I just could not believe that Alyson was no longer with us.
And the worst part was that it was not some bandit or an aggressive mutant who had killed her. She had not died in a battle on a mission. No, it was Vlad who had killed her, our teammate. Sure, it was not Alyson who Vlad was aiming at, but the end result was that she was dead.
She had stepped in front of Nate, trying to protect him. She should not have done it. Vlad’s and Alyson’s Passive Abilities worked in the Control Room, so it was safe to assume that Nate’s worked in there too. Nate’s Passive Ability was a kinetic shield. It was invisible, but it was constantly protecting him. When destroyed, it got automatically redeployed after cooldown. It was not too strong, because Nate had not put many skill points into his Passive Ability yet. Still, it could protect him against a few hits from small firearms.
Vlad’s Pyromaniac skill—the one that turned the bullets he fired into mini grenades—was very powerful. Still, I was more than sure that one such bullet would not have killed Nate. It may probably not even have destroyed his kinetic shield.
However, none of us had thought about that at that moment, least of all Alyson. She would have done anything to save him. She had been a very good person, not to mention that she had loved Nate.
I was kind of surprised that my Passive Ability had not warned me about the pistol Vlad had been hiding behind his back. Then I realized it made sense. My Passive Ability could only warn me about a few specific kinds of danger and a gun hidden from plain sight was not one of them. My life had not really been in danger back in the Control Room, which was why Sixth Sense—my Passive Ability—had been silent in my head.
A text message from Nate popped up before my eyes.
Nate: David, are you all right? Where are you at, mate?
I texted him back.
David: I’m fine. What about you? You still with that asshole in the Control Room?
I knew that Vlad could read my message too, but I did not care.
Nate: Yeah. Echo has just found somebody to join our team, by the way.
David: Okay. I’m coming back.
I was not eager to return to the Control Room, but at the same time, I did not want to leave Nate alone with Vlad there.
So I got back into the elevator car and punched the button for the Control Room. A few seconds later, I stepped out of the elevator.
Vlad stood next to one of the pods, looking down at whoever was inside. He looked back at me and said, “Welcome back, Dave. Look at what we got here.”
Vlad did not seem concerned by the fact that just a few minutes ago, he had killed Alyson. Not at all. He seemed to have already forgotten that she had even existed.
He then looked away from me, shifting his gaze back to whoever was inside the pod. There was a strange grin on Vlad’s face. He was clearly excited for whatever reason.
Nate stood nearby, also looking down into the pod through the transparent lid. His face was unreadable.
I suddenly realized what I was going to do. I was going to kill Vlad. I did not yet know when or how I was going to do it, but I was going to keep the promise given to myself. There was no way I would let him get away with Alyson’s murder.
I began to walk toward the closed pod in which lay our new teammate.
To be continued…
David’s Current Build Part III
Stats:
Class: Flanker
Current Level: 30
Experience Points: 79450
Experience Points to Level 31: 85000
Abilities:
Active Ability — Blink
Maximum distance: 30 meters (Learned Skills: Reacher 3/3)
Amount of charges: 3/3 (Learned Skills: Unstoppable 1 2/2)
Delay between charges: 1 second (Learned Skills: Unstoppable 1 2/2, Unstoppable 2 2/2)
Cooldown: 30 seconds (Learned Skills: Ready for Action 3/3)
Passive Ability — Sixth Sense
Effective range: 125 meters around (Learned Skills: The Eagle Eye 5/5)
Cooldown: 1 second (Learned Skills: Guardian Angel 5/5)
Movement Speed increased by: 50% (Learned Skills: Speed Maniac 5/5)
The spectral voice can warn you about: 5 kinds of danger (Learned Skills: Spectral Protector 5/5)
Ultimate Ability — Teleport
Maximum length: 50 meters (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Duration: 30 seconds (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Cooldown: 10 minutes (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Learned Skills:
Green Rune (Active Ability) — Blink
The First Branch of the Active Ability:
Name: Ready for Action
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Active Ability.
Recharge delay: 30 seconds
Status: 3/3 (Completely Learned)
Name: Unstoppable 1
Description: You gain an additional Blink charge. While the Active Ability can be used several times before going on Cooldown, after you use the Active Ability, you will have to wait some time before you can Blink again.
Recharge delay: 1 second
Status: 2/2 (Completely Learned)
Name: Reacher
Description: Increases the distance of the Active Ability.
Blink Distance: 30 meters
Status: 3/3 (Completely Learned)
The Second Branch of the Active Ability:
Name: Unstoppable 2
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Unstoppable 1 skill.
Recharge delay: 1 second
Status: 2/2 (Completely Learned)
Required skill: Unstoppable 1
Blue Rune (Passive Ability) — Sixth Sense
The First Branch of the Active Ability:
Name: Guardian Angel
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Passive Ability.
