Black Market Merchant

The day had arrived that Lisa was to fight Golem. Hanna had woken up early that morning from another near sleepless night. The sun had yet to even start brightening the day and only a thin line of red had appeared on the black eastern horizon. Seeing the sliver of light coming through the curtain-less window, Hanna decided that trying to sleep any longer was useless.

Getting out of bed, Hanna's bare feet hit the wooden floor gently only to be stung by its chilly surface. If it would have been a normal morning she would have happily retreated back under her covers, but her eager nervousness forced her onward. Feeling around the darkened room she soon found her socks and clothes for the day. Judging on how cold the floor was, she decided to put on a coat too.

Benny had informed John and Mary of the plan and situation that Lisa had come up with. Though they didn't readily approve of Hanna being sent to such a dangerous location, they couldn't think of a better option. So, when Hanna started to tiptoe down the wooden stairs John was already at the bottom waiting on the couch for her.

"Good morning Hanna, couldn't sleep?" John asked speaking softly in the dark.

Hanna nearly jumped out of her socks hearing his unexpected voice. "Y-Yes. I couldn't sleep to well."

"I figured that you wouldn't. Good thing I got up early, otherwise you were going to go out alone. It's too dangerous for you to go by yourself." John said getting off the couch.

"I was going to wait for Benny on his porch." Hanna grumbled as she walked past him to get her shoes that were by the front door.

"Going already?" John asked curiously.

"Ya, why?" Hanna replied.

"Benny probably won't be awake until well after sunrise. You have plenty of time to wait. Why not have some breakfast first? I could sure use some." John said turning towards the kitchen.

"I'm not really hungry." Hanna sighed, but reluctantly followed him. She had to admit that Benny definitely wasn't going to be awake at this hour and from the cool air permeating the house, it was going to be too cold to be sitting on an open porch.

She plopped down in a seat at the kitchen table as John fumbled in the cabinets for something to eat. Eventually he found some nearly stale bread and a jar of crystalizing honey. Sitting across from her, John started to eat a thick slice of the bread with honey lightly drizzled on top. Watching him eat Hanna finally gave in and asked for some.

The time arrived for when Benny would likely be awake and the two left the house to find him. As expected, when they were crossing the road, Benny started to come out of his house. Waving to them from the doorway, Benny hurried to put on his own coat and lock the door.

"All ready to go I see." Benny said as they met at the foot of his porch.

"Yep." John replied. "I will go with you two. Even if I can't go inside with you, I can still wait outside the compound just in case."

"Sound reasonable. Never hurts to have back up. Let's go." Benny said giving a shrug.

The morning air was cold and still as they walked down the ghostly streets towards the dam. The sun’s rays had already broken the horizon and light shadows were beginning to grow on the buildings. Hanna shivered and tightened her blue puffy jacket hood closer around her neck. This was definitely not the most enjoyable morning for a walk and with every step she took the more excited she would feel.

…

Lisa had also woken up early that morning. She decided to prepare properly for this fight and dress appropriately. Golem has given her more trouble than she had anticipated. Finding an appropriate solution to beat his speed and armor was definitely not simple, especially if she still wanted to keep her cybernetic abilities a secret a bit longer. As she prepared for the day, she checked over everything she needed carefully.

Her skintight suite, being made densely packed Kevlar fibers, ceramic, and other sci-fi like shock absorbent materials; was still in peek condition. There was no wear and tear or puncture marks on its smooth black and gray hexagonal pattered surface. Not even the place she was shot at had any sign of its happening. Her suit looked like a surfer’s spring suite, it covered her entire torso, went down half her biceps, halfway up her neck and reached down to stop just centimeters above her knees. It would completely cover her most vital areas while still providing complete mobility. Her arms and legs didn't need this protection as the military grade cyborg prosthetics were sufficient.

Seeing that the suit was in order, she then moved on to inspect her sword. Its dull black blade was folded up neat and compact into the hilt. Then, tilting it slowly downward, Lisa watched it slide seamlessly out of itself to reach its full length. Though there was no apparent friction as it folded out, she decided to rub a bit of oiling onto it. Though she had kept up with oiling her sword regularly it would not hurt just to be doubly sure it would function completely seamless. Next, from her coffin she took out a thin black belt and on it was a magnetic strip on the backside. That strip was where her blade would be attached to, acting as the sheath to secure it while she was moving.

This time she was also going to bring a special surprise with her. Normally she would ware heavy military combat boots everywhere, but today she took out of her coffin, tucked behind most of her cloths, a pair of black boots that rose up to past halfway up her shins. It had striking red laces that added to their appearance nicely. Putting them on and tying them tight, she pulled on a secret switch with her foot. With a sudden silver streak, a short blade appeared from underneath her toes. This little trick had saved her on more occasions than she could count. Pulling the switch again it instantly snapped back into its hiding place.

