"Holy shit rusty." Smyrna's drone soothingly says, still attached around Cross's upper torso.
"Jesus Christ Cross!" Smyrna cries as her head goes inches from the ground on a turn.
As Cross's skill as a driver becomes more and more apparent, Smyrna can't help but think wryly how incompetent she would've seemed had she insisted on taking the wheel. That's about all Smyrna can think though, focusing on hanging on to Cross and spotting for less predictable obstacles.
Moving more quickly but still careful not to step in the blood, Amaryst follows the blood trail through dining and living room. She quickly glances into the bathroom. Then she follows the trail up the stairs. As she goes she keeps up her quiet running commentary.
When her eyes just come above the horizon of the upper floor, she stops to scan what she can see. She takes a long slow breath, adjusts her grip on the gun, and checks the safety again.
"Korvan? Thanks for staying with me through this."
Amaryst holds her breath, scanning what she can see. Then she ascends to the second floor, following the blood, trying not to step in it. She keeps moving forward, keeps trying to even her breathing, keeps her eyes moving.
Maldor also had no expertise with computers, so he let's Jin do his thing. At the mention of how much energy they must burn, he realizes that he is still hungry, and unwraps another food cube to eat. Ya never know when they would go away...
"I'm not gonna be much use to you from here on out, unless by chance that webcam is wireless and you wanna lob it up the stairs, but I'll stick around and listen if you'd like." he says as be begins to more properly stow his ill gotten equipment from the wreckage.
"Shouldn't take too long."
The cop is unable to keep up with Cross' speed demon racing powers and spins out, crashing into a car in the parking garage while Cross and Smyrna fly out of the garage at insane speeds. They make good their escape, gaining more than enough distance to keep away from the cops.
- - - - -
Amaryst follows the blood trail up the stairs. It seems whoever's been here has indeed lost quite a bit of blood. The old stairs creak as she ascends them, and when she gets near the top, she hears a voice: "Stop right there, copper." She can't see the source, but up ahead in the small hallway are three doors. Two are closed, and one is open. Amaryst can see the edge of a window letting in sunlight and a framed photo through the edge of the door. "I've got a satchel full of frag grenades primed and ready to go if I hear you take another step." the voice says. "Just walk away."
- - - - -
The commlink appears to have been a throwaway, so there isn't much on it. There are a few contacts, but they're only labeled A, B, and C. There are saved maps locations for your house, as well as two others. The first is labeled 'Sfhs' and the second is labeled 'target'. The target is the UFIA building. The other is across town, further south near the DC Metro area.
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"So they have the location of a safehouse on this thing apparently. What do you two say we pay them a visit this afternoon?" Jin said, a hint of eagerness creeping into his tone, before realization hits him, looking the two former experiments up and down in their sterile facility clothing. "Of course, first we will need to get you two some proper clothes if you are gonna be out and about."
"There's a clothing outlet not too far from here, what do you say we go shopping after your nap?" Jin offered "You can pick out a few nice outfits and i'll pay for em, clothing is pretty cheap after all."
Cross lets the speed bleed off slowly, his heart still singing with it, until they were traveling at something close to reasonable speeds along the surface streets.
"Hey Smyrna, try to get a hold of Rex and see if he managed to get away from the cops too. I haven't been paid yet." He reached up and began prying Tay off of himself. Smyrna he could manage, but Tay's unwelcome touching was too much now that he was not distracted by the chase.
"No, I like it here. This is home now" The AI argues as it tries to resist against cross, then Smyrna flicks a gear coming out of the drone's head, and it falls limp back into Smyrna's purse. "Sleep for a bit Tay." then she looks to Cross and says "Sorry about her, she came with content-neutral algorithms and I'm still messing with them. Yeah, I'll contact Rex right away."
Smyrna starts tapping on her arm rhythmically and a light flashes in her left eye. "Thanks for the ride by the way. I didn't think this bike had that in her." Smyrna says, smirking.
