Navigating a city, even one as big and sprawling as LA, is a piece of cake if you have an inbuilt map displayed right on your cornea. Between the bright, dotted green glowing line snaking down long streets and alleys and his LVL. 6 Cycling Skill, Tye barrelled towards his target with a speed that would even make winners of the Tour de France look up in envy (and doping checkers look up in suspicion).
For at least a little while at least.
At 35SP per second, the Skill was an enormous strain on Tye's Stamina. As it was, he could only keep the Skill up and running for a measly twelve seconds before his tank was approaching empty. During those twelve seconds though, he gained a 130% boost to his movement speed (itself already boosted by being on a Mount), which translated to roughly 70 mph!
Or 68.19 mph if you want to be exact, which the speedometer in his HUD was of course, thanks to his Boxes.
Going over 110 kilometres per hour meant that Tye went absolutely flying through the suburbs, his tyres scrambling like mad across old tarmac and new asphalt. A good thing the Skill's second attribute increased his control over his Mount, cause Tye was fairly certain he would've smacked face-first into the nearest brick wall the moment he hit the pedals otherwise.
Within the brief span of time that Tye could fully open the throttle on his bike (which unfortunately shaved off a noticeable amount of durability points), he had crossed close to four hundred meters, which even in a sprawling suburb like LA meant he was at the other end of the street before the streetlights even had a chance to turn green.
'… pretty sure I crossed the speed limit there… I hope they don't have any speed cameras in this part, cause that might be a bit… difficult to explain.' Tye briefly thought to himself, before turning a corner, standing up in the pedals and gunning it once again.
Sure, he couldn't keep up Cycling forever, but his DEX and STR stat were still pretty high and using his bike without the Skillactive had a barely noticeable drain on his Stamina in comparison. He wasn't going to be overtaking cars any time soon without Cycling on, but even his base speed was still way above the norm and this at least he could keep up near-indefinitely, thanks to his points in the Atlas Archetype.
Even so, between sporadically using brief bursts of Cycling and just keeping his head down and his feet paddling, it still took almost an hour to get from the skate park to the warehouse Dealer-guy had indicated.
Still, the long trip hadn't been without its own benefits: Cycling had levelled up to LVL. 7 and was getting pretty close to another level up and Tye himself had gained another 3 points in his DEX stat, which meant the ride actually got a bit smoother towards the end than when he first started.
Gamer physiology for the win baby!
Cycling past the large recycling plant across the street from the warehouse his HUD indicated, Tye slowed down, observing the low-slung, aged building with a keen eye as he kept paddling on. Once he was about a hundred meters away, he turned into the nearest alleyway, stepping off his bike and letting it be absorbed by his Boxes into his Mounts tab without even a second glance.
Having had his powers for months now, he was barely even startled by their effects anymore.
Instead, he crouched down low, trying to observe his target as best he could, both with his own eyes and through his mini-map. In his HUD, the warehouse was a large grey square in a larger grey square signifying the lot it was built on. Creeping closer, Tye was surprised to find small points with a cone jutting out of them, some of them which moved around. Targets and their field of vision, he realized, recognizing the indicators from his many (many, many) hours in the Cyber Witcher world, with the static ones jutting out from small boxes likely indicating camera's.
Studying the lay-out on his mini-map, Tye approached the fence surrounding the warehouse's lot, picking an approach that didn't have any camera's according to his boxes. He had to walk a bit further down the alleyway, hugging the building on the opposite side as he tried to blend in with the shadows, but finally he reached a point that seemed safe.
Or, well, safer at least. Powers or not, Tye very much doubted that any part of dealing with a gangster hideout could be even remotely considered 'safe'.
The fence was a good deal taller than Tye himself was, but that was easily solved by re-summoning his bike underneath him. He had gotten good enough with the way his Mounts tended to manifest underneath him that he managed to keep standing on the saddle and steering wheel, his improved DEX stats keeping him upright. Using the momentum of being shot up in the air by his materialized bicycle, Tye jumped up and vaulted over the fence in a single smooth movement.
The landing, however…
"Oof!"
-8 HP! 3 Damage Mitigated!
… well, that was another matter entirely. Having landed flat on his face, Tye thanked both his helmet and his END stat as he quickly shrugged it off, scrambling to his feet and checking his surroundings. Thankfully, the coast seemed clear, so he quickly dashed to the outer wall of the warehouse, pressing his back against it as he took steadying breaths.
WARNING! Hostile Area Entered!
The message blinked large on his HUD a few times before disappearing, though his mini-map now had a red glowing border. Not that Tye could really focus on that, as a sudden lurch came from behind his navel as the whole gravity of the world suddenly seemed suspended from his head. Managing just in time to swallow a cry of pain, Tye let out a pitiful moan instead as he held his spinning head in his hands, slowly sinking down to his knees as he desperately fought to keep his dinner down, every sense assaulted in a way that was wholly unfamiliar to him. Nothing he ever felt could compare, this wasn't like being in pain or sick, this was something else entirely. A fire dancing underneath his skin, lightning flowing like water over his nerves, the entirety of the world settling down on his head and shoulders.
There was a building pressure… and then nothing. The indescribable sensations had disappeared without leaving a trace, gone so suddenly and completely, Tye briefly wondered if he had imagined them in the first place.
Glancing up however revealed that the effect had been all too real. Just beyond the tall chain-link fence… the world fell away. Literally. There was nothing but an infinite darkness stretching in all directions, the only thing keeping the ocean of inky black from overwhelming their last little piece of reality the soft red glow coming up from the bottom of the fence and rising to a little above it, a clear barrier for… whatever just happened.
Having caught his breath, Tye immediately began checking his HUD for any information whatsoever, desperate to figure out just what the hell was going on and what his Boxes had done to the rest of the world.
His eye was drawn once again to the mini-map: in addition to the red border surrounding the premises, there was now a brightly glowing gold dot right where Tye had hopped the fence. Looking around again, Tye was surprised to find that the coast was still clear: he wasn't sure just what gangsters were up to in the dead of night, but he doubted any of them were in such deep sleep they didn't notice literally all of reality disappearing.
Chalking it up to yet another weird power of his Boxes, Tye hunkered down and 'pressed' his mini-map with his mind, causing it to expand to cover almost his whole vision. With everything now much clearer, Tye ignored the marker that signified his own position and instead looked towards the golden glowing dot. Zoomed in as he was, he now realized it wasn't a dot, but a swirling whirlpool of gold, exactly where he had fallen face-first onto the premises.
"A portal?" Tye whispered softly to himself, mentally 'pressing' the golden glow.
To his surprise, a small Box sprung into existence above the portal.
Entry/Exit
…
Intrigued (and relieved) Tye 'pressed' the box, prompting it to expand fully.
Entry/Exit
Your chosen Entry point! Enter here to exit the Hostile Area! Doing so before completing the Quest Objective will forfeit all progress made inside the Hostile Area! Choosing to Spawn here will forfeit all progress made inside the Hostile Area! Will Spawn here automatically upon Death!
Tye had to read the message again and again three or five times, his mouth opening and closing silently as his eyes kept flitting back and forth over the words. It lingered on one in particular.
"Spawn… I have a Spawn point… holy fuck, I have a fucking Respawn!" Tye whispered under his breath, an unseen band he hadn't even noticed was there loosening around his lungs, allowing him to take a deep breath.
The world hadn't ended and he wasn't about to die. Permanently, at least. By all accounts, it looked as if he had stumbled into his first Dungeon, the red glow of his Boxes having surrounded and sealed off this part of reality in order for him to dungeon dive.
