Modern Age Online

“… Okay, just let him know I called.” Kaleb said to Curtis, Jar-lock’s Handler.

Kaleb heard his communicator disconnect as he sat at his Workbench in The Pit. Deckart and Robert had gone out to buy their own supplies. Kaleb sat in his Garage lab and tried to come up with a suitable weapon. While he was thinking he contacted a few people on his friends list. It was slow going though; He had only contacted Jar-lock, Abby, and D43d–I.

“Is there a quicker way to do this?” Kaleb asked Farrah.

Farrah’s voice sounded amused as it echoed in his garage. “You could have had me post the mission with the HLO with a preference set to the groups friends lists only.”

Kaleb crossed his arms and sighed heavily. “and you didn’t tell me this because…?”

“Because you need to learn to ask.” Farrah said. “There are certain things Handlers may not explain until the players ask. The developers want people to think about what being a Hero entails. So, what else could you do before going on this raid?”

Kaleb stared down at his workbench trying to think.

Farrah sighed loudly as she hinted. “Anyone else you should talk to?”

Kaleb twisted his head in confusion before he realized. “The Police?”

“Exactly! You can’t do roadwork without letting the city know and you can’t go raiding the lair of Magical racist without the police. They’ll do most of the grunt work and it will set a respawn point just outside the police perimeter.” Farrah explained.

“Won’t that inform the Druchuvin clan what we are up to?” Kaleb asked.

“No, the police will hold back until your team is in. Once the raid is going the perimeter will go up and drones will take positions.” Farrah said as Kaleb heard typing. “There. The mission has been posted, and the system has notified your friends list.”

Kaleb nodded. “And the police?”

“That's on you.”

“What am I supposed to do just call 911?” Kaleb asked exasperated. He couldn’t decide what he wanted to build.

“No, I advise you to use your friendly, beautiful, and oh so helpful Handler.” Farrah said happily.

“Great! When one gets here let me know.” Kaleb joked.

He heard Farrah sniff indignantly. “Hilarious. Just remember I have a collection of Professor Pack Rat’s funniest moments recorded.”

Kaleb shook his head and said. “Noted. Now could you please inform the police of our upcoming raid?”

“Sure.” Farrah sighed.

Kaleb went back to pondering his workbench. He already had an impressive collection of weapons already. Two guns, a sword, his rail spike shooter, and his Taser Egg. It wasn’t bad, and for defense he had his chest and back armor and his lab coat. He could spend his time making more pieces of his DIY Armor. He had a back piece, a chest piece, and an arm guard.

He went into his workbench’s interface to shop for what he wanted. He purchased more Kevlar and searched the store for weapon ideas. Mostly it was all energy guns and armor. But a few things caught his eye. There was a stun baton that the mundane police used, and there were several non-lethal grenades. He clicked on the baton, interested. But once he saw how hefty the thing was Kaleb opted not to purchase one.

But at the bottom was a picture of a small glove listed as a Stun Glove. Kaleb followed the link and looked over the information and pictures. It was a glove that delivered a shock whenever the user activated it. He figured he could make one but the crystal power housing would make the glove bulky. The one being sold however was slim and seemed to be able to fold up and fit in a pocket. As Kaleb studied it he found out he could see the items stats if he stared long enough.

*Stun Glove*

Stun Damage: 75

Hand-to-Hand Damage: +2

Durability: 50/50

Charge Time: 6 hours

Charges: 5

Grade: C

Description: Designed by CPD for their overseas PMC. The stun glove is an easy to carry alternative to the stun baton. Metal plates on the knuckles also give a slight damage boost in hand-to-hand combat. The downsides to the design are the lengthy charge time and the limited number of charges.

Kaleb added the Stun Glove to his order and continued to shop. Mostly his gear was decent in comparison. He looked through some lab equipment, but his garage was already too full. After this he would have to visit Roy’s grandfather about that Hideout Location he had offered. Kaleb added zip ties to his order, he didn’t think many of the House of Druchuvin would surrender but just in case.

Kaleb hit the order button and almost immediately his doorbell rang. That was fast even for Chip. Kaleb thought as he picked up his Sun Gun and moved to his front door. He still had a price on his head and he figured cautious was better than dead. When he got to the door and looked through the peephole, he saw Roy. Kaleb cracked the door and stared at his young assistant.

