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61 - Tinkering

  Westbrook

  November 22nd

  2069

  Before she could get started with her Engineering work, Sophie needed to purchase a few things from Ricky, the super sketchy gun store owner. Specifically, she needed a new set of her regular merc gear. Her original equipment had gotten far too damaged over the past months and repairing it with her current skill level seemed difficult, if not impossible. On the positive side, she had plenty of eddies to buy a new set.

  Of course, she drove to the store in her new Mackinaw, now having a vehicle capable of transporting more sellable weapons. She pulled up just down the street from the store and jumped out before dragging a pair of duffle bags from the tray.

  She made her way over to the 2nd Amendment store, pushed the door open and walked inside. Her eyes immediately locked onto Ricky, who was lazing around behind the counter fiddling with a pistol.

  He looked up, clearly bored, until he spotted her. His face brightened as he stood up, giving her a wave. “Hey Sophie! How are you?”

  For a moment, the room froze. Sophie stared at the man. Then she turned, walking back the way she came.

  “Ah! Wait! Sorry, uh…Sarah! Sorry Sarah!” Sophie twisted her head, looking back at him with a glare as she tried to wriggle her bags out the door.

  “What do you want, creep?” He hurriedly made his way out from behind the counter. She dropped one of her bags, pulling her gun. “Come any closer and I’ll blow a hole through your skull,” she snarled. “How the fuck do you know my name?”

  “Ah, well…I can’t really say?”

  “Then fuck off.” With that, she turned to leave again. For a moment, Sophie thought the man wouldn’t try to stop her. She heard a step and half turned, ready to put a bullet through the man. Instead, he’d taken a step backwards, holding his hands up.

  “Look, I’m sorry but I really can’t tell you. However, I swear I don’t want to hurt you. In fact, I’d say I want to help you.” His face was apologetic but Sophie wasn’t buying it.

  “Oh yeah? You want to help me? Bullshit! No fucking way you want to ‘help’ me for no reason. You’ve always been creepy but you’re taking it to a whole new level here.”

  “Ah? Was I really?” He shook his head. “Nevermind. I can tell you don’t trust me and that’s totally my fault.” Sophie gave him a pointed look at the comment and he coughed lightly. “Right…Anyway. You can shoot me or walk out if you want. But I don’t want to harm you. In fact, the stuff I can provide will probably help you survive better.”

  “Hah? What, you think you’re the only one that sells good gear?”

  “No no. I’m the only one that sells good, reliable and fairly cheap gear. Well, at the very least I’m the only one that you have access to.”

  Sophie didn’t like what he was saying but part of her had to acknowledge it was true. There were plenty of other vendors in Night City that would sell her similar equipment but there was always a risk of poor quality. She looked at him again.

  Her instincts weren’t telling her there was danger in associating with him but she still didn’t like the situation. She felt blind.

  “You have a backer. Megacorp maybe? Or one of the gangs. Actually no, you don’t have the right feel for a gang member…So a corp.” Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in her head. “Oh. You’re a talent scout or recruiter, aren’t you?” He looked at her, mouth open.

  “Um, yeah. Close enough, I guess. Fuck. I thought I was doing a good job hiding it.” He scratched his cheek sheepishly.

  She still felt like he was incredibly suspicious and Sophie didn’t think she’d gotten his full background, but Investigation wasn’t highlighting any oddities in his behaviour aside from the general suspicion. She figured that would be good enough for the moment.

  “Fine. I’ll keep buying from you.” She kicked over the duffel bag that she’d previously dropped. “Eddies for everything inside. Then we’ll talk about actual gear.” Ricky, if that was even his real name, knelt down and pulled the bag open.

  “Sheesh. This is a lot of weapons,” he said. Sophie kept a keen eye on him as he wandered to the back, tallying up how much he owed her for the guns. It was a good chunk of eddies, though some of it would inevitably disappear after purchasing the armour she needed from him.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Sooo, can I get something else for you?” He asked, still keeping his distance.

  Sophie tossed him the second bag she’d been carrying. “Yeah. I need a new set of the armour I bought last time. The netrunner suit and plate carrier. All of it. And if you’ve got any fancy corpo weapons, I want one. For free. Treat it as an apology for being a creep.”

  He sighed. “Fine. You coming down with me?”

  “Heh. No. I barely trusted you back when we first met and I definitely don’t trust you now. I’m not interested in visiting your basement. I’ll stay here.” He sighed again, then took the bag she’d passed him and headed to the back.

  A few, long minutes passed before he returned, the duffle bag bulging. She grabbed it from him and sent over the payment, then turned to walk out without another word. Just as she passed the threshold of the store, she looked back.

  “For the record, you were doing a terrible job at hiding your second identity. Either work on it or just stop. You’re the most suspicious person I’ve ever met.” With that said, Sophie left without looking back. She had work to do.

  -----------------------

  Sophie leaned over a small workbench she’d set up, tightening the last bolt on her makeshift metal powder grinder. The device was a rough, cobbled-together thing, assembled from scavenged parts; a salvaged motor from an old industrial fan, a high-speed rotary blade she had sharpened herself, and a repurposed containment chamber pulled from a broken air filter.

