If you want to read up to 30 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
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After having Emily pretty much chained to me, I only had a week to adjust before being thrown into training. Over the next two months I was little more than their dog. They point and I obey.
In turn I was encouraged to perform more than a few unpleasant acts. These included torture, interrogation, and assassination work, or rather putting me in a room with some random person who I was then ordered to kill. It really was a lose lose situation since I either kill someone directly, or I let Emily die. Needless to stay I spent many days curled up trying not to have a panic attack after all the shit I was forced to do.
The only kind of solace I could take from any of this shit was thatI was getting stronger by the day. Yeah, as disgusting as it was, the missions they had me doing were giving me the necessary experience to buff myself up. Kind of like randomly killing NPC's in a video game, except with actual PTSD. Fun. At this point the only things keeping me sane were the desire to get payback on these freaks and….
"Hi," Emily waved at me, hidden in the blankets of my bed, as I entered the room after one of the missions Hydra had sent me to do.
That little bundle was the only other thing keeping me sane, knowing that at the very least I was keeping her safe was helping me move forward.
"Hi," I half heartedly waved back pulling out a small bag of Doritos I had bought while out and about. One of the few concessions that heartless bitch Romania gave me.
Like one of those boxes with a cat that steals a coin, Emily snatched the Doritos from under her fort, "Thanks…"
"Don't worry about it," I said, visibly exhausted as I took a seat on the floor. Despite the improved accommodations the only furniture in my cell was the bed Emily was occupying. By the way, sleeping on the floor is awful.
"I'm scared of them…" Emily muttered, the sounds of munching from the tiny hole of her blanket.
"I know, but don't worry. As long as I obey you'll be okay and I promise I won't let anything happen to you. What a bitter sentiment, the freedom of one, the life of another. And yet, it was a decision I would stick with, no matter how much it killed me to do so, I knew it was right.
"Well," I chuckled, as I pushed myself up back to my feet. "I have to go and train, in the meantime..." I slowly reached into my backpack and pulled out a coloring book, which I dangled in front of the bed. "I got you something."
Once again, she snatched the coloring book, and thanked me, with a barely audible sound.
It wasn't much, but that was enough to motivate me to walk back out into whatever crazy missions came my way. As long as I can keep that little girl safe, I'm good.
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After five hours at the gym, I was permitted to spend some time at the library. Of course, what I was doing wasn't related to any of the crap Hydra wanted me to do, but a personal matter….how to remove the bomb from Emily's body.
Lack of medical license aside, it was pretty much the only way to take the proverbial bullet out of Hydra's gun and that was a good enough motive for me. Funny enough, when I took this decision, a new quest was created.
[Quest: Save Emily]
The quest like the one to escape Hydra was a high risk, high reward quest, meaning failure would result in the death of Emily.
Sadly, my study time came with one obvious little hiccup. "You really have taken interest in the human body, Mr. Walker."
Yup I had a chaperone, pretty obvious given the situation, but would've at least been nice if it was some random goon instead of the head bitch herself. Thus I pretty much needed to bullshit my way out whenever I could.
"Well, before you kidnapped me, I wanted to be a doctor." Ironically that part was true, at least prior to this bullshit., "And, well, we both know that dream is rather impossible to reach now, so I am happy with reading and you know."
"How is young Emily doing?" Romania inquired with an infuriating smile.
"Good, a bit scared of me, but she at least talks to me. I mean, I have followed all of your orders without a question, that alone should explain why she's still in one piece," I replied, putting the book on human anatomy I was reading down.
"Yes, yes, my loyal, loyal dog," Romania smiled, pleased with my answers, going so far as to lightly pat my head to get her point across.
"I aim to please," I spoke through gritted teeth, fantasizing about the many ways I would make her suffer after I regained my freedom.
"Talking about pleasing," Romania said, taking a seat in front of me, "We have yet to discover your mutant ability, and we need to run a few experiments to see what power you have."
I looked at her, already knowing what kind of shit would happen if they tried to experiment on me, so I thought up a plausible lie. "I already have an idea of what my power is… I just can't focus, not like my father used to."
