Alpha Agent: A Post Apocalyptic LitRPG

Carrying the container around bends and turns proved to be annoying. Dan had to resist the urge to smack the cargo at times, remembering he was carrying a mission critical objective, the whole point of all their efforts.

“I’m thankful I never tried being a delivery man,” Li said. “Imagine doing this monotonous work day in and day out.”

“Well, it’s not exciting,” Dan said. “But one could say that being an agent doesn’t sound fun either, especially if you’re not a fan of violence.”

Li gave Dan another one of his confused stares. “Are you joking? Have you seen any of the marketing campaigns the Alpha Corp puts out to recruit the public into being agents? It’s glammed up compared to all these normal jobs. They market to kids showing them all the cool armor and fancy weapons they can earn and teach them to treat it like a game. It’s smart, but also insidious.”

“I… never thought about it like that,” Dan said.

“At least I can say that we agents get some variety in our day to day tasks. I don’t think any of us thought we would be pulling off a high stakes heist with a one hundred thousand credit reward.”

“True,” Dan said.

Both Dan and Li picked up the sound of heavy footsteps behind them. Li proved quicker than Dan as by the time he turned, his teammate was already pointing his Aero at a someone running to catch up with them.

That someone being Angie.

“What took you so long?” Li asked mockingly.

“Shut the fuck up,” Angie said while breathing heavily.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in peak physical condition as a tier one?” Li asked with genuine confusion. “Your physical prowess is supposed to exceed that of an Olympic athlete.”

“Oh bitch please,” Angie said. “Everyone knows that when the Olympics were still around, everyone was on something. Besides, I’m carrying over two hundred kilos on me and I had to take the stairs because the elevators were jammed.”

“Good to see you Angie,” Dan said. “Don’t mind Li. He’s rubbing it in because of how easy he has it with me.”

Angie’s side eye toward Li melted away and she perked up seeing Dan. “Well at least someone appreciates what I do. If I wasn’t packing all of this heat, we wound’t have any heavy weapons to take down enemy aircraft on the roof.”

“Or any more high level Kodak agents we might have yet to encounter,” Dan said, grimly reminding himself of Kate and Adam’s presences here at the hotel.

Dan and Li picked up the pace and continued heading toward the cargo elevator located on the same floor. Yellow chevrons on the ground guided them.

“Well Angie, you’ll be happy to know that we’re carrying this thing to the cargo elevator. You can take a breather there,” Dan said.

“That’s nice,” Angie said while exhaling.

Dan arrived at a corner and had to make an awkward turn to manouvere the container. However, his ears picked something up at the end of the last hall toward to cargo elevator. A pit in his stomach froze him dead in his tracks.

“Hold up,” Dan said. “Back up a bit.”

Dan and Li awkwardly walked back a few steps while still carrying the container.

“What’s the matter?” Angie asked. “It’s just a simple turn. What’s there to be worried about?”

Dan held up his index finger to his mouth, signalling her to be quiet. He pressed his back against the wall and slowly peeked around the corner to look down the hall. Seeing nothing, he opened a private channel to both his teammates.

“I have a bad feeling,” he said. “I know someone or something is at the end of this hallway.”

“You sure you aren’t being paranoid?” Angie said dismissively.

Dan glanced at Li. “Can you use your x-ray vision and check for any heat signatures at the end of the hall through these walls?”

“I’ll try. Give me a moment,” Li said. He gently lowered the container and walked up to the wall. Li gave the wall in fron of him an intense stare and made minute movements with his head. Dan noted the subtle glow from Li’s irises that reflected a bit off the wall. Presumably, it was a byproduct of using his built in x-ray vision.

“You never told me you could see through walls,” Angie said.

“Well, maybe if you were a bit more friendly, I’d be more inclined to talk to you,” Li deadpanned.

“You piss me off,” Angie said. “I bet the real reason why you didn’t tell me is that you use those x-ray eyes to be a perv and spy on people.”

“First of all, that’s not practical,” Li said. “I can only see heat signatures and outlines. If I wanted to derive pleasure from being a voyuer, then the x-ray mod would be the worst choice. And second, you—hold on.”

Dan noticed Li’s body language and knew it wasn’t a good sign. Li stiffened while inclining his head forward in a slight tilt. The curled fist didn’t escape Dan’s attention either.

“Well, that’s not good. Not good at all,” Li said.

“What do you see?” Dan asked.

“A Kodak agent at the end of the hall. But I think I know who this particular one is. You might as well.”

Dan stared at Li. “What? Are you sure?”

“I could be mistaken, but from the slimmer figure, I’d say it’s a female agent. I can’t tell specifics of her appearance since I can only see her as an outline and infrared blotches through these walls, but her movements. I don’t like this.”

“I knew you were a perv,” Angie jokingly said.

Dan stared at Angie and gave her a cutting gesture to the neck. He wasn’t playing games. “What can you tell me?”

“It’s her stride, the way she walks and how slow and deliberate her movements are. All the lower ranked Kodak agents are hyperactive and eager for action. As a result, their general movements are more broad and expressive. Their tier twos and threes love the action as well, but they have their combat urges better controlled. This one moves like a higher-ranked Kodak agent.”

Hearing that, Dan stepped closer to the edge of the current hall and tried leaning out slightly to see if that Kodak agent would come into view. Surely enough, she did. But even from this distance, Dan knew exactly who he saw, and all the emotions within him stirred.

The fair skin and long flowing blond hair. No other possibility. Kate Razor the traitor was on the same floor as them.

