Origin ARS 6 (28 page)

"So, you want to get to third and seventh, before you head toward the place where Greelak works," said Rhea.

She pointed at an upcoming turn. Scott took it with all of the grace expected of someone driving a new vehicle in a foreign city. The sudden change in direction caused him to overreact slightly. He nearly clipped the curb, and narrowly managed not to hit a light post.

Rhea snickered at him gently, but Scott was not ashamed. Even with wheels, their sweet new ride did not take well to sharp turns. Completing that turn in one piece was wonderful as far as he was concerned.

The local police did not seek him out to fine him, and nothing more was made of his poor driving skills. Several more sharp turns were navigated before they found their way to the Sub Machine Gun shop that Greelak operated.

Parking was sparse, but they found a spot nearby after a moment of trial and error. Inside the shop, Scott noticed that a handful of patrons were checking out the guns. No one held a sandwich bag, however. It was a strange sight as far as he was concerned. Greelak's sandwiches were quite good.

"Yo, Greelak," said Scott, as he walked up to the counter.

The orc looked up from the onions that he was chopping. Despite the aroma that permeated from the neatly sliced vegetation, Greelak showed no sign of shedding a tear. He was an orc, dammit! No mere onion would cause him to shed a tear. "Hey, my man. Welcome back."

"Good to be back." Scott turned to Rhea and to Herbert. "This is my fiancé, Rhea. The furry badass there is my buddy Herbert."

Greelak eyed Rhea for a moment then looked down to Herbert. "Good to meet you. Name's Greelak Elfsmasher."

"Elfsmasher?" asked Rhea curiously.

The orc laughed in a jovial manner. He then waved his knife around in a friendly sort of way. "I'd explain, but it wouldn't be polite in front of a lady."

Rhea laughed softly, but then made her discomfort obvious when she stepped closer to Scott. Greelak's meaning was quite clear.

Scott gently patted her on the arm, and then looked back to Greelak. "I think we've brought you some stuff that you might like."

Orcish eyes widened in delight. "Did you now?"

"Yeah, man. Do you have somewhere to unload stuff, or do you want me to bring it in the front door?" asked Scott.

"You got the stuff nearby?" asked the orc.

"Crankshaft hooked us up with a sweet ride. It's out front," said Scott. Mention of Crankshaft caused Greelak's eyes to go wide and shimmer slightly. It was quite a disturbing sight for Scott, actually. The rough and tumble orc looked almost man-pretty for a moment.

He showed no concern for his shop as he went outside. Scott asked him about it on the way, but the orc merely waved him off. "They steal from me, I'll hunt 'em down."

A low, slow, whistle escaped Greelak's lips as he saw Crankshaft's handiwork. "Now,
that's
a true beauty."

Scott grinned at him then pulled a minigun out of storage. Greelak's eyes lit up once more. "Oh, now you're speakin' mah language, man!"

The group shared a warm laugh then the exchange began. Greelak stored all of the weapons in a bag then motioned for them to follow him around to the side of the building. They entered his shop from a side door, and found themselves inside a beautiful wonderland filled tools of death and mayhem.

"Damn. I need a shop like this," said Scott. Bits and pieces of guns, robot parts, and various blades were strewn about the place.

"Everyone who gets to see it, says it." Greelak laughed loudly then locked the door behind them. "Can't have people gettin' in here. This is where mah real money comes from."

"I figured that the sandwiches weren't the real attraction, even if I liked them," said Scott.

Greelak grinned at him briefly, and then started to pull the guns from his bag "Give me a moment to test 'em. Need to so how much of a bonus to give ya."

Scott nodded to him then went to stand near Rhea and Herbert. The rodent sat on a nearby table in order to see everything better. Rhea slipped her fingers between Scott's and leaned against the wall. All that was left to do was wait.

Sparks flew while Greelak went about his business. Now and then a gun barrel would rotate swiftly in place then come to a stop with a series of clicks. He finished his task after a few minutes then turned to look at Scott. "I've seen better, but I'll take 'em!"

The orc weaponsmith and restauranteur held up one finger then left the room. A few minutes later he returned with a small brown sack. "One gold for tha shipment, and another hunnerd fifty silver for quality."

"I won't say no to that," said Scott, a slight grin on his face. Sure, the guns would have been worth a lot more if they actually worked. Earning over two gold for a contract was amazing at the current level of his group.

Greelak tossed him the sack. The moment that Scott caught it, his Crysta-com made a beeping noise. The contract was complete. Not long after that his headache began to subside.

"You find better, bring 'em to me. I'll buy 'em," said Greelak.

"It's a deal," said Scott. "We'll see about finding some more."

"Bring me something really nice, and I might give ya a special bonus," said Greelak with a grin.

Scott laughed then nodded his head. "Sounds good. See you later with some better stuff."

They left the back room after business was complete. The trio were quite satisfied with their pay for a job well done. The weapons that they traded in were worth considerably more if fully functional. Broken, and missing parts, they were little more than scrap to anyone without a high level of gunsmithing skill.

The crew hopped in their rad mobile then went back to the hotel. It was slightly costly to stay there, but it was easier to keep the old place than it would be to hunt through the city every time they came back to town. Plus, they kept a few items in their room.

Once they entered their humble abode, the team split up temporarily. Rhea went to do whatever elves did when they answered the call of nature. Scott sat down in front of the C-Vision, and Herbert went to check on his helmet.

Scott fiddled with the controls briefly. There were few channels, nothing like on Earth, and all of them were focused on infomercials at the moment. Sadly, none of the advertising-centric offerings interested him. Most of the current shows were focused on household supplies and jewelry that did not offer stat bonuses.

