NOVEL WEB Chapter 5: Mission Improbable
Chapter 5: Mission Improbable
Wheeler had left the suburban neighbourhood of his home and was now in the more urbanised section of town. Here, an unknown parked truck would draw significantly less attention.
“Now training wheels are off, Truck-Kin, time to get this show on the road.” Abeona’s charm was dancing on Wheeler’s windscreen mirror.
“It’s Wheeler.” He insisted, before he noticed Abeona’s charm gyrating around. “Wait, since when could that charm thing move?” he questioned.
“Well, you left me on radio silence for a week, so I got bored and gave it an upgrade.” Abeona then quickly changed the subject. “Enough about that, we need to get to our mission”.
“Killing people,” Wheeler lamented, his wipers jiggling slightly, in the truck equivalent of a nervous twitch.
“Transporting people to a better life” Abeona insisted.
“By killing them” he reiterated back to her.
The mini Abeona charm dismissed Wheeler’s concern with a wave of her tiny arm. “Details, Smeetails. Anyway, like I was saying earlier, we can’t just go on a hit and run spree, we have to be a little more discerning”.
Wheeler watched as Abeona ‘s mini figure pranced around, clearly eager to discuss her plans “Like targeting specific people?” he asked her.
“BINGO! Fortunately, I’ve done my research,” The goddess boasted. “I’ve developed a little list of promising candidates who should be perfect Isekai candidates. People who won’t get wiped out by a slime within five minutes.”
“How do you go about even finding such people?” Wheeler enquired curiously.
“A goddess has her ways” Abeona answered somewhat cryptically.
“What about me?” he questioned. “If you have a hit list of specific people, does that mean you chose me specifically for this mission?”
Abeona suddenly shifted, sounding starkly serious. “From the moment of your birth, it was decreed that you alone, would become the great Truck-Kun of legend. It was fated that we would meet at the crossroads of destiny. An encounter written in the stars!”
“Really?” A stunned Wheeler gasped.
“PFFFFTT.... No, you dummy! You just happened to die at the right time, by pure cosmic coincidence,” Abeona chuckled. “Boy, I’m not sure what surprises me more. The fact managed to say that nonsense without cracking up sooner, or that you totally brought it.”
Wheeler’s engine let out a quiet grumble. The goddess really wasn’t helping to sell him on this whole insane situation. Whatever the circumstances, Wheeler was in far too deep to back out now. “So, who's the first target then?”.
A sharp click echoed though Wheeler’s cabin, the against his will, his headlights came flickering on.
A solid looking, detailed 3D image of an unfamiliar, athletic girl, with long black hair tied into a ponytail, was projected where the beams of light fell. It almost looked like they were really there.
The young woman in the projection wasn’t stationary, she was flipping, rolling, sidestepping. Pulling all manner of gymnastic manoeuvres with seemingly minimal effort.
Abeona made a sound reminiscent of a drum roll. This was followed by her introducing the first target like a game show contestant. “Allow me to introduce to you, our first target, EVE ADENSON!”
Her showbiz patter was met with silence. Wheeler was instead transfixed, as the recreation of Eve continued to move around with athletic grace.
“HEY WHERES THE APPLAUSE?”, She demanded. Her charm figure stomped its feet.
Wheeler, lacking hands to clap, rapidly began opening and slamming his door to simulate clapping.
“That’s more like it!” Abeona’s charm then gave a little bow.
Wheeler stared through his windscreen at the apparition in wonder. “So, is this projection another one of my truck tricks?”
“Yes, with your Illusion Projection ability you can use your headlights to create illusions that look so real it's unreal. Aren’t I a genius?” Abeona pressed Wheeler to acknowledge her self-perceived brilliance.
“Where did you get this footage?” Wheeler asked.
“I show you this incredible ability and that’s what you focus on? I got it online there is plenty of footage floating about of her competing in various dodgeball tournaments.” Abeona explained before demanding. “Now come on, acknowledge my brilliance.”
Wheeler for his part, was actually genuinely impressed with the projection skill the goddess showed him “I got to admit that pretty cool, what other abilities do I have built in?”
“A truckload” the goddess joked.
“Can I transform into a giant robot?” Wheeler’s engine revved in anticipation, for the first time getting swept up in Abeona’s enthusiasm.
The Abeona charm rolled its eyes “Now you're being ridiculous, that’s just impossible.” The charm shook its tiny head as Abeona muttered to herself, putting on a whiny imitation of Wheeler’s internal voice. “‘Can I transform into a giant robot’ he asks, I mean really?”
