Jerome stepped in front of her, raising his hand to the other crews. “It be a peace talk Gadot, shootin’ people is more or less frowned upon.” That done, he addressed the Goons and Ursa gathered in front of them with weapons drawn. “Calm down ye daft buggers, she’s with us!”
“Oh, that? That was personal, don’t worry about it.” Gadot spoke cheerfully, holstering her sidearm as she did and smiling at the gathered players. “He had it coming.”
Kitty appeared on the screen behind them, creating an effective distraction. She was at the helm of the Jahre Viking, with the open ocean visible on all sides of her. Great blasts of spray rose and fell in the background, and it looked like she was helming the vessel at considerable speed. “Helloooo? This thing finally working?” She looked up at them from the helm, broadcasting from a portable camera.
Jerome looked back and waved. “Ay yer majesty, we have ye just fine. Most of the others be here, but we’re still missin’ GoonStorm command and Kurt.”
Kitty shrugged, and Kurt noticed that she was wearing only a florescent yellow bikini beneath her admiralty coat. “Oh I doubt you’re missing Kurtis, he’s just hiding somewhere. Let me know when the Goons show up.”
Computer problems.
So I got home from work the other day, went to turn on my PC, and nothing happened. It’s dead for some odd reason. So it’s getting shipped off for warranty repairs, and I won’t have it for a good long time. In light of that, and my need for a decent laptop, I went out and bought one. It doesn’t have word on it, so I have to figure out a temporary license or something. That should be sorted out later tonight though and hopefully I can get back to work. Everything is backed up, it’s just a serious impediment to my work for my main PC to up and croak in the middle of my last chapter. So again, many apologies for the delay, but I’m working as fast as I can to get around it and get back on track. I should have it done pretty soon here.
The War. C
As if on cue, the barricades to Kurt’s side parted and an obnoxiously painted vehicle rolled through. It was a stretch Humvee limo, with a burnished gold digital camo paint job and spinning rims. Four heavily armed GoonStorm troopers walked on either side of the vehicle, weapons held at a relaxed position as they ran escort duty.
Jimmy snorted, audible even from Kurt’s position. “Now here must be someone worthy of great respect.” He gestured to the stretch Humvee, his voice booming from beneath his mask in clear disdain.
The Ursa representative shook his head. “We are here to talk peace.” He spoke with a Russian accent, indicating his native tongue. “Enough equipment has been lost in this conflict.”
Gadot glared at the man, stepping forward with a hand on her sidearm. “You came to talk peace, not me.” She nodded her chin at the stretch Humvee as it parked. “I don’t bow to men like this.”
That earned her a sharp stare from the Ursa members, as grumbles began among their ranks. The leader stepped forward and raised a fist, stopping his members from open aggression. “The Ursa bows to no one.”
“Oh right, you just do the Goons’ dirty work for pay. Totally different thing, I agree.” Jimmy scoffed, adjusting his heavy loadout. “I wonder how you’ll look in blue digital camo.”
The exchange was interrupted by a single gunshot, followed by angry shouts from the stretch Humvee. The GoonStorm leader had attempted to step out of the vehicle holding his gold-plated AR-15 and inadvertently fired a shot into the pavement in front of himself. He turned and irately shoved at the GoonStorm member behind him, shouting about having been pushed. Gadot raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the Ursa leader, giving him a long stare as the GoonStorm leadership got themselves arranged by the other groups.
“Trigger discipline man.” Jimmy lifted his new rifle, pointing at the trigger. “If you squeeze this bit, the gun goes off.”
The leader of the GoonStorm forces scowled at Jimmy for a moment, before glancing around him at their superior numbers and giving a casual shrug. Kurt looked up sharply as Jimbo stepped down from the Humvee and stretched but found that he was not surprised by the man’s presence.
Kitty spoke up from her monitor, offering a cheery wave. “Hi Chet! Hi Pyotr! You guys get sick of losing this fight yet?”
The Ursa’s leader, apparently named Pyotr, waved a dismissive hand at her image, not bothering to respond verbally as his crew openly laughed at the statement.
