Dust particles accumulated over a period of neglect floated out of the entrance of the dark, musky storeroom and out into the waking daylight. A tenuous breeze picked up the dust and carried it away towards the mountains as Plain-Man turned to exam the work he had done. A woman walked over.
“Excellent job. That looks like it about does it.”
Plain-Man, still holding the broom, smiling under his mask, “Is there anything else that needs to be done in your store, Mrs. Shark?”
“No, I think that takes care of everything for now. Thank you for your help Plain-Man.” She nodded at him with respect, her gratitude apparent.
Plain-Man returned a similar gesture of respect and said goodbye before stepping out of Mrs. Shark’s shop. He looked up and down the back alley that was located behind a row of small, old stores and wondered where his next mission would take him. Taking out his phone, he checked his credit total for the third time that day and, just as he was about to put it away, received a notification for a new mission, which he immediately accepted.
[Quick! App update: Mission Location – The Go-Go Bodega – Description: Robbery (hidden alarm alert)–see Storeowner for more details on request]
“Hidden alarm alert? That might mean the robbery could still be going on. And it’s just around the corner, too.” He pocketed his phone and adjusted his mask before sprinting down the alley, passing by the back of a Pool supply, Nail Salon, and Pet store. The liquor store that was being robbed was on the other side of the parking lot and as he made his way to the entrance, and didn’t see any disturbance.
Running into the store, he observed no one else besides a man with a mustache behind the counter.
“You’re back for more!?” He yelled immediately seeing Plain-man.
“More? No, I’m with the Quick! app and I think you sent out a request for help?”
The mustached man looked with wide eyes and stared at Plain-man for a few seconds, then let a deep breath.
“Oh, you’re one of the masked guys… Yes! I’ve been robbed by a bunch of kids! They were just here! If you go now, you might still be able to catch them–“
“Tell me what they looked like and what they took from you first, and I’ll head straight after them.”
“Yes… They looked like… kids. You know the way they dress, they all look the same with their haircuts and baggy clothes. Except these kids had trank guns and threatened me with them. They then took a whole pallet of this new energy drink I just got in called ‘Ambrosia’ that the kids are going nuts about. I wanted to get in on the hype, but I didn’t know they would be that crazy about them.”
“Were they wearing anything to cover their face? Did your argus system pick up on them?”
“Well, to be honest, I know you’re supposed to have one, but I haven’t had time to upgrade my security system to an argus yet, and the cameras I do have weren’t on at the time…”
Plain-Man looked at the storeowner and wondered how he could’ve been so careless.
“That does pose a problem…but I’ll go see what I can do!”
“Thank you, sir, thank you!” the storeowner yelled, as Plain-man ran through the entrance.
Out on the street, Plain-Man scanned the surroundings for any signs of the kid-robbers but, only the movement of e-cars and e-busses caught his attention. On the corner, however, he did notice a man at a stand selling fruit.
“Excuse me, sir. You didn’t happen to see any kids go by here?”
The fruit seller looked up from the pineapple he was cutting, immediately noticed the mask and looked Plain-Man up and down.
“Yes, I saw some kids go by here, just a few minutes ago…” he continued cutting.
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“You didn’t happen to see the direction they were heading, did you?”
“Oh yes, I did.”
“Well, where did they go?”
“…I’ll tell you… if you buy some fruit from me.”
Plain-man looked at the man and at his fruit.
“Fine. I’ll take that orange.” He reached into his pocket and brought out his phone that he waved around to find the payment terminal.
“Oh, sorry sir. I do not accept phones.” The fruitmonger said, pointing to his right ear.
“Shoot…” Plain-Man said, patting himself down, “I don’t have any other sort of money… all I got is this can of half-empty Knockout gas.”
The man’s eyes widened as he brought it out of his jacket pocket.
“Oh yes, I’ll take that. I could use it later when I get off…” He took the can and gave the orange to Plain-Man. “They went that way, my friend.” He said, pointing down the street.
Our hero nodded and sprinted towards where he was directed.
