BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Inception/Mayor's House

The following text displays if Jason decides to enter the mayor's house in one of the villages:

• You are standing outside the residence of the mayor of this small town. It doesn't look like anyone is home, so you pick the lock using skills you didn't learn at the MechWarrior training center. Rex agrees that you should go in alone. You slip inside and shut the door, trying desperately to remain inconspicuous.

• You are standing in the relatively lushly decorated living room of the mayor of this small town. On the table is today's newspaper, and up against the wall is an entertainment center, including a holodisk player like the one you had at the barracks.

• You examine the holoviewer appraisingly… it looks similar to the one you used to have back at the barracks before the citadel was destroyed. You open the box your father gave you, and take out the holodisk there. You ponder it reverently, knowing that you are about to see his face for the last time, hear his final words to you…

• You are jolted back to reality by the unmistakable sound of a key turning in a lock: the mayor's here! You quickly turn the holoviewer off, shut off the lights, and look for a place to hide.

• You scramble madly for the kitchen table, and cower there, trying to control your breathing. The mayor opens the door, puts his coat on the rack, and sits down on the couch. Good! He isn't suspicious…maybe you won't be killed after all.

• Inch by inch, you back out from under the table, intending to slip out the back door. The mayor groans loudly as he exerts himself to stand up. You freeze in place, half exposed and half hidden. You hear his heavy footsteps coming closer…and closer…and closer! He's coming into the kitchen! Quickly, get back under the table! No, too much noise…no choice! Argh! You silently squeeze back under the table and hold your breath.

• The mayor fumbles in the refrigerator for a little while. He finally settles on a pitcher of orange juice and walks over to get a glass. He slips on some mayonnaise on the floor and drops the pitcher, shattering the glass and showering you with juice. You steadfastly hold your tongue, while the major rattles off a series of adjectives and waddles over to the closet to get a mop.

• In all this confusion, you crawl out from under the table, shredding your hands on the broken glass and leaving a thin trail of blood. Your hair is plastered into your eyes, glued there by sticky juice. You try to wipe the hair out of your eyes, and see red. You want to cry out, but stifle it because the mayor is now talking to the mop, having located it and now trying to extract it.

• You're halfway across the floor when you hear a triumphant growl, followed by a vivid description of the mop in unflattering terms. You can see the shadow of the mayor, holding the mop like some sort of hunter with his kill, coming back down the hall.

• Thinking quickly, you grab the exorbitantly ugly and expensive sculpture from the living room table, and fling it through his kitchen window. The mayor rounds the corner quickly now, ignoring the fallen mop, and starts shouting invectives at the children playing behind the house.

• You take advantage of the moment to slip out the door, just as the mayor unleashes a new stream of epithets at the innocent urchins. Apparently, they decide that if they're going to be punished, they're going to earn it, because the last thing you hear before shutting the door is the mayor shouting “Hey! You kids! Get away from my hibachi!”