You Have 24 Hours
By Merideth
I threw myself down behind the wooden crates, praying feverently they would block the bullets. This time I'm in luck, the bullets lodged in the wood, making a splintering sound. But splintering wood is much better than splattering blood eh Beccs?
The firing ceased, and I tensed, listening. Footsteps tapped lightly on the cement floor of the warehouse, coming closer and closer. Tension wound up inside me like a spring, waiting to break loose. The footsteps came closer. I unconciously checked the magazine on my Browning and sprang up, facing my opponent.
My opponent was dressed in a long brown trenchcoat that completely covered his 30s style suit and shoulder holster. A brown fedora topped a head of blonde-going gray hair and shaded suspicious blue eyes. Luke Cramer is the classic private eye, right down to the Magnum revolver. And as luck would have it, he is currently facing away from me, giving me a perfect target on his back. Sure a shot in the back is considered cowardly, but what can I say? I'm the villain. And Luke Cramer is the hero, classic private investigator.
As far as I'm concerned, the classic PI is going down. Hard.
"Cramer, look out!"
Damn.
I forgot about Cramer's partner. Mary Simon is a leggy blonde, blue eyes, model-perfect teeth and skin- in other words, the type of woman I hate. The type that's basically opposite of me. But I suppose that doesn't really matter considering that at the moment I'm a man. Hi, I'm Matthew Star, Becky to the people who actually know me in the RL. And at the moment I have a gun pressed into my back. Makes my day.
"Drop the roscoe." For those of you who don't know your hardboiled detective slang, a roscoe is a gun. One of those things that's always great to have in your hand but pure hell when you're looking at it from the buisness end. Like I am, now that Cramer's finally turned around. Two to one. Great odds.
Mary repeats it, pressing the barrel of her gun harder into my back. She's an annoying chippie as far as I'm concerned. No idea how she got hooked up with a good guy. I suppose I'll never really understand detectives. Oh well. I drop the gun. No sense getting knocked off now when it can happen later, right? Besides, I never leave my apartment without at least two guns.
"Put your hands above your head Star." Cramer says. Now he's come around the crates to stand in front of me. Not a smart move on his part. Amateur.
"You got me Lukester. I'm impressed. You're good." I start to put my hands up in the air, and use the movement as a second of distraction. I use it pretty well. I kick out with one leg, hitting Mary's knee with a sickening crack. For some reason I like that sound. Must be the little psycho in all of us. At the same time I duck down, using Mary's knee as a sort of pushstart and lunge at Cramer. The man was completely unprepaired for it. Probably expected me to go for a gun and shoot him. Nah, not me. Up close and personal, that's Matt Star.
First thing I do is knock him to the floor- his head made a thunk sound when it hit- and wrestle the gun away from him. Now that he's disarmed I can finish him off with style. Style always gets you the best reputation, not to mention points. I look at Cramer again. He's unconcious. He must have hit the floor a little harder than I though. Damn. It's never as good to kill someone when they are out cold. Takes the challenge out of it.
Mary is still conscious. I can hear her wimpering. Dislocated knee hurts like hell. She's definetly not cut out for working with a detective. Killing her now would earn me alot of points, but not nearly as many as getting rid of Cramer now. But then there's always the personal satisfaction...
Oh what the hell. I pull the second Browning 9mm and aim at Mary, the first gun pressed to Cramer's forehead. I cock the triggers on both guns. "Not good enough."
I pull the trigger. Nothing happens.
^^Time's up^^
Damn.
^^Time's up^^
Damndamndamn.
So close! One more second and I would have had them! I would have maximum points in the Game. I sighed, letting out all my frustration in one breath. What was I angsting about? I still won. I had them both dead to rights. Sure it wasn't maximum scorage, but I still beat "The Obsidian Haze", the hardest Game on the market.
^^Times up^^ The electronic voice sounded again. The warehouse faded away, leaving the three of us in a blank room. Now Cramer is getting up, same for Mary. Any signs of injury are gone, even if Mary is still sniffling like a baby. Don't see why, you don't really feel pain in the Game. Unless she turned off the safety features, and I doubt she has the guts for that. She's just that type, you know.
Several dozen more people appeared in the measureless blank room. I recognized most of them, a few of them I had killed myself. They were the players that hadn't quite survived this far. ^^Scores:^^ The voice started rattling off the Game scores overall. ^^Mary Simon. Role: Secretary. Points: 302 out of 400.^^ Mary seemed happy enough with that score. I wouldn't have settled for less than 380. But of course, I wouldn't have even chosen the secretary role. ^^Micheal O'Reily. Role: Police officer. Points: 9 out of 100^^ Poor guy didn't last ten minutes in the Game. I should know, I killed him. Newbies never last very long on their first game or two. It takes practice, I'll admit that. Maybe I should have gone easy on him... Nah.
A few more names, roles and scores flew by. Eddie, a stoolie, got his max score, but then got himself caught by the mob. Cement shoes -15 points. Steve "the Shotgun" Murphy, one of my own goons, got a pretty decent score. Not bad for a beginer. Then came mine.
^^Matthew Star. Role: Villain: Mob Boss. Points: 495 our of 500.^^ My shoulders sank. Damnit. Five measly points and I would have max score! I wanted to hit someone, and wondered vaguely where Mary was.
^^Luke Cramer. Role: Hero: Detective. Score: 490 out of 500^^
My mouth dropped open.
^^Winner: Matthew Star.^^
I actually beat all of them. Every single player in the Game, all 112 of them.
Wow.
"Yes! Yesyesyes!" I broke out in a random happy dance.
"Great game Becky." Luke Cramer was there, but now his appearance had fallen away. Now he was much younger, somewhere near my age. We shook hands.
"Not bad Luke, but I think you should stick to being a bad guy."
"Well I would have, but you got there first. Surprised me though, never thought you'd choose a male character." My character had fallen away by now too. "If it wasn't for the Star, I would never have thought it was you."
I shrugged lightly. "What can I say? I like variety. But I've gotta say, I liked being a villain."
"Mhmm." He said, throwing a glance at Mary Simon. She was still in her character. Figures. She was that type. Probably thought this was the coolest thing in the world. Probably in the RL had braces or glasses or zits. Thought she was ugly. Hid behind VR masks. That type.
