Lightspeed: Drug Detectives

Chapter 12 (Act II): The Lunch Club

Well, hello there, everyone! It's your girl Ariel Axilas, and welcome back to yet another chapter of my second novel, "Lightspeed: Drug Detectives"! Last time—at least from what I remember—I went on a long-ass tangent on things that you probably just scrolled by, quite frankly. How I've learned to get used to my superpower over the past year—barring the time skip because of the damn Decimation, of course—how I've felt like I've come further as a person than I could've ever come otherwise, things like that. And, all the while, I'm getting my best friend Erica Shields, my on-and-off boss Marle Atkins, and the Paragon Herman to the Dominican Republic's capital of Santo Domingo, where we're set to begin looking into the Celestial Syndicate cartel's activities; our ultimate goal is to take them down and avenge their runaway heiress Isabela Acosta, who died at the hands of America's law enforcement after starting a mentorship with the muscle man himself, James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse.

Anyway, we eventually arrived behind the main building of the Parque Colón—or "Columbus Park" in English—with everyone still all right and all our gear in check. For the record, I didn't know the name of our arrival location or its translation prior to that point; the author literally just beamed the translation into my head the moment we got there. He's real, I swear! He's somewhere out there, and I'm going to get him, just like I'm going to get the Celestial Syndicate.

.....As soon as I get done waiting for Erica, Marle, and Herman to all stop puking their fucking guts out, that is. I warned them about how disorienting the trip would be, and yet they apparently still weren't prepared. Erica especially, even though she had her eyes shut the whole time.

.....What do you mean there was another chapter after that? Are you accusing me of not recalling the previous chapter's events accurately? Nonsense. I can't be wrong! I don't get anything wrong! .....Right? Whatever. Just drop it, 'cause those are the last events I remember. Anyway, it's time for us to get moving. This time, my group and I search for somewhere to have lunch. No one has allergies, so our options are widespread. Hopefully no one cuts into our eating time.....

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-Calle César Nicolás Penson, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic-

I'm Ariel Axilas—though I guess you can call me Lightspeed for right now since my costume's on—and guess what? We finally got ourselves out from behind the main building of the Parque Colón and are on the move as I speak! My best friend Erica Shields is in the front passenger's seat of my vehicle—with yours truly in the driver's seat, obviously—and my on-and-off boss, Marle Atkins, is in the rear passenger seat directly behind Erica's. There's also the Paragon Herman, who's riding alongside us to my left in his motorcycle, keeping pace with us the entire time.

He's lucky I'm nowhere near as fast in my car as I am when using my superpower. Otherwise, he'd be eating my dust. All ten million grains of it. I'm not sure if that number is accurate, but I just want him to eat as much dust as possible. 'Cause fuck that guy—okay, no, not really. I don't hate him. He's just being a little patronizing right now.

We pass by numerous pedestrian sidewalks on either side, as well as several towering apartment buildings—most of which have white and grayish colorations—and I inwardly express my thanks that we're in a closed-roof car since we're driving under quite a number of trees whose branches and leaves have spanned over the road. Even though Herman's exposed, he's low enough to the ground to avoid getting decked as well.....a shame.

As I mentioned in the last chapter—the last chapter that I remember, anyway; it might've been the chapter before that one for you guys—our first and foremost action is to try and find somewhere to have lunch. Thankfully, everyone's got their wallets and passports, so we ideally shouldn't have any accessibility issues.