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RP: ISC Phoenix [Quick Interlude 2] - The Tools of the Trade.

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Luca sighed, "Yeah... Everyone has their own weapons to bring, for now." There was a bit of shame in his voice, "We just got the place this morning, it's been abandoned for, well. The past 10 or 20 years!?" He shrugged, then he remembered the more recent news, "HOWEVER, Apparently we're having some building company that my dad knows come along and do the place up."

The shopkeeper took a look at Vincent's 'Badass' Gauss Cannon, nodding. "Ah, fine choice, 1200 KS or 2400 DA for that number."

--

Meanwhile down at Joe's Garage, the mechanic who just had a gun pointed to his head remained calm. "Lil' bit edgey, eh kiddo?" He asked, "The name's Joe..." He had a wrench by his side too. He pulled it out and patted it on his hands. "Take your pick, quickly."

Various completed hoverbikes could be seen on display. Most of them went for about 20,000 DA. Or, in Jim's case, 10,000 KS. The prices varied by about 1000 KS more or less. Some were painted, some were plain grey, some had big engines, some didn't. There was a smattering there.
 
Vincent contemplated the price for a moment before remembering he wasn't very good at heckling.

"Fine." Vincent took out his wallet and handed over his KS Card. The 1200 KS rang up quickly and painlessly because of his choice to 'pay on plastic'.
 
Hitori looked this way and that before sitting at the bar next to a Nepleslian in a suit and tie. The bald man was very muscular, even for a Nepleslian. His steel gray eyes looked over at the Yamataian woman before his low, chilling voice said, "Long time no see, Raven."
Hitori smirked at her old, and yet new, nickname, "Well, well, so he sent the Crow to come get me?"
Now, it was the Nepleslian's turn to smirk, even if it was more evilly, "No, I am just here to warn you. To warn you that the Eagle is dead, but the Dove still lives... and he is hungry."

After a swift stretch that popped his neck, the 'Crow' stood to leave. He then took out an old 9mm pistol and handed it over to Hitori. Hitori raised an eyebrow and the obviously outdated and worn out weapon, but the Nepleslian didn't say a word as he picked up a suitcase, probably full of weaponry, and walked out of the bar. Hitori soon realized that their was a note hidden in where the ammo clip was supposed to be. It read:


Hitori smirked at the note. Trevin and her had always been close. Probably closer then assassin partners should have been. She closed off her mind before she wondered into her thoughts and ordered a small glass of the strongest stuff that the barkeep had.
After gulping it down, she paid for the drink and left with the pistol and note hidden in the pockets of her cloak.
 
Jim replied, "Never can be too careful these days, you know?" And with that, he walked along the rows of bikes inspecting each one, attempting to figure out which one was the best for his cash. Eventually, he came upon a slightly shabby looking bike with a powerful looking engine inside. It was probably originally bright blue, but that had faded and been scratched off. There were dents all over it and even a few bullet-holes. It looked like it could seat him and perhaps a smaller person than himself at the same time; it was a smallish model. "Hey, Joe, what can you tell me about this bike?"

Joe answered as he saw the bike in question, "Ah, that would be my old bike. It's seen a lot of action, but runs like a dream. Fast too. Recently, I got my hands on a newer model with better speed, and suddenly had a bit too much bike for me to use. If you want it, its yours. 10,600 KS."

Jim smiled, "That will do nicely. Done." He proffered his card and completed the transaction. Joe tossed him the keys and Jim promptly revved the engine, which sputtered, then roared. Jim grinned and motioned for Joe to open the garage door, which he did promptly. Jim flew out of the open door on 3 feet of air and towards his next stop.
 
"Enjoy your ride, kid!" Joe said, waving at him while Jimmy sped off into the street.

--

Luca took a look at Vincent's new Gauss Cannon. "Impressive..." He told him while nodding, "My medic has this gun which fires lots of little needles, it looks really, really hurty and complicated."
He smiled and took one last look at the gun shop, "Let's head on to the furniture store, shall we?"