Since he had never encountered anything like this over the previous months and the Boxes had never mentioned anything like Spawn points before, Tye doubted that it would work outside the Dungeon, but still. It also seemed that he could attempt multiple tries of the Dungeon while still inside it, though progress was likely locked once he completed it.
"Alright… alright, let's do this!" Tye said to himself, psyching himself up as he rose to his feet.
Which is when a member of the Fifth Street Locos rounded the corner, spotted him and emptied several bullets in his face.
-210 HP! 38 Damage Mitigated!
-210 HP! 23 Damage Mitigated!
-210 HP! 12 Damage Mitigated!
-210 HP! Armor (Head) Broken!
YOU DIED
The red glaring words were all that remained as Tye's world faded to black.
/
"Oof!"
-8 HP! 3 Damage mitigated!
With a scream tearing from his throat, Tye scrabbled against the tarmac, his hands flying towards his helmet.
"No! No, wait! No! Wha- what?" the teen stammered, tears flowing down his cheeks, hidden underneath his helmet as he remained on hands and knees.
Slowly, his eyes tracked from his hands, clenching and unclenching into trembling fists, to the part of his HUD that briefly summarized his status.
Tye Charles - The Gamer LVL. 7 (560/625 XP)
HP: 606/611 (2.5 HP/min)
SP: 128/407 (7.6 SP/min)
Armor: 1123/1128
Gained debuff! Traumatized! Gained debuff! Paralysed! Gained debuff! Really fucking scared!
"Wha-what happened…?" Tye whispered to himself in shock.
Unfortunately, while the disappearance of reality itself had somehow escaped the notice of the gangsters, Tye's terrified screams had not. Three men came running around the corner, weapons already drawn, eyes alert and merciless.
"NO! Wait, PLEASE WAIT-!" Tye tried, hands raised as the men took aim.
They didn't listen.
-210 HP! 56 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! 36 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! 12 Damage mitigated
-210 HP! Armor (Torso) broken!
-210 HP! 48 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! 21 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! Armor (Shoulder - Right) broken!
-210 HP! 38 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! 32 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! 12 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! 6 Damage mitigated!
-210 HP! Armor (Head) broken!
YOU DIED
/
"Oof!"
-8 HP! 3 Damage mitigated!
Again, Tye screamed. Again, the men came, guns drawn. Again, they didn't care how desperately he begged.
YOU DIED
/
"Oof!"
-8 HP! 3 Damage mitigated!
Thistime around, Tye almost screamed. He bit down so hard however, he got a message he lost HP as his mouth filled with blood from the cut in his tongue, but no sound escaped him. His entire body trembling, he shakily crawled back towards the slight golden glow on the floor, his stomach heaving and his breathing coming in hysterical short gasps, the desperate desire for survival overcoming his sheer terror.
Tye almost cried in frustration as he wasn't immediately teleported out of the Dungeon, a new Box materializing in front of him instead.
Are you certain you wish to leave the Hostile Area? All progress will be lost!
Y/N
With a chocked off scream, Tye pounded the Y on the Box, his fist flying straight through. The sensations of pressure all throughout, on top and within his body were almost welcoming as Tye closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the world was back again, the grey sprawling suburbs of LA expanding around him, replacing the endless void from before. He had reappeared on the other side of the fence, his bike still leaning against the chain links. Scrambling back, Tye rose to unsteady feet and didn't look back as he ran out of the alleyway. He didn't look to where he was going: he didn't care.
Anywhere was better than here, any place better than this.
Sobs escaped him and wracked his form as his feet kept pounding against the street in his desperation, angrily swiping away the notifications that popped up in his vision.
Debuff gained! Traumatized! Debuff gained! Terrified! Debuff gained! Horri-!
It's as far as the Boxes got before Tye finally dismissed them all, simply clenching his teeth and closing his eyes as he ran blindly ahead. He ran and never looked back.
/
It hadn't been easy, sneaking back into his parent's house. For one, it was only once he was halfway home that his panicked mind, calmed down by sheer Exhaustion (an actual Debuff he got once he completely emptied out his Stamina pool, so at least he finally knew what would happen to him if he allowed that to happen), realized he had left his bike by the Locos warehouse. Still, his hysteric flight from the hideout had netted him a point to his DEX and END stat each, as well as a Level Up in Sprint.
Having left his bike behind meant that he had to walk the rest of the way home, but with a base movement speed that still was significantly above the norm for a human teenager. Or it would've been, if it hadn't been for Exhaustion, which both lowered his movement speed as well as slashed his Stamina regen rates. At first, Tye, still stuck in a flight response, had tried to keep pushing on even when he had completely emptied out his Stamina pool to the last bitter drop, despite the warnings on his HUD and his Stamina pool being surrounded by an ominous red glowing border.
Which was when he discovered that Exhaustion got progressively worse the longer he tried to push through it without taking the 5 minutes of rest the Debuff demanded in order to be cleansed. At Exhaustion II he was already back to the movement speed he had a few months ago. Exhaustion III and it was slightly worse than average.
Exhaustion VI had him moving in slow motion.
Recognizing even in his panicked state that he wouldn't be getting anywhere while moving at a literal snail's pace, and not wanting to draw attention to himself by moving as if he was a pedestrian in a John Woo movie (even his clothes and hair were moving in slow motion for fuck's sake!), Tye had forced himself to stop running.
He had ended up huddled against the wall of a building, head in his hands as he waited out the required resting timer, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to banish the memories of his deaths from his mind. The silence of the night kept weighing on him, such a stark contrast with the deafening sounds of the gunshots that had killed him. He was constantly on high alert, expecting a gunman to lurk around every corner.
The moment the required eleven minutes had passed (each stack of Exhaustion extending the duration) Tye was back on his feet again, intermittently activating Sprint whenever his Stamina had filled back up enough to burn on the Skill, keeping it up as much as possible for the almost two hours it took to return home.
It was nearing Level 5 at this point, yet Tye couldn't really bring himself to wonder what secondary attribute the Skill would evolve. His mind was preoccupied by his repeated deaths, playing themselves like a cruel loop in his head. It was the noise, the suddenness of it all that stayed with him. The realization that he had died with just a bang and a flash of light.
The pain had barely even registered in comparison.
It filled his entire consciousness, it was the only thing he could think about, to the point he almost forgot that he had to sneak into his house, instead of barging through the front door on a straight collision course with his bed.
Or the bed of his parents.
Tye wasn't ashamed to admit that at that point, he would've very much liked to have crawled in-between the strong embrace of his father and the loving arms of his mother, like he did on lazy Sundays when he had still been a small child, enveloped in warmth and safety.
Back when the world had seemed a lot brighter and safer and less complicated.
Back when he was still a normal, utterly average person, before he became an Altered Human.
Before reality warping Boxes began talking to him.
Before he had died.
But he couldn't do it. Couldn't hide away from his own thoughts by huddling underneath the protection of his parents. It would raise questions he had no answers to.
So instead, in the deep silence of the night, as the black of the sky was steadily replaced by slowly brightening hazes of purple, he slid in his key to the front door silently, tumbler after tumbler. He avoided the creaky steps on the stairs. He slightly lifted the door to his room so that it rested easier on its hinges as he swung it open. He stepped over the floorboard he knew would always creak.
He dismissed his clothes into his Boxes and fell in bed.
He slipped into dreamless sleep before his head even hit the pillow.
/
You have slept in your bed! HP and SP restored! Debuffs cleansed!
For the first time since he got his Boxes, Tye didn't immediately get up out of bed the moment he awoke. He felt as fresh and active as ever, yet for a long time he merely stared up at the message with unseeing eyes.
