Chapter 9

*Continuing Requirements: Lie, cheat, or steal one object

Continuing Requirements: Continue a shady confidence scam or long-con.

Continuing Requirements: Light a fire, force a victim, or commit a murder daily

I woke to those three lines blinking at me every morning. Oddly, the hardest sub-skill to get was actually the easiest to keep. Lighting something as small as a match was enough to stop the ‘reminder’ alarm from blinking. I started carrying wood matches, and all the smokers at work knew I’d light their cigarette for them.

The confidence scams were hard to start, but easy to keep rolling. Just to be safe, I kept two going at all times. I was renting out weapons that would supposedly lead to those people getting weapons of their own, as well as a ‘portal transference’ course, where wannabe Weapons would pay for the privilege of hanging around real Weapons. What was left of the stoner team (the Crashers) liked this one. They would hang around for an hour with some Norm and put game material in their hands, then try to ‘teach’ one of these bozos to ‘open’ their own inventory. I found out later that most of the team was also whoring themselves out (more ‘personal’ training I guess) using these meet-ups. I didn’t really care since I got a small cut and the point was only to keep my subskill active. Due to the nature of these scams, I wanted to have more than one backup and so I signed on as a union steward. I figured that there must be something dirty going on in the union, and if there wasn’t, then I could start some.

It was actually stealing something that nearly got me in a lot of trouble.

I had a pile of crap I’d lifted in my place, extra straws, cutlery, beer glasses ... I wasn’t sure if I had to keep the stuff or not, so I tried to steal consumables. Fries were the best. I’d get a dirty look oftentimes, but nothing came of it. One of my favourites was when I stole an earring from Colleen one night. I did it just as she came, then spent ten minutes looking for it with her in the pile of towels we’d just fucked on. I still giggle when I see it on my window ledge.

Silver was ‘easy’ to steal but I had to find a Weapon to steal it from since Jay didn’t have much. I tried to make it up to her whenever I did, spending a lot of cash on her and taking her to nice places though. I was walking through the mall, one of the few indoor ones left within easy driving range from home, when my Pickpocket skill popped up. I was quite used to this screen appearing in the lower left side of my vision whenever another Weapon was within about twenty feet or so but I’d left Jay at a fancy underwear store about twenty minutes ago so I was pretty sure it wasn’t her. Glancing at the sliding scale I saw it topped out at 112 Silver. Holy fuck! Motherload! I grabbed ten just to start with then glanced around and stupidly made eye contact with the only guy within range of me.

Just grabbing it was stupid, I knew that others couldn’t feel it happening, but if someone happened to be looking at their own inventory and saw their Silver disappear, then looked up at the only person around to find that idiot staring right at them ... he stood up slowly, and vanished!

‘Oh Shit, I’m gonna die... ‘ I thought to myself, and I might have accidentally said out loud. Bravery took a back seat and I bolted as fast as I could, pleased to see the Pickpocket window close as no other Weapon (with Silver) was within range. I turned a corner to the food court and planted myself where he’d have to come at me from one side or the other. I hoped I could detect him (and his chosen side) fast enough to evade him. Once I’d left him behind again, I could run to the truck and get the fuck away from this thing.

Breathing in heavily, I backed myself up against the counter of a burger place.

“Can I get you something sir?” Asked a voice behind me. For a moment I couldn’t imagine what she was talking about, but then I came around to the idea that she was expecting me to order something.

“Bottle of water please, cold.” I answered briefly. The counter girl turned away to the cooler and I frantically cast about.

“$7.25 please” she called out behind me. I absentmindedly held my phone behind me and heard the ‘beep’ that let me know I’d just paid way too much for a stupid bottle of water.

As I pocketed my phone, I could see the guy approaching, about 30 feet away. He had his hands out and at his side as if to show they were empty, but since he was a Weapon I knew he could have a sword, axe, or spear in them in the blink of an eye.

“That’s close enough” I called out, with a moments inspiration I hooked my right arm with my left out in front, hoping to mimic holding a long lance. “any closure and you’ll be skewered...” it was a bluff, but hopefully it was good enough.

“We need to talk. I’m leaving my phone number here and walking away. I’ll stay in sight.” He set down a card on the table nearest him, then turned and walked away only to stop at about 100 feet away. I’d already closed the gap and grabbed the card. I was back at the counter when his phone rang.

“You’re freaking out the poor girl behind you” said a voice over my phone. His mouth was moving just a little bit ahead of what I was hearing and the voice sounded close. I scanned the area as best as I could.

“You want to die a quick death?” I snapped. ’What do you want?’ had been my first instinct but I’d made a mistake already and looking weak at this point would only make this guy bolder.

“Easy, easy” he intoned. “I don’t care about the Silver, I want some information, and to maybe offer you two jobs. They both depend on one thing. Can you take someone’s weapon?”

“Information is valuable. Why do you want to know” I replied curtly.

I could see him turn to the garbage can beside him. “I just dumped another ten Silver into the trash beside me. You walk over and take it after I retreat. That plus the 10 you’ve already taken from me are payment for the information. You take it and tell me about being able to take someone’s weapon, and then I’ll offer you the job or not.”

He balked off again. I considered lying about it, but it seemed I could outrun him. I could probably steal his weapon, but I’d never done it from a live, conscious victim before. 12k for a simple question was good enough for me and I walked to where he was previously standing, gathering the Silver from the bin as I passed it.

“It says that I can take a weapon, but I’ve never tried it. I was worried I’d be noticed and to be honest, I haven’t found a mark I didn’t like yet” I said calmly. No need to be rude, and he’d already paid me. Whether or not this would remain civil would be up to him.

“I need to know your range. Try taking my weapon.” He asked over the phone, way more calmly than I would have expected.

“The option to pickpocket you only pops up at about 20 to 25 feet, and honestly with your disappearing trick, I don’t want to get that close to you. Thanks but no thanks.” I tried to keep my voice serious, but friendly. This guy was probably an assassin with a skill like that.

“My name is Rodrigues, Officer Rodrigues, major crimes division, City of York.” He pulled out what might have been a badge, but also could have been a blue and gold cellphone. Hard to tell at this distance. “Glance at the card I gave you, would ya?”

I didn’t do it, I didn’t take my eyes off of him at all. “Thanks, but I’ll try not to hold that against you. I’ve met cops before, they have about the same good-bad ratio as anyone else”. The only thing I wanted was to get the hell out of here so I just turned and bolted. Hoping to hell that he couldn’t catch me. I was about to get in my truck when the phone rang, the caller ID read ‘York Police Services’. Oh fuck.

‘Take your whippin’ before ya piss ‘em off and make it worse’ was another one of Dad’s sayings. Before I answered, I glanced at the card, it was embossed with a blue and gold shield on the back that had a 5-digit number on it.

“Officer Rodrigues, I presume?” I answered, using my politest tone. The kind he couldn’t call me for, but was just sarcastic enough.

“Cut the crap, Gregory Hensen. If you can do what I hope you can do, then I have a job for you in the next 15 min. The pay is whatever you can scavenge or steal from the guy I need to arrest, and then I’ll lose your number and totally forget about you.” He said tersely “If this works out, I can see a job in the future for you, same terms with all the other immunities and amnesty that comes with working with the police”

He had my attention, but then again the first job didn’t offer me much more than I could have taken anyways. It was the offer of amnesty and immunity that piqued my interest. Being a thief, even a good one, was not a stable future. Being a thief with immunity from prosecution was.