Respawn in Reality: Game Over, Player One

Chapter 12

The HUD highlighted the bottle instantly. 

[Object: Glass Bottle. Weight: 1.2 lbs.]

[Status: Fragile. Excellent for creating environmental hazards.]

Leo looked at the men slowly walking toward him. They were holding pool cues, empty mugs, and chains. They looked like monsters. 

Leo grabbed a tall, wooden bar stool with his left hand. He pulled it in front of him like a shield. With his right hand, he raised the green glass bottle high in the air and smashed it down hard against the wooden edge of the bar. 

SHATTER. 

The bottom half of the bottle broke off, leaving Leo holding a jagged, sharp glass weapon. 

But Leo did not point the broken bottle at the men. Instead, he turned around and began to wildly smash every single full bottle of alcohol sitting on top of the bar. 

Smash! Crash! Shatter! 

He broke whiskey bottles. He broke vodka bottles. He broke rum bottles. 

Gallons of sticky, strong-smelling alcohol poured over the bar and flooded onto the wooden floor beneath the men’s feet. Broken shards of sharp glass mixed with the liquid, creating a dangerous, slippery, and sharp trap. 

The men stopped walking. They looked down at the flood of alcohol and broken glass covering the floor between them and Leo. They could not run across it without slipping. If they slipped and fell onto the jagged glass, they would be cut to pieces. 

"Careful," Raphael warned his men, holding his hand up. "Watch your step. Move slowly." 

Raphael was a smart criminal. He realized what Leo was doing. 

"You are a clever little rat," Raphael said smoothly. He slowly stepped onto the wet floor, testing his balance carefully. His shiny leather shoes crunched on the broken glass. "You use the room to fight for you. I have never seen anyone do that before. Who are you?"

"I am just a kid who wants his money," Leo said, his voice shaking slightly. His arms felt like heavy lead. His vision was starting to blur at the edges. 

[Warning: Stamina 10%.]

[System power routing from muscles to brain to maintain consciousness.]

"You are lying," Raphael smiled his cruel, gold-toothed smile. He took another slow, careful step toward Leo. He held the switchblade ready. "You move like a computer. You calculate. I see it in your eyes. But you are tired. I can see you shaking. You can't run anymore."

Raphael was right. Leo’s legs were shaking uncontrollably. The nanites were completely out of energy. He could not run. He could not dodge again. 

"We have you trapped," Raphael said. The other men slowly stepped onto the glass, closing the circle. "There are no more pool balls. There is nowhere to run. It's game over."

Leo looked up at the ceiling. 

Hanging directly above the center pool table, and directly above Raphael, was a massive, heavy iron chandelier. It was an antique light fixture, holding six bright bulbs. It was suspended from the ceiling by a thick, rusted metal chain. 

Leo’s HUD had already scanned the entire room when the fight started. It never forgot a detail. 

The glowing blue light of the HUD snapped onto the rusted chain holding the heavy iron chandelier. 

[Target: Iron Light Fixture.]

[Weight: 350 lbs.]

[Weak Point: Rusted ceiling hook.]

[Status: Structurally failing.]

Leo looked from the ceiling down to Raphael. "Game over?" Leo asked. He forced a smile onto his pale, sweating face. "You don't know anything about games, Raphael. You forgot to look up."

Raphael frowned. He was confused. Slowly, he began to look up toward the ceiling. 

But Leo did not wait. 

He still held the wooden bar stool in his left hand. With the last tiny bit of strength left in his arms, Leo swung the heavy stool upward with all his might. He threw it into the air, aiming directly at the rusted chain above Raphael’s head. 

The HUD drew a perfect blue line. 

The wooden stool flew through the air. It spun rapidly. 

CLANG! 

The heavy wood hit the old, rusted metal hook connecting the chain to the ceiling. It was a perfect, precise strike. 

The rusted hook snapped in half with a loud, metallic crack. 

Raphael looked up just in time to see three hundred and fifty pounds of solid iron falling directly toward his head. 

"No!" Raphael screamed. He raised his arms to protect himself. 

CRASH! 

The massive iron chandelier slammed down onto the pool table, right where Raphael was standing. The heavy metal crushed the side of the table. Wood splintered and exploded outward. 

Raphael was hit by the edge of the falling iron. The sheer weight of it knocked him completely to the ground, pinning his legs under the heavy metal fixture. The glass light bulbs shattered, spraying glass over him. 

"Ahhhhh! My legs!" Raphael screamed in pure agony. He dropped his switchblade. He tried to push the heavy iron off his body, but it was too heavy. He was trapped. 

The loud crash echoed through the bar like an explosion. 

The remaining thugs froze in absolute terror. They looked at their invincible boss, the feared leader of the street syndicate, crying on the floor, trapped beneath a light fixture. 

They looked back at the skinny, pale boy standing by the bar. 

To them, Leo was not a kid anymore. He was a monster. He had taken down their best fighters, destroyed the bar, and crushed their boss without ever throwing a single punch.