After Earth Online: The Iron Warlock

Gear Up, The Rookie Cop

Leo was back in that dingy Moses motel, the smell of mold and rats was so all encompassing he couldn’t breathe for a moment when he woke up. Old Man Bon-Bon had brought him back here, he seemed to have a bit of clout or was a regular customer because he was given a room key the very moment he stepped in and so too was Leo. But be that as it may it was a brand new day and he now had to head down to the docks to take care of some thugs.

The door to his room swung open as Old Man Bon walked in with a cup of steaming coffee his hands. Leo looked up at him with gratitude in his eyes for a moment only to get shocked when the old man took a long hard swig from the mug. He let out a sigh of contentment as he sat on a chair opposite Leo before handing him a brown paper bag before crossing his legs.

“The coffee is not for you, go get your own kid. However, what’s in that paper bag is a gift from me. I believe it would help you or maybe not help you; it just seems to be something you need as you seem to have a liking for it.” Leo pulled out the item in the paper bag and realized it was a mask. It was made of some sort of hard plastic and leather, but it was only half a mask.

It only covered his mouth and went around his neck where a sort of Velcro strap would secure it. But it didn’t seem like Velcro, more like a kind of magnet, that was incredibly hard if not impossible to get open. There was also a pair of glasses in the back, they were transparent, but when he looked at them from another angle, it almost seemed as if they changed to black.

“The Mask is made from smart metal. Force won’t make the strap open up, you have to lightly run your fingers across the edge. It’s what I used when I was younger and as eccentric as you are now. I was known as Ghost Mask, because of how fast I was you know. But those were in the old days. The mask cost me a pretty penny back them, but it’s old technology. it can filter trace amounts of toxins from the air and captures any sort of sediments, so there won’t be any wacky magician blowing sleeping powder into your face.

It’s made from smart metal, it’s very pliable and flexible and it would conform to the size of your face, hence the name smart metal. It’s also capable to absorbing 20% of all blows and reflects 5% back as damage. A proper engineer could probably upgrade the mask to increase those percentages but for now that’s all you can get. So at least punches won’t hurt as much. The glasses are augmented reality glasses, those too are an old model and the only thing is having is a current map of the city and well detailed map of the downtown area showing the demarcations of power between all of the forces, so at the very least you can be careful about who’s turf you enter.

There are new clothes in the closet, unfortunately those are normal and not like those heavy tensile fibers all them superheroes and bigshot villains fly around in. but for what you have to do, it will handle the trick. Now go get ready, I need you to be back here with results before the morning runs out.” And with that said Old Man Bon-Bon got up and left the room, leaving Leo with his thoughts as he prepared himself to get ready for what was sure to be a rigorous morning.

>>>>>>>>>

MIDTOWN

BARROW HEIGHTS APARTMENT COMPLEX

FLOOR 24 ROOM 3

Cyrax had to hold in his breakfast at the sight in front of him; this was a virtual world but it seems the company behind After Earth Online were not holding back in the realism they brought to the game. The desiccated Alien corpse at the entrance was somewhat bearable, because it just looked those well preserved corpses he has seen in real world museums. But what he was seeing now was even more scary, this was the ugly side of life and he balked to imagine if this was done by a player, because if it was so, it would mean someone capable of murder and great violence was now playing this game.

“Don’t Dally around boy! Come over here and tell me what you see!”

Cyrax mumbled in annoyance as he moved closer to the dead body. his backstory was that of a young detective who joined the force to impress his estranged father. By providence or just all round bad luck he ends up; partnered with that same father who is notorious for getting all of his previous partners killed. He was fully human, knew martial arts and had a mutation that let him see all of the hidden things of the universe. Or that was what he was hoping for when he chose the ability [All Seeing Eye]. Now all he could see was see things at a higher clarity than most, and if he strained himself a but he could actually use a limited form of X-ray vision.

Now he was the rooky cop following his dad around to solve cases, though so far all three cases they have been on had been solved with the help of his eye. And he could feel it getting stronger, as the eye’s individual skill went up in level. Plus, his reputation along with that of ‘father’ had gone up so they were now handling bigger cases. Cyrax loved the slow grin he was getting, there was progress and even if he wasn’t shooting laser beams from his eyes, he felt that he was a different sort of hero, the one that was more real and solved the real cases, not those arrogant fools who want to fly in the sky and crush planets.

“At first glance it looks like she was beaten to death with a hammer, however on closer look and based on the autopsy report from the onsite coroner. Her body was smashed with a hammer only a few minutes after she was dead. There’s a drop of dried powder at the edge of her lips, there’s no sign of a struggle around her as even the center rug underneath her foot is still in place. If the hammer is what killed her, the impact from the strikes would cause her body to spasm and move and her immediate environment would be a mess.” Cyrax observed as he got down on his knees to pick up a wind glass.

In the real world Cyrax was an expelled police cadet. He was thrown out of police academy for disobeying direct orders and solving a case when he was still learning. He ended up getting the officer in charge of the case killed, so while his intervention saved lives a whole lot quicker, he still exposed the other officer and caused his death. He couldn’t make up for his mistakes in the real world, so he was doing it here. It might not make much of a difference here, but at least it helped assuage his guilt.

“She drank from this wine glass; we should get this down to the forensic lab so that we can see what it contained. Whoever did this to her attacked after she was dead. I can’t be sure until we get the forensics report but I think she committed suicide; it was either before or after that Alien outside was killed. Ill also need reports on that too to be able to tell or at the very least deduce the method and motive behind his and her death. But what I can say is that she was already dead, and whoever smashed her body did it so that they would think she died by his hands…. Or he is one sick son of a b***h. Do we have anything from surveillance?” Cyrax asked he got up, removing the rubber gloves on his hand. A police sergeant that was on the scene before anyone else answered him while his father huffed and moved outside the apartment.

“For some reason the cameras on this floor and the apartment’s third elevator was on a loop. Apparently they were having some technical issues. However, the hotel opposite the apartment building had a street cam that caught an automate taxi cab dropping off a man with white hair before moving away. We couldn’t get a clear visual since his back was turned the entire time, and the doorman on duty seems to have vanished into thin air. No solid leads as the guy never came out of the apartment or at least he didn’t use the front entrance. And there are no surveillance cams behind the apartment as it’s backed to the ocean. We’ve not got much to go on sir.” The sergeant said to Cyrax as his mind spun like the gears of a machine.

“Can you tell me which direction the taxicab had come from, or at least which direction it was heading too?” Cyrax asked as he wrapped his coat tightly around him, for some reason the morning air was really chilly.

“Yeah it was coming from downtown Felton, though I wouldn’t advice going down there. The police steers clear of that place for a reason Detective.” The sergeant said, prompting Cyrax to turn and ask.

“And Why is that sergeant?”

“Because everyone knows, be it cop or civilian; no one who goes into downtown Felton looking for something ever comes back the same!”