“So, you mean to tell me that I was off-line for only a few days and in that time you managed to join a gang?” Sherlock scoffed.

  I squeezed the bridge of my nose in frustration. “No, Sherlock, I did not join a gang. I accepted the help of Matthias and his squad of chaff. They have agreed to help me locate and free the rest of the crew. You realize I couldn’t have done this on my own, right?”

  “What is a chaff? Dear God, man, do you even hear the words coming out of your mouth? We had just begun to understand the immense power of your armor. We were progressing through the tower at quite a reasonable pace, and suddenly, here we are on not only the home planet of the Galactic Council, but in the capital city, nonetheless. Do you even comprehend the level of danger you are in?”

  “For the last time, Sherlock. What would you have had me do differently? I had no choice. You saw Koametes. You saw how powerful she is. If I didn’t agree to come here and find the Seed of Power, who knows what would have happened to our friends?”

  “It seems that Red didn’t get the memo that he was in danger, Captain. I fear your assessment of the crew’s situation may have been flawed.”

  I looked over at Red, who was having a very in-depth drunken conversation with Dan, who had also managed to drink himself into a good buzz. The two were discussing the quality of the entertainment at Big T.D’s.

  “Okay, to be fair, I thought Red may have been being held against his will. I had no idea he was living it up in a pervert’s paradise. That doesn’t mean the rest of the crew is having the same type of fun. It’s entirely possible they may be in danger.”

  “Do you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the rest of the crew, Captain?”

  “Not yet,” I sighed, leaning back in my seat. “Matthias is very resourceful, though. He found Red for me and I believe he will be able to help us locate the rest of the crew. If he can’t help, I can always start searching on my own.”

  Red perked up as he heard me speaking to Sherlock. “Cap, I told you that Theodrus is plugged in. He is like the unofficial mayor of this place. The guy has his fingers in everything. You really need to meet with him. Of course, after you killed his entire security team and tore up his place, I’m not sure how happy he will be to help. Still worth a try.”

  “I’ll ask Matthias. Maybe he has connections with this guy. If so he may be able to help facilitate a meeting,” I replied. “For now, we need to get back to the compound and start planning our next move. Red, I am gonna need you moving forward. The squad here are really good at what they do, but we are gonna need all the help we can get if we want to find the rest of the crew.”

  “You know I got you, Cap. After all I’m a fuckin stud!” Red stood up and flexed drunkenly.

  “Ahh, yes. Nothing but the best the galaxy has to offer in this little death squad you have assembled, Captain,” Sherlock mocked.

  “I don’t need polish, Sherlock. I need loyalty and courage. My crew has proven they have both in spades. Also, don’t forget, you are the new guy here, not Red.”

  “The…New…Guy? I never…I can’t possibly be expected to allow such ridicule to stand! Never have I been so offended!” Sherlock feigned offense.

  “Calm down, Sherlock. I am gonna need you too. First things first, let’s see what my stats look like. After all, I’m pretty sure that whole security force was Chaff. If my hunch is correct, that means I have some notifications waiting. I accesed my interface and selected unread notifications.

  Experience Earned!

  Level 32 Integrated security personnel defeated!

  There were about 15 of these messages, and the levels ranged from 30 to 43. It looked like my hunch was correct. Chaff were integrated into the system, so killing them gave experience, and I had just killed a lot of them. I scrolled through the repetitive messages until I got to the last one.

  Experience Earned!

  Level 46 Lycoan Security Chief defeated!

  (You didn’t kill this one alone, so you only got half credit. No more freeloading)

  (Level up is delayed until all stats achieve the required level. It really is a shame you didn’t pay attention to the level-up requirements earlier.)

  I shook my head in frustration as I saw my level hadn’t increased from P-50. That was frustrating enough on its own. I knew I would hit a log-jam eventually. What really pissed me off was Randi. Fuckin Randi was chiming in once again. I had managed to avoid his messages since we came back to Earth, but it seemed I wasn’t rid of him just yet.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I went ahead and expanded my view to see my total stats and find out where the log-jam was.

  Name – Andrew Timothy Dawes

  Race – Human

  Level – P-50

  Class – Havok Bringer

  Stats –

  Strength – P-54 – 12%

  Intelligence – P-50 – 98%

  Dexterity – P-53 – 96%

  Defense – P-53 – 26%

  Current skills:

  Health stim activation

  Stamina Stim recovery

  Current abilities :

  Pulsar Blast – Planetary class ability. Upgrade status – 82%

  Big Bang – Planetary class ability. Upgrade progress – 76%

  Do Over – Galaxy class ability – Upgrade progress – 0%

  Shield of Solaris – Planetary Class Ability -Upgrade Progress 34%

  My abilities were unchanged, which made sense as I didn’t have my armor to use them. Strength and dexterity had made big jumps, again, which made sense. I had fought using mostly those two categories. Defense also made a decent jump. Intelligence, however, hadn’t budged.

  “Sherlock, you seeing this? You have any insight into why my intelligence stat has stalled?” I asked.

