"What does it take to make a girl into a killing machine?" she asked with a smile, leaning forward onto the countertop, giving him an accidental shot of cleavage. Accidental because Denise still didn't think of things that way, so Stephanie didn't mean it. He blinked, but didn't dare look down, and kept his eyes on hers.
"Why do you want to be a killing machine?" he asked, generally interested in that subject. "Besides to kill people, I mean. You're talking about cybernetics, right?"
She nodded, "This is Suite Two-Six Twelve, right?" she asked, reaching for the card. He shook his head as she blinked and reread it, "Grr… Suite Thirty-Six Twelve… I keep saying it wrong," she shook her head, looking up at him. "Forgive me, but what's your store's name… this whole 'remember the number' thing is killing me," she smiled.
"Make Your Own Laws," he bowed his head slightly.
"I try to," she grinned.
"No, that's the name of my shop," he explained. "I dabble in a lot of mystical, a lot of technology, a lot of good'ol regular firepower," he smiled back at her, nodding, "But I'm not an expert in any one of those fields… I just know how to get them to work for me, you know? There's a lot of paperwork that needs to be done to get approval for those things, and I know that kind of work inside and out."
"So… Oh, hey, I'm Stephanie," she smiled, reaching a hand out to him. "I should ask your name too. I don't usually, but I have a feeling we're going to be close friends."
"You do?" he blinked, "Oh, I'm Derrick Bolo," he nodded to her. "It's good to meet you," he said with a big grin as he reached out and shook her hand.
"I thought you were supposed to be Edward Norton?" she asked. "That's what the card says."
He blinked, "Oh, no. I give out a lot of fake names, you see. Each one of my referrers has a different fake name from me so if something goes wrong with the client I have to deal with, I know not to accept anymore who've been referred to me by that name."
Stephanie blinked, I never would have thought of that. I'll remember to do that when I make the big time. She grinned at him, "But you didn't check who I thought you were," she said as she leaned back from the counter and crossed her arms under her breasts… a motion that she'd never tried and didn't feel too right now.
"Ah, well. It's not often I see a fellow skunk. Not as popular a race as one would hope. Also, I saw what you did to the kid out front, and that got you in on my good side. Baker's been a problem for two months now," he said, stepping around the counter to look out the window, then slowly twist the blinds so that less light came through.
"He is kind of annoying," she admitted with a shrug, dropping her arms.
"Well, it's not him as much as it is his friends. His Guildmaster is one of the highest levels in The Kingdom and occasionally helps a lower Guildmate do whatever it is they set their minds to. If you're getting trouble from Baker today… three deaths, is it? Then it's probably because Zerro Frostmoore is tagging a locator spell on you and then guildpeaking to Kenneth where you are."
She watched him look out the blinds and wondered if he was checking to see if Baker was following her still. "That explains how he found me in the sewer of all places… and then again here when I'm so far away from where he last saw me," she said, rubbing her chin, thinking it over.
"Sewer?" he asked, looking over at her. "You died today?"
"Nah," she waved a hand at him. "Had a run in with a Giant Croc and dodged him enough to unload my shotgun into his mouth like in RE. Took him down, gained me two whole levels," she smiled, shrugging her shoulders, "Which brings me to why I'm here."
"Putting Levels into Cybernetics?" he asked her, rubbing his chin. "I dunno… you're a little low to be dabbing in that stuff," he said aloud without thinking.
"I'm new to this Game," she admitted, "What I really want to do is kill a lot of people and get away with it. Killing is easy. Getting away with it is not. I'm not sure how to go about it, and Black Market seems like the answer…" she smiled stepping up next to him at the window to also glance outside, "I'm assuming you're a big bad, and I do want your help, so I'm not just clawing open your gut or something," she glanced at him. "Besides… you seem like a nice enough boy."
"Well, I was closing for the day, and normally I don't do anyone below thirty… I specialize in high-end cybernetics, you see. But, I'll tell you what… I'll make you a special deal if--"
"If you say I sleep with you, forget it," Stephanie jumped ahead.
Derrick blinked, "I like getting to know a girl first… though usually she'll tire of me long before I think we're done learning about each other," he shrugged. "However, back to the point. No, I was only going to suggest you join my Guild… my 'Organization'," he said… "We're merchants and mercenaries trying to remodel The Kingdom in our own image."
Denise kind of liked the idea ruling over a wide range of people… in fact, it had been one of his motivations for playing PHUK in the first place. Having someone get him through those annoying lower levels and teach him how to break the system really seemed like a viable course of action.
"If I want to just go out and destroy things and kill people… where would I do that," she asked, thinking about it. "Because what you're doing sounds like the 'good of the community' kind of thing, and I've never been down with that."
"You're down with yourself, your stuff, and your friends, right?" he asked.
"Going with the idea I have friends? Yes," she said.
Derrick found it hard to believe she didn't have friends, but it was true. Back in the real world, Denise was long since picked on before he started acting out, and it was one of the reasons he did so. If everyone was against him, he might as well be winning.
"The Megaplex is one big building inside of one big city on this whole continent on the world in the universe that is The Kingdom," Derrick explained, motioning towards the door that lead into his back room. "So, if even this was considered home turf, then that means everywhere else isn't," he put his hand down and opened up the door to let her walk in.
"So… business, then?" she asked. "Taking out the competition… making other communities seem unsafe so people move out of them, etcetera?" Derrick nodded, leading her back into the back room. "OK, I guess I could be down with that… so where do I sign up, and what do I get out of it?"
The back room was all black except for the little halogen bulb lit over the back door. When the door closed to keep the back and front rooms separate, the light turned on and lit up just the two of them and some storage shelves to the front and back of them.
Derrick pulled out a PDA device of some kind, and tapped it three times. Stephanie's iPhone beeped, and she pulled it up to look at it. "Guild Invitation from D.I.B.," she said, and looked at him. "Tell me what I get, Dib," she said, her eyes narrowing a bit. "I don't know what you get out of me joining up, but I want to know what I get," she said.
Derrick reached over and flicked the light switch… and the whole back room lit up. Within the space in the back was a room that was quite large with floor displays and lots of shelves. There were robot parts everywhere… many of them not in any particular order as the room gave off the appearance of a machine shop.
Some of them looked like Terminators, and some of them looked like machines from other movies, and further off in science fiction than she had even seen before. Built-in guns, Rocket Launchers, scanners, night-vision googles, jump-jets… and all manner of over-lay armour for the lot of them like mini-Robotech or Macros or Battleclash even.
"Anything you want done, I can do. I'm a Jack-of-all-Trades, Master of None… so I can get you started… and then others in the Guild can really get you to the tops of whatever it is you decide to specialize in," he smiled, looking back at her to find her jaw had dropped and she was now circling the room looking at everything. "Well, lovely. What say you?"
She looked over at him and grinned… PHUK was awesome. She reached out and tapped accept on her screen, and looked over at him, "Alright… let's get started."