[Current Resources]
Bio-Energy: 7% (Critically Low!!!)
Strength: 5.7/10 (Musculoskeletal System Impaired)
Current Max. Cycle Rate: 3:1
Agility: 4.7/10 (Musculoskeletal System Impaired)
Health: 43% (Rest needed‼️)
The first thing that reached Jace's eye as he woke was his status. He barely glanced over it before the memory of what had transpired before he blacked out hit him.
"Adea," he gasped as he shot up from the clinical bed he was lying on, almost jamming his head into the heavily made-up lady in nurse attire that was shining some kind of fluorescent light over his face.
"Where's Adea?" he asked the nurse as his heartbeat continued to rise erratically.
"Take it easy, Sir!" The heavily made-up nurse tried to calm him, turning off the tube light she had been shining over his being.
"You are currently at Lily's One-Stop Herbal Store," she continued."Zzareck over there, checked you in along with himself."
"Said you guys were a victim of a lowlife assault at his cafe."
"Zzareck," Jace murmured, reflexively turning to the side where he spotted the Lizard man lying on a clinical bed, his leg hung up on a sling, a majority of his being covered in bandages, and a larger apparatus hanging over him, bathing his body in the same neon light the nurse had been shining on him.
The lizard man seemed to be asleep, his eyes were open though, but even after Jace called him three times, he didn't even flinch.
"I have a daughter," Jace explained to the nurse. "I was at the Cafe with her before the goblins attacked, I got shot and she healed me…and now…and now they have her."
"Hmmmmm," The nurse hummed, brows arching, hand on her jaw.
"Your skull showed signs of numerous hairline fractures; the trauma you received to the head could have done more than just concussed you, it might have caused some real brain damage."
"What's your name?" The nurse asked, pointing a penlight into his eyes.
"*ucking!!!... Jace," He raged. "They have my baby girl, and I ain't messed up in the head."
"Hmmmmm," the nurse hummed, her brows aching further, fingers stroking her jaw harder.
"I ain't mad!!!"
"That's what they all say."
Damn it!... Jace swore in his head. What he needed was to be getting back to Adea, not proving to the canvas-faced nurse that he ain't mad.
Or was he actually hallucinating all this….Actually.
[Negative…Perception Uncorrupted]...Halo corrected.
"Zhe ain't lying," a familiar reptilian voice came to his rescue before his mind actually fell further into madness.
"Zhe goblin's zhave his daughter."
"Zzareck," Jace called, his heartbeat slowing a little, appreciative of having anyone validate his current predicament.
"They have Adea," he repeated as he stood and started to walk to the clinical bed, where the Lizard man lay highlighted by the neon light like a model.
Every single step, sent a sharp pang of pain, all the way from his feet to his head, but he kept landing a foot after the other.
The lizardman didn't reply to his statement; he just stayed in that same fixed pose, like a statue.
"I have to get her back," he said to the lizard man….still no reply.
"Before you start getting anyone back," The nurse broke the silence. "You need to rest."
"The fact that you can even walk right now is already a shock in itself."
"Rest?" Jace scoffed, ignoring the unresponsive Chef, to look at the nurse. "I have no idea where my baby is, what's going on with her, or how safe she is…and you think I should rest?"
"If your daughter has really been kidnapped by lowlifes, your best bet is not to butt out to the streets…and do what exactly?" The nurse reprimanded him.
"Go on to the Hunter's platform and hire a Merc team to handle it for you." The nurse suggested instead.
"Hunter's page," Jace muttered. Halo had already synced to his nanobracelet before he finished muttering the word, opened the site, and pulled up the Mission Application page."
"A thousand credits charge, just to obtain a mission slot!" He gasped in shock…and it didn't end there.
He had to deposit 50% of the mission payout before his application could enter verification.
[Current Credit Balance: 123]...Halo flashed a message box in his vision before he could even ask.
"No shit!... Hire a merc?" he asked the Nurse, his voice sarcastic.
"Yes that's the best decision you can make now to ensure your daughter's safety."
"I'd need like 6,000 Credits to make that happen," Jace snapped at her, his fists clenching. "I am a **cking Scrapper…I don't have a thousand credits lying around, talk less of six."
The nurse went silent like a mouse.
.
.
.
She broke it after a while.
"You can involve the Enforcers," she said. "You are a tiered citizen, right?" she added a bit too late.
"They would take danger to a dependent of yours seriousl–"
'I ain't tiered," Jace cut her mid-talk, "My citizenship is contract-based." He muttered.
The reality of the situation, hitting him harder.
There was no immediate path back to Adea, he might have lost his daughter for go–
"Nahhh!!!" Jace snapped at his thought process.
