The best thing about super speed is how easy it is to steal. My backpack, already heavy with Eric's cash, also contained five new wallets and a few hotdogs from a stand I liked. After ducking into a alleyway that was more puddle than street. I let the world speed up, scaring the shit out of a hobo. I tossed him three tens and held a finger to my lips. He nodded and gave me the thumbs up. I love bums. They ask so few questions. Unlike my friend Carlos, who doesn't even understand the concept of silence and volume control. Expecially over the phone.
"Yo dude!! How was work ?"
I winced and held the burner phone a foot from my ear. "Jesus man, fucking lower your voice."
"Sorry bro!" He answered in a slightly bearable tone.
"Anyways, you come up with a solution to my problem?"
"You mean the power limiter right? Sorry, Technomancer says that thirty seconds of power use is all he can get you. That thing is some crazy tech. Sorry dude. But look on the bright side man! You have powers again!"
"Yea, I guess. Is the appointment with Sergei scheduled?"
"Yea. Tomorrow at eight. You have the money?"
"Yep, and extra few hundred thousand I stole today. We should have enough to pay for about half of the costume's price up front. After that it's only a few more jobs."
"Great. Speaking of jobs and shit I got us an interview you'd be interested in. Meet me at my apartment."
I hung up and the world slowed again, regaining its blue tint. Carlos lived about 10 miles away on the other side of Roosevelt City. Good thing I like to jog.
I reached his front door in seconds in real time, but I had been running for around an hour in my my slowed world. If only Carlos could fix my power limiter, then I could leisurely stroll anywhere I wanted, faster than the eye could see. If he couldn't, then that would leave me with two choices. Hauling ass every time I wanted to use my powers, or running out of power in the middle of a crowded street. Maybe, I thought as I leaned on his door, I should have gotten a cab. Fuck it actually. I needed the cardio. In between gasps I managed to shout;
"Let me in you ginger fuck!"
"Shit man, I like just put the phone away. Hold on."
After about a minute Carlos opened the door. He was chewing on a toaster strudel, wearing a sweatsuit, and judging by his hair, he was unshowered. It's also entirely possible he forgot to use shampoo. Or water.
We walked in to his apartment, which was much nicer than mine, and he tossed me a beer, and a box of Lucky Runes. My favorite.
"Thanks man," I said as I fell onto his cushy couch.
He tried to say something, but his mouth was to full of pastry, so he shrugged and gave me a thumbs up. After he finished chewing he grabbed his laptop, which was open to a SuperWiki page. It was of Jason Kittritch, one of the most influential crime bosses in the country. His organization had no official name, but the police had nicknamed them the "Third Street Titans, due to their clout and location of their old clubhouse. That sounded really stupid, so in criminal circles, we just said someone worked for Jason, or Jason did something. Not much was known about him, except he ran a tight, clean, and effective ship. Also unlike most crime bosses in this day and age, he was most likely unpowered. What some saw as a weakness spooked me. He had a confirmed kill list over twenty people long, and those were just the ones he killed personally. He either was exceptionally skilled, had an deadly but unobtrusive power, or he was obscenely lucky. If I was a betting man, which I was, I would bet on all three.
"Are you saying..."
"Yep."
"Holy shit. When is the interview?"
"Tomorrow at five pm."
"Wow. Did he say what it was for? Actually nevermind. Dumb question."
Carlos's eyes flashed orange for an instant, signalling the use of his power.
"I give it a 60% chance that were gonna be ferrying things for him for a while, before we move onto any of the big stuff."
"Oh. Well at least it's steady, nonviolent and non dangerous work right?"
"Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. I came up with the fucking most amazing genius Einstein on hyped on that drug that makes you super smart what was it called oh yeah brainwave. Einstein on brainwave level idea here. I didn't take it though. I'm just this naturally fucking awesome."
I groaned. This wasn't going to be good.
"Just hear me out. So you know how you can speed up time, and you can localize it to only certain parts of your body? Well, isn't that kinda just like traveling into the future? I was thinking, you speed up one of your eyes about thirty seconds at all times, and then you can know if someone's going to attack you, and you can like super speed that bitch. Now I'm getting going to slap you at some random point in the next minute, and I want you to be able to block it without using your speed. Kapish?
I nodded, and tried speeding up my eye.
Shit got weird.
No comments:
Post a Comment