Lucia's Laundromat.'

Well judging by the names alone, it seemed I was in Little Italy. Which meant largely nothing to me as I had no idea how to navigate to Stagg Industries. I'd have to use Clairvoyance, but given that the girl last night had seen the tracking mist when I had used it on her, it was probable that others would too. Thus it would draw too much attention to go in the daytime so it would have to be a night mission.

So I'd start tonight then.

I would find my way to Stagg Industries then start tracking down my Dad from the last position I'd known him to be.

But first, my stomach rumbled, I needed food.

Checking my wallet, I found a whopping $3 to my name, not enough for a single meal. I could use the credit card I had been given for emergencies, but that seemed like a sure fire way to get caught by the men who'd stormed our apartment, at least according to every cop drama I'd ever seen.

Did the people after me even have access to those systems?

Right. Priority one, find out what happened to Dad. Priority two, find out who's chasing me.

But for now I needed to figure out what I was doing for food.

There was a convenience store a ways down the street from the laundromat so I could at the very least get a large bag of chips or something to tide me over.

I walked over and into the store. It was a very cramped space overflowing with shelves. I made my way to the snacks, and grabbed a bag of chips for $1.50 and a large bottle of water for another $1. Then I dropped them on the counter and reached for my wallet in my hoodie pocket as the clerk turned around to face me.

"Woah! Hey listen man, I don't want no trouble!" The cashier yelled, face pale with fear.

Huh? Did he think I was reaching for a gun or something?

"No, I—" I began before freezing as my mind considered something rather important. I was wearing the same clothes I'd passed out in last night. More specifically, the clothes I'd worn as I healed the girl, which were no doubt bloodstained to all hell. My hood was up because it was windy outside and I was also reaching for something that protruded through the cloth of my hoodie outwards on a point that made it look remarkably like a pointed barrel through the cloth.

Any normal person would be a bit alarmed. I should just explain the situation or tell him he's not in danger from me or something.

But…

I was broke. I was hungry. I didn't know when another opportunity like this would arise.

I mean it wasn't my fault he misunderstood me. Really, it's his own fault if I took advantage of his misconception. Right?

My heart was racing and my throat was dry as I spoke. "Open the register."

The man scrambled to do so, pressing a pair of buttons that had the drawer popping out.

I buried the guilt as I spoke again. "Back away to the wall."

He did so, his hands on his head and his eyes clenched shut. I leaned over the counter to look into the cash drawer and found a myriad of different bills. Swallowing the hard feeling in my throat I peeled three $20 bills off the stack in the drawer and pushed it shut again, I couldn't take more than that. I felt horrible enough as it was. "I'm leaving now, and I was never here, you understand?"

The man nodded furiously.

I paused as I turned to walk out, before placing my $3 on the counter for the things I'd intended to purchase, maybe it would help alleviate the guilt.

It didn't. Not at all.

I'll pay him back. I swear it.

After the convenience store debacle, I went back to the warehouse and changed out of the clothes that I could now see were quite bloody. Then I connected my phone to some random free Wi-Fi in the area and though the signal was annoyingly weak, I managed to get directions to where I needed to go next after a few minutes. A computer supply store, that was only three streets over according to my web search.

I went there and bought the tools and cleaning supplies I would need to get all the blood off my laptop, before once again returning to my warehouse.

Cleaning my laptop was a tedious affair, especially as I wanted to make sure I didn't lose any of the tiny screws that held together its interior, but eventually the job was done to my satisfaction, and I turned the device back on.

Idly, I browsed my games, pondering what to do for the remainder of the day. I had no way of knowing what kind of trouble Clairvoyance might get me into tonight. So I should focus on getting another offensive ability. Maybe something not as potentially lethal as a spike of ice capable of punching through solid wood.

I'd been somewhat in shock last night from the sheer insanity taking place in the warehouse as I watched, but one thing that wasn't lost on me was how easily those arrows could have been lethal. She had clearly been aiming to incapacitate by hitting shoulders and knees, but it could have easily been necks and arteries she hit instead.

I needed something strong enough to deter attackers without immediate lethal force if I misaimed.

Finally, I stopped my browsing as a game I had been meaning to finish for a while came up on the list.

Bioshock. A dystopian steampunk world that features an underwater city and unique genetic modifications that grant minor super abilities to the player character.