He exited the shop with Vincent following and made his way over to the Assemble-it-yourself Furniture Shop.
When Luca entered, the store was a very large, ope room with signs hanging from the ceiling to note each section. Desks, Beds, Tables, Chairs and other Miscellany. The walls and ceiling were white, the floors were wooden for the main walkways, and carpeted for furniture areas.

"Big selection." Luca said as he took a look around and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, a computerised voice sounded itself upon his entry.
"Welcome to NepFurniture." The female voice sounded, "Please take a pad and pen to note down the identification numbers of the furniture you want. It will be processed at the checkouts and the appropriate object will be given to you in a flat-packed, unassembled state. Enjoy your shopping."
Luca looked about for the notepad and pen, and found some near the entrance. He took a pad and a black pen. He wrote on the top: "Furniture List". His handwriting was a little bit scribbly, but legible, but he wrote Japanese/Yamataian quite well.
He began searching through the selection with Vincent.
 
"What will the base need? Probably stuff like bunks, chairs, tables... Like that?" Vincent crossed his arms, still fondling his flechette rifle. He scratched his chin in thought as the two men passed each piece of furniture.
 
Jim was racing down the streets at breakneck speed, thrilling in the performance that his 'new' hoverbike offered him. He took a corner at immense speed and nearly flew off the vehicle. After slowing himself down a little, Jim took in the sights that the city offered him, such that they were; dingy alleyways, graffiti-covered walls, and more than a few fights going on in bars along the way. After a time, he remembered that he needed to make a stop before returning to the base. He chanced to see a weapon shop and skidded to a stop. He thought he saw Luca out of the corner of his eye walking away, but he decided that he was seeing things; there was another man with him that wasn't anyone he knew. After stopping to rearm himself, he would give Luca a ring he decided.

He parked his bike and walked into the shop and always keeping an eye on the bike and a hand on his pistol, Jim made his way down the isles of ammunition, picking out ten boxes of flechette ammo and five boxes of 10mm ammo. He took them up to the counter and asked the cashier, "How much would this all cost?"
 
The shop didn't sell the Flechette Magazines he was looking for. It was just a simple gunshop with simple weapons. When Jim put the bullets he was able to pick up on the counter. The shopkeeper began scanning them and then put his palm out.
"50 DA for the bullets..." He mumbled. He took a look at Jim, "Oh, you don't use DA. Do you?" He shrugged. Oddly, a Yamataian customer had come in just before and bought some pretty fine guns. "30 KS will do then." He sighed lightly as he looked at his SAoY Uniform tops, "By the way, I'd ditch that uniform, or hide it."

--

Luca and Vincent were busy in the store. At times Luca rung up his Dad to give some assistance and tips on what to buy. In about half an hour, they'd managed to mark down the following to be picked up. Some bits almost went off the page.


"I think that's all we'll need." Luca said to himself as he tapped the pen against the paper, making little black dots on an empty bit of the page.
 
"Sounds about right to me." Vincent looked around the store and looked at his gun again before slinging it over his shoulder, where it hung layered over the BAR.
 
Luca gave a nod in Vincent's general direction as he made his way towards the Checkout/Pickup section at the back of the store.
The man at the back counter was busy with a cig in his mouth, leaning against the counter, keeping a lookout for any thieves. Luca and Vincent didn't look to suspicious. He appeared to have a generally droopy appearance, with a slouched back.

"Well," He asked while the cig dangled around, "What 'chya got?"
Luca put the list he'd assembled on the counter. The man picked it up and took a look. He began punching the serials into a computer built into the counter.
"Mmmhmm, mmmhmm, uh huh, yeah." He said as he looked at the list and typed in the serials at the same time, without looking at the keyboard, "And that'll equate to about 6680 and a half KS."
Luca paused for the moment at the thought of splitting digital money in half, "Why the Half?" He inquired.
"Interest." The guy replied, "Card please."
Luca passed the card over to him. He swiped it on a money-card reader and proceeded to do the transaction without any problems.

