Chapter 9: Well, that went horribly.
…
“So, you think we got set
up?”
“No Rhys, I KNOW we got set
up. The back of the building exploded! That doesn’t just happen!”
“But why would IO blow up
the bank their proxy gang are controlling?”
“Maybe… they’re trying to
cut ties with the Uncle Toriyama Boys. The gang could have been planning to
screw them over, so IO made the first move.”
“Ah… wait, how would you
know that?”
“I just figured it out.
It’s not hard.”
…
“You want some peanuts?”
“Shut up Rhys.”
“Sorry. I was just trying
to be nice.”
…
“Why do you even have peanuts,
anyway?”
“I always carry peanuts.”
“But why?”
“In case I get hungry.”
“… Well. Hard to argue with
that.”
…
“They’re probably all
crushed up, since we fell about 30 feet.”
“Well… we can snort them?”
“Man, shut up.”
“What! Carmine, I thought
you liked doing weird stuff.”
“I don’t ‘snort’ things!”
“But I didn’t get stabbed
in the arm by ‘the ghost of John F Kennedy.’”
“IT… IT LOOKED LIKE HIM!
AND WHAT ELSE WAS HE GONNA DO, BEAT ME TO DEATH?! AND HOW IS GETTING ATTACKED
WEIRD.”
“It’s weird if you say that
he was a ghost who can smell blood.”
“Well I was… probably high,
then!”
“Alright! Alright.”
…
“That actually makes a lot
of sense.”
“What?”
“You being high during a
fight.”
“Well, its allowed.”
“I thought the ring only
allowed cybernetics and stimulants.”
“I thought I already told
you this. The aim of the ring is to use all the performance-enhancing stuff you
can put in your body. Like a ‘How hard can humans REALLY punch.’ kind of
thing.”
“Yeah.”
…
“I am trying to quit,
though.”
“What, the ring?”
“The drugs.”
“Oh, right. How long have
you off them?”
“A month without steroids,
3 weeks without PCP and… one day without speed.”
“One day?!”
“Yeah. Uhm… one of Marcus’s
friends offered me some, after the party.”
“Bloody hell, Carmine. If
your trying to go cold turkey, the aim is to not take drugs! That’s what brings
you back to addi-”
“Look man, my life isn’t
all sunshine and rainbows! Beating dudes to a pulp at the ring is my whole job!
And I still can’t shake the memories of… the… thing I don’t want to talk about!
Sometimes, I just need a little bit of happiness in my life.”
“But you were almost out of
it! What made your life get so bad that you started using again!”
“I got fired from the
ring!”
“… What! Why?!”
“They said my fighting had
gotten sloppy. I kept losing to opponents half my size. Said I was a… a coward,
for giving up the drugs. D’ya see why I needed it? I’ve lost my job; I’ve
filled myself with illegal cybernetics, making me basically unemployable, and
the only friends who’ve stuck by me are some petty criminals who just failed to
rob a bank.”
“Unger isn’t petty.”
“Oh, there you go again!
“Oh, Unger has a plan.” “Oh, Unger can figure this all out.” That’s all it is
with you, Rhys! I swear you have a crush on him!”
“Well, I don’t!”
“Yeah, you keep telling
yourself that!”
…
“OK! Rhys, I’m sorry.”
…
“I said I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I know.”
…
“Y’know, you remind me of
Rhys.”
“What, I remind you of you?”
“Oh, yeah, I haven’t told
you. My names not Rhys. It’s just a name I use to confuse the feds.”
“So, what’s your real
name?”
“Mason.”
“What, like “THE NUMBERS
MASON! WHAT DO THEY MEAN!”
“Heh, yeah. That was the
only sentence I heard for the whole of 2010.”
…
“So, who was Rhys?”
“He was my brother.”
“You used your own brothers
name as a way to confuse the cops? Wouldn’t that get him in trouble?”
“Well… thing is… Rhys, he…
he died.”
“Oh… I’m sorry man.”
“Eh, don’t worry. It was
ages ago. And anyway, it confuses the IO search system.”
…
“If you don’t mind me
askin’… how did Rhys die?”
“Well… he was in a car crash. Just… lost control of the wheel and hit a
streetlamp.”
“Oh… that’s… that’s pretty
horrible.”
“It was.”
…
“Why do I remind you of
him.”
“He was always getting
annoyed at me. Not for looking out for his health, for other reasons.”
“Like what?”
“Everything… Heh, he was
some perfectionist. That was how our parents told us apart.”
“So, you were identical
twins?”
“Yeah. That’s why the name change
worked so well.”
…
“So, is that it?”
“What?”
“Is that all your gonna
tell me about Rhys.”
“There’s not much to say,
so… yeah.”
…
“Your being kinda blunt.”
“Oh… sorry.”
…
“So, what do we do know?”
“Well, we’ve talked about
why the bank blew up, snorting peanuts, your drug problem…”
“Hey!”
“… and we’ve talked about
my name and Rhys.”
…
“Wait, Carmine… what time
is it?”
“Its… 10:00.”
“Alright, we can leave
now.”
“Leave?”
“Yeah. We crashed at
around… 10-11am? So, it’s been over 10 hours.”
“How does that help us?”
“IO usually give up chasing
suspects after 10 hours. So, we should be ready leave now.”
“And how did you know
that?”
“Unger gave me info on the
inner workings of a couple police corps. So, he isn’t ‘Petty’.”
“Huh.”
…
“Ok, let’s get going now.”
“But you don’t even have a
plan.”
“Grab Unger and Lilian, lay
low for a while and try to escape the UISC.”
“How will we do that?”
“… We’ll improvise.”
“But I can’t swim. And I’m
blind now.”
“Ah… that complicates
things.”
…
“Carmine, good are you at
swimming?”
“Why?”
“We could use that wooden
pallet over there.”
“… to do what?”
“To swim back to shore.”
“You’re not making any
sense.”
“Ok, if I sit on the pallet
and give you directions, you can push it.”
…
“Well, I don’t have a
better plan.”
“Alright then, let’s go.”
“Hold on, I just need to,
uhm… pee.”
“Now!?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll
only be two seconds.”