Overhearing this, Wheeler couldn’t quite figure how asking if he could transform into a robot was a step to far, considering he’d already been turned into a truck.
“Anyway, we’re losing focus here” Abeona brought the conversation back on topic, her figure pointing at the projected image of the girl “Here is our first target, Eve Adenson. She’s nineteen-year-old, and also a dodgeball prodigy.”
“Dodgeball? Prodigy? Those exist?” Wheeler questioned.
Abeona began to rattle off everything she knew about Eve. “Well If anyone can be called such a thing, she can. She’s been playing dodgeball since she was six years old. Five-hundred matches, and she’s never been hit, not once. Her dodging abilities are, frankly, borderline inhuman.”
Wheeler mulled over Abeona’s little exposition dump. “Inhuman dodging skills? Is that why she’s on your weird little Isekai wish list?”
“Yep” Abeona chirped a little too enthusiastically.
Wheeler posed a question, somewhat worried about how Abeona might answer. “How do you even decide who gets on that list of yours anyway?”
Abeona’s response was nonchalant, “If I can think of a cool anime sounding title for their upcoming Isekai adventures,”
Wheeler’s horn blared, “you’ve gotta be *HONK*ing kidding me!” he was aghast at Abeona’s explanation.
“Oh, come on” Abeona was insistent “You’re telling me you wouldn’t watch an anime called ‘I evade everything in another world’?”.
“We are not *Honk*ing talking about watching *HONK*ing anime, we are talking about vehicular *HONK*ing HOMICIDE! * The irater Wheeler became, the more his horn hooted.
“Calm down” the goddess cooed “We’ve been over this, don’t think of it as killing someone, think of it as...”
Wheeler cut her off. “Yeah, yeah... transporting them, I know, I know” his response was despondent. “I’m still getting used this whole thing.”
“If it makes it easier, I’ve made a little adjustment to your haptic feedback” Abeona informed him. “I know you were concerned about it so... I made it so you can turn it off.”
“So, I don’t have to feel what happens when I hit someone?” he asked.
“You won’t feel them go squish” she confirmed “It’s the least I can do”.
Thanks, that’s... uncharacteristically thoughtful of you”. Wheeler pondered for a moment.
“I’m not heartless you know...” The goddesses voice trailed off. It seemed for perhaps the first time; Wheeler had caused a crack in her usually sunny facade.
There was a moment of silence between the pair. That’s when Wheeler recalled something Abeona had mentioned earlier.
“Hey, can’t you just use your remote access to run them down for me?”
Abeona’s charm crossed its arms in a X. Much like Abeona herself had done when she and Wheeler first met. “BZZTT that’s a no can do. I’ve bent the rules enough as it is by making you a truck. Gods aren’t allowed to smite people directly. If I broke that rule, my sister would have the excuse she needed to shut my department down”.
Wheeler wipers began twitching again. “You have a sister? What’s she like?”
“A bitch” Abeona shrugged.
“So, I’m guessing you two don’t get along huh?”. Wheeler probed, interested to hear more about Abeona’s sister beyond a single expletive.
The goddess once more showed off her own evasive skills. She changed the topic of conversation again, this time to avoid the potentially uncomfortable line of questioning. “Anyway, back to business. Our first target, Eve Adenson”.
Wheeler was rapidly realising there was no way out. He didn’t like the situation, but what choice did he really have? So, he decided his best course of action was to just go with the flow, instead of swimming against the tide.
Wheeler examined the image of Eve, his target. Could he really do this? End this girl’s life, even knowing he was potentially sending her to a better one?
He tried to push the moral implications to the back of his mind. Instead, Wheeler focused his attention on more practical concerns.
“You know, if she is as good at dodging as you say...” Wheeler considered grimly.
Abeona interrupted him. “Dodging a ball and dodging a truck are very different things” she reassured.
Wheeler still didn’t feel particularly encouraged. “There’s only one way to find out I guess... where do we find her?”
After a few tapping noises, Abeona’s voice came though once more. “I’ve uploaded her location to your internal GPS; it should guide you right to her like a homing beacon. It looks like she’s not far from here”
“Well then, let's get rolling.” With that, Wheeler, still somewhat slightly reluctantly, began to drive towards his first target's location.
Meanwhile, Wheeler’s target, Eve Adenson was training in the gym of her college campus after hours. Blissfully unaware of what the future had in store for her.