The Life- Illusion Read online

  With a shake of his head and a smile of his own, Kurt returned his friends embrace and laughed at his joke. “Yeah man, I have to admit I feel pretty good about it. I mean, I probably shouldn’t, but turns out I really hate school.” He pulled away from the curb and began driving towards their fusion restaurant. The neighborhood and its carefully sectioned areas of greenery faded away to the cold comfort of predictable concrete businesses and apartment buildings.

  They had grown up in a wealthy neighborhood just to the east of Seattle, and enjoyed the dichotomy of secluded housing nestled into natures verdant splendor with a major metropolitan city’s uncompromising skyline just over the hillside. As he drove, Kurt flipped through the radio stations, pausing to frown at a news report detailing an explosion at MIT. With a shrug, he changed it again, but Jimmy smacked his hand away and turned the station back to listen to the report. Details were sparse, and all they learned was that an entire research building had been destroyed in an explosion in the early hours of the morning, and that no one was reported as being hurt. Offering a shrug of his own, Jimmy flipped the station to music and swiped at his phone for the duration of the short trip. Their restaurant was nestled into an industrial park, and was rather un-impressive to look at, with a simple hanging sign declaring the name ‘Hot Fusion.’

  Hot Fusion sported a humble seating area that spread from the restaurant’s front into a tiny park nestled into the middle of the outdoor parking lot. A simple waist high gate next to the main entrance led into a lovely little covered seating area surrounded by tall shrubs and evergreen trees. Jimmy pushed his way through the gate as Kurt stood with a hand on the entrance door, confused. “Don’t we have to go order?”

  Setting his crutches into a corner, Jimmy sat down heavily and stretched his arms above his head. “Naaaaw, man. They know we’re here, Tammy has us covered. I’ve been coming here pretty often since you left town.”

  With a shrug, Kurt joined his friend at the small round metal table. As predicted, a middle-aged woman with greying hair tied up into a messy bun opened the door of the restaurant and approached them with a smile. “Morning Jimmy!” She paused to take in Kurt, recognition dawning on her face as she lunged in to hug him. “Kurt! So good to see you again!”

  Unable to help the smile that came to his face, Kurt engaged in an awkward sitting hug. “Thanks Tammy, it’s great to be back.”

  They engaged in a brief but illuminating conversation about Kurt’s recent failings at school and his return home. Tammy assured him he would land on his feet and happily took their order. Kurt ordered a bowl of pork belly ramen with a side order of tuna sushi roll. Jimmy just nodded when Tammy raised an eyebrow at him.

  After she left Kurt nodded towards the crutches. “So, what’s up? Those are new.”

  Pulling a face, Jimmy leaned forward in his chair. “Well, yeah. Degenerative muscle condition. Doesn’t get better, far as I’m aware. Doc says five years tops before I’m in a chair.”

  Nodding gravely, Kurt looked down. “Nothing they can do?”

  “Can’t cure DNA my friend, damage done. Without eight hundred grand for my side of a full on muscle augmentation surgery, not much to be done at all.” Jimmy shrugged as he spoke, clearly not thrilled with the line of conversation. “Hey, check this out. You know that woman we’re meeting? I figured out who she is.” He swiped at the air above his wrist for a moment, before tilting it towards Kurt’s.

  Touching his wrist to Jimmies, Kurt accepted the video link, happy to change the subject. He scowled as he watched a scene of carnage unfold. Several cars were set to race on a track, with various weaponry bolted to their frames. The track itself was a simple figure 8 design, with a killing floor of spiked barricades set into the central area. The vehicles rumbled at the starting line, revving engines and boiling tires or firing weapons in an attempted show of dominating intimidation. A line of text flashed across the screen as a countdown begun, indicating the video feed was from the competitive side of The Life of Crime.

  Red lights changed to yellow, and then dropped down to green as the final three seconds of the countdown ticked away. Tires screamed and the cars jolted off from the line, jostling and ramming into each other right away. A vibrant pink 1986 fox body Ford Mustang hung back from the line of battling cars at first. It had two racks of short range rockets strapped in place, one on the hood and another on the roof, facing the rear of the car.

