Hello, all. Long time no see, is it not? Well, as usual, I have prepared for you guys yet another chapter in this series of farcical misadventures, sprinkled with awkward attempts at situational humor as well as a healthy dose of deus ex machina...Oh, who am I kidding, I do enjoy writing this story. And as long as it keeps you guys entertained and/or I don't die in a freak marching accident, I will continue to update with more chapters, I swear to God and Black Jesus.
But, on some real shit, my niggas, I do have to ask what you all think of the new direction this story has taken. I am planning for Alexia to undertake all five of the online heists with her own group of career criminals that she will be tasked with leading. Of course, I will be sure to continue the basic action/humor formula of the story throughout this new subplot, and the gang war will most likely have an effect on the execution of heists so that they're not copied from the game verbatim. So, if you have a strong opinion on the matter or just want to tell me how much I suck for doing this, please let me know in the comments.
But anyway, I suppose that's enough chit-chat for now. So please just make yourself comfortable, reader, nestle your children to your bosoms, and feel to eat some popcorn as you read. But while you're at it, please cover your childrens' eyes, as they definitely should not be reading this. Just so you know. _
Once inside the apartment with a cumbersome box full of incriminating heist equipment, Paige and Alexia carried the suppllies in tandem over to an unused spare room in Alexia's luxury suite.
"You doing okay over there?"
"Yeah, it's just...really heavy..." strained Alexia, who was obviously struggling with the heavy load. Seeing this, Paige hastily directed her over to a table where they set the box down.
Alexia sighed heavily, shaking her burning, sore arms.
"Okay, we all good?" asked Lester as he entered, surveying the upscale surroundings.
"Yes, oh wise master," answered Paige with noticeable contempt. "We miraculously managed to cart all this up here without being arrested."
"See? I told you, these two know what they're doing. Or at least, they appear to be."
Paige didn't answer. Instead, she proceeded to a far wall of the apartment with a black marker, a few surveillance photos, and dozens upon dozens of thumbtacks.
"Okay, I gotta ask you, goth girl," said Noël skeptically as she entered. "If you're just a rookie in the Skulls, then how did you get a nice place like this? Luxury apartments like this must take years to save up for, and you did it in just a few weeks?"
"It's, uh, kind of a long story...Perhaps I'll tell you later, Noël."
"Yes, that's right," Lester interrupted. "You two will have plenty of time for familiarizing later, but for right now, we've got something else to focus on. A score to take. Now, Paige here is setting up a board for you. This will serve as a kind of visual aid to you, to help you plan exactly how you're gonna do this."
"Yeah, that's great, but you're...kind of writing it on my wall."
Paige briefly looked down from her work and down at the marker she had been using.
"Don't worry, it's dry-erase. We don't want to leave any evidence that this was ever planned in here."
"That's right," corroborated Lester with a smile. "It's the reason we can't keep files pertaining to this scheme on a computer. Aside from my brilliant hacking software, technology must be kept to a minimum in setting this up...So please you two, no hashtags or selfies on social media showing you at the bank."
Lester laughed at his own joke, yet no one else in the room laughed with him.
His laughter died down awkwardly, and he turned back to Paige.
"You almost done over there, Paige?"
"Almost...Y'know, I'd let you do it if I had some chairs for you to stand on."
Lester laughed again, just as awkwardly.
"Mmm, we uh...we like to poke fun, but we respect each other...For you see, it's not about the liking each other that counts, you two. It's all about respect. As long as you respect your partner, they will respect you back, right Paige?"
"Respect isn't the word I'd use. It's more like 'loathing the sight and especially the smell of you'."
"I'm starting to like her," whispered Noël to Alexia.
"Yes, well, uh anyway," he started, clearing his throat. "As I've said before, the majority of the prep work has been taken care of for you. My loyal assistant has provided you with about everything you'll need for when you walk into the bank. However, something we could not procure for you is the getaway vehicle, that's something you'll have to get before you can start this heist...Now, Noël."
He turned to the girl, smiling slyly.
"Could you tell us all that you know about the, uh...armored Karin Kuruma?"
"You mean that veritable iron shell on wheels, with bulletproof windows, protection against collisions and amazing traction and understeer?"
Lester nodded slowly.
"...Are you sure we're gonna need such a powerful car for just a small bank job?"
"Yes," he declared, moving over to the board. "Once you exit the bank, the cops are going to be all over, setting up roadblocks and whatnot. The Kuruma's protection against collisions and bullets will ensure that you get to the escape point in one piece. More on that later. Now!"
He stuck his hand out dramatically and pointed to the board, now filled with pictures and descriptions of the heist and its related setups. Lester took a minute to chuckle to himself before straightening back up.
"...Okay, now buying a Kuruma off the market and leaving a paper trail, that's much too risky. Instead, you're gonna be stealing one from another heist crew. A group of professional Korean crooks are holed up in a parking garage in Little Seoul, planning to ship the car back to East Asia. You just have to get to them before that happens, initiate an assault, and then steal the car from them...Just be warned, though, these are a group of hardened, experienced criminals you'll be dealing with. They're not gonna let their priceless heist car go without a good fight."
"Wow, bank robbers robbing bank robbers?" remarked Noël. "That's quite a paradox."
"All part of a day's work...It's a brutal world out there."
He stared dramatically at the two girls, as if trying to make some kind of point. Then, he snapped out of it, focusing back on the task at hand.