“Aren’t you a little early?” Kaleb asked.

Roy stared up at Kaleb and his gun answering slowly. “Yeah… it's the last week of school… and I’m a Senior. The staff couldn't care less what we do so long as we show up for a few classes.”

Kaleb gave a nod and let Roy into his house. He stood by the open door for a few more seconds which seemed to confuse Roy.

“Doc?”

“Wait for it.” Kaleb said smiling.

Sure enough, there was a blast of air and a blur of movement and Chip was standing on his porch.

Chip looked up at Kaleb surprised. “Am I getting predictable, Professor?”

Kaleb laughed and shook his head. “No, I was letting my assistant, Roy, in and I figured you would be along shortly.”

Chip laughed as he handed Kaleb his package. “Is that Roy Nova?”

Kaleb nodded as he opened the door wide so Chip could see Roy standing in Kaleb’s living room. Roy gave a small wave as Chip said.

“Hey, what's up kid. I was a huge fan of your grandfathers.”

Roy gave an awkward “Thanks.” Before saying. “Doc, I will go check on the Ifrit leather I had drying.”

Kaleb nodded his head suddenly reminded of the leather Roy had stripped from the Ifrit’s hand. He could probably add those to his armor. Varlin might enchant it for him before they storm the school. Kaleb waved goodbye to Chip, who sped off, and talked into his communicator as he heard Roy opening his garage door to the outside.

“Farrah, has Varlin accepted the mission yet?”

“Nope. I don’t think he is online yet.”

Kaleb grimaced as he started toward his lab. They had proven that without enchanting the Ifrit skin was just regular leather. It needed magic to increase its toughness. Not for the first time, Kaleb wondered if he could learn to Enchant. It wasn’t a skill that would help him in combat and he would still be a Mundane Super, technically. He couldn’t learn any more skills from Skill Books but if he studied enough, he could probably open the skill.

Kaleb put his package on his workbench and opened the interface. Kaleb stared at his workbench interface for what felt like hours. The internal debate he was having with himself was giving him a headache. Soon he realized, he had already decided; He was just trying to justify it to himself. He exhaled loudly as he brought up the shop in his workbench. There were several books on enchanting, both Skill Books and regular study guides.

Kaleb scanned through the books for a short while trying to find a suitable one. He worked the filters until he found the beginner section. There were several guides about Enchanting but he couldn’t really tell the difference. Eventually he bought the most expensive one, Krasniki’s Guide to Enchanting, thinking it would be the most comprehensive.

Kaleb sighed as he clicked buy. It felt a little like he was giving up on being a Mundane Super. He heard Farrah chuckle from his wrist.

“What?” He asked.

Farrah smothered her laughter and coughed. “Ahem, I just find it funny. That was hard for you, wasn’t it?”

Kaleb grinned. “Yeah, a little.”

“Let me ask you this then: are you still having fun?”

“True. This game is still amazing and I am enjoying myself.” Kaleb said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Farrah continued. “Then who gives a shit about Mundane, Alien or whatever. Just do what you want.”

Kaleb bobbed his from side-to-side. “I know, but I wanted to do this as a mundane.”

Farrah sighed loudly. “You are still a Mundane. Any powers you get come from you. You decide how you want to be a Super.”

“Maybe, but I could build things that mimic those powers. If I had the facilities that is.” Kaleb groused.

“But would that be fun for you? Play how you want but don’t stress about the decisions. Just have fun.”

Kaleb fell silent as he mulled over her words. She was right, a VRMMO was all about having fun. Stressing over something like this was kinda dumb. The only thing he had to do was have fun, fuck everything else. Kaleb was nodding to himself when his doorbell rang again.

He saw Roy walk back around the side of his house as he walked out on his driveway. Chip was back on his front porch. He smiled and waved Chip over. Chip walked his package over and laughed.

“Did you forget something, Professor?”

“No, I just made a decision about how I wanted to do this Super thing.” Kaleb grinned wide at the delivery man.

Chip gave him an odd look before shrugging his shoulders and saying. “Ok, Professor. Well, you keep on your toes.”

The speedster ran off as Roy came back out of The Pit. Kaleb opened his package and stared down at the leather-bound book. Roy looked at the package as well and asked curiously.

“You know magic, Doc?”

