The Life- Illusion

by Lincoln Greene

  Gadot eased off the gas, letting the wheel slide against the heel of her hand for a moment before clamping down on it and flooring the accelerator again, sending them streaking down a nearby alley. Jimmy climbed awkwardly out of his hatch again, a death grip on the recoilless rifle.

  “OK. Fire one!” He shouldered the gun and sighted briefly on the police helicopter following them. A projectile streaked from the front of the tube, a thin trail of white smoke following it as Jimmy cheered. An instant before it struck the helicopter, it blossomed apart into several tiny bombs and exploded. The air around the helicopter erupted, a series of small explosions shredding the cockpit and engines. Jimmy reloaded the recoilless rifle, flipping open the back end and sliding in a fresh shell he produced from somewhere in his hatch as the helicopter lazily spiraled into a nearby building and exploded, raining glass and debris all over the road as they drove underneath.

  Kurt dropped into his seat, eyes wide. He braced himself as the Cadillac swung around a corner in the downtown cluster and hurtled towards a police roadblock. Several cruisers were placed in a row, directly braced by four large armored swat vehicles. A shell from the recoilless shot out in front of the Escalade, bursting in air before it hit the roadblock and spread explosions all along the road. Gadot pulled the mask from her face and grinned at Kurt before whispering into her coms; “Brace.”

  They hit the ruin of the police blockade and blasted through it, sending charred and flaming wreckage skidding off the road in either direction while Jimmy slapped the roof and shouted his approval. He slid back into the rear compartment, reloading the recoilless rifle once more and getting comfortable at the machineguns again. The bulk of the police force chasing them was in ruins, and as Kurt scanned the map he watched their Heat notification ping up again.

  A six bar Heat level apparently came with heavy air support, as Kurt watched four new helicopter icons appear on the outskirts of the map. “Oh good, more of those.”

  They arrived back at the outside of the bank, and Kurt took in the destruction left by GoonStorm. The pristine corporate park area outside the bank was crushed to rubble in several areas, dotted by blackened scorch marks and the husks of burnt out vehicles. No bodies were present, but several piles of armor, helmets, and weapons marked the demise of GoonStorm players. The tanks tread tracks led off down a nearby side street, more destroyed vehicles dotting its path.

  Narrowing her eyes and smiling, Gadot drove them around the corner to follow the trail of destruction. “Let’s go tank hunting.” A squad of three black Chargers came up behind them, spreading out to box them in. Jimmy took each one out with a quick controlled burst of gunfire to the windshield, carefully placed so as to not kill the NPCs within. As Gadot followed the trail of destruction, it became clear that the tank was heading towards the freeway, and moving out of the Downtown Cluster.

  “Alright Jimmy, time to stop shooting the bulls.” Gadot leaned forward and expanded the map on the windshield as she spoke.

  Kurt turned, concern evident on his features as he addressed her. “Forgive my questioning your methods, but that sounds like a terrible thing to do.”

  “Yeah, plus I don’t wanna.” Jimmy had turned in his seat, metal facemask lifted as he peered questioningly through the dark window.

  Gadot smiled and nodded. “It’s a very bad thing, but not for us. They’re running, trying to take the freeway to their base since they can’t actually lose the bulls in that sledgehammer they’re driving. They take out enough of the NPCs and they can slip into the base in that window and get away clean. We are not going to let that happen.”

  She checked the rearview briefly, turning down a side street to intersect a main road. Cutting across a squad of black Chargers, Gadot cut the wheel and sent them into a slide between the vehicles, flooring the accelerator and sending them hurtling towards another group of police NPCs. Glancing upwards through the windshield, Gadot nodded when she saw one of the police helicopters bank to follow them. She braked hard, bouncing the SUV up onto the curb of a nearby park and blasting through benches in her way as she cut across the grassy area.

  With a healthy force of police NPCs in tow, Gadot cut back onto the main road, moving towards the freeway. She weaved between oncoming police cruisers and Chargers, using the bulk of the Escalade to ram them out of the way as needed and barreling down the onramp to the freeway with a hoard of NPC police in tow.