"...Sorry, where were we? O-oh yes, the job...Once you have the car, drive it over to the bank, along with guns, masks, and all the guts you can muster. Upon entering the bank, one of you controls the crowd, takes out the cameras. The other takes the drill and goes over to the vault, which should be OPENED by the hack you initiated on the way. Use the drill to undo the locks and take the box directly out of the wall. Once you're done, the alarm will go off immediately, so you get the hell out of there. Once you're back in the car, just keep heading north on the Great Ocean Highway. One of my other contacts will be waiting for you up by Fort Zancudo. He's a professional, so no doubt he will have a plan to help you escape the heat."
Even Paige seemed to nod in agreement, indicating that she knew this particular friend of Lester's.
Lester looked proudly over the two women, who were staring in awe at the complex heist board that Paige had just finished assembling.
"Again, I-I realize this is your first time, you two. So, whatever happens, just know that I have faith in the both of you. I chose you and not other criminals for a reason. I see great potential in you to become a pair of truly great bank robbers, just like certain acquaintances of mine that I used to work with in the Midwest. You don't know them, of course, but...you two nonetheless sort of remind me of them. These guys were just a couple of young, dumb crooks with vastly different personalities, yet with only one goal in mind...the swindling of money from right under the noses of these bureaucratic fuckers! Hahaaa!"
"There he goes again with the stories..." groaned Paige.
"What, I'm not allowed to reminisce?! In the throes of middle-age?!"
"Because of you, growing old is probably my greatest fear at the moment."
"Well, it's going to happen, Paige. Even your gothic feminine good looks won't last for long, no matter how much black you apply to your face."
Paige's eyes narrowed, and she clenched her fists in anger. Her eyes were like proton beams burning through the soul of the man who had insulted her.
"...Sorry, too far?" said Lester as he noticed her wrath.
"Uhh, hello? Can we please get back to the topic?"
Everyone in the room began to look at Alexia, who had yet to make herself known much through her natural quietness. Now, however, she was standing in the middle of the room, staring curiously at the grown man and woman bickering instead of focusing on heist work.
"So, just to clarify...once we steal this Kuruma from this gang, then all the prep work is done, right?...There's nothing else we need to do?"
"R-right. So I would suggest waiting until dark to move on the car, then wait till morning to move on the bank."
"But what about afterwards, as we're escaping down the highway? You said your contact was a professional, but that doesn't really explain how they're gonna miraculously get the heat off our backs."
"Trust me, I'd rather you be pleasantly surprised by Eddie's level of professionalism. He's a pretty amazing guy, Paige will tell you that."
"Saved me more times than I can even count," Paige reminisced, smiling under downcast eyes.
Lester smiled also, as if suddenly hit with a wave of nostalgia from past heist jobs.
"I assure you, you're both in good hands. With me, Paige, and Eddie the Pro behind you, in theory...nothing can go wrong. Just remember that whenever things seem improbable or even impossible...remember that your Uncle Lester and Auntie Paige are always gonna be behind you."
"Yeahh, don't...touch me."
Lester drew back his hand, which he had put affectionately around Paige's waist. Emasculated by the rejection, he turned away with somber eyes.
"But yeah, we will be behind you," Paige continued. "...But NOT if you end up getting caught. In that case, you're on your own. We do not know each other, nor have we ever made contact even once. And there will not be a sliver of evidence to suggest otherwise, even if you do decide to implicate us. So in short, just save your collective breaths and keep your mouths shut."
"Wow," remarked Lester with a snort. "You're mighty quick to threaten them."
"I'm not threatening, just simply explaining the facts. No reason all of us have to go down."
"Well, I can't say that she's wrong, you two. But it's okay because everything's gonna go just fine. You're gonna rob these money-laundering assholes, and walk away clean. Simple. Right, Paige?"
"...I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't believe you two are gonna get caught. I was just briefing you on me and Lester's contingency plan should something go wrong. Nothing personal...You guys are cool, right?"
"Yeah, of course," affirmed Alexia. "We know enough not to snitch on associates."
"Besides, if we do get sent to prison, the Skulls could always break us out," Noël declared. "That's like their second business, isn't it?"
"Mmm, I kinda doubt it," Paige lamented. "Bolingbroke has been stepping up their security as of late. There's even talks of converting it into a supermax facility, where even the worst criminals can't escape."
"Yes, a raid on Bolingbroke..."
Lester interjected himself into the conversation, looking as if deep in thought.
"...Even the Black Skulls' capabilities would be tested by such a venture. And the security they have in place is big, so breaking it would require not only a ludicrous disregard for the ire of local and federal authorities, but also lots and lots of money. Breaking a couple of prisoners out would be hard to justify that kind of cost. BUT...that doesn't matter, because you're neither breaking into a prison nor getting sent off to one. This bank is small, completely unprepared for what you're about to do. All you need now is the car. You two go get it, while me and Paige go and, uh...what was it we were gonna do again, Paige?"
"You...basically bribed me into going to your place and assisting you with your medication."
"Oh don't be ridiculous, Paige, you volunteered to help me apply decongestant cream to my chest."
"Volunteer? You said you had the new hacking module at your place, and I could have it if I helped you with this."
"Oh, uh...I did say that, didn't I?" said Lester, laughing mischievously. "I meant to say that that'd be in next week. I must've gotten the dates mixed up. But, uh, since you're with me already might as well-"
"You...do realize that I can easily hurt you if I wanted to, right?"
"Ah, but you won't," said Lester, poking her playfully. "I know you, Paige, you wouldn't hit a poor defenseless crippled man. Especially one who provides you with well-paying jobs on a regular basis."
"Well you sure do like to assume things about people."
She practically slapped Lester's hand away and trudged toward the door.
