The second target was easier than the first. It was a scrawny looking guy that Jamie caught taking out the trash in a dark alley. One trigger pull and one Fire Blast later, he was on the way to the third and final target.
The last target's shop was smack dab in the middle of the slums, not too far from his current location. Spending a few minutes getting there, Jamie arrived to see that his third target might be trickier than he thought.
There were around two Dynamos patrol teams lounging around inside with the target. Jamie would need to find a way to distract them or get rid of them.
"Now, what would make me go running out of a shop if I were a Dynamos pig?" Jamie rubbed his chin. "Wait, I'm overthinking this. It's so simple!"
Inside the shop, the officers were relaxing and chatting with the shop owner, the third target.
"Honestly, it's probably nothing," One officer said as he sipped from a mug. "Half of the anonymous tips we get are full of crap."
"You just say that because you actually believed that one tip about 10000 credits being buried in trash." Another retorted, making the others there laugh.
"You would have too!" The first officer's face flushed. "Just watch! Today will be smooth sailing-"
BOOOM!
All the cops turned to look out the window as an explosion was heard, seeing a ball of fire rise into the sky from a building across the street.
"Just had to jinx us!" The second officer glared at the first. "Everyone check it out!"
"Wait, don't leave me here!"
The shop owner called after them to no avail, and was left alone in the shop within seconds. The shop owner stepped forward to lock the door, but was stopped by the feeling of cold metal being pressed against the back of his head.
"Damn it!"
Jamie pulled the trigger, spraying the entrance and the windows of the shop with his target's brains. Without saying a word, he exited the shop through the back door, walking away as Prime set the shop on fire.
[You have killed a Level 4 Coward]
"Mission accomplished." Jamie mumbled, not feeling too good about himself. "Let's get that medicine."
While Jamie headed back to Beck's Market, the cops returned to the shop, standing outside and watching as it burned down. They could see the corpse of the shop owner with a hole in his head.
The second officer sighed, turning to the first one. "Smooth sailing, I believe is what you said."
"...Shut up."
******
"That was quick. You barely left here 5 hours ago. If I didn't get verification that all 3 were dead, I'd think you were lying to me."
Beck leaned back in his chair, smiling at Jamie, who just had a tired look.
"First time killing, huh? Glad that didn't stop you. Honestly, I'm impressed kid."
The man expected some sort of response from Jamie, only to see the boy nod. Shrugging, Beck started rummaging in his desk.
"Here's your prize. Honeycomb medicine pack, good for a week. 14 doses."
He placed a black case on the table, passing it to Jamie. Upon opening it, Jamie saw two rows of syringes and two vials with a clear liquid inside.
"Here's 5000 credits. Was just gonna be 3, but I put in a little extra for finishing the job quickly. Any special requests?"
Beck handed Jamie a black credit card. Turning it around, the number 5000 was projected on the black surface. Jamie pocketed the card before giving his answer.
"Action figures. And puzzles."
Beck laughed upon hearing Jamie's answer, but stopped when he saw the boy's frown.
"You serious? Alright then, give me 10 minutes."
Jamie ended up waiting in Beck's office for 15 minutes, but eventually he was given the items he requested and was able to leave.
Jamie walked back to the mechanic shop carrying a plastic bag, Prime following behind. Peeking into the bag, Jamie saw some small puzzles he planned to practice his mind with, as well as a bunch of toys.
There were quite a lot of toys. Jamie suspected that Beck had just dumped all of the toys he had lying around on him.
Around half of them were Mechas, mostly made to look like the more popular mechas from the UHF, or just generic looking ones. He even spotted a grunt unit that Dynamos used.
Some of them were actual human characters, based on popular stories and shows from Old Earth. Some were so old they were missing body parts. Of course, Jamie didn't know any of them. He just hoped Aiden and Amy would enjoy them.
Arriving at the shop, he entered through the open garage, spotting Amy sitting on a table, swinging her legs.
"Hey Amy. How's Aiden?"
"Oh, Jamie. He feels better now. He's awake."
"Oh?" Jamie smiled. At least he would be able to see his little brother's reaction to his gifts. "Hey, do you like toys?"
"I'm 16, Jamie. I think I'm a little old for toys." She politely declined.
"Eh, you're never too old for toys. C'mon, pick some out. You want a Mecha, or some people from Old Earth media?"
"Hmm… I'll take both, I guess." Relenting, Amy picked out some toys from the plastic bag, examining them in her hands. "Thanks."
