Modern Age Online

Kaleb awoke to the rather loud sound of his power going out. The orange glow of his heat lamps died slowly casting his room into pitch blackness. His room had no windows, probably to save his neighbors the headache of his bright heat lamps. As he got out of bed a notification window popped into his view.

*Event Generated*

Break-in: A group of armed people have broken into your home. Their intentions are unknown. Fight flee or try to contact the proper authorities the choices is yours. If they kill or capture you, they will steal random items from your home/lab/sanctum.

Intruders: 4

Alarm System: Not installed.

Damn. Thought Kaleb. Diana Torero’s people move quick. He looked around his bedroom for a weapon. Unfortunately, all his weapons and armor were in his lab. All he had was his new lab coat. As he quickly put it on he heard a noise coming from the front of his house. He crouched down and cracked open his bedroom door.

He saw two flashlights along with what looked like the light spell Vivienne had used. They were in his living room and seemed to move into his kitchen. Kaleb could hear them talking but he couldn’t make out any words. Thinking quickly he slowly opened his door and crept into his hallway. Closing his bedroom door he moved across the hall to his bathroom and stayed crouched with the door cracked. As Kaleb listened, he heard the sounds of footsteps walking closer and an annoyed female voice speaking.

“We can loot the place later. The bounty on this guy will pay for our own coffee maker. You idiots.” She said as the ball of light traveled down his hallway.

Two men wearing all black and carrying flashlights followed the ball of light. As they passed Kaleb’s bathroom he could make out their weapons. One was carrying a sawed-off shotgun, and the other had a small machine gun. The men took up a position outside his bedroom door as they waited for the female magic user. She stood imperiously in front of his door with her back to Kaleb. She pulled a red-wood wand from her sleeve.

“On three, gentlemen. He should still be asleep, so Let's do this quietly if possible.” She said as she raised her wand and pointed it at his door.

Both men nodded in unison and the one with the shotgun stuck up three fingers. Kaleb got his legs under him as the big man counted down. As he got to one, Shotgun and Machine gun darted into Kaleb’s room. When they turned their backs to the restroom door Kaleb sprung out and put the female magic user into a choke-hold and drug her back into his restroom.

Kaleb held on tight as his captive failed against his metal arm. She tried to scream out twice but Kaleb tightened his hold on her throat stifling any noise. She swung jerked left and right hitting his sink and almost sending them both into his tub. Kaleb kept applying pressure until the magic user stopped struggling then he eased off. He needed at least one of them alive and she seemed to be the boss.

As Kaleb relaxed his grip, his bathroom door exploded in a hail of gunfire. The Wizard’s body jerked as bullets ripped through her body. Pain and fire bloomed in Kaleb’s right shoulder as he felt a bullet rip into his flesh. Kaleb shoved the Wizard’s body against the door and dove into his bathtub. He pulled the curtain and laid down covering his head with his metal arm.

He felt a few ricochets pelt his lab coat and arm but luckily none of the bullets broke his skin. The cacophony of gunshots died down and Kaleb heard heavy breathing come from his hallway. The Wizard’s dead body slid down the door and thudded loudly against his tiled bathroom floor.

“Shit, I’m out.” said a deep voice.

“I told you not to bring the shotgun. You can only carry some many shells.” Said another male voice in a slightly accented voice, but Kaleb couldn’t place its origins.

“Shut up and check it out. We might have just lit up Melissa.” Ordered the first voice.

“Ha! She could stop a missile from two feet away. She’s fine, trust me.” Laughed the second voice as he opened the door.

Kaleb stood in the bathtub with his metal arm aim at the door. As the guy opened the door, he hit the Wizard's feet sliding them over until they hit bathtub just below where Kaleb stood. The light from two flashlights shown into the bathroom lighting up the shot up bathroom and the bullet-ridden body of the Wizard.

“Shit.” Said Machine gun.

“Oh fuck no, man.” Said the shotgun guy from the hall.