  While the other racers were busy ramming one another out of the way, the pink Mustang launched two rockets into the crowd, blowing apart a cluster of three vehicles. It then roared into the race, the rear wheels boiling smoke as it dove into the first corner. The three cars the Mustang had blown apart blinked back into place at the starting line and immediately began their combative race once more.

  Sliding through the barricades, the pink Mustang clipped the rear end of the car in front of it and sent the vehicle skidding sideways into a row of spikes, causing the audience to cheer. The driver of the Mustang was clearly skilled, using oversteer and drift to major advantage and overtaking or simply destroying the cars in their way. Switching instantly between rocket racks, the driver never allowed an opponent to approach too closely from the rear and deftly avoided any attacks that came their way.

  The final stretch approached, and the driver in the pink Mustang ended things with some flare, launching all the rockets from both racks as they slid sideways through the checkered flag, to uproarious applause from the crowd. The driver stepped out of the car and began to climb up onto the roof, causing Kurt to squint at his screen. Gadot was in a bright pink poodle skirt, with a fluffy pink sweater, gigantic pink sunglasses, and a matching hairband. She waved and blew kisses to the crowd before her vanquished foes came roaring around the corner and the entire finish line became a tangle of twisted steel. She hopped off the roof of her car into the sidelines just before the other vehicles struck, and the video ended to the sound of roaring cheers and applause.

  Kurt swiped his phone closed, looking up at Jimmy with a scowl. “I don’t understand.”

  Shaking his head, Jimmy closed his own phone. “That’s The Getaway Gal.” He paused, an incredulous look on his features. “I forget you don’t follow this stuff anymore. She’s the most famous driver in the game, on the competitive side. Like, high end sponsorships and everything, a real competitor who almost never loses a race.”

  Still scowling, Kurt sat back in his chair. “So…Getaway Gal Gadot? Like the old movie star?”

  A frustrated shrug was sent his way. “I dunno, seems likely. There’s plenty of dumber names in the gaming community dude. What I’m trying to tell you is that’s our person! That’s the woman we are meeting today, the one who drove for you from that art heist! She isn’t even thought to play the immersive side of the Life man! This is all huge, why are you not into this stuff?!” Jimmy stopped his tirade and nodded towards the parking lot. “She’s here dude! Oh, I’m giddy.”

  Grabbing his crutches, Jimmy stood and hurriedly pulled out a chair for their approaching guest. She appeared to be around twenty-five to Kurt, and wore a simple pair of fitted blue jeans with a sleeveless dark purple shirt.

  “Jimmy? Kurt?” The young woman opened the gate and moved directly towards their table, sitting down in the chair Jimmy offered.

  “That’s us. Nice to meet you, Gadot.” Jimmy moved back to his seat, getting out of Tammy’s way as she came to deliver drinks and take the new arrivals order.

  “Oh, it’s uhh…It’s Summer.” She turned in her chair to look at Tammy. “Do you guys have like chocolate milkshakes or anything really chocolaty desert-like?”

  Their waitress gave her a smile and nodded. “We carry Fauxcolate and the real thing.”

  Gadot blanched with a shrug. “Fake stuff is fine, just really ramp it up please.”

  Without hesitating Jimmy waved for Tammy’s attention. “Real, my treat.” He paused to look at Gadot. “If that’s ok, of course.”

  She nodded, a bemused smile cr
eeping onto her lips. “Thank you, Jimmy. I haven’t had real chocolate since I was a kid.”

  Jimmy responded with a smiling shrug. “No big thing, business lunch and all. I mean, I assume its business. Though, I have to admit, I don’t know what a couple of small timers like us can offer the Getaway Gal.”

  Gadot faced him with a grimace. “Crap.” She looked at her lap, red creeping into her face.

  Waving his hands defensively, Jimmy shook his head rapidly. “No, no! Your secret is totally safe with us, I’m just a huge fan. You’re the best driver in the game.” He shrugged with a touch of sheepishness. “You’re an inspiration, is all. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”

  Her head raised sharply at that and she glared at Jimmy as if convinced he was mocking her for a moment, before her expression softened. “Well, thank you. I appreciate your discretion, but I doubt it’s going to matter much longer.” She looked them both over for a moment before continuing. “I’m going to war with GoonStorm.”

