The Life- Illusion

by Lincoln Greene

  Raising an eyebrow, Kurt checked his new Glock’s status screen. He was pleased to discover that it had been unlocked by his recent rank up, allowing it to be equipped in any slot and modified. The idea of extended magazines had him smiling again.

  Jimmy pulled Kurt from his reverie. “Well, didn’t take long for us to become famous.” He reached his arm from the back seat between the two of them, letting them touch wrists and pull up the video he had been watching. It was titled: GoonStorm Hit!

  The video showed Kurt, Jimmy, and Gadot storming out of a subway entrance. Their faces were pixelated, but their voices could be heard clearly as gunfire peppered the air around them. The video cut to black as Gadot fell from a shot to the chest while Kurt was charging the camera. It cut back in on the freeway, following at a safe distance from inside a car. The video showed their faceoff with the tank, the driver at a vantage point above them on a nearby hill. It ended with Jimmy saluting Ocelot while he was being dragged away in handcuffs.

  The comments section under the video was rapidly filling with questions and theories. Most people seemed to think it was a GoonStorm stunt, or some kind of internal squabble. Several GoonStorm members had already come to the video to claim their supremacy, or remind the viewers that they owned the city. One commenter quickly rose to the top of the videos thread by simply posting the word; “Heroes.” By the time Kurt had watched the video twice, that comment had over a thousand separate approval ratings and the video had been seen by almost a hundred thousand people. Word spread quickly in the Illusion community.

  Gadot chuckled. “This is good. Keep them guessing and disorganized. This video and the dozens like it that will come out soon will seriously piss off GoonStorm leadership. I want them aggressive and stupid, this is better than good. It’s perfect.” She swiped away her phone with a smile, driving them out of the parking lot. They drove around the lake, approaching a small airport with high fences around it. As they approached, Kurt noticed some familiar guards.

  The Lace had its NPCs guarding the entire airport, and the reason for that heavy guard became quickly evident as they were waved through the gate. A matte black C-17 cargo plane sat on the runway ahead of them, its rear door standing open. Kurt gaped upwards through the windshield as Gadot drove them into the rear compartment, parking behind other vehicles. Two Lace NPCs approached and began securing the car with straps, giving a hand signal to someone Kurt couldn’t see towards the front of the plane. The door closed immediately and the jet began to taxi down the runway.

  Kurt gripped at a handle on the roof of the car as the cargo jet rose into the sky, banking sharply while it left town. After a few minutes, things evened out and a red light in the ceiling ahead of them clicked to green. Gadot and Jimmy both got out, and Kurt followed them a moment later. They each carried their bags slung around shoulders. Kurt looked around, noticing several strange and interesting vehicles strapped down alongside what looked like large metal cargo containers.

  A Lace NPC guard stood at the front of the cargo area, beside of a series of stairs leading up. He moved aside as they approached, nodding respectfully to Gadot and giving Jimmy and Kurt a deadpan stare.

  The group entered a modified passenger compartment, elaborate furnishings and décor spread through a spacious room populated with armed guards. The sloping walls were covered by mahogany paneling, and thick crimson shag carpeting covered the floor. Curtains were drawn back from the windows, allowing the sunset outside to filter in, shading the room in yellows and reds. Kurt’s eyes widened as he saw the painting he and Jimmy had stolen the night before on a wall near the rear of the compartment.

  Gadot stopped them half way across the room, turning to face them. “This is Lace HQ, so don’t break anything.” She gave Jimmy half a smile, turning back.

  “Why can’t we break anything?” Kurt frowned as he looked to Jimmy.

  Offering a laugh and shrug, Jimmy followed Gadot towards the front of the room. “I dunno man, try it and find out. I’m new here too.”

  “I feel like that would get me thrown off the plane.” Moving up, Kurt followed them through into the next room. It was a smaller version of the room they had just left, with a large oak desk in the center of the room. Three luxurious armchairs were pulled out on their side of the desk, and Crane was seated across from them, her hands together in front of her on the desk.

  “Good evening Crane.” Gadot smiled as she set her duffle bag down on the desk. Jimmy and Kurt both nodded their greetings and placed their own bags down. Jimmy casually tossed his on the floor beside the desk and flopped into his chair, setting his feet up on the desk. These actions earned him a familiar tight-lipped smile from Crane.

