Chapter 1: Fix the Door First
A bullet grazes a skull.
The usual would be for that very skull to explode into brain matter.
But it was a graze.
Still painful enough to bring a fool into a shock though.
Then the fool who gets shot will be either left alone or taken care of by some two-bit thug who was hired to clean the body and dump it into a landfill or a river.
The river drowns and takes.
The river also baptizes.
I float above my body. There is my corpse. Sitting below the river gasping for his last breath. I feel like a spectating ghost watching myself. I wonder if I can move my body. Then there is a feeling that I can grasp. I put my ghostly hands to where these feelings are and found myself in control.
I tapped on these imaginary buttons. Feeling the controls that are just right for me. My perspective changed when I thought of it. From floating above back to being in control. The water is scary so I went back to looking above my shoulder. In control I swam up while feeling the river tug.
Manage to get above this dock. Saw there was no one there so I moved my body forward. Wet concrete, lights in the distance. Baggy overalls were keeping me from moving well. Personally the weight is much harder to deal with when seeing things from my eyes. Above the shoulder is better when dealing with the weight. Don't want to be ambushed either considering that I still have a bullet wound on my left eyebrow.
Got near a guard's booth. Saw a guard and my first action was to follow this feeling in my head to press this imaginary button inside my head. My arms move like a snake and wrap itself around the bastard. It felt natural to me. How I subdued this guard without leaking any sound. Though from the looks of it I could only do much when my health is ticking away.
I tore the clothes off him and wore his clothing. I felt infinitely better when doing it above the shoulder of my body as a ghost. Not to mention when my 'body' does things. I don't have to take full control like I do when seeing things from the perspective of my eyes. I saw a mirror. I saw the rough appearance of myself.
Rough darkish brown hair and hazel eyes staring back. My above average build kept me alive. Then again I wasn't sure anymore of myself. Guess working in the fucking docks killed me finally. My memories are fucked and another is residing in. Or delusional perhaps? Still, I can't be cool with this. Someone shot me in the head. Tried drowning me in the river despite it all.
"I fucking lived."
Details are still strange. My head's sharper than usual. Also I don't feel tired despite how I just got shot in the head. The concussion knocked me out. Bullet slid over my eyebrow and made me live. I wash myself. Pocketed the pistol of the guard, took his wallet, and phone.
He had bills on his wallet so I called a cab. Got in the cab and told the cabby where to go. Took a while to arrive. I managed to get off the cab, found my apartment, went in, locked myself up. It was a dreadful apartment. It was the kitchen first, then on the left as you enter there is the living room with a television. When facing the living room there were two doors. One of them was the bathroom while on the left of said bathroom was the room.
Entering the bathroom I washed myself. Then I snapped the SIM card of the phone. I took the greasy clothes off my body and then the clothes in my apartment. A hoodie and stonewashed jeans with some sports shoes.
My brain felt like it would be careless of me to stay still. Got my thoughts organized as I wondered whether it was right to hide. Didn't think that just because I had some strange out-of-body ability that I could become a one-man army.
The pistol had one magazine. Don't know what beef that I have with others, but I wasn't going to risk my life not knowing anything. Someone shot me in the fucking head. That alone is a cause for worry. The fridge should have a month's worth of supplies. That's enough for me to orient myself and get some information.
I cocked the slide of the pistol and kept it close. At the same time I barricaded myself while making sure that I knew the layout of my apartment well. Where's the good place for cover and where they might shoot me.
Call me a paranoid man, but I got shot and somewhat lived. And I felt much more comfortable watching over my shoulder rather than in the first-person. Feel like a spectator when I'm out of my body, but that was far better than being trapped personally.
I stayed in position. I would occasionally eat something when a day passed. I also typed in some keywords, learned about the world that I was in, while also adapting to who I am in this world. Nikolai Orlov, called Niko by his friends, a dock worker who is just getting by. My memories also told me that I lived looking at the people who became better than me. I didn't graduate, but the remaining credits were still around. Too bad the previous owner didn't want to complete it. I had time since I was hiding my cowardly ass so I completed his remaining credits, wrote up the documents for the system he was making, and then completed it within half a month. Good thing he already had a draft and some parts of his projects still around. Around the last week of the month I received an email from the Academy that I was 'enrolled' and gave me enough credits to pass the course.
My transcript of records was horrible. But at least it is passable enough to get another job that isn't lifting crates and earning low wages from it. Also emailed the union worker of my explanation. Told him that there was some shooting and that I was able to escape. I'll probably become a criminal anyway so it was better to explain myself than let others come to a conclusion. I was just a dockworker in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I stayed in a third-person view most of the time. Even when I was asleep I was still watching myself while my body was resting. Although, I do lose consciousness if I switch back to first-person.
