"I'm only going to ask this once. Why did you do all this?"
The Earth Wizard looked at his feet, trembling. His mouth moved, but no words came out. Jamie began to lose patience.
"Tell me!" He kicked him in the gut.
"Why did you kidnap Amy!?" The pistol struck the side of his head.
"Why did you wreck my home!?" A boot crushed a groin.
"Why did you break my brother's medicine!?" A couple of teeth were knocked out.
"Why did you break my brother's arm!?" Jamie held onto the Wizard's free arm with both hands, placing his foot on his elbow.
"W-Wait!"
The cop shook his head, but Jamie was too lost in anger. He stomped on the cop's elbow, breaking his arm, forcing the bone to break through the flesh and skin and stick out, blood splattering onto the ground. The cop screamed, losing count of how many times he had already done so.
"Who put you up to all this?" Jamie grabbed his hair and pulled on it, forcing the poor cop to look him in his red eyes. He stuck the pistol under his chin, feeling how shaky the man was.
"Okay! Okay…" The Earth Wizard took a few breaths, blood dripping from his mouth. "I-It was Beck…"
The moment Jamie heard the name of the mob boss, his anger spiked even further. Before the cop even finished talking, he pulled the trigger, blasting a hole beneath his chin and out the top of his head.
[You have killed a Level 12 Earth Wizard That Died Too Quickly (Fledgling)]
[Would you like to absorb the Earth Wizard That Died Too Quickly's (Fledgling) affinity?]
Jamie silently gave the command, his hands balled into fists, his fingernails digging into his palms so hardly that it bled. Prime approached the corpse and retrieved his fist as Jamie thought about his past experiences with Beck. That piece of shit had completed a deal with Jamie and gave him the medicine, only to destroy it and attack his family after?
[Magic Core has leveled up!]
[You have gained Quality Points.]
"I'm going to tear him into pieces." Jamie growled, turning towards the center of the warehouse, where he saw Amy bound to a chair.
She was trembling, probably because of the amount of violence she just witnessed, and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Jamie felt a pang of guilt when he realized that he shouldn't have deactivated the Smokescreen.
Fortunately, she didn't seem to be disgusted by Jamie himself, as she didn't recoil or act scared when he approached her and freed her from her gag and the rope that bound her to the chair.
Without saying anything, she immediately hugged Jamie, burying her face in his chest, sobbing heavily.
"You're okay now. I'm so sorry, Amy, it's all my fault." He stroked her hair as he soothed the scared girl. She was family, blood related or not, and was no less than a younger sister to him. "Did they touch you or hurt you?"
His gaze turned cold as he asked her. If anything had been done to her by those cops, he was going to hunt down every last Dynamos pig in the slums. To his relief, however, she simply shook her head and continued to cry.
They stood there for a while, Prime standing guard next to them, as Amy cried away all the fear she felt while in the custody of the cops.
"...I-Is Aiden okay?" She asked softly after she got out most of her feelings.
"He's hurt, but we'll be able to help him. Amanda's fine, too."
Amy bit her lip, recalling how the cop Jamie just tortured in front of her moments ago broke Aiden's arm by pulling on it when the 10-year-old tried to run from his grasp. The happy, loving Aiden screaming in pain as he fell on the floor, bleeding from his punctured elbow.
"His arm…"
"I saw." Jamie grimaced as he thought of his brother's current state. "He also needs more medicine, the pigs broke all of the ones I earned."
Wiping the rest of her tears, Amy separated from Jamie, feeling better. "Thank you for rescuing me." She smiled at Jamie, who returned one of his own, ruffling her hair.
"Let's go home."
They turned towards the exit, one ready to go home and rest from the stressful venture, the other ready to stop by home before hunting someone. However, Jamie wouldn't have to wait any longer to see his target, as they both stopped in their tracks upon hearing the screeching of the large warehouse doors behind them opening.
"So it is true!"
Jamie spun back around, standing before Amy protectively, Prime already preparing his weapons. He saw tons of armed guards flood into the warehouse, quickly surrounding Jamie and Amy, training their rifles on them. Once the small army had finished taking their positions, Jamie saw Beck saunter in, followed by a familiar-looking white haired man and a woman with long purple hair.
Jamie glared at Beck as he made Prime immediately begin gathering mana. "Amy, get out of here and hide!"
Amy obeyed, quickly running out the exit opposite the one Beck and his army used to enter. Fortunately, none of the guards even glanced at Amy, all wary of the mecha standing to Jamie, who quickly did some thinking.
He had 11 Mana left, and there were about 50 or so guards. Maybe if he distracted them with a Fire Blast or Water Wave, he could quickly blast them with the rest of his micro-missiles. That should be enough to kill most if not all of them.
"You were holding out on me, Jamie!" Beck stuck his hands in his pockets, looking at Prime greedily. "So is this what you meant when you said you were skilled!"
