*Pant* *Pant*
John rested at the side of a blue car.
The truth was his body had given up long before his mind could accept it.
He tried rising, he collapsed. Screaming and screaming.
Three bullet wounds; one to his foot, another on his shoulder to his missing arm, and then his waist. No vital organ hit. But he's bleeding out profusely.
Drowning in pain.
A sudden realisation that those shots weren't missed. The sniper doesn't want to kill him. He's either preying on him or just playing with him.
Behind him, the city screamed.
Hundreds of puppets scavenging on civilians. Massive catastrophe.
Few awakeners have arrived on scene. Rankers from nearby Guilds. Some engaged with the puppets, while some were rescuing the civilians.
A mess out there. It wouldn't take time before the puppets found him.
Footsteps! Loud!
He looks around… Above. They've got him.
"Fuck !"
He immediately throws the briefcase across the street. He turned back, aiming his gun at the increasing puppets making their way to the top of the car. He didn't engage them, he shot straight at the car's bonnet.
BOOM.
The blast burst out, sweeping everything around. He lands on the briefcase. He dragged himself out the carriage way.
He held on to the kerbs, using it to raise himself up. He slowly exhales. A slight moment to catch his breath and think.
BAM! — a swift shot. Missing his head, landing on the concrete pathway.
The Sniper!
He twisted sharply, eyes snapping to the impact, trying to trace the bullet.
BAM! — Another shot. A different direction. Another sniper?
PUFF!! — A straight bullet, aiming for a headshot.
Iris alerts. [INCOMING— DUCK!!!]
John, head low immediately, seeing the bullet make its way over his head. Too accurate.
"Bloody hell," There's no time to think. He sprints, forcing his weeping legs into motion
Pushing onward in intense pain. His lungs burned like they were being peeled from the inside, each breath coming out ragged, wet, wrong. Blood slicked the inside of his throat; he swallowed it without thinking, because stopping—even for a second—meant a bullet to his brain.
He kept running.
Down the street, he couldn't stop. Staggering, limping, half-falling forward. He wasn't certain of his direction. Just anywhere the sniper isn't shooting. However, his fingers were glued to the briefcase like it was his life.
Behind him, a crowd of restless puppets chasing him. The sniper shots came from different directions, missing him, striking the puppets down one by one.
A complete slaughter.
He approached a junction. An alley to the side. Safe.
He tilted his body to make a quick turn.
Iris cleared [Alley way; 75% scanned. No Danger. Clear]
Another bullet passed his neck. Blast through the puppet behind him.
A quick thought flashed his head.
He immediately threw himself backwards, rolling out from concrete to asphalt. Back on the middle of the road. He stood up. His legs trembled.
An approaching vehicle screeched closer, he limped toward it. He slammed the base of the briefcase into the side window, the glass exploded. Hand clamped tight around the driver's neck, dragged him out through the window.
He barged into the car. Briefcase wedged between his thighs. Bleeding foot slammed on the pedal.
Reverse.
The car drifted a full 180°. Tires screaming in terror. The engine wailed. The speedometer jumped past 140 km/h...
ZOOM!!!
….in no time, the entire area had vanished from his view.
..
..
..
He settled the car halfway into the industrial district. Crashed into a lorry parked on the street.
He crawled his way from the seat into an abandoned warehouse. He rested on a column. His hands still glued to the briefcase, he tried raising his elbow.
KCHT! That's not a good sound. But, it's the same sound his entire body is singing. He sinks into the concrete. A soft exhale followed.
A slow clap echoed through the warehouse.
"Impressive," a voice said calmly. "You made it farther than projected."
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
Tall. Lean. A blonde, wearing a yellow suit with a red outline. Eyes glowing faintly red in a robotic visor in his eyes.
John squints into the dark. The man slowly approached the window light.
[C-Class Ranker — THE VISION]
[Ability: Lazer Beams]
Vision tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something only he could hear.
"You're injured," Vision said. "Multiple fractured ribs. Blood loss approaching critical. You won't survive another pursuit."
John gritted his teeth, hand tightening on the briefcase, "Then stop talking."
Vision smiled, "I don't need you alive," he said. "Just the case….Hand it over."
Vision began to move. The visor over his eyes hummed faintly, regulating the lethal light behind them.
"I thought heroes don't kill?" John gritted.
Vision replied "I don't think anyone would care"
"I'm a minor"
"Buff…you're at least 21"
John smirked "it's the food"
"What type of food?"
"BullShit!!" John's hand switched from the briefcase to his gun from nowhere. BLAST!!!!
Vision shot his laser, to counter. A fire for fire
The two blasts meet mid air; John's— three seconds faster, Vision's— over a thousand degrees stronger. The blast explodes directly at John. Burns all-over his face. Vision followed up, John barely reacted in time. He blast at John's finger. Screams! Gun dropped to the ground. Briefcase a little inches from him, but he dared not try anything funny.
"You have one hand, Save it" Vision's laser humming for another round.
John grunting in pain. Bleeding on the concrete floor. "Vision3000…..fury up to three thousand degrees….Melts steel, cut through concrete. I used to think it was exaggerated."
Vision muttered, "Mmhh."
"You know, you smell like money" John raised up his head, giving off a menacing smile, "Big guild…lots of cash." His smile drew more psychopathic "ohh.. you must have a very big paycheck. For a C-Ranker"
Vision's laser quickly changed from yellow-red to lava red. His thermo-calibrator maxed out to XXX.
