บท 11: Rise and Grind
After a peaceful night spent at home failing to come up with a satisfactory supervillain name for himself, Lucas now sits hunched over a half-eaten bowl of soggy generic store-brand cereal. With a distinctive brown cowlick and his eyes barely open, he sulks down at the offending cereal in a futile attempt at pinning the entirely of the blame for his failure upon it.
'This is way harder than I thought it would be. Any other time you could ask me for random villain names and I totally would come up with a bunch, but now that it's for myself I'm just… It doesn't help that there aren't any cool thematic words for simply being stronger than normal.'
[Perhaps a change in scenery would help?]
'...You really want me to go questin', don't you?'
[It's better than listening to you sit here complaining. At least it would be accomplishing something.]
With a sharp intake of breath, Lucas clutches at his chest in exaggerated pain.
'You wound me, good sir. Fine though, but you better at least try to help with coming up with a good name while we're at it.'
Some time later, after further playful banter and having washed and prepared for the great outdoors, Lucas finally emerges from the comfort of his own home. Equipped with a randomly selected t-shirt, loose jeans, yesterday's lightweight open-front hoodie, and his favorite sneakers, he sets out in pursuit of adventure. Well, actually, GDV farming.
'So, are you gonna give me directions of some sort or should I just wander around randomly?'
[Honestly, you could just pick a random direction and go in it, we'll eventually find something given the way the world is. I'll let you know once we're close enough to something.]
Scanning the area, Lucas just ends up shrugging to himself and following the sidewalk in the opposite direction of yesterday's antics.
Over the course of walking for a few blocks, he comes across a few mild altercations between people going about their business, however, nothing that's enough to merit a task. About to approach an intersection 5 blocks away from his apartment, 427 finally chimes in.
[Oh, two at once. In this case, you can choose which one to pursue; stopping a teenager about to try to rob some cigarettes while armed with a knife, or interrupt a drug sale.]
'Eh? I'm surprised there's drugs that are even considered illegal here. Sorry kid, time to stop a robbery.'
[Very well then. Alert; a new minor GDV task has been assigned. Please prevent the petty robbery in progress in the convenience store to your right.]
Greeted by the jingle of a bell hanging next to the door and the smell of overcooked hot dogs under a warming lamp, Lucas steps into the small bodega. Resisting the urge to just go straight to the candy aisle and pick something out, he looks through the immediate area. Standing off against an emotionless service robot is a young teen boy in an oversized jacket, his face mostly hidden behind large sunglasses, a black cloth mask, and the lowered brim of a black baseball cap. He holds a simple switchblade before him in a sad mockery of attempting to appear intimidating.
What really catches Lucas's attention is the chubby multicolored cat lying down on top of a sliding-top ice cream freezer.
'Ah yes, even when staffed by robots, it is important to have a bodega cat. A clear sign of quality. Don't worry kitty, you'll get scritches later.'
[...Stay on target.]
With a grin on his face and a brief chuckle, Lucas goes over to... The candy aisle, grabbing a chocolate bar with caramel and peanuts in it at random before leisurely walking over to get in line behind the awkward teen.
[How did you manage to make the act of getting in line seem like you're bullying him? I'm actually impressed. There's no way he didn't realize you saw him and laughed before ignoring him.]
As the tips of his ears slowly turn red, the aspiring thief turns his back to the unshakable service robot and attempts to menace Lucas instead. Having failed at intimidation before he even started, he looks up at Lucas to see a broad grin on his face.
"Now now kid, be good and put your toy away. I've got better things to do than babysit a brat like you." Lucas says this while maintaining eye contact as best as he can through the sunglasses. Afterward, he chuckles with a sneer.
[...Your enhanced strength is primarily offensive, while you are a little tougher so your muscles don't just tear your own body apart, you are barely any more resistant to knives than you were before.]
'Look at the way he's shaking, I think he's more likely to piss himself than to actually attack me. Seriously, I don't think I even need to do anything, this is just free GDV. Maybe patrolling isn't so bad after all, I'm kinda having fun?'
"Screw you, asshole!" The affronted teen manages to spit out his frustration, but it is undermined by the fact he is trembling the whole time. After a few moments, he can't take it anymore and bolts out the door without any loot from his endeavors.
[Congratulations on completing your minor GDV task for a reward of .1 GDV. I fear you're going to do a better job at pretending to be a villain than I initially thought.]
'I'll choose to take that as a compliment. Thanks for the points kiddo, now onto more important things... KITTY LET ME LOVE YOU!'
No longer suffering the presence of other humans, Lucas immediately loses any hint of menace from his appearance. He approaches the lazy cat that just witnessed the entire incident with no more reaction than a few curling twitches of the end of its tail.
Slowly reaching out a hand to the little nose, he gets a brief sniff at his fingertips before the cat squints at him in tacit approval of the impending pets. And pets does the cat receive, and lo they were good. Essential chin scritches were also had, to the joy of both parties involved.
The poor little service robot simply waits in place, completely ignored.
-----
Lucas kills this chapter: 0 (Unless you want to include the teenager's pride?)
Lucas total kills: 2
Lucas deaths this chapter: 0
Lucas total deaths: 3
Lucas current GDV: 2.6 (+.1 net change)
-----
Little character theater:
Lucas, the most excited 427 has seen him yet: Yay! Kitty!
427, both amused and bemused: [I guess you really like animals?]
Author, nodding repeatedly: As well he should, bodega cats are a national treasure, each and every one of them.
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