“Mike, take Jimmy’s car while Anne turns off the cameras,” I ordered as I grabbed my weapons. “I’ll sneak out of the house and meet you down the street.”

WEAPON EQUIPPED: SLEDGEHAMMER, +53 DAMAGE/BLOW

SECONDARY WEAPON EQUIPPED: NAILGUN, +30 DAMAGE/HIT

My Blunt Weapons bonus kicking in pushed damage from 48 to 53 for the sledgehammer.

YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR FIRST BATTLEPLAN.

RUSHING INTO BATTLE AND RELYING ON LUCK IS FOR THE AMATEUR. THE TRAINED WARRIOR PREPARES AND MAKES A PLAN.

AS LONG AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS YOU TO FOLLOW YOUR PLAN, +25% CHANCE OF SUCCESS TO ALL LUCK-RELATED EFFECTS.

+1 WISDOM FOR CREATING YOUR FIRST BATTLEPLAN.

FOR EACH SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED BATTLEPLAN, +100 XP.

And it seems my power rewarded planning as well.

That reminded me that I had an unused attribute boost.

I’d been putting off what to use it for. Either Dexterity or Perception would improve my AP, which I was going to need a lot of.

I thought about it for a second, then boosted Perception.

My AP increased to 182 and my PP to 266.

HP: 130/130 + 400/400

PP 266/266

MP: 360/360 CP 230/230 AP: 182/182 $1879.00 XP: 2895/3000 Ethics: +7

Now I was ready.

The Damini was brightly lit, and a line of people waited outside the door.

I was crouched behind a dumpster, observing - and Observing - the people going in and out. Most of the people going in were single men, but the ones leaving were couples. Huh. Okay, so maybe it was a hookup joint as well.

A beefy bouncer stood outside the door. He didn’t worry me, though - he was only Level 3.

No, the real defences of this place were elsewhere.

I pulled out the Jammer beacon and activated it.

Immediately, the lights went out across the block.

Pitch blackness.

JAMMING ACTIVATED. TIME REMAINING: 0:59:59

The crowd didn’t panic, though. A couple of people started using their smartphone flashlights.

“Everybody!” yelled the bouncer. “There seems to be a power outage. We’ll need a few minutes to start the generator. In the meantime, please maintain an orderly line!”

Time to get moving.

I darted across the street, heading for the side of the building. The dark grey fabric of Nanofibre Weave made me difficult to spot in the darkness.

The club had a side door. Locked, of course.

I grabbed my sledgehammer and swung.

The door folded inwards with an audible crack.

I raced through.

My helmet let me see quite clearly, even in the dark - which gave me an advantage over any normal people.

Like the armed guard who was standing against the wall, smoking a joint. He turned to look in the direction of the sound.

GRUNTER GUARD LEVEL 5

HP 80/80

His eyes widened in terror.

Before he could do more than drop the cigarette, I was on him.

A hammer blow to his gut knocked the wind out of him.

GRUNTER GUARD -53 HP, WINDED

I smashed my fist against his temple, knocking him back with a Stunning Blow.

GRUNTER GUARD -18 HP, STUNNED

USE KNOCKOUT BLOW? CHANCE OF SUCCESS 100%.

I followed it up with a Knockout Blow.

The guard crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

GRUNTER GUARD DEFEATED. +30 XP.

My AP was at 42/182, but at least I’d managed to disable the guard without killing him. A quick Observe showed me that he’d be out for at least an hour.

Well, I was on a time limit anyway.

I darted through the club, looking for the stairs down.

Another guard was walking down the corridor. This time, though, he had his back to me and was headed in the other direction.

I snuck up behind him with the hammer, then swung.

CRITICAL HIT! GRUNTER GUARD -106 HP.

… what?

The guard crumpled to the ground, dead.

Crap - I’d forgotten about the critical hit doubling damage.

I shrugged it off. The Grunters weren’t exactly saints, and I doubted they’d be so restrained if they caught me. Besides, it was too late to do anything about it.

+30 XP.

TITLE UNLOCKED: DEATH FROM THE SHADOWS.

YOU ARE A RUTHLESS MASTER OF THE ART OF THE SILENT KILL. WHEN STRIKING AN UNWARY TARGET, YOUR DAMAGE IS DOUBLED.

50% REDUCED CHANCE OF DETECTION IN THE DARKNESS.

EQUIP TITLE? YES/NO

… It was a no-brainer.

I’d have to be a little cautious about how I attacked, of course, but the reduced chance of being detected was worth it.

I continued to sneak through the hallways.

Another two guards, but this time I was able to avoid killing them. The first went down to a stealthed punch, which turned out to be a critical hit - and at 8 HP left, he had little chance against a Knockout Blow. The second was a bit more difficult, but it took three punches instead of just one.

The second guard also pushed me over the level-up marker.

YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP! NOW LEVEL 4.

ATTRIBUTE BOOSTS: 1

XP: 15/4000

I pushed my fresh boost into Perception, pushing it up to 15 and my AP up to 195.

AT LEVEL 4, ADDITIONAL SPECIAL ABILITIES UNLOCKED BASED ON YOUR PROGRESSION.

YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE ABILITY: INVENTORY SLOTS.

