Winston ran into five starfish of his own species. This was inevitable, as the mines were filled with enslaved, Worker Starfish who were working around here, just to avoid being shot at. The ones on this branch of the mine were working through a new tunnel, which also had a decent deposit of gems, therefore the mine owners had given priority to it.
Winston had worked alone in his part of the mine earlier on, because the tunnel that he dug minerals out of was mostly depleted. He had been unlucky enough to mine what remained from the iron veins, and therefore, he had worked alone. Other than the guards, he typically didn't see any other starfish throughout his entire shift, so the emotional turmoil that built up within him when he saw a bunch of starfish of his own species, was difficult to describe. He didn't like it, though he couldn't find it within himself to shoot at them either. They were innocent.
"What are you doing with that gun, Winston? Where did you get it?" One of the starfish asked. He was an elder, and had been slaving away in these mines for over twenty years now. "What's going on?"
"Uh…" He mumbled, unsure of what to say at first. "I've had enough, elder George, and I'm getting out of here."
Winston wasn't going to shoot at the people who had gone through the same pain that he did. He couldn't shoot them, not in a million years, so he decided to bargain with them quickly, before the rest of the guards caught up with him. Plenty of them had likely heard the gunshots, so it would take a single misstep for him to be surrounded, and gunned down by several guards.
"You're either with me, or against me." He pressured. "If you don't wanna get out of here, I understand, but I expect you to act oblivious if the guards ask you questions. I was never here, elder George, do you understand?"
"You can never truly escape, Winston." George pleaded. "You'll have a price on your head by the end of the day… You'll be labeled a fugit-"
"Everyone will call you a traitor of the empire!" Another starfish added frantically.
At this point, even though his heart was at the right place, Winston had wasted too much time talking to these starfish. He was only aware of that fact when he heard at least two guards running over from a tunnel on his right side. He understood that he couldn't run away now, without being shot at, however, he also couldn't fight them without endangering the Worker Starfish in front of him!
For that matter, with a simple flick of his hand, he made the 9mm Starfish Destroyer disappear from his hand. He hid it in his new arsenal of pistols.
"What's going on here!" One of the guards yelled out, as soon as they popped up from around the corner. "Who's shooting?"
"Down there," Winston pointed at the route that he had taken moments ago. "I hit a nest of Red Urchins, and the guard is taking care of them! I think he needs some help…"
The white lie he came up with was believable enough. The mines had trouble with Red Urchins countless times before, as those urchins fed on minerals for some reason. The guards believed him, and since the rest of the starfish slaves didn't rat him out, he successfully convinced the guards to run down the main path of the mines, and so he sent them on a hunt for a problem that did not exist.
As soon as the two guards had their backs turned on him, Winston summoned his pistol in the blink of an eye, and shot at them! He wasn't the best marksman, however, so he couldn't perform headshots this time around. He emptied all three bullets in his clip across the turned backs of the guards, dropping them dead a moment later! It would appear that three bullets were more than enough to do the trick.
[+20 system points]
[Total points = 50]
After he gunned them down, he slapped the magazine of his pistol, and so he reloaded it. It only took him two seconds to do so.
[-8 mana points]
Afterwards, he looked at the Worker Starfish, and ignored the disappointed look in their pink faces. They looked at him as if he was a monster, but he couldn't care less about that, and would kill hundreds of Bubonic Starfish if he had to! The aforementioned species may not be his natural predator, but in his eyes, they were certainly an enemy of some sort. He despised them.
Winston ran past the Worker Starfish, and said, "You can slave away down here if you want to. I'm getting out of here!"
To his surprise, despite their hesitation, all five of the starfish followed after him! They saw what he was capable of, and they were hoping that his pure rage would get them out of the mines.
"What are we gonna do after we get out of here?" One of the workers asked the other.
Quick as a flash, another worker answered, "Let's hope that we get out first."
Winston led the way, and shot two more guards down, across the main pathway of the mines. He caught them by surprise, and he didn't care to spare any of them!
Afterwards, he shot down two more of them, and emptied his clip for the second time. This didn't bother him, as he had plenty of mana to go around, so he reloaded the clip once more.
[-8 blue mana points]
[Mana Pool = 376/2,000 points]
[+40 system points]
[Total System Points = 90]
"You're quite chatty, aren't you?" He asked silently, as he kept pushing through his uphill battle. "What are these system points about? You keep mentioning them."
The system answered immediately. One would think that she had been waiting for a question like this!
[System points are your best friend, Winston. They can be used for so many things! However, considering the intensity of the situation that you are in, would you like to spend 50 system points to arm those friends behind you?]
[Their guns will be half as powerful as yours. They're going to be replicas, however, since the replicas will last them for an entire hour, it would be quite strategic to arm your friends.]
"Okay, that sounds good!" He exclaimed, and in fact he was celebrating for once. "Arm them for me, system!"
[Turn around, and flick your wrist. I've already activated the Replicator for you, so you can arm your friends yourself.]
"Haha!" He celebrated, and then flicked his left wrist towards the workers.
All five of them were equipped in the blink of an eye! The surprise they felt was beyond description, but other than that, they also started feeling empowered! After several years of forced labor, they were finally getting a taste of what freedom felt like.
"Slap the fucking magazines!" He shouted at them. "Load your guns, and turn off the safety if you wanna survive this!"
Winston didn't like how they were standing around like old Sea Cucumbers. He had to guide them, even now when they had guns on their hands. He felt responsible for them.