Chet, leader of the Goons, ignored her as well and focused on Jimmy instead, seeming unable to let go of the incident between them. “Strange. I keep hearing about this boogeyman with a giant assault rifle taking out my guys. Turns out to be just a basic M-16 though…”
Jimmy gave a short bark of a laugh. “Sure thing friend. That’s all it is, a plain old M-16.”
“That is no M-16…” Pyotr shook his head slowly, staring openly at Jimmy’s rifle. “Look at the magazine, it’s too wide…the barrel is far too large as well.”
With a slow nod of his masked face Jimmy turned to the gathered Russian players. “Good eye.” He turned back to face the GoonStorm crew. “I don’t typically like to give out information about my build, but you guys seem like you need a bit of help.” He shook his head slightly and lifted the rifle. “This…is a Beowulf .50 Cal modification for the M-16 platform. It fires rounds that are somewhat larger than the average .556 and was originally used as a vehicle killer in combat.” He pointed his weapon’s barrel at the front of the stretch Humvee. “Shall I demonstrate?”
Chet waved his arms and somewhat unwisely stepped between Jimmy and the Humvee. “No! No, I believe you!” He scowled, placing his hands on his hips in a petulant display. “This is a peace talk, what the hell guys?!”
Laughter erupted from the screen behind Jimmy and Gadot, followed by a whimsical sigh. “Oh boys, you really should just whip it out and compare. I’d be more than happy to sit in as judge.” Kitty giggled as she leaned over the helm. Once the rest of the gathered players quieted down a bit, she continued. “Ok, good, my turn. Everyone who doesn’t want to get killed horribly or lose their vehicles and equipment should really evacuate the Downtown Cluster.” She lifted her wrist to her face and frowned critically. “Yeah, you should do that within the next half hour.”
The gathered players began to look at one another, confusion obvious on their faces. Pyotr stepped forward. “No disrespect, but you seem to be making threats.” He shrugged. “We are supposed to be here to discuss peace between our factions.”
Kitty looked confused for a moment, before smiling widely and shaking her head. “Not me! I just wouldn’t have felt right if I didn’t warn the Cluster before I wiped it out.” She paused there, swiping a lock of multicolored hair out of her face as her expression became dire. All jest and joy were gone from her voice when she spoke again. “And that’s what’s about to happen. I’m going to annihilate the Downtown Cluster, and anyone foolish enough to still be in it.”
All the gathered players simply stood and looked between each other for a moment. The goons began to laugh nervously, and it spread to the Ursa players before being shut down by a glare from their leader.
“One point five billion.” Chet was practically pleading, over the sound of his members laughter. “I’ve promised it, and I’ll pay it. I just want peace!” His arms raised towards the screen, speaking directly to Kitty.
She remained unimpressed. “No, you want the city. You want control.” Kitty sniffed, looking away from the camera and focusing on steering her ship for a moment. “The Pirates cannot be bought, period.”
The GoonStorm leader’s back stiffened, and he looked away slightly. “I don’t want control, I want everyone to have access to the games content. Higher level raids are impossible for some players, and if my crew has the turf, we can help everyone play everything.” By the time he finished, he had turned a full circle to address everyone gathered, somehow managing to miss Kurt’s location.
Kurt stood and adjusted his jacket, drawing the Messenger and slowly approaching the rear of the ga
thered players. He stayed close to the debris and moved with quiet, slow footsteps. Once he was standing behind them, he reached into his jacket pocket and slipped on his mask, tilting his head and waiting for his moment.
Jimmy let out a long sigh as the GoonStorm leader stopped speaking. He leaned forward and shook his head, tapping the butt of his rifle to his mask for a moment in frustration. Without warning, he drew his double barrel handgun and approached Chet, pointing the gun at the other man’s crotch. “I’m loaded with rubber bullets in here. This won’t kill you even with a critical hit so pay attention or it’s going to HURT.”
The gathered groups erupted in angry shouts and guns were raised on all sides. Kurt shook his head as none of the gathered players thought to check behind themselves and he was left to his own devices. Chet managed to calm everything, screeching above the clamor for his men to stand down.
Giving him a slight nod, Jimmy lowered the hammers on his double barreled 1911, but kept it pointed at the other man. “Are you lying right now? About the reason for your takeover?” He shook the gun slightly. “You seriously just want to make content on this server more accessible?”
