The decision to take the tram turned out to be a big mistake. Sandwiched between an overweight man and an old lady, Damien shifted in his too-hard seat for some semblance of comfort. He couldn’t find it, and he cursed under his breath as yet another group of passengers shuffled past his legs to get off at the current stop, prompting him to squeeze his body even closer together.

While the tram itself was free of charge and reached most of the city, the convenience didn’t make up for the abysmal conditions within the capsule. It was filthy, far too packed, and some of the other passengers were prone to unruly acts of aggression towards one another. On more than one occasion, Damien found himself on the receiving end of a combative look, but he chose to ignore them every time, seeing no point in getting into a fight over something so trivial.

Instead, he’d chosen to focus on one of the few positives he’d enjoyed as the tram zipped along on it’s railings over the streets below. The cabin walls were almost entirely made of reinforced glass, and he got a pleasant view of the urban landscape whenever he’d catch a glimpse in between the other passengers. Night time was quickly approaching, and the city lights were starting to stand out against the dimming backdrop— a sight he was starting to appreciate more and more. As a bonus, he got to follow along on his new mini-map and learn some of the street names.

After the passengers disembarked, the tram jerked to life once again before resuming on its route, and Damien turned his attention to the mission at hand. In his pocket, he held a small, rectangular chip that Valerie had given him. She’d told him to insert it into the target U.T.S. terminal, at which point she’d give further instructions. Overall, this job seemed straightforward, but Damien had started to have some doubts about the legitimacy of the mission once he’d had some time to think about it.

Had Valerie really lost something precious within the U.T.S.? Marcus had said that people avoid using the underground system for valuable packages, since it wasn’t entirely secure. The red-haired woman didn’t come across as someone who’d be unaware of this deficiency in the system’s security, so why use it for something valuable? Either she’d knowingly taken the risk, or she was lying about this whole ordeal.

I guess it really doesn’t matter if she’s lying, Damien thought to himself. I’m just doing this for the funds and for the potential jobs she can set me up with.

Valerie had also given the recommendation of having a getaway vehicle ready, just in case things went south. While Damien initially wanted to handle the entirety of this job on his own, he eventually conceded to himself that he’d need some help. After all, he didn’t even have his own vehicle.

He opened the GPI interface and looked over his list of contacts. After accepting the job, he’d received an offer to add Valerie as a contact, and she now held the fourth and final position on the list. If he was going to find a getaway driver, it would have to be one of these people.

Valerie was immediately out of the running, and Roger didn’t seem like the type of person who’d get involved in the action himself. Ideally, Marcus would come along in his armored truck, but he’d talked about how he’d be busy the entire night. That left Damien with only one option and he held his gaze on Kat’s name. Two choices appeared underneath: Call and Message. He chose the call feature, hoping that he could more easily convince her through his voice rather than text.

After a few seconds, the communication line came to life in his head, and she greeted him through the muffled sounds of a mouthful of food. Damien got the impression that she wouldn’t be interested in chitchat, so he quickly explained the situation before asking if she could play the part of getaway driver. As an extra incentive, he offered to give her a quarter of the payment: 500 funds.

After what was undoubtedly the sound of Kat gulping down a drink, she responded. “Sure, I can help you out. I’ve got a few more runs to do tonight, and one of them is around that area. But I don’t want your funds.”

“Why not?” Damien said. He’d seen and heard a few of the other passengers take calls within the cabin, so he didn’t feel weird about talking out loud. “I know we’re crew mates now, but I don’t want to freeload off you guys. Just take the funds.”

“Nope. Don’t need ‘em,” Kat responded. “I’d rather we swap favors instead. I’ll do this for you, and you do something for me later.”

Damien let out a light chuckle. “And here I thought you were being generous.”

“Me? Generous? Never. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

Damien thanked her before closing the call and swapping the interface over to the map. He’d already spent twenty-five minutes on this ride, and it would take twenty more to reach closest stop to the target location. After disembarking, it would only be a five minute walk to the parking lot that housed the U.T.S. terminal.

He decided to spend the remaining time studying the layout of the city. While his trip took a long time, he could see on the map that it really didn’t go that far. The fact that it took forty-five minutes to go from the city’s core to the southern end of downtown was proof that Neopolis was massive. Either that, or the public transportation was horrendous and he’d need to get his own vehicle.

That last thought lingered in his mind, and so did the image of the bike he’d seen earlier; the Tiger MK-I.

What better way to get around than on something like that? Damien thought wistfully before returning his attention back to the city map. He zoomed out as far as possible, taking in the entirety of Neopolis and marveling at it’s sheer size. From this scope, he could clearly see the major arteries that went through the city, as well the intricate highway layout that went around and over the urban center.

It was an impressive feat of city design, and after taking a moment to appreciate it, he zoomed in on his target location: Werman Street. He spent the remainder of his time analyzing the potential battlefield, and when the tram arrived at his stop, he stepped back on to the city streets mentally prepared for battle.