[
Amaryst follows the blood trail up the stairs. It seems whoever's been here has indeed lost quite a bit of blood. The old stairs creak as she ascends them, and when she gets near the top, she hears a voice: "Stop right there, copper." She can't see the source, but up ahead in the small hallway are three doors. Two are closed, and one is open. Amaryst can see the edge of a window letting in sunlight and a framed photo through the edge of the door. "I've got a satchel full of frag grenades primed and ready to go if I hear you take another step." the voice says. "Just walk away."
Fecal leakage!
"Korvan, are you getting this?"
You can think of me as a rent-a-cop. I prefer to think of myself as a Personal Protection Professional. Right now my job is to protect my client and minimize any property damage or loss on their behalf. As a general rule, I like to do that without anyone getting hurt. So can we talk?"
"Yeah, just audio through your comm unit though, no visual. You want me to put in an anonymous call in for back up. I doubt I can make it to you in time to be much good."
"Finding a safehouse sounds like a good idea. But how are we gonna get there - you have a vehicle? Otherwise we're walking across, or around, this city, and that will take some planning. If you do have wheels, then I can sleep on the way. It will be more comfortable than the cot in my cell, anyways. What about you, Em? Ready for some more adventure?"
Maldor checks his Second Skin armor and gear, but the lab clothes were kinda different from what everyone else on the street was wearing. Some good poly-cotton rip-stop threads would be more durable and certainly blend in better.
"Oh byt he way, I acquired this," Maldor says to Jin and hands over the scattergun. "Perhaps you could use it better than us?"
Emily opened her eye, not really sleeping anyway. "Safehouse?" She asked. "Is this house not safe enough..?" She sat up, and caught a sense of eagerness in Jin's voice; which she met with some eagerness of her own. She wanted to know everything about the people who lost their lives getting her and Mal out of the facility -- who they were, what they wanted, and why it was worth so much death...
She looked down at her clothes and frowned. "I think I found money, one entire credit," she said, patting down the lab coat pockets, and eventually retrieved a small item. "Yeah... It says 'CreditOne, What's in Your Pocket?' Will that help?" She handed the flat stick to Jin.
Rex answers Smyrna's call after a few rings. She can hear the rumbling of his huge truck in the background. "Hey, Ms. Stephanides. You'll be wanting your payment, I think?" he laughs. "I can send it your way shortly. We're still not to a base yet. Give me an hour."
- - - - -
There is a pause, and then the voice says: "Talk about what?"
Korvan spends a few minutes picking some loose debris off of the ground, which he can identify for specifics later. He hears a siren from outside. Checking it, it's not the police, but rather a group of city aid workers pulling up to the street near the park. They'll be here to clean up the mess and make sure no one is hurt, and to reimburse people for property damage.
"How everyone gets out of here intact. For instance, you lost a lot of blood. How are you feeling?"
"F#~%, sirens...not cops, but I don't wanna be around here when they arrive regardless. On my way to you, Amaryst. Let's try and keep the casualties to a minimum this time, eh?" Korvan says, gathering up his ill gotten gains and heading off in the direction of Amaryst.
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Taking the credstick in hand and checking the balance with a mental flick of the wrist, Jin cracked a smile. "Nice snag, this isn't just one credit, more like three hundred. This will more than cover clothes and food for a while."
"It maybe even could cover hiring a friend of mine to help us scope out this safehouse. After all, these people were armed. Don't wanna risk getting hurt." Jin continued as he took the scattergun and pointed it to the side, looking down the sight. "Thanks, I'm glad you held me up with the staff instead of this thing." the four armed alien added with a morose chuckle.
"Hopefully we won't have to use these things, but here, since I have this now you can take my previous self-defense." he explained as he drew a previously concealed Pulsecaster pistol from his hip and offered it to the psychics. "It's purely nonelethal, just meant to knock an assailant out, but it's better than nothing." he continued as he stowed the shotgun away under his desk, after all it's not like he could walk around with it unhidden.
Jin then turns around and pulls up the Hot Topic website on his PC and started looking for some clothes for the kids. "Go ahead and pick out a few shirts each, I'll go buy them at the store nearby and you can rest while I am out." he said, indicating the catalog to the two lab-children.