"Thank ya. Please wait a few minutes for your stuff to get processed." He turned around and opened a door into the vast warehouse. Luca only got a glimpse of what was in there, and was huge. It seemed to go for quite a while underground.
"'Ats big." Luca commented as the door closed behind the guy.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT BASE...
Crane, Mitch, Mel and Dad had managed to get some of the rudimentary tasks done while they were back at base. Dad had managed to take some old planks that Mel had pulled off the windows and fix that hole in the wall.
Crane had decided to see if he could do anything to the Kitchen area. He'd managed to get the old fridge and heave it outside with Mitch's help, smashing it against the ground of the yard with a crash. They also managed to get rid of the broken kitchen counters and cupboards.

The matriarchal figure wasn't spared from all of this either. She was busy on the second floor, in the proposed Bunkroom, trying to do something to the toilet. She'd been a mother long enough to fix these sorts of things.

It would be only 15 minutes until the real muscle would show up, according to Dad.
 
Vincent waved his hand back and forth.

"Eh. I've seen bigger. Once you've spent a few days insdie a Star Army ship hangar, the 'oh my fucking god, that's HUGE!' feeling really starts to wear off."
 
Jim shrugged , he thought to himself that he might ditch the uniform when he got back to base... maybe. Either way, he didn't have any more stops to make before going home. He paid the man, then got on his new bike and set off for home.
 
"I remember I was once in a Hangar too when I served in the army..." Luca recalled his Goban days, which weren't that far away, "It was hell on all sides. We were all cleaned up by this fucking massive android thing which could shoot beams and shout to make us unconscious."

Now a bit of anger entered his voice, "And these two bloody Nekos. They were called the NH-X, this thing which could assume the appearance of those whose DNA it gets!" Now he was talking faster, and angrier, "It even stole the ship I was serving on and we had to get it back, but our XO tried to kill us," Now his voice resembled machine gun fire at this point, "Byarrangingtwomishhushipstotryandkillus, butwesurvivedandgotrescuedbythefirstfleet!!" He took a deep breath in and out after that little ramble.

"Anyway, I think we'll need to call someone to help carry all this." Luca said as he flicked his communicator open and tried to call Jim.
 
"I hate 'em just as much as you do, Luca." Vincent crossed his arms. He was quite content with himself, secure in his knowledge of killing at least three Nekovalkyrja by spreading their gore across his hands in a magnificent explosion of their faces.
 
Jim slowed his bike down so that he could answer the call while maintaining control over the bike. He flipped the comm open and said, "Hey, Luca! Need something?" Taking his eyes off the comm for a minute, he zoomed around a slower vehicle and resumed his conversation.
 
"Yeah, Jim, I need some lifting power." Luca said on the other side of the line, with Vincent in view behind him, "I've bought us some furniture."
Then he remembered that Vincent wouldn't know about Jim, "Oh, and Jim, this is guy behind me is Vincent O'Malley. He'll be helping us. Anyway, try and get to the FurnitureNep store just near where the shuttle was parked."

In the background, the clerk who had served Luca had come out from behind the door, and had a question to ask him: "Sir, due to the amount that you've bought, would you like some assistance carrying it to your car or truck?"
Luca turned around, "Oh. I've got a shuttle. I'll just ring up the Pilot. Do you have a Parking lot or platform on the top of this building or something where he can land?"
The clerk nodded: "Yes. We do have a shuttle platform behind the shop. Used for deliveries. Send it over."

Luca pushed a few buttons on his communicator and initiated a three way conversation between him, Jim and John. John's face appeared on screen next to Jim in a separate box.
"What is it? You ready?" John asked.
"Sorta. I'd like you to get the shuttle flying. And park it on the FurnitureNep Shuttle Platform. It's literally right next to you."
"Roger that." John replied as his face faded from screen.

