Lost Rain
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Outrun - Chapter 156
🕑 Added 2024-10-09 22:04:01 +0000 UTCA guard with a Constellation patch on his arm passed me the same black card I’d gotten the last couple times I’d been through the initial checkpoint. “Don’t lose this. We don’t offer seconds, and it's your pass to the next market. Just scan it with your phone.”
”Yeah yeah.” I waved a hand, taking the offered card as I headed further into the warehouse. The PMCs, outside of looking cool, were kinda boring. It’s like they had a teleprompter in their helmet telling them what to say.
At least the market itself was more interesting. This time around, the Constellation Night Market was held in an abandoned museum just on the fringe of Oldtown and the Outskirts. It sat opposite the FSA base, on the west side of Oldtown just next to Portside. Yeah, complete opposite side of Aythryn City from where I lived.
“Thanks for inviting me! I’ve never had the chance to participate in one of these.” Torren chuckled from my side as we walked into the place. I needed a car, and, well, he had one. Hence my invitation.
“Thanks for helping me out,” I replied as we stepped fully into the Night Market. Stalls lined the halls of the museum, each and every one of them stock full of various goodies. The main hall of the museum felt like a flea market with barely enough space to walk between the dozens of stalls selling all kinds of exotic goods.
Torren led the way for me just like back in school. He easily worked his way through the crowd while I tailed slightly behind him. “Don’t mention it. Anything to get away for a while. That last gig-” He cut himself off with a shrug.
”That bad?”
“Just boring. Nothing happened the entire time. Some good food though, so not entirely bad.” The big guy squeezed through two people arguing over the pricing of an item. “Where are we headed anyway?”
”To a guy named Suvroc. He’s got a bit of everything. And if he doesn’t have it, he knows who does.” Or something like that.
He froze, an excited look crossing his face as we passed by an exhibition room full of various pop-up food stalls. A delicious scent leaked out into the rest of the museum. ”Hey, uh, call me when you need me?”
”Chek.” And just like that, I was by my lonesome again. Well, at least he was giving me a ride. A free ride at that. And it was good to see the big guy again.
The museum was an interesting place for a Night Market. It was old, and severely lacking in repairs, so rain constantly dripped in through cracks in the ceiling and shattered skylights. A group of dedicated Constellation PMCs constantly walked around with mops to clean up the pools and dump out full containers to have some semblance of a controlled environment. That all was ruined by the thousands of careless shoppers tracking in mud, ash, and all sorts of garbage through the freshly mopped ground.
Even the lighting here wasn't the best. Outside of the occasional strike of lightning and neon signage shining in through the skylights from the surrounding buildings, the Night Market owner had strung up multi-colored fairy lights everywhere. They cast a constantly swaying array of color around the place, the rainbows blending in with each other as they reflected off tracked around water.
I wandered around for a good five or ten minutes before I felt a familiar tug. I flicked on Aetherial Perception, catching sight of a long ethereal cord gently pulling me toward one of the back halls. Suvroc. Or at least his magic coin.
I easily followed the strand, heading through an abandoned back hallway to a near-silent exhibit hall. The door was flanked by a duo of Constellation PMCs in their full gear. They both eyed me as I passed in between them.
I wonder if they’re for hire? Or did the Constellation's PMCs only work for the Night Market? Now that I think about it, I’d never seen them anywhere else. ‘Course, it was probably because we were in two vastly different fields. Was Constellation an actual PMC group that hosted the Night Market though?
Ha- look at me. I have a bit of money and now I’m thinking of hiring out PMCs. So stupid. Not like I’d have Rayn for much longer. It would all drain away into Suvroc’s pocket so I could finally get a metal printer. And then maybe I could start selling some products at a Night Market for a side income. Finally put my Tech skills to use outside of making gadgets.
Boxes of various goods covered almost every part of the exhibit hall, so many of them that they looked like the place’s walls. A table sat, abandoned by itself, off to the back with the rest of Suvroc’s typical assortment of goods on it. The attractive coin he used lay off to the side of the table, though the man himself was nowhere in sight.