  The design was simple enough: the motor would spin the blade at high speeds, reducing scrap metal into fine shavings, which would then be collected and sieved down into powder small enough for her 3D printer. It wasn’t perfect, but unless she wanted to buy an expensive, properly made grinder, it was the best she could do.

  Flipping the switch, the machine sputtered to life. The motor whined, and the blade began to spin with a high-pitched whir. Sophie grabbed a small chunk of scrap steel, feeding it carefully into the chamber.

  Sparks flickered, and a harsh grinding noise filled the air as metal was shaved away, slowly breaking down into tiny flecks. She monitored the output, running a handful of powder through her fingers. It wasn’t as fine as commercial-grade material, but it was usable and for her current needs, that’s all she needed.

  Once she had a large amount of metal being ground down, she turned her attention to her gear. First was her netrunner suit. She laid it out flat, gently tearing apart the seams and peeling back layers before carefully cutting out small samples of the fabric.

  The outer layer was a woven synthetic blend, made to be lightweight, durable, and somewhat resistant to small-caliber rounds. Beneath that, a network of conductive threading ran through the material, linking various embedded electronics, likely designed for cooling a netrunner when they were jacked in. She took photos, noting the way the wiring was integrated. It was far beyond her current expertise, meaning she’d have to come back to it later.

  Next, her plate carrier. Unlike the suit, the carrier was simpler; just composite plates reinforced with a dense polymer weave. She sliced off a small section of the polymer, testing its flexibility. While she couldn’t replicate it exactly because she didn’t have the original designs, she could experiment with layering different materials to approximate its protective qualities.

  A hybrid setup; some 3D-printed metal reinforcement beneath a polymer shell might work. That would be a future project once she had practice with the printer and more levels in Engineering.

  With both pieces of armour being too advanced for her current skills, she pivoted to something hopefully a bit simpler.

  She laid out an old Unity pistol, a poorly maintained Copperhead rifle, and the only Militech M-76-e Omaha she’d managed to loot during her work. She started with the basics, stripping the normal pistol and rifle down to their individual components. Springs, firing pins, slides.

  All of them were mechanical systems she could understand, both with her military experience and the knowledge from her skill. That made it easier to sketch out diagrams, noting wear points and potential modifications.

  Then came the Omaha. Unlike a conventional firearm, it used electromagnetic rails to accelerate projectiles at incredible speeds. She removed the casing, exposing the internal systems. Twin rails ran along the barrel, powered by a capacitor bank small enough to fit inside the back of the weapon.

  She tested the charge cycle, noting the delay between shots. With a better capacitor or a more efficient charging system, she could reduce the downtime between shots. Unfortunately, it would be another future project. Although, she had a much larger railgun, courtesy of Ricky. The man had handed her an Achilles tech rifle after her audacious request, which Sophie certainly hadn’t been expecting.

  Still, making any progress with railgun tech would take time, so she moved on to another new project: grenades.

  She pulled up a CAD program on her laptop, sketching out a design for a small, compact capsule. The idea was simple: a smoke grenade, but downsized. Instead of the bulky canisters common on the market, her design was a small, sleek pellet that could be easily carried and deployed. The reduced size would impact how much smoke could be produced but Sophie was confident she’d be able to solve that problem with time.

  A small chamber would hold the smoke compound, with a simple impact mechanism to activate it. She’d probably stick to the regular smoke grenades for filling a room, but the smaller variant would work well for covering her escape.

  As she refined the blueprint further, she also realized she could modify the casing to house flash powder as well, giving her an option for either smoke or flash grenades using the same basic body.

  As she finalized the grenade design, her mind wandered to future projects. She would need a better way to carry her gadgets. A utility belt came to mind. Something modular, lightweight, designed to hold her smoke pellets, extra mags, and any other small tools she might develop. She could integrate a magnetic system to keep things in place, reducing bulk while keeping everything easily accessible.

  Then, there was the grappling hook. The issue was power. A compressed air system might work for short distances, but if she wanted something more reliable, she’d need an electric motor-driven spool. The challenge would be weight. If she made it too heavy, it would be impractical for quick movement. She made a note to study compact winch designs and materials that would provide the strength she needed.

  Looking back at her workbench, she let out a breath. She had a lot ahead of her, but for now, she had made progress. Tinkering with her gear was an important step to improving her combat ability after all, even if she was stealing a lot of ideas from Batman. She could only say the man was a genius.

  Before calling it a night, Sophie turned back to her laptop, opening up a new design file. She had an idea and it was something she could print immediately to test her machine’s capabilities. A pair of bracers, attached to reinforced gloves.

  She modeled the bracers first, using a mix of materials to balance weight and durability. The exterior would be reinforced polymer, offering some protection against impacts without adding too much bulk. Underneath, a lightweight metal mesh would provide additional wrist support while ensuring her hands had full range of motion.

  For the gloves, she repurposed some of the materials she had cut from her netrunner suit. The high-durability synthetic fabric would cover the hand while the knuckles and fingertips would be reinforced with small, flexible plates.

  Once the design was finalized, she loaded it into the printer and started the process, pouring some of her recently ground powder in. The machine hummed, the print head moving back and forth, slowly bringing her design to life. She watched as layer upon layer of material was deposited, solidifying into shape.

  As the printer continued its work, Sophie leaned back in her chair, satisfied. A quiet system chime made her grin just a little wider.

  Engineering Proficiency +1

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