43 Damsel in Distress

'Should I approach her?' I thought inside my mind. I was still watching Sherry Birkin from faraway. I wonder what she was doing here in the middle of the night. She wore a thick blue jacket, black pants, and white shoes.

'Should I approach her with a mask on or off? No... Except for Batman, only rapists and robbers walk in the middle of the night with a mask on. She might be too scared.'

After a bit of contemplation, black smoke surrounded my equipment as they fade away. Taking their place were my everyday clothes, a black T-shirt and white short pants.

'Damn its cold!'

Since Raccoon City was surrounded by mountains it was really cold, especially during the night. I took out my blue hoodie jacket from the inventory as I walked toward her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Sherry was startled by my voice but then she sighed in relief after finding me. She replied while smiling gently, "Isn't that what I was supposed to ask?"

Fair enough. I took a seat on the swing next to her. Sherry didn't expect me to just sit there, usually, other kids her age who know about her would never come close to her, not even talk. There was silence for a few minutes. I was just swinging slowly when Sherry asked, "We've met before, right?"

"Hmm? Oh right. I'm surprised you remember that." I replied while recalling the previous meeting. I didn't expect her to remember it since there were a lot of students nearby as well. I added, "Though, you can't call that a meeting. We just glanced at each other."

"It's not a glance if you didn't move your eyes away." smiled, Sherry.

'Damn it, Did I make it too obvious?' I cursed in my head while recalling how I keep watching as her car went out of my vision. Wait, how did she know I never moved my eyes away? Unless... But I just put it behind my back and asked something else to change the subject. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question. Why are you here in the middle of the night?"

Sherry put her index finger on her cheek while acting deep in thought. Swinging back and forth, she relented and answered, "I hate staying at home. Whenever I was there, I always feel lonely. It keeps reminding me that I was all alone."

When her parents got a hold of the Golgotha Virus (G-Virus), they started to focus on developing it, neglecting Sherry as a result. Even to the point that they started to forget their own daughter's birthday. It had been 7 years since then and although they met each other occasionally, it was just not enough for her.

Seeing that I was starting to feel bad about her, she abruptly confessed, "Just kidding. I just came here because I can't sleep."

Her smile looked too genuine to be a lie. However, if it was not me that was facing her right now, they might have been fooled by it. Too bad, I know almost everything about her. I just pretended to be deceived, awkwardly laughing.

"What about you? Why are you here?" she asked, feeling concerned.

"Hmmm... let's see... I just went out to defeat some criminals and their goons." I replied. Sherry chuckled after hearing my answer, thinking it was a joke. It wasn't though. Seeing that her mood went up, I introduced myself. "My name's Edward, what's yours?"

"Sherry." answered, Sherry, with a smile. She stood up and put her hand in front of me, "So, Edward, it's getting late, let me take you home."

"Hey, shouldn't it be a man that does that?" I said while puffing out my chest with both hands on my waist.

Sherry giggled and said, "But you're not a man yet, and far younger than me from how it looks."

Comparing our heights, she was taller than me by 20 cm. My height was still at 130 cm, which was the average height for 8 years old like me. Damn, I need to increase my milk intake from tomorrow onwards.

"It's okay. I can go home by myself." I said, refusing her offer.

"It was not an offer," she said while grabbing my hand. I couldn't do anything and just show her the way. We keep talking a bit until we reached Chris's apartment, mostly about me. I didn't lock my room's window as a way for me to get in. I already noted Claire's and Chris's habit for the past week and locked the door before I went out. Not having to worry that they would suddenly barge into my bedroom.

It wasn't that long until we reached the apartment. Sherry won't leave until she saw me, went inside. Thank God, they never locked the main door, and just leave security to guard it. It would be a problem if I can't open the door and thought that I was lying. After I waved at her from one of the windows on the stairs, she started to walk back home.

