Chapter 04-03

“So, let me get this straight,” Alex said waving his hands around like a madman, “Your mother is not just a villain, but one of the top-rated villains in Winter Garden?”

“Um, yeah…” Obsidian said sheepishly. They had since retreated into the Hero Bureau after the explosion that came from a simple tarot card.

“And this was something that you did not deem to be vital information that you could have offered in the wee hours of our relationship?” Alex said as he paced around Dick’s office. Everyone’s eyes were locked on Alex and were following him around the room.

“I didn’t think about it.” She said with a shrug.

“What exactly was that?” Alex said pointing to the street. A large chunk of the building across the way fell and rolled out onto the street as if to help make his point.

“Well, it was one of two things. Either she was warning me to back off, she’s never been a fan of the fact that I’m a hero, or she was sending a message to the two of us that we were making too much noise.” Obsidian explained.

“I think it’s the noise thing.” Dick piped up from where he sat at his desk.

“Enlighten me.” Alex huffed.

“There have been a number of news reports about a new hero in Winter Garden. It’s not surprising that they would want to quiet you especially after they did so much work pushing out the heroes.” Dick said crossing his arms over his chest.

Alex walked over and dropped down onto the couch next to Obsidian. He lowered his face into his hands. This city was supposed to be an easy pay day, but it was biting him in the ass. He took a deep breath and threw his head back blowing the air out through his mouth loudly.

“I’m sorry.” Obsidian said. She sat with her hands folded in her lap looking down like a scolded child.

“Nope, none of that. We are going to face this challenge just like anything else.” Alex said shaking his head.

“Do you have a plan?” Obsidian asked with a smile.

“Absolutely not. I do know that we have to get stronger.” Alex said slapping his hands down onto his knees.

“The two of you need rest. Dinner is on me. I will have it delivered to your apartment.” Dick said motioning for them to leave his office.

Neither Alex nor Obsidian argued. They both stood and left the small office. They climbed the stairs in silence slowly. Alex’s body ached, but he could feel the major damage being repaired by his regeneration ability. By morning he would feel like a million bucks, he hoped.

As they got more powerful, they would begin to shift their heroic effort to the night when the crime was the worst, but for the time Alex didn’t think that they should push their luck. The criminals walked the streets like they had no reason to hide so, there was enough work for them to do during the day.

Both Alex and Obsidian sat on the couch staring at the wall. There was an old TV, but it did not work. The room was filled with awkward silence. More than anything Alex wanted the midnight notifications to come though.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the Vulcan app. The clicked on the Hero Bureau and the searched through the building until he found their apartment.

-Repair (4000t)

-Yes | No

Alex declined the repair prompt and switched to the upgrade menu. He scrolled through the list until he found TVs. There were a few dozen options that encompassed brand, size, and type. His options were limited unless he wanted to drop every thread that he had. He selected a thirty-two inch from a middle range company called Clear River Tech.

-32in Television

-Clear River Tech

-250t

The arrival of their new TV was signaled with a faint tapping on the window. Alex stood and walked across the room to allow the drone inside. The drone carried a box that it set down in front of the TV stand. It opened the packaging, removed the old TV, and hooked up the new one. The last thing that the drone did before flying out of the window was to hand Alex a remote.

There was a knock at the door when Alex’s butt hit the cushion.

“Not it.” Obsidian said with a grin.

Alex rolled his eyes, tossed her the remote, then heaved himself up again to get the door. Waiting in the hall was a pizza guy. He handed over two large pizzas grumpily and walked away without a word.

“Good evening to you too!” Alex said loudly waving at him.

The two of them enjoyed their pizza each taking their own box and scarfing down all but a single piece each. Alex noted to himself that he really needed to work on a healthier food intake schedule. So far it was just gorging himself at night, then eating the leftovers in the morning, and skipping all other meals for the day.

Sitting on the couch moaning from overeating midnight rolled around. It was time to see the spoils for their work as the notifications began to appear on his phone.

-Its MIDNIGHT!

-Great Work!

-You Defeated 23 Villains

-You Earned a Total of 6800 Experience Points

-Congrats! You’ve leveled up! You are now level 3!

-You now have 3 Power Points to spend! ([email protected][email protected]!#$<@#%)

- Congrats! You’ve leveled up! You are now level 4!

-You now have 3 Power Points to spend! ([email protected][email protected]!#$<@#%)

-You Earned 42 Hero Tier Points

-You Earned 46 Heroic Points (65) (Congratulations YOU ARE A HERO!)

-You Earned 1 Villainous Point (1) (Congratulations YOU ARE A HERO!)

