Chapter 05-04

Alex stood toe to toe with the most powerful super that he had faced since coming back to My Supers Online. Not only that but this Super broke the predefined rules of the game. As fast as he could he lunged to his left to avoid the incoming shards of molten metal aimed at his head. They whizzed past him and smashed into the wall, their liquid form sliding down for a moment before the solidified. There was an audible hiss as the metal cooled against the cold wall.

The grin plastered on Kymos’s face never wavered and turned Alex’s stomach. He clenched his fist while focusing energy into his punch he aimed for the man’s face. That was not what he hit. Instead his fist crunched loudly as he punched a solid invisible wall.

“Son of a bitch!” Alex yelled sharply withdrawing his hand in pain.

“Care to try that again?” Kymos asked callously.

“I’m only getting started.” Alex said drawing his crowbar from where he kept it on his back.

At the moment Alex’s biggest weakness was his lack of information. He knew that a telekinetic shield, even if he was only activating it at the moment of attack, would take a great deal of his energy. But there was no way that he could know what Kymos’s level was. With that he could make a best guess as to how long the shield could stay active.

Kymos reached into his pocket and removed another handful of coins. When he opened his palm another six rose from his hand flipping end over end in the air. He closed his fist sharply cause the coins to suddenly stop before they began to rotate like tiny saw blades.

With a motion like throwing something at Alex the coins shot across the room. They were much more spread out than the first set he’d shot, and Alex didn’t know which way to dive. His indecisiveness caused him valuable moments so when he did make his move, he didn’t avoid them all. Two of the coin buried themselves deep in the flesh of his arm.

Alex yelled in pain dropping back a few steps. He took a few deep breaths before yelling a war cry and running across the room. His crowbar smashed down onto the shield that the man hid behind. Time and time again Alex smashed the weapon down on the barrier causing a ripple of energy to pulsate out from the impact point.

Kymos waved his hand sending a blast of telekinetic energy crashing into Alex. He flew backwards from where he was attacking and flipped over end. There was a sharp pain in his arm when he hit the floor and rolled into the legs of the chair where the man was tied up.

Alex’s head was killing him. He coughed loudly as he pushed himself up onto all fours. His health had fallen to half and it wouldn’t be much before it fell even more. Groaning he stood wrapping his arm around his abdomen where he had taken the blunt of the telekinetic blast.

“I would offer you the opportunity to walk away, but I get the feeling that you are dumb enough to keep fighting.” Kymos said with a sharp condescending tone.

“Tell me something.” Alex said even through it was agony to speak, “Why here? Why are you working for the Goldys? A man like you,” Alex took a few steps towards his crowbar which had landed a few feet away, “seems like you should be running your own organization.” He knelt with a loud grunt and picked up his weapon. Alex noticed a glint of glowing blue from the pocket of one of the strong arms.

“The Goldys are in need of new management. I am simply taking advantage of a fortuitous opportunity.” Kymos said with a sick grin.

“So, what you’re telling me is,” He said acting like he was stumbling, “You’re lazy.”

“I’ll kill you where you stand.” Kymos flared his arm sending a fresh wave of telekinetic energy. Alex rolled into the blast. He took a little damage, about a quarter of what he had left to spare, but he didn’t take the full brunt of the attack. It sent him tumbling right over top of the strong arm so that he could take hold of whatever was sticking out of his pocket.

-Item

-Tier 2 Power Serum

-Unlock An ability in Chosen Power Set

Alex smiled to himself as he feigned that he was struggling. He pressed the injector to his side and pushed the button. A loud cough and groan covered the hiss of the injection. A prompt appeared in his mask.

Super Strength | Flight | Regeneration

He wasted no time selecting super strength.

-New Skill has been Unlocked!

-Seismic Punch

-At a Cost of 100 Energy deliver an Earth-Shaking punch!

Alex smiled, but there was a small problem. There was only fifty-five energy points available for him to use. If he used the second energy serum, he would only get seventy five percent return instead of eighty like the first time that he used it.

“Little bit of a temper on you, huh?” Alex asked. He needed to keep Kymos talking so that he could regain a few more points naturally.