Kaleb shook his head and smiled. “Not yet. But first I want to finish this armor.” He tapped a finger against his chest armor.

Roy looked over Kaleb’s armor as they walked back into the garage. As the entered Farrah spoke up.

“Two Gun and Claire have accepted your Mission.”

“Great.” Kaleb said as he thought about the old cowboy and his super-strong wife.

As he walked over to his workbench, he noticed a small pile of red-tinged leather. Kaleb glanced over at Roy who was smiling wide at his leather. Kaleb nodded down at the pile a question in his eyes.

Roy scratched the back of his head. “I think it's done or at least ready to be worked into armor.”

The speed of the leatherworking surprised Kaleb, but he figured the game was making things easier again. Kaleb looked over the pile, Roy had two large pieces and five small pieces of leather ready to be added to armor.

Before he could think too deeply about it Roy asked his own question. “So what do you want to do with your armor?”

“I want another shoulder guard and maybe some shin guards.” Kaleb said as he pointed at the areas.

Roy nodded slowly before asking another question. “What can I do?”

The question brought Kaleb up short as he thought about it. He racked his brain for something when he remembered his run-ins with Magic users. The zombie loving Sorcerer, Strickton, had tossed him around like a rag doll and Eustace Williamson had also magically grabbed him. Kaleb looked down at his tennis shoes he had worn ever since starting the game.

Roy gave him a weird look as Kaleb took one of his shoes off. Kaleb studied his shoe for a while before he noticed Roy staring at him. Kaleb coughed awkwardly and took his armor off. He placed all his armor on his workbench and turned to Roy.

“Could you make the armor while I work on something else?” Kaleb asked.

Roy nodded as he looked over Kaleb’s armor. “You gonna work on the shoe?”

Kaleb chuckled. “Yeah, I’m going to work on the shoe.”

Kaleb left The Pit and went into his bedroom. For maybe the second time he opened his in-game closet. He looked at his shoes; he had duplicates of his sneakers but he also had several pairs of work boots. Kaleb grabbed the larger boots and weighed them in his hands. Unfortunately, none of his boots felt like they were steel-toed. Kaleb grabbed a pair of black boots and headed back to his lab.

He walked in and passed Roy who was shaping the aluminum plates for his armor. Kaleb wasn’t sure if his idea would work but he figured he should do something to stop being thrown around. He found some large pieces of steel and shaped them into curved spikes with his metal lathe and angle grinder. Next he worked on a spring-loaded housing that could sit on the back of his boot.

Luckily he found some decent tension springs in a tub on his shelving unit. The housing itself he made of a steel square tubing. At the bottom of his boot he placed a slim piece of metal to act as a pressure plate. When he finished, he had two steel housings on the back of his boots he bolted the curved steel spikes to. If he slammed his heel down a catch in the housing would release the spike into the ground.

Kaleb tested it in his concrete floored garage and while the spike wouldn’t penetrate, it deployed just fine. The sharp metal impact surprised Roy before Kaleb showed off his work. Kaleb moved out to his front yard to see how the spikes did on the dirt. He tested the spikes a few times; he had to adjust the pressure plate a few times. But, eventually he found a happy place where he could walk but with some pressure on his back heel the spike would shoot into the ground.

He was on his front lawn testing his movement with the spikes deployed when a car sped up onto his curb and three men jumped out. Two of the men were armed with handguns while the third made a gesture and summoned a ball of ice to his hand. Kaleb stood up on his toes and slowly lowered himself until he heard the click of his heel spikes reloading into their housings. Kaleb smiled at his visitors and walked forward.

The men seemed surprised at his actions. But, the driver seemed to rally himself and smiled back.

“I have to question your intelligence, friend. There’s a price on your head and you go back home? Not a smart move.” The driver said raising his gun at Kaleb’s chest.

Kaleb just continued to smile as he approached. “Do you think that means I’m stupid or arrogant?” He stopped when the driver's gun bumped into the right side of his chest.

Kaleb wasn’t sure if his Kevlar lab-coat would stop a bullet at point blank range. But the driver and the other gun wielding goon were packing 9 millimeters, so he figured he would at least be okay if he took a shot to the vest. He was placing his bets on being faster and confusing this new group of bounty hunters. And by the looks on their faces he was succeeding.

