The Life- Illusion Read online

  With a shrug, he lifted the Beretta out of the case and hefted it, acting as if he were holding a living serpent. Once he got past the initial mistrust of holding a weapon, he realized it was quite easy to carry and wield. The screen on his phone changed, projecting a three-dimensional holographic rotating display of the firearm with a loot page hovering beneath it.

  Beretta M951

  Pistol. Sidearm. Weapon drops upon death only if equipped in the Primary/Secondary slot.

  Caliber: 9MM

  Rate of Fire: Semi-Automatic

  Capacity: 8 Round Magazine

  “Heavier than I expected…” He aimed with one eye squinted shut at a nearby mannequin and turned to speak over his shoulder. “So, what now?”

  “Everyone says that.” The woman clicked the case closed and sat down in the chair he had recently vacated. She smoothed a wrinkle at the knee of her dress and looked him in the eye. “Now you go out in the world and make it whatever you want it to be. Intentional torture of other players is strictly forbidden, of course, but most other forms of violence are accepted. Sexual activity is also not permitted…there’s other games for that. You the players control this world; I just clean up after you and provide a playground.” She opened her arms and shrugged. “I just need one thing from you.”

  Kurt scowled, still holding the handgun on the mannequin. “What?”

  She picked at a fingernail briefly, before standing up to face him directly. “Informed consent. I am required by law to inform you that this portion of the game is being recorded. The world you are about to enter is violent and frequently disturbing. It is built around a theme of the early twenty first century. Crime was rampant, and police intervention has been scaled to be a part of the games mechanic. It will not properly represent law enforcement of this or any era, and you may not turn to them for help. If at any point you need to log out, you are allowed to do so, but large penalties will apply to all reputations if you do so to avoid conflict or violence. This is a game, and should never be mistaken for real life. Do you understand all that I have told you?”

  With a clumsy motion, Kurt attempted to spin his handgun. It fumbled weakly around his finger and got stuck. “Uh, sure.” He started to move past her, and was surprised when she stepped to block him.

  “You need to make me believe you.” Her eyes were hard, boring into him.

  He looked at her hard for a moment, his brow furrowed slightly. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her legs were spread wider than her previous stance. She clearly meant to intimidate him.

  A swell of anger rose in his chest at the thought. “No. I don’t.”

  With that, he tucked the handgun into a holster that formed at the small of his back. He moved past the woman, bumping into her shoulder as he did. Once he reached the door, he stopped with a hand on the bar and looked back. She still had her arms crossed, but now wore a predatory smile. He snorted in derision and opened the door. “Ais…”

  2. Expectations

  Chapter 2

  Expectations

  Gunfire erupted almost instantly as he stepped out, impacts peppering the street and wall directly to his left. Kurt ducked and ran, acting on instinct as he darted out into the street. He tried to look for the shooter, but was nearly struck by a rounded yellow taxi cab sliding to a stop with a squeal of tires and an angry horn blare. Ignoring the driver’s impolite shouts, Kurt ran hunched over, trying to dart between cars as the traffic around him began to back up.

  Another burst of gunfire spattered the area near him, sinking into the NPC vehicles and causing the civilians to instantly panic. The traffic jam moved as a herd, all pushing forward at the same time. Kurt was knocked down by a passing vehicle with a panicked woman inside. As she passed his prostrate form, he heard her screaming wordlessly. His elbow throbbed with simulated pain, and a quick glance at his phones home screen showed a drop of about a fifth of his total health bar next to a little rotating dollar sign icon and the number ‘100.’

  The last of the traffic jam moved past him, and he scrambled to get back to his feet. A throaty burst of gunfire sounded again, rounds striking the ground around him as he changed direction. This time he got a decent look at where the shooter was firing from, a second story window directly across from the spawning building. As Kurt reached for his handgun, he heard a hollow puff sound from behind him. A rocket streaked into the window and the street was rocked by an explosion, debris raining into the NPC traffic and causing the panicked drivers to streak off in different directions.

