by H D Forth
The car in front of me looked sporty. It might just have such a feature. The reverse light turned on, and the car backed out of the parking spot silently, but far too quickly to be controlled by an AI. Definitely has a track mode.
I sprinted after the car, calling energy from the Power Core. I hoped to catch it before it got too much speed. Unfortunately, cars accelerate incredibly fast, at least compared to me. Within moments the vehicle started outpacing me, even with my empowered legs. It was actually quite incredible to behold, to see something that could really move, just explode into motion.
Still, I couldn't let him get away. I would have to stop them, hopefully without damaging the car. The problem was the safety on car programs had gone up leaps and bounds. It would be incredibly hard for me to crack the firewall, I definitely wouldn't be able to do without it escaping my range.
I would have to brute force it. It could work, like with Val's laptop, I had also done it on a phone once. This was a little different though. I reached out a hand as a physical aid and called my Technopathy powers. I reached for the car, sensing its Operating System, its OS.
Turn Off! I send out in a wave of force, trying to make the car stop. I staggered slightly as the power the wave took, dimmed my own connection to the Nerve Module. If that connection lapsed, I would flop to the ground like a dead fish.
The car didn't stop, it didn't even slow down. I stopped running focusing everything on the vehicle. On its OS.
"TURN OFF!", I thundered, I didn't even realize I had yelled until after the command had been said. For a panicked moment, everything went black as my Connection with the Nerve Module slipped from my grasp. When I managed to struggle up another Connection. I found that I had managed to turn off the car, and the street lights and many apartments also seemed to have suddenly gone dark.
I saw the thief had stepped out of the car and was staring at it. Then he turned to me. “You.” He said weakly.
I slowly got to my feet. It was tiring holding on to the connection to the Nerve Module, just keeping myself standing felt difficult. Still, I started running towards him, not wanting him to get away now that I managed to stop the car.
As I closed the distance between us, I saw him start to fumble with something in his pocket. He retrieved a gun, still in what appeared to be a hip holster. I took me a moment to catch on to what he was going to do. With an effort of will, I increased my speed to a sprint towards the criminal.
He managed to get the gun out of the holster, while I was still at least 15 meters away. He proceeded to unload his entire gun in my general direction. It was clear that he did not have a lot of marksmanship training, or even worked with arms that often. I heard at least 6 shots go wild. I also heard 3 clashes with metallic components.
The loud noises and the immediate transfer of energy slowed me and send a froth of adrenaline through the Nerve Module. I drew deeply from the Power Core, watching from my peripheral as the power indicator dipped by almost 10% in less than 2 seconds.
In those 2 seconds, I closed the distance. Smashed the gun out of the criminal's hand and probably broke his hand too. I kicked one leg out from under him, sending him to the ground. Then I lowered the drain on my Power Core. I had never drained my core that harshly before, it was an incredible rush. The speed, the strength. I couldn't have described it with a thousand words.
Then the kid was lying on the ground, one hands probably broken badly and his leg bone at least bruised. I couldn't tell if I broke it since it was more like a leg sweep than an attempt to wound.
I connected with my new phone—courtesy of Val’s messy bedroom—and called the police as I pulled the young man up. I told them about my situation.
“I’m a vigilante. I’m stuck with a criminal who tried to steal a car.”
“Steal a car.” The AI replied. “Neat.”
I almost snorted out loud. The police must've been trying a new algorithm to and make it sound more human-like, despite the clearly robotic tone.
“We’ll dispatch a car to come and get them. Are you wounded? Do you need assistance?”
I could feel only a slightly painful burning from two of the wounds that had scored the metal of my frame. Unfortunately, the last bullet had hit something a little more vital, and it kept blazing with pain, making sure that I knew where I was hit and to do something about it soon.
"Nothing you could help me with," I told the AI.
“Very well. Unrelated note. How would you rate this phone call experience? On a scale of 1 - 10, how human-like was it.”
I hung up, I had better things to do. Like meeting with Kani and Val.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Friendly and Heroic Deeds:
Stopped a Vandal, clean the streets, prevent a burglary.
Rewards: 3200 Tessian points and 1600 Credits received.
I looked out onto the slowly lightening horizon, letting out a deep breath. I felt anxiety and worry leave me as I realized: I’d made it through my first night shift without major incident.
I’d stopped a vandal, who had started painting one of the walls. Then I had cleaned said wall. After that I had spent a large amount of time, just cleaning up the streets, literally. It was oddly soothing. I had found who still had a light on their apartment. He’d noticed me around and agreed to let me borrow his broom, since I hadn't brought my own.
I hadn’t actually noticed the burglary, but they must’ve been scared away by my presence. I didn’t know if that spoke to the effect I had as hero, or the effect of someone nearby to witness the crime. I was happy to take it either way though.
