[Estimating threat…]
A new Halo thread followed immediately after the [Critically Low-Energy Warning].
Jace felt a pang of guilt for not having forced more of that horrendous excuse of a pie down his throat as the yellow triangle continued to flash in his vision.
[Threat Estimation Complete]
[10 Point Hostile Threat Grading System Established ]
[ENGAGE]...A final message box flashed demandingly in his vision.
"You are no boss of mine," Jace snapped at the mental bot as he popped his being out of cover, with no technique whatsoever.
[Current Cycle: 3:1]...A new prompt appeared in his vision as the world went slo-mo.
Everything progressed slowly, like a choreography leading up to one epic moment.
This was the second time Jace was entering this state since he woke; the first time, he was so disoriented to really appreciate how beautiful it was.
This time, however…
The first thing he noticed was how he felt like an observer in his own body.
His body was still following instructions he gave moments ago, while he was seeing goblins jerk back from the recoil of their shots.
He could see customers overturning tables in slow-mo as they created covers, while a few were already firing at the robbers.
When his body finally slo-mo'ed its way out of cover, he charged his hands to bring up his revolver, it began its slow ascent while he went back to observing.
The goblins had digits floating above their head, a product of Halo's grading of lethality, based on appearance and weapon borne…He instinctively knew that.
Most of the goblins had yellow coloured digits, with numbering ranging from [4.0 - 7.5]. Only one of them had a green coloured digit that placed its lethality at [2.5], and that was the Finance goblin, which made sense as it only held the Qube and an unraised Handgun.
Worryingly enough, three goblins had blaring red digits.
A [10] for the goblin mounting the turret gun, an [8.7] for the Hobogoblin, and another [10] for an eye patch-wearing goblin pointing its gun directly at…Oh shit!!!.
Jace sent the instruction, willed for it, pushed his body as hard as it could, but it still moved in that same snail-like speed as it began to respond.
The whole of his attention was focused on the goblin's finger as it began to pull back that trigger.
He had barely moved a few inches since he noticed, Jace hoped like hell, the goblin would miss, but the chances were low.
From Halo's grading, from the impeccable accuracy with which the gun was pointing at his head.
He was looking death in the eye.
Baaannnggg!
A fiery red streak grazed too **ucking close to his right eye, and struck the wall behind.
SAFE!!!
The flow of things returned to normal.
Huu..Huu..Huuuu
Jace exhaled rapidly from his mouth as his heart drummed erratically in his chest.
[Modulating Excited Physiological State]
His breathing and heartbeat began to gently return to normal.
"Zo much for zhat big talk," Lizard Chef declared smugly as Jace came back behind cover.
A brief glance at the reptilian, then at the new bullet hole on the wall. Jace ignored.
"Oh zhit," the Lizard man swore as he noticed the bullet hole on the wall.
"That's some broken luck, you have." The chef praised as he loaded new shells into his shotgun.
"Nahh," Jace corrected shamelessly. "All skills, Lizzy."
Tok…The lizard man made a clicking sound with its mouth.
A sound Jace memory reminded him was equivalent to an eye roll in lizard vocab.
He ignored.
This won't do, Jace came to a conclusion in his head. Halo, he mentally prompted.
…
Anything else to further optimize engagement?
[Of course]
[Reviewing Current Resources]
Bio-Energy: 11% (Critically Low!!!)
Strength: 6.5/10 (Barely passable for a Human Male)
Max. Cycle Rate: 5:1 (Stretches a second to 5 in your Perception..Current Low Energy state can support only up to 3:1)
Agility: 5.7/10 (Slow Pork)
Health: 67% (Some systems partially compromised)
[Current Resources Insufficient for Further Optimization]
"Seriously?"
[...]
Nothing.
"Guess this calls for some me magic," Jace concluded as he closed his eyes, trying to recall what he would normally do in a situation like this.
Scrapper him, will do his best to avoid situations like this, only sweeping in like a vulture after, to reap benefits.
Bin-man him from 2047, for all the brawl he had been in, had never been in a gunfight…Wait a moment, He short-circuited mid thought.
He had carved his steps in kills as he climbed the ladder of competitive FPS
If he could bring something to make this more gamelike, it just might make all the difference
"Hey, Halo, can you?" he asked, knowing the brain bot could interact with his thoughts.