  Still firmly planted on his ass, Kurt looked up to where the smoke trail from the rocket led. A man in a tactical outfit wearing obvious thick armor gave him a crisp salute before turning to run from his position. Kurt watched wide eyed as the man sprinted to the lip of the building and jumped, turning in midair to swing into the wall and rappel down. As Kurt watched this happen, a disgustingly orange car rumbled to a stop next to him. It was an old lowrider style 1963 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors and an absurdly long hood and trunk. Seated in the driver’s seat was Jimmy, a big smile plastered on his face.

  “Get in scrub, before you get us both killed!” He leaned over and extended a hand to his friend. Jimmy always had a big smile on his face, and kept his sandy hair in a short buzz. He looked around, suspicious for a moment. “Somebody shootin’ off rpgs around here?”

  Kurt scrambled on his hands and knees to dive into the car, as Jimmy pulled away from the curb at as high a speed as the car would allow. He was wearing a plain white sleeveless undershirt, with several gold and silver chains around his neck and a pair of bright orange swimming trunks. “What the hell was that!?” Kurt scrambled to get his legs in the door of the moving vehicle as it swung closed.

  Jimmy played with the radio, glancing up at the windshield occasionally to steer. “A pretty clean pickup, I’d say.” He looked over at Kurt huddled in the seat, slid half way onto the floor of the car. “Why, you get hit or something?”

  “I’ve been in game all of twenty seconds, and somebody shot at me and then somebody else blew something up and then swung away. Why was he swinging?!” Kurt pulled himself up into the seat, fastening his seat belt with shaking hands. He glanced at his phones main menu to see his health bar restored. It was only then he realized that his elbow no longer hurt.

  With a chuckle, Jimmy turned a corner and continued driving. “Welcome to the Life man.” He glanced in his review mirror at the mess they had left behind. “Spawn campers. Scum of Illusion, but what can you do?” He shrugged.

  “Hit them with a rocket, apparently.” Kurt leaned forward and patted his gun, making sure it was still in place. It hadn’t moved, to his relief.

  Jimmy noticed, raising an eyebrow. “You won’t lose your gun dude. Whatever holster you have will just keep it in place, even if it should technically fall out. Part of the mechanics.” He paused and thought for a moment. “I mean, you can lose it yourself. Like if you panic in a gun fight like a chump or something.” With that he reached beside his seat and pulled out a blocky looking submachine gun with an ugly loop at the business end, ported heatsink around the base of the barrel, and a wire frame stock. The gun was gold plated, and had a white rabbits foot charm hanging from the trigger guard. He folded the magazine port down from under the barrel, slid out the stock with his teeth, and laughed at the incredulous look on his friend’s face.

  “What in the hell is that thing?!” Kurt pulled his wrist up to the gun and tapped the middle of his screen, but the scan option wouldn’t engage.

  “Can’t scan down anybody else’s gear while it’s on em. Here, try now.” He set the gun onto the center console of the car, swerving slightly to avoid a collision and slowing down a bit.

  Kurt hovered his wrist over the gun and swiped the scan option. This time, the scanner spit out a page for him to look at. The gun was a MAT 49 submachine gun. It boasted a 32-round magazine, and bonuses to concealment when in its folded down state. Kurt noted that the bonuses were shot t
o hell with the addition of the gold plating, and the gun had an aggro warning floating in place next to its nameplate.

  MAT 49

  Submachine Gun. Primary/Secondary. Firearm drops upon death and can be picked up by any player in the vicinity.

  Caliber: 9mm.

  Rate of Fire: 600 rounds per minute.

  Capacity: 32 round magazine.

  “Aggro?” Kurt swiped the screen closed, and Jimmy slid the gun back into his lap.

  “Yeah, it’s part of the mechanics. Bigger more impressive guns tend to get a lot more attention in a fight.” He shrugged. “I’ve never really noticed a difference though.”

  His eyebrow raised, Kurt turned to look at his friend. “You get in a lot of gunfights?”

  Jimmy just smiled in response. He kept driving them a distance from the spawn point, into a residential area. As he pulled over to an empty curb, he looked around, scanning different areas. “OK, I think we’re clear. First things first, pull up your options menu and turn off aim assist.”

