FIENDS FROM THE PAST
Job 9: Solid Sneak
Bentley wheels himself out of the safe-house and through the soggy area. There are distinctly fewer vampires around than there were before, but that welcome change is followed by a less welcome one: alligators. They're not just in the tower now; they're wandering around the island at will, following no discernible patrol route (if that's what they're even doing) but causing havoc all the same. When one lunges at Bentley from inside a waterfall, only quick reflexes and his jet pack keeps him from becoming a snack. Not even the rooftops are safe; they're wet and grassy, too.
Bentley breathes a sigh of relief when he reaches his post: near the base of the spotlight-strewn path, above the routes any of the unicorns will take, and without any water within six feet. He pulls out his binoc-u-com. "This is going to be tricky, Carmelita. Are you sure you've got the coms station under control?"
"This isn't the first time I've done this, Bentley," says Carmelita. "I've got a handle on the guards. If any of them even look at you funny—or look at you at all, really—I'll know, and I'll send Murray as fast as he can run."
"That's pretty fast," Bentley admits. "I just don't want a repeat of... you know."
"The last time you had a solo mission?" asks Carmelita.
Bentley nods silently. "I know it's illogical. This is a completely different situation. But—"
"Feelings aren't logical," interrupts Carmelita. "I got your back, Shell Boy. I also have a way point on you, like I did with guards before, and pre-sent to Murray's binoc-u-com."
That does make him feel better. "Thanks. This is going to be tricky. If I'm absorbed in the job, I may not answer if you ask me—"
"You may not answer," Carmelita interrupts again, "but if you move from that spot without telling me I'll assume the worst. I've got my eye on you this time, Bentley."
Part of Bentley feels relieved. The rest of him remembers she's a cop. "Thanks, I think," he says.
"Don't mention it."
With that, Bentley puts his binoc-u-com away, and throws out his remote control truck. It lands at the base of the hill below. "While there seem to be a million spotlights, there are really only four; the rest is done with mirrors," he says as he starts driving up the slope. "If I can get my RC car close enough, I can use it to launch a binoc-u-com and destroy the spotlight, rendering everything it covers much more vulnerable."
It's a good plan. Unfortunately, there are complications. Bentley has to disguise his car as a box by pressing the L1 button whenever a guard of any sort gets too close. It won't fool the spotlights, which shoot anything and everything—large rocks, unfortunate guards, anything that isn't grass or water—in their path. Avoiding those, without being caught by the guards, takes timing and patience.
It's a good thing Bentley has both of those in spades. He makes it a quarter of the way up the path without much effort and launches his first grapple-cam. It latches to the underside of several mirrors, the poles holding the mirrors, and other things before landing directly onto the spotlight and detonating there.
All the spotlight reflections he's already passed by flicker out, and so do a few on the path ahead. "Excellent." Bentley starts his car again. "Just three more to go."
There are more guards on this section of the path, and the spotlights move faster, in less predictable patterns. There are a handful of lasers as well... though none of them are low enough to actually detect the car. Bentley drives right under them, parks, and launches another grapple-cam.
Of course, his grapple cam has to dodge the lasers. Having his grappling line burnt through would make it significantly more difficult to move, after all. He has to move his grapple-cam to the next location as soon as he's securely latched. This makes setting up a good path more difficult. It still doesn't take long for him to destroy the second spotlight. The path he just went up flickers into darkness.
"Two more left," Bentley says as he starts his car again. Now there are guards and spotlights intermingled, watching the same location; Bentley has to wait for the guard to look away and the spotlights to move at the same time. Many of the lasers are low enough to hit the car, now. Bentley has to drive between them with utmost care, whether they're lines he has to drive between like lanes in a road or slowly rotating wheels where he has to move with the safe zone.
And getting the grapple-cam to the third spotlight is downright ridiculous. Getting through the laser security is like getting past the windmill in mini golf—literally. And then it gets worse. "Gadzooks! I can shoot down those missiles with my turret. I just have to tap the R1 button."
By the time Bentley's blown up the third spotlight, it's obvious SOMEONE'S noticed something. But they didn't tell the guards, because they continue not to notice the moving box. But the missiles going after the car all have to be shot down with the car's turret, which makes everything else an even more... interesting challenge.
"Phew," Bentley says as the car reaches the top of the mountain and he sends out a grapple-cam. "Just one spotlight left."
When he says it like that, he makes it sound easy. But it's not. There are lasers and the spotlights and moving targets. There are missiles and and guards. He has to throw two extra grapple-cams after the first one is taken out by a bullet and the second goes haywire after one of the few remaining ghosts hovers through it. But he destroys the spotlight at last.
JOB COMPLETE
Bentley pilots his truck back to his chair, picks it up, and does a wheelie.
Available Jobs:
Fangs For The Memories
A Thrown Charge