With Kara’s Notoriety so high we were being very careful. She hid in the alley while Argyle and I went to scout out possible cars.
“Look for the big fancy luxury models. Anything that looks more futuristic we could probably hack our way into,” Kara stage whispered from behind a dumpster.
As my gaze swept over the street, I realized that the system was subtly highlighting cars, with a faint, colorful aura. When I tried to focus on the aura itself, I got an information prompt. “Commuter hybrid level 6. Standard Carlock.”
“Newspaper delivery van. Level 1. No locks, High Notoriety. Slow speed.”
“Tesslon da Vinci, luxury street racer. Level 32, call advanced, computerized, locking system, gyroscopic stabilizers, NOS+ racing boosters. Improves Notoriety drain when incognito.” This label was attached to a sleek, black model that looked more like something that a ninja assassin secret agent would drive, than a racing car.
I watched as it sharply turned down the alley we were standing in front of. Argyle and I jumped in opposite directions to avoid being hit. It was a lot faster than I thought possible and came to a perfect stop just at the mouth of the alley. All the doors opened simultaneously with a hiss of expelled gas. Four big, muscled men and one large fat man with a bowler hat, all in pinstripe suits, stepped out of the car simultaneously. I could hear the simultaneous hiss of pneumatics as the doors automatically closed, followed by the simultaneous click of four locks.
“You just wandered right back into my territory, didn't you?” called the fat man as he stepped down the Alley towards Kara. “You just steal my property and waltz right back here without me noticing, is that it?”
“Look I, I didn’t,” she said, still huddled behind a dumpster.
“Save it. I'm gonna enjoy what I'm about to do to you.”
They seemed to be ignoring Argyle and me for the moment. “What do we do?” asked Argyle as he pulled out his slightly transparent gun.
“Put that away. It'll draw too much attention.”
"Do you have a better plan?”
I pulled out my warhammer. “Why don't we see if this new game knows how to handle our old tricks?”
“Brilliant!” Argyle smiled as he pulled out his drum and tried to quietly start a summoning.
Down the alley, the action was already starting. Kara ducked down and pulled out a pistol covered in bright glowing lines with some sort of a bulbous green fluid-filled tank on the back. My hair crackled with static and the hair on my arms stood up as green bolt just missed the man in the bowler hat and charred a newspaper stand next to me.
He ducked back behind a large dumpster and pulled out a similar weapon. “You're gonna regret that!” Beams of green energy cracked the air between them, launched from their devices at nearly the same moment. The big bruisers took up positions at the mouth of the alley, and one crouched behind the car. None of them had even noticed the two of us behind them.
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Kara ducked, but it wasn't fast enough. Thankfully, Argyle was fast enough. He raised his arm and summoned his Wombat spirit in front of her.
“Damn rats, getting bigger every year.” The Gangster seemed unable to aim around it, though. His next three shots were fired right at the center of what would have been Kara’s chest. It seemed like he couldn't fully understand that the wombat was in the way and the giant rodent was just large enough to block. Had he aimed up, just two inches, she would have been toast. Something in the character's programming just couldn't adjust to Argyle’s summon.
Kara's shots, however, were not so precisely aimed; she missed the gangster entirely.
“Hey, Finch,” said Argyle, looking at me “Tee-time.”
“What do you mean?”
He smiled. The flesh horror appeared at my feet. Suddenly, I knew what he meant. I lifted my hammer, imagining the mound of flesh as a golf ball. I took aim and launched it. First it knocked the henchman behind the car up over the hood. As it bounced back at me, I knocked it again so that it bounced off the attacker pressed up against the wall at the mouth of the alley.
Argyle, for his part, pressed his gun into the back of the gangster on the other side of the alley. “Move,” he said, and the gangster took a few steps away from his cover. This set me up for the perfect bank-shot. Argyle's summoned familiar appeared in front of me, and I knocked the giant meat wad at the gangsters. 'Splat!'
I had knocked over one of the tall bodyguards in the back, and he fell into the guy next to him. The two fell like bowling pins. The ball of zombie flesh wasn't done bouncing. It ricocheted and knocked the legs out from under the main gangster. His bowler hat went flying and he went sprawling on the ground, his gun skidding several feet behind him.
“What kind of game have you two been playing?” asked Kara.
“It's a long story. Who is that guy?” I asked.
“Oh, he's Cyrus Redblock. He’s the gangster who owned that device on my wrist.
A prompt appeared my vision.
Quest granted: Knock off Redblock. Steal the explosive device from Cyrus Redblock, bring it to ZURB tower, and deliver it to the target zone.”
“That's an interesting mission,” I noted.
“Yeah, a lot of them are like that,” said Kara. “Anyway, now that that’s over, I guess we can finally try this ridiculous plan of yours.”
“Do we keep looking for a car?” asked Argyle.
“Why? This should do,” Kara said, turning towards the sleek, black car that looked like it was entirely carved out of one piece of black glass. It was parked only a dozen feet from us.
“I feel like I'm wasting money just looking at it.”
“Bro, this is the new Tesslon da Vinci. It can do zero to one-twenty in five seconds. It’s got 360° sensors and an internal gyrostabilizer for taking sharp turns.”
“You really know a lot about cars for a dwarf,” Kara said playfully as she leaned down to attach a small glowing device to the car. She started tapping and gesturing at thin air like she was using a VR Interface.
“The don’t cal me Argyle the Car-gyle for nothing.”
“So why does Finch have the driving skill and not you?”
“Oh, it’s my class. I learn new skills from watching people do them.”
“Yeah, most of his best ones have all come from commercials, lucky bastard.”
“Are you learning how to hack from watching me now?”
“Not yet. I’m not sure why, but it seems to be easier for me to learn from people with higher skill levels. Also, I get more levels in the skill when I do.”
“You might want to look away then, so you don’t accidentally learn it at a low level.”
“I don't think it matters that much. I mean, once we complete your mission hopefully we'll have time to figure out how to get us out of here.”
“Fair.” With a flourish of her fingers the door to the car popped open and she gestured for me to climb into the driver's seat. “It's all you, cutie.”
No sooner had I started the engine, then I saw someone in a business suit and designer sunglasses running up behind us waving their arms and yelling, “Wait! That's my car. Police, stop them.”
“Hit it!” yelled Kara. I floored the gas and we were off.