Lastly, she put on her fingerless leather gloves with the metal on its knuckles. They fit neatly onto her hands and flexing her fists she made sure that they were secure. For her last adjustments she tied up her long black hair into a folded ponytail. She secured it well, despite a total lack of hair clips. She had used up all of them in exchange for information on her recent travels from Salt Lake City. The American western region’s women seemed to be suffering from a lack of this simple small luxury and made it a desirable object of trade. A fact she had put to use many times.

Lisa had finished all of this preparation long before either Sadie or Zane had woken up. When she was done Lisa gently shook Sadie's shoulder to wake her. Sadie however grumbled something incomprehensible and rolled over. Clearly it wasn't going to be anytime soon that she would be getting up.

After spending several days with Sadie, Lisa learned that she was not a morning person. It was the same routine every morning. Shake, grumble, and roll over.

Zane, however, was no better. Walking past the window Lisa would look in to see that his mouth was wide open as he faced upward. Whenever she'd open the door, the sound of his snoring sounded like he was trying to suck every bit of air from the room.

Coming up to his bedside she kicked the mattress with her red laced shoe. "Zane! Get up. We got stuff to do."

The sound of her loud voice woke him right away. "Wha-… oh, it's morning already?" Zane groaned and he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Yep. Now get up and come with me. We need to change out your bandages before we leave." Lisa said turning to go.

"Alright." Zane said stiffly sitting up. It was then he noticed her appearance. He felt as if a lump formed in his throat. Thinking to himself Zane was surprised. "If I hadn't known that she was Boss Lisa, I would have mistaken her for a professional assassin that had come to kill me! Her boots don’t even make a sound when she walks."

Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, Zane got up and followed her out. She had also already laid out the medical supplies to treat the wound and it was sitting on one of the cubicle tables opposite from where Sadie was still sleeping.

Taking off Zane's bandages, Lisa inspected the healing wound. "Well, the ends are scabbing over, which is good, and the swelling is less than last time. It's going to be a wacky scar, but you're going to be fine. At this rate I’d guess you have only a few weeks until you’re fully healed."

"That's good to hear." Zane said with a tight voice as Lisa had now started dabbing at his wound with a bit of gauze that had antibacterial medic on it. It felt like bee stings every time she touched him.

Once she was done, Lisa rewrapped the wound with fresh bandages and made sure to tighten it well. He would be moving a lot today and it couldn't come loose, or he'd risk exposure to infection.

Sadie sat up and yawned behind them. Zane looked over in her direction. Sadie was warring some fuzzy blue pajamas and her hair was tossed about in a messy bun. She didn’t have on her glasses either and was squinting furiously.

Sensing that Zane was looking at her, Sadie held up her hand towards him. "Don't look at me. I am hideous right now. Even without a mirror I know I look terrible." She said sounding flustered.

Zane cracked a smile. "It's not that bad. My younger sisters looked the same way."

"I don't care." Sadie huffed grumpily. "Just look away. Lisa hurry up and get him out so I can change."

"Alright, alright." Lisa replied finishing up on his bandages. "Come on Zane, out we go."

The two went downstairs and started to get what little breakfast they had ready. It was nothing more than some dry bread, fruits and water. They had traded their squirrel pelts from Lisa’s traps for the food the day before. Though not much, it was enough to last them the morning. Sadie soon joined them waring her normal secretary like appearance and signature single braid. By then, however, breakfast was nearly done.

There was a call coming from the southern gate blockade just as Lisa swallowed the last of her bread. She jogged over to find that Hanna, Benny and John were already here. Shifting a metal roofing sheet out of the way she made a way for them to enter.

"Well, this is new." Benny replied coming in first. "Did you move all this just to block the gates?"

"Sure did." Lisa replied giving a nod.

"I swear, you surprise me every time I come here." John said following Hanna in.

"Well, now that you all are here, might as well arrive early and get you guys situated." Lisa called out for everyone to hear. "There's something else I want some time to look at while we're there too."

"Alright, let's go." Sadie replied standing up tossing the last handful of dried fruit into her mouth and putting on her backpack. She pulled her freshly braided hair out from under the backpack and joined the newly arrived group. Zane followed her lead and tried to avoid the suspicious gaze of John. Though he didn't say a thing, Zane knew that he was being sized up.

The group left the dam area and headed for the Mad Dog compound. This was Zane's first time out of the fenced in dam area and he was curiously looking around the unfamiliar town. So far it looked no different than his side of the river.

"Well, seems like these Mad Dogs are no better off than us. If we ever got the chance to regroup the Black Rats, I think we could take them on." Zane thought to himself. “Though I couldn’t do that now that I decided to join up with Lisa.”

However, the next corner they rounded soon destroyed that notion. The compound wall stood tall and imposing as they headed for it. Zane's expression was giving off a glow of admiration, while Benny and John glared at it with suspicion. Lisa chuckled seeing their vivid reactions.

"Wait until you see the inside." Lisa said to them. "It's far more impressive than you realize!"