For several heart-pounding moments, my brain was thrown into chaos. My stomach dropped faster than my body, sending me careening right onto dizzy street. My arm got caught by the wind as I flapped around flightlessly, slamming it into my helmet.
I flicked on Cold-Blooded, driving back the spike of fear momentarily. I shifted, spreading out my arms to get some form of control as I fell. It worked, kinda. It wasn't exactly stable, though I like to see anyone falling and trying to be stable. With the rushing of air and the gravity standing on my back as if to force me down faster, stability was the least of my issues.
The ground rushed quicker and quicker as I flipped over, facing my back down to the ground. I looked over my shoulder as a neon sign flashed by. I wasn’t that far off target, but I was still out of the street. A flyer flew far too close for comfort, nearly splattering me against its hood. As things stood, or maybe flew, its thrusters merely hit me with a blast of heat.
The building rushed by as I adjusted my posture. Before too long, I felt a reverse pressure on my back. My fall slowed down slightly, giving me a bit more control over my direction. The speed of my fall bled out more and more as I shifted slightly, the Drop Chutes controlling my fall more and more to the side. I felt light as a feather as my descent changed into more of a downward glide than a chaotic spiral.
Just as my momentum stopped entirely, my feet lightly pressed down onto the roof. I stumbled as gravity’s hold took over once more, completely destroying the light sensation. The cushion of air supporting my back fell away as I fell onto my back. The adrenaline coursing through me turned my limbs into a shaky mess.
I lay down on the roof, staring at the sky and the towering Whitechapel Center behind me. My breath came in short, sharp breaths as I stared up at the hole in the glass so far above. My back was incredibly warm as if I had just taken a tumble through a fire instead of through the night sky. Had I- Had I really just done that?
A chuckle started in the back of my throat, turning quickly into lung-tearing, uproarious laughter. I laughed as I rolled over and shakily pushed myself back onto my feet. Winds buffeted my body as I struggled over to the far side of the building. My head felt light and breezy about the whole situation, but it worked. Not that I had any doubt... well... not that I had too much doubt.
Before doing anything, I checked two things. First was my loot to ensure it was still safe and sound. Thankfully, I hadn’t fallen back onto it or this would’ve all been for nothing. Secondly, I checked the small screen on my wrist. I tapped on a home symbol in the top right corner, pulling the system back to its home page to check the battery. I still had three quarters left, so I should be good.
I looked out over the city for a moment from my high ground, enjoying the view as I waited a few moments for my back to cool off. Then, before I could stop myself, I threw myself over the ledge towards the next building over. This time the drop was only thirty floors.
I fell in a much more controlled fashion. The small ionic thrusters helped with realignment and adjusting the direction of the fall to ensure I wouldn’t be too far off course. They didn’t have enough power to completely control my fall, but it was enough as long as I was somewhat near target.
My landing was also far better. I was prepared for the cutoff this time, easily regaining my balance before the air cushion dissipated entirely and my weight returned under gravity’s effects.
A light laugh escaped me as I tossed myself off the side of the building one last time. There was something so free about the fall. So- so- ...I couldn’t explain it. Hella fun though. Mira would probably love this kinda thing.
By the time I hit the roof of my final descent, my battery had already been drained by another quarter. Not that it mattered. This was my last drop. I threw my trench coat back on and headed for the roof access door. It was the kind of door that was supposed to set off the alarm when it went opened, but I’d already taken care of that little snag by permanently disabling it.
I descended into the staircase, racing down the twenty flights of stairs back to ground level. I passed a little old man carefully taking the steps one at a time a flight before ground level.
The man eyed me, stroking his beard for a moment as his eyes dropped to my duffle bag. He shook his head and climbed up another step, shifting out of my way slightly. His coat opened, giving me a slight gap to see a body full of weathered chrome. “Young uns’ these days…”
I nodded politely to the guy, tilting my head slightly to obscure my helmet with the coat's hood, before continuing on. I pushed the entire interaction to the back of my mind as I left out an alley’s side door. The alley was short, though that didn’t matter as I crossed it and entered a parking garage’s side door.
My bike was already set up and waiting for me. Before that though, I moved into a supply closet and changed into normal civilian clothing. There weren’t any cameras in this particular garage, hence why I picked it. It would be a damn impressive feat if anyone could track me down from my initial fall.
I moved back to my bike, jumped on, and hit the ignition… only for it to sputter momentarily before dying entirely. I kicked the side of it a couple times and tried it again to no result.
My perfect plan- entirely flawless up to this point- fell apart at the last moment. It was a crushing thought. Not all was lost though. I still had some time till the Franz started to kick up a fuss. Even longer before it reached me.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Should I just ditch my bike and head into the Underground? There was an entrance a few blocks away from here… but I didn’t have any of my heavier weaponry for a successful descent. If I ran into anything it probably wouldn’t end well.
Okay, okay. What’s wrong with my bike in the first place? I hopped off and looked it over for any obvious defects. Ah, wait! This was a perfect opportunity to try out Technical Expertise!
I got the Perk while I waited for my bugged bear to feed me information. It was… an interesting experience. Unlike every other Perk I obtained so far, it was a weird mixture of ability and learning in the learning space.