"I am out of here," He notified the nurse, ignoring the unresponsive lizard man as he made for the door.
"Wait! You have to pay for the medicare service received!" the nurse shouted, chasing after him.
"Za will handle zhis tab," the lizard man screamed at both figures that were retreating out of the room like it was radioactive.
"At least put some clothes on then," The nurse changed her plea as she exited the mini ward after Jace.
He paused, and for the first time, he took note of the little bit excessive chilly air, hitting his back, chest, and legs.
Apart from his fancy briefs, the only protection he had was a very loose piece of clothing, held together to his frame with a tied knot at the back of it.
…
"My clothes," Jace ordered the nurse, taking note of his surroundings.
The space he had exited into, looked more like a shop than what he had in mind.
Display cases, shelves filled with colourful things, and a digital banner on the wall displaying some Ad.
Bullet Extraction Services now at 75 Credits per bullet…The Ad read.
That's cheaper than the pie…Jace's mind noted before he read up to the last segment.
30% Discount for Extraction involving more than three Bullets.
"WTF!"
"Here is your clothes," the nurse muttered while pushing his possessions to him, sealed in a nylon bag.
Jace pushed back his thoughts on the affordability of bullet extraction as he dressed up, wondering instead on what logical step he could take next.
[Bio-Energy: 6%(Critically Low‼️)]...Halo reminded him as he pulled on his undershirt.
"Do you have any edibles on sale?" He asked the heavily made-up nurse.
"Of course we do."
"Give me whatever can provide the most energy for my body."
"That will be the Medibar," The nurse answered excitedly while hurrying to a particular display and bringing out something packaged like soap.
"A single bar doesn't just provide your body with enough caloric sustenance for optimal performance in a day, it also contains herbal supplements that your body is desperately in need of for proper healing and re–."
"I am sold anyway," Jace cut her mid-talk, slipping Purity into the sheath hidden in his jacket.
"That will be 15 Credits," the Nurse concluded as she handed him the brightly coloured edible bar.
"I will need four of it," Jace clarified. The saleswoman nurse smiled.
"Of course."
…
"Add it to the tab, Zzareck is covering," Jace announced as he stuffed the medibars into his jacket pockets and made his way to the door.
"Wait a minute?" the nurse ordered. Jace didn't reply…The door that shut behind his back did the talking.
He will square up with the Lizard man later, for now, he needed his flimsy 123 Credits intact for as long as possible.
District 17 of the outer city, A.K.A. Junk town was at the quietest part of its day…The Mid-Mornings.
Corpo slaves were up and in a jiffy to meet up with transpo as they made their way to their workplace.
Addicts were strewn about the street…overdosed.
Lowlifes were just getting ready for sleep.
He tore open one of the medibars; the smell hit him strongly.
It smelled like disinfectant, medicine, and boiled leaves all at once.
"Damn!!!," Jace cursed out loud as the smell thickened, the closer it got to his mouth. The medibar made its way there anyway.
He bit down on it.
Eeeuuurrrgghhh….Jace spat the whole thing out reflexively.
It tasted way worse than it smelled.
Compared to the medibar, Zzareck's apple pie tasted like divine honey, and it was terrible.
[Bio-Energy: 6%(Critically Low‼️)]...Halo reminded him.
He needed to eat.
"For love," Jace muttered as he pushed the bar once again to his mouth.
His subconscious rebelled. It felt like his mouth and the bar were the same sides of a magnet repelling each other.
He pushed through.
The moment the bar found its way into his mouth, he bit down on it again.
Mmmmgghh…Jace did his best to resist his gag reflex….then he chewed.
Dry…sticky…hard mushy. He had never eaten a bar of soap before, but he was 100% certain it would be a better experience than eating the medibar.
For love…he motivated himself as he chewed on anyway, continuing to take more bites as he walked forward without a direction yet.
Open chats, He prompted Halo, the mental bot synced with his bracelet, and responded.
He drafted what he felt was a message that fully conveyed the current situation and carried intensely his desperation.
He forwarded to every single contact of his.
What next ?... A part of his mind questioned.
He couldn't hire mercs.
He had no idea which way the gangs went or their hideout.
He needed help.
The Enforcers…His mind came to a conclusion.
They were the keepers of the law.
True that they couldn't care less about untiered citizens of Junk town, but nothing else was coming to his mind at the moment.
He found his direction.
Their nearest Hub was at least a 20-minute walk from where he was.
An Auto Taxi will get him there in less, but that would be [-20 Credits].
It was an expense he could avoid.
He broke into a jog, his steps sending strong jolts of pain throughout his whole body…He endured anyway.
A soap posing as nutrition in hand, full body jerks with every step…He made his way to the Enforcers' Hub of District 17.