Recharge delay: 1 second
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
Name: Speed Maniac
Description: Increases your overall movement speed.
Speed increase: +50%
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
The Second Branch of the Passive Ability:
Name: The Eagle Eye
Description: Increases the range of the Passive Ability.
Distance: 125 meters
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
The Third Branch of the Passive Ability:
Name: Spectral Protector
Description: The spectral voice warns you when you are in danger.
Current: Rank 5
Rank 0: The Voice warns you when danger approaches without specifying what kind of danger it is. (Learned)
Rank 1: The Voice warns you when an enemy is aiming at you and from what direction to expect the attack. It also tells you when a grenade is thrown at you. (Learned)
Rank 2: The voice warns you when a sniper rifle is aiming at you. It works even if the sniper is beyond the range of the Passive Ability.
Rank 3: The voice warns you about nearby traps. (Learned)
Rank 4: The voice warns you if there are many enemies nearby. (Learned)
Rank 5: The voice warns you if many people died near you. (Learned)
Status: 5/5 (Completely Learned)
Red Rune (Ultimate Ability) — Teleport
No Skills Learned Yet
Part IV
I was looking down through the transparent lid of the teleportation chamber at the person lying inside. It was a young man in his mid-twenties. There was nothing remarkable about his appearance. When I glanced at Nate, who was also standing next to the pod, looking at our new teammate, I saw that his face was unreadable.
However, unlike the two of us, Vlad seemed to be very excited for some reason. He winked at us, then shifted his attention to the guy lying inside the pod and staring up at us through the transparent lid. There was a confused look on his face. He could not remember any
thing, that was clear. We all had gone through this. His memories should return to him soon enough, though.
Vlad leaned over the pod and said something to the guy. Only I could not understand a word of what he had just said because he had said it in Russian.
I glanced at Nate. He caught my eyes lingering on his but just shrugged his shoulders, saying nothing.
“I just told him how to open the pod from the inside,” Vlad said for our benefit.
Sure enough, the guy turned his head to the right and located the button. When he punched it, the transparent lid swung open. The guy climbed out of the pod and took a moment to look around.
He then shifted his gaze to look at us. He looked over the three of us. He opened his mouth but did not say anything. Frowning, he was silent for a moment.
Then he finally said, “Where— we? What happen? Who you, people?”
He was really struggling with English. His accent was heavy. It was not his first language, and he obviously had not spoken English in his past life very often, if ever.
Before Nate or I could reply, Vlad took a step toward the guy. A wide grin spread across his face as he put his hand on the guy’s shoulder. He said something to him in Russian. The guy shifted his eyes to Vlad and nodded his head. They talked to each other for a couple of minutes. I knew a few Russian words but not enough to know what they were talking about.
I turned my head to glance at Nate. The British guy did not say anything. He was not even looking in the direction of the new guy and Vlad as if he were not interested in their conversation at all.
Nate seemed to be mulling over something. Judging by the grim expression on his face, he still could not get over Alyson’s death. I could understand him. I could not stop thinking about Alyson either.
Finally, Vlad turned his attention to the two of us and said in English, “I briefly filled him in on what’s going on here. He doesn’t have his memories returned to him yet, though.”
“Is he Russian?” I asked.
“Are you stupid?” Vlad said. “Does he look like a Russian to you?”
He did not. Unlike Vlad, the new guy’s hair was raven black, and his skin was pretty dark. He probably hailed from one of the ex-Soviet countries.
“He’s from Dagestan,” Vlad explained. “I realized this as soon as I saw him.”
I glanced at the new guy. He seemed to be trying to follow our conversation.
“So he doesn’t speak English?” I asked.
“Nope,” Vlad said. “Only Russian and his native language.”
I had a feeling he was not leveling with me, so I looked at the guy and asked, “Do you speak English?”
He was silent for a few seconds, then he said, “I know— some English words but— not speak well.”
He was making pauses as if looking for the right words. He was really struggling with English.
“Can you speak,” he added, “slower, please? So it easy— so I can—”
He fell silent, unable to express himself in English. Still, I understood what he was trying to say.
“Ok,” I said. “I’ll try to speak slower so it’s easier for you to understand me.”
Our new teammate was silent for a couple of seconds, then nodded and said, “Thanks.”
Vlad looked between us and shook his head. “It’s not gonna work, guys.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Are you stupid or what?” Vlad grumbled. “He can barely understand you, not to mention his own inability to speak English.”
“What are you suggesting then?” I asked.
“If you want to tell something to him, you tell me and I translate it into Russian,” Vlad explained.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be easy for us to speak with each other this way,” I said.