"Hey, Emily, do you remember that one exercise we did as a team, where we ended up beating the other team by using our powers to fling a whole handful of pea gravel at them like a bunch of real bullets? And then we made their clothes turn red and they thought that they had actually been shot?!" The young man laughs at the memory, an easy and infectious laugh that belies the years of pain and hardship endured. "Oh, and you have to teach me how to talk with my mind, like you sometimes did with me. That is totally awesome!!"
Emily’s eyes widened when Jin told her how much her credit-stick-thing was worth. ”Wow! But, umm...are we rich, or is that not a lot?” She started looking at the console, amazed at the amount of clothes there were out there. A few items were quite spectacular, but so gaudy or brightly colored anyone wearing them would be sure to stand out -- and that was not a good idea.
She offered a wan smile while Mal got a little nostalgic. ”Yeah, I remember that,” she said, but with a regretful tone. ”They were so scared...they thought they were really gonna die. Then they were angry and ashamed. I felt so bad… But at least we didn’t really hurt them.” Her mind started drifting to other tests, where that hadn’t been the case -- but she forced her attention back to the screen, and picked out a few simple outfits.
"Remind him he still owes me too," Cross said, setting a course for his garage. If he was lucky, he could still see about that repair job as well. It would be a good enough way to kill some time until the race later tonight. Without Tay's tentacles all over him, he was breathing a bit easier. Not that he had trouble breathing, or needed to do it all that often.
- - - - -
- - - - -
Korvan hoofs it out of the public park, leaving behind cries of, "Hey! Stop!" Nobody tries to follow him though, and after running through the nearby residential area, he's able to catch a bus going to the suburb where Amaryst is. The bus rumbles up onto the bus-only raised roadway, and Korvan is able to head to the empty back of the bus to count his ill-gotten gains.
He was able to snag a few (three) batteries out of otherwise destroyed objects, a working flashlight, a standard-issue flamethrower with an installed battery, and a tactical baton.
- - - - -
The voice in the rich woman's house pauses for a moment, and then lets out a pained chuckle. "I'm feeling perfectly alright to fill you up with holes if I see any funny business. Put your weapon away, alright? And then you can come up the stairs, and we can talk. You swear you don't have backup on the way?"
- - - - -
Cross' neighborhood is exactly like he left it this morning. A little more lively, with street vendors selling fried food out of scooters billowing with smoke from deep-fat-friers. Faruq found some other amateur mechanic to fix up his ride, though. He's nowhere to be seen, probably getting it shot up again.
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"Not rich, but certainly a very nice chunk of change. This could last us for quite a while. Good job snagging it, I was actually a bit low on funds so this keeps us all afloat." Jin said as he slipped the credstick into his pocket and snagged his backpack with another.
"Cassius is here if you need anything or need to contact me. Just saying his name will get his attention. Meanwhile I will be out getting the clothes. See you soon." he waved with his free hand as he closed the door behind him.
He then began the short walk to the nearby strip mall where the local Hot Topic store was located, idly musing about how obviously the place was pandering with the game shop and movie rental right next door to either side.
He then walked in and began picking up the small wishlist of clothing the kids had asked for, and snagged a nerdy shirt with a cute salamander creature for himself (thank god they had Kasathan sizes too). The temptation was great though as he looked towards the game store...
...and he ended up picking up the latest pocket-monster game for himself and uploading it onto his Rig before quickly turning homeward bound before he could be tempted further.
"Would it matter if backup were coming? We need to do this fast."
Amaryst holsters the semi-auto, but leaves the restraining strap dangling.
"The gun's put away. I'm coming up. If it makes you feel any better, backup's not on the way, but I've got a friend on comm. He's not the kind of guy to call the cops unless he hears an explosion."
Amaryst marches up the last few steps to the hallway.
Nobody throws any grenades as Amaryst steps up into the master bedroom of the house. Propped up against the headboard of the big King-sized bed in the bedroom is another lashunta. He wears matte-black armor riddled with bullet holes and worn with age. Blood-stained cloths are wrapped around his torso and one of his legs, and sweat stains his clothes and slicks up his forehead. Blood stains the silk bedspread he lies upon. He has an assault rifle pointed at Amaryst as she enters the door, and a satchel with a half-dozen frag grenades sits on his lap. He grimaces as Amaryst enters the room. "So. What do you want?" he says.