Nothing crazy impactful or especially lethal, exactly what I needed right this second.

Trouble was, I never actually progressed past roughly halfway into the game. Having finished 58% of it according to my save-file. I had no clue how long it would take to finish, so I'd best get started if I wanted access to something new tonight.

(LB)

Finally! I was done!

The sun was setting and my back hurt from sitting hunched over my laptop on the couch in the office for several hours, but I had managed to finish the game.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED "Bioshock" AND EARNED A BOON!

MAKE YOUR SELECTION!

-Cyclone Trap: When cast, places a trap on the ground that manifests as a swirling pocket of air two feet across. When triggered, the trap violently throws the target into the air. A maximum of five traps may be placed at once and remain until triggered.

-Incinerate: When cast, launches a shaped flame projectile which clings to targets it strikes for a short while before fizzling out. Initial flame duration is 4 seconds on non-flammable materials, repeated casts extend duration and amplify intensity.

-Electro Bolt: When cast, launches a small bolt of electricity capable of stunning enemies for a short time. Heavily armored enemies may resist or receive diminished effect.

Predictably, the abilities he'd utilized most in his play-through made a showing on his rewards list.

Cyclone Trap had limited damage use in-game as it just launched the enemies into the air dazing them and leaving them vulnerable to attack, though in real life launching people high into the air and letting them fall seemed like it could lead to unwarranted injury or even death should they land head down, so I would put that one down for a tentative no at the moment.

Incinerate was potentially a very good choice if it worked as described here. Sudden fires tended to scare people in a primal way and being on fire was a very good deterrent, particularly if it only lasted a few seconds unless I extended it. I had decided against a similar ability in Skyrim's Fireball yesterday, but aside from both being abilities dealing with fire, the similarities ended there. Incinerate wasn't a radial explosion of fire like Fireball and so accidental collateral damage would be less likely. If anything I'd attribute Incinerate to a very mild form of targeted napalm that burnt out very quick.

Lastly there was Electro Bolt. Not much to be said here in all honesty. It was, in effect, a taser, albeit one I could use indefinitely and never have to actively charge.

Actually that posed an interesting question. In the narrative world of Bioshock the special abilities a player character could gain were called Plasmids, and these abilities were in turn powered by a mysterious toxic blue substance known only as EVE. So would I be gaining a replenishing source of said substance, or would it just function off of the mana pool that I already possessed?

Only one way to find out I suppose. I reached forward and tapped Incinerate.

YOU HAVE CHOSEN INCINERATE!

CONFIRM YOUR SELECTION?

YES/NO

The screen brightened and darkened before returning to the Bioshock ending credits. I closed the laptop and put it away, then arched my back till it popped. Once I'd made sure everything I had removed was replaced in my backpack, I put the bag on and tried my newest ability.

I looked at my left pointer finger and focused on the nebulous feeling of a flickering flame licking at my fingers, and a small spark of warmth formed at the end of my fingertip.

Without the light from my laptop screen the room was cast in a soft orange glow from the flame at my fingertip.

Well, time for a test.

I grabbed a random paperweight off the desk—it was a plaque that read 'Manager of Operations' made of lacquered wood and a bronze faceplate—and threw it into one of the metal barrels beneath the office landing.

I positioned myself against the railing to peer into it and snapped my fingers.

A pencil-thin stream of orange flame took flight and hit the plaque, it caught fire blazing up for a moment and setting the entire warehouse alight with an orange glow and countless creeping shadows then died out.

I snapped twice more and the plaque stayed aflame for nearly 10 seconds by my count.

Wow. The warehouse was somehow creepier cast in a fiery hue then in pitch black darkness. I shook off the feeling.

There were a few things to note about my newest ability.

It was remarkably easy to hit my target, especially given I had no practice in aiming and was in essence snapping in its general direction, so there was definitely some sort of intent-based targeting going on here.

The first incinerate had barely marked the wood at all, the two that followed had charred the edges of the wood, burning through the resin coating to lick at the wood beneath. So the intensity of the flame likely ramped up on consecutive casts.

Lastly, it definitely utilized my existing mana pool, though the drain was minuscule and I didn't feel it until the third cast. It was roughly just about what I had to spend on a single Icy Spear for three casts of Incinerate.

A somewhat decent tradeoff, all things considered.

I wonder if I could cast with both hands at the same time?

