Chapter 5: Megan Proxy to the Rescue
There was no time for stealth. Megan moved as fast as she could down the corridor, making as much noise as she could. She even fired off a burst of shots to make sure she got everyone’s attention. It would mean that they would converge on her, but it also meant that Aijin Kuro wouldn’t be surprised.
She slid into cover just before the team that had been going after Aijin made it back to the same hallway. She fired at them as they moved around the corner, but they weren’t out in the open. They knew she was there, and they were moving cautiously. She didn’t hit either of them, just tore apart one of the columns a little bit.
They returned fire, and Megan wished she had a grenade or something. She didn’t waste her ammunition returning fire; there wasn’t time. She had to hope that the quick plan that occurred to her worked out, and took aim down the hallway away from the people shooting at her. She slid down the column and took her aim at almost floor level.
The radicals all had on body armor. One of the teams moving toward her had a shield of some kind that looked pretty bulletproof. But there was one thing that they all had in common. They were all wearing the same basic leather combat boots. There was a chance they were steel-toed, but Megan didn’t think it was all that likely. And even if they were, the feet were still a weak point.
The damage wasn’t any higher than it should have been, but when she let out the burst fire at the first of the two moving into the hallway, he fell to the ground, screaming in pain. He might not be dead, but he was out of the fight.
She realized that she had been thinking about things all wrong. She didn’t need to kill anyone else; all she needed to do was wound them badly enough that they would surrender, and then she could disarm them.
The column she was leaning against vibrated as more bullets tore into it. But the vibrations all felt like they were coming from above her head, so she still felt safe enough to stay where she was.
Megan swapped the rifle to single-shot mode and aimed at the column the team that had her flanked was hiding behind. She aimed right at the edge of the column, at about thigh level. Then she readied herself to fire as soon as she saw anything that even resembled movement.
The idea was that as one of the radicals moved into firing position, she’d be able to wound him in the thigh. It would be a serious enough wound that he wouldn’t be able to run, and it might be distracting enough that he’d stop shooting.
She was not expecting to see the glint of a laser sight as the man leaned out, already on one knee, to fire. She pulled the trigger, gasping as she saw the spurt of blood at the man’s throat. At least she didn’t hit him in the head. But he was out of the fight, same as his partner.
Around then, she heard what she’d been hoping for: Aijin Kuro had flanked the two who were shooting at Megan and was able to get a free burst off at them. Megan saw through the camera and noticed that one of the radicals was moving to take cover from Aijin, leaving himself completely flanked to her. She waited for him to stop moving, then took aim and shot him at the base of his back, hoping to avoid any kind of body armor.
The man screamed, but based on the damage number, his armor had stopped most of the force. He was more screaming in surprise than pain.
“Surrender!” Megan shouted, trying to make herself sound forceful and confident. “We have you flanked. Don’t make me kill you.”
NEW SKILL: Intimidation 1/10. Get your way by threat and bravado.
The radical surrendered. All four of them, actually. It was half of the remaining force. The one who had been shot in the throat was in danger of bleeding out, but Megan let his partner patch him up. Then she had them all empty their inventory onto the floor.
She looked at Aijin once the radicals and their weapons were well separated. She was tall and rugged-looking. There were scars on either side of her eyes, suggesting that she had at least some cybernetic upgrades already. Her chin was straight and square, her shoulders broad, and her stance very domineering. Or, rather, she stood like she was used to being in control, and just sort of assumed everyone would do what she told them to.
“I can’t fit any of the armors,” she said to Aijin. “But if their stuff is better than what you have, help yourself. How are you doing on healing?”
Aijin looked at her for a few seconds, and Megan briefly wondered if she was making a mistake. She was pretty sure the game didn’t have PvP during what was still the introductory mission. There would be areas she could go to if she wanted that kind of nonsense. But she was still worried that she was trusting the wrong person, that they weren’t really on the same side.
Then Aijin took a long look at the equipment on the floor, nodded, and said “Thanks.” She stepped forward and quickly equipped the body armor of one of the soldiers. She was almost indistinguishable from them, thanks to the masks they were all wearing.
It gave Megan an idea.
“Any idea how many of them are left?” Aijin asked.
“Four,” Megan told her. “Two more teams. They’re probably going to be expecting us.”
“If they have radios, they know about our current situation. Do we know where they are?”
Megan nodded, then tapped the side of her forehead. “I’m patched into the security cameras,” she said. “I’ve got eyes on them.”
“Nice. Do we have time to level up?”
The other four weren’t coming for them; they were focused on their mission. They were currently working on the security door that was all that remained between them and their goal.
“We’ve got time,” she confirmed. “But we shouldn’t take too long; they’re working on the security door.”
Aijin nodded. Megan looked at her and saw that the level over her head had increased. She was level 4 now. The early levels really do go by fast.
-You have gained one level. Choose which class to increase.
She sighed, but she couldn’t help herself. On the theory that the more points she put into it, the more she would find out about it, she assigned the level to her new class.
-You are now Level 2 ????. Increase Abilities Strength, Agility, and Toughness by one. Increase Willpower by 2. Skills increased: Guns, Jury-rig. Talents improved: Subterfuge, Collected, ???. You have 3 Ability points and 2 Skill points to spend.
There was only one fight left, theoretically. Then she would go to the part of the game that was more focused on her actual class. So maybe she should improve things there, and leave the combat-oriented stuff alone for now. It was already pretty good, after all.
She decided to compromise, putting one point into Toughness and two into Charisma. Then she put one of her skill points into Research and the other into ???. She looked at her character sheet.
Megan Proxy, Level 5 researcher/Level 2 ????. Experience 1800/4800. HP: 440/440. Stamina 100/100. Technology Points (TP): 100/100. Cybernetics: 0/5. Abilities: Strength 3, Agility 7, Toughness 8, Willpower 4, Wits 6, Intelligence 10, Charisma 8, Luck 10. Skills: Guns 3/5. Intimidation 1/10. Research 2/5. Jury-rig 3/20. Stealth 6/10. ??? 2/10. Talents: Quick memory 1/10. Collected 3/25. Subterfuge 2/10. ??? 2/25.