"Here, take a puzzle, too."
Jamie gave her a puzzle that looked too hard for him before going to the attic. He found Amanda talking to Aiden, who was sitting up on his bed.
"Jamie!" They exclaimed upon seeing him.
"Hey, little bro. You feeling better?"
"A little. Amanda told me about you getting me medicine. Thanks."
Aiden hugged Jamie, making the elder brother smile. It felt nice to be appreciated, but he felt dread at how Aiden would react if he knew what he had to do to get it.
"Here, I got you a lot more. This is a week's worth, Amanda will make sure you get your doses."
He handed Amanda the medicine pack and got ready to surprise his brother.
"You know Aiden, I got you something more than medicine. Boom!"
Without warning, Jamie upturned the plastic bag onto Aiden's lap, watching his face light up at all the toys.
"Woah, it's Batdude and the Jonkler!" Aiden picked up two human figures, one missing an arm, before moving on to the mecha figures. "You even got UHF-109 Pufferfish and the W-40 Giant!"
"What are these names and how does he know them?" Jamie leaned in and whispered to Amanda, who laughed and shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe he found a magazine or something on Mechas."
Accepting the answer and moving on, Jamie turned back to Aiden and ruffled his hair. "I knew you'd like them."
He sat next to Amanda and the two of them stayed with Aiden, watching him happily play with his toys until he tired himself out and went to sleep.
"Let me clean it up, Amanda. You've been watching him all day. Get some sleep."
Seeing her get up, Jamie stopped her and began picking up the toys.
"Thank you, Jamie. By the way, tomorrow, do you have to go back…"
"Nah, don't worry." Jamie rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "We have a week's worth of medicine. Until that runs out, I don't even have to think about Beck."
"That's good." Amanda nodded before bursting into a yawn. "What are you gonna do then?"
"Some leveling as usual. Maybe if I get strong enough, I can take over Old Orion, make Dynamos do my bidding." Jamie joked, putting all the toys on a nearby table.
"Actually, Prime might rule Old Orion better than you." Amanda joked as well, the two of them smiling at how silly it sounded. "Goodnight, Jamie."
"Goodnight."
******
While Jamie and Amanda went to bed, out in space, outside of Old Orion, a mecha was flying fast, smoke coming out of it's damaged frame.
"C'mon, c'mon, stabilize!"
Inside the top, bulbous part of the mecha sat the Pilot, a woman with long, orange hair and orange eyes. She gripped the controller of the mecha tightly with one hand, the other pressed against her side, which was bleeding badly.
The lights inside her mecha were flashing red, and the interface above the controller were full of warning signs. She had just been shot out of a fight, and was now desperately trying to control her mecha before it crash landed on an asteroid or some space beast.
"What's the nearest space station, colony, anything!?"
Another panel popped up on the interface as it dialed through some sort of GPS. After a few seconds, it dinged.
[The nearest locations are:
1 Old Orion - 80 kilometers
2 Starfood and Drink Rest Stop - 2000 kilometers
3 …]
"Damn it, the rest stop is too far, and I don't have time to get clearance for entry into a colony."
Looking out the screen that acted as a one-way window, the Pilot saw the edge of the space colony called Old Orion far in the distance. She was about to break a few laws if she wanted to be able to land and patch herself up.
"Here goes nothing."
She quickly changed the direction of her mecha, heading towards Old Orion. As she got closer, she could tell they were aware of her presence, as multiple ships began to fly towards her.
[Halt! State who you are and what you are doing here-]
"Sorry!"
Ignoring the warning from the ships that came through her mecha's communications, she blasted past the ships, seeing a force field that wrapped around the entire space colony.
Without hesitation, she pressed a button, a railgun that rested on top of her mecha humming to life as it charged up energy. She fired it at the forcefield, easily puncturing it as the ships behind her became alarmed, beginning to fire at her.
The ships lost sight of her and she slipped through the hole in the forcefield, realizing that she was on top of an artificial ocean. Her mecha was descending quickly as it entered the orbit of Old Orion, and she tried her best to pull it upwards, aiming for the land she saw in the distance.
As she got closer, her vision began to turn blurry. She looked down to see that her clothes and chair were now stained red with her blood.
"That's a lot…"
Losing consciousness, with the land oh so close, she activated her mecha's flight boosters to give her one last burst of speed. As she crash landed in the dirt, she fainted in her chair, the interface still flashing red with alarm.