"Let's go, before you have another 'bowel-voiding incident'."
"I told you I'd gotten those under control! It hasn't happened in weeks now!"
By this point, however, Paige was gone, leaving Lester to face the two rookie bank robbers. His face had reddened, and he was two ashamed to look at them directly.
"Uhm...sorry you two had to, um..."
He cleared his throat and momentarily regained some nerve, standing up straight.
"Good luck. Y-you'll do great, I know you will."
He turned away, shuffling awkwardly from the room.
"...Yeesh, and I thought WE were dysfunctional," said Alexia.
"Oh, we are. Those two are just fucked up in a different way."
"How so?"
"They have a common interest and profession, but literally no other complementary features. You and me though, we just have a common profession. And even then, we haven't really made contact until now."
"Well, as Lester said, we do have a common goal to work towards now. And there's lots of money involved, so just try not to be so negative."
"Pssh, you're one to talk. All doomy and gloomy and goth-y."
"Come on, Noël-"
She coughed. "Goth girl."
"This is childish..." sighed Alexia turned over to the planning board.
"Uhh...hello?!" she exclaimed, pointing to her 8-year-old self. "I am technically a child."
"Yeah, even though you swear like a sailor."
"Well, yeah, and I also have an IQ of over 180 and I know how to drive, so..."
"I see...Well then, little miss prodigy, care to take a look at this board? Lord knows a confused goth chick like me could sure use your smarts."
"Now we're talkin'!" exclaimed Noël before she skipped over to Alexia's side. "I'm glad you're seeing things from my perspective."
"Don't mention it...Well, from what I can gather, it looks like they're keeping the car at the very top of this parking garage."
"Idiots. That's such an open space, and there's no contingency plan for them to get it out quickly."
"Yeah, but what's more...there'll be lots of shadows around nighttime. That'll make it easy for us to creep up on 'em."
"Ah yes, the element of surprise...I knew you goth people liked to skulk around in dark places, but I'm enthused that you're deciding to put that predilection to a good use."
"Except I'm not really a goth, Noël. I'm more into hard rock, heavy metal bands."
"Same fucking difference! It's all the same exact thing."
"Noooo, goth music is completely distinct from-"
"Black hair, black eyeliner, singing about how miserable you are while wearing skinny jeans and generic band T-shirts. Really, it's all the fucking same."
"Okay then," she said, her voice hardening with irritation. "So which is it? Am I a goth, or an emo? Because what you just described sounds like an emo."
"Again, same difference! That's like asking me to tell the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery. They're basically identical, with maybe minor variations."
"Trust me, they are COMPLETELY different. They're two separate subcultures and music genres, only most often it's the emos who whine about people not understanding them and pretend to have serious mental disorders for attention."
"Ah. So you're saying you're an emo girl instead of a goth girl?"
"No, I didn't say that at all-"
"O-okay, okay. I'm game. Although in my opinion, 'goth girl' has a much better ring to it."
"Well, you can call me whatever you like, Noël. Lord knows I've been called much worse than 'goth girl'."
She brushed past Noël and over to the crate of supplies that her and Paige had struggled to carry up to the heist room. Prying the lid off the enormous box, she started to rummage through the plethora of supplies that Lester had left them, including such useful items as body armor and ammunition for their various weapons. She also came across the industrial power drill that they would be using to pry box number 167 out of the impenetrable steel vault wall.
Digging even deeper, she also came across two jet black ski masks, one of which she tossed over to Noël.
"Mannnnn..." she groaned upon seeing what it was. "These are so hideous! It's gonna totally mess up my hair too!"
"Well, we can't very well don our skull masks, since this heist wasn't sanctioned by the boss or the crew. So-"
Suddenly, she heard a peculiar sound behind her, almost like the sound of two pieces of metal clicking against one another.
Turning around, she saw Noël with a large pair of scissors, haphazardly cutting a gigantic hole into her ski mask, immediately causing Alexia's gut to wrench in panic.
"...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!"
"Just making some modifications. No way I'm letting this mask ruin my pigtails."
After a sizable portion of the mask's scalp had been cut off, Noël carefully slipped it on, pulling her pigtails out so that they hung outside of the mask's confines.
"You know, I spend like half an hour braiding them each morning."
"Riiight. So what's next? Are you gonna, like, decorate the mask with stickers and glitter?"
"Hey, that's not a bad idea actually. You got some?"
Noël smiled at her, but Alexia simply shook her head dismissively.
"We'll have time for arts and crafts later. For now, though, let's just focus on stealing us a bulletproof heist car. We'd better leave now so we can get the jump on this crew."
"Fair enough...You lead the way, gothy. I'll follow at a reasonable distance so as not to contract the stench of death and despair."
Alexia did not bother to respond to Noël's insult, instead walking at a brisk pace toward her apartment's communal garage.
The terribly-mismatched duo traversed the garage to Alexia's personal vehicle, which had held up exceedingly well through all the jobs it had carried her through. A few noticeable bullet holes and dents reflected on its surface, and its paint had started to fade from its once-vibrant blood red.
Alexia started the engine, then accelerated out of the underground garage.
The Sun had just begun to set in Los Santos, casting its streets in the unearthly shadows of skyscrapers. Alexia estimated that it would be about dusk before they reached the parking deck, giving them ample time to infiltrate the premises and forge an attack strategy. As she went over their situation in her head, she glanced over to Noël, who was busy applying a layer of lip balm to her face.
"...You're applying makeup in preparation for a shootout with Korean gangsters?"
"Hey, just because you're fine with looking like a corpse doesn't mean some of us don't want to look good."