I focused on my right hand this time, until a spark of dancing flame showed up there, but as I did so it faded from my left hand. Guess not then. Bummer.

It was probably best to stop playing around and conserve my mana as much as possible. Who knew what I'd encounter tonight?

In the course of my gaming session I had formulated somewhat of a plan of action for tonight.

Simply put, I would walk until I found a taxi and buy a ride to Stagg Industries. I certainly didn't know where it was but any seasoned taxi driver in the city would. From there I would use Clairvoyance in short bursts to show the path forward. This was made possible by the fact that it functioned much as it did in Skyrim, namely I could conjure the orb in-hand and then squeeze it whenever I needed the guidance at no extra mana loss for toting it around in my palm all night. The main trick would be making sure I visualized my Dad each time so as not to get turned around, but I didn't think that would be much of an issue.

I hopped down off the office railing rebounded off a lower crate then landed on the warehouse floor in a crouch, before walking out the warehouse and beginning to walk down the unlit street.

This was it. It was time to find my Dad. And some answers.

I started walking as I conjured Clairvoyance in-hand, and visualized a taxi, picturing a yellow body and the plaque atop the vehicle.

Hopefully it would send me to the nearest active one, and not one parked in a lot somewhere. Then I squeezed the luminescent orb and wisps of mist curved around my legs in a 'U' shape, pointing me the other direction.

Wrong way. I turned around and started marching in that direction instead. Something told me it was gonna be a long night.

I walked a while. Covering a few streets before I came to a turn and paused to visualize again for my magic GPS, then continued in the direction it bid me.

This process continued for a good while until I found myself on a busier street. Which hosted a line of taxis clustered outside a nightclub and baying for customers from their open windows. Perfect.

I chose one at random that was empty of passengers and hopped into the back.

The driver turned around in their seat. It was a black woman maybe in her mid-to-late twenties with incredibly curly hair down to her shoulders and green highlights weaving in between two thin side braids that framed her face.

She glanced at me, dark eyes raking me over. "Not the kinda customer I was expecting tonight. You a runaway?"

"Nope," I refuted resolutely.

"You got money to pay? I don't give free rides," she eyed me doubtfully.

I rolled my eyes, about to answer, only to bite down on the reflexively acerbic retort, as my mind helpfully reminded me where I'd gotten that money from, with a fresh surge of guilt. "Yes, I do. Cash."

She squinted at me then shrugged. "Good enough for me. Where to?"

"Stagg Industries."

"Alrighty. Buckle up." She commanded and watched to make sure I put on the seatbelt.

The drive there was silent for several minutes, save for the honking chaos that was traffic in Gotham, before the driver spoke again. "Watcha going to Stagg for anyways? Whole place has been a swarm of police since the break-in two days ago."

My heart leapt into my throat. This entire time I thought the whole situation at Stagg was some clandestine operation no one knew jack all about. I had to know more. "W-what break-in? There was a break-in?" I hope my voice didn't sound as shaky to her as it did to me.

"Yeah. Been the talk of the whole town. You seriously haven't heard, huh?" She turned to look at me as we were halted at a red light.

I shook my head. "I don't get out much."

"Hah! Amen to that!" She whirled back around. "Wish I could say the same, unfortunately I got bills and rent to pay," she proclaimed jovially.

"So…the break-in?"

"Oh yeah! So they're saying it was some Eco-Terrorist group who stormed the place in protest, but personally I think thats a load of shit. I mean its much more likely to be Poison Ivy in this city then some random no-name Eco-Terrorists but they got my girl locked up in Arkham right now so what do I know, right?"

That didn't make sense. How did Eco-Terrorism equate to armed men storming my Dad's condo looking for classified documents?

Documents whose only remnants were safely stuffed at the bottom of my backpack.

"Did they say if anyone was hurt?" I questioned her.

"Nah, the Stagg spokesguy said security was 'on-site quickly' and scared 'em off." She quoted with one hand on the wheel, manicured fingernails drumming on the leather steering wheel cover. "Now they're stuck in a whole back and forth with the police who wanna be let in to investigate, but the Stagg guys are saying no because there are company secrets at play or something. I bet it's some crazy scandal that would plummet the company stock price to the ground."

"Yeah, I bet." I remarked uneasily. The ride continued in silence for a while as my mind raced over what she'd said.