  Slipping between civilian vehicles with a practiced ease, Gadot swiped the map forward along the freeway until she found what she was looking for. “There. Maybe…two miles ahead of us.” A cluster of black dots surrounded a large black dot, with a trail of flashing police NPC dots on the road ahead of them. Swiping the map over to Kurt’s side, Gadot checked the rear-view mirror and slowed the Escalade slightly, not wanting to get too far ahead of the police NPC force following them.

  “Are you sure I can’t shoot any of these cops? Sorry, bulls?” Jimmy sounded genuinely dejected over the coms, causing Kurt to look back at his friend. He was hunched over the Brownings, idly rolling a shell from the recoilless rifle around on the floor.

  “Dude! Don’t play with that, its explosive.” Kurt banged on the glass when Jimmy began tossing the shell end over end and catching it one handed. “Are we calling them ‘bulls’ now too?

  Gadot smiled and shook her head. “Crews always use different names for things like that, part of the immersion I guess. Kind of an un-official tradition in Illusion. I say bulls for police NPCs, dosh for money, and toasters for civilian NPCs. You guys are in my crew now, so you’re welcome to do the same. I’m not fussy either way.” She cut across traffic, ramming a civilian vehicle out of her way. “Sure sign of a noob not to use the lingo though.”

  “Bulls it is.” Kurt shrugged as he sat back, checking his safety harness to ensure it was secure. The surroundings began to change as they exited the city. Grassy hills dotted with expensive looking homes spread out across the countryside before them, the massive twelve lane freeway a river cutting through the upscale residential neighborhood. Remembering he had looted a new weapon and hadn’t had a chance to really inspect it, Kurt scanned his Glock again.

  Glock Model 17 Full Auto

  Pistol. Sidearm. Weapon drops upon death only if equipped in the Primary/Secondary slot.

  Caliber: 9mm

  Rate of Fire: 1300 rounds per minute.

  Capacity: 17 Round Magazine

  WARNING!

  Item has not been unlocked. Can only be equipped in Primary/Secondary slot. No modifications may be applied.

  Kurt re-read the warning, making a face. He deduced that he was allowed to use items he had not unlocked, but losing them would mean they were simply gone. Not being able to add modifications also curbed his ideas to get some extended magazines. With a shrug, he turned his attention back to the road.

  It was not difficult to determine when they were approaching the GoonStorm tank and its escorts. The civilian traffic became erratic, with panicked NPC drivers swerving and slamming into one another, coupled with a heavy police presence. The tank was surrounded by a squad of GoonStorm players on dirt bikes, which made Jimmy smile as he peered through the window. An explosion rocked the freeway, police NPC vehicles that had clustered too closely together erupting in flame and scattering bits of flaming metal across the area as Gadot weaved between them.

  “OK, here’s the plan. We get ahead of them, let our police force get in their way, then you take out the tank with the recoilless, Jimmy. Good?” Gadot chewed on her lower lip for a moment while watching the traffic patterns ahead of them. Without waiting for a response from Jimmy, she cut the escalade across into oncoming traffic, swerving to avoid the panicked civilian NPCs and make it to the far side of the freeway. Once they were safe in the emergency lane on the other side of the freeway, she pressed the accelerator hard, bringing them even with the tank and dirt bike formation briefly.

  Jimmy leaned over to the side window, one hand pressed against it as he pointed.
“Look at that spray on the side! I know this asshole!” He pointed to a spray-painted icon of two revolvers crossed under a skull with the name ‘Ocelot’ on the side of the tank.

  “Isn’t that the guy who took your turf?” Kurt gripped his Glock while staring at the tank and swarm of Goons while they drove past.

  Glaring at them through his facemask, Jimmy nodded. “Why yes. Yes, he is.” He gripped the handles of the machine guns and swiveled them to aim at the GoonStorm group. “Change of plans. Be ready for incoming fire.”

  The GoonStorm players noticed them, and the tank was ready with its main gun, blasting a police SUV directly behind them and washing the Escalade in flame. Gadot cut across the lanes, driving erratically and trying to ensure a vehicle was between them and the main gun on the tank.