However, I turned on the Stealth mode and followed her home. I couldn't risk her being in danger, not because she was the main character I need to keep alive, but I was genuinely concerned about her. But it seemed to be unnecessary as she walked home just fine. She knew every shortcut and safe roads in the city. It appeared that she was already accustomed to this. Once she was home, I turned around and went back.

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Tuesday, August, 25th.

The next day, I woke up and got ready. This is my second day to go to school and I will start using the School Bus, but I have to walk a bit until I reached the Bus's route. The School Bus only picks up students that lived around 1 or 2 kilometers from school.

After breakfast, Claire took me to the Bus Stop. Along the way, I met several neighbors. There was the fat lady, the convenience store owners. She always looked pissed off in the morning, I wonder why. There was also the old man Johnson, who seemed to hate kids being around him. The young couples that keep bickering about the simplest things and the flower shop owner that always ignore anyone passing by.

There were no interesting things happened that I found along the way because I just ignored everything. I focused on training myself for now. For example, reading books that John Wick gave me about firearms. To improve the effectiveness of my guns, I have to know the ins and outs, or the specifics about them. I need to at least get the Moderate Buff every time I used the Reinforcement.

Once we arrived at school, I walked toward the classroom, but on the way, someone called me. It was Sherry.

"Edward!" she ran toward me and we had a small talk before splitting in front of the building for the 1st to 6th grades. Sherry was a 7th grader, so her class was on a separate building on the left-wing.

The surrounding students looked at us and started a round of new gossiping. I didn't hear what they said and wasn't interested either. But I knew that it was mostly badmouthing us. Really, what's wrong with their heads.

Once I got into the classroom, I went straight to my table. My classmates greeted me, and I greeted them back. Although I wanted to stay alone, I don't want to be a jerk. If someone talked to me, I have to at least reply.

"Edward!" suddenly, someone called me. Michael was waving his hands from the door.

Damn it! I forgot about this guy!

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Once school ends, I went straight home. I met with Sherry again and talked a bit before taking the School Bus. Once I got home, I put down my bag and changed my clothes. I told Claire that I was going to play at the park as she started packing lunch for me. I couldn't leave without notifying her or Chris.

My destination was, of course, the Continental. I have to take my reward from the mission I completed yesterday. Marlo welcomed me in front of the hotel. I already turned on my usual equipment, complete with the Blue Ranger mask. He led me to a counter where I could take my reward.

The reward wasn't that much, only 10 Gold coins, the currency that the Continentals used. It could be used to pay for services that the Continental provided or trade it with real money. When I ask how much it worth, I couldn't help but hang my mouth open. One single gold coin was worth $2000. After thinking about it, every single service in the Continental would cost $2000 at a minimum.

'What a leech.'

But thinking back, it makes sense. The Continental would keep the identity of their customers to remain a secret along with their trades. Unlike other black markets, they were more trustworthy.

Ding!

A crisp sound of a bell followed after I take my reward. It was from the golden contract.

I was taken aback by the series of notification. Although I already expected to level up, the last announcement made me curious.

"Regina, what's a Mercenary Shop?" I asked after finding a quiet corner at the cafeteria.

[A Mercenary Shop is just like its name, Sir. You can buy anything you needed from it, ranging from daily necessity, Equipment, or even a Special Ability by using the points that you got after clearing a mission.] answered Regina.

"Special Ability!?" I accidentally raised my voice. Thankfully, no one paid attention. The people here were mostly normal customers or rich underworld criminals that usually used Continental's services. The Members were mostly spending their time in the underground facility.

I rushed to open the Mercenary Shop's tabs. Just like what Regina said, it was filled with all kinds of items, from useless to useful. On the top of the tab were written, <F-rank Items>

To open the next rank I need to have a cumulative amount of 100.000 Mercenary Points (MCP). I only gained 2000 MCP from the last mission. The special abilities that Regina mentions only available on the E-Rank tab. But just like its name, it was filled with F-Rank or E-Rank abilities. I need to unlock the higher tabs to buy higher-ranked items or abilities.