"A corpse?!" shouted Alexia, her face turning red with pent-up anger. "Okay, twerp, y-you've crossed the line! Why are you such a fucking jerk?!"
"Ooh, I'm so scared, I really am - hey, would you mind rolling up the window a bit? Let some air in to counteract the corpse-"
Before she could insult Alexia further, the lip balm was taken out of her tiny hand and thrown violently out of the window by an enraged Alexua, who was fuming as her hands gripped the wheel.
"Hey, what the fuck, gothy?! Why'd you-"
"Because you didn't answer my question," she growled. "Why the hell are you such a fucking jerk all the time? If you're trying to be funny, then I've got news for you: the joke is getting old and INCREDIBLY annoying. And if you're trying to irritate me, it's worked, so you can fucking stop now."
"Who's to say if either of those is true?"
"I dunno. That's why I'm asking you."
Noël paused for a moment, as if in deep thought, while the atmosphere in the tiny car remained tense and completely silent.
"Well...I guess I've just always been like this...I dunno what else to tell you."
"BULL CRAP!" Alexia shouted angrily.
"I'm telling the truth! Back at the mental institution, they said I had psychopathic tendencies, like a very low sense of empathy for other people. I mean, as far back as I can possibly remember, I've been-"
"Speaking of which, what exactly did you do to wind up in an insane asylum, anyway?"
"What makes you think I'll tell you that, gothy?"
"...Because I've been incarcerated too, believe it or not."
"You were?"
"Yeah...Suppose it's one of the few things we have in common."
"Okay. Well, what'd you do?"
Alexia grimaced as she had to recount the story again, but since she was so curious to know more of Noël's background, she forged ahead.
"I...stabbed one of my classmates nearly to death with a pair of scissors, in a fit of rage. I spent 2 years in juvenile detention for it."
"Cooooold!" laughed Noël. "Damn, gothy, I didn't think you had that in you."
"What do you mean?"
"I-I mean, just because you're so...docile and helpless most of the time."
Noël swooned, putting her hand over her face.
"Oooh, please someone help me," Noël mocked in a whispery falsetto voice. "I'm so reserved and delicate, I can hardly do anything for myself. Can't you tell by my quiet, high-pitched tone of voice? I would never hurt a fly!"
Alexia gritted her teeth until she felt they would crack, seething with anger.
"I do NOT sound like that!"
"I-I mean, I try my best despite my crippling shyness, but I just can't seem to do anything right! Oh, please put me out of my eternal misery!"
"Okay then, you fucking piece of turd!" she shouted at the girl. "What did YOU do to get yourself locked up? Huh? Did you just annoy your parents so much that they just gave up and put you in there?"
"Uhm, not quite. There's a bit more to it than that."
"Then what? I'm listening."
"Okay then...I was put in there because I didn't have parents. I never knew my dad, and my mom? Well...I killed her. So there, now you know."
Alexia instantaneously went silent, shock overcoming her previous irritation and annoyance with the girl.
"...You...you killed your own mother?"
"Yeah," she said matter-of-factly, with a rather bored expression on her tiny face. "I guess you probably think I'm, like, the incarnate of Satan or something now."
"No, no, I-I...I'm just wondering why you did such a thing, that's all."
"Well, my mom was pretty fucking useless as a whole. While she was off getting high or dealing with her various 'clients', I was pretty much taking care of myself. I had to, in order to survive. And when she finally gave enough of a crap to see me, she'd always try and make it up to me by taking me out to eat or something. Like that made up for all the times when she left me with no food in the house and bills unpaid. So I, as a freaking 5-year-old, had to take the car, drive over to the grocery store, and use whatever money I could find in the house to buy basic amenities. And if there wasn't any money, I had to take any valuables I could find over to the pawn shop and sell them. Oooohhh, did she get mad at me whenever I did that, even though I was half-starving...So yeah, i-it was neglect at its finest, really. Even though if I hadn't learned to drive at such a young age, I wouldn't have become such a proficient street racer. So...yeah, I suppose I do kinda owe her for that."
"Jesus Christ, Noël...I...I'm so sorry..."
"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" she asked Alexia with contempt.
"Th-that you had to go through all that. I mean, I had a shitty upbringing as well, but it wasn't anything like that."
"Well, whoop-de-fucking-doo. You must be proud of yourself, for finding someone whose childhood was shittier than yours."
"Yeah...But, what finally pushed you to kill your mom, though?"
"A-alright, alright, so we were at Cluckin' Bell, right?" she divulged as if it was nothing. "She knew that my favorite thing on the menu was the 10-piece chicken tendies meal. But she's like, 'Oh, Noël, I ran out of money buying crack last night, I don't have enough to buy you the 10-piece chicken tendies. Lemme buy you a freakin' KIDS MEAL instead.' Like, REALLY, BITCH?! You leave me to fend for myself, taking care of all your crap for you, and you don't even have the common decency to buy me a 10-piece chicken tendies?!...Well, needless to say, not getting my tendies was what pushed me over the edge. I'd finally had enough of her and her crap...So, that night, I...I took a knife from the kitchen drawer, and went into my mom's room while she was passed out drunk...Then, I slashed her throat open. Felt weirdly satisfying, actually. Like I was a medieval knight slaying a slumbering dragon and saving the entire village."
Alexia eyed her warily, and Noël picked up on this curious sideways stare.
"O-okay, I acknowledge that is kind of a fucked-up analogy, especially considering the circumstances...That's probably why they decided to lock me up in the first place, actually."
"I could see that."
