05-21-2016, 01:36 PM
Carmelita had taken a few days to recover from the wounds she’d endured dealing with a Liberation Front cell in the Town With No Name, and she’d spent most of that on guard duty up on the palisade, getting familiar with Roland’s more regular deputies. The water towers were being refilled quickly now that the pumps were no longer sabotaged, and it looked like the Town was another step away from anarchy, not that it gave Roland a chance to rest. He’d ridden out with five truck drivers the day after it had all been settled, returning with all of the hijacked water tankers within hours. There were a few prisoners, but less than Carmelita had hoped for: she had no doubt the rest were either dead from high-speed impact or the more deadly form of justice.
It wasn’t something she could live with easily. Carmelita had never taken a life deliberately, with the possible exception of Clockwerk’s hate chip, and knowing that necessity or moral disregard for life resulted in so many dead throughout the Omniverse was a burden on her mind that she happily latched onto. The alternative was thinking about Sly’s death.
Even so, after two days she was just about ready to drive out looking for problems to fix to avoid going mad from inactivity. She didn’t have her usual luxuries to hand, nor would she have enjoyed them if she had, so when she got word that Chip wanted to talk to her meeting the young three-eyed girl she’d rescued from the raiders seemed like a god-send. Wandering the streets, she found the adobe and concrete domes that made up the seedy Moss-eye’s Lay Cantina and found herself pointed to one of the more secluded booths. She gave a brief glimpse up at the burn mark on the wall before sliding in opposite the purple-furred teenager.
Carmelita smiled at Chip as she sat down.
“Hello Chip, how are you finding the Town?”
There was silence for a moment, Chip staring down at her hands for a moment before replying in a strained tone.
“It’s… great. Yeah. Lot’s of… stuff.”
Carmelita raised an eyebrow, but before she could ask Chip pulled out a brown package and thrust it across the table.
“Here. I wanted to thank you for rescuing me from the raiders. I noticed you didn’t have much with you aside from your shock pistol, so I scraped together some ionic resonating circuits and bought some durasteel to make you a prototype. I know primes can replicate things once you’ve memorised them so I thought it would make a good thank you gift.”
Curious, Carmelita peeled off the duct tape holding the package together and carefully unwrapped it. Inside lay what looked like a custom set of handcuffs, thick, sturdy and connected with thick chain links. Lights embedded in the red polished chrome finish glowed softly, and the same Interpol and Cooper Clan symbols that adorned her stun gun were present as well. She lifted the arcs almost reverentially, feeling the heft with her arms and twirling them for good measure. Pressing a button, one of the arc extended its half semicircle with a rapid whir and click, sparks flying from the chunky blue electrodes that pressed inwards.
Carmelita looked at the cuffs in awe. The feeling of omnilium sliding out from her caressed the prototype, memorising the structure instinctively so that she could replicate it in the future. She looked back at Chip, mouth open and struggling to find words to say.
“Chip, this is… this is too much. You must have spent hours working on this.”
Chip gave an embarrassed laugh, scratching the back of her head as her three eyes looked in every direction but the vixen opposite her.
“Yeah, well, I kind of did? I mean, not like there’s going to magically be a job opening in a town as cramped as this one in two days and I had to make use of my time somehow. I wanted to make you something bigger, like a proper transport or something, but I don’t have enough materials or cash on me to do that sort of thing.”
Carmelita stared, mental gears turning in her mind. The girl was obviously in need of somewhere to go, something to do, and with the sort of talent she’d displayed she had likely grown up around machinery. She’d also been comfortable driving the water tanker, managing to shake several of the pursuing vehicles without breaking down literally or emotionally… there was a question about where Chip had obtained these skills, but from first impressions she seemed like a good kid. If Carmelita wanted to pull together a shining example of true policing for the Omniverse, then a good tech-base would be essential, and here was a budding mechanic who desperately needed a job and direction.
“Chip, I’d like to offer you a choice. Either we head out into town, find the best mechanic and I show them these… Fisti-Cuffs you made, which I can guarantee are of such high quality work that they’ll hire you on the spot, or I take you on myself and put your talents to work protecting the citizens of the Omniverse.”
Three eyes boggling at once was an experience Carmelita was unlikely to forget anytime soon.
“Wait, what? What would you want me for?”
“I used to know a group whose success was often assured by their mechanic. If I want to establish an organisation, an Interdimensional Policing Agency, capable of making a difference and changing things for the better, I’ll need someone who knows how to build things.”
Chip narrowed her eyes at Carmelita for a few moments, silent. She leant back and tapped her fingers on the table.
“What would I need to do and what would the pay be like?”
“To start with, you’ll just be on call for consultation. I don’t have a suitable location for establishing a workshop yet, so until then I’d call you if I needed something built. After we find a workshop, you’ll be in charge of building and maintaining vehicles and equipment for the force. I’d also like it if you were to join any future recruits in training in self-defence in case we’re attacked. As for pay, I’d start with paying for food, board and living expenses, then half again for personal expenses. I have credits, but I can make things from scratch if you’d prefer that.”
Carmelita saw an expression flash behind Chip’s eyes, but before she could work out what it was it had already been hidden. Chip looked down at her hands for a moment, thinking, before she looked back at Carmelita. Her eyes bore into Carmelita’s, sincerity in their intensity.
