> Cost: 2 skill points
> Name: Fast Healing 1
> Description: All members of your gang, including yourself, heal themselves 30% faster when using medic bags or first aid kits.
> Cost: 1 skill point
I wasn’t sure which skill I should learn after I leveled up to 2. Probably Dodge 1 or Taking Hostages. I decided to contemplate on the subject more after I got another level.
I then checked out the current stats of my character.
> Statistics:
> Health: 100/100
> Stamina: 100/100
> Speed: 3 m/s
> Skills learned:
> Medic bag: 3 charges, 50% Health Restoration (Medic Bag 1)
Finally, I closed the character menu and turned my attention back to the computer. Now that I had decided on the class, I could pick a contract. Since someone had picked Small City Bank while I was reading the FAQ and examining the skill tree, the contract was no longer on the map. So I had to pick another one.
I selected one of the available contracts and its info popped up on the monitor screen.
> Name: Small Jewelry Store
> Level Requirement: 0-3
> Difficulty: Easy
> Objective: Your goal is to steal as much jewelry as possible.
> (Do you want to pick this contract: Yes/No)
When I clicked on the “Yes” button, the map of the city was replaced by another window.
> Preparation Menu:
> Players:
> 1. Player 1
> Name: Striker
> Level: 1
> Class: Shot Caller
> 2. …waiting for player 2 to join…
> 3. …waiting for player 3 to join…
> Weapons: You don’t have any weapons yet! (*)
> Assets: Van, three balaclavas, etc.
> (Do you want to buy additional assets: Yes/No)
> (*) Note: You can buy a weapon from a seller over the Internet using a web browser on your computer or cell phone. The weapon will be delivered to your safe house. Alternatively, you can purchase a weapon right before a heist and it will be waiting for you in the van. The website where you can buy weapons is guns.com.
I visited the website. There were lots of various guns for sale: handguns, assault rifles, shotguns, squad automatic weapons, etc. However, since I was only level 1 yet, I didn’t have much choice. The only two guns I could buy at the moment were a Sig Sauer P226 MK25 and an AK-47.
> Name: Sig Sauer P226 MK25
> Place of origin: Switzerland
> Class: Handgun
> Damage: 35
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Magazine Size: 15+1
> Firing Mode(s): Semi-automatic
> Level Requirement: 1
> Cost: $1,999
> Name: AK-47
> Place of origin: Soviet Union
> Class: Assault Rifle
> Damage: 25
> Headshot Multiplier: 3X
> Rate of Fire: 650 RPM
> Magazine Size: 35+1
> Firing Mode(s): Automatic
> Level Requirement: 1
> Cost: $2,999
As it turned out, I had some money, so I bought these two weapons.
I also purchased a sound suppressor and a few extra mags for the Sig Sauer and the AK-47. I then checked the additional assets. There were quite a few of them. I took a few moments to examine the list and decide what I should buy. I wasn’t sure if I would need a drill on a jewelry store heist. Just in case, I decided to buy it. I then bought three duffel bags, one for each gang member.
I also purchased the layout of the jewelry store, several plastic zip tie handcuffs, and three small phones, earbuds. The earpieces were extremely useful in my opinion. An earbud that fitted inside an ear allowed one to communicate with the other gang members during a heist.
After all the purchases, I was down to less than one thousand dollars.
While I was waiting for other two players to join, I downloaded the layout of the jewelry store and examined it. Also, I found out that I could pick a place on the map where the van should be waiting for the players. I selected an alleyway between two buildings on the opposite side from the jewelry store.
Finally, another player joined.
> Name: Flynn
> Level: 1
> Class: Engineer
“Hey Striker,” I heard a hoarse voice coming from the computer speakers.
A message popped up on the screen. “Press T to talk to other gang members.”
I pushed down the key and said, “Hey Flynn.”
“How do you wanna do this?” The player wanted to know. “Loud or stealth?”
I remembered that heisters completing a heist without raising the alarm received 25% more money and experience points. Moreover, playing stealthily promised to be more fun than the “loud” approach.
So I said, “I like the sneaky approach better.”
“Yeah, me too,” Flynn responded. “Stealth is more fun than loud. But I need to ask you something first.”
“Shoot.”
“Are you new to this?” He asked.
“Yeah, obviously,” I replied. “The game’s just come out, so…”
“Look, you are a Shot Caller,” Flynn said. “So technically, you are the leader of the gang. I don’t mean to take your place or something. Quite the opposite, I don’t wanna be a leader. Not my cup of tea at all. I’m just saying that I’m kinda experienced in this game. I know the ropes. Been playing this game a lot.”
“Really?” I interrupted him. “Like I said, this game’s just been released. How could you play this game a lot? More to the point, you are only level 1.”
“I ain’t no lying to you, man,” Flynn said. “I played this game during the beta test period.”
“Didn’t know there was a beta test.”