"Aw man, you..." she started, but ended up covering her mouth to stifle giggles. "Y-you should've seen when the cops first arrived. They saw me, right? Holding a butcher knife, covered in my mother's blood. I-I kinda tried to play it up a little, y'know just for shits and giggles. I talked in this creepy little voice and smiled all dementedly. I think one of the guys wet himself, he was so scared."
As Noël continued to laugh and boast about the killing of her mother, Alexia was not sure what to think of the little girl sitting beside her. Clearly, she was heavily insightful for her age and had her own line of reasoning for her actions. But, the girl showed not the slightest hint of remorse for having committed such a brutal matricide.
And if Alexia remembered correctly, a lack of remorse was what clearly denoted a psychopath, which only served to increase her overall uneasiness around Noël.
"So...you're saying you don't feel even the slightest bit of guilt or wrongdoing for having killed your mother?"
"No. Why would I?" said Noël with a shrug. "Basic bitches are always gonna remain basic bitches. You heard what all she did to me."
"Look, getting back at your mother is one thing, but...to slaughter someone like that, it takes just an impeccable level of hatred and rage and misery, pent up and writhing within you for years on end...I don't know you, Noël, so I don't know what exactly you were feeling on that night."
"I was feeling pretty good actually," said Noël as she smiled cheekily. "I had a glass of orange juice and some animal crackers, then gave myself a little pep talk before I-"
"Noël, she had to have abused you in some other way. From what you told me, your mom really doesn't sound that bad, especially not bad enough to warrant killing her."
"Ohh, here we go again, another lecture about morals..."
"I'm not lecturing you! I-I just..."
Alexia sighed heavily, her eyes glossed over with sadness.
"Look...My mom abused me physically and emotionally...When I broke my wrist one time while playing with my brothers, she beat my ass with a leather belt before even pondering taking me to the hospital. And whenever she was in one of her depressive moods, she always went on and on about how I never should have been born and how I was at fault for my dad's death, and how I was so pathetic that I couldn't even get a minimum-wage job...Well, however much of her criticism was true, it still hurt. She made me angry and depressed constantly, and I even thought of hurting her sometimes. Even...stabbing her, like you did. I never went through with it, partly because of my brothers, who kinda kept me sane with their companionship. So I just find it really hard to believe that these thoughts manifested in you so quickly, without being wracked by internal frustration and hatred for years and years. I mean, I'm not saying your mom was right, she obviously wasn't. She was wrong to do that to you. But...I don't see how you don't-"
Alexia was interrupted by Noël snoring in a comedic manner, with her mouth wide open to denote the act as fake.
"Whuh...?" she pretended to wake up suddenly. "Oh, sorry, y-you kinda lost me. Again, I'm technically a kid, so my attention span is pretty short."
Alexia had the insatiable urge to blow up at Noël for her bratty arrogance, but she realized that the notion was pointless.
No matter how much she spilled her guts to the girl, she would not magically begin to feel empathy for others or regret the killing of her mother. Her mental composition did not allow for her to feel this particular emotion, and her natural stubbornness and egotism prevented even the possibility of Alexia appealing to emotion for some kind of reaction from Noël.
Besides, such feelings as sympathy and guilt would adversely affect the job they had to do. Alexia's moral stances would simply be seen as unbelievably hypocritical as she gunned down Korean gangsters without so much as a second thought.
The feeling that she would again have to perform mass slaughter in order to survive weighed on her once again as the parking garage came in sight. She made a left turn and entered the darkened space, navigating its concrete corridors with her headlights.
"Okay, here we go," said Noël as she loaded her machine gun. "So, we just gonna creep up on these guys, right?"
"Yeah. Just wait for my signal, and don't start shooting until we're in position. I'm gonna come at 'em from the north side so they won't see us coming."
Noël scoffed, surveying the quiet, empty surroundings.
"What is up with these guys, anyway? They're not even gonna put up any security measures inside the garage?"
"Well, that just means there's probably gonna be a ton of them up on the roof, so be prepared."
"What do you take me for, gothy? I'm not gonna prepare myself for a welcoming party on the top floor."
"So, that's the gun you chose to bring for the occasion...?"
Alexia's attention turned down to the girl's machine gun, an incredibly-small Tec-9 submachine gun, which paled in comparison to her decked-out Special Carbine.
Noël brandished her weapon and showed its shiny, metallic surface that clearly denoted it as a new gun.
"Yeah, this is what I chose to bring. I can't really carry the heavier machine guns and assault rifles 'cause I'm so small. But, I would say this here fits perfectly for a girl of my size and temperament."
"That only fires 9-millimeter rounds, plus you're gonna have to reload every few seconds because you didn't buy an extended clip attachment. It also has an inferior range, so you'll have to get closer to the bad guys in order to even get a decent shot at them."
"Oh, well what the fuck do you know!" shouted Noël with noticeable anger. "I don't need all that crap to shoot well!"
"I'm just sayin', Noël. My rifle here has an extended magazine, plus an attached scope for making long-range shots. And on top of that, this suppressor here reduces muzzle flash and recoil when firing."
"You're mighty quick to point out all those fancy features on that gun, but it doesn't mean you can actually shoot it."
Alexia laughed.
"Look, kid, I've been shooting guns since before you were even born, okay? So I'm pretty confident in my-"
"Now what kind of bullshit is that? Just because you've been alive more years than me means you're better than me?"
The older girl gave a prolonged sigh, the result of having to deal with the bothersome younger girl for hours on end.
"Noël, you're really trying my patience. I never said I was better than you, just that I have more experience than you."
