Cloudy with a chance of murder [CLOSED]

"Hmm yes, yes. That should work with most." Ratchet muttered to himself as he went through his mental inventory. Looking back at the man, he raised his voice back to a normal level. "Yes. I have one. Then I shall get it for you in exchange for a favor." He turned to head toward his walker, pausing slightly to see if the man would follow.

"Deal." Hamish said, patting Goliath on the side. The construct immediately lowered his guard some, but he was still visible on edge. Hamish started following the scavenger with Goliath walking beside him. "Sorry about our earlier......misunderstanding." Hamish told the man.

Ratchet cringed on the inside at the mans remark. Ratchet still considered himself to be a man of honor, but even he was hoping that he could simply just walk out on this one. Dealing with a madman is not the best for ones business. However, surviving an encounter with the man from the scraps will give him a huge reputation boost among the other scavengers, and that in its self, will make it worth while. Well, this is what contingencies are for, he mused before responding out loud. "I have had worse, somehow." They continued walking for a few minutes before nearing the edge of the scrap heap. With a slight wave of his hand, Ratchet pointed toward his walker, standing slightly above the surrounding area. "We will need to take this. My wares are too far away to walk."

Hamish marveled at the piece of machinery. To him, it was like being little again and opening up that first Christmas present. Designing and building, either for the benefactors or himself, was still his most loved thing in the world, and seeing new technology was always exciting. Nearing the walker, Hamish ran his hand down the leg, his mind ablaze with ideas he could work with off of seeing the vehicle. "She sure is a beauty. Tell me about her." Hamish told the man. He already was forming a plan for how to pay the man for a CPU, but he needed to know what the walker's specs before he went too far.

Ratchet felt proud as the man clearly marveled over the walker. It was something he had constructed, and the fact that held this mans attention was certainly a boon. "She is something that I've been working on, a collaboration of various parts that I have scavenged and repaired. Has a gyroscope stabilizer and a steam generator. Very useful for traveling what has become of this city."

"I can imagine that. I usually just have Goliath here move shite out of my way." Hamish told him, still taking in the machine. She was well built and was definitely prepared for most terrain, but Hamish couldn't help but notice the lack of weapons on the machine. In the world they lived in now, power usually went to to the one with the biggest gun. "She's defenseless, mate. You need to arm her up. I can design and build some weapons for her as payment for your services." Hamish said, turning away from the walker to face the man, "Oh, by the way, me names Hamish. I think you probably know me by that cute little nickname the scavengers know me by: the Shattered One eh he he. Not very creative, but it'll do."

"Ratchet." He said with a small gesture to himself. "Weapons are not my strong point, and as I have been the one primarily working on her, she hasn't received any." Ratchet's gaze followed Hamish as he spoke. He still didn't trust the man, and would rather not find out about any tampering the hard way. "Judging from your friend here, I would say you are much more versed in weapon design. So, I shall accept your offer."

"I am versed in all forms of design. You name it, and I can make it, granted that it may take me some effort." Hamish said, slightly twitching at the last word as a loud hurry up and finish this rang through his head. The benefactors were not pleased at all with his involvement with this man, but he would show them that this was more beneficial to all of them. "Come on, take me to where the CPU is. We can discuss the exact nature of the weapon you want on the way." Hamish told the man, gesturing to the inside of the walker.

"yes, yes. It is a bit of a ways from here. but still reasonable." Ratchet walked up to the leg and started to climb up the simple weld loops that acted as both hand- and footholds. Reaching the top, he opened the door, sat in the drivers seat and started to through switches as he began the start-up sequence. As Hamish climbed into his seat, the walker shook with the energy of the gyro-stabilizer before settling down. Pushing the driver lever, the walker headed north-east toward Ratchet's shop and residence.

Hamish admired the interior of the vehicle just as much as he did for the exterior. People could do incredible things when their way of life depended on it. He shut the door so their journey could begin. Goliath, you follow and stay close. Hamish told his robot through their shared mental link. Order Acknowledged. He received back. Hamish had never programmed or even considered building in emotions to Goliath. It would be too pointless and difficult in this day and age, but he would swear that the construct sounded a bit.....worried, as if he didn't like that Hamish wasn't in his sight. This was something that Hamish had been documenting for a few years now. "So, friend, how long have you been living in the scrapes? I, meself, have been here for about 2 years now, but you probably already know that, considering that's when the stories about me started circulating.

Ratchet's focus was primarily on maneuvering the walker safely through the craters and smaller scrap piles, though a small part of him was still wary of Hamish and had him looking out of the corner of his eye. " No, actually. I have only been in this region for about a year and a half. I spent sometime as essentially a merc, attaching myself to various groups across the country, before I chose to be on my own."

"Mercenary work is so very dull. Tried it and didn't like it. They said I couldn't pursue some of my projects, so they became my next project." Hamish said cheerfully. That had been a really interesting experiment. Flesh is an interesting material to work with, but not as useful as allerium.

Ratchet felt his body tense up as Hamish was speaking, and his eyes darted to the side, bringing his full attention to the strange man sitting next to him. He relaxed slightly when he saw that Hamish was simply lost in memory, and not about to slice his throat open, but the stiffness never truly left his body. Ratchet decided to keep talking in an effort to keep Hamish distracted. "Yeah well, once I finished my own personal project, I left to find something else to occupy my time. Currently we are heading to it right now."