The memories of last night hadn't haunted his (non-existent) dreams thankfully, but now that he was awake, he couldn't help but dwell on them once again. And how the message still floating in front of his face had led him down that path. Had caused him to die. The Boxes had pushed him down a path that had ended up with him getting shot in the face.
These thoughts kept tumbling down his mind, one following seamlessly on the next. And yet… Tye was dwelling, brooding even, he could admit that. But the hysteria of last night… that sheer fear… it was gone.
Debuffs cleansed! shone back at him from a few inches in front of his face.
He had gained a lot of mental Debuffs last night. If they really had all been removed, just by sleeping in his bed…
'Well… saves me money on therapy, I guess?' Tye thought to himself, somewhat lucidly.
The memories were still there, fresh and unaltered. The sudden flash, the deafening noise. But the emotions associated with them, the raw panic they had caused… those were only tangentially there. Like they were only secondary, as if he was reading a particularly vivid part of a book or something, or recalling an old, faded memory.
Even so, while he may not be traumatized, or in a state of pure panic… the memories were still occupying his thoughts. They were there when he got up and dressed himself (the normal human way for the first time in… it must be weeks now, he suddenly realized). They were there when he brushed his teeth. They were there when he hesitantly lifted his shirt, observing his own torso in the bathroom mirror, fingers gently tracing the unblemished skin where time and again bullets had torn viciously through flesh and blood. They were there when he sat down at the kitchen table, shovelling back his breakfast.
Emma had of course noticed something was off with her son, but her gentle prying (which was quickly followed by her not-so-gentle prying) yielded no results, Tye only giving short, distracted answers.
Seeing that his wife's tactics were for once not having an effect, Mike rose from the table, giving his worrying wife a reassuring nod as he placed one large hand on his son's shoulder, leading the quiet teenager to the shed in the back of their garden. Placing him down at a workbench without a word, Mike simply gave Tye one of his familiar chores: sorting screws, nuts and bolts in their appropriate compartments.
Tye didn't even bother dismissing the notification that he had accepted the Quest What are you, nuts?! (… again), his hands moving automatically instead as he and his father worked in silence together. Surprisingly, the routine work actually did help, Tye's head slowly but surely getting freed up even though he didn't really focus on the screws themselves. It was a sort of quiet, almost zen-like state as he felt his body going through the motions, the energy it was burning off apparently enough to chase off the worst of the oppressive thoughts.
Eventually, his movements stilled, a long, slightly rusted screw held between two fingers as he turned it around, a contemplative look on his face.
"Uhm… dad?" he slowly spoke up, Mike straightening up and glancing over his shoulder at his quiet son.
"Yeah kiddo?" the large man rumbled.
"Do you… do you remember when Uncle Royce got shot?" Tye hesitantly spoke up, Mike's eyebrows rising in surprise.
Royce had left to be a police officer in New York when the Charles brothers had still been very young, but they tried to keep in contact as often as they could. Royce was Tye's favourite Uncle and despite the distance, the two were actually pretty close and the cop had played no small part in shaping the young man's strong sense of right and wrong. Royce was even Tye's godfather.
"That was years ago. Why do you ask? Did something happen at school?" Mike asked worriedly.
"No. Not really, I mean. Just… something I saw on the internet. Made me think I guess." Tye lied, though he didn't put his heart in it.
He didn't even get a Lie failed! from his Boxes. Mike sent him a speculating look, but thankfully didn't press his son further.
"Yeah, I remember. Not every day you get a call from the force that your brother has been shot." Mike rumbled, leaning back against his workbench, arms crossed over his broad chest.
"One of the worst days I've ever had. For the life of me, I can't even remember which gang shot him, though I know it was in a bad part of New York. Hell's Kitchen or something like that. Three rounds to the chest, one to the leg, one to the arm. Thank God he was wearing his vest. Even so, things looked really bad for a bit there. Took the first flight to New York. You and your mother followed a few days later, you even visited us in the hospital once or twice." Mike explained, but Tye shook his head as he gave a small shrug.
"I just… remember tubes. So many tubes. And that I didn't like the lights. Too… bright and cold."
"He looked a mess alright. No surprise you don't remember much more than that. You were still very small back then. We didn't know if he'd pull through at the time, so I was at his bedside as much as I possibly could: you'd have to ask your Ma what the two of you were up to in New York." Mike said with a self-conscious grimace.
"How… how did it make you feel? To see your brother like that?" Tye asked hesitantly and Mike let out a deep breath as he thought the question over.
"Honestly? Powerless. That was the worst thing. Looking down at my little brother and realizing that there was no way I could help him. All these tubes and bandages and clipboards and none of it made any sense to me, but it was all that was keeping him alive. Doctors working overtime and double shifts just to keep him from slippin' away and I just… sat there. Like a big, dumb tree or something. There was nothing I could fix. Not even something I could punch. Going after the gangster who put my little brother in the hospital wouldn't get him out of there. It'd just land me in the bed beside his one. So yeah. Powerless is how I felt." Mike eventually responded, his eyes very far away for a moment, before he shook himself, looking down at his son.
"You didn't feel… angry? Scared?"
"Sure. But there was nothing I could do with those feelings. So I just sat there with my frustration and this, just, god awful coffee. Honestly, they should feed that shit to the patients and watch 'em all running out of there on their own power, it was that bad." Mike joked, getting a small chuckle from his son.
"And Uncle Royce?"
"Full recovery, thankfully. Took a long time to get there though. Between the hospital bills and the physical rehabilitation period… don't know how he managed it or where he found the money for it, but he managed to land on his feet in the end. Seems his community up there really cares for him. Probably why he's still on the force, even though your grandmother kept begging him to quit right until she croaked. The gangs tried to put a good cop in the ground, but your uncle bounded back stronger than ever. From how he's telling it, he'll have the entire underground of New York behind bars before 2010!" Mike said, admiration clearly colouring his voice.
Tye asked a few more questions about that time as he and his dad finished up their respective chores, the troubled teenager easily dismissing the Quest Complete! notification (though even in his subdued state, he immediately noticed the +45 XP thanks to his Solomon modifier). Between the familiar work and the stories his dad ended up telling him, most of them thankfully of happier times, Tye felt… lighter somehow than before.
Seeing Tye almost back to normal as they all sat down for dinner, Emma gave a very pleased looking Mike a big kiss on his scratchy cheek, of course in full view (and to the disgust) of her teenaged son.
Still, though his spirits had been lifted, Tye's mind kept returning to his disastrous attempt at breaching the Locos' warehouse. Though he slowly began viewing it in a different light. Because while his experience had been awful and his memories of them chilling to the bone… there had been no lasting consequences, had there?
He had no scars, like he knew his uncle hid underneath his shirt, even when he went to the beach.
There had been no lengthy rehabilitation process.
No hospital visits, no getting turned into a mass of tubes and wires.
He hadn't even needed therapy.
Last night, Tye Charles had died three times… and walked away without so much as a scratch.
As he sat on his bed in the dead of night, his Boxes floating in front of him, Tye couldn't help but wonder. What if it had been someone else? What if it had been someone without powers? What if it had been a man like his own uncle, trying to get past that fence?
They wouldn't walk away. What of the families of those cops? Would they have cousins on the other side of the country, siblings who'd have to fly out just to attend a funeral?
Beware of the full moon with this House 'Cause it'll turn into a were-house. Get it? Whatever, just go over there and smash it to bits - Quest rewards: +650 XP, +100 Fame, - Massive Rep with [The Fifth Street Locos]
- Quest failure: Moderate to High chance of Death, Near-Certain chance of Injury
How many more people would be hurt by the loss of those who'd tried to complete this Quest instead of him? How many more people would the Fifth Street Locos hurt while this Quest remained active?
