The vault was empty.
Leo's confirmation flashed on my command screen, a single, triumphant word: ACQUIRED.
He had downloaded the 8.3 million credits into a series of untraceable, encrypted data chips.
He was already moving, a ghost melting back into the service corridors, heading for the pre-arranged extraction point where Maya waited.
In my remote command centre, the System's notification flared to life, a glorious wave of crimson light.
[Campaign Mission 1: War Chest - Objective 1 Complete!]
[Reward: 1000 VP, 250 EXP, 1x [Team Skill Slot] awarded.]
My VP balance swelled to a staggering 1450. The power it represented was intoxicating, but there was no time to savour it.
The most dangerous part of the mission was just beginning: the escape.
I had already made the purchase.
[Item: Emergency Teleportation Scrolls (Set of 3)]
Description: Single-use artefacts that, when activated, instantly teleport the user and anyone in physical contact to a pre-designated safe location. Activation takes three seconds.
Cost: 300 VP
One scroll was with Maya and Leo.
The second was with Mark in his van.
The third was with me.
Oracle, Ghost, Maya, exfiltrate now, I commanded. Havoc, rendezvous with me. Lobby, main entrance.
The city's attention was still glued to the hostage crisis I had manufactured.
Outside, the hero Arbiter was trying to open negotiations, his calm voice booming through a loudspeaker, completely unaware that the real prize was already gone.
It was time to end the performance.
Thorne Tower Penthouse
Julian Thorne watched the V-Net feed on his penthouse screen, his face ashen. The reporter, Anya, was dissecting his finances with surgical precision, asking questions he had paid millions to keep buried.
His phone was vibrating incessantly with calls from his panicked offshore bankers.
He was ruined.
"Do something!" he shrieked, turning to the circle of powerful men who were now his fellow hostages.
"One of you call the Guild! Call my brother!"
They just stared back at him, their faces pale with their own fear. They were powerless.
In his desperation, Thorne's eyes fell on a man standing quietly in the corner of the room. A man named Mr. Kael, his supposed business consultant from an off-world consortium.
He was always silent, always observing.
"Kael!" Thorne scrambled towards him, grabbing the man's impeccably tailored suit.
"You have to help me! Your employers… they have resources! Technology! You can get us out of this! I'll pay anything!"
Mr. Kael looked down at Thorne's trembling hands, his expression unreadable.
"You are certain you wish for my intervention, Julian?" his voice was unnervingly calm.
"My methods are… permanent. The cleanup would be extensive."
"I don't care! Just stop her! Stop that Villainess!" Thorne begged.
Mr. Kael sighed, a sound like dry leaves skittering across pavement.
"Very well."
He straightened his tie. And then, his form began to shift. His human features melted away like wax, his body elongating, stretching into the tall, impossibly thin, insectile form of the aliens who had been stealing the city's children.
His face was a smooth, featureless plane of black that seemed to swallow the light.
The other men in the room screamed, a chorus of pure, primal terror.
The alien moved with a speed that defied physics. In a blur of multi-jointed limbs, it dispatched every other person in the room, their lives extinguished in a series of silent, brutal snaps of bone.
Thorne stared, his mind broken, at the carnage.
"Your presence will now be known," the alien stated, its voice a telepathic hum inside Thorne's skull.
"This complicates my primary mission. I will eliminate this 'Villainess' for you. But my price has gone up. My brood requires sustenance.
One thousand healthy specimens. Children. You will facilitate their acquisition."
"A… a thousand?" Thorne stammered, his body shaking uncontrollably.
"A thousand," the alien confirmed. "Or I will leave you to your fate."
"Yes," Thorne whispered, his soul collapsing. "Anything. Just kill her."
The alien gave a slight, chilling nod. And then, it simply walked through the penthouse wall, phasing through the solid matter as if it were smoke.
In the lobby, Havoc met me by the shattered reception desk.
"Time to blow this popsicle stand, Boss?"
"It's time," I confirmed, pulling the teleportation scroll from my inventory. The parchment felt ancient, humming with a latent power.
I was about to activate it when my Predator's Sense screamed, a psychic shriek of imminent, overwhelming danger.