[Attempt to Implement Auto Assist System Failed…Activity Restricted to Autonomic System Control]
"Okayy…
[Attempting Substitute Actions….Substitute Action (3) Successful]
[Real Time Aim Tracker Established]
"Now we're talking," Jace praised as a liquid transparent [Crosshair] appeared in his vision.
When he lifted his gun arm to aim, the crosshair became more opaque and visible.
He aimed for an intersection between two tiles on the wall.
His aim [Crooshair] woobled just like they do in Sniper games, the more he tried to centre it…the more it woobled.
He did his best to aim for that point where the tiles made a cross as they intersected and shot.
[78% Accuracy]...An AI no one asked analyzed.
"What zha *uck are you doing?" Lizard Chef raged as he pulled himself back into cover.
"Fire at the robbers, not my walls, human…we are taking a beating here, zammit."
Jace looked at the Chef, who would soon have his brain shaking in awe with a smug smile.
"Just perfecting my technique, Lizzy."
"Perfect it on the robbers!" The lizard man snapped at him sharply. "And my name ain't Lizzy."
"It's Zzareck."
"Noted," Jace said before flooding his lungs with air, for no damn reason at all…except that it seemed the right thing to do.
He popped out of cover.
The world went slo-mo.
Among the six goblins that had invaded the restaurant, four were behind cover, the only two exposed were the Female Hobogoblin, and the finance guy looking goblin that was taking cover behind it.
There was only one blaring red [10] this time, the turret gun-mounted goblin, Jace, aimed in slo-mo.
The moment his head appeared in his [Crosshair], he fired…his aim woobled terribly.
A red streak instantly sliced through the air and sped high above the goblin's head.
His hands were absorbing the recoil in slo-mo, the moment it settled.
He aligned, fired, and this time…the red streak speared through the centre of its head.
Slo-mo time was not up yet.
He aimed for the Hobogoblin next; he didn't try to steady for a head shot.
The moment she appeared in his crosshairs, he let out three shots in immediate succession.
A blaring red appeared in the left of his vision.
A familiar face.
Eye-patch goblin, it had just lined up its shot to his head.
Not this time… Jace swore in his head as he lined up his shot in return, in snail speed.
[Current Cycle Limit Reached]...A Red message box flashed in his eyes, and then everything returned to normal.
Jace's [Crosshairs] had just reached pirate-themed goblin…He didn't think, didn't faze.
His trigger finger pulled twice in unholy succession and continued to pull again and again, but only the first two gave a [POW], his bullets were spent, and the blaring red above the goblin's head was no more…His shots struck true.
Jace pulled his being back behind cover.
[Modulating Excited Physiological State]
He sat frozen as his racing systems returned to normal.
[⚠️ Bio-Energy: 8% | Critically Low]...Halo flashed in his vision.
"Zammmnnnnn!!!!!!"
Zzzareck praised as he pulled his being back behind cover.
"That was some Ace-Level marksmanship," The lizard man continued to praise. "Are you a mercenary, or are those cybernetic eyes of yours Combat-grade?"
"Nothing like that, Lizzy," Jace clarified. "Just technique and talent."
"Zammnnn!" The lizard man blurted again. "Compared to you, it feels like we are shooting blanks."
"I couldn't be as trash as you guys are even if I tried." Jace gloated before a certain sensation hit him.
He hadn't checked on his daughter for way more than a minute.
He prostrated on the floor and caught those bubbly green eyes staring back at him. This time, however, he could see the panic in them.
The gunfight was getting to her.
He smiled, she smiled back at him…Everything made sense.
He mouthed It's going to be okay…She kept smiling.
Jace couldn't tell if she understood what he mouthed, but one thing was certain: it was time to end this.
"I'm all out, Lizzy." He spoke to the Chef, busy reloading his shotgun for the third time, to end up spraying it into nothing.
"What do you say to a part-time position in my Cafe?" the lizard man proposed as he handed him a brightly coloured packet with the word 'GrandMa-P' printed largely on it.
"What you offering?" Jace snapped back as he tore open the packet of 10mm cartridges.
"300 Credits daily for three hours of work…Peak hours, all you need to do is stand around and dissuade things like this from happening with some ace marksmanship."
"Not fancy enough," Jace erked out as he followed the how-to-do video Halo had pulled online from its link to his Nano bracelet.
"350."
"Mehh."
"Zthat's fair pay," Lizard Chef debated.
"Add breakfast, and I will consider it more seriously," Jace negotiated as he executed a textbook reload of the Handgun, performing with so much finesse the reptilian paused to observe.
