Chapter 109 - Roll For Loot

Now that their group is collectively gathered on the sidewalk near the mangled motorized machine mound, Lucas clears his throat a bit awkwardly while debating what to say to politely encourage Clementine to be on her way.

Having determined that the pile of wreckage seems stable, Miss Calculated began rummaging around the edges, snooping through glove boxes and armrests in case there was anything of interest.

Willy had gone on his own excursion, his tail wagging excitedly when he finds a half-filled bag of beef jerky.

Miss Masher has wandered back over to the pile and began exploring her potential as a modern artist.

No wait, false alarm, she was re-arranging some car parts so she could pull out the backseat from an SUV without causing the pile to lose structural integrity, dropping said seat onto the ground nearby and heavily sitting on it.

Lucas adjusts Jonathan's position on his back carefully, so as not to wake him up. While doing so, he looks back and forth between the fruits of their labors and their citrus-named companion.

"Well uh, thanks for the help, Clem. Certainly sped things up. I uhh, have a feelin' I'll be seein' you again thanks to Clara. So uhh… Till next time? I'm still not entirely sure what we're gonna do with all this, but uh, you've already done more than enough, and I'm sure yer busy, an' all." While Lucas manages to be as smooth as a rusty tangle of steel wool, Clementine snorts and chuckles at Lucas, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, probably will. 'Twas fun, catch ya later." Waving as she turns around, she walks to the edge of the sidewalk, but then stops after only a few steps. "Ah… Right."

While traffic had accommodated them while they were clearing out the large, heavy (but, most importantly; potentially dangerous) debris, that is hardly still the case. This is further enhanced by the fact that cars have to drive around her car that is parked in the middle of the street, with Clarissa still in it.

Noticing her movements, followed by her lack thereof, Miss Masher snorts out her own laugh while standing back up.

"I gotcha." Miss Masher randomly grabs something from the topmost layer of vehicles, gaining the hood off of the front of a white pickup truck. Starting to walk out into the street like a crossing guard, she holds the hood up in the place of a stop sign, making her point clear.

The first car she approached had to veer out of the way a bit, nearly clipping the passenger side mirror of Clementine's car. The next one comes to a full stop, nearly ending up rear-ended by the car behind it. Even still, the driver is laughing hysterically at the obvious strength supe hurrying along her escort.

While Miss Masher is off helping Clementine get into her car, followed by working her way back onto the sidewalk, Lucas has been idly kicking the artistically arranged pile-up.

'I have to admit, that's kinda an alarming amount of cars for just one little girl's afternoon of fun…'

[That's why you'll see a lot of people that will take vigilante justice into their own hands when someone is being overly destructive, there just wouldn't be a world left anymore if everyone was that disastrous. Strangely enough, going out of your way to stop a rampaging individual is less suspicious than doing a series of lesser good deeds.]

'So now you're telling me that cleanin' the street was way weirder than killing a little girl, but after the fact, thanks.'

[...In a sense, I suppose so.]

'Oh, wait, didn't Jon just do a ton of little tasks? Is he in trouble now? Can you… Track that sorta thing?'

[It's hardly a precise metric, but some unassigned systems have been keeping track of social media and various news outlets to keep a general eye on things. There haven't been any calls for a hero witchhunt or such, but I'm not entirely comfortable with some of the gossip. We're going to have to start considering a PR move sooner than later, doubly so if this… Voyeurism fad continues. You and Jonathan certainly have your work cut out for you, all of this constant attention is by no means helping.]

'Huh… Wait, do the sisters need to worry at all about that, too? Mash was pretty heavily involved, after all. Actually, seein' how they are, I'm a little surprised none of 'em are in the system? Just what kinda GDVs do they have?'

[...Did you already forget that your initial introduction with them was Miss Masher picking a fight with you, just for the fun of it? It shouldn't surprise you that a lot of their deficit was accrued back while they were still living on the streets, it's not like they had many options at the time. Now that they've managed to settle down, all three of them have largely stabilized their overall annual GDV net changes. Oddly enough, Miss Chievous is the one of the three of them with the 'best' GDV, at -7.36.]

'Wait… What? How? With how much Calc yells at them to stop doing things, you'd think she'd be the highest..?'

[Miss Chievous's negative actions are generally small scale, for the laughs if you will. Miss Calculated has… Orchestrated things of much larger scale, as well as invented or designed weaponry best left unmade, merely in pursuit of more funding for more interesting research, if not purely for the fun of it.]

'...Oh. That… I… Oh. And Mash just lives up to her name, I'm sure. Who am I kidding? She's probably directly killed more people than I want to think about.'

[Certainly more than you.]

'...'

[Regardless, I think it's safe to say that you can stop ignoring the woman recording you, she is hardly being subtle at this point.]

'...I got so used to her that I completely forgot about it.'

While Lucas contemplates how to bring it up, the recently returned Miss Masher spares him the trouble.

"Man, why's everybody like recordin' us so much today? Hey, ain't yer break over by now? Heheh, hope you don't get stuck with that supply room." With Miss Masher's reminder, the streaming middle-aged woman jumps and abruptly shuts off her phone.

"Oh crap, I'm gonna be in so much trouble… Uhh, thanks for taking out those shitty appliances, guys!" Stuffing her phone into a pocket, she turns to run back into the building. She ends up deciding to use the forcefully opened entrance that Lucas had initially used, as it's closer than the door is, after all.

Lucas and Miss Masher both end up laughing hard enough that they disturb Jonathan awake, earning a sleepy, soft, confused 'Mmm?' while he slowly blinks a few times.

'...I am sure I asked this before, but seriously, how the hell did this kid survive being homeless?'

[I can only assume he utilized his speed to get to places that aren't normally readily accessible when he went to sleep. You saw how he was able to jump off of the side of the building earlier, after all. Oh, but that was unreliable before he bound with 011… Hmm…]

'...Maybe he didn't only LOOK like he hadn't slept in days when I first met him...'

[...Perhaps you should insist he takes another nap once we're at MF's.]

'Yeah…'

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Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas total assists: 1

Lucas current GDV: 12.18

Lucas's fame level: 4.25* (Beyond just local, viral meme tier. Local levels are fairly high.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.75* (More than just passing suspicion for some paranoid individuals)

Jonathan total kills: 6

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 3.78

Jonathan's fame level: 2.75* (Mostly just local)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 2.75* (A few paranoid individuals are suspicious)

Willy's fame level: 1.25* (Anonymous meme fame, local fame as 'Xenoclast's dog')

Supervillain social circle size: 11

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Little character theater:

Jonathan, still slowly blinking the sleep from his eyes: Oh, you guys are done already?

Willy is sitting on the seat Miss Masher pulled out, happily gnawing on a strip of beef jerky: (Muffled) Bark!

Lucas was about to ask Jonathan if he wanted to try walking on his own, but after the thought of how sleep-deprived he is, he simply stays quiet.

427, curiously looking at a small bag of white powder that Miss Calculated pulled out of a seat cushion: [Oh my, that's some potent stuff.]

Author, glancing at Lucas: You know, I'm a little surprised you didn't try to bum a piece of jerky from Willy. You probably just didn't notice he had it, who am I kidding?

Mr.. Quacks, back on top of the pile of wreckage once again, but now chewing on a piece of jerky: Quack.