“It’s way easier than you speaking slowly like an idiot,” Vlad said. Before I could say anything, he put his hand on the new guy’s shoulder and added, “Okay. I’m now gonna tell him what’s going on here.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Haven’t you just filled him in on that?”
“Were you even listening to me?” Vlad said, rolling his eyes. “Duh. I only gave him a brief summary so to speak, without going into all the details. Now I’m gonna explain to him how everything works here.”
And without waiting for me to say anything, he led the new guy to the other end of the room. I could hear their hushed conversation but could not make out the words, because the two guys were too far away from me. Even if they were closer, I could not have eavesdropped on their conversation, because they were clearly talking in Russian.
Vlad obviously wanted to have the new guy all to himself. I did not like it.
As to Nate, he did not seem to care about it one bit. He had hardly even looked at the new guy the whole time.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, though he did not look all right.
“What do you think about our new teammate?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. “He’s okay.”
“I don’t like Vlad having him all to himself,” I said. “It’s like he’s trying to distance him from the two of us.”
Nate did not say anything. He probably did not even hear me. I was starting to worry about him.
A few minutes later, Vlad led the new guy back to us.
“Good news, guys,” he said. “Tamerlan has remembered everything.”
“His name is Tamerlan then?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Vlad nodded.
I looked at our new teammate and stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Tamerlan. I’m David.”
I was not sure if he understood what I had just said, but he smiled and shook my hand. He then shifted his gaze to Nate.
“And he is—” Tamerlan said and fell silent.
I glanced at the British guy. He clearly was not in the mood for making acquaintances.
“His name is Nate,” I said.
Tamerlan nodded and held his hand out to him. Nate did not seem to notice it. Tamerlan’s hand fell to his side, and he looked at me with a silent question in his eyes.
Before I could come up with some sort of explanation for Nate’s demeanor, Vlad stepped in between me and Tamerlan.
“So,” he said, “Tamerlan told me how he ended up here.”
“Guess it was the same way we’ve gotten here, right?” I said.
“Yeah,” Vlad nodded. “He bought a Macro Vision headset, downloaded The Weaponized VR video game developed by the same Chinese company, and when he put on the headset and launched the video game, he blacked out to wake up in this place.”
I nodded. All of us had ended up being on this space station the same way.
“I explained to Tamerlan that despite the fact that everything here seems to work like in a video game, this is actually real life, not some super realistic VR game,” Vlad continued. “I told him that we are in the very distant future, that we work for a privately held military organization, and all that jazz.”
I nodded again, saying nothing.
“I also told him that we have to work for this organization, hunting down bandits, pirates, mutants, aggressive creatures, and whatnot,” Vlad said. “I told him that we gain experience points for completing missions, as well as killing enemies, and receive skill points that we can use to unlock new skills. Tamerlan told me that he’s pretty good at both shooting and role-playing video games.”
Vlad turned his head to look at Tamerlan and grinned. “So I’m more than sure that Tamerlan is going to be a better healer than our previous one was. As they say, all for the best.”
In my peripheral vision, I spotted Nate ball his big hands into fists.
“Yeah, about that,” I said as I stepped around Vlad to look at our new teammate. “Did Vlad tell you about what happened to our previous teammate, a girl whose name was Alyson?”
Tamerlan just eyed me for a moment as if t
ranslating what I had just said in his head. He then shook his head and after glancing at the Russian, said slowly, “No. What happen?”
Vlad was going to say something, but I beat him to it. Pointing my finger at the pistol that he was stuck under the front of his waistband, I said, “He murdered her. See that pistol he’s toting everywhere? He offed her with it right before you were teleported to this place.”
I was so agitated I had forgotten to speak slowly for Tamerlan’s benefit. Still, Tamerlan had gotten the gist.
“He— killed teammate?” He asked as he took a step away from the Russian, eyeing the pistol beneath Vlad’s waistband.
“Yes,” I said. “He murdered her in cold blood. Her body lay where you are now standing.”
Tamerlan looked down and took a few quick steps away from the spot.
“Why did you bring this up, dammit?” Vlad snarled at me.
“Because he has to know what kind of person you are,” I replied.
The Russian grimaced, then shifted his gaze to Tamerlan. “Those guys were going to beat me up for no reason. I had to protect myself. That gal stepped in my line of fire. I didn’t mean to shoot her. She just stepped in my line of fire just before I pulled the trigger. It was her own fault. I didn’t even aim my pistol at her. I was going to shoot Nate because he was going to beat me to death. I only protected myself, that’s all. I am an innocent here.”
He was speaking in English. Either he had forgotten that Tamerlan could hardly understand English or he deliberately switched to English so Nate and I could understand what he was telling Tamerlan.
The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series Page 31