THE TALES FROM COPPER 9! Volume 1 (Murder Drones)

Gearing Up - Chapter 002

Rick: "Listen, I don't care about getting the dent out of my suit, and I sure as hell won't be paying 2000 units for it! I just want to buy a fucking gauss pistol."  I said to the dealer, who is currently working me through the entire process of getting the most money possible out of my pocket.

Dealer: "Kid, as I said, I don't got no gauss pistols, best I can do is a plasma pistol. If you don't like that, you go take your sorry ass somewhere else." The dealer replied, obviously sick of my shit at this point.

Rick: "Fine, fine, fine, get me the pistol, but I want a discount." I told him, nearly raging over the amount of time he spent on this. The dealer told me if I wanted a discount, I need a code, so I leaned in close and whispered a lone word:
"...Jericho...."

He narrowed his eyes and ran me up and down, highly suspicious of me, before gesturing me to follow him to the back of the store. I followed, and he revealed a concealed elevator behind a bookshelf.

I walked inside, followed by a security guard, and it took us down. The elevator takes 5 minutes to and from each level, meaning I was stuck in a room with another person, cramming into a 1 by 1 meter space for 5 minutes.

When the doors opened, I walked into a small room with numerous vents and cameras, and then heard a familiar voice over the PA system.

Globak: "Rick? Is that's you? Oh Rick, is so good to be seeings you again my friend! Command, this guy is on Globak's personal guests list, let them through posthaste!"

The room then opened the large security door in front of me, leading into a large set of underground warehouses, which were filled to the brim with fully stocked shelving units.

It was cold and dusty, with the faint smell of burning metal, and a loud whirring sound from the vents that led to the surface filled my ears. The sound was then interrupted by the voice of an old friend.

Globak: "Ricky! My friend! Is so good to be seeings you again! How is you goings?"
A large, 6 armed, 4 legged creature approached me and gave me and near spine-breaking bear hug which caused a constriction in my breathing. "Yep, *gasp* I'm happy to *gasp* See you too, *gasp* please let go."

He dropped me down and I hit the floor breathing heavily, before catching my breath and standing back up.
"Globak, I know this is sudden, but I need some gear for a new contract and I think you can get it for me, mind helping me out?"

Globak then responded by flashing a cheesy smile that stretched to either side of his face, before place me up on his shoulder and taking me to a section of the warehouse that was designated 'industrial cargo storage'.

Globak then bent down, placed me back on the floor, and pulled a large shipping container out of the wall and ripped it open, placing it on the floor for me to see.

I was amazed to see how many unusual items and things were left inside, and asked why he was showing me this. He simply replied with, "An amazing gift for beloved friend." And urged me to go inside and check out the inventory.

In the single minute I inspected alone I could see at least 170,000,000 units worth of black-market equipment. He then proceeded to take the entire stock out and lay it out on a large table, before using a piece of machinery to shrink himself down to my height and helping me with selecting the appropriate equipment.

He firstly recommended a large Japanese style Katana, which featured a 7 ft long, paper thin blade that glowed with an ominous blood red. He then began to explain the information about the weapon,

"A Team of highest experienced thieves stole this from military base over... Around 400 years ago now? And it had been lost in black marketplace until 70 years ago, when it came to my possession. It has incredible value, as it cuttings through, both figuratively and literally, anything." He said.

"My scientists and engineers have done great deal of research on the weapon, figuring out how the blade works, but they yet to figure out exactly how they made it with technology they had back then. It uses frequencies to slice through any material that it touches."

"Frequencies?" I asked with an overwhelming curiosity, eager to know more.

"Freaky right? They figured out since every entity in universe has a 'resonant frequency' that everything can easily break from, if they could find equal opposite frequency of the blade, they could create something that would break anything else apart."

I then took a step back and thought about what he just said. Weaponising resonant frequencies? Reverse engineering sounds? The whole concept was plain stupid, so fucking stupid it worked flawlessly.

"Yeah, the whole process sounded completely theoretical, but the results were very pleasing, so, I wish for you to take this, I wish you be safe as I've heard that Copper 9 has recently been infested with cybernetic demons."
I stopped faster than a record scratch when I heard that.

"Hold on, A how the hell did you know i was taking a contract for going to Copper 9? B, robot demons?! C, how much do you want for it?" I asked, hooked into conversation in three different directions.

Globak laughed so hard the concrete floor shook and cracked. "Okay, here's the answers. A, no information goes anywhere without me knowing. B, yes, JCJenson has sent down disassembly drones to copper 9 as to eliminate the rogue drone populations. C, you can have The Murasama for free."

I then walked away from the table, laughed in disbelief, and called him out on what he just said.
"Nononononononono, nobody gets a gift from Globak the Gargantuan with no strings attached, not even blood relatives. What's your deal?"

Globak then placed the blade down and looked deep into my eyes, leaning over the table and started speaking in a low serious tone.

"Rick, your efforts of helping my businesses, and colleagues have helped me make trillions! I don't truly think that I can ever repay you enough, but I want to start trying now. As long as I'm breathing, you are true family, and family discounts are 100% off. Now, let us continue browsing, shall we?"