  “Mr. James. Charming as ever.” She waved a guard over. “If you do not remove your feet from my desk, I will have you killed.” Crane spoke with the same tight-lipped smile and pleasant tone she always used when dealing with Jimmy, and nodded when he raised his hands in surrender and removed his boots from the desk, chuckling under his breath as he did.

  She turned to look at Kurt. “Good to see you Mr. Kurtis, I’m ingratiated to discover Gadot has taken you under her wing. Almost as ingratiated as I am to see your repeated success.” She opened one of the bags on the desk, before shoving it to the side and waving over an NPC guard. He gathered up the bags and carried them one at a time through a door at the front of the cabin.

  The door closed behind the NPC, but opened again a second later. A man and woman exited and stood behind Crane. She waved a hand behind her. “Your attachés.”

  Kurt leaned over towards Jimmy, but Gadot turned her head and gave him a look. “First rank NPC helper. They do things like shop for you, or bring your car. Strictly non-combat.” Kurt nodded in understanding, returning his attention to Crane.

  “Now as to the distribution of funds. If you would like to use our in-house laundry service, I can make that available to you and have the funds wired to your accounts before you make landfall.” She looked to each of them for a response, blinking and shifting her gaze as Kurt and then Gadot each nodded their approval. Jimmy smiled wide and shook his head, causing Cranes lips to tighten again. She motioned to the man behind her and he nodded, turning to leave the room. He returned shortly with a small leather shoulder bag, setting it down on the table in front of Jimmy.

  He looked to Kurt and Gadot with a shrug. “I have a guy for this kind of thing already.”

  Crane nodded. “I can respect that Mr. James, but in the future you should be aware that our rates for this service are highly competitive.” She turned her attention back to Kurt. “We have a gift for you Mr. Kurtis, to commemorate your recent accomplishments. Something that should suit an Infiltrators needs nicely.” As she spoke, she slid a desk drawer open and set a small black leather pouch in front of him.

  The pouch was rounded, with a fine white lace print trim around the edges. When Kurt unzipped it, he discovered a small gun shaped lock pick. It was painted matte grey, and just barely fit in the palm of his hand, its pick extending in a thin stiletto shape.

  “Mr. James, I have a gift for you as well. I hope you can forgive my presumption, but this item seemed to just…fit you.” The male attaché approached, carrying a long-barreled rifle with a bipod on the front, a wooden stock, grip, and a wood and metal carrying handle. Kurt scanned it at the same time Jimmy did.

  M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle

  Rifle. Primary/Secondary weapon. Weapon drops upon death and can be collected by any player in the vicinity.

  Caliber: .30-06

  Rate of Fire: 500-650 rounds per minute

  Capacity: 20 round box magazine

  Jimmy frowned, picking up the heavy rifle. “Why would I want…OOO! Thirty aught six!” He stood from the desk and moved around to hug Crane, which she bore awkwardly. Kurt and Gadot stared at him while he sat back down. “Thank you, Crane. I really mean that, this is perfect.”

  “Well…continue being a valuable asset I suppose.” She blinked rapidly a fe
w times. “Please don’t…hug me anymore.”

  A large smile on his features, Jimmy played with his phone for a moment before scanning the gun again. “Anything you say Crane.” He noticed Kurt and Gadot’s stares and explained, still poring over his new firearm. “I’ve been stuck working on Big Bore for months. I’m sure it’s what I need to move on with my class, but there’s so few guns that count towards it. Mostly hunting rifles and big snipers, a tiny bit for shotguns running slugs. This is basically an assault rifle, but .30-06 ammo gives XP towards Big Bore. I’m so happy!”

  Gadot noticed Kurt was still confused, and sat back in her chair with a shrug. “Big Bore is a specialist skill, focused on large caliber ammunition and weapons. Mostly for snipers, I’m not sure why a brawler like Jimmy would want it, but eh.”

  Kurt nodded his late understanding, turning his attention back to Crane. “Thank you for the lock pick gun.” He smiled politely with a nod, earning a slight scowl.