Kaleb aimed his metal arm through the middle of the wooden door. He used his best guess to gauge where Machine gun stood. With a loud hiss of air Kaleb launched a rail spike through the door.

*Thunk*

“AAAAHHHH! FUCK!”

Kaleb was rewarded with the sound of the machine gun guy screaming in pain. He leapt out of the tub and charged into the bathroom door. He slammed into the bathroom door catching the machine gun guy between it and the door frame. Kaleb slammed into the door twice before he felt the second guy push the door open. Kaleb slid back on the blood-soaked tile of his bathroom floor. He almost tripped the Wizard’s body as he moved backward.

As the door opened, he saw the machine gun guy unconscious collapsed against the door frame with a bloody nose and a spike sticking into his gun arm. The other guy was stomping forward weaponless but anger clear in his eyes. He threw a wild hook at Kaleb’s jaw. Ducking the blow Kaleb almost slipped as he countered with an uppercut using his normal arm. The blow connected rocking the guy back.

The big guy shook the dizziness out of his head as Kaleb got his feet back under him. The blood from the wizard was making fighting difficult. The guy backed up into the hallway avoiding stepping on the Wizard as he did so. He spared a glance down at his machine gun wielding friend. He looked back up and Kaleb and cracked his knuckles.

“You killed Melissa, fucker. You’re going down hard.” He said menacingly.

Kaleb smiled wide in response. “That was you and your trigger-happy friend. I wanted one of you alive. But honestly I’m caring about that less and less.”

Shotgun looked annoyed but said nothing more. He was waiting for Kaleb to move out of the slippery bathroom. Kaleb moved forward cautiously stepping around the Wizard and standing in the doorway. He was barely a foot from his opponent when the second man groaned loudly. Shotgun glanced down in surprised.

Kaleb took advantage of his diverted attention charged forward. He threw his metal head in a straight punch that caught the guy in his nose. The intruder's head snapped back, and he stumbled into the hallway wall. Kaleb grasped the guy's head in both hands and slammed it into the wall twice in quick succession. The man collapsed onto the hallway floor unmoving. Kaleb exhaled loudly and checked his work.

The Wizard was dead, shot to death by her friends. The machine gun guy was bleeding from a stomach wound and his broken nose. He needed medical attention but he would be fine. Shotgun guy was unconscious probably concussed though. That was three out of the four. Kaleb figured they left the last guy outside as a lookout. He inhaled a large breath and exhaled slowly moving into his living room to look out the window for the fourth man.

Kaleb walked passed his coffee table and checked out the small window facing the road. He twisted his hand left and right looking for someone. But, all he saw was a black sedan with no plates parked outside his house. The car was off and Kaleb couldn’t make out anyone in it.

*scritch scritch scritch*

Kaleb heard something sharp scrapping against something coming from his kitchen. He made his way around his furniture again. But as he got to the arched doorway leading to his kitchen, he heard the noise again. This time from behind him.

*scritch scritch scritch*

Kaleb stared into his empty living room trying to think of every horror movie trope he had ever seen. The idea came to him as he felt a long thick scaly muscle wrap around his throat and lift him off the ground. Damn it. Kaleb thought. They always forget to look up in those old horror movies.

Kaleb’s legs kicked feebly into the air as he stared up at the creature crawling on all fours on his ceiling. The thing had large yellow eyes, with brownish yellow scaly skin. It was holding him off the ground with its long tail. Kaleb’s vision blurred as he gave up trying to wrench the tail off of his throat.

Instead, he fired off a shot with his spike launcher sending a spike into its arm.

“AAARGHH!”

The creature screamed in surprise and pain. It flung Kaleb away using its tail. He sailed into his kitchen and landed solidly against his dining table. As he collected himself and took large breaths, he heard a raspy and guttural voice call out from his living room.

“You damn Basilinoid bastard, that hurt.”

“Good.” Kaleb called back in a voice not that different from his enemies.

“You should have stayed in the lab like the rest of your species.” The creature fell down from the ceiling righting itself in midair he stood in the light coming in from the windows.