Facing a pallet full of cases of brightly colored boxes, a heavyset kid with sunglasses unloaded the energy drinks into a cart attached to a several e-bikes. He wiped his brow, caught his breath for a second and continued his hasty transfer of the stolen merchandise.
Plain-Man ran up to the edge of alley and hid behind a garbage bin when he saw the kid and the drinks. Sneaking up quietly, Plain-Man tipped toed over and stuck his pointer finger on the lower back the boy.
“Freeze! Don’t move!” Plain-Man demanded, “Slowly drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!”
“Ju– Ju– Just calm down, man–I’ll do what you say!” And the boy did.
Plain-Man dragged the trank gun he dropped over with his foot, picking it up and taking a big step backwards. He pointed the trank gun at the kid.
“Alright, where’s your friends? I know there’re more of you.”
“I don’t know! They said they be right back!”
Just then, a new voice echoed in the alleyway.
“You! Don’t move!” a young squeaky male voice said.
Plain-Man listened and didn’t take any chances, dropping his weapon when told.
The heavyset kid spoke up and yelled “Just ice this sucker so we can get out of here!”
“Good idea!” the squeaky voiced kid straightened his aim at Plain-Man, who was preparing himself for the dart when suddenly he heard a loud clicking noise from the trank gun.
“Come on! Work you stupid–“
Seeing the kid’s distraction, Plain-Man quickly reached into his pocket and brought out the orange and threw it. Never being that good at baseball and simply having bad aim, Plain-Man got lucky and hit the kid right on the head and sent him into a daze. He picked up the trank gun and backed away to get both kids in range.
The kid next to the pallet, raising his eyebrows, looked at his fallen friend and then at the masked man.
“Uh– Uh– Listen.” The panicked heavyset kid said, “I’ll tell you everything. We- We were paid to do this!”
Plain-man examined the kid’s distress and questioned further. “What do you mean you were paid to do this?”
“This guy found us on the Vybenet and he paid us friendly credits to hold up that store. I think he works for Daniel Frank…”
“Who’s Daniel Frank?”
The kid, breaking his fearful demeanor, grinned and laughed, asking “You don’t know who Daniel Frank is?”
Plain-Man thought it over for a second. “Is he some sort of celebrity?”
“He’s only one of the most famous vybers out there. Everyone tunes in for his live-body shows!”
Trying to integrate this new piece of information, Plain-Man brainstormed how this was connected to the robbery.
“So, what’s this have to do with the drinks?”
“Hold on, I’ll show you.” The kid reached into an open box and took out a can, holding it out “See? Look!”
Stepping closer, Plain-Man looked over the energy drink. Under the bubble letters that spelt ‘Ambrosia’, an average looking guy with a beard and somewhat long hair held up a peace-sign to his chest and pouted his lips.
“Hmm, I don’t see any reason not to believe you… But that doesn’t change the fact you robbed that guy’s store.”
The kid gulped, and remained quiet, but then he noticed something and began to smile.
“Nighty night!” the heavyset kid said with relish.
Before Plain-Man could turn around, a third kid snuck up and shot him with a trank gun, sending a tiny, dissolvable dart right through Plain-man’s jacket and into his skin. The last thing he saw were the three kids gathering together, standing over him as he passed out.
Waking up with a massive headache, Plain-man rubbed his brow as he stood up in the alleyway.
The pallet next him, still half of the product intact with a scattering of boxes that fell off the cart dragged by the e-bikes. No sign of the kids or where they went. He picked up a can of Ambrosia and looked at the graphic of Daniel Frank, thinking about what the kid had said to him before he got tranked. I need to look into this, when I get the chance, Plain-man resolved to himself. He then looked what remained of the pallet and grabbed for the handle of the jack.
“Alright, let’s get this back to the storeowner…”
Just as he went to move the pallet, he kicked a hard metallic object on the ground.
Looking down, he picked up one of the kids’ trank guns that they left behind, examining it for a second, and then stuck it his jacket where the knockout can was.
He then tugged on the jack and began rolling the stack of energy drinks to the mouth of the alley.