At first, when I initially was moved into the void-like learning space from the pavilion, I thought it was just learning. I ran through quite a few scenarios and books about mechanical trends. Most of it was stuff I could guess at with my knowledge from Tech, though it was nice to lock all the more advanced stuff in. I left the learning space in half a day- a new record for the interface.
That was when the agony of my body changing seeped into every nerve, especially focused on my hands. It was rough to get through, though for once I didn’t immediately pass out. From there, I’d been too busy with the heist to bother with it, though Insight did hint at how to use it.
With nothing obvious, at least visually, I lightly tapped my palm against the body of my bike and activated Technical Expertise. Insight chilled me with a light warning of an ethereal reaction. I flicked on Aetherial Perception just in time to see a short-ranged pulse of light through the body of my bike. It illuminated the parts, allowing me to see the internals of the vehicle almost as if it were a three-dimensional hologram.
Even without Aetherial Perception, the pulse had a certain vibrato to it. Just like with the vault door, I could figure out the internal mechanisms slowly based on the vibrations, though Aetherial Perception sped up the progress. Now that I think of it, I could’ve sped up my cracking of the vault by several times if I used this earlier… next time.
Anyway, the pulse was rather short-range. I had to use Technical Expertise several times to get a full look at my bike. From the best I could tell, it thankfully wasn’t a fault in the AE3 reaction chamber nor the thermoelectric generator which would've been costly to fix. Instead, it looked as though the wires were messed up.
In the distance, sirens approached my area. Of course, Blue Crusade sirens were typically omnipresent in the city, but this time they felt a bit more malicious. As if they were searching. Hunting- no- no, calm down, Shiro. Just paranoia getting to you. You’re safe… for now. No way those meatheads tracked you down already.
I quickly disassembled part of my bike, pulling off the seat to get better access to everything as I saw the problem with my own two eyes. The wires around the semiconductors were frayed and detached from their usual connection points. It looked like…. Maybe a rat or something got into it? Or they were just old.
I rooted around the wires, reconnecting and fixing them up. It wasn’t the best patch job ever, though it should hold up. I put everything back together and straddled the bike again.
This time, although heavily sputtering, the bike kicked on. I wasted no time moving out of the area.
— — —
The next morning- err, afternoon since I slept like a baby for once, I stretched out and looked over my loot. The painting and hatchet were on my keep list, which I’d run down to the vault at some point, but the other three items I needed to offload sometime soon. I could keep them to let the heat die down a bit… but I really didn’t need to worry too much about it. That was a job for a fixer.
I headed out and bought a little burner phone. It was only ten Rayn. The second thing I bought was quite a bit more expensive: an external voice modulator. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a small pad that was attached to the throat.
From there I headed out into Portside. It didn’t really matter where I was as long as I wasn’t near my apartment, though Portside was fairly close to my next stop. I entered a small apartment building on the side and made my way to the roof. It was alarmed, but that didn’t stop me from disabling the alarm and moving on up. As I headed to the roof’s ledge, making my way between several air conditioning units, I stuck the modulator to my throat and tapped it on.
“Testing.” My voice came out weak and feminine as if I was a sick little girl. I tapped on the center of the modulator, shifting my voice once more. “Testing.” This came it came out incredibly deep, though with a bit of a husky edge to it. I played around with it a few more times before I stuck to a fairly androgynous voice with a bit of an accent to it.
Then I pulled out my phone and put in a familiar number. It rang for several seconds as I stared down at the traffic passing below me. The phone chimed as the other person picked up. “Hello? To whom do I owe the… pleasure?” Carone asked.
“A client… I need a few hot items sold.” I sighed as I stared at the city. It would be much easier if I had the connections to just sell it myself.
“So? I don’t work with just anyone. I need a name. Preferably a face.” Carone said. I could hear the whooshing of flames barely from his side. “And my cut is fifty-“
I pushed off from the wall. “I’ll stop you there. Call me… Mr. White.” Gah, I practically gave myself away with that! I kept my voice smooth and neutral even as I mentally bashed myself over the head. “Thirty percent is the typical rate.”
”For those I know. Consider it a… stranger fee.”
Stranger fee my ass. Maybe I could bluff him? ”Shame… Athena would give me a better rate than that. It was nice talking to you, but I’ll just head-“
”Why the rush?” Carone asked. “Hmm… How about I chop it down to forty percent, and then back to thirty if we ever deal again? What is it you’re trying to move, anyway?”
I went silent for a few moments, putting some pressure on him. He was my best bet for getting rid of the masks and statue, but our ‘first’ deal would set the tone for the rest of our encounters. I didn’t want my new alias to be easy pickings.
”Interesting proposal… I’ll tell you what, I need something identified. I’ve heard from a friend you’re decent at that.” I had a ton of stuff I needed to identify, actually. Most of it I’d just been too busy with other stuff to run by his shop. I might as well go ahead and get that fox statue from the Neo-Jokers done now though.
”A friend eh? Alright… come by my shop and we can discuss the… particulars. Your friend tell you where it is?”
”I’ll come by in a couple days.” I killed the line, taking some kind of deep satisfaction in the act as I breathed in the ‘fresh’ city air. I pulled out the battery and chip of the phone, smashing the latter then tossing all the components off the roof into an alley.
I took a few moments to just look around and enjoy being alive. Then an alarm on my phone went off. A tired sigh left my lips as I headed back towards the stairs.