Havok Bringer

After finally calming CJ and Elvis down, I made my way over to get some food.

“Tiff, how does this thing work?” I asked as I walked up beside her.

“It’s an atomized carbon recombination station,” she said, “carbon atoms are the building blocks for everything living. Anything you consume outside of water was once living. This machine just takes carbon molecules and utilizes a detailed recombination sequence along with other necessary elements to form the food you request.” She shrugged and looked at me, “pretty simple really.”

“Simple?” I asked in amazement, “how is this simple? Even before the drop, Earth never had anything even close to this level of technology! This is amazing!” I said.

I walked up to the machine and pressed the button for food. I loved fried chicken, and since the drop, I hadn’t had a single piece.

“4 Piece Popeyes fried chicken, white meat, spicy with mashed potatoes and gravy on the side,” I said, hoping that I would at least get some decent fried chicken.

The station buzzed to life. after about 10 seconds a little box appeared on the shelf under the screen.

“It’s even in the Popeyes box, I can’t believe this!” I said excitedly.

The shower on the Blood Hound was great, but this, this was just amazing. I sat down and ate my food. Tiff got something I didn’t recognize, sat across from me, and started eating.

“Why do you need to eat?” I asked, “aren’t you, like, a computer?”

“Not the sort that you are commonly used to,” she explained, “my people are biological AI's. We have biological bodies and the ability to exist in two places at once, but it does still require resources, so we eat.”

“Well okay, works for me,” I said, not wanting to take the conversation further. I was no genius and we were treading into territory that honestly would go right over my head anyway.

After we finished eating, we started walking toward the VCR. “It's time to allocate your stat points and test the Havok Bringer Armor then we can sit down and plan with Elvis.

“Hey Elvis, can CJ wear one of those Havok Hound drop suits so I can spar?” I asked. I wanted to get a chance to test the Havok Bringer Armor in combat.

“No need,” Elvis replied, “VCR will provide virtual combatants for Captain, much better competition than NUB.” I just shook my head.

“Okay, thanks. Go ahead and prepare something for me. I’m on my way."

CJ joined us as we walked down the Hall toward the VCR. We went in and it was just a square room with black walls.

“Umm, okay, how do I train here?” I asked, looking around, “there is nothing in this room.”

“It’s a virtual combat readiness room, Andrew; emphasis on virtual,” Tiff explained.

“Elvis will program a combat scenario and you will play it out. It is virtual but you will feel the pain of being hit or shot. Your suit will take damage but it will stop just short of being fatal. Keep that in mind.”

“Okay then, let's get started. Elvis, run the program,” I said as I prepared myself.

Tiff and CJ just walked and stood near the door.

“We will use this training to decide where to allocate your free points, so try your best, and Elvis, make sure you give him a good challenge,” Tiff said.

As she finished speaking, the room went completely dark and then sprang to life. I was in a metropolis-like setting with huge buildings and streets crisscrossing as far as I could see.

“Cool, it’s like the holodeck on Star Trek,” I whispered to myself.

“Don’t use your armor immediately,” Tiff said, back in my head, “you only have a few minutes at a time right now and we need to see what you can do without it. Use the daggers though; there is no cool down on those.”

As I stood there, I mentally equipped my daggers and they appeared in my hands, glowing black flames encompassing the ebony blades. They felt good in my hands, perfectly balanced, almost like an extension of my arm.

“Okay, let's break some shit, " I said.

Immediately, two black metal Mechs rolled around the corner.

Battle Mech -- Level 7 my identify showed.

They were approximately 2.5 meters tall, had tank tracks for wheels, and each had two arms on their metal torso holding giant assault-style rifles. Behind them walked what looked like 4 infantry-type soldiers in armor like the Havok Hound drop suits in the armory. Mech Guard – Level 5 showed above all their heads.

Immediately the mechs fired at me. I quickly dodged to the right alleyway and started running. I didn’t really have a plan; I was just moving on instinct. The score marks left on the buildings from the mechs were huge, at least the size of a .50 caliber bullet. If one of those hit me without my armor on, it would be bad news.

As I ran down the alley, I heard footsteps behind me. It was the 4 soldiers, they had run ahead of the mechs and were on me.

“Get them farther away from the Mechs!” Tiff said, “if you engage them now, the mech will be on you before you finish.”

“I’m trying,” I said breathing heavily, “I’m going to make one more corner and see if I can take out two.”

As I rounded the second corner of the building I slid to a stop, waiting for the guards to round, and in a few seconds, they did.

“Watch your health and stamina bar. You will also need to watch your ability bar too,” Tiff said as the guards began to engage.

I needed to have more situational awareness in combat situations now that I had to utilize resources and be sure that I didn’t expend them all.

As the guards engaged, they took a staggered approach--two on, two off. The first two came at me with boom clubs like what the Drill Sergeant from the tutorial carried. They both swung from opposite directions.

Zaaap! I felt the electricity surge through me as the room went dark and reverted to its original layout. My health bar was in the red, blinking as I lay on the ground grasping my sides.

“Aaand, you're dead,” Tiff said shrugging and kneeling beside me. “Look, you have to be aware of your enemies and their tactics. You are still a Level 4 outside of that armor.”