“It was a closed beta test of the game. Most people didn’t know about that. Only a few reliable players were fortunate enough to become beta testers.”
“Oh, I see. So you are an experienced player. Good to know.”
“Look, I ain’t no bragging or something. Just saying that doing a heist in stealth ain’t no easy.”
“I completed the training mission without raising alarm on the first try,” I said.
“The training mission is as easy as pie. You have to completely suck at this game to fail to complete it on the first try. In the main game, however, there are lots of snags along the way. Anything can go wrong and blow stealth.”
“I hear ya. What do you suggest?”
“Just saying that since I know a lot about this game, I can show you the ropes every now and then.”
“That’s awesome. I appreciate it, man.”
“Glad you feel this way,” Flynn said. “Because some people really freak out when you tell them what they should or shouldn’t do.”
“We are on the same team, aren’t’ we? And we both want to reach the same goal, complete the heist in stealth. So I’ll be only too glad if you show me a few things about playing sneakily.”
“Okay. Good. So I see that you’ve already bought some assets.”
“Yeah.”
“You shouldn’t have done it. You should’ve waited for me to join so we could’ve split it fifty-fifty.”
“That’s okay.”
“How much money have you spent?”
“About nine grand.”
“Geez,” Flynn said grumpily. “You really shouldn’t have thrown away that much.”
“Hey, you don’t have to worry about my money, man. Moreover, guess if we manage to rob the jewelry store in stealth, we’ll get lots of money.”
“Shall we begin then?” Flynn asked. “Or you want to wait for a third player?”
“It is a team-oriented game, innit? Guess we need to wait for a third player.”
“I mean, we can
start without him or her,” Flynn suggested. “If you and me hit the READY button, the mission will begin, but the mission icon will be displayed for thirty minutes more on the map. We then will drive to the jewelry store and start without the third player. When somebody joins, they can drive to the jewelry store and meet us.”
I thought about it for a moment and said, “Okay, let’s begin.”
I pressed the button and a new line appeared on the screen that read “Player 1 is Ready.” However, Flynn hadn’t pushed the button yet.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I gotta warn you, man. The more players are on the team, the higher the chances that somebody blows stealth. So you know what? I suggest we do it without a third player. Since it was you who picked this contract, you can hide it and no player will be able to join. You seem a reasonable person to me, so I think we can pull it off by themselves. In fact, you need a three-player team only when you go “loud”, but when you play stealthily, you can complete a heist even by your lonesome. So what do you think? It’s your call.”
I gave the matter some thought. Probably, Flynn was right. Yet if something went wrong and cops showed up, we would desperately need a third player.
So I said, “Let’s begin, but I won’t hide the contract.”
“Well, okay,” Flynn replied rather grumpily. “Let’s do it your way. You are a Shot Caller, after all. The leader of this gang.”
A moment later, a new line appeared on the screen that read “Player 2 is Ready.” Right below it was another line that read “Waiting for Player 3 to join.” And under all this info appeared a countdown: 29min59sec.
“Let’s get cracking,” Flynn said. “See ya later.”
I stood up and took the key off the desk. The key was obviously to a car. Which meant that somewhere outside my safe house was my vehicle.
After pocketing the key, I grabbed the cell phone and visited crime.com. The map of the city appeared on the cell phone’s screen. A white dot showed the location of the jewelry store Flynn and I had to rob. I put the cell phone into another pocket of my jacket.
I looked around and saw an elevator. I walked inside and went on to punch a button. The elevator doors slid shut and the car began climbing. It ascended one floor and then the elevator came to a stop. I walked out to find myself in a laundry. Washing machines lined the walls.
There was a quiet hiss behind me. I turned around in time to see the elevator doors slide shut. I took a step forward. There was a touchscreen lock to the right of the elevator. I remembered that I had to come up with a four-digit code so that nobody could barge into my safe house.
I thought of a password and tapped the digital code into the control pad. Immediately afterward, a section of the wall slid down to completely conceal the elevator as well as the keypad from sight. Now if somebody entered the laundry, he or she wouldn’t notice the elevator and find out about my safe house.
Then another thought struck me. How the heck would I enter the elevator myself?
I reached out with my hand to try to move the section of the wall. As soon as I touched it, the section of the wall slid quietly upward to reveal the elevator. I just looked at the control pad, without trying to key in the code. A few seconds later, the section of the wall slid back down to cover the elevator again.
“Okay, you mastered it, Striker,” I muttered to myself. “Now get the heck outta here already. You have a jewelry store to rob.”
I walked out through the entrance door. Right in front of the laundry parked along the curb sat a silver sedan. The car was pretty shabby, dents and scratches emblazoning the body of the vehicle. It wasn’t much of a car, but it would do for now. Guess I would be able to acquire a more efficient vehicle later on.
I climbed in behind the steering wheel, stuck the key into the ignition, and twisted it. The engine sputtered to life. The car was crappy, all right. Had to replace it as soon as I earned some money.