Tye had resolved to handle the gang to 'avenge' his friend in a roundabout way yes, but also to prevent the same happening to other kids as well. To keep this gang from hurting any more people than they had already done. And while quitting just 'cause things got difficult wasn't exactly Heroic behaviour, things hadn't merely 'gotten difficult'. Tye had already given his life (thrice, even). He had done enough. He had every right to drop it all, say 'fuck it' and walk away.
He could do that… except, as he kept staring at the screen in front of him, he found that he couldn't.
He had superpowers. He could do what literally no one else could do. Could walk away from what would leave others dead or crippled for life. No matter the injury, he would eventually completely recover without so much as a scratch, just by catching a nap in his bed.
It had to be him, Tye eventually realized. Someone else would get hurt. Permanently.
That evening, as night covered the city in a blanket of darkness, Tye Charles slipped out the window of his bedroom, landing silently on the lawn below, making his way back to the Locos' warehouse.
/
WARNING! Hostile Area Entered!
This time, Tye managed to keep his footing as he vaulted the fence, likely thanks to the few extra points to his DEX. Returning to the compound was one of the hardest things he had ever done. He must've second-guessed himself a dozen times over every few minutes or so and without his bike, there had been plenty of minutes for Tye to doubt and worry.
But even as his mind debated against itself about whether or not he should return to the warehouse or if he should just forget the thing even existed in the first place, his feet kept on moving, one after the other, until he once again found himself down the Alameda, moving past the large recycling plant.
Steeling himself as best he could, Tye was surprised to find that his bike was still leaning against the fence where he had abandoned it last night. With the way his powers worked, merely getting close to it was enough to recall his Mount, the bike falling apart in a static burst of red motes as it was absorbed by his Boxes.
Recalling the disaster of yesterday (how could he not), Tye spent a lot more time scoping out the entire circumference of the compound, relying on both his senses and his powers. His mini-map didn't give him a view of the warehouse's interior, but it did show all the camera angles and the patrol routes of the gangsters in and around the squat building. It also showed him large objects stacked nearby, such as several big crates and barrels stacked on pallets.
Some of them ended a few feet underneath the roof of the warehouse, but Tye suspected he'd need another point in his Mercury Archetype if he wanted to make use of such 'avenues'. As it was, he had decided on an entry point closer to the corner at the back of the warehouse. It was on the patrol route of one of the guards, but it took the man a good half hour to stroll across the entire perimeter (it didn't seem like any of the Locos were on particularly high alert) and there were several stacks of crates that Tye could hide behind if necessary.
Timing it so that the man had just turned the corner and thus giving him a half hour window for his entry point, Tye had repeated his previous trick, summoning his bike underneath him and launching himself over the barbed wire lining the tall fence.
Knowing he was safe for the moment, Tye quickly huddled behind a large stack of crates as he closed his eyes and braced himself. Like before, the world seemed to fall away as gravity inverted itself inside Tye's body, but the sensations disappeared as suddenly as they had come over him. The inky nothingness existing in all dimensions around the warehouse's lot was still disconcerting to look at, but there was an odd sense of comfort the red barrier gave Tye.
Looking underneath his feet, he was relieved to see a faintly glowing golden portal infused in the rough gravel of the lot, his Entry point.
"Alright, let's try this again." Tye whispered to himself underneath his breath, staying crouched low as he approached the back wall of the warehouse.
New Quest unlocked!
Loco no mo'
The Fifth Street Locos have terrorized the streets of Los Angeles long enough. Take them all out! Permanently. (0/8)
Quest Reward: +350 XP, +150 Infamy, - Massive Rep with [The Fifth Street Locos], a vastly safer L.A.
Quest Failure: High Chance of Death, the streets of L.A. will remain unsafe
Bonus Objective unlocked!
The best part about ripping off thieves? They can't go to the cops
It's just lying there. Surely, you can put it to better use? Take the drugs, money and weapons for yourself!
Quest Reward: +150 XP, + $180.000, 35 kilos cocaine (semi-Pure), + Switchblade (Common), + Handgun (Common), + SMG (Common), + Assault Rifle (Common), + Shotgun (Common), + Bazooka (Uncommon)
Quest Failure: the knowledge you missed out on owning a sweet, sweet Bazooka
Well, that last part certainly made Tye's eyebrows climb up in surprise. Just what the hell were the gangs of LA packing these days?
New Quest unlocked!
Cleaning up the streets
The Fifth Street Locos have terrorized the streets of Los Angeles long enough. Take them all out! (0/8)
Quest Reward: +250 XP, + 100 Fame, - Massive Rep with [The Fifth Street Locos], a temporarily, mildly safer L.A.
Quest Failure: High Chance of Death, the streets of L.A. will remain unsafe
Bonus Objective unlocked!
Drugs are the enemy of Ambition and Hope
It's just lying there. Make sure no-one else can abuse this. Destroy the drugs and weaponry!
Quest Reward: +100 XP, +50 Fame
Quest Failure: the knowledge that you have left these to poison the streets of L.A.
Damn. Even though Tye had firmly settled on the Paragon path, missing out on almost 200k still hurt the teenager in some deep, primal part of his soul. Though his Paragon Bonus Objective only stated to destroy the drugs and weapons. Maybe it had something else in mind for the money instead?
Huddled against the wall, Tye put the question of the gangster's funds out of his mind for the moment, instead focusing on the indicators on his mini-map. He had chosen this specific spot along the back of the compound because there was a gap in the coverage of the security cameras that were mounted on each corner of the warehouse. Looking towards the nearest camera his mini-map displayed, Tye crept closer, trying to keep his feet from making any noise as he moved.
Skill created!
Stealth (LVL 1. 0/100 XP)
You've been hit by! You've been struck by! A smooth Superhero! Reduces Movement Speed by 5%. Reduces Detection by 10% per LVL of Skill. 5SP/sec. Sprinting breaks Stealth.
Once again, Tye couldn't help but speculate as to just how his strange power worked. What, at Level 10, Stealth would allow him to smack a Loco in the face and all the guy would do is look past Tye and mutter "hmm, must've been the wind" to himself?
Superpowers are weird man.
Still, it was one of the cheaper skill he had gotten, so in Stealth he crept towards the corner of the warehouse, taking care to keep a watch on the range of the cone indicating the camera's vision on his mini-map. He didn't really feel particularly more stealthy, but whether that was due to his lack of experience skulking around enemy territory or due to the Skill still only being Level 1 he didn't know.
Either way, he approached his target without incident, glancing up at the cheap camera mounted shoddily against the corner of the warehouse.
Holding up his hand, a brief swirl of red static shimmered between his fingers, before he was suddenly holding onto a softball that had seemingly materialized out of nothing.
Slowly moving into a standing crouch, Tye took careful aim as he drew back his arm, before he activated one of the earliest Skills he created, Throw. At Level 5 (thanks to several PE lessons where they played basketball) the Skill both gave him a 50% boost to his accuracy, as well as a 10% boost to the speed of whatever it was he threw.
Tye could visualize where his projectile would hit. Literally. There was a glowing, dotted arc that kept moving outwards from his hand to his target, though there was a limit to its range. The black-clad teenager aimed the end of his target-line towards the security camera, waited for that familiar flow of energy he could feel during combat and when it hit its apex, he let loose. The ball shot through the air. It wasn't a throw that would net Tye a spot in major league baseball any time soon, but for now, it didn't need to be.
His Skill came through: the baseball impacted the plastic housing of the camera, Tye's enormous strength giving the projectile enough speed it nearly tore off the thing from the wall entirely. As it was, a brief shower of sparks erupted as the camera was wrenched to the side, and on his mini-map, Tye was relieved to see the cone indicating its vision suddenly blink out.