  “Oh, Captain. I am honestly surprised your intelligence stat got as high as it did. To be honest, I feel like you are more than likely being graded on a steep curve. I don’t feel like you have the slightest bit of intellig….”

  “Hey, you fucking over complicated gameboy, just answer the question!” I growled, cutting off his obvious dig at me.

  “You ask a question, I answer. You aren’t happy with my obviously educated response, so you resort to name-calling and vulgarities. Tssk tssk.”

  “Fine, I’ll just wait until we find Tiff and ask her. I will also be sure to tell her about your little tirades. I’m sure she would be pleased to hear all about how you…help.” I said.

  “No! No, that is completely unnecessary, Captain. I, of course,do have some insight into your current predicament.”

  “Then spill it, ass!” I said.

  “Your intelligence stat is not strictly tied to your mental capacity…which is good for you,” Sherlock added.

  “Hey, enough of that bullshit. Just get to the issue,” I chimed in.

  “Yes, yes, of course. Your intelligence stat is tied to your ability to strategize, but also the use of your abilities in combat, and the effectiveness of the deployment of said abilities in a given situation. I fear that until you have access to your armor, you will be unable to level up.”

  I shook my head in frustration. “It’s always something, isn’t it?”

  “Captain, I believe Tiffantrimore warned you that this would eventually happen. I do not believe she could have imagined that it would happen in this fashion, but it was a very possible issue that she discussed with you.”

  “Yes, she did mention it. It has been so easy to level to this point, though. I thought it would continue to… well, be easy,” I shrugged.

  “What about what has happened to you so far has been…easy, Captain? You have nearly died several times. I believe at least one version of you truly did die. You have lost limbs…plural. You have more than likely acquired more brain trauma than any human should be able to survive. You have been run through by Anthragor, imprisoned, and blown up. I am truly baffled by your outlook on your journey so far.”

  I sighed, “Yeah, all good points. Aside from all that, the levelling up part hasn’t been overly complicated, is all I’m saying. Now I have one more issue to worry about. I like the simple shit, Sherlock. The little things make all the difference.”

  “My suggestion is to continue to find the rest of the crew. After freeing Red, your system interface came back online. I assume you will regain different aspects of your powers each time you rescue a member of the crew.” Sherlock said.

  “Fair enough. Now we just gotta locate the rest of….”

  BOOM!

  The transport swerved as ordinance made contact with the road beside it. I looked out the back glass to see three vehicles approaching fast. I spun around to see Red with his head out a window, waving and smiling. “THEO, YO, THEO! WHAT UP MY DUDE!!!!”

  I grabbed Red by the shoulders and pulled him back into the transport as he tried to explain that Theodrus was behind us.

  “I know! He just shot at us! get your ass back in your seat and strap in!” I pointed toward his seat.

  Theodrus had obviously decided that he couldn’t just let us leave after the damage we caused at his club. He was in a large jet black sedan. The car was boxy but futuristic looking and flanked by two large SUV looking vehicles.

  “Kindo, what’s the play here?” I shouted up to Kindo, who was driving the transport. He was furiously looking side to side, trying to gauge the amount of trouble we were in.

  “Still a ways to the compound, boy. Lookin like we gonna have to fight. You better pull out them blades of yers and be ready to send em to hell!” Kindo shouted. “Bok Bok, take the damn wheel, I got some killing of my own to do!” with that Bok Bok grabbed the wheel of the transport as Kindo phased through his seat and out of the vehicle completely. I spun around to look out the back glass to see him phase through the front of the SUV on my left and appear in the rear seat, pistols out, flanked by two thugs. Lights flashed, and the SUV swerved as Kindo began killing.

  My arms began pulsating with power, and what remained of the Gift indicated its desire to engage.

  “That is new. Captain, has the armor alway been reactive like this?” Sherlock asked.

  “It’s a fairly recent development,” I said as I threw open the back doors and summoned the Havok Blades.

  “But Captain, that would indicate that the armor is sentient. Were you aware that the armor was sentient?”

  “Yeah, well, kind of. The Coeus called it the gift,” I grunted, moving into position in the back of the transport. “I once visited an alternate dimension created by the Coeus and had to force the Gift to bend to my will. I think it was happy enough to assist in its armor form, but now it’s getting more…active.”

  “Active?! Active?!” Sherlock basically shouted in my head. “Captain, the implications of this are…are…well, I’m not sure, but the idea of your armor being sentient and having feelings or emotions is astounding!”

  “Hey, Sherlock. Can we discuss this later? Maybe sometime when a gang isn’t trying to blow us up?” I grunted as the transport swerved again, as another explosive round was fired.

  “Oh, yes, of course! Go do your killing thing.”

  “I plan on it,” I flexed with all the strength I could muster as I jumped from the rear of the transport. The back of the vehicle dipped, causing it to grind against the pavement and spark. I flew through the air, Havok Blades pointing down toward the hood of the sedan carrying Theodrus, and smiled maniacally.

  I didn’t want any of this, I didn’t ask for this power, but damn it if I wasn’t starting to like it.