[ WP ] A video game character becomes self-aware .

`` Hey, watch it, asshole!'' yelled Tommy Vercetti as an old lady in a station wagon cut him off. He laid on the horn but she refused to drive any faster. Shaking his head, Tommy turned the wheel sharply and stomped on the gas pedal. His yellow 1986 Pegassi Infernus sped past the crawling SUV, and Tommy rolled down the window to let the wind blow through his hair. `` Dumb Florida morons...'' he said to himself as he turned on the radio. 
 
 One of the mechanics must've been feeling political, because the dial was set to the Vice City Public Radio station. A few voices wafted through the static before the signal was picked up properly. 
 
 `` To discuss the subject of morality, we have fire-brand preacher, Pastor Richards, the head of the Pastor Richards Salvation Statue Organization...'' 
 
 Tommy scoffed. *These idiots again. I heard this broadcast this morning. And yesterday night. They replay the same crap way too often. * Come to think of it, he had only ever heard three discussions on VCPR - the same three, it seemed, always on the radio in the garage. Tommy shrugged it off and whipped the steering into a sharp right turn as he crossed the bridge from Starfish Island into Little Havana. 
 
 Too sharp, it turned out. The back end of the Infernus swung around and hit a street lamp, leaving a small dent in the fender and felling the lamppost. Unfazed, Tommy never took his foot off the pedal and sped up the highway. *Those fucking lampposts are such a nuisance. They hardly give off any light, and are weak as hell. I mean, I've knocked some over with a mo-ped, once. * For some reason, that thought bothered him more than it should've. Again, though, he shook it off. He was nearing his destination - the police station at the north end of Little Havana. 
 
 Still pedal-to-the-metal and cruising at over 100 miles per hour, Tommy swerved left, across the median, which only gave him a slight bump, and into oncoming traffic. Cars honked but made no effort to change course, and he dodged them by driving on the sidewalk. Occasionally a pedestrian would n't notice the yellow blur fast enough to leap out of the way, and their bodies disappeared under the chassis of the flashy sports car. The tires left bloody streaks behind him. One woman had just enough time to turn to look at him with a look of utter horror plastered on her face. She, too, crumpled upon impact, but her face stuck with Tommy for some reason. 
 
 He did n't have much time to wonder about it, because he had just gotten to the police station. Without braking at all, Tommy simply opened the driver's door and rolled out onto the asphalt. He hit the pavement hard and bounced a few time before coming to a halt against the chain link fence surround the police parking lot. He stood and dusted himself off as people around him stared in shock and wonder. 
 
 `` Mister,'' yelled a woman from across the street, `` are you alright?'' 
 
 `` Yeah,'' Tommy yelled back, `` I'll pick up a new heart from the hospital later.'' No time to talk, though - it was down to business, but how to go about it? 
 
 He reached in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a knife. *No, too many cops. * He put it back and pulled a.44 magnum from his other pocket. *Maybe. But the reload... * He restored it to his pocket and withdrew a hunting shotgun. *That's better. * He looked down and as he loaded the shells into the shotgun, vaguely wondering how in the world he had fit it into his pocket. He tried to follow that line of thought to its logical conclusion but... something was wrong. He could n't think right. Shaking his head to clear it, he pumped the shotgun and walked into the police station. 
 
 The door dinged as he entered, and a uniformed officer looked up from the front desk. Tommy leveled the shotgun at him and squeezed the trigger. The cop flew backwards with a spray of blood. Two more stood up to his right, reaching for their sidearms. Tommy pumped, shot, pumped, shot, and the two died as easily as the first. 
 
 Several shots hit Tommy in the back and he spun around. There stood a shocked policeman, staring at the unarmored man he had just shot five times. Tommy pumped and shot again, the boom of the shotgun accompanied the officer's collision with the wall behind him. Tommy stepped around the corner of a set of cubicles and spotted a man cowering in the corner. Tommy raised the shotgun and pumped it again, ready to kill. 
 
 `` Jesus!'' the man cried, `` Why are you doing this?!'' 
 
 And Tommy hesitated. The shotgun lowered for a fraction of a second before it was shouldered once more. `` Why?! You pricks are messing in my business, that's why!'' 
 
 Through sobs the man replied, `` What business? Who are you? Jesus... this is my first day!'' 
 
 Tommy could n't believe it. This had to be some brand new bookie from out of town - everyone in Vice City knew Tommy Vercetti. He was the kingpin of cocaine, the master of the Malibu, and he had his hand in every crime business from prostitution and pornography to insurance fraud and tax evasion. No one crossed him and lived to tell of it. 
 
 But this new cop had n't done anything. 
 
 *Yet, * a voice told him, *he's wearing a uniform. That means he's after you, Tommy, just like everyone else. Do n't let him go. It makes you look weak. * 
 
 Meanwhile, the cop was probably shitting himself and still crying. `` Please! I have a family!'' Tommy kept the shotgun pointed, unwavering. 
 
 *I used to have a family too. Sonny, back in Liberty City, and Lance here... but they both betrayed me. Why? What did I ever do wrong? * 
 
 More sobs from the new cop. That brought Tommy back to reality, and he looked around - four dead bodies pooling blood onto the carpet, and perhaps a fifth to join them. 
 
 *Why do you feel bad? You've killed more than this, and in more brutal ways. Hitman to kingpin - you climbed a ladder built out of blood. What's wrong? * 
 
 The cop's face was covered in snot and tears, and he was staring at Tommy in sheer terror. 
 
 *What's wrong? I am. * 
 
 And with that, Tommy dropped the shotgun, pulled out his revolver, and put it to his temple. The world went dark with a bang. 
 
 He had the sensation of floating, even though he could n't feel his body at all, and was surrounded by darkness. A light appeared ahead of him, and he floated towards it. It got brighter, and brighter... And when he saw what it was, his heart sank. 
 
 It was the lamppost in front of the hospital in Little Havana. He was back in Vice City. 
 
 *Shit. *
