Unlicensed Driver 2
"Yeah! See, you did it, Your Excellency!"
Yeah! See, you did it, Your Excellency!
An AI preaching grit? The world must be ending.
I'd just barely dodged a collision with a cargo truck and was catching my breath when a stamp-shaped emoticon popped up in the corner of my vision. Kana winking with a thumbs-up. For now, the AI was handling the route adjustments toward our destination. All I had to do was grip the wheel and maneuver according to the road—thankfully, VR overlays marked exactly where and how much to turn with red slashes for visual guidance. But sudden surprises like that last one? No helping it. I had to judge on Kana's shouting alone—and again, I had zero driver's license or experience.
"How much farther to the destination? We passed the ETA ages ago."
Well, dodging attacks and rerouting caused a bit of a delay—agh! Another missile!
The rear camera feed showed the attack chopper diving hard, launching missiles from the pylons on both sides. It pulled a sharp ninety-degree climb right after for evasion. Our ride spat flares, interception lasers, and cannon fire in response. Six of the eight missiles went down in mid-air explosions. The other two sailed right over us.
Phew, nothing major. It's just been spamming missiles annoyingly!
"Huh? Wait a sec. Those two didn't miss because of the flares, did they???"
BOOM!!
The missiles that passed us didn't fly off into the distance—they slammed straight into the road ahead, shredding our path. On a normal highway, we could've detoured or veered off briefly. But we were on an elevated viaduct. At this rate, we'd go airborne and plummet to the ground below!
I stomped the brake pedal in a panic, but the speed barely dropped. Was Kana overriding it?
"Brakes! Kana, hit the brakes now!"
Hard stop at this speed flips the car! Didn't you learn inertia? Even easing off, the braking distance means we still drop!
"Then what the hell do I do?!"
Releasing limits—you handle it somehow! I'm barely fending off the hack! You gotta drive!
"What kind of bullshit is that?!"
Kana's portrait showed her eyes swirling like dizzy spirals, pure confusion. If Techno-King's AI was glitching like this, some unreal virtual-world nightmare was unfolding.
"Haa..."
Despair hit, but oddly, my mind settled, time stretching slow. VR urged a gentle decelerate-to-stop—not helpful here. I glanced at the interior camera doubling as a rearview. Bell and Master, belted tight in the back seats, bodies swaying slightly. They looked... cute, if that's not weird to say. Blissfully out cold, oblivious. They'd burned out protecting me—and now they'd die with me or get captured by the enemies they hated.
...No. Absolutely not.
-Grip.
I clenched my jaw and seized the wheel. External cam: chopper diving again. Clear attack sign. Then, right window: the parallel opposite-lane viaduct right beside us!
-Rev!
I floored it instead of braking. The shrinking gap vanished in seconds—the explosion-carved cliff rushed up. Beep-beep-beep! Radar warning: fresh missiles inbound. Their paths aimed ahead again, preempting any jump over the gap.
Figured as much. But screw it—I wasn't jumping there!
SCREEEEECH-!!!!!!
Full right lock on the wheel, then brake mid-max acceleration. The hard-turning, braking beast smashed the guardrail... and flew.
"God, please please please please please....!"
I wrenched the wheel every which way, more prayer than precision, aiming for a landing spot. The armored shell held—no major damage. Landing? Dicey.
Whoa? Whoa? We're flipping! Hey! Think this is a plane?!
"No hidden landing gear? Anti-grav pads—activate something!"
As if! Rather get memory-wiped than captured and defiled...!
"Don't you dare quit first!!"
Kana's despair emoticon plastered the whole display. Was this it? My life ending with a Darwin Award in the grave?
Roof toward ground—gravity hit, blood rushing to my head. At least the seatbelt auto-tightened; small mercy in apocalypse. In my cozying skull, a benevolent Jesus cradling a baby raptor flickered by.
Hummm hummm hummm...
"......Huh?"
Suddenly, my entire view erupted in gold and orange particles. They outlined the car, me, all passengers like glowing frames. Right before impact, something grabbed us— the rig spun feather-light one more turn, front wheels kissing pavement first.
SCREECH!
I yanked the wheel and braked hard. Bumper scraped guardrail but veered inward before tumbling over.
"Hahk... hahk... hahk..."
We skidded dozens more meters before halting. Damage warnings popped, but nothing grounding us. As my dopamine-soaked, terror-melted brain rebooted, the particles had vanished. In the eerie afterglow, my arms bore mysterious tattoos pulsing faint gold.
What? What was that?? You had a plan all along!
Kana's corner emoticon burst from a grave like a zombie. I was still dumbfounded. External feed: the chopper closing to assess our "landing" confirmed it, tried climbing—but ate laser and cannon fire first. Down it went into its own bridge gap.
Explains the distant missile spam. Boom echoed afar.
Whoomph!
Bug splat! That fly chasing our tail was pissing me off. Nice one, Earl!
Before I could respond, Kana restarted us—I grabbed the wheel. Not time to slack.
Rerouting adds time, but last chopper's down—no big threats. Relax a bit.
"Last chopper? I eyeballed at least seven."
Three downed including that one, three hacked—old EW modules forced emergency landings. One glitched out of zone.
So this armed civilian rig neutered a full flight? Insane. Tiny drones got lasered like gnats. Manned air-mobiles backed off after one splashdown. We? Minor hull dings, ammo and battery low but five-plus minutes left. Per Kana, threats cleared. Sudden 'Murican pride welled—Stars and Stripes waving sixty stars strong, eagle screeching, Lady Liberty nodding approval.
Never underestimate the North American Federation again.
Meanwhile, the fall of the British Empire 140 years on... the humiliations Britons endured...!!
"Dude's high on 'Murica, and you gotta harsh my buzz? Wait, that was just a thought—how'd you know?"
Heh, that thrilled face? Obvious. Seen it plenty.
Her emoticon saluted a fluttering flag hand-on-heart. Screaming panic to lame jokes—tension definitely easing.
Trailing drones? Interceptors mulched them. Kana even hijacked a few for counterstrikes. They broke off, bugging out. Autodrive reactivated—crisis over.
Phew, can breathe now. No physical pursuit from here on—got the word. Dunno why.
"Good work. Probably Transco turf—Greater London west outskirts. Different megacorp fief."
Britain's top distributor Transco packed serious military to guard logistics. But forces spread thin, shareholders defensive—no meddling in rivals' fights. Them aiding my breakout? Doubtful. But turning blind eye in their zone? Telling. They weren't thrilled with London's reshuffle. Factions playing spy games—I'd twist it my way.
Whatever. Kana hummed cheerily.
Earl's got decent driving chops? Thought we were toast when we flipped.
"Beats me how I pulled that. Hmm... 'Am I a genius?'"
What, moonshot dreams now?
"As if. Y'all prefer Mars over the Moon anyway, right?"
Kana laughed, emoticon: "Time to Mars~". Arrival chime followed—we neared the rescuers' lair. Negotiators? Kidnappers? Either way, bad vibes; I tensed instinctively.