Josh could be seen scouring the suburbs as he searched for transport. "Not that one. Not that one either!" In the sea of orange cabs, he finally found a single yellow one. 

"Taxi!" Josh yelled, with Armin making the car hover next to him. 

"Hey, Josh! It's been a while. About 20 days or so? Where are we going?" 

"Metropolis-D. Follow the sloths." The cab smoothly flew away at great speed. "It must be fate that you are available just as I come back!" Josh joked. 

"Not really. It turns out that having a yellow taxi when orange is the norm does lower the number of customers drastically. I'm pretty much free all the time now. But, it also makes people curious, and they don't treat me as if I were air anymore." Armin seemed happy. 

Josh could only give an awkward smile. Armin truly was an interesting man. 

****

Soon enough, a bright yellow taxi showed up right next to the newly restricted area. Instantly, they were swarmed by tens of flying cars equipped with heavy armament (many plasma cannons). 

"This area is off-limit! Identify yourself or turn back now!" A voice bellowed at them. 

"Buy us some time, Armin. I'll call my friend." Josh requested the fearless taxi driver while he messaged Dario. 

"Hello there, nice day for a drive, isn't it? I'm Armin, the taxi driver, and I come in peace. How are you all?" 

"Leave, now. This is not a place for a clown like you." The voice sounded harsh. 

"Where are your manners? I introduced myself. Shouldn't it be your turn now? Plus, we have a valid reason to be here." 

"If you do not comply, we will be forced to employ force. This means we will kill you. Do you understand now, you idiot?" His tone sounded so patronizing. 

Armin gave a slight smile before seemingly whispering to his taxi: "Let's give them a small EMP shockwave, shall we. Ah, but leave their emergency landing system intact along with the rude guy's communications." 

Josh could only widen his eyes in expectation. That's when a pulse began radiating from their vehicle outward. Every hostile car plummeted to the ground instantly. 

"What the fuck is happening?!" The rude guy had forgotten to mute himself. 

A few seconds later. All of them were stranded on the ground, unmoving. The pilots were exiting their vehicles urgently. Were they perhaps expecting a round of deadly fire? 

Nope, Armin simply smiled and said in a very innocent and joyful voice: "Hello there, nice day for a drive, isn't it? I'm Armin, the taxi driver, and I come in peace. How are you all?" 

For a few seconds, there was no answer. The rude man was probably questioning life. Since when had taxis become that dangerous?! It was akin to an adult fighting with a toddler and losing. Was there anything more embarrassing than that?! 

"I-I'm the supervisor in charge of defending this place. I don't know who you are, but—"

"Are you deaf? He's Armin, the taxi driver." Josh playfully chimed in. 

"There is no way a taxi driver can do that! IMPOSSIBLE! I don't know what your agenda is, but this place is under the direct jurisdiction of Sir Markus and has the protection of Rankers!" He screamed back. 

"Oh? What a coincidence. I do happen to know Markus and a few Rankers." Josh added. 

"Nice try, but you aren't fooling anyone. No one worthy enough to enter this place would show up in a lowly taxi. You may think yourselves clever, but it's already too late. They are already here." He bragged. 

As if on cue, six true flying war vessels appeared, targeting them. Armin mumbled: "I'm afraid the trick we used before won't work on these guys. The best we can do is maybe take out their shields."

"What are you going to do now? HAHAHA! You guys are fucked!" The rude guy began cackling like a madman. 

"Hello, this is officer Johnson. Sir, we will safely escort you to your destination. Please follow us!" 

That is when the laughter on the ground stopped. Even at this distance, they could somehow distinguish how livid the man was. They could see his thoughts on his expressive face. The 'idiotic clowns' were now being escorted?! Did the man really know Markus?! Perhaps he was the idiot and the clown. He had truly fucked up. 

Their taxi followed them, soon landing right in the city. It was weird how this place had turned into a ghost district. How crazy it must have been for the residents to be deprived of their homes like that. At least, they could still hope to get them back. 

As they disembarked, there were plenty of MTA soldiers sending curious gazes their way. Of course, they tried to hide it but with little success. But who could blame them? They had suddenly received the order to escort two VIPs out of the blue. 

It became even stranger when they saw the two bigshots. One was a taxi driver, while the other looked young and way too casual. "Sir, follow me. I'll guide you to them!" 

"How long will you remain here, Josh? Want me to wait for you?" Armind asked. 

"I'm not sure. Hopefully, it won't take too long." Josh shrugged before continuing his journey. 

Eventually, they reached the Rankers. They were currently impressively fighting a sloth. Josh would have just attacked the creature and run away, but they were truly playing with it. They wanted nothing more than to exhaust it. 

"Afterward, it will sleep like a baby, and we'll ship it to D-23." The man by his side commented. 

Their team was focused on mobility and support. He couldn't help but compare himself to them. How would he fare against some of the strongest rankers there were? 

- Some easygoing foodie acting as a jack of all trades. He looked so unpredictable with tons of weird abilities. A surprise attack would probably work best. 

- A stern-looking man with the ability to teleport. Perhaps it would be possible to prepare a trap ahead of time and bait him to blink straight in it? 

- A beautiful woman with a wind ability. Avoiding the wind blades would be extremely troublesome already, but catching up to her would be even more so. The best would be to fight her in a cramped space with lots of covers.

- An handsome man was leading them, shouting orders. This guy was probably the weakest of the lot but the deadliest on a large-scale battlefield. He seemed to have a defensive style that would make him hard to assassinate. 

- Dario roaring from time to time. Josh knew he couldn't defeat him. The difference in their abilities and basic specs were just too high. Plus, the man had a sharp fighting instinct. 

He happily watched their combat unfold. He even enthusiastically clapped once they were done. CLAP CLAP! "Good job, you all!" 

"Hello! Are you a new friend joining our expedition? I'm Bennett. Do you want some meat?" The bubbly foodie welcomed him happily. This offer instantly made his stomach rumble in anticipation. 

"Shut up. There is no way he's here to eat." The stern man scoffed over his book. 

"Speak for yourself! I'll eat!" Josh happily joined the foodie in eating.

"Hey, I'm Davos. Who are you, and what brings you here?" The leader addressed him respectfully, disregarding how pig-like Josh looked as he stuffed his face. 

"Oh, I'm Josh. I came here to take care of the Sloth problem. Also, I only have a few days to spare. Afterward, I'll have to resume Climbing, so let's make this fast." Josh calmly uttered. 

When the others heard him, they couldn't believe their ears. Was he serious?! They had been here for weeks already!…

Creator's Thought

I never understood the discrimination against taxis. Sure, the flying cars had an autopilot and were extremely comfortable, but still. Wouldn't it be a pain to find parking? Also, Armin was definitely not a normal taxi driver. I would often joke that Armin was a hidden Boss character...until I stopped joking.