"Well, we'll see if that experience holds up here, or if I'll just beat you again."
"What, this is some kind of demented competition now? For who can get the highest body count?"
The young girl shrugged innocently.
"I dunno, goth girl. It's whatever we make it out to be, I suppose."
"Well, I wanna make it a covert operation. No bullshit, no internal strife between us. What do you say we just put all that pettiness aside for the sake of this score we're taking?"
Seeing as they had neared the top of the garage, Alexia darkened her headlights, then silenced the dull roar of her engine to keep from being heard by dangerous gangsters on the uppermost level.
The car had come to a stop beside an upward-sloping ramp that led to the uncovered top floor, exposing the night sky irradiated with orange light pollution. The sounds of multiple conversations in Korean were audible to the two girls as they exited their vehicle, making their way silently up the ramp and into cover behind a nearby sedan.
Peeking out ever-so-carefully behind the car's trunk, Alexia could clearly see the scene ahead of her: a whole host of gangsters were present, armed to the teeth with heavy assault rifles and all gathered around the prized heist car on the opposite end of the garage from the two girls.
As soon as the coast was clear, Alexia moved up to another car, signalling for Noël to follow her. They continued in this fashion until they were in a prime position to launch an assault upon the unsuspecting heist crew. The car beckoned to them like a damsel in distress from the far wall of the garage, seemingly begging to be saved from its Korean captors and put to good use in the girls' own bank heist.
The two burgeoning score-takers each donned their ski masks before moving cover one last time, this time splitting up between two different cars. Alexia sheltered behind a sports sedan, while Noël safely hunkered down behind a fortified SUV.
Alexia took a few deep breaths to calm her troubled nerves before looking over to her partner. Surprisingly though, the young girl did not seem to be looking at her for confirmation on when to start the assault, instead grinning deviously, as if she had come up with a plan entirely on her own.
"Psssst. Noël!"
Alexia whispered hoarsely to the girl, but she seemed to pay no attention to Alexia, the leader of the heist.
"Twerp! Hey, what are you d-"
Upon seeing the object Noël had taken from her vest and held delicately in her hand, Alexia was instantly stricken with terror.
She could do nothing as she pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it at the gangsters.
"NOËL, NOOOOO!"
The gangsters heard Alexia's panic-ridden shout, but no sooner had they turned around when the area was suddenly engulfed in a massive fireball, swallowing everything in its path and setting car engines alight, causing several more explosions and setting off virtually every car alarm in the entire complex.
Alexia, meanwhile, was terrified that their cherished heist car had also been destroyed by Noël's incredibly-stupid action, ruining any chance they had of taking the score, which meant that they would surely be facing Lester's cybernetic wrath.
She could not check on the status of the car, however, as bullets pelted against her position in a deluge of heavy, angry artillery fire.
Gangsters shouted in a language unintelligible to the two girls, taking cover behind whatever solid object was left on the roof. Both simply shot at whatever they could see or hear.
After Alexia had downed a gangster near her position, she had sufficient time to raise herself from cover and survey the smoking, bloody scene around her. Vehicles had been turned on their sides and totaled beyond recognition, but miraculously, the Kuruma they were after remained undamaged amidst all the chaos. While this fact managed to greatly calm her nerves, it did not lessen her anger toward Noël, who continued shooting her Tec-9 at the advancing gangsters.
"Hey, what the hell is your problem, twerp?!" shouted Alexia over the chaos and gunfire. "You very well could've blown up the car! What the fuck were you-!"
"Relax, gothy, I didn't throw it far enough for the explosion to reach the Kuruma! Besides, look how many guys I took out with just that one grenade!"
Looking out at the battlefield once again, Alexia can see that the garage was now strewn with carnage, both of vehicular and human origin. Indeed, Noël had cleared out a large fraction of the gangsters in their way, leaving less work for her Tec-9 and Alexia's Special Carbine.
Noël moved up towards the car, bullets still flying at them. Alexia had no choice but to follow behind, despite her looking much more like a follower than a heist leader.
The pair quickly gunned down the few remaining gangsters guarding their cherished ride. They made quick work of a man who had been hiding behind the Kuruma during the battle and attempted to surprise them when they reached the car, but the unfortunate man was instead filled with lead by two sets of machine gun bullets. Noël grabbed the keys from the dead man's pocket and raced toward the Kuruma.
Both girls climbed into the car, their hearts racing and their veins coursing with sweet adrenaline. Suddenly, however, Alexia noticed that she was sitting in the passenger seat, and it was Noël sitting behind the steering wheel with the keys in her hand.
"Hey, what the fuck? Who said you were driving?"
"No one. I just thought that, after having to sit in the passenger seat all day, I at least deserved to be the one to drive the heist car first."
Alexia grimaced.
"That's...fair, I suppose. But I'm gonna have to be the one driving during the actual heist. You'll be working on the hack that gets the vault open."
"Yeah. I know. You don't have to tell me. For now, though, I think I'll show you how a real professional drives, goth girl."
Without warning, Noël slammed on the gas and the car lurched forward down the tunnel that led to the exit.
Performing incredibly-tight turns at high speed as she descended the parking garage, the girl's manic driving jostled Alexia heavily in her seat, and she held onto her seatbelt tightly to keep from being thrown out of the window.
"Come in!" a voice on the girls' earpieces called. "Come in, can you read me?"
"Lester?" asked Alexia. "Wait, how are you-"
"There's no time to explain how I'm watching you right now. Let's just say, I've patched into the Korean gang's phone lines, and they've just dispatched backup to come and take their car back. I'd expect a fair number of them. and I'd expect them to be fairly pissed about having their priceless heist car stolen. They'll want to get it back at any cost."
