Sombra didn't need to tell me twice as I violently turned out of my lane and pulled up to the curb, almost forgetting to use my turn signal while I was at it.
"Appreciate it," Sombra replied cheerfully as she opened the door and hopped out of my car, "This was a good talk, we should do it again sometime."
"I feel like I don't really have a choice whether we meet or not," I replied sourily my hands still white-knuckling the steering wheel.
Sombra paused and quickly glanced back at me over her shoulder, "Look, I'm not trying to antagonize you. I get why you're angry, and you're right to feel that way. But trust me when I say you're going to need a level head to deal with all of this. The more reasonable you are, the better this all turns out. And I know my word may not mean a lot to you right now, but I give it to you, we're not going after you or anyone you care about."
I glared back at Sombra, "Then what the hell was all of this for?"
"It was just a precaution, a test if that makes any sense," Sombra replied vaguely as she pulled up the hood of her jacket and turned back around, "I'm glad to say that you passed."
Then, without another word, Sombra walked away down the street, and I watched her go until she dipped around a corner, slipping into an alley, but just before she broke line of sight, I caught a brief flare of purple light. I waited for a moment, then shook my head with a loud, angry sigh and pulled back into the road.
For a moment, my mind was blissfully empty, but then it started to process everything that had just happened, 'What the fuck was any of that? I didn't know that my paradise included the possibility of being stalked and monitored by a secret spy agency.'
I paused for a moment, expecting my system to chime in, but for the first time, my sarcastic remark went unanswered, 'Just great, I'm flying solo this time, I guess.'
Another sigh escaped my lips, as I considered what I should do, 'Realistically, what can I do? If Sombra wasn't bullshitting me every step of the way, I'm dealing with people who can implant memories and make anyone they want disappear off the face of the earth. I should probably take it as a good sign that they haven't already done the same to me, but like hell I'll trust them not to change their minds.'
Seeing the traffic light turn red up ahead of me, I eased off the gas and pressed the brakes, bringing the car to a controlled stop. 'So I need to start preparing in every way I can…they know I have magic, but I doubt they understand how it works, or about the system. That's the one thing they can't track or hack into. I need to start using the system to its full potential…which is probably exactly why I'm in this scenario.'
[Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!]
I rolled my eyes as the system's voice played in my head along with applause and cheers. Ignoring its antics, I instead pulled up my status page and scrolled to the very bottom, where I found my unfinished quests.
[SimQuest: Ode Farm II]
Objective(s): You've managed to convince Ashe that not all hope is lost, but things aren't as simple as they once seemed. A Mr. Northwest is gunning for the Farm and wants to see you fail. Time to prove him wrong
1. Clear 1 acre of farm land [1/1]
2. Make $50,000 in profit off of Grown Produce [0/50,000]
3. Convince Ashe to make you a co-owner of the farm [Completed]
Reward(s):
1. +4 Perk Points
2. +5 Skill Points
3. + 1 Development Point
4. Item: Grimoire of Nine Circles
[Dating/SimQuest: This House Is Still Not a Home]
Objective(s): While a cushy apartment might have been enough in the short term, it's been made abundantly clear that settling isn't an option.
1. Buy a residential property worth at least $10,000,000 [0/1]
Reward(s):
1. +10 Perk Points
2. +25 Skill Points
3. +10 Hex Points
4. +5 Development Points
5. Item: Torn Grimoire Page
6. Item: Blood of the First Incubus
'Ten million dollars is still a bit of a way off for me…so I should focus on getting the farm up and running to complete the quest and progress towards making that ten million dollars nothing more than a drop in the bucket.'
Just as I finished my thought, the light turned green, and I quickly closed out of the system windows as I put my foot on the gas. But before I could cross the intersection, a blur shot out from the right ahead of me, coming off the sidewalk and flying into the road.
Without thinking, I slammed on the breaks bringing my car to a sudden stop before throwing it in park and opening my door to investigate what the hell I had almost hit.
"Oww."
"Shit," I muttered under my breath as I heard the very human moan of pain from the ground dangerously close to the front of my car. With haste, I moved around the bumper and finally laid eyes on the unfortunate victim.
She had short blond hair with bangs across her forehead and a single dyed aquamarine streak that matched her green eyes. As for the rest of her appearance, the jean shorts, jacket wrapped around her waist, and light-colored tank top gave off a very specific vibe that made her seem like she belonged on a boardwalk or a beach. Combined with the broken piece of wood that I assumed had been a skateboard at one point, the description of 'skater girl' was very fitting.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, grabbing her attention as I moved closer.
"Y-yeah, you didn't hit me, don't worry, just banged up from that wicked tumble," The girl muttered with another hiss of pain as she tried to get up, only for her elbow to buckle underneath her weight.
"Whoa, the last thing you should be doing is trying to move right now." I chastised, moving closer and slowly reaching out with my hands, "I may not have hit you with my car, but you still took a pretty nasty fall. Just how fast were you going?"
"Ugh," The skater girl let out a disgruntled groan, but she thankfully took my advice and slowly lay back down, "Fast enough to lose a wheel, then the next thing I know I'm flying through the air."
"Alright, well, just sit tight, and I'm going to call an ambulance real quick," I responded while reaching for my phone in my pocket.
"Wait, no ambulance," The girl insisted, nearly jerking straight up again, "I can't afford it."
I dropped my hand, "Alright then, but you need to go to the hospital, and I'm not just gonna leave you here in the middle of the street. Want me to drive you there?"
"Yes, please," The skater girl replied before closing her eyes with a grimace.
'Definitely in worse shape than she's letting on,' I thought to myself as I moved over and gently picked her up into a princess carry before moving over to the passenger side of my car. A couple of careful maneuvers later, and I managed to buckle her into the seat.
"Okay, just a few minutes and we'll be at the hopsital" I informed after sliding into the driver's seat and taking off down the road, having already put the directions into my phone.
The skater girl groaned, and I watched as her eyes started to drift closed, "Hmmm, sounds good."
"Hey, I need you to stay with me right now, you might have a concussion," I warned and reached over to gently shake her leg, "How about you talk to me instead, my name's Ramon, what's yours?"
"Nice to meet you, Ramon. I'm Jackie." Jackie replied, her eyes opening once more as she looked at me, "Thanks for not driving away back there and taking me to the hospital."
"It is the very least I can do," I answered honestly as I took a turn, "Where were you headed to in such a rush, Jackie?"
Jackie let out a sigh, "To my job, which I'm probably going to get fired from now that I've shown up late."
"I'm sure that's not gonna happen after you explain the reason why," I quickly assured her as I reached for my phone, "But speaking of jobs, I gotta call mine as well to tell my staff I'm going to be running a bit behind schedule."