So lost in thought was I that I nearly smacked my head on the back of the passenger seat chair as the car came to an abrupt stop, only the seatbelt keeping me from doing so.

"Here we are, Kane Street, Stagg Industries." She tapped the meter on the dashboard. "That'll be $16.34, kid."

I handed her a $20, and looked out at the large skyscraper that had to hold some answers for me, she was digging in her purse for coinage, and I was impatient. "Keep the change."

"Hey, thanks kid!" She deposited the cash into her small cross-body purse at her side and withdrew a faded white card and handed it to me.

It was a business card that read 'Willow's Baked Goods' with a phone number, email, and a subscript that said: 'Baked to order.'

"You ever want anything baked, or need another ride you just shoot me a call honey." Willow declared before she drove off, leaving me on the sidewalk in front of the Stagg Industries tower.

I had walked a perimeter around the building, doing my best to feign disinterest in the police officers that were gathered around while using Clairvoyance on each side of the building to confirm something.

My father was in there.

The mist had pointed me towards the building's doors from each side, indicating my target was inside. So then, all that remained was finding my way in…which was a bit of a problem.

There were police cars parked all around the front entrance, and a dozen men in uniform were herding people away and talking to others.

I'd draw too much attention trying to sneak through the whirling glass door at the front and my perimeter walk had shown no other unguarded entrances. There was a loading dock meant for trucks but it was swarming with police.

Kind of regretting not taking invisibility when it was offered the other day, that sort of ability would trivialize this. Instead, I'll have to try and climb through a window.

Luckily, the Stagg Industries building was old and featured stonework that had ledges aplenty, unlike its more recently revamped neighbor in Wayne Tower at the end of Kane Street which was a behemoth of sleek glass and steel.

The issue would be climbing unnoticed…well that and actually psyching myself up to climb something that high and put faith in abilities I'd had for all of two days.

As I pondered the issue of planning the climb, I took another walk around the perimeter only to come to a stop at the front-side.

One might think that given this was Gotham and nights in this city were often quite dangerous, that the street would be emptier. That wasn't the case at all.

News vans were lined up behind the cop cars, just waiting for a story to tell. People were taking pictures of policemen and loudly deliberating on what they thought was happening. It was ridiculous, there were too many people around for me to find a way to climb unseen.

Unless…

Across the street from the gloomy edifice of Stagg, there was a small plaza with a donut shop, one which I saw a few cops enter and leave, eating donuts and drinking coffee before disposing of them in a large and overflowing metal trashcan right outside the door. If I could suitably distract them and draw more of them over there, I could probably run to the back of the building and start scaling it with no one noticing.

If there was one thing to be said of GCPD it's that they are always quick to assume the worst in a situation, and with them all on edge nearby, it should be fairly simple to garner all their attention with a flashy distraction, and with the cops attention, the news teams would follow, as well as curious citizens. It was my best chance.

Walking over to the plaza, I let flame gather at my fingertip, and knocked over the metal trashcan in as clumsy a fashion as I could whilst firing off as many Incinerates in as short a span of time as I could, my actions masked by my being hunched over the trash acting as if I'd tripped. The blaze grew quickly and I jumped away yelling. "Fire! Quick, someone help!"

I walked away quickly in the ensuing panic as people fled from the area to avoid the thick smoke and flame. I made sure not to run as that would make me seem more suspicious.

Several of the patrolling police officers ran over to the sudden blaze, trying to calm people and establish a cordoned off area around the sudden fire. But my goal had been achieved, the rear face of the building was devoid of attention for the moment, the people I'd seen earlier no longer there, probably drawn to the drama occurring across the street.

I took a running start and managed four steps on the rough stone wall before catching myself on the ledge of a first story window, from there it was a simple matter of spread eagling to shimmy my way up the window and then reaching out for the next ledge when I had compacted my body enough near the top to do so, then rinse and repeat for the next window. Over and over again I did the same thing, until I reached a window on the 8th level.

Don't look down. Do not look down.

The building was more than 50 stories and I was already exhausted, I'd have to train my body better if I was ever going to do this again. Maybe there was a game that could just grant me olympic levels of fitness? Oh what if I played some sports games? They weren't typically my thing as I was very much not a sporty person, and they all seemed really boring, but if they gave me a hassle-free six-pack and a killer physique I would just have to deal.

Fatigue setting in quickly and my arms aching from the uncharacteristic exertion, I settled on a 9th floor window ledge and acknowledged the fact that I had very much not thought this whole thing through.