"Your father, interesting, you never spoke of your family… not even during torture," Romania spoke with mocked intrigue, giving me a gesture with her hand to continue.
"We can shoot energy from our hands, at least my father and mother did, not so sure about me, I would have to practice," I said as convincingly as I could, praying she'd buy it. This would give me the chance to practice my mana skills, and trick them into thinking my mutant ability was only that.
"Hmm, energy manipulation I suppose, interesting." Romania clapped her hands in excitement. "Get to it, if by the end of the month you have no results… Well, you know what will happen."
"Yes." I nodded, looking solemn while patting myself on the back for again bullshitting my way out of a seemingly unwinnable situation.
"Good," Romania smirked with a small wave as she turned around. "Bye~"
I waved back before my hand turned into a fist, mentally wishing I could shove it through her head.
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So in the month that I had to train my possible mutant ability , I had to fake struggling with it. Hopefully just showing them some results would avoid them thinking I was hiding my abilities. And thankfully, I had two skills to work with [Mana Bolt] and [Mana Arrow]
[Mana Bolt - Active - LV 5 = Focusing your energy, you fire a bolt of pure mana at your enemies. Costs 50 mana. Damage based on INT and level of skill. Damage = INT * skill level = 135 * 5 = 675]
[Mana Arrow - Active - LV 9 = Focusing your energy, you fire an arrow of pure mana at your enemies. Costs 200 mana. Damage based on INT and level of skill * 1.5. Damage = INT * skill level = (135 * 9) * 2 = 1823]
[STATS
Name = Alex Walker
Occupation = The Gamer
Sub Occupation = Hydra Agent
Level = 23
EXP = 13875/25170
HP = 7000/7000
MP = 13500/13500
STR = 108
VIT = 70
DEF = 65
DEX= 115
INT = 135
CHA = 34
WIS = 75
WILL = 80
PER = 36
LUK = 29
STAT POINTS = 220
MONEY: 14500$
]
With those two skills, I was able to one shot normal humans, and more importantly, was enough to get Hydra off my back for the most part. Thankfully, they didn't know I was using the weaker version of said abilities. God only knows what they'd have me do if they knew what I could really do.
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[6 MONTHS LATER]
Sorry to keep skipping ahead but a lot of stuff happened over the last six months.
Probably the most crucial thing was I managed to more or less get Emily to trust me. She's still a little intimidated to be around me, but at least now she knows I'm here to help her so that's a plus.
More importantly, I'd naturally gotten much stronger thanks to all the extra missions and such. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to escape soon. I just need to complete my medical knowledge to operate on her properly. According to the scans I ran with my newest skill, [Mana Scan] I was able to see where the bomb inside Emily was located. Sadly the bomb was small, and it was attached to her heart, like a peacemaker.
If the bomb were to be in any other part, I would simply use [Aport - Active - LV 4 = It allows the users to take small objects toward them from a distance [4 meters]. Cannot be used for objects that cannot be grasped using one hand.] But considering I had no idea what would happen to her heart should I use [Aport] I decided against it.
But not to worry, my medical skills thanks to my Gamer power were looking quite promising. However, to learn the necessary removal procedure, I needed three things, 120 INT, 90 WIS, and 80 PER. And lucky for me, these were all things I managed to acquire during these six months leveling under Hydra.
[STATS
Name = Alex Walker
Occupation = The Gamer
Sub Occupation = Hydra Agent
Level = 33
EXP = 13875/25170
HP = 8000/8000
MP = 14500/14500
STR = 118
VIT = 80
DEF = 65
DEX= 125
INT = 145
CHA = 54
WIS = 110
WILL = 90
PER = 80
LUK = 39
STAT POINTS = 300
MONEY: 24500$
]
My stats were on point, and so were my skills, skills I had hoarded for this occasion.
[ SKILL LIST
Physical Endurance - Passive - LV 60 = Increases the body's durability, allowing for less damage taken. 60% decrease in damage taken by attacks.
Doctor/ Cardiothoracic surgeon - Passive/Active - LV 55 = You are a medical doctor who specializes in surgical procedures of the heart, lungs, esophagus, and other organs in the chest.