"Shut up! You attacked my family and had Amy kidnapped, Beck!" As Jamie spat at Beck, he casted Wind Lance. In the air above Prime's head, the wind gathered and spun, until it created a 2 meter long lance, the wind spinning so strongly that it was visible.
"Now, Jamie, I just want to talk. Don't be too hasty and do something you might regret."
The purple haired woman next to Beck stepped forward, taking out a device. She pressed a button, and the device projected a large video into the air. It was a video of the mechanic shop, and Amanda could be seen tending to Aiden, who was now lying down on a pillow. From the video's point of view, whoever was watching the shop was hiding in a nearby alley.
"This isn't a recording, Jamie. This is live. So I suggest you listen to what I have to say."
Jamie watched the projected video, his stomach dropping. He hated it, but he would have to listen to the man as long as his people were at the shop. The Wind Lance in the air slowed down its spinning but didn't disappear.
"...What do you want?"
Beck breathed out, sticking out a hand. "First, I would like to apologize for how your home and brother were treated. I only paid those cops to kidnap Amy and nothing else."
"Yeah, like that's better." Jamie retorted with a scoff. Not denying it, Beck reached into the suit he wore, pulled out a black case and tossed it to Jamie.
"Replacement for the medicine they broke. I am a man of my word, I keep my deals. And so, today I wish to make a new deal, Jamie."
"You have a lot of nerve after what you just pulled today." Jamie's blood was boiling. "What were you going to do with Amy? Why even do all of that?"
"I only kidnapped her as a sort of test." His gaze wandered to Prime. "You passed with flying colors."
Jamie frowned. "So you were testing my skills? My mecha? How do you even know about it?"
Now it was Beck's turn to scoff.
"Kid, apparently you've just been bringing that thing with you everywhere you go. Someone sold me information about a boy wandering around with a robot. This kidnapping fiasco was just to test your mecha's abilities, since you didn't show off when I had you kill those shop owners."
Jamie remembered the job he did in exchange for the medicine pack. "Wait, so that was you trying to learn about my mecha? Did you get my brother infected on purpose, too!?"
The Wind Lance picked up speed again, roaring loudly as Prime's red eyes lit up. Beck quickly put both hands up to calm Jamie down.
"Woah! That was a coincidence, kid. I don't go that far. I wouldn't even know how to purposefully give someone Honeycomb. You walking into my office that day was just a fortunate opportunity."
Jamie glared at him for a few seconds before accepting his answer and calming down, Prime and the Wind Lance becoming docile once more. Jamie rubbed his face and sighed.
"So what is it you want, then? Why do all this just to see Prime?"
Beck put his hands together, and Jamie saw his eyes sparkle with ambition. "Tell me, Jamie. Have you ever wanted to leave the slums? Escape the poor, corrupt-cop riddled streets of Old Orion?"
"Who hasn/t?"
"Precisely. Now, I have been planning ways to escape this sector for years now. I know Dynamos' defenses, buildings, and how to escape. The only thing I've been missing is firepower. Strength. Something like…" Beck remembered what Jamie called the robot next to him. "Prime."
"You're saying you did all this to see if Prime was good enough to assist your master plan? Am I just going to work for you?" Jamie raised an eyebrow.
"Bingo! Except I don't want you to work for me, Jamie." He stepped forward with a smile. "I want you to work WITH me! Think about it; with my resources and connections, and your mecha, we can take down Dynamos and escape Old Orion, together!"
"Uh huh." Jamie didn't want to admit it, but he did like the idea of leaving Old Orion. However, he wasn't going to trust this mobster fuck after what he just did to his family. "Give me one good reason to cooperate?"
Beck frowned, realizing that Jamie was still mad about the kidnapping and homewrecking. He had to play his cards right if he wanted to recruit him. He cleared his throat.
"Jamie, if you join me in escaping this slum, I will provide unlimited medicine, housing, and food for your family, whatever you want. All I ask is that you lend me the power of your mecha."
Jamie cupped his chin and looked away, seriously considering it. If this worked, he could finally get his family out of the slums and help them achieve his dreams. At the same time, this man just traumatized his family. Nodding, Jamie came to a decision.
"Sure, I'll join you."
"Yes! Kid, you won't regret this-"
"One some conditions." Jamie interrupted, pointing a finger at Beck, who nodded.
"Of course."
"Before we make this partnership official, I want to see your plan first, make sure it's a good one. Also, you're going to take your men away from my home. After I leave here, if I ever see someone remotely suspicious in the area, deal's off and I'll come to kill you."
"Fair. Anything else?" So far, Beck didn't disagree with any of Jamie's conditions.
"One last thing." Jamie crossed his arms and looked at Beck coldly. "You kidnapped Amy, wrecked my home, and broke my sick brother's arm. In compensation, I want you to kill half of your people right now."