Seeing as there were no other people or cameras in the vicinity, Tye continued creeping forwards, his memories of what happened the last time he made too much noise still stark in his mind. Thankfully, the side of the warehouse was unguarded, the guy stuck on patrol duty alongside the outer perimeter having yet to make his way back.
Tye passed underneath an air vent high up in the side of the warehouse near the roof, but it was on the second story and there were no large crates nearby. Briefly he contemplated dragging one over (with his STR, it should be doable) but he didn't want to risk the noise. An alternative would be to repeat his bicycle-summoning trick, but even that wouldn't be enough to close the gap, so Tye instead continued moving forward.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, he reached the front of the warehouse. On either side of the large double-doors were once again cameras mounted high up on the outer walls, but this time there was also a guy standing in front of the door, smoking a cigarette.
Right now, Tye was beginning to second-guess his build so far. He had started out with the idea of being a rogue-like character, striking hard and fast and then dipping out of combat again in order to let his regen tick him back up to full again to continue taking down enemies with swift and decisive blows.
Then he found out just how much DPS a gun did and that build pretty much fell through. Even his armor, which he had put so much time and effort into, had been useless against actual weaponry. Oh it would help in fist- or knife-fight for sure, Tye had at least that much faith in his Crafting Skill.
But against men with guns and the will to use them?
Tye wondered what kind of build he'd have if he had invested everything in Solomon instead (which had been the common advice he'd gotten when he posed the hypothetical to the Winner's League, who were in various stages of disbelief he hadn't immediately gone for the XP modifier). Better armor perhaps, one that was actually bullet-proof (or at the very least somewhat bullet-resistant). Weaponry maybe? Aside from ThrowTye was sadly out of ranged options, which complicated how he'd have to deal with the guard at the door. Not to mention that he'd likely be caught by one of the two cameras at the front of the building.
With enough points in Solomon, especially once the Archetype evolved at Level 5, maybe he could've invented some sort of gadget to deal with security like this? A DIY EMP perhaps?
In the end though, it was useless to speculate. Aside from the fact that he couldn't travel in time and hadn't yet found a skill-respec ability or item, the undeniable truth Tye had figured out by now about his Boxes was that they fed off Tye challenging himself.
The more risk of danger there was to Tye, the more they rewarded him.
Which meant that, no matter the build, he inevitably would've been forced to grind for XP out here in the wide wild world. And with how pitiful his XP gain would've been without his time spent punching people and getting punched by people in his new gym, it would've taken many more months for Solomon to rank up enough to actually start being useful, even with the added XP modifiers.
With a full INT build he might have gone on his first outing with some better gear and even a gadget or two, but aside from that his stats would've been absolutely worthless. Not that his survivability was much better now, considering how easily guns had dealt with him, but in close quarters at least Tye was fairly certain his immense STR and decently high DEX would get him out of trouble.
He might have struggled against opponents in the ring, but that was because he was sticking to the rules and his Boxes were toning down his strength to something more appropriate for a friendly spar.
Out here? He could unleash his 210+ STR to its fullest extent if need be, like he had done when he shattered concrete with a mere baseball bat.
Though that was all speculation: now was the time to actually prove it and see if his build was worth anything more than a bullet-sponge. Unable to take out the cameras from here as he couldn't throw around corners (… yet, he was fairly certain), Tye eventually settled on trying to take down the guard as quickly and as quietly as possible first, then deal with the digital security afterwards.
Still in Stealth, Tye kept a careful eye on the cone of vision from the guard around the corner. The man remained in place, but the cone would occasionally move from side to side as the gangster glanced around in boredom. Timing it just when the gangster looked in the opposite direction, Tye swiftly rounded the corner, moving as fast as he possibly could without going into a Sprint and cancelling his Stealth.
Apparently a 10% increase to zero was still zero, because Tye saw a brief red glow surrounding the guard's head, indicating that he had been alerted. Thankfully, the short distance meant it didn't make much difference either way as Tye reached the man before he had a chance to turn around. Tye slung his arms around the Locos' neck like he had seen done in stealth games and spy movies countless times before.
He hadn't quite counted on the size-difference being such an important factor however.
The gangster, though definitely taken by surprise, reacted on experience and instinct, immediately calling out to his allies as he scrambled for his gun. Tye managed to cut off the shouting quickly by shifting his grip and squeezing down on the man's throat (his Boxes making sure to clamp down on his enormous STR so that the man's head didn't just pop off like he was an oversized human twist-cap bottle), but that just made the guard panic more.
Forgoing his gun, the man swiftly grabbed a long knife that had been tucked in his belt, bringing it up and viciously stabbing it into Tye's arm.
-47 HP! 35 Damage mitigated!
Debuff gained! Bleed I
"Ow! Fuck!" Tye shouted despite himself, the sudden lancing pain taking him off guard and making him loosen his grip.
"Hijo de puta!" the Loco called out enraged as the arm was lifted off his windpipe, Tye not needing his Boxes' subtitles to understand the man this time.
Seeing the man go for another stab, Tye moved his arms away, breaking the grapple and shoving the man in the back. Thanks to his great STR, the simple shove still sent the man flying forwards and to the ground, impacting the concrete with a hard smack.
Before he could capitalize on the opening, Tye was distracted by two pings sounding out in warning. Looking up, he saw that the two cameras on the front of the building had gained that same red aura of alertness the guard had briefly gotten.
He had been made.
Movement caught his eye and Tye saw that the gangster was working himself back to his feet, though judging by the way he clutched his shoulder and was looking somewhat woozy, the superpowered teen's shove had been more forceful than he had expected.
Shouts were coming from both within the warehouse as well as the rest of the compound and a quick glance at his mini-map showed Tye that the other Locos, alerted by their comrade's shouts and their security system, were already converging on his position.
The memory of what happened the last time the Locos stumbled across him rose unbidden in his mind, the thunderous sounds, the flashing lights, the lancing pain and with panic lining his voice, Tye called out. Not to the Locos, but to his Boxes.
"Spawn at Entry Point!"
The sentence was just so strange, it halted the gangster in front of him, who paused in going for his gun as he stared in sheer confusion at the black-clad figure in front of him.
As expected, a new Box appeared before Tye.
Are you certain you want to Spawn at your Entry Point? All progress will be lost!
Y/N
Right as the gangster pulled out his gun and several other Locos burst out of the warehouse, Tye pressed on the glowing Y and the world disappeared in a burst of red static.
/
Tye crouched down low as he Stealthed his way back to the corner of the warehouse, having taken out the camera at the back of the building just as before. So far, so good. Everything had been exactly the same as during his first run. Tye had to wonder if his Boxes were controlling the gangsters (were they even alive or just constructs?), or with the very concept of Time itself.
Maybe Tye was simply an immensely powerful precog instead?
The Boxes didn't say and so Tye put it out of his mind. For all that his powers revolved around breaking apart the world around him in understandable and quantitative ways, it certainly refused to apply those methods to itself, seemingly determined to remain as mysterious as possible.
Ignoring the question for now, Tye crouched to a halt just around the corner, as expected the guard and the two cameras in exactly the same position as before. Since he still didn't know of a way to throw around corners or take out the cameras, he decided to opt for the same strategy as before, with a small twist.
Sure, as one game itself had told him, doing the same thing expecting a different result was the very definition of insanity. But, trying, trying and trying again was what games were built off. The Elden Souls series from ToHard wouldn't exist if not for that mechanic.
So, taking out the guard first remained the priority, he just had to switch up his approach. He had the Skill Striking, but evidently that did not translate to Grappling (he'd likely need Judo training or something for that. Also, what the hell Boxes!?) so Tye decided to play to his strengths instead.