  Crane turned to Gadot. “Your request has been granted. The vehicle is available for purchase at your convenience.”

  Gadot simply nodded in response, moving to stand. Kurt and Jimmy followed, carrying their new items happily. She turned at the stairs leading to the cargo hold and looked at the men for a moment, one eyebrow slightly raised. “Tomorrow we go meet with the pirates and hit the Russians. Two days after is the GoonStorm meet. You guys ready?”

  Jimmy just snorted, looking to Kurt. Kurt’s eyes widened a little as he looked between Gadot and Jimmy. “Uh…I don’t really know. What do I need?”

  Leaning against the wall, Gadot looked him over. “I forget that you’re new. You have a safehouse yet?” When Kurt shook his head in response, she continued. “That’s a top priority then, now that you have some bankroll to work with. Safehouses are storage, so when you get killed and lose all your gear, you can have a set to work with instead of starting from scratch with just a sidearm. You should also get yourself a vehicle of some sort, we can’t always drive you around.”

  She started down the stairs before turning to look at Jimmy. He grinned at her, hefting his new firearm and she shook her head. “Never mind, you’re fine.”

  Jimmy tromped down the stairs behind her, happily smiling. “Glad you noticed.”

  Kurt was left to follow them, scratching his head in confusion. “Hey hang on, how are we getting down? Will they land for us or what?”

  Gadot gave a short laugh. “Ha! Nope.”

  Sighing deeply, Kurt felt his stomach clench. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

  “Not even a little bit.” Jimmy was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs and clapped him on the back with his customary smile. “At first anyway. It’s pretty fun once you get used to it.” He pointed to the far side of the cargo holds wall, indicating a series of parachutes hung on hooks beneath goggles.

  Slipping into the straps of a parachute, Gadot slid on a pair of goggles before turning to a wide flat red button on the wall. Her hand hesitated over it, and she turned back to face Kurt and Jimmy. “Can I trust you guys in here?”

  Kurt didn’t look up from the parachutes, nervously fingering a strap. “Why, where are we?”

  Gadot shook her head and slapped the button, causing a blaring alarm to sound as a small hatch near the rear of the large cargo door slid open. Without saying anything else she leapt through the hatch, arms crossed over her chest, and vanished out into the night.

  Jimmy stepped over and pressed the button again, causing the door to slide closed as he looked at Kurt. “I’m not positive, but I think this is the main base for this faction. Which means that if Gadot gets her rep high enough and does a takeover mission, all this becomes hers. At that point, it becomes kind of like a guild hall. So she probably doesn’t want us blowing it up or something else stupid.” He paused, looking upwards for a moment. “A reasonable concern, really.”

  “Woah. You mean we could get a flying fortress as our guild hall?” Kurt took in the contents of the cargo hold again. “…Cool.” He scowled and looked at his lock pick gun for a moment. “Wait, did we join her guild?”

  Jimmy shook his head. “Naw, you did a job, right? Well…we did. It was FOR the Lace, but we didn’t know that at the time. Once we were done, we could just walk away from the Lace and go join the Pirates or do our own thing if we want. But I like this faction, and you seem to as well, so here we are.” He scowled for a moment, in thought. “There’s no official guild system. No guild name above your character, no G-kicks or invites. It’s all more natural, you kind of just stumble into and out of factions as you go. If you LIKE a faction, you stick around and do their stuff. If not, you wander into something else, or build your own faction like what Gadot has done here. Reps decay over time, so you won’t REALLY be in multiple groups at once, but some players like to try and juggle them. Usually ends up with interesting storylines.”

  Kurt stopped, eyes widening. “Gadot built this faction?”

  Turning to the parachutes with a shrug, Jimmy grabbed one from the wall and shouldered into it. “Sure, why not. As far as I can tell, this whole faction is keyed to her playstyle. It seems to follow that she built it. Not consciously though I’d guess, the game pays attention to every little thing you do. How you dress, the guns you like, the way you talk to people, the cars you drive, just…everything. All of it can go to crafting a faction like this just by playing. Now that we’re in the Lace, I’m sure it’ll change a little here and there though. How it goes with factions being all player run.” He turned to face Kurt and finished clipping his parachute in place around his groin.