I stepped into the exhibit hall, instantly spotting Suvroc in his typical cloak and mask. He stood amongst an exhibit of wax cavemen frozen as they waved clubs excitedly around a fire. He calmly sat in the midst of it all, warming up by the very real fire that had been lit in the exhibit’s center. I temporarily whitelisted him for Master of Disguise.
He glanced up, his mask catching my attention once more. Its four red eyes seemed to gleam with uncanny intelligence. “Ah, Suvroc’s favorite customer! Come, come, Suvroc has just what you need! And if he doesn’t? Suvroc knows who does!”
For some reason, I felt as though the guy had a certain level of intensity that he hadn’t had the last few times I’d seen him. Not quite enough to trigger Insight, but enough for me to pick up off his tone and body language, however hidden they were by his clothes. “You call everyone your favorite customer?”
Suvroc exaggeratedly clasped his hands to his chest. “You wound Suvroc’s honor… ‘Course my favorite customer is the favorite customer.” I could feel his gaze even without seeing his eyes. It had an unsettling note to it that I hadn’t felt from the guy before. It seemed to linger on my hands for a few beats too long. “What can Suvroc do for you?”
”I need a printer.” I looked around at the tons of merchandise stacked all along the walls. “A metal one. Preferably something higher quality.”
”Suvroc has just what you need!” Several boxes detached from the walls, floating down to us of their own accord. A particularly large box, one that would need its own semi to move it, shifted forward as if it weighed nothing. “How about the Sentinel Super Printer? Sentinel uses it in all their chrome manufacturing processes. Five hundred thousand.”
I rubbed my arm as I stared at the massive box. What would I even need one of those for? No, before that- “Way out of price range. Not that high quality. I’ve got just over forty-five thousand I can move at the moment.”
“No worries! No worries! Suvroc has just the thing!” The majority of the larger boxes moved back to their resting places as several smaller ones took their place. This time around, a tiny box floated forward. The picture on the front looked like a microwave oven. “Softworks Micro-fabricator, capable of printing in any place with its built-in solar panel array!”
“It’s kind of small?” I’d be out of luck if I wanted to make anything larger than a pistol.
Suvroc floated a box perfectly between the two. ”Schweigen International’s Technological Creations Housing. Or SITCH. It’s what they use for all electronic fabrications in their vehicles. Can make big or small items, with interchangeable nozzles for different levels of detail. Comes with advanced modularity based on the desired process.”
”Oh? How much?”
“Forty-five thousand. Extra for any modules. Suvroc likes his favorite customer though, so Suvroc will offer a deal! Suvroc will throw in the Multa-Melta module to use any metal!” I could hear the grin in his voice.
I looked down at my phone and then put a helpless expression on my face. “That’s just over budget. I won’t be able to afford it and get printer spools too…”
Suvroc cocked his head at me and then nodded understandingly. “Suvroc sees, Suvroc sees! Then, for forty-five thousand and five hundred, Suvroc will throw in an array of large material filaments! Copper, Steel, and Aluminum alloys. Even a spool of Titanium. Good, yes?”
”Deal.” I flicked on the bank app, sending him the money. At the same time, I sent a message to Torren. “My mikata will be over in a minute to carry it out.”
“Sure, sure… in the meantime, how about a little game with Suvroc?” The masked man asked as he leaned forward onto the table.
I eyed him, stepping back a bit to maintain the distance between us. “Like last time?”
”Chek. Suvroc will start. Suvroc has heard a new faction of the underworld has moved into the area. Something big. Suvroc’s contacts in Bricktown are terrified after corpses turned up left and right.” Suvroc said dispassionately as he checked his gloved hand.
”Um… okay.” Bricktown? Maybe it was related to the Neo-Joker’s disappearance? What should I say? What was something big? “Uh- there’s an Underground faction planning something big in the city. Seem obsessed with plants. One of my mikatas mentioned something about corrupted Aether?”
“Ah? Interesting…” The merchant shuddered and backed up to the fire.
He tilted his head watching me for a few moments as he warmed back up. I was half tempted to join him. The museum was incredibly leaky, and there was a salty chill in the air so close to the ocean. Then I remembered my poncho and tapped on the climate control.