  Jimmy began firing the machine guns, targeting police vehicles as they cut into the lanes between them and the tank. He sprayed the road at tire level, causing several of the NPC vehicles to slide sideways and begin a series of flips. A huge pile-up ensued, with a dozen police vehicles becoming entangled as they crashed into one another, forming a blockage across the road. The GoonStorm players on dirt bikes were wiped out in the subsequent chaos, each of them crashing into the mess of police NPC vehicles and joining the pileup. Ocelot responded predictably, blasting the mess with his main cannon, creating a chain of explosions along the freeway and leaving a tangle of charred vehicles.

  Enough vehicles piled up and crunched into one another that Ocelot was stuck, no place to turn his tank with dozens of police NPC vehicles boxing him in from the rear. As the tank began the laborious process of climbing over the wreckage, Jimmy stood up from his hatch, drawing the recoilless rifle up with him. He stared at the tank while Gadot brought the Escalade to a stop, nervously chewing her lip as she watched the tank crest a pile of burnt vehicles, crushing them beneath its treads. Ocelot swung his turret to the rear, blasting at police NPCs to cover his escape.

  “If you miss, they have us cold.” She pressed both gas and brake at the same time, causing the SUV to buck as its tires began to boil.

  “Hadn’t thought of that. Guess I shouldn’t miss then.” Shouldering the recoilless rifle, he sighted at the tank and waited. Climbing the pileup of ruined cars was not particularly difficult for the tank, and it was soon atop the vehicles, its turret slowly turning to face them. Jimmy took a deep breath and fired the recoilless rifle.

  The shell smacked into the turret and erupted in front of the tank, black smoke boiling into the sky. When it cleared, Gadot burst out in a cheer and let off the brake, sending the Escalade into a slide as she turned the vehicle to make a pass.

  “Was that on purpose?!” She parked the Escalade across the freeway from the now weaponless tank, looking back through the window at Jimmy while he reloaded the recoilless rifle.

  “Of course. So is this.” He stood back up through the hatch and fired the rifle one more time, striking the tank at the rear edge of its tread. With a hard metallic ping, the shell ricocheted off the tread, blasting it apart while the shell erupted in the air next to the tanks rear end. The explosion left the tank intact, but shredded its tread and immobilized it entirely. What was left of its cogs spun free of the tread and it slid back down from the pile of wrecked cars in front of it. Moving in a slow sad circle, the tank was crippled.

  “You going to finish him off or what?” Gadot tapped the steering wheel, nervous to be gone before the police NPCs could turn their attention back to them.

  Sitting back in his machine gun nest, Jimmy put his arms behind his head and leaned up against the glass, watching the tank trying to drive with only one tread. “Nope. Just watch, this will be over in a minute.”

  Staring out the windows, they left Kurt to stress out over the encroaching police dots on the map and enjoyed the show. Ocelot tried to pop the hatch and abandon the tank, but it was far too late. Police special units and SWAT were already surrounding him. As soon as the hatch went up, they opened fire and forced him to take cover back inside his armored but immobile fortress. One of the police NPCs climbed up on the tank and dropped a grenade inside before closing the hatch.

  A bright flash and loud pop sounded, and the NPC jerked open the hatch once more, allowing white smoke to billow out. Within a few seconds, they watched Ocelot being dragged from the tank and slapped into handcuffs.

  Jimmy stood up out of his hatch and pulled his mask off. “Hey Goon!” Ocelot blinked away the stun grenade he had taken and looked over as he was hauled to a nearby van by the police NPCs. “Nice bracelets!” Jimmy tipped Ocelot a salute as he began to shout, venom and vitriol taking the place of actual words.

  Gadot spun the wheel and hit the gas as the police NPCs finally caught up to them again and gave chase. She was laughing as she slid between them, barreling down the freeway once again, back towards the city. Jimmy lifted the recoilless and took one final shot, striking the disabled tank directly in the engine block with a high explosive shell.

  The tank blasted apart on the road, an unfurling wave of fire and smoke washing over everything nearby for a few moments. Jimmy laughed as he tucked the recoilless rifle gently back into its compartment, laying a hand lovingly on it for a moment before closing the cover.