Kaleb got a good look at his assailant. He was shorter than Kaleb standing at 5 foot 3. Other than that he looked almost similar to Kaleb. He figured judging by his color and the fact he had crawled along the ceiling the smaller lizard was in fact a gecko.

*Cough*

“I’m gonna toss your gecko ass out of my house.” Kaleb coughed and rubbed his throat as he stared daggers at the smaller reptile.

The gecko gave a creepy raspy laugh. “Ha ha ha. The day a Basilinoid can take a Ciliaton in hand-to-hand combat is the day my ancestors cry tears of blood. We are hunters, unlike you bunch of lab rats.”

Kaleb watched as the Ciliaton’s tongue slithered out of its mouth and licked each of his eyes. Kaleb shivered in disgust before he stalked forward. He brought up both his hands and stood in the arched entryway to his living room.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s see what you got short-stack.”

The gecko gave a raspy growl and pounced forward jumping over Kaleb’s coffee table and landing in front of Kaleb. Kaleb threw a hard punch at the shorter reptile’s face. The smaller reptile leaned back and back-flipped over his tail sending his foot into Kaleb’s jaw. Kaleb rocked backwards as the gecko completed his acrobatics.

The gecko’s tail tried to trip Kaleb was he moved forward again. Kaleb danced around the tail as best he could and threw an awkward jab. The gecko easily dodge the jab and rushed behind Kaleb leaping onto his back. Kaleb felt the smaller reptiles arm wrap around his neck and the gecko’s tail wrap around his waist. Kaleb lined himself up with the hallway wall and slammed backwards. He smiled when he felt the gecko’s grip loosen on his throat. But then the smaller reptile crawled between his legs and used its tail to lift Kaleb and suplex him into the carpeted floor.

The blow disoriented Kaleb, and he felt the gecko climb onto his chest and punch down into Kaleb’s face. Kaleb got his metal arm in front of his face trying to block the punches but the gecko just slammed its long tail into his side. Kaleb used his normal arm to punch into the gecko’s stomach as he abandoned guarding his face and made a grab for the gecko’s tail. The gecko tensed as Kaleb finally grasped its tail.

He heaved the smaller gecko off of him and quickly stood as he maintained a death grip on its tail. The gecko kicked out at Kaleb’s legs but he jumped back. Kaleb drug the flailing gecko into his living room and gripped its tail in both of his hands.

“Don’t you fucking think about -”

The gecko said as Kaleb turned his back and lifted the gecko off the ground by its tails. The small reptile sailed passed his right shoulder as Kaleb slammed him into his wooden coffee table. The table collapsed under the weight of the gecko sending wood and splinters into the living room. Kaleb didn’t waste a second, he spun around and lifted the gecko again slamming him into the hallway floor.

It was on the third toss into Kaleb’s now ruined coffee table that he heard flesh tear and thought the tail was soon about to rip off. The gecko must have heard it too because he flailed wildly, crying out in pain and worry.

“I yield! Stop! Please, I yield!”

The abrupt change in the gecko‘s demeanor shocked Kaleb. He maintained a tight grip on the gecko’s tail and questioned. “What?”

“I, Rokka of the clan Groak, yield this contest of strength. You can kill me, arrest me, enslave me, or whatever. But please spare my tail.” Said the small gecko reaching pitifully for its tail in pain and worry.

Kaleb dropped the tail in surprise. Suddenly he felt like he was bullying a small animal not fighting for his life. Rokka curled into himself and looked over his tail thoroughly. The brown, yellow gecko ran his tail across his tail as Kaleb looked on curiously. It doesn’t grow back. Kaleb thought.

“Thank you. Thank you.” The small gecko which was admittedly kicking his ass seconds before was now thanking him profusely near tears.

Kaleb waved off his thanks and asked. “It’s fine. You don’t know who placed the bounty on me do you?”

The gecko shook his head. “No, Melissa was the one who set up the job. Even then I don’t think she knew who was paying. She worked through a fixer, mostly.”

