It hadn't even been an hour before Taylor called it quits and left Marcus's apartment to return home. With his hood donned and his head held low due to deep thought, the gears spun again and again in Taylor's head, yet they powered nothing—no new plan or alternative method to his current one. He considered letting Marcus and Camuel go with their guts or act like they were robbers, but either option risked the unwanted attention from the police. He cursed himself and wished he had conceived his plan when he proposed the burglary to his pals at Marcus's apartment last week.
His plan reminded him of when he learned clay sculpting during his high school art class. He had made a sculpture of a marine charging with his iron sights held up to his eyes. It wasn't spectacular, but he was proud of the little guy. At the time, the marine seemed perfect. Yet after he was fired, Taylor found the leg of his marine in pieces. His teacher explained to him that there was an air bubble in the marine's leg. And now Taylor likened his plan to that marine and the detail of discussing it with Marcus and Camuel to be the air bubble.
The ad-adorned intersection was bustling as ever upon Taylor's return trip through it. The rambling bearded man from earlier was missing, replaced with one of the Recommenders from the center walkway. The rest of the Recommenders from earlier were still advertising their services or helping random customers.
“After the bonus armor and weapons available when you pre-order the collector's edition of War's Break III but can't afford it?” The Recommender shouted, his words bait on a fishing hook for Taylor. “Then for today only when you purchase Marching Fire, you can unlock all of the same weapons and armor included in the collector's edition of War's Break III!”
The Recommender rotated his vision in Taylor's direction, and Taylor quickly looked away and adjusted his hood.
“Sir in the gray hoody! 'Scuse me, sir!”
Taylor hastened his pace and acted ignorant to the Recommender's calling.
“Sir! 'Scuse me, sir!” The Recommender intercepted Taylor's path, and Taylor glared at the taller man as he spoke. “Sir, you look like the sort of person interested in earning some bonus goods for the next installment in the War's Break franchise.”
“No, I'm not.” Taylor started walking around the Recommender when he found the man to be a mobile obstacle.
“But, sir, for only $20, you can play an entire video game and earn codes for another at the same time. It's much cheaper than buying the collector's edition.”
“Fantastic. Still not interested.” Taylor started away again but found the Recommender before him again.
“How about this? When you play Marching Fire, by earning some of the game's achievements, you can earn codes for weapons and armor not included with the collector's edition of War's Break III.”
“Tempting, but my answer still stands.” Taylor started walking yet again and found the Recommender in his way yet again.
“Sir, this is a deal I'm offering to you and only you.”
“No,” Taylor asserted. He took one step to his right, and the Recommender took one step to his left.
“Should I mention that these codes don't expire after one use and are good for up to three other friends?”
“I said no!” Taylor took one step to his left, and the Recommender took one step to his right.
“If you pass this offer up, you'll—”
“All right! All right!” Taylor shouted, throwing his arms in rhythm with his words. “I'll buy your stupid game if you leave me alone!” Taylor grumbled many curses—none of which were muffled for his ears only—as he withdrew his phone from his hoody pocket.
“You're making an excellent deal, sir,” the Recommender said as he freed a USB cable from his tablet and plugged it into Taylor's phone. Taylor shared with the man his bank account information necessary for the purchase, and the Recommender, using a disk drive built into his glossy, heavy-looking fanny pack, burned the game information onto the disk, slipped it into a paper case, and then handed it to him. “You won't regret this purchase, sir.”
ns 15.158.61.17da2