With everything done, for now, I went to the training facility. I met with Dean and Sammy, they sometimes taught me their specialty, the trick of stealing, and disguise. It wasn't bad to have more cards in my pocket.

Before I start, I checked on my status.

<Mental Power (MP) - 330/330

Unused stat points - 0>

(A/N: later on, I will shorten it by combining the after Edward learn more Masteries, so bear with me for now.)

The only increase I had was two extra Masteries, Thievery, and Disguise. Thievery includes everything from tricks to distract someone else's attention, or how to minimize noise when I break into someone's house. The disguise was helpful, I could even change my voice with a bit of a trick and posture or the way I behave. Both of them were really helpful.

Just like that three weeks passed by. I still attend both of my training and class regularly. My knowledge level started to increase one by one, with all of them now in Intermediate Level except my Linguistic.

I also raised another level after completing several F-Rank and one E-Rank Mission. The latter was requiring me to guard my client, during a drug transaction. Of course, there was a hick-up since my client didn't expect me to be very young, but after I showed him what I can do, he didn't say anything more.

There was no problem with the transaction and everything went well until my client decided to take everything for himself and run away. As per my contract, I have to protect him until he was in a safe place. Left with no choice, I did what I could without killing those poor bastards who were duped by my client.

All ended well, I got my reward, he got to live. I have to be careful next time when picking missions.

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September, 18th, 6 PM. Somewhere in New York.

Nick Fury and Maria Hill were walking into an empty warehouse. Nick wore his usual black coat, along with his eyepatch, just like how he always did in the movie. Agent Maria Hill wore a uniform that was tightly fitted for her body which helped her easier to move around, and a gun on her waist.

Inside the warehouse, stood a man with long hair and tribal tattoos on his right arm. His name is Billy Coen, the survivor from the Umbrella's Train accident about two months ago that Agent Maria Hill found in the wilderness. Nick Fury was supposed to meet with him weeks ago, but somehow Umbrella started to make a move as they were quite suspicious at SHIELD's behavior these past weeks.

"Finally, I thought you forgot about me. It is an honor to receive the Director of SHIELD as a guest to my humble abode," said Billy, sarcastically. He had to live in constant hiding because now, not only he was wanted by the U.S. Government, the Umbrella also keep sniffing for his ass.

"Cut the crap, Billy, and start talking. My schedule is tight." replied, Fury. Maria Hill just stood behind him, and let both of them talk with each other.

"Where do you want me to start? The attack by the fake James Marcus on the train, or the secret research lab of Umbrella?"

Almost everything Billy described was the same as the report that Maria gave Nick Fury weeks ago in his office, but there was something else that was not written in the note that Fury found out from talking with Billy Coen. For example, how Rebecca, the other survivor of the train accident went to Spencer's hidden mansion on the Arklay Mountain right after. The truth about T-Virus the two of them found, and the zombified victims and their other dead test subjects.

All of them made Fury's head even hotter and jumbled than before. 20 minutes later, they left and went back to his office, with a muddled mood.

"What the damn hell!?" Fury finally snapped from his silence and slammed his desk, "How can the government keep silent about these!? Did they not know about Umbrella's project these past years?"

"Umbrella was too clever, Sir. Even we didn't know anything until now," answered Maria Hill. Fury just sighs from his seat.

"Where's Phil?" asked Fury.

"His office, probably. Do you want me to call him over?" she replied.

"Tell him that we're going to Raccoon City. Tell our most trusted agents to standby. We might need support later on." he ordered.

"Yes, Boss. Is there anything else?" Maria Hill started making notes.

"Yes, find me a small box around the length of my arm." added, Fury.

Confused with the unexpected order, Maria Hill asked, "What do you need it for, Sir? Do you want to make a hideout in the city?"

"No, I need to return this stuff." He pointed at the neatly stacked comic books on the floor. "I also need to ste... I mean borrow, another set of them."

Meanwhile, at the same time, Edward suddenly feels angry without knowing why.

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