The man that had dropped the ball frowned then murmured a few words into a communicator on his wrist.

We should be in the clear, right?

I’m not sure. If he was on the lookout for you specifically, he may continue looking. We are uncertain of who he contacted as well. Try to finish this task quickly.

Alright.

Alan started jogging towards the quest marker, moving past warehouse after warehouse. A few had guards, others had squatters. Eve highlighted a few players doing some sort of drug in an alleyway, but Alan didn’t care about such things and tried to ignore them. A few minutes later, he reached another, nondescript large steel warehouse, apparently the destination of his quest.

There were two guards in front, both in dark grey, almost black army fatigues rather than power armor. They each held a number of strange devices on a belt, and held their weapons at the ready with a quiet ease. One had a dark-metal sword, the other a mechanical rifle. Unlike many of the other guards Alan had seen, they weren’t fooling around or talking to each other. They were quietly scanning the area, and had their levels hidden unlike many of the other guards. Neither wore an emblem.

I suggest we deactivate our invisibility from around the corner, then approach cautiously. Also, the quest has updated, we are to ask for package E51, on the behalf of Master Silver.

Sure.

Alan walked back around the corner, then deactivated the invisibility and checked on the power of the armor. It had 440 energy remaining. He then slowly approached the guards, who turned to look at him, standing at attention.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up package E51 for Master Silver.”

The two guards briefly glanced at each other, then the one on the right who held the sword spoke.

“Oh, and what proof do you have that Master Silver sent you?”

Thinking quickly, Alan replied, “Proof? Isn’t my presence here enough? My master made no mention that such proof would be needed, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have sent me here to come back empty handed.”

“Look, I’m sorry, I’m sure Silver is an important person, but at the very least you should have an emblem or symbol to demonstrate that you are part of his faction, yet here you stand devoid of any such signifiers.”

Shit, Eve, what now?

Try a bit of intimidation, I will try to gauge their responses.

“Do you know what is in the package?” Alan asked in a quiet tone.

“No, we do not, sir,” the guard said.

“Well then, I don’t think it is your place to question the orders of my master. Are you sure that you wish to offend him?”

The two guards shared another glance.

They seem more confused than anything else. They aren’t intimidated in the slightest. Time to try different tactics, perhaps a bit of bribery. Diamond marks, not gold.

But, those are worth 20,000 credits, each!

And completing this quest with little difficulty is worth a great deal more. I estimate the guards are both at least level 400, thus we have little to no chance of defeating them.