Black Market Merchant

Chapter 110: Finalizing
Lisa and the East River Militia Council discussed several things pertaining to how they would pay for the electricity. At the moment there was hardly any Solid or Paper money in the ERMs possession, and absolutely to transfer money Digitally with implanted chips. They had yet to conduct trade with Mr. Cline and get any bit of income either, which only add more to their plight. Lisa originally intended that for the first three months of electricity being provided, that there would be no charge and the ERM agreed. She understood that things were definitely tight and would be helpful to them as a sign of good faith and partnership. Naturally, it would greatly be beneficial to her in the long haul.

The next issue discussed was how to bring the electricity into the town. Neither side had any power lines or the personnel capable of building any. Lisa had also thought on this issue several times before and deducted that buying power lines would be their only option. She offered to pay for the lines as long as the ERM provided the manpower. At least until she put together her own crews to manage the work. To this the ERM also agreed with. Many people in town had no jobs anyway and needed them badly.

Things were going smoothly with the negotiations by the time nights darkness started to creep into the building. Both Lisa and the ERM Council agreed to pick things up in the morning. Lisa was getting her notes and papers back into her coffin when Nathan, Gillian and Mrs. Smithy approached her.

”There is one more thing we would like to discuss.” Nathan said speaking first. ”We know it’s late, but we are concerned about your fight with Crescent Moon. Are you really able to beat him or are you just trying to sound like your being confident?”

Lisa looked at the three of them carefully. It was a serious question, yet she couldn’t help but feel a bit offended. ”Why is everyone underestimating me so much? Sure, I am not big, mean and scary, but still. Why doubt me?” She quickly thought.

”What do I need to prove myself, to show that I am capable?” Lisa asked closing and locking her coffin.

”Well, from what I know of Crescent Moon is that he is very fast with his scimitar and his strength knows no bounds.” Gillian replied. ”Could you show us how you plan on dealing with him?”

”Hmm, I can try. I don’t know exactly how fast he is, but I can try to demonstrate my skills somewhat.” Lisa replied standing up to shoulder her coffin. ”Let’s go outside for a moment.”

”Alright.” Gillian said with a nod.

Then the four of them headed for the warehouse exit. Wayne had also just so happened to be heading in the same direction and overheard their conversation, so being curious he followed them. He even waved over the three other militia troops, that were with him from before, and explained what he overheard. They too became curious and all silently agreed to watch what might happen.

When they got out of the building, they saw that Lisa and Gillian were standing in front of a wooden box. On it was an old plastic water bottle. The cap was long gone, and its sides were moderately crumpled, but they had filled it with water.

”So, you want me to strike this water bottle, by any means of attack, to test my speed?” Lisa asked.

”Yes, that’s the gist of it. I think it’s an easy way to do this test.” Gillian answered.

Lisa replied with a sigh, ”Very well.”

Lisa had already taken off her coffin and was currently standing with her hands on her hips. She also had her magnetic belt on and on it was her folded up sword. Apparently, the others watching didn’t yet realize that it was a weapon.

Then mumbling to herself Lisa said, ”Advance Armament Stage 1”, and that adrenaline sensation once again welled up within her. Thinking to herself, ”This ought to do the trick. It’s not my fastest speed, but they don’t need to know that.”

Casually she reached behind her and grasped the dull black blades handle. ”Don’t blink you’re going to miss this.” Lisa called out to those watching.

A split second later, she struck! The speed of what happened was so fast it was nearly indiscriminate. Lisa had silently slipped off the sword from the magnetic strip and started to swing it single handedly in a back hand grip, level with the ground, at the bottle. The sound of the blade extending out to reach its full length, in the blink of an eye, resembled that of a whip. When she halted her swing after passing through the bottle, it appeared as though that she had actually missed. The bottle didn’t even waver.

”Well, that was impressive, but the bottle didn’t do anything.” Mrs. Smithy remarked.

”Yes, that interesting sword is indeed dangerously deceptive and the speed it appeared was fast, but Lisa, I think you missed.” Gillian pointed out.

Wayne and the others also agreed hearing Gillian. The crumpled bottle looked exactly the same as before.

”No, I hit it.” Lisa replied unperturbed. ”Look.” She took a step forward and with her finger barely nudged the bottles side. When she did, one of the crumpled sides suddenly gave way and the disturbed water caused the top half of the bottle to fall over, spilling water everywhere over the wooden box and pavement.

Nathan nearly let out a gasp of amazement but held back. Mrs. Smithy and the militia troops, however, did not. They all let out a shout of awe and one of the watching troops started to clap.

”I stand corrected.” Gillian said bending down to pick up the fallen bottle half from the parking lot pavement. He traced the sliced edge of bottle observing the perfectly clean cut. ”Well, your speed is indeed noteworthy. I think you can match Crescent Moon. But the sharpness of the sword impressed me most of all!”

”Match him, huh?” Lisa remarked. ”Is he really that good?”

”Yes. So now, what about your strength?” Gillian asked.

”Let’s see…” Lisa murmured looking around her for a suitable object. ”Ah, this will do.”