I remained silent and looked down at my phone just so I wouldn’t have to talk to him any longer. I don’t know what was different this time around, but something about the merchant felt off. Almost like there was a certain anger in his gaze, though I couldn’t tell for sure since his mask blocked everything. I don’t really know? I’d never got this feeling from him before. And it didn't seem directed at me in the first place, so it was hard to say for sure.
Thankfully, Torren arrived before too long. He walked up, scarfing down a bowl of ramen. He slurped up the last of the noodles, tossing it into a trash can. “Ah, hey Zuku!”
”Hey…” I looked back, giving a side eye to the creepy merchant. I hope he got the message.
He seemed to get some kind of message as he immediately moved on to business. “So, what am I carrying out?”
Suvroc tilted his head toward Torren then waved his hand. Following the motion, a box lifted up off the ground and headed over to him. A second empty one followed, immediately filled up as ten different spools of wire flew into it, “Favorite customer! Come again!”
”Chek chek.” I waved offhandedly to the unsettling merchant then motioned to Torren.
Torren stared down at the box for a second, a frown etched onto his face. Then he sighed and withdrew a wand from one of his pockets. He swooshed it around in a complex pattern as the Aether twisted and warped around him for several seconds. Then, in a burst of light, his body grew several times, turning back into the muscle monster I saw at the Mortas Motel.
He easily picked up the printer, even going as far as to hold it in one arm for a few seconds as he stacked the other onto it before nodding to me. “Let’s delta.”
”Chek. See ya, Suvroc.” I followed Torren out of the exhibition hall and back into the rest of the museum. Unlike what I expected, Torren didn’t immediately head for the exit. Instead, he opted for the long way around looping through the vibrant abandoned museum.
He looked over his shoulder back at me, nodding towards a hall full of booths and stalls. “This okay? First time I’ve been to one of these…”
I flashed him a thumbs up, flicking the hood on my poncho back up and over my head to hide the rest of my face in its shadow. ”Whatever you want. You’re the one carrying my stuff anyway.”
We headed through the rest of the Night Market, looking at this and that. There was literally everything here from rare ammo sellers to Medech’s offering their services. Hell, there was even an exotic pet merchant selling to a more rich taste.
And people were buying. There were always people buying in Aythryn City. Quite wealthy ones at that. I might’ve been tempted to pick some pockets if not for the Constellation PMCs watching like hawks. Not worth getting kicked out of my only Night Market connection. Or worse.
Torren bought a few things, though most of it was food. He did get a meaty revolver coated in gold. Far too shiny and tacky for my tastes, but he seemed to like it. Definitely not worth the five thousand Rayn he spent on it without a care. Some people were just built differently.
I spent most of the time looking around at stuff I’d like to buy and yet couldn’t afford. For instance, this was this really nice and super thin ballistic weave t-shirt offering complete bullet resistance against small arms. Nearly five thousand Rayn. Sure, I could've bought it. But it was nice to have some funds in case I needed them. Maybe next time.
Eventually, Torren and I got into his car and headed back to my apartment. I’d have to bring it over to the speakeasy in parts. I’d keep it in the back hidden behind the second fake wall for now. At least, until I turned it into a real speakeasy. The idea became more and more appealing as time passed, especially since I could retire my real identity to always have a fallback into a more legitimate business.
But of course, all that required money. A lot of money. I’d have to buy the apartment building and completely remodel the speakeasy. Still, it was nice to have a new goal. After months of being single-mindedly focused on getting the metal printer so I could take full advantage of Tech, I was worried I’d feel lost. Having a new goal relieved that worry.
Course, I also had a mountain of other things I needed to do. For one, I needed to find Ryan Tresh. Or at least find out what happened to him. Looking through the files I klepped from Cold Moon Solutions might have some pointers. That, and they’d have nearly eighty years' worth of blueprints I could peruse.
There was also that egg I still needed to get. Once I have Blackout up and running, which should be soon one way or another, I’ll make an attempt at it. Or at least look more into it. More info-gathering wouldn’t hurt. And such a massive lab surely had some research worth snagging if I could get in.
Torren carted the box up to my apartment and left as I cleaned up and refocused my mind. Once he left, I started working to transport my new printer and the rest of my toys while I was at it.