Hand to Hand Combat Specialist - Passive/Active - LV 42 = You are a master in mixed martials arts, you know how to hit, and you know how to kill with your bare hand! = 42% damage increase in hand to hand combat.
Mana Bolt - Active - LV 20 = Focusing your energy, you fire a bolt of pure mana at your enemies. Costs 200 mana. Damage based on INT and level of skill. Damage = INT * skill level = 145 * 20 = 2900
Mana Arrow - Active - LV 19 = Focusing your energy, you fire an arrow of pure mana at your enemies. Costs 380 mana. Damage based on INT and level of skill * 1.5. Damage = INT * skill level = (145 * 19) * 2 = 4132.5
Sooth Pain - Active - LV 17 = Using your HP and MP as sources of balance, you eliminate the sensation of pain in you or your target by a 17%, if you are higher level than the target you are using this, then you can add 3% per level ahead of the target to this, if the target is higher level than you, then the percentage remains the same. You lose HP and MP while this is active.
Mana Scan - Active - LV 11 = Focusing your energy, you scan your surroundings, or someone in particular getting information about something specific. This only works, if you know what you are looking for. It needs physical contact if you are scanning a person.
Mana Heal - Active - LV 5 = Focusing your energy, you transform a part of your mana into health, healing you or a target of your selection for a fixed amount. 1000 MP = 250 HP
Aport - Active - LV 4 = It allows the users to take small objects toward them from a distance [4 meters]. Cannot be used for objects that cannot be grasped using one hand.
]
With all this in mind, it seemed I was finally ready to royally fuck up Hydra. Or atleast, I would expect I still needed one thing...a distraction, and unfortunately for them, I had acquired such a thing during my last mission, an EMP bomb that I had stolen from Stark Industries.
Interesting little piece of tech, just a little bigger than a ping pong ball yet powerful enough to shut down their systems for a long while, giving me the time I needed to operate on Emily. Then, without the bomb, I would bust out of here, killing all those bastards.
"And… done…" I declared with a smile, finally the last book I needed to read to have all the knowledge to complete the operation was complete. Before this book, the chances of her surviving were 51%, but now they went up to 72%.
Oh yeah, I was able to see my percentage of possible success in things like medicine, cooking, and mathematics. The higher the level my skills were for those blocks, the higher the chance of succeeding in those blocks, like with cooking, my cooking was LV 12, good enough for simple food, but not chef like food, you get the gist of it.
With a sigh, I walked back to my cell, opening the door to find my little charge laying with her toys. Hearing the door, she turned around and smiled.
"You're back!!!" Emily giggled, tackling me into a hug. To think a few months ago, she was too scared to look me in the eye.
"I am," I nodded, though looking slightly glum at what came next. With a single chop to the neck she was out like a light as I pulled the EMP bomb out. . "Time to escape this hell."
If you want to read up to 30 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
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The surgery was a success, the bomb had been successfully removed, meaning Emily was safe from the grasp of Hydra, and I was free from their shackles once and for all, eight hours it took me to remove the bomb, all while Hydra tried to figure out what or who was attacking them with the EMP, little did they know it was me who had brought the EMP bomb inside.
Not that I judged them for not knowing, because during my unwilling stay here, I never revealed my inventory or the true nature of my powers, I kept that in secret, even when they tortured me, I knew… this was my only way out, and I had to keep it quiet.
"Time to kill some Nazi bastards," I chuckled, delighted with how things were playing out for me, finally I was free from this bastards, "But first…" I muttered as I gazed at Emily who was still sleeping on the bed I had operated on her. She looked so fragile, so breakable, I wonder if this is how it feels to be a dad. Chuckling, I put my hands around her back, and carried her, then I opened the door and walked out of my room, as if nothing had happened.
Right now, it was phase two of my plan, reaching the dungeons with Emily safe. My reason for going to the dungeons was to get a dog cage and to leave something above the big tank of gas in the dungeon that supplied the entire base with heating, two small tasks, but the most important was the cage, that place had many, for Romania would use them to keep the children without agents in place, right now there were no kids, but… there were cages, and those babies were quite durable, with Emily inside one of them, I would be able to move freely.
