ELO: Trigger to Paradise

Prologue
[Code: Devil's Smile]

[//accepted] “You think you’re sooo funny, now don't ya?”

I shook my head. The cocky werewolf in front of me was getting unnecessarily aggravated over me saying, “You look like you’ve lost a lot of fights.”

“You,” he started saying, “You’re gonna regret saying that, little lady.” He cracked his knuckles emphatically, attempting to intimidate me. The brief yet audible sound irritated me, but not as much as I apparently irritated him. His voice grew very loud.

“I’ll show you who’s lost a lot of fights!”

He raised his fists high in the air, and threw them down with the force almost equal to that of a tank engine. Unfortunately for him, I stepped out of the strike zone a split second before impact and let his fists connect with the hard concrete. He cried out in pain as the 4 others that were with him quickly came to fight by his side. I analyzed them one by one, and determined that they were all of above-average strength and speed.

Normally, fighting against these types of people would be difficult. But this isn’t a normal situation. Calling my own strength and speed “above-average” would be a large understatement. They engaged me one at a time, giving me an easy way to bring them all down.

The first one was an orc that charged towards me with his arms spread apart, making a generic monster pose that left many openings. Right when he was about to get me, I ducked down to avoid his arms and stuck out a leg to trip him over.

The next opponent, another werewolf, came immediately, and ran towards me like an Olympic sprinter. He jumped at the last second to try and catch me off-guard. I clicked my tongue at him and roundhouse kicked him just as he was entering my striking range. His large body was sent crashing into a nearby wall.

The next target was an orc that had equipped a heavy-looking club. That was going to be a bit more difficult to dodge, so I took the initiative. I ran straight for the orc, jumped over him, and then climbed his back. He tried to throw me off, shaking vigorously in every direction. I held fast and grabbed hold of his scalp and chin, then twisted them horizontally to end his life. One more grunt-type enemy remaining.

“I’ll get you for that!” the last werewolf shouted.

I said nothing in reply, and waited for him to attack. He unsheathed a sword and, with a loud battlecry, charged straight at me. I reached for the holster on my side and took out my silver-loaded Springfield XVS. After quickly aiming in the werewolf’s general direction, I fired off five shots, three of which hit the target in different places. I fired off five more, aiming more carefully this time, and the silver bullets easily pierced the werewolf’s furry skin. He let out a growl of pain, and unsteadily took a step back. I walked over to the creature, aimed my gun between his eyebrows, and said, “I’ll give you two options. Die here and now, or be imprisoned and die slowly as you are interrogated more and more brutally with every passing day.”

The werewolf glared at me with eyes full of vengeance and destruction, but said nothing.

“Which is it?” I asked again.

The werewolf, seemingly agitated, snarled at me and shouted, “Like hell I’d be your prisoner, you *****!”

“Option 1 it is then.”

“Wha-“

I pulled the trigger, and sent a silver bullet straight through the beast’s cranium. The force was strong enough to penetrate even a 50mm steel wall. After double-checking to see ensure that every one of the goons was dead, I was going to head back to my original destination when I heard the sound of someone rapidly trying to hide. The sound of their feet hurriedly hitting the concrete floor was in no way stealthy. I walked over to the source of the sound and prepared my gun for whatever was hiding there. But when I turned the corner, instead of a suspicious enemy spy, I found an orange-haired boy cowering against the wall. Typical bystander. Following standard protocol, I pointed my gun at his forehead and said, “You shouldn’t have seen that.”

“What with that corny secret agent line?” he asked.

“What you saw just now is classified information. If you tell anyone, we will track you down.”

“So are you going to kill me?”

“Correct.”

“If you’re going to kill me right now, why bother tracking me down?”

“That part is going to be carried out in the real world.”

“O-Oh.”

“Any other questions?”

“Please don’t kill me.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

I held my gun to his neck when a voice suddenly shouted in my comlink.

“Tenshi, wait!”

I sighed. “What is it, Alpha?”

Alpha was already at base and was probably hacked into a nearby security camera, watching my fight and ensuring nothing bad happened.

“I’ve just gotten all the info and stats on the guy in front of you,” she said.

“So? What about them?”

“They’re not stable. They’re changing as we speak.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think this guy might be one of the Anomalies that Virtechs told us about.”

“…are you sure?”

“No, but the chance is…99 percent.”

I cast a glance at the boy who should’ve been dead by now and then went back to talking on the comlink.

“Alright, I’ll take him to base.”

“Thanks, Tenshi~”

And her voice cut out.

I holstered my guns and turned to the person in front of me. He looked more confused than relieved.

“Umm…”

“…”

“Why didn’t you kill me…?”

“I had other orders, so instead, you’re coming with me.”

“Am I being arrested or something?”

“No.”

“Then I hope you’re not lying.”

“Do I look like I’m trying to put handcuffs on you?”

“No…”

“There’s your answer.”

I walked out of the alleyway pulling the possible Anomaly by the arm and turned the corner to go towards the base. Just then, I heard an orc shout out “HEY!”

I stopped in my tracks and turned my head to see what looked like reinforcements that were called in by one of the werewolves. “There’s more of them?!” the possible Anomaly shouted. “Looks like it,” I responded, while letting the reinforcements get closer.

“Were you two the punks who did this to our guys?”

The possible Anomaly waved his hands like he was surrendering and tried to defend himself.

“N-No, you’ve got it all wrong! I’m just a passing off-duty soldier, I have no-

I cut him off by saying, “So what if we were?”

The possible Anomaly looked at me like I just told his mom that he’s into BDSM play.

“What are you doing?!” he whisper-shouted.

The enemy reinforcements replied, “Well, then you both are in for a world of pain.”

They all unsheathed their weapons and ran towards the boy and I. The boy had a look of disbelief and fear. I let the enemies get closer and closer, waiting for the right moment for attack, and when the opportunity presented itself…

The possible Anomaly went in front of me and spread out his arms like a wall. I did not know what made him want to do that. Just a moment ago, he was cowering in fear like a rat.

“Eh? What’s this?” the leading enemy orc said.

“If you want her, then you’ll have to get through me!” shouted the possible Anomaly.

I cringed a little. Isn’t that what generic shounen protagonists say?

The huge orc had no problem with what the possible Anomaly said and punched his lights out in one hit.

"For that clearly plot armor-filled sentence, I am very disappointed," I thought.

I decided to end this quickly and drew my guns. The enemies underestimated me, judging by my size and weapon choice, and all charged forward. I closed my eyes and focused for a second. The sounds of their footsteps and battle cries, the vibrations in the air from their movement and voices, the shaking of the ground from their large feet, I felt it all. My eyes opened. Each enemy was nailed right in the head with pinpoint accuracy two seconds later. I put my guns in their holders. "Now onto the bigger problem at hand."

I crouched down to examine the fallen boy beside me. He was complete knocked out. I tried patting his cheek a little. Then I tried patting his cheek a lot. Neither worked to get him up. I tried contacting Alpha for exfil, only to hear "YOU'RE BURNING THE POT" in the background. I let out a sigh. Looking around, I spotted a car parked in a handicap spot without the proper license plate. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."