Fight of Fancy - Chapter 1 - The Setup (Flight of Fancy)

The Safehouse, Paris, France.

I'm tapping away at my computer, prepared to see what this Air_Heart_Babe has to offer. It's taken me weeks to try to find a specialist, and so far, nothing.

I look at the screen. She says: "hey welcome to the RC tech chatroom! I'm Air_Heart_Babe, but you can call me Penelope."

I think about how I'm going to approach this. Friendly, for sure. Casual? Casual, I'm going to keep casual. I tap back, "howdy, I'm Bentley, a.k.a. Spex_guy."

Howdy... I never say 'howdy'... great start Bentley, great start. I follow up with: "so I've herd you're the expert on RC vehicles." And, recovery, we're back on track.

My computer beeps and I read her reply: "i been doin remote vehicle work since b4 I can remember! hehe :D". Perfect, chances are she's really experienced, and that's exactly what we're looking for! I type "that RULZ", because it really does, especially since it's taken so long to find her. I don't want to feel like a narcissist, but someone who's a better RC pilot than myself has to be a force to be reckoned with, completely unstoppable, incredible! She replies with a ":)", so I decide to ask, "would you be interested in a 'gig'?". Her response pops up. "i dunno... i don't useually freelance"

Okay, I can work this out. The Cooper Gang aren't a small-time outfit. We take serious jobs all the time. We're known worldwide, and Carmelita Fox won't stop chasing after us, ever. She's been dogging us for years after all. I type, "but surely as a ThiefNet member you've herd of me and my crew? we're notoriouus worldwide"

"haha that's what they all say LOL :P"

She's... she's playing it quite difficult. Looks like reputation alone won't do the trick. I decide to play this off with a simple "haha :D" to buy myself some time. I need to convince her that we aren't joking around, that we take everything we do seriously.

I type: "but I'm serious! in fact during 1 of our most daring jobs an interpol occifer told us we'd pulled more successful jobs than any1 in there computer! BOOOYAH"

'Occifer'... crud.

"sorry... I only werk for THE BEST... good luck on the big heist... er... 'gig' :)" she says, before logging off. Great, looks like this is going to need some thought. It was 'occifer' that messed that one up, wasn't it?

A few days later, my computer beeps at me. I look over. "hey spex_guy!"

Penelope!

"Sly! Murrary!" I yell. "Get in here, she's contacted me!" The two of them come bursting into my study.

"Any progress?" Sly asks.

"Well, she's said hi..." I murmur, "but she contacted me first, she must have reconsidered our offer."

"Hopefully." Sly replies. "Well, go on, message her back." He nudges me.

"Okay, reply, I can do that." I type "wasssssssssssup".

"Uh... Bentley?" Murray pipes up. "What was that supposed to be?"

"I'm trying to be friendly!" I cry.

"That was kinda dorky though." Sly laughs.

My computer beeps again. "Whatever," I start. "now be quiet, I need to concentrate on negotiations."

I read her reply: "mayB we can see what U and yer gang are made of?!"

Murray and Sly start cheering in the background. They seem to think she's in, but I'm not so sure. That 'the best' remark from the other day didn't sit right with me, maybe what she will suggest won't be as straightforward as we're hoping. I decide to see what she's thinking. I rattle off: "i'm listening..."

She explains herself in three lines. "The A.C.E.S competition is coming up! think your gang can manage to beat the B.B. at his own game? then maybe I'll know yer not just a pack of jokers... and worth my time hehe :)" And she logs off again.

"Guys..." I start, "she's in if we win ACES..." I can't believe it! "Now, let's get to work! Murray, you and I will be working to build a plane."

"Alright!" Murray exclaims.

Sly perches against the table with his arms folded. "So, if we're entering this competition, who's going to be our pilot?" he asks.

"That will be you as long as you can aquire a pilots' licence. Once you get that, I can sign us up."

Sly grins. "Oh, I don't think pilots will mind if I 'borrow' their licences." He says with a wink. He pauses, expression full of thought. "Just make sure you do a good job on that plane, I don't want it to suddenly explode on me at several thousand feet."

"I promise you, the plane will only blow up depending on the pilot's abilities. Make sure you actually dodge the incoming fire."

"Ha, very funny."

Once Murray and I finished the plane, I went to tell Penelope that we had a deal.

"OK it's on!" I type. "your challenge is accepted, we're on our way"

"REALLY?!" she replies. "good luck, your gonna need it!"

It occurs to me that I have no idea what this woman looks like. That certainly won't help when we finally meet and get her to join. So I ask, "BTW, you got a pic?" Nothing to lose here, plus the request makes sense.

She replies, "sure, uploading now" And after that, her display picture box sprung to life, slowly descending with the simple message of "Downloading, please wait..."

And there she is.

Penelope... she's beautiful! My heart does six somersaults in my chest! She has such a pretty face, with such a cute expression.

I'll admit it, I tweaked my profile picture a little bit... a lot... but I don't want her to think I'm a broken loser. This wheelchair cramps my style, and for the first time since being confined to it, I'm incredibly self-concious of it. I wish the sticky tape I used was a bit more obvious, I want her to see it's fake, but I also don't want her to either. I'm pretty indecisive about this chair. I feel like it's too late to back out of the lie. Well, that's just too bad, these things happen. I don't feel like I can confess that I'm a paraplegic, maybe that would cause her to retract her offer. And now, we're off to Holland to participate in a dogfighting competition.

So that was chapter 1 of a story I scrapped years ago because I lost the motivation to continue for some reason. Hope you enjoyed, please follow and review if you did, as there's a lot more to follow! Cheers!

Also Bentley and Penelope's typing, *cringe*, the use of 'there' and 'your' made me want to cry. Their chat text was taken straight from the Flight of Fancy setup cutscene, word for word.