Alpha Agent: A Post Apocalyptic LitRPG

Angie

Angie slowly opened her eyes and she flinched from the flash of sparks hitting her. She looked around and the indoor lighting of the dropship’s interior was nowhere to be seen. Her enhanced eyesight allowed her to faintly see her surroundings. Another brief shower of sparks exploded from a small light fixture in the ceiling of the interior and illuminated the dropship for a split second.

Dan sat slumped in his seat beside her, unmoving. Michael and Li weren’t inside with her. Her brief thoughts of their whereabouts were answered when her ears registered the gunfire and explosions outside the dropship.

She pressed against the safety harness of her seat and forcibly pushed it off her. She stood up and immediately grabbed Dan’s harness and pulled with all her might. The safety harness only budged slightly and Angie’s patience ran out. She grabbed hold of Dan’s body and tried to slide him out of the tight embrace of the harness.

The dropship’s door opened and slammed into the ground outside. The full extent of the chaos outside entered the interior. The gunfire and explosions outside mixed in with the hurricane force winds and excessive rain hammering every exposed surface. She squinted and was relieved that she didn’t see any razor hail.

Angie set Dan down beside the container, which had somehow survived the crash landing. Her HUD popped up with a call from Michael.

“Angie, Dan, can you hear me?”

“I’m here,” Angie said. She scooped up an Aero SMG off the floor. “Dan is still out of it. I don’t think taking him outside is a good idea. So where the hell are we?”

“I got good news and bad news,” Michael said. “The bad news is we got shot down. We’re right at the border between Alpha and Kodak owned territory. I think this place used to be called Latvia many years ago. Anyway, we’re getting our asses hammered by Kodak’s forces trying to take back the container. They’re not giving up until they kill us and get it back.”

Judging by the continued gunfire and explosions outside the dropship, Angie could only imagine the resistance Michael battled against. If a tier four agent like Michael wasn’t leading this mission, she doubted any of them would last against such an overwhelming force.

“To make things worse, I lost Li,” Michael said grimly.

“Wait what? He’s fucking dead?” Angie said.

“He dived out of the way of an incoming rocket, but even he wasn’t fast enough. The concussive blast knocked him face first into the side of the dropship and he fell unconscious. I can’t get to him and he’s hanging by a thread if my HUD’s team diagnostics are anything to go by.”

Angie gritted her teeth. She glanced down at one of her only remaining teammates. Dan had pushed himself well past his limits with his new powers and had saved her and Li numerous times during the heist. The least she could do was take over and allow him to rest.

“What can I do to help?” Angie said, pointing her Aero at the opened door.

“The good news is that we have backup on they way. Rest assured that the Alpha Corp won’t let the container go that easily. But until they get here, we have to make sure we’re still alive. Stay close to the crash site and don’t let any Kodak agent close. We can’t lose the container after everything we’ve been through to get it. Defend the objective with your life and I’ll try my best to keep most of the heat off you. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir,” Angie said. She looked down at the still unconscious Dan. “Now it’s my turn to save your ass.”

Angie rushed out through the busted door of the dropship and out into the rainsoaked landscape. She looked around and caught a glimpse of the environment before a stray round slashed the air beside her. She immediately dived to the ground and crawled until she found a piece of the dropship’s wing buried in the wet sand.

Looking back at the crashed dropship, she saw Li laying face down beside the flaming cockpit. As tempted as she was to pull him to safety, bullets pinged off her piece of cover and she was pinned down.

From what she gathered, the dropship had crashed into some desert-like wasteland and was now being hammered by nature and Kodak forces. She glanced to her left and saw the distant exchange of tracers and numerous explosions, presumably Michael holding off his share of Kodak forces.

She watched as the hectic battle drew closer and closer to he reposition until she saw a silhouette of a man running toward her. Michael Cynosa came into view with blood running down the side of his face. He glanced sideways and fired numerous bursts in various directions. Michael’s movements and swapping of targets was so rapid that in the thick rain it all looked like a blur to Angie. Her HUD popped up an interesting message from analyzing what Michael had just done.

Michael Cynosa has killed seven Kodak agents with headshots in 2.73 seconds.

