AN ICE SURPRISE

Job 6: Iceworks

Murray bounces his way through the snow, using the aboriginal ball form to avoid the paths and guards (and leaving a trail). The waypoint to start the mission is in the middle of the statue park; Murray pulls out his binoc-u-com. "These things are really pretty, Bentley."

"That they are," Bentley agrees, "but they're also filled with gunpowder. That makes them the perfect tools to take down the security here."

"Okay," Murray says, looking around. "How do I do that?"

"First, you'll need to take the biggest statue to a specific spot by the wall," Bentley says. "We'll need it for the heist. Then you need to take the smaller statues to spots by the security alarms. Once they're all in position, grab a torch, and light them up."

"But they're so pretty!" Murray gives Bentley puppy-dog eyes. "Do I have to destroy them?"

"They'll be pretty exploding, too. It'll be like... fireworks!" Bentley says. "Only icy."

"I like fireworks," Murray said. "Okay, statues, prepare to be moved by... The Murray."

Murray puts away his binoc-u-com and looks around. The biggest ice statue is, well, almost Murray sized; he has to stomp to pick it up. "You'll have to follow the paths to carry that, Murray; you won't be able to make your way through deep snow. Try to set it down gently before fighting any guards."

Gently. Sure. Well, okay, Murray does 'gently' surprisingly well, really. He sets down the statue light as a feather before getting into brawls, making sure not a single guard goes close enough to the ice statue to harm it, even as he knocks the guards three feet backwards into unconsciousness with his punches. The spot Murray eventually leaves the large statue at is only a few feet away from the drainpipe. "Nice," Bentley says. "That spot is a weak point. If we blow it up there, it'll cause an opening in the wall that—er. You still have to handle the alarms."

"You need me to pick up the smaller statues for that, right?" asks Murray, as he starts jogging through the snow back towards the statue garden.

"Right. I've marked spots with your binoc-u-com; place the statues there. Once all the statues are placed, you can steal a torch and run around setting them on fire. KABOOM!"

"I can't wait for the fireworks!" Murray shouts, then puts away his binoc-u-com and gets to work. The five security alarms are scattered all over the place outside the compound: on tops of buildings (luckily, the statues are small enough for Murray to jump with), watching the gate, on smaller side paths. Carrying them all to their proper locations takes some time. Stopping to get into fights (and take things from the guards for selling later) takes more.

At last, though, Murray has all the statues in place. "Okay, Murray," says Bentley. "This may be tricky. Once the first statue explodes, you'll have to move fast to get to the others before the guards realize what's going on and get rid of them. You can't stop and get into any fights, understand?"

"Can I stop to watch the fireworks?"

"That'll take too much time. They'll still be going when you're finished. You can watch them then."

"Awww, but—"

"I'll take video, too. We can watch the whole thing later."

That promise makes Murray feel better. "Right! Time to get on with... the fireworking!"

As Murray jumps from the ground to a low igloo to a high one, Tennessee can be heard over the binoc-u-com. "How come I don't get to blow stuff up?"

"Because I don't trust you," Bentley says, his voice flat.

"Yah don't? I'm wounded."

"It's hard enough getting you to stick to a plan without involving explosives," Bentley adds.

Murray chuckles under his breath and grabs the torch as the binoc-u-com line is filled with Tennessee's wounded complaints. He jumps to the ground again and makes his way, torch glowing, to the nearest statue. Lights it.

It melts partially before it goes off, spraying bits of ice in all direction in glowing colors, and Murray has to race, feet pumping, to the next one. It's entirely possibly he won't make it. That the snow will slow him down. That guards trip him up.

But none of those things happen. Instead, camera after camera smashes into pieces, glowing bits of ice cartwheeling in all directions; as the ice melts and more gunpowder burns, more pieces fly off, creating delayed explosions as the top, then middle, then bottom of the statues explode behind Murray. Larger pieces, sometimes thrown into his path by previous explosions, explode as well. Murray giggles in delight as he reaches and lights the last statue.

"That should do it, Murray. No more cameras to keep tabs on our... activities."

JOB COMPLETE

Murray jumps to the highest nearby rooftop and settles in to 'oooo' and 'ahhhh' properly.