  “I’m in. We’re in.” Jimmy shrugged when Kurt shot him a look, but didn’t retract his statement.

  Tammy arrived then with their food and drinks, expertly arranging the platter’s goods onto the tiny tabletop. “Anything else?”

  Jimmy nodded, lifting his knife and fork. “Yeah, please Tammy. All of this is going on my account, just charge it whenever you’re ready.”

  Kurt split the cheap recyclable chopsticks he had been given with a light crack, a smile on his face. “Oho! Free lunch. Thanks!”

  “Hey man, welcome home. No big thing.” Jimmy happily unwrapped his silverware, preparing to dig into his usual order; Mexican steak with pepper jack cheese and spicy guacamole.

  Taking a long draw from her straw, Gadot groaned slightly in enjoyment. “Ohh this is so much better than the fake stuff!” She paused to look at their meals. “Is that the…like lab grown meat?”

  Both young men stared at her in confusion for a moment before Jimmy nodded, realizing something. “Ah that’s right, you’re from Arizona. The last bastion of the Beef Barons trying to stop this kind of thing.” He paused for a moment, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Yeah, this is all cultured meat, they don’t really sell the live animal stuff anywhere anymore…you know, outside of Arizona.”

  She made a face at him, before contentedly spooning some of her chocolate milkshake into her mouth. “Anyway. War with GoonStorm.”

  Kurt spoke up at this, raising a hand slightly as if in class. “What is GoonStorm and why are we going to war with them?”

  Gadot gave him a concerned look. “You really did start last night, huh?” She set her milkshake down on the table and sat back. “Ok, so GoonStorm is a guild, basically. It’s the largest in Illusion, and growing every day. All those forum posts about the GoonStorm take-over conspiracy are right. I have a contact in the guild, and he has confirmed it’s their goal to be the only viable guild in the city.”

  Jimmy perked up at that. “If they control all the turf, they can control all the heists.” He stopped and looked at Kurt. “If you control turf that a bank is on, for example, you can hit that bank and not get heat for an extended period of time. You can even have your NPCs respond to any assets being threatened. It’s a massive advantage, and lets guilds basically farm heists every week while making sure no other guilds can touch them.” He blanched, his face screwed up in thought for a moment. “Still, don’t call them guilds. It’s like ‘gangs’ or ‘corps’ or even just ‘crews’. GoonStorm’s fluff is that they are some paramilitary corporation, like those old super shady mercenary companies of the twenty first century. I think they call it a ‘Company’.”

  Sitting back in his seat with a contented sigh, Kurt shook his head. “I can’t pretend to understand it like you guys do, but GoonStorm thugs killed us last night and stole Jimmies favorite gun. They crossed my friend, and if he’s in, I’m in. How many are in your crew?”

  Gadot gave him a grim look, but nodded appreciatively. “As of right now? Three ground team, one intel. My guy in GoonStorm can’t risk his cover, but he can feed us info.”

  Nearly choking on a spicy bite of his meal, Jimmy laughed into his napkin as he smirked at Kurt. “That wasn’t my favorite gun dude, and I have like…four copies of it in storage.” He turned back to Gadot. “So, three of us against the entire GoonStorm army? They only have two and a half thousand players, with a standing NPC force of roughly seven thousand. Poor bastards don’t stand a chance.”

  Ignoring Jimmy’s barb about the gun, Kurt’s jaw dropped slightly. “Woah what??”

  Ignoring both of them, Gadot swiped at her wrist before extending it into the middle of the table. “This is the first op. We’re doing everything through The Lace, so post nothing about anything on any forums. The game monitors that kind of thing and if you do it, The Lace won’t talk to you anymore. Very serious about our secrecy.”

  Kurt waved his hands in front of him. “Hang on, hang on. The game gave you a quest to hurt another guild?”