  Kurt looked at him in confusion. “But I’ve never fired a gun before. Shouldn’t I keep that on?”

  Shaking his head, Jimmy quickly explained; “Naw, it just turns near misses into center mass hits or grazes occasionally, like one in five or something. But, aim assist being turned off basically means that it no longer applies to you. At all.” He raised his eyebrows significantly, before slumping with a sigh. “If you have YOUR aim assist off, nobody else’s works against you. The learning curve is a little steeper sure, but you’ll pick it up in no time, and this tiny detail makes a massive difference.”

  Offering a shrug, Kurt swiped through his options menu and turned off aim assist. “Right, done. Now when I miss all my shots, it’ll be your fault.”

  Jimmy laughed. “Just start off with close range, you’ll be fine. Oh hey, you wanna drive man?”

  With a nod, Kurt moved to exit the car. “Sure.” A notification popped up on his wrist, and he swiped at it as he moved around the back of the car to the driver’s side.

  Primary

  Liar Rank 1. (Interaction)

  “All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.” Bob Dylan -2000

  Dishonesty is a core concept in the criminal world. Any dishonest interaction receives a 1% bonus to succeed when interacting with NPCs of any kind. This skill will also occasionally help cover up mistakes (stammers, misplaced words, etc.) in dishonest interactions with other players.

  Frowning, Kurt swiped the notification away. He flopped down in the driver’s seat and pursed his lips in annoyance. After managing a series of adjustments to the mirrors and seats, he buckled his seat belt and pulled away from the curb. Jimmy chuckled beside him, shaking his head.

  “Wearing your seat belt like it’s the real world man. You really are a noob.” He swiped at his own wrist a few times, before leaning over and making a tossing motion at the windshield. A map sprang into view in front of Kurt, who promptly swiped it out of his main field of view to a corner of the windshield. A line in bright red was shown cutting through the city streets. “Would you kindly follow that? We have a little business to attend to.” The last was said with a smile that made Kurt uncomfortable.

  Two additional notifications popped up on Kurt’s wrist, and he carefully swiped them open while driving.

  Primary

  Driving Rank 1. (Mobility)

  “In driving, one assumes the danger of destroying life, beginning with one’s own.” Richard T. Kelly -2011

  The skilled operation of basic motor vehicles is essential to any criminal operation. Vehicle speed, handling, and durability is increased by 1% This bonus applies to any vehicle the player operates.

  Primary

  Cartography Rank 1. (Mobility)

  “Are we there yet??” -Unknown

  Clever use of the map can be instrumental to several aspects of criminal activities. Mini-map notification radius and sensitivity increased by 1%

  He nodded with an appreciative shrug. Jimmy had been folding the stock on his SMG when Kurt opened the skill notifications, and peered over his shoulder. “What’d you get?”

  “Uhh…map and driving?” Kurt glanced at the notifications again, before swerving to avoid a civilian as he exited the neighborhood, earning a colorful shout from the NPC.

  Jimmy laughed. “Just don’t kill us playing with your menus dude.”

  Chuckling along with his friend, Kurt continued on the route the GPS laid out for them. The streets were sparsely populated with run down houses, graffiti covered warehouses, and unpleasant looking NPCs. Within a few moments, they were nearing the end of the red line. Jimmy rolled down his window, clutching the SMG in his lap. Sensing what was coming, Kurt pulled over abruptly. “What are we doing Jimmy?”

  Jimmy flashed him a toothy smile. “A drive by man, c’mon. Those guys up there in the blue shorts are a rival gang; I gotta keep em in check.” Seeing Kurt grip the steering wheel tighter, he made a soothing motion with one hand. “It’s just a bunch of NPCs dude, its fine. They don’t even shoot back half the time. We just spray em down, you drive us out of here to someplace safe to wait out the heat, and then you can pick the next thing we do.”