Chet had his hands raised and took a step back while staring at Jimmy’s gun. “Of course! I had to build up this guild over three years just to do ANYthing. This game is too hard!”
Jimmy cocked his head to the side as Chet spoke, and then sighed and turned back to his group, holstering his gun. “We’re the bad guys. Again.” His shoulders slumped slightly as he returned to Gadot.
Kurt stepped up behind Jimbo. His voice echoed around the now quiet square. “We’ve always been the bad guys.” That got their attention, and guns were once again raised and pointed. “But that’s what this game is for. It’s also clearly not meant to be easy.”
“I knew I liked you for a reason Kurtis.” Kitty spoke with a smile clear in her voice. “If you can’t hack it, go back to playing that fantasy game.” Her visage grinned as she struggled to control the wheel of her ship, spray from a wave hitting her windshield. “I’m bored. Hey Jimmy?” When he turned to face the screen, she smiled at him. “Eggs have no business dancing with stones.”
Jimmy reached to his back and pulled his new shotgun free. It was exactly like the ones they had seen on the Lace guards their first night, and Kurt could see several distinct colors of shells peeking through the cutaway magazine. “No.” He pulled at the charging handle and loaded a shell. “No, they don’t.”
Gadot darted up to Jimmy’s back, drawing her UMP 45 and using her boyfriend as cover while she began picking targets from among the Ursa players. Jimmy swept his automatic shotgun across their ranks, dumping thirty rounds of magnum loaded steel buckshot into them and causing chaos and death. As his players fell to dust around him, Pyotr crouched and extended a collapsible ballistic shield to hide behind with a vibrant curse. Two of his senior members matched his movement, and they formed a small shield wall to return fire from behind. Their AK-12s barked fire and lead, all of which Jimmy absorbed and ignored as he turned his attention to the Goons.
Predictably, their leadership had immediately began a retreat, loading into the stretch Humvee as its driver tried to shove it between them and the threat. Kurt grabbed Jimbo by the back of his collar and shoved him aside, yanking the pin from one of his grenades and tossing it into the vehicle’s open door before kicking it closed and running back to his rubble hideout with Jimbo at his back. The Humvee bucked as its windows blew out in flame and black smoke. As it settled, Gadot slid into cover behind its still smoking engine block and continued her selective fire. The surviving Goons had all retreated, trying to get to armored vehicles or simply escape the carnage.
Three members of the Ursa officer core remained, huddled behind their shields as Jimmy slowly approached, reaching for a fresh drum magazine for his auto-shotgun. He continued his thudding steps towards them, clicking the oversized cutaway magazine in place and chambering a shell. “You know fellas, none of this HAD to happen.” He shrugged off the incoming fire and stopped in front of them with a sigh. “But you forgot who you ARE!” Jimmy shouted the last as he lashed out with a foot, knocking Pyotr and his friends off balance. As they staggered back, he finished them off with a shotgun blast each.
As Jimmy turned and slung his shotgun, a nearby Abrams tank began to haul the barrel of its main cannon towards him. Kurt saw it happening and started sprinting towards the tank, another grenade gripped in his fist. Jimmy looked up to see the business end of the tank’s barrel come to rest facing him and drew his sidearm while pulling his wrist up to his face. He nodded, and then shot himself in the leg twice with his own handgun.
With a short belch of flame and smoke from the muzzle, the tank fired on Jimmy. Kurt pulled the pin out of his grenade and leapt onto the heavily armored vehicle, gripping the end of the barrel. He slapped the live grenade into the barrel and jumped off, turning back towards Jimmy. A cloud of thick black smoke swirled around the man, but he still stood in the middle of the road. A small crater had formed around him in the blackened and scorched asphalt, but he stood untouched, turning his glare on the tank. It sat still and quiet for a few seconds before a muted explosion from inside blew its top hatch off and black smoke wisped from the interior.
“So…that’s why you’re using rubber bullets I guess.” Kurt eyed the scorch mark on Jimmy’s armor as he spoke, casually walking over.
Jimmy looked pleased with himself, raising an armored gauntlet to dust away a scorch mark on his breastplate. “Yep.”
Gadot approached, an uncomfortable look on her face as she covered Jimbo with her UMP 45. “Everyone else ran.” She jerked her chin towards the man. “Why’s he still here?”