Then I had just been going from one end of the street to the other. First I cleaned the walls. You’d be surprised by the amount of built up that could accumulate even though you are technically inside. Once I had done that, I had swept the entire street. It took a lot of work and I wasn't sure, but it was nice, sooting and relaxing. The robot and the accompanying AI had been primarily made for the purpose.
The other side benefit was that it threw in a ton of bonus points and Credits. Far more than stopping a thief or the vandal ever did. I was honestly surprised, though it seemed the Tessians, whatever they were, highly valued social needs and the work that went with it. Though to be honest the feeling of helping someone, though it gave less points and money than cleaning the streets, felt more satisfying in the moment.
Looking at the 1600 credits I’d made tonight though, I was having trouble determining what was the best option.
I blinked at the sky, as I looked up. What was that noise? Sounded like a car alarm. There were still a decent amount of people that had cars though it had become far more common to rent a car when they had become driver less.
I blinked tiredly. Robot body, human mind. That was something that was easy to forget, sometimes my body could outrun my mind so much that I suddenly collapsed, completely mentally exhausted. Luckily it hadn't happened in the field yet. Instead I ran through the streets, towards the sound of car alarm, though it had died pretty soon after it had started.
I stormed around the corner to find someone poking around inside the car. Suddenly the lights flashed on and the car started. A car thief, how novel, I thought.
There were some cars that had a track feature that allowed you to take control of it. Racing sports were still a very real thing, even though the Wilds severely limited the size of the tracks.
The car in front of me looked sporty. It might just have such a feature. The reverse light turned on and the car backed out of the parking spot silently, but far too quickly to be controlled by an AI. Definitely has a track mode.
I sprinted after the car, calling energy from the Power Core. I hoped to catch it before it got too much speed. Unfortunately, cars accelerate incredibly fast, at least compared to me. Within moments the car started out pacing me, even with my empowered legs. It was actually quite incredible to behold, to see something that could really move, just explode into motion.
Still I couldn't let him get
away. I would have to stop them, hopefully without damaging the car. The problem was the safety on car programs had gone up leaps and bounds. It would been incredibly hard for me to crack the firewall, I definitely wouldn't be able to do without it out pacing my range.
I would have to brute force it. It could work, like with Val’s laptop, I had also done it on a phone once. This was a little different though. I reached out a hand as a physical aid, and called my Technopathy powers. I reached for the car, sensing its Operating System, its OS.
Turn Off! I send out in a wave of force, trying to make the car stop. I staggered slightly as the power the wave took, dimmed my own connection to the Nerve Module. If that connection lapsed, I would flop to the ground like a dead fish.
The car didn't stop, it didn't even slow down. I stopped running focusing everything on the car. On its OS.
“TURN OFF!”, I thundered, I didn’t even realized I had yelled until after the command had been said. For a panicked moment everything went black as my connection with the Nerve Module slipped form my grasp. When I managed to struggle up another connection. I found that I had managed to turn off the car, and the street lights, and multiple apartments also seemed to have suddenly gone dark.
I saw the thief had stepped out of the car and was staring at it. Then he turned to me. “You.” He said weakly.
I slowly got to my feet. It was tiring holding on to the connection to the Nerve Module, just keeping myself standing felt difficult. Still, I started running towards him, not wanting him to get away now that I managed to stop the car.
As I closed the distance between us, I saw him start to fumble with something in his pocket. He retrieved a gun, still in what appeared to be a hip holster. I took me a moment to catch on to what he was going to do. With an effort of will, I increased my speed to a sprint towards the criminal.
He managed to get the gun out of the holster, while I was still at least 15 meters away. He proceeded to unload his entire gun towards me. It was clear that he did not have a lot of marksmanship training, or even worked with guns that often. I heard at least 6 shots go wild. I also heard 3 clash with metallic components.
The loud noises and the sudden transfer of energy slowed me and send a froth of adrenaline through the Nerve Module. I drew deeply from the Power Core, watching from my peripheral as the power indicator dipped by almost 10% in less than 2 seconds.
In those 2 seconds, I closed the distance. Smashed the gun out of his hand and probably broke his hand too. I kicked one leg out from under him, sending him to the ground. Then I lowered the drain on my Power Core. I had never drained my core that harshly before, it was an incredible rush. The speed, the strength. I couldn't have described it with a thousand words.
Then the kid was lying on the ground, one hands probably broken badly and his leg bone at least bruised. I couldn't tell if I had broken it, since it was more like a leg sweep than an attempt to wound.
I connected with my new phone—courtesy of Val’s messy bedroom—and called the police as I pulled the young man up. I told them about my situation.
