by Rick Scott
“Novak… I’m here.”
Bruce waited for the big man seated at the bar to swivel about on his stool. Of course he didn’t. He didn’t the first time he had called his name either. Instead five more painful seconds passed while the gang leader casually sipped on his beer.
Freaking animal.
Bruce loathed the man, something he was fairly certain was mutual and Novak was making every effort to make that message clear.
“Nice of you to come all this way, Bruce,” Novak said eventually, his back still turned. “I see you found the place okay.”
The place in question was a dive of a bar on the southern side of the main HUB. Bruce had entered alone—as was their agreement through the brief text communication they’d had a few hours ago—but Flores and her team were waiting just outside should anything go amiss.
But Bruce didn’t expect that. At least not right away.
He had something Novak wanted.
Another good sign was that he didn’t see any of Novak’s gang members filling the place—another condition of their agreement. In fact, beyond a handful of patrons in the dimly lit booths and the pot-bellied old woman behind the bar, the place was empty. Which should perhaps be expected at 3 pm, but down in the HUB, you never knew.
Novak finally turned about with his plastic smile. “So you said this was urgent and that you got something for me. I hope it’s good news.”
“I got you what you wanted.” Bruce held a printed letter towards him, stamped with the official seal of the board. “This is your sanction, signed and sealed.”
Novak grinned and reached for it, but Bruce quickly whipped it away.
“It comes with a condition,” he said.
The gang leader grimaced. “You playing games now, Bruce?”
“I need to get a small team into Trencher territory. If you can accompany us and clear a path you can hold onto this sanction. Maybe even after we’re done.”
Bruce added the last part for clarity and as a bit of bait as well. He had no intention of letting Novak walk around with a gun forever, but the promise of it was necessary to secure his cooperation for now, especially if he happened to already know where they were headed and why.
“What’s in Trencher territory?” Novak asked, nonchalantly sipping his beer again.
Bruce tried to gauge the response as best he could, but Novak was a poker player when it came to tells. Whether Novak already knew about the gun factory or not was still an unknown.
“The end to this gun problem,” Bruce said and offered him the letter again. “My team is waiting outside.”
Novak snatched it from him.
“Meet us out front,” Bruce said and turned without giving him a chance to respond. He kept walking right out of the bar and into the dark alleyway where Gina Roberts was waiting with Flores and her four-man team.
Gina was dressed in her normal overcoat, but like him, wore a protective vest underneath, but with the addition of a helmet for protection as well.
Flores and her team were decked out in much more obvious protective gear: hardened armor about the chest with helmets fitted with tactical visors. In addition, they each carried a high-powered assault rifle slung loosely about their shoulders. It was expensive gear to both procure and produce, but by Flores’ estimation, they now held the biggest stick on the block.
Flores handed him his helmet as he approached. “So where’s Novak?”
“Coming, I hope.” Bruce took the helmet from her and placed it on his head. He didn’t want to go into the meeting looking armed. But now he had to hope his tactic paid off.
Flores looked at him with uncertainty as nearly a minute went by.
Finally the door to the bar kicked open and Novak stepped out.
“Now this is what I’m talking about!” The gang leader’s eyes widened as he took in Flores and her team. He then looked to Bruce. “Where’s mine?”
“You’re already carrying it,” Bruce said.
Novak’s countenance darkened. “Not funny, Bruce.”
“Hey, it’s all the board would sanction for now,” Bruce said truthfully. “But if all goes well, by the end of this, you’ll have the same firepower as them. That, I can promise.”
Bruce held out his hand and played his own poker face while Novak eyed it cautiously.
Eventually the gang leader crushed it in his grasp. “Better come through for me, Bruce.”
“Same goes for you,” Bruce said, resisting the grip with his own. “Now let’s get going. According to the map, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover to get there.”
Chapter 42: Making Memories
I plunge through the narrow alleyway in 4th gear, the engine screaming in my ears.
Torn garbage bags and debris zip by just inches from my shins as I focus all my concentration on not hitting the red brick walls of the alley as they scream past me at over 100 MPH. I materialize my Level 40 SharpShooter pistol in my left hand and point it at the closed wooden gate at the end of the alley. I snap the trigger three times and the gate bursts into shrapnel with the high-powered explosive rounds, its health bar deleting in an instant.
You use Heavy Shot!
Gate takes 234 explosive damage!
You hit the gate for 123 explosive damage!
You hit the gate for 104 explosive damage!
Gate is destroyed!
I blast through what’s left of the gate and tear out of the alleyway steering one-handed, leaning the bike into a turn that causes both tires to skid momentarily.
Your Motorcycle increases by 0.7
Skill Up! Your Motorcycle is now 117!
I store the gun and regain control with both hands, but then curse inwardly as Lexi’s buggy goes roaring past me on my inside.
“Dang it!”
“Sneaky bugger, you!” Lexi’s voice comes through the party chat with a cackle. “Taking that shortcut again!”
I hop back on the throttle and hit Punch It to catch back up.
You use Punch It!
Acceleration and top speed momentarily increased!