Alexia sighed heavily, now that she knew that there were several groups of angry Koreans after them.
"Alright. Well, thanks for the heads-up, Lester."
"Don't mention it. Just try and bring the car back to my garment factory in one piece. A-and try to get yourselves back in one piece as well, if you don't mind."
"Yeah, we will. Don't worry about it."
Seeing the inherent danger that would shortly manifest, Alexia grabbed her trusty AP pistol and readied it for potentially-heavy combat.
"Quit shaking so much, goth girl," chided Noël. "In case you hadn't heard my explanation earlier, this car is heavily-protected with layers of bulletproof steel. Not only that, it's got highly-impressive traction and enough horsepower to rival even the finest sports cars out there."
"Y-yeah, yeah I know. I-I just-"
"We'll be fine, okay? Just trust in my ability to drive us out of this, and I'll trust in your ability to shoot anyone in our way."
"Right..." she said quietly, looking with heavy anxiety upon her small-yet-deadly weapon.
The first van, filled with incredibly angry armed Korean gangsters, met them on the second floor of the garage. Noël swerved heavily to avoid them, which threw off Alexia's aim significantly. All bullets fired by her ended up in the concrete walls or flying into parked cars rather than striking the gangsters.
No sooner had they passed this obstacle when another vehicle manifested in the garage, blocking the entire north ramp that led downwards. In response, Noël turned sharply and sped across the parking lot to reach the south ramps, several bullets following her in this hasty detour.
Noël exited the garage and made a right turn, but a car full of Koreans were right on their tail, unleashing bullets into the Kuruma's trunk. Alexia fired back with her heavy automatic pistol, only stopping when she had to reload.
"Hey, goth girl! You gonna shoot these guys or not?"
"I'm trying, okay? Just try and keep the car steady so I can get a shot at them!"
"Are you kidding?!"
"Just do it!"
Sighing with annoyance, Noël temporarily halted her manic swerving and maneuvering, allowing Alexia a few seconds to get a shot at the driver of the car after them.
Sure enough, her very first bullet hit the car's driver square in the forehead, leaving his panicked companions to try and control the car. At such a high speed, however, the vehicle lost control and rolled several times before wrapping itself around a tree, killing every pursuer inside.
Alexia reentered the vehicle to reload, half-expecting Noël to congratulate her for her achievement.
"Yeah, okay you're so impressive. But we've got more company coming up, gothy."
Up ahead, two sets of headlights manifested, which began to follow the car as soon as they passed the intersection.
Adjusting for long range, Alexia let fly a volley of bullets that shot out one of the vehicles' two front tires and incapacitated its engine, leaving the other car to give chase. Alexia hastily reloaded before unleashing more artillery-laden fury at the remaining pursuers.
Despite the heavy number of bulletssailing in the air right past her, Alexiawasable to concentrate enough to again kill the driver of a vehicle. She continued firing into the vehicle, killing at least one more gangster before the car veered off the road, crashing head-on into a building.
Noël flew past an intersection at well over 100 miles per hour, just barely avoiding traffic coming from the adjacent road. From Alexia's viewpoint, it felt asif Noël was going so incredibly fast that she feared even the toughened heist car would break apart from how hard she was pushing it.
Without warning, yet another hostile car pulled up in front of the fleeing Kuruma. Noël turned sharply to avoid it, but the car managed to clip the Kuruma's tail end, sending it into a violent spin before it came to rest when it crashed into a nearby concrete wall.
Because of the Kuruma's protective layers, both occupants were completely unharmed from the accident. Alexia began to clap slowly.
"Wow. You sure showed me how a professional drives, Noël."
"Oh, would you shut the fuck up? It's one crash!"
"Yeah, I guess everyone just gets one, huh?"
"I said SHUT UP!"
Alexia snickered deviously, deriving great enjoyment from seeing Noël's frustration, while also gaining a sense of retribution after seeing the girl who liked to spin other vehicles out get spinned out herself, seeing how it feels to have this cheap maneuver performed on her.
Nonetheless, she drew her AP pistol and successfully killed the two gangsters within before the Kuruma once again accelerated. Seeing no more gangsters on their coattails, Noël made a beeline for Lester's garment factory, her face still stuck in a furious scowl that Alexia couldn't help but derive secret joy from seeing.
Noël pulled the car into an underpass opposite to the garment factory, where Paige was awaiting their arrival.
"Ah, you made it. With only a few minor dents and bullet holes, it looks like."
"Yeah, but...y'know, at least they're in the car and not in us."
Alexia laughed shyly after her attempt at a joke, while Noël simply retained her heavy frown.
"Yeah, well this car can withstand enough hellfire to make it through whatever you may face, especially the cops. Does it drive okay? Any, uh, issues to report?"
"Well, we did crash-"
Suddenly, Alexia felt an incredible pain in her foot, the result of Noël stomping on it.
"Agh! Hey, what the fuck?!"
Glaring angrily, Noël began to hit furiously at Alexia, landing a few hits on her stomach. A furious Alexia hit Noël back, punching her several times in the back while holding the smaller girl in a headlock.
Paige stepped up, prying the two girls apart forcibly.
"Hey, calm the fuck down, you two! What's with you guys?!"
Noël screamed in frustration before pulling away, her eyes livid with an intense anger. Her shoulders heaved as she breathed heavily, seething through her teeth.
Alexia looked on beside Paige, her rage soon turning into a sense of empathy for the girl, who she can tell had been set off by something she had said.
