"Chikushō!" [Shit!]

Nishino was definitely not happy at the moment, evident by the loud exclamation of her favourite curse word. She all but threw the tiny screwdriver at the metallic wall of her work room, frustration nearly overcoming her common sense that told her not to break her tools, especially not when they were so difficult to come by. She leaned back in her chair, both arms above her head as she stretched and let out another small grumble; the new bomb type she was trying to put together just didn't work. Either the small metal mechanism that was supposed to keep the acid from melting the wrappings was too hard to open, or it opened too easily. 

The acid itself was held in a small ball with a mechanism that should open it when it was subject to enough blunt force. A spring in the lock would force the ball open and tear open the wrappings, in which was an explosive charge that would then vaporize the liquid acid, effectively making a small cloud of very unpleasant stuff. She had asked some of the guys in the labs to help her make some sort of acid from the plants outside the walls. They had agreed so long as she brought the plants. They were still working on it, and it wouldn't be before another week or two before they had it done, she suspected, but even so she still wanted the metal case for the acid to be done before that. She had a reputation to uphold, after all. 

There was a knock on the door in the front room. 

She stood up, grabbing a double barrelled handgun from the desk next to her before she went through the door that lead to the front of her store/home. A middle-aged man who looked to be almost a metre taller than she was stood by the empty counter. 

"How's it going, Nishino?" He asked. His name was Nick, and he was possibly the textbook definition of the words "Gentle Giant". She'd never seen him get angry, nor look down on anyone... except in the literal sense. But even despite being one of the few people that Nishino allowed herself to be friendly with, and allowed to be friendly with her as well. 

"Doing okay. Trying to get an acid bomb to work, but the casing just won't work." She sighed and dragged her fingers through her ponytail hanging over one shoulder. "You're here for your gun, though, right?" She held up the double barrelled handgun she had picked up earlier, and put it on the table. "Upper most barrel is your usual 9mm bullets, but the lower one is a miniature rocket launcher." She opened a drawer and pulled out four small, oval capsules, putting them on the table. "You'll have to be a little old fashioned and use black powder to fire these, but they pack one hell of a punch... Careful with the recoil, though. Almost broke my nose when I tried it." She smiled wryly and handed the capsules to him. "You got the payment?"

Nick chuckled and fished up a pouch that jingled as if full of coins. It was large, larger than usual. "This here? Aye." The pouch hit the desk with an audible thud, spilling out some of its contents as it opened. Scrap metal, bullet casings, used bullets, and half-broken tools spilled out on the wooden surface. 

Nishino sighed, sorting through the contents, lips pressed into a thin line. "Not as good as I had hoped. You couldn't find or spare anythi- Oh!" She picked out a rather long piece of silvery metal. "Is this...?" She looked up at him, eyebrows raised high. "A tin and silver mix? You have any idea how rare this is?" A smile bloomed on her lips, an occurrence which could be called even rarer than the precious metals such as silver and gold these days. 

The smile was mirrored by Nick, his large beard bobbing in time with his nods. "Glad you like it. I managed to find some old silver wares on one of the infected when I was outside the walls the other day. Thought you might want them." He chuckled and took the gun, putting it in a holster and pocketing the four capsules. Meanwhile, Nishino had swept the pouch of scrap metal aside, depositing it in a locked code-locked drawer. Even as she bent down to put the payment in a drawer, Nick caught the bandages visible beneath her tank top. Nick shook his head before speaking again. "Bandages again? Why do you insist on hiding yourself?" 

Nishino simply gave him a weak glare. "None of your business. If you must know, it's because they get in the way with how big they are." They both knew that was a lie. 

He shrugged and was about to walk out when he caught himself, suddenly remembering something he had wanted to tell her. "By the way, while on the way here I saw a Red Poster in The Poster that you might be interested in." She looked up, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. "Some guy set up a poster for an expedition outside the walls. The assignment is to get rid of a bunch of Darklings. An entire nest, and a Mother, possibly." 

"Sounds dangerous. What's the reward?"

"18000 armoury trade credit, split evenly among all who join." 

She almost gawked. "You're kidding me, right? Do you have any idea how many weapons and modifications I could make with that much?!" 

Nick chuckled, running a powerful hand through his beard. "Quite a lot I suppose." 

Nishino just nodded, she was already making plans. Or rather, she was making a mental blueprint for a large incendiary bomb. "Yoshi [alright!]. For that much, it's worth the risk. I'll go check it out in a minute. See you some other day." Nick continued to chuckle as he walked out, giving her a small wave before he closed the door. [i]Bless the people that can still find happiness in this hellish world,[/i] she thought. 

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Two hours later she was standing inside The Post, reading the red poster about the Darklings. She was still wearing only a pair of tight-fit jeans and a tank-top, although she had put on a leather jacket - open in the front - to cover herself just a bit more. Her two katanas hung by her left hip and a single handgun hung by her right hip. She wasn't going outside the walls just yet so the sniper rifle wasn't necessary just yet, but keeping a couple of weapons at hand was always a good idea, if only to make sure that nothing could surprise her and get away with it unscathed. 

"18000 armoury credits divided amongst the applicants, or those who get back alive, anyway. No way in hell I'm missing up on that opportunity." She was already on her way back to her shop-home when she finished speaking. She had bombs to make.