YOUR INVENTORY LOCKER IS A PORTABLE SUBSPACE POCKET, IN WHICH YOU CAN STORE SPECIFIC ITEMS AS LONG AS THE TOTAL WEIGHT IS LESS THAN 3 X STR. AS LONG AS AN ITEM IS IN INVENTORY IT DOES NOT APPEAR VISIBLE TO ANY OUTSIDERS.

YOUR INVENTORY CAPACITY IS 54 KG. YOUR ARMOR AND WEAPONS WEIGH 44 KG. YOU CAN CARRY UPTO 10 KG IN YOUR INVENTORY.

A VERY USEFUL SKILL FOR STEALING STUFF, ONE THINKS.

A portable subspace pocket? And my power thinks the best use of it is petty larceny...

The second guard had been standing in front of the door to the first sub-basement.

As I snuck downstairs, I could hear the sound of people yelling in frustration.

“...please calm down,” someone was saying. “We are trying to get the generator started…”

“.... and we’re sitting in the dark!” yelled a Chinese-accented voice.

“Not what we came for!” shouted another.

“The house will start the games again,” replied the announcer, “but you must remain seated, it should be only a few minutes.”

So the gambling rooms were having trouble. Good.

I crept into a large, open bay, with at least fifty people sitting at tables with money, chips and cards - piled in front of some. I could recognize blackjack and roulette, but most of the other games were beyond me.

Of course, I had better vision in the dark than most of the patrons, who were shining their flashlights at the tables. They were illuminating the cards - and the faces of the other gamblers.

Gamblers fear cheating more than the shadows.

Time to change that.

I pulled out a little something I’d fabricated and tossed it in the centre of the room.

The Molotov Cocktail is named after the Russian foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, and consisted of a glass bottle filled with a flammable liquid. The Finns had thrown them at Soviet tanks during the 1939 Soviet-Finnish war. Paul’s mini-fridge had plenty of glass bottles and a few MP had turned whiskey into 120 proof alcohol - which burns quite well.

My improvised incendiary set the table on fire.

Panic ensued.

The gamblers turned to run in every direction. Instead of actually escaping, they started to get in each other’s way.

The announcer jumped back, seeing the fire, then turned and ran.

The blaze was spreading rapidly in the room, and the sprinklers turned on. Water sprayed on fire and panicked bystanders added to the chaos.

I weaved through the scattering mass, knocking people aside with elbows and punches. The gamblers, already panicked, mostly screamed when they saw me and ran.

Within seconds, I was at the other end of the room.

The door opened and a hulking brute of a man clambered out. He was in armour, and carried a fire extinguisher.

I smashed my hammer in his face.

GRUNTER SOLDIER -53 HP!

I followed up with a rapid-fire series of strikes.

GRUNTER SOLDIER -53 HP!

CRITICAL HIT! GRUNTER SOLDIER -106 HP!

The armoured man dropped his fire extinguisher and turned to run.

Not so fast. I drew my nailgun.

GRUNTER SOLDIER -30 HP!

The nail struck the back of the man’s knee, sending him tumbling to the ground.

I charged him.

BODY CHARGE! GRUNTER SOLDIER -44 HP! GRUNTER SOLDIER IS STUNNED!

He had only 14 HP left when I hit him with a Knockout Blow.

GRUNTER SOLDIER DEFEATED! +200 XP.

The man crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

I was through the door, away from the burning gambling room. I scanned the area quickly.

Only one armoured man? I’d have expected more.

As if in response to my expectations, another two armoured men stepped into the hall.

Crap.

These two had guns.

GRUNTER SOLDIER

LEVEL 9

HP 300/300

GRUNTER SOLDIER

LEVEL 9

HP 300/300

They levelled their lasers at me and fired.

I invoked Dodge Bullets.

50 AP gone. Only 48 left, recharging at 2.8 per second.

I charged them.

Body Charge lets you close with your enemies at a frightening speed. I smashed into the first Grunter, knocking him down for 44 damage. Then I pivoted and swung my hammer at the second with all the power of a Deadly Blow.

DEADLY BLOW! GRUNTER SOLDIER -265 HP, STUNNED, DISORIENTED, BLEEDING -5 HP/SEC.

I had lowered my AP down to almost zero, but my target was stumbling backwards, windmilling from the power of the blow.

Time to deal with Number One, who was struggling to get back to his feet.

My hammer smashed into his legs. He screamed.

…. Did the armour not protect his knees from blunt force?

CRITICAL BLOW! GRUNTER SOLDIER -106 HP, SHATTERED KNEE.

He pointed his laser at me.

Another swing, this time at the arm holding the gun.

Crunch!

GRUNTER SOLDIER - 53 HP, SHATTERED ARM.

The gun - and the arm - were pinned against the ground, broken.

The man was brave - he produced a knife from somewhere and tried to stab me.

I kicked it aside. Then I hit him again with the hammer. And again.

GRUNTER SOLDIER -53 HP!

GRUNTER SOLDIER -53 HP!

GRUNTER SOLDIER DEFEATED. +200 XP.

I turned to check on the other soldier. He had recovered a bit and was pointing his gun at me.

I charged him.

The impact of the hit knocked him halfway across the room, slamming against the wall.

GRUNTER SOLDIER -44 HP!

GRUNTER SOLDIER DEFEATED. +200 XP.

…. It was them or me.

Hey, I’d tried to knock out the enemy as often as possible. But I couldn’t hold back if there were two of them. Or more.

A door at the end of the hallway led down the stairs.

Taking a deep breath, I walked through, ready for anything. Or so I hoped...