Thiago remained silent, though the blast had likely eliminated some of the soldiers that had attacked them. 117 enemies remained, the number dropping from 155 moments earlier. Alan tried sending a message to Kitana, but got a message that her communications had been disabled. He slowly looked around, noting the results of his battle of attrition.

All along the road were bodies of soldiers Alan had killed. Their bodies seemed to somehow grow more distinct and less pixelated the longer Alan dwelled on them, but Alan banished the thought from his mind. This was a game; each body had a small tooltip that stated the name of the player, and “Killed by Adampwnage.” According to Eve, that last part was only visible to him. The only loot most soldiers dropped were a small number of credits, from around 10 to 50.

Unfortunately, he’d only gained a single level, but that was to be expected of such weak enemies. Although, now that Alan thought about it, the first round of the survival test would have been almost trivial with the gear he had now. There were 45 minutes until enemy reinforcements arrived, and Alan still hadn't received word from anyone else.

He would have to take the fort himself.

***

This is a bad idea, Alan thought, staring down at the fort.

Our other options are worse, Eve sent. The only entrance to the fort has enough scanners to detect an errant fart, and we can't walk in there pretending to be a marine, they have ID cards and other identification procedures that we'd never pass. We don't have enough time to burn through the shields either.

But a 150 foot fall?

Power armor is designed to absorb energy, including kinetic energy. As long as our shield holds it should heavily mitigate fall damage. Just land on top of the fort.

Alright. Alan stared off the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge. He watched the waves lap against the coast, the water a mesmerizing ocean of patterns.

JUMP.

Alan took a deep breath and leapt. Air rushed by as he started descending in free fall. He wanted to scream but the fort approached the way ground shouldn't. And he landed.

A miniature shockwave erupted. A crack sounded.

Alan yelled out involuntarily. Pain, there was so much pain. Flashing messages covered his vision, but all he could think of was the pain. Eve was yelling something at him, trying to get his attention. Alarms started sounding and Alan knew he had to move but he couldn't feel his legs. His invisibility was broken, his armor's energy gone, his HP at 30% and draining.

A soldier rushed forwards, raising their gun.

"Wait, I have info about the terrorist attacks!" Alan shouted as he fell forwards. He looked at his legs, saw a bone, and passed out.

***

Alan woke up lying on a cot in a detention cell, a faint rumble in the distance. A soldier stood next to him, weapon at the ready. His mind felt funny. Muzzled. Muffled. Muddled. That was the word, muddled.