The wind howled past him as the bolt cutters’ head spit sparks. It was over thankfully fast, and he landed in a tumble on the opposite rooftop, to an annoyed glare from Gadot. Kurt scrambled to his feet as the bolt cutters rattled and fell apart in his hands. He looked back to see the player in the police outfit staring at him from the rooftop he had just vacated.

  Gadot shook her head at him as she opened the rooftop’s door. He didn’t wait this time, following close behind her and tossing the halves of the ruined bolt cutters aside. The pair moved without hindrance through a rooftop restaurant and bar towards the building’s elevator. The gathered civilian NPCs paid them no attention, in spite of the small arsenal attached to Gadot. Once in the elevator, she pushed the button for the garage. As the doors opened, Kurt’s eyes widened. The garage was much more open than the one he had come from, and several police cruisers were already in place as part of the cordon for the other building.

  As Gadot left the elevator, a shout sounded from the right and a shotgun went off. She hit the ground twitching, a sparking slug stuck into her stomach. Kurt put his back to the elevator’s interior, peeking out to see a three-man squad of police NPCs approaching. He steadied himself as he drew his Beretta, waiting for them to get closer. One of them knelt to place zip ties on Gadot’s wrists, and Kurt stepped out and shot each of them twice. Then he crouched, swatted away the Taser slug and helped Gadot to her feet.

  Shaking off the effects of the slug, she nodded appreciatively at him. Before he could say anything, she took off at a run, disappearing around a nearby corner.

  Jimmy’s voice sounded in his ear. “What’s going on?”

  Kurt sighed, looking around for options. “I’m next door in the garage. Long, terrifying story. Any chance of a pickup?” he asked.

  “Depends on how you define chance, I guess,” Jimmy replied.

  Kurt shook his head as he looked at the massive police presence outside. Any second now he was sure one of them would turn and see him. Jimmy sounded in his ear again. “Tell you what though; I may be able to lead some of them off you.”

  Without waiting for a response, Jimmy began his plan of distraction. The hearse blew past the garage entrance, its horn blaring as Jimmy leaned out the window, firing a chrome handgun at the swarm of police NPCs gathered in front of the buildings.

  While Kurt stared after his friend incredulously, a car pulled up beside him. It was a bright red, two door sports car. The engine made a high-pitched roar as it approached. The 1983 Ferrari 308 was gorgeous, all sharp angles and sleek edges, like something straight out of a movie. It had an aggressive raised wheel well on the front end, and stark black intake vents along the sides to finish the look.

  The driver’s side window rolled down and Gadot stared at him for a moment, her eyebrows raised. Rolling her eyes, she popped open the passenger door. “Get in!”

  “I got a ride, Jimmy! Great work drawing them off us!” he said as he ran around the car and got into the black leather seat.

  “Us? Are you still with that chick?” Jimmy said. “What’d I tell you about making friends without me?”

  “Not the best time, Jimmy.” Kurt muttered.

  Gadot revved the engine and sent them hurtling out onto the street with a squeal of tires. She slid sideways between two police cruisers, tires boiling as she floored the accelerator. Using the curb’s dip at the garage exit, she drove up onto the sidewalk and hurtled down the block. The car was briefly airborne as she threw the wheel sideways and skidded down from the sidewalk, before accelerating along the road with a sputtering roar.

  Kurt quickly drew the safety harness down over his head, clicking it into place between his legs.

  Looking out the rear window, he noticed with some dread that a sizable police NPC force was swarming around the corner. Over two dozen cruisers were in pursuit, and a helicopter buzzed in the sky above the buildings, its spotlight directly on the red Ferrari. Kurt glanced over at Gadot and was surprised to see her so calm, her hands resting loosely on the steering wheel and gear shift. She stepped lightly on the clutch and downshifted in preparation for another high-speed turn, causing the tires to break loose on the asphalt with a satisfying squeal.

  Jimmy sounded in his ear, sirens also audible from his end. “How many do you have on you?”

  Kurt gripped the armrest and the handle on his door, clenching as Gadot blew between two civilian cars at high speed. “Shit! I dunno, Jimmy, all of them?”

  His friend laughed. “Not even close. This is only a four bar. It gets so much worse than this. Plus I have, educated guess here, forty, on my ass,” Jimmy said.

  Gadot glanced at Kurt with a scowl. “Jimmy? That guy I shot?” Kurt nodded, his eyes glued to the front windshield as Gadot bounced up onto a low curb and drove the car into a narrow alley. Homeless NPCs flew by the windows in a blur as she drove, sliding around the corner at the end of the alley and missing a civilian car by inches. Kurt swallowed hard, still gripping the handles and trying not to jump out of his seat.

  Letting the car fall into neutral, Gadot slammed on the brakes and brought them to a dead stop in the middle of the road as sirens became much louder frighteningly fast. “Okay, what are you doing? Why are you freaking out?” she asked, staring at Kurt.

  Glancing nervously through the rear windshield, his voice was somewhat higher than usual when he responded. “Your driving is terrifying, I’m sorry.”