“You surprise me. As weak as you are, I am very surprised that you are still on your feet.” Kymos said with a grin.

“Oh,” Alex said flashing a grin of his own, “I’m full of surprises.”

As slyly as he could without making any sudden movements Alex injected the second Energy Serum that he had. There was an instant infusion of power through his body. His points read ninety-seven points. He still needed two more to use his new ability.

“You know, I could use a man like you. Your power would not go unrecognized if you joined my budding organization.” Kymos said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“You’re looking to expand?” Alex asked in a tone that made it seem like he was actually considering the offer. His Energy had risen to ninety-nine points. It was so close that he felt a buzz in the back of his head. Just a few more moments and he could make his move.

“I can always use a good lieutenant.” He said clenching his fist dramatically.

“I think that we should talk terms.” Alex said. He slowly took considered steps towards Kymos.

“You bow to my whims and I will not kill you and your sidekick. I think those should be agreeable terms.” Kymos said nodding to himself.

“You make some good points.” Alex said with a nod. Somehow Kymos had not noticed that Alex had moved within arm’s reach, “I have one counter proposal.”

With a smirk Alex activated his Seismic Punch. His one hundred points of energy were drained in an instant. He clenched his fist, blue streaks of light streamers radiated from his fist as it flashed through the air. The punch hit the still active barrier of telekinetic energy shattering it into shards that dissipated before they hit the ground. His fist didn’t stop there, instead it smashed into Kymos’s face with a resounding crunch. The man’s body rocketed backward through a wall and tumbled dozens of times until smashing into another wall.

“Even if I became a villain I wouldn’t work for your sorry ass.” Alex huffed.

-Villainous Tactics

-+2 Villainous Points for deception.

“Totally worth it.” Alex said with a smile.

Kymos was not down for the count, however, as he started to push himself up from the ground. Alex rolled his eyes and walked across the room, through the wall, and grabbed the back of his enemy’s neck. He was out of energy, but his passive strength still remained.

“That was a nice tactic.” Kymos said with a moan as Alex slammed him against the wall.

Alex was done with the banter. He reached his fist back and punched the man across the face. Kymos laughed spitting blood onto the wall. Alex drew his fist back for another blow. As he moved to strike his fist stopped in midair. It wasn’t like the barrier. This was like an invisible hand had grabbed his fist.

Pushing as hard as he could he switched up his tactic and brought his knee up into Kymos’s groin. His breath was knocked out and he double over in pain. Alex took the opportunity to pull out his crowbar and smash it across Kymos’s face.

The maroon clad man dropped to his knee. He turned his head up to look up at Alex. Alex grabbed Kymos’s head in both hands with a sharp motion he slammed the man’s head into his knee. Finally, the man dropped to one side then slid onto the ground.

-You’ve completed a Villain Encounter!

-Property Encounter Phase 2

-Boss and Arms

-Defeated 4 Goldy Strong Arms

-1000xp (250 Each)

-Defeated Goldy Boss Man “Kymos”

-1000xp (1000 Each)

-+30 Hero Points

-+40 Hero Tier (-30 Until Next Tier)

