《Quantum Thief》Ch. 12
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"Haste!" Jason
Okay Jason, let's think about this; do I kill this guy or not. I only have a short amount of time before he gets to me, so I have to think fast. Quick points.
1. I can still sell this stuff without killing him. It might make it harder, but I can still do it.
2. He is stronger than I am. He might not be able to hit me with me teleporting, but if his resistance skills are high enough, I won't be able to hurt him. Judging by the speed he's going, he has most of his bases covered.
3. If no one actually capitalizes on his gang's newfound weakness, they would come back with a vengeance at me. Going by his strength, none of the smaller gangs around here could take him on. He's as strong as the bigger gang's aces. If he formed this gang by his own strength and gain followers with power, then this raid might not be the death sentence it could be.
"Leeeeetttt'sss gooooooooo fuuuuuuuuckkeeeeeeerrr----!!!" Leader
I braced myself and teleported myself downwards. I fell a story or two when contemplating my next move. With my suit I barely felt anything, but if I want to fight aerial battles in the future, I need to get myself some kind of deployable platform to stand on. I'll keep gathering kinetic energy otherwise, it might hurt, but it beats falling the full mile. Wait, mile? My skill description says km. If I'd been thinking half a mile and full mile, but trying to go half my maximum range and all my range, have I been going km or miles? I have to test later. For now, let's get back to the list, because he just spotted me.
4. There looks to be nothing left of the leader's villa. I might find a valuable statue or a safe or something, but it looks like most of the good shit has burned down. Ugh, I just noticed the screams, looks like he had company when set the house on fire. Crazy bastard.
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5. If he is still in good condition, he might be able to go take the slaves back. It is Illegal to keep slaves like that, but if he would have slaves in those conditions, he would easily just go take them back. I don't know what the Ice Queen is doing, but she has crushed groups for doing this before. It's easy to see why too. Heroes have literary led war parties to kill people who violate human rights just a little *too* much.
Aw damn, that last point got to me the most. What's the matter with you Jason? You're a villain, act like it. You're not supposed to have feelings. This was never about vigilantism. I would have killed them just as I killed the others if they had stood in my way. I shouldn't have sympathy for someone I'd kill if I had too. Maybe it's because of the fact that the afterlife has been confirmed to exist that I kill so easily. Maybe it's because of the fact that I was fucked up by corrupt heroes that I turned to villainy, but I won't allow my titles to control me.
"*Sigh*, my emotions are going to get me killed one day."
"IIII GGOOOTTT YOOOOUUUU NOOOWWWWW~~~"
"Heh, but not before they get you killed."
I dodge at the last second, reappearing behind him, I unload all the 12 shots in the clip of my new assault rifle. Despite being buffeted by wind and heat of the last attack, I hit every shot. 1 shot hit in the base of the neck, 3 shots hit him in the skull, 3 shots hit him in the middle of his back, 2 shots hit the back of his knees, 2 shots sever his achilles tendons, and one shot hits him directly in his junk.
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"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~"
The bullets are either trapped in powerful muscles or deflected of strong bones. The wounds quickly turn into fire and reform with him being perfectly fine. Okay, so he's more powerful than a tank and can regenerate faster than a troll. Seeing a wave of flame approach, I teleport upwards and am treated to a wonderful view of the extensive grounds of the villa go up in flames. Kicking my shield and temperature control in overdrive, I activate my re-breather go straight in front of him. Despite my precautions, it is still quite hot, but not as hot as whatshisface felt when I shot 2 plasma bolts straight into his eyes. Despite his healing abilities, getting plasma out of his face will take a minute or two. With his sight gone he had no chance to see the rocket that came his way. The blast was smaller than the initial blast caused by the villain rocketing up to my position but was more intense.
"Haha, he wasn't so tough, I think he might have caused more chaos than me with all that fire he was throwing around."
"Learn to gloat after you've confirmed the body, boy."
With that the leader of the gang put his bloodied fist through my face. Some part of loved seeing his face when he realized he punched a hologram. I teleported away as soon as I put the cryo-bomb on his back. In one blast, the fires across the compound were put out and the temperature dropped by some 50 °F. After putting some holes in an ice sculpture, I return to the Basement of Horrors™ to finish my business here. I'd say I killed about 400 to 500 people and put them here. This could end up a B rank monster if not properly. I can't deal with it properly. So I put a hole into the floor of the house and started pouring the flammables into it. I spread the liquids all over the place. Combined with the salamander glands and alchemical solutions, the authorities should be able to clean up the bones in no time. After the basement door was blocked off I threw the flare into the hole and teleported away. I could see the flame a whole *mile* kilometer away.
Now for the hardest part of any mission. Finding a buyer!
Loot List:
Gang Base Loot Stash
$823.04
Combat Armour
Binoculars
Knife
Plasma Pistol
Artificer Assault Rifle
Semi-Auto Combat Shotgun
Energy Shield
Ammo
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