Kurt raised an eyebrow and flipped open his chat window with them, quickly firing off a text that read simply: “Now.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, and then turned to grace Jimbo with a mildly devious smile. “He’s with me, we got a thing right now.”
Jimmy immediately began to play his part. “A thing?” He lifted his mask slightly and leaned to the side to look past Kurt at Jimbo. “What kind of thing?”
Before Kurt could say anything, Jimbo stepped forward and opened his palms towards them. “Armored vehicles.” He raised his eyebrows at Jimmy and Gadot, who were clearly confused. “I know of a lightly guarded GoonStorm depot near here. Kurt and I were planning to sneak in and make off with a tank or two.”
“Oh sweet, I’ll come with.” Jimmy flipped his facemask down and shouldered his auto-shotgun, stepping up behind Kurt and Jimbo.
Kurt placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry buddy. Key word was ‘Sneak’.” He gestured lightly to his larger friends armored frame. “You kind of shake the ground when you walk.”
Jimmy spread his arms, looked down, and lightly hopped up and down a couple of times before shrugging and moving back over to stand with Gadot. She hadn’t moved, and was glaring at Jimbo with open hostility, her UMP 45 still pointed at him. “I don’t trust that guy Kurt. Be careful.” Kurt merely smiled slightly and nodded his head a couple of times.
As they moved to leave, Jimbo gave Gadot and Jimmy a quick salute before turning back with a quick shudder. “Ooh, she’s downright terrifying. I like her, where’d you find that one?”
The corner of his mouth lifting slightly, Kurt glanced over his shoulder to see them standing in the middle of the blasted-out intersection still watching. “Eh. Met her the same night as I met you, actually.”
“Seems tough, must be a good ally.” Jimbos eyebrow lifted slightly.
Kurt turned to face him fully. “Yeah. I don’t have much in the way of driving skills yet, so she does that part of our heists, and Jimmy does the fighting.” He shrugged and called his attaché for the GoonStorm Humvee he had stolen earlier. “It works pretty well.” They waited a couple of moments for the vehicle to arrive, and Kurt nodded at his attaché as she started moving away from the rubble and destruction behind them. He moved up to the passenger side and slid in as Jimbo got i
nto the driver’s seat. They pulled away from the curb and Jimbo drove them to their objective without the benefit of a map on the windshield. He continued glancing at his wrist as they drove, trying to be covert about it, but drawing a chuckle from Kurt anyway.
“So, what’s the plan Yojimbo?” Kurt yawned slightly against the back of his hand, starting to feel his marathon session wearing at him.
Jimbo looked at him for a moment before turning back to the road and resting one wrist casually on the steering wheel. “It’s being held in a nightclub nearby, a GoonStorm Hub. They’ve got heavy hitters for both the Goons and the Ursa in there guarding it though, and the hand off should be happening really soon, especially after that shit show you guys put on at the talk.” He shook his head briefly. “Don’t even know if my cover is still intact, you really should have killed me with the GoonStorm command.” Pausing to gather his thoughts, Jimbo ran a hand over his hair briefly before continuing. “I’ll talk our way in, you back me up if it gets ugly. If things go right, they should walk us straight to the damn thing and wave us on our way with good cheer.”
“OK. I’m your NPC attaché.” Kurt gave Jimbo a cool nod, but Jimbo just looked him in confusion. “They’ll never let me in if they think I’m a player. You they at least know about, I’d be a totally new entity. Trust me, this way is much easier.” He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly. “Not like it’s the first time I’ve sold the Goons on being an NPC either.”
Jimbo snorted. “Ah yes, the excellently played bank manager.” He chuckled slightly, peering out the windshield as they approached a series of squat buildings tucked into the edge of the DownTown Cluster. “This is it. You ready?”
Kurt scowled at him slightly. “Are you??” Jimbo smirked at him as he pulled into an alley. Jimbo had driven them to the eastern edge of the Downtown area, where the buildings became squat and things looked much less wealthy in general. In the distance to the east Kurt could see the residential cluster that housed Jimmy’s safehouse. He looked ahead to see a collection of similar vehicles in a small parking lot.
The Life- Illusion Page 42