Alex was happy so see the information that he was presented. He was a little unnerved by the extra points that he had received when he had leveled up. Six points instead of two was crazy. He would be able to supercharge his powers.

He opened his powers window which floated in front of him. He had seven total points to spend on his three abilities. It would take ten before he could unlock an entirely new ability. He already had his eyes set on telekinesis. He found it to be very useful, but there was always scan that was plucking at the back of his mind.

For the time being he wanted to save back two of his new points. This would make his saved points three total. Then he was going to spend the other four. He immediately dumped one into each power that he had.

-Super Strength +1 (2)

-Flight +1 (3)

-Regeneration +1 (3)

This left him with one more point that he could spend. His strength still seemed like it was holding its own even being a point behind the other two powers, so he was going to wait on spending anymore points there. Regeneration seemed like the next logical path. Given how much he was taking hits in the field this point would increase his constitution and ultimately his health, plus in would increase the rate at which his power would work allowing him even faster recovery times.

-Regeneration +1 (4)

~~~~~

-New Power Based Skill has been unlocked!

-Flash Heal

-At the cost of 50 energy points all major wounds will heal and Health will be raised to 50% of total health.

He smiled to himself when he assigned his last point. Four points into a superpower was where things began to get interesting. New abilities were unlocked that can greatly change the tide of battle.

He was ready to get back out and kick some ass the next day. He felt so much more powerful. His energy score was one hundred and sixty-eight points. All people started with a base one hundred and with each level ten is added, but additionally their passive Will score was factored in giving Alex another twenty percent on top of his base one hundred and forty for his passive Will of twenty.

-Strength: TP: 27 TA: 36

-Dexterity: TP: 25 TA: 31

-Intelligence: TP: 19 TA: 19

-Wisdom: TP: 15 TA: 15

-Charisma: TP: 18 TA: 18

-Constitution: TP: 27 TA: 40

-Fate: TP: 18 TA: 18

-Perception: TP: 16 TA: 16

-Will: TP: 20 TA: 20

“How is your leveling going?” Alex asked watching as Obsidian looked through her own midnight notification. NPCs only had a single ability and unlike a player they don’t get a choice. They are born with their ability. They also received less points compared to players. They get one point every other level whereas players get one every level. Alex felt really bad getting three every level.

“It’s slow going, but I get a new Skill next level.” She said with a smile.

“Excellent!” Alex returned her smile.

“We get paid tomorrow, don’t we?” She asked.

“I think so. That means we need to make a real push all day.” Alex nodded.

“I’ve always thought that the selection of my power was random. The more that I think about it the more it makes sense.” Obsidian said staring blankly at the TV.

“How so?” Alex asked.

“I’m a Hero in a family of villains. Somehow it’s like the system knew that I was going to need a thick hide.” She explained.

“Dang, that’s deep.” Alex said staring at the floor.

“Oh well.” Obsidian said with a shrug, “If you’d vacate my bed, I’d like to get some sleep.”

“There is another bedroom.” Alex said pointing to the still unused room.

“Have you seen in there? I think not.” She said shaking her head.

“Alright.” Alex said putting up his hands. He stood up from the couch and walked into his room. He removed the new armor and neatly arranged it on the dresser. He took the helmet off last looking at it in the eyes for a moment looking at the hero that he was shaping. When he donned the mask, it was like he was becoming an entirely different person.

He rested the mask on the vest and laid down in his bed. He was anxious to repair and upgrade the place that he was going to call his HQ, but the Hero Bureau was not it. He needed more money. He was determined to make it to tier three the next day, four if he could push it.

The last thing that he wanted to do before going to sleep was to go ahead and pay a bit on his bill at the sleep center. If he forgot and lost track of the days, it would end up costing him much more in the long run. He opened the account management window.

#FT&BRSAS3nfjf [email protected]#%@#%^&^%$GFDDV

[email protected]%#@$%*%D0

-#$%@#[email protected]#$%

-QRQ#$%#$%^@

[email protected]#$%@#$%@#$%^&&*

[email protected]#$^&&**#$%[email protected]$%

Alex had to do a double take when he opened the window. It should have listed all of his options to manage his account at the sleep center. An option to see how much time he had remaining. As well as other options like logging out, but he saw nothing but corruption.

He exited the window, waited a few seconds, then he attempted to reopen it. The option for opening that window was gone. He couldn’t find it no matter how hard he looked. Sweat began to build on his brow as he closed the interface and leaned back on his pillow. He had no clue what this could mean, but he was sure that it wasn’t good.