Connected

Item

RYDER 

I left the booth,leaving Oliver behind. The hard drive he had given me supposedly held the answer to saving his entire family legacy. No pressure on my part of course, I mean it wasn't like the fate of a multi trillion tile international Mega Corporations life sat in my pocket. 

Before I could leave,Kingpin stopped me. 

"Heyyy Ryder! Come here a quick second homie. I never gave you your reward for getting me my Macguffin." He said,taking a puff of his cigar,which was slowly burning down to a bud. "Bring The Strawberry!" Kingpin ordered. 

He sat me down in his booth once again,pouring me a drink as he slid it across the table top into my hand. I refrained from taking a sip. 

"You don't want a drink brotha?" Kingpin asked, a mournful expression donned on his face. "C'mon take  a sip Ryder! A victory toast!" 

"I...I'm good Kingpin."

Kingpin shrugged before he downed all the contents of his glass in a single gulp. "Suit yourself." He said as he reached over and took my glass. "More for me. Yo, Where the fuck is that strawberry at?!" 

The guards brought in a woman in scantily clad clothing which left very little to the imagination. Her hair was short, draping over one eye and glowing a fiery neon pink.  She was forced down beside me,her exposed thigh pressing against my leg. 

"This is Strawberry. A gift from me to you." Kingpin said with a smile. "She'll do whatever you want her to." 

Strawberry? What kind of name was that? Her clothes barely covered her skin. Wasn't she cold? Her black leather shorts...could have been mistaken for latex underwear with how short it was and how tight it stuck to her skin. Her black crop top was about the same,hugging a bit too tight just beneath her breasts, leaving much of her voluptuous figure exposed. The only thing which you could say covered her body somewhat, was the golden jacket layered atop her top. She was silent for the most part,refusing to so much as look at me. 

"This ain't all," Kingpin began. He slid a strange item in the shape of a triangular prism to me. I picked it up,dumbfounded as to what it was. "That's the key to your new ride waiting for you outside. A pick from my personal garage,but she don't get much use no more. And of course,the money from Miguel is all yours too." 

Kingpin slid the steel briefcase filled with tiles that I'd taken from Miguel. A shiver crawled down my spine,and for a few seconds I felt light headed. Just don't think about him. Just forget...forget it ever happened. 

I told this to myself repeatedly,forcing myself to block out a memory that I couldn't seem to forget no matter how much I tried. No matter how much I tried to tell myself that killing him was a necessity, there was a part of me which screamed that maybe,just maybe,it could've been different. 

"Well?" Kingpin asked,clapping his hands and laughing. "Go on! Go spend that money! Have fun with the Strawberry next to you. I'll be seeing you around Ryder." 

The security led us out of the club,into the night life of Neo City. Outside,waiting for me was a sleek car, clad in carbon black. The doors opened vertically,revealing a stunning white and red leather interior. There were only two seats,and I stepped into the drivers seat. The girl,whose name I assumed to be Strawberry,climbed into the passenger seat in silence. The interior was lit up by several neon displays,with a red dashboard displaying the MPH, fuel count and more. The gears were located just behind the cut steering wheel, so shifting wouldn't be that much of an issue. The seats were comfortable,if a bit low,but then again the car was dropped pretty low to the ground. I inserted the "Key" Kingpin had given me and the engine roared to life. A loud, deep growl emitted from the vehicle as the car spurred to life. I was impressed. Now this was all neat and all...but I didn't have the slightest fucking clue on how to drive a car. Did this interior look incredible? Yes,it looked fucking amazing,but there were a ludicrous amount of red illuminated button pads lined downward to form the center console since there wasn't a gear stick halting it from taking up all that space. Only I had no fucking clue what either of those buttons did aside from "Hover mode".