The glistening light illuminated a dwarf-like creature sleeping, drinking booze. Lips that moved perfectly, hands that gripped a flask with an iron grip, tongue that didn't leave a single drop unturned, and a huge body.
Every move was strained and the ears were turned to face the stairway. He moved around the edge of the steps silently. The ears were twitching nonstop. Hypersensitivity. But what about its combat capabilities?
The Sharpshooter pressed down as the creature moved away like a drunken fool. Leading with sight and raining down metal, it was even faster. But it never advanced towards him. After seconds of pointlessly hitting nothing, he threw a sonic grenade into the bottomless abyss. It produced a high pitched whine that hugged everything in sight.
The Sharpshooter pressed again and the dwarf was pinned to the wall. The thing began to sing a song. Some foreign language he didn't recognize. He stepped forward to take a closer look. A really small boy wearing some kind of thick Nano-Suit. Rogue Archetype. Reaction and Perception. They were Advanced Rogue Traits.
"You were forced by the men here to do this?"
The boy suddenly stopped singing and looked at him with tears sliding down his cheeks. He continued looking until the sniffles came. Then the rapid breathing and finally the crying.
"I want my momyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!"
Then the entire building lit up and footsteps were rushing up the stairs.
Sprinter! Composer! Warrior's Brawler!
He zoomed and with every punch, took the life of a grunt. Then came the shotguns but he weaved through the pellets. The big guys were even more helpless. All power but nowhere to use it. The 4th, 3rd, and 2nd floor were cleared just like that. There was a piece of scrap paper that said there was more to the story then this. The multi-story building beneath ground zero was insulated from the outside.
The 1st floor gave him the most dangerous feeling. There was so much noise yet barely any response. That's when he received a message through his Nano-Suit.
Come to the 1st floor. I'll show you underground. You can't stop us regardless and I'm helpless against you.
The gatekeeper of the 1st floor was a man in a suit. He was an ordinary civilian in charge of management. He was also in charge of inventory and operations.
"I was instructed never to intervene. If someone can break past security, let them"
"What are you able to tell me about this operation?"
"I suppose you have methods to make me talk? An ordinary WMR couldn't break into this place by themselves. Therefore you're not ordinary or you're an overpowered freak. But, we know every extraordinary individual. Therefore, you're an overpowered freak who's only recently discovered their powers"
"Your powers of deduction are interesting"
"Not powers of deduction. Simple elimination"
"So will you tell me?"
"National Security Defenses capture 99% of criminals. It's the remaining 1% that matter"
"So your goal is to stop the ones who can evade all methods?"
"Yes. Would you like to join us? We're not a criminal organization, despite what your Nano-Suit has told you about the materials we're working with"
"You don't care that I killed so many of your subordinate?"
"They're not my subordinates. Merely grunts that I'm supervising. Actually, they're disposable. Low level criminals we employ to recruit exceptional soldiers"
"But I'm affiliated with a powerful organization and the military through mandatory conscription. Why join your run-down organization?"
"You say powerful organization to hide your affiliation with the academy. If I have to be honest, we're military as well. Covert Ops. Shadow Ops. Black Ops. Covert Ops are basic military trainees. Infinitely stronger than WMR cadets, of course. Shadow Ops gets sent into the most dangerous missions. Black Ops. It's a world phenomenon and there are only 10 of them"
"Do you have proof of this?"
The man fished out a badge. Noticed that he had no reaction. Was surprised a little. The Nano-Suit looked up the information on the piece of metal.
Neil Sommers.
15 Star General
Continental Director of Clandestine Ops for ??
Chairman of ??, Advisor to Sitting Presidents.
A full 5 stars higher than the ex-general.
"Continental Director and Chairman? Who exactly is backing me right now?"
"Oh? You can see such information? There's no known database that has that information"
The man fell into deep thought.
"Can you see my name?"