-+10 Villainous Points

-+10 Villain Tier Points (-60 Until Next Tier)

~~~

-You’ve completed a Property Encounter!

-Congratulations You’ve acquired Property

-Congratulations You have removed Assets from Villainous Hands

-You have an Electronic Component Factory.

-167 Winter’s Work Road.

-Property Value: 369,000t

-Do you assume Responsibility for this property?

-Yes | No

Without a second thought Alex accepted the prompt. He was a property owner. Everything was going according to plan.

-You’ve taken property from Villainous hands.

-1500xp

-+10 Hero Points

-+10 Hero Tier Points (-20 to next Tier)

Obsidian finally started to stir where she lay behind the man chained to the chair. She sat up and looked around at the bodies in the room like a kid that was waking up at a slumber party. She smacked her lips and looked up at Alex.

“Nice of you to join us.” Alex said sarcastically.

“Did I miss something?” She asked stretching. She stood up from the ground and walked over to one of the strong-arms. Playfully she slapped the side of his face before she turned him over and zip tied his hands and ankles together. She searched his person for anything of interest.

Alex turned his attention to the man in the chair. The chains fell away easily when he took hold of the links and pulled sharply. He pulled the gag out of the man’s mouth.

-You Rescued an innocent Man

-1500xp

-+10 Hero Points

-+10 Hero Tier Points (-10 to next Tier)

“Thank you so much!” The man said.

“Who are you?” Alex asked crossing his arms.

“My name is Calson, but after all that, you can call me Cal.” The man said looking around the room. He rubbed his wrists where the chains had been pulled tight.

“Alright Cal. What’s going on here?” Alex asked with a nod of understanding.

“Bastards were trying to cheat.” Cal said in disgust.

“Really?” Alex asked.

Obsidian continued to tie up the remaining strong-arms around the room. She didn’t hesitate to kick the one who had pinned her down in the face as she turned him over. Alex swore her heard her murmur ‘oops’ as she did so.

“Yeah, a factory like this, you have to have a foreman to really turn a profit. They forced me to do the work and in true villain fashion they didn’t pay me and kept me tied up.” He explained.

“What are your plans now?” Alex asked.

“Well I guess I’m going to need to find work. What are you going to do with the factory?” Cal asked.

-Economy Mission

-You own a factory. You have an opportunity to run this factory. Calson is offering his service to operate the factory for a portion of the profits.

-Will you allow Calson to operate the factory or will you attempt to operate the factory on your own.

-Calson will take 25% of the factories operating profit.

-Calson has abilities that allow for more efficient operation.

-Calson has contacts that will allow for a higher caliber workforce.

-Calson has 10 years’ experience in electronic component production.

-Yes | No

Alex pondered the decision for a moment. These benefits were things that would take years for him to cultivate if he wanted to divide his attention to do so, but a quarter of the profits would just be gone. He finally conceded to himself that seventy five percent of something was better than one hundred percent of nothing. He accepted the prompt.

“I don’t know you from Adam, but why don’t we try this thing out?” Alex said reaching out his hand. Cal reached out and shook his hand sternly.

-You’ve chosen to Accept Calson’s help with your new factory.

-Please set the percentage of the profits that you will reinvest into the company and the percentage that you would like to keep for your personal funds. (Please Note: If the factory’s funds go below the operating capital your personal account will be used to make up the difference. Please Note: If your company goes into bankruptcy and you do not recover within a week’s time you will lose your property.

-Please Note: Your company is subject to taxes and regulations enacted by your region and city.

Alex looked at the notification for a moment. Having extra passive income was always a good thing. Playing with the slider he noticed two things. First, the slider couldn’t go above seventy-five percent. He assumed that this was to account for Cal’s share. If he went that high that would mean that all remaining profits would go to his account. The second thing he noticed that was the slider couldn’t go below ten percent, so he had to take something. Choosing to invest in his company in hopes that he could grow it he left the slider at its lowest point. He would only take ten percent for the time.

-Notice: There has been an event at a location that you’ve set as your home.

-Notice: A major event with a contact has occurred.

-Notice: A major event with a Villain under your supervision has occurred.

“Cal, you good here? We are needed elsewhere.” Alex said after reading the notifications.

“Yes, sir. I’m going to try and move the stock before midnight so that I can hire some new employees in the morning and get the machines back up and running.” Cal said with a confident nod.

“Sounds good to me. Let me know if there is anything you need or anything I need to do.” Alex instructed.

With a nod of understanding Cal turned to the control panels and sat down to get to work. Sure, working with the man was a gamble, but Alex felt confident that at the very least he would have some loyalty from the rescue.

Obsidian turned over everything that she had found on the strong-arms and Kymos.

-Needles 5x

-Total Value: 3632t

-Your Share: 3268t

-Deposit in Personal Account!

-Yes | No

~~~

-Item

-Odd Coin 30x

~~~

-Item

-Tier 2 Power Serum 6x

-Unlock An ability in Chosen Power Set

Alex and Obsidian left the building to check out the notifications. There was only one place that the messages could have been indicating.