The bike pulls a wheelie and I have to shift my weight forward to push the front end back down. I gain on Lexi, the barren streets of mid-town flashing by block by block. Derelict buildings blur with burned-out apartment complexes, forming a brownstone mosaic in my peripheral. Lexi taps the brakes and drifts into the next corner, sliding the buggy sideways while maintaining her speed.
Lexi uses Smooth Criminal!
Sliding traction increased!
I unfortunately have to brake and then lean the bike over till my face is nearly kissing the tarmac in order to follow after her, but nowhere near as fast. She pulls ahead a bit more as we line up for the final chicane before the start-finish straight. The chicane itself is two mounds of old tires and abandoned cars, set just far enough apart to leave an S-shaped gap in between.
Lexi brakes hard, the rear end of the buggy lifting into the air as she slows from 200 mph down to barely a quarter that speed.
But I do no such thing.
My heart thunders in my chest in anticipation of what I’m about to do. I’ve raced this track non-stop for the last two days, memorized every corner and back-alley cheat.
And now I’m about to go for the biggest cheat of all.
I scream past Lexi just as my cooldown for Punch It resets and then activate the ability again. My front tire shoots into the air, but I don’t stop it this time. I use every ounce of my Ninja-tuned Agility to aim my bike for a narrow strip of steel lined within the chicane.
I hit it at full speed and my bike launches into the air.
Congratulation! You have unlocked a new Title: Daredevil!
My breath leaves me as I sail through the night sky, my engine revving as my tires find nothing to push against. I shoot past the chicane, soaring over a hundred feet into the air.
“No way!” Lexi cries. “Reece! What are you doing?”
I begin to wonder the same thing myself as gravity takes hol
d, my stomach hitting my throat as the ground rushes at me with tremendous speed. I’ve thought about making this jump for the last three laps and finally got up the nerve to do it, but now I wish I hadn’t.
The ground comes at me fast…really fast!
I cast Shadow Copy right before the tires hit the asphalt and double over the handle bars with the force of my landing.
Omph!
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
Gilly’s Gift takes 1124 crash damage!
My bike literally bends in two beneath me as the suspension bottoms out, buckling into a V. I grit my teeth as I go bouncing off the motorcycle and then slide across the asphalt at over 100 MPH, absorbing the damage of my momentum as Gilly’s Gift does the same in a flurry of sparks. I finally come to a rest several hundred feet later, aching all over.
To add insult to injury, Lexi flies by with a toot of her horn, passing through the finish line less than a hundred feet away.
Well…crap…
Lexi wins!
Your results: Crash out!
Lap 1 – 2:34:36
Lap 2 – 2:26:42
Lap 3 – 2:19:21
Lap 4 – DNF
I sigh as I stand and look at my bike which I’ve wrecked for perhaps the tenth time. “Gilly’s gonna kill me.”
Lexi drives back toward me in the buggy, laughing through the party chat. “That she is, mate. Lucky she wasn’t here to see it.” She pulls the buggy to a stop next to me and pops her visor. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell her it was a blown tire and not your nads of steel that did it.”
I laugh at that. “Thanks.”
It’s almost 9pm and the rest of the guys have already left for the day, but Lexi agreed to hang out with me for a couple more laps to ensure I have the track down pat for the race tomorrow…and to try my little experiment, which I can now consider a total failure given the results.
“Gutsy move for real though, Reece,” Lexi says as she steps out of her buggy and removes her helmet. “What made you try that?”
I huff out a scoff at her. “You.”
She grins. “You’ll need more than just two Runner abilities to beat me, mate. But honestly you’re not half bad on that thing now. The alley crossover was particularly impressive. I’ve seen the Twins themselves use that before.”
“Nice to know I’m in good company.” I look down at my bike and sigh. I almost wish I could just dematerialize it and then materialize it again to repair it. But unlike armor or clothing, it can only be stored at 100% health—which means we’re going to need to haul it back.
“Mind giving me a hand?”
“Sure thing.”
We bend knees to toes and manhandle the relatively light machine into the back of the buggy. It takes a little while but we eventually get it inside. We’re just about to secure it when a high-pitched engine screams out from behind us.
My heart jumps and I glance over my shoulder to see a headlight blaring right at us.
At first I think it could be Aiko playing a prank or something, but the engine doesn’t let up, accelerating and shifting through gears.
“Watch out!” I cry.
I instinctively push Lexi behind me and cast Shadow Copy as the light covers the distance of a football field in barely a second. Abruptly the light turns with a loud screech of tires and a motorcycle comes into view, powersliding towards us. I cringe reflexively, preparing to Rescue Lexi and take the hit, but the huge exhaust of the bike stops just inches from my knees.
My heart jackhammers inside my chest.
I look up and see a beefy cyberpunker grinning at me with gold-plated teeth, his red mohawk matching his crimson biker leathers that contrast vividly against his deep ebony skin.
King Axel…
“Thought I forgot about you, ‘eh punter?”
My heart pounds both from adrenaline and apprehension. Don’t tell me this guy is still pissed-off at me for when we first arrived? I push Lexi further behind me, not knowing what to expect, but the goth-girl slips under my arm and gets right into Axel’s face.
