Chapter 308: Pick Me Up Romance!
Overnight, they were out of Camden County.
By the time the morning sun began to pierce through the winter clouds, Scott and Dark Elf had finally reached the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
The view from the massive suspension bridge was most certainly beautiful.
Scott held up a finger and drove with only one hand as he glanced out the window.
"Center City Fun Fact number forty: Did you know that Center City is actually the busiest downtown area in the United States after Midtown Manhattan? It’s the literal heart of Philly."
Dark Elf turned her head slightly.
"Huh... that’s interesting..."
Scott blinked, nearly losing his grip on the steering wheel as he looked over at her.
"Wait, really?!"
Dark Elf gave a slow, single nod.
"Mhm. You always say fun stuff."
"I... do?"
Scott’s chest swelled a little. Honestly, he’d only brought up the fun fact to annoy her, but hearing that she actually liked it made him smile proudly. Back at the mansion, whenever he tried to get high-minded, Gwen or Emma would make loud fart noises with their mouths to mock him.
Everyone would laugh, and so did he, but it felt quite nice to hear someone say that the things he loved talking about were actually fun.
He kept smiling warmly at Dark Elf. She stared back at him with her usual half-lidded eyes and now it felt like a silent staring contest.
Then, her dull voice broke the silence.
"Truck’s coming..."
There was no urgency in her tone whatsoever.
Scott took his sweet time turning his attention back to the windshield, only for his eyes to pop out of his skull like some cartoon character. A massive, speeding semi-truck was a few meters away from their front bumper.
"GAAH!"
Scott screamed at the top of his lungs, spinning the steering wheel to swerve around the massive vehicle. The GT-R’s winter tires gripped the snowy ground, narrowly avoiding a catastrophic head-on collision.
Breathing like all his life was sucked out, Scott turned to Dark Elf with bulged-out eyes.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
Dark Elf lazily shrugged her bare shoulders.
"It’s a joke."
Scott let out a held his pounding chest.
"Right, right... that was so friggin’ funny."
...
Meanwhile.
On the snowy outskirts of Philadelphia, a tired Maya had just finished her morning shift. Her hands were raw and sore from hours of shaving down jagged metal rocks into neat ingots. As soon as she was done, the prison staff did their usual second strip search of the morning.
There was no emotion in her eyes.
She was miserable.
But rather than taking her back to her dark, cramped cell where she’d have to force down that disgusting slop that always made her vomit, the chief security guard suddenly snatched her by the wrist.
He didn’t say a word as he aggressively dragged her down the long corridor toward the exit.
Maya’s heart raced with panic.
"Wh-, Where are you taking me?!"
The guard ignored her.
Scared of what they might do to her in secret, Maya tried to pull back and maybe plant her feet.
"Let go of me! Where are we going?!"
"Quiet down, inmate."
Several other guards banded together and pulled her out of the prison building.
Maya hit the snowy ground hard, coughing as the biting winter air hit her skin.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
She grabbed a handful of sharp rocks from the snow and started hurling them at the guards.
"I won’t let you kill me! Not before I get out of here!"
She kept throwing rocks.
"I know for a fact Scott will find a way to save me! I refuse to die in a ditch!"
The chief security guard let out a sigh as he dusted a bit of snow off his uniform. He looked down at her like she was just some unimportant madwoman.
"You’re free to go, 3438-D."
Maya froze, a rock still clutched in her hand.
"Huh?"
She looked down at herself in nothing but her baggy red prison uniform.
She still couldn’t believe it. Free? Just like that?
The guards didn’t bother explaining anything else.
They just left.
Maya quickly scrambled to her feet, looking around in utter confusion.
She had no idea where she was.
Ashgate Supermax was built in a secure, isolated location on the outer fringes of Philadelphia. All she could see for miles was endless snow, barren trees, and empty roads. She’d have to do a lot of walking before she could even hope to reach a populated area.
She grabbed the inhibitor collar around her neck.
It was already turned off.
That was usually how things worked around here.
The inhibitor collars were directly synced to the computer inside Ashgate Supermax, meaning the exact moment an inmate stepped outside the designated perimeter, the collar automatically shut down.
"I have to see Scott..." Maya whispered to herself.
It wasn’t like she had anything else in her life left to be happy about. Her superhero career as Pulsar was dead. Her father cared more about his endless research as a scientist than his own daughter. She had nowhere else to go, except Scott the only person she secretly hoped would still accept her after everything.
"Huuu!"
Maya floated up into the freezing skies. Her baggy red uniform flapped violently against her smallish body as she shielded her eyes to scan the horizon.
There’s a cluster of distinct buildings afar.
Her eyes widened as she remembered one of the one hundred fun facts Scott had randomly text-spammed her with back when they were dating.
"That unique roof structure... this is Philly!"
She smiled brightly and immediately flew downward for a nearby highway route. She figured she could find a local diner, beg for some food, and maybe find a way to get some normal clothes.
But as she descended for the snowy roads.
HONK! HONK!
