Someone may be following us. I did not notice them before due to the density of people, but now I believe there’s a high probability they have been tailing us since the entrance gate.
What? Alan began to glance backwards, then, remembering his lessons with Eve, forced himself to keep his eyes forward so as to not alert his stalker.
Enter the alleyway indicated ahead. Immediately when you enter and are out of sight I will activate your armor’s invisibility. Then, once invisible, promptly turn around and continue to the quest destination.
Got it.
Alan turned into the alley indicated, then proceeded to turn right back and exit once the invisibility field was activated. He continued down the street, picking up his pace, glancing behind him. He noticed a man with a dark purple glove stroll pass the alleyway. The man wore a set of black formal attire. He took a brief, discreet glance down the alleyway then continued on. A small metal ball dropped from the man’s pocket, rolling into the alleyway.
That’s a scanner. Run! Eve sent.
A blue outline of the scanner’s potential range appeared in Alan’s view. He leaped forwards, barely crossing the line before a small electronic pulse showed up right behind him.
The man that had dropped the ball frowned then murmured a few words into a communicator on his wrist.
We should be in the clear, right?
I’m not sure. If he was on the lookout for you specifically, he may continue looking. We are uncertain of who he contacted as well. Try to finish this task quickly.
All right.
Alan started jogging towards the quest marker, moving past warehouse after warehouse. A few had guards, others had squatters. Eve highlighted a few players doing some sort of drug in an alleyway, but Alan didn’t care about such things and tried to ignore them. A few minutes later, he reached another, nondescript large steel warehouse, apparently the destination of his quest.
There were two guards in front, both in dark grey, almost black army fatigues rather than power armor. They each held a number of strange devices on a belt, and held their weapons at the ready with a quiet ease. One had a dark-metal sword, the other a mechanical rifle. Unlike many of the other guards Alan had seen, they weren’t fooling around or talking to each other. They were quietly scanning the area, and had their levels hidden unlike many of the other guards. Neither wore an emblem.
I suggest we deactivate our invisibility from around the corner, then approach cautiously. Also, the quest has updated, we are to ask for package E51 on behalf of Master Silver.
Sure.
Alan walked back around the corner, then deactivated invisibility and checked on the power of the armor. It had 440 energy remaining. He then slowly approached the guards, who turned to look at him, standing at attention.
“Hi, I’m here to pick up package E51 for Master Silver.”
The two guards briefly glanced at each other, then the one on the right who held the sword spoke.
“Oh, and what proof do you have that Master Silver sent you?”
Thinking quickly, Alan replied, “Proof? Isn’t my presence here enough? My master made no mention that such proof would be needed, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have sent me here to come back empty handed.”
“Look, I’m sorry, I’m sure Silver is an important person, but at the very least you should have an emblem or symbol to demonstrate that you are part of his faction, yet here you stand devoid of any such signifiers.”
Shit, Eve, what now?
Try a bit of intimidation, I will try to gauge their responses.
“Do you know what is in the package?” Alan asked in a quiet tone.
“No, we do not, sir,” the guard said.
“Well then, I don’t think it is your place to question the orders of my master. Are you sure that you wish to offend him?”
The two guards shared another glance.
They seem more confused than anything else. They aren’t intimidated in the slightest. Time to try different tactics, perhaps a bit of bribery. Diamond marks, not gold.
But, those are worth 20,000 credits, each!
And completing this quest with little difficulty is worth a great deal more. I estimate the guards are both at least level 400, thus we have little to no chance of defeating them.
“Ah, but of course, my master may also be quite generous. I’m sure that you didn’t think I wouldn’t reward you for your help.”
Alan smiled, but then, remembering the guards couldn’t see his face, simply slowly took two diamond marks out, giving one to each of the guards.
The guard who had been talking to Alan inspected the mark; the other glanced at Alan confusedly. The older guard shrugged.
“Get him his package, and quickly.”
“All right.”
The rifle-wielding guard ran into the warehouse. A few seconds later, he emerged, carrying a small black box about the size of a shoebox.
“Here you are, sir.”
“Thank you,” Alan said, taking the box and carefully putting it into a compartment on his back. The box had no clear opening, but its contents seemed secure, as nothing rattled or moved about when Alan lifted it up. The revenant armor would soon be at full capacity, as it didn’t have much room for carrying objects other than weapons and ammunition. The compartment Alan had placed the box in was really meant for a sword or other hilted weapon, not a box. He should probably get some sort of futuristic backpack or bag at some point, although it would weigh him down a bit.
As Alan turned around and headed back towards the city gates, another cloaked figure strode past him towards the guard. Alan caught what he said to the guards.
“I’m here to pick up package E51 for Master Silver, here is the order confirmation.”
The two guards took out their weapons, and shouted, “Hey, you there, stop!”
At that point though Alan had already turned invisible, sprinting away with all his might. Alan spared a glance behind him, only to see the guard throw a sensor in his direction. Time slowed as Alan entered hypercognition mode, greatly increasing the speed at which he thought and was able to communicate with Eve.
Eve plotted out where the sensor would land, along with the radius it would scan. There would be no evading this sensor.
Perhaps if we had taken them by surprise, we may have been able to defeat them, with a 13.4% probability. Now our chances to win a direct confrontation are noticeably smaller. Our best chance is to run away. They will only get brief snapshots of where we are from their sensors, especially if we are able to continually run out of the sensor’s range. Two dangerous uncertainties are we do not know the guard’s abilities and we don’t know if they have backup, but I estimate we have a 45.9% chance of escape.
Got it.
The first few steps were easy. Alan sprinted away, then dodged the EMP grenade and bullets fired at him with Eve’s help. He was soon out of the sensor’s range, but the other guard simply threw another one in front of Alan as his partner picked up the other. They continued this relay as Alan continued running forward, using Eve's warnings to evade the bullets and occasional swipe of a sword.
Alan soon began to tire, a heavy cloud of fatigue settling in his mind.
Can’t we shoot the sensors or hit them with a surprise attack?
Don’t you remember any such action will have to be performed after the armor’s invisibility has been deactivated? Additionally, if you haven’t noticed the guards are much faster than you are. The only reason they haven’t caught up is the need to pick up their sensors and keep you in its range. Unlike us, they also don’t have time to plan their every move. Only around 30 seconds have passed in real life.