The driver looked confused before he shook it off and pressed his gun barrel harder into Kaleb’s chest. The magic user got closer raising his ice ball menacingly. Kaleb noticed the last guy seemed more reluctant and was standing back with his gun down. Kaleb was about to say something nonsensical when he heard Roy shout from his driveway.

“Doc?!”

The three wannabe-hit-men pivoted at his lab assistants shout and shifted their weapons toward him. Kaleb leapt forward toward the driver and slammed a punch into the man’s throat before he could react. The magic user hesitated before deciding to throw his ball of ice at Kaleb. The ball went wide as kicked into the man’s side. Kaleb heard a loud click, and the man screamed in pain as Kaleb’s spiked heel shot into his side.

Kaleb teetered on one foot for a few seconds until the magic user backed off the spike and fell to the sidewalk clutching the hole in his stomach. The driver was gasping for air and reaching around on the ground searching for the gun he had dropped when Kaleb hit him. Kaleb kicked the man’s gun away and slammed his metal hand into the driver's temple.

*Bang*

Kaleb heard the loud sound of a gun firing and spun toward the back of hit-man’s car. The last goon was crouched behind the car and his shaking gun was smoking. Kaleb calmed down when he realized the dumb bastard had fired straight into his own car’s back window. Kaleb checked his work real quick, the driver was unconscious and the magic user was still screaming on the ground.

“Farrah, notify the police.” Kaleb said as he reset his heel spike and watched the shaking gunman’s hand try to aim toward his voice.

“It’s already done.” Farrah replied as Kaleb gripped the last goon’s wrist in his hand.

Kaleb looked around the car and saw the man crouched down with his eyes closed and holding his left hand over the trunk. When Kaleb grabbed his wrist, the man struggled for a few seconds.

“Hey! Dumb ass! Stop before I hurt you!” Kaleb shouted down at the shaking man.

The gun clattered on the car’s metal surface as the goon released the gun and stopped struggling.

“Don’t hurt me, it was Kevin’s idea. He said it was easy money.” The crouching man whined.

Kaleb sighed loudly and shook his head. He waved at Roy to go back into the garage and crouched down to speak to the shaking man. The man seemed frozen in a crouched position, shivering.

“And who told him about the price on my head?” Kaleb asked.

“I don’t know, he said he over-heard it while he was out eating with his girlfriend.” the man said finally looking up and meeting Kaleb’s eyes.

Kaleb nodded. “Then you three decided to try and cash-in?”

The guy nodded rapidly. “Todd said he had done a few jobs like this. Said Mundane Supers were easy marks.”

Kaleb stared at the guy until he looked away, mumbling. “That’s what he said.”

Kaleb wiped a hand down his face and asked. “So the driver would be Kevin, the magic user is Todd, and you are?”

The man seemed hesitant before Kaleb shifted his weight. He was just trying to get comfortable in his crouched position but the goon seemed to think he was about to attack.

“Cody! My name is Cody! Kevin’s my cousin.” The man shouted in fear.

Kaleb heard a police siren and looked up the street. The cop car had just turned his corner and was getting closer. Kaleb briefly considered looting the two men he had incapacitated, but he figured they wouldn’t have much. Instead, he gathered up the two 9 mm and stood on the sidewalk.

He pocketed the guns before asking another question. “Where did you get the guns?”

Cody stood up on shaking legs as he answered. “Todd said he knew a guy.”

Kaleb nodded as he watched the cop car pull up behind Kevin’s car. To his surprise, it was Officers Vargas and Torero again. Tony and Rico got out of their cop car and walked over. Rico looked at the magic user bleeding on the sidewalk and sighed.

“Was the stabbing necessary?” Rico asked as Tony gave a Kaleb a nod.

Kaleb shrugged his shoulders. “I was defending myself. The best way to deal with magic users is a surprise.”

Rico nodded as an ambulance turned onto Kaleb’s street. “How does a blade surprise someone?”

Kaleb just smiled and raised his foot to Kevin’s car window. He pressed down on his heel and the steel spike jammed into the window. Rico and Tony gasped in surprise as Kaleb tried not to fall on his ass. He struggled to get his leg back which killed the moment. But eventually he wrenched his leg free and reset the spike.

“Well, that would do it.” Tony said trying to hide a smirk.

Kaleb scratched his cheek, embarrassed. “Yeah, well, it may need work.”