"C'mon, Noël. Look, I'm sorry, okay?"
"You just...couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you..."
"Paige here might have wanted to know about the crash so she can repair the car accordingly. I know it's not your fault."
"Yeah, Noël," added Paige in a soft voice. "Just calm down, okay sweetie?"
The girl appeared to relax, her eyes losing their former vexation before she turned back, approaching Alexia wordlessly to accept her apology.
However, something within Alexia couldn't help but tell her that something was off with Noël as she walked. Her face was completely blank, as if trying to conceal heavy emotions, and her silence was made all the more ominous by a certain heaviness under her eyes, as if what she truly felt was cast under the shadows of her lower eyelids.
Alexia felt a heavy uneasiness as Noël stood there ominously, and she could see a sudden spark of hatred fleck through her beady little eyes.
"...Noël-"
She had little time to react as Noël suddenly grabbed hold of her earring, a metallic skull-shaped piece of jewelry embedded in her lower ear. She pulled on the earring until it was ripped out of Alexia's earlobe, leaving a large, jagged hole where it once was in her ear.
Crying out in pain, Alexia held up a hand to numb the immense stinging pain in her ear, only to discover that she was bleeding heavily. She looked over at Noël, who smiled evilly while holding the blood-stained earring between her fingers, then letting it drop onto the ground.
Even Paige appeared incredibly shocked by this act, while Alexia's eyes filled with bloody rage. Her veins pulsated, her vision narrowed, and her thought process was concerned with nothing but retribution in the form of Noël's blood.
"OH, YOU ARE SO FUCKING DEAD!"
A furious Alexia charged toward Noël, growling furiously.
Noël countered Alexia's attack with a punch to the gut, then made furious work of Alexia's face by repeatedly scratching her with her fingernails, which fortunately were not sharp enough to break the skin.
This action, however, only served to enrage Alexia further, prompting her to drive her shoulder into the girl's stomach and tackle her to the ground.
With Noël lying down, Alexia inflicted several blows upon the girl's face, her rage taking over all rational thought as she punched the girl repeatedly, letting out all of the frustration and anger she had caused her throughout the day.
Her tirade was ended by a sharp pain in her shin, the result of Noël having kicked her in this highly vulnerable area. Groaning with pain, she fell off of Noël and onto the concrete, which gave a bloodied and battered Noël the opportunity to satiate her own sadistic bloodlust.
She hit and slapped Alexia multiple times, even though her timy hands did not have much of an effect on her. In response, she resorted to pulling Alexia's hair. Her senses were filled with pain, and the cloud of anger in her mind grew black.
However, Alexia suddenly witnessed Noël fall off of her, screaming in pain and holding her stomach as if it had been terribly injured.
Alexia tried to stand up, but was instead met with the same crippling pain in her gut, courtesy of Paige's boot.
As the two girls writhed in agony on the ground, the professional hacker looked down with fiery disdain upon the two supposed partners, the ones she had trusted to perform the heist.
"Okay, this shit, is not gonna fly! Not on my watch!...Look at you two, behaving like fucking five-year-olds! Well, actually, I take that back, even five-year-olds would know better than to rip peoples' earrings out of their fucking ears! This is fucking ridiculous!...Now, after the job is pulled, you two can fight until you fucking kill each other, that's fine by me. But until then, you two had better stop behaving like assholes, or I'm gonna tear each of you a new asshole! Is that clear?"
Alexia groaned, feeling as if her guts had been set alight.
"Yes, ma'am..."
Paige directed her glare towards Noël, who shrank down in fear of being kicked again.
"Y...yes, ma'am," she said in a tight whisper from the pain in her stomach.
"That's more like it."
She walked back over to the Kuruma, away from the pathetic scene with two girls lying ignominiously on the dirty concrete.
"We move in the morning, you two. Don't forget."
"Got it..." Alexia called weakly.
Paige climbed into the drivers' seat, then sped away from the garment factory to a place where she could repair any damage the car had incurred.
Alexia panted heavily as the pain in her gut lessened, and her intense rage soon gave way once again to well-reasoned thought. She looked over at Noël, who was herself slowly recovering from the painful blow.
The two girls simply stared at each other, unsure what to say after their latest altercation that had inexplicably turned physical. Both soon realized how incredibly stupid they had been by resorting to violence, now that the cloud of blinding anger had passed.
Alexia found her detached earring on the ground beside her, which she quickly stored in her pocket. Her ear was still bleeding profusely, and her earlobe most likely had a jagged hole torn in it that would make reinsertion of the earring impossible for the moment. She would most likely have to let the wound heal, then get her ear re-pierced at a later time.
She rose from her sitting position, yet remained hunched over from the persistent pain in her gut.
"Well...I gotta go home and get this bandaged up."
"Okay," said Noël in a detached manner.
"I can drop you off at Lamar's on the way back."
"Nah. Nah, I'm good..."
Noël sat up, holding her knees to her chest as if she would start to cry. Her eyes were downcast, her tiny face melancholy and marked with bruises.
"...I-I'll just have Lamar pick me up, if that's cool."
"Y-yeah, sure. Whatever you like, Noël."
Alexia began to walk away, pulling out her phone to call her mechanic and summon her Oracle.
"...Just, uh, remember to meet at my place in the morning, so we can move as soon as possible."
"Yeah, of course...See you then..."
Noël buried her face in her knees so that Alexia could not see the tears that formed in her eyes.
Instead of mocking this, however, Alexia respected Noël's wish to be left alone. She walked out of the alleyway, leaving the little girl to sob in solitude.