Dan pulled his body back as quietly as possible and glanced at his two teammates. He didn’t know exactly the look he gave them, but both Li and Angie knew that Dan wasn’t fucking around.

“It’s her. It’s fucking her, the bitch who killed my teammates back in that mission,” Dan said through the private channel.

Li and Angie exchanged glances with each other. But in that moment, Dan forgot those two were even with him. His anger boiled at the thought of seeing her again. On one hand, Dan was ecstatic at the chance to kill her and get justice for his dead teammates and do the Alpha Corp a favor by killing a turn coat. Even though Kate was a tier two agent and could easily crush him, Dan’s newly obtained powers could potentially even the odds.

The distant voices that called out to him eventually were nothing but background noise as he thought about his options on how to deal with Kate.

The formula he formed in his head was simple. If he and Kate crossed paths, Dan would open up with his glare ability and set Kate ablaze. While that happened, Dan would transform into his berserk state and rush her, aiming for a quick takedown with a hard-hitting punch right to Kate’s face, possibly following up with more crushing blows to the head to induce irreparable and fatal damage.

On the other hand, Dan’s senses finally kicked him back to reality. His current mission was to get this container to the roof and leave with it. Actively abandoning the mission just to satisfy this personal vengeance would compromise the mission and put Li and Angie at risk.

Angie’s voice finally reached him inside his mind.

“Hey Dan, are you alright?”

Dan snapped out of it and looked at both of his teammates. Angie shows genuine concern for him while Li looked at him with waryness and caution.

“Sorry guys, had some bad memories come up,” he said. “Kate Razor is down the hall and I was weighing my options.”

“If she gets in our way of transporting the container, then we’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” Li said. “But Dan, what you will not do is abandon the mission just to fight that fallen agent. This is not the time for personal vendettas. We have a job to do and we must see it through.”

Dan exhaled. “You’re right Li. But regardless, she’s a big threat. When she officially defected from us, she was a tier two. She killed the other two teammates of my squad, who were also roughly in the same ballpark in stats too. She’ll be dangerous.”

Li took his eyes off Dan and continued staring through the wall with his x-ray vision. “She’s still over there, now she’s standing still.”

“If that’s the case, use our keycard and see if any of these rooms are vacant. We need to remain out of sight while weigh our options,” Dan said.

“Good plan,” Li replied. He walked around the hall and checked each room. By the fifth room, he placed his keycard and unlocked it. Li walked back to the container and hefted his side while Dan did the same for his end.

The two carried the container into the hotel suite and Angie followed closely behind them and shut the door quietly.

“Alright then,” Dan said. “So Kate is in our way. Any thoughts on how to play this?”

“I don’t think waiting it out is an option,” Li said. “If someone of her stature is here, then they’re out looking for intruders. Tim even confirmed the comm chatter from Kodak forces. They know there’s threat.”

“Can your drone map out any alternative routes?” Dan asked.

“Where Kate is positioned, down that hall is the only way we can get to either the cargo elevator or through the stairs. The way the stairs are built in this hotel is strange. The staircases alternate in such a way that you reach a dead end and you have to walk down the current floor to reach a different set of stairs to continue moving up.”

Dan narrowed his eyes at the floor. They were stuck unless Kate for out of the picture. Perhaps Dan would end up fighting Kate and potentially Adam if it came down to it.

“Wait, if Tim is in their networks, maybe he could cause a distraction?” Dan said.

“What kind of distraction? It would have to be something major to get Kate to relocate and clear a path,” Li said.

“Tim’s the hacker so maybe he could come up with something. We need Kate out of the way and things might get messier than we intend if I have to fight her,” Dan said.

“As in, fight her with your new powers?” Angie said. “I’m not doubting your skills Dan, but you’re talking about fighting a tier two agent head on. Even with all the heavy firepower I’m packing, it still won’t guarantee a kill against someone like her. Plus, my rockets are reserved for shooting down enemy aircraft while we’re waiting for our own ride.”

“Right, which is why we should see if Tim can do anything on his end to get past this obstacle,” Dan said. “I’ll call him up and see.”

Dan immediately opened a private channel to the hacker of the group. He had to find out his options. After a few seconds, he still didn’t get any response. Tim was unreachable.

“That’s odd,” Dan said. “Tim’s not picking up.”

“There’s only two reasons why an agent doesn’t answer your calls,” Li said. “Either they’re in heavy combat and their focus is on surviving, or they’re dead.”

“That can’t be. We were speaking not too long ago,” Dan said.

Dan continued trying to reach Tim over a private channel, but still received no answer. Instead, Dan received a notification of an incoming call. But not from Tim. The notification flickered and Dan heard a wave of static before he heard anything intelligible.

Michael’s voice came through the other side which only confused Dan.

“Uh, sir?”

“—no good. Dan, I’m afraid I got some bad news for you. For all of you. I’ve extended the line to Li and Angie. Our situation just got worse,” Michael said.

Dan looked back at his two teammates and everyone just exchanged glances at each other.

“We can handle it sir,” Li said. “We’re agents. We adapt to the ever-changing situation wheter we like it or not.”

“I’m glad you’re in high spirits Li. Because you will be puit through the test,” Michael said. His voice was choppy, something Dan had never had happen during a private call between him and another agent. He heard the man take a breath before the grim news. “We lost Tim. He’s been killed by the enemy. Get to the—” Michael’s voice was completely cut and the line went dead.