"Deal," Zzareck blurted as Jace snapped the gun in place, all loaded and good to go.
"Now let's bring this disturbance to an end, Boss," Jace announced as he readied to pop out.
This wasn't going to be his permanent job, but 350 Credits for three hours of work was a good start,…and breakfast came with the package.
Adea was going to add some cheeks for sure.
He popped out of cover, hands poised to deliver instant retribution…but he didn't enter slo-mo, and something weird was going on.
All of the goblins had taken cover, but the Hobogoblin still stood with the finance dude, with a red [9], blaring over her head, and her eyes trained at him.
Jace dragged himself back in.
"I **ucking shot the big one," he shouted at Zzareck.
"Zou did?"
"100% Certain."
"She must be a Cursed then."
"Cursed," Jace echoed as the memory came rushing back to him.
Netherkinds with unique magical gifts, referred to as cursed, as their gifts always came with a non-negligible flaw.
"Why my Zafe!!," Zzareck's scream broke his thought. "Why is my luck so zerrible?"
"A freaking Cursed," the lizard man continued to lament.
Jace had nothing to comment. From his memory, he knew the situation was not looking so good with a cursed present, especially a Cursed that could tank bullets and survive.
He sneaked another view.
This time, Slo-mo kicked in.
He observed the bulky Cursed in slow time; she was glaring at their cover, possibly pissed about the goblins she took down.
He spotted the bullet holes his shot had made across her chest, but her skin was still intact.
Her weapon of choice was a club.
The goblin with the lowest lethal rate was still hiding behind her back, something other than the Qube in his hand,
All fancifully white and releasing a stream of white mist.
Ohhhh Shhiiiitttt!!
Jace screamed in slo-mo as he slid back into cover, pulled his potential employer, chose a direction, and slid.
Zzareck didn't question; he simply followed the drag.
Just as they slid into another upturned table, where a neatly dressed man was tinkering with his nano bracelet while a robbery was going on.
A sharp 'Ksssshhhh' resounded behind them as the table they had been behind and the space behind it was suddenly enclosed in a pillar of ice.
[⚠️ Bio-Energy: 5% | Safe Hyper Cycle Mode Activation left (1)]
"Cyro-grenade!" Zzareck confirmed, Jace didn't care.
"Adea!" he called out loud while peeping his head out of cover
No reply.
"Adea!"
"Dada," she responded. Jace calmed down.
"It's just robbery," he said as he turned to face Zzareck. "We win some, we lose some."
"We should just let this one slide; they will not consider this place easy prey again for next time."
The lizard man's face looked hurt, Jace sympathised, but the gunplay had gotten too rough.
"So that's it," the guy playing slurp mix on his bracelet chirped in uninvited.
"After the whole gunfight, you guys are going to submit after a single near miss."
The lizard man put his hands on his long, ass jaw in contemplation.
"I am calling this off myself," Jace told the lizard Chef as he put his hands up in surrender.
What if that cryo bomb had been such a terrible throw that it landed by his daughter's side?
He should have taken charge of the situation and not let it come to this.
"Hey Gang!" He greeted with his hands up.
The Hobogoblin kept glaring at him as he emerged…was her flaw dumbness.
Finance goblin, however, had his handgun trained at him the moment he appeared.
"Surrendering after taking down some of us," it said, its voice pissed. "It won't be that easy."
"Come on, man, you can't really blame us for resisting,' Jace defended, his desire to protect his daughter his superpower. "You fired first, remember."
"And we will fire last." The goblin declared with a matter-of-fact tone.
Jace's world went Slo-mo.
He noticed the goblin's finger twitch, tighten, and squeeze.
His body will still just beginning to respond to his instruction to fall to the side.
The red streak appeared in an instant, and just like before, unlike everything else in this slowed world.
It speared ahead in an instant, slicing through his left chest.
[ ❗ Bio-Energy: 2% | Essential system Compromised]
The world returned to normal as Jace felt cold air seep through the hole in his chest.
[Attempting Countermeasures to maintain Heart integrity]...Halo blared as he fell
[All Countermeasures Failed]...It announced as he lay on the floor.
[Optimizing Systems to Maximize Consciousness Retention]
Jace looked on in confusion, his mind barely keeping up with the development,
[Estimating Time to Organic Frame Death…]
[Time Estimated: 75 Seconds]...Halo announced in finality as Jace lay on the floor, blood spraying from his chest.