I then reached into the pocket of my jacket and produced my cell phone. After I opened the map app on my smartphone, I mounted it on the dashboard.
The cell phone suddenly chimed. A message on the screen told me that a third player had just joined our team. His or her name was Destroyer, they played as a Punisher, and their level was 1.
Gripping the steering wheel with my left hand, I put the sedan into gear with my right, rolled onto the road, and set off for the jewelry store.
Chapter Three
Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the place. I pulled over to the curb in front of the jewelry store and cut the engine. Pushing the door open, I got out of the sedan. Looking around, I spotted a player standing on the sidewalk across from the jewelry store. He was short but sturdy, with close-cropped blond hair. He was dressed in a black jacket and denim pants. As my eyes locked on the player, his stats popped up in my HUD.
> Name: Flynn
> Level: 1
He waved me over. I looked up and down the street and jogged across the street.
“Hey Striker,” he said when I walked up to him.
“How’d you get here?” I asked looking around. “Don’t see your car.”
“It’s in there,” he replied as he gestured toward an alley between two buildings behind him.
“Let’s go the van,” Flynn said.
We entered a narrow street where the black van sat. We strode up to it. When Flynn reached out with his right hand to slide open the van’s side door, a voice came from behind us.
“Hey guys.”
We looked around and saw a tall scrawny player standing in the mouth of the narrow alley. He was about eighteen years old, his face covered in acne. His appearance didn’t do his nickname justice at all.
> Name: Destroyer
> Level: 1
He walked up to us and said, “Gotta tell you guys something. I’m not very good at shooter games.”
“Great,” Flynn muttered.
“I’m more into fantasy games,” Destroyer finished casting an offended look at Flynn.
“That’s okay,” I said, “because we’re going to do this heist in stealth anyway.”
“I’m not very good at stealth games either,” Destroyer revealed.
Flynn looked at the sky and sighed dramatically. I looked around for something to throw at him.
“Sorry about that, guys,” Destroyer said sadly.
“Don’t sweat it, man,” I said. “You can’t be that bad.”
“I guess,” he said quietly.
I tried to think of something to cheer him up.
“What about the training mission?” I asked. “On what try did you complete it? If you completed the training mission on the first try, then you ain’t as bad as you think.”
“I completed it in five tries.”
Flynn just stood there watching us and shaking his head.
Nobody said anything for a few seconds. I ran out of ideas to cheer the player up, so I just gestured toward Flynn and said, “This guy’s a pro. He was a beta-tester, so he’s really good at this game. Just do what he says and everything will be fine.”
“Okay.”
“That’s right,” Flynn said. “Don’t touch anything, don’t kill any NPCs, don’t run around like an idiot, and all that jazz. Just do exactly what I say.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Actually, it is Striker who is the boss here because he plays as a Shot Caller.”
Destroyer was just looking between us like he was trying to figure out who was the actual boss here.
“Let’s get going already,” I said.
“Right,” Flynn replied and slid open the side door of the van. Inside the car were three duffel bags, plastic handcuffs, a drill, three pistols, three sound suppressors, three earbuds, two AK-47’s, extra magazines, and three ski masks.
“What the heck?” Flynn said grumpily as he looked at the two assault rifles. He cast a disapproving look at me and said, “Guess it was you who�
��s bought this shit.”
“I bought only one of them.”
“Yeah,” Destroyer said. “The other one is mine. I thought we would need guns. It is a shooter game after all.”
“We’re going to do it in stealth,” Flynn said. “So you won’t need these crappy rifles. Put them in your bags and forget about them.”
I noticed Destroyer eyeing me as if he was waiting for me to give the final word in this matter.
“Put your AK-47 in your bag so NPCs cannot see it,” I said. “But if something goes wrong, we’ll really need heavy artillery when cops arrive.”
Destroyer nodded his understanding and did as he was told. Flynn looked at us, grumbling something under his breath. This guy seemed to be kind of cranky.
I reached into the black van, grabbed a handful of plastic cuffs, and tossed them into one of the bags. I also put one of the AK-47’s in the duffel bag.
“I’ll take the drill,” Flynn said when I reached for it.
“Suit yourself,” I said as I zipped my duffel bag up and slung it across my back. I then took one Sig Sauer, shoved it into my waistband at the small of my back, and pocketed a sound suppressor, extra mags, and one of the three balaclavas. After that, I put one earpiece in place.
Finally, we took all our stuff and were ready to go. I slid the side door of the van shut and we walked out of the alley. As we were crossing the street toward the jewelry store on the other side, I noticed Destroyer look around at passers-by, of which all were NPCs. Destroyer looked kind of on edge as if he was going on a heist in the real world.
We entered the jewelry store and stopped. I looked around the place. Display cases lined the walls on either side of us. A few more display cases formed a circle in the middle of the room. There were a few NPCs idly wandering around the room and looking at the jewelry inside the display cases.
Heist Online Page 3