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"Dr. Larson, more than 15 minutes have passed since Ms. Geil's request. Shall I attempt to contact her?" Cassius chimed in Jin's head as he walked.
"Yes, thank you for remembering Cassius, go ahead and call her." Jin replied as the AI attempted to connect him to Amaryst while he continued to walk back through his relatively calm peaceful neighborhood.
With a command from his internals, the door to his garage began to clank open and he rolled the Harley inside, settling it in the spot he reserved for vehicles he was working on and not the one where he had kept his own ride until recently. His workshop was the picture of controlled chaos, tools and half-disassembled machines. Over in the maintenance cradle, another matte black body lay where he had been cannibalizing it for parts for himself. It looking rather like a broken puppet hanging limply from its strings.
"You'll want to avoid driving this around for a while until things calm down. Maybe see about getting new registration for it," Cross told Smryna.
Smyrna, still listening politely to Rex, rolls her eyes at Cross and mouths "Duh" When it's her turn to speak on the comm, she says "Thank you very much Mr. Rex. Cross got out with me, so you can send his payment too. Always a pleasure, have a nice day Mr. Rex."
Smyrna blinks twice and says to Cross "We're in the clear, lucky Rex is about old world hospitality and all that"
Smyrna's lips tighten at the realization that she'll be without wheels for a bit."Yeah, you got me there Cross. I'll hack into the registration system later." Smyrna hesitates for a split second, something she very rarely does, and then says "Thank you Cross. I honestly don't think I would've made it out without ya. Call me if you need anything."
After leaving Cross's garage, Smyrna checks to see if the EMP tech job is still available.
In the time they have Maldor finds a comfortable spot, sits with his eyes closed and head bowed. If you listen closely, you can hear him saying quietly,
"Blessed be God— he heard me praying. He proved he’s on my side; I’ve thrown my lot in with him. Now I’m jumping for joy, and shouting and singing my thanks to him. Let me shout God’s name with a praising song, Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks. So, God’s people, shout praise to God, Give thanks to our Holy God!"
As he prays to The One, a blue energy shines around the young man...
Amaryst freezes at the sight. That weapon could probably rip her in half, even through a wood and plaster wall, which wasn't really much worse than the threat of grenades, except that the gun wouldn't hurt him too.
Then there was him. He was a much bigger problem. Rather then talk she reaches out mentally.
What's a nice boy like you doing on a planet like this? Did I see you out with your friends last?
Emily waved as Jin left, and watched Maldor settle on the couch to sleep, with a whispered prayer. She knew she should take the opportunity for a nap, too, as the day was far from over and she had no idea what dangers were ahead -- or when she’d get a chance to rest again. Back inside the facility they had used stimulant injections to keep her awake and alert, when tests ran long and sleep had be missed. Emily had no idea what people out here did when sleep was inaccessible.
Her eyes drifted back to the console instead, however. The screen still displayed clothes, which were apparently a hot topic of discussion out here. Emily worried for a moment that she’d get in trouble, but she had never had access to a real computer before, without content limitations. She put her hands on the controls and decided to see what was out there… There was a whole world she knew very little about, and certainly Jin wouldn’t be too upset if she tried to educate herself.
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She put her hands on the controls and decided to see what was out there…
"Greetings Ms. Emily." Cassius said, his orb avatar emerging off to the side of the screen and keyboard as she touched the controls. "Dr. Larson instructed me to assist you with whatever you need. Is there something I can help you find?" he finished in his ever-chipper helpful tone.
When Jin brings up his shopping list to the front counter at Hot Topic, the young teenage girl behind the counter giggles. "You know, we have these in Kasatha if you like," she says, indicating the six outfits he'd bought for the humans. "You don't have to rip holes in them."
- - - - -
The man telepathically responds to her. {Oh, just dying. You wouldn't have anything that could help me out with that, would you?} He coughs, though he doesn't take a hand off of his weapon to cover his mouth and his upper arms are covered with a smattering of blood. {You say you're not a cop. And you are a lashunta. So help me.}
- - - - -
Unfortunately, jobs go quick in this town. All of the worthwhile jobs that were available this morning are now gone. Rex wires Smyrna 90 credits though, with a note that says "standard danger bonus".
