City Streets: Gang Rivalry

[Sifter]

Day 1, Job 1

"The Crack Job"

May 10th 2014, East End Strip Mall.

Tinley was hot and wanted to be dangerous. I had thought about becoming her genie. That put a smile to my face.

"Life knows two miseries: getting what you don't want and not getting what you need."

I looked at my cup: it was almost empty, but I couldn't finish it. My throat sored badly enought.
Something dumb and crazy, that's what was in my head the whole time. For now I had to cheer her up.

" Joe asked God: "How long is a minute in Heaven?"
God said: "1 million years."
Joe asked: "How much is a penny worth in Heaven?"
God replied: "1 million dollars."
Joe asked: "Can I get a penny?"
God said: "Sure, in a minute." "

I already had met Tinley's father. An interesting character may I add, we had stuff to talk about; economics and politics.

I looked through the cafe's window and saw my bike. Eureka flied straight into my face.

I decided to ask her - "Ever rode a motorcycle before?"

 

[Ritual Lobotomy]

Ace Colt
​

Ace kept his eyes closed for a while, until his office phone rang. His sensitive ears caught buzzing of it's mechanism, before it actually rang. He sighed and opened his eyes calmly, without any rush to answer it. Arm was already getting numb, but he didn't mind it. By just stretching it for a bit, it got better. Finally, he rubbed his strange, but wonderfully coloured narrow eyes, and picked up the phone. "Colt." He answered it simply. High pitch female voice spoke and he frowned. It wasn't April. "Mister Colt? Yes, I needed you. Perfect." He answered calmly. "May I know who this is?" Voice chuckled and pierced Ace's ears. "Oh! How rude of me. I apologise." Pause. "My name is Jane, sir. Jane Johnson." He smirked. Fake. How predictable. Hearing insecurity in girl's voice only made it certain. He proceeded calmly. "Well, how may I help you miss...Johnson?" Brief pause between "miss" and "Johnson" made a girl stop for a moment. She was thinking.

At that point he imagined a young teenage girl, probably fifteen or so, standing in the phone booth near the mall, deciding weather she should continue that little charade or she should just hang up. He knew she was near, he didn't even have to search for her. Besides, the number on phone's display was a public one. He waited patiently, until she proceeded. "I apologise again, I got caught up in something around here." Yes, probably lines to say written on a piece of burger paper bag. His stomach protested in disgust when he imagined the greasy burger. "Oh, do not worry about that, Jane my dear. I know how it is." He chuckled on using his lazy seductive voice. On a teenage girl it would leave quite an impression, probably kick her out of her tracks. "I uh..." Pause and a gulp. Ace smirked now imagining her confused blushed face, while others that monitor her swear wordlessly to their pathetic and good for nothing friend. "Yes?"

"I work for local newspapers and..." He smirked again and shook his head thinking. "And you would like to ask me few questions." Voice confirmed his thoughts. "And I would like to ask you couple of questions. If you're able to talk right now?" Well, at least she used "couple". He continued to charm her, getting deeper into her personal space, even through the telephone. "Well, to be honest, you caught me in my busy hour... but I could make an exception for you...darling." The girl was persistent, but she was loosing the strings already, only a couple of minutes in their dialogue. "Well, mister Colt, that would be really nice of you." Ace teased. "Oh, you think so? Well then I shall not disappoint a lady. Ask me all you want, Jane." He was indifferent. She wouldn't get any information anyway.

The conversation lasted for almost ten minutes, before she hung up. Or someone hung up for her once they noticed she was asking rather private, and to them useless questions. How on earth could they abuse his relationship status anyway? Ace listened the sound of a cut off line, before he chuckled and hung up. It was just then that his security guard peaked into his office after knocking. The man knew what was going on. It wasn't the first time. Last time it happened, they needed a new phone. Ace was calm to the point where he was seriously pissed off. Hating to see that happening again, the guard asked carefully. "Sir? Is everything alright?" Ace raised his head and looked at the guard over his working glasses, smiling with his wide, somewhat mischievous and yet sweet smile. "Why of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"