A burst of red static and his trusty baseball bat was in his hand and Tye took off in a not-quite Sprint, going as fast as he dared without breaking Stealth. Again, at the exact same distance as before, the guard gained a red aura showing he was alert, but by then it didn't matter, Tye unleashing a wide swing with his bat to the side of the gangster's head.
The impact was immense, but thankfully quiet, though the guard dropping to the unforgiving concrete made more noise than Tye would've liked.
Critical Hit! Stealth bonus (x0.55)
-156 HP!
Inflicted Debuff: Unconscious! Inflicted Debuff: Concussion!
(1/8 Gangsters defeated)
Phew. As much as that blow had been fuelled in no small part by some very disturbing memories, Tye was nonetheless glad he hadn't just taken another person's life. Even if it was somewhat questionable in what way said person was alive or even real in the first place.
Paragons didn't kill. They just brutally hospitalized.
There was a difference.
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
LEVEL UP! 7 8!
+40 HP and SP! +5 to all Stats!
Gained +1 Perk Point!
You are now Level 8 (55/800 XP)
Once again, lightning flowed across every nerve as a hurricane seemed to burst from within Tye's lungs as he closed his eyes, letting the indescribably euphoric feeling of literally growing in power wash over him. The moment was absolutely ruined when two familiar pings of alert brought him back to (pseudo?) reality, Tye opening his eyes to see that the cameras had once again spotted him.
Hearing shouting from within and seeing movement from the compound on his mini-map, Tye sighed deeply, looking with remorse at his new and improved stat sheet.
"Next time." He whispered determinedly to himself.
Are you certain you want to Spawn at your Entry Point? All progress will be lost!
Y/N
By the time the other Locos burst through the door, Tye was already pressing down on the green glowing Y and the world disappeared in a burst of swirling static.
/
Tye tried going through the front door two more times, before deciding that the cameras there were too much of an issue. With their overlapping fields of vision, any movement in the area on that side of the building would draw the attention of the rest of the gang way too fast.
Apparently, while the guards seemed rather laid-back (despite there being nothing but an endless void of nothingness in every direction beyond their flimsy chain-link fence…), whoever was in charge of the security monitors was doing a fine job of it.
A little too fine a job, so Tye resolved to go look for their 'hub' this time around.
Recalling the air-vent he had dismissed earlier and fed up with his failed attempts at the front door (though he had gone absolutely ham the third time around and smashed straight through it, baseball bat in hand, whacking Locos left and right until the pain of getting shot in the leg snapped him out of it and made him retreat and Respawn) Tye overcame his earlier reluctance and tried making a ramp for himself.
As he had feared, dragging the enormous pallet over towards the roster made far too much noise, the guard that was on outer-perimeter duty running backwards and wasting no time in opening fire on the gargantuan container seemingly moving on its own power.
Resetting that run, Tye almost tried it a second time when he stood still in front of the container for a long moment, before slapping himself in the face hard enough that same guard had gained an alertness aura.
-2 HP! 2 Damage mitigated!
For coming up with a clever use of your superpowers, you gain +1 INT!
Resetting that run again Tye had run-Stealthed over towards that container and then place the entire thing in his Inventory. Beyond a rush of red static and a soft whooshing of displaced air, the entire thing was utterly silent. With how high his carrying capacity was thanks to his STR stat, there was no issue with pushing the huge object straight into his personal pocket-dimension. Walking over towards the grate, Tye summoned the block underneath his feet, jumping up from a crouching position as he suddenly stood a good two meters higher in the air.
Given how the most of what he'd discovered about the interior of the warehouse came from when he had literally busted down the front door like the slimmer, black-clad version of the Kool-Aid Man, Tye decided that this would be a recon run first.
So he smashed in the grating, entering the building on the second floor. It consisted of a catwalk that surrounded a large open hangar-like area in its centre, housing a few rooms. Already, a few guards nearby gained an alertness-aura, and Tye spotted four camera's looking in on the central area. Quickly pushing off, Tye ran over towards the nearest office, kicking in the door and feeling somewhat silly when it only revealed a simple cleaning closet.
The second door yielded more results, as it was a common room of some sort, with an old, faded leather couch sat next to a low-slung heavily stained table across an impressively large flatscreen.
There were two Locos inside who got the crap scared out of them, both jumping from the couch they had been lounging on and looking at their busted door with wide eyes. Either due to their surprise or perhaps intoxication, neither one of them really thought of jumping for their guns before Tye had already reached them, swinging his trusty baseball bat.
Having capitalized on the first quick-time event (seemingly extended thanks to having the element of surprise on his side) the first one went down easily enough with a Critical Hit! to the head and an Unconsciousness debuff, but in doing so pushed Tye back up to Level 8 again. The familiar but ever euphoric feeling of levelling was so sudden and distracting in the middle of the fight that it gave the second gangster enough time to pick up his handgun from the table, knocking over several bottles in his desperate scramble.
He got two shots off, the first one glancing off Tye's armoured shoulder, the pad taken from a football uniform and barely holding together as the small projectile veered off and embedded itself in the wall behind him. The second one was lower, hitting Tye to the left of his diaphragm.
-210 HP! 48 Damage mitigated!
The feeling of getting shot was as if he were punched and stabbed really hard in the exact same spot at the exact same time (and sadly, Tye knew exactly what either of those sensations felt like), the teenager gasping for breath as he stumbled.
The loud gunshots had alerted the rest of the compound, but at least it flinched the gangster enough that he failed to continue firing for a moment. Capitalizing on it, Tye grabbed the edge of the couch with one hand, giving an enormous heave as he lifted it up in a single violent Throw, sending it upright and flying towards the gangster, who was bowled over.
-38 HP!
Before the man had a chance to recover from what the hell just happened, Tye had stepped closer to him and brought down his bat with vengeance determination, sending the guy off to lala land.
Critical Hit!
-127 HP!
(2/8 Gangsters defeated)
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
Seeing as the rest of the gang would be on his ass any second now, Tye briefly debated on Respawning already, before the pain in his side flared up. He really didn't want to endlessly keep repeating this just for a tiny additional shred of knowledge. Better to rip the band-aid off and go all in and get as much out of this as he could.
"This is just for recon. Run was scuffed anyways." Tye muttered under his breath, trying to psych himself up.
So instead of retreating, Tye turned around, tucked his head as he tilted his shoulder forwards and rammed straight through the thin connecting wall into the adjacent room.
-6 HP! 6 Damage mitigated!
Finally he had hit what he had been searching for: the main 'hub' of the compound's security. There was only one Loco here and a mess of screens from the twelve cameras inside and outside the warehouse (and a ton of burnt-up cigarettes and emptied energy drink cans), but while alert, he was standing by the door, gun in hand.
For a split second, surprised gangster and dust-covered superhero stared at each other, before the Loco whirled around, gun-arm extended. While not on the same level as his STR, Tye's DEX still wasn't anything to scoff at, especially after his time spent in the boxing ring and he was already on the move before the man had taken aim. He waited for that familiar well of energy as his boots slammed against the floor and when it hit its crescendo, he gripped the handle of his weapon and swung.
His baseball bat came up in a vicious arc, impacting the man's arm right in the elbow, almost snapping it the other way and the gangster howled in agony. As he dropped his gun, Tye's eyes saw several small red glowing circles appear on his opponent's body, mostly on the joints in his limbs, his head and a glaringly big one on his stomach. Mentally 'selecting' that one, Tye continued his advance, taking a few steps forwards as he brought his bat back down from the end of its high arc, smoothly transitioning it into a sidewards swing right into the middle of the man's torso.
-84 HP!
