Alexandre quickly tensed his muscles and moved behind a large tree. He sunk into a fighting stance, but he wasn't sure exactly where the enemy was. Considering that Hunter powers were likely involved, he couldn't trust the simple trajectory of the bullet. He cautiously looked at his Pip-Boy.
╔════════Aurora Tactical System V0.23.1══════════╕
╟─╼[Log]: Danger!
║ ╰╼[Summary]: Soone is following you with hostile intent.
║ ╰╼[Tip #1]: Prepare to fight!
╚══════════════════════════════════════╛
There was another cracking sound and a bullet pierced his right calf!
Alexandre acknowledged the wound and quickly analyzed the situation in his mind. He was almost certainly dealing with a sniper-type Rifleman. He dropped to the ground and acted as though he was in agony, moving his hands like he was trying to keep himself from bleeding out on the ground.
As he did so, Alexander studied his leg wound. It seed to have been deliberately aid through the muscle but not the artery. It seed that whoever had shot him only wanted Alexandre neutralized, not dead.
Then his head snapped to the side as a rubber bullet struck him violently in the head! His vision blurred for the mont and he tasted blood from a bitten tongue which quickly healed. Alexandre decided to play along and make the enemy think he was unconscious, so he closed his eyes and went still.
For several minutes, nothing happened. Then there was another gunshot, and a tal bullet pierced Alexandre's foot. He didn't want to ruin his trap, so he didn't react. Instead, he simply kept his eyes open the barest crack so that he could see a bit while still looking like he was unconscious.
Finally, a young man of about the sa age as Alexandre approached, probably another of the first-year students. It seed that his victim's acting abilities had given him enough confidence to co out of hiding!
The student growled, "You son of a bitch! We'll see if you can keep your place as a golden boy with a bullet in your leg! I'd like to see you try running on that now..." He stepped closer and kept muttering like a madman. "Do you have any idea how much I risked hunting you down and shooting you? Well, I think I'm entitled to a little reward for my risk. Don't think that I didn't notice that you didn't link that gauntlet to you... I think I'll sell it on the black market!"
Despite his angry words, it was clear that the young man was more scared and anxious than anything. His eyes kept flicking around the clearing, as though the academy's drones were spying on his every move. Sweat poured off his forehead no matter how much he wiped it.
Finally the man reached the spot where Alexandre lay. He pointed his gun down and fired another rubber bullet point-blank at Alexandre's torso, but his victim didn't react. Apparently, it was Alexandre, more than the academy, that had this man so scared! Finally satisfied, the student bent down to begin pulling off Alexandre's gauntlets.
At that mont, like a corpse coming back to life, Alexandre snapped his eyes open and tightened an iron grip on the man's wrist.
The student scread and tried to escape, but it was too late. Alexandre's physical strength was far greater than his.
Alexandre brutally struck the student's knee, making his screams of fear turn to those of pain. He then struck the Rifleman in the left ribs, knocking all the breath out of him and sending him collapsed to the ground in a daze.
Of course, the Rifleman adaptations were almost the opposite of those induced in a Boxer: Unlike Alexandre, who had high stamina in terms of strength and resistance, the attacker had very little basic stamina or physical power. When one factored in Alexandre's edge due to equipnt, knowledge of his own body's capabilities, and (perhaps most importantly) his hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of experience points, there was absolutely no context in close combat.
The attacker had known this... to a certain extent. That was why he'd stayed in the shadows and tried to subdue Alexandre through ranged attacks before approaching, after all. And yet two important pieces of missing information had made this plan aningless: Alexandre's unique regeneration and his immunity to pain.
Alexandre rose to his feet as though, staring in contempt down at the horrified, wounded student who cringed on the ground and dreaded the fate that awaited him.
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