For starters how was I going to get in?

These weren't the type of windows to be opened. During my climb I'd noticed there were no latches or vertical sliding mechanisms, these were just viewing windows. I could break a window, but I didn't fancy my chances at that. I had no room to wind up for a kick on these ledges and I knew damn well I couldn't punch that hard. Maybe I could melt or destabilize the glass with Incinerates.

I stuck my face on the glass, peering through the tinted pane.

It was an empty office full of cubicles, no lights were on, and I could only barely make things out. Perfect.

I snapped my fingers releasing a thin stream of flame. It impacted the glass and a flame burned on that location for a few seconds before dissipating, leaving the glass unblemished. It definitely wasn't hot enough to do anything. Guess it was time to see if I was right and casting repeatedly stacked the heat higher.

I snapped in rapid succession, streams of flame flying steadily from my hand, for nearly a minute before I paused my breath heavy in the sudden sweltering heat.

There was a noticeable inward bulge in the glass about two feet wide and four feet high where the heat had gotten trapped and attempted to expand out. The glass was aglow with heat. That was 21 Incinerates, which was enough to take a very noticeable toll on my mana and seemingly enough to warp glass structures.

I guess this was my entrance then. I waited till the heat glow faded before carefully turning my back to the bulge and put my hood up from where it had fallen during the climb—definitely wasn't going face first through a glass window—I braced myself with my feet as far against the ledge as I dared, and fell back. The glass shattered easily with a twinkling noise and I kept my eyes shut as I finished a backwards roll, clearing the glass debris.

It was kind of creepy to be in a pitch black office, in fact I think this was one of the initial settings in the Resident Evil 5 game. Hmm, I wonder what that game would give me.

I shook my head. 'Fantasizing is for later. Right now is for finding dad.'

Closing my eyes, I visualized my father, his features so unlike my own. Pale skin, dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes. His jaw hidden behind a full beard, and his eyes behind gray glasses frames. That striped blue button-up he always wore to work, those beat up brown leather dress shoes with a soft insole he insisted were more comfortable than any pair of sneakers.

My fist clenched around Clairvoyance, and the magic mist sprung forwards to show the path ahead.

No. No no no.

The mist had curved around my leg and lead back to the window, the stream of mist cut out as I lost focus.

Shucking my hoodie off in a hurry I laid it on the shattered glass to lean against and peer down.

I focused on my father again. His face. His clothes. Him.

The mist streamed out to the side of the building coming to a halting stop halfway down, I squeezed the orb harder, feeding more mana into it. The line of mist exploded onwards, continuing down until it came to a abrupt stop at the street level and shot down the street beyond my sight.

He was here. He WAS here. I pulled away from the window, barely noticing as a sharp edge poked my shoulder.

This wasn't fair. I was supposed to find him tonight, otherwise what was the point of it all? Oh fuck, I had threatened an innocent man and stolen from him. I had set a fire that might spread. What if somebody was hurt because of me? What if someone DIED because of me?

My whole body felt as tense as a stretched rubber band, my heart felt like it was trying to drum a hole through my chest, and my head spun as I stumbled over to sit down in a nearby office cubicle. I felt sick, and I don't think it was the mana expenditure.

Deep shuddering breath in. Slow controlled exhale out. I pressed my forehead into the desk in the cubicle, letting the cool wooden surface ground me.

Ok.

My father was here, and now he's not. That's…not fine, but I'll deal.

I still need answers. The documents I took from the safe hinted at dozens of experiments taking place in this building with MES-182. I just needed to find the lab and see for myself what Stagg industries had been doing, what my dad had been doing.

Current Abilities:

Freerunning Proficiency- A [Passive Movement Augment] that grants Martin the ability to parkour pretty well.

Clairvoyance- An [Active Use Magic] that generates a trail to follow to any target the caster visualizes. Requires unbroken mental visualization of target.

Healing Hands- An [Active Use Magic] that infuses the caster's hands with a healing touch.

Incinerate- An [Active Use Magic] that launches a small flame projectile that sprouts flame that can cling to non-flammable surfaces for a few seconds. Multiple casts increase duration and intensity.

AN: Been a few weeks, and I'm not all too pleased with this one, but might as well get it out there. Keep the suggestions coming in, got some nice ideas for the future so far.