“I’m a vigilante. I’m stuck with a criminal who tried to steal a car.”
“Steal a car.” The AI replied. “Neat.”
I almost snorted out loud. They must be trying some new algorithm to try and make it sound more human like, despite the clearly robotic tone.
“We’ll dispatch a car to come and get them. Are you wounded? Do you need assistance?”
I could feel only a slightly painful burning from two of the wounds that had scored the metal of my frame. Unfortunately, the last bullet had hit something a little more vital and it kept blazing with pain, making sure that I knew where I was hit and to do something about it soon.
“Nothing you could help me with.” I told the AI.
“Very well. Unrelated note. How would you rate this phone call experience? On a scale of 1 - 10, how human-like was it.”
I hung up, I had better things to do. Like meeting with Kani and Val.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Once the police apprehended the car thief, they assigned me a registration number. This would be the number they would use to recognize me.
When Heroes had first started appearing after the first big showdown, there had been more than a few conflicts between law enforcement and vigilantes. Until the Heroes Guild was established and they came up with a system.
The Heroes Guild was responsible for all vigilante activity that was being committed. Meaning all property damage would fall on their shoulders to pay. They would be responsible for contacting the various vigilantes and talk to them about joining the Guild or rejecting them.
If they didn't participate, they were now responsible for themselves and the Guild could no longer be held accountable, then the police would need to know the vigilante’s actual identity.
For now, I was still uncontacted, though it wasn't uncommon for the Guild to wait a few months to see how a potential Hero prospect worked in the field before they contacted the vigilante. It wasn't like they didn't have enough money. Most of the big Heroes currently made more than most movie stars, and they only took home half of all profits from the sale of merchandise and toys.
At least that's what the Web had told me, and the Web never lies to anyone. It also said to me that.
Once the police let me go, I called Kani and Val. I told them about my condition and that I would need some work done. Between the attack against the car, and the last wound, I was feeling pretty exhausted and tired.
I ran into one of the still dark alleys, making sure that no one was around. Then I pulled my shirt and pants off, replacing them with a pair of pants and shirt I had hidden away in my trash bag leg holster. There was something awkward about being half-naked in an alley, but when someone's shot you three times in the gut, you tend to forget about the small parts.
The feeling was a little wonky at times with the Nerve Module. I could almost always detect a featherlight brush, whenever Val was teasing me, but I had trouble feeling exactly where the pain was in my guts without looking. All I could feel was a blazing line of diminishing fire, running from the middle to the right over my stomach. When I looked down, I could see the three bullet holes.
Two of them showed off some pretty deformed skeleton. I was bullet resistant, not proof. A bullet wouldn't do as much damage to me as a to a human, but the two shots had deformed my hip frame. That combined with the deformation caused by the burst of power and I was forced to be limping around, unable to move my leg properly.
Once changed, though I knew I would be early, I started towards the address Val had given us. According to her, it was one of her old hideouts or something to the likes of that. IT would become our new HQ.
Even though I was limping, I still didn't want to pay for a taxi. I didn't have a lot of money, and I had blown most of it on the duster. Which I no longer wore, because my partners in heroism didn't like it. I shook my head. Women and their reasonable sense for fashion, and what is and isn't right combat clothes. Just let me wear my cool duster.
Still, though, I hadn't returned it. Instead, it had gotten a special place in my closet for the right moment. I had even fixed where the bullet passed through and into me. I wasn't going to return, not for the world.
I was relieved to see the HQ building coming up. It was a smaller building, only reaching up maybe 20 or 30 floors. According to Val, she had bought the first two floors when she had been flush with cash and the Towers were a new idea.
Val had also inserted private front door into the building. Apparently, there had been some extensive remodeling done when she had bought the two bottom apartments.
I knew this was the place. The TPS (Tower Position System) on the phone told me so, but it wasn't until Kani's laptop pinged my body for a connection that I let out a sigh of relief. She was already here. I gladly helped the computer make the connection. Its wireless functionality could reach much further than I could with just my mind.
Once I c
onnected, it didn't take more than 5 seconds before the private door swung open and Kani stepped out. I was still a good 20 meters away, but she spotted me quickly.
She looked at me for a moment, confused at y limp. I raised my shirt slightly giving her a look at what had happened. She gasped and helped me into the building. This was the first time I had been inside our Head Quarters to-be. As we walked into the building, I noticed that most of the walls in the apartment had been torn down, turning it into an ample open space.
I one corner I saw a rusted and pitted sink, that obviously hadn't seen any use in a really long time. Contrary to Valeria's apartment our new HQ was oddly clean and neat. The only signs of wear were furniture, like the sink that obviously hadn't been used in a long while. There was no clutter, no miscellaneous items.