Luca turned to the Clerk, "He'll be landing in a moment. Deliver it there." He then focused his attention back to Jim, "Oh, and ... Where are you anyway?"
 
Jim looked back at the comm and said to the image of Luca on the screen, "I'm nearly there; I bet you can even hear me on this thing, its kinda loud." He was right, the hoverbike made a sound that was no louder than the normal traffic noises, except that it had a high whine that told of high speeds and a lot of wear and tear.

"What thing?" Luca answered curiously. He then realised that Jim hand managed to buy himself an Airbike because he saw everything moving behind Jim, as well as the now realised Noise, "...Oh you're joking! An Airbike!?"

Jim laughed, "Hell yeah, can't let you have all the fun right?" Just then he sped down the street at the building Luca was in, stopping a couple of feet in front of it. "Where are you?"

"Inside, dummy." Luca told him as he flicked his communicator shut and made his way through the furniture store and out the front entrance to meet Jim and his new Airbike, "Where'd you get that?" He asked as he examined the bike.

"Like it? Cost me nearly my whole bounty, but it was worth it. All it needs is a tune-up and a paint job and she'll be sittin' pretty. I got it from a garage that looked like guy cared more for his ride than his wallet; this thing feels like it has some small modifications done to it."

Luca wasn't an expert on Airbikes, but he was on Motorcycles."That thing looks pretty zippy, although my little bike might be able to outdo it." He then coughed a little, "Anyway - We're having furniture delivered to the base. John's behind this building picking it up. It's quite a lot. Cost me about 6000 KS."

Jim looked at Luca, telepathically telling him, We may have to test that sometime. "So I assume you need me to do some heavy lifting? Yeah, I suppose I can spare myself for a while. Not like I have anything else to do at the moment."

I'd like to see that! "Uh, Jim, I know you'd like to lift it, but -" He started while pushing his fingers together, "I've bought so much that it can't be lifted and has to be machine done, and hence picked up by John."Vincent then came along. His massive 8 foot tall ID-SOL structure towered over Jim and Luca, "Oh, and this is Vincent. Vincent, this is Jim, our medical specialist."

"Oh.." was all Jim could say when he saw the ID-SOL. We planning on storming the Red's HQ or what?! Jim extended his hand, "Nice to meet you, glad you're on our team!"

I think there are many Greens marines out there doing that already. Luca urged to Jim while masking a smile in the general direction.Vincent gave a nod in Jim's direction with a wave.
 
"Nice to meet you, Jim. I'll be another combat arms specialist and hope to assist you in any way possible." Vincent was curt and polite in his response, folding his arms behind his back.
 
By this time, Hitori had already returned to the shuttle. She hadn't introduced her return to Jim because he seemed busy at the time. She decided to hang back and think. What would be her next move? This could be quite a sticky situation, but she cannot just disappear on Luca. They had an unwritten contract, after all. At least, in her mind, they did. The Geshrin woman sighed as she sat in a nearby chair.
 
As Hitori sat in the shuttle with her thoughts. The shuttle took off at Luca's command and landed on the delivery and loading pads for the Furniture Shop.
John got up out of his chair when he'd opened the airlock and opened the Pilot Compartment's door. He then noticed Hitori.
"Oh, hey." John acknowledged her presence, "Didn't hear you come in. Just put your legs up for a moment, we're having something put in."

John took a peek out the shuttle airlock saw a pair of large robotic arms, and a big pile of flat-packed furniture that had to be loaded on.
One by one the flat slabs began to load onto the shuttle. John kept clear, standing at the back of the passenger's area and letting the arms do their work.
"So." John said to Hitori while rubbing his chinfluff, "Looks like we're living at that rundown hole called a base." He sighed for a moment as a particularly large slab was placed down with a thump and gust of air. "However, I overheard something about renovations from his old man or something beforehand... What do you think?"
 
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