“I’ll join you, provisionally. If you don’t seem to be what I hope you are, I reserve the right to back out of this arrangement, no consequences.”
Carmelita nodded and reached out her hand. Chip took it, and they shook. In the back of a shady cantina, an organisation had been seeded.
It wasn’t something she could live with easily. Carmelita had never taken a life deliberately, with the possible exception of Clockwerk’s hate chip, and knowing that necessity or moral disregard for life resulted in so many dead throughout the Omniverse was a burden on her mind that she happily latched onto. The alternative was thinking about Sly’s death.
Even so, after two days she was just about ready to drive out looking for problems to fix to avoid going mad from inactivity. She didn’t have her usual luxuries to hand, nor would she have enjoyed them if she had, so when she got word that Chip wanted to talk to her meeting the young three-eyed girl she’d rescued from the raiders seemed like a god-send. Wandering the streets, she found the adobe and concrete domes that made up the seedy Moss-eye’s Lay Cantina and found herself pointed to one of the more secluded booths. She gave a brief glimpse up at the burn mark on the wall before sliding in opposite the purple-furred teenager.
Carmelita smiled at Chip as she sat down.
“Hello Chip, how are you finding the Town?”
There was silence for a moment, Chip staring down at her hands for a moment before replying in a strained tone.
“It’s… great. Yeah. Lot’s of… stuff.”
Carmelita raised an eyebrow, but before she could ask Chip pulled out a brown package and thrust it across the table.
“Here. I wanted to thank you for rescuing me from the raiders. I noticed you didn’t have much with you aside from your shock pistol, so I scraped together some ionic resonating circuits and bought some durasteel to make you a prototype. I know primes can replicate things once you’ve memorised them so I thought it would make a good thank you gift.”
Curious, Carmelita peeled off the duct tape holding the package together and carefully unwrapped it. Inside lay what looked like a custom set of handcuffs, thick, sturdy and connected with thick chain links. Lights embedded in the red polished chrome finish glowed softly, and the same Interpol and Cooper Clan symbols that adorned her stun gun were present as well. She lifted the arcs almost reverentially, feeling the heft with her arms and twirling them for good measure. Pressing a button, one of the arc extended its half semicircle with a rapid whir and click, sparks flying from the chunky blue electrodes that pressed inwards.
Carmelita looked at the cuffs in awe. The feeling of omnilium sliding out from her caressed the prototype, memorising the structure instinctively so that she could replicate it in the future. She looked back at Chip, mouth open and struggling to find words to say.
“Chip, this is… this is too much. You must have spent hours working on this.”
Chip gave an embarrassed laugh, scratching the back of her head as her three eyes looked in every direction but the vixen opposite her.
“Yeah, well, I kind of did? I mean, not like there’s going to magically be a job opening in a town as cramped as this one in two days and I had to make use of my time somehow. I wanted to make you something bigger, like a proper transport or something, but I don’t have enough materials or cash on me to do that sort of thing.”
Carmelita stared, mental gears turning in her mind. The girl was obviously in need of somewhere to go, something to do, and with the sort of talent she’d displayed she had likely grown up around machinery. She’d also been comfortable driving the water tanker, managing to shake several of the pursuing vehicles without breaking down literally or emotionally… there was a question about where Chip had obtained these skills, but from first impressions she seemed like a good kid. If Carmelita wanted to pull together a shining example of true policing for the Omniverse, then a good tech-base would be essential, and here was a budding mechanic who desperately needed a job and direction.
“Chip, I’d like to offer you a choice. Either we head out into town, find the best mechanic and I show them these… Fisti-Cuffs you made, which I can guarantee are of such high quality work that they’ll hire you on the spot, or I take you on myself and put your talents to work protecting the citizens of the Omniverse.”
Three eyes boggling at once was an experience Carmelita was unlikely to forget anytime soon.
“Wait, what? What would you want me for?”
“I used to know a group whose success was often assured by their mechanic. If I want to establish an organisation, an Interdimensional Policing Agency, capable of making a difference and changing things for the better, I’ll need someone who knows how to build things.”
Chip narrowed her eyes at Carmelita for a few moments, silent. She leant back and tapped her fingers on the table.
“What would I need to do and what would the pay be like?”
“To start with, you’ll just be on call for consultation. I don’t have a suitable location for establishing a workshop yet, so until then I’d call you if I needed something built. After we find a workshop, you’ll be in charge of building and maintaining vehicles and equipment for the force. I’d also like it if you were to join any future recruits in training in self-defence in case we’re attacked. As for pay, I’d start with paying for food, board and living expenses, then half again for personal expenses. I have credits, but I can make things from scratch if you’d prefer that.”
Carmelita saw an expression flash behind Chip’s eyes, but before she could work out what it was it had already been hidden. Chip looked down at her hands for a moment, thinking, before she looked back at Carmelita. Her eyes bore into Carmelita’s, sincerity in their intensity.
“I’ll join you, provisionally. If you don’t seem to be what I hope you are, I reserve the right to back out of this arrangement, no consequences.”
Carmelita nodded and reached out her hand. Chip took it, and they shook. In the back of a shady cantina, an organisation had been seeded.