“You should have kept your nose out of our business, Summer Rain. Don’t you know, curiosity killed the kitty?”
Summer flinched as flecks of spit were
flung at her face.
“Didn’t you know, cats have nine lives?”
she retorted, “Then again, with your level of intelligence, you probably can’t
even count that far.”
The goon responded with a swift kick to her
stomach. As Summer doubled over in pain, her sidekick Leroy cried out.
“Leave her alone, you walking slabs of
mutton!”
Another of the goons there chuckled.
“Or you’ll do what? Hurt our feelings?”
Leroy struggled in vain against his
bindings as the goons holding them prisoner all burst out laughing. Summer
quickly recovered from the blow and propped herself up as comfortably as her
own bindings allowed.
“You alright, Summer?” whispered Leroy.
“I will be when we finally find out who
masterminded this whole damn case,” was Summer’s gruff reply. “We should be
meeting them any moment now…”
Footsteps approached, made by shoes with
far more class than all the goons in the vicinity combined. A familiar figure
hovered in the darkness for a moment, before entering the dim light in the
room.
“Good evening, Summer Rain. And lackey.”
Leroy gasped.
“Barron Cormack!”
*
“Wait, the big boss is Barron? The
journalist guy?” asked Richie incredulously. “You didn’t make this up on the
spot, did you?”
“No, no, it was always him,” assured Pedro,
subconsciously adjusting the Game-master screen that hid his notes from the
other two. “I have a monologue and everything ready.”
“I always love doing the monologues when I’m
the GM,” said Viv with a smirk.
“Try not to judge mine too much then, yeah?”
said Pedro nervously.
“We’ll see.”
*
“…so that’s why you kept giving us clues,”
said Summer with disgust, “You needed someone outside the crime syndicates to
take out your rivals, and we were the perfect tools for the job.”
“My plan is beautiful in its simplicity,
no?” smiled Barron, “Thanks to you two wreaking havoc in this city’s underworld,
I all but have a monopoly under my control now.”
“You won’t get away with this, you
two-faced snake!” blurted out Leroy.
“How cliché of you.” Barron rolled his
eyes. “See, this is why you’re the sidekick, Lenny.”
“Should we get rid of them now, boss?”
asked one of the goons.
“Keep them in the cells,” barked Barron, “I
have one last meeting before Operation Overlord is set in motion. After that, I
want to be there in person when these two are… disposed of.”
“You’ll be seeing us a little bit earlier
than that, Barron,” said Summer, as she and Leroy were roughly escorted out of
the room, “and then we’ll see who gets disposed of!”
*
“The two of you are now locked inside a
cell, with two guards standing outside,” said Pedro, “What do you do next?”
“I examine the room,” said Richie.
“Okay, roll for investigation.”
The two six-sided dice clinked as they hit
the table.
“Ugh, 4. Fail.”
“You don’t see anything. The cell is
basically empty.”
“So there’s not even a toilet?” asked Viv, “but
the cell has bars, yeah?”
“Yes, and you can see the guards outside
with guns,” said Pedro.
“I’m going to pretend to be sick, and lure
one of the guards into the cell.”
“Um, okay, roll for deception.”
Clunk.
“Natural 12! Critical success.”
*
“Oy, meatheads, better get in here before
she throws up!” yelled Leroy. “Or do you want the whole place to stink of
vomit?”
The guards looked at each other before one
of them approached the cell. The other one trained their gun on Leroy.
*
“The guard is about to examine you, Summer.”
“Right,” said Viv, her eyes gleaming, “When
he’s within melee range, I stun him and disarm him.”
“Okay, you have to get at least a great
success on this roll though.”
Clink.
“10! Whew, just made it.”
“You punch the guard in the jaw, and snatch
his gun from him as he falls down. The other guard has noticed though, and he’s
about to switch from Leroy to you.”
“I shoot him in the head.”
“Wait, really?” asked Richie, “I thought
Summer’s all about non-lethal action.”
“Yeah, normally, but I want to finish this
session soon,” chuckled Viv. “We can chalk it up to desperate times.”
“Okay, roll for accuracy. You need a great
success again.”
“Another natural 12!”
“What, really? Where’s all this luck coming
from!”
*
“So, what next, Summer?”
“Barron mentioned a meeting. He’s probably having
it in that meeting room we found out about on the top floor of this building.
We should get there before he begins Operation Overlord. You ready?”
“Always!”
*
“Okay, this feels like a good place to stop
for now,” said Viv, as her helper gave her some juice to drink.
“Yup, it’s just the rush through the tower
and then the final boss confrontation,” said Pedro, “We can finish that in the
next session.”
“Let’s figure out the date in the group
chat then,” said Richie.
As Pedro saw off his friends, he once again
admired Viv’s gumption. She had been diagnosed with a rare degenerative bone
disorder from an early age, which confined her to a wheelchair and required a
helper for even basic actions like drinking a glass of water. But that hadn’t
stopped her from enjoying life as best she could, watching concerts and soaking
herself in pop-culture pursuits like any other passionate geek. And Pedro could
always rely on her for a philosophical chat about the latest trending game or
comic-book franchise. Friends like her were hard to come by, for an introverted
geek like himself.
*
Some months later, Pedro was standing in
front of her gravestone; the disorder had taken its ultimate toll. He looked up
when he heard footsteps approaching.
“Hey, Pedro.”
“Hey, Richie.”
They both lingered by the grave, tributes
fluttering in the gentle breeze.
“I was just thinking, we never finished that
last Summer Rain campaign. I wonder what Viv would think,” said Pedro.
“I think she was happy just to play it at
all,” suggested Richie. “Viv was always more of a journey person than a
destination one. Any chance to be the person her body wouldn’t let her be, even
for a few fleeting hours every month.”
“True,” said Pedro wistfully, “I guess, in
a way, she’s finally free to be the Summer Rain she always envisioned. Sad as
it is for the rest of us stuck down here.”
“She had a good life while it lasted, I think.
Family who cared about her. Friends she could geek out with. And we’ll always
have those memories to cherish.”
“Yeah, that about sums it up,” agreed
Pedro, before the two of them paid their respects and left.
*
Dedicated
to Nis, GM of infinite worlds. I'll miss you, buddy - hope you're in a better place now.