Guard nodded. "I apologise for disturbing you. I would just hate to see you stressed out again." Ace laughed lightly taking out the cigarette and getting up. "Al, it was just a bunch of kids that thought they were pretty smart for this wolf. But I know a sheep when I see one. Or hear one as I did now." The word "wolf" was a figure of speech. Al loved the place he worked on, but he would for sure run away and never come back if he knew Mister Colt's "ugly side". Mid-aged guard nodded respectfully. "I understand" Ace approached him and tapped his shoulder. "You're a good man, Al." It seemed like a random praise, but it was a reminder on how much Al was respected by Ace. After guard returned with a faint smile and confused thank, Ace got out of the agency and leaned on a glass panel that acted as a fence, across the agency. He needed to relax his mind for a bit.

He lit his cigarette, looking at the people that now started invading the mall, their moving reflected on his glasses as he inhaled a cloud of smoke. He thought about the call. His entire disappointment was based on them being just kids with potentially troubled life, looking for attention in a wrong place. Yes, even if she managed to get something, she would still be used only for that. To bring informations. Of course, she wouldn't stand a chance to even smell their headquarters. It was a month now since a group of FA henchmen came up with this silly idea.

Their goal was to gather information for their gang using those poor troubled deviants that would agree on kissing their ass just to get their place in FA. Or so they were promised. It was not long before they realised Ace had something to do with The Sons of Satan, and yet they took so long to find out anything about him. No, he never thought he is invincible. However, by just working where he worked he was driving them insane. He even willingly paid their ridiculously high rent and it never affected his budget. Yet, they still didn't do anything about it. Must be his deep wallet. But he thought how the group on nosy kids should really do better than what they do now. She never believed it was appreciated by FA headquarters either. Yes they were rivals, but they weren't idiots. He maybe had his time of the month equivalent to "female crazy days", but he wasn't a stupid brute as those kids might see him. He smirked, and exhaled the smoke.

 

[Alice Falling]

Tinley

Tinley watched Michael with amusement, her eyes danced while he talked to her. She thought he was pretty intelligent, much more of a thinker than the rest of the Sons. But that was Tinley's own opinion. Oh how Ryker would shoot down that opinion if she brought it forth to him. He didn't like Tinley talking or getting good opinions of anyone in the gang. It was like she was a part of the Sons but always left out in the shadows, being protected by her brother.

Tinley wanted to remember things that Micheal said though. Because the things he said made sense and were interesting. It made her think in a way she hadn't thought before. She enjoyed an adventure, even if it was only a mental adventure.

Thinking of things Ryker wouldn't like, a motorcycle. He would also shoot down this idea. Tinley knew where Michael was going with this motorcycle idea. Though it seemed a little crazy for her she still laughed and said to him, "No. I actually haven't." The inflection in her voice indicated that she would gladly accept the idea of riding a motorcycle.

 

[Ray C]

9:42 AM

Rowan had to think that one over for a while. Most games for just two people were competitive; however, a party game for two or more people would work perfectly. The question then was which one. His gaze roamed the shelf as he tried to pick out which would be best. "Backseat Drawing? Not so good for just two. The Game of Things? No, that's at least four players. Truth Be Told would work with just three..." It was a bit of a puzzle. Until his gaze settled on one box.

"Luck of the Draw! That would be perfect! Two to eight players, simple to play, and great for a laugh. I've even got an open copy back here, so you could try it once before buying if you don't trust the salesman's opinion." Rowan rummaged through the cupboards underneath the counter until he found the box he was looking for, pulling it out and setting it on the countertop.

"What do you think?" Rowan asked with a confident smile. The choice seemed perfect.

 

[Sifter]

Day 1, Job 1

"The Crack Job"

May 10th 2014, East End Strip Mall.

"No. I actually haven't." - Somehow, felt like a no-brainer. At that moment I was thinking how would I explain the controls to her. I decided to explain them in the same order as I had learned myself.

_____________________________________________________________________

Day -5112 (approx.), Job -1340 (approx.)

"14 Bolts to Freedom"

September 24th 1998, Housing area #2

I was sitting with my dad in the garage fixing the electronic parts on the scooter.

"How do you like it?" - He had asked me?

