TAP TAP TAP
Luke's heavy footsteps thudded across the concrete road in rhythmic patterns.
Every stride bringing him closer to his goal, every heartbeat clearing distances in metres.
And seemingly forgetting, or perhaps altogether foregoing, his usual stealth-type of style, he allowed his footsteps to echo through the alley and his laboured breathing to escape his burning lungs.
"Haaaah haaaah haaaah haaah-!"
'Fuck!!! Why am I so out of shape! I forgot how unathletic I am when I was Corvo for so long.'
His internal complaints and exhaustion do nothing to stop his run. If anything, it allowed him to double down. The frustration transforming to anger, the rapid-firing amygdala stimulating his adrenal medulla to produce adrenaline and sending all those hormones into his bloodstream.
"HUFF HUFFF HUFFF-!"
In the presence of adrenaline, all complaints die down. In fact, all thought ceases to be. In its place boils down to someone wholeheartedly controlled by instinct.
BOOM
Mana surged.
Luke's heart thundered.
With each echoing beat, mana was produced and pumped through his already raging bloodstream.
Each unit reached its destination in mere moments. First occupying the muscle fibres in his core, then trickling down to his quads, glutes, calves and hamstrings.
Once filled to the brim, the mana was given the command to enhance the muscles.
Durability to not tear with strenuous use, strength to go beyond his current means and flexibility so the muscles don't tear as well, for the cable-like fragments to perform at optimal standards.
The result?
Luke's body shot up high, surpassing any world records in jumping. Reaching up nearly over an entire storey and grabbing onto the ladder of a fire escape.
Then, with enough potential energy still inside his muscles, Luke managed one more jump.
Leaping backwards, he managed to catch himself on the edge of the building and effortlessly pull his body onto the roof.
"Huff-"
With a final silent sigh, the berserk-like state finally recedes and clarity returns.
"Now then…"
Boom!
Walking over to the chained roof door, Luke boots it in with a loud slam that no doubt alerted everyone.
——
It doesn't take long to descend the stairs and get onto the floor below, obviously with a goal in mind.
The mission details sent to him by Joshua was a detailed map of the facility as well as all of the guards' mapped-out routes. Though, of course, since Luke created such a loud disturbance, it's thrown the whole thing into disarray.
But since he has a route to the location, there's no need to piss about trying to look for it.
All in all, a well-planned mission that's a piece of piss to complete… if he didn't throw it all in the bin in the first 5 seconds…
Now what stood before him was a bit more challenging.
A unit composed of five, clearly well-trained men stood outside the door he needed to get through. And this wasn't a situation where he could take a different, much longer route. No, this was the only entrance and exit.
Although this would definitely be a challenge, it wouldn't truly be a problem. That is, if one man in the back didn't seem to be pinging Luke with a feeling of cold dread, a similar feeling that Daud gave to him in their battle.
'…shit.'
Click.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
The ominous, familiar clicking sound of a cocked handgun brought a chill straight down Luke's spine.
He put his hands up in that universal sign of surrender and put up a deafened expression.
"ON YOUR KNEES!! NOW!!"
He obeyed, watching as one of the guys in the back, the man that he felt the most 'pressure' from, brought a radio to his lips. Luke had no idea what was said, seeing no point in testing out if he could augment his senses as well.
They seemed to buy his act, but neither their guard nor suspicion lowered at all. The two in the front, the guards holding onto what seemed to be military-standard-issue pistols now that he got better sights on them. Even stamped with the army's 'logo', if you will.
'A Glock 17? Nothing in the files stated I would be up against the military.'
The mask of fear briefly slipped as Luke's eyes hardened. But despite the minute shift, they caught it.
His mana that had been gathering since their encounter began pulsed, surging forth into his right leg.
The screeching sound of trainers against flooring rang out as Luke violently dashed to one side. And just in time, as with zero hesitation, both gunmen fired.
CHA CHA CHA CHA
PA PA PA P-
Multiple rounds fired off quickly, following Luke as he moved. But one of the guns jammed and locked up.
An opening.
Charging up mana again in both legs, he used it to close the distance before the gun was unjammed.
Now, originally Luke didn't plan on killing anyone. He's had enough of that since the first time he even took a life as Corvo and didn't want to carry the same habit of kill first, question later with him. But if these men aren't going to repay that kindness… well, no point in showing mercy.
CRACK
His mana-enhanced elbow connected against the side of the gunman's neck, the sickening sound making it obvious what the man's fate was.
And for a moment, everyone froze up, the disbelief palpable in the air around them.
Though, like the cycles of grief were entirely skipped over until anger was all that's left.
"""AGHHHHHHH!!!!"""
The men's rage-fuelled roars loudly bounced off the walls. All at once, the three in the back charged in, knives or knuckle dusters tightly wrapped in their grips.
The other gunman retreated back behind them. It seems that despite their anger, if not a façade, they still had enough wits about them, along with the experience to think rationally.
BANG BANG BANG
Before they even reached him, another round of bullets were shot at him.
Luke managed to dodge one of them by the skin of his teeth, being merely grazed, but even that was enough to cause blood to come pouring down his arm.
The rest… he used the dead gunman as a shield to tank them all.
And that seemed to piss them off even more.
The first of the melee part of the unit closed in first, wielding a pair of spiked knuckle dusters. And if Luke had the time to pay attention to them, he would notice suspiciously blood-like stains covering the whole thing.
Luke tilted his head sideways swiftly, allowing the spiked knuckle to go soaring past, not connecting at all. What it did do was nearly give him whiplash at the unfamiliarity of this way of fighting.
'Right, still haven't really processed the fact I'm not Corvo anymore.'
He's not given a chance to fully form his thoughts as another blow comes his way, this time going for his stomach. Just in time as well, apparently, as out of the corner of his eye, a dagger was shooting towards the side of his head.
The priority was obvious.
Tensing his core as much as possible, using a trickle of mana to reinforce it further, Luke tanked the blow with his stomach. The spikes sinking nearly an inch deep into his abdomen.
The force of the strike knocked him back slightly, though not far enough to not have his face sliced apart or worse by the menacing blade already close to him.
His arms, already out and prepared, catch hold of the attacker's wrist, twisting it and disarming the weapon from the man's grip. And although causing slight discomfort, bringing his knee up and the knife man's arm down to shatter the elbow.
He followed up with his new dagger… or well, attempted to, before the one Luke forgot he should be the most wary of shoulder-checked him, sending him barrelling across the floor metres away.
CRASH
Luke crashed heavily into the wall, sending a nice lower, middle and all types of back pain through him.
"-cough cough."
A shuddering breath leaves his lips and a ragged cough as he struggled through breathlessness, to regain control over his breathing.
He recovered quickly enough, but due to the fact that although his brain is intimately familiar with pain, this body is not so much.
Luke has been stabbed before, tazzed and he's had the full front yard of blunt trauma. But it's been years since his body was in such a state. He relaxed, retired from the complications of the gang wars in his youth.
Instead, the only familiar constant pain to him/his body now was muscle strain and a headache from the constant nagging of his boss.
'Well, old boss now, I suppose.'
So it's taking some time for his brain and body to sync back up. And luckily, he will have ample opportunity to get back into touch with his old friend pain… that is, if he survives this.
——