  She shook her head for an instant, before seeming to remember something and squinting at Kurt. “Yes and no. You guys know The Lace already, you must have been on an op for them last night. Who are you with? Crane?” Both men nodded and she continued. “I work directly under Viper, much higher up the food chain. Top maybe, I think. Anyway, he recommended you guys to me. I think it’s the AI telling me I need more players for this to work.” She paused for a sip of her milkshake. “I’m actually higher up in the organization than Crane, and I can order ops. That’s what this is, an op I put together. We need to do all of this with The Lace, we need their resources. They are allowing us to borrow certain vehicles and specialized tools in order to shut down another crew’s operation, namely the peace talks they are involved in.”

  Jimmy intervened for Kurt. “If you get high up enough with a faction, you can basically become a quest giver, or just make and do your own quests. Ops in this case, but pretty much the same thing.”

  Gadot continued after Jimmy finished. “So GoonStorm has a sit down with the two remaining power house guilds in Illusion; the Ursa and the Pirates.” Jimmy shuddered at the mention of the Pirates, causing Gadot to raise an eyebrow before she continued. “Talk is they are planning on a buyout, and will be folding both guilds into the GoonStorm Company at that point. My contact says it’s all on track, and if this goes through, GoonStorm will become unstoppable. There won’t be any organizations large enough to actually fight them left in the city.”

  With a shake of his head, Jimmy scraped up the remainder of his meal, hovering his fork while he spoke. “Pirates are…well, a bunch of pirates. We really need to encourage them to go to war? Won’t they just go to war on accident like they always do?”

  Gadot laughed at that. “You’re right, we probably don’t need to push them very much. Really, we just need to have a sit down with them, I’m more worried about the Russians. The Ursa is sharp, organized, and their leader trusts nobody. They’ve agreed to a meeting with us, but it’s on pretty shaky ground. We need to be careful with them.” She paused again, taking a long draw from her shake. “It’s all about the timing. If we just break down peace talks for now, GoonStorm will stay strong and eventually come back to this point. The problem is that nobody really fights them, they have too many players. But if we can start a war against them, they’ll take a hit where it counts, morale. We need to cripple them, show that they can be hurt.” She stopped there, going pale as she realized what she had said.

  Jimmy looked between her and Kurt, eyebrows raised. “What?” He shared a quick smile with Kurt. “Ohhh, you said crippled. Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about that. Kurt is…you know, for sure, intellectually handicapped, but he doesn’t mind. He’s a happy fella, aren’t you buddy?!” He leaned over and prodded Kurt in the ribs, eliciting a yelp from his friend and bringing a smile back to Gadot’s lips.

  She smiled and shrugged. “I am sorry though, it was thoughtless of me.”

  Reaching over to Kurt’s plate, Jimmy stole
one of his remaining bits of tuna sushi and popped it in his mouth with a grin. “Don’t even fret. I walk through life in a perpetual haze of bliss. So, how do you propose we cripple GoonStorm?”

  “And there’s where the plan gets complicated.” She tapped at her phone, tilting her wrist towards them to share what she had prepared. When they both had the file, Kurt inspected the photos she had sent. The screenshot images were of a gated compound somewhere out in the desert surrounding Illusion. He could see several dozen vehicles in a parking area, a series of large barreled artillery guns, and a small airport behind a squat concrete building that looked more like a bunker than a proper building.

  “GoonStorm’s operation is massive, but it only has two main tactical strengths. This artillery emplacement, and their fleet of vehicles. They can field ten jets, a dozen attack choppers, three dozen tanks, and almost a hundred technical trucks with mounted .50 cals.” She paused, swiping through the pictures with a shake of her head. “That fleet is a vulnerability if we do this right. We need them fighting on multiple fronts, fielding as many vehicles as possible. Which is where the Pirates and Russians come in. Their turfs are naturally set up for this to work. If they both attack, GoonStorm will have to respond to a wide area, spread out across their borders. I can take out plenty of their tanks if the Ursa keeps GoonStorm’s jets busy.”

  Brushing her hair over her shoulder Gadot leaned back in her chair. “So yeah. I hear rumors the pirates have something that can neutralize GoonStorm’s artillery, and I just need the Ursa to field their own air superiority to counter GoonStorm’s. Our meetings over the next couple of days should help iron that out. We just have to get everyone to understand that the Goons are not invincible first.” She paused, frowning for a moment. “And all of this has to happen over the next four days, or GoonStorm owns a whole city in the Life.”