"Where do you think you are going?" One of my superiors hissed, his name, [Jurgen Weber - LV 21] "We are under attack, get back to the main floor, and wait for--" before he could finish his sentence, I slit his throat with the scalpel I had used to operate Emily. Jurgen was shocked, his eyes told me so, and as he fell to the ground, I continued walking, leaving the man to drown in his own blood.
Inside the dungeon, I went straight to the dog cages, grabbing one as I woke Emily up, "Time to shine baby girl~" I tickled her.
"Stop!" Emily giggled, yawning as she stretched her arms around my neck, "Where are we?" she asked, looking around. Seeing her so lively, so happy, made me sigh with relief, the operation had not only been a success, but my healing had left her without any post surgery side effects.
"We are in the dungeon," I answered, while very innocent, she wasn't stupid, she knew the people that held us were bad, and that we were both their prisoners.
"Did we do something wrong?" Emily asked in a worried tone, and I chuckled.
"No," I shook my head, ruffling her hair as I did so. "But it is about time we leave this awful place, so I will ask you a favor, I need you to get inside this cage, and don't make a sound, for what is coming next I need total concentration," I added, pointing at the cage.
"I can do that," Emily nodded, with adorable resolve.
"Good, now get in," I chuckled, giving her a pair of noise cancelling headphones as she scurried inside the small cage. While I connected my ropes to it in knots so that I could carry the cage as a backpack. Once I was done, I looked at her in the cage, and reminded her not to make a sound. "Let's go…"
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[Romania POV]
Someone had attacked our base with a powerful EMP that had only left us with the emergency radio system, and it had taken all of our assets to keep things in place, now the question was… who had attacked us, no one knew about this base, none of my operatives were disloyal, and those who were a flight risk, were under a tight leash, like Mr. Walker.
{We need reinforcements!} someone cried over the coms, their voice full of worry and fear.
Grabbing one of the radios, I pressed the button and said, "Do we have visuals on the target!?"
{It's… my leg!!! Ahh!!} The com was cut short.
"I need to know who is attacking us!" I roared through the coms, slamming my fist to my desk.
{No need to shout, Romania...} that voice, Mr. Walker.
"Do you have visuals on the target?" I asked, if someone was competent, and as long as I kept the leash around his neck tight, there was nothing he could do.
{Well... all I can say is that he is extremely handsome, and very very angry with what you guys did with him…} It… couldn't be… he would not let Emily die, his one weakness was his emotional attachments, he would not kill her with his actions.
"I will assume this was an ill judged attempt at humor, Mr. Walker," I hissed.
{Oh, no… this is just the opening act} He laughed, {I am the one you are looking for, I am the one that attacked the base, and I am the one that is going to kill you with a fiery end, ending my act, closing the curtain of this unique tale}
"You do realize I hold Emily's life in my hands right?" I reminded him.
{I know… by the way… I love your new outfit, it highlights your eyes...} My outfit, but… I haven't seen him today… Turning around, I looked at the window in my office, to see him smiling at me, on his back, one of the cages I used to keep children and animals, and on his hands a gun.
"If you move, I will explode her!" I hissed, hoping he would believe this lie, for the EMP had fucked most of our equipment, meaning I didn't have the power to actually kill her by exploding the bomb at her heart.
Breaking the window that was supposed to be anti bullets with one hand, he hopped into the room with a wide smile, "With no power, how do you pretend to do that?" he hummed, "The way I see it… you don't have the power anymore…."
"Then what? You'll kill me?" I scoffed, even if he did, the moment we recovered power, Emily would die, and we would hunt him down, shackling back to his cage, "And here I thought you were smart… but don't worry, soon you will be retrained."
"Adorable," He chuckled, "But… I didn't come here to kill you… I came here to rip your hand off, the elevator needs your fingerprints, so… you know…" he winked.