Something inside the man made an odd sound somewhere in between a 'crack!' and a 'squish!' and he let out a breathless groan as he sunk to his knees. Conveniently, this brought his head down to just the right height to be impacted by Tye's bat on the return swing, sending the man face-first into the floor.
Critical Hit!
-127 HP!
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
(3/8 Gangsters defeated)
The shouting from the rest of the gang was steadily getting closer, but Tye ignored it for now, instead paying closer attention to the mass of screens connected to the compound's security system. Smashing it was very tempting of course, but far too noisy and likely wouldn't actually deal with the cameras outside. Of course, without someone watching the screens it might not actually matter if the cameras caught him, but Tye would rather not risk it.
Maybe he could repurpose the security system somehow? Turn it against itself?
Intelligence Check passed! (120/100)
Access granted
Before his eyes, a simplified main menu appeared on the largest screen, a few options displayed. There was a central 'button' that said System Network with a 12 besides it. Below that there was the button Shut Off/On and that… well, that was pretty much it. More advanced compounds would naturally have more advanced systems (maybe even turrets?) but they'd probably be locked behind steeper INT checks. He had barely passed this one if it hadn't been for his point in Solomon and this had just been simple off-the-shelf security cameras!
His strategy for conquering this dungeon now firm in his head, Tye walked over to a nearby metal shelf, placed it in his Inventory and walked over to the door where he took it back out again, the entire thing wedged firmly against the door as it reappeared in reality again. Both Tye's hearing and mini-map told him several Locos were already getting close to the surveillance room and while he had already given up on this run, he'd rather not have a forced Respawn.
While sleeping in his bed had removed the trauma, it hadn't removed the memories and Tye was still somewhat uncomfortable with facing them, let alone repeating them.
So as the shelf shook as two Locos tried to bust down the door, Tye called out to his Boxes again.
Are you certain you want to Spawn at your Entry Point? All progress will be lost!
Y/N
/
This was it. This was the run. Tye could feel it, every finely-honed Gamer sense telling him that he had found his path to victory.
Stealth over to the camera at the back of the building. Use Throw to disable the camera there. Inventory a nearby crate, use it to access the grating on the second level. Use his STR stat to remove it as quietly as possible. Stalk over to where the security room was.
Now it got tricky.
Checking the mini-map, Tye saw that the guard inside was sitting with his back towards the door. Testing the handle, he found to his relief that the door wasn't locked (he wasn't sure he could Inventory just the lock without disappearing the entire door as well). Slowly teasing the handle, Tye silently pushed open the door, making sure to close it behind him to block the view of any Locos wandering by.
The guard in charge of watching their digital security wasn't paying attention, wholly focused on the one screen that had gone dark, its feed cut out. The gangster was muttering angrily under his breath as he kept typing (or rather smashing) on his keyboard, clearly taken by surprise and unsure of what to do.
Tye kindly took those worries away from him by Sneaking up behind him and punching him right on the temple, making sure to have his free hand on the other side of the man's head to catch him as he was whipped to the side.
Stealth bonus (x0.55)
-48 HP!
Inflicted Debuff: Dazed!
Tye hadn't dared to pull out the baseball bat for this one, wary of the sound the hit would make, though that did mean that the Loco was out of it, but not down for the count. Yet. Shifting his grip on the man so he was now grabbing him firmly by the hair, Tye brought back his fist again, unleashing a brutal haymaker straight down to the Dazed gangster's chin, which had been covered in an angry red glow.
Critical Hit!
-63 HP!
Inflicted Debuff: Unconscious!
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
LEVEL UP! 7 8!
+40 HP and SP! +5 to all Stats!
Gained +1 Perk Point!
You are now Level 8 (55/800 XP)
(1/8 Gangsters defeated)
Biting his cheek in order to avoid getting swept away in the sea of feelings that was a Level Up, Tye managed to keep his focus on the mission. Gently pulling the man upright again so that he was slumped over in his chair, Tye leaned past him, eyes intent on the mass of screens in front of him.
Intelligence check passed! (120/100)
As before, the feeds on the screens shifted until Tye was presented with the ON/OFF button to the entire security network of the Fifth Street Locos' hideout. Shutting off all the cameras, Tye briefly pondered his next move. The two Locos in the adjacent room were still lounging on the couch that Tye had used as an improvised weapon during his last run.
Taking them out was tempting as it would clear this entire floor in a single swoop. The problem was that last run had shown him it'd be incredibly difficult to get them both without having one of them alert the rest of the base, so Tye left them to vegetate for now. Instead, he Stealthed his way back over to the now opened grate, squeezed himself outside and let himself drop a few feet back onto the large crate he had materialized underneath it.
-3 HP! 3 Damage mitigated!
From there, he made his way back towards the front of the building, taking out the guard there as he had done on his second run via a swift blow to the back of the head with his baseball bat. It might be a bit cruel to leave someone with blunt-force trauma like that lying in the open, but in Tye's defence, the gangsters certainly hadn't hesitated in leaving him lying like that with death-by-bullet-storm trauma, so it all evened out in the end.
(2/8 Gangsters defeated)
That meant six Locos were left, two of them on the top floor of the warehouse, one of them on the main floor near the stashes of weapons and drugs and three of them patrolling outside at various points along the perimeter. Given that the three patrolling Locos were pretty spread out and thus isolated, Tye went after them first. He didn't need to, strictly speaking, at least not if he just wanted to complete Beware the full moon with this house, but taking out every enemy in this dungeon (non-lethally) was the requirement for Cleaning up the streets which had a hefty XP reward.
Tye wasn't sure what to feel about how this Paragon quest would only result in a Temporarily, mildly safer LA, as opposed to the Renegade's reward of a vastly safer city. His Boxes sure seemed to be… Tye wouldn't call them blood-thirsty per se, but they certainly thought very easily about killing as a means to an end. It was somewhat uncomfortable knowing something with an outlook like that was not only living in his head, but also changing both his body as well as his surroundings to unknown levels.
Which was perhaps partly why Tye leaned into following the Paragon path as strictly as he did, because he knew it was still him cracking heads. He chose to send these people to the hospital in incredible agony and possible debt, because he chose to be a hero!
… somehow, Tye was sure that sentence made sense.
Either way, the XP was too much to pass up on and so Tye stalked his three victims targets one by one. In doing so he managed to increase his Stealth to Level 2 by the time he got to the last Loco out on patrol. He wasn't sure just how effective the additional 10% Detection Reduction was (so far every gangster had noticed Tye before he reached them with the exception of the distracted security supervisor guy), but it did feel as if the guard took just a split-second longer to gain his alerted aura than the others.
Could also just mean that this guy was a bit slower on the uptake than the others, but it made things easier for Tye at least, who came in with a low swing straight to the back of the man's knees.
Stealth bonus (x0.55)
-61 HP!
Tye's STR was powerful enough he lifted the man's legs up completely in the air, almost sending the man flying horizontally in mute shock. Not wasting a moment and giving the man a chance to sound the alarm, Tye followed through on the sideways swing, pulling it back and raising it upwards before slamming it down straight into the gangster's chest, knocking him out of the air and down into the concrete.
-54 HP!
The man was letting out a choked-off groan as he writhed on the ground in gasping silence. However, since Tye didn't get an Enemy defeated! pop-up, he shifted his grip on his bat, spotted a glowing red circle on the side of the man's head and swung without remorse.
Critical Hit!
-127 HP!
Inflicted Debuff: Unconscious!
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
(5/8 Gangsters defeated)
He wasn't sure how they did it, but once again his Boxes came through for him despite their own appetite for violence, regulating Tye's blows somehow so that his victims enemies' heads didn't burst like overripe watermelons. He was fairly certain that if anyone else were to take a baseball bat to the head of another person, they would be charged with manslaughter sooner or later, but going by the debuffs and the gangster's healthbars (which, while red, was still prominently there above their heads) Tye didn't have to worry about that as long as he intended to continue following the Paragon questlines.