Just as Rhea finished her business in the restroom, Scott sat up straight. The infomercial on the screen was interrupted by an emergency news broadcast.

"What the—?" began Scott. Rhea joined him just in time to see what drew his attention.

"That's right, we are coming to you live from the scene of carnage taking place in the Trinity Highcrowne region." The footage on the holographic screen showed a live broadcast of an attack on the all-too-familiar settlement.

Dark armored monstrosities stalked through the streets, their axes rose and fell in a bid to slay anything that they could reach. Scott's eyes narrowed when he saw one of the living armors slam its axe into the door of the inn that they had been staying at recently.

"Shit," he said, his chest heaving. The sight of carnage and bloodshed made his blood pressure begin to rise. The attack happened just after they left the area. Had they been there for another few hours, they would have been in the center of it all. More to the point, maybe they could have done something!

"Looks like we left just in time," remarked Rhea. She eyed the images on the screen with casual interest. It was nothing that she had not seen countless times before.

"Just in time?" Scott looked at her like she had lost her mind. "People are dying over there."

Rhea pointed to the screen. Scott looked back to it then blinked. The reported had pulled back from the scene. The true scope of the battle came into view. Thousands of armored warriors were revealed. They swarmed around the small outpost like evil locusts hell-bent on devouring everything.

"We would have died if we were there," said Rhea. She squeezed Scott's shoulder gently then continued, "By the time Valkovia marshals an offensive, that outpost will be long since dead." She held a quite grace about her as she said it, like she had accepted an inevitable thing.

"Crankshaft, and those people..," said Scott. It was absolutely absurd. They had literally just left the place!

"Who knows? We won't be able to find out anything until the task force is readied," said Rhea. She bit her lip. "The timing sucks."

"There's a good time for something like this to happen?" asked Scott, an incredulous expression writ large on his face.

She nodded to him. "Absolutely."

Scott eyed her carefully for a moment. It was hard for him to understand her meaning through her expression and body language.

Rhea frowned cutely then said, "I have to head back to work. Otherwise, I would join the task force that they are probably trying to put together outside of town."

"Damn," muttered Scott. Her logic was impeccable from a game stand-point, but felt a bit cold from a humane view-point. It left a strangely hollow feeling in his gut for a brief moment, but he realized that she had made a point. She had also given him an idea. "There's a task force?"

"If you turn the channel to the local access station, it'll probably have information," said Rhea.

Scott did as she suggested. The screen now showed a man in black armor. Below his image, a repeating banner provided information about the call to arms. "All brave people currently near the city of Valkovia, heed this call to arms. The Storm Tyrant has begun a new offensive in the North. Meet on the plains outside the city before dawn."

Rhea poked Scott in the shoulder. "You should go."

"They'd let me join up with them?" Scott looked up to Rhea, his eyes curious. "I'm not exactly a citizen, you know."

The elf maiden grinned at him then nodded. "Absolutely. You'll gain a lot of contribution and social experience if nothing else."

"Contribution... What can I do with it, anyway? I haven't seen anything that I can actually do with it," said Scott.

"All kinds of things," said Rhea. "Equipment, land, discounts, specialty items, and even free services in the area, there's plenty of stuff that you can do with contribution."

"How do I use it?" asked Scott.

"You'll probably have to wait till the crises is averted, but when it's over you should go to the city magistrate's office to spend it. At the very least you can trade it in for money," said Rhea.

"Man, it's too bad you can't go." Scott reached over and took Rhea's hand. "How am I going to survive another week without ya?"

She smiled warmly at him. "Well, aren't you sweet?"

"It happens," said Scott. "Try to at least text me or something when you can?"

"Of course! The time-dilation might make them come several hours after I send them, but I'll write," said Rhea.

Herbert took the chance to chitter loudly. They looked over to him and discovered that he was pointing at his skull helmet. The beautiful construct was finally complete.

"Good job," said Scott. "I couldn't have made that."

The grass rat waved him off then laughed in his own special chittering manner. He then patted the helmet and pointed to Scott.

Eager to see what would happen, Scott picked up the cat skull helm and placed it on his head. The item quickly began to twist and wriggle, soon it fit him perfectly. He clasped and then tightened the chin strap before turning to look at Rhea. "So, do I look barbaric and sexy?"

Rhea threw a hand to her face and laughed. "You're certainly something."

He grinned at her then turned back to Herbert. "Thanks for this! It's great."

A somewhat bashful chitter was the little fellows response. He rubbed the back of his head then dragged his foot from side-to-side on the table.

At the moment, Scott looked a great deal like a barbarian who had joined a local circus. It was a strange sort of ensemble that he wore. Red, yellow, and blue clothing mixed with an animal skull helm and a similar set of fur bracers. There was no chance that someone would fail to recognize him in a fight. That much was certain.

"Hey, will you be going with me to join the task force?" Scott looked to Herbert for an answer.

The Grassrat shook his head. He had other plans.

"I see. You want to train or something?" asked Scott. Training was always good. He could certainly use a bit more of it.

Herbert nodded then performed a happy little jig. His feet needed to be in motion. It was the only way to live.

"Guess it'll just be me." Scott rubbed his chin lightly. "Wonder how long the task force will take?"

"It depends on the number of troops in the battle. I'd guess a few days, if the Storm Tyrant doesn't attack with reserve forces," said Rhea.

"Right, you have a lot of experience with large-scale battles in this world," said Scott. "How bad is this?"

"This?" Rhea shook her head. "If the reporter showed everything properly, the main forces would be swept back in about a day. There'd be another day or two of hunting for stragglers."