Angie didn’t have time to absorb what she just read. All she knew was that she was thankful to have Michael by her side holding off these Kodak forces. Michael’s sihlouette was about a dozen meters away but then he quickly disappeared, narrowly evading a rocket that streaked through the sheets of rain and blew up the ground where he stood a moment earlier.

She tried to peek around the damaged wing of the dropship but couldn’t see anything beyond twenty meters ahead. Everywhere she looked was thick sheets of rushing rainfall with the occasional bullet bouncing off the wing.

The second she saw figures popping up through the rain approaching her, she didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. Angie peppered anything she saw emerge through the downpour, blasting apart armor with her shredder rounds. She downed a fifth Kodak agent before she relled from a sudden kick to her midsection.

Rolling across the wet sand, she looked up and saw a female agent bring down a machete. Angie swerved her head out of the way and just barely evaded the deadly blade. She tried getting back up but the agent shoulder checked her, digging her shoulder spikes into Angie and penetrating her armor.

Pain coarse through Angie’s right arm as she slammed back down onto the ground. She couldn’t move that limb anymore. She didn’t give a shit since she wasn’t about to die here. Angie grabbed the silenced pistol on the left side of her jacket and raised the handgun at her attacker.

Before she could get a shot off, the Kodak agent kicked the weapon out of her hand. The silenced pistol tumbled a few meters away from her. The Kodak agent stomped her boot onto Angie’s remaining good arm and stood over her triumphantly.

“Any last words before I dismember you, honey?”

Angie just kept silent and stared at her with all the anger and hate she could manage. What words could she possibly have for an enemy agent trying to kill her while being at her enemy’s mercy?

The intense gunfire off in the distance was probably still from Michael’s separate battle against Kodak elsewhere, meaning he wouldn’t arrive on time to help her.

The Kodak agent didn’t give much more time. The devilish grin on her face grew wider and she raised her machete, aiming to chop off Angie’s left arm. The attack never happened as the agent’s shoulder suddenly combusted into flames.

The agent staggered backwards, screaming as the flames somehow grew more intense even through the heavy rain. Angie leaned up and stared dumbfounded on what had just happened. She caught something in her peripheral vision and looked to her right side.

Angie saw her saviour. Dan had somehow woken up and against all odds had slowly made his way outside the dropship. Her teammate stood with his back hunched over and both hands on his knees, struggling to stand upright.

She was vaguely familiar with one of Dan’s new powers, the ability to make any target he laid eyes on spontaneously combust. The Kodak agent still writhed and screamed while struggling to put the flames out. Angie couldn’t waste this chance.

Ignoring the pain in her arm, she crawled toward her silenced pistol and snatched it. She flipped herself over onto her back and aimed at the fiery Kodak agent, who was down on her knees still burning up.

Angie pulled the trigger and her rounds slammed into the Kodak agents body. The agent’s screams grew louder at the added pain before Angie followed up with one last round straight to her skull, penetrating it.

The Kodak agent keeled over and collapsed onto the wet ground.

Angie looked over at Dan. Somehow, even through all the strain he put on his body from the heist, Dan still gathered up the energy and willpower to save her life one last time. “I don’t know how to thank you, but I’ll find a way Dan!” She shouted.

If Dan heard her, he didn’t seem to acknowledge it as he too fell over and laid unmoving on the ground.

Angie immediately got back on her feet and rushed over to her teammate. She knew that she should have rushed back into cover and that she alone didn’t have the means or the firepower to protect her teammates. But she rushed to Dan’s side anyway.

She stopped beside Dan and crouched down. Powering through the wounds in her right arm, she moved her hand behind Dan’s neck. Her second hand squeezed his hand tightly. Tears welled up in her eyes. “We’re going to get out of here. You hear me? I’ll repay you somehow for saving me again.”

Angie glanced back at the severed wing and saw more Kodak agent emerge through the sheets of rain. She grabbed her silenced pistol with her left hand. At the very least, she would go down shooting someone in the head.