A surge of killing intent flooded the warehouse—
"Enough."
The word hit like a command.
Energy roared as a woman stepped between them, boots cracking concrete beneath her weight. She appeared straight from nowhere.
Melissa Sachs!
Her presence warped the air. Power rippled around her like heat waves.
[A- Class Ranker — MELISSA SACHS "THE VOLT QUEEN"]
[Ability: Electricity]
Vision froze.
"Stand down," Melissa ordered. "That's not your kill."
Her gaze dropped to John, then to the briefcase.
"Secure both."
Unseemingly for anyone in their Twenties to ever achieve such a high rank. She's different. The youngest person to become a Guild Master in one of the top guilds in the country. A true beauty, in fact. John himself had forgotten his pain, his eyes locked at her chest….face rather.
"Yes mam!" Vision replied.
John, staring at Melissa, a blink of white light flashed from the window.
John pushed the briefcase to Vision's feet. Vision bends to pick up the briefcase.
The shot came from nowhere.
BAM!
Vision's fingers exploded in a spray of blood. He screamed, staggering back.
Melissa spun instantly, electric bolts flaring around her arms as another bullet screamed toward her head. She caught it—barehanded—energy crushing the round into dust.
Her eyes locked onto a distant rooftop.
"Sniper," she muttered.
Another shot. Caught. Glass shattered. Steel screamed. More and more.
"DNX-grade rounds," she said calmly. "Professional."
The sniper vanished into the chaos.
Melissa turned back, irritation flashing across her face.
"What is so special about this briefcase?" she demanded. "Who does it belong to?"
A slow clap echoed—from the stairwell above.
A voice answered.
"You ask the wrong questions, Hero."
A figure descended the stairs. Barefoot. Cloaked. The old dark-skin man landed.
The Dancer!
Melissa's eyes widened. A living legend had appeared before her
The infamous Dancer. The bureau once placed a bounty on his head '30million XPs'. But, after the battle at Oldtown years ago, they changed it to 'Flee at first Sight'.
History had it, he danced with over a thousand puppets. And when the puppets had all broken down, He danced with the bodies of the Dead. And when the undead had been defeated, He Danced with The Living. Real people! Controlling thousands of people into complete chaos using his fingers. Chaos Himself.
...
Vision tried to move.
The Dancer raised a hand.
Multiple puppets rose from the concrete floor, crushing Vision into the ground.
"Lie still," he said softly. "You've danced enough."
Melissa shouted "Dancer stand down!" Bolts surrounded her completely.
"Urrrrrhh Me-li-ssah… The Queen of Bolts" He laughed "are you afraid of me?...A-rank…hmm. The ranking these days."
Melissa charged a lightning bolt straight at him. The Dancer raised an eyebrow, switched places with one of his puppets at the entrance door.
"You disappoint me. Bolt Queen"
The Dancer lit up a cigarette. He tossed the smoke into the air while he exhaled.
"Hand the cripple over!"
Melissa frowns, "Vision, Make Way"
"Yes mam!" Vision charges.
Three thousand degrees of Laser beams sweeping across the entire warehouse, cutting down everything from pillars, to walls to ceiling. Everything came clashing down. Collapsed!
Melissa and Vision came out of the rubble. The entire building was crushed. Boulders, stones, broken walls everywhere.
"Vision, take him and the briefcase. Straight to the Bureau…. I'd stay here with Dancer"
"Yes mam"
...
The Dancer bounced out of the collapsed building.
"No one is going anywhere!"
He began to chant. He rose. Floating. Eyes covered in aura.
"Do you hear the Prayers! Do you hear the noise!
The people trapped, they turned to God. Let down your fury!!
Their screams pleased not the mighty one, only until he heard the chosen voice.
I say to you !!
Rise !!!
Rise !! From this chaos! From this concrete! From this floor !
Oh, Hold and Behold, I summon you. The Body of God !!!!!"
....
The ground tremored. It rumbled. It quaked.
The Floor Split. The boulders flew, crashing into one another. Rising a structure, a colossal one.
A Golem! Ranging Ten storeys. Massive! Towering over surrounding buildings. Shadow casted on evacuating civilians. It was Unreal.
Chaos erupted.
Melissa launched multiple lightning bolts at the golem. The concrete body dents, breaks, then forms again. No major impact. Not even lasers.
The golem swung. A Massive Slap!
Melissa was sent flying—through the air, slamming from building walls, through another.
She landed hard.
Slowly stood.
Anger burned.
She stopped holding back.
Energy screamed as she absorbed power from every radio tower, generator, and grid within twenty miles radius.
The air howled. Clouds darkened.
She stared at Vision, then at John. John, still jumping around with the briefcase tightly glued to his chest with his arm.... avoiding falling boulders. He looked at the look on her face. John didn't argue.
He ran! Bursting through the first manhole he could find. John tumbled into the sewer. Water and debris hissed around him. Above the manhole, the city roared and trembled.
...
Melissa rose to the clouds. Sparks swarmed all around her. The clouds trembling violently.
Eyes opened! Pure White, no pupil. Black veins tattooed around her entire face. Her silver-white hair stood erect.
She stared straight at the Golem with the Dancer on top.
"UnGodly Current — FOUR DIMENSIONAL THUNDER !!!"
BOOM.
.
.
.
A mushroom-cloud detonated...
White light followed.
.
THERE WOULD BE CASUALTIES.