  She sighed. “Really? Do you have any idea how high my driver skillset is? Look, I appreciate you saving me from that low blow Taser, and there’s no hard feelings for messing up my heist, but I won’t sit here and be insulted while saving your ass from an obviously inescapable four bar. Well, inescapable for you, anyway.”

  Nervously looking up at the helicopter, Kurt nodded. “I get you. I’m sorry.”

  She shifted back into first and wrenched up the parking brake. A plume of white smoke rose from the back of the car. “Damn right you are.” Sliding the wheel around, she let the car skid in place until it was facing the direction she wanted, and then let go of the brake. The Ferrari shot off into the evening traffic as police NPCs swarmed into the road behind them.

  Checking his map, he saw several red and blue dots in chase behind them. A single black dot was in the middle of the cluster, and Kurt peered out the back window to see what that vehicle could be. A black and yellow 2018 Dodge Demon had just come around the corner. Its front end lifted off the pavement as it accelerated towards them with shocking speed.

  “Gadot? I think we have a player after us.” Kurt drew his Beretta and squinted as the Demon pulled up alongside them. Gadot turned her face away, rolling down Kurt’s window with a switch in the center console. The player dressed as police smiled at Kurt with a nod, and then lifted his absurdly large Desert Eagle. Kurt immediately shot his door four times, noting with displeasure that his bullets left no mark at all. The player just smiled, rolling down his own window.

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  “Gadot? We have a problem here,” Kurt said.

  Focusing on the road ahead, Gadot scowled. “Tires and windshield,” she replied. With that simple advice, she pulled ahead of the enemy player in a quick burst of speed. Kurt tried to ignore the whipping wind as he leaned out of the window, firing four quick shots into the windshield of the Demon. Again, his rounds had no effect. He reached for a new magazine, allowing the used one to puff to dust as it hit the road. As he reloaded, the enemy player opened fire. Seven thudding bangs sounded over the considerable engine noise and the Ferrari began to emit white smoke, some new holes in its side.

  “Sonofa . . .” Gadot glanced in her rearview mirror, and then dropped speed. “Sit down. This bastard is mine.” They approached the entrance to a bridge curving over a freeway as she allowed the enemy player to draw even with them again. Then she tapped the brake, jerked the steering wheel in his direction and nudged the rear end of his car.

  The Demon went sideways in front them, the enemy player’s eyes wide. Gadot floored the accelerator again, slipping her Ferrari’s hood beneath the Demon’s undercarriage for an instant before she slammed on the brakes and went into the curve of the bridge. The Demon flipped onto its roof, tumbling onto its other side in a screech of twisted metal, before striking the guardrail and spinning off into the air over the freeway.

  “Holy shit, was that on purpose?” Kurt had ducked down in his seat, but the display had caused a huge boost of confidence in his new companion.

  She kept her dead-calm gaze on the road ahead. “He shot my car.”

  Kurt’s eyes widened as he looked at her. Quickly swiping at his wrist, he added her to his friends list. She glanced at her notification and gave a quick laugh before sliding the car into a construction lot. After they shattered a small wooden barricade barring the entrance, she drove directly towards an oversized earth mover set in the center of the lot. It was parked between a massive hole in the ground and a large cinder block pile. Kurt realized they were about to hit the earthmover. He ducked in his seat again, and Gadot shook her head as she slipped the car expertly beneath the massive dump truck.

  She casually looked over as a dozen police cruisers slammed into the earth mover, causing a sizable pile up. The helicopter buzzed over the bridge they had just come from. “Oh, I forgot about that thing. Hold on.”

  Gadot stopped the vehicle and stepped out, reaching in the back for her strange rifle. She leaned it against the roof of the car and aimed carefully through the scope at the police helicopter as it swung out over the construction lot. She ducked, swiveling the rifle to follow the helicopter as it moved over them. After taking a slow, even breath, she fired.

  The helicopter shuddered, a sound of tearing metal erupting from it. Its rear rotor shot sparks into the air before it spun off entirely, embedding into the cinderblock pile with an eruption of concrete dust. The helicopter spun wildly in the air above them, spiraling down and to the side as it crashed into the freeway in an eruption of flame and pitch-black smoke.

  Kurt’s eyes widened further. Checking his phone, he saw the heat notification had bumped up to a five bar. Gadot got back in the car, dropping her rifle behind the seats. “What? Choppers are the hard part,” she told him. Gadot punched the pedals again, throwing the car into gear and tearing off down the street. Kurt glanced back and scanned the rifle.

  De Lisle Carbine

  Rifle. Primary/Secondary. Firearm drops upon death and can be picked up by any player in the vicinity.

  Caliber: .45

  Rate of Fire: Bolt Action

  Capacity: 7 Round Magazine.

  Jimmy was in his ear again. “Why did the heat just go up? I was having a hard enough time with a four bar man. This is about to get ugly.”

  As they bounced out of the dirt lot onto a proper street, Kurt was not thrilled to notice a series of shiny black Dodge Chargers roaring down the road towards them, blue and red light bars in the grilles flashing. “She just took out a chopper. I . . . I think it blew up on the freeway.” He grimaced out the window as they drove past the scene. “Oh, that’s a lot of dead civvies.”