Before I could reply to that statement, he slammed his hand against my neck, and with a serrated knife started to cut my right hand off, while keeping his lock on my neck so tight, I couldn't even scream…
"Well, off I go~" he whistled, hopping out of my office as I screamed in pain, he would die for this… he would! He would regret leaving me alive!
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[Alex Walker POV]
You know the best part of having a minimap? That you know where your enemies are, at all times, especially if you know the place, which is the reason I had been able to find Romania so easily, and now with her hand, all I had to do was wait for the power to come back on, use the elevator and be free.
On my way to the elevator, I killed a few Hydra Agents, most didn't even have the time to react, mostly because none of them expected me to attack them, but sooner or later Romania would tell them it was me the one they had to hunt, but I was ready for that.
After killing around fifteen agents, I reached the elevator, where I took a seat in the ground and waited for the power to come back on, if my calculations were right, and if Stark Industries didn't lie about the duration of their EMP, in about three to two minutes the power would be back on, after all, this EMP was part of their products for small missions or something.
"I suppose my next plan will be getting the citizenship… or some semblance of legal paperwork… then again, having papers mean having tracks… maybe--" Before I could finish that idea, the power came back on, fucking Tony, lying to his customers, the EMP effect didn't last nine hours, it lasted eight and fifty minutes, I will demand a refund… then again, I didn't pay. With a chuckle I stood up, and pulling Romania's hand, I opened the elevator, "Thank you for handing me a hand Romania~" I laughed at my own lame joke. Inside the elevator, I pressed the button that would lead me to my freedom, as I danced to the elevator music, "This is my Jam~"
It took the elevator a few seconds to reach the top, where I for the first time in some time, took my first step as a free man, and ten started running, Usain Bolt style, for things were about to get… hot.
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[Romania POV]
As soon as the power came back on, I knew what I had to do, Alex would die for his disobedience, but first he would see the child he came to care about die in a bloody mess, first he would feel the pain of losing a child! Grabbing the control remote to explode Emily, from the cameras in my office, I watched as he danced in the elevator with a goofy smile, fool he would see I was not to be messed with.
Granted he had cut my hand, probably thinking I would die out of blood loss, but I knew how to avoid death by such wounds, and here I stood, as powerful as ever.
I continued watching as he danced, and felt as if he had won, and all I could think of was… how sweet it would be to see him suffer after having a taste of freedom.
In a matter of seconds, the elevator opened at its destination, and with a hasty step, he ran out of the elevator, faster than I have ever seen him run.
"Time to die!" I laughed, smashing the button, but instead of Emily exploding, a loud noise coming from the dungeon was heard, followed by a fiery inferno of death that engulfed us all, so that's what he had done… well played...
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[Alex Walker POV]
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit shit! That was the only thought in my mind as I ran like a fucking madman, I knew the moment I stepped out of the elevator, Romania would detonate the bomb she thought was still inside Emily. But instead was now about the most explosive thing in their base, the big, massive, gas tank used for heating and other things.
And just as I had predicted, a few moments after I ran out of the elevator, she pressed that button, I mean if the fire coming out of the "antique shop" was anything to go by, oh yeah, apparently that was the cover for their base, an antique shop.
Anyway, the shop blew up, in a fiery show of death, it was quite satisfying.
[ Mandatory Quest Completed! = Escape Hydra!
Objective = Your plans to escape Hydra are already in motion, but even then you have to be careful, Hydra has ears everywhere, and will do it's best to keep you down.
Bonus Objective = Escape with Emily, the poor little girl shoved into your life.
Reward = 500000 EXP, 50000$
Failure = Death]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[STATS
Name = Alex Walker
Occupation = The Gamer
Level = 55
EXP = 13875/25170
HP = 10000/10000
MP = 16500/16500
STR = 128
VIT = 100
DEF = 85
DEX= 145
INT = 165
CHA = 74
WIS = 130
WILL = 110
PER = 100
LUK = 59
STAT POINTS = 500
MONEY: 74500$
]
Holy shit, ten levels in one go, I feel like a cheater, which is good, I enjoy getting easy shit, "Well.. I better find a car, so that I can get the hell out of here…" I whistled, as I looked over my stats.
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