Maya blinked, looking down to see a black Nissan GT-R idling on the shoulder of the road. She flew down and landed right beside the driver’s side window. But the moment she recognized the face behind the wheel, she quickly stumbled back into the snow as her face turned bright red.
"SCOTT?!"
Scott leaned against the door and smiled.
"Need a ride?"
Maya’s heart did a backflip.
"Sure!"
There was a big, eager smile on her face.
She rushed around to the passenger side of the sports car and yanked the door open. But the first thing... or rather, the first TWO things... she saw were a pair of massive breasts tightly packed into a black sports bra.
Maya’s smile instantly died. "Eh?"
Dark Elf relaxed in the passenger seat, casually sticking her hand into a bag of potato chips. She took a loud bite and gave a dull, lazy wave.
"Hey..."
"Uh... hi..." Maya stammered.
Every ounce of joy vanished from her face.
『Is this Scott’s way of paying me back for how badly I treated him? First he’s dating Emma, and now he’s dating this one?! She looks like a foreigner... and look at that chest! And that impressively flat stomach with those ridiculous abs! Both of these women have way, way, WAAAYY bigger boobs than me!』 (ㅠ﹏ㅠ)
Maya was crying tears of blood on the inside. She subtly lowered her hands, gently squeezing her own very small breasts with a deep sense of despair.
Scott noticed her frozen stance and tilted his head.
"Uh, Maya? Everything fine?"
Maya snapped out of her trance and panickedly waved her hands dismissively.
"Uh, uhh, yes! It’s totally fine! I just... I didn’t know you brought someone with you..."
Her pretty face turned sad.
Dark Elf observed her for a moment.
Hm? She swallowed her chip and bluntly asked:
"Are you sad because you want to sit next to Scott?"
"Wh-, What?! No!"
Maya panicked and her tender cheeks burned as she started rambling at superspeed.
"I really don’t! It’s just, you know, I really like riding shotgun and all! And sure, me and Scott used to be a thing in the past, and we basically took each other’s virginity, but it’s not like that’s special or anything, yunno? You’re his girlfriend now and that’s totally fine, ehehe..."
Her awkward, high-pitched laugh wasn’t convincing at all.
Scott raised a brow, giving Maya an amused look.
"Uh, she’s not my girlfriend."
Dark Elf didn’t even look up from her chip bag.
"Girlfriend? He wishes..."
With a lazy groan, Dark Elf stepped right out of the car to let Maya in. She was still wearing nothing but her sports bra and a tight pair of black panties, unbothered by the freezing winter air as if she was actively showing off her amazingly fit and curvaceous body.
Maya stared blankly at her own tiny, clothed body, then back up at the shapely elf.
Big chest. Small chest. Watermelon. Kiwi fruit.
That was how Maya compared their sizes.
"Are you... are you sure you two aren’t dating?"
Dark Elf gave a cool, lifeless nod.
"Mhm."
"We’re really not..."
Scott said from the driver’s seat.
"Besides, I’m not even sure I could handle her."
Hearing that, Maya’s eyes lit up. She looked down at her own chest, softly squeezing her breasts like they were a pair of little bulb horns as she smirked.
"Yes... he’s always been a fan of much smaller proportions anyway. He told me he likes it smaller, so that means I’m still a top choice, haha!"
Maya thought she was mumbling and no one could hear her thoughts but that wasn’t it at all.
Scott gave her a flat, tired stare.
"I didn’t mean ’handle’ like that, Maya."
Maya dropped her hands and from her chest and froze up like a child who’d just been caught.
"YOU HEARD ME?!" (,,○﹏○,,)
Scott smiled and shook his head.
"I know you better than anyone. But it doesn’t take an expert to know you have a habit of thinking out loud."
Maya slouched her shoulders with a red face.
"F-, Fairs..."
"Alright, let’s go." Scott said.
Maya excitedly hopped into the shotgun seat and slammed the door shut. Dark Elf casually climbed into the back and made herself comfortable in the rear seats as she went right back to eating her chips.
VROOOM! Scott hit the gas and sped off.
Maya sat tight in her seat, clutching her knees. She was trying her hardest to hide all the excitement bubbling up inside her chest. It’d been so long since she was this close to Scott. It made her so happy that things felt "almost" back to normal. Back when they were dating, he didn’t even have a driver’s license, let alone a vehicle, so it felt so surreal to watch him drive such an expensive sports car.
A lot of things has changed since she’s been gone.
Scott caught her staring.
"You okay over there?"
He gave her a quick side-eye and a smile.
Maya nodded nervously.
"Yes, yes!"
That was all she could say. How could she tell her ex that her heart was pounding like war drums in her chest? Her cheeks were still bright red, and her big purple eyes were filled with so much vibrant light.
To Scott, seeing at her right now felt like seeing at the sweet girl he used to call his girlfriend, not the fame-hungry pro hero she was. It felt genuinely good.
"Now that we’ve got you, we’ll probably need to waste some time around here until I can think of a solid way to keep you safe from Gh—"
"Shhh!" Dark Elf placed a finger on her lips.