Three Kodak agent raised their guns at her, but were quickly cut down. As much as Angie liked to talk big and show off, she knew she wasn;t the one who killed all three. Two of them had their skulls blown apart and the third had his chest explode from a burst of blue projectiles that flashed through the air and melted the agent’s armor.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw a force of long coat wearing agents pull up behind her. Her HUD highlighted them in green outlines. Angie smiled and laughed uncontrollably seeing their backup finally arrive.

Angie blinked rapidly and rubbed her eyes when she saw one of the Alpha agents who rushed towards her. She couldn’t believe what she saw. An agent with brunette hair wearing the signature white coat and armor of a tier three stood right beside her. Looking up, there was no mistaking it. The agent shared the same beautiful face Angie had seen on the brochures, commercials and other ad material from the Alpha Corp.

Jane Sunheiser had entered the battle.

In her mind, Angie could barely fathom that once she got out of this alive, she could brag to her colleagues that she worked with both Michael Cynosa and Jane Sunheiser in the same day.

She glanced over and saw another tall agent carrying a minigun with smoke coming out of its barrels. She recognized the fearsome weapon as the plasma minigun made by Nova Firearms.

“Looks like we’ve arrived in time,” Jane said. She looked down at Angie. “What’s Dan Orion’s condition?”

Angie snapped out of her reverie and tried to answer without stammering. “He’s still alive but he’s badly hurt from the heist. I have another teammate down next to the dropship.”

Jane looked at her with a blank expression, then back down at Dan. Angie couldn’t quite tell what the legendary agent was thinking. But in the heavy downpour that drenched Jane’s hair and made her facial features glisten, Angie swore Jane almost looked saddened, seeing another agent is such a wounded state.

“Step aside, I’ll take care of this one,” Jane said quietly. She then turned to the minigun-weilding agent. “Allen, go grab the other agent beside the cockpit over there. Get another team to the dropship. Michael says the container is still in there.”

“Understood,” Allen said. The agent hefted his minigun over his head and placed the weapon on his back to free up his hands as he rushed through the rain towards Li’s body. Angie saw another pair of Alpha agents follow Allen before they entered the back of the dropship.

Another trio of Alpha agents pulled up around Jane and Angie as they fired their rifles into the rain, hitting targets that Angie couldn’t even see.

Jane walked by Dan’s side and crouched down. She slid her arms under him and lifted him up. She looked down at Angie. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I’m the least injured I think,” Angie said. She still couldn’t believe the Jane Sunheiser was speaking to her.

“Good. We’re pulling out while we let the War Forger tank blast these Kodak fools into oblivion,” Jane said. She turned on her heel and began walking back. “Unless you have unfinished business, I suggest you stay close behind me.”

“Oh, right!” Angie said. She quickly got up and ran up behind Jane. Through the rainfall and the gunfire and explosions still echoing across the land, Angie heard a strange whirring noise that sounded vaguely like another aircraft taking off.

That’s when she saw the behemoth through the thick rain.

Angie saw a tank the size of several houses floating on what looked like cushions of air. The haze and blue shaded energies rippling underneath the gigantic tank were the vehicle’s propulsion systems allowing the tank to float across the ground and manuever smoothly around the Alpha agents and directly in front of the crashed dropship.

Angie’s HUD analyzed the tank and pulled up the heavy vehicle’s stats.

Maxwell War Forger battle tank

Manufacturer: Maxwell Industrial Designs

Energy railcannon and six + six 20mm plasma rotary cannons on either side

Description: The flagship ultra heavy battle tank of the Alpha Corp integrates the innovative hybrid design of conventional rugged treads and propulsion systems for hovering across deadly terrain. Its dual purpose of a mobile command station and a main battle tank has proved its mettle for over a hundred years in the shard’s arsenal.

As Angie followed closely behind Jane, she made one last glance over her shoulder and watched as the War Forger lowered itself into the ground with a loud and impactful thud that caused the wet sand beneath her feet to shake.

She turned around and saw Allen carrying Li in his arms along with another pair of Alpha agents carrying the container away.

Angie’s ears picked up the mechanical whirring of the tank’s main cannon’s rotation. The monstrous weapon pointed in the direction of the Kodak forces through the thick blankets of rain. The energy blast that exploded out of the cannon and lit up the landscape far behind Angie was her last memory from this heist.