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Forrester's Flight

Part 2

By Pedro RiveraPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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old.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryStarships/comments/lt4479/20210226_free_friday_spaceship_sketch_by_me/

I opened my eyes, and looked out upon NeoRonoake. The dawn was approaching, and my base at the top of Dare Tower was at the very center of the city. The window overlooked the majority of downtown, and I smiled as I pulled up my HUD. My current avatar, Oberon, gained most of his power through various gadgets and power armor. I had full access to the crafting system, and checked to see what was finished from my builds yesterday. The flight rig was repaired, and I junctioned it to the armor. I added a variety of weapons, and then put on the full set. I opened the hangar doors to my city.

I jumped through the door, and started to fall. My stomach heaved at the simulated gs of my thrust, and I flew towards Main. My dream came back to me, and to ignore it I activated my sensors. Soon I was surrounded by my HUD, showing me the buildings I owned, and as I got closer to the ground I could see the various people of the city. They looked up in awe and horror, and I smiled at their simulated fear. I crashed down into the nearby bank, my damage activating a bank robbery scenario. I watched as the guards started firing at me, their low level arms unable to penetrate my armor.

I activated my minigun, and began to fire at the guards. They were low level and were easily destroyed. “Nothing better than firing a high powered weapon to relieve stress,” I said to their corpses before they disappeared. Chuckling, I started to summon in some cyber minions from the tactical display. I had approximately 3 minutes before the game would generate a random hero to attack. I wanted to get as much capital as I could before then. My technomancer build processed money into crafting points, so I like to have a surplus for emergencies. 1 minute 30 seconds, and I was up $20 million.

The system warning activated. Well, it looks like a hero was coming, and earlier than I thought. I activated my autoturrets and shield units. My minions had no weapons, designed to carry as much cash as possible. They would not do, so I stopped my more menial minions, and summoned some combat servitors for back up. I had just resummoned my minigun when the first shield shattered.

I got a good look at the hero. She was taller than even my armored form, in a form fitting blue and white suit. Combined with the bright red hair flowing from her cowl, her costume was patriotic in nature. I checked the HUD, and showed that she was named ‘’Columbia.” She seemed to be at the same level as I was, which should make for a good fight! I watched as she smashed through my combat servitors. My minigun and autoturrets buzzed, pelting her with endless rounds. Apparently, her defense against bullets is greater than mine.

Soon, Columbia charged me. We engaged in mid air, my combat systems trying to keep up with the rapid strikes of the hero. We spun out of the bank, our fight taking us higher. We found ourselves evenly matched. The strength enhancements of my armor matched her abilities. My forcefields deflected her heat vision. Even our speeds were matched, as we started to surge between skyscrapers.

I checked the power of my armor. Columbia has been taxing my power systems, and I had about 2 minutes before I needed to recharge my suit. I released a large number of micro missiles, stunning her so I could make a getaway. I smiled as I jetted back. She should stay spawned until I officially defeat her, leveling as I did thanks to the mods I made to the system. I jetted away, back to my base.

I entered my base, and started the repair process, getting lost in the minutia. I crafted new attachments, and processed some new upgrades. I went through dozens of menus, investing into properties and buildings to try to get down the tech tree. My cyber minions came in multiple forms. The previous servitors were unable to get close to Columbia before being smashed into scrap. The new models would need to have better defenses. I would have to craft some alloy, maybe reinforce the armor with higher grade shields.

I checked the last video of my combat. Thanks to the mods, I was able to playback my battles from multiple angles. Soon, I had a good view, pausing so I could measure her. According to the system, Columbia was 2.3 meters of ass kicking. She was belting out punches with enough force to melt the outer metal of my armor on impact, and she could slice through titanium with her heat vision.

I got closer to the hero's image. I noted that her face was familiar. I activated the developer console, and checked out the model. She may have had a random generated body, but thanks to the console I could see behind the mask. I stripped it off, and noted Columbia’s identity.

I immediately shut down my interface.

***

Jumping out of the Chair, I found myself on the floor retching. The system said I was in my game for 23 hours, and my body was suffering because of it. Somehow, the random generator had duplicated my dead captain.

science fiction
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About the Creator

Pedro Rivera

Hi, I'm just a guy trying to exercise his narrative chops, and write some decent fiction.

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