  Shaking his head, Kurt pulled away from the curb and started driving at a slow crawl towards the NPC gang. Young men wearing matching basketball shorts and bandanas stood clustered around a car in a driveway. They appeared to be playing a game, slapping playing cards down and jostling each other. Noting that they were on his side of the car, Kurt slouched down in his seat a little, trying to make himself a smaller target.

  “OK, keep it steady, here we go.” Jimmy climbed part way out of his window, sitting on the windowsill and aiming his gun out over the roof of the car. “Raise up now muthafuckas!” The gun blew apart the suddenly still air in a series of sharp thuds, raining shells across the roof of the car as bullets ripped into the gang member NPCs. Kurt watched wide eyed as the men fell in a heap, their own firearms exploding into silver dust as they went down.

  With a hoot of success and a slap to the roof, Jimmy slid back into his seat. He dropped out the spent magazine from his MAT 49 and fished a fresh one from his pocket, slipping it into place and tapping the bolt back into ready position against the dashboard. “Go dude!” He looked out the rear windshield as police sirens began to sound in the nearby distance.

  Pressing the spongey accelerator to the floor, Kurt noticed with a small degree of panic that the mini-map on the windshield had changed its outline. Red and blue lights dimly flashed around the outside of it, and two small gold bars pressed together in a slight V shape firmly sat above it. The Heat indicator seemed to follow a general theme of police ranks. The car fishtailed slightly as he turned a corner, its wheels squealing in protest. Jimmy laughed as he was tossed into the car door.

  Glancing at the mini-map on the windshield, Kurt noticed a red and blue strobing dot coming down the street towards them from their front. He turned quickly, cutting through a parking lot tucked into an alley. The streets were full of debris and people, and Kurt swerved madly as he attempted to avoid them. The dot on the mini-map followed them down the alley, and Kurt glanced at his rearview to see a black and white Crown Victoria police cruiser slide into the alley and accelerate frighteningly.

  With another of his gleeful laughs, Jimmy started climbing out of the window again. “You suck at this my man, pick up the pace!” He roared with laughter as he opened fire on the police cruiser behind them, his chains and necklaces whipping in the wind. His rounds struck the windshield and caused the driver to swerve into a nearby parked car. Kurt made another turn, looking for an open road. Quickly, he found an onramp to the freeway and floored the gas pedal again, cutting off a civilian NPC.

  He reduced his speed once on the freeway and kept a paranoid eye on the mini-map, watching several other red and blue flashing dots converge on the cruiser Jimmy had shot. “Don’t we get in more trouble shooting at the cops?”

  Jimmy scoffed, relaxing in his
seat with an arm casually thrown over the bench seats backing. “Naw man, only if you kill em. The two bar is for popping off in public, so they are already doing the whole ‘armed and dangerous’ bit. You kill one and it goes up, but not just for shooting at em. If you got a one bar and shot at em, it’d bump up to a two bar though.”

  Kurt drove down an off ramp to avoid another police dot on the map coming their way, and then weaved through a few alleyways until the bars began to flicker. He parked the car and turned the key to the off position, keeping an eye on the map. After a moment, the flashing bars simply dropped off the screen and they were free from the Heat.

  “Look, we have to talk for a minute.” Jimmy was uncharacteristically serious, looking over at him from the passenger seat.

  Nodding, Kurt met his friend’s intense gaze. “What’s up?”

  Jimmy squinted at him for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “This game isn’t like that fantasy stuff we played as kids.” He paused for effect. “We are not heroes. There is going to come a moment where you’ll get a little tickle in the back of your head. You’ll wonder what would happen if you just…did something. Something bad, probably. What we would normally think of as bad anyway.” He stopped and looked out the windshield for a moment. “When that moment comes, do yourself a huge favor and find out.” Kurt wondered for a moment if his friend was joking, but Jimmy seemed to be past his strange moment. “So what now? Your turn. I’m down for pretty much anything.” He casually reloaded his SMG again, the empty magazine falling to dust as it landed on the floor of the car.

  “Uhh…I dunno. What can we do?” Kurt frowned as he spoke. He hadn’t thought this far ahead.