The Legendary Junkmaster

"Damn it, Al! You piece of shit!" Sam roared at the man cowering behind his counter. "You said that you made these weapons! So what's this symbol on the newest ones, huh?"

Al bowed his head to the beauty while cursing himself. He did not even bother to check the latest weapons that Jason had dropped off at his store. So he had no idea that the ungrateful little bastard had dared to leave his own mark on them! Because of Jason's little stunt, he was now forced to sit here and take a verbal beating from the princess of the Red Steel Gang!

"My apologies, miss. I had no idea that my apprentice had done such a thing before abandoning his work here!" Al eagerly lied through his teeth to try and shift Sam's anger towards Jason. "He even had the gall to create a new tool with what I taught him and had other vendors sell them to raise the money to open his own store!"

This was the best excuse that Al could come up with on the spot. Naturally, he had investigated the tool that Jason had told him he was going to make. That was when he had first come across Jason's Star Gear logo. By that time, he had already sold the new Riot's to Sam, so it was too late to check them for the same mark. He had hoped that Jason had not stamped his logo into them, but he was dead wrong.

"Your apprentice? You never mentioned to my father or me that you had taken one! You even refused a few of the guys that we sent ourselves!" Sam was even more infuriated when she heard Al's excuse. Not because she recognised that he was lying to her, but because the creator of her new favourite weapons was not under her control!

"As an apology, I would be happy to take one… No, make that two of your men under my wing. I'll teach them everything I know!" Al was pretty much begging at this point. He had to do everything that he could to appease her anger before she decided to get her father involved!

"Forget it! What use do I have for you if you can't create these?" Sam waved one of the new Riot's in Al's face, making sure he could see the Star Gear logo. "Now, tell me where I can find him! It seems like he needs some convincing about who he should be working for!"

Al hung his head as he tried to hide how much he was sweating. He explained to Sam the rumours he had heard of where Jason was planning to open his store with a feeble voice. Sam had a satisfied look on her face as she marched out of Al's store with the two men that had been following her as guards.

She took a deep breath to calm down her emotions once she stepped out onto the street. Her gaze wandered up to the sky, and she just stared at the marvellous green colour of it. Seeing that she had not moved for a bit, one of her guards thought she was still trying to decide how to deal with Al.

"Should we burn down his store, miss?"

"No need," Sam turned to look at The Rusty Nail. "Tell father to increase Al's protection payments by half for a few months. That should teach him more of a lesson than burning down his store. We'd only lose profits if we went with that."

"You are indeed wise, miss. So, what do we do about his wayward apprentice?"

"Let's go pay him a visit. We'll take a look at whatever he's selling. If it's good enough, we'll bring his store into our fold. We can always use more money. If not, I'll just convince him to only sell his Riot's to me exclusively." Sam replied with a predatory grin. "Let's go!"

Meanwhile, at the same time in the marketplace…

"What do you mean you don't have any Star Gear Multitools left?" Raymond shouted at the stall owner. "I only heard about them yesterday! Come on! You have to have at least one laying around! I'll buy it at double the price!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have any left!" The stall owner replied in exasperation. "I only received a few of them from their creator! They sold out on the same day I put them on display!"

"Ugh, come on! At least tell me where I can get one! This is the only place I've heard of that even had them in the first place!" Raymond almost looked heartbroken, as if his lover had been stolen away from him.

"Honestly, I have no clue! I didn't expect them to sell so well! If I had known how hot of a commodity they would turn out to be, I would have asked him how to get in touch! It just seemed like a good one time buy, you know?" Truth be told, even the stall vendor was cursing his luck. If he could have worked out a deal with Jason, he could have made a ton of credits from selling his invention!

The rest of the crowd surrounding his stall shouted insults at him with red faces. Ever since these scavengers had caught wind of the miraculous tool and seen it in action in the hands of an acquaintance, they had done nothing but pester this poor stall owner. After all, who in their profession would not want to make their job easier! Not just that, but the price was just too generous! It was like it had been created with their inadequate income in mind!

"Guys! I just heard!" Someone shouted from the rear of the crowd as he panted to catch his breath. "A new store called Star Gear has just appeared over on Crafters Street!"

The crowd went silent for a moment before exploding with activity! Suddenly, a stampede occurred down the Main Street of Highrise as this crowd rushed towards Jason's store. At the front of this crowd was none other than Raymond. His three arms that had survived the Banka attack were swinging wildly!

More than a few people were shouting in indignation as his fists and elbows struck them as they tried to overtake him! The mass of bodies suddenly turned into a massive moving brawl! Nobody wanted to risk being left out of being able to purchase one of these marvellous tools! The fighting only became more intense as they realised that there should even be other creations in the store that they had not seen!

It was only logical to assume that would be the case since Star Gear obviously could not open a store that only sold these Multitools! As if everyone had decided to take a deep breath at the same time, the air in the crowd became tense! Raymond was the first to snap under the pressure as he took the crowbar he had hanging from his tool belt out and smashed the nearest guy in the jaw with it!

This was the trigger for everyone else to follow his lead as they watched the man's teeth fly through the air above them! Suddenly it had devolved from a gentlemanly brawl into full-on warfare! The sound of bones breaking and shouts of agony spread in the air as everyone fought for the right to be one of the first customers! There was a good chance that Star Gear probably had something even better than the Multitool in its store! Or so they thought.

By the time the crowd had settled their disputes and rounded the corner onto Crafters Street, ten individuals were in the lead, and nobody disputed it. Raymond glanced at the crowd behind him in excitement. He was sure that he had at least one broken rib and a few broken fingers. Even his nose had been bloodied, but it no longer seemed like anyone would try to take his place.

However, his excitement soon disappeared as the marvellous Star Gear sign came into view above one of the units. In front of the store stood a young woman, and two dangerous-looking men were right behind her. The crowd instantly complained when they realised they were not the first to jump on this opportunity! This woman was obviously rich, or she would not have bodyguards!

Quite a few people even became worried that she might buy out the whole store before they even got the chance to look inside! As Raymond hurried towards her to get in line, he noticed several shop owners on the street were sitting outside their stores, laughing at them openly. It took a few moments for Raymond to realise why. The shop was closed! Still, it was early morning yet, so there was still time for it to open.

Everyone else seemed to have the same idea as they formed a line that led all the way to the end of the street. The store owners laughed even harder at this point. Eventually, a young man poked his head out from the butcher shop next door. With a heavy sigh, the youth walked towards the line of people while rubbing his hands in his apron.

"Everyone! You've wasted your time!" Adam announced to the gathering. "This shop won't open for a few days yet!"

Immediately everyone in the crowd let out shouts of outrage! What was all that fighting for then? Their eyes reluctantly went to the store and back to the youth. They were sure he was telling the truth as it was the only explanation that made sense as to why so many shopkeepers were laughing at them. However, a crisp voice cut through their complaints at that moment. It came from none other than the beauty at the head of the queue.

"Go get two tents and a few more guards. No matter what, we'll be the first to talk to the owner!" Sam immediately ordered one of her two guards without sparing a glance at Adam or the line that had formed behind her.