Maya tilted her head.
"Safe from what?" ( ╹ -╹)?
"Uh, nothing!"
Scott quickly did an AHEM! as he drove.
"Sooo... where d’you wanna go?"
Maya’s eyes widened like pretty purple gems.
"Oh! Atlantic City!"
Scott raised a brow, genuinely surprised.
"Really? I didn’t expect that."
Maya’s cheeks only took a moment to go from red to a deep shade of pink. She nervously twiddled her tiny thumbs together and looked out the side window.
"Well... remember how we always used to talk about it? We said we’d save up a bunch of money to buy a nice boat down there, so a captain could marry us at sea. And then we’d try gambling for the first time since... you know, that whole issue we had with the Yakuza that one time..."
Scott’s eyes softened with guilt.
"Woah... I’m so sorry, Maya. I... forgot about that."
That didn’t change the gentle smile on her small face.
"It’s fine. It’s not like you owe me anything."
From the back seat, Dark Elf stopped chewing and raised a curious brow at the back of Scott’s head.
"You got in trouble with the Yakuza?"
Scott kept his focus firmly on the snowy highway ahead.
"It’s a long story. That was back when we had just started high school. We met this Asian girl named Lin, and she told us she knew a foolproof way to make quick money for the Metro City and Engineering Fair..."
Maya giggled behind her fingers as she chimed in.
"It was card counting! Since both of us have insanely good memories, we could easily memorize the cards and know exactly who held what. We actually won about six million dollars, only to find out the underground casino was entirely run by the Yakuza!"
She started laughing out loud.
"Oh god. I just remembered Scott almost peed his pants right there at the table!"
Scott frowned a little to swallow his laugh.
"I-, I was sixteen. Who wouldn’t?"
He gripped the steering wheel and smirked as he slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The modified GT-R roared fiercely as it blasted down the open highway.
"Next stop, Atlantic City!"
Dark Elf let out a slothful yawn from the back and brushed a stray crumb off her stomach.
"I wouldn’t mind the beach today."
...
By the time the sports car was long gone, a man stood alone on the snowy shoulder of the deserted highway near Ashgate Supermax.
Ghost adjusted the heavy scarf around his neck as his eyes focused on the fresh tire tracks pressed deep into the snow and asphalt.
"Perfect..."
Ghost murmured and crouched down to run a gloved finger along the tread marks.
"Standard width of 255mm in the front, 285mm in the rear. High-performance winter compound. The vehicle weight distribution pressed into the packed snow indicates a front-engine, all-wheel-drive layout. Approximately 3,800 pounds. These tracks are fresh... twenty minutes old."
He stood back up and tapped on the small comms device lodged in his ear.
"Did you get that, Killcam?"
[Sure, Sure...]
A nonchalant female voice responded on the other end of the comms line.
chack... chack... the sound of a lighter clicking.
[I’ll use give that info to my drones. I’ve already scanned the local airspace. Clean skies, no thermal signatures up high. Any fresh tire tracks in a high-security sector like this have to belong to our target.]
Sitting in a perch miles away was Killcam.
She was a strikingly beautiful woman with piercing blue eyes and light blonde hair that fell elegantly over one side of her face. She possessed a very slim, athletic build, which made her remarkably large breasts look almost entirely out of place on her body.
Despite her casual demeanor, she was deadly.
Known officially as Killcam, she was currently ranked 7th on the Global Security Intelligence’s most-wanted list and had a massive $20 million bounty on her head for high-profile political assassinations across Europe.
"Ghost? You still there?"
Killcam asked as she sucked on a thick cigar.
Ghost didn’t answer immediately.
On his end of the line, the click of a firearm safety made him stop moving and talking as a whole. A patrolling security guard was standing a few feet behind him with his heavy rifle aimed at the middle of Ghost’s back.
"Identify yourself!"
The guard shouted defensively but his hands were a little shaky due to the cold.
"What’re you doing on private property?! Hands where I can see them!"
Ghost slowly raised both of his hands into the air.
"Well, you see..."
That was the last thing the guard heard before Ghost went invisible like he was thin air.
The guard panicked.
"What the—! A metasapien!"
He blindly fired his rifle at the empty space.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Out of nowhere, a silver combat knife flashed in the air and sliced cleanly through the scared guard’s exposed neck with the precision of a top assassin.
A deep yet clean that the blood was minimal.
GUSH!
Blood filled the guard’s mouth and he collapsed.
Ghost reappeared and was now standing right above the security guard where he adjusted the sleeves of his neat overcoat whilst staring down at the corpse. There was mild disgust on his face.
"Goodness... guns are such an ugly, noisy thing."
Killcam’s voice chuckled over the comms.
[You better watch your mouth. Some of us make a living with those ugly things. What’s the status on the girl?]
Ghost glanced down at his watch with a smile.
"Maya Rivera should be dead before the next day."
[You’re way too confident. We don’t even know where they are right now...]
"We’ll see."
Ghost tucked his hands into the deep pockets of his coat and started walking.