Time passes by quickly when you are watching yourself over the shoulder. Managed to somewhat stay clean and healthy, but nonetheless, I wanted the heat off me. It was also strange that there was no one who was coming to my apartment. Of course, as I thought that, there is a knock on the door.
My brain went on alert. I checked on the door and shouted, "Who are you! I want no trouble!"
"This is the police! Open up!"
"Show me your badge! If you don't then you guys are probably here to kill me!"
I readied myself. Don't know if these are cops, but it was better to be careful. "Please cooperate! This is because of the murder and you are considered a suspect!"
"Bullshit!" I shouted, trying to sound afraid and miserable. "You are here to take care of me! Clean up the loose ends!"
The cops had enough of me and broke the door. I wasn't stupid enough to point my gun at them so I did what a panicking civilian should go. Shout as hard as I could, and then threw everything that I could at them. It honestly feels awful to watch, but my performance was convincing enough to attract the attention of the passerby who took the chance to record what was happening.
I begged at them. Telling them that I was just working as a dock worker when these thugs shot me and my co-workers. It was loud enough that others should know what my alibi was.
Also told them that I was afraid so I knocked out the security guard as well. I was like some retard who was afraid. And when they took me to the precinct I was crying that I was innocent and after some explanation, and some look of how 'awful' I was acting. They let me off while giving me a warning about the thugs that were going to be around. Thing is that I somewhat figured out where I am.
I thought of something. I switched to a third-person view.
"Status?" I said.
Ding!
[ Name: Nikolai Orlov ]
[ Health: 10 ]
[ Armor: 0 ]
[ Wanted Level: 0 ]
[ Reputation: Nobody ]
[Status: Stable ]
[Money: $150 ]
[Title: Deadeye]
[Special: Bullet Time]
[Strength: Peak Human]
[Stamina: Ninja]
[Fighting: Boogeyman]
[Stealth: Ghost]
[Driving/Flying: Getaway Master]
[Knowledge: Tech-Savvy]
I stared at the status screen. The fucking status screen reminded me of the open world, action and adventure crime simulation game that I played before finding myself here. The thing is this world isn't the place that I should be. The title 'deadeye' seems to have granted me bullet time which isn't that useful considering that I am not a fucking psychopath.
Too far different. This isn't the world that this system should be in! I thought about it and focused on the inventory wheel that I should have. I could feel that it was in there but there was nothing in it. Odd since I still got my stats but not my arsenal. Not that it would help since this is a place where some superhuman are. Still, it does make me somewhat glad that I have some cheat on me.
An inventory wheel which I can store at least ten items. That's good enough for me. But from the looks of it I don't have that much ability unless I switched to watching from the shoulder. I switched to a first-person view and said status to check. I couldn't feel the 'ability' that I have.
It only works when I'm in third-person.
There was a condition to this ability of mine.
And that I needed to be watching over my shoulder.
"Hey! Watch out where you are standing, idiot!"
Someone shouted. I took a step aside while moving myself to the side. I switched back to third-person and watched my surroundings. I get crazy eyes when I switch to third-person while I do feel normal when I switch to first-person.
There wasn't much to do and other than the stats screen that seems like it wouldn't change. I focused my attention back to my health, armor, and reputation. They were the only ones that matter… as for money. Well, I can't do anything about it.
I moved away from the precinct and went back to my apartment. Felt eyes on me but considering what I did? It was kinda expected. I remained in third-person until I got back to the comfort of my home.
Have to fix the damn door though. I was feeling a lot better when sitting over my shoulder, but at the same time it felt weird seeing myself work as if he knew what he was doing.
Nikolai Orlov.
Same name but a different body.
I had thought once that having a new start would be great.
But I didn't expect it to come like this.
There were many questions in my head. Don't know where to even start, but I know that this place isn't normal and civilians like me if caught in the wars of the psychos, the mutants, and the gangsters then its game over.
I turned on the television. On the television there was a series of people getting interviewed. Suit-wearing individuals who looked far too beautiful to be human. Then again, it seems like I was in a world where the other races have mingled with humans. Though if anything, it wasn't that surprising that these mutants have started calling themselves using these fantastical names. Their appearances were far different from the usual, other than the bulk of their sizes and the impossibly narrow hips that the woman in the television had.
"What a fuck up a world," I said while sighing.
Because despite all of this I know that my first goal was to find some cash to fix my damn door and get my health back to a hundred!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone