I'm in my dreams. I'm rolling around in money naked. It feels nice going all over my nude body and the smell of the silk money was pleasing to me. When suddenly it paper cuts me and I'm brought back to the real world on the floor holding my money maker. I'm squinting my eyes open, trying to adjust to the morning light coming through blinds that are barely held together by duct tape, wondering when in the hell I could afford duct tape. Through my hazy vision, I can see a Smurf hovering over my Samsung saying that Bain was calling. I slowly crawl over to my phone holding my back, feeling like a porcupine was shoved into my back. I sit up against my shitty wall and hear the crunch of a cockroach. I managed to pick up my phone and then slide my finger over the screen and answer with groggy voice, "Yes, mother, I'll be at the breakfast table in a minute. Make sure that my eggs don't get cold."

I hear him laugh along with the sounds of a keyboard being typed on. My phone vibrated, and I raised my brow. There was a white bar that read "Uploading file 1 of 10."

"When the files finish uploading, take a look at them. They contain everything you need to know about your first heist. I'll send a grunt in two days. When he arrives, you'd better be ready." He hung up and I was left with the dial tone. I set down my phone and leaned my head against the wall. After a while, I stood up and looked at my phone to see how many files were downloaded.

"2 of 10. ETA one hour."

I hit my head against the wall and let out a small sigh. What the hell was I going to do for an hour? I didn't have much money or any friends to hang out with...well, any friends in Remnant. Well, I guess I was going to wander around the area for a bit. I brought up my menu and clicked on "status."

Name: Alex Mason

Level: 2

Reputation: 0

Title: The Rookie (Increases XP and Reputation points gained)

HP: 150/150

Armor: 0/0

Aura: 0/0

AR: 2/min

Stamina: 105/105

SR: 2/min

STR: 7

PER: 9

END: 7

CHA: 7

INT: 14

AGI: 8

LCK: 8

Stat: 1

Skill Points: 0

EXP: 200/300

Reputation Points: 0/3,000

Lien: 200

Condition: Normal.

I had two hundred lien. I could do something with that, such as buy cheap groceries. Wait...Do I even have to eat anymore? I know I can eat to regain HP and all, but was eating necessary to live anymore? The game said it would discuss my body later or I would find out eventually in a couple of days when my body starts to eat itself.

Deciding it was probably a better idea not to find out the rather painful way, I got up from my bed and stretched out, hearing my back pop like Rice Krispies cereal in milk. I made my way to the front of the dry cleaners and headed towards the door. As I opened the door and was about to take a step outside, a notification sprang up in my face. With the number of notifications I was receiving, I was ready to reenact the video game Hatred. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down before I did something idiotic, like shoot up an orphanage or curb stomp a puppy. I looked at the notification that was right up in my face–seriously, have these things ever heard of something called personal space ?!

[WARNING!]

You are now leaving the safe-house. You can now take damage!

Would you like to equip a vest and check your inventory before leaving?

[Yes] [No]

I clicked on "yes" and saw my inventory screen come up; this time it had a small number on the top right of the screen. The items, for some reason, now showed their stats, such as damage and durability.

'Hmm...Does that mean more shit will get unlocked the further I progress in the "game?"' I pondered to myself as I looked in my inventory

Inventory: Weight: 57/190

Black T-Shirt: [500/500] [equipped]

Grey Hoodie: [500/500] [equipped]

Black Pants: [500/500] [equipped]

Black Running Shoes: [500/500] [equipped]

Hockey Heat Mask: [100/100] [unequipped]

Light Ballistic Vest: [200/200] [unequipped]

Poor Quality Light Weight Ballistic Vest: [80/80] [unequipped]

Frag Grenades: (3) [Damage - 900]

Medical Bag: [2 uses] [Restores Bleed outs and HP]

Ammo Bag: [400% Capacity] [Replenishes ammo reserves]

Trip Mines: [Damage - 900]

Chimano 88 Pistol: [2000/2000] [Damage - 35]

AM CAR Rifle: [2500/2500] [Damage - 36]

Locomotive 12G Shotgun: [2200/2200] [Damage - 58]

Brass Knuckles: [1500/1500] [Damage - 30]

Syringe: (3) [Restores HP when downed]

Samsung Galaxy: [Can make untraceable calls]

I tapped on tapped on the Poor Quality Lightweight Ballistic Vest and felt myself get a bit heavier. I then tapped on the Chicano 88 and felt something on my left. Looking down at it, I saw a black leather holster with the small pistol in it. I grabbed it and felt it in my hand. It felt rather light and, for some reason, felt right in my hands despite me never holding a gun in my past life. I put it back in the holster and walked out of the safe house as a red screen with giant bold letters flashed in my face.

"[Leaving safe-house! You may now take damage!]" it read before I swatted it out of the way like an annoying fly. I took a few steps before everything started to glitch out and turned hazy. I held my head and ended up vomiting what looked like a really bloody creamy chicken soup, or maybe it looked like a really bloody mushroom soup. Honestly, I didn't really care because I had the urge to vomit again and I did. However, soon I saw a pair of boots covered in my bloody creamy vomit followed by a feminine voice with a hint of annoyance–well, annoyed is putting it lightly. She sounded like she was ready to tear off my manhood with a rusty knife.

I held up one finger, telling her to wait a moment as I ended up vomiting another round of creamy—no, scratch that, this time it was gooey, bloody vomit and a lot thicker with clumps of blood…...sorta like a jelly except for the fact that they were nickle size clumps wrapped with mucus . The woman near me let out a small grunt of disgust before speaking up. "Hey, kid, you alright?"

Still looking at the ground, I caught a small peak of her shoes. They were heels and the voice sounded very familiar to me.

'Please don't let it be who I think it is...Just caught me a break here...'

I thought and pleaded to whatever god existed in this universe. Turns out I was probably in my own thoughts for a while because next thing I know, she's shaking me. "Kid! Kid!" she yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts to look at her as she was propping me up.

'Fuck me...' I was looking at a roughly six-foot tall (probably due to the heels) woman with fair skin, short dark-brown hair with wavy locks that were dyed gradient on one side of her face, and of course, sunglasses.

I was looking at a woman who could kick my ass multiple ways without breaking a sweat. It was the one and only Coco Adel, and I just vomited on her boots. Great first impressions, am I right?

"Uhhhh..." was the only thing that came out of my mouth as my mind tried to process the situation in which I currently found myself. She slightly tilted her sunglasses, revealing her dark brown eyes. I can't tell what was worrying me more, her stare or her level.

Coco Adel

Level: 50

HP: 3,000/3,000

Aura: 1,000/1,000

Armor: 0/0

As you can probably guess, I'm internally panicking, and the only reason I wasn't showing that I was scared out of my mind was thanks to the Gamer Body perk. Sometimes it's the little things you have to be thankful for. Of course, there still was the whole thing with me vomiting on her heels and still not answering her.

"You vomited on my favorite boots. What are you going to do about it?"

Of course, she wanted me to do something about her boots—should have seen that coming from a mile. I had two options at this point. Option one was buying her a new pair of boots, but I get the feeling they weren't cheap. With option one quickly thrown out the window, option two was to clean her boots and buy her lunch...Here's hoping that she takes option two because otherwise, I'm shit out of luck.

"So, how about I clean your boots and then buy you lunch?"

She slightly tilted her sunglasses and looked at me as if she was picking me apart. She put her shades back on and responded to my suggestion. "Yes, to cleaning my boots, but no to lunch. After all, a girl has to have standards," she said, motioning towards my current clothing.

'Ouch...That actually kind of hurt...Bitch.' I simply shrugged, motioned for her to follow, and began walking back to the dry cleaner's door. Thinking about it now, it was kind of sad that I haven't taken more than a small handful of steps outside of the dry cleaners before getting sick.

I held open the door for and she stepped inside. She gave the place a quick scan then looked at me with a small hint of disgust. "You work here or something?" she asks as she kept looking around the cleaners.

I turned to her and nodded "Yep! And I also live here as well...Sorry, the place is a dump. I just got off the airship yesterday and haven't had the time to fix the place up. Anyways, follow me to the back so I can clean your boots off and you can be on your merry way." As I walked towards the back room, I received four notifications:

[Welcome back to the safe house! Stamina has regenerated!]

[New relationship formed! Coco Adel and you are now acquaintances!]

[Your CHA has increased by one!]

[Your Charisma is now high enough to convince people to go on dates with you!]

I'm not sure how I should feel about that last one...Wait. Was this thing telling me that asking someone if you could buy them lunch was considered asking someone on a date? Man, fuck that. It's way too early in my new life for that, and I'm not even sure what the law is on the age of consent—before you ask it, more for her sake than mine! Besides, I'm on the other side of the law, so it would be extremely awkward if we dated and then she found out that I was robbing banks for a living. Then again, I do age, as far as I know, and can't rob banks forever, but that's years down the road.

Damn, I should really stop getting lost in my thoughts because I was standing in the doorway that leads to the back and Coco was impatiently tapping her foot, waiting for me to stop blocking the doorway. She must have patience, and I really hope that the blood doesn't dry up; otherwise, things will get more complicated for me.

"You know, it's rude to keep a girl waiting, and if the blood doesn't come off...Well, let's hope that it does for your sake," she said as her foot tapping grew slower and slower, signaling that she was losing her patience with me.

I nervously chuckled and started to walk again through the small hallway that leads to the living quarters. It's then that I realize that the trap door was still wide open, and she would see it, and my career as a criminal would be over before it even started. However, as we walked into the living part, the trap door was closed and the small stack of lien was gone from the statue. My phone vibrated and took it out of my pocket.

'Remember, I'm always watching. Be glad I am. – B'

I lightly chuckled, causing her to cock an eyebrow at me, or at least I assumed she did because her sunglasses and hair blocked some of her face. Anyways, I went to the sink, turned on the hot water, then waited for it to turn lukewarm before getting a bowl out of the cupboard. Surprisingly, I had dishes and such, so that was something that I didn't need to buy, which saves me some lien. I filled the bowl with lukewarm water and then looked around the kitchen area for two clean rags and some soap. I seriously need to check more thoroughly; otherwise, I'm going to end up spending more lien than I should be. Man, saying that out-loud is going to take some time getting used to; I'm used to asking for a couple of dollars or bucks back on Earth...Man, I'm alone right now...I need to fix that, but right now I have a task to finish.

I poured some soap into the water and splashed it around enough to make suds appear. I walked over to her and currently, she was sitting on the leather couch with her scroll out, most likely texting someone. As I was looking at her, I realized that there was something different about her HUD. Next to her name were five stars and currently, there was half a star filled in.

'That's interesting, to say the least...Guess that's how I tell my current relationship.' I cleared my throat to get her attention before sitting on the blue couch. She looked up before quickly typing something then putting her scroll away into her back pocket. I pointed my index finger at her boots and pat on the table with my left hand because, for some reason, I was still holding the bowl full of suds in my right hand with the clean rags hanging off my arm.

She gave me an intense stare for a couple of minutes and I simply responded with a wink and a slight click of my tongue. She gave me an annoyed grunt and took off her boots and placed them on the table in between us.

[Thanks to light flirting with someone that's too good for you, you're CHA has increased by two!]

'I'm not that awkward!...Am I?...Fuck you, game! Telling me that she's too good for me—that's some serious horse shit, and you know it! …And I'm yelling at something that doesn't physically exist, that's sad...'

[Quite sad. Now stop your bitching and get back to the task at hand.]

'Jeez...This thing is an ass...but, yeah, I need to clean the boots before the blood dries.'

I placed the bowl of suds and the rags on the table. I grabbed one of the rags and scooped up some suds and only suds. After that, I grabbed one of the boots and used the rag with the suds to gently rub the stained areas, taking extra care not to spread the blood. We sat in silence with the boom box, still playing "I Will Give You My All."

"I will give you my all pretty baby. I'll come whenever you call for me, lady, yeah."

After a couple minutes of cleaning the boot and doing a quick inspection of it, I grabbed the other rag and dried off the boot and gave it an extra shine. I placed the boot down on the table and then realized she was watching me the whole time I was cleaning her boot. I gave her a small wave before picking up the second boot, adding more suds to the rag and repeating the process.

I finished with the boot and placed it on the table and saw that she was still watching me. I found it a little odd and raised my brow at her. "Something wrong, miss?"

We sat in silence for a couple of seconds before she spoke to me. "Where are your parents?"

"My, my, I've known you for roughly—" I checked my phone and saw that there was still half an hour left on the file. I looked back at her to finish my thought "—For roughly half an hour and you already want to marry me...We haven't had a first date or a first kiss. Hell, I didn't even get you a ring to make it official," I said in a joking and slightly flirtatious tone.

[Look at you go! Your CHA has increased by 1!]

She rolled her eyes at my pitiful attempts at flirting with her. "Where are your parents?" she said seriously, leaving no room for me to joke around.

'Time to lie through my teeth and hope for the best' I thought to myself as my mind made a more or less believable lie. "Hell, if I know. All I know is that a couple of days ago woke up in my room with my parents in my room with all my belongings in a duffle bag and a one-way ticket straight to Vale. Basically, they said they had enough of my shit and something to do with me not trying hard enough in school. They got in contact with a family friend who owns this place and basically said that, aside from this, I'm on my own."

[Checking CHA score... Lie has passed!]

Plus 55 XP [ The perk The Rookie has been calculated to achieve maximum XP]

She gave me a look of surprise and a look of disgust. I get the feeling that it wasn't aimed at me though and probably at my fake parents. I have parents alright, just not in this world.

I felt my phone vibrate and saw that the files have finished downloading. I looked at her. "I believe our business is concluded, and if you would please exit the building, I'm afraid I have business to take care of right now."

She slightly nodded and put her boots on before standing up and going to the front. I followed her and held open the front for as she exited the area. She stood out in the street and looked at me. "What's your name, kid?"

I simply looked at her and extended my hand out to her. "Alex Mason at your service, miss. And, who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"

Coco shook my hand with a bone-shattering grip and gives me a small smile. "Coco Adel... You have an interesting name."

"I'm one of a kind, Miss Adel, but as I said earlier, I have some business to attend to." I let go of her hand and shut then locked the door. I flipped the sign to show the dry cleaners was closed. I watched her walk away and after she disappeared from my view, I made my way to the back. The trap-door was opening up and I went downstairs. I flipped open the laptop and connected my phone to it. Some audio files were extracted along with a couple of maps and pictures.

"It's time to get my PAYDAY."

((That's a wrap! I deeply apologize for the long wait, but I hope it was worth the wait!

So, next chapter I'm having a small Q&A. PM me any questions you have or leave it as a review! And, don't worry, as we speak, I'm typing up the next chapter and will hopefully have it uploaded within the next couple of weeks.

Rabbit out!))