  Kurt scowled as the heat notification bumped up to seven bars. A new trio of helicopters appeared on the edge of the map, moving towards them. “Seven bar heat.” He spoke tensely, concern obvious in his voice.

  “Is that all? I’d have thought that cluster on the freeway would be an eight bar for sure.” Jimmy sighed, idly firing off a few rounds from the Brownings. “Ah well, maybe next time.”

  Gadot merely chuckled, cutting the wheel and taking them off road in a series of jostling bumps. She drove over a nearby hill and cut into a strip-mall parking lot, running down a fence and sliding to a stop in an empty parking spot.

  Before Kurt could register what was happening, Gadot and Jimmy were out of the Escalade and moving. He scrambled to unbuckle his seat belt and grab his duffel bag before following them, nervously looking over his shoulder for the encroaching helicopters. Gadot slid a thin bar of dull grey metal from her pocket and slipped it into the window of a nearby Mercedes Benz E-Class four door. With a quick motion, the door lock popped open and she slid inside. Another quick manipulation of the ignition and the car roared to life.

  Sitting down in the rear passenger seat, Kurt glanced at his wrist display, surprised to see a drop in their heat level of two bars. The Mercedes roared out of the parking lot, as Gadot drove them away in the opposite direction of the encroaching police force. After driving for a few miles, they performed the car swap again, this time into dropping into a three bar Heat and losing the helicopter pursuit. Driving out another half dozen miles while avoiding police, they changed vehicles one more time. This time they got into a 2018 Aston Martin Rapide, which Gadot opened with her wrist phone, indicating she owned it.

  The remaining bar of heat dropped off as they sat in the parking lot, each on their wrist phones and unconcerned with the world around them. They had driven out into a forested area far east of the downtown cluster. The map showed a small town named Lakeside, which branched out in a crescent around a large lake part way up a mountain. Kurt took the time to pull up his several skill notifications and swipe through them.

  Primary

  Disguise Rank 6. (Interaction)

  “It’s scary what a smile can hide.” -Unknown

  A well thought out disguise can get you surprisingly far in criminal activities. Increases success rate of appropriate disguises by 6% Reduces cost (if any) of disguise acquisition by 6% (Effective bonus raised by Infiltrator to 11%)

  Primary

  Small Arms Rank 4. (Combat)

  “You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.” -Al Capone

  Skilled use of basic firearms can assist in several tasks. Maximum damage with all firearms increased by 4%

  Additional weapons and weapon modification
s unlocked.

  Secondary

  Gunslinger rank 3 (Combat)

  “The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are on the right or wrong end of the gun.” P.G. Wodehouse

  A handgun or revolver is an adaptable and commonly used firearm platform in all criminal activities. Skilled use can produce incredible benefits. Armor penetration is increased with handguns by 3%. Damage with revolvers is increased by 3%. Additional handguns and revolvers are unlocked for purchase. This skill is currently stacking with Small Arms.

  Primary

  Liar rank 7. (Interaction.)

  “The essence of lying is in deception, not in words.” -John Ruskin

  Dishonesty is a core concept in the criminal world. Any dishonest interaction receives a 7% bonus to succeed when interacting with NPCs of any kind. (Effective bonus raised by Infiltrator to 12%)

  Secondary

  Underhanded Rank 4. (Interaction)

  “Profit is sweet, even if it stems from deception.” -Sophacles

  Guided deception can profit those capable of outwitting their peers. Adds a 20% chance to provide a bonus payment of up to one million dollars anytime profit is made from dishonest interactions. (If the chance of a bonus rises over 100%, a second bonus will be rolled for with any remaining percentage.) Increases dishonest interaction success rate by 4% Currently stacking with Liar.

  Specialist

  Obfuscation. Rank 3 (Interaction)

  “All war is deception.” -Sun Tzu

  Deceptions involving multiple victims, using multiple veins of mistruth are complex to wield, but profit those capable. This isn’t just a lie, it’s bordering on politics. Adds a modifier to Liar and Underhanded skills, increasing each of their bonuses by a factor of 3.