The air in front of us shimmered, and the alien materialised.
It was faster than my Shadow Step, more powerful than anything I had ever encountered. It raised a slender, three-fingered hand, and a sphere of crackling, violet energy formed in its palm.
There was no time to think. I shoved Jake back.
"GO! GET OUT!"
I activated the scroll. A circle of golden light erupted around Havoc. He stared at me, his eyes wide with panic.
"Boss, no!"
"That's an order, Havoc!" I roared, my true voice, Luna's voice, cracking with desperation.
The circle of light flared, and he vanished.
The alien tilted its head, its attack momentarily forgotten. "A child, leading children. How curious. My brood will feast well tonight."
The words hit me like a physical blow.
My brood. Feast. Children.
And at that exact moment, the System exploded in my mind.
[HIDDEN QUEST: IDENTIFY THE ABDUCTOR - COMPLETE!]
[The true culprits behind the city's child kidnappings have been identified.]
[Your name has been cleared of this crime within the System's archives.]
[REWARD: 5000 VP!]
My VP balance skyrocketed to an unbelievable 5450. The revelation, the reward, the danger—it all coalesced into a single, burning point of pure, unadulterated rage.
I didn't need my datapad. I didn't need to speak. I teleported, not with a scroll, but with Shadow Step, appearing directly in front of the alien.
I channeled every ounce of my strength, every bit of my rage, into a single, desperate kick aimed at its chest.
My foot connected with a sickening crunch. The alien was thrown back, its concentration broken, the sphere of energy dissipating.
It was surprised. No one had ever dared to attack it directly.
"You will not touch them," I snarled, my voice a low, human growl.
The alien straightened, its featureless face turning towards me.
"A brave insect. You have sealed your fate."
It lunged. The fight was a blur of motion. It was faster, stronger, its limbs striking like whips.
I was hopelessly outmatched. It backhanded me, sending me flying across the lobby. The impact was brutal, my ribs screaming in protest.
Stamina:Critical.
Lying on the floor, gasping for breath, I poured my new fortune into the System.
Purchase: Enhanced Strength (Grade E) - 1200 VP!
Purchase: Adrenal Overload (Active, Grade E) - 300 VP!
Power flooded my limbs. I activated Adrenal Overload, and the world snapped into sharp, slow-motion focus. The pain vanished, replaced by a burning, chemical fire. I shot to my feet as the alien closed in.
This time, when its limb lashed out, I caught it. The alien paused, surprised by my newfound strength.
I used the opening, driving my fist into its torso. It felt like punching solid steel, but the creature staggered back.
We exchanged a flurry of blows, a whirlwind of shadow and alien grace. I was still weaker, but now I was fast enough to survive, strong enough to hurt it.
I used Shadow Step to disorient it, teleporting around the lobby, landing quick, desperate strikes.
But it was adapting, learning my patterns. It anticipated my next Shadow Step, its hand lashing out to where I would appear, impaling my shoulder with its sharp fingers.
Pain, white-hot and absolute, exploded through me. My arm went limp.
Health: Critical.
I screamed, a sound of pure agony, and blasted it with the last of Jake's stored kinetic energy I had absorbed.
The concussive force sent it reeling, giving me a precious second.
I had won. Barely. I was bleeding, broken, but alive. I clutched my ruined shoulder, stumbling towards the exit, fumbling in my inventory for my last teleportation scroll.
That's when I heard the shout.
"VILLAINESS!"
I turned. Julian Thorne stood at the top of the lobby's grand staircase, his face a mask of insane, desperate rage. In his hand was a heavy, old-fashioned projectile pistol he must have taken from one of the downed guards.
"You ruined me!" he screamed, his hand shaking.
My Predator's Sense shrieked, but my body was too slow, too injured to react.
He fired.
A flash of light. A deafening bang. An impossible, searing pain blossomed in my chest as the bullet slammed into me, throwing me back against the marble floor.
My vision swam, the edges turning dark. The last thing I saw was the horrified, featureless face of the alien, staring down at my dying form, and the triumphant, broken face of Julian Thorne.
My Raiment flickered, the shadows dissolving around me.
And then, only darkness.