BULLET-CITY

Part-20

     Hotel room 13 was filled with laughter as Vince told stories about his many quirky adventures from being a beat cop and detective. They were both sitting comfortably on a small brown pleather love seat couch.

"...I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the same lady that we helped the day before, and she was wearing the same overalls," said Vince.

"No way! The ones with poop on them?" laughed Laura.

"Yup. All in the line of duty I suppose," replied Vince, proudly puffing out his chest.
Laura laughed again. The room then went quiet except for the buzzing light in the bathroom. Laura looked down at her hands for a moment and sighed.

"You know, you're not as bad as I thought you were."

"Oh, trust me I'm worse," replied Vince. "The real me is no match for the legacy."

"Our firm has represented a lot of the bad guys you put away. Unfortunately, your uh, unique ways of getting them to court is the same reason that Bruce can weasel them free despite the glaring evidence."

"Well, let's hope maybe we can put him out of business the same way, except this time there won't be someone crooked enough to weasel him out." a large smirk crossed Vince's face.

Laura looked up at Vince.

"Do you really think we can make it out of this...alive?"

"Who knows? I do know that we ain't dead yet, not until the fat lady sings. And trust me, my Aunt Faddy hasn't sung in years."

Laura laughed, not expecting that kind of answer. The room again went silent as both Vince and Laura smiled at each other. The buzzing from the bathroom seemed to amplify.

Vince opened his mouth to speak when the chorus of Metallica's 'Unforgiven' filled the room. Laura jumped and stood on her feet, caught off guard. She looked down at her phone and saw it was ringing. The caller ID read 'DON'T PICK UP!' Laura looked up at Vince.

"It's Johnny." Vince smiled.

"Well, you better start layin' down the geek charm there, smooth operator."

Laura pressed the answer button hesitantly.

"Hey you. I'm so glad you called back. Are you alone by any chance?" said Laura in a high pitched voice.

"Greetings Laura," Replied Johnny. "No, me and Claymore were just playing some Vanquish and noticed you called." Johnny smelt his breath and then popped a mint in his mouth to freshen it.

"Oh, is Claymore a friend?"

"Well, yeah, sort of. He's kind of like a small Prototype AI robot I've been working on. He's got crystal clear HD clarity and stereo system. He also works off of great apps."

Laura scratched her head. "Oh, okay. Are you still working at the office by any chance?"

"Well, technically yes, I'm still at the office. My mom kind of banned me from using the internet at our house until I clean my room. I'm still working' on tweaking Claymore's Wi-Fi, so until then I go to the office to get the high-speed connection, you know? But I told her I was totally gonna get my own place."

"Totally," said Laura.

"My MGO is wasn't quite the same with lag and moms can be a real...drag."

Vince opened his mouth wide and pointed at the phone. Laura's evidence of video game lore was impressing him more and more. Laura shrugged it off and turned her back towards him.

"Listen Johnny, I need you to do an important favor for me..."