Kaleb nodded. That made sense, best to keep the hit squad as insulated from information as possible in case something like this happened. Rokka was now sitting on the floor having tended to his tail. Kaleb didn’t know where the gecko had gotten bandages but he figured it best not to think about it. Kaleb stared down at the small gecko trying to decide what to do with him.

“Humph” coughed the gecko awkwardly. “I’m flattered but I don’t swing that way, lizard.”

“What?” Kaleb asked confused before he realized he had been staring for too long. “No! I was trying to decide what to do with you?”

The gecko sat on his knees and looked up at Kaleb. “I thank you for sparing my tail, but that is it. This isn’t a life debt like in some fairy tale. We meet again and we will be enemies.” Rokka’s eyes grew hard as he stared up at Kaleb.

Kaleb nodded understanding. “That simplifies things.” He moved into his kitchen and for the first time since he entered the game, he used his home phone.

“You should kill me!” Shouted Rokka from his living room.

Kaleb completed the call with the police rather quickly. He gave them his address and the situation and they said a car would be by. Kaleb hung up the phone and moved back into the living room.

Kaleb shrugged his shoulder. “Disadvantage of being the good guy. You get to live, but you will go to jail.”

Rokka shook his head and laughed. “Ha! I’ll escape. Either on my own or with help from my clan.”

Kaleb glanced down his hallway making sure the other intruders were still unconscious. “And once you do will you be back?”

“If the money is still good. But once word gets out that you took out a four-man crew by yourself people will be a little more hesitant to come at you.” Rokka admitted.

“Eh, I’ll have this bounty thing figured out by tomorrow.” Kaleb shrugged off Rokka’s words trying to appear nonchalant.

“That would be wise. Next time I will come with others of my clan. Once they hear someone defeated me others will come to test you anyway.” Rokka said.

“Shit!” Kaleb swore. “And you can’t tell them, can you?”

Rokka looked insulted. “Of course not. I would think your clan would be proud of you besting a Ciliaton in mortal combat.”

Kaleb looked at his metal arm. “I have no clan.” He said.

“Then you should learn to fight better. You are big, slow, and your metal appendage is more of a hindrance than a help. You should either get a gene-grown one or a learn to use it properly.” Rokka was proving surprisingly helpful.

Kaleb tried to stay nonchalant as he saw a police cruiser turn into his street out the window. “Where would I learn to do that?”

Rokka gave a raspy laugh. “Why would I arm my enemy?”

“Better fight for later?” Kaleb smiled down at Rokka.

Rokka continued to laugh as Kaleb let the police in. They had the paramedics collect the three injured intruders as the officers moved to arrest Rokka.

“Watch his tail.” Kaleb said seriously staring at Rokka.

The officers gave him weird stares before nodding and cuffing the small gecko. The paramedics carried the Wizard’s corpse out his front door followed by the machine gun guy and then the shotgun guy. Kaleb recounted what happened to one of the police officers as Rokka corroborated his statement.

The cops seemed confused that one intruder was so willing to talk. But they took it in stride. As they moved Rokka past Kaleb the smaller gecko rushed forward and placed one of his cuffed hands into Kaleb’s. Kaleb felt a slip of paper between their hands as the cops tugged Rokka back forcefully.

“The Clan-less, shall forever live in squalor but maybe one shall be of use to you.” Rokka said as they marched him out the door.

Kaleb agreed to visit the station later and fill out some forms. He waved goodbye to the police and went back to his house. His living room and bathroom were a mess, but the medics helped clean up the worse of it. Kaleb checked the scrap of paper Rokka had handed him.

Corner of Navasota street and East 14th. Knock twice.

It was an address somewhere in downtown Austin. Kaleb made a mental note to check it later as he yawned. He moved back to his room and flipped his light switch. As nothing happened, he sighed loudly and remembered that Rokka and the others had cut his power. He yawned again as he made his way outside. He hoped whatever they did could be fixed quickly so he could go back to sleep.