“Oy, what’s wrong with you, Axel?” she says, shaking her helmet at him. “There’s no need for all that!”
He gives Lexi a dismissive scoff. “Don’t tell me you’re two-timing on that fine little lassy of yours with this ugly skank.” He then looks at me. “Wasting your time if you are, but I’d watch her around your girl, if you know what I mean.”
“It’s nothing like that, you sick pervert!” Lexi narrows her eyes at him in a fury, shaking her helmet in his face again. “Think because I rejected your ugly mug, that that’s got to be the reason? I fancy real men, not overgrown jack—”
Her words cut short as Axel pushes the helmet straight into her face. “Shut it, slag!”
Lexi lets out a sharp cry as the helmet strikes her in the nose and mouth with a sickening wet crack.
“Lexi!”
She falls to the ground, covering her face with her hands while she wails in pain.
“You bastard!”
I materialize my kunai and am about to Charge Strike into him, when he materializes a gun in his hand and points it straight at Lexi’s head.
“Think fast, ninja boy.” He cocks the hammer. “One of us won’t survive this little exchange. Permanently.”
I halt and lower my kunai as I realize what he’s saying. A bullet through her head would kill Lexi for good.
“Besides,” Axel says. “You wouldn’t want to violate the amnesty by attacking a participant in the Trial now, would you?”
My chest heaves with rage and impotence as Axel grins at me with a nasty leer.
“What do you want?” I say with venom.
“Just wanted to wish you good luck, mate,” he says. “Heard there’s a big race tomorrow.”
This guy’s got to be kidding me. I look down at Lexi still mewling on the ground, streams of bright crimson pouring through her fingers as she clutches her nose in pain. Her health bar is at 80%. He had to have shoved that helmet into her awful hard to do that kind of damage in one hit.
“You can take your luck and shove it, you piece of trash.”
He scoffs. “Let’s hope you don’t chicken out tomorrow.” He then glances at my bike in the back of the buggy. “Or wreck again before I have a chance to pay you back.”
“Pay him back for what?” Lexi shouts from the ground with a muffled cry. “Making you look like a bloody fool in front of your own crew? You’re a moron, Axel. A bloody moron! King Vic was ten times the man you are and he was a piece of crap!”
The gang leader grimaces at her with a dark scowl. “You’re lucky I don’t make you pay for that, right now,” he bellows. “You little tart!”
“Hey!” I shout at him with a War Cry, drawing his attention. “If your problem’s with me, then focus on me!”
“Oh I will, mate.”
I scoff at him like the insignificant piece of garbage he is.
“I’ve soloed LMs. Bartered with gods. Defeated an Ozoku.” He has no idea what I’m talking about but I don’t even care. “You’re the least of my worries, man.” I ball my fists around my kunai. “You want to settle your beef, then stop pointing that gun at her and let’s see you go toe to toe with me.”
“Let’s make it wheel to wheel,” he says, revving his motorcycle with a gold-toothed grin. “No amnesty on the track, punter. See you tomorrow.”
He peels away then, kicking up smoke and burnt rubber as he zooms off into the night. I feel like materializing my gun and shooting at him blindly in the dark, but he’s already too far away and I have bigger concerns to attend to first. I drop to the ground and check on Lexi, cradling the goth-girl in my arms.
“Lex, you okay?”
Bloody tears of anger and pain stream down her cheeks. “That sack of crap. I can’t believe he did that!”
I help her to her feet and can’t help but feel my own anger peak when I get a look at her nose. It’s swollen and bent to one side. “We need to get you to Gilly.”
* * *
Lexi navigates while I floor the buggy, whipping through the desolated streets of mid-town. Her injury reminds me of when I got slammed by that Frost Salamander back in the Fantasy realm. Normally taking damage hurts, but the pain is brief and dissipates with normal regen. But there I suffered some kind of bone fracture to my ribs and it only subsided when I got a Heal. And by the way Lexi is holding her broken nose, I imagine she must be going through much the same thing.
We reach the clinic and I help her inside before prepping one of the medi-beds for her to recline in. I access the device and pay the paltry 300 quid and within a few seconds, Lexi’s health bar is restored and her nose resets with a puff of nano-dust.
She sits back up and releases a sigh.
“Oh God, thanks, mate,” she says, looking down at her blood-stained top. “Damn Axel.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry you had to go through all that, Lex,” I say, taking a seat opposite her on the adjacent medi-bed. “My fault that guy even showed up.”
“I say it’s his bloody parents’ fault for having him.”
That gives us both a little chuckle.
“Can’t believe he’s still holding a grudge like that,” I say.
“I can,” Lexi says. “He still holds one against me, for telling him where to shove it when he made a pass at me once. And that was bloody months ago.”
“So I saw,” I say with another chuckle.
“Besides, reputation is all that matters to the dumb ones like him. And you embarrassed him good ‘an proper. He’ll be looking to humiliate you in front of his gang to get his self-esteem back. Or so he thinks, in his little mind, anyway.”
I suppose I’ve been too busy focusing on training to even remember disrespecting him. But Lexi’s right when it comes to the dumb ones holding a grudge, King Braxus no exception.