Lisa spotted an old truck door laying on the ground nearby. She went over to it and picked it up from its top window frame. The glass was long shattered and gone, but the metal still looked as tough as ever. Everyone was curiously watching what she was doing.

Drawing her free hand back behind her head, Lisa balled her fist tightly. Then swung at the truck doors center to punch it. Her fist sunk right through the metal door, as if it were nothing at all, and then appeared on the other side. Taking her fist casually out from the hole she created, Lisa tossed the door towards the dumbstruck spectators.

”There, that should be good enough proof.” Lisa remarked. ”Now is there anything else I need to prove?”

Gillian shook his head no, as did the other two council members behind him. They were clearly speechless seeing her perform this impossible feat. No one said anything, until a cricket chirp suddenly sounded and caused them to stir.

”Um, do you need a place to sleep for the night?” Mrs. Smithy asked coming to her senses. ”The warehouse has no beds, other than in the medical area, but those are dirty for now. I am sure that you would rather stay with me than out in the open.”

”That would be nice.” Lisa replied going over to put on her coffin backpack. ”I promise I won’t be any problem for you.”

As Lisa and Mrs. Smithy were leaving Gillian turned to speak to Nathan. ”I think that display settles it. Lisa, or Queen, is definitely worth betting on!”

”Agreed.” Nathan replied nodding wholeheartedly. ”I wouldn’t want to get in the ring to fight her after seeing that.”

”Me either. It’s times like these I am glad I am retired from the MFA.” Gillian said shaking his head. Then he glanced over at the four militia troops chatting excitedly nearby. ”Guys! Don’t you have to be on guard or something? Get back to your post!”

…

Mrs. Smithy and Lisa arrived at a small red brick house only a few blocks from the ERMs headquarters. There used to be a white picket fence going around the perimeter, but it’s paint had long since peeled away. Rose bushes had overtaken the front of the house and appeared to even cover the windows. Yet the home appeared to be very cozy.

”Sorry it’s not much, and I don’t even have any extra blankets for the guest bed. I had already giving mine away to those that needed them.” Mrs. Smithy explained as they approached her home.

”That’s perfectly fine. I am just thankful for a place to lay down.” Lisa replied.

”Well, aren’t you polite.” Mrs. Smithy commented. The dying sunlight outside was hardly able to illuminate the inside of the home. ”I know it’s dark, but I still have a few candles.”

Mrs. Smithy picked up some dry matches and a tall skinny candle up off of a low coffee table. Striking the match and lighting the candle, the light brightened up the room to reveal a quaint yellow painted living room. There was an old dark green Lazy-boy chair and matching couch. There were lots of pictures of various family members of all ages on the walls. The room reminded her of her own grandmothers’ home and had such a nice nostalgic feeling.

”You can sleep in the first room on the left.” Mrs. Smithy said pointing towards a hallway. ”I am going to go out back and get dinner ready. My husband should be arriving home soon as well. Don’t mind him. He’s normally grumpy and probably won’t say a word to you.”

Lisa chuckled. ”That’s fine. I’ll come help you cook if you want.”

”Very well. This way.” Mrs. Smithy replied.

…

When morning arrived, Lisa was up first. She felt awkward just lying there while no one else was awake. So quietly she snuck out of her guest room and carefully left out the front door. Fortunately, no one was disturbed. Once outside she took a big breath of the cool morning air and looked around at the faded townhomes.

The river could be seen several blocks away to her right and the cliff was behind the Smithy home, also several dozen blocks away. The area was quiet and still. Not even a breeze had picked up yet.

”I should probably survey the cliff to find a suitable spot to work on.” Lisa said softly to herself as she left the Smithy home.

The streets were quiet, and no one was out working yet. They all must have been exhausted from the past few days. In the meeting the day before it was mentioned a lot that the townspeople were working very enthusiastically towards collecting the metal for the trade deal. Lisa fully understood them, after freeing themselves from the Black Rats gang they needed something to help keep them going. Though from how things sounded the peace wouldn’t last.

Halfway to the cliff the buildings turned from residential to industrial. Lisa read over the faded signs of each building as she passed them. Many were former distributing companies and specialized electronic production plants. Nothing that would be particularly useful to the town. All except for the very last block, which even had its own privet road running towards the river. The sign out front of an old, rusted gate said, ”Johnson Concrete Co.”

”Oh, a concrete production plant.” Lisa wondered aloud. ”This could actually be a very profitable place to get running. Not only to rebuild the town but selling concrete or even concrete grade sand would be great. I have to get this see if I can place it under my control.”

After passing the concrete plant Lisa arrived at the foot of the cliff. However, just like when she looked at it from above, there was no possible way up. They were going to have to build their own road up to the top. The project was going to be hard, but well worth it.

”I hope those Mover Mechs, that Gillian mentioned, will actually be of use. I hadn’t seen one in action yet.” Lisa said looking over the cliffs jagged wall. ”I cannot wait to get on to making money and helping out this entire town! This sure does beat being on the battlefield any day.”