"It's nice, but... I would have liked to have bought a real motorcycle." - I really wanted to tell him the truth.

"Everything starts with small things. Compare this scooter to a real bike, this is a toy compared to something like that." - I did not understand what he meant by that back then.​

"But that's my point."

"No, my point is different. Do you know how a motorcycle works? Did you know you will have to keep balance at larger speeds, shift gears, perform maintainece regularly."

"You make it sound hard."

"At first it will be. You should start with a fly rather than an elephant. Sure start with a motorcycle, they're expensive and require heavy maintance, you will spend more time and money figuring out how it works than with this scooter, which is cheap and doesn't require much more work."

"But it will be slower!"

"Then upgrade it! You will get more mechanical and electronic knowledge and when you'll get a bike, you will know what to do with it."

_____________________________________________________________________


Day 1, Job 1

"The Crack Job"

May 10th 2014, East End Strip Mall.

Why did I remember that? I only learned how to operate a motorcycle when I was 16, but when I think about my past I remember that moment... Why?

Because it explains the story of my life: Wanted a bike, got a scooter. Got a scooter, got mechanical experience. Got mechanical experience, got electronical knowledge. Got electronical knowledge, got interested in programming. Got interested in programming, studied programming. Studied programming, learned about Krav-Maga. Etcetera, etcetera.

"Well, then how about you try it?" - As I said it I got up and with my hand presented one of the greatest inventions ever: the door. Inviting her to come outside.​

 

[Wanderfool]

Click. Click. Click. Anna balled her fist at her laptop as she sat at a table in the cafe across from her apartment, repetitive noises always came out of one person. Turning around slowly, eyebrow twitching she glared down the blue haired girl with piercings. Yasmin, the chick that listened to too loud metal and wore too much black and also claimed to be part of the Sons of Satan. Also a pen clicker. "What?" Yasmin snapped at Anna, who in turn just glared at her from the side. The other girl began to squirm, not so obvious just ever so slightly. The lip piercing twisted and soon the metal on her stupid boots clicked against the floor. Soon enough she stopped rapid-clicking the pen and stood up with her over brewed tea and moved to the far side of the cafe. Sighing with relief Anna returned her attention to the massive coding before her.

Mobill Inc had sent her yet another phone programming that glitched too much to be sold, they offered her quite the check so she had been spending every waking moment trying to find the bug. Groaning she slammed her head to the table and moaned loudly as the pain evolved into a migraine. "I hate life."

 

[Alice Falling]

Ryker

'This guy seems really, oh what's a good word, interesting? No. I'll think of a word.' Ryker watched with amusement as the salesperson, who he still hadn't caught the name of, talked and thought then pulled out a game. Ryker stared at the game and then the salesperson, 'What does the box say? A game for the artistically challenged?' Ryker laughed to himself, if he brought home this game Tinley would either get offended or just laugh at Ryker. It was a 40/60 chance with Tinley, depending on her mood. "Sure. Let's try it. Sounds like interesting!" Ryker was slowly letting down his guard, an unusual thing for a kid so keen and aware of his surroundings.

Tinley

Tinley stared at him full of wonder, she could help but smile to herself. Micheal seemed to get lost into thought on occasion but maybe Tinley was looking to much into it.

She stood up from the table and noticed the people around her before heading for the door. 'Remember when you first met a Son of Satan? They were riding motorcycles then. Three of them. They found you guys after the crash and helped get your bodies out of the car. They were the good guys, your saviors. While the coward Faceless Assassin sat cold in his car, barely alive.' Tinley didn't know what exactly made her think of this, the motorcycle reminded her of Sons of Satan and that fateful day, but what made her think of the Faceless Assassin? And how had she remembered this memory? She was almost out cold, her concussion leaving her permanent damage to this day, but she still remembered the motorcycles.

Tinley got outside and stared at the motorcycle in front of her, "Are you sure I should try this? I mean, I can hardly drive as it is. A motorcycle? What if I don't have enough," Tinley paused to think of the word, "coordination? Balance? A mixture of the two? Do you need coordination or balance?" The last part was more of a question to herself, thinking if she had said the right words.