  “You look ridiculous. I really have to jump out of the plane?” Kurt stepped away from the parachutes, glancing around at the vehicles as if looking for other options.

  Jimmy approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Trust me. This is a super gentle way to get introduced to parachuting. My first time, I was getting shot down in a stolen helicopter with no weapons. It was terrifying to the point that I didn’t actually make the jump until it was too late and I went splat.”

  Kurt’s eyes widened at the thought, and he reached for a parachute. Jimmy helped him get it clipped in place, and handed him a pair of goggles from the wall. His heart began racing as Jimmy’s hand hovered over the button. “Wait, I’m not ready.”

  “Too bad.” Jimmy slapped the button and grabbed Kurt by the handle on the back of his parachute. He dragged his friend to the edge of the hatch as Kurt halfheartedly struggled against him. “OK, this is your ripcord! Pull it when you’re clear!” He smiled after he was done shouting the simple instructions. “I have to throw you out now buddy! It’s for your own good, I promise!” With that, he kicked the back of Kurt’s knees out and shoved him forward and down hard in a single motion.

  Kurt fell from the cargo plane in the fetal position, screaming uncontrollably. The wind tore at his clothes and howled past his ears as he plummeted. Everything in his mind shouted at him that it wasn’t real and that he was fine, but the stimuli said otherwise. After he ran out of breath to scream for the second time, he gained a fatal sense of calm and managed to open his eyes. He was spinning slowly, and squeezed his eyes shut again, fighting back the panic.

  Forcing his limbs to obey him, he spread his arms and legs the way he had seen in movies, slowing his descent and stabilizing himself. After he felt the spin fade, he opened his eyes again and actually saw the city. Brilliant lights spread out from the Downtown Cluster, reaching in tendrils around the cities center. A huge expanse of ocean spread out to the south, with twinkling spots of light indicating small islands or large boats. To the east spread a mountainous area, dotted with small towns and cut with long winding grey roadways.

  A sudden joy burst from him, and he laughed out loud into the wind. He began turning slightly, trying various positions as he fell. The fear was gone from him entirely, replaced by pure exhilaration. The city of Illusion spread out beneath him in all its glory and beauty, and an overwhelming freedom enveloped his
senses. Fear came rushing back as he noticed how large the cities skyscrapers were getting, and he slapped at his ripcord. Forcing himself to calm down, he yanked on the cord and his parachute unfurled, jerking on his body as it slowed his descent to a more manageable speed.

  The Downtown Cluster rushed up to greet him, cement and steel causing the fear to come back in a flood. He began yanking on his steering lines, reactionarily weaving between the buildings while trying to figure out how to actually guide his descent. Once he was more or less clear of the skyscrapers, Kurt began looking for a street to land on, vastly more confident in his new parachuting abilities. All seemed to be going well as Kurt aimed for a familiar construction site, until he noticed the power lines.

  Kurt’s eyes widened and he yanked on the steering line in a hopeless attempt to dodge the upcoming power line in his path. His parachute hooked on the line, causing him to swing precariously into the middle of a four-lane road, feet kicking helplessly. The parachute became tangled, causing Kurt to swing back onto the road in a scraping tumble. Extricating himself from the lines and backpack, Kurt glanced at his wrist to note a drop of about a third in his health bar, explaining the dull hammer-blow pain he felt in his back and legs. A pleasant surprise was waiting for him in the cash section of his phone. He now had a little more than 1.5 million in dirty cash, and 36 million in clean money.

  10. Safehouses and Home

  Chapter 10

  Safehouses and Home

  As Kurt was standing up with a dreamy smile, drunk on his new riches, a civilian NPC laid on their horn, shouting obscenities out the window in a request for him to vacate the middle of the road. Obliging, he began walking down the sidewalk leading deeper into the Downtown Cluster. Glancing at his phone again, he internally reveled in the sheer amount of money at his disposal. The nearby roar of an engine distracted him, and he quickly lowered his wrist, looking over a shoulder towards the sound. A heavily armored 1997 Hummer H1 rounded the corner, its light blue and grey digital camouflage paintjob marking it as a GoonStorm vehicle. A GoonStorm member was leaning on a mounted machine gun poking out of the roof with a bored expression on his face.