With the security outside taken care off, Tye focused back on the warehouse itself. As there was no need for Stealth, he Sprinted back over to the grating he had taken out at the beginning of the run, quickly re-entering the building from the second floor. The last Loco on the ground floor was sitting inside a small booth shoved to the wall of the central hangar area, so Tye was counting on being quick enough to take out the two lazing gangsters on this floor, Sprint across the catwalk and drop down onto the remaining Loco just as he came out of his little cubicle to see what all the fuss and screams of pain were about.
Plan set, Tye sprung into motion. He busted down the door (the correct one this time), once again taking the gangsters inside off guard for the first time. Knowing he had a small window to act, Tye held onto the door he had just torn off its hinges, heaving back and sending it flying with a tremendous Throw straight at the two shocked looking Locos.
The impact was loud, but the length of wood smacking them right in their surprised faces meant that it bought Tye a few more seconds as the two gangsters fell to the ground, still conscious but dazed and confused.
Knowing that the one on the right would lunge for the handgun on the low-slung messy table next to him, Tye jumped to him first, his bat re-materializing in his hand mid-lunge. The Loco, a squat, pouchy little man, looked up in fear and surprise, blood running down his face from a busted lip at the baseball bat that was descending upon him.
-43 HP!
Inflicted Debuff: Dazed!
Due to his mad scramble, Tye had missed his quick time event, so instead of knocking the gangster out, he merely sent the man face-first into the carpet, his bat rebounding from the gangster's skull with an oddly dull 'thomp!'. Still, it left him out of commission for at least a little bit, so Tye focused on the remaining Loco.
The man was already going for his own gun, so in a bit of inspired panic, Tye took his baseball bat with a Throw right at the man's face. It didn't do much damage, but it caused the man to flinch, drawing back and firing his gun blindly towards the ground. It was the opening Tye needed to Sprint towards the man, his baseball bat suddenly disappearing from where it had veered off to in mid-air, re-materializing in Tye's hand as he swung.
Equip and Inventory were more busted than he had initially realized.
However, the sudden move threw off his timing, making him miss the quick-time event to hit the critical spot on the gangster's arm. Thankfully, the STR behind it still meant the gun at least was thrown from the Loco's grip as he cried out in pain. The move had also opened up a whole host of new critical points on the man's body now that his guard had been broken and Tye sent his bat careening straight into the side of the Loco's jaw with a satisfying 'crack!'.
Critical Hit!
-127 HP!
Inflicted Debuff: Broken Jaw! Inflicted Debuff: Unconscious!
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
(6/8 Gangster defeated)
With that taken care of, Tye whirled around to face the second Loco, who was scrambling back up on unsteady feet, one head held against a painful forehead as he let out a pitiful groan, eyes screwed shut.
Which is why he didn't even see the blow to the head coming, the sweet release of the Unconsciousness Debuff taking away his pain.
Enemy defeated!
Non-lethal takedown: +75 XP!
(7/8 Gangster defeated)
He was so close. Just one more Loco left and Tye would have bested his first dungeon. A nervous energy filled his limbs as he Sprinted out of the room onto the catwalk. Sadly, his earlier strategy immediately fell through as he saw the last gangster leave his little office before Tye could get the drop on him.
The man immediately spotted Tye's form (how though?! He was wearing all black for fuck's sake!) and didn't hesitate to open fire, seemingly intent on emptying an entire clips worth in the span of a breath. With a yell of surprise, Tye scrambled back from the catwalk as it was torn up by the wild hail of bullets. Thankfully, the gangster had traded speed for accuracy, none of the projectiles even coming close to hitting Tye.
As the man kept firing away, Tye scrambled over towards the couch, heaving it up with ease thanks to his 347 STR points, which translated to being able to lift 1040 pounds (or 467,8 kilos), more than enough to lift the couch and carry it with him as he Sprinted back towards the catwalk the moment the gunman stopped firing to reload his weapon.
The Throw had been barely aimed, but it didn't much matter with an object of this size, the couch sailing through the warehouse with speed towards the little cubicle of the final Loco.
-21 HP!
Tye had learned by now to always keep moving and had already begun Sprinting the moment the couch had begun its airborne journey, booted feet slamming down against grated metal. Not a moment too soon, since the last Loco had worked himself back to his feet again, fresh clip slotted in his weapon and had already begun firing off his salvo with even greater enthusiasm than before.
Taking a (literal) leap of faith, Tye vaulted the railing, jumping down the ground floor, aiming his descent so his landing would be behind another stack of large crates. Well, that was the theory at least. In practice, it turned out, jumping from the second floor can end up with you smacking torso-first straight into the top of said crates, before tumbling to a dead stop by smacking into the concrete behind them.
-21 HP! 12 Damage mitigated!
-15 HP! 13 Damage mitigated!
Even as his lungs were struggling to draw breath again, Tye worked himself back to his feet as the crates splintered and cracked underneath the hail of bullets from the last Loco. Activating his Stealth, Tye silently moved away from his barricade, moving further towards the walls of the warehouse, trying to blend in with their shadows as best he could. Thankfully, the remaining gunman hadn't spotted him, still trying his best to decimate Tye's initial cover, laughing maniacally and slinging slurs almost as fast as he was blasting bullets.
Moving around the man and his range of fire, Tye quickly Stealthed closer towards the small office building the man was standing in front of. Eyeing the distance, both with his eyes and with his mini-map, Tye took a few deep, steadying breaths and pushed off in a dead Sprint, his Stamina pool running close to empty by now. His path was as straight as a ruler and Tye merely ducked his head and pushed on as he neared the cubicle, running straight through its walls and completely blindsiding the surprised looking gangster.
While Tye's grappling was shit, his STR wasn't, so without pausing to give his opponent a chance to react, he slammed into the gangster with a running tackle, strong arms clasping around the man's waist. Then with a heave and a grunt of effort, Tye lifted the far larger man clear off the ground, up and over his head and sent him slamming back into the unforgiving concrete with a roar of effort.
-58 HP!
To Tye's surprise, the man wasn't even inflicted with a Dazed Debuff, instead rolling with the body-slam and coming back up to a knee as he tried to whirl around, pistols in both hands and rage in his eyes. He took aim but seeing Tye summon his bat to his hand in a flash of red static particles took the man by surprise long enough for the Gamer to slam his weapon in the side of the man's right arm.
-46 HP!
Somewhat worryingly, just like when he stood opposite Charlie Simmons in the ring, the quick-time events were blindingly fast and the few critical points on the man's body annoyingly small. He hadn't managed to break the gangster's arm, or even disarm him like he had done with gangster number 6!
The man snarled in pain as his arm was slammed to the side and in that brief moment, Tye's eyes flitted to the nameplate hovering above the Loco's head.
Sergio Noguera - Gang Lieutenant (LVL. 26)
Human (Criminal)
'Well… crap.'Tye thought to himself as he swallowed.
Which is all he managed as Sergio finally managed to train both pistols on Tye's armoured form, a wicked grin on his face.
"See you in hell, you hijo de la gran' puta!"
YOU DIED
/
Fun Fact: Martin Goodman published the first Marvel comic in 1939
AN: This took longer than I wanted it to, due to having started work this week. Hope you liked the mechanics I introduced here. Many thanks to BelatorDelux for sponsoring this story! If you want to vote on which story will get uploaded next, join my Pa Treon (it's cheap, I swear!)! It also gives you access to my discord server. Hope to see you there!