Happy pt.2

Lobert was allowed to sit in the front again, and together they drove to a skyscraper that was more normal in height.

Reiko stopped the car at the shopping street in front of the weapon store.

The entrance was decorated with the strange name of the store in holographic writing, the letters seemed to pulse and changed to all kinds of colors; Bystryveter. Yup, Lobert could just barely pronounce the name.

But Lobert had heard of the name, Bystryveter exported their armaments all over the globe and were at the forefront of military technology.

Truly, they only had a few competitors.

Lobert had watched videos about old weapons from time to time, but that's where his interest ended, he'd never been in a store like that.

Reiko nodded her head and signaled Lobert to go into the store.

The interior of the store was lit in red, with gold accents.

The walls were covered with a wide variety of weapons and attachments, and shelves with even more attachments and ammunition stretched across the room; a gun lover's dream.

"What kind of gun are you going to get?" Lobert asked curiously; he was about to find out anyway, but a little small talk couldn't hurt.

"Do you know anything about guns?" Reiko asked.

Lobert wobbled his head from side to side.

"A little."

"I'm getting a 9mm Suranov submachine gun with a folding stock."

"And what did you use before that?"

"My father's pistol, a T-Lunar, is standard police equipment."

Police officers wore a bulletproof vest, a T-Lunar on their hip and carried a T-Inudato submachine gun in their patrol car as part of the standard issue equipment.

Private police, on the other hand, had access to much heavier ordnance.

They wore full body armor, carried a 9mm Suranov submachine gun at all times, and had a T-Fluctus shotgun along with a HAL 96 machine gun in their patrol car.

If the state police ever broke corporate laws, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Reiko happily hobbled around the store looking for the machine gun and Lobert just sat down in the next available seat.

"Found it." Reiko said over Directocom.

"Okay, let's meet at the cash register." Lobert replied.

At the cash register, Lobert saw the price, he would never have been able to afford something like this in the past.

"2200 ETU? It's okay, it's on me." Lobert offered.

"I've got enough on me though; I'm not dependent on you."

"I now earn more than enough money, I don't even need that much." Lobert protested, but Reiko didn't listen and bought it with her own money anyway.

"Can I at least buy you a bulletproof vest then? If you're going to throw yourself in the line of fire for me, I want you to survive at least."

"I can't argue with that." Reiko said, hurrying off to get a bulletproof vest.

She didn't come back with one, but with two.

"One is for you, it makes my job easier."

Lobert had no objection to this and bought the two vests on the Arbiter's tab.

"Do you want to look around here some more? Maybe there's something else useful for you here." Lobert suggested.

Reiko must have been a gun nut, the way she rejoiced.

They went to the elevator to see what was on other floors, and to their astonishment there were a whole ten floors full of weapons. Compared to the entire skyscraper, that wasn't much, of course, but the other floors probably held weapons research facilities and offices of Bystryveter's headquarters.

Reiko admired the many weapons on the various floors, even though she would have no use for any of them.

On one of the other store floors, however, she found a holographic sight that would fit well with the Suranov submachine gun.

Of course, Lobert offered her again to buy it for her.

Reiko, who now didn't have enough money, had to accept the offer.

The man at the cash register looked tense.

"If it isn't the Arbiter, I'm honored to have you here."

Behind them stood a man in a white suit and a blue shirt. He had a full beard and blue-gray eyes.

"I am Sergei Suranov, a humble arms dealer and head of Bystryveter. Unfortunately, I didn't get to congratulate you at your celebration, so please let me make it up to you and give you your purchase on the house."

"That's not necessary." Reiko declined.

"Oh, I'm so embarrassed. I'll at least ask you to accompany me to my party then."

Lobert was quite open to the idea; he was bored anyway.

"Why not?" He asked, but Reiko didn't seem so willing.

Reiko insisted on riding in their own car behind Suranov's, with Lobert in the back seat.

The man might develop trustworthy weapons, but he himself was not to be trusted, she argued.

They reached the large outdoor area of a skyscraper and landed on one of the many landing pads that were there.

Walking in, it seemed more like a popular nightclub than a fancy party.

The club was packed with people lit up in shades of pink and blue, and you couldn't move around the room without brushing against others.

Their party clothes looked like they’ve been taken straight out of the future; covered in glowing and reflective stripes, in shapes best described as loose and open…very funky.

In the center was a large dance floor shrouded in haze and fog, above which floated a gigantic hologram of exploding stars pulsating to the music.

At the end of the room, above the DJ table was a huge screen showing aliens dancing to the music.

To the right on the lower half of the room was a cocktail bar and tables with cushioned seats.

On the two upper areas left and right were even more tables, in some of them sat rich old men who let themselves be fed by young women.

Lobert was hot and he was sweating a little, the smell of alcohol and something Lobert couldn't quite identify filled the air.

Mr. Suranov led them to the VIP area in the back, where it was a lot less crowded and significantly fewer people were partying; the ratio of hostesses to clubbers was much higher; more like what Lobert had envisioned.

In a back corner, a table was already reserved for them.

Lobert sat at the end and Reiko right next to him, followed by some hostesses and finally Suranov, seated across from him.

"Isn't it great here?" Suranov exclaimed.

The music wasn't that loud here, so Lobert could understand Mr. Suranov just fine even without a directocom connection.

"Totally." Said Lobert, even though he didn't think it was great at all. Lobert did not want to get into an argument with Mr. Suranov.

"It seems like you guys like my weapons. I designed the 9mm Suranov submachine gun when I was young, good times. That's when I could still seduce women without any money at all."

He laughed loudly for a moment.

"You have an eye for quality, I could tell right away. Too bad the Central City police lack an eye for quality and are equipped with crappy T-Inudatos that can't even stop a panty thief." Mr. Suranov said aloud.

Mr. Suranov reached for the vodka bottle and took a few big gulps, the hostesses applauding him.

"As luck would have it, a business partner of mine didn't pick up his merchandise. And now I'm sitting on a bunch of extremely good 6mm Taubin submachine guns just waiting to be used."

"Thank you very much, but I don't know enough about guns to make a decision right now."

"Just think, every day cops die out there because they don't have enough firepower. Give them a chance to live, to go back to their families. All you have to do is replace their T-Inudatos with the far superior Taubin submachine guns. I'll even give a 20% discount on your good deed!"

Reiko intervened over the directocom: "Don't listen to that charlatan, the 6mm Taubin submachine gun is known to be inadequate, it can't even penetrate the lightest of body armors. No one who has a clue would still buy those for anti-personnel usage."

You could always count on Reiko, Lobert thought to himself.

He had no intention of going for the deal, but Lobert still wanted to be polite, so he brushed him off with, "I'll think about it."

Mr. Suranov clicked his tongue.

"Well, you can't always come to an agreement, but don't let it stop you from enjoying this evening."

He poured Lobert a glass of vodka.

"I don't like vodka-" Lobert wanted to protest, but Mr. Suranov interrupted him.

"I insist."

Mr. Suranov stared deeply into Lobert’s eyes as he put on a friendly smile.