Emberlyn City Centre...
Ataraxia, now out of her combat gear, walked through the busy city centre, poputed by both Outnders (Pyers) and Fauxhumans, alongside Mumei, with Xaiden following from a distance as if he was scared to be in the presence of the two. Cars rushed past them as they peacefully strolled down the street, unbothered by the bloody task they had completed hours before. Neon lights lit up around the couple and the third wheel as the world got darker.
"Newspaper! Come get your newspaper! Only 5 Credits each!" A newspaper stand desperately called out, clearly cking on the financial side of life. Waving around his newspapers, Ataraxia caught a glimpse of a plump face with the heading "HAROLD LAR REINFORCES SECURITY ON THE STREETS YET AGAIN! EMBERLYN STREETS DECLARED 'SAFER THAN DRINKING WATER'!" before a headache punished her for concentrating on something with her eye for too long.
Taking a breath from her cigarette, Mumei pointed to a store board with "HIPFIRE" printed on it and an enrged ammo box behind it.
"There's the gun shop."
#Okay.#
Walking inside, a man without a shirt greeted them. He had a well-toned body and wavy blonde hair. Humming a tune with his eyes closed, he sprawled his body across the gss counter. Laying beside him was his shirt, with Jaiden imprinted on a metal nametag.
*DING DONG*
A light chime signified the pair's entrance as the man snapped his eyes open.
"No, Ma'am, I wasn't sleeping! " the man suddenly excimed and stood at attention, his hand saluting the imaginary person. As if his mind suddenly awoke, his eyes darted around before his face started flushing. In front of him was no superior officer, but instead three possible customers instead. "Ah. Sorry, misses."
Mumei replied with a raised eyebrow, "No worries. We're here to sell some guns."
"Sell guns?"
"Looted off dead terrorists." Mumei offhandedly replied, causing Xaiden to jolt in annoyance at his deceased subordinates being referred to as terrorists. Hearing Xaiden's jolt, Mumei decided to drive the nail further, "Idiots. The lot of them. Didn't know how to work a gun. It's just point-and-shoot. How hard is that?"
"Indeed, must have been some lousy idiots you fought." The man agreed. The mention of lousy provoked a visible shudder from Ataraxia, followed by the leaking of a murderous aura, which Ataraxia quickly restrained again. Not noticing Ataraxia's reaction, the man continued, "Contractors aye? Let's see the merchandise then."
Unholstering the AK47, Ataraxia dropped the rifle and its 4 empty magazines onto the counter. Following her example, Mumei and Xaiden unholstered their rifles and pced them on the counter alongside their magazines.
"So a SCAR-H, AK47 and an M4A1 with their respective magazines? I'd give you... 200 credits for the SCAR-H and AK47, 1,000 credits for the M4A1, 90 credits for the 9 empty magazines and 25 for the 1/4 mag." Jaiden said after some calcutions.
#We're also here for some ammunition and weaponry.#
As he leaned back in his chair and started to doze off, Jaiden said, "Sure browse the wares."
'So, a rifle for Mumei and however many rounds we can afford for her rifle and my Ballista.' Ataraxia thought before a notification attracted her attention.
[Orion: Where u?]
[Ataraxia: HIPFIRE]
[Orion: is that a shop?]
[Ataraxia: What else would it be?]
Stifling a light chuckle at her friend's cluelessness, Ataraxia asked Mumei to choose a rifle. Eagerly darting around the shop, Mumei browsed the weapon racks. After scouring the rifles in stock at HIPFIRE, Mumei returned with her choice. A common grade, bck MCX SPEAR with the hefty cost of 1,000 credits was held within her grasp.
#An MCX SPEAR?#
"Yup. Apparently it's heavily modifiable."
#If that's what you want. Which bullet are you using?#
".277 Fury."
#Grab 100 .277 Fury rounds and 50 .308 Winchester rounds#
"Hey." Xaiden asked after Mumei went to grab the items.
#What's up?#
"Well, you did technically save us so I thought I could repay you with some credits. Either way, I have to go now, see you." Xaiden said, handing over 1,500 credits before leaving.
Watching the man leave, Ataraxia saw him disappear into a crowd, 'What a nice guy for someone so scared of Mumei.'
"I have them here," Mumei announced her return with 4 boxes of .277 Fury rounds and 3 boxes of .308 Winchester. ".308 Winchester only comes in boxes of 20 so..."
#It's fine. Let's go pay so I can buy other stuff. Oh right, Xaiden gave us 1,500 credits before leaving.#
"How nice of him."
"You chosen what you want to buy?" Jaiden said, the counter clear of their previous loot.
#Yup. Here.#
Mumei put her rifle and the 7 boxes of ammunition onto the counter, where their loot had been before.
"So 1 common rifle, 100 .277 Fury rounds and 60 .308 Winchester rounds? That's 1,000 for the rifle, 270 for the Fury rounds and 300 for the Winchester rounds. You can get the Winchester rounds for cheaper if you buy 100 of them, you know? 270 for 100 rounds, 5 for 1 round."
While Mumei went to get another 2 boxes of .308 rounds, Jaiden tallied their total. "So that's 1570 credits. So you still need to pay 255 credits."
Emberlyn City Centre...
'What a boring contract.' Orion thought. Having finished a contract to escort a caravan to Gha, another city, for 1000 credits. 'That elimination contract Aiko took must have been more fun than the escort mission we did, even if it paid less.'
Walking down the street with Sally next to her, they engaged in some idle chat while looking for HIPFIRE.
"Is that it?" Sally asked, pointing at a shop.
Looking at the store board above, Orion responded with a nod.
As Sally was about to open the door, the door suddenly flung open with a chime, smashing into Sally's nose, causing a nosebleed and a few drops of tears in her eyes that were threatening to fall.
"Bye Jaiden!" A familiar voice bid goodbye to someone as a beautiful woman with bck hair walked out.
"Nice to see you Ataraxia."
#You too. Heading to grab some ammo as well?#
"Nope. Didn't even shoot anything on the escort mission."
#Lucky. We shot over 300 rounds on ours. Turns out the entire police department is corrupt, save for poor Jane.#
"Jane?" Orion questioned as the group strolled the bustling city centre. Pedestrians rushed home as night fell and cars lulled into a peaceful cacophony of honking as they tried to escape the city centre.
#Yup. Jane Kee, dead police woman who rebelled. Got killed for it. I have her ID card if you want it.#
"No thanks. So what's your pn now?"
#Pnning to buy a smoke and some clothes for Mumei. Saw a clothing shop on my way here. Possibly a phone for her as well if we can afford it. The assistants only get flip phones for some reason. You'd think they'd get smartphones as well, considering they do most of the organising work for us.#
"Indeed. So you pnning to rid Emberlyn of the corruption?"
#Yup.#
As they turned the corner, the neon-lights above the group's head flickered, drawing the attention of the three. Suddenly, a sense of unease filled Ataraxia as she quickly darted her vision around.
Then, movement. In the top right corner of an ordinary apartment.
'It might just be a normal civilian walking around their house. But why do I feel this unease?' Ataraxia thought as she continued cautiously alongside the group, passing a note to Mumei.
Understanding her intentions, Mumei received the note and read it discreetly. #Be alert for anything.#
