Interstate Revisited

Interstate Revisited is a Xyberpunk campaign by TPG.

Prologue

After having spent a few years and a stupendous amount of money (stolen from government funds during DJ's record short tenure as president of Costa Rica) on drugs, women, liqour, women, drugs, liquor and drugs, the Mack and DJ one day suddenly wake up in a Havana hotel to find themselves not broke, but owing the wrong people money. In nothing but doped-up desperation, they steal a small boat and head for Miami. Not having checked how much fuel they had, or how much they would be needing, the trip becomes a tad longer than they had hoped, and therefore arrive in Miami in a somewhat weakened state.

Episode 1

"Everything went smoothly until we got to Kansas City."

They cannot linger, however, since the Cubano mob will want to get paid soon, or something like the day before yesterday, so they need an out. Any out. For some quick money, they work out a "plan", involving figuring out who's the dealer at the nearest high school, and rob the kid. However, after a simple case of mistaken identity, they suddenly find themselves wanted by the golf cart born security personnel. By the skin of his teeth, DJ avoids getting seriously maimed in the ensuing golf cart-pedestrian accident, and our heroes find themselves having to show their fangs a bit before they flee the scene.

What to do? Next plan: the Mack remembers his old friend Steve, who points them to an interesting and very suitable job. A man called "the C.E.O.", a local wasp gangster boss, wants a gift delivered to, literally, the other end of the continent. Fate would have it, crime lord Shard has a close relative who's getting married, and the C.E.O., as a gesture of friendship and good business past, wants to give the girl and her husband two fine B.M.W. automobiles, one of the sportier kind, the other an S.U.V.

The pay is slim, the trip is long, but they have an out, they have plenty of time to get to Seattle, where Shard has set up shop after Night City became impossible, and the cars are even legit. Bought and paid for! All papers in order! The Mack and DJ now only have to zoom on by into their New Life Someplace Else. Oh, if it hadn't been for that Cubano hot-shot gangster they robbed at that diner, for pocket money.

The trip progresses uneventfully for a few days, interrupted only by stops at gas stations and diners. Being unaccustomed to work, however, they decide it's time for a bit of a vacation on the 4th day of the trip, when they reach Kansas City.

Wanting to get cleaned up for their big night out, our two heroes now spend some time at a local laundromat. While they sit there in their undies, discussing nothing of very great importance, in walks Mrs. Annabelle Leigh. Arguably the most beautiful woman in all of Kansas City, and certainly one of the more promiscuous, Annabelle knows full well what she's got and how to use it. Walking in, she spots the two new faces, and decides to go a-huntin'.

The prey, however, is all too willing. The Mack is now totally, decisively, absolutely, unequivocally madly, deeply in love with what his mind tells him is the love of his life. No other woman shall exist to Mack from this moment on, and he shall not rest until she is his. Too bad our friend doesn't realize she's alredy married. And not only that, as we shall see.

After some smooth conversation in front of the laundry machines, the two gentlemen agree to meet Annabelle at an Italian restaurant later in the evening. Annabelle promises to bring a friend for a double date. Mrs. Leigh leaves in with a walk most slutty, leaving the Mack with a moist lower lip.

Mack becomes very emotional, not to say agitated, when he explains to DJ that in this case, there can be no gentlemanly may-the-best-man-win, he has got to have this woman, no matter what. DJ, being the reasonable and friendly character he is, agrees without hesitation, and even starts thinking about how to help his friend. And whadda you know, he knows just the thing.

Dark falls, and the dinner party assembles. Curiously, Annabelle has chosen a restaurant that appears to be frequented by Italian mob people, but less curiously, our heroes fail to realize this. Conversation is civilized and DJ is making a surprisingly good impression on the two ladies. The Mack senses this, but choses to overlook it for the moment, looking for an opening to make his move.

After eating comes drinks and a bit of dancing, and DJ asks the resident pianist to help him out with a few serenades. The intention being, naturally, to set the mood for Mack and his new love, but the plan seems to backfire. Annabelle's attention drifts more and more away from her suitor, in favor of the honey-throated hispano leaning over the grand piano. Annabelle's friend is also moved by his performance, which the Mack can of course endure, but when Annabelle's interest in him eventually seems to have disappeared, the Mack cannot hold back his betrayed heart, nor his weapon, anymore.

Screaming something to the effect of "You fucking whore! I give you my heart and you stomp on it!?" he riddles her with a flurry of bullets, and her ravaged body falls to the floor. Before anyone has had time to react, he has also plugged her friend, out of sheer agitation, and finally the poor pianist, since he was, in Mack's mind, an accomplice to his romantic debacle. DJ, on the other hand, remains unscathed, and promptly grabs the Mack from the line of fire of the many gangsters that have now become hip to the fact. Mack rockets off in his B.M.W. convertible, leaving DJ to his own devices, as they had arrived in the same car.

Both youngsters escape, and find eachother soon thereafter. "I had to snap," Mack explains to his perplexed, not to say shocked friend. When DJ demands to know why the pianist had to die, the Mack tries to make him understand how it "seemed logical at the time". They leave Kansas City as fast as they dare, pondering their next move.

Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, the gangsters come to understand that the one of the deceased ladies must be the wife of one Seamus Leigh, one of the prominents in an Irish K.C. gang. She also happens to be the sister of Italian mobster Roberto Tarabini. Unbeknownst to our fleeing friends, she was wed to an irishman in part as a sign of peace between the two gangster nationalities in K.C. The Mack has not only killed a woman, but a woman who was very dear to not one, but two local gangs, and as if that wasn't tortured-for-two-weeks-type death warrant enough, they did this in a made man's own establishment.

Eventhough they may not fathom the enormity of the vengefulness they have stirred, they are well aware of the fact that they cannot stay, and are even clever enough to divert from their intended route. But before they leave town, the make sure to change the plates of the B.M.W. convertible, and are lucky enough to find one. They are indeed the fools of fate this ominous tuesday, but fate will not let them go without unwittingly committing one more transgression against the mafiosi. He does by no means know it, but the car from which Mack steals the plates and subsequently sets on fire, belongs to the aforementioned Roberto Tarabini.

The convertible did not escape the fray unblemished, and the two fugitives know they cannot deliver damaged goods to Shard. Also, they know the car is supposed to be legit, so they can't just boost one. The plan now, as they set their course for Denver, is to steal $50,000 and actually buy a new beemer.

Episode 2

"Things to do in Denver when you're fucked."

(To be continued.)