“Elvis, let’s bring the difficulty down, for now, one-on-one combat to start. Captain will need to train in hand-to-hand and armed combat situations but let's start with a one-on-one scenario,” she said as she stood up and walked back to the wall beside CJ.

“Let’s do it again, Elvis. Just give me one this time,” I said as I stood up.

“Hey, my health is really low. Should we wait a little while?” I asked.

“I guess now is as good a time as any to assign your stats and go over your health and stamina stims. Elvis, give us a table with an interface,” Tiff said as she and CJ walked toward the center of the room.

We all sat down at the round table in the center of the VCR as Tiff started to go over my current stats out loud.

Level 4 – Havok Bringer

Strength – 38

Intelligence – 37

Dexterity – 40

Stamina – 37

Vigor – 37

“That is where your base stats currently are based on level-ups but you do have some bonuses due to equipment and some free points to assign. I'll show where you stand now with equipment bonuses," Tiff said.

Strength – 43

Intelligence – 42

Dexterity – 55

Stamina – 42

Vigor – 44

“As you can see, the armor gives you a nice boost across the board and will be added for each additional level you gain. The armor really will make leveling a significant focus for us early,” Tiff said as she studied the stats. “The daggers are nice because the bonus is a percentage instead of a straight stat point gain. This means that as your total stats grow, the bonus for the daggers will also grow, which is huge. Participants don’t see gear this good early in the dungeon. This is a huge advantage for us,” she said, “let's talk stims. I need you to equip your armor. We can get back to unarmored combat later.”

"Now, let's talk about free points," Tiff said, "You get 5 free points per level but if you don't need them immediately, I would save them and assign them in bunches so that you can see the impact afterward. You could assign the 15 you have now but I would suggest assigning them after you get 25 then you can boost an individual stat group."

"You are already heavy in Dexterity. You can keep dumping your points into dexterity but we can talk more about that after you get to Level 6."

“Elvis, take the table away, “Tiff said, “Go ahead and equip the armor, Andrew.”

I mentally equipped the Havok Bringer armor and felt the surge as it enveloped my body.

“That is going to take some getting used to,” I said.

“Okay, what now?” I asked.

“You should have access to health and stamina stims in your armor. Most battle suits have them built in. Look for an icon on your HUD,” Tiff replied.

Sure enough, as I studied the interface that had been slightly altered by my armor, I saw it: a small cross beside my health bar with three bars, same beside my stamina bar.

“I think I see something; it looks like I have three of each for health and stamina,” I said.

“Good, now select health and use it,” Tiff said.

I selected health and one of the bars went away. I felt like two needles pressed into each side of my neck and I heard a small hissing noise. Immediately my health topped off.

“Well, that is convenient,” I said. “So, I can just heal myself anytime my health gets low?” I asked.

“You have three health stims as of now, As the armor upgrades, you may have access to more, but you will need to conserve them. Your intelligence stat will help them refill more quickly, and your vigor stat will allow them to refill more of your health as your total health points grow so it is important to make sure you get stats into those categories. For now, it seems like you are okay. The same goes for stamina. You can already run longer and faster than before but there will be times when you will need your stamina. I am going to assume that using your armor will drain your stamina faster. We will find out soon," she said.

“Elvis, initiate one on one combat, hand to hand for now,” Tiff walked back toward the door. “Let's see what that armor can really do,” she said.

A Level 5 Mech Guard appeared in the center of the room. No change in scenery this time, just a one-on-one fight.

Immediately the Mech Guard swung his baton at me with his right arm, aiming for my head. It was like the armor improved every reflex and I easily moved my head back out of the path of the baton as it missed by an inch.

The guard stepped toward me and started a backswing, swinging from left to right. I raised my right arm to block the baton and absorbed the blow. I wanted to see what kind of damage this armor could take. As the baton made contact, I saw the skill activate as the electricity came to life. I felt it, it was uncomfortable. My health bar dipped a small amount but that was it. I smiled.

“I think I'm going to like this armor,” I said as I clenched my fist and went to work. I unleashed a combo of punches to the guard’s body. As he staggered, he tried to swing at me once more, grunting in pain. I moved under his swing and around his body. Now behind him, I extended my arms, equipped my daggers, and shoved them both into the guard under each arm. The daggers, now fully inside the guard, started pulsing. They were draining him from the inside, and at the three-second mark, the guard completely imploded into nothing.

“Jesus!” I said, “those are insane!”

“There will be a level cap on those. You won't be able to go just stab them into any boss and get an easy kill," Tiff said. “They are still very powerful but that three-second requirement will be tough as well. The draining effect on cuts will be more valuable in battle for now."

As Tiff walked back toward me my armor disappeared.

“Well, 5 minutes are up,” I said, shrugging.

“Let's go to the bridge and discuss next steps. I have a feeling you will have plenty of time for training over the next few weeks and we really need to figure out what our next steps are," Tiff said.

“Elvis need to activate Warp Field Generator?” Elvis asked.

“Warp Field Generator? What the…This ship has a Warp Drive?” I asked in amazement.

“Pretty standard equipment, Andrew, but hey, at least it's not a door that has you in awe this time!” Tiff smiled and walked toward the bridge.