"Neil Sommers. 15 Star General"
"So let me ask. Why reveal your cards"
"Because there are even bigger secrets that I can see"
"I see"
There was no motion, but he heard the air waves from a bullet being fired. The compression was not as fast as the bullet itself, but he saw it clear in his visor. Dodging to the side, the next wave shocked him. It was a cluster that branched into another cluster.
The Sprinter had no room to dodge, but by seamlessly working with the Rogue's Brawler, found himself in another dead end because of the infinite clusters that covered every square inch of the room. 3 different modes and he was about to die. Who was this man?
He tried punching the bullets out of the way but they felt heavy. He injured himself in the process.
"I have no idea why you're just a recruit when the technique you're showing me right now is on par with an untrained and insanely dumb Black Ops soldier. I have an idea about what those other modes are, but the Magician can assist the Rogue in slipping through the narrow cracks I left"
He trembled with shock. Those were his biggest secrets and this man saw through it in an instant. Under the fear and shock, he faltered.
"Listen. I only train Omega Alphas and stronger. The fact that I'm even taking an interest in you means I see your potential even if your not there. The fact that I'm giving you advice means that my prophetic ability has shown me a future I want to invest in. I won't give you instructions on how to assist, but I'll give you motivation and courage. Learn to think for yourself. Don't rely on anyone"
He just continued to retreat.
"Alright. Alright. I lied. I can give you one advice. If traits are additive, assist is multiplicative"
Additive? Stacking one thing on top of another. Just pairing it up. Limited partnership.
Multiplicative? There's some kind of synergy that lets both traits seamlessly intertwine with each other.
His entire body exploded as he realized the implications of what was said.
The Rogue madly dashed towards the millimeter wide cracks while the Magician greatly expanded the space. Since the Rogue was always fixed to a position, it didn't expand and easily slipped through the tiny space. Meanwhile, the Sprinter calculated which holes were the most stable and reliable and the Composer seamlessly allowed the computational speed of the sprinter to match with the Rogue's traits and at the very last second, let the Brawler slam a fist into the man's chest.
A force field appeared out of nowhere and neutralized the force and transferred it into a trapdoor.
Huh…??!
"Who… who are you?"
"You already know. I'm Neil Sommers. 15 star general"
"But"
"You're wondering how I reacted to you"
Pause.
"I didn't. My Nano-Suit did. Previously, what you used were Fractures. Remnants of overpowered Nano-Suits. The Composer was an A+++ tier. Famed for its high speed and computational ability. No one knows how it works specifically, but it was unmatched by any other and had sky high milestones for compatibility. Also. I recognized the Composer. The Brawler and the Sharpshooter were the weakest Nano-Suits. That's how they survived to the modern age. They were so weak that they had to be combined into one to be any sort of threat"
He was shocked by what he was hearing.
"Above the Composer are S+, S++, S+++, and then Robo-Frames. Robo-Frames have their own grades as well but that's a story for another time. You have to become an Omega Alpha or they won't be functional"
"Do you have any proof of this at all?"
"I don't. It's a gamble you have to take"
5 minutes. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. It's not that he was undecisive but that the words S+++ and Gamble triggered the golden text. The catalyst known as Robo-Frames triggered a deep search that talked about a legendary Robo-Frame known as 'The Gambler' and its 3 fallacies…
The 'Low Stakes' fallacy referred to the common chance of getting an ordinary reward. It was a low-tier combat model that wasn't very practical in combat.
The 'House Odds' fallacy referred to how the chance of winning was always stacked in the house's favor. Basically, it didn't guarantee victory but it prevented your loss.
The 'Gambler's Fallacy' utilized the concept of space to apply the 'House Odds' fallacy to the gambler.
This was all triggered when he was repeatedly slashing and stabbing the force field under the provocation of the man. The Gambler was derived from the very high tier trait known as Luck. These traits could evolve to become independent S+ Nano-Suits and further evolve themselves.