Rico just grunted and checked over Kevin as the ambulance pulled up and rushed over. Tony pointed them at Todd and the paramedics crouched down at his side. Todd had stopped screaming and seemed to have gone into shock. One paramedic waved his hand over Todd’s stomach wound and it closed.

“He will need a blood transfusion but he’ll be fine.” said a paramedic as the other went to get a stretcher.

Tony nodded as Rico stood and turned to look at Kaleb. He pulled out a pen and a small notepad and asked. “So give me the run-down.”

Kaleb went over what he had happened and pointed down to Cody to corroborate his story. Tony took the still shaking man a short distance away and questioned him as Rico reread Kaleb’s statement.

“So you have never seen these men before?” Rico asked.

“Never. Before today.” Kaleb answered.

“I don’t suppose you know who ordered the hit on you yet?” Rico asked dubiously.

Kaleb considered giving the smug officer the cold shoulder. But, he figured that having a good relationship with the police was better than an antagonistic one.

Kaleb sighed and answered. “Yeah, it’s looking like it was Edward Derana. It looks like he ordered the hit and made it look like Diana Torero did it.”

Rico’s eyes got wide in surprise before he asked. “Why on earth would he do that?”

Kaleb explained about the events of his day. When he got to where Diana mentioned going to the Magical Councils with the evidence Rico gave a disgusted sound. Kaleb turned his head in question at the police man reaction.

Rico shrugged. “It’s just another way to circumvent the regular courts. The Magical Councils see to their own justice. It’s both a blessing and a curse.”

Kaleb nodded in understanding. It was another ball of red tape he probably didn’t want to know about. Having another system of justice for the magical community was probably a great big headache. Tony came over and exchanged notepads with Rico as Kevin and Todd where sedated and loaded into the ambulance. Kaleb saw Cody sitting on the curb handcuffed, with his knees pulled up to his chin.

Rico and Tony held a whispered conversation before nodding and turning to Kaleb. Rico waved his notepad around and said.

“Your story checks out, at least with Cody’s there. And I’m willing to bet your handler has already submitted the footage to headquarters.”

“Yep.” Farrah said from Kaleb’s wrist.

Rico nodded and moved to Cody and grabbed the man’s arm and took him to their squad car. Kaleb and Tony discussed Diana Torero for a few minutes before Rico came back.

“We should head out Tony, we have to get ready for when the word comes through about the raid.” Rico said.

Kaleb snapped his attention to officer Vargas in surprise. “You guys are working the perimeter for the raid?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, we haven’t been told what's going on though. What do you know about it?”

“One of my friend’s nephew got captured by the House of Druchuvin. We will raid the place as soon as some of our friends check in for the raid.” Kaleb explained.

Rico raised an eyebrow. “How many people have you got?”

Kaleb looked down at his wrist and asked. “Farrah?”

Farrah spoke in her professional voice. “So far, Abby, D43d–I, Two Gun, Claire, Varlin, Deckart and Robert. D43d–I said Mass will also be there.”

Kaleb nodded as he went through the numbers in his head. “So we are waiting on Jar-lock and Vivienne. Still no word from Toni?”

“None.” Farrah answered.

“That will be eleven people. Are you sure that’s enough?” Rico asked.

Kaleb shrugged. “No idea. Though I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.”

Tony shook his head. “I wouldn’t underestimate the House of Druchuvin. Some of them are Summoners and Necromancers. They could summon hordes of magical beasts.”

Kaleb nodded as he considered Tony Torero’s words. He thought about how maybe they should invite randos. He would discuss it with the others when they met up later. Kaleb looked back to Tony and Rico and just smiled.

“I set the mission with the HLO so we may get others. Those are the people I know.” Kaleb explained.

“That’s good. Y’all keep your heads on straight when it all kicks off.” Rico said as he walked to his squad car.

Tony nodded his agreement with his partner’s words and followed Rico to their car. Kaleb waved goodbye to the two police officers as they drove off. As they did Kaleb realized Kevin’s car was still in front of his house.

“Farrah?” Kaleb began.

“I know, a tow truck is on the way.” Farrah answered.

Kaleb nodded and walked back to his garage. He was sure Roy would have a lot of questions. But he hoped they could work and talk because as soon as the last of his friends accepted the mission they would move on the school.