  Jimmy laughed, the sound of gunfire and breaking glass coming through the coms. Gadot glanced at her wrist again, chuckling. “Your pal just friend requested me. What’s with you guys?”

  Kurt smiled innocently. “I’m new here. No idea what his excuse is.”

  She glanced at the rearview. “I have to admit, I’m impressed he’s survived this long. What’s he driving?”

  Pulling up the map on his wrist, Kurt shook his head lightly. “A hearse.”

  Gadot burst out a short bark of laughter, before swerving to avoid a new squad of black Chargers. She cut through an alley in the crowded downtown area, swerving to avoid a crowd of club-goers and then sent them running with a high-pitched horn blast. The civilian NPCs scattered, and she cut the Ferrari down the main road, pursuit hot behind them. With the straightaway at hand, she quickly swiped through her wrist’s virtual console, accepting Jimmy and Kurt’s friend requests and patching into their call.

  “Hey, Jimmy. Sorry I shot you.” Gadot shrugged as she spoke, scowling at the crowd of black Chargers behind them. “Well, boys, we’re running out of options.”

  A crunch sounded, followed by several loud gunshots in a row and a grunt from Jimmy. “Yeah, I can’t outrun these Chargers. You have a plan?”

  Gadot smiled wide, showing her teeth. “Oh, I have a plan. Kurt, toss the map up for me. Jimmy, I want you to come straight for me as fast as you can.”

  Kurt swiped through to the map, setting a waypoint for Jimmy and tossing it up onto the windshield. She swiped it down to the corner and wrenched on the wheel while hauling the handbrake up. The car’s tires screamed in protest as they came around, and Gadot floored the accelerator again.

  Weaving slightly, she darted up onto the sidewalk at a crossing, laying on the horn and flying between crowds of scrambling civilians. Darting past the Chargers, she dropped back onto the road, driving towards Jimmy’s dot on the map at an angle.

  “Okay, this is going to be close. I’ll do the adjusting, you just keep driving straight as fast as you can.” Her eyes were glued to the road ahead and her hands gripped the steering wheel as the smile Kurt was quickly becoming afraid of returned to her lips.

  “Got you. I’m smoking over here, guys. This car won’t last much longer.” Jimmy didn’t sound worried, rather giving them casual information.

  Gadot nodded to no one. “This is over in . . . eight seconds. Just keep going.”

  True to her word, eight seconds later Kurt saw Jimmy’s hearse hurtling down the road directly at them from a side street. Black smoke was pouring from the hood and Jimmy had his head hanging out the window to see as he drove. Gadot rolled harder on the accelerator, and they flew across the intersection directly after the hearse. They cut between the hearse and its crowd of black Chargers, causing them to all hit their brakes and slide sideways into the intersection.

  Kurt and Gadot’s crowd slammed into them as they did, a massive pile-up filling the entire intersection. Screaming tires joined the voices of civilians and the cacophony of shattering glass and twisting metal.

  “Hooo-ly!” Jimmy was in awe, at a loss for words for the briefest of moments.

  Gadot laughed again, relaxing and leaning back in her seat. “Just a skillset, boys. Keep going, we can lose the heat now.” She drove down a handful of side-streets, before finding Jimmy’s hearse and pulling up beside it. It was emitting a horrible, constant screeching rattle and the black smoke pouring from the hood seemed to have gotten thicker. Bullet holes riddled the body of the vehicle and most of its windows were shattered. Jimmy had one hand draped casually over the steering wheel and tipped them a wink as they pulled up alongside him.

  They drove until they were out of the heat search zone, before pulling over into a movie theater parking lot. Jimmy got out of his hearse and stretched, displaying several bullet holes in his undershirt and shorts. The clothing regenerated once the heat dropped to nothing. Gadot exited her vehicle as well, taking in Jimmy’s state with a small grimace.

  He smiled and said,“jealousy does not become you, madame.”

  She snorted, leaning against the Ferrari. “Just trying to figure out who took more bullets: you or the hearse.”

  Jimmy ran his hand along the hearse’s hood in a protective motion. “Pretty sure it was me, but I did have a head start.” He looked at her pointedly as she shrugged, an amused smile creeping at the corner of her lips.

  As Kurt exited the vehicle, Gadot turned to look at him. She wasn’t quite scowling, more staring inquisitively at him. “Thank you, Gadot. We never would have gotten away with the painting without you,” Kurt said to the young woman.

  She shrugged, again nonchalant. “Can’t rely on shooting alone in this game. Gotta have a primary skillset that isn’t combat,” Gadot replied.

  A gasp sounded as Jimmy held a hand dramatically to his chest. “Blasphemy!” he whispered, looking to the sky.

  Gadot smiled as she glanced at her phone, swiping up a message that made her narrow her eyes. She tapped the roof of her car and slid back into the driver’s seat. “Nice knowing you, boys.” Kurt had enough time to get his feet clear of the car before it sped out of the parking lot, tires chirping around the corners.

  Jimmy called for his lowrider, leaving the hearse smoking. He claimed it would be fixed by the next time they logged in and grumbled a bit about paying for repairs. As they drove towards the outskirts of the Downtown Cluster, he was uncharacteristically quiet.