Hamish noticed the slight stiffness immediately, and made a slight face, like the one a child makes when he or she knows they said something wrong. Perhaps that hadn't been the best thing to say, but Hamish wasn't used to censoring his speech. The only contact he had with people usually didn't involve conversations that lasted this long. However, that guilty, innocent look disappeared as soon as it appeared. He couldn't afford to look weak right now. His reputation was the thing that was keeping things moving. You are risking everything right now, you fool. This had better work, or you will face the consequences, one of the benefactors whispered vehemently. It caused Hamish to shutter slightly, but he tried to refocus on the conversation at hand. "Seems like you did something right to have a beauty like this. So, you own a store?" Hamish inquired, trying to learn a bit more about the scavenger. He had heard somewhere that is always paid off more to be nice, so now was the time to test that theory.

Ratchet returned his focus to the 'road' in front of them, giving a slight jerk to avoid a sinkhole in the ground. Better to focus on the road. The man sitting next to him may kill him, but if he kept loosing track like that then he would definitely kill them both. Ratchet let the silence stay for a brief moment as he gathered his thoughts before answering. "She has mainly been luck, though my store has helped. Brings in people like you who have access to skills or parts I may need."

"You picked a good place to set up. I know of a lot of scavengers of frequent this place. Contrary to the rumors, 9/10 of them make it out alive. So, for my work, what kind of weapon are you thinking that you want? I can make a range of guns, although if you ask for a laser, you are going to have to give me some time to put that together." Hamish informed the man. He already had several plans in his head for what he could make with the resources he had at his lab and within the heaps.

"If that was the case, then I would never have stayed." Ratchet responded in kind. And he was thankful for that. He enjoyed living here and all that it entailed. Sure it wasn't the greatest living arrangement, but ever since 14 years ago, nothing was. "And a laser? I need a simple armament not a heavy cannon. Something mechanical and preferably easy to maintain."

"I think we have different definitions of the word simple." Hamish said, but he took what Rachet had said to heart. Finally, he came to a good conclusion. "Okay, how about a standard duel-gun system. I can install two machine guns on the sides of the walker right above the doors. The guns themselves won't take me anytime at all, but wiring them and creating a targeting system may take me a bit. How does that sound?" Hamish explained to Rachet, getting more and more excited as the words spilled from his mouth.

Ratchet gave a slight twist of the controls and brought the walker into this shab of a lean-to. "Systems are easier for me to design, so I can do that. as for the machine guns, that would work. How about a possibility of interior mounts and storage. Similar to the old Military helicopter designs." flicking switches, he powered down the genereator and gyro, before cracking open the door to leave. "come come, we are here."

"Oh that sounds like even more fun!" Hamish exclaimed, his body jumping a bit in excitement. He hadn't got a chance to design proper weapons since he had made the ones that Goliath had, and that had been ages ago. He was a little bummed that Ratchet didn't want him to design the targeting system as well, but oh well. It was his walker, and Hamish of all people knew what it was like to be possessive over your things. Since he had been looking for a CPU for several days now and it was the only thing he needed to complete his latest project, he would make sure these weapons were some of his better work. That should more than make up for the assistance that Ratchet was providing.

Ratchet wasn't sure that he liked giving the man an idea that he hadn't considered, but if it kept him built happy and not trigger happy, then all was fine and dandy. He made a gesture to follow as he headed to a crack in the lean-to. It lead to a makeshift hallway that was illuminated by some sort of auto-florescent plant. It lasted for about one hundred metres before they rounded a corner and were face to face with a concrete frame with a door. Pulling off his right glove he swiped his ring finger over a sensor causing a slight clank to be heard as the door unlocked. Opening the door to a small entry way that had a small amount of shelves full of various small parts, most were simple ones that could easily be found outside in the heaps. on one side was a similar door to the one they just entered. The other other side had a counter with a random box with a switch on it. next to the counter was a door with more security on it the the other two. Ratchet started undoing all of the locks before entering the door. He said back behind him "Don't break anything. Some people are dumb enough to buy that crap."

Hamish was staring at the scanner a wee bit too long and had to rush some steps to catch up. Inside, he say the the bits and baubles in the store, and all of it was basically useless to him. He caught what Ratchet told him and let a laugh and replied with, "Nothing truer has been spoken. I can find all of this with one good day in the heaps." It was the box on the counter that caught his gaze. He hadn't encountered anything like it before, but it looked so.....useless. Without asking, as he had a bad tendency to forget other people were around, he reached out and picked up the box. He pushed the lever, expecting something spectacular to happen, but, instead, a little hatch opened up and a finger came out and pushed the lever back before returning. It all happened in about a second, but it was enough to enchant Hamish. He pushed the lever again and the same thing happened. Again and again he pushed the lever, and again and again the fingure pushed it back. Utter simplicity, and yet pure genius.

Ratchet was wandering ever so briefly through his primary storage room, which was much more cluttered and full of valuables, especially in this day and age. turning to one shelf, he found the circuitry section and started to look for where he had set aside the CPU's. A few seconds in and he found the bin, another few seconds and he had pulled out one that was met his descriptions and was versatile enough to fit most motherboards. Heading back to the entryway, he saw Hamish playing with his pointless box. The man looked so enthralled by the device, it was almost like a small child. Clearing his throat, Ratchet held up his hand that contained the CPU. "This should be exactly what you need."

Ratchet voice was a distant murmur in Hamish's world right now, but it was enough to yank him out of it. He broke his gaze from the box and locked on the Ratchet, who was holding a beautiful CPU. A huge smile broke on Hamish's face and he yelled, "That's exactly what I need!" He rushed over the Ratchet, holding his hands out to receive the precious piece of circuitry. However, he never let go of the magic box that enthralled him so.

Ratchet set the tiny processor into Hamish's outstretched hand, careful to not damage the small piece of circuitry. "I hope you will not forget about our deal. I have no immediate need for the weaponry, though so you may take your time." He headed over to the door where they had entered from and went to unlock it a second time. "Feel free to take any measurements that you may need for your project."