[This story is complete and being edited.]
Armed racing is Atropellado's deadliest and most profitable sport. And wherever there is profit in Atro, there is crime.
Gervassio Blaze has left his most prized possession - ownership of the armed racing f...
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"And you're sure they won't trace it back to us?"
Lancet's only answer was a mocking raised brow. A tendon in his chiseled jaw popped as smoke curled from his lips, still slightly stained with her lipstick. Rose couldn't help the pride that swelled in her at the sight. Evidence of her entanglement with Atro's famous armed racing champion, and notorious mobster.
Rose followed the line of his tattooed forearm resting on the steering wheel, a cigarette pinched between his fingers. In spite of their intimate proximity only minutes ago, his viridian eyes remained unfocused somewhere ahead, where the maw of the alley opened to the desolate, poorly lit streets.
"Right. Stupid question," Rose admitted. "And to ask you of all people."
The whir of a metal fan on the driver's side of the Bayonet distracted them both. A floating, bright yellow sphere with a camera in the middle as an eye, and two, tiny metal arms. It aimed a cone of light at the car.
"License plate ATR58-BYT, you are in violation of Atropellado's motor vehicle law, listed in chapter 3, section 56-3-10-"
A tiny traffic robot. It was scanning the vehicle to likely issue Lancet a ticket for parking in a no parking zone. Before the bot could finish, however, Lancet tossed his cigarette, snatched it out of the air, and cracked it against the brick wall within arm's reach of his open window. Rose flinched.
"Warning. Destroying gover- erty is-" the machine gurgled in a nasal, monotone voice until the racer slammed it against the wall a second time, then a third. When its lights dimmed, and its arms drooped with a final wheeze, Lancet swatted its remains into the backseat, and cursed.
"Won't that be tracked? The last place the bot was before going offline, I mean?" Rose gasped. There were bots in Silva, but Atro's tech was more advanced. This time, he answered.
"We have a guy." The bot's interruption must've annoyed him. His carefully enunciated words slipped, revealing his native Kayosic accent that fishtailed his r's and made his s'es hiss longer. "He'll fix it, re-program it, and release it back into the wild again."
Returning to the topic at hand, he re-assured her.
"As for the pest you pumped with lead, don't fret, princess. Used to be one of ours. We'd been meaning to get rid of him, but higher priorities delayed his well deserved punishment. The family's been busy as of late."
"What'd he do?" Rose knew better than to poke into Blaze family affairs, but she couldn't help her curiosity.
"Put his hands where they didn't belong," he answered plainly. "The Blazes don't take kindly to those types."
"Ah. Money then."
"...No."
"Oh." Rose blinked. It took a moment for his answer to sink in, and when it finally did, she cringed in disgust. "Oh! That bastard! Death was too kind for him then."