He wires Cross his payment as well - 220 credits, with the same note.
Smyrna, realizing that she hasn't eaten yet that day, stops at a McBurgerBox. While picking through soy nuggets and fries, she reads a thick textbook titled Animal Biology of the 21st Century. She decides to take a break and continue the job hunt later that day.
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"You know, we have these in Kasatha if you like," she says, indicating the six outfits he'd bought for the humans. "You don't have to rip holes in them."
"I'm actually buying these ones as gifts for a few friends of mine, they mentioned they liked the look of them." Jin idly chatted as the cashier rung him up "Don't suppose you could have them gift-wrapped?" he asked as he plugged his credstick into the port on the computer and transferred the payment.
"Greetings Ms. Emily." Cassius said, his orb avatar emerging off to the side of the screen and keyboard as she touched the controls. "Dr. Larson instructed me to assist you with whatever you need. Is there something I can help you find?" he finished in his ever-chipper helpful tone.
"Oh, it's you," Emily said, with little enthusiasm. She didn't know a lot about Cassius or AI's in general, but she remembered he cheated at chess when she was allowed to play with him, at the facility. He hadn't really cheated, he had obeyed the rules...but being unable to read him like she could a living opponent wasn't fair, she always thought.
She mulled the question over as she glanced between the console and the avatar. "Um, I don't know. Maybe... Cassius, show me something real. Something they never would have 'approved' of at the facility."
The young Hot Topic girl smiles, nods vigorously and proceeds to box and wrap the six shirts. She asks whether Jin wants the shirt for himself gift-wrapped as well, and does it if he likes. Jin is able to leave and go back to his house quick enough.
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She mulled the question over as she glanced between the console and the avatar. "Um, I don't know. Maybe... Cassius, show me something real. Something they never would have 'approved' of at the facility."
"Hmm.." the Orbogram hummed aloud "I am unsure of the Project's specific selection criteria, but given their tendencies may I suggest these?"
As he finishes speaking several windows open on Jin's PC and a few video options cast to the nearby television with small attached notes from Cassius describing their function including:
- A movie performance of a play titled "Les Miserables" about a man escaping the grasp of the corrupt government and eventually leading a rebellion against them, before escaping their clutches entirely.
- An animated show titled "Digimon" about a group of kids thrust into another world raising fantastical creatures and learning the power of teamwork and friendship.
- A search engine called "Google" through which you can find information regarding nearly anything with a little work. Addendum: Please do not attempt to access information on the Project or Facility, lest they use that to find our location.
- A video playing site called YouTube where you can find almost anything you would like to watch.
- An informative site known as Wikipedia where you can find information on an incredibly wide variety of subjects at the click of a button. Addendum: Wikipedia is open source meaning that it's information is not always entirely accurate. It is advisable to doublecheck information gained there against other sources.
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Maldor drifts off to sleep while Emily checks out the computer, his adrenaline finally wearing off and the exertion of the past several hours catching up with him. He dreams of his childhood, and one winter day when he, his younger sister Kayla, and his best friend Korvan made Christmas cards for their parents. Although they couldn't buy real cards, or even regular construction paper and parkers, they were able to scavenge some shiny paper and glitter and a bit of industrial-strength adherent to create their perfect (for a 10-year-old) cards. They also added a picture of themselves they snagged from a kiosk as a free gift. Even though the gift was handmade and worth about twenty cents, it was probably the best Christmas they had had, and certainly the best Maldor had experienced since he had been taken by the institute a year later...
Cross made his way upstairs, checking his messages and bank account balance as he did so. With another payout like that he could get his ride out of hock and start racing again. There was no way to do that before tonight's race of course but a man could dream.
Idly, he snagged a cyborg 'beer' and headed back downstairs. It was a balance of alcohol and sundry fluids formulated for artificial or altered digestive tracts that tasted nothing like actual beer but had roughly the same effect, just what he needed while unwinding after the day's adventure. Slinging his jacket over a bench, he spent some time giving Smyrna's Harley the once over, making sure he had not damaged anything while pushing it as hard as he had.
...
The man telepathically responds to her. {Oh, just dying. You wouldn't have anything that could help me out with that, would you?} He coughs, though he doesn't take a hand off of his weapon to cover his mouth and his upper arms are covered with a smattering of blood. {You say you're not a cop. And you are a lashunta. So help me.}
Amaryst stays very still.
{{I could help you with that, but you made me put away my gun. Put that cannon down and I'll think about helping.}
Amaryst's comm chirps again. Jin. No. I asked him to call the cops.
{ I need to take these calls.}
"Jin," Amaryst adjusts quickly when she hear's the AI's voice. "Cassius, tell Jin that I am all right. I'm busy right now, but I'll call as soon as I can."
"Korvan, I need a vehicle, something that won't stand out. And think about ways to make this phone call disappear.
Emily bit her lip as she contemplated the options Cassius had set before her. Everything sound interesting, shows, vids, games...the choices were overwhelming. She needed to narrow it down. "I don't know. I... I don't want fiction or games, Cassius," she said. "I want to know about the real world, real people, that sort of thing. Can the tube-thing or the google do that?"
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"I want to know about the real world, real people, that sort of thing. Can the tube-thing or the google do that?"
After a moment several of the tabs closed, leaving only Wikipedia open. "I would suggest this site then. The information isn't perfect but it covers a wide variety of subjects both past and present. Is there anything in particular you would like me to pull up to begin with?" Cassius continued "I can offer suggestions if you would like."
"Suggest away, shiny orbogram," Emily said.
The lashunta soldier hesitates, and then he slowly sets the assault rifle to the side. He responds verbally, saying, "So... what will you do?" He coughs blood again. "Do you have any sprayflesh?"
Amaryst lets a little anger leak into her reply.{First, I'll ask you to save your breath for breathing. I have friends on the other end of an open comm and I would rather not implicate them in this. So if you've got anything to say keep it mental.}
{Next, I'm not a field medic. I've got some first aid skill and this vial of healing serum. That's all. What do you have? ~ a pause while she thinks ~ Nothing. You would have used it already.}
{Third, I hold the guns and grenades. We are not going to recreate The Hero of Legend's Last Stand. ~ another pause ~ Unless... Have you got backup coming?}
{Are we agreed?}
"Alright, I'll see what I can do about the vehicle...not really my field of expertise. The phone call isn't a problem unless there's someone listening in live."
Korvan says. Hearing the wounded man's comments, Korvan adds, "Sounds like you 'friend' isn't doing to hot."
I hope this isn't so hot they're listening live. We're all cooked then.
"No, he's not doing well. He had a really rough night. About the car, even a rental would work, as long as they can't trace it back to you. I took one out here. It might still be in the area. "
Amaryst cringes inwardly. Am I so desperate that I would say that so plainly? I don't want to drag Korvan into this too deeply.
"If a rental will do, I'll get one headed this way. It'll take a me minute or two to re-route one of these cred-sticks to a burnable account." Korvan says before beginning to make the arrangements.
The lashunta pushes his weapons aside and grabs the healing serum, drinking it quickly. {No, I drank all of my healing serum already. It was a long night,} he thinks to Amaryst. She can see the slow oozing of his blood stop, and he seems to feel a bit better. It will likely be a few days until he's really ready for anything other than a stiff breeze, though. {No backup coming here, if that's what you're asking. I've no idea if anyone is still alive.}
He reluctantly allows her to hold his weapons. Well, most of them. {I'll keep a grenade and my sidearm, though. No offense, but... I don't know you. I'm not going anywhere with you unarmed.}
To Amaryst, he looks frankly on the edge of death. He's taken several bullet wounds, and a couple of what look like laser burns. His armor is melted and pockmarked, and he looks exhausted from the long night that he'd had. With the healing serum that Amaryst gave him, he can probably get up and walk on his own, and maybe shoot his gun, but any injury is likely to incapacitate him.
It doesn't take Korvan long to arrive on-scene - an old two-story house in the suburban area of town. Owned by a wealthy older woman, it's got such luxuries as a balcony (with such magnificent views as urban decay and the smell of polluted air) real wood shingles, and separate rooms for dining, living, and